Foreword

But those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with passions and passions.
Gal. 5, 24

“Philokalia” is not a book to entertain the bored mind, but not a series of “psychological studies”, not a collection of interesting aphorisms. To the truths of Philokalia are engraved the works of the Holy Fathers, who had divinely enlightened minds and their hearts are so pure that many of them are still alive, they have seen God. Amazing minds and burning hearts were engraved in Philokalia. An earthly, vain man will only then acquire this pearl of the spirit, enter the royal palace of Banquet, when modestly, realizing the weakness of his own mind, stains and He opens the wounds in his heart by praying to the Holy Spirit of the page of the Philokalia. And then, only with the help of the fiery and purifying Spirit of God, will earthly man be found Here on Earth: the peace of the mind, the dean of feelings, will enter the path of joyful and boundless goodness; In a word, the joy and light of life will join the life of the great fathers and teachers of human souls, with which the Weak Word of man is not able to express.

There are two acceptances of life. One thing – and this applies to most – is to take away from modernity everything that can be taken for a pleasant, pleasant body. The cult of the body, luxury is expressed in the distorted philosophy of Epicurus: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” – This is the acceptance of life from the day of the fall of Adam. With the fall of Adam, he lost to Humanity—it is a divinely enlightened mind, a “reasonable” mind, and increasingly takes lies for truth; has lost the perception of the true Beauty, because it has distorted its senses and accepts ugliness for beauty; and the will is often directed towards evil, mistaking evil for Good or evil under the guise of good. But it was not lost to all mankind and, finally, to the aspirations of other worlds, the memory of Eden, of communion with God; and vain, earthly Man seeks the knowledge of the full truth, seeks the true Beauty, seeks to serve the true good. In a moment of Enlightenment, earthly life is clearly presented as a change in Deceptive Dreams. “Every sleeper is the most magical” – life becomes such – it is a burden; The desire for the lost “image” grows Indescribable Glory” (Orthodox Memorial Service).

Having entered the world of Philokalia, a vain person is lost. As if one who has escaped from a stuffy, stinking room to the purity of the Air, his head spins, his heart stops. But the experienced doctors of souls — the authors of the Philokalia — will support it For example; will lead him to spiritual heights along the true, God-ordained path they have traveled. The wonderfully spiritual physician Ivan Klimak, in his creation, Called “The Ladder”, leads the soul step by step, seeking God and salvation in God. And next to this preservation How many amazing guardians and mentors there will be, true friends: Antony and Pachomius the Great, Nilus of Sinai, Simeon the New Theologian, Ephraim and Isaac the Syrians — an army light-bearing, the most beautiful of the sons of men, a reflection of Paradise on earth. Great and incomprehensible to the limited, the flat human mind, the dogmas of faith: about St. Trinity, the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ, the resurrection – the God-enlightened minds of the Philokalia Fathers will be open to the weak mind of the seeker of truth, and he will be amazed at how simply the depths of Christian faith are expressed by the Church Fathers and the hermits of Sinai. The reader of the Philokalia will feel it, just now, With such simplicity of expression, the words of the minds and hearts of his teachers in the sight of the mysteries of God. The dogma will be accepted as life, not as an abstraction. And to worldly vanity the Great Fathers will descend, who had a “burning heart for all things.” creation” (Isaac the Syrian). They will point out that “circumcision is the death of the soul” (Abba Or); that “bias is short-sighted, and hatred sees nothing” (Isidore Pelusiotes); that “To say a lot, even if it is good, is to be like a door in a bathhouse that often opens and opens steam”; that “he who has habit in himself is the same as the man who gives food to fire” (Isaac the Syrian).

The current work consists of selected excerpts from all five volumes of Philokalia — arose by God’s grace through the work of the abbot of the Kazan Monastery of Our Lady in the city of Harbin, father of Archimandrite Yuvenaly.

Father Juvenali did beautiful and life-saving things by collecting pearls so that everyone could have access to the Philokalia. The Christian Orthodox community remains an apostolic continuation of the work of Father Juvenali — to make this volume of Philokalia is a constant companion in the life of every Christian soul.

FAITH IN GOD

Approx. Diadochi

– He who loves God, sincerely believes and does faith He does it with respect. But only a believer, not a constant in love and in faith itself, which seems to have Yes, it is. He believes with a certain ease, without carrying within himself the Effective trumpet (setting on one) Glorious love. Only faith that works through love is the great priority of virtue (Gal. 5:6).

– He who explores the depth of faith is overflowing with waves of thought, but he who meditates on them with a simple-minded character enjoys a sweet inner silence. The depth of faith, being the water of oblivion, does not tolerate scrutiny or is overwhelmed by curious thoughts.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“Without faith, hope, and love, as of evil, nothing in the End is destroyed, and nothing good is final in us is established. Faith persuades the struggling mind to turn to God and incite him to courage, assuring him that all spiritual instruments are ready for him; Hope appears for him was not a deceptive guarantor of the Divine Help, promising the destruction of opposing forces, and love makes him inseparable from the associated combination with the Divine, even during the battle itself, adhering to all the strength of his inclination greedily towards the Divine.

“Faith comforts the struggling mind, inspires its confidence in help; Hope that appears before your eyes to believe in help, to repel the attacks of enemy fighters; a Love makes the mind dead (or ineffective) for God-loving, completely weakening its desired longing for God – A blind person has faith who does not keep the commandments of God by faith. If God’s commandments are light, then it is obvious that without Divine light there is one who does not fulfill God’s commandments, carrying an unfounded and not true Divine calling.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– There is faith – to be ready to die for Christ, because it is His commandment, in the conviction that such death brings life; poverty is attributed to wealth; subtlety and insignificance – to true glory and glory; and, while you have nothing to be sure that you have everything; especially the acquisition of riches, which cannot be found by the knowledge of Christ and the sight of all things visible as dust or smoke.

– Faith in Christ is not only about not being neglected by the joys of life, but also about patiently and benevolently enduring every temptation: in sorrow, tribulation, unpleasant accidents – as long as God wants to look at us, following the prophet David, who says: Youendured the Lord and listened to me (Psalm 39:1), that is, survived suffering, I hoped that the Lord would help me; why the Lord, seeing that I did not hesitate to seek help from him, looked at me and showed his mercy.

– Faith in Christ, the true God, generates desire, eternal blessings and fear of torment; and the desire for these blessings and the fear of torment lead to the strict keeping of the commandments; And strictly keeping the commandments teaches people to be deeply aware of their infirmities; This awareness of our true weakness gives rise to the memory of death; who had this memory as a concubine of Himself, painfully longs to know what it will be like for him to Leave and withdraw from this life.

Saints. Callistus and Ignatius

– Through all good things or moral goodness beginning, middle and end, if you will, dancer and Leader, there is faith, hope and love – here it is a rope with three gossips and woven by God – more than anyone else – to love, for God is love (1 John 4:8), then It is unfair not to make up for what is still lacking. current job; St. John of the Ladder writes: “Now these three live in the closest union of those who are bound and held together in it: faith, hope, and love, but love above all, for God is called by it (1 Cor. 13:1 Jn. 4). In my opinion, the first of them is a ray, the second is light, and the third is a circle; But they are one and the same Shine and one Shine. The first can guarantee and organize everything; the second mercy of God envelops and makes them shameless; Third, she never falls, never ceases to be a mother-in-law, even for the wounded She does not let you rest from blissful delight.”

THE FEAR OF GOD

Sep. Clement of Alexandria

– Fear is the beginning of love, and then it misses. The fear of God, in fact, is not the fear of God, but the fear of turning away from God and falling into sins and passions.

Revered. John Klimack

– A ray of sunshine penetrating through the well into the house illuminates everything in it, so that even the smallest dust is visible, rising in the air; in the same way, when the fear of the Lord comes to the heart and then shows it all the sins.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– May there always be a cross on your forehead, but in your heart there is the fear of God.

Approx. Diadochi

– No one can love God with all his heart without first kindling the fear of God in the feeling of the heart, for the soul in Active love comes after it has already been purified, and will be mitigated by the action of the fear of God. In the fear of God, from the said fruit of God, no one can come if he stands outside of all earthly cares, for only when the mind is calm in complete silence and without care, the saving influence of the fear of God begins on him, purifying him from all earthly weakness, in order to raise him to full love To the all-good God, so that this fear may belong righteous, simply purified, in whom the middle is the measure of love, and perfect love is already a purified trait, in whom there is no fear, from the time of perfect love to cast out fear (1 John 4:18).

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

The fear of God is twofold: one is born from the threats of Punishment, from which the following arises in us in order: restraint, patience, hope in God and impenetrability, from Whose love. The other is associated with love itself, generating reverence in the soul, so that it is out of courage that love does not go so far as to neglect God. Fear is twofold: first, pure, and the other unclean. The fear generated by sins under the influence of the expectation of torment is impure, since the cause is the one who realizes the sin and will not remain forever, because together with the repentance of sin disappears. And the one that without This terrible anxiety about sins is always present in the soul, this fear is pure and will never disappear, because it is somehow inherent in God, as a tribute on behalf of creatures, manifesting the natural reverence of all for His Majesty, above all kingdom and power.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“He who is filled with the fear of God is not afraid to turn to evil people. Having the fear of God within him and possessing the invincible weapon of faith, he is strong in everything and can even do what many find difficult and impossible. He walks among them like a giant among monkeys or a lion among dogs and foxes, trusting in the Lord with firmness His wisdom strikes them, frightens their meanings, strikes them Their words of wisdom are like a rod of iron.

Elder Simeon the Pious

– One must always fear God and every day Investigate and discuss what is good and what is bad and condemn the good to oblivion, so as not to fall into it the passion of vanity and, on the contrary, to shed tears from confession and intense prayer.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Fear, which was previously united with the soul, through Repentance, fills him with thoughts of judgment. Then she is surrounded by the disease of hellish torments (Psalm 114:3); Sighs and sad pain with a tightness of the heart tormented her When thinking about the future, retribution for evil deeds. Then Conceived by many tears and labor in the womb of thoughts, the intention to find salvation, growing up, is born on earth the spirit of salvation, that is, determination, and liberation from torment at the thought of hell and liberation from weeping under through the passing of God’s judgment he takes to himself the Passion and joy of future blessings and meet with chastity, which with sincere love unite it with God. Uniting with God, the soul feels an indescribable sweetness, and from this it sheds tears of tenderness with pleasure with pleasure, becomes a stranger to compassion for everything that is in the world, and, as if in a lady, flows after Christ the Bridegroom, thus addressing Him without a voice with a voice: “I will swim after You in the stench of Your rest. The building of Him, my soul, will love Him, where will you come? Where you enjoy the noon of pure meditation (Song of Solomon 1:3, 6), so that I will be compelled to wander among the flocks of Your righteous friends, for the radiance of all the sacraments is with You.”

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

“If you have truly loved the Lord, and you have made an effort to secure the future of the Kingdom and have promised to work for the cause of your falls, then remember judgment and eternal torment, Waiting for his departure from this world with fear.

OF DEATH, THE LAST JUDGMENT, ETERNAL
TORMENT AND DWELLING IN PARADISE

Revered. Hesychius

“Let us, if possible, constantly remember Death, for from this memory is born in us the postponement of all the cares and vanities that guard the mind and unceasing prayer, impartiality to the body and aversion to sin, and almost, to tell the truth, every virtue that is alive and active from It appears. So, if possible, let’s do it Work is as continuous as our breathing.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– The Savior called many abode together with the Father the different measures of the mind of those who were established in this country, that is, the differences and differences in the spiritual gifts that the mind enjoys in proportion. After all, not by the difference in places, but by the degree of gifts, He called monasteries many.

– As long as everyone enjoys the sensual sun, according to the purity and acceptability of the power of vision, and from the same lamp in the same house, the illumination is different, Though the Light is not divided into many luminaries, so it will be in the future All the righteous sit inseparably on the throne in the same country, but each is illuminated in his own measure by the same mental sun, and to his dignity he attracts joy and gladness, At least from one air, from one place, from a throne, a sight and an image. And no one sees what his friend values higher and lower, so that if he sees a higher friend’s grace and his own deprivation, it is not for him the cause of sorrow and sorrow. There, everyone responds to what is given to him Grace rejoices inside in his measure. Beyond all is one spectacle and country, and besides these two degrees, I mean one country above, another below, in the middle of Their diversity lies in the difference from revenge.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“Death for those who understand it is immortality; but for the simple, who do not understand this, there is death. And this death is not to be feared, but to fear the destruction of the soul, which is the ignorance of God. That’s what Terrible for the Soul! Life is the unity and union of mind (spirit), soul and body, and death is not the destruction of these united parts and the disintegration of their union, all this God preserves even after dissolution. As from the mother’s womb comes Man, that is, the soul comes out of the body naked, and there is another Pure and bright, some of them stained with waterfalls, some black Many sins. Why does the rational and God-loving soul, remembering and reflecting on misfortunes and excesses after death, He lives devoutly, so that they may not be condemned and not condemned, and those who do not believe, do not feel and sin; Despising what is, fools in soul. As if you came out of the womb, you don’t remember what was in the womb, so when you come out of the womb the Body, you don’t remember what was in the body. From the moment you were born By departing from the body, you became a better and greater body, so by departing from the body Pure and unsullied, you will be better and incorruptible, remaining on Earth Heaven. Mortals must take care of themselves, knowing that in advance that death awaits them. After all, there is a blissful immortality in the fate of a venerable soul when it is good, and Eternal death meets it when it is evil. Remember this youth Your strength is gone, your strength is exhausted, and your weak strength is stronger and close It is already the time of your exit, when you have to answer everything, and know that there neither brother will redeem brother, nor will the Father give birth to a son. Always remember to leave the body and do not let go of the thought of eternal condemnation; If you do this Act, you will never sin.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– With threats and insults, the enemy boldly attacks the soul, having just left the body, looking bitter and terrible The condemner of its falls. But you can also see how the God-loving and faithful soul, although many times before it has suffered from sins, is not afraid of its attacks and threats, and even more it is strong in the Lord, it is full of joy, inspired by courage, to see the heavenly ones that accompany its power, and how the wall that surrounds it, the light of faith and with great boldness cries out against the evil devil: “What are you and us? strangers to God? What are you and we doing, cast down from heaven and slaves to Evil? You have no power over us; and Christ, the Son of God, has power over all things; Before Him they have sinned, before Him also Let us give an answer, having the guarantee of His mercy to us and salvation in Him is His honorable cross. You run on. From us, damn it! You have nothing in the servants of Christ” – from At last the devil breaks such bold words of the soul, he will utter a cry, powerless to resist the name of Christ; and the soul, which is higher than its essence, and soars above the enemy, as He is called swift-winged over the raven, carries the Divine angels in the state assigned to it.

Abba Dorotheus

“Who can remember the terrible places without the horror of the Torment, the fire, the darkness of ruthless servant-tormentors, and other sufferings spoken of in the Scriptures, Depart from me Curse into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and aggel (Matt. 25:41). And shame is only condemnation, Crushing and murderous! Sep. St. Chrysostom says: “If the River of Fire did not flow, and the terrible angels did not stand before them, but if only all people were called to the Judgment, and some were praised, they would be glorified, but others they were sent away with shame, so that they would not see the glory of God; then the punishment for this shame and dishonor and the sorrow of deprivation Isn’t this worse than any hell?”

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Death, in fact, is alienation from God; Sting and death are the sin into which Adam, having taken into himself, was once expelled from the tree of life, from paradise and from God; For and after that, bodily death inevitably occurred. Life, in fact, is the One who said: I… belly (John 14:6). This one, after death, came to life dead. The fear of hell leads those who are led into the said path (beginners) to avoid sin; the desire to reward good things gives readiness to those who succeed in the practice of virtues; a The mystery of love delights the mind above all created things, making it blind to everything that follows God. The Lord He makes him wise by showing the most divine. Looking for some of the Lovers to understand what will be the difference between the Eternal Abode and the Promised Inheritances, whether this place is determined by either the quantity and the quality of the spiritual Perfection of each? And for some, it seems like the first, and others the second. Who knoweth that the kingdom of God is in thee, and that which is in my Father’s house is the dwelling place of many of them (Luke 17:21; John 14:2), he will stand on the side of the other, the kingdom of God and the Father, according to the omnipotence of all believers; but by grace – in them who has completely laid aside all inclinations to the natural life, spiritual and bodily, and have acquired spiritual life, in this way that they can say to the apostle: “I do not live for him, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20).

“The end of this life is unjust, I think, to be called death, but rather liberation from death — removal from the sphere of corruption, liberation from slavery, cessation of anxiety, suppression of struggle, exit from darkness, rest from work, refuge from shame, escape from passions and, in general, that is, the limit of all evil. In them are saints, Corrected through gratuitous self-humiliation, we have created ourselves alien and strange in this life. For they fought valiantly against peace and flesh, as well as the rebellions that flow from them, and oppressing both, out of compassion for the sensual, generating deception, they preserved in the dignity of the soul.

Revered. Theognost

– What an indescribable and indescribable consolation when the Soul, with the certainty of salvation, separates from the body, folding Like a garment! For, so to speak, in the possession of the being of those who hope well, she leaves him without sorrow, goes in peace to the Angel who descends to her from above with joy and joy, and with him Passing through the airspace without hindrance, none without the attack of evil spirits, but in Ascending with joy with courage and grateful exclamations, until she reaches the worship of the Creator, and there he will be ordained to be placed in the assembly of similar kinsmen by virtue, Unto the general resurrection.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– Who, giving the time of his life to kindness, is constantly occupied with thoughts and memories of death, and By this means he most wisely distracts the mind from the passions, he usually sees more acutely the daily manifestations of demons than he who lives without memory mortal, hoping to purify his heart by the actions of one mind, and not always holding a sad and shameful thought. He who has an incessant thought of death is sharper than he who does not, noticing a mixture of demons, He conveniently drives them away and tramples them down. Many, indeed, virtues are combined with a deeper memory of death. She is the mother of weeping, the guide to universal abstinence, the reminder of hell, the mother of prayer and tears, the guardian of the heart, the source of selfishness and prudence, whose children: the fear of God and the purification of the heart from passionate thoughts encompass many of the commandments of the Lord. In such a heart you can see Then there was a struggle and a feat that was endured with extreme difficulty. But this is the only concern of many fighters of Christ.

Elijah Yekdik

“There is nothing more terrible and wonderful than the remembrance of death, the memory of God; One inspires saving sorrow, and this He fills us with spiritual joy. For the prophet David sings: “Remember God and rejoice” (Psalm 76:4), and the wisest teaches: remember your last thing and never sin (Ser. 7:39). The goodness of the Kingdom that is within us has not been seen by the peaceful Eye, nor has the ambitious ear heard, nor in the heart, deprived of the Holy Spirit, it has not been lifted up. They are promises of blessing that will be given to the righteous in the coming kingdom of God. Who does not enjoy these fruits of the Spirit here I cannot guarantee that to enjoy them there too.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– He who inspires fear of Judgment in the depths of his heart, he appears on the spectacle of the world as a kind of condemned, chained. Why is he seized by fear, as if he had been seized by a merciless executioner and sent to the place of execution, thinking of nothing else but the suffering and torment that he must endure torment in eternal fire. This feeling of pain is forever preserved in his heart by the fear that gave birth to him and with it does not allow him to take care of anything, because he is always in a state as if he had been hanged on the cross and he has felt in all his Power of illness and the suffering of death on the cross, which is not He does not allow him to listen to someone’s face and not think about honor or human dishonor. Honoring Himself with all his heart is worthy of all contempt and dishonor and no attention, He pays attention to the reproaches and humiliations inflicted on him.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– The last day will be opened by fire, and the fire will be The deeds of each of them are tested, says St. Paul. Paul (1 Corinthians 3:13), adding that whose works are essentially incorruptible, which he has set aside in himself for his creation, those they will remain incorruptible in the midst of the fire, and not only will they not be burned, but they will still become bright, completely cleansed of the trifles of any stains. And whose deeds are inherently perishable, which He has laid upon Himself a burden, and these, being inflamed, will be burned and burned. will leave him on fire with nothing. Works that are imperishable and enduring essence: tears of repentance, almsgiving, compassion, prayers, humility, faith, hope and every deed in the form of true divinity, which, and when man lives, are built in him as the holy temple of God, and when he dies, they go with him and live with him incorruptible forever. A Acts that decay in fire, as it is evident to all, are the essence: Love of pleasure, love of fame, love of money, hatred, envy, theft, drunkenness, irritation, condemnation, and all other things; committed by the flesh out of passion or anger. All such acts, and When a man lives, inflamed by passion, he smolders with but do not stay with him, but have been destroyed by fire, They leave their worker in the fire forever. centuries of flour.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

“Torment is different, as is the reward for good. All the torments in hell, according to the Scriptures, in a dark and gloomy land, in a land of eternal darkness (Job 10:21-22), where sinners They live before judgment and to which they return after saying the last command of God, according to the Scriptures: “Sinners will return to hell, and I will forbid death” (Psalm 9:11). 18; 48:15) – what else do they mean otherwise than the Last Judgment and eternal damnation.

“Fire, darkness, worm, tartarus correspond to the Passion: All kinds of splendor, all-encompassing darkness ignorance, irrepressible thirst for sensual pleasures, the stench of Stinky sin, which is like the origin and germs of hell torment – from here they begin to painfully affect the Soul of sinners when they take root by a long habit. Future Rewards and punishments are equally eternal, although for some it seems Otherwise. For some, the Divine Truth grants eternal life, and Eternal torment for others. Both have lived for good or evil, in the present age they will be rewarded for their deeds; the same number and The quality of retribution is determined by virtues or passions, an ingrained habit. How the hidden foundations of future blessings are inseparable in the hearts of the righteous and work spiritually as well as are inspired, for the kingdom of heaven is a virtuous life, As hellish torments are passionate habits. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a God-given tabernacle because it will also have two veils in the future, like Moses’, of which all who are sanctified by grace will enter the first and second, but only the most perfect. He named many monasteries The Savior is there in different states. The kingdom is one, but many have differences within themselves, according to the difference that enter into it with virtue, knowledge and a measure of adoration. For there is another glory to the sun, another glory to the moon, another glory to the stars: And the star differs from the star in glory, though they all shine in the Divine heaven (1 Og. 15:41). In the time to come, they say, angels and saints will never cease to succeed in multiplying gifts, striving for greater and greater benefits. And humiliation or the Transition from virtue to sin is not allowed in this era.

NARROW AND WIDE PATH

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– Throughout the space of Scripture, only those who follow the narrow path, but those who have entered by the broad path and the Great Mountain everywhere anticipate grief. Let’s go wide that leads to destruction, and enter the narrow one, so that, having worked a little here, I rule for endless ages. Let us work, always having before the eyes of the Come to judge the living and the dead, and always remembering eternal life, the infinite Kingdom rejoicing with the Angels, living with God. Let us walk the narrow and discreet path, loving repentance, so that the Memory of death may live in us, and that we may be freed from condemnation, for they say: “Woe… To those who are laughing now, you will weep and weep” (Luke 6:25). Blessed are those who grieve now, for they will be comforted (Matt. 5:4). Let’s look into the grave and see the secrets of our nature – a pile of bones lying on top of each other, skulls open from flesh and other bones. Looking at them, we will see ourselves in them. Where is the beauty of true color? Where is the vision of Impudence? Thinking about this, let us renounce the passions of the flesh, so that we may not be ashamed of the general resurrection of the dead.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– How to overcome previously rooted sin? Self-compulsion is required. For they say: “A man gives birth, he labors and forces (forcibly drives away) his own destruction (Prov. 16:26), always greedy, To exalt his thoughts to the saint. Violence through violence Destruction is not prohibited by laws (violence of sin through violence Good aspirations).

Approx. Abba Zosima

– In the pursuit of freedom lies all power. A fervent will in one hour can bring God more He would be pleasing to Him than a long effort without Him. A sluggish and lazy will is ineffective.

“If any of the Methuselahites live through the summer and do not follow the straight path that all the saints walked – I speak of the ways of shame and injustice of reproach and courageous endurance – he has not done will prosper neither more nor less, nor will he find what is hidden in the treasure commandment, but all the years will be in vain of his life.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– What is the way of Christ and our God in the Gospel called it cramped and pitiful, and then a good and light burden (Matt. 11:30). How can both options be done? What seems to be the opposite is seen in the same thing? So: By its nature this path is cruel and difficult, but in its essence the will of those who do it, and according to good hopes desired, loved and sweeter than the sad Souls of good lovers. Therefore, you see that those who have chosen this path, narrow and sad, follow Him more easily. The knife is spacious and wide. Listen to what he says Blessed Luke about the apostles, how they were whipped and returned from the presence of the cathedral rejoicing (Acts 5:41). But in the end, Not the quality of the scourges: not sweetness and joy, but sadness and they cause diseases. But if the scourges were sweet to Christ for the sake of what is wonderful, if for His sake and other forms of suffering AND is there not the bitterness of the flesh?

Elijah Yekdik

– It is not the same – to whom the world was crucified and to whom He Himself was crucified for the world. For some, the nails are starvation and vigilance, while for others, it is greed and self-deprecation. K Moreover, without the second, the labor of the first is useless. Many are the Ascension to the cross of suffering (voluntary bodily deprivation), but few accept its nails (nail it to the “I” forever). Many are slaves to willful obedience; but they voluntarily surrender to shame Only those who have given up ambition.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“Let us awaken from our sleep while we are still in the flesh Let us sigh for ourselves and weep for ourselves With all our hearts day and night, to be saved from this terrible torment, mourning, weeping and suffering that will not be End, let us beware of entering the broad gates and broad paths that lead to destruction, although many follow it, But let’s go through the narrow gate and through the strait path that leads to the belly Very few follow them, and those who go last are true workers who are rewarded for their work with joy, and Inherit the kingdom.

“Who is not yet quite ready to appear there – I beg him not to be negligent until time has passed, so that at the right time so as not to run out of oil, moreover so that there is no one will want to sell it. After all, that’s exactly what happened to those five stupid virgins who didn’t find anyone Buy. Then they cried out with tears, saying, “Lord, Lord, reveal these things to us. And he said unto them, Amen, amen; I say to you, I did not hear you” (Matt. 25:11-12). And this happened to them for no other reason than that of laziness. Then they woke up and began to bother, but it was useless, because the Master at home He got up and closed the door as written. I’ll give you another one Here’s an example. When Noah himself entered the ark with their sons and wives, and also with all the rest who were with them And he shut the door of the ark because of the waters; sent upon those who do evil, he no longer opened the doors of the Ark and his sons could not bear to see this terrible thing a sight to be punished by the wicked; Moreover, these wicked ones, when the doors were closed, could not enter there, so that they could be with the righteous, but they all perished by the water because of his laziness and disobedience. For Noah, during the hundred years he built the ark, He constantly called them to a better life, but they did not listen, they disobeyed Him, and so they perished.

LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOR

Revered. Seraphim of Sarov

God is a fire that warms and inflames hearts and wombs. If we feel cold in our hearts, then we will cry out to the Lord, and He, when He comes, will warm our hearts with the perfection of love not only for Him, but also for His loved ones.

Revered. John Klimack

– Love is the source of Divine fire in the heart.

Philo of Alexandria

– He who has reached the stage of Divine contemplation becomes stable in virtue, because he clings to love for God, forgets about everything else, and what He has received He will not prefer earthly goods to blessings.

Abba Dorotheus

“Imagine a circle with the center in the middle and radius rays coming from the center. These radii are the farther away from the center, the more they diverge and move away from each other friend; on the contrary, the closer they are to the center, the closer they get to each other. Now suppose that this circle is equal to peace; in the very center of the circle there is God, and the straight lines (radii) going from the center to the circle or from the circle In the center is the path of people’s lives. And this is the same thing: as much as the saints enter the circle to its center, wishing to draw closer to God, so much so that when they enter, they become closer to God and to each other… So, understand the deletion as well. When they drift away from God… to the same extent AND how far they are from each other, and how far they are from each other; so many people drift away from God. This is the quality of love: To the extent that we are outside and do not love God, to the extent that we are each also separated from our neighbor. But if we love God, then the closer we get to God through love for Him, the more We are united by love for our neighbors, and just like with our neighbors, so much do we unite with God. That is: 1) the more a person shows mercy and loves people, the closer he is to God, and (2) the more a person feels personal Divinity in his heart, the more he loves people.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– When we communicate with each other With envy, simplicity, love, peace and joy, Consider the success of our neighbor as our own achievements, infirmities, shortcomings and sorrows By acknowledging our own damages, we will be able to fulfill the law of Christ. This is truly an angelic life!

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Without love for one’s neighbor, the mind cannot be enlightened Conversation and love.

– Love caused by something is both a small lamp nourished by oil that sustains it His light. Or like a stream flooded with rain, which Stream stops with the impoverishment of its component rain Water. But love, the author of which is God, is the same as a fountain that grows out of the earth: its streams are never interrupted, because He Himself is the source of this love, and Its food is inexhaustible.

– The completion of the fruits of the Spirit occurs when they are confirmed, which is full of love. This is how it is known: when the memory that God is awakened in the mind, and then immediately in the heart is aroused by the love of God, and the eyes shed tears generously. After all, love usually brings tears from the memory of a loved one; And whoever is like that never fails in tears, for there never ceases in him that which draws him to the memory of God. Therefore, even in his dreams, he talks to God, because love has the right to generate it, and so it is the perfection of human beings in modern life.

– The love of God is naturally hot when it attacks someone, without measure, makes that soul go berserk. Therefore, the heart of the one who feels it cannot contain it and endure it, but according to the quality (own) and the love found in it, it is perceived as an unusual change. But Her gestures are sensual: her face becomes fiery and joyful And her body warms up. Shame and fear recede, and it happens Man seems to be delighted; The power that gathers the mind flees from And he is, so to speak, smitten. He commemorates a terrible death He is joyful, and the contemplation of his mind never experiences him Any interruption in contemplation of heavenly things. But absent, as present, he talks, invisible Nobody. His knowledge and sight naturally disappear, and sensually he does not feel his movement, which moves between things. After all, although he does something, it is almost the same not feeling it, because his mind is elevated in reflection and his thoughts It always seems as if he is talking to someone else. To these spiritual Apostles and Martyrs were once intoxicated with ecstasy; and alone they traveled all over the world, working hard and enduring reproaches and others shed their blood like water and endured the most terrible suffering, did not fall into weakness, but bravely all They endured and, being wise, were considered foolish. May God help us to achieve such a mood!

– First you need to gain Divine love, and after that – spiritual contemplation (the Descent of Revelations, knowledge and mysterious reflections) will be natural for us.

– The soul that loves God, in God and in Him First, finds rest for itself.

– Fear God out of love for Him, and not because of the terrible name given to Him.

– Bless always with your lips, and you will not be slandered, for from the raft is born rebuke, and from a blessing is a blessing.

“A friend who secretly condemns is a wise physician, and he who heals in the sight of many is a scoffer.

“Be friendly with all people and your thoughts Stay alone.

– Do not hate the sinner, for we are all We are responsible. If you rebel against him, for God’s sake, And why should you hate him? Hate his sin and pray for him to become like Christ, who He did not get angry with sinners, but prayed for them.

Revered. Anthony the Great.

“Do all you can to be glorified through you are your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

– Love for God is the strongest stimulus: zeal in pleasing God. Sep. The apostle himself knew that love is stronger than fear, and said: I no longer fear God, but I love Him (that is, I am not overcome by fear, how to hold myself, but by love), because love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

“And he convinces others that above all else they cultivated in themselves the love of God as indestructible and It does not disappear. So, when one day the brothers asked him, “Is it better to please God?” he replied, “The most pleasant thing for God” is a matter of love. It is accomplished by those who are constantly praising God in their pure thoughts, excited by the remembrance of God, the memory of the promised blessings, and all that He is meant to be glad to reach us. From the memory of all these things is born full love, as it is commanded: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul thy and all thy strength (Deut. 6:5), and as it is written: As a stag desireth springs of water, my soul desireth thee, O God” (Psalm 41:2). Here’s the thing, we must please God so that they too may be fulfilled in us the words of the Apostle: “Who will separate us; of the love of God? Sadness, whether it is suffering, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or Trouble or the sword? Nothing (Romans 8:35).

The brothers asked St. Anthony: “If anyone says, I will not take anything from the brothers, and I myself will not be anything to them. To give is enough for me; Delicious?” Anthony replied, “My children! Who is cruel. The heart, and his soul is the soul of a lion. It should be taken into account alienated from the community of all good people.”

“The greatest indignation is the indignation to command another to do what you yourself do not do, because We will not get any benefit from the actions of others.

“Whoever does not accept instructions, do not speak to him.”

– Try to achieve this, all people have blessed you.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“My brother said, ‘What do you have to do, father, to be with God continuously?’ The elder answered: it is impossible for the mind to always be with one God if it does not acquire the following virtues: love, abstinence and prayer. Love tames anger, abstinence dries up passion, and prayer, which separates reason from all thoughts, personifies the naked to God Himself. These three virtues unite all truths, and without them, the mind cannot live with the one God.

– Love is the good disposition of the soul, according to and does not prefer anything that exists to know God. But in such an amateurish mood it is impossible to come to someone who is addicted to something earthly.

– Love is born from impenetrability, from impenetrability hope in God, hope from patience and generosity – these last are the last ones – from abstinence in everything, abstinence from the fear of God, but the fear of faith in God.

“Whose mind is attached to God by love, it is of no use He places everything visible, even his body, as if it were someone else’s.

“Blessed is the mind that, passing by all beings, is constantly fascinated by the Divine beauty.

“He who loves God lives an angelic life on earth, fasting and vigilance, and always for every man Think well.

“Who loves what he wants to accept in every possible sense, and he puts aside everything that hinders him so that it can not be lose. In the same way, he who loves God takes care of pure prayer, and Every passion that hinders him in this way spits out of himself.

– The brother said: “Here, father, I have left everything: kinship, possessions, pleasures and the glory of peace, so I have nothing; in addition to this body; and yet a brother who hates me and I cannot love him who turns away from me, even though I need to. Not to repay him evil for evil. Say that I am guilty so that I can love such a person from the heart, and Everyone who insults me and slanders me.” The elder replied, “It is impossible to love someone who offends even one who has denied the world and everything in the world, if he really does not know the purpose of the Lord. When he gives it to him, the Lord will know all things, and will be zealous to walk according to its commandment; then he will be able to love with all his heart the one who hates her, and they have insulted her, as did the apostles who loved her.”

– Why did the Lord command us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:11). 44)? To free you from hatred, grief, anger, memory and guarantee the greatest Acquisition of perfect love, which it is impossible for him to have who does not love all people equally, according to God’s example, all people who love and desire everything equally… to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).

– Perfect love does not divide the same essence of men according to their different moral principles, but always looking to He loves all men equally: He loves the good as friends, and the unkind as enemies who do them good, long-suffering, to endure what they have done, in no way thanking them for their guilt, but even suffering for them when the opportunity demands, so that, if possible, make them your friends; but, if both Impossible, she still does not deviate from her affection for them, always manifesting the fruits of love for all people in the same way. But our Lord and God Jesus Christ, who shows His love for us, He suffered for all mankind and gave everyone equally the hope of resurrection, although everyone creates himself worthy of either glory or the torments of hell.

– Take care of yourself, isn’t it in you and not in your brother, there is an evil that separates you from your brother and speeds up to be reconciled with him, so as not to deviate from the commandment of love.

Approx. Diadochi

“I saw a man who was still sad and crying that he did not love God as if He wanted to, though he loved Him so much, who constantly carried in his soul a burning desire that only God remained in him, and he himself was nothing. Such a person does not know who he is, and because of the very praise to him, He does not take pleasure in what is said. For in the great passion of humility he does not understand his own dignity, but, serving God, as the law commands priests who have a strong character for the love of God, steals the memory of his dignity, nowhere in the depths of his love for God, hiding his innate pride in a spirit of humility, so that in his thoughts he may always appear before him, an inseparable slave, as a complete stranger of dignity, which was demanded of him, out of a strong passion for Modesty. In acting in this way, we must also flee from all honor and glory, for the bountiful riches of the love of the Lord, who loved us so much.

– He who loves God in the feeling of the heart is known from Him. After all, everyone in the feeling of the heart accepts the love of God, the ceiling itself is in the love of God. For He constantly burns in his heart with the inexhaustible fire of love, he needs to be genuinely attached to God, completely renouncing self-love with this power of God’s love. If we lose patience, says the Apostle. Paul, then for God; if humbly, then for the sake of (2 Corinthians 5:13). A soul not freed from the world He will not love God sincerely, he will not love the devil He will freeze if it is worth it. The care of this life belongs to it like a heavy veil, and reason cannot establish it within itself the judicial seat of its own judicial seat, so that it itself may feel to hear the unquestionable verdicts of the court of conscience. Why Separation from the world is necessary in all possible aspects.

– Let faith lead spiritual contemplation, hope and love, and above all, love; for faith and hope are taught only to despise visible goods and to love He unites the soul itself with virtues with God, with a rational sense of understanding the Invisible.

“He who loves himself does not love God, and he who loves himself He does not love himself because of the abundant riches of God’s love, he truly loves only God.

– When someone begins to feel a deep love for God, Then, in spiritual feelings, he begins to love his neighbor, and when he begins, he does not stop: with such love all the Holy Scriptures speak. Carnal love, not being bound spiritually feeling as soon as the opportunity arises, even some Minor cause, evaporates very easily. Spiritual love is not like that: but, although it sometimes suffers grief in a crazy soul that is under the influence of God, the union of love is not broken, because you have warmed yourself with the warmth of love for God, he immediately returns to a good mood and with great joy accepts the love of his neighbor, although he has received a great offense from him or has suffered great harm; for then, by the sweetness of God, the bitterness of discord is completely absorbed.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– Love is rightly called the mother of virtues, the head of the law and the prophets. Let us take up all the work until we begin Let us improve honorable love, and through it let us snatch it from the tyranny of passion and exaltation to heaven, rising on the wings of virtue, and let us see God as far as it is possible for human nature.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– He who is deeply wounded by the love of God does not have sufficient bodily forces to satisfy this dispensation; for in the toil and sweat of asceticism there is no satiation for him Location. Being in a state similar to that in which he is tormented by intense thirst, he cannot do anything to quench his inner burning thirst; day and He is willing to work at night, but the strength of the body leaves him. I believe that the same supernatural heat of love being taken captive, and the martyrs of Christ felt no torment and they had no food, giving themselves up to them; But they overcame themselves by inflamed zeal for God, and always found their suffering far from the measure of their ardent desire to suffer for the Lord. The beginning of the love of God is the contempt of visible and human things; The middle is the purification of the heart and mind, from which the mind of intelligent eyes and the knowledge of the Kingdom of Heaven hidden in us are opened; and the end is an unquenchable thirst for the supernatural gifts of God and a natural desire to commune with God and rest in Him.

Abba Thalassius

“A mind that has received spiritual love does not think of its neighbor at all, which is not befitting love.

“True love is won by the one who does not suspect, He does not allow a single word against his neighbor.

“Under the guise of love, hypocrisy is hidden by him who blesses with his lips but despises with his heart.

“Don’t touch your brother mysterious, suspicious In other words, if this happens, you can’t stand it yourself.

Saints. Callistus and Ignatius

– Through all good things or moral goodness the beginning, the middle and the end, if you will, dancer and Leader, there is faith, hope and love – these are the three braided and divine ropes – most of all to love, for God is love (1 John 4:8), then It is unfair not to make up for what is still lacking. current job; Moreover, according to St. Isaac the Syrian, “The completion of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit appears when someone is confirmed by perfect love.” Klimak writes: “Now remain with these three, who bind and In her are faith, hope, and love, and above all, love, for God is called by it (1 Cor. 13; 1 In. 4). In my opinion, Understanding, the first of them is a ray, the second is light, and the third is a circle; However, they are one radiance and one Radiance. The former can create and order everything; The Second Grace God surrounds and makes them shameless; the third one never falls, does not cease to be a mother-in-law and does not allow the wounded from her to rest from blissful ecstasy.”

– The word about love is known to the Angels, but also by the actions of God loving, and whoever wants to talk about what His limit is – he, being blind, tries to count the sand in the Abyss of the Sea. Love in its quality is a likeness to God as far as it is available to mortals; Author Action – Intoxication of the Soul; By its nature, it is the source of Faith, the abyss of long patience, the sea of humility. Love is real – it is the postponement of every opposite thought, for the sake of love… thinks no evil (1 Cor. 13:5). With love, impenetrability and sonship differ only in names. How to do it Light, fire and flame merge in one action, so understand and Regarding these.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“Love God and do not attach yourself to your people more than to your own for Him, otherwise, according to His word, you will be recognized as unworthy of Him, even though you do not want it.

