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First story
The beginning of my wanderings and the search for unceasing prayer
I am a man of Christ by grace; I am a great sinner by occupation; a travelling social outcast by degree, a wanderer from place to place. My belongings are: a bag of rusks on my back and my Holy Bible in my coat pocket. That is all. On the 26th day after Trinity Sunday, I went to church for lunch to pray; we were reading the Epistle to the Romans at that time, chapter 273, in which it is said: always pray . This phrase struck me particularly, and I began to think how one can pray constantly, when one has to take care of one’s life and other matters at the same time. I searched in the Bible and there I found to my great surprise what I had heard – that one must pray continually, pray with the spirit at all times and put on prayerful hands everywhere. I thought, I thought and did not know how to resolve it.
What should I do? I thought, how can I find someone who can explain this to me? I will go to churches where good preachers are celebrated, maybe I will find something to my liking there. And I went. I heard many good sermons about prayer. But they were all about prayer in general; what is prayer; how should we pray; what are the fruits of prayer; but how to succeed in prayer, no one told me about that. There was a sermon about prayer in the spirit and about constant prayer; but how to achieve such a prayer, was not specified. So listening to sermons did not bring me to the desired result. Why, having listened to them and not received an understanding of how to pray constantly, I no longer listened to public sermons, and I sought, with God’s help, an experienced and knowledgeable companion who could explain to me constant prayer, driven by the inexhaustible desire for this knowledge.
For a long time I wandered through different places: I read the Bible, and asked if there was any spiritual teacher or pious experienced guide around? Sometimes I was told that there is a landowner in this village who has been living here for a long time: he has his own church at home, he does not go anywhere and he prays to God all the time, and constantly reads books that are useful for the soul. Having heard this, I no longer walked, but ran to the village where this was said; I reached it and met the landowner.
– What is your need of me? He asked me.
I felt that you were a kind and intelligent person; so I ask you, in the name of God, explain to me what this means: Pray continually , and how it is possible to pray continually? I would like to find out about this, but I am not able to understand.
The gentleman was silent, looked at me closely, and said: “Continuous internal prayer is a continuous yearning of the human spirit toward God. In order to master this sweet exercise, it is necessary to ask the Lord more often to teach us how to pray continually. Pray more and more ardently, and prayer itself will show you how this can be done; for this you need your own time.”
Having said this, he ordered me to feed me, gave me money for the road, and let me go. And he did not explain anything.
I went again; I thought, read, thought, and pondered about what the gentleman had told me and could not understand it; but I really wanted to understand it, and I did not sleep at night. I went for two hundred kilometers and here I came to a large provincial town. I saw a monastery there. After stopping at the inn, I heard that the abbot there was a good, kind, and wonderful man. I went to him. He welcomed me kindly, sat me down, and started to treat me hospitably.
& rdquo; Father, saint! & rdquo; I said.
Well, how can I be saved? Live by the commandments, and pray to God, and then you will be saved!
I understand that we need to pray tirelessly, but I do not know how to pray tirelessly, and I cannot even understand what tireless prayer means. Please, my father, explain it to me.
I do not know, my beloved brother, how else to explain it to you. Eh, I have a book out here; it explains the inner life of a person. And I have brought the spiritual teaching of Saint Dimitri. So, look at this page.
I began to read the following: “The Apostles’ words: pray tirelessly – we have to understand earnest prayer with the mind: the mind can always be concentrated on God and tirelessly pray to him.”
Please explain to me how the mind can always be focused on God, not be distracted and pray tirelessly.
It is very strange, unless God gives it to us himself, said the abbot. He did not explain anything.
After spending the night with him and thanking him for the kind welcome, I continued on my way, not knowing where I was going. I was grieving over my lack of understanding, and for comfort I read the Holy Bible. I walked like that for days on the main road; at dusk, an old man caught up with me, looking like a desert monk.
He asked me where I was going and answered that he was a hermit from the desert, which was about ten versts off the main road and invited me to go with him to their desert, to stay at a monastery as a guest and rest.
I did not feel like going; it was not a matter of comfort for me to be in the monastery, but of spiritual guidance. I did not care for food, as I had plenty of bread in my bag.
What kind of teaching are you looking for and what are you wondering about? Come, come, my brother, come to us; we have experienced elders who can give spiritual instruction and guide you to the right path, in the light of God’s Word and the reasoning of the holy fathers.
A meeting with a monk and the first lessons in prayer
Here you see, Father, about a year ago, when I was at lunch, I heard in the Apostle’s words this commandment: “Continue to pray.” Not understanding this, I began to read the Bible. And there, in many places, I found God’s command to pray continuously, at any time, in any place, not only in all occupations, but even in one’s sleep. I sleep, and my heart watches over me. This surprised me greatly, and I could not understand how it could be done and what methods were available; a strong desire and curiosity arose in me, and day and night, my mind could not figure it out. So I began to go to churches, listen to sermons about prayer; but no matter how many I listened to, I never received instructions on how to pray continuously; everything was about preparations for prayer or its fruits and the like, without teaching how to pray continuously and what such prayer means. I often read the Bible and checked what I had heard; but at the same time, I did not find the desired knowledge. And so I remained in wonder and confusion.The Elder crossed himself and began to speak: thank God, beloved brother, for this discovery: in you there is an indomitable longing for the knowledge of ceaseless interior prayer. Know in this title the Divinity and calm down, making sure that up to this moment you were tested for the conformity of your will to the voice of God, and it was understood that not by the wisdom of this world, nor by external curiosity, are one able to attain the heavenly light of ceaseless interior prayer, but, on the contrary; the simplicity of the heart. And therefore it is nothing strange that you could not hear about the essential matter of prayer, and learn the science of how to achieve the ceaseless action of this. And to be honest, although many preach about prayer, and there are many preachings by different writers, but since all their reflections are based mostly on reason, on the reasoning of the natural mind, and not on active experience, then they teach more about the belonging of prayer than about its essence. One wonders wonderfully about the necessity of prayer; another – about its power and goodness; a third – about the means to perfection of prayer, that is, about the fact that for prayer, diligence, attention, warmth of heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, sorrow, etc. are required. And what is prayer? and how do we learn to pray? – of these, although the first and most necessary questions, it is rarely possible to find a detailed explanation among the preachers of this time; therefore, their reflections, although very subtle, are more difficult to comprehend than all the above-mentioned explanations and require a mysterious course, not only a school-science. So much pity that ephemeral instinctive wisdom forces us to measure God by human measures. Many consider the matter of prayer quite confusedly, thinking that preparatory means and ascetic exertions create prayer, but not prayer that generates ascetic exertions and all the other virtues. In this case, they wrongly take the fruits or consequences of prayer for the means and ways to it, and thereby lessen the power of prayer. And this is quite offensive to the sacred scripture: for the Apostle Paul gives instruction about prayer in the following words: “For I pray more than anything else” (before everything else) “to create prayers.” – Here the first teaching in the Apostle’s expression about prayer is that he places the matter of prayer first of all: “I pray more than anything else to create prayers.” Many good works, which are required of a Christian, but the matter of prayer must come first, because without it, no other good work can take place. It is not possible to find the way to the Lord without prayer, to understand the truth, to separate the flesh from passions and desires, to enlighten the heart with the light of Christ, and to be salvifically united without previous, frequent prayer. I speak of frequent, because the perfection and correctness of prayer are beyond our ability, as the Holy Apostle Paul says: let us pray with faith, as it is fitting, not knowing. Therefore, only frequency, constancy is left to our ability as a means of achieving the purity of prayer, which is the mother of every spiritual good. Cultivate the mother, and she will bear you children, says St. Isaac Sirin, learn to acquire the first prayer and you will easily perform all the virtues.
In this conversation, we almost reached the very desert. In order not to miss this wise elder, but rather to obtain satisfaction for my desire, I was quick to say to him: Please, honest father, explain to me what continuous interior prayer means and how to learn it. I see that you know it in detail and with experience.