Natural love of God and grace full of grace

– There is natural love in the soul, and there is love from the Holy Spirit. Poured into her. She, if we will, comes to her senses Corresponding movement and from our will, why it is conveniently plundered by evil spirits as soon as we cease to be in intensified Tension to preserve the will. And this one is simply a burning soul with the love of God, that all parts of the soul are attached to the indescribable sweetness of Divine love in an infinite certain simplicity of character, for then the mind, so to speak, filled to be with spiritual (grace-filled) action (energy), radiates a generous stream of love and joy.

Love for neighbors

Approx. Diadochi

– When someone begins to feel a deep love for God, Then, in spiritual feelings, he begins to love his neighbor and, having begun, he does not stop: such is the love of which all the Holy Scriptures speak. Carnal love, not being bound by a spiritual feeling, as soon as an opportunity arises, even a minor cause, evaporates very easily. Love spiritual is not like that, but although it suffers a little grief in a crazy soul that is under the influence of God, the union of love is not broken, because you are warmed with the warmth of love for God, he immediately returns to a good mood and with great joy accepts the love of his neighbor, although there was much from him Suffers resentment or great harm, for then the sweetness of God completely absorbs the bitterness of discord.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“Let us love one another, and let God love us. Let us be patient with one another, and He will be long-suffering in Our sins. Let us not return evil for evil, and He will not reward us according to our sins. We will find the forgiveness of our sins in the forgiveness of our brothers; for God’s mercy toward us is hidden in our mercy toward our neighbors. For this reason, the Lord said, “Let them go, and they will let you go” (Luke 6:37). And if you forgive a man his transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matt. 6:14). After that, our salvation is already in our will.

“If love does not make evil sincere (Rom. 13:10), then he who is jealous of his brother comes to his sorrow with good repute, obscuring his name with slander, or does he who slander him with a bad disposition, does he not make himself a stranger to Love and guilty of eternal damnation?

If love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:10), then the one who remembers his anger against his brother prepares traps For the one who curses him and rejoices in his fall, doesn’t he? transgressor, and is he not worthy of eternal torment?

– If he who slanders and condemns his brother. slanders the law and condemns the law (James 4:11), the law but the love of Christ is (John 13:34), then the slander does not depart from the love of Christ, does he not make for himself the culprit of eternal torment?

“But I say unto you, saith the Lord, that love is thy enemies. Do good to those who hate you, and pray for them those who harm you (Matt. 5:44). Why did He command? This? To free you from hatred, grief, anger, memory and guarantee the greatest Acquisition of perfect love, which it is impossible for him to have who does not love all men equally, according to God’s example, all men who love equally and desire all salvation, and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).

– Men love with praise or with humility for the following five reasons: either for God’s sake, as the Virtuous love all, and the virtuous love even the virtuous who are not virtuous; or by nature, as parents love children, and vice versa; or out of vanity, as one who is praised by a boaster; or for his own benefit, like a rich man for a salary; or by To the love of sensuality, as to that which acts in the belly, and to that which is under the belly, who makes feasts. The first of them is praiseworthy, the second is mutual, the others are passionate.

“Temptation from your brother has happened to you, and Grief has pushed you to hatred — do not give up With hatred, but overcome hatred with love. To defeat her you can do it: pray sincerely to God for him, accept what is offered to you Excuse from your brother or heal yourself with his excuse, making yourself the author of the temptation and placing yourself in the Endure until the cloud passes.

– Do not rush to reject spiritual love, because there is no other way to salvation for people.

The reasons why love dissolves are the following: Dishonor, trauma, slander or persuasion, or hagiographies, beatings, beatings, wounds, etc.; and more than that, when it happens either to yourself or to one of his relatives and friends. To break love for any of these reasons I have not yet learned what the purpose of Christ’s commandments is.

“We should honor ourselves and each other in this way, and love as Christ Himself was the first to show by His example, Deciding to suffer for us.

– If you want to get rid of passionate thoughts, Get abstinence and love for your neighbor.

Merciful Heart

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“I was asked what a merciful heart is, and He said, ‘The kindling of the human heart—for all creation, O people, birds, animals, demons, and every creature. At the memory of them and at the sight of them, the Person vomits tears. Out of great and intense pity, engulfing the heart, and the heart touches great patience and he cannot endure, hear or see any harm or sorrow that this being has experienced. Therefore, also from the dumb, and from the enemies of the truth, and from those who do so Every hour with tears brings him harm, so they were saved and merciful, and also in nature He prays to the reptiles with great pity, which awakens infinitely in his heart to become like God in everything.

REPENTANCE

Revered. John Cassian

– Perfect repentance consists in not doing more than those sins of which we repent and of which we condemn our conscience; and the proof of their satisfaction on our side and their forgiveness for us is the expulsion from our hearts of Our very compassion for them.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Someone was asked: what is repentance? And he answered: renunciation of the first and sorrow for him, as well as a heart of Remorse and modesty.

– When a person, remembering his past sins, punishes himself, then God looks at him with good will. God rejoices that by deviating from His path, the man himself is punished, which is a sign of repentance. And the more he forces his soul, the more he multiplies God’s goodwill towards him.

– Repentance is the second grace and is born of faith and fear; and fear is the Father’s rod that guides us until we reach the spiritual paradise of blessings; after which he departs from us.

– The stinking sea between us and the mental paradise can We only go to the boat of repentance, on which the rower fears. But if the rowers of fear do not steer the ship of repentance in which we cross over to God on the sea of this world, what are we drowning in This stinking sea.

Repentance is the ship, and fear is its pilot; love is the Divine Haven. Fear leads us to the Ship of Repentance, transports on the fetid sea of life and it leads you to the Divine harbor that is love. K Everyone comes to this harbour, heavy and burdened, because of repentance. And when we achieve love, then we have attained God, and our path is perfect.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“My brother said, ‘Why don’t I have this, father?’ Smashing? The elder replied, “For you and I do not have the fear of God before our eyes, for we have become a refuge for all evil, and we despise the terrible forgiveness of God as empty representations.

– The fruit of repentance is the impenetrability of the soul; Impenetrability A is a cover for sin. We do not yet have perfect dispassion if we are sometimes cooled by passions, and Sometimes not.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– Repentance is a feast for God, because the Gospel affirms that God rejoices more in one repentant sinner, than ninety-nine righteous ones (Luke 15:7).

– Repentance, the creation of a feast for God, is also called heaven At the banquet. The angels rejoice when repentance calls them to the Supper. All the heavenly ranks are victorious, lifted up to the joy of repentance.

– Do not say: today I will sin, and tomorrow I will repent, but It is better to repent today, because we do not know if we will live to see tomorrow.

We were freed from the sin of our ancestors through Holy Baptism — from the very sins we dared to perform Baptism — we are freed only through repentance.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

Let us condemn ourselves, and the Judge will be merciful, for He, as good, rejoices when he sees that the sinner is wasting his burden.

“If we have done something unclean, let’s think. repentance, because we must present the image of God in the very pure.

“The wise one who stands before the perfect Repentance does not cease to remember his sins with sorrow and for the righteous punishment for them in eternal fire.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“Day and night of pain for your sins.

– Do not turn your sins into a mind, there is no time. Committed by You, so that they may not be renewed again. Be sure that they forgave you the moment you betrayed and do not doubt yourself before God and in repentance, and do not doubt it in the slightest. About us the delights and delights that you enjoyed during Don’t remember your negligence and don’t start talking about it saying: I did this or broke it, because it can serve you in stumbling. About the passions with which he worked You in the world, do not mention it at all, so as not to awaken his passions again, and it will not become an obstacle for you.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– The sin committed almost immediately drives away the penitent for God, as soon as he comes to his senses, the stench, the burden and the Fury of sin. Whoever does not want to bow down before repentance, he does not force him to God, but keeps him close to him and binds him with unbreakable fetters, making strong even the most fierce destructive desires.

– When any of those who try hard is defeated, let him not lose his courage and do not relax his mood, but under the influence of the words of Isaiah, straighten up, yes. complacent, singing the following song: Mighty, Submit: O evil demons! For if thou canest, for thou shalt be overcome, and if thou counselest, thou shalt perish, O Lord… for God is with us (Isaiah 8:9-10). God who lifts the spell down and makes our enemies be torn apart by sorrow and exasperation if we soon repent.

– How to overcome previously rooted sin? Self-compulsion is required. For they say: A man gives birth, he labors and forces (forcibly drives away) his own destruction (Prov. 16:26), always greedy, to raise thoughts of grief to the saint. Violence through violence Destruction is not prohibited by laws (violence of sin through violence Good aspirations).

Abba Zosima

– In the pursuit of freedom lies all power. A fervent will in one hour can bring God more He would be pleasing to Him than a long effort without Him. A sluggish and lazy will is ineffective.

“If any of the Methuselahites live the summer and do not follow the straight path that all the saints have taken, I speak of the way of dishonor and unjust reproaches, and having courageously endured them, he will not succeed in any and will not find the treasure hidden in the commandments, but only he will waste all the years of his life in vain.

Elijah Yekdik

– Those who do not have the desire to bring repentance – they sin more often; And those who are not in the place of sin, which is convenient repentance, in which, moreover, rarely, and there is a need.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– Regarding slipping, St. Isaac the Syrian says: “Do not then let us be sad when we slip something, but when we become rigid, because slipping happens often with the perfect, and to be rigid in the same is perfect death. The sadness we feel for our Mistakes, instead of pure work, are attributed to us according to Grace. Whoever slips in the hope of repentance secondly, he acts deceitfully before God. An unknown attack of death for such a person leaves him no time to, as he hoped, repent and exercise virtues.”

He (St. Isaac the Syrian) says: “Every hour we must know that in these 24 hours of the day and night we need Repentance. The meaning of the word “repentance”, as we thought of the immovable property of things, is this: it belongs with prayer full of repentance, approaching God’s Unceasing petition for forgiveness of the past and sickness for the preservation of the future. Grace for grace to people Repentance is given at baptisms, because repentance is a second birth from God.”

Revered. Theognost

– We will not be punished in the next century for having sinned and should not be condemned for this reason, having received a changeable and fickle nature; but if not affected by the fact that, having sinned, they did not repent and turn away from the evil path to the Lord, having received strength and having time for repentance. God is kind and merciful to those who repent, even though He is portrayed as threatening and evil; but this is for evil and sin, and not for us; which he is always ready to accept as soon as he sees a tear of Remorse on our face. When you accidentally enter Do not tremble, but quickly straighten up, hurry up to return to your former well-being with grief, regret, self-reproach and tears, a satisfied outpouring of remorse of the soul; Thanks to this, coming out of the fall that has occurred, you will enter the Breast of saving joy, putting in the heart forward to stand steadfast, otherwise, having angered God the Judge again, he would not be able to need tears and repentance for purification; for if this does not happen here, then, of course, in the future there will be torments worthy.

Revered. John Klimack

– Before falling into sin, demons personify for us a God who is philanthropic, and after the fall, he is extremely strict.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– To feel pangs of conscience here or in the future is not Everyone, but only those who sin against faith and love. She, holding the sword of jealousy and reproach open, without regret of torment. He who resists sin and flesh receives comfort, but He who obeys them is tormented by it until Repent. And if they do not repent, the torment passes with them into the Other life there will last forever.

Approx. Diadochi

Those of us who have become partakers of holy knowledge we certainly have to provide an account and an involuntary fusion of mind, as Job says: You are a transgressor (Job 14:17) and righteous. For if anyone always remembers God, he will not remember not to neglect His holy commandments, neither will he involuntarily nor fall into voluntary sin. We must immediately engage in compulsions to bring the broken confession to the Lord, applying it to the fulfillment of the ordinary beginning of the prayer rule. But if we do not deserve these forced confessions of sins, then during our exit fear We will find something uncertain in ourselves. And we, who love the Lord, are right to desire and pray, so that at that time we may be Who will be free from all fear, for then whoever fears will not pass by the princes of hell, because they consider this timidity of the soul a sign of his participation in their evil, as well as in themselves. And the soul that rejoices in the love of God in the hour of separation from the angels of the world, that rushes over all the dark hordes, because such a soul is somehow inspired by spiritual Love, having in this love completely, without any lack, the observance of the law. Why do those who have come from this life have such courage, and at the second coming of the Lord they will be overtaken with all the saints. Those who at the time of death will be a little stricken with fear and then remain in the crowd of all other people, like those who are on trial, so that After being tested by the fire of judgment, the inheritance due to them for their deeds is received from the good God.

MODESTY

Revered. Anthony the Great

– If a person does not have extreme modesty – humility with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his spirit, with all his soul and body – then he will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

– Love humility, and it will cover all your sins. Do not envy the one who rises, but it is better to count all men higher than you, so that God Himself may be with you.

– Be humble in everything: in your posture, in your clothes, in your sitting, standing, walking in your cell and in everything, His accessories. If they praise you for your deeds, don’t rejoice about it, and don’t enjoy them, hide them as much as you can, don’t allow yourself to talk about them with anyone, and try in every possible way so that people don’t praise you. Be afraid of being known for any of your actions.

– If someone innocently reproaches you for sin, Humble yourself, and you will receive a crown.

– To learn that your tongue in all cases, in Constantly and to every brother he said: “Forgive me.”

“Love your work, obey everyone, be silent prisoner — and you will achieve humility. Modesty will attract the forgiveness of all your sins.

“In the first place, consider yourself nobody,” and This will cause humility in you; Humility is a science (experience and common sense); and science is faith; Faith is hope; hope is love; Love – obedience; Obedience will give birth to unchanging steadfastness (firmness in kindness).

“If we fight for a good fight, we must humble ourselves exceedingly before God, so that He, who knows weakness, may cover us with his right hand and preserve us; if we be exalted in pride, He will take His veil from us, and we We will perish.

“If anyone undertakes the feat of silence, let him not think that any virtue is disappearing, but let the Heart remain, for it is silent, because it is not worthy to speak.

– Sept. Anthony heard a voice while praying, “Anthony, you haven’t reached the level of a shoemaker Alexandria yet.” He said, “I don’t know I’ve ever done anything good. Why, Getting out of bed in the morning, before going to work, I said: “Everyone in this city, young and old, will enter the kingdom of God for my good works: I alone will be condemned for my sins Eternal torment.”

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– Committing God to God, do not be exalted; But when you pray to the Lord, say, Yours of yours I offer unto thee; O Lord, I ask of You only the salvation of my soul.”

– Know how beautiful modesty is, and choose it yourself, because it elevates you to heaven. A good reward is offered to you for humility – the Kingdom of Heaven: Do not despise him!

– God appears not only in works, but in their presence in simplicity and humility, although the power of God is fulfilled in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), but is not humble The Lord will reject the worker.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

Anyway, let’s turn to humility, for the Humble One lies on the ground, and the one who lies on the ground, where can the Fall? But it is convenient for the one who is on top to fall. If we are converted and corrected – it is not from us – it is a gift from God, for the Lord makes the blind wise: the Lord raises up the cast down (Psalm 145:8).

– You should consider yourself a sinner above all others sinners who have done nothing good before God, always reproach themselves, in every place and for everything The point is not to blaspheme someone and not find a person on earth who would be more sinful and lazy than you.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– True righteous people always think within themselves that they are unworthy of God, and the very fact that they are true righteous is evident from the fact that they themselves recognize the cursed and unworthy of God’s care, and admit it secretly and openly planned by the Holy Synod. To stay in Labor and suffering while they are in this life. Time God kept them calm in the future. And to have the living Lord in them, so they themselves do not desire peace, and to be freed from sorrow, although sometimes it is given to them a mysterious consolation in the spiritual. Whether someone has attained humility, he learns from it, if he considers it disgusting for himself to please the world through their communication with him or by word, and if in his eyes the Glory of this world is hateful. Pilgrimage, poverty and Loneliness are what Humility is born and the heart is purified.

– Humility, through constant self-restraint (abstinence, poverty of clothing, etc.), He comes to reflection and adorns the soul with chastity.

– He who humbly endures that he is doomed to be charged, he has reached perfection, and the Holy Scriptures are amazed at him. Angels. For no other virtue will be so lofty and incomprehensible. He who is truly humble is unreasonable, does not take offense or defend himself In this, he has no excuse, but accepts slander as truth, and He does not try to assure people that he is slandered, but asks for forgiveness.

– A person who already knew the measure From his weakness he reached the perfection of humility.

– Grace precedes humility and punishment – self-confidence.

– There is humility out of fear of God, there is humility out of love for God, and this happens through joy.

– The assembly of the humble is loved by God, like the Council of Seraphim.

Humility and chastity prepare the soul for the Holy Spirit. The promise of a wedding to the Trinity.

Abba Dorotheus

– One of the elders said: “First, we need humility.” The elder shows us that neither the fear of God, nor almsgiving, nor faith, nor abstinence, nor anything else Virtue can be attained without humility. By humility, all the arrows of the enemy are crushed and the enemy’s. All the Saints walked this path and worked. Behold my humility and my work, and forsake all sins, “Thou shalt humble thyself,” crieth David, and again: Humble yourselves, and I am the Lord (Psalm 24:18; 114:5).

The same elder said: “Humility does not affect anyone, He is evil and does not irritate anyone. Modesty attracts the grace of God. And the grace of God came, He frees the soul from these two heavy passions. For what could be more sad than to be angry with one’s neighbor and to be angry with him? It frees the soul from every passion and from every temptation.”

– When Saint Anthony saw how all the nets were scattered And sighing, he asked God: “Who then avoids them?” – then God answered him: “Humility avoids them”; and what is even more astonishing, added, “They don’t even have to touch it.” If something sad happens to the humble, he immediately condemns himself, considering himself worthy and will not reproach anyone, will not lay the blame on another. Therefore, he will endure what has happened without confusion, without sadness, with perfect Calm, and therefore does not get angry with anyone or get angry with anyone. There are two modesty. The first is to honor your brother wiser and better than you in everything Or consider yourself inferior to everyone else. The second is to create your own to attribute feats to God. And that’s perfect humility holiness. Perfect modesty is born from satisfying the commandments. Saints, the closer they are to God, the more they consider themselves sinners. So, when Abraham saw the Lord, he called himself earth and ashes (Gen. 18:27), Isaiah, seeing the Great God, he exclaimed: “I am cursed and unclean (Isaiah 6:5).

– As Abba Agathon was nearing his end, the brothers And they said to him: “Are you afraid, father?” He replied: “As much as I could, I forced myself to keep the commandments, but I am a man, and how can I know if my work pleases God? For the judgment of God is different, and the judgment of man is different.” So Abba Pimen said with regret, “All virtues have entered this house, but without virtue it’s hard to resist dude.” “What virtue is this?” asked him. And St. Anthony said: “It is a great thing to put the face of God before oneself and to wait for temptation until one’s last breath.”

Abba Zosima

– Once the abba was asked: “How can this be achieved so that you do not get angry when others humiliate and slander you?” answered: “He who in his heart considers himself the most insignificant He is not indignant at any humiliation, as Abba Pimen said: If you humble yourself, you will receive peace.”

Approx. Diadochi

– Humility, which is not easy to acquire, because, The higher it is, the more effort it takes to acquire it. It comes to the partakers of Holy Knowledge in two ways: 1) when the ascetic of piety is in the midst of spiritual success, and then the humblest wisdom about himself is withheld by him, either for the sake of physical infirmity, or for the sake of the Trouble on the part of the warring fanatics of righteous life, or for the sake of evil thoughts; 2) when the mind In the full sense and with certainty, the Holy Spirit will be illuminated. graces, then the soul begins to feel humility, so to speak, Natural disposition. For being drunk and drunk she is satiated with Divine grace, the goodness of God, and not It is no longer possible to inflate and inflate the love of glory, at least she tirelessly fulfills God’s commandments, but honors herself most insignificant of all — in the feeling of Divine communion (which is thanks to the mercy of God). (1st) humility is accompanied mostly by sadness and disappointment, and this (secondly) is joy and shame In the general mind; Then it comes to those who are in the middle of attainment, and this is sent to those who are already approaching Perfection. For some reason, it often comes from the day to day being oppressed in some way, and it is at least that way He offered him all the kingdoms of the world and did not hesitate Not only is he not afraid of the terrible arrows of sin, but he does not feel it at all, because, being completely spiritual, he no longer feels this feeling of external glory. However, it is proved from the latter that the ascetic passed through it only after having passed through it, First, in everything: for grace does not give us riches, secondly, if we do not soften our will beforehand the test, through the educational admission of the addition of passion in the period of the first epoch.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“The prayer of the humble bows down before God, and the petition of the humble He offends the proud. The word of the humble is a soothing ointment for the soul, and the word of the proud is carried out by Arrogance.

“One of the most skillful, speaking of modesty, he also told the following: “A very skilful father is amazed He was possessed by a cheek that was in a rage of madness, and the father, immediately returning, prepared him for The other cheek ready to take the blow. Then the demon, like Struck by lightning with obedience, he cried out and immediately forsook the creatures of God.”

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– We need great modesty, if it is sincere, we take care that the mind is in the Lord: firstly, in relation to God and, secondly, in relation to people. In all possible ways, we must break our hearts by seeking and Introducing everything that can humiliate him. But it breaks and humbles the heart, as you know, the memory of our former life in the world, if we remember it correctly, also the memory of all the sins from our youth; when one reviews them with the mind according to the part, usually humiliated, and give rise to tears, A sincere thanksgiving to God that touches us, as always present, an active (evoked to feeling) memory of death, which, in addition, generates joyful tears with the sweetness and sobriety of the mind. The most important thing is that he is humble Our wisdom makes us lower our eyes to the earth the memory of the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ, when someone transmits them in memory and remembers everything in detail. It is He who also weeps. Moreover, they truly humble the soul of God’s great blessings, especially for us, when one tells in detail lists them and revises them: for we are fighting a battle with proud, ungrateful demons.

Revered. Cassian the Roman

“Without deep sincere humility over any Victory, passion can never be gained. No one can reach the last limit of perfection and purity otherwise than with true humility, which apparently he, bearing witness to his brothers, he also proclaims before God in the deepest recesses of their hearts, believing that without his protection And he cannot help those who visit him every minute to achieve the perfection that he seeks and that he achieves It flows with effort.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– In the soul of the humble rests the Lord, in the heart and the proud — the passions of dishonor; for nothing strengthens them against us so much as very wise thoughts, and, on the contrary, nothing so effectively eradicates from these evil souls as blessed modesty, that For this reason it is justly called the murderer of passion.

Revered. Theognost

“I’ll tell you a strange word, but don’t be surprised. If not You achieve impenetrability, perhaps for reasons of tyranny of inclination, but being at the time of exiting a deep sense of modesty — not at all indifferent You will climb the clouds. For let the treasure of the dispassionate consist of all virtues, but precious The stone of humility is more honorable and superior than all of them, and For the one who has obtained it, it is not only a propitiation to God, but also an entrance with the elect into the wedding chamber of His kingdom.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“Where there is deep humility, there are many tears, and where there is, there is also the presence of the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit; when the grace of the worshipped Spirit comes, then in the one who begins to be under His influence, all purity and holiness, then he sees God, and God looks upon Him. For the Lord says: Whom shall I look but at the humble and silent, trembling at My words (Isa. 66:2).

Revered. Nikita Stifat

Humility does not consist in bending one’s neck or in loose hair, or in untidy, coarse, and poor, in which many put the whole essence of this virtue, but in repentance of heart and humility of spirit, as David said: “The spirit is broken: the heart is repentant and humble, God will not despise (Psalm 50:19).

– Ino – modesty, Ino – humility, Ino – modesty. Modesty and humility manifest themselves as a struggle against all kinds of suffering (voluntary deprivations) and in the external works of virtue, since they are all transformed into deeds and occupations Bodily, why the soul is with them, not always in a firm state of well-being, when he is faced with temptation, he is confused. A humility is a kind of Divine essence and Great things only happen in those who, by the inspiration of the Comforter, They have already crossed the middle, that is, far ahead of the shortest path of virtue, through all humility.

– Humility, penetrating into the depths of the soul and leaning on it like a heavy stone, it oppresses and compresses it so much, that all its powers are exhausted in an invincible stream of tears, from which the mind is cleansed of all defilement of thought, which takes place in the vision of God and under its influence will be compelled to cry out like Isaiah: O cursed one, for you have touched, as a man, and unclean in the midst of the Unclean people who spoke words, I live: and the King of the Lord, Sabaoth, saw my eyes (Isaiah 6:5). When he comes to his senses Deep modesty, then arrogance will be destroyed from you. When humility goes into the depths of your heart, Then all modesty will disappear from you. When you are enriched from above with modesty, and then with outward humility and humility of tongue will be abolished in you, according to the words of St. Paul. Paul: When the perfect comes, then, in part, it will be canceled” (1 Cor. 13:10). How far East is from the West, so far true modesty with True modesty. As much as heaven is greater than the earth and the soul of the body, so holy is given by the perfect Spirit Humility is both more perfect and greater than true humility.

– And not the one who, in humble form and dress, He speaks humbly, do not think at once that he is modest in heart, And he who speaks with majesty and haughtiness does not admire suddenly full of arrogance and pride, not feeling them beforehand, but know them by their deeds.

“Know yourself; And it really is humility that teaches humility and breaks the Heart, and that’s exactly what needs to be done and maintained compulsively. If, however, you do not yet know yourself, then you do not know what humility is, its work and care have not yet been touched, because Knowledge is the end of the fulfillment of the commandments. When one learns And it requires great protection, the abolition of worldly affairs and a severe test of conscience, and then all of a sudden something Divine appears in the soul that is greater than the words humility, that brings repentance and tears of warmth in the heart of tenderness, so then the effect considers itself earth and ashes, a worm and not a man; unworthy even of this life, for the superiority of this gift of God, in which the one who is entrusted to dwell is realized, an indescribable intoxication of tenderness; humility enters into the depths, and, departing from himself, he considers everything external in vain: food, drink, clothing of the body, as if it had been changed by a good change of the right hand of the Most High (Psalm 76:11).

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Modesty and suffering (bodily deprivation) frees a person from all sins, because humility He cuts off the passions of the soul and the suffering of the body. This is what Fr. David, as seen in his next prayer to God; Behold my modesty and my labor, and forsake all my sins (Psalm 24:18). Learn from me, says the Lord, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29). Humility protects irritability from indignation and humility frees the mind from arrogance and vanity.

“Do not test yourself on the weakest people, but rather Expand yourself to the extent of the commandment of love. By trying people on, you will fall into the abyss of arrogance, and by expanding yourself in moderation, Love, you will reach the pinnacle of humility. Modesty is born from pure prayer, with tears and pain. For she, always turning to God for help, does not allow this, madly relying on her own strength and wisdom, and exalting herself above others are two cruel diseases of the proud Passion.

Elder Simeon the Pious

– All those who exist in the coenobia (dormitory) need to be seen as saints, and only consider themselves a sinner and the last, Adding to this that of all those who are saved, only you are condemned You will be for eternal torment on this day.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– There are seven different actions and intentions, leading and leading to this God-given humility, which mutually became part of each other and from each other occurs: 1) silence, 2) modest thinking about oneself, 3) modest speech, 4) modest clothing, 5) self-humiliation, 6) repentance, 7) the last – the mother He was the last in everything. Silence with reason breeds modest self-thinking; But from humble self-conceit Three types of humility are born: modest speech, modesty and poor clothing, wearing and self-deprecation. Here are the three types of give birth to repentance, which arises from indulging in temptations and It is called providential teaching and from demons, humility. Remorse for one’s actions makes the soul feel like an existence inferior to all and the last, surpassed by all. Two And these forms bring a perfect and God-given humility, which is called the power and perfection of all virtues, and he attributes our good works to God. Therefore: the first of all guides to humility is silence; From it is born a modest self-think; And this gives rise to three kinds of humility. These three give birth to one — repentance; And the crushing gives rise to the seventh kind — reverence for oneself as the lowest of all, which is called providential humility. This modesty He gives to God, perfect, sincere, true Modesty. Providential humility arises thus: when a man, left to himself, is defeated, enslaved and subdued by every passion and thought, then, being seized by the spirit of the enemy and finding no help either from deed, or from God, or from anything at all, and to be ready Even to despair, he is humiliated in everything, broken, He has the lowest of all, the last and the slave of all, the worst even of the demons themselves, as subjects of tyranny and their defeated. All this is providential modesty, by virtue of which God gives the second, higher, that is, the Divine power, all-active and all-creating. For his sake, considering himself an organ of Divine power, man achieves his amazing creations of God.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– Humility acquires many sins even without deeds Forgiveness and deeds without humility, on the contrary, are useless. That salt is for all food, humility is for every virtue, and the Power of many sins can be broken by this. About him, because it is necessary to constantly grieve (care) in the soul, thanks to the work of one’s understanding; and if we receive it, it will make us sons of God and recreate us without good works And without Him all our deeds, all our virtues, and everything else This work is in vain. This is enough for outside help to present us before the face of God and speak interceding for us… And someone else said, “When he comes to his senses, the thought of pride belongs to You, which says: Remember your virtues; ” Tell him: ‘Look, old man, at your debauchery.’

– Rejoice when you perform virtues, but do not Be exalted, otherwise there will be no accident in the harbor.

“A faithful man must humble himself before all, for humble himself only before having humility is not true.

PRIDE AND VANITY

Revered. John Klimack

– Pride is the denial of God, the demonic invention, the humiliation of men, the mother of condemnation, the descendant of praise, the sign of barrenness hiding from God Help, the precursor of mental madness, the Prep of the Fall, the source of irritability, the door of hypocrisy, the support of demons, the precursors of the ruthless ignorance of compassion, the enemy of God, the root of blasphemy…

– The beginning of pride is the end of vanity, but it is the humiliation of one’s neighbor, the shameless disclosure of his work and feats, self-praise in the heart, hatred of reproach; and the end is a rejection of God’s help, an exaltation of one’s own diligence, demonic character.

– Fascinated by pride, he needs help Because human salvation is useless for him.

Abba Dorotheus

– As there are two modesty, so there are two prides. The first Pride is when someone rebukes a brother, when he condemns and he despises him as insignificant and considers himself superior if he does not quickly come to his senses and try Then gradually comes the second pride, so that he takes pride in God himself, his asceticism and attributes his virtues to himself and not to God, as if he himself He achieved them on his own, with your own mind and diligence, and not with God’s help. Truly, my brethren, I know one who came in this miserable state. First, if one of the brothers he said something to him, humiliated everyone and objected: “What So-and-so? There is no one worthy but Zosima and like him.” Then he began to condemn them and say: “No one worthy but Macarius.” There is no one worthy but Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian.” But soon he began to condemn them as well, saying: “What is Basil? And what is Gregory? There is no one worthy but the apostles Peter and Paul.” I said to him, “Truly, brother, you will soon receive them, you will begin to despise.” And who is Paul? Finally, he became proud before God himself, and thus lost his mind. For this reason, we must strive with all our strength against our first pride, so that little by little we do not fall, and in the second, that is, in total pride.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“Poverty is abhorrent to men, but to God it is much more disgusting Soul with a high heart and an exalted mind. People have decent wealth, but with God, a humble soul is honesty.

– The proud has the right to fall into blasphemy, The exalted by active virtue is allowed to fall into fornication, and the one who exalts himself with his wisdom is allowed to fall into the dark webs of ignorance.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“Regarding the good deed you intend to do, Don’t tell anyone in advance, but do it.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– The haters of our souls are demons – inspire some to give us some praise, and Then we are encouraged to rejoice in it. If, after this, weakened by self-confidence, we give way to vanity, then it will not be difficult for Our enemies to take us captive completely.

Revered. Gregory Palamas

“Those who suffer for the glory of men also suffer They do good works. For such, having received the destiny to have their lives in heaven, unfortunately they turn their glory to dust, leading them to this oath of David (Psalm 7:6). And their prayer does not ascend to heaven, and all their efforts descend into the valley, and not covered with the wings of Divine love, which is earthly Our works lift sorrow upwards: so that they become by their labors they are lifted up, but they receive no reward. But what do I mean by the futility of their efforts? They bear fruit. But which one? – shame, inconstancy of thoughts, captivity and confusion of thought. How God scattered the bones of those pleasing men: ashamed, because God despised them” (Psalm 52:6).

Revered. Nile of Sinai.

“Vanity is an irrational passion, and it is conveniently intertwined with every virtuous deed,

– A vain monk – a free worker – carries out work, but will not receive remuneration.

“Just as you hide your sins from people, so hide them from them also his works. You are ashamed to reveal shameful deeds so as not to succumb to reproaches and humiliations, It would benefit your soul. Be afraid to show your efforts so that the sin of love for humanity does not bring destruction to your soul. If you reveal the shameful falls only to God, then you will not reveal to people your opposition to them, so that they do not think about crowning them with victory.

– Pride is a tumor of the soul filled with contaminated blood, if it matures, it will break through and cause Big Trouble.

– God will help you – do not object to the Benefactor: you have risen to the top of life, but you have behaved God; you have attained superiority in virtue, but God has worked in you; Acknowledge Him who exalted You, lest Your stature be shaken.

– When you rise to the heights of virtue, then You really need a hedge, because if it falls, the one who stands on the floor will soon rise, and the one who fell from a height is under the threat of death.

“Pride is a water bubble inflated by vanity about oneself with a thought that, if only breathed, turns into nothing.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The demon of pride has a double deception: either it convinces the monk to attribute his good deeds to himself, and not to God, the Giver of good deeds and the Helper in order; or, when he disagrees with it, he encourages him to despise Perfect Brothers less. But he does not know that with such an action, the demon commands him to refuse God’s help. For humiliating those who could not be like him. Fit, he presents himself as one who has shown a special suitability of his own strength. Which, as he said, is impossible Lord: Without me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5). For our weakness is such that, even desiring good, it cannot be carried to the end without the Giver of good things.

“Vanity sometimes breeds pride excluded and sometimes remains. But when he is expelled, he leads to self-confidence, and staying leads to arrogance. Vanity is destroyed by secret actions and pride – attributing to God deeds that are done properly. It is not a small Feat to free oneself from vanity! They are freed from this by the secret creation of virtues and frequent prayer; and the sign of Deliverance is not to hold a grudge against the one who slandered or slandered.

“The hypocrite, although he thinks he has not been exposed, he is calm Sometimes he is silent, satisfied with the glory he has, because It seems fair. When he is open, then he spews sarcastic words, thinking about the reproaches of others to hide his own shame. With these words of Scripture, Comparing him to the offspring of vipers as evil, they command the creation of worthy fruits of repentance, that is, according to what It looks like, he will also change his innermost disposition of the heart.

– Exalted in heart, thanks to what he has received with gifts, and of a lofty mind, if not reception (not accepted) (1 Cor. 4:7), righteous is he who finds himself in his wrath, when God allows the devil to intertwine with him mentally and how to get rid of the active order of virtue and darken his bright mind of understanding, so that he, feeling his weakness, understands where the power that only conquers passions in us, and, having understood, humbled, rejected the arrogance of self-confidence, and thus reconciled to turn God away from him, who usually finds himself in unrepentant anger, which takes away the grace that protects the soul, and leaving the ungrateful mind empty.

– The passion of pride consists of two ignorances, or unconsciousness, which, when brought together, give rise to one thing: United wisdom (pride). For only he who is proud who does not have does not recognize either God’s help or human weakness. Pride, therefore, is divine and human Knowledge is deprivation.

– Vanity is a deviation from the goal that is God and a step towards another goal that does not correspond to God. For he is vain, who, for the sake of his glory, and not for the glory of God, cares for virtues, and has in mind his efforts to buy only man’s fickle praise.

“A man who pleases men cares only for one thing — His outward behavior was ostentatious and deserved good A flattering word: Sight is the first and hearing is the second, bribery in their favor of those who enjoy or Surprise arises only from what is seen and heard, and Virtue is determined only by what the senses show. So, pleasing people is a good morality and words to show in front of and for people.

– Hypocrisy is the feignment of friendship, or hatred under the guise of friendship or enmity under the guise of acting as a cover for benevolence or envy, Imitation of a character of love or life red to pretend a kind of virtue and not a true virtue, or pretending righteousness as a testimony, only as if it were something observed, or a deception that has the appearance of truth, that everyone invents moral depravity Imitation of a serpent.

– Cursed, indeed, passion is arrogance consisting of a combination of two evils: pride and vanity; with whose pride is denied by the Creator of virtue and nature, and vanity forges both nature and virtue itself, for with the proud nothing is done according to God, and with the vain Nothing happens naturally.

PATIENCE. TROUBLES, TEMPTATIONS AND ILLNESSES

Patience

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

“Patience does not exist unless it dissolves love.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Every difficult circumstance and every sorrow, if there is no patience for them, they bring even more torment, because patience in people reflects disasters, and Cowardice (lack of patience) is the mother of torment, Patience is the mother of consolation and a certain strength, usually generated by the breadth of the heart. It is difficult for a person to find such strength in suffering without the divine gift of grace, gained through persistent prayer and a stream of tears.

Shanovaniy. Theodore the Studite

“It always happens that today there is cowardice, and tomorrow courage; Now the sad mood – what if inspiration; One moment of passion is rebellion, and the next, God’s help will stop them. Not like yesterday, you will appear, beloved. But the grace of God will come to you and the Lord will fight for you. Then you say, «Where have you been? Until now, O Lord?” – and He will say to you, “I watched you fight, and I knew.”

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– Everyone has to endure with Thanksgiving that Understanding it, in order to sympathize with all those who are in the dormitories; For because of this he fulfills the commandment of the Apostle, so If anyone is sad, grieve with him, call on him, support him (Romans 12:15; 1 Thessalonians 5; 11:14).

Sadness and temptation

Abba Dorotheus

– Someone will do us good or evil Let’s suffer from someone, we must look at the grief and thank God for everything that always happens to us, reproaching and saying, as the Fathers said, that if it happens with if we do something good, then it is the work of Divine Providence, and if it is evil, then it is our sins, for everything, what we endure, We endure our sins. The saints, if they suffer, suffer for the name of God, either that they may discover virtues for the benefit of many, or that crowns may be multiplied, and their rewards are from God.

“Some people rejoice when they are insulted, but because what means a reward from God. It belongs to the destruction of passion, but recklessly. Another rejoices when he receives insults, and thinks that he should have endured insults, because he himself has given a reason for it: he intelligently destroys passion. To accept an insult, to put the blame on oneself and to consider everything that lies on us as Our own is a matter of reason, because every one who prays to God, “Lord, give me humility” — must know that he is asking God to send him someone to offend him. The other is not only happy when he is offended, considers himself guilty, but also regrets the confusion of the one who offended him. May God guide us into such an arrangement.

“There used to be foolish people Exhausted by grief, which they refuse and from life itself they consider death sweet, at least Get rid of suffering, sickness and misfortunes on earth, but this comes from weakness and great stupidity, because such are not Know the terrible need that meets us at the end of the soul from the body. This is exactly what is described in the book “Technician”. A very zealous brother asked one elder, “Why did the soul elder answer him, ‘For you avoid trials and do not know that the coming tribulation will be much heavier than here.’ for if you wanted to know this for sure, then at least your cell would be full of worms to stand in them up to their necks, you endured so that it would not be weakened.” But we, sleeping, want to be saved, and therefore we are exhausted in sorrow; and we should thank God and consider ourselves blessed that We were lucky enough to cry a little here to find Little Peace there.

– The soul of man, when he stops committing sins In fact, he must first work on feats and many sorrows, and therefore, through grief, enter into holy rest, because through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of the things of God (Acts 14:22). Sorrow draws mercy to the soul of God—it is like winds bringing rain filled with grace. Negligence, negligence and earthly tranquility relax and dissipate the soul, while temptations, on the contrary, bind and unite with God, as the prophet says: Lord, in tribulation remember You (Isaiah 33:2), so we must not To worry, not lose our spirit in temptations, but we must endure and thank God in tribulation and always pray to Him with humility that He shows mercy to our weakness and He protects us from all temptations to His glory.

Approx. Diadochi

– Just as wax, which does not heat up and does not soften, cannot imprint the seal on it, so does man, if he is not tempted by toils and infirmities, he will not be able to keep the seal of the virtue of God. According to Thanksgiving, endure all kinds of trials that occur at will, and the providence of God, and then both illnesses and struggles with Demonic thoughts will be attributed to us in the second martyrdom. For he who then spoke through the mouth of the lawless leaders of the Holy Scriptures. To the martyrs: deny Christ and love the glory of this world – he himself says the same thing now to the servants of God; tormented then by the body of the righteous and exceedingly despised honest teachers Through those who served the wisdom of the devil, he (the devil) and now he brings various sufferings to the confessors of piety with great reproaches and humiliations, especially when they To the glory of the Lord they help the oppressed by great power Poor. For this reason, we must be careful and patient to create in ourselves the following testimony of conscience before us, Lord: “Bear with the Lord and obey me” (Psalm 39:2).

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– It is both comfortable and at the same time spiritually beneficial to endure any pain, whether because of people or demons, who know that we deservedly submit to every burden, and no one but himself reproaches him for it. It is impossible to avoid tribulation for one who is taught by temptations; but after this great joy and tears sweet and divine thoughts appear, for sickness and they cultivated repentance in their hearts. – The first is that Peter is given the Keys and then he is allowed to deny Christ the Lord in order to make him chaste because of such a fall of Wisdom. In the same way, you, if, having received the key of understanding, If you succumb to various temptations, do not be surprised at it, but glorify them by the One All-Wise Lord, Who restrains the arrogance that follows the Divine knowledge: for temptations are a bridle according to God’s providence, which can be restrained by human arrogance.

Abba Zosima

– Demons are afraid if they see someone, the being is subjected to insult, shame, harm and all the rest He is sad not because he has suffered it, but because of that, having experienced it, he has not endured it with courage, because he understands from it that he is entering the true path and has a strong desire to keep the commandments of God perfectly.

– Destroy temptations and thoughts – and there will be no Single Saint. Escape from the temptation of salvation – flees from eternal life. One of the saints says: “Who did He give these crowns to the holy martyrs, if not to their tormentors? Who gave Saint Stephen such glory that surrounded him, if not Those who stoned him?” the expression of another saint who said: “I do not blame those who despise me, but, on the contrary, I call them and consider them my benefactors; and I do not reject the Physician of souls, who grants vanity to my soul is a cure for dishonor, fearing that He once and to My poor soul he did not say: “The healer of Babylon, and neither is he healed (Jeremiah 51:9).”

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“Please, father! Tell me, what does it mean to be long-suffering?” The elder replied, “To be strong in spirit in adversity, to endure all evil things and wait for the end of temptation, not allowing to be exchanged in anger or to utter an unwise word, or to suspect something or think that it is unseemly to a godly person, as the Scripture says: He who is long-suffering will endure and give him joy (Ser. 1:23).” After all, many things that happen to us happen in teaching us, either to cleanse past sins or to correct real negligence or prevent the Fall of the future. Who thinks that this temptation has happened to her For none of the things shown, he will not get angry when he is beaten, especially when he realizes it for sins; does not blame the one through whom temptation arises; for through him or through another he had to drink in every sense of the cup of God’s judgments — but he will turn to God with his mind, and he will thank Him, who allowed temptation by blaming himself and willingly accepted reprimands, as David did. A foolish often ask God for mercy, but when He comes Mercy does not accept, because everything did not happen the way He wanted, but as the Doctor of Souls believed, it is beneficial. Why is he weak in heart, worried, or angry with people, then he pours blasphemy and, accordingly, ingratitude, on God He learns that there is no cure for a clever rod he receives.

– One who has gained Divine love in himself, like the Prophet. Jeremiah does not work to follow the Lord his God (Jeremiah 17:16), but courageously endures all labors, insults, and reproaches, thinking nothing evil against anyone.

– When it is difficult for you from reproach or shame, then Know that you have benefited greatly from it, because Through humiliation, vanity providentially comes out of you.

“Demons either tempt us themselves, or arm against us, men who do not fear the Lord: they themselves tempt when we isolate ourselves from men, as the Lord was tempted in the wilderness; They tempt through people when we deal with people, just as they tempted the Lord again through the Pharisees. But we, looking at our model, that is, the Lord’s, repel them in both cases.

“If an unexpected temptation comes upon you, do not blame the one through whom it came, and look for what it came for, and you will find a correction.

“The angrier you are, the less you deny suffering, so that you will be humiliated by it and spew out pride.

– Temptations are invoked on some in order to erase the sins that were before; on others, to stop the act, and on others, to prevent those who were to be done, except those who were meant to test the man, as was the case with Job. For the sake of five reasons from God, We are allowed to fight demons: the first reason is this, so that we, by fighting and resisting, can attain the skill of discerning virtue from sin; Secondly, that we, having acquired virtue through struggle and labor, may have it strong and unchangeable; The third is that as we advance in virtue, we they do not think highly of ourselves, but learn humility; 4th, that when they are convinced of how wicked sin is, they may hate it with utter hatred; The fifth and most important thing is that when we become impenetrable, we do not forget His weakness and the strength of the One who helped us.

– Those who do not resist sincerely wish to be saved by medical medicine; And this medicine is the essence of the Sadness and sorrows caused by various misfortunes. But the one who resists the problems does not know what exactly We here on Earth are trading and with what benefit he will leave here. If love is patient and merciful (1 Cor. 13:4), then he who is weak in the midst of the tribulation of the Adventure is angry with those who have grieved him, and by cutting them off, does he not depart from the purpose of God’s Providence?

“Long-suffering is he who waits for the end of temptation and receives praise for what he has endured.

If God suffered in the flesh when he was a man, who does not suffer will rejoice when he suffers, having God as a partner in suffering? For compassion is the fault of the Kingdom. True is he who said, “We suffer with Him, and also with Him let us glorify” (Romans 8:17).

“Let us give up pleasures as well as the present life and the fear of its grief and infinity, Let us get rid of every passionate thought and every demonic malice. For for pleasure we love passions, and through sorrows we flee from virtues.

– The wrath of God is a painful feeling of those who are taught; and this painful sensation arises from the induction of the involuntary problems of life, to which God often leads modesty and modesty, a mind filled with virtue and knowledge, which allowed him through them to know himself and realize himself His infirmity, feeling it, he puts aside useless things of the Arrogance of the heart.

Abba Thalassius

– The complacent endurance of terrible vanity breeds tenderness; but patience completely disappears from the soul Everything is bad.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– To those who slander and reproach us or others As they attack us, they did not react in the same way We are a commandment, that is, not to speak against evil and not to speak rebuke, but, on the contrary, to speak good words about them and Bless them. For the time when we are reconciled with people, if they are not peaceful, then we are in battle or battle with demons; but when we are at enmity and quarrels with our brethren, then We are reconciled to the demons, whom the perfect One has taught to hate with hatred and to wage constant war with them.

Elijah Yekdik

– Do not be offended by someone who operated on you against your will (that is, by denunciation they discovered what is hidden in evil), but, looking at the rejected impurities, Cursed be the God who caused such a dispensation for you, Bless.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

God does not want the affairs of zealous ascetics to remain inexperienced, but wonderful trials. Why does He fill them with the fire of temptation? and for a time hides the grace bestowed upon them from above and to the spirits Malice sometimes allows the silence of their thoughts to be aroused to see the inclination of the soul which it desires to please more – either to its Creator and Benefactor, or to worldly feelings. and the sweetness of sensual pleasure. And then, either increases their grace if they grow in His love; or haunts them with temptations and sorrows, if they are addicted to earthly things, until they accept a hatred of visible goods, because of their changeable impermanence and bitterness Their pleasures will drown you in tears.

– Glory to the Lord God, with bitter medicine (due to misfortunes, temptations) in the sweetness of health, Who guides us!

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“Endure sorrows, for in them are like roses of thorns, virtues are born and ripen.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“If you can’t work with your body, at least be sad. thought.

– The Lord endures all human ailments, but he does not tolerate a person who always mutters, and does not leave him without a Remark.

Diseases

Approx. Diadochi

– During illness, you should not invite a doctor who interferes. God foresaw that there would be a need for the art of healing, and he was pleased that it was finally compiled on the basis of human experiments; In order He gave existence to doctors in a series of creations. However, the hope of healing should not be placed in them, but in our true Physician and Savior, Jesus Christ. This, however, I appeal to those who live an ascetic life kept in Kenobia or in the cities, since they, Judging by the circumstances that have happened to them, can always have the unceasing action of faith, being surrounded by love, or even so as not to fall into this vanity and temptation of the devil, because of which some of them declare in front of many that they do not need medical help. If one leads the life of a hermit in the places of the Desert with two or three brothers of the same faith, then no matter how he did not suffer from ailments, in order to give himself to the One Lord; Healer of all our diseases and ailments. According to the Lord, he in the wild nature itself has sufficient solace in sickness. Furthermore, as the action of faith can never fail in him, so he has no patience to flaunt his virtue He is a possibility covered by a beautiful desert veil. For and it is precisely this that the Lord dwells in the house of those who have one mind (Ps. 67:7).

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Exhaustion of the body is the strengthening of the soul. How to do it Doctors who treat the body do not offer the same medicine, so God, in healing mental illnesses, is not the only one for the One who is in shape, knows the method of healing, but to each soul, giving what is useful, carries out healing. Let’s thank Him by being healed, even if it happens with We also had torment, because the end is blessed.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

“Diseases are useful for those who are just beginning to introduce a virtuous life, helping them to exhaust and tame the hot flesh. They make the strength of the flesh the weakest, the gross earthly wisdom of the soul thins, its own make its own strength the strongest and most powerful, according to the divine Paul: For if there is weakness, then it is strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“In sickness, before doctors and medicines, use Prayer.

Revered. John Klimack

– The disease is sometimes sent to purify the violation, and sometimes to humiliate the ascension.

PRAYER

Sep. St. Basil the Great

1. Prayer is a request for a blessing sent upwards to a devout God. “But it is not necessary to pray only with words, but even more so in a spiritual mood of prayer. And you should always pray, for any intention. If you sit down at the table, pray; To eat bread – to thank the Lord who gave it; what aggravates the weakness of the body, wine – remember the One who gave you this gift for the joy of your heart, as well as for the condemnation of ailments. Is the need for food gone? – let the memory of the Benefactor not stop. If you put on a tunic, give thanks to Him who gave it; You will put on clothes — increase your love for God, who has given us Covers fit for winter and summer, protecting our lives and Covering our ugliness. When the day has passed, thank the One who gave us the sun for the message of the day Acts and the One who gave fire to light the night and serve others Daily needs. May the night bring you others Motivation to pray. When you look up at the sky and are guided to gaze at the beauty of the stars, pray to the Lord of the visible and bow down the best artist of all, God, who is all in the wisdom He created (Psalm 103:24). When you see that all animal nature is enveloped in sleep, worship again the One Who, through sleep and against our will, He frees us from the Continuity of childbirth and, through a little calm, brings us back to the energy of power. So don’t let the whole night be your destiny – don’t let yourself sleep because of sleepy insensitivity, half of your life has become useless; on the contrary, the night May your time be divided into sleep and prayer. Therefore, so you will pray continuously, not ending with the words of prayer, but throughout your life drawing closer to God, so that your life may be a continuous and unceasing prayer.
2. How to achieve a non-distracting distraction in prayer? “Without a doubt, he was convinced that God was in front of his eyes. If the one who sees the abbot or abbot and talks to him, without He looks away; how much more he prays to God will have a mind that does not depart from the searching heart, and a womb, fulfilling what is written: lifting up the hands of a monk without anger or reflection (1 Tim. 2:8).
3. Prayer has two types: the first is the doxology of humility and the second, the lower one is the request. Therefore, During prayer, do not suddenly begin to ask, otherwise You Yourself let everyone know that you are praying for your will Forced by need.” Ask for what is worthy of God, do not stop Ask until you receive. Though the moon, the year, and the Three years, and even more years until you receive it, turn away, but ask in faith, constantly doing good.

Sep. Theophanes the Hermit

– The influence of prayer in the Holy Fathers was a sign of the Spiritual Life, and they called it the Breath of the Spirit. There is breathing in the body — the body lives; Breathing stops – life also stops. The same is true in spirit. There is prayer – the Spirit lives, there is no prayer – there is no life in the Spirit.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– When a person reaches the point where His heart will truly be filled with faith (perfect faith, experience), then it is revealed to him that all the multitude of spiritual Good Things become available to Him through prayer.

– Whoever wishes to see the Lord in himself will make every effort to continuously purify his heart with the memory of God, and therefore in the brightness of his mind everyone At the hour when he sees the Lord.

Revered. John Klimack

– It happens that when we stand at prayer, we meet a charity work that does not allow delay. In such a case, the labor of love should be preferred. For love is a greater prayer because prayer is a private virtue and love accepts all virtues.

“Let not pride deceive us and push us before the time comes to look for what will come in due time.

– The beginning of prayer is to depart the thoughts that come to them immediately after appearing, but in the midst of which the mind must be contained in the words that we speak, or We think; and the perfection of prayer is the delight of the Lord.

Elijah Yekdik

– One who is possessed cannot pray purely greedy and ambitious passion. For addiction to these things, even vain thoughts are intertwined like ropes, and during prayer they take away his share, as happens with a bound bird when it tries to rise into the air.

“He cannot make friends with prayer unless he has given up all material things except food and clothing (1 Tim. 6, 8). Stand above everything else if you want to be in prayer with one mind. “If the words of prayer do not penetrate the bosom of the soul, then tears will not wash away the cheeks of the soul. Why did food without salt of the larynx, then prayer, pass without regret, for the mind.”

– An ascetic should limit his body to one type of food and mind – a one-word prayer. And then, having become Without Limits passions, he will be able to admire the Lord during prayer.

– God sees everyone; But God is only seen by those who are in prayer they only see God. But those who see God in this way, hear from them He also; but those who do not hear do not see him. Blessed is he who believes that we see that he is of God, for such a man cannot deviate from the path of pleasing Him (Psalm 15:8).

Approx. Callisto

– The attempt of those who demand before their time what will happen in due time, and they persistently try to squeeze into the harbor of impassability without proper Holy Fathers call it mental fever, because it is not impossible for a person who knows the letters to read books.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Let the mind guard the heart at the time when it prays, and inside it it rotates continuously, and from there — from the depths, let it pray to God. That’s it, work, until you taste the Lord.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“Worthy of all guilt is he who, loving, True prayer is anger or resentment, for he is like one who wants to look carefully, but at the same time His eyes are powdered.

– There is the supreme prayer of the perfect, a certain admiration for the mind, his complete detachment from the sensual, when, with indescribable sighs of spirit, he approaches God, Who sees the opening of the heart like a book is written and expresses his will in a multitude of images.

– If you want to get a prayer, give up everything, Yes, you will inherit everything. “Blessed is he who in time prayer retains complete ugliness, or Prayer is a branch of the tree of meekness and angerlessness, a manifestation of joy and gratitude, a healing of sorrow and despair. If you are patient, you will always be Pray with joy. – He who has not received pure prayer has no weapons in battle. – Talk a lot with God and with not enough for a person… – A bath that is good for the soul – tears during prayer, but after prayer, remember what you cried about.

Revered. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

– You should pray not only with words, but also with your mind; and not only with the mind, but also with the heart; that the mind clearly sees and understands that it is pronounced in words, and let the heart feel that it thinks At the same time the mind. All this together is a real prayer; and if there is none of these in your prayer, then it is either an imperfect prayer or not a prayer at all.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“Once upon a time there was a brother who lacked zeal for salvation, coming to St. Anthony, asking him to pray for the Great Elder replied: “Neither I nor God will have pity on you. If you don’t take care of yourself and pray to God.”

Approx. Diadochi

– Training in prayer is the most important thing, not Theology. For the most part, our minds do not have a benevolent disposition that comes to prayer because of its oppression and limitations of prayer virtue; He willingly entered into theology given thanks to the space and boundlessness of Divine reflection. So, in order not to give him a free passage to speak out, and not get too carried away with hunting Allow yourself to fly high, let’s practice the most in prayer.

– When the soul abounds in its nature Fruits, then fulfills its psalm, and Sometimes it is inclined to pray with its voice. When it will work by the Holy Spirit and then with all joy and sing sweetness and prayers in one heart. Behind the first, the mood is replaced by dreamy joy (from self-satisfaction), and after the second, spiritual tears, and then something like quiet joy; for memory, when held Being warm, it tunes hearts to produce tearful thoughts that go deep into themselves. In this, indeed, it is possible to see the seeds of prayer with tears, joyfully, However, hearts sown on the ground, in the faithful hope a bountiful harvest (Psalm 125:5). However, when we are overwhelmed by the Great Sorrow, then you need to do your job louder than the Psalmody, which suppresses the sad cries of the soul with the joy of hope, until this heavy cloud of sorrow is blown away by the wind of the Psalm melody.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

“Those who rely more on prayer are exposed to even more terrible and cruel temptations.

– A long feat in prayer and a considerable time are necessary in order to find in the restless structure of the mind another kind of paradise for the heart, where Christ dwells.

When there is a prayer of the saints

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– For the prayer of the righteous can do many things with speed (James 5:16). It is accelerated It happens in two ways: 1) when the one who prays is himself righteous and rises to the Prayer to God in acts according to the commandments, as the one that does not consist of one word and is not an empty sound of voice is pronounced and given in conditions of inactivity, and there is nothing solid under which has no self, but is active and alive, Inspired Being acts according to the commandments. For strength and stability, the Prayers depend on the fulfillment of the commandments through creation by good children; whereby the righteous have a strong and powerful prayer hastened by the commandments. 2) when someone, asking for prayer from the righteous, performs prayer deeds himself, promising to correct and even correct the previous life and make the prayer of the righteous so good an appeal to the strong and powerful.

– You need to urgently and persistently look for only one thing (in prayer) – so as not to distance yourself from God.

Revered. Cassian the Roman

– According to the topics, the apostle distinguishes four types of Prayer: prayers, petitions (sifting), petitions, Thanksgiving (1 Tim. 2:1). Prayer is the pleading or reduction of one’s sins, when someone has come to repent of the present or past sins they have committed, asking for forgiveness from them; Prayer occurs when someone, while praying something, He brings or promises to God, saying: I will do this and that, Be merciful, Lord!” Thanksgiving is when the mind brings gratitude and praise to God, remembering what God’s blessings have received, or seen now, or seeing what good things God has prepared for those who love Him in the future.

– Although the Lord’s Prayer is Pronounced by the Rulers Themselves, contain within themselves the fullness of the perfection of prayer, at the same time the Lord of His eternal leads still further, to a certain exalted to that fiery state which very few have investigated, or even attempted, I will even say, an ineffable prayer, which, surpassing any human concept, does not by the sound of a voice, without moving the tongue or uttering any words, which mind is also marked by the outpouring of heavenly light, illuminated, fearlessly expressed in human language, but gathering sensations as if from the greatest source he breaks out of himself uncontrollably and indescribably regurgitates directly to the Lord, and then expressing himself at this very brief moment of time that, having come to himself, he cannot cope to speak nor follow in thought.

The Influence of Prayer on the Souls of Those in Hell

(From the Life of St. Macarius the Great)

“Once the monk Macarius was walking through the desert and found a dried human skull lying on the ground. Turning it with his staff, the monk heard it as if He had made a sound. Then Macarius asked the skull:

“Who are you?”

“I,” he replied, “was the leader of the pagan priests who dwelt in this place. When you, Abba Macarius, are filled with the Spirit of God who has compassion on Who is tormented in hell, pray for us, then we We are relieved.

“What relief do you get?” he asked Macarius, “and what are your torments, tell me?

“How far is the sky from the earth,” he answered With a groan’s skull — so great a fire in the midst of which we We are burned from everywhere, from head to toe. By doing this, we We do not see each other’s faces. When you pray We see each other a little bit in hell, and this serves us as a kind of comfort.

Hearing this answer, the monk shed tears and said:

“Cursed is the day when man broke the rules of the Divine commandments.

Again he asked the skull.

“Are there any other torments, the most cruel of yours?”

“Below, much deeper below us, there are many others,” he replied.

– Who is among these most cruel torments? Macarius asked.

“We who did not know God,” the skull replied, “although we still feel a little of God’s mercy. The same who have known the name of God but have rejected him and the commandments They have not noticed it, they torment us below much more severely and the most cruel torments.

After that, the monk Macarius took that skull and buried it in the ground and left there.

Prohibition of prayer for suicide

(From the Life of St. Pachomius the Great)

There is one important thing about the life of a woman in the convent. One of the nuns once went over the fence of the monastery. She met a layman, a tailor, and, thinking about it, asked why he had come to these places, Thoth He replied that he would like to have a job. The sister denied that They had their own tailors. The tailor left. A nun witnessed this conversation. Having quarreled with the nun, she began to reproach her and She reproachfully remembered the conversation with the tailor. The young Nun, irritated by the false accusation, wept the executioner. She had an exaggerated idea of the disgrace that she thought was now waiting for her in the convent. Overwhelmed by sadness, She secretly went to the river, threw herself into its waves and drowned. Upon learning of this, another sister, who had allowed herself undeservedly to reproach the unfortunate young nun, fell into great despair and committed suicide by strangling herself with a rope.

Soon the monk Pachomius found out about this. Deeply saddened by this incident, the elder forbade them to be honored in prayers at home, to celebrate the Liturgy and alms for them. Pachomius was also strict with all the sisters of the dormitory. Because they did not make the necessary effort to find the innocent and the abuser, to reconcile and appease them, and neglected their position and tranquility, and perhaps even believing in the slander of one of the sisters, the elder excommunicated them from the Church of Holy Communion for seven years.

The Jesus Prayer

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“The brother said, ‘But how can the mind work unceasingly to pray? When we sing or read, when we talk to someone or serve someone, then naturally we entertain them with many thoughts and ideas.” The Apostle himself, through whom this was said, sang and read, and He prayed without ceasing. To pray without ceasing means, to keep the mind with great reverence, and with a warm desire, to hold fast to hope in Him and to dare in Him in all things, in deeds and adventures” (Rom. 8:35; 2 Cor. 4:8-10).

– The highest state of prayer is when the mind is in the Time of Prayer, completely outside the flesh and the world immaterial and formless. Whoever keeps this state of Untouchable, he really prays continuously.

– There are two highest states of pure prayer. One thing happens to people of active life, the other to people of Contemplative Life. One thing happens in the soul because of the fear of God, and good hope, the other is from Divine love and extreme purity. The sign of the first measure is when the mind gathers from all earthly thoughts, prayer without amusement and confusion, and as if God Himself stood before it, as He had it that way. The second sign is when, in a very thirsty prayer, the mind is captured by the Divine and Immeasurable Light and feels neither itself nor anything at all of everything that exists, except the One that works in it through love Such an insight. In this state, the one who seeks to understand the words about God, he receives a pure and vivid knowledge of Him.

He who loves what he wants to accept, in every possible sense, and everything That prevents him from doing so, he eliminates it so that it can not be lose. In the same way, he who loves God cares about pure prayer and Every passion that hinders him in this way spits out of himself.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

“Know for sure that there is a continuous prayer that does not depart from the soul day or night, and that does not consist in raising hands, not in the position of the body when praying, nor in shouting prayers with the tongue, so that it is possible to see with the eyes of the flesh, but it consists in mental activity and with through the remembrance of God with constant tenderness it is understood Only those, who knows how to understand it.

– If you really want to hide your thoughts with shame, It is worth being silent and being sober without difficulty in heart, let the Jesus Prayer cling to your breath – and in a few days you will see it in practice.

– With your breath, unite sobriety and the name Thought of Jesus or thought of death and humility, because it is also the thought of death and humility. The other is great.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Long-term preservation of the memory of God The soul sometimes wonders, then wonders.

Revered. Hesychius

“You will find no better help than the help of Jesus in your whole life, for He alone is the Lord, as God, He knows demonic chains, detours, and deception.

Approx. Diadochi

– When the mind begins to feel the grace-filled consolation of the Holy Spirit. Then Satan also puts his comfort into the soul in the seemingly sweet sensation of a night’s rest, the moment of the most delicate sleep (or falling asleep). If this Mind retains the warmest memory of the Holy Name And as a reliable weapon against illusions, uses this most holy and glorious name, and then the evil tempter immediately leaves, but because of this, he is inflamed at last, to fight the soul with his face. So the mind is definitely By recognizing the deceptive spells of the Evil One, it is more and more possible to discern spiritual things. The desire to purify let his heart continuously warm him with the memory of the Lord Jesus, who has only this as an object of God’s contemplation, and continuous spiritual activity. For one who wants to throw off His rottenness, one should not behave in such a way that sometimes Pray, sometimes not, but one should always practice prayer with the mind, even if he has lived far from prayer houses.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Praying without stopping means keeping the mind clinging to God with great reverence and warmth. to desire, to hold on to hope in Him, and to venture in Him for all things in business and adventure (Romans 8:35).

Sep. Philemon

– Accept the hidden instruction in your heart and It will clear your mind from soaring. And the secret teaching is sober in heart and thought, sober Say with fear: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me…” The prayer and instructions in the Scriptures will remain in you without ceasing, then the eyes of your soul will be opened, and in this there will be great joy and a certain indescribable and fervent feeling when it is warmed by the Spirit and flesh, so that the whole person becomes spiritual. So, whether it’s at night or during the day, God will help you pray without distractions With a clear mind, give up the rule of prayer and how much strength it is to stretch out your heart to hold on to God and His He will enlighten your heart in spiritual work.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– The beginning of mental prayer is a purifying act or the power of the Holy Spirit and the mysterious mystery of the mind, as the beginning of silence – the abolition of everything or carelessness; in the middle, the enlightening power of the Spirit, and reflection; and the end is a frenzy or the rapture of the mind towards God.

“In the morning, make your mind go from head to heart, and keep it within yourself and constantly cry out intelligently and spiritually, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!’

– As plants do not take root, if they often put down roots, are transplanted, and prayerful heart movements during frequent changes of prayer words.

– When you see the appearance and beginning of thoughts, do not look at them, even if they are not, but keep your mind in your heart from the beginning, turn to the Lord Jesus, and soon you will drive away thoughts and their leaders, demons, You will drive them away, burn them and invisibly scourge them in this Divine Name.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– The saints who have entered the field of charitable silence, consecration of themselves to God and separation from the world, teaches above all the work and care of the Lord to pray and ask of Him for mercy with unquestioning hope, constantly having in actions and occupations the invocation of the All-Holy and His sweetest name, which always bears Him in our thoughts, in our hearts, and in every sense forcing ourselves to breathe in Him and with Him, And live, sleep, be cheerful, walk, eat and drink – and in general, whatever we do, we do it. For just as in His absence all that is harmful comes to us, leaving room for nothing that is good for the soul, so also for Him the presence, everything opposite, is driven away, there is a lack of anything good, and all things can be accomplished, as the Lord Himself declares, who will be in Me and I in Him, He will bear much fruit, for without Me you can create nothing (John 15:5) For it is a terrible thing to every creature and an honorable name, more than any other that has been called in faith, and we unworthy will boldly rise with the help of His wind of this word and begin to stretch to the fore.

“You know how we breathe: we draw ourselves into ourselves Air and release it. On this bodily life rests and from It depends on the heat of the body. And now, sitting down in Thy silent chamber, gather your mind, lead it to the path of breathing, by which the Air enters inwards and causes it, together with the air inhaled, to descend into the heart and keep it there; Hold on, but don’t do Leave him silent and idle, and pray to him: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”

Revered. John Klimack

– Let the memory of Jesus dissolve with your breath And then you will know the benefits of silence.

Revered. Barsanufius

– If the inner work with God does not help a person, and then he works in vain in the external. For the internal fight against heart disease, it brings purity; Purity is the true silence of the heart; this silence is modesty; humility prepares a person for the abode of God; and by the power of such a settlement the demons with passions are cast out; but such a person is the temple of God, full of holiness, full of Light, purity and grace.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– The supreme prayer of the perfect is a kind of rapture of the mind and its complete frenzy of everything sensual at the moment of the intercession of the Spirit with groans that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26) before God, who sees the open character of the heart, like a written book that silently expresses its ready. Thus, Paul found himself in the third heaven, not knowing whether he was in the flesh or outside it (2 Og. 12:2). So Peter, when he went up to the upper room to pray, he saw the shroud (Acts 10:9). And the second after this first — the Supreme Prayer — is the one in which the words of prayer are pronounced to pronounce “Repentant Mind” with them and who knows To Whom one prays. Prayer, cut off by bodily concerns and mixed with them, is far from being a permission worthy of the one who prays.

Everyone should pray continuously, both monks and laity

Sep. Gregory Palamas

– It is necessary to mention the name of God more often in prayer than Breathe in the air. Obedience to the commandments of the saints we must not Only pray always, but also teach others to do the same and in general: monks and laymen, wise and simple, and husbands, wives and children — and encourage them to pray Continuously. But what do the laity say? “We are burdened with matters and worldly concerns, how can we pray I answer them that God has not commanded us to do anything impossible, but only what we can do. There were many who, while living in the world, were fully committed to the mental (Jesus) prayer, as they claim the historical record of them. Why do I beg you and I, together with St. John Chrysostom, not to neglect salvation for the sake of your souls for the work of such a prayer. It may seem very difficult at first, but rest assured that in the name of Almighty God, which is the very name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you constantly call, will help you overcome difficulties, and with the passage of time you Learn to do this work and feel how sweet this name of the Lord is. Then you will see from experience that this question is not only not Impossible and not difficult, but also possible and easy. Why St. Ap. Paul, who knew better than we did what a great good he would bring to this prayer, commanded us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

FASTING

Abba Dorotheus

“It is written in the law that God commanded the children of Israel to give every year a tithe of all that they did, and in doing so, they received blessings in all his works. Knowing this, the holy apostles founded and betrayed to help us, and as a blessing to our souls, something else greater and higher, so that we separate the tithes from the very days of our lives and dedicate them to God: so that we too may be blessed for all our works, and annually cleanse the sins that we have committed all year round. Having judged this, the apostles sanctified us out of three hundred and sixty-five days in the year, these seven weeks of the Holy Forty Days. God He has given these holy days so that if anyone tries to take care of himself and repent with attention and humility In his sins, he has been cleansed of the sins He has been committing throughout the year. So his soul will be freed from difficulties, and in this way he will reach the purified holy day of the Resurrection and will commune with the Holy Sacraments without condemnation, becoming a new person through repentance in this holy fast. Such a person will celebrate the entire holy Pentecost in spiritual joy and joy, with the help of God, because Pentecost, as the Fathers say, is peace and resurrection of the soul; This is confirmed by the fact that we are in all holiness At Pentecost (from Holy Pascha to Trinity) we do not kneel.

“But we must not only observe moderation in food, but also abstain from all other sins, so that we may fast in the same way as we fast. You should also observe fasting With your eyes, that is, do not look at useless things, do not let your eyes Freedom, do not look at someone without shame and without fear. In the same way, hands and feet should be restrained from all evil deeds. Fasting in this way, as Saint Basil the Great says, with a happy fast, avoiding all sins, Having reached all our sensations, we will reach the holy day of the Resurrection, becoming, as we have said, new, pure and worthy of the communion of the Holy Sacraments.

Approx. Diadochi

– Since our body is burdened with a multitude of foods, it makes the mind somehow serene and still; and being exhausted by excessive abstinence, makes the contemplative part of the soul, dim and non-verbal (undesirable Cause). After all, the image of bodily nourishment is appropriate to measure according to the state of strength and strength of the body: when It is great to comfort him as much as necessary and when If he is weak, he should relax a little. An ascetic should not be weakened by the body, but be in strength as necessary to attain, so that, although bodily labor, the soul has also been properly purified.

– When some brethren arrive, or any vanity of the traveler who takes advantage of this opportunity, will be set in motion and, striking us with poison, will be incited not to violate our own rule regarding food, but above all It is useful to relax a little from the usual Food. Because in this way we will immediately send the demon away from us Mourning the failure of our attempt and the law of love Let’s carry out prudently, and the secret of our abstinence through Let’s leave his relaxation unknown.

– Fasting as a tool to improve those who wish to pray chastity has a price, but not before God. Why should the Ascetics of piety not be arrogant, but from the only faith in God — to hope for their achievement of the Goal.

Abba Thalassius

“Break the bonds of communication with the body and do not give it away, for a slave it is only the essentials.

– Avoiding gluttony, protecting yourself from pleasing people to show the yellowness of your face artificial.

Elijah Yekdik

“Others closely monitor the entrance to the menu with caution, and they do not care about the result of the words. Yes, according to Ecclesiastes, they do not know how to expel anger from the heart and passion from the flesh (Ecclesiastes 11:10), on which the heart is built solely with the Holy Spirit who renews us.

“Let your belly burn with want of food, and your heart be oppressed by the restraint of your tongue; And your power – lustful and irritable – will always be You serve good.

Revered. Simeon the Respectful

– Moderate abstinence is also necessary for those who have passed through the midst of feats and stretched to the realm of the highest contemplation. She is the mother of health, the friend of chastity, the companion of humility (from an uneven and uneven diet, many often give birth to diseases).

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– A poorly fed body is a well-traveled body A horse that will never confuse a rider. Satiety with food nourishes thoughts, and the one who is drunk fills sleep with sleep. The House of Fertility is a flower, and the beginning of an active life is Abstinence.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– Give the body as much food as it needs and don’t do it You will get harmed even if you eat three times a day. If a person eats once a day, but recklessly, what exactly is it useful? Polygamy is accompanied by the abuse of fornication – and the enemy behind him burdens the body with sleep in order to defile it.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Like a flame in a dry tree, so is a body with a full belly.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– Always set the same time to take and take it for the nourishment of the body, not for pleasure.

ABOUT HOLY COMMUNION

Sep. Theophanes the Hermit (from the book. “Invisible War”)

– This is the most sacred mystery, this all-conquering instrument, and even more the Christ who is in this sacrament, can be actually acceptable in two ways: first, mysteriously, in the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, with worthy preparation, that is, repentance, confession, purification through repentance and necessary fasting; Secondly, spiritually and mentally in the mind and heart. First jar As often as possible, external circumstances, internal state and discretion of the spiritual father; and the second is every Moment, so that you can always hold it in your hands and defend yourself with it from enemies continuously. Listen to this also to the Holy Spirit. The commune of the Mysteries of Christ as often as possible, as soon as one receives permission from one’s spiritual father his own; Be jealous of Christ the Lord mentally and spiritually constantly.

– After communion of the Holy Sacraments, having given Reverent Gratitude to the Lord for the great Mercy, at that moment manifested itself as a kind of great and Indescribable gift, which immediately entered the deepest corners of your heart And, worshipping the Lord there with humble feeling, in your mind I unfolded the following conversation to him: “You see, everything is fine, my Lord, how easily I fall into sin to my own destruction, and What strength does the passion that fights with me have, and how powerless I myself am to free myself from it. Help me and strengthen me with my impotent efforts, or rather, You yourself take my weapons, and Together with them, kill this bitter enemy in my place.”

Revered. Hesychius

– When we, unworthy, are seized with fear and trembling participation in the Divine and Purest Mysteries of Christ Our God and King, then we will exercise the highest restraint, guarding reason and strict attention, and this Divine fire, that is, the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, will consume our sins and our great and small impurities. For when it enters into us, it immediately drives away from the heart the evil spirits of evil and forgives them, we have sins that were before; And then our mind is left free from the restless irritation of evil thoughts. If after this, standing at the door of the heart, let us be careful to preserve our minds, when we are again entrusted From the Holy Mysteries, the Divine Body will be more and more To enlighten our mind and make it shine like a star.

HOLY SCRIPTURE

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– The reading of the Scriptures is different for those who They only appear in the life of godliness; Different for those who they have moved to the middle of success; Different for those who flow to perfection. For some, it is the bread of the table of God, strengthening their hearts for sacred feats of virtue that gives them strong strength to fight spirits acting in passions and create them brave warriors against demons, so that they say: “You have prepared a table against those who are cold to me” (Psalm 22:2). 5). For others, it is the wine of the Divine Chalice that rejoices in their hearts, which leads their minds to frenzy by the power of their thoughts, Their land from the murderer’s writing to the depths of the spirit that probably introduces and makes all this the Beginning and the seeker of understanding, so it is also characteristic of them saying, “And your cup drinks me as a ruler” (Psalm 22:5). And for others, with the oil of the Divine Spirit, anointing their souls, taming and humbling them with the abundance of Divine enlightenment and all its joy over the body, so that she, boasting, cries out: Thou hast anointed Thy head with My oil… and your mercy will marry me all the days of my life” (Psalm 22:5-6).

– Divine Scripture is understood spiritually and the treasures hidden in it are revealed only to the spiritual through the Holy Spirit. But the natural man cannot accept revelation (1 Og. 2:13-14), because he, apart from alternating thoughts, is His own, not only to think or listen to his words. Also, he does not have the Spirit of God who searches the depths of God and is the only one who guides God (1 Corinthians 2:10), but has a spirit of sensual peace, jealousy, and full of envy, overflowing with arguments and quarrels, the reason for this is that it is foolish to delve into the meaning of Scripture and thought to investigate it. Not having the strength to understand this, since everything contained in the Divine Scriptures is spiritual ascends (1 Corinthians 2:14). – Divine or Human Works – He mocks those who speculate spiritually about these things (1 Corinthians 1:13), and He calls them not spiritual and not led by the Spirit of God, but Erectile (by means of an arbitrary guiding hole of spiritual meaning in Scripture) and their words and spiritual understandings. distorts and rethinks according to his own thinking to the death of his own soul and the soul of others. But the spiritual is not like that, but he rises because everything is under the influence of the Divine Spirit, and He Himself is no One we can depart from, because He has the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15-16).

Revered. John Klimack

– To be an actor (to actively move through life), Read the active works of the Fathers, because if you read what you read If you turn it into actions, then reading other things will be superfluous for you.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– Let your reading not be insatiable, because in everything the best is moderation, not too early and not too much lazy or careless, but with reverence, attentiveness and reason. A mind strengthened by a spiritually beneficial reading gains the power of Pray fervently. Promiscuous reading darkens the mind and It weakens and renders it unsuitable for prayer.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

“Others boast about their conversations with nobles, princes, and kings, and you boasted about it in the Holy Scriptures. The scriptures with which you communicate by the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit speaks through them.

– When reading, read with attentiveness and diligence, with Focus on each word and don’t make a piece of paper Just try to turn it over, but if necessary, don’t be lazy and read the poem twice, three times and several times to understand its power.

– When you sit down to read or listen to a reader, first pray to God, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, Open the ears and eyes of my heart so that I can hear your words and do your will. I will open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law (Psalm 118:18). I believe, O God, that You will enlighten my heart.” Always pray to God to forgive your mind and reveal to you the power of His words. Many, relying on their own understanding, have fallen into error, and the one who is considered wise is foolish (Romans 1:22).

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– Learning the Psalms by heart, do not be arrogant, lest it turn out that the air is filled with unnecessary words, and this does not condemn you. The Word of God is the seed of goodness; If it is in vain in you, then you will be condemned along with the one who hid the money given to him in the earth for multiplication.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– If a person reads poems of great importance, he will not read immersed in them, his heart remains poor (does not eat anything) and the holy power in him fades, which at the time of the Amazing understanding of the soul brings to the heart the sweetest tastes.

– Practice reading in silence so that your mind is always connected with the miracles of God.

– Read the Gospel commanded by God so that the whole universe is known, so that your mind can immerse itself in the miracles of God.

“Without careful reading, you will not learn the intricacies of thought.

– Wine warms the body, and the word of God warms the mind.

– Until a person accepts the Comforter, he needs the Divine Scriptures in order to remember the desire for good, well imprinted in his thoughts and continuous reading, restored in him and protected his soul from the subtleties of sinful ways; for he has not yet acquired the power of the Spirit, which removes error and captures the awareness that is beneficial to the soul. When the power of the Spirit descends into the Spiritual power working in man, instead of the law, the Commandments of the Spirit take root in the heart; and then secretly it learns from the Spirit and does not need the help of matter sensual, for although the heart learns from matter, Immediately after learning there follows mistakes and forgetfulness, and when learning is learned by the Spirit, the memory remains intact.

– The words of the mysteries contained in the Divine Do not approach without prayer and asking for help But say: “Let me, Lord, receive this sense of power contained in them.”

Abba Dorotheus

– In case of insensitivity of the soul, it is useful to frequently read the Divine Scriptures and the touching words of the God-bearing Fathers, to remember the Last Judgment of God, about the departure of the soul from the body and about the terrible dark forces that will meet it, with whom it did evil in this short and unhappy life.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– The scriptures are pronounced spiritually, but the man of the flesh cannot understand the spiritual. It is better to turn the conversation to the Word of the Fathers, and let us find the benefit contained in them. But also Let’s use them carefully, remembering the One who said, “By verbiage you cannot escape sin” (Proverbs 10:19). A in order not to fall into the arrogance and self-praise of thought, remember that by not doing the work of what we say, we are speaking to condemn ourselves.