The old man accepted my request with love ’and invited me to him: Come now, I will give you the book of the saints, from whom you can clearly and fully understand and learn prayer with the help of God. We entered the cell and the old man began to say the following: Continuous interior Jesus prayer is continuous, never ceases to call the Divine name of Jesus Christ with lips, mind and heart, with the vision of His constant presence, and to ask for His forgiveness, at all times and occupations. It is manifested in such words: “Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” And if one practices this invocation, he will feel great pleasure, and the need to perform this prayer always, so that without prayer he can no longer exist, and it will flow out of him spontaneously.
Now do you understand what unceasing prayer is? – Very well, father! Teach me, please, how to achieve it! – I exclaimed with joy.
Reading “The Book of Almsgiving and Hell by Matthew the Monk” and spiritual progress
How to learn prayer, we will read in this book. This book is called The Book of Almsgiving and Hell. It contains a complete and detailed teaching on uninterrupted inner prayer, presented by twenty-nine holy fathers, and it is so high and useful that it is considered the chief and first teacher in contemplative spiritual life, and, as St. Nicholas reports, “without toil and effort leads to salvation.”
– Isn’t it higher and holier than the Bible? – I asked.
– No, it is not higher and holier than the Bible, but it contains the illuminating explanations of that which is mysterious in the Bible, and is incomprehensible to our unseeing minds. I present you an example: the sun is the greatest, most brilliant and wonderful of all lights; but you cannot look at it with an ordinary, unshined eye. It is necessary to use a certain artificial glass, though a thousand times smaller and dimmer than the sun, through which you could look at this wonderful king of lights, admire and take in his flaming rays. Similarly, the sacred Scripture is a shining sun, and The Book of Almsgiving and Hell is the glass that is needed.
Now listen – I will read how to learn continuous inner prayer. – The Elder opened the book Dobrotolyubye, found the instruction of St. Simeon the New Theologian, and began: “Sit quietly and alone, lower your head, close your eyes; breathe more quietly, look with imagination into the heart, take your mind, that is, your thoughts from your head to your heart. When you breathe, say: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Drive away thoughts, have patient patience, and repeat this exercise more often.’Here I will read to you about this case of training from The Prayer»,. The Elder found the teaching of the monk Necheryomaf of
After having received this instruction, I spent all summer in continuous verbal prayer to Jesus, and I was very calm. In my dreams, it was often dreamed that I was doing prayer. And on the day when someone happened to meet me, everyone seemed to me to be as loving as relatives, even if I was not engaged in anything with them. Thoughts completely stopped, and I did not think about anything except prayer, and the heart began to feel warmth and a certain pleasure. When I happened to come to church, the long prayer service seemed short, and it was no longer exhausting for the strength as before. My separate cell seemed to me to be a wonderful temple, and I did not know how to thank God that He had sent such a salvation for me, a wretched sinner, and an instructor.
Death of the Elder and the Beginning of an Independent Path
1. One day I began to think about where I should spend the money I had been paid for guarding the city, and what I would do with it. I bought a Dobrotolubye, and started studying inner prayer. I crossed myself and went with my prayer. I arrived in a provincial town and began asking for the Dobrotolubye; I found it in one place, but it was asking for three ruble coins, and I only had two. I bargained and bargained, but the merchant would not give in at all; finally he said: “Go to this church and ask the church elder. He has an old book, maybe he will give it to you for two ruble coins.” I went and really bought Dobrotolubye for two ruble coins – it was all tattered and old – and I was delighted. I mended it, covered it with a cloth, and put it in my Bible bag. … I walked like this, constantly creating the Jesus Prayer, which is dear to me and sweeter than anything in the world. Sometimes I walk as many as seventy or more kilometers per day, and I don’t feel that I am walking; I only feel that I am praying. When a severe cold begins to beat me, I begin to pronounce the prayer more energetically, and soon I warm up. If hunger begins to torment me, I more frequently call upon the name of Jesus Christ and forget to eat. When I get sick, there is a stiffness in my back and legs. I stop listening to the prayer, and I don’t feel any pain. When someone offends me, I only remember how I delight in the Jesus Prayer; at once the offense and anger go away, and I forget about everything. I was something of a madman; I had nothing to worry about, I didn’t focus my attention on anything superficial, and I was alone. Nevertheless, I always had a habit of wanting to constantly recite the prayer, and while I was doing so, I really had a good time. God knows what is happening to me. By my unworthiness and idiocy, it is natural and artificial, of course, that I still haven’t had the time to learn and master the spiritual prayer within my heart. I am waiting for the hour of God’s will, hoping for the prayers of my deceased elder. So although I have not reached continuous self-composed spiritual prayer in my heart, nevertheless, thank God, I now clearly understand what the Apostle means when he says:
For a long time I traveled around in different places, with the Jesus prayer accompanying me, which encouraged and comforted me in all ways, at all meetings and circumstances. Finally, I felt that it would be better to stop somewhere, both for easy solitude and for studying Dobrotoloubie, which I had read, even if only a little, when I had rested for the night, or during my day’s rest; however, there was a strong desire to delve deeper into it, and with faith to draw from it a true direction for the salvation of the soul through heart prayer. But since, according to this desire, I was unable to find a job anywhere, despite my inability to use my left hand since my early childhood; and since I was unable to have a permanent place to stay, I went to the lands of Siberia, to Saint Innocent of Irkutsk, with the intention that I would walk through the forests and steppes of Siberia silently, so that it would be easier for me to engage in prayer and reading. So I walked, and constantly made an oral prayer. After a short time, I began to feel that the prayer itself began to take place in my heart, that is, the heart, beating as usual, began to speak its prayerful words to itself with each beat, for example: 1) Lord, 2) Jesus, 3) Christ, etc. I stopped saying the prayer with my mouth, and began to listen diligently in order to listen to what the heart was saying; remembering how the deceased elder explained it to me, how pleasant it was. Then I began to feel a subtle pain in the heart, and in my thoughts, such love for Jesus Christ that it seemed as if I would run to His feet, and would not let them go from my hands, caressing them lovingly to tears, but because He offers such joy of His name, He is kind.
Next, a kind of beneficial relaxation began to appear in my heart, and this warmth extended throughout my chest. This turned me especially to the diligent reading of Dobrotolouboe, in order to both believe in my feelings and to study further occupation with inner heart prayer; for without this confidence, I was afraid that I would not fall into vanity, or not accept natural actions as graces, and not be embroiled in a rapid acquisition of prayer, as I had heard from the deceased elder. And so I began to walk more at night, and spent my days mainly reading Dobrotolouboe, sitting in the forest under the trees. Oh, how much new, how much wise and hitherto unknown things were revealed to me through reading! Through practice in it, I used to have such pleasure, which I had never imagined before. True, although some passages were not understood when I read them with my foolish mind, but the consequences resulting from heart prayer explained my misunderstanding; besides, I sometimes saw in my sleep the deceased elder of mine, who explained many things to me, and turned my foolish soul more and more to humility. For two summer months I enjoyed this way. I traveled more through forests and trails: if I came to a village, I would ask for a bag of breadcrumbs, some salt, and a sprout of water, and then walk a hundred steps.З I sinners or my sinful soul, or for the sake of spiritual life, or for better instruction and experience, at the end of summer, temptations began to appear. In particular: I got on a great road at dusk; two men, resembling the heads of soldiers, approached me; they began to demand money. When I said I had no penny, they did not believe me and shouted rudely: “They lie! Wanderers collect a lot of money!” One of them said: “What use is talking to him?” He hit me on the head so hard that I fell unconscious. I do not know how long I lay unconscious; but when I woke up, I saw that I was lying by the road beside the forest, completely bewildered, and my bag was gone; there were only the cut ropes on which it had been tied. Thank God they did not take my passport, which was lying in my old hat, in case I needed it urgently. When I got up, I cried bitterly, not so much because of the headache as because they took away my books, the Bible, and the Book of Good Concord , which were in the bag. I did not stop crying day and night. Where is my Bible now, which I had read since I was a child and always carried with me? Where is my Good Concord, from which I drew lessons and consolation? I have lost, alas, both the first and the last treasure of my life, without having had time to feed on it. It would be better for me to be killed than to live without this spiritual food! I can no longer buy it again!