– Water is soft by nature, but stone is hard; But if a gutter hangs over the stone, then water flows through it Drops on the stone, gradually pierce the stone. But the Word of God is soft, but our heart is hard; But if a person often hears the Word of God, then his heart is opened to receive the fear of God.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– When something is written, it is written either for oneself memory, or for the benefit of others, or for both, or to the detriment of some – either for the sake of appearance or out of necessity. Whoever writes For the sake of glory and show, he loses his reward and will receive no benefit either here or in the age to come, but will be condemned as one who pleases people and an evil thief of the word of God.

GRACE

Revered. Cassian the Roman

– Grace also participates in the work of our salvation of God and our free will; and man, although he may sometimes strive for virtue (that is, strive for perfection), but to satisfy these desires, he always needs God’s help. One should not think that nature man is capable of evil alone; The Creator has instilled in Our souls — they are the seeds of all virtues, but for their growth, the influence of God is necessary, so the Man always has the free will to accept or not to accept these grace-filled influences.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– To the extent that a person draws close to God through his intention, God draws close to him in this way His gifts.

Approx. Diadochi

Grace usually illuminates the soul at the beginning light with a strong feeling, and when success in the spiritual and Christian life moves forward, then it is for the most part, unknown to the God-loving soul, it is performed by the sacraments in it, so that after (after peace of the soul) to lead us with joy to the path of divine meditation, as if we had only been summoned were out of ignorance of knowledge, but in the midst of ascetic acts (about the pacification of the soul from passions) so that our thoughts would not be vain. We should moderately sink into sorrow, As if grace had forsaken us, let us humble ourselves and Let us learn to obey the Lord’s commandments concerning us, and And then enter into joy at the right moment, raising our wings with good cause of hope; for as innumerable sadness leads the soul to despair and Hopelessness and excessive joy lead it to self-confidence and arrogance. I’m talking about babies Life and mind. Between the enlightenment of grace and coming out from the inside, temptation; and between sorrow and Joy in the middle is hope. For it is said, Thou wilt permit the LORD to persevere, and hearken unto me, and again, unto my many sicknesses… Your comfort has made my soul glad.—Psalm 39:2; 93:19.

“Grace works through the mind, and Satan works through carnal feelings and desires. Satan is expelled from the soul through holy baptism, but he is allowed to act in accordance with it Through the body. The grace of God lives in the very depths of the soul, that is, in the mind. For, as they say, all glory is to the daughter of kings within, invisible to demons.—Psalm 44:14. Why, when we warmly remember God, we feel that Love, so to speak, pours out from the very depths of our hearts; and evil spirits also attack the bodily senses in their nesting, conveniently acting through the flesh on those who are still in infancy in soul. Therefore, our mind, according to the divine apostle, always conforms to the law of the Spirit; but the carnal senses are willingly carried away by the luxurious things of inclination (Romans 7:18). That is why in those who zealously they succeed in knowledge, grace through the sense of reason and very He delights the body with indescribable joy; but when he carelessly and carelessly swim the path of divinity, then the demons who find us like this they take over our soul with bodily sensations, forcibly pulling it towards what it does not want—murderers! Those who say that there are two persons, i.e., the Spirit of grace and the Spirit of sin, together they dwell in the hearts of believers, confirming these thoughts from the words of Scripture [Light shines in darkness, and darkness shall not envelop him (John 1:5)] and infer that the brightness of His Divine is not at all defiled by coexistence with the evil one, although the Divine light somehow approaches the darkness of demons. But the same Gospel word: In the world, and the world was through Him, and His peace was not known: in His own coming and in His own She did not receive Him. And the women received Him and gave them the area of children Be the one who believes in His name (John 1:10-12), rebukes so that they do not think according to the holy Scriptures. So it is not about Satan that the Evangelist says that he did not know the true light, because he was a stranger from the beginning, but with this word he worthily rebukes people who, having heard about the powers and wonders of God, but they do not want to approach the light of His knowledge, because of the darkness of their hearts. The Lord teaches us in His holy Gospel that when Satan, and when he returns, will find his house unhooked and empty; if the heart is barren, it takes away the other seven spirits, what is worse than it enters it and nests there, making the last condition of man worse than the first (Luke 11:25-26). From this it should be understood that as long as the Holy Spirit dwells in us, before Satan, we cannot penetrate into the depths of the soul and live here. According to the apostle (Romans 7:22-23), the devil with fiery arrows attacks the souls that carry Christ the Lord within them, and if not, it can gain a foothold in the minds of those who struggle in the same way as before, because of the presence of grace in it (the mind), and then as in prison the Body leans on lustful slime to its attraction to deceive the soul. Why do you need to dry the body so that the mind, dragged by lustful phlegm, does not slip on the bait of splendor and does not fall in love.

Revered. Cassian the Roman

– The grace of God always directs our will to But with a good side, so what is required of us expects due effort. In order not to give her gifts carelessly, she looks for opportunities through which she leads us to cold negligence; so that there is no generous message about her gifts seems to be unreasonable, transmitting them after our desire and Work. Yet, in spite of all this, grace is always given free of charge, for for our small efforts He repays infinitely generosity. Therefore, no matter how much human labor there is, All of them cannot make grace ungiven. The Apostle in tongues, although he says that he worked more than all the apostles, adds that these labors do not belong to Him, but belong to the grace of God that is with Him (1 Cor. 15:10). Therefore, under the word “worked” he expresses the effort of his own will; with the words “not I, but the grace of God” – Divine help; and with the word “with me” – shows that Grace collaborated with him, not in indifference and negligence, and when he Worked.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Grace precedes humility and punishment is preceded by self-confidence.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– All those who struggle are abandoned by grace It usually happens due to the following deficiencies: 1) for vanity, 2) for judging one’s neighbor and 3) arrogance with virtues. Why, As soon as it turns out that some of these things have already entered the souls of those who aspire, it causes them to be rejected by God; and neither to escape righteous condemnation for it, when they fall, until, having rejected what was formerly the cause of renunciation, they have fled to the summit of humility.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– Those who lose grace suffer for unbelief and negligence; and those who find it again are vouchsafed this for their faith and zeal. These, the latter, move onwards and forwards; and those who oppose them completely turn back. Those who receive grace are both conceived and not idle by the Spirit; but it happens that they cast away the Divine seed either through a fall, or because they become widows from God because of communion with the enemy who hides within them. The abandonment of grace can be an action for the sake of passions (for the sake of delight in passionate movements) and its complete deprivation for the sake of committing sins. For the soul that loves passion and love sin is deprived of grace, and through this it becomes the abode of the passions.

We affirm that there are eight main objects of contemplation: 1 – God, invisible and formless, without beginning and uncreated, the cause of all that exists, the Trinitarian One and All-Essential Godhead, 2 – the order and standing of the intellectual powers, 3 – the composition of visible things, 4 – the house-building descent of the Word, 5 – the universal resurrection, 6 – the terrible second coming of Christ, 7 – eternal torment, and 8 – the Kingdom of Heaven. The first four are past and accomplished, and the last four are future and not yet manifested, clearly, however, contemplated and recognized by those who have acquired by grace complete purity of mind. But he who approaches this without the light of grace should know that he builds fantasies, and does not have contemplations, dreaming in spirit, being entangled in fantasies and dreaming.

THE WILL AND COMMANDMENTS OF GOD

Sep. Theophanes the Hermit (from the book. “Invisible War”)

– A penitent gives himself to God for service and immediately begins to serve Him, walking according to His commandments, and to His will. The commandments are not difficult, but they face many obstacles to their fulfillment in the external circumstances of the worker and especially in their internal inclinations and skills. The worker acts independently, albeit with God’s help, committing himself to God’s will or submission to God’s omnipotence.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The whole purpose of the Savior’s commandments is to free the mind from intemperance and hatred and to elevate it to the love of Him and neighbor, from which the light of the saint is born of Active Knowledge.

Other things we have done for God are done according to the commandment; the other is not according to the commandment, but according to the good sacrifice. According to the commandment, when we love God and neighbor, we love our enemies, we do not commit adultery, do not kill, etc.; Why, if we Then we violate, we are punished. Not according to the commandment – When we maintain our virginity and lead a celibate life, we are alienated From all possessions we become hermits and so on. These last actions have the meaning of gifts, so that if Infirmities, let us not obey any commandment with these gifts for the appeasement of our good Lord.

– The commandments of the Lord teach us to use ordinary things. Blessed use makes the state of the soul pure by the average phenomena. Purely The state of mind gives rise to prudence, prudence and generates impenetrability, from which perfection of love is born.

Abba Thalassius

– Keep the commandments – and you will find peace; The love of God — and you will receive knowledge.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– As a good deed that occurs without right faith, the dead is completely and inactive, so faith is left alone, without the Works of Righteousness they do not save us from eternal fire. If someone “Love me,” says the Lord, “the commandments He will keep mine (John 14:23). So, if we love the Lord and we believe in Him, let us bear witness to this by keeping His commandments so that He may receive eternal life. If in our contempt for keeping His commandments, to which He obeys All creation, and when we call ourselves faithful, we become revered more than any creature, and some of them have been disobedient above all creatures, and some of them are disobedient, at the behest of the One who created them, and ungrateful to the Benefactor.

– By keeping the commandments of Christ, we do not keep Giving to Him, Who lacks nothing, all things are good to Him who gives, but we do good for ourselves, deserving for ourselves eternal life and the enjoyment of unspeakable blessings.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“God does not demand anything from us, people. Beyond that, we must not sin. But this is not the fulfillment of the law, but only the inviolable preservation of images and heavenly dignity, in which to stand beside nature and Clothed in the shining garment of the Spirit, we abide in God and He in us by grace are gods and sons of God, and we are marked by the light of the knowledge of God according to the word: We are the light of your face, O Lord” (Psalm 4:7).

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– When someone is actively working to fulfill the commandment, suddenly filled with indescribable joy and indescribable, so that he himself is changed by the miraculous and the Indescribable Change, as if freed from the burden of the body, forgets about food, sleep and other natural needs, then let him know that it is God’s visitation to him that generates life-giving death in those who are struggling, and that in this way brings them into a state of disembodied loss. So blessed is the life of the culprit is humility; Educator and mother – holy tenderness; Friend and sister – reflection Divine light; the throne is impenetrability; The end is the Holy Trinity, God.

“God wants us to ascend like deer to the high mountains of His commandments and be the most thirsty for the life-giving waters of the Holy Ghost.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– It is necessary to know what the commandments are for the life-giving and for the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ We must, when time so requires, voluntarily destroy the soul, that is, not mourn our own life as the Lord Himself says: Whoever destroys his soul for my sake, he will also save me from the Gospel (Mark 8:35). In such a dwelling, one can forget about one’s back, and in this one stretches out (Phil. 3:13), flows with Christ Jesus on the path without looking back.

GOD’S PROVIDENCE

Abba Dorotheus

– Abba Pimen said well that the success of a monk (and of every person) is revealed in temptations, because everyone who comes to work for the Lord must, as He says O Most Wise, prepare his soul for temptation (Ser. 2:1), never be surprised or worried about anything, it happens to him, believing that nothing happens without the Providence of God. And in what God’s Providence is, it serves quite well for the good of the soul, for everything that God does to us, He does for our benefit, loving and merciful to us.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– God the All-Pleased created creatures from non-existence into the non-existence of Being – this is not because he needs anything, but because it is they, according to their acceptability, accept His Beatitude, enjoyed. And He Himself rejoiced in His works, To see how they rejoice and are always insatiable, who are satiated by the insatiable.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Make sure that your guardian is always by your side, and that, along with other beings, you also stand under the One Lord, Who sets everything in motion and organizes everything in one fell swoop. Stand boldly and be cheerful. None of these Demons, nor destructive beasts, nor cruel men can do your will to your detriment and destruction, unless they allow it by the will of the Ruler and grant this place in the To a certain extent. So tell your soul: I have a Guardian who protects me, and none of the creatures can Appear before me unless there is an order from above. But if it is the will of my Lord that the wicked should conquer the creatures, then I accept it without grief, as one who does not want my Lord’s will to remain without a speech.” So you will be filled with joy in your temptations, just as one who has seen and fully realized that the command of the Lord guides and disposes of you. So, Strengthen your heart with hope in the Lord.

“Like a handful of sand thrown into the sea, it is the same fall of all flesh in comparison with God’s Providence, and by God’s grace. And like a fountain with a lot of water, it is not blocked by a handful of dust, so the mercy of the Creator is not defeated by the defects of beings.

VIRTUES

Revered. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

– Regarding the acquisition of virtues, it is necessary to act in such a way as to always come to the fore (Phil. 3:13) if we want to achieve it quickly and successfully as the goal we have assumed. But as soon as we stop, For a short time, let’s go back immediately, so we must Listen to the good and not let anything slip out of our hands Which can be a reason to buy virtue. Therefore, those who do not do well They have the power to avoid any confrontation on the path of virtues, which, however, could be beneficial for the successful Flow. For example, if you want to master a skill in Patience, then you should not avoid those people, actions and Circumstances that most make you lose patience.

– To acquire virtues, one needs a soul brave and great, and a will, not some weak and lethargic, but determined and strong, with true foresight Many obstacles and hard work, and with the readiness of all Lift and carry.

Abba Dorotheus

– Neither the fear of God Himself, nor almsgiving, nor faith, nor Abstinence, as well as any other virtue, can be It was done without modesty.

“He who does not pay attention to himself and does not aspire easily deviates from virtues, for virtue is the Middle, that royal path of which one holy elder He said: “Follow the royal road and count the mile (path) of salvation).

– And therefore, when a person receives a guarantee of receiving these virtues, then he is pleasing to God, and although Everyone sees that he eats, drinks and sleeps like other people, yet such a person pleases God because of the virtues he has. A He who does not pay attention to himself and does not defend himself — easily deviates from this path either to the right or to the left, that is, either to excess or lack, and in itself gives rise to an infirmity, which is evil. This is the royal path along which All Saints marched.

Abba Zosima

– The little attraction of our will to good attracts God, help me, as I have often said and as he says Divine Anthony: for virtue we need our desire and experience, we do not need to go far to gain the Kingdom of Heaven, do not cross the sea for virtues. That Repose is inspired by the humble and humble! Indeed, the quiet they will inherit the earth and inherit the multitude of the world (Psalm 36:11).

For every virtue there is both work and Time, and to sincerely desire it, it is especially necessary because it is God’s help. For if God does not cooperate, It will be the labor of the poor to our will, as well as the labor of the farmer who cultivated and sowed his lands, if not God will rain on his seeds. God’s cooperation requires our prayers, because only through them do we attract God’s help to intercession over us. If we neglect prayer, how will God look at our work?

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Three principles motivate us to good: 1) the seed of good is in us by nature; 2) holy powers and 3) goodwill. The seeds of nature — when, for example, how We want people to do to us, and do the same with or when we see a person in difficulty and need, and the Holy Powers – when Feeling the desire to do a good deed, we find goodness in ourselves Help, and we have time. Goodwill – when, distinguishing good from evil, we choose good. Between people Acts many are kind in themselves, but can be cruel for some reason. For example, fasting, prayer, almsgiving, hospitality are good deeds in themselves, but when made out of vanity, then they are no longer good.

– Other bodily virtues (fasting, embroidery), and others are spiritual (love, generosity, humility); Therefore, if it is due to some need or condition bodily, such as illness or other similar reasons For this reason, we will not be able to fulfill the virtues mentioned above bodily we have a forgiving forgiveness from the Lord, the Knower and the reasons for it; but does not fulfill the virtues of the soul, we have no excuse, because they are not subject to such obstacles.

– As the body sins by actions and for the sake of its nourishment, if it has bodily virtues, let it be chaste; So the mind sins with passionate thoughts and has it for its education spiritual virtues — yes, pure and impartial Looking at things, it becomes chaste.

“If you want to be righteous, do what you can Every part in you, that is, soul and body: the thinking part of the soul is reading, spiritual contemplation, and prayer; irritable – spiritual love, the opposite of hate; lust – chastity and abstinence, as well as meat, food and clothing that are only necessary.

– Virtue is useful to asceticize in the midst of painful childbirth, because in that case it is complacent To those who endure it, it brings impenetrability to the soul, according to which the soul, uniting with God through love, is rejected through the inclination of the flesh and the world. Exhaustion of the body is the strengthening of the soul.

– No one can truly bless God unless He sanctified the body with virtues and enlightened the soul with True Knowledge. Benevolence in virtue is the face of the speculative mind, as if to heaven the pinnacle of true knowledge.

“The demons who struggle for lack of virtue are those who teach fornication and drunkenness, the love of money, and envy; and in virtues fight those who teach self-confidence, vanity and pride, and therefore Through the right hand they secretly sow shuya in us.

Elijah Yekdik

– The beginning of active virtue is abstinence and humility, truthfulness and chastity; And its end is the world of thought and the holy purity of the body.

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

– The three virtues must be strictly observed in silence and every hour to verify that we are always in the That we are not destroyed by oblivion to go beyond them. These are: abstinence, silence and self-humiliation, that is, modesty. They support each other and the store; Prayer is born from them and grows continuously.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– The last day will be opened by fire, and the fire will be The deeds of each of them are tested, says St. Paul. Paul (1 Og. 3:13), while attaching to one whose deeds are essentially incorruptible, which he has put in himself, in his creation, they will remain incorruptible in the midst of the fire, and not only will they not be burned, but they will still become shiny, completely purified Little Spots. And whose deeds are deadly in essence, which he has laid upon himself as a burden, they, inflamed, They will burn and leave him in the fire with nothing. Imperishable deeds and the Permanent Essence: tears of repentance, almsgiving, compassion, prayer, humility, faith, hope and every act in the form of true piety, which and when it lives man built in him as the holy temple of God, and when he dies, they leave him incorruptible forever. And everything burns disintegrating, as it is obvious to all, the essence of sensuality, the love of fame, the love of money, hatred, envy, theft, drunkenness, irritation, condemnation, and all other things with the body Made out of passion or anger. All such cases, when Man lives inflamed by passion, they decompose with him, and When he is torn from the body, they go with him, but they do not live with him, and, destroyed by fire, become their workers, they leave him in the fire for endless torment forever.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

Let us be concerned about the salvation of the soul, for that is what is needed (Luke 10:42). Demands and body, but not much, because the soul is above all.

– You are created from soul and body, and you give to the soul – spiritual food and bodily food. Do not let the soul die, but nourish it with the word of God, psalms, singing and spiritual songs, reading saving scriptures, fasting, watching, prayers, tears, hope and thoughts of future blessings. All this and similar things Food and life for the soul.

GOOD AND EVIL

Abba Dorotheus

– God created man in His image, that is, immortal, autocratic and adorned with all virtues. And when he broke the commandment by eating the fruit of the tree, which God commanded him not to eat, and then he was expelled from paradise (Gen. 3), he departed from the state of nature and fell into the unnatural and was already in sin: in the love of glory, in the love of the pleasures of this world, and in other passions, and we possessed them, because we ourselves became their slaves through transgression. Then, step by step, evil began to grow and death reigned.

Revered. Cassian the Roman

– Keeping firmly in our minds the distinction between things and deeds, and knowing that there is no true good except virtue, which comes from the fear of God and the love of God, and that it is not so true evil, except one thing, sin and separation from God, let us now examine with all attention whether ever God or by himself, or through someone else, He did evil to any of His saints. This, without you will not find any doubts anywhere. For it never happened that another could plunge someone into sins when he himself did not want this evil and opposes it; And if it happens that He overthrows, then only the one who conceived this sin in himself is the drunkenness of the heart and the corrupt will. So, when the devil wanted to plunge the righteous Job into this sin, so using against him all the snares of their malice: depriving him of everything, riches that strike the death of children and himself from head to head Covering his feet with wounds, he could not stain him with sin, because in all this that happened, Job remained steadfast and would not give foolishness to God (Job 1:22).

– Everything that exists and happens in the world is threefold: Good, Evil and Average. In human affairs, nothing should be considered an essential good, except for one spiritual virtue that, by sincere faith, leads us to God, leads us to hold on to this unchanging good at all times And, on the contrary, nothing should be considered evil, except one thing: sin, which, by separating us from the good God, binds us to the Evil Devil. The average is what can be attributed to one side or the other, judging by the quality and location who enjoys things such as: wealth, honor, power, bodily strength, health, beauty, life or death itself, poverty, weakness of the flesh, vanity, etc. Similarly, the quality and disposition of the user can serve both good and evil. For wealth can often serve for good according to the words of the Apostle, who is rich in modern times commands to be rich in good works, to be polite, sociable, to value themselves The foundation is good in the future, so that they may receive eternal life (1 Tim. 6:17-19), but again — turns into evil when, they gather it only to accumulate it and bury it in the earth, as the miserly do or waste it on luxury and pleasure, and not for the benefit of the needy.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– For those who do not know how to distinguish between what is good and what is evil, it is inappropriate to judge who is good and who is evil among people. A person who knows that God is good; And if he is bad, then therefore he does not know God and will never be known by Him: for the only way to know God is through kindness.

– About those who do not like to learn what is good for them and what should be considered good, it can be said that they are not part of good health; and in those who, having come to know the Truth, shamelessly dispute, their character is degraded, they have become beastly: they do not know God, and their souls are not illuminated by the Light.

– A person who lives piously, does not allow evil Enters the soul. And when there is no evil in the soul, it happens safe and unharmed. Over such a person, neither the evil demon nor the Accidents have power. God frees them from evil and They live unharmed, preserved as divine. Whether he will praise who he is, whether he laughs at the one who praises Or disgraces him, he does not defend himself against the one who rebukes him And he is not indignant that they say so about him.

Revered. Isaiah the Hermit

– A person, as long as he does evil, cannot do Good, but can do evil only under the guise of good.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Giving preference to goodwill is a voluntary act; but to complete the choice of goodwill is a matter of God. Because this person needs God’s help. We will That after the good desires that arise in us, After that, frequent prayers are heard asking not only to give us help, but also to show whether this desire pleases the will of God or not. After all, not every good desire enters the heart from God, but only what is useful. Sometimes Man strives for good, but God does not help him; because Sometimes this kind of desire comes from the devil and not from for our benefit, but to our detriment, or because the desired matter is not found in Since we have not yet reached the corresponding Hagiography.

ABOUT CONSCIENCE

Abba Dorotheus

– When God created man, He instilled in him something divine, as if a certain thought were inside like a spark, and light, and warmth; a thought that enlightens the mind and shows it what is good and what is evil, It is called conscience, and it is naturally Law. By observing this law, that is, conscience, the patriarchs and all the saints pleased God even before the law was written.

“So let’s try to preserve our conscience until we In this world we don’t let it condemn us in some businesses; Let’s not trample on it in any way, Even if it was the least. Know that from the neglect of this small and essentially insignificant we transmit the neglect of the great. Because if someone starts saying, “What’s important if I say that word? What does it matter if you Look at this or that?” The importance is that the importance is in the other?” he has a bad habit and begins to neglect the great and important, and tramples on his conscience, and thus petrified in evil runs the risk of reaching perfection of Insensitivity.

“First, let us all guard our conscience for all: in relation to God, neighbor and things – and Before saying or doing something, let us check whether it is in accordance with the will of God, and then, after praying, let us say or do it, and talk about our weakness before God, and His goodness will help us in all things.

Revered. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

“Protect your conscience with all kinds of protection, brother Pure in thoughts, words and deeds – let it always be blameless and never condemn or gnaw In any case. If you do this, it will be great gains power in you both internally and externally, and by becoming the mistress of everything, he will become a good Manage your life. A clear conscience will make your life flawless, because then it will be sensitive and strong in Good vs. Evil. It is a law engraved by God in the hearts of men, in the enlightenment of their ways, and in the guidance of all things worthy, as the Apostle Paul teaches, calling it a lawful deed, written by the heart (Romans 2:15); Based on the Holy Nile gives everyone a lesson: In all your actions, Like a lamp, use the guidance of your conscience.

“In four aspects, you must guard your conscience for its blamelessness: 1) in relation to God, 2) to yourself to yourself, 3) to your neighbors, and 4) to everything that is in your hands.

“All this is known; But let me remind you of the most important thing. As for God, remember and walk in the presence of God; Be aware of what you are being carried, and preserved by the power of God and brought to the end, for which He called you to being; and dedicate yourself and all that is yours to the service of God and to the glory of his name; live in Him, in Him Trust and entrust Him your destiny, both temporal and eternal.

“As for yourself, be just to yourself, and give every part of your nature to your spirit, which seeks God in heaven and in eternity, so rule over soul and body, which is destined to be ordered temporal life; the soul obeying the promptings of the spirit, the neck of the mind, let him bow before the divinely revealed Truth and illuminate the whole Sphere of his Competence: let him keep his will in the order of the commandments of God, not allowing him, in contrast to them, to deviate from his own Desire, let the heart teach him to find taste only in things divine and in that which bears the imprints and serves as an expression of the divine, and in this spirit, let him conduct his affairs and daily and social orders; Give the body what it needs, and following strict moderation in this, the law is – never make the flesh what it desires in nothing in lust (Romans 13:14). By keeping this, you will be a good ruler of yourself and a true benefactor for yourself.

“Concerning your neighbors, honor all as images of God, desire all well, and do good according to your strength; humbled himself before everyone and pleased everyone within the limits of kindness; Rejoice with those who rejoice, and grieve with those who mourn, condemn or despise anyone, even in thoughts and feelings, of those who seek do not hide the truth from your advice and warnings when you know; Never impose yourself as a teacher on anyone, much less maintain peace and harmony with everyone, with readiness All kinds of sacrifices for this on their part and everything possible Avoid seducing anyone.

“Concerning things, he treated them with respect for all as creatures of God; in which God gives you a Possession — to keep and use for the glory of God: be I pleased with them all, and thank God that there is no need Do not cling to these things and take everything as tools and methods external, to dispose of them freely and not have any connection and interfere with your good works, do not allow yourself to be Resting on them, as on fragile supports, do not boast of your own, Do not envy strangers, do not be stingy, and do not be wasteful just for the sake of Good.

“Everyone should do it every day in one form or another, at almost every step, if this is how you live well; You will also have a conscience of kindness by following St. Ap. (Hebrews 13:18).

ADDICTION

Abba Dorotheus

– Most Merciful God, knowing our weakness and foreseeing that Even after Holy Baptism we will sin, as it is said in the Scriptures, that man must diligently think of evil from his youth (Gen. 8:21) He has given us according to the goodness of His holy commandments that purify us, so that we, if We Will, may again be cleansed by keeping the commandments Not only from our sins, but also on the passions themselves. Because this is different, these are passions and other sins. Passions are the essence: anger, vanity, splendor, hatred, evil passion, and the like. Sins The very actions of passions, when someone manifests them by virtue of performing by actions, that is, they carry out with the body those acts to which She is stimulated by passions, because it is possible to have passions, but do not Act in accordance with them.

– Always cease passions while they are still young, until they take root and become strong in you and begin to oppress you, because then you will have to suffer much from them; Because it is one thing to pull out a small blade of grass, and quite another to destroy a large tree.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– It is said that the state of the body changes due to Give the mind passionate or indifferent thoughts the following four causes: angels, demons, air, food. Angels they are changed by word; demons — to the touch; Air – by their changes; Food — by the quality of food and alcohol consumption, their excess and deficiency. In addition to what has been said, changes also occur through memory, hearing and sight, when the soul suffers in advance under the influence of sadness or joyful circumstances. Having suffered from them, the soul produces a change in physical condition.

– Three reasons for the love of wealth: luxury, vanity and unbelief; Stronger than the first two is unbelief. The curvy love silver, so enjoy it with it; vain — to be glorified; a unbelievers to hide and preserve it, fearing famine or old age or sickness or exile and many other things, trusting not in God, the Creator and Provider of all creatures, even to the smallest and smallest animals.

– The beginning of all passions is self-love, and the end is pride. Self-love is reckless love of the body. He who cut him off cut off all the passions that arose from him.

“Like animals, those who live only for the senses are evil they use God’s creations to please passions. Ignoring all the manifest Word of Wisdom, that they may know and glorify God And let them understand where we come from and what we are, what purpose and where to seek through the visible creation; they have wandered in darkness all their ages, and one Ignorance of God is felt with both hands.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

“What we have done with passion — this is what we have done memories of passion disturb the soul, but when it is passionate Memories will be completely erased from the heart so much that they will not approach it — this is a sign of remission of former sins. As long as the soul is passionate about something sinful, for now it should be recognized as an integral part of this Reign of sin.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– There is a preposition (adverb) in advance – an action when a thrown object hits something that is abandoned. Then – combination (combination) – attention is bound by the object, so the only thing that the soul is yes. the object that hit and occupied it; Next is the conjunction – the object that was affected, and the attention of the one who borrowed awakened the desire, and the soul agreed to it, and Everything came together; For this — captivity — he accepted this subject of Confinement of the soul that desires it and, like a slave, bound, leads to business; Finally, passion is a frequent illness of the soul of repetition (satisfying the same desire) and the habit of doing what satisfies it, the Quality of the soul (which has become a character trait).

“This is a field for victory in what was happening We have battles! Imprisonment occurs differently during prayer, and differently not during prayer. Passion is, without a doubt, subject to either equivalent (counterweighted) repentance or Future flour. Who resists or is indifferent to it To the first, that is, under a pretext, he stops all shameful things at the same time.

Elijah Yekdik

– Passionate is he who has a stronger tendency to sin of thought, although he has not yet sinned; Magnificent is one who has the Action (energy) of sin weaker than thought, even though it possesses passion within; He partially understands who is free, or, better, blindly attached to both.

“Emotionless would be one who does not know such various sinful movements and rebellions (who does not experience them). It is expelled from the soul: passion through fasting and prayer; splendor through vigilance and silence; Bias – silence and attention.

– Impenetrability is restored by the memory of God.

– Of the living, all are bodily dead; but to sin Only those who hated him with all their hearts are dead. The mind A passionate person cannot enter the narrow door of prayer if First, he does not give up his lavish cares sensual, but will always suffer in vain, whirling in the shadow of care.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Who is the passion of the flesh, the passion of the eyes and the pride of the worldly – these worldly unrighteousness, through the love of whom we are enemies of God, He spiritually hated and denied, He crucified the world for himself and crucified Himself to the world, destroying the enmities between God and the soul, and the creation of the world in both. For he who died in this way, in the removal of carnal wisdom, was reconciled to God, killing the enmity of the world in disgrace sweetened by life crucified for the world and kissed by the love of God. Why is such a person no longer an enemy of God as a friend of the world, but as a friend of God, as one who was crucified for the world and is able to say: “The world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

Sep. Gregory of Sinai

Of all the passions, two are especially cruel and severe: fornication and despair, that is, laziness when they take possession of the Soul and relax it. They have a close relationship with each other bond and combination, so it is difficult to fight them and their To overcome them, it is impossible to completely defeat them. The first is filled with greedy soul power, but encompasses both parts of our natural constitution – both soul and body, pouring out its sweetness on all participants.

– Secondly, laziness, a domineering mind, it embraces like ivy the whole soul, flesh and our whole essence makes you lazy, relaxed, as if paralyzed. They are cast out, although in the face of blessed impenetrability there is no end to be conquered when the soul receives strength in prayer of the Holy Spirit, who, having given it joy, strength and depth, the world rejoices in its heart, the consolation of their tyranny. Prodigal passion is the beginning, mistress and queen of sweets, the prevailing sweetness of sweets and their companion is laziness; through them They have quickened all the passions of us poor.

LACK OF JUDGMENT

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“Don’t judge anyone, don’t reproach anyone, don’t despise anyone, not even Very thin in their lives. Spread out your clothes And cover them. And do not leave the doors idle of the chambers, so as not to know the evil deeds of men, and then in the ignorance of our minds, in each of them we will see holy and good men.

– When someone starts talking about your brother in front of you Don’t listen to him, but your face. How quickly if you do this, you will be careful before God and before Him.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– The beginning of salvation is self-condemnation.

“If we pay attention to ourselves, we will not judge others, because we have many things for which to condemn others.

“Bring the sinner to his senses, but do not condemn him who falls, for the latter is the work of the slanderer, and the first is who wants to be corrected.

Abba Dorotheus

– Humiliate, condemn and harm someone’s business, if not Demonic? And so we find ourselves helpers of demons to destroy our own and neighbors’ destruction. Why is that? Because there is no Love! For love encompasses a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:1). 8). The saints do not condemn the sinner and do not turn away from him, but they sympathize with him, grieve for him, scold him, calm him, heal him like a sick member, and do everything to save him.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“If you see that your brother has sinned, do not despise him Do not turn away from him and do not condemn him, otherwise you yourself will fall into the hands of your enemies.

– Do not condemn any mortal, otherwise God I hated your prayers.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“If you are not afraid, tremble and go to the frenzy of your mind, when God the Father, judging no one, gives all judgment to the Sons (John 5:22), and the Son cries out, ‘Judge not, lest they be judged’ (Matt. 7:1); nor to condemn lest you be condemned (Luke 6:37), just as the Apostle: “Judge nothing before the time until the Lord comes” (1 Cor. 4:5), and again: “For you shall judge with judgment Condemn yourself (Rom. 2:1), when I say, So it came to pass: the people who went to weep for their sins received judgment from the hands of the Son, and themselves, as if they were sinless, judge and condemn one another! The heavens are afraid of this, and the earth trembles.

– Whoever is interested in the sins of others or He judges a brother by suspicion, he has not yet laid the foundation for repentance and tried to know his own sins, indeed the heaviest of many pounds of lead weight, and he does not know Why a man is cruel, loves vanity and seeks lies (Psalm 4:3), and therefore as a fool and wanders in darkness, forsaking his own sins, he has dreams about strangers, real or imaginary, according to One Suspicion.

Anyone who speaks emotionlessly about a brother’s sin says Two reasons: either to fix it or to benefit the other. If, however, he says, whether he himself or to another without these purposes, he speaks, condemning or slandering his brother, and such will not escape abandoned by God, but will surely fall into the same or another sin, and If he is rebuked or rebuked by others, he will be ashamed.

Approx. Diadochi

– No one can sincerely love or believe otherwise if he does not have himself as a condemner of himself. For when our conscience is tormented by its own rebuke, and then it is not allowed to smell the fragrance of the most mundane blessings, but at once disintegrates into two parts, self-confidence; thanks to previous experiences of faith, warmly He hastens to them with longing, but can no longer lovingly receive them in the feelings of the heart, because of the frequent remorse of a remorseful conscience. However, if we purify ourselves With the warmest prayer and attention, we will improve this desired good again, with an even greater experience in God, savoring Him. Just as we involuntarily reach for the blessings that we see with the body sensations, so it usually leads us to the invisible blessings of the intellectual, spiritual sensation when the Divine God is experienced. Everything longs for what is similar to itself: the soul is like the incorporeal — these are heavenly blessings, and the body is like a finger with earthly sweets. So, in the state of experience, We will achieve pleasure from the superfluous, without mistake, if we improve our earthly body by Labors.

Revered. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

– Out of self-love and self-confidence, some other evil is born in us, which causes us great harm, namely, the harsh judgment and condemnation of our neighbor, according to which we will not be in which we put him, we sometimes despise and despise. Giving High value and high esteem about ourselves, of course, We look down on others, condemn them and despise them, so it seems to Us that we are far from those shortcomings that We think others are not strangers to. But you are not given such an opportunity by Power, and, having appropriated this power for yourself, you yourself at this moment are worthy of judgment and condemnation, not before weak people, but before the almighty Judge, the God of all.

SELF-LOVE

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Beware of the mother of evil – self-love, which There is an irrational love for the body. For from him, with evident Blessings, the first three tribal passionate and cruel thoughts, namely, gluttony, love of money, vanity, borrowing causes from the necessary need of the flesh, and from them the whole flame of passions is born. That is why, as has already been said, one must be very careful not to do Self-love and to face it with great vigilance. Because with its destruction, all its descendants are destroyed. The passion of self-love inspires the monk to spare the body and superficially in food under the guise of maintaining health and mind control over the body, so that little by little, leaning aside, He fell into the abyss of luxury. A layman, by the very fact that he is a layman, commands him to take care of the flesh in order to please… in passion (Romans 13:14).

– The beginning of all passions is self-love, and the end is pride. Self-love is reckless love of the body. By cutting him off, he stopped all the passions emanating from him. When We reject self-love, the mother of all evil, together with and all that belongs to it, is cut off: for if this is not so, then no appearance or trace of evil can endure in us.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

“Of the self-love that hates all, I have rightly said One of the wise: a fierce struggle for self-love, like a tyrant One of them stands at the head of all thoughts, and these three (love of pleasure, love of money, and love of fame) our mind is exalted. Self-love, splendor, and the love of glory banish memories from the soul of God; but when the memory of God is torn away, it lives on We have a riot of passions. Self-love can be the father of countless passions, so when someone tears out of one’s heart self-love — then it will easily gain power over other passions with the Lord’s help. Because usually from this is born: anger, sadness, resentment, pomp and irrepressible audacity. And it will inevitably be defeated by him who also submits to other passions. And we call self-love passionate character and body love with pleasure carnal desires.

ANGER AND IRRITABILITY

Abba Dorotheus

– Irritability, according to St. Basil the Great, is also called acute bile (irritability). If you want, you can pay off the debt before it happens. Anger. But if you continue to be confused, then You are like a person who puts wood into the fire, and what kindles it even more, from which a lot of coals burn, and that is anger. Abba said the same thing to Zosimus when asked what the saying was: “Where there is no irritability, there is silence (absence) enmity? For if someone hastens to reproach himself and bow down to his neighbor at the beginning of confusion, asking for forgiveness before Irritability flares up, then he keeps the peace. But when Anger is petrified and then turns into malice, from which Man will not be freed unless he brings great things here Exploits and efforts. Irritability disappears mostly love for one’s neighbor, because, according to the Holy Fathers, love IS the bridle of irritability.

Anger

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– When you are offended by someone or despised something, beware of thoughts of anger, otherwise, because of this resentment, by separating you from love, they will not relocate you to the Realm of Hatred.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– Do not let anger and rage settle in your soul, for a fierce man is indecent (Proverbs 11:25), but wisdom rests in the hearts of the meek (Proverbs 14:33). If the passion of anger prevails with your soul, those who live in the world will be better than you; And you will be covered with shame, turning out to be a worthless monk.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– Anger – a cruel passion – easily drives even those who know crazy, makes the soul cruel, and makes them avoid friendly interviews.

– The prayer of the irritated is a disgusting smoking, the Psalm of the angry is an unpleasant sound.

“If you have a solid foundation in love, then it is Listen more than what offends you.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“He who is not evil is perfect and divine, he is full of joy and is the remnant of the Spirit of God. As fire burns great forests when you ignore it, so evil, If you let it enter your heart, it will destroy your soul and body He will defile you and bring you many false thoughts; stirs up quarrels, controversies, rumors, envy, hatred, and similar evil passions that sharpen the very body and cause It to be sick. Hasten to acquire kindness and simplicity so that our Lord Jesus Christ may receive you into Himself, and Each of you will gladly say: I have received kindness and set myself before You forever (Psalm 40:13).

Revered. Isidore Pelusiot

“Prejudice is short-sightedness, and hatred is complete He sees nothing.

About the benefits of anger

Revered. Cassian the Roman

– Sometimes out of anger a favor is very useful for us when we get angry, get irritated by the magnificent movements of our heart, or when against the anger itself We are angry, why did it creep up, stirring us up against (or we get angry at the demons that tempt us).

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Anger and desire are given to man, but he is also given understanding, And as long as this mind was healthy, these movements also remained in their rank; namely, the desire that aspired to mental blessings God also coveted them, and anger again irritated and strained the same desire so that it had to be with great zeal he craved these Divine blessings.

ABOUT THE LOVE OF MONEY AND GREED

Revered. John Klimack

– The love of money is the worship of idols, the daughter of unbelief; It is justified by ailments, it predicts passion, portends hunger, predicts drought.

“The lover of money laughs at the Gospel, and he is a willing criminal. He who has gained love spends money, and he who says that he lives for both love and money, He deceives himself.

“Whoever has conquered the passion of the love of money has given up the end of worries, and he who is bound by it will never pray With a pure heart.

– The beginning of the love of money is the intention to give alms, and its end is hatred of the poor. While You begin to collect — You are merciful, but the money comes — and squeezed his hands.

– Lack of greed is the postponement of cares, Lack of care for worldly things that does not face the obstacles of the traveler — faith in the commandments; Sadness is alien to her.

– A person who is not inclined to rapture is pure during prayer, but the Greedy prays to material idols.

For the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim. 6:10), because it breeds hatred, lawsuits, envy, separation, enmity, confusion, enmity, hardness of heart, murder.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The passion of love for money is revealed to those who He always accepts with joy, and gives with sadness.

“Greedless is he who renounces everything. property and has nothing on earth but the body, and rejecting any inclination towards it, God and Godly men he entrusted all care for himself. From Buying real estate, some acquire it dispassionately, so even when they are deprived of it, they do not grieve, accepting the theft of their possessions with joy (Heb. 10:34). Others acquire it Passionately, why, when they are offered to lose their belongings, to grieve, like the rich man mentioned in the Gospel, go sorrow (Matt. 19:22); But if they lose it, then Mourn to death. Thus, deprivation of property exposes the character of an indifferent or passionate buyer.

– Three reasons for the love of wealth: luxury, vanity and unbelief; Stronger than the first two is unbelief. The curvy love silver, so enjoy it with it; it is useless to become famous, and unbelievers to bury and preserve it, fearing hunger, or old age, or sickness, or exile, and many other things, trusting not in God, the Creator and Provider of all creatures, even to the smallest and smallest animals.

Abba Thalassius

“The love of money is the food of passions, insofar as it sustains and develops an all-encompassing, self-satisfied passion.

Elijah Yekdik

“Truly merciful is not he who arbitrarily distributes the Extra, but voluntarily gives what is necessary to thieves.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– He does not save someone once and one person He will show mercy, although if someone despises it, He makes him guilty of eternal fire. Because he was starving and Being greedy is not about one occasion or one day, but means a lifetime. In the same way: feeding, drinking, dressing, and so on, does not indicate one act, but always and in relation to all. Christ, our Lord and God, confessed that He Himself accepts such mercy from His servants (in the person of the needy). Whoever gave alms to hundreds of needy, but, And he could give to others: to feed and drink many, rejecting those who begged and cried to him, he will be judged by Christ, as he did not feed Him. For in all these things He is the same Whom we feed in each of the Poor.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– If the merciful is not superior to his own righteousness, then he is not merciful, that is, the true merciful not only gives alms to his people, but also with joy he endures unrighteousness from others and has mercy for them.

“He who lays down his life for his brother is merciful, and not he who shows mercy to his brother only by alms He is merciful, who, if struck by a brother, will not be so shameless as to answer and grieve his heart.

“He who loves sequins cannot get free thoughts, because the heart is internally tuned to the similarity of external images.

– Nothing can bring the heart closer to God than almsgiving; and nothing generates such silence in the soul as Arbitrary poverty.

– Do not try to distinguish between the worthy and the unworthy; May all people be equal to you for the good of the cause. For in this way it is possible to attract the unworthy to good, because the soul is drawn into the fear of God through the body.

– Without greed, the soul cannot free itself from the rebellion of thoughts, and without forcing the sensation to plunge into silence, it will feel calm in its thoughts.

“Whoever pardons a beggar has a guardian. God; and whoever becomes poor for God’s sake will find what treasures will not fail. God does not need anything, but rejoices; when he sees that man gives rest to His image and honors it for His sake; When someone asks for what you have, don’t do it Say in your heart: I will leave it to my soul to rest in it, and God gives it from another place that he needs. Such thoughts are appropriate for unrighteous people and those who do not know God. A just and kind person will not give Honor to others and will not allow the time of grace to be passed without work. A poor and needy person takes pleasure in God, because the Lord does not leave anyone. But you, having sent away from him the wretched, he departed from the honor that God had given you and took His grace from you.

UNCLEANNESS (FORNICATION)

Revered. Macarius the Great

– The main task of an ascetic is to enter his heart, he will start a war with Satan there, and hate him and, resisting his thoughts, fight him. But if someone obviously saves his body from fornication and fornication, but inwardly commits fornication before God, fornication in thought—then there is no body to have a virgin body to use. For it is written: Everyone who looks at a woman will be greedy for her, having already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). There is fornication committed by the flesh, and there is fornication of the soul, communion with Satan.

Approx. Diadochi

– When the man of God has almost conquered all passions, Two demons still grow against him, one of them the soul is tormented, awakening (the ascetic) out of great love for God excessive jealousy, so that he does not want to allow another who was more pleasing to God than to Him; and the other, the body, arousing it with a fiery motion to passion bodily. And this happens to the body, because such sweetness Passion is an integral part of our nature, just as it is rooted in it for the sake of having children, which is why it is uncomfortably conquered, but then and with the permission of God. For when the Lord sees some ascetics who rise too high in the multiplication of virtue, and sometimes allows himself to be disturbed by this abominable demon to consider himself the worst of all living people. Sometimes there is such an attack of passion after good deeds, and sometimes before The movement of this passion, whether before the works or followed, caused the soul to appear before itself the most futile, no matter how great its deeds. But let us fight against the first demon by increasing humility and love, and against the second by abstinence, meaninglessness and deepening the memory of death, so that through this we may feel the unceasing action of the Holy Spirit, so that we can become higher in the Lord and these passions.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“You’d rather go to a blazing fire than a young one For a woman when you’re young yourself. For, feeling the pain of fire, When you approach it, you immediately jump to the side, and If you enjoy women’s speeches, you will not be able to suddenly walk away.

“Look, man, abstinence; Under the pretext of Repentance, do not be deceived by unknown hopes. For many, they were immediately taken away by death, while others were unable to rise from the fall of the habitual, bound with infantry sweets like the law. Why do you know if you will live and repent? What do you assign yourself years of life? You fall, you entertain your body, while you should have given yourself more to the memory of death, so that in your heart you live to present the terrible decision of the Judgment and thus abolish the wisdom of the inflamed flesh.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– If you do not allow sewage to accumulate in the yard, then do not allow carnal desires to be strengthened in you.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– The life of the flesh and the enjoyment of this great life, wealth and power, is death to the soul; and vice versa, Work, patience, poverty with gratitude and humiliation of the body are the life of the soul and the path to eternal consolation.

Revered. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (from the book. “Invisible Swearing”)

“Avoid as much as possible all cases that can disturb the peace of your flesh, especially when encountering people of the opposite sex. And if sometimes there is a need to communicate with such a person, to communicate for a short time, observing not only modesty, but also a certain severity of the face And let your words be with all benevolence more restrained than benevolent.

– When running, run as much as possible: A) from such Contact with persons who can serve you in temptation, if you sincerely do not want to fall into the captivity of sin and not to pay the rent, which is the death of the soul. Is this not what the apostle was pointing to when he commanded the Corinthians: “Flee from debauchery” (1 Cor. 6:18). B) run laziness and laziness, and stand merrily, with all your eyes. Observing your thoughts, wisely organizing and conducting your affairs, The requirement of your position. C) Never violate the abbots and spiritual fathers, but voluntarily obey them in all things, quickly and voluntarily doing all that they command, and Above all, that which is modest to you and contrary to your will and your inclinations. D) never allow yourself to be bold Judge your neighbor, judge or condemn anyone, especially For this same bodily sin, even if someone has clearly fallen into it, but have pity and pity on him; And do not be offended by him and do not laugh at him, but borrow his example a lesson in humility and the realization that you yourself are extremely weak and inclined to evil, moving like dust on the road, say to yourself: now he has fallen, and Tomorrow I will fall. Know, if you are quick to condemn and contempt others, then God will painfully punish you for it, allowing you yourself to fall into the same sin for which you condemn others. Do not judge lest you be judged (Matt. 7:1), and you will not be condemned to the same. E) Pay attention to yourself and Watch yourself. If you have obtained some gift of God or If you are in a good spiritual state, do not accept the arrogance of vain and dreamy thoughts of yourself, as if you were someone better than others. As soon as you think about it, you will fall easily like an autumn leaf from a tree.

LAUGHTER

Revered. John of the Carpathians

“Nothing upsets a usually good person so much with moods such as laughter, jokes and idle talk. And again, nothing therefore renews the exhausted soul and prepares for approaching God like the fear of God, attention, continuous learning of the words of God, arming prayer and the search for fruitful works.

Laughter and audacity (freedom)

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– The beginning of spiritual corruption in a monk – Laughter and freedom. When you see it in yourself – that you have come to the depths of evil, do not stop praying to God, yes, He will save you from this death. Laughter and freedom are immersed in the shameful passions not only of young monks, but also of elders. A One of the elders said to freedom: freedom is like a suffocating wind; It destroys the fruits of the monk. Laughter deprives a man of the blessing promised to those who are sad (Matt. 5:4), destroys the good inner order, offends the Holy Spirit, harms the soul, and corrupts the body. Laughter disappears, virtue does not remember death and has no thoughts of it in torment.

“To escape from freedom, which, in my opinion, is the beginning of all evil phenomena. If you don’t hold her back, she do Shameless.

Abba Dorotheus

– Courage can be varied: you can be brave in words, movement, and look. Because of insolence, some fall into empty words, say worldly, make it funny and encourage others to laugh obscenely. Audacity and when someone touches another unnecessarily, reaches out a hand to someone (laughs), pushes someone, snatches something out of his hands, shamelessly looks at someone — all this makes insolence, all this happens because there is no fear of God in the soul, and From this man gradually, and he becomes perfect negligence. Therefore, when God gave the commandments of the law, he said: “Make the children of Israel honorable” (Lev. 15:15). 31), because without respect and humble modesty (lack of courage) a person does not honor God Himself and does not keep their One Commandment. Therefore, there is nothing more harmful than insolence, That is why she is the mother of all passions, which she expels reverence drives away the fear of God from the soul and generates negligence.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Who loves laughter and likes to show off People, don’t be friends, otherwise he will teach you the habit of Rest.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“As much as possible, avoid jokes and laughter speeches.

– Saint Anthony did not find a place in his life for the monk to laugh, and when the disciples asked him: “Can we ever laugh?” – he replied: “Our Lord condemns those who laugh when he says: ‘Woe to you who laugh now: for you will weep and weep’ (Luke 6:25). So, the Faithful Monk should not laugh; We should weep more for those who blaspheme in the name of God, for they are breaking His law, and all their lives they live in sins. Let us weep and weep, constantly pleading with God that He does not allow them to harden in sins and not die found them to repentance.

SLEEP

Approx. Diadochi

– Dreams that appear to the soul because of the love of God are not deceptive signs of spiritual health. They do not change from one image to another, do not inspire fear, do not excite laughter or sudden sadness, but they approach the shower with all silence and filling it with spiritual joy; Why does the Soul, even after the awakening of the body, strive for this with all the desire for the education received in sleep. Demonic dreams have everything Sometimes it contradicts it — they do not adhere to the same thing, but they do not show their shape and appearance for a long time without violations, because what is not in their will, but they borrow their only lies for a long time They cannot be satisfied. At the same time, they talk a lot and promise great things and frighten them even more with threats, accepting they often look like warriors; Sometimes they sing souls and something flattering with a loud scream. The mind, when it is pure, It soon recognizes them, and sometimes, through mental tension, awakens the body and sometimes remains in the same state rejoicing that it was able to recognize their evil, and in the same dream, reproaching them and thus shifting against the great Anger. However, it happens that even good dreams are not the joy of bring the soul, a little sweet sadness and tears Not painful. This happens to those who have already succeeded with great humility. We have outlined how to distinguish between good and bad dreams, judging from what experienced elders themselves have heard. Yes, however, it puts more pressure on us than on the great virtues — that is the rule of not believing in any dreamy dreams. After all, dreams are mostly nothing Apart from the idols of thoughts, it is a game of imagination or demonicity The curse and fun have already passed. If, by following this rule, we Sometimes we do not accept such a dream that will be sent to us from God, then the loving one will not be angry with us because of the Lord Jesus, knowing that we dare to do it out of fear of demonic intrigues. For although the foreseen way of discernment The dream is true, it happens that the soul is an admiration for the enemy, inattentive and involuntarily desecrated, which, as I think, no one can do without it, loses the trace of correct judgment and the belief in evil dreams as good.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– When the soul begins to feel health, Then he will begin to see pure and calm dreams.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

“From what is imagined during sleep, there is another There is a dream, another vision, another revelation. There are dreams Dreams that do not stand still in the imagination of the mind; By what objects one is mixed, to displace others or turn into others; there is no of them and their very dreams disappear with the awakening. They should be despised by the most devoted fanatics. Visions are dreams that always stand and do not transform from one to another and so on They remain in the memory for many years unforgettable: they show the events of the future, useful for the soul, transforming it into the tenderness of the personification of terrible spectacles, and whoever sees them creates a selfish and trembling from constant reflection terrible things that seem terrible; The most diligent fanatics should consider such visions valuable. Revelation is first and foremost a sense of contemplation of the purest and most enlightened soul, embodying the marvelous Divine work and understanding of the mystery of God’s hidden mysteries, the sale of the things that matter most to us, and the general use of worldly and human affairs.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– Night dreams and defilements come from the Exaltation, then from satiety, then from the envy of the devil. A It should be said that when we do not The enemy receives support from exaltation and gluttony, he cannot repeat it often. As a builder of a house, if he does not find Of the necessary materials, he works in vain: so does the devil.

Revered. John Klimack

“Sleep is a kind of compression of nature, an image of death, an inactivity of sensations. Dreaming is one, but it has many beginnings, as well as Passion: that is, it occurs by natural demand, from Food, from demons and sometimes from extreme Increased fasting, from which the weakened flesh wants to support itself with sleep.

– Since a lot of alcohol consumption depends on habit, so on Habit – and a lot of sleep. Especially at the beginning of Obedience, let’s fight sleep, because Long-term habit is difficult to cure.

ENVY

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“The sadness of the envious is hard to stop. For he considers misfortune what he envies in you. And no Otherwise, he can be reassured, except by hiding it from him. If And now it is good for many, but brings him sadness Which one to ignore? Standing aside is good for many; but, if possible, do not ignore or allow yourself to be succumbed to the insidiousness of passion, giving help not to passion, but to those who suffer from it; But according to humility, to consider him superior to you and give him an advantage over yourself at any time and in any place, and in any case. And you can stop your envy if you rejoice in the joy of the one you envy and together Grieve with him because of what he is grieving for, filling the Apostle’s Commandment: Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep together with weeping (Romans 12:15).

SADNESS (DESPAIR)

Approx. Diadochi

– When the soul begins not to covet the beautiful earthly things, and then for the most part penetrate into it, a kind of gloomy spirit that does not want to work the service of the Word does not allow this, just as the strong desire for the future does not leave anything good in it; and also this life of life is presented as exceedingly useless, as unworthy of the Work of Virtue, and it despises knowledge itself as bestowed, and for many others, or nothing special for us. This is what We will avoid warm and lazy passion if we let us set extremely narrow boundaries of our thinking by remaining attentive to the mere remembrance of God; for only in this way can the spirit, having risen in the burning characteristic, repel from itself the irrational It is a dissolution.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– Despair is more catastrophic than sin. Judas the traitor was weak-minded and incapable of fighting, which is why he fell into despair; And the enemy, running up, threw a noose over him. And Peter is a hard stone who has suffered a terrible fall like a master of battle, not to lose heart or despair In his deep sorrow, but jumping up he shed the most bitter tears from a contrite and humble heart; and our adversary, seeing it as if scorched by a mighty flame, immediately jumped away and fled far away, emitting fierce cries.

Abba Thalassius

– He who could not accept unpraiseworthy sadness mourns bodily pleasures; but he who despises them remains serene.

Elijah Yekdik

– Neither the sinner nor the righteous are without sorrow; but the first is sorrowful that he has not yet completely renounced sin, and the second is that he has not yet mastered all good things.

“Do not lose heart, looking at the difficulties of your soul, his illness; But he uses the most effective Healing of difficult achievements against it — distance yourself from him if you sincerely care about the health of your soul.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Not only a silent person or novice, but also an abbot, an abbot over many, and he, in organizing everything, must be careless, that is, free from sad cares Daily needs. For if we care, we find ourselves violators of God’s commandment: do not be anxious about your soul, what you eat or what you drink, neither in our body nor in what you will be clothed… for all these tongues are seeking.—Matt. 6:25, 32.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– The sorrowful monk does not know the spiritual things of Pleasure. Sadness is the despair of the soul, and it can be the result of angry thoughts; for anger seeks vengeance; Failure in revenge generates sadness.

– A sad monk will not make the mind think and will never send a pure prayer, he puts an obstacle for the grief of all the good. He who mourns does not know spiritual joy, As a person suffering from a severe fever, the taste is in honey.

“Sorrow for God renews the soul with tears, inspires caring care for the approach of death and judgment, and Gradually He teaches us to wait for them with desire.

– Sadness can be a disease of the soul and body; She takes the soul – a prisoner, and the flesh dries up, leaving it in place.

– Sadness is born from what is disgusting (misfortune, sadness, grief); But from sadness comes a gloomy mood (he is not in spirit), but from both comes a meaningless reproach (grumbling at everything).

“If you want to suppress sadness with gloomy And then accept good-natured love and dress yourself in joy without malice.

– In sorrow, be most grateful, because Through them the mercy of intercession is felt more clearly. So, banishing sadness with Thanksgiving (from the sorrows that befell them), You will darken the bright beauty of male complacency.

– Despair is the exhaustion of the soul; And the soul inside, not having what belongs to it by nature, does not tire courageously from temptations.

– In each question, determine a measure for yourself and do not leave before finishing; Also pray wisely and intensely, and the spirit of despair flees from you.

– Consider laziness the mother of evil, because it robs what you have, and what you do not have does not allow you to buy.

Revered. John Klimack

– There is despair due to the multitude of sins and burdens of conscience; and there is despair of pride and exaltation, when Those who have fallen into sin think that they are not worthy (abandonment unto the) fall: from the beginning it cures abstinence from sins and good hope, and from the latter humility and lack of condemnation.

MENTAL SINS

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

Other passions belong to the irritating power of the soul, while others belong to greedy desires. Both rejoice in the senses; are aroused when the soul is outside love and abstinence. It is more difficult to overcome passions irritating the strength of the soul, and not lust; For this reason, the Lord gave them healing The strongest is the commandment of love. Frequent excitement The greedy strength of the soul puts into the soul an insurmountable habit of luxurious novels and frequent indignation Irritability makes the mind timid and deprives of courage. The first is healed by long fasting, vigil and prayer; the second is kindness, charity, love and Mercy. All passionate thoughts either excite the lustful power of the soul, or disturb the irritable, or darken the mind, causing the mind to become blind to spiritual reflection and prayerful ascent. The silent must listen carefully to the thoughts and reasons to learn and cut them off. To learn in this way: The lustful power of the soul is awakened by passion memories of women and their cause, intemperance in food and drink, as well as frequent unreasonable attitudes towards women. And they are cut off by hunger, thirst, vigilance and Loneliness. The irritating force is disturbed by passionate memories of people who have upset us; The reason for this is that splendor, vanity and love, because of which the passionate one mourns — either because he has lost them or that he has not Received. They are cut off from the accusations and humiliation of these things out of the love of God.

Revered. Gregory of Sinai

– In the power of thought, the souls of thought are born and act; in irritable – bestial passions; in lust — bestial passions; In your head there are dreamy imaginations, thoughts in your head.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– Parents said: restrain the irritating part of the soul love; desirable — to wither due to abstinence; Clever Prayer they gave wings. And the light of the mind will never be dimmed in You. Anger is restrained by timely silence; Cravings for unreasonable, moderate food; restless thoughts are unidirectional prayer.

OUR FEELINGS

Approx. Diadochi

– That sight, taste and other sensations dissipate the memory of the heart when we use them immensely, Eve is the first to inform us about this. Until she looked at the Commanded Tree Luxuriant, until then she had carefully remembered the commandment of God; For which, as if covered with the wings of love, She did not know her nakedness. When she looked at the lush tree, touched it with great passion, and at last she ate its fruit with irrepressible passion, she immediately acquired a tendency to bodily self-satisfaction; and, As naked, combined with this Passion, entirely her own Passion was given over to the demands of the taste of true pleasures, mingling through the action of the apparent attraction of the fetus to and the fall of Adam, causing the mind to find it difficult for man to remember God or His commandments. And we, always with the unceasing memory of God, Looking into the depths of our hearts, let us carry out this cruel to the magic life like blind eyes; For the truly spiritual It is characteristic of wisdom that is not distracted in order to maintain the Soaring (and not scattered) desire to see Red in order to see. That is what the most experienced Job teaches us when he says: “If my heart follows my eye” (Job 31:7). Also, action is a guaranteed sign of extreme abstinence. (To concentrate all spiritual forces: mind, feeling, will be — in one God).

Revered. John of the Carpathians

“Lest we fly away and scatter, Being deceived by worldliness, it is good to listen to the prophet who said: Come, my people, enter into your temple; – to the temple of your heart, hidden from everyone sensual impression, to this ugly dwelling, It seemed that the impenetrability and shadow of holy grace, close the door from everything visible, hide. After all, all human life is short, and after that He adds: “Until the wrath of the Lord has passed” (Isaiah 26:20). Both for iniquity and, accordingly, for demons, and passions and sins are the wrath of God, as Isaiah says to God: “Behold, you are angry, and we have sinned” (Isaiah 64:5).

FUSS

Revered. Anthony the Great

“If you like a quiet life, do not join its circle who have all their care for worldly things, and if by chance you find yourself among them, as if you were not there.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– To one who loves vain fame or who is attached to something material, it is characteristic of being irritated with people to be temporary, or to have a grudge against them, or to have hatred, or to be a slave to shameful thoughts. God-loving All this is alien to the soul.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“If you don’t have works, don’t talk about virtues.

FRIENDS

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“Many friends, but in times of prosperity, but in times of temptation you will hardly find such a thing.

“Every man must be loved from the heart, hope and trust only in God and serve Him alone with everything, Fortress. As long as He protects us, so all our friends are favorable, and our enemies are not strong enough to harm us. And when He leaves us, then all our friends turn away from us, and Enemies all seize power over us. Christ’s friends love everyone Sincerely, but not everyone is loved. Secular friends are not. Everyone is loved, and not everyone is loved. The Friends of Christ to the Covenant of Love preserves the end, but the Friends of the World have not yet They will meet for something earthly.

From the life of St. Anthony the Great

– Once upon a time there were Arian heretics who impiously taught about the Son of God, they spread rumors that everyone respected him. ascetic and wildlife dweller Anthony the Great entered with them Friendly relations. Surprised by their brazen lies, St. Anthony burned with righteous anger and immediately went to Alexandria. There, in front of the bishop and all the people, he issued their curse, calling him the forerunner of the Antichrist.

From Church Teacher Councils

– Now examples have become very rare True friendship, not illusory, which lasts until the first Only quarrel. Why is that? Nothing else but the layout of faith and piety is with us. Friendship is the highest degree of love. It is strange if we do not see friendship now, when among us is the ordinary love commanded by Christ, Almost none! True, many are now called friends, but So far it is either friends at the table who are your friends You are happy, but you will fall or fall into misfortune “But they are against you and hasten to hide from your face (Sir. 6:10), or friends only for evil, who are enemies, not friends. But if a true friend is so hard to find, then how can you value a friend if there is such a Someone! Do not leave an old friend, says the all-wise Sirach (Ser. 9:12). A true friend is a strong defense: he who finds it has found treasure (Ser. 6:14). Whether anyone has a heart friend or not, remember that we all have a Friend in heaven – a Friend who is one, unsurpassed, and unchanging, the Lord Jesus God. You are my friends, he says, “if you do as I command you.” —John 15:15, 14. This is an instruction for all of us with whom we can and with whom we cannot Make friends only with those who are ready together to please the Lord Jesus by fulfilling His holy commandments.

CHASTITY AND CHASTITY

Revered. Theognost

“There is no other feat of such a great feat as the feat of Chastity and Virginity. Anyone who sincerely maintains celibacy is an object of wonder for the Angels and is crowned without Less than martyrs. For from one who, being bound in flesh and blood, always tries to imitate the immaterial — a hundred incorporeal because of purity, how much work and fasting?! And, indeed, this work is so great and sublime that it would have been impossible as supernatural if God had not manifested His intercession from above, strengthening and confirming the weak and fluid nature, and to some extent lifting it up from the earth with Divine love and the hope of the promised Retribution.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Do not say in your heart: it is impossible for me to gain purity of chastity again after so many times He corrupted himself and fell under the fury of the body. For where, where Sickness and the Efforts of Repentance are added to suffering, and Rivers of Tears of tenderness flow with the warmth of the soul, there all the Fortresses of Sin are destroyed, every fire of passions is extinguished, and another birth is brought about from above, by the inspiration of the Spirit of the Comforter, and the soul becomes again a chamber of purity and chastity, into which the most natural God, descending in light and joy indescribable, and sat, as on the throne of glory At the peak of reason, she gives rest to the forces that exist within her, and thus says: “Peace be with you from the passions that fight with you; My peace I give you for your natural action; Having thus healed the Triple Nature of the gift of the world, the threefold nature of the soul, and having raised it to Trinitarian perfection, and united it with Himself, God had already made her a whole virgin, good, all the beautiful things that filled it with the fragrance of myrrh of purity, and He said to her: “Arise, go, my neighbor, my good, my dove, in acting wisdom; Behold, the winter of passion is past, the rain of luxurious thoughts is gone, the flowers of virtue with the fragrance of thoughts have appeared on the earth of your heart” (Song of Solomon 2:10-14).

– According to the teaching of the word of God, virginity is much more He is better than marriage if it is kept pure. This is the lofty reward that God has prepared for virtue in the words of the seer John the Theologian: “And I looked, and, behold, the Lamb And they stood on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty men, and four thousand, on whose foreheads was written the name of His own Father. He heard them singing… A new song for this throne of God… And no one can get used to it Songs, only these songs. Who is it? “You ask. – He answers: This is the point, those who are not with women For they are not virgins: they will follow the Lamb; And these are the things they bought from men; the firstborn of God and the Lamb (Revelation 14:1-4). But the Lord Himself He warned us that not all are capable of virginity: not all of them contain this word, but to whom it is given to eat (Matt. 19:11). He Himself did not call everyone to the feat of chastity, but only those who are capable, to whom this gift is given: to restrain it, let it contain it” (Matt. 19:12).

– Virtue and marriage are not for everyone; but chastity (then there is purity of morality, piety) for everyone. For he has appeared the grace of God, which saves all men, yes, renouncing godlessness and worldly passions, chastely, We live righteously and godly at this time. “What Does It Mean ‘Chaste’? – Either in purity of chastity or in honesty in marriage, in both cases, with the rejection of worldly passions, and especially carnal passions, they fight for the soul (1 Peter 2:11). Only in this way can those who live in the age expect blessed hope in (Titus 2:13).

TEARS

Elijah Yekdik

“He who widens the path, the tears dry up, but They overcome the one who loves the narrow path with a great fountain.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“Let no man deceive us before tears and tears with empty words, and let us not deceive ourselves, for there is no repentance, nor a real intention to change, nor the fear of God in our hearts; We have not yet realized ourselves guilty and condemned, and our soul has not yet been conscious of the coming judgment and eternal torment. Because if we condemned ourselves, if they had such heart movements, if they were in such feelings, they immediately caused tears. Without it, neither our hardness of heart nor our soul can be mitigated by Our spiritual modesty—and we cannot become humble. And he who is not like that cannot unite with the Holy Spirit. And he who is not united to Him, through purification from all passions, in order to receive the contemplation of God and the knowledge of God, cannot and does not deserve the secret teaching of the virtue of humility.

– First, humility comes from crying for God: from Then come joy and joy, indescribable; Environment, humility according to God, hope for salvation increases. For anyone He considers himself the most sinful of all people from the bottom of his heart, especially Along with humility, hope grows in him, in his heart and fills him with confidence that he Without a doubt, he must be saved through modesty.

“The deeper one plunges into the depths of humility, and condemns himself as unworthy of salvation, not that he weeps and sheds fountains of tears; while he wept and wept, spiritual joy poured into his heart, and with it Hope grew and grew and gave the surest Witness of salvation.

“Weeping has a double effect: and, like water, extinguishes with tears all the flames of passions and washes the soul from the dirt they inflict on it; And again, like fire, the presence of the Holy Spirit. It gives life to the spirit, warms it, ignites the heart and awakens in it love and passion for God.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– We should defile ourselves with impure currents, purify the body with streams of tears, and darken the soul with bitterness, drive away the wrathful with the light of repentance, and love the sweet according to God, and thus be reunited with Him from Whom we were previously alienated by them.

– Sometimes grief and pain are caused by sincere feelings with a stream of tears, and sometimes joy, joy. When we are cleansed by repentance of the poison and defilement of sin, having tears from it, while heavy women, overwhelmed by the memories of Deep from the Heart we radiate weeping from the fullness of Feelings of grief and pain all around. When this has been sufficiently purified by tears, let us feel freedom from passions, then, rejoicing in the Divine Spirit, like pure and quiet Those who have won hearts, filled with indescribable, sweet consolation from joyful tears of tenderness.

– Tears shed from repentance, and others thrown away from Divine tenderness. Such a river will drown and destroy all the fortresses of sin, and these are to the soul as rain to the fields and dew to grain; Fueling the knowledge class and making it multifaceted and multigene.

“Tears are not the same as tenderness, but between tears and a great distance with tenderness. They come from repentance in the former way of life and previous falls of the soul to purify the heart, as if with fire and boiling water. And this (tenderness) finds from above the Divine dew of the Spirit for the comfort and cooling of the soul, which has now warmly entered into the depths of humility and participation in the unattainable light of contemplation, and to God, like David, in joy, crying out to him: fire and water, and brought them to rest (Psalm 65:12).

– Tears, of course, are innate. And when the Pride of the mind inclines to humility, and the soul brushes away from the eyes the charm of visible blessings and leads them to one vision of the First Immaterial Light, it will shake all in the world sensations and the consolation of the Spirit will be protected above the consolation of the Spirit, and then tears, like the waters of a spring pour out of it, delight its senses, and they fill its thoughts with joy and Divine light; and not only that, but the crushing of the heart and mind in a vision They make the most humble. All this is impossible to be among those who cry and cry for other reasons.

– It is impossible to discover the source of tears without this deepest humility, and to be humble again without the tenderness generated by the inspiration of the Spirit, for the sake of tenderness from humility is generated by the Holy Spirit. They are like chains that hold on to each other and bind each other with one grace, constitute an inseparable spiritual union.

Revered. Gregory of Sinai

“Without life and life, crying is impossible to endure the gift of silence. He who weeps and thinks of the horrors that precede and follow death, to They come by their own act, cannot but have patience and humility are the two foundations of silence. And without them, the One who plunges into silence will always be his classmate negligence to self-confidence, from which bondage and Take-off, which plunges us into relaxation. From now on, dona Negligence – intemperance – makes the body lethargic and powerless, and the mind has darkened and hardened.

Sep. Gregory Palamas

The beginning of crying is a kind of search for the betrothal of God, which seems unattainable. Why exactly say some pre-wedding words of those who, out of a strong desire for it, cry, tearing their hearts before the Bridegroom and calling him with tears. The end of weeping is the perfect combination of marriage in purity (The mystery It is wonderful – Eph. 5:32).

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“First, pray for tears to soften the cruelty that existed in your soul by crying, and confess your game… Lord, to receive forgiveness from Him of sins (Psalm 31:5).

– When during prayer you pour out streams of Tears, do not exalt yourself as if you are much higher. This is the help from above, which your prayer has received, so that you, zealously confessing your sins, he will propitiate the Lord with tears.

– When you think that during prayer there is no You need to cry over your sins and then see how far you will move away from God, being obliged to always abide in Him; And you will shed the warmest tears.

– Lament for the prosperous sinner, for the Sword of Justice hangs over him.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– People have three different types of tears. There are tears for visible things — and they are very bitter, and vain. There are tears of repentance when the soul desires eternal goods, and they are very sweet and helpful. And there are tears of repentance where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12), and these tears are bitter and useless, because they are completely fruitless when there is no time for repentance.

“Blessed is he whose soul has become like a freshly planted tree, and always, like water irrigation, has tears for God.

“I want to show you the power of tears. Anna with tears Through prayer she gained the prophet Samuel, the enthusiasm of grief and Praise God in your heart. A sinful woman in Simon’s house, weeping and washing the Lord’s holy feet with tears, she received from Him the Forgiveness of sins. Tenderness (sincere tears) before God is the healing of the soul. He instills in us the Only Begotten Son as we thirst for Him and draw the Holy Spirit into our souls. On There is no sweeter joy on earth than that which comes from tenderness. Have any of you been illuminated by this joy of tears for God? If someone about you who experienced these things and enjoyed them in prayer rose above the earth, and at that time he was completely out of the body Out of this world, and no longer on Earth. Holy and pure tears for God always wash away the soul from sins and cleanse it from iniquity. Tears for God always they give courage before God; Impure thoughts are in no way can approach the soul that has always been tenderness for God. Tenderness is an unplundered treasure; and I understand tenderness as not one day, but continuously, day and night, and for the rest of my life. There is tenderness The pure spring that irrigates the fertile plantations of the soul (i.e., virtues).

“Though thou hast no visible tears, yet let there be repentance of the heart, for even among tears there is a difference. But blessed is he who in his soul, as in a mirror, sees the Lord, and with tears pours out praise to Him before His goodness, for His prayer will be heard.

– The beginning of crying is knowing yourself. Yes, but our weeping will not be for man, but for God, who knows the mystery of the heart, so that we may receive pleasure from Him.

“If you want God to grant you tears, repentance and impenetrability, which he constantly brings to himself. Memory, death and your grave.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– What other occupation does a monk have in his cell besides Weeping? And what other activity is better than that? It is the stay of the Monk and his loneliness, compared to being in the grave, He is far from human joy, He is taught this by His activity – these are tears.

– Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep, for This is a sign of purity.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– Whoever wants to be freed from sins – weeps and groans, he will be freed from them; and whoever wants to watch Virtue will be in the mood with tears in his eyes.

Revered. John Klimack

“As fire burns and destroys the shrub, so the Pure Tear washes away all impurities — external and internal.

HUMILITY

Approx. Diadochi

– Obedience is the first among the introductory (new) virtues of goodness, because they cut off Arrogance engenders modesty in us. Why is this happening? the front door of love for Christ God for those who are They hold on to him with sincere character. Putting it aside, Adam fell into the depths of hell. And the Lord, having loved him, in power the economy of our salvation was obedient to the Father to His own even to the point of the cross and death (Phil. 2:8), and this when he was no less than His Majesty, so His obedience, who atoned for the guilt of human disobedience, those who live in obedience, Blessed and Eternal Life. So, to those who accept the fight against the pride of the Devil, first of all, we must be zealous for this virtue, and it, which precedes it, will show them without error Then all the ways of virtue.

Shanovaniy. Theodore the Studite

– Where do we get our sorrows, problems, struggles, quarrels, envy? Isn’t it because we tend to stand on and defend our decisions and desires. Yes, it really is. And there is no other way to save us from the Devil’s intrigues than that he has cut off his own will.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

“Do not agree in any case when the one who is in your possession obedience says to you: Give me strength for a while, for virtue is to try this or that and do it So-and-so. For he who speaks so clearly as to do his will wills, but rejects the precepts of the virtue of obedience.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Whoever believes that in the hand of the pastor is his Life and Death – he will never contradict. Ignorance It generates reproach that leads to spiritual and eternal death.

Revered. John Klimack

Obedience is a complete renunciation of one’s own will and soul, which is clearly manifested in bodily actions; In other words: obedience is the humiliation of members with a living body. Obedience is not tested by previous movement, voluntary death, not a life marked by nothing superfluous, without sorrow disaster, an excuse not invented before God, fear of death, comfortable sailing (according to everyday life the sea), the journey of the sleeper. Obedience is the tomb of will and the resurrection of humility; it does not contradict, does not reason as if it were dead, both in goodness and in what is visibly Bad. For he who is pious will be responsible for all Execute the will of the novice. Obedience is the postponement of Prudence with great prudence.

Saints. The Fathers determine that the psalmody is a weapon, prayer is the walls, the spotless tears are the bath, and the Blessed Obedience, according to their reasoning, is confession, and without it, no one who succumbs to passions will not see the Lord.

A TRUE MONK

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– Renounced worldly things, wife, property, etc., made the outer man a monk, and not yet internal; but he who renounced passionate thoughts also made the inner man, that is, the mind of the outer man It is easy to make a monk if you just want to, but it is not a small feat to make the inner man a monk.

“A monk is one who has distanced himself from sensual things – and abstinence, love, through psalm and prayer he will sit down before God continuously. No one, so humble monk, will deceive you with the idea that you can be saved by working for the sake of splendor and vanity.

– There are three main moral states in the Monk: 1st – when someone has not sinned in anything by an act; 2nd — when someone does not allow a passionate soul to slow down thoughts; The third is when someone emotionlessly looks into his thoughts in images of wives and delinquents.

– The successes of secular people are the downfall of monks, and the successes of monks are the downfall of secular people. The successes of the laity consist of wealth, fame, power, pleasures and generosity, many children and similar things in which a monk dies. And the successes of the monk are as follows: greed, disgrace, impotence, abstinence, suffering, deprivation, and the like, which the lover of peace involuntarily experiences, honors great misfortune, and is often in danger of putting a noose around his neck, and some have done so.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– After all, it befits a monk to be without anything, without passion, I am a stranger to all sinful desires, unsweetened, wine, not lethargic, not lazy, not petty, not I love pleasure, I do not love glory, because he who does not love all this refuses, he will not be able to properly manage this angelic life; but for those who do, this yoke is a good and light burden, for in that case the Divine Hope makes everything easier for them.

Renunciation of life’s worries and acceptance of the Convent of Exploits, do not envy wealth for the sake of giving to the poor, because it is also one of the deceptions of the evil that leads to vanity to immerse the mind in difficult work. Let you have only bread and water, and only with them can you receive the reward of hospitality. Even if there are none, with One Good Disposition, you will receive a stranger and give him the Word of Comfort—and in this way you can receive the reward of hospitality. You have an example of this in the poor widow, of whom the Lord testified in the Gospel that his two pincers, by their good will, surpassed the alms of the rich.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– To be a monk is not to be aloof from people and the world, but that, by renouncing yourself, you must be beyond the desires of the flesh and go into the desert of passions (into impenetrability). If the great Abba Arsenios was also told: flee from people and you will be saved, It is said in this sense. Because we see it even after he fled the world, lived among people, passed through settlements and lived with his disciples. But at the same time, by carefully observing the inner flight with the sensual in communication, he was not harmed by coexistence with the people. And another of the great ones exclaimed, “Run, brethren,” and he pointed to his lips when they asked him, “Why should we flee?”

Revered. John Klimack

“The light of the monks is the angels, and the monks are the light of all men; and therefore let them strive to be a good example in all things, not letting anyone stumble in anything (2 Corinthians 6:3), neither in deed nor in word.

– Monastic life, in relation to actions, words, thoughts and movements, must be carried out through the sensations of the heart. If it is not, then it will not be monastic, nor I say angelic.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– Strongly repel dissolution and excite energy Perhaps the next vision that St. Gregory himself tells. Anthony: “I prayed to God to show me what veil surrounds me and protects the monk? And I saw a monk surrounded by a fiery lamp, and a multitude of angels watched over him as if they were their own eye, protecting him with swords. Then I sighed and said, “That’s what the Monk Devotional is! And yet, in spite of this, the devil overcomes, he and he falls.” And a voice came to me from the merciful, And said, “The devil will destroy no one; He didn’t have no power after I got human nature destroyed his power. But the man himself loses his temper when he indulges in his own negligence and indulgence in his own passion and passion.” Then I exclaimed, “Blessed is the generation of man, and especially the army of monks who have the Lord so merciful and beneficial!”

– On another occasion, St. Anthony revealed to his disciples how monasticism would weaken and fade away because of the extinction of zeal for His glory. Some of his disciples, seeing countless multitudes of monks in the desert, adorned with such virtues and with such zeal seeking success in the holy life, the hermit asked Abba Antony: “Father! How long will this heat of jealousy and love of solitude last, poverty, humility, abstinence, and all the other virtues to which all this mass of Monks is now so diligently attached?” The Man of God answered with sighs and tears: “The time will come, my beloved children, when the monks will leave the desert and flow in their place to rich cities, where instead of From these deserted caves and narrow chambers proud buildings will be erected, who can argue with the chambers of kings; Instead of poverty The love of accumulating wealth will increase, humility will be replaced by pride; Many will be proud of knowledge, but also proud; strangers of good deeds corresponding to knowledge; love will grow cold; Instead of abstinence, gluttony will increase, and very many They will take care of sumptuous meals no less than they themselves laymen, from whom the monks will differ nothing other than monastic clothing, and despite the fact that they will live in the middle of the world they will call themselves lonely. At the same time, they will boast, saying, ‘I am Paul… I am Apollo (1 Cor. 1:12), as if all the strength of their monasticism were in the dignity of their predecessors: they would be exalted by their fathers, as the Jews by their fathers Abraham, but then there would be some who would be much better and more perfect than us; for blessed is he who could sin, and not sin, do evil, and did not do; (Sir. 31:11), than he to whom the Good was drawn because of the mass of fanatics who seek it. Why are Noah, Abraham, and Lot, who led a zealous life among wicked men, rightly glorified in the scriptures?”