Suddenly, I caught up with the stage of the columns led by the convoy. Comparing them, I saw two people who had robbed me, and since they were walking from the other side, I fell at their feet and asked them earnestly where my books were? First they paid me no attention, and then one of them began to say: if you give us something, we will tell you where your books are. Give us everything. I assured them that I would give it, that I would definitely give it, even for the sake of Christ if necessary; here, if you want, take my passport as a pledge. They said that my books are in the convoy, along with other things stolen from them. How can I get them? Ask the captain who is accompanying us. I rushed to the captain and explained everything in detail. By the way, he asked me: do you know how to read the Bible? Not only can I read everything, I replied, but I can also write: you will see an inscription on this Bible that it is mine; and my passport also shows the same name and surname. The captain began to say: These are criminal runaways, soldiers, they lived in a dugout and robbed many people. They were captured the day before yesterday by a clever road worker, from whom they wanted to steal three horses. Apparently, I will give you your books when they are here; but you go with us to stay for the night; here, four verstes away, the stage and the convoy will not stop for you. I gladly walked beside the captain’s horse, and I talked to him. I saw that he was a good and honest man, and not a young man anymore. He asked me who I was, where I came from and where I was going. I answered everything truthfully; so we reached the stage house. He found my books and gave them to me, and said: where do you want to go at night, stay at my bedside. I stayed there.
Having received the books, I was so happy that I could not know how to thank God; I pressed the books against my chest and held them tight, until my hands even hardened. Tears flowed from my eyes with joy, and my heart beat sweetly with joy!
The captain, looking at me, asked: It seems you love to read the Bible. I could not answer anything to that with joy, I only cried. He continued: I myself carefully read the Gospel every day. He opened his uniform and took off a small Bible printed in Kiev, all gold-plated. Sit down, I will tell you what led me to this. And let’s have dinner!
We sat down at the table, and the captain began to tell: I have served in the army since my youth, not in garrison; I knew service and loved to be in authority as a proper corporal. But the years were young, the friends were young too; I unfortunately became drunk, and a disease opened and seized me; when I was sober, I was a proper officer, but when I smoked, I stayed in bed for six weeks. They tolerated me for a long time, finally, because of the sergeant’s rudeness, in a particularly striking form, they dismissed me as a soldier for three years, with transfer to the garrison; and if I do not improve and do not stop drinking, they threatened me with the severest punishment. In this unhappy state I tried as hard as I could to restrain myself, and as much as I could heal, I could not give up my addiction, and that is why they wanted to move me into the guard companies. Upon hearing this, I did not know what to do.
One day I sat in the barracks, thinking. Suddenly, a monk entered our midst with a book for collection in church. Those who were able gave something. He came up to me and asked: “Why are you so sad?” I, talking with him, told him my misfortune; the monk, sympathizing with my situation, began: the same thing happened to my brother, and this is what helped him: his spiritual father gave him an evangelical book, and strongly urged him to read a chapter from the Gospel every time he wanted to drink; if he wanted to drink again, he would read the next section. My brother began to do this, and in a short time the addiction to drinking ceased in him, and for more than one and a half decades he has not taken a drop of intoxicating drink. Do the same thing, and you will see the benefits. I have an evangelical book, I think I will bring you one.
& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp; After hearing this, I said to him: “How can I help your Gospel, when neither my efforts nor the medical manuals could keep me? I said this because I had never read the Gospels. Do not say that,” the monk objected, “I assure you that it will be of benefit.” The next day the monk brought me this Gospel. I opened it, looked at it, read it, and said: “I will not take it; there is nothing for you to understand; I am not used to reading the Church seal.” The monk continued to convince me that there is a blessing in the words of the Gospel; for it contains what God Himself said. There is nothing you do not understand; just read carefully. One saint said that even the church where the Gospel is kept frightens the demons with drunkenness, and it is inconvenient for their schemes. I do not remember if I gave something to the monk, took the Gospel from him, and put it in a box with my other belongings and forgot about it. Some time later, it was time for me to ask for death, and I hurried to open the box to get the money and run to the tavern. The first thing that caught my eye was the Gospel, and I quickly remembered everything the monk had told me, opened it and began reading Matthew’s first chapter. After reading it to the end, I understood nothing; and I remembered that the monk had said: “There is no need to understand anything; just read carefully.” Let me see, I thought, and read another chapter; as soon as I began it, I heard a bell in the barracks: “To the beds!” So I could not leave the door; so I was left there. & nbsp;& nbsp;Listen, since I was cured of my addiction, I have made a vow to read the Gospel every day, the whole Gospel for a day. Despite any obstacles. And now I do this. If I am very busy and very tired, in the evening, when I lie down, I force my wife or my son to read me a whole Gospel, and I do not stop this rule. In gratitude and for the glory of God, I have engraved this Gospel in pure silver, and I always carry it with me. With joy, I listened to the captain’s remarks, and told him: I saw a similar example in our village, at the factory: there was a very crafty and good craftsman, a valuable craftsman, but he also drank too much. One pious man advised him to say the 33 Jesus prayers in honor of the Holy Trinity, in honor of Jesus Christ’s 33-year earthly life. The craftsman obeyed, began to do this, and soon he stopped drinking. And what more? In three years, he entered the monastery.
When I had walked a distance of 50 versts along the main road, I decided to turn into a forest path for greater solitude and to make it easier for me to read. I walked through the forest for a long time, and occasionally small villages could be seen. Sometimes I spent the whole day in the forest, diligently reading The Almsgiver (Добротолюбствʼя); I drew much inspiration from it. My heart was burning with eagerness to enter into union with God, through inner prayer, which I attempted to learn, under the guidance and verification of The Almsgiver; while at the same time, I lamented not having yet found a haven where I could peacefully engage myself in reading.
During this time, I was also reading my Bible and felt that I was beginning to understand it more clearly, not as I had sometimes in the past, when a great deal seemed strange to me, and I often came across things which surprised me. The holy fathers rightly say that The Almsgiver is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures. By following The Almsgiver, I came to partially understand the secret meaning of God’s Word; I began to see that this was the inner, secret part of a person’s heart, that true prayer, that worship in spirit, that the kingdom inside us, that the indescribable longing of the Holy Spirit, that You shall be in Me, that You give me your heart, that it means to clothe yourself in Christ, that it means to seal the Spirit in our hearts: Father, and so on, and so forth, and I came to understand what St. Polycarp meant when he wrote: “Finding in you an infinite joy… I have been changing, so to speak, a worm into love.” That is, essentially, how I felt when I began to pray with my heart. Everything around me seemed to me in a wondrous light: trees, grass, birds, the earth, the air, the light, everything seemed to tell me that they exist for man, that they express God’s love for man, and that they all pray, they all sing the glory of God. And it was from this that I understood what is called in The Almsgiver “the teaching of the created things” and saw how to speak to the creatures of God.
Encounter with a Forest Fireman in a Desolate Forest
I wandered for a long time. Finally, I came to such a remote place that for three days no village was in sight.
My meal was all gone, and I was very unhappy at the prospect of starving. When I began to pray with my heart, despair left me, and I surrendered my whole life to the Will of God, becoming cheerful and at peace. A little later, on the road that ran alongside a vast forest, I saw a court dog emerge from the forest; I called it and it came up, began to lick my feet. I was overcome with joy, and thought: Here’s a sign of God’s favour!- there are certainly ducks grazing in this forest, and, naturally, it is a shepherd’s dog, or perhaps a huntsman is walking there to hunt; either way, at least I can beg some bread, because I have not eaten in two days, or I may ask where there is a nearby village. Having turned back toward me, and seeing that I had nothing to offer, the dog went back into the forest, along the narrow path it had followed when coming out on the road. I proceeded, and passed about two hundred paces through the trees, when I noticed that the dog was going into a hole, emerging from which it started barking.
Here a man stepped out of a thick tree, burly, pale and middle-aged. He asked me how I got here, and I asked him what he was doing here. We began to talk politely. The man called me into his hut and told me that he was a policemen and was guarding this forest, which had been put up for sale. He offered me bread and salt, and we started talking. I said to him, “Dear me, how can you live so comfortably alone from people, unlike me who wander from place to place, scratching out a living in all kinds of company?” He said, “If there is hunting, perhaps you, too, can live here, not far off is an old hut that used to be the guard’s, although it’s now pretty ruined; and even in summer, it’s possible to live there. You have a passport. We get bread brought to us every week from our village; there’s the stream, which never dries up. I’m alone there myself, Brother, for ten years; I’ve had only one piece of bread and a drink, and I’ve never had anything else. “That’s how it is,” he continued, “come autumn, when the men get the work done, two hundred workers will turn up here; and once the forest is cut down, there’ll be no place for me to live here, and there’ll be no place for you, either.”