HERMITAGE

Revered. John of the Carpathians

“You should not be surprised when you see people laughing at our silence, for they themselves cannot be silent; It is better to repel a bad impression of them by singing, however, without offense, restoring obedience to God in oneself AND exclaiming with singing: Listen to the gods, O my soul (Psalm 61:6), for instead of love I am slandered And I pray (Psalm 108:4) for the healing of myself And they.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– Do not allow yourself to leave the cell often if You have chosen a quiet life for Yourself, because it is very Harmful: It takes away grace, darkens thoughts, weakens jealousy. That is why it is said that the soaring of passion will change the mind is not malicious.” —Rev. 4:12. Break off relations with strangers so that your mind does not rise and disturb the order of your silence.

– Sitting in your cell, do not do your deeds He is useless and do not waste time on inactivity, because He who travels idle works in vain. But acquire for yourself a Good job, collect your thoughts, always have an hour before your eyes mortal, remember the vanity of the world, how seductive it is and at the same time how unstable and insignificant; Think of the circumstances of a terrible trial at trial, as our bitter accusers will obviously represent our actions, words, and thoughts that they accuse, and we are accepted; Remember the torments of hell and all that, how souls will be entangled in them; Imagine also the great That terrible day, the day of the general resurrection, to stand before God and give the final judgment of the Judge Not false; Imagine the torment of sinners, the shame and conviction of conscience, and how they will be rejected by God, and cast into eternal fire, to the worm that never sleeps in darkness impenetrable, where weeping and gnashing of teeth can be heard. Overview of everything Other torments, do not stop, moan, shed tears Your face, your clothes and the place where you sit. Such In their thoughts, many gathered many tears for themselves, and this miraculously purified all the strength of their souls.

Abba Philemon

– Sept. The scriptures and patristic writings clearly show that without perfect solitude it is impossible to please God, because there is nowhere Moses, that God-enlightened father, also inquisitive, that Silence gives rise to asceticism, and podvig – weeping, crying – fear, fear – humility, humility – insight, Enlightenment is love, but love makes the soul sound emotionless, and then a person will realize that he is not far from this God. Therefore, you should withdraw completely from the world, and detach your soul from all compassion for the body, to become homeless, homeless, homeless, unemployed, unemployed, carefree, ignorant in human affairs, humble, compassionate, kind, humble, ready to receive from Divine knowledge, understandable impressions in heart.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– It is very rare to find those who are silent in their minds. This is the property of those who use all means to attract for themselves the grace of God and to be filled with the spiritual consolation that flows from it.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Silence is a state of mind that is not quenched by thought, the silence of freedom from the passions and joy of the soul, the position of the heart in God, untouched and untouched, vivid contemplation, the knowledge of God’s mysteries, the word of wisdom from the pure mind, the abyss of God’s understanding, the rapture of the mind, conversations with God, the watchful eye, the prayer of the mind, effortlessly into great effort, peace and finally unity and copulation with God.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Who left the whole world and went up to the mountain to be quiet, and from there vain to write to those who are in the world, alone To please others, to give favors and praises – this is what it is who, having separated from his prodigal wife, was indecent and wholly wicked, and went to a distant land to erase the memory of Then he forgot his purpose, for which he resigned the country, to the mountain, and writes with passion to those who treat that wife, or, to put it bluntly, They defile and please her. Such, though not defiled in the flesh, yet in heart and mind she is defiled in every sense, as sympathizing with these covenants in their connection with that wife.

Revered. John Klimack

“A silent person is one who is an incorporeal being, who seeks to preserve his soul within the confines of the bodily home. A rare and surprising achievement. He is silent who says, ‘I sleep, but my heart is awake'” (Song of Solomon 5:2). Close the door of the Cells for the body, the door of the mouth for conversation, and the inner door of the Soul for evil spirits.

The first act of silence is to be careless of all things, both blessed and unblessed, for the one who opens the door necessarily belongs to the first and to the second. The second case is that prayer is not lazy, and the third is unprincipled work of the heart. As impossible, in natural order, For those who have not yet learned the letters to read books, it is still impossible not to read letters. It is advisable for those who have already purchased the first work of silence to read the last two.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– When you put aside all the affairs of life this (monastic), and for another silence you will find that It pulls the scales. Silence is the mystery of the coming century, and words are the tools of this world.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– The elders greatly approve of the Hermitage when it takes place in its own time, that is, when someone approaches it, it has perfected its virtues in the community. And let him test himself whether he can successfully live in solitude, and if he cannot find it for himself due to lack of strength, let him return to the dormitory, so that otherwise, without strength, Resist the tricks of thought, not lose his mind.

– The saints of God fled from the cities, knowing that the attitude towards corrupt people is much more harmful than a contagious disease. All the saints, but I am not worthy of them, the world, having left the inhabited universe, wandered through the deserts (Hebrews 11:37), fleeing from plausible human vices, lest by the force of their striving, like in a stream, they would not be carried into the common territory by the course of worldly destructive life.

ASCETICISM

Revered. Callisto

– It is impossible when you see people and talk to them to get a reasonable vision of God and a prayerful conversation with Him. Why is it that those who are seized by a caring desire to repent of purification from passions, to attain and taste the contemplation of God and conversation with Him, which is the limit and goal of those who live according to God, and the promise of the eternal things of God’s inheritance, please seek silence, considering it most beneficial for oneself is separation from men and Anchoritism, with proper attitude and disposition, of course.

From Church Teacher Councils

– Christianity, true Christian life is impossible without asceticism; within certain limits in To a certain extent, asceticism is necessarily commanded for all Christians legitimized for all of us. For what does Christ need from His followers for this? It requires complete Self-Denial from us. Whoever wants to follow Me, He says: deny and take up your cross; and follow Me (Mark 8:34), that is, to take upon yourself the Cross is the cross of labor, sorrows, deprivations. The same asceticism is also demanded of us by the holy Apostle Paul when he inspires all believers to push the old away from and put on the new (Col. 3:9-10) in order to kill his earthly members (Col. 3:5), to crucify his flesh with passions and passions (Gal. 5:5, 24). Asceticism, prescribed, obligatory for all, is not only not contrary to our nature, but is completely similar to True human nature. It corrects our souls, elevates and improves our spiritual life.

CONVERSATION WITH THE LAITY

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– When it happens that you will be with the laity, and they If you start talking idle, then, if you don’t have a special need, Go away; And when there is a need, turn your mind to prayer, not judging them, but knowing their own weakness. However, If they are attuned to you and you know that they voluntarily listen to the word of God, try to change this empty conversation Useful is to tell them something from the lives of the saints.

THE ENEMY INSIDE

Revered. John Cassian

“Not to be afraid of the external enemy, but of our enemy within ourselves. That is why it is constantly happening in our internal war. If we win, all external battles will become insignificant, and everything will become for the warrior Christ peaceful, and everything is subordinate to Him. There will be nothing to fear the enemy from the outside, when there is us inside, when they were Defeated, he will submit to the spirit.

ABOUT SALVATION IN THE WORLD

Revered. John Klimack

– The laity asked me: “How can we, living with wives and Intertwined with worldly concerns, touch I answered them: “All the good things that are Only you can do, do: do not condemn anyone, do not hide, do not lie to anyone, do not exalt yourself before anyone; do not hate anyone, do not give up the meeting church, be merciful to those in need, Tempt, do not touch another’s honor and remain faithful to Your wives. “If you do this, it will not be far away you will be from the kingdom of heaven.”

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“In all the ways that men walk in the world, they do not find peace until they draw near to the hope of God and trust in Him alone.

MANAGING THE WORLD

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“Blessed is he who is not called to anything perishable or temporary.

Abba Thalassius

– Giving up your belongings and the world, giving them up, Finally, from evil thoughts.

Elijah Yekdik

– When you free your mind from any dependence on the Body, food and money, and then whatever you do, all then it will be considered a pure gift to God from you. And you will be rewarded, for the eyes of your heart will be opened, and you will clearly teach in it the laws of God, which are sweeter than honey and honeycomb They will appear on your intelligent larynx because of the pleasantness it radiates.

The first renunciation is liberation from things (property); The second and third are passions and ignorance.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– The renunciation of the world and the complete removal from it, if we at the same time accept the total renunciation of all worldly things, morals, attitudes and personalities, together with the rejection of our body and will, which in a short time was great, will be of great benefit to one who has renounced the world with such zeal and zeal.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– If you want to see the blessings that God has prepared for those who love Him, live in the wilderness of denial of their will, and Rule the World. What kind of world is this? – eyes and flesh, pride of thoughts and charm of visible things. If you flee from such a world, then the early light will shine in you through the appearance of the divine life and the healing of your soul, that is, tears will soon come to shine” (Isaiah 58:8). Therefore, you are in the midst of the world and people Living, you will be like one who lives in the desert and does not see people. But if you do not escape from this world in this way, then Escape from the visible world will not help you at all. success in virtue and union with God.

“They laugh at piety and ridicule with the Actions of those who have not properly fulfilled the renunciation and from the beginning they did not want to use a teacher and leader, following their reason and showing themselves prudent” (Isaiah 5:21).

Revered. John Klimack

“Having departed from the world, do not touch it, for the Passion conveniently returns again.

– There is no refuge (renunciation of the world) the cause of both salvation and misfortune – this is known to those who pass by the sea of thoughts. But it is a pitiful sight when the survivors of the Abyss they drowned in the shelter itself.

Abba Dorotheus

– Let’s take care of ourselves: who will give us this time if we lose it in vain? Indeed, there will come a time when Let’s look for these days and we will not find it. Abba Arseny always said to himself: “Arseny, why did you go out of the world?”

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“Without departing from the world, no one can approach God. And by removal I don’t mean transmigration by body, but Detachment from worldly affairs. The virtue of withdrawing from the world is not to occupy your mind with the world.

– Remember the things that come after God at any time The beginning of his feat and the first ardor at the entrance to this path and those burning thoughts with which you left Home for the first time he entered the military ranks.

ARGUMENTATION

Revered. John Klimack

– Thinking is the correct understanding of the will of God at all times, in every place and in everything; It only happens in a pure heart.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– Prudent people must constantly remember, That in this life I have made small and short-lived efforts, After death we will receive the greatest consolation and bliss Eternal.

– Fighting the passions and wanting to be crowned by God, if he falls, may he not be weak and He does not remain in this fall, desperately falling into himself; but as he ascends, again let him fight and take care of the crown until the last breath that rises from the waterfall. Bodily labor is an instrument of virtue and a lifesaver for the soul.

– People are usually called intelligent in the wrong sense of the Use of this word. Not those intelligent who have studied the sayings and writings of the ancient sages, but those who have a soul prudent, who can judge what is good and what is evil; and evil, and they flee from mental harm, but for the good and the soulful, they are wise, they care and do it with great gratitude to God. These Some, indeed, should be called intelligent people.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The rational use of thoughts and things gives chastity, love and knowledge, as well as the foolish – intemperance, hatred and ignorance. All that is rational and Intellectual being is divided into two parts: the angelic and human natures and the whole angelic nature is again divided into two basic moral unions and society: the holy and the accursed, that is, the holy powers and the wicked demons; And all mankind is divided into only two unions — the pious and the godless.

“In everything we do, God looks at the goal, whether for Him or for something else, we do it. Why, when we want to do something good, let’s have a goal not by pleasing people, but by pleasing God, so that He is always Looking, do everything for him, otherwise we too will carry this work in vain, AND we will destroy the reward. God created the invisible and visible world; and soul and the body He also created. And if the visible world is so beautiful, then what is the invisible? But if he is better than that, how much higher is the God who created them both. If now the Creator of all good things, the best of all created things, for what reason is the Mind, having given up the best, occupied with the worst, that is, the Carnal Passions? Isn’t it obvious, because I’m used to it, Treatment from birth, but what’s better and better I haven’t experienced everything at all. If, therefore, prolonged abstinence from sensual pleasures, and Teaching in the Divine, we gradually tear him away from such a habit, he, gradually attaining it, will be inclined to the Divine and will know his own dignity, and at last he will transfer all his devotion to God.

– There are four main types of abandonment of God: another providential abandonment, as was the case of the Lord himself, so that, appearing abandoned, he could save those who have been abandoned; the other is a conditional term, as was the case with Job and Joseph, to prove the one is the pillar of courage, the other of chastity; The other is spiritual and educational, as was the case with the Apostle Peter, in order to preserve in him an excess of graces; Another reason is abandonment due to disgust, for example, being with the Jews to make them repent through punishment.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“Do not tell another what you yourself have not experienced, lest you be ashamed even after comparing your life Your lies will not be revealed.

SILENCE AND VERBOSITY

Approx. Diadochi

– As one who is not enlightened in the Spirit, it is inappropriate to approach the conversation about them to one who is rich in spiritual reflections, illumined by the grace of the Holy Spirit: for bright thoughts are lacking Envelops the mind in the darkness of ignorance, but here their abundance does not allow us to speak, because at this time the soul, enjoying the love of God, wants to silently enjoy the love of the Lord.

– When the soul confronts passions with anger, You need to know what will happen then. It’s time to be silent, because this is the hour of Swearing. And when one sees that it is an indignation in prayer, If alms have passed, let him yield to the attraction of love to the utterance of Divine words, which restrained, however, the wings of reason with the bonds of humility; for if a person is humiliated by extreme self-deprecation, then he cannot worthily speak of the greatness of God.

“Like the door in the bathhouse, which often dissolves, soon release the inner warmth to the outside, and all that is good, When many people speak, at least say all the good things, radiates their memory (conscious state in the ranks of spiritual things) with the verbal door. Because of this, the mind is finally deprived of the purest thoughts and a disorderly influx of disturbing thoughts leads the speech to those who have come to it. In such he no longer has the Holy Spirit to keep our thoughts for this Good Spirit, as a stranger to all rebellions, and dreams, speaks verbosity. Silence, on the other hand, is useful to be the mother of all-wise thoughts.

“Verbosity is extremely distracting to the mind, and not only for He makes it incapable of spiritual work, but at the same time gives the hands of the demon of despair, which gradually weakened him, Then he will hand it over to the demon of boundless grief, and then to the demon of Wrath.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– Sometimes it happens that during the gathering of the brothers, the Vain Thought breaks through to say something at the wrong moment. Angelic thoughts inspire themselves to drive away this talkative Untimely thought. Therefore, if you do not drive him away with good Silence, and if you allow him to go out, be arrogant arrogance, then you will have to suffer evil because of its consequences, to be righteously given to sin, or even greater than sin, or external sufferings, or serious troubles on the part of the brothers, or torments in the time to come, for both an empty and useless word spoken by Unlimited speech, We will be informed. So be careful We have to take care of the tongue.

“One good word made once useless This thief was pure and holy, and led him to paradise. And one Ominous Word forbade Moses to enter the Promised Land. Let us not consider the pain in the tongue as a minor disease, for those who speak evil and superstitious consider the Kingdom of Heaven to themselves.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

“There is nothing destructive in verbosity, and more harmful than a restless tongue, and there is nothing so powerful that upsets and destroys spiritual wealth. For which Every day we accumulate in ourselves, and then verbosity destroys again, and what is collected by labor, the soul again through the tongue-like He generously disappoints. What’s worse than incontinence? He is the Unbearable Evil. A limit must be set for her to contain this and the restrictions; And, I will say so that it serves only need. The fruit of inappropriate empty talk. sometimes to rebuke and ridicule when one sees the folly of our speech, sometimes the defilement of conscience, sometimes the condemnation of God, and the sorrow of the Holy Spirit, which is more terrible than anything else.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Everyone who speaks from his mouth is useful Building up the word of his neighbor from the good treasure of the heart he exhausts them according to the word of the Lord (Matt. 12:35). But no one can enter theology and say what is right about God only by the Holy Spirit; and no one who speaks from the Spirit of God says things that are contrary to faith in Christ, but one thing, He instructs that which leads to God and brings Him into His Kingdom, He restores the ancient nobility and unites it with God. If now the incarnation of the Spirit is given to everyone for good (1 Cor. 12:7), and then enriched with the word of God’s wisdom and the good part of the word of Reason is under the influence of the Divine Spirit, this is the temple of God’s inexhaustible treasures.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– What you have to be silent, the order of the word makes us tell you, and St. Isaac says this to Sirin: “The most important thing is to love silence, because it brings you closer And the tongue is powerless to depict it. First we will do force ourselves to be silent and then from silence something will be born that leads us to silence itself. May God grant you to feel this something that leads to silence itself; May he give God, feel it, something born of silence. But, if you start living this life, then I don’t know how to say, How much light will shine on you from here. When on one side You put aside all the affairs of this life (silently), and in silence, you will feel that it attracts you to scales.” Silence is the mystery of the era to come, and the word is the Instrument of this world. He who forbids his lips to speak, He protects his heart from passions, sees every hour, Gentlemen. And to St. Arsenius the Divine voice for the second time as follows: He decreed: “Arsenius! Run, be silent, stay at home in silence, for this is the root of sinlessness.”

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– It is necessary to avoid useless conversations and not to deal with those who neglect the fear of God, because they say nothing that is useful, do nothing for the Lord: they do not speak of virtue, reverence, or purity. Their words are the death of death, their advice is the abyss Damn it, their community is spiritual destruction.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

– Silence is better and more unexpected than any conversations is instructive. He was revered and kissed by our parents and became famous. But as we can, because of our weakness, have not yet attained to walk the path of the perfect, let us discuss things that serve to instruct, and communicate with reference to the words of the Fathers and without going into the explanation of the Scriptures; After all, this issue poses a considerable danger to the ignorant. The scriptures are spoken spiritually, but the man of the flesh cannot understand the spiritual. It is better to turn the conversation to the Word of the Fathers, and let us find the benefit contained in them. But Let’s use them carefully, remembering the One who said: “By verbiage you cannot escape sin” (Proverbs 10:19). And in order not to fall into arrogance and self-praise of thought, remember that by not doing the work of What we say, we say to condemn ourselves.

– If silence is considered the most useful of the good Then it is even more useful for talking about ordinary things. But when we cannot remain silent, but are carried away by talking about such topics, at least we will not delay the conversation, so as not to fall into the trap of the verbosity of the enemy.

“If, when you start a conversation, you realize that they are Sinners, cut him off, saying, ‘No, let’s not talk about it; or, after a while of silence, say: I have forgotten where I began my speech, and Translate it into another, sinless one.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“Just as from gluttony a riot of thoughts is born, so from verbosity and promiscuous conversations — absurdity and the emergence of reason from one’s rank.

– Clouds obscure the sun, and polyphony darkens the soul, which has begun to be enlightened by the prayer of reflection.

– Consider inactivity as the beginning of an eclipse of the soul; and because of eclipse after eclipse, gatherings for conversations. If a useful language, when there is no measure, generates darkness; How much more vain language. The soul becomes insignificant after many long conversations.

– How pleasant it is to communicate with our spiritual brothers, if only it is possible to maintain communion with God with them.

“Because the mind is not enough to conduct two interviews.

– If you keep your language, then God will give you the grace of sincere tenderness, so that you can see in it and enter into spiritual joy.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– A person who talks a lot leaves no room for the Holy Spirit in himself.

“Let us force ourselves to defend our lips tightly, so as not to say anything bad about anyone, for Bad speech is worse than any poison. All wounds are healed, and the wound From the tongue he has no medicine. The Language of the Inconsiderate The condemned, moved by the devil, is more poisonous than the tongue of the serpent, because he stirs up strife and bitter enmity among the brethren, sows rebellion and evil among the peaceful, and scatters crowded societies… He who loves silence is near God and His angels, and at the top is His place.

– There should be no rudeness in interviews, because smart people are usually adorned with modesty and Chastity is more than chastity. The mind that loves God is the light Who illuminates the soul as the sun illuminates the body.

– The word is a servant of reason. What the mind wants — this word expresses. He who speaks foolishly has no mind, because he speaks, without any thought. Remember that words bring both glory and humiliation. The word of understanding and good for the soul is a gift of God; on the contrary, the word is empty, wanting to determine the measure and distance of the heavens, and About the Earth, the magnitude of the Sun and the stars is the invention of man, the worker who searches in vain for it in the vain presumption that no one helps him, as if he wished with a sieve To draw water, men have no way of finding it.

– Those who say everything that comes to their head is like a yard without a gate, where anyone enters. If he wants, he goes to the stable and unties the donkey.

GOD AND YOU

Abba Thalassius

“Let no one think that he really became a child of God, if he did not acquire in himself the Divine attributes.

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– Parents have kindly and indisputably rightly said that they do not Man will find peace otherwise than in gaining and confirming in himself the deepest character in the world is only that of God; yes, he did not turn to anything with his mind at all, but His only desire is to cling only to Him In this way, he will truly find peace and freedom in the tyranny of the passions (Psalm 62:9).

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– In every way of life, life is blessed, in all deeds and deeds known to God and according to God.

– Stand with attention in yourself (not in your head, but in your heart). There is your mind that tries by all means to benefit from the Place where the heart is, so that, having found it, there is already completely Your mind dwelling. The mind, striving for it, will improve this place of the heart. This will happen when grace bestows the sweetness and warmth of prayer. From now on, and then, whenever On the other hand, no thought has arisen or appeared before, and then it enters and is a thought or a representation, into the mind it immediately expels it from there and destroys it, in the name of Jesus; that is: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! From this also time, the human mind begins to feel anger and hatred towards demons, starts a continuous war against them and wins. The rest (usually will follow this work with God) you yourself learn from experience through the attention of the mind and holding Jesus in your heart, that is, His prayer. And one of the parents He says, “Sit in your cell and it will teach you everything.”

CHARM

Approx. Diadochi

“Let no one, having heard about the sensations of the mind, imagine that the word of God appears to him sensually. We say so that the soul, when it is pure, feels Divine consolation through some ineffable offer, but not in such a sense that it is Something invisible appeared to it sensually: For now we walk by faith, and not by sight, as he said the Apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 5:7). Why, when any of those who seek will be a light, or some fiery vision, or let him not take it as truth under any pretext This phenomenon. For this is clearly the charm of the enemy, and many, with those with whom it happened, have been lost through ignorance of the truth. We know that as long as we live as pilgrims to a corruptible body, we distance ourselves from God (2 Corinthians 5:6), that is, we have no opportunity to see Him or His wondrous heavenly works.

Revered. Gregory of Sinai

– Often others, when they talk about the truth, with About his ignorance he says one thing, not knowing how to do it correctly, to say it as it is, and therefore frightens the listeners, and in silence he brings reproaches and laughter because of his unreasonable behavior. In the fact that Beginners make mistakes even after many labors, there is nothing So it happened to many who seek God, even now, and In the old days. Listen carefully and intelligently, beloved of God. When, while doing your work, you see light or fire outside or inside or some face, such as Christ, or an Angel, or Do not accept anyone else, so as not to be harmed. But do not build imaginations about yourself that are created by themselves, do not listen to them and do not allow reason to impress them in yourself. For all this, being repelled and imagined from the outside serves to deceive the soul. The true beginning of prayer is a sincere warmth that inflames passions, inspires joy and joy A heart with unwavering love and confirmation of the heart is an indisputable certificate. It is said that everything that comes into the soul of the Father, whether it is known or spiritual, as long as the heart doubts it, does not receive it, is not from God, but is sent from the enemy. When you also see your mind outward or on a height Attracted by some invisible force, don’t believe it and don’t Let the mind be interested, but immediately make it work His. You do not know what hour, though the enemy penetrates into the body to represent the spiritual in a phantom way, offering one instead of the heat that causes a dissonant burning, instead of the joy that stirs up foolish joy and moist sweetness, And he manages to hide behind these temptations from the inexperienced. But time, experience, and sensation usually reveal it earlier than those who are unaware of its evil intrigues. A brush for the larynx is prudence, says the Scripture (Job 34:3). In the same way, the taste of the Spiritual clearly shows everything as it is, without succumbing to Temptation.

Prpp. Callistus and Ignatius

– Silent and willing to be alone, with the One God, Never accept if you see something sensual or mental, inside you or outside – the face of Christ or an Angel, or the image of a saint, or a light imagination, Dream is my mind. But at least don’t believe it with indignation and other things that happened before any of them were asked. experienced: which is the most useful work and the most pleasing to God, and Positive. Keep the mind always colorless, ugly, formless, formless, qualityless, numerical, listening only to the words of prayer, who learns and meditates on them in the heart movement.

OBSERVING REASON AND SIN

Approx. Diadochi

– There is no evil in nature, and there is no evil nature in nature, because God did not create anything evil. But when someone with the passion of the heart he brings within himself the image of evil, then it Even though it is not in nature, it begins to be in the form that whoever does it will want. Why is it necessary to do with all diligence, with God in mind at all times, to listen to the habitual impulses to evil, for the sake of the good that exists in nature stronger than evil, that arrives in nature together with the outside out of habit, because it is so, and there is no such thing except When it disappears.

– An ascetic should always observe the thought imperturbably, so that the mind can correctly distinguish between the approach of thought and the distinction between the good and the message of God, he put into the treasury of memory and poured out obscene demonic things from the vaginas of nature.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

“What we have ever become attached to, oh We also have a passionate imagination. Why does the winner of Passionate Imagination of course despise things imaginary? Because fighting with memories of things Fighting with the things themselves is much more difficult than sinning Thinking is more convenient than acting by the act itself. Among the passions there are others Physical, another mental. The body receives a drive from the body, both spiritual and external objects. But love and restraint Cut off both: Love is spirituality, and Abstinence is carnal.

– Do not abuse your thoughts, so that, if necessary, you do not abuse something, because if we do not first sin mentally, we will never sin by act.

Abba Thalassius

– The mind that governs good feelings and the flesh is in order The one who has established himself has only one battle, and that is the battle with memory.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– We have a mental war, more severe than the sensual. A worker of piety needs such a mother-in-law and it is to seek to strive with the mind, so that, like Margaret or the gem to be perfectly valued in. the heart is the memory of God. You have to leave everything, even the body, and despise the present life in order to gain only God in your heart. For St. John Chrysostom said that only knowledge of God is sufficient for the wise to destroy the evil.

“To have peace and holiness with all, except for them no one shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14) for the sake of love and purity, for they are the essence of peace and holiness. Anger is necessary To arm yourself only against demons who have mental hostility against us and those who rage. But listen to how the war should lead us, what is happening in us every hour; Do this: Combine prayer with sobriety — and sobriety will strengthen Prayer, and prayer is sobriety. Sobriety, continuously Observing everything inside, he notices how the enemies are approaching He entered there and, blocking the entrance according to his strength, called at the same time for the help of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that He could drive away these cunning warriors. At the same time, attention is blocked from entering due to contradiction and Jesus, who is called to drive away demons with their dreams.

“Watch your mind with the utmost attention. As soon as you notice the thoughts of the enemy, immediately contradict, but at the same time hurry to turn to Christ the Lord, revenge. Dearest Jesus, when you still He will say: “Behold, I am with you to give you intercession.” But even after everything has been done by your prayer These enemies will be oppressed, again continue to listen carefully Here again the waves of thoughts multiplying the previous ones, one for others will rush at you, so that it seems as if they are already doing it. The soul sinks as if into the abyss, and is ready to perish. But also Jesus, again incited by the disciple, as God rebukes the wicked with the Winds of thought, and they subside. And you, having gained freedom from the enemy’s attack for an hour or a minute, glorify the Savior and immerse yourself in the thought of death.

Elijah Yekdik

– The mind that rushes into grief does not flow there immediately, but after it has completely despised everything, it has consecrated the Divine creations.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

– Great is the rage of demons against those who succeed in reflection. They squat with slander day and night, and then through those who live with them, inciting cruel things against their temptations, and then they themselves make a fuss and stomp to frighten them—sometimes they attack them in their sleep, envious of their deceased to rest and disturb them in every way possible, though they cannot cause harm to those, who have dedicated themselves to God. And if it were not for the angel of the Lord Almighty who guards them, they would have fled from the slanders and snares of mortals.

For the flesh covets the spirit, and the spirit covets the flesh (Gal. 5:17), and there is a certain secret war between them, so that one of these enemies may gain victory over the others—and draw power to their side. These are both what in the United States are called rebellion, incitement to insurrection, rebellion, rebellion, an internal struggle that tears the soul apart.

Nikephoros the Lonely

– Some saints attracted the attention of observers with the mind, guarding the heart, some with sobriety, others with sobriety, others with sobriety, and also with mental silence and other ways. But all these names mean the same thing; As they say about bread: crook, piece, piece, so understand it. What is there Attention and what are its characteristic features?

Attention is a sign of sincere repentance. Attention is the soul’s call to itself, hatred of the world and God, sunrise. Attention is the postponement of sin and the resurrection of virtue. Attention is an unquestioning belief in the Forgiveness of sins. Attention is the beginning of reflection, or His condition is better: for through it God bows down and appears in the mind. Attention is the tranquility of the mind, or It is better to stand there (to set it up from wandering), according to God’s mercy granted to it. Attention is the suppression of thought, and the memory of God is the room and treasury of patience of All that finds. Therefore, attention is faith, hope, and the Author of love, for he who does not believe cannot endure Those who are beyond sorrow. And he who does not endure these sorrows voluntarily cannot say: You are my intercessor, You are my refuge (Psalm 90:2). Whoever does not put it to the Almighty, he will not be deeply sincere in his love for Him.

Revered. Hesychius

– Reason and reason are invisibly intertwined in the struggle – the Demonic mind with ours. Therefore, every minute you need to cry out to Christ to cast out the mind demonic, but victorious prey has given us as the Lover of mankind. A mind that does not neglect its deepest Work together with other blessings from the continuous Exercises to sustain itself, acquires that that the five bodily sensations will not be accompanied by sinful temptations coming from without. I pay full attention to his virtue — sobriety and always the desire for good To enjoy thoughts, he does not allow the five senses to hide through the entrance to himself through the material and vain thoughts; But to know what happens through them Thanks to the intense tension, it expels them from the inside.

– Stay mindful of your mind and you won’t be overwhelmed by temptation. And when you move away from him, endure what he finds.

– The mind is blinded by three passions: love of money, vanity and splendor.

– The beginning of fruiting is a flower; And the beginning of sobriety of the mind is abstinence from food and drink, and rejection and detachment of all thoughts, sincere silence.

– When, praying in Christ Jesus, we begin to be mothers-in-law In sobriety, firmly established, then first appears It is like a lamp in our minds that we hold by the hand of reason and guide us along the paths of thought; Then, so to speak, the moon in full light revolving in the heavens of the heart; Finally, as the sun is Jesus, as the sun shining with righteousness, that is, showing Himself and His universal lights of contemplation.

– To protect the mind is worthy and it is worth calling light, lightning, light-emitting and fiery. After all, it is true to say that it is she who is the most perfect of the greatest bodily virtues, no matter how many of them he has Who. That is why this virtue should be called the most honorable names, for the sake of those who are born from its light lights. Those who loved her are sinners obscene, dirty, ignorant, foolish, unrighteous created by the power of Christ righteous, needy of God, pure, holy and prudent, and not only that, they begin to meditate on the sacraments and theologize. Becoming contemplatives, they move towards this Most Pure, Infinite Light, they touch His Indescribable touches; With Him they live and work, because they will taste that the Lord is good (Psalm 99:5). Thus, regarding these, the Word of the divine David is clearly fulfilled in the first angels: “The righteous shall confess Your name and live in the righteousness of Your face” (Psalm 139:14). And truly, they are the only true one, and turn to God, and confess to Him, and they always love to communicate with Him, love Him.

– Woe to the inner from the external, to the inner A person suffers greatly from external feelings. But, having endured Anything, he must use the whips against these external feelings. Whoever has done what follows the letter has also understood what follows from the assumptions.

“If our inner man is sober, then, according to the Fathers, he is able to preserve even the external. According to their In other words, we and the demon villains, both, commit sins together; those who in their thoughts or dreamy pictures, depict only sins stand before the mind, as they wish, and we also with our thoughts inside and We sin externally with our actions. Demons who do not have exhausting bodies are only Thoughts, intrigues and deceptions they prepare for themselves and for us Flour. But if these most indecent things were not deprived of a white body, then they sinned continuously, and in their actions always contained an evil will ready for shame.

– Be vindictive, hold grudges against demons, and, When you are divining, always be hostile to the body. Flesh is a cunning friend; and, satisfied, raises the strongest battle.

“Hostility to the body and struggle with the stomach.

– The angels will not be pleased to sing praises to the Creator; nor the mind that competes with it in purity will also be satisfied. And how not to bake The immaterial angels in heaven do not care about food and material immaterial things when they ascend to heaven the silence of the mind.

SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The mind acts according to its nature when it contains passion in obedience, reflects on the meaning of everything that exists and is with God. A Christian does this in three ways: commandments, dogmas, and faith. The commandments tear the mind away from passion, dogmas lead it to the knowledge of Being and faith – in contemplation of the Trinity. There is no more honest soul than that which is inherently intelligent. God as the Good, creating each soul in His image, He brings it to life self-propelled (free). Then each of them voluntarily chooses honor, or gains disgrace enough, by his actions.

Abba Thalassius

– A mind that considers itself wise is a waterless cloud, carried by the wind of vanity and pride.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Anyone who thinks himself wise, because he has already died all the sciences and knowledge of external wisdom, will never be granted to penetrate the mysteries of God and see them, if First, he does not humble himself and sink into the feelings of his heart And together with self-confidence, rejecting what he has gained Scholarship. For whoever does such things with unshakable faith will follow the wise men in divine affairs, as we lead them, we enter with them into the city of the living God, and He who is taught and enlightened by the Holy Spirit sees and knows Something that no one else can see and know. In this way, he becomes a trained God.

Revered. Gregory of Sinai

“A true wise man is one who of the existing things he has become acquainted with their Creator, and from the Creator has understood the existent and divine; Not only through training, but also through training experienced. Or: a perfect sage is one who has achieved moral, natural, and theological wisdom, especially with the love of God.

IMITATING GOD

Approx. Diadochi

“We are all people in the image of God. Be in accordance with the likeness of God belongs only to those who, according to great love, they have enslaved their freedom to God. For if we do not do this, we deny ourselves, and then we are as He who, out of His love, reconciled us to Himself; which no one can achieve unless he has convinced his soul not to get carried away by the joys of a self-satisfied life and Self-satisfied.

Revered. Nikita Stifat

“The other is the image of God, and the other is what is seen in the image. The image of God is the mental soul, the Mind and the Word are one and inseparable nature, and What is seen in this image is authority (independence), dominion (independence), and autocracy (freedom). Also, the glory of reason and the glory of reason are its dignity; What is in the image is different, and what corresponds is similar. The glory of the mind is the elevation of grief, the eternally moving highest, sharpness, purity, prudence, wisdom, immortality. The dignity of reason is literature, independence, dominance, autocracy. What is in the image is to have a soul with reason and word, personal, unambiguous and indivisible. Reason and word belong to the soul incorporeal, immortal, divine, mental — and they all have the same essence, mutual, inseparable from each other and cannot be separated. What is in the likeness is righteousness, truthfulness, kindness, compassion and Philanthropy. In which these qualities are the essence in action and stay constantly, they are clearly visible, and this is in the image and similarity. God, who created us in His image and likeness, We are like virtue and understanding. The virtue of God is righteousness, reverence, and truth, as David says: “Righteous is the axis, O Lord, and your righteousness is all around you.” —Psalm 118:137; 88:9. We are also like Him in righteousness and goodness, for the Lord is good and righteous (Psalm 24:8), a word of wisdom and understanding (Col. 2:3), holiness and perfection, as He Himself says: Be ye perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48), and you will be holy, for I am holy (Lev. 19:2), Humility and submission, for they say: Learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matt. 11:29). The likeness of God, as long as it is available to us, is impossible to improve the fanatic, if he does not wash in advance with warm tears the sinful dirt that has fallen on him and does not stick to him the fulfillment of the holy commandments of Christ. Do not change the likeness to God, gained by extreme purity and complete love for God, this is possible only by constantly stretching the eye of the mind to God, in which the soul is usually laid through constant abiding in good works, through continuous, pure and unwavering prayer, through comprehensive abstinence and diligent reading of the Scriptures.

Sep. Hryhoriy Sinait.

– As in man there is a mind, a word, and a spirit — and there is no mind without a word, or a word, without a spirit, but it is always present both in each other and in itself according to itself; the mind speaks through the word, and the word is manifested through the Spirit – according to this example, man bears a weak image of the ineffable and principled Trinity, showing in this also his creation in the image of God.

IMITATION OF THE SAINTS

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The saints were kind and beneficial, merciful and merciful, for he has the same things for the whole race the inclination of love, by the power of which through life it is true to preserve the best of all blessings, I mean modesty, it is the keeper of the good and the destroyer of their opposites evil, they remained elusive to all who pressed temptations on us, both arbitrary, which come from us, and the Involuntary, who do not belong to us, suppress the rebellion of the former abstinence and the patient repulsion of the affections of the latter.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– The world and the people of the world are dead to the saints. Why, just as the worldly do not see the good deeds of the saints and do not hear cannot understand the Divine words that have been offered to them By the grace of the Holy Spirit, so spiritual and holy people do not see the evil deeds of the evil people of the world and understand their passionate speeches, that is, they also do not see what is in the world, and Hearing about the things of the world, they are in such a state of Divine state and disposition, as if they don’t hear due to lack of feeling. So there is no fellowship between the spiritual and the secular, nor between the secular and the secular spiritual.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– The Holy Spirit wrote the lives of the saints so that each of them, leading any way of life, would rise to the truth Similar examples.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

“We bless the saints and desire their crowns, but We do not want to imitate their exploits. Do you think that they Have honored you with crowns in vain, without toil or sorrow? Do you want to Listen, what peace the saints have had in this life? They were beaten… I went to Milote… Deprived of sorrow, embittered (Heb. 11:35, 37). You want to be with them forever Raine, follow their path.

Revered. Anthony the Great

– We are called by the names of saints and dressed in clothes about them, which we are proud of before unbelievers; and imitate their deeds We have no diligence. I am afraid that the Apostle will not reach us: “Those who have the image of godliness, but have the power of those who have rejected it (2 Tim. 3:5). Seraphim, whom I saw Prophet. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:4-9) is the image of faithful souls who strive to achieve perfection. He had six wings filled with eyes; also had four faces looking in four directions: one face looked like the face of a man, another in front of the face of Taurus, a third in front of the face of Leo, and a fourth in the face of an eagle. The first person means believers who live in the world they fulfill the commandments that lie above them. If one of them, if he becomes a monk, he becomes like the face of a calf, because he does hard work in the performance of monastic duties and performs more bodily feats. Who, Having become perfect, he enters solitude and enters into a fight with invisible demons, he is compared to the face of a lion – the king of Wild Animals. And when someone defeats the invisible enemies, and conquers the passions and tames them, and they lift up the Holy Spirit and see the divine visions, He will be like the face of an eagle: then his mind will see everything that can happen to him from six sides, like these six wings full of eyes. In this way, he will become a spiritual seraphim and inherit eternal bliss.

GODLINESS

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

The brother asked, “Father, can he fulfill all the commandments when there are so many?” The elder answered, “He who imitates the Lord and follows Him step by step.” The Lord was God, although I am created by man, and I am a sinful man, a slave to countless passions. How Can I Imitate The elder replied, “Concerning those who are enslaved by the world and its vanities, no one can imitate the Lord; The brother said, “But, father, the commandments of the Lord are many, and who can fulfill them all to keep in mind, to fight for everything, especially for me, a man A little bit of understanding? Why do I want to hear a short word so that by sustaining it, I can find my own salvation.” The elder replied, “Although there are many commandments, they are all united in one word: You have loved the Lord your God… all with your strength and with all your mind, and yours to your neighbors as yourself” (Luke 10:27). Asceticism Keeping this word corrects all the commandments at once. But whoever does not give up all dependence on material things, then he does not renounce cannot truly love either God or his neighbor.”

– Do not all worry about the flesh, but, having decided for it, strive according to Turn the whole mind to the inner. Physically, Teaching is useful to a small extent: but godliness is beneficial in all things exists (1 Tim. 4:8).

Revered. Theodore of Edessa

– The body seeks to enjoy those things that correspond to it through sensations, and the more satisfied Sometimes it wants it even more. And this is contrary to the aspirations of the soul. Therefore, let the first concern of the soul be all the sensations of putting on a bridle so as not to enjoy sensual things, as said. After all, the stronger the body, the more it strives for its own; the more he longs for it, the more if it is more insurmountable, then the soul must have a second one—to try intensely to humiliate the flesh by fasting, vigilance, standing, Sleeping on the bare ground and all other deprivations, so that, having exhausted its strength, it is humble and obedient at the time of all spiritual deeds… But how easy it is to desire, and It is difficult to fulfill, and many omissions are allowed against what is due through the deception of the senses, in spite of everything Attention, then the third prudently invent a remedy – prayer and tears…

– Our true tithe before God is the spiritual Easter, that is, the passage of every passionate inclination and everything else irrational sensuality. This one who has partaken of the Passover fellowships with the blameless lamb who took away the sin of the world, and will not die of it, but according to the word of the Lord, he will live forever (John 6:50).

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“He is not godly, he who has mercy on many He does it, but he who offends no one.

“In a word, study the virtues and preach an act about it.

– Not only virtues, consider it an act of Beautiful, but so that everything is as it should be.

– Be zealous for virtues, because it runs out of wisdom reveals Adam as a god.

– Do not say: I cannot keep God’s commandment according to the cause of hindrance on the part of a father, mother or wife, or from children, or from anyone else, because they will not deliver you from the wrath that comes, and from the worm that never sleeps. May there be for you all those who interfere with the consciousness of God and virtues. disgusting and hateful; With such a man you are worse.

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

– One of the saints said: “Think of good things, so that you do not think of evil, for the mind does not tolerate being idle.”

Revered. Anthony the Great

“If you start a business and don’t see it as God’s will, don’t do it for nothing.

– A real person tries to be pious. He is a pious man who does not desire what is alien to him, but is alien to man all created things. Therefore, despise all things, for you are the image of God. Man is the image of God when he lives correctly and pleasing to God, and this is impossible if it is not that Man lags behind everything passionate. He who has a mind that loves God is skilled in everything that saves the soul and in every one the respect that he demanded. A God-loving person is not. He does not reproach anyone anymore, because he knows that he himself is sins, and this is the sign of a soul that is being saved.

RIGHTEOUSNESS, JOY, HOLINESS, PURITY

Approx. Diadochi

– A pure soul is characterized by: a word without envy, zeal without malice and unceasing zeal for the glory of the Lord. Then (when the soul is pure) the mind also rightly places its bowls (when scales are placed on the scales) and sobriety remains in its judgment of all things, as well as of the purest and incorruptible judgment.

– Purifying the mind only of the Holy Spirit is a matter. For if this Mighty One does not come, he does not catch and bind the predator of Onago (Luke 11:22), then what he has stolen cannot be set free. For it is worthy of all virtues, except to rest the Holy Spirit in oneself with spiritual peace, to have in oneself the lamp of the mind that always shines; When it constantly shines in hidden places Then even the little dark souls manifest in the mind demonic assumptions, but also inactive and unstable ones are rejected by the Holy Spirit and the Most Glorious Light. Why does the apostle say: “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:19), that is, do not quench the Spirit to offend (Ephesians 4:30) the goodness of the Holy Spirit by evil deeds or thoughts, so as not to be deprived of This all-conquering lamp. For he who does not bear, and the life-giving Spirit is quenched, but His grief or, instead, disgust makes our mind hardened and alien to the light Guidance.

– There is one more joy, the beginning of the beginning, and another Last: she does not participate in dreams (of herself), and this one is strong in humility; and among them is God-loving sorrow and painless weeping. As in the plural, Wisdom is full of understanding, and he who adds understanding will add to sickness (Ecclesiastes 1:18). For this reason, it is necessary to first begin the introductory joy — to call the soul to feats; then to condemn her and be tempted by the truth of the Holy Spirit, like the sins committed before and hitherto committed intrusions into self-forgetfulness, in condemnations You punished man with iniquity and disappeared like a spider his soul (Psalm 38:12), so that after the rebuke of the Temptation of God would tempt her as in a furnace, she received this act of sleepless joy in the warm remembrance of God.

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– Whoever wants to be called wise and prudent and a friend of God, let him conscientiously take care of his soul To grant to the Lord such as He received from Him: pure, unharmed and all blameless. For this, he will be crowned and blessed by the Angels.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– “Do not say that you eat the temple of God,” says the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:4). Say neither: a lonely faith in [our Jesus Christ] can save me. it is impossible if you do not gain love for Him through the works of testifying. Regarding pure faith, demons believe and tremble (James 2:19).

“If you want to be righteous, do what you can Every part in you, that is, soul and body: thinking – reading, spiritual contemplation and prayer; irritable – spiritual love, the opposite of hatred; Lust, chastity and abstinence, and flesh are food and clothing that are necessary in themselves.

He who has purified his heart learns not only the meaning and significance of things secondary to and after God, but, having passed through all of them, he somehow sees God Himself—what is the Ultimate Limit of Goods. Having visited such a heart, God He instructs the Spirit to write His notes on it, as well as on the Tablets of Moses — insofar as they themselves are strengthened by good deeds and reflections, according to the commandment, mysteriously commands: to grow and multiply (Gen. 35:11).

Revered. Theognost

“Kiss purity as the apple of your eye, so you will be the temple of God and the house that He desires, for without chastity it is impossible to become one’s own before God. And this gives rise to the love of Impartiality to the world and withdrawal from it, but it preserves humility, abstinence, unceasing prayer, spiritual contemplation (contemplation of God), weeping and reasoning – kindness that you cannot achieve without indifference.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“A pure heart is probably in one who is not only not anxious or burdened by any passion, but does not even think of anything bad or worldly, at least of whom he wanted it and keeps only the memory of God’s irrepressible love. For the eye of the soul is the mind, when nothing interferes with its reflections, it sees God in a pure light. The heart is pure and called that which is not in any thought or worldly thought, but all clung to God and united with Him in such a way that it remembers nothing earthly, neither sad nor joyful, but it is common in meditation, ascending to the third heaven, rapturing into paradise and also seeing the inheritance of the blessings promised to the saints in connection with which he imagines afterwards, As far as human weakness is possible, and eternal blessings are possible. This is what is a sign of purity of heart and a reliable sign by which everyone can determine the measure of their purity and see themselves as in the Mirror.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

“There is nothing great about us becoming righteous; for in that case we will become what we are, we were created by God in the beginning, good in the beginning.

– Faith and baptism will not deliver you from eternal fire without the Deeds of Truth. If you have been married to Christ, keep the commandments of Him, and if you believe in the future, try to earn eternity Glory and fear are the sword of fire. But if you do not keep God’s commandments, then do not call yourself faithful.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

“We are the temple of God.” —1 Corinthians 3:16. Therefore, as God Himself is pure, let us purify His temple, that He may desire to dwell here And since He Himself is holy, let us also sanctify His temple; Let’s decorate with all kinds of good and honest deeds we will fill it with aromas with the aroma of peace, the will of God, pure and sincere Prayer. Then the cloud of His glory will overshadow the soul, and His Majesty’s light will shine in the heart.

– The peace of the soul is the result of good order, and light is born from the world, and peace shines from the light Pure air.

– When the time is approaching for the Spiritual Man to rise in you, then joy ignites in your soul, and your thoughts are contained in you with the sweetness that is in your heart. And when peace comes Rise again in you, then, soaring inside, you will multiply thoughts.

– To the extent that a person has fallen into a feat, for God’s sake, Such a heart takes courage in its prayer, and to the extent that a person is entertained by many things, he is deprived of God’s help.

– Sept. St. Gregory says: “That temple of grace that is in union with God, and is always concerned about His judgment.

Revered. Anthony the Great

They asked St. Anthony: “What is the joy, He answered: “To fulfill the commandment by deed with joy, to the glory of God. When we keep His Commandments, we should rejoice. But let us be afraid, that, rejoice, do not exalt yourself with pride, but put all hope against the Lord.”

ACTIVE AND CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE

Revered. Theognost

– Refrain from higher reflections, if not he has reached even greater emotionlessness; Do not chase what is impossible to catch up with and do not look for what is beyond your power. If you wish to become a theologian and a contemplative, rise to it by the way of life and gain pure knowledge of God through purity. Commemoration Regarding theology, I remind you, do not worship its height to infinity, and know that it does not suit us, with the milk of virtues trying to soar there so as not to lose its feathers in vain, as happens with the young chickens, although the sweetness of knowledge strongly attracts our Desires. When, after purification with chastity and tears, we rejoice in the earth like Elijah or Habakkuk, or the expectation of rapture that has no time to be on the clouds and contemplative prayer, pure and unshakable becoming beyond the senses, we seek God, then perhaps we will also touch some kind of theology. In the same way, desiring first to receive the Divine vision and enlightenment of the mind, Love a peaceful and silent life, and be detached from everything, know both yourself and God. If this happens, nothing will hinder you like a light breeze, your inner dispensation, pure and undisturbed by any passion, to see wisely for all the Invisible Ones who preach to you the good news of salvation through the most vulnerable knowledge of Him.

Elijah Yekdik

– The end of life’s activity is the humiliation of passion; And the end of the contemplative is the vision of virtues.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– It is said that about one who goes through an active life, he is temporarily in the flesh as an alien for the purpose of Practicing virtues, cutting off from the soul compassion for the Body and detaching himself from material charms. And that every saint, in connection with future blessings, walks in such a way that he cries out, “I am a traveler with you, and a stranger, like all my btar.” —Psalm 38:7, 13.

– For those who actively go through life, the Lord is inherent in him through virtues, and from the one who does not care about anything, he invests virtue, He retreats. And again my husband He is innate in the contemplative through the true knowledge of things; of But he who sins in any way turns away.

– The Word of God is the way (John 14:6) for those who, Leading an active life, they move faithfully and confidently in the field of virtue, which does not deviate either to the right or through vanity, nor to the pursuit of passions and the guidance of their feet according to God their own. I am the door, said the Lord (John 10:10). 9). For He is the one who has done good in all the ways of virtue, In the flawless course of his active life, He is brought into the domain, and, like a light, shows them the most vivid treasures of wisdom. He is the same, and the door, the key, and the kingdom: the way as a guide; key, as the opening of the entrance to the Divine treasures for the worthy; doors as a driver; kingdom, as inherited and according to Communion in all things.

– This is not the one who glorifies God in himself, who only reverently honors God with words, but who, for God’s sake, through the Commandments, patiently endures suffering and labor. Such a person glorified by God in return with the glory that is in God, carries the grace of impenetrability as a reward for the virtue of Communion. For all who glorify God in themselves through suffering through virtues in active life and themselves in God are glorified through the impenetrable illumination of the Divine Ray into a state of contemplation.

PERFECTION OF SPIRITUAL LIFE

Revered. John of the Carpathians

– The fire of striving for the highest blessings and holy contemplation of God, let the words of the Spirit burn unceasingly on the altar of your soul.

Approx. Diadochi

1. The limit or pinnacle of the perfection of faith is the dispassionate immersion of the mind in God.
2. The limit of hope (hope) is the transfer of the mind to the desired benefits.
3. The limit of patience is the invisible, as if visible, useless with intelligent eyes to stand steadfastly patiently.
4. The limit of greed is not to have such a desire as someone wishes to have.
5. The limit of understanding is not to know oneself in panic (or complete striving) for God.
6. The limit of humility is the resolute forgetfulness of his good deeds.
7. The limit of oppression is a great desire not to do Get angry.
8. The limit of purity is a relentless sensation glued to God.
9. The limit of love is the multiplication of friendship inclination towards those who offend and rebuke.
10. The limit of ideal change is to attribute the sadness of death to the joy of God’s taste in the sweet.

– Let faith guide spiritual reflection, Hope, love and, above all, love for these two they teach only to despise visible goods and to love the soul itself, through virtue it unites with God, with an intellectual sense of understanding the Invisible.

Abba Zosima

“Someone said to me, ‘Abba, there’s too much we are commanded to do, and the mind darkens when you get up to think about what you’re observing and what’s not.’ – I answered him, ‘Don’t bother you with this; But here’s what Remember: if you don’t like things, then you will comfortably fulfill every virtue. Do not quarrel over them, Do not hold grudges, and then what will be the work That you pray for your enemies? Is it the same as digging the ground? But walk the path of patience, endure unjust losses with good humor In possessions, thank you for dishonor, and here you are Disciple of the holy Apostles who, when they returned from the place of judgment, after being beaten, they rejoiced that they had been granted the name of Christ to receive disgrace (Acts 5:41). And they, being pure and holy, they have disgraced for the name of Christ; but we must submit to the Shame of our sins. We are dishonest, even if no one He has disgraced us, and we are cursed because we are cursed; says the prophet who deviates from Your commandments (Ps. 118:21). Not everyone should endure disgrace for the name of Christ—not to all, but only to the holy and pure, as I have already said; The essence of people like us is to accept it with gratitude in shame, an acknowledgment that we justly tolerate evil deeds of Our. Cursed is the soul that, knowing his impure deeds and Seeing that he will worthily endure what he is experiencing, he sits down and Deceiving his conscience, he intertwines his thoughts, saying: “He is this for me And he said this, despising me, despising me, slandering himself and replacing the place of demons with himself. For what happens to the Artists, the same happens to the soul. Like this, the main thing is that the Master, after teaching the student the art, leaves him to work on his own after that and no longer sit next to him, but only from time to time does he watch over him, not If you are lazy or do not spoil events, then the demons too, If they see the soul subdued and easily accepts evil thoughts, They give it to satanic art and no longer consider it necessary to sit next to him, making sure that she herself is enough to slander herself — only thanks to From time to time they come to see if she is lazy.”

Revered. John Cassian

– Three impulses cause people to suppress passions, namely: fear of hell, torment of the future, or fear of the severity of laws in the present; Hope and desire to receive the kingdom of heaven; Finally, the love of virtue, or Philanthropy. This fear makes one hate the filth of evil, oh This is what Proverbs says: The fear of the Lord hates unrighteousness (8:13). This hope also does not give you the passions of which it is said: Not all will sin Trust in Him (Psalm 33:23). It is said of love that She is not even afraid of the fall of sin: Beloved Nicholas is withdrawn (1 Cor. 13:8). The Apostle, therefore, is the whole thing He completed salvation by acquiring these three virtues, said: Now remain faith, hope, love: three In the nineteenth century Faith that destroys the fear of future judgment and torment, it distracts us from the filth of passions; Hope, rejecting our minds The expectation of heavenly rewards makes us despise all fleshly pleasures; love that burns with its fire our love for Christ and for the spiritual growth of virtue cause perfect hatred Hate everything that contradicts them. to attain true perfection, how to love God with another, as well as with one attraction of love for Him, for He also loved us first without any other reason; As for our salvation. To do this, we must strive with fervent zeal to rise from fear to hope, with hope for a degree of love for God or self-love virtue with full fervor of the soul, so that, having received Such devotion to good, we can, as long as it is available to human nature, to remain steadfastly in German.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– The brother asked, “What should be done to be able to be with God continuously?” The elder replied, “It is impossible for the mind to always be with one God unless it receives the following Three virtues: love, abstinence, and prayer. Love to tame anger; Abstinence dries up passion, but prayer, separating the mind from all thoughts, naked, personifies it to God Himself. These three virtues unite everything with truth, and without them, the mind cannot exist with the one God.” The brother asked: “I beg you, father, teach me how to love The elder replied: “The work of love is to have mercy to do him good, to be patient with him and to endure everything that does to them, as has often been said. And the brother said, Her works are not small, but blessed is he; who was able to get it. I’m really far from it. However, I beg you, Father, tell me what it means – the Elder replied, “To be strong in spirit in adversity, to endure all evil and wait for the end of temptation, allowing anger to be tormented, or to utter a foolish word, Or to suspect something, or to consider it unseemly to a godly man, as the Scripture says: He who is long-suffering will endure and reward him with joy: He will hide his words in time, and the lips of the faithful confess understanding (Ser. 1:23-24). Sincerely renounced worldly things and without hypocrisy, out of love, serving one’s neighbor, rather frees himself from all passion and becomes a partaker of divine love and divine knowledge.”

“Just as the memory of fire does not warm the body, so Faith without love does not generate the light of knowledge in the soul.

– A pure soul, freed from passions, and unceasingly rejoicing in Divine love.

– Perfect love does not divide the same essence of men according to their different moral principles, but always looking at it, He loves all men equally: the good as friends, and the unkind as enemies who do them good, Long-suffering, enduring what they cause, in no way repaying evil for them, even suffering for them when occasion requires it, If possible, make them your friends. But, if Impossible, she still does not deviate from her affection for them, always showing the fruits of love for all people in the same way. So our Lord God Jesus Christ, showing His love for us, He suffered for all mankind and gave everyone equally the hope of resurrection, although each of them creates himself worthy of either glory or the torments of hell.

– A sign of perfect impassibility is that when, both during wakefulness and in sleep, the ideas of things always arise in the heart as simple.

By the fulfillment of the commandments, the mind is drawn away from the passions, by the spiritual contemplation of the visible it is stripped of thoughts passionate about things, by the knowledge of the invisible it renounces the contemplation of visible things, and finally, by the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. And from the very knowledge of invisible things (i.e., it reaches the summit of knowledge).

“For abstinence, the reward is dispassion, for faith, knowledge. Impassibility gives birth to prudence, and knowledge gives birth to love for God.

He who is perfect in love and has reached the height of impassibility does not know the difference between his own and someone else’s, or his own and someone else’s, or between the faithful and the unfaithful, or between the slave and the free, or even between the male and the female sex. But, having risen above the tyranny of the passions and looking at the one human nature, He looks at all alike and is disposed towards all (Gal. 3:28).

The reward for feats in virtue is dispassion and knowledge. For they are the culprits of the Kingdom of Heaven for us, just as passions and ignorance are eternal torment. And therefore, he who seeks them for the sake of human glory, and not for the sake of their goodness, hears from the Scriptures: “Ask, and ye shall not receive, ask for the zone of evil” (James 4:3).

A perfect soul is one whose entire lustful power is completely directed towards God.

A perfect mind is that which, having come to know the Unknown by true faith, has surveyed all the things of His creation in general, and has received from God an all-embracing knowledge of His Providence and Judgment in them, as far as is accessible to men.

– The beginning and the end of the salvation of each is Wisdom, which, beginning first gives rise to fear, and then, having been perfected, to the end gives birth to love. Or rather, at first it itself is cautiously fearful, in order to restrain its lover from evil, and then, in the end, it naturally turns out to be love of itself, filling with spiritual joy those who have replaced the possession of all visible goods by cohabitation with it.

“Perfect is he who struggles with voluntary temptations with abstinence and endures involuntary temptations with patience. And he is wholly he who performs deeds with knowledge and does not leave speculation inactive.

Abba Thalassius

Perfect impassibility gives rise to pure thoughts, and perfect knowledge places before the face of the Incomprehensible.

– Asceticism requires patience and courage, because voluptuousness is expelled only by long-term and willing self-diligence. It is convenient for you to perform feats of asceticism, if you do everything in moderation and according to the rule. Always keep the same measure in your asceticism, and do not violate the established rule unless absolutely necessary.

Venerable. Theodore of Edessa

– What an ascent to perfection and deification! As far as the mind is concerned, it is the most perfect knowledge of things and of Him Who is above all things, as far as it is possible for human nature; as far as lust is concerned, the all-ending and unceasing lust and striving for the First Good; As far as irritation is concerned, it is the most energetic and active movement towards the desired, unceasing and unrelenting by any of the sorrows encountered, unstoppable in its progress but irresistible, and marching without turning back.

– The end of our life is blessedness, or, what is the same thing, the Kingdom of Heaven, or God’s. And it itself is not only the sight of the most royal Trinity, but at the same time the reception of the Divine inflow, and, as it were, the perception of deification, and by this inflow the replenishment of that which is tireless in us and the perfection of the imperfect. And this is the nourishment of mental beings, it is the filling of what is lacking through the Divine inflow. Here a certain unceasing circle takes place, beginning with the same and ending with the same thing. For the more a man understands, the more he lusts; the more he lusts, the more he eats; the more he eats, the more he is aroused to a greater understanding again, and immediately begins again this immovable motion, or immovable immobility.

– How do we get to the end of life? For the Rational souls, who are sentient beings and not far from the thoughts of the angels, this life is a struggle, and life in the Body was given to them for the Podvig. And the reward for the feat and struggle is the condition mentioned above—a gift worthy of both Divine goodness and Divine truth. It is true, because that these advantages are not achieved without one’s own labor and sweatpants; God, because the gift is infinitely greater than all His own work, and also because the very fact that he can do good is the gift of God.

Revered. Philotheus of Sinai

– We have a mental war going on, which is more difficult than sensual. A worker of piety needs such a mother-in-law and this Purpose is to move the mind to be like Margaret or a stone of great value that can be kept perfectly in the heart the memory of God. One must renounce everything, even the body, and despise in the very present life in order to gain the one God in His own heart. For St. John Chrysostom said that a wise knowledge of God is sufficient to destroy the Evil.

– Those who wage mental warfare should be carried out with all diligence to choose for themselves, according to the Divine Scriptures, spiritual deeds and impose them on the mind like healing plasters. So in the morning you have to stand boldly and persistently at the door of your heart, with a strong memory of God and a continuous, in your soul, Jesus Christ prayer, this mental protection and murder of all the sinners of the earth, that is, the faithful, the strengthened and the unfortunate cut off their heads with the captured memory of God, for the Lord’s sake, and began to fight against the thoughts that raised the mind, for We know that in mental ascetic labors there is a certain Divine Rite and Order of Action. This is how it is to be done by those who have given birth to themselves (for the sake of the Kingdom) before the appointed meal time. After that, after thanking the Lord, Who feeds us only with love for humanity, the Two, food, both spiritual and bodily, should torment us with memory and reflection on death. And the next afternoon we have to autocratically take up the morning work again. For Yi with such a casual style of play, it is hardly We have in the Lord to escape the traps of the mental enemy. However, since such work has been established in us, it gives rise to three virtues: faith, hope and love, faith in which sets us up to the true fear of God and hope, overcoming the slavish fear leads man to love God.

Venerable. Symeon the New Theologian

“God does not demand anything from us, people. Beyond that, we must not sin. But this is not the fulfillment of the law, but only the inviolable preservation of images and heavenly dignity, in which, standing beside nature, and wearing the brightly lit garment of the Spirit, we abide in God and with Him we are by grace gods and sons of God, and we are marked by the light of the knowledge of God according to the word: We are the light of Thy face, Oh Lord! (Psalm 4:7)

– Those who attain spiritual perfection when they are enlightened or enlightened in the mind, then they see mentally the glory of the Lord, and learn mentally the Divine Through the grace of knowledge after knowledge, rising from contemplation to the knowledge of Him who is truly above all God. Approaching perfection, seeing only partially infinity (of spiritual things) and realizing the incomprehensibilityness of what they see, they are amazed and they are amazed; and the more they go in, the more I don’t know how, In the light of knowledge, they become even more aware of their own weakness. What seems somewhat gloomy to them manifests itself as a mirror in divination, partly illumining the mind that thinks of when it will allow itself to manifest itself in a greater light and unite in communion with the one it illuminates, which includes everything in itself, so that it is in the depths of the Spirit, as if in the depths of boundless, bright waters, then it inexplicably rises into complete ignorance, as one who has entered where everything is above knowledge.

Venerable. John Climacus

– Of course, sin and passion do not exist in the nature of Man. God is not the creator of passions. He has given many virtues to our nature, among which are also the following: almsgiving, for even the Gentiles are compassionate; Love is for often even stupid animals who shed tears at the loss of each other; Faith – because we are all ourselves, we generate it; hope is for us, and when we reciprocate or We take, and when we sow and when we swim, we do so hoping To get rich. If, therefore, as has been proven, love and virtue are naturally inherent in our nature, but love is the fulfillment of the law, it is evident that virtues are not alien to ours And let them be ashamed of those who justify not doing virtue because of their impotence. But as for purity, meaninglessness, humility, prayer, vigilance, fasting, and constant tenderness, then these virtues are above nature. Some of them have been taught to us by their example; Some samples were angels for us, and others were teachers and givers of God—the Word Himself.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

Imagine that virtue is the body, contemplation is the soul, and both are one perfect man, united by the spirit from two parts: the sensual and the rational. And just as it is impossible for the soul to come to the state of manifesting its being without completing the formation of the body with its members, so it is impossible for the soul to come to contemplation without performing a work of virtue.

– There are three mental ways by which knowledge ascends and descends. These methods are: body, soul, spirit. Knowledge is God’s gift to the nature of rational creatures, given at the beginning of their creation. And it, by its nature, is simple and indivisible, like the light of the sun, but, according to its work, it acquires changes and divisions.

“Whoever flees vain glory with knowledge, has sensed in his soul the age to come.

– Let us not be confused when we are in darkness. I mean that special delusion, in which at other times the soul languishes and is, as it were, in the midst of waves; and whether a man reads the Scriptures or performs a service, in every matter that he undertakes, he has obscuration after obscuration. Such a person leaves the matter and is often not allowed to even approach it. This hour is full of despair and fear; hope in God and the consolation of faith in Him will be completely rejected by the soul, and it is completely filled with doubt and fear. But God does not leave the soul in this state for a long time, but soon creates an abundance (1 Cor. 10:13). And I will note and give you advice: if you do not have the strength to control yourself and fall on your face in prayer, then clothe your head with a mantle and sleep until this hour of darkness has passed for you, but do not leave your cell. Those who wish to lead a mental life and seek the consolation of faith in their progress are subjected to this temptation. Therefore, this hour is most tormenting and tiring for them by the fluctuation of the mind; this is often followed by blasphemy, and sometimes there comes upon a person doubt about the resurrection and other things that should not be told to us. Those who are engaged in bodily affairs are completely free from these temptations. Upon them comes another despondency, known to everyone, which in its mode of action differs from these and similar temptations. Blessed is he who endures these things without going out of the door. However, this struggle does not end in one hour; And grace does not suddenly come again and dwells in the soul, but gradually. And one thing is replaced by another: time – temptation and time – consolation.

Venerable. Anthony the Great

– The perfection of your feat is obedience, and it is good for a person if he wears the yoke of the Lord from his youth – He serves and obeys. What did Abba Anthony say to Paul? – to his disciple: “Go, sit alone to study the battles that come from demons.” But Such spiritual self-government is accompanied by purity of heart; purity of heart occurs when it is guided by the mind; a The mind is guided by unceasing prayer. And the battle is from demons through thoughts and ghosts, which are more exciting in solitude and silence.

– The internal structure of the mind is better than the bodily asceticism, because this internal structure of the mind directs and pleases the soul of the monk with the most perfect love for God, which makes him worthy of visions and revelations of the glory of God. Bodily feats free the monk from bodily passions, He is confirmed by virtues, receives the power to drive away the Passions and the body bring purity, and the feat of the mind arms the soul against the demons and thoughts that they instill and delivers the purity of heart that strength receives from love and becomes worthy to be guided by the Spirit.

Revered. John Klimack

“Who did not live in obedience at the beginning It is impossible to gain humility, because each one in his own Man who has learned the art dreams a lot about himself. Like eggs, warmed under the wings, they are nourished, so thoughts, Hidden from the spiritual Father, turn into deeds. Just as a ship with good helmsmanship, with God’s help, confidently enters the harbor, so the soul, having a good Pastor, ascends comfortably to heaven, although there are many sins Once upon a time. After all, it is convenient not to have a guide to err on his path, although very clever, so that he who follows the path of monasticism autocratically dies easily, although I would know all the wisdom of this world.

Prpp. Barsanuphius and John

“Whoever wants to be a monk, in no case does not practice, must have his own will. Christ the Lord, teaching us this, He said: “I came down from heaven not to do My will” (Jn 6:38). But if you do one thing and then give up the other—then you’ll prove that you’re more sensible commanding you, and that’s the same as being mocked by demons. Therefore, you must obey in all things, even if you It seemed that the ordered act was not sinless. Abba, the One who appoints it to you will bear your sin, and it will demand from him the Answer for you. If the matter is extremely inconvenient and dangerous for you or beyond your power, explain it to Abby and do as he will judge.

Abba Dorotheus

“If you are in obedience, you will never trust your heart, because it is defiled by the old Addiction. Do not follow your judgment in anything or in yourself. Do not assign yourself anything without permission or advice. Do not think or think that you are better and more righteous than your teacher, and do not investigate his affairs. By doing this, you will be able to obey calmly and safely, to follow the path of our parents.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– Do not try to borrow advice from a person who does not lead the same lifestyle as you, although he is extremely wise. It is better to entrust your thoughts not to an ignorant person, but to someone who has already experienced this issue, rather than to a learned philosopher who reasoned on the basis of his research without checking cases.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“I know monks who fell after much effort And they were foolish, because they trusted their own affairs and they despised the commandments of Him who said: “Ask your father, and he will show you (Deut. 32:7). And also St. Scripture says: Where there is no government, they fall as it goes (Prov. 11:14) and commands nothing to be done without counsel, so that even spiritual drinking does not permit it; Rejoicing is the heart of man, drink without advice: without advice do nothing (Ser. 32:21) and drink wine with advice. A person who conducts his business without advice is like a city without a fence, where anyone wants to go and plunder His treasure. To ask others, Saint Anthony considered the following saving work, which even He Himself, the Teacher of all, He addressed with a question to his disciple who succeeded, but And as he said, so he did. For when Abba Anthony received an invitation from the Emperor Constantius to come to Constantinople, then he turned to Paul the Simple with And when he said: “If you go, you will be Anthony, and if not, you will be Abba Anthony” — and calmly remained put.

Revered. Nile of Sinai

– These are the distinctive features of God and man, zealously striving for similarity with God: silence, meekness, without anger, envy, mercy, compassion, respect for the good of others, sociability, Usefulness – in short, everything that is abundant in goodness is manifested by God, who shines his sun on the wicked, and is good (Matt. 5:45).

Revered. Ephraim the Syrian

“Do you want to be a holy and immaculate temple?” God’s? Always have the image of God in your heart. By image, but by God, I do not mean an image with colors, but precisely this image that is depicted in the soul by good deeds and draws for this heavenly sovereign image — pure thoughts, the removal of all earthly things, and the pure life is always pure.

THANKSGIVING (GLORIFICATION) OF GOD

Abba Dorotheus

– Whatever God does to us, regardless of the circumstances, temptation is allowed to us, He will do everything for our benefit; To love and be merciful to us. And we must, as the apostle said, give thanks in all things (Eph. 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18) for His goodness, and never be sad or faint-hearted because of what happens to us, but accept all that happens to us without shame with humility and hope in God, believing in all these things, whatever God does to us, He does in His goodness, out of His Love for us, and He does it well, and what else can’t be well, but just like that.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

“We will see and figure out how to glorify God. And He is glorified by us only as He was glorified by the Son. But with the Son glorifying His Father, He Himself He was glorified by the Father. Let us do the same (as the Son) with perseverance, to glorify our Father, who is in Whom he so called, and from Him to be glorified by the glory of the Son whom he had with him; before the world ceased to exist. This is the essence of the cross, or the death of the whole world, the turmoil, temptations, and other passions of Christ, whom we endure with all patience, we imitate Unto the passion of Christ, and by this we glorify our Father and God, as His sons by grace and joint heirs with Christ.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– The gratitude of the recipient inspires the giver to give gifts larger than the first. He who is not grateful for less is more deceitful and unjust. The conductor of God’s gifts For man, there is a heart that is constantly moving towards Thanksgiving and a conductor of temptation in the soul is the thought whispered, always touched in the heart. The lips, always those who give thanks, receive blessings from God and in their hearts, Observing Thanksgiving, grace suddenly descends.

ABOUT RECEIVING THE HOLY GHOST

From the teachings of church teachers

– Signs of the grace-filled presence of the Holy Spirit in Our hearts. According to the teachings of St. Paul. Paul, the signs of our dwelling in the Holy Spirit are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

1. One of the characteristic actions of the Holy Spirit, according to which it is possible to infer His presence in man, is the Truth, or the effort of man to act always and in everything Justly. He who has the Holy Spirit in him has such righteousness shows it both in relation to God and in relation to Himself. God, as the greatest Benefactor and Father, He justly loves love with all his heart and with all his soul; as the highest and most perfect Being – honors with the deepest respect; as the Creator, He listens to Providence and the Judge with all His Obedience and, accordingly, tries to fulfill all His commandments. And the commandments of God, the fulfillment of which others are so burdened that they are not only not burdensome to him (1 John 5:3), but are still a good and light yoke (Matt. 11:30). but always treats them fairly, endeavouring according to the commandment of the Apostle what belongs to all: (for this) is a lesson, a lesson: (a) I am already a tribute, a tribute: (a) I have fear, fear: (and) I have honor, honor (Romans 13:7).The mother of the Holy Spirit also in relation to herself He acts with a strict truth, namely: he does not philosophize about himself, according to the expression of the Apostle, more worthy of wisdom (Rom. 12:3), that is, he does not exaggerate his own merit and is not proud, he is not arrogant before others; He does not allow himself to be crooked in anything, and therefore He is never insincere, does not lie or deceive, but always says what is true, and empty words, and even more rotten, harmful, and that which tempts does not come out of His mouth (Matt. 5:37; 12:36; Eph. 4:29).
2. With such truth in a person filled with the Holy Spirit, the world is one. This is the ideal world – the Triple World: peace with God, with neighbors and with oneself. He who is filled with the Holy Spirit not only has no enmity with God willfully, does not offend Him with blasphemy, superstition, sacrilege, and alienation from His Church, as evil men do, but in every possible sense he beware of everything that may anger the Lord and tries to do only what is possible, it pleases Him. for not only he himself never stumbles towards them, either in word or in deed, but also takes care that they do not dislike him, and therefore does all he can with his own on the sides, only to keep peace with them. Finally, he who is filled with the Holy Spirit has a deep peace with himself; for his conscience does not trouble him for evil deeds, evil passions do not trouble him, envy does not torment him; if but when he has sinned in something, he immediately repents before God, tries to atone for the evil he has committed, and firmly faith in the goodness of the Lord and the purifying power poured out for the blood of the Savior, consoles himself with the thought that God will forgive his sins, and therefore he is at peace in his soul.
3. Together with the world, the Holy Spirit pours into the heart of the joy of the believer (Rom. 15:13). But this is not such a joy, for example, those who are laughing now; it is not bodily, but spiritual. But first, he who is filled with the Holy Spirit, rejoices in the Lord, contemplating His ineffable perfections, each Separately and all together — try on the indescribable beauty; Secondly, he rejoices in salvation, vividly imagining the abyss of sin and torment that the Lord has delivered from His great mercy; Finally, he rejoices in the imagination of the great blessings that God has prepared for those who love Him and whom He hopes to eat one day in the Kingdom of Heaven; for the sincerity of the Spirit, which in him the Holy assures him that he has asceticized as much as he could, with a feat of good, and therefore a crown in heaven is reserved for him righteousness, which the Lord will reward him on the day of judgment (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Now, brethren, let us be converted, let us look into our hearts and see if they contain the precious laying on of the Holy Spirit.

Revered. Anthony the Great

“I have prayed for thee that thou also may be granted to receive that great and fiery Spirit which I have received. if you want to receive Him so that He can dwell in you, bring him First fleshly labor, humility of heart and joy Search your thoughts in heaven day and night, seek with righteousness of heart this fiery Spirit, and He will be given to you. This is how Elijah Tishbit and Elisha, along with other prophets, received it. Whoever cultivates himself in this way receives the Spirit of It forever and ever. Continue the prayer with Through a painful search from all your hearts it will be handed over to you; for the Spirit dwells in righteous hearts. And He, when He is received, will reveal to you the highest mysteries, and you will be in this body like those who are already in the Kingdom.

THE POWER OF GOD

Revered. Anthony the Great

– As incomprehensible as the power and power of God are, so incomprehensible are His actions. As vast as His wisdom is, so incomprehensible are His ways (Romans 11:33).

Revered. Arseny the Great

Abba Arsenius once asked one of the Egyptian elders about their thoughts. Some brothers noticed this and asked him: “Abba Arsenius! Why are you, being so well versed in the knowledge of Greece and Rome, that you are interested in your own opinions about it, alien to all knowledge?” Arsenius replied: “I know the sciences of Greece and Rome, but I have not yet learned the alphabet, which is taught by those who know nothing about the knowledge of the world.”

– If we seek God, then He will appear to us, and if we keep Him in ourselves, then He will be with us.

Abba Mark said to Abba Arsenius, “For what reason do You avoid company and conversations with us?” Arsenios replied, “God knows that I love you, but I cannot be with you God and with men. In heaven, thousands and thousands have such a will, and in people, the will is multifaceted, so I can’t give up on God to be with people.”

– When the time came for the death of Abba Arsenius, Then the brothers who were with him saw that he was crying. The brothers said to him: “Father! Are you afraid too?” replied: “I’m afraid! The fear I feel at this hour has been with me since I became a monk.”

– Abba Agathon, when he saw the case, and this thought made him condemn, said to himself: “Agathon! Don’t do it.”

Isaiah the Hermit

“How can I know if I please God to say to a brother: do this way or that. I myself am still under the yoke of repentance because of my sins.

– A small cloud found in the sun is crossed by the action of both light and its heat: understand from this example the influence of trifles on the ascetic, incomprehensible to those who do not know the monastic life.

“He who falls into sin cannot teach him not to do Immerse himself in it.

– The crown of virtues is love, the crown of passions is the justification of one’s sins.

“If they say of you that it is unjust if you are concerned, then there is no fear of God in you.

Revered. Isaac the Syrian

– To offer your petitions to God according to your greatness, so that your dignity may be exalted before Him, and He would rejoice for you.

If someone asks the king for some land, he will not only disgrace himself because of the insignificance of the petition, as one who has shown great stupidity, but will also offend the king with his petition. The same is done by the one who asks for something earthly in prayer. Angels and archangels are such noble persons as the Heavenly King—they look at you while praying Listen to what you ask of their Lord: they are amazed and rejoice when they see that the earth, having renounced the flesh, asks for heavenly things; on the contrary, they They grieve together with Him who, having left the things of heaven, asks for his dirt.

“The treasure of the humble is in it, so it is – Lord.

“Heaven is within you if you are pure; in Thou shalt see angels and their saints, and with them, and in them and their Lord.

Shanovaniy. John Kolov

But he also gets into the net through his uterus, and all his strength makes no sense.

John, Abbot of Rife

– What can sin do where there is repentance? What can Have love where there is pride?!

Abba Joseph of Egypt

“If you want to find peace in this and in the future Anyway, say to yourself: Who am I? and neither condemn anyone.

Abba Longinus said to Abba Lucian, “I want to depart from men.” The elder replied, “If you don’t bring it first in the right mood, to be among people, then you can’t get it living alone.

Revered. Pimen the Great

– Until the cauldron is heated by the fire burning under it, Until then, not a single fly or fly has dared to touch it. Another reptile. When the cauldron cools down, then All reptiles sit on it freely. It is the same with a monk: while he is in spiritual work, before enemies are found, He can be defeated.

Sep. Lucian

– When the feast of the Epiphany of the Lord came, then Saint Lucian wished that he and all those who were close to (in prison he suffered in the time of Galerius and Diocletian) Christians would be allowed to join the saints of Christ the Mystery. He prayed to God that he would get what he wanted, and it was arranged to God so that, through the supervision of the guards, some of the faithful gathered together to Lucian in prison and brought bread and wine. Then Saint Lucian said to his disciples and to all the Christians in prison:

“Stand around me and be the Church, for I am I believe that the living Church is better and more acceptable to God, not wooden or stone.

When everyone surrounded Lucian, he said:

– Let us celebrate the Liturgy and receive the Divine Communion of the Mystery.

The students asked him:

“Where, Father, shall we lay the bread for the perfection of the Holy Mysteries!” We don’t have a table here.

And he, lying tied face up, said:

“Put it on my bosom, and there shall be a living throne for the living God.

So, in prison, on the chest of the saint, the Divine Liturgy with all the proper prayers – worthily, as befits them, and everyone was promised to receive the Holy Divine Mysteries.

DIVINE CONSOLATION

Approx. Diadochi

– If the soul does not waver and does not dream will be kindled by the love of God, immersing itself in this depth of ineffable love and the body itself, whether it is awake or when one is immersed in sleep, under the influence of the holy grace of the ascetic, while the soul is completely what he does not consider a friend, except for one thing to which it is aroused, then it is necessary to know that it is the action of the Holy Spirit. To be full of pleasant feelings from this indescribable Divine sweetness, she cannot then think of anything else, but only feel herself rejoicing in inexhaustible joy. If, at the same time, In such excitement, the mind perceives a certain vibration of a doubtful or impure thought, and if at the same time He uses the holy name of the Lord to despise evil, and no more out of love for God, then it is necessary to know that the promise from the deceiver is only the Ghost of Joy.