Hearing all that, I was so delighted that I almost fell at his feet. I had no idea what to say to God in thanks for this unexpected gift. I had longed for just this, just what I now possessed; there was still four months until midsummer, and I could take advantage of the peace and tranquility to concentrate on reading Dobrotolyubye with a view to achieving unceasing prayer in my heart. So I was quite happy to stay till midsummer in the hut he told me about.
We talked a lot more with this simple brother, and he began to tell me about his life and his thoughts.
“I was, he said, the last man in my village, I had skills, I painted kumach, but I made the paint blue, and I lived in plenty, though not without sin: I cheated a lot in trade, promised in vain; I cursed pomatyk, drank, and fought. There was an old man in our village who had an ancient, ancient book about the terrible judgment. He used to go to the Orthodox faith and read, and people gave him money for it; he also went to me. Sometimes, if I gave him ten kopeks, he would take it up to half. This is what I used to listen to when I was sitting at work, and he read about the torment we will suffer in hell, about how the living will change, and the dead will rise, about how God will come to judge, how the angels will sound their trumpets, and what fire, what tar, and how sinners will eat. One time, when I was listening to this, I was frightened, I thought: I cannot escape torment! I will save my soul, perhaps my sins will be forgiven. I thought, and I threw away my craft, sold the house, and, being alone, I went to the pole-walkers, so that the world would give me bread, clothes and wax candles for remembrance,” he continued.
Listening to this, I regretted him and thought to myself: it is said that some learned and wise people are free thinkers and do not believe in anything, and our brothers – simple people who are planning to become disillusioned! Apparently, the dark world is allowed to have access to everyone, and ordinary people may fall prey to it. As much as we can do to strengthen ourselves against the enemy through the Word of God. Therefore, in order to help and support faith in these brothers as much as possible, I took out from my bag the Book of Spiritual Love, found the chapter of St. Hysicius, read it and began to explain to him that forsaking sins, fearing torments, is unsuccessful and fruitless, and it is impossible for the soul to be freed from imaginary sins or to be preserved from wicked thoughts. Therefore, all this is achieved through inner prayer, and not only by fear of hellish torments, but even by a desire for the kingdom of heaven, if anyone begins to perform saving feats, then the Holy Fathers call this a mercenary deed. They say that fear of torments is the way of a slave, and a desire for rewards in the kingdom, they call the way of a mercenary. And God wants us to go to Him along a path of sonship, that is, to act with love and diligence towards Him in an honest manner and delight in the saving union with Him in the soul and heart.
No matter how hard you try, how many physical labours and feats you undertake; but if you do not always have God in your mind, and if you do not have a constant Jesus prayer in your heart, then you will never calm your thoughts, and you will always be prone to sin, even at the smallest of occasions. Accept, brother, to constantly do the Jesus prayer; it is both easy for you in this seclusion; you will soon discover the benefits. Sad thoughts will not come to you, faith and love for Jesus Christ will be revealed to you; you will find out how the dead will rise and what a terrible judgment will seem to you as it really will be. And there will be such a lightness and joy in your heart from prayer that you will be surprised and no longer be bored or perturbed by your saving life.
Then, as I could, I explained to him how to begin and how to continue the uninterrupted Jesus prayer and how the Word of God commands this, and the holy fathers teach. He seemed to give his consent to this and calmed down. After that, I parted from him and locked myself in the old cellar indicated to me.
Practice of the Jesus Prayer in solitude
My God! What joy, peace, and delight I felt as soon as I entered this cave, or, rather, the tomb! It seemed to me to be a wonderful royal temple, full of every comfort and pleasure. With joyful tears I thanked God, and thought: Now, in such peace and quiet, we should carefully take up our work and ask the Lord for enlightenment. So I began, first, to read The Lover of the Godly, in order, from beginning to end, with great care. I soon read through the entire book, and saw what wisdom, sacredness, and depth it contains. But since it contains a variety of matters and various instructions from the holy fathers, I could not understand them all and put everything I wanted to know, in particular about the inner prayer, into one place, in order to learn how to study unceasing, automatic prayer in the heart. And this I wanted very much, according to God’s command through the Apostle: Desire noble gifts and further: “Do not quench the Spirit.” I thought and thought, how to do it? My reason is not enough, my understanding is also lacking, there is no one to interpret for me. I will start to bother God with prayer; perhaps God will enlighten me somehow. After this, I did nothing for the whole day but pray incessantly, not stopping for a single moment; my thoughts calmed down, and I fell asleep: here I see in a dream that I am in the cell of my departed father, and he is saying: this holy book is full of great wisdom. It is a mysterious treasure of understanding God’s secret purposes. Not everywhere, and not to every person, is it accessible; yet, it contains such instructions for the wise – wise, for the simple – simple. Therefore, for you, humble ones, you should read it not in the order in which the books of the holy fathers are arranged one after another. There, this order is theological; but for the uneducated person who wants to learn from the Lover of the Godly the art of interior prayer, it is necessary to read it in the following order:
1) First, read the book Nikhifora of the monastic life (in 2 parts); then 2) the book of Gregory Sinai, except for the short chapters; 3) Simeon the New Theologian on three images of prayer and the word about faith; and after that 4) the books of Kallist and Ignatius. These fathers contain a complete teaching and doctrine about the inner prayer of the heart, which is clear to everyone.
But if you want to see an even clearer teaching about prayer, then find the image of the prayer of Saint Kallist of Constantinople at 4 o’clock. I, as if holding in my hands my Dobrotolyubion, began to search for the provision that was said, but I could not find it soon. The elderly man, turning over several pages, said: “Look, here it is!” I jotted it down for you, and by lifting a piece of coal from the ground, he emphasized the passage in the book that I had found. Everything that the elder said, I listened carefully and tried to remember it as clearly and in detail as possible.
I woke up, and as it was not yet light, I lay down and repeated in my memory everything I had seen in a dream and what the old man had told me. Finally, I began to reflect: God knows whether the soul of the deceased elderly man is for me, or whether my own thoughts are so adjusted, because I often and much think about Dobrotolyubion and about the elder? With this surprise, I got up, it was already getting light. And what? I see on the stone, which was in place of the table in my earthen shack, the Dobrotolyubion opened at the same place that the old man had indicated to me, and written down with coal, exactly as I saw in a dream, even the coal itself was lying next to the book. This surprised me, because I clearly remember that there were no books here in the evening; it was rolled up and lying in my head, and I also know for sure that there was no note at the indicated place before. This case convinced me of the truth of the dream and of the beatitude of the memory of my elder. That is how I began to read Dobrotolyubion, in the same order that the old man had indicated to me. I read it once, I read the same thing again, and this reading inflamed my heart with passion and diligence in order to test everything I read in practice. It became clear and understandable to me what inner prayer means, what means to achieve it, and what happens from it, and how it satisfies the soul and the heart, and how to recognize this satisfaction, whether it is from God, or from the essence, or from beauty.
Well, first of all, I began by finding a heart place, according to the writings of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. I closed my eyes, looked with my mind, that is, in my heart, trying to imagine how it was in the left half of my chest, and I listened carefully to its beating. At first, I spent half an hour a few times a day; at first, I noticed nothing except darkness; then, very soon, the heart became visible and started to move in it; then, I began to bring the Our Father into my heart along with my breathing, according to the instructions of Saint Gregory of Sinai, Calleist and Ignatius, that is, inhaling air, with my mind looking at my heart, I imagined and said, “Lord Jesus Christ” and, when I exhaled the air, I said, “Have mercy upon us”. At first, I did this for an hour, and then two, and then the more often I did it, the more intensively I practiced it, and eventually I spent almost the whole day engaged in that activity. When fatigue or laziness or doubt arose, I immediately began to read in the Common Prayer those passages that instruct the heart to work, and then the striving started again, and I became increasingly invested in prayer. After three weeks, I began to feel pain in my heart, then a pleasant warmth there, peace, and ease. This excited and encouraged me to practice prayer even more intensively, so that all my thoughts were engaged in that activity, and I felt great joy. From that time on, I began to feel different states in my heart and in my mind. Sometimes there was an excited, burning love for Jesus Christ and for all the creation of God. Sometimes sweet tears of gratitude just poured from my heart, thanking God who had blessed me, the sinner. Sometimes my former senseless understanding was so clear, I easily understood and pondered thoughts that I had not been able to fathom before. Sometimes a sweet warmth flowed throughout my body, and I felt the presence of God everywhere. Sometimes I felt the greatest joy from the name of Jesus Christ, and I realized what He meant when He said, “The kingdom of God is within you”.Months have passed since I spent all my time alone in this prayerful activity, enjoying the sensations I had, and I have become so used to praying heartily that I have practiced it without interruption, and finally I have come to feel that prayer is performed and spoken of in my mind and heart, not in my mind; but even in my sleep it acts in the same way, and is not interrupted by anything, no matter what I do. My soul thanked God and my heart was in constant joy.
Звеличися діла Твої, Господи: вся премудрості створив Ти! . I have encountered many wonderful events and incidents on my way. If I were to tell all about them, it would be impossible to finish them in one day. But here is an example: once in winter, a man was walking in a village to spend the night, which was about two versts away. Suddenly, a large wolf attacked and rushed at him. I had old woolen cords in my hands (I always kept them with me). Here I saw off the wolf with them. And what happened? The cords fell out of my hands and somehow got caught under the wolf’s neck, the wolf ran away from me and, jumping over a poplar bush, got tangled in the bushes with his hind legs, and the cords caught on the trunk of a dry tree, and he began to struggle; but it was inconvenient for him to get free because the cords had tightened his neck. I crossed my fingers in faith and left with the intention of saving the wolf; moreover, I thought that, if he broke the cords and ran with them, my precious cords would be lost. As soon as I approached and took hold of the cords, the wolf really broke them and ran away. I thanked God and remembered my blessed elder; I reached the village safely; I entered the inn and asked to spend the night. I went into the house. In the front room, two people were sitting at a table. One was an old man, and the other was a middle-aged man, who looked like he wasn’t just anybody. They were drinking tea. I asked the man next to their horse who they were. He told me that the old man was a teacher at the folk school, and the other was a clerk at the county court; they were both noble. I was taking them to the fair, about 20 versts from here. After spending some time there, I asked the old woman for a needle and thread, went to the candle, and began to mend my torn cords. The clerk looked at me and said: it seems you were diligently praying that you tore the cords. It wasn’t me who tore them, it was the wolf… How can wolves pray? said the clerk, smiling. – I told them in detail how it was, and how precious those cords were to me. The clerk laughed again and began to say: there are always miracles with you, God-fearing people! What’s the point of that? It’s just a coincidence! Actually, you haven’t got a clue about anything! Only an educated person can understand all this. The teacher started to talk to him: don’t say that, my good man! How pitiful that you don’t have any kind of schooling but still decide to teach us the brief sacred story of the Old and New Testaments, published in the form of questions and answers for schools. The old man whose cords these were, was holy: what does holiness mean? Not something else but the act of returning the innocent state of the first man in the sinful human being. When the soul is sanctified, the body is sanctified too. The cords were always in the hands of the holy man; therefore, through the touch of the man’s hands and the fragrances of his hands, a holy spirit is applied to the cords and they become a force, the force of the innocent state of the first man. That is the miracle of the spiritual nature!.. Such a power is naturally felt by all animals, and still is, and is felt through the sense of smell; because the nose is the most important sense organ in all animals and animals. Here is the miracle of the sensual nature!.. In you, scientists, there are all forces and all wisdom; but we are so simple: just pour a glass of vodka, and boom, and it’s a force! said the clerk, and went to the cupboard. That’s your business, the teacher said, and began to ask us for some scientific knowledge. I liked what the teacher said; so, when I approached him, I said: do you mind telling me something more about my old man, and pointed to the pages written with ink when he appeared to me in a dream, as well as the teaching I received from him, and his emphasis on Good Works. The teacher listened carefully. And the clerk, lying on the bench, burped: they say that reason comes to mind when you read the Bible. That is exactly what it is! Which forest-village boy would be able to scribble on books while he sleeps? Just the elder himself accidentally lets ink fall on the floor, and that’s dirty with soot…) Oh, this will soon pass! said the clerk, and fell asleep. Hearing all that, I turned to the teacher and said; here, if you like, I’ll show you the very same book in which the reading is properly underlined, not smeared with soot. I took out The Book of Good Works from my bag, and showed it, saying: I marvel at the wisdom here, how could a disembodied soul take charcoal and write with it?.. The teacher, looking at the note, began to say: this is also a mystery of spirits. I’ll explain it to you; here you see: when spirits are in a living human body, they take the material they need from the air and light matter and build their own tangible body, and when they manifest themselves, they return to the same worlds from which they took their material. And because air has elasticity, a pulling and tensile force, the soul clothed in it can take everything, do it, and write. – But what is this book of yours? Let me see! He folded it up and opened the word and speech of Simeon the New Theologian. – Oh! there must be a theological book. I have never seen it… This book, teacher, is almost entirely made up of the teachings of the inner heart prayer in the name of Jesus Christ; it is revealed here in all its detail by the twenty-nine Holy Fathers. – And I know the inner prayer, said the teacher… For all this, I bowed down to him at his feet and asked him to tell me something about the inner prayer. Here is what is written in the new parchment: that man and all creation submit to the will of God, and everything naturally sighs and strives and longs to enter the freedom of God’s children; and this mysterious sighing of creatures and the inborn striving of souls is the inner prayer. It has nothing to learn; it is in everyone and everything!.. But how can one find, discover, and feel this inner prayer, become aware and accept it willingly into one’s will and achieve it, so that it may work visibly, enjoy, enlighten, and save? – I asked him. I do not remember whether it is written somewhere in theological treatises… said the teacher. Here it is… – I pointed to it… The teacher took a pencil and wrote down the name The Book of Good Works, and said: I must definitely get this book from Tobolsk and read it. And so we parted.
I left, thanking God for the conversation with the priest, and praying for the scribe that the Lord would arrange, at least once, to let him read Loving-Kindness, and teach him to salvation.
Meeting with a pious priest
And then, in the spring, when I came to a village, I had to stay at a priest. He was a kind and lonely man: I spent three days with him. Having considered me at that time, he began to tell me: stay with me, I will pay you; I need a reliable person; you saw that a new stone church is being built instead of the old wooden one. I can’t find a faithful person who would watch over the workers, and sit in the chapel to collect alms for the construction; and I see that you would be able to do this, and you would live well on your way; you would sit alone in the chapel, and pray to God, there is a separate compartment for the guard – please stay, even if only for this time the church will be finished. Although I refused for a long time, I had to agree to the persuasive request of the priest. So I stayed for the summer until autumn. And so I began to live in the chapel. At first, I was calm and comfortable in my prayer, although many people came to the chapel, especially on festive days, some to pray, some to snore, and others to take something from the collection bowl. And when I sometimes read the Bible and Loving-Kindness, some of those who came saw this, and started a conversation with me, others asked me to read something to them.
After a while, I noticed that one peasant girl often went to the chapel and prayed to God for a long time. Listening to her muttering, I found out that she was reading some strange prayers, and others were completely distorted. I asked her who had taught her this? She said that her mother, who was a church goer, and her father was a drunken man who was a sinner. Feeling sorry for all this, I advised her to read the prayers correctly, according to the tradition of the holy church, and therefore I interpreted to her: Our Father, and the Virgin Mary, rejoice. And, in the end, I said: do it more often and more often, and you will receive salvation of the soul through the Jesus prayer. The girl listened to my advice carefully, and began to do so simply. And what happened? Soon she told me that she had become used to the Jesus prayer, that she felt a craving that could not be stopped, that if it were possible, she could devote herself to it and when she prayed, she felt pleasure and, after completing it, she also felt joy and a desire to pray again. I was glad about this, and advised her to continue the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
The summer was drawing to an end; many of those who came to the chapel began to come to me too, not only to hear and be advised, but also with various life problems, and even to find out the lost and missing; apparently, others considered me a sorceress. Finally, the young woman in distress came for advice on what to do. Her father intended to marry her to a man who was a newcomer, and he would be the one to make the oath. What is this legitimate marriage? exclaimed she, it doesn’t matter! I want to run away, wherever my eyes look. I told her: where are you going to escape? You will be found again, now you cannot hide without being noticed, you will be found everywhere; but it is better to pray more strenuously before God so that He may destroy through His dispositions the plan of your father and save your soul from sin and heresy. This will be more reliable for your escape.
Time went on and it became intolerably noisy and tempting for me. Finally, the summer ended and I decided to leave the chapel and continue my journey as before. I went to the priest and began to tell him: You are familiar with my regime, Father. I need silence for prayer, and there is a lot of fun and harmful for me. I have fulfilled your request, I spent the summer: now release me and bless me on my separate path. The priest did not want to release me and began to persuade me: what is hindering you from praying here? After all, you have no business here, except to sit in the chapel, and the bread is ready for you. Perhaps you can pray there day and night; live as a brother with God! You are capable and useful for this place, you do not bother with the little things that come, and you bring income to the Church of God and collect, correctly. This is better before God than your separate prayer. What do you have yourself, it is more fun to pray with the people than to be alone. God created man not for him to know only himself, but for people to help each other, lead each other to salvation, each as he can. Look at the saints and the world teachers, they worked day and night and cared for the Church, and preached everywhere, and did not sit alone and hide from people.
God grants everyone their own, Father. Many were preachers, many were hermits. Each found what he had the inclination for and believed that Jesus Christ himself indicated the saving way in this. And how will you judge me: why many saints left the episcopal flock and the priestly title and kept out of sight of the people? That is, St. Isaac the Syrian fled from his episcopal flock; St. Anthony of the Holy Mountain left his large monastery, precisely because those places were tempting to him, and because he truly believed in the voice of Jesus Christ: What profit is it to a man to gain the whole world, and to lose his soul? .
They were saints, said the priest. If they were saints, and were careful not to harm themselves by contact with people, what is there left for a powerless sinner to do? Finally, I said goodbye to this good priest, and he led me on my way with love.
A Story about a Saved Girl
Ten versts later, I stopped to spend the night in a village. On this night, I saw a desperately sick man, and advised the former to confess him the holy mysteries of Christ. They agreed, and by morning they sent for the priest to their parish village. I stayed behind to bow to the holy gifts and pray for this great sacrament. I went out into the street, sat on the stoop, and waited to meet the priest. Suddenly, an unexpected girl ran out from behind the porch to me.
How did you get here? I asked her.
We were supposed to be a bride, in order to turn me into a wanderer, and I left. While bowing to me at the feet, she began to say: “Have mercy, take me with you and take me to a female monastery; I don’t want to marry, I want to live in a monastery, to pray the Jesus Prayer. They will listen to you and take me in.”
Have mercy, I said, where can I take you? I don’t know any female monastery in this direction, and where can I go with you if you don’t have a passport? After all, you won’t be accepted anywhere; it’s impossible to hide in this time of day, you’ll be caught and sent back to your place, and they’ll punish you for vagrancy. Go home and pray to God, and if you don’t want to marry, think of some kind of fate. This is called a saving ruse; this is how Saint Clement’s Mother and St. Marina, who took refuge in a male monastery, and many others did it.
While we were sitting and talking, we saw four men driving a cart along the road, and they ran up to us. They grabbed the girl, put her in the wagon, and brought her away with one man; while the other three tied my hands and drove me back to the village where I had lived that summer. On all my explanations, they only shouted: “We’ll show you, old man, how to seduce girls!”
In the evening, they brought me to the village council, chained my feet in iron, and locked me up in jail until the morning, when they would begin to judge me. The priest, who learned that I was in jail, came to visit me, brought me something to eat, consoled me, and said that the spiritual father would intercede for me and say that I wasn’t of the sort they thought. After spending time with me, he left.
Later in the evening, when a court clerk was passing through the village, he stopped in the election office; they told him about what had happened. He ordered a meeting to be held, and me to be brought to the judge’s house. We went in, stood and waited. Here he came, the clerk, already emboldened, sat down at the table in his robe and shouted, “Hey, Epifany! Well, girl, your daughter didn’t steal anything from the yard, did she?” “No, father!” He said. “Well, Father, no bad deeds have been discovered of this fellow?” “No, father!” “So, we’ll judge the matter and decide: settle it yourself with your daughter; and tomorrow we’ll interrogate and punish this young man and make sure that he never shows up here again.” That’s all! Having said this, the clerk got up from the table and went to bed; and I was again put in jail. Early the next morning, two men, a hundred man and a sergeant, arrived, took me outside and released me; and I went, thanking God that He had allowed me to endure for His name. This consoled me and warmed my heart even more with continual heartfelt prayer.
All these events did not offend me, as if they had happened to someone else and I had only seen them; even when I was whipped, this was also to endure; prayer, which delighted the heart, did not let anything hear.
Four days passed, and I met the girl’s mother, who was traveling from market with her purchases. She saw me and said to me, “Our fiancé has refused; he is angry at Akulka, who ran away from him.” Then she gave me some bread and pie, and I went on. The weather was dry, and I did not want to spend the night in any village; but when I saw two fenced sheds of hay in the woods in the evening, I settled down to sleep under them. When I fell asleep, I saw in a dream that I was walking along the road, and reading the headings of St. Anthony the Great from The Lord’s Prayer with the Mother of All Mistakes from the book. Suddenly an old man came up to me and said, “Don’t read here; here is where to read, and he pointed to chapter 35 of John of Karpas, in which it is written: Sometimes the one who teaches falls into disgrace and endures temptations for those who have benefited from him spiritually. And he pointed to chapter 41 of the same book, where it is said: Those who devoutly pray are less capable of being captivated by fearsome and cruel temptations.
Then he began to speak: Be vigilant in prayer and do not indulge in foolishness! Remember what the Apostle said: “There is more in you than in the world.” Here you have seen for yourself that no temptation is allowed to be greater than a person’s strength; but God works through temptation and makes it quick. Hope in this divine help strengthened and guided the zeal and the diligence of the holy prayerful, who not only spent their lives in incessant prayer, but who with love taught others this, whenever and wherever they found the opportunity. This is what Saint Gregory of Nyssa says: “Not only do we ourselves, by the commandment of God, need to pray incessantly in the name of Christ, but we must teach and open it to all the monks, to the laity, to the wise and the simple, to men, women and children, and encourage everyone to work hard. Similarly, Saint Callistus of Antillycus says: “Neither the rational act of the Lord (that is, inner prayer), nor contemplative knowledge, nor the ways of stretching out the soul to evil, should be confined to one’s own mind, but should be recorded, taught in writing and in the public interest. The Word of God says this: “Let us help one another, for a city built on strong foundations and high above all others.”
In order to spend this day in peace, without any obstacles to spiritual joy, I persuaded the church keeper to let me stay in the guardhouse until the next day. All day long I was in indescribable joy and heartfelt sweetness; I was lying on the benches in this unheated guard house, as if resting on the bosom of Abraham: prayer had a powerful effect. Love for Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, like sweet waves, swirled in my heart and seemed to immerse my soul in a delightful excitement. In the evening, suddenly I felt a strong throbbing in my legs, and I remembered that they were wet. Ignoring this, I began to listen more carefully to my heart in prayer and ceased to feel pain. In the morning I wanted to get up, but I found that I could not move my legs; they were completely limp, like slack strings; the keeper just barely dragged me off the benches. And so I lay there for two days, motionless. On the third day, the keeper began to drive me out of the guardhouse, saying, If you die here, then go with you. As soon as I managed to crawl out on my own, I lay on the church porch.
So I lay there for two more days. People who passed by did not pay any attention to me or my requests.
Finally, a man came to me, sat down and started talking. By the way, he said: What can you do? I’ll cure you. It was exactly the same with me; I know about this medicine. I have nothing to offer you. And what’s in your sack? Only husks and books. Well, will you give me at least one summer if I cure you? And I can’t work; you see, I only have one hand, and the other is almost dry. So what can you do? Nothing, except that I can read and write. Well, teach this boy to write, my son, he doesn’t know how to read, but I want him to write. But the masters ask for a lot of money for training, 20 rubles. I agreed, and they dragged me along with the keeper and put me in this man’s backyard in an old, empty cellar.
After this, I began to treat him, gathering from fields, yards and washing pits a whole four different limping bones, of animals and birds, and of all kinds. I washed them, and crushed them smaller with a stone and placed them in a large heap; I covered the pit with a lid that had a well in it, and poured the contents into an earthen trough; thickly I covered the heaps with clay, and, by placing logs of wood on top, I burnt them for a full day, adding more wood as I went along, and saying: “Behold, this is the pitch from the bones.” On the next day I dug up the trough from the earth, and in it a half hundred of a thick liquid flowed through the hole in the lid; the liquid was red, oily and fragrant, as if it were fresh raw flesh. The bones in the heap had turned from black and rotten to white, clean, and transparent, like mother-of-pearl or pearls. I used that liquid to pour over my feet three or four times a day. And what happened? On the third day, I was able to move my toes; on the fourth day I was able to bend my legs; and on the fifth day I stood on them, carrying a stick, and walked the court. In short, within a week my legs were as strong as they were before. I thanked God for this, and thought to myself, “What a wisdom from God in creatures! Dry bones, having rotted and decayed, save their life power, color, odor, and action on living bodies, as if they communicate life to dead bodies. This is a pledge of the future resurrection of bodies. I wish I could show this to the landowner, in whose household I lived, who doubts the general resurrection!””Do not think, Father, that this sacred book was written by simple Greek monks, but by great and holy men whom your Church venerates, such as Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, Marc the Ascetic, John Chrysostom, and others. Moreover, Indian and Bukharian monks learned from them the heartfelt way of inner prayer, but they distorted and falsified it, as my elder told me. And in the Book of Wisdom, all the instructions about interior prayer are drawn from the Word of God, from Holy Scripture, in which the same Jesus Christ, who ordered to read the Our Father, decreed unceasing heartfelt prayer, saying: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul’ and concerning prayer, ‘watch, pray and watch’ and ‘be in Me, and I in you.’ And the holy fathers interpret the words of the Psalms, which describe as good as honey the Lord’s good will, thus: a Christian ought to seek all means to attain by prayer that sweetness of hearts which they call heaven, and to obtain the joy of which he is deprived if he does not read the Our Father daily. Now I will read to you how these saints condemn those who do not try to find this delight, and have not yet studied it. They write that such persons sin by this: first, they do not consider themselves worthy of the true divine writings, but they claim that they are superfluous; secondly, not putting forth the highest and most perfect state of soul, they are content only with outward virtues, and are unable to achieve the taste of truth and the aspiration, and, therefore, they forsake the beatitude and joy that comes from the Lord, and often fall into vanity and pride and are thus led astray. You read something lofty, said the Head of the House, but why should we seek for this in the worldly life? Now I will read to you in a more simple manner, how good people in the common worldly life taught persevering prayer. I found in the Book of Wisdom a word of Saint Symeon the New Theologian about the boy George and began to read.
In the night, through the thin snow, I heard the voice of my old man and saw no one; the voice said to me, “Here your master has healed you, and why can you not help the housekeeper?” God has commanded us to show compassion to our neighbor. With joy, I would have helped her in every way. But I do not know any means. Here is what you should do: she has had a dislike to tree oil since her early childhood, and not only does she not like to use it, but she cannot stand its smell without nausea; therefore, give her a spoonful of tree oil to drink; it will make her scream, and the bone will burst out, and the wound in her throat, which the bone scratched, will be smeared with oil, and she will recover. But how will I give it to her when she has a dislike to it—will she not drink it? You told the manager to hold her by the head, and suddenly, even if forcibly, she put it in her mouth. I woke up and immediately went to the manager and told him about this in detail. He said: “now what will you do with your oil?” She is breathing through her nose and talking in her sleep, and her neck is swollen. However, we will probably try it; the oil is harmless, although it will not help. He poured some of it into a cup, and we gave her a sip. Immediately, she began to vomit violently and soon the bone emerged with blood; it became easier for her, and she fell asleep soundly.
In the morning, I went to see her, and I saw that she was sitting quietly by the tea table and was amazing at her recovery, and moreover, as I was told in a dream, that she disliked tree oil, because no one but her and her husband knew that. Here the doctor came; the housekeeper told him what had happened to her, and I told her; how her husband healed my legs. The doctor listened, and he said, “Neither one nor other case is strange. In both of them, the strength of nature worked itself, but for the record, I will write it down in a note-book.” He took his pen and wrote it down in a notebook.
After this, soon a rumor started throughout the neighborhood that I was a seer, healer, and magician; people from all sides continuously came to me with their matters and incidents, bringing me gifts and began to admire and beg me. After a week, I looked at this and, fearing to become vain and to be ruined by dispersion, I left there secretly at night.
And again I went down the isolated road of mine, and felt such ease, as if a mountain had fallen from my shoulders. Prayer comforted me more and more, so that sometimes my heart boiled with boundless love for Jesus Christ, and from this sweet boiling as if comforting jets flowed through all my joints. Thinking of Jesus Christ was engraved more and more in my mind, so that when I reflected on the Gospel events I seemed to see them before my eyes, felt moved to tears, and sometimes felt happiness in my heart, which I cannot describe. It happened that sometimes for three days I did not go to the human settlements and felt as if I were the only person on earth, the only poor sinner before the merciful and compassionate God. This solitude comforted me, and the prayerful enjoyment of it was far greater than that of mankind.
Finally I reached Irkutsk. Kneeling before the holy relics of St. Innocent, I began to think to myself: where should I go now? And I did not want to stay long in the town, because it was crowded. I wandered around the streets; and there I met a merchant of the place who stopped me and said: Are you a traveler? Why don’t you come in with me? We entered his rich house. He asked me who I was, and I told him my origin. After listening, he began to say: Oh, if you had journeyed to old Jerusalem. There is a holy thing, which has no equal anywhere! With joy I would have gone, I answered, but I have no money available for that; I can go to the sea, but to cross the sea I have no money, it requires a lot of money. Would you like to, said the merchant, I will give you a means; here I sent a few years ago to one of our aged citizens. I fell at his feet, and he began to tell me: Listen, I will give you a letter to my son in Odesa; he lives there and has trade relations with Constantinople; he has ships, and he will gladly bring you to Constantinople, and there he will instruct his servants to hire you a place on the ship to Jerusalem and pay the money. After all, it is not very expensive. Hearing this, I rejoiced, thanked this benefactor of mine many times for his kindness, and thanked God even more that He shows me such fatherly love and care for me, the wretched sinner, who does not do any good for himself or for others, and who is wasting away someone else’s bread in idleness. And so I stayed with this benefactor of mine for three days. He wrote me a letter to his son about me, by promise; and here I now go to Odessa with the intention of reaching the holy city of Jerusalem: but I do not know whether the Lord will allow me to worship His life-giving chest.
The third story
Before leaving Irkutsk, I went to see a spiritual father with whom I was having conversations, and said to him: Here I am on my way to Jerusalem; I came to say goodbye and to thank him for his Christian love for me, an unworthy traveler. He said to me: May God bless your path. But what have you told me about yourself, who you are and where you come from? I have heard a lot from you about your travels; it would be interesting to learn about your background and your life before your travels.
Well, I said, I will be happy to tell you about that too. It is not a long story.
Life story of a pilgrimage participant and his former worldly life
I was born in the village of the Orel province. My father and mother left me and my older brother. He was ten years old, and I was two years old – the third. That’s when my grandfather took both of us to live in his house. He was an elderly wealthy and honest man who kept a roadside inn on the main road, and because of his kindness many travelers came to stay. We began to live in his house. My brother was lively and ran around the village all the time, but I mostly sat around with my grandfather. On holidays we went to church with him, and at home he often read the Bible, the same one I have. My brother grew up and spoiled, – he used to drink. I was already seven years old; once I was lying on the stove with my brother, and he pushed me off and injured my left hand. Since then it has been paralyzed and has not moved since.
When it became clear that I wouldn’t be able to do any agricultural work, my grandfather began teaching me to read. As we had no ABCs, he taught me the alphabet by using the same Bible somehow: he pointed out letters and made me form words and note down letters. I still can’t understand how through his help I was able to learn to read. Eventually, when my grandfather began to have poor eyesight, he often made me read from the Bible, while he listened and corrected my pronunciation. The earthly scribe often came to our place, and I watched him. I liked how he wrote. That is how I began to learn to write, modelling myself on him. My grandfather was pleased with me and advised me: ‘Now God has opened your eyes, and you will become an educated person, so thank God for this, and offer Him more prayers.’ So we went to church for every service, and we also prayed a lot at home; they made me recite: ‘Have mercy on me, O God’ and my grandfather and grandmother bowed down or kneeled. Finally, I was seventeen years old, and my grandmother died. My grandfather began to say to me: ‘Here we have no neighbour in the house, and how can we do without my grandmother? Your elder brother has become idle, and I want to marry you off. I was embarrassed, considering my handicap, but my grandfather insisted, and I got married, to a good-looking and educated woman of twenty. One year passed, and my grandfather became ill. Calling me, he began to say his last farewell and said: “Here is your house and all your inheritance. Live by conscience; don’t deceive anyone, and above all, pray to God. Don’t hope for anything other than God. Go to church, read the Bible, and remember your grandfather and grandmother. You have a thousand rubles, keep them, don’t spend them foolishly, yet don’t hoard them, also give alms to the needy and to God’s churches.”
So we remained destitute and needy, maliciously put in debt a small hut, and began to live like savages. My wife was a weaving master. She wove, spun, sewed, took on work with the people, and worked day and night, and nourished me. I was unable to even knit with my hand. She would either weave or spin, and I would sit by her, read the Bible, and she would listen, and sometimes she would weep. When I asked, “What are you crying about? Thank God, we are alive.” She would reply, “I am touched by the fact that the Bible says so beautifully.” We also observed our grandfather’s command, observed fasting frequently, read the Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God in the morning, and laid down thousands of bows at night, to avoid temptation. So we lived peacefully for two years. But what is strange is that although we did not have any idea of inner prayer that takes place in the heart, nor did we ever hear about it, we prayed only in words and, without realizing it, laid the bows like tossing boughs, and the urge to pray did not seem difficult, and the long and unreasonable prayer did not seem difficult. Maybe this teacher was right when he told me the truth that it happens that there is a secret prayer inside a person, which he does not even know himself, how it is made unintentionally in the soul, and awakens one to prayers, whoever knows it and how to do it.
After two years of our lives, suddenly my wife fell ill with a high fever and, having been given Communion, died on the ninth day. I was left alone. I could do nothing, and I had to go out into the world, and it was a shame to beg for alms; moreover, the grief for my wife overwhelmed me to such an extent that I did not know where to go. As I came into my little house and saw my wife’s clothes or a scarf, I wept and fainted with no memory. So I could no longer bear the hardship of living at home and, after selling my little house for 20 roubles, I gave all my clothes and my wife’s to the beggars. They gave me a permanent discharge passport, and, after receiving it, I immediately took my beloved Bible and went to where my eyes looked. Once I set out, I thought, where to go now? I will first go to Kiev, pay my respects to the saints, and ask their help for my sorrow. As I ventured on this, I became lighter of heart, and I arrived at Kiev with joy. Since then, it has been 13 years, I have been constantly wandering from place to place; I have visited many churches and monasteries, and now I wander more and more in the steppes and on the fields. I do not know whether the Lord will allow me to reach the holy Jerusalem. It would be time for me there, if the will of God permits, to bury even the sinful bones.
By the way, how old are you? – Thirty-three years old.
It is Christ’s age!
The fourth narrative
For it is God’s good pleasure that I should cleave unto Him, and be in the hope of the salvation of my soul. – Book of Philippians 3:13, 14.
A fair Russian proverb says: a person supposes, and God has, I said, having come to my spiritual father. I believed that I was going today and was going on the road to the holy Way of Jerusalem, but it turned out differently; a completely unexpected circumstance left me there for three more days. And I could not stand it without coming to you to report about it and to receive advice on my resolve in this unexpected occurrence.
Such are the extraordinary circumstances that come along in life! And as the Lord rules over our deeds and intentions, as it is written: “And whatsoever we would, or children of God are.” On hearing this, my spiritual father said: “I am delighted, my dear brother, that the Lord has arranged to see you again soon. And since you are now free, I am happy to keep you with me longer, and you can tell me more about your instructive encounters on your long journey. I have listened to all your previous stories with pleasure and attention. I am happy to do so, I said, and began to talk.
There was a lot, good and bad; it would take a long time to recount everything, but there was a lot of it and it is now out of memory, because I tried to remember only what moved and excited my lazy soul to prayer, and everything else was rarely remembered, or rather, I tried to forget the past, following the example of the holy Apostle Paul, who said: “I strive to receive full honours, forgetting the past, and looking toward the future.” And my deceased elderly elder also said that the obstacles to heart prayer come from two sides, with vanity and sleepiness, that is, if the enemy does not manage to distract from prayer with frivolous thoughts and sinful schemes, then it revives the instructive memories or intrudes into the prayer, making it unbearable. And this is called lucid stealing, in which the soul, having neglected the conversation with God, turns to a pleasant conversation with itself or with animals. That is why he taught me to not take even the most beautiful spiritual thought during prayer, and after the day, if I happen to see that more time was spent in instructive reflection and conversation than in essential prayer of the heart, then this should be considered as an excess, or as a selfishness for necessities, for spiritual greed in prayer. In prayer, overcoming by a large amount of time before the time spent on other duties of piety. But we cannot forget everything. Other things, however, have sunk so deep into memory that I have not remembered them for a long time, I remember, as for example, one pious family, in which God gave me the opportunity to spend a few days with the following case.
Meeting with the pious family of a landowner
During my journey through my Tobolsk province, I had to pass through a small town. I had very little bread left, so I went into a house to ask for bread for the journey. The host said to me: “Thank God, you came at the right time! My wife has just taken the bread out of the oven! Here is a warm blanket, pray to God for us.” Thanking her, I began to put the bread in my bag, and the hostess, seeing this, said: “What a thin sack, all worn out! I will change it for you, and gave me a nice, firm bag. I thanked them from the heart, and went on my way. At the exit, in a small grocery shop, I asked for some salt, and the shopkeeper poured some into a small bag for me. I prayed in my heart and thanked God that He is showing me such good people. Here, I thought, now I will go for a week without worrying about food, I will rest and be satisfied. Bless my soul
A short distance from this town, I saw a small village and a modest little church, but it was well decorated from the outside and painted. As I passed by, I wished to pay homage to the temple of God, and I went into the church curtilage. I prayed. Next to the church, on a small courtyard, two little children, probably about five or six years old, were playing. I thought that these must be the priest’s children, although they were very well dressed. So, after praying, I went on. Before I had gone ten steps from the church, I heard a cry behind me: beggar, beggar! Stop! This was the cry of the two little children who had run toward me; picking up my hand, they said to me: come with us to our mother, she loves beggars. I am not a beggar, I told them, but a wayfarer. And what is your bag? It is my bag for the journey. But where is your mother? Behind the church, behind that gable. They led me to a wonderful garden in the middle of which I saw a large manor house; we went inside, to the very chambers, what cleanliness and decoration there was! And then our mistress, the lady, came out to us. Please have mercy! Please have mercy! Where did God send you to us? Sit down, sit down, dear! She took the bag off me, put it on a table, and seated me on a comfortable chair. Do you want to eat? Do you want tea? and do you have any needs? I thank you over and over again, I answered, I have a whole bag full of food, I don’t mind tea, though I don’t have any habits because of our peasant lifestyle, your diligence and kindly reception are more precious for me than any refreshment; I will beg God to bless you for such an evangelical hospitality.
Then I waited for the gentleman. I briefly told her about my journey and my destination, about my trip to Irkutsk. She