Sep. St. Basil the Great

– Indescribable and indescribable lightning, the greatness of Divine beauty; No word can express It can’t be held back either. Whether we call the genius of Lucifer or Under the light of the moon or the radiance of the sun, all these are unworthy of the resemblance of glory, and in comparison with the true light, farther from it than the deep night, and the most terrible darkness from the noonday clarity. If this beauty, invisible to the body, with eyes, and understood only by soul and thought, illuminated by One of the saints left in him an unbearable wound of desire, then, indignant at life here, they said: Oh to me, for my sojourn will last (Psalm 119:5) and will be with Christ many times (Phil. 1:23) More than better; burdened with this life like a prison, so long we are irrepressible in the pursuit of God are those whose souls have been touched by Divine desires. Out of an irrepressible desire to contemplate the Divine beauty, they prayed that the vision of God’s beauty would extend to all eternal life.

THEOLOGY (STATE OF REFLECTION)

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– Repentance does not come to the one who theologizes, Theology does not pass to the one who repents. For Since East and West, so much theology is theology (reflection) above repentance. He who is in a state of Repentance, he has himself, as a sick person, living day after day in the midst of illness, or as a poor person clothed with rags and begging. And whoever theologizes (meditates on the spirit world and God), he resembles a person who spends time in the royal chambers in a bright royal headdress, always next to the king, talks to him and from him He himself clearly hears His commandments and everything He wants.

Approx. Diadochi

– All the gifts of our God are good and are all-good, but none of them compensates or touches the heart to love His goodness like theology (not scientific, but a state of reflection). For she, being the first descendant of God’s goodness, He also gives the first gifts to the soul. First, he despises with joy all the pleasant joys of life, because in him, instead of fleeting pleasures, we have the indescribable richness of God’s words. And then this fiery kind of Changing our consciousness, it illuminates and thus makes it a member of the Spirits of Service. Having been well prepared, let us move on to this majestic, all-seeing virtue, every earthly care, in the light of an ineffable light to nourish the mind with the words of God, and — not to say much — the verbal rational soul to the indivisible promise to God — the Word of Goodness through the holy Prophets. And in the souls of the people—oh, an amazing miracle—arranging songs with the voice of God, this Divine bride leader sings aloud the greatness of God.

– The theological mind, according to God Caught up in the soul and burning, it achieves its goals of impartiality in sufficient breadth. According to the Lord, the word is pure, silver burns, the earth is tempted (Psalm 11:11). 7). And the intellect calls, strengthened by the trial of grace, an influence higher than the passions. The theologian also tastes the knowledge of experience if he has established in himself the most humble at his disposal, the knower also participates to some extent in the Communion of Contemplative virtue, if it does not have the sinful virtue of the rational part of the soul. After all, both of these gifts are not. It so happens that each one reaches perfection, so each one having one of them, marveling at what surpasses the other, was full of humility and well-deserved zeal of life. The apostle also says: “For the word given to him by the Spirit is wisdom, and to another it is the word of understanding, about the same Spirit (1 Ah. 12, 8).

On the Need for Peace with All Who Wish Theologizing

– The action of holy knowledge, by its nature, makes us very sad when, for some reason Irritation, by irritating someone, we make him an enemy. Therefore, it never ceases to hurt our conscience until Thanks to explanations and apologies, we have time to erect offended by his former benevolence towards us. For those who are Those who wish to know God also have the wrong person to imagine anger in the head with an angry thought. When And so it will be, then the mind will not only in the field of theology begin to rotate unerringly, but also in matters of love with will be exalted with complete courage, as if rising from the second to the first degree.

Revered. Maximus the Confessor

– If you want to theologize, do not look for what God is in himself; for it is not only the human mind that will not find it, but not the mind of someone else who exists after God. But they will consider, if possible, the features that envelop Him as then: eternal essence, infinity, ineffability, Goodness, wisdom and all-active power, All-Providence and judgment of everything. For between men That great theologian who at least partially reveals the attributes of God.

He is with God, who knows the Holy Trinity, its creation and providence, and who is part of the soul that receives the passions it contains impenetrability.

– Assumptions, if not restrained, can bring down the abyss.

He who has received the knowledge of God and has truly tasted despises all the pleasures born of this sweetness of the Greedy Power.

– Divinity and the divine in a sense knowable, and in some cases unknowable. Recognizable meditation on what is around Him; unknown in what He is in Himself.

– There are three evils – the greatest and the most evil, and Simply put, every evil is the progenitor: ignorance, self-love and hatred, which are closely related to each other and mutually supportive of each other. For through the ignorance of God is self-love, and from this hatred towards the co-natural. And no one denies that the evil one generates and excites them in us, teaching us to abuse our own power: reason, passion and energy.

PRIESTHOOD

Legend from the life of St. Philemon

– Having received the presbytery a long, long time ago, and so sincerely, touching the heavenly both in life and in the mind, he, out of deep humility, he avoided the Divine in every possible way as a burden, so that during the many years of his asceticism he very seldom consented to approach the holy supper for sacred rites. But also To partake of the Divine Mysteries, in spite of such fears of life, did not partake of the sacrament, when by chance he entered into the sacrament and communed with men; although they did not claim that Nothing earthly, but only spiritually beneficial to those who sought a conversation with Him. And when he intended to communicate with the Divine Mysteries, then before that he tormented God for a long time, pacifying Him with prayers, Psalmody and confession. At this time, he said, the whole church is full of holy angels and the King of Hosts himself, who mysteriously fulfilled both bread and turning wine into His Body and Blood through the Holy Spirit. The sacrament lives in our hearts. Why should we immaculately and purely, as if outside the flesh, without any hesitation or hesitation, dare to receive the Holy Communion of the Most Pure Christ To become partakers of those who come from their enlightenment. Many of the saints. saw the Holy Angels, who warned them against everything different, so they themselves kept themselves in deep silence, not talking to anyone.

Revered. Theognost

– Having received the bestowal of the Divine and Honorary Priesthood, first of all, you must always have yourself sacrificed by passions and sweet carnal; and thus dare to approach the Life-Giving and Terrible Sacrifice, if you do not want to be burned by the Divine fire—like some kind of burning substance. For if Seraphim did not dare to touch the coals without tongs (Isaiah 6:6-7), how would You touch him without indifference? Through him you will have a sanctified tongue, and lips cleansed, and a blameless soul, together with body and hands, shining more than any gold, as servants of the most natural fire and sacrifice. Realize more deeply the Power of what has been said, for you see this daily saving mystery of God, which the elder, once seen, Simeon, was astonished and asked for death; and if you do not perceive from the Holy Spirit that you are an acceptable mediator between God And men equal to angels do not destroy themselves Dare to perform the all-holy and terrible rite of the Divine Mysteries, before which the Angels revere and from which Many Saints have reverently abstained, so as to be taken from the living according to the judgment of the Almighty. Listen to what the Apostle said (1 Tim. 4:16), and always make a sacrifice for your sins beforehand, so that if something was in you, or perhaps there is still an unclean person because of your weakness, it will be consumed by the Divine fire. Thou mayest, therefore, make it possible, so to speak, by the chosen vessel, useful, pure, and worthy of such sacrifice as to be made silver or even golden, though it be some kind of wood or Glue, if only for the sake of thy bold hope, thou shalt have a God bowing down before thy mercy. For, where God is willing to hear, there is no obstacle to the transformation of one thing into another. Pay attention to honor before the angels, and try to keep all virtue and purity as blameless as it was called. You see, Who did the fallen Lucifer become with because of his arrogance. Do not Suffer for the same, dreaming of great things about yourself, but Considering yourself to be earth, ashes and garbage, always weep it, despite this, we receive you to Divine Communion and to the fulfillment of the terrible sacrament of the Holy Sacraments according to the infinite love of humanity and the indescribable goodness of God. He who has come to the priesthood must be pure of all passions, especially from fornication and enmity, of which even You should not have easy thoughts, unless you want to be angered and cursed, like a leper, or soot for a stained one when he dares to touch the body of a king. With streams of tears whiter than snow, with light in purity with Your conscience, touch the Holy Mysteries as a saint, outward with angelic beauty that reveals the beauty of the inner soul. But take care that you are not satisfied with the celebration of the Divine Mysteries Only human traditions, but may Grace be with you, which secretly and mysteriously helps you understand At the same time — the higher. Desiring inequality and immortality, they devoutly and reverently perform the Life-giving and Imperishable Mysteries, who at the same time desire to be separated from the perfect One who became through faith. If you fear death, you are not yet afraid dissolved in the love of Christ, Whom You were destined to swallow up with Your own hands, and with Whom You were satisfied in the body. For if only you would hurry to go to the place where your lover in which both life and flesh are imputed. The flesh of God and the priest and the priest, having become a partaker through the sacrament, in order to be answered, you also became guilty of the likeness of His death, not living for yourself, but, according to the words of the Apostle: He who was crucified and died for you (2 Og. 5:15). But if for the sake of the flesh and the world You live passionately, then You prepare Yourself after death for eternal torment. (Unless you stop voluntarily doing your actions before you die Bloodless Sacrifice.) Who does not know so many of them Unworthy of priests, they find themselves in the village of Sudden Death, which is sent directly to the torment there.

“If, being called, you have entered into the graceful, grace-filled universal order of the Divine Priesthood, there is nothing for you to worry about a past life if you become stained but immediately, with God’s help, it has been purified, and to be improved. But after this is the first care, attentive and Sober, let not grace overshadow with you Behold, that if anyone be foolish and condemn your ordination to the priesthood because of your former work, he heard a divine voice for warning, an exclamation: “As God has cleansed him, so do you not defile him” (Acts 10:15). The ministry of the priesthood is easy and its yoke is good, but only for him who, at the same time accepting it, begins to correct it as it should be, if there has been no attempt to receive the grace of the Divine Spirit through purchase. If a person is looking for perishable gifts, unbought and not for sale, because the title was not higher, therefore this burden will be very heavy, because it is not worth it and beyond strength, and this yoke will cruelly rub the neck and crush the power of the one who pulls it, until it is exhausted and exhausted In the end, if it does not reset. Boldly approaching the helm of the Priesthood, the right to do their own ways, and the right to rule by the word of Truth, with fear and trembling, acting for their own salvation. For our God is a consuming fire; and if you touch him as gold and silver, do not be afraid to be burned, as the youth of Babylon in the furnaces; But if you are grassy and reeds of flammable material, as in the Earth He who thinks wisely, then fear lest you be burned by the fire of heaven, unless you flee from wrath like Lot, refraining from Terrible Mysteries, otherwise you will not be in a hurry to wash yourself with tears of remorse. Only when you are wet with tear water will you not get burned and invulnerable to the fire of righteousness like the once weak Bush plant. In that case, I don’t know if there are any sins (to which we are so quick because of our weakness) that would not be overshadowed by the Divine fire during the service performed in conjunction with complete purity or effective purification. Not to master it to leave behind and purify yourself of the passionate mood Because of the ancient habit, how dare you, cursed one, touch That which is untouchable even to the Angels? Therefore, either tremble, or abstain from the Divine rites, and thus pacify the righteousness of God, or as Insensible and Incorrigible, allow yourself to fall into the hands of the Living God, Who will not spare you with love for mankind, but He will mercilessly punish for the shamelessness of your boldness to approach the royal wedding supper with a defiled soul, and in rags, when you are not even worthy to enter the royal palace, And not just relaxing at dinner. I knew one of those who are sanctified who dared to approach the Divine unworthy of secret action because of the prodigal man who possessed it, the Passion. Because of this, he fell into a serious and incurable illness and was already approaching death. Since, therefore, all After he cured his illness, he failed and the disease not only continued but also intensified, then, regaining consciousness and realizing that he was dying for a reason An unworthy liturgy, he made a vow with an oath that he would never again begin to perform the sacred service. According to the word, immediately after the healing of the disease, there are no traces of them anymore. The office of the priesthood is brilliant and the vestments are sacred, but if the initiate has within him a soul that shone with purity. When he is filthy with carelessness and conscience, which testifies to this shame, despised, then the light becomes darkness, the author and eternal darkness and fire, if, the hallsBy sewing this path, fast Both sides he will not choose the other — living a life of humility / comfortably leading to the Kingdom of God. The flesh and blood of the kingdom of God may not be inherited (1 Cor. 15:50), but you, the communion of the flesh and blood of God, are incarnate with Him and co-dissolved with His blood; why do you already have the Kingdom of Heaven in you? Are you surrounded by the passions of flesh and blood? I am afraid that the Spirit of God will not dwell in you as in the flesh” (Gen. 6:10). 3), and in the hour of judgment you will be cut to pieces; Then they will take it to the All-Honorable Priesthood, as from such an unworthy grace and send you to eternal torment in hell. Sober And bring it to yourself painfully, repentance and tears Holy sacrifice for the purification of the world: for anyone When you do this, he will miss you and begin to bring you to life Sacrifice when you die? Why, seeing what is to come, as Remember yourselves, who is already buried, in intercession for salvation, offering these Holy Spirits to God. Gifts during the meal, the memory of Him A free and humane massacre takes place here.

– Without purification, do not dare to touch the Holy Spirit. Mysteries, so that I may not be burned like hay by the Divine fire, And like wax melting, it does not flow out.

And indeed, if you do it in a way that befits the Divine, all-honorable and terrible sacred act, and Your conscience will not reproach you for anything, but in nothing else will You find such a sure hope of salvation; Because you will come out of it better, more than anyone else. Other work and reflections. “If not, then he himself See what that means. ” And, of course, it is better, the awareness of one’s own weakness to renounce the high rank of the priesthood, rather than with the awareness of one’s unworthiness and impurity, in order to receive and wear it, and to show oneself to many Highly, to be really unworthy, like a corpse, Worthy of tears.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– A priest must be: 1) pure not only in body, but also with soul, and at the same time he does not participate in any sin; 2) Modesty is not only external self-control and custom of behavior, but also in accordance with the inner mood. And then, when the holy and Holy Table is to be completely completed, it is sensual to see the Holy Spirit. Gifts, contemplate the Divinity in your mind. And not only that, but He Himself is the One Who is invisibly present in the Gifts. He must receive and consciously live in himself, in his heart, that in this way, boldly, he could pray to God, and, speaking among himself, say: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name!” – for this prayer shows that the one who offers it has those who live in Who by nature is the Son of God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

“I heard from a monk-priest who trusted me, as well as his friend: “Never,” he said, “I did not celebrate the Liturgy without seeing the Holy Spirit, as I saw Him pounce on me at the time when I was being destroyed, and the Metropolitan read the prayer of priestly consecration over me, and the omophorion lay on my poor head.” “Simple and shapeless, but like light, and when I saw something I had never seen before, I was at first surprised and myself I pondered what it would be. ” Then in a mysterious but clear voice, he said to me, “I descend in this way upon all the prophets, apostles, and the present elect of God and the saints, for I am the Holy Spirit of God.”

PRIESTHOOD

Legend from the life of St. Philemon

– Having received the presbytery a long, long time ago, and so sincerely, touching the heavenly both in life and in the mind, he, out of deep humility, he avoided the Divine in every possible way as a burden, so that during the many years of his asceticism he very seldom consented to approach the holy supper for sacred rites. But also To partake of the Divine Mysteries, in spite of such fears of life, did not partake of the sacrament, when by chance he entered into the sacrament and communed with men; although they did not claim that Nothing earthly, but only spiritually beneficial to those who sought a conversation with Him. And when he intended to communicate with the Divine Mysteries, then before that he tormented God for a long time, pacifying Him with prayers, Psalmody and confession. At this time, he said, the whole church is full of holy angels and the King of Hosts himself, who mysteriously fulfilled both bread and turning wine into His Body and Blood through the Holy Spirit. The sacrament lives in our hearts. Why should we immaculately and purely, as if outside the flesh, without any hesitation or hesitation, dare to receive the Holy Communion of the Most Pure Christ To become partakers of those who come from their enlightenment. Many of the saints. saw the Holy Angels, who warned them against everything different, so they themselves kept themselves in deep silence, not talking to anyone.

Revered. Theognost

– Having received the bestowal of the Divine and Honorary Priesthood, first of all, you must always have yourself sacrificed by passions and sweet carnal; and thus dare to approach the Life-Giving and Terrible Sacrifice, if you do not want to be burned by the Divine fire—like some kind of burning substance. For if Seraphim did not dare to touch the coals without tongs (Isaiah 6:6-7), how would You touch him without indifference? Through him you will have a sanctified tongue, and lips cleansed, and a blameless soul, together with body and hands, shining more than any gold, as servants of the most natural fire and sacrifice. Realize more deeply the Power of what has been said, for you see this daily saving mystery of God, which the elder, once seen, Simeon, was astonished and asked for death; and if you do not perceive from the Holy Spirit that you are an acceptable mediator between God And men equal to angels do not destroy themselves Dare to perform the all-holy and terrible rite of the Divine Mysteries, before which the Angels revere and from which Many Saints have reverently abstained, so as to be taken from the living according to the judgment of the Almighty. Listen to what the Apostle said (1 Tim. 4:16), and always make a sacrifice for your sins beforehand, so that if something was in you, or perhaps there is still an unclean person because of your weakness, it will be consumed by the Divine fire. Thou mayest, therefore, make it possible, so to speak, by the chosen vessel, useful, pure, and worthy of such sacrifice as to be made silver or even golden, though it be some kind of wood or Glue, if only for the sake of thy bold hope, thou shalt have a God bowing down before thy mercy. For, where God is willing to hear, there is no obstacle to the transformation of one thing into another. Pay attention to honor before the angels, and try to keep all virtue and purity as blameless as it was called. You see, Who did the fallen Lucifer become with because of his arrogance. Do not Suffer for the same, dreaming of great things about yourself, but Considering yourself to be earth, ashes and garbage, always weep it, despite this, we receive you to Divine Communion and to the fulfillment of the terrible sacrament of the Holy Sacraments according to the infinite love of humanity and the indescribable goodness of God. He who has come to the priesthood must be pure of all passions, especially from fornication and enmity, of which even You should not have easy thoughts, unless you want to be angered and cursed, like a leper, or soot for a stained one when he dares to touch the body of a king. With streams of tears whiter than snow, with light in purity with Your conscience, touch the Holy Mysteries as a saint, outward with angelic beauty that reveals the beauty of the inner soul. But take care that you are not satisfied with the celebration of the Divine Mysteries Only human traditions, but may Grace be with you, which secretly and mysteriously helps you understand At the same time — the higher. Desiring inequality and immortality, they devoutly and reverently perform the Life-giving and Imperishable Mysteries, who at the same time desire to be separated from the perfect One who became through faith. If you fear death, you are not yet afraid dissolved in the love of Christ, Whom You were destined to swallow up with Your own hands, and with Whom You were satisfied in the body. For if only you would hurry to go to the place where your lover in which both life and flesh are imputed. The flesh of God and the priest and the priest, having become a partaker through the sacrament, in order to be answered, you also became guilty of the likeness of His death, not living for yourself, but, according to the words of the Apostle: He who was crucified and died for you (2 Og. 5:15). But if for the sake of the flesh and the world You live passionately, then You prepare Yourself after death for eternal torment. (Unless you stop voluntarily doing your actions before you die Bloodless Sacrifice.) Who does not know so many of them Unworthy of priests, they find themselves in the village of Sudden Death, which is sent directly to the torment there.

“If, being called, you have entered into the graceful, grace-filled universal order of the Divine Priesthood, there is nothing for you to worry about a past life if you become stained but immediately, with God’s help, it has been purified, and to be improved. But after this is the first care, attentive and Sober, let not grace overshadow with you Behold, that if anyone be foolish and condemn your ordination to the priesthood because of your former work, he heard a divine voice for warning, an exclamation: “As God has cleansed him, so do you not defile him” (Acts 10:15). The ministry of the priesthood is easy and its yoke is good, but only for him who, at the same time accepting it, begins to correct it as it should be, if there has been no attempt to receive the grace of the Divine Spirit through purchase. If a person is looking for perishable gifts, unbought and not for sale, because the title was not higher, therefore this burden will be very heavy, because it is not worth it and beyond strength, and this yoke will cruelly rub the neck and crush the power of the one who pulls it, until it is exhausted and exhausted In the end, if it does not reset. Boldly approaching the helm of the Priesthood, the right to do their own ways, and the right to rule by the word of Truth, with fear and trembling, acting for their own salvation. For our God is a consuming fire; and if you touch him as gold and silver, do not be afraid to be burned, as the youth of Babylon in the furnaces; But if you are grassy and reeds of flammable material, as in the Earth He who thinks wisely, then fear lest you be burned by the fire of heaven, unless you flee from wrath like Lot, refraining from Terrible Mysteries, otherwise you will not be in a hurry to wash yourself with tears of remorse. Only when you are wet with tear water will you not get burned and invulnerable to the fire of righteousness like the once weak Bush plant. In that case, I don’t know if there are any sins (to which we are so quick because of our weakness) that would not be overshadowed by the Divine fire during the service performed in conjunction with complete purity or effective purification. Not to master it to leave behind and purify yourself of the passionate mood Because of the ancient habit, how dare you, cursed one, touch That which is untouchable even to the Angels? Therefore, either tremble, or abstain from the Divine rites, and thus pacify the righteousness of God, or as Insensible and Incorrigible, allow yourself to fall into the hands of the Living God, Who will not spare you with love for mankind, but He will mercilessly punish for the shamelessness of your boldness to approach the royal wedding supper with a defiled soul, and in rags, when you are not even worthy to enter the royal palace, And not just relaxing at dinner. I knew one of those who are sanctified who dared to approach the Divine unworthy of secret action because of the prodigal man who possessed it, the Passion. Because of this, he fell into a serious and incurable illness and was already approaching death. Since, therefore, all After he cured his illness, he failed and the disease not only continued but also intensified, then, regaining consciousness and realizing that he was dying for a reason An unworthy liturgy, he made a vow with an oath that he would never again begin to perform the sacred service. According to the word, immediately after the healing of the disease, there are no traces of them anymore. The office of the priesthood is brilliant and the vestments are sacred, but if the initiate has within him a soul that shone with purity. When he is filthy with carelessness and conscience, which testifies to this shame, despised, then the light becomes darkness, the author and eternal darkness and fire, if, the hallsBy sewing this path, fast Both sides he will not choose the other — living a life of humility / comfortably leading to the Kingdom of God. The flesh and blood of the kingdom of God may not be inherited (1 Cor. 15:50), but you, the communion of the flesh and blood of God, are incarnate with Him and co-dissolved with His blood; why do you already have the Kingdom of Heaven in you? Are you surrounded by the passions of flesh and blood? I am afraid that the Spirit of God will not dwell in you as in the flesh” (Gen. 6:10). 3), and in the hour of judgment you will be cut to pieces; Then they will take it to the All-Honorable Priesthood, as from such an unworthy grace and send you to eternal torment in hell. Sober And bring it to yourself painfully, repentance and tears Holy sacrifice for the purification of the world: for anyone When you do this, he will miss you and begin to bring you to life Sacrifice when you die? Why, seeing what is to come, as Remember yourselves, who is already buried, in intercession for salvation, offering these Holy Spirits to God. Gifts during the meal, the memory of Him A free and humane massacre takes place here.

– Without purification, do not dare to touch the Holy Spirit. Mysteries, so that I may not be burned like hay by the Divine fire, And like wax melting, it does not flow out.

And indeed, if you do it in a way that befits the Divine, all-honorable and terrible sacred act, and Your conscience will not reproach you for anything, but in nothing else will You find such a sure hope of salvation; Because you will come out of it better, more than anyone else. Other work and reflections. “If not, then he himself See what that means. ” And, of course, it is better, the awareness of one’s own weakness to renounce the high rank of the priesthood, rather than with the awareness of one’s unworthiness and impurity, in order to receive and wear it, and to show oneself to many Highly, to be really unworthy, like a corpse, Worthy of tears.

Revered. Simeon the New Theologian

– A priest must be: 1) pure not only in body, but also with soul, and at the same time he does not participate in any sin; 2) Modesty is not only external self-control and custom of behavior, but also in accordance with the inner mood. And then, when the holy and Holy Table is to be completely completed, it is sensual to see the Holy Spirit. Gifts, contemplate the Divinity in your mind. And not only that, but He Himself is the One Who is invisibly present in the Gifts. He must receive and consciously live in himself, in his heart, that in this way, boldly, he could pray to God, and, speaking among himself, say: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name!” – for this prayer shows that the one who offers it has those who live in Who by nature is the Son of God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

“I heard from a monk-priest who trusted me, as well as his friend: “Never,” he said, “I did not celebrate the Liturgy without seeing the Holy Spirit, as I saw Him pounce on me at the time when I was being destroyed, and the Metropolitan read the prayer of priestly consecration over me, and the omophorion lay on my poor head.” “Simple and shapeless, but like light, and when I saw something I had never seen before, I was at first surprised and myself I pondered what it would be. ” Then in a mysterious but clear voice, he said to me, “I descend in this way upon all the prophets, apostles, and the present elect of God and the saints, for I am the Holy Spirit of God.”

STORIES FROM THE LIVES OF EGYPTIAN ELDERS

(Excerpts from “Otechnik”, compiled by St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)

– A certain elder was silent alone in his cell, His own. He lived there for many years, never leaving Repentance—he always said: this age was given by God for Repentance. If we waste them, living badly, we will regret it very much, but we will not find it a second time.

“One brother was a merry spirit, the more they disgraced him and ridiculed him. He said: Those who disgrace us and mock us bring us the means to success, and those who praise us harm Our souls. Scripture says, My people, those who bless you flatter you (Isaiah 3:12).

“Another elder, when he offended someone, was in a hurry, if the criminal is nearby, you yourself must repay him for the evil with good; if But he lived far away, he sent him gifts through others.

– A certain monk in Nitria, more thrifty than miserly, forgetting that he was sold for thirty silver coins Our Lord Jesus Christ was a hundred gold coins, I weave flax. The monk died — the gold remained. The monks gathered to discuss what to do with the Money? About five thousand monks lived there, each in a separate cell. Some are condemned to give money to the poor, others must be given to the church, some must be handed over to relatives. But Macarius, Pambon, Isidore, and other holy elders, according to the action of the Holy Spirit who dwelt in them, decided: to bury the money with their master, and for a moment to say to the dead, Let thy money be with thee in perdition” (Acts 8:20). This event caused such horror and fear before all the monks of Egypt that since then it has been considered a serious act to have at least one in reserve Jeweler.

The brother asked the elder: “If my brother owes me some money, will you let me ask him Elder: “Tell him once with humility.” Brother: “If I ever tell him and he won’t give anything, then what should I do?” Brother: “Ask more than once.” Brother: “And what should I do if I can’t overcome my thoughts that make me bother my brother Elder: “Leave it to your thoughts You will be cold, but you will not be sad to your brother because of his return of money, because you are a monk.”

“A brother wanted to retire into the wild, into a monastery; But his own mother was against it. He said to his mother: “Mom! Let me go, for I want to save my soul.” Once in the wild, he lived in negligence all his life. Meanwhile, his mother died. After a while, he himself fell ill, forgot about himself, and Supported by God’s judgment, he found his mother among the condemned. When she saw him, she was surprised and said, “What is this? So, son? And you have come to this place of the condemned! Where are your words, which you always repeated to me: “I want to save my soul.” And then a voice sounded ordering him to return, to take another brother from the Cenobite monastery. When he came back to his senses, he told those present all that I had seen and heard. Confirming his words, he asked that someone should go to the coenobite monastery and saw if the brother he was calling had died, I heard. The messenger understood that this was so. Who saw the vision, Having recovered, he shut himself up in solitude, left without a beginning, thinking about his salvation, bringing repentance and sorrow, his previous behavior was in a state of negligence. Tenderness and Tearful Repentance reached its greatest development in him. Many persuaded him to look a little down on himself so as not to succumb to any harm from crying incessantly; but he did not agree, saying, “If I could not bear my mother’s rebuke, how shall I endure chastisement and torment on the day of judgment, in the presence of Christ and his angels.”

“It was said of an elder that he entered the skete with him an infant son who had just been carried from the breast. Raised in a monastery, the son did not know that there were Women there. As he grew older, the demons showed him images of the Woman at night. He said this to his father, who was surprised. One day he and he went with his father to Egypt, and when he saw the women, he said to his father: “Abba! These are the ones who came to me at night on the hermitage.” To the father replied, “These are secular monks, they have their own appearance, and the hermit is his own.” They hurriedly returned to the cell.

“One of the elders of Thebaida said of himself that He was the son of a priest of idols. When he was a child, he sat on and saw his father offer sacrifices to idols. One day, after the father had left the church, the son entered secretly entered the temple and saw Satan there, Satan sat on the throne; A large army stood in front of him. And yes! One of his princes has come to worship him. Satan asked him: The prince answered: “I have been to such and such a country, which caused war there and caused great confusion; Satan asked, “At what time did you do this?” he answered, “At thirty days.” Satan ordered him to be scourged, saying, “Only that You have done this for so long!” Satan asked, “Where are you from?” The demon answered, “I was at sea, I raised a storm, I sank ships, killed many people and came to proclaim to you.” Satan said, “How long did it take you to do this?” He answered, “After twenty days.” Satan commanded that this one should be defeated as well, scourging, saying, “Why have you done so little in so many days?” And to this he said: The demon answered: “I have been in such a city; That’s where the wedding took place; I have stirred up quarrels and created great success of the Bloodshed, besides, he himself killed the bridegroom and came to tell you.” Satan asked, “How many days do you have Is it really?” the demon answered, “At ten o’clock.” And one more thing The demon came to worship him. Satan asked, “From where?” the demon answered, “From the wilderness; turned forty I fight with one of the monks there and barely win You threw him into fornication tonight.” Satan, Hearing this, he joyfully rose from the throne and began to kiss the demon; And taking off the royal crown that was on his head, He put the demon on his head and set him on the throne, saying: “You have done a great and glorious deed.” “Seeing and hearing this, the son of the priest said to himself: “The monastic order must be of great importance.”

– They told about a certain elder that one day he wanted a cucumber. He took a cucumber and hung it before Their own eyes. He did not allow the desire to defeat himself and, touching the cucumber, the elder reproached himself and brought his repentance for the desire itself.

“An elder was often sick. It happened that he did not fall ill for one year; The elder was very sad about this and wept, saying, “My Lord has forsaken me and has not visited me.”

– One of the Holy Fathers who sees his brother on business Because of negligence, he cried bitterly: “Oh me! Then, turning to the disciple, he added: “No matter how serious your brother’s sin falls, presence, do not condemn him; but have a promise in your heart that you sin more than he does, even if he is a layman; except that when he utters blasphemy, he belongs to heresy.”

“The devil appeared to a certain brother, turning into an Angel of Light and said to him: “I, the archangel Gabriel, have been sent to you.” Were you sent for no one else? For I am not worthy to be sent to For Me are angels.” – The elders said: If an angel really appears to you, do not receive him trusting but humble, saying: I, living in sins, am not worthy to see the angels.

“There was someone great among the seers. He said affirmatively: “The special grace that I have I saw the shadow at Holy Baptism, I also saw it on the Tonsure, when someone takes an angelic image.

“They told about an elder for whom he prayed to God that demons should be shown to him. It was followed by revelations: “You don’t need to see them.” But the elder kept asking for the same thing, saying, “Lord! You can cover me with Your grace from the harm of seeing demons. God opened the eyes of the elder: he saw demons that are like bees surrounding a person, gnashing their teeth, but the angels of God forbade them.

“A certain elder was given to see the most intimate. He said, “I saw in the cohenobite a monastery where one of the brothers was engaged in the cunning Prayer (of Jesus) and the demon who came was standing near the cell. While the brother was busy with mental prayer, the demon could not enter the cage; But my brother just stopped caring about him – the demon came in.”

“An elder said: the girl was very old and had succeeded in the fear of God. I asked her, What brought her to monastic life? She, interrupting Her, said to me the following: “My parents, my dear husband, died when I was a child. His father was a modest and quiet character, but a weak and morbid physique: he lived so immersed in the care of his salvation that almost no one Sometimes I saw him among the inhabitants of the same village as him. If Sometimes he felt healthier, and then brought her into the house the fruits of their labor; He spent most of his time in Lent and suffering. His taciturnity was such that those who did not know could consider him stupid. On the contrary, my mother lived a distracted life in the highest degree and so much depraved that there is not a single woman like her in the whole country. She was so rich in her speeches that it seemed as if his whole essence was one language. She was constantly engaged in quarreling with everyone, spending time with the biggest drinkers of Unstoppable Men. She squandered everything that belonged to her house; A very significant property did not meet our needs, and my father entrusted her with the management of the house. So much she mocked her body, defiling it with impurity; that few people from this village will be able to escape the prodigal copulation with her. She never succumbed to any of the slightest pains, but from her birthday to old age She was in perfect health. This is how the life of My Parents flows. My father, exhausted by a long illness, died. As soon as he died, he was darkened by the air, it began to rain, lightning flashed, thunder roared, Three days and three nights lasted uninterrupted Downpour. Because of such bad weather, he delayed the Burial for three days to make the villagers tremble and wondered, he said, “This man was so displeasing to God, so even the earth does not accept Him, because burial. But so that his body does not succumb to destruction and therefore does not become impossible to stay in some way buried him, despite the bad weather and the rain did not stop. My mother, having gained great freedom After the death of her father, she surrendered with great fury to the abuse of the body and that we made our house a house of debauchery, She spent her life in the greatest luxury and entertainment. When when her death came, she was given the majestic title of burial, it was the air that seemed to be involved in accompanying her body. After her death, I remained in adolescence for years, and already carnal desires began to work in me. One evening I began to wonder whose life to choose as an example to follow: Father Lee, who lived modestly, quietly, and discreetly, but in all his life he had seen nothing good for himself spent all this in sickness and grief, and when he died, Then the earth did not even accept his body; if such a place of residence it was pleasing to God, for what reason did my father Did he choose this residence after suffering such calamities? It is better to live as my mother lived, the thought told me to give up. Passion, luxury, bodily luxury. After all, my mother I didn’t miss anything bad! She spent her whole life intoxicated, enjoying health and happiness. Well, Should I live the way my mother lived? It is better to trust your own Eyes and what is obvious, it is better to enjoy everything than to believe in the invisible and give up everything. When I, damned, agreed in my heart to choose such a life as my mother’s life, night fell, and I fell asleep. In a dream he appeared I have someone tall, terrible looking; looked threatening against me, viciously and severelyHe asked me: “Confess to me the thoughts of your heart.” Even louder he repeated the order that I confess in which place of residence I liked it. Confused with fear and forgot all thoughts Oh, I said I didn’t have any thoughts. But he He reminded me of everything I meditated in the mystery of my soul. Refused, I addressed my requests, begging him to grant forgiveness and explained the reason for these thoughts. And he said unto me, Go and see thy father; “Then choose life according to your desires.” With these Words, he grabbed my hand and pulled me. He led me to a great field of indescribable beauty, with many gardens and various fruit trees leading me to these gardens. There my father met me, hugged me, kissed me and called me his daughter. I took him in my arms and begged him to stay with him. He replied, “Now it’s impossible; But if you follow in my footsteps, you will come here after the passage for a short time.” When I began to ask To stay, to show me the vision, he was carried away again He took my hand and said, “Go, I will show you your mother burning in fire, so that you may know in life Which of the parents will you direct your life?” where the gnashing of teeth and Woe lives, he showed me a furnace blazing with fire and pitch; Some monsters stood at the entrance to the furnace. I explored the interior of the stove and my mother saw in it: it was immersed in its neck blazing, it gnashed its teeth, burned with fire; Strong stench Spilled from a worm that never sleeps. When she saw me, she she screamed with sobs, called out to her daughter: “Oh, I’m sorry, My daughter! These sufferings are the consequences of my own actions. Moderation and all virtues seemed to me worthy of ridicule; I thought my life was one of splendor and debauchery would never end; Drunkenness and gluttony are not. confessed sins. And yes! I inherited hell, she was subjected to these punishments for briefly enjoying sins; for I pay for a little fun with terrible suffering. That’s what I get rewarded for my contempt for God! All sorts of endless disasters have embraced me! Now is the time to help! Now Remember that you were sucked by my breast! Now thank me, If you ever got anything from me! Have mercy on me! This fire burns me, but it doesn’t burn me. Have mercy on me, my daughter, give me your hand and Get me out of here.” When I refused to do so, fearing those terrible guards standing there, she began to cry out again with tears: “My daughter! Help me. Don’t despise your own mother’s crying! Remember my illnesses on Your birthday! Don’t despise me! Her cry brought tears to my eyes: I too began to sob and sob and sob. These screams and sobs They woke up my family; They put out the fire and asked me About the reason for such loud crying. I told them my vision. Then I decided to follow my father’s life, being confirmed by the mercy of God, what torments are prepared for which are ready to lead a cruel life.”

The elder said: “I announced to the bishop of a certain city that of the married Christian wives, two were the leaders of a depraved life. The bishop was saddened by this news; suspecting that perhaps others were behaving in the same way in this way, he turned to God in prayer, asking permission to wonder what he was honored with. After the divine terrible sacrifice, when those present approached One by one to receive the Holy Mysteries, the bishop saw on the state of his soul, to which it is subject to sins. He saw the faces of sinful men black, as if burned by the heat; Their eyes were red and bloodshot. U other people had bright faces and their clothes were bright white. The body of the Lord burned and burned those who received it; enlightened others, made them like light: entering the Mouth, he spread light throughout the body. Among these men There were also desert dwellers and those who led married life. After the men, women began to come. And among them he saw the bishop some with black faces, with red blood eyes, others with white and bright faces. Between the other wives also approached the two who had previously been accused of Bishop, the more he paid attention to them. He saw that they were approaching the Holy Mystery with bright and honest people dressed in extraordinary mantle linen. When they became partakers of the Sacrament, the Light of Christ, so to speak, illuminated them. He again returned the bishop to prayer, begging God for an explanation of what had been shown to Him in revelation. An angel of the Lord appeared to him and commanded: Everyone asks himself a question. The holy bishop immediately asked about the two women: whether it was fair or unjust They were accused. The angel replied that everything that was said about them was true. Then the bishop rebuked the angel: “That when they received the Body of Christ, their faces shone, they wore white robes, and in all their image the angel said: ‘Because they repented of their deeds — and departed from them; Through tears, sighs, and confessions, they were made worthy of the divine gift; In addition, they made a promise that if they receive forgiveness for past sins, they will never allow themselves to be cruel. For this they were honored by the Divine change forgiven of sins, from now on they live abstinently, pious and righteous.” The bishop was surprised, not so much the change of wives – this happens to many – as a gift from God, who not only delivered them from eternity with torment, but even with grace. The angel said to him: “You are justly surprised as a man! But our Lord and God and yours is good and merciful by nature. He who follows sinful deeds and those who approach Him through Confession not only brings eternal torment, but also guarantees Honorable abilities. God loved the world so much that He gave His Son the only begotten for Him (John 3:16). the Son of God when men were His enemies, and He gladly died for them (Romans 5:8); even more so to free them from hellish executions when they became members of His house and repented for perfect Their wrongful behavior. He will give them the pleasure of the bliss that He Himself has prepared for them (John 14:3). Know that no human transgressions can surpass the mercy of God, unless people are cleansed through repentance of sins committed by good deeds before. The All-Good God knows the weakness of your kind, the strength of passions, the strength and cunning He forgives the devil, like the sons of men who fall into sins, waits for correction, endures them for a long time. they come back and beg for His kindness, He despises as For the sick he decides The bishop again said to the angel, “Please explain to me the meaning of the different kinds that are accepted by sinners in different ways, so that when I learned about it, he was completely freed from ignorance.” Those whose eyes were red, and Bloody, they live in evil and unrighteousness, love to deceive, lie, blasphemer, and murderers. That is why your prayer is worthy to be heard, so that, Enlightened by knowledge, you may explain sins to your disciples; that he may correct them with exhortations and admonitions, and assimilate them through repentance, who died for them and rose from the dead to the Lord Jesus Christ. Depending on the degree of strength, diligence and love for your Lord, take care of all of them so that they can turn from their sins to God, openly telling them to which they are exposed to sins and exhorting them that for a reason They have not lost despair in their salvation. When they bring repentance and turn to God, they will receive salvation for the soul and an abundance of a good future. You, imitating your Lord, who left heaven and descended to earth for the salvation of men, you will receive the greatest reward.”

THE END AND THANK GOD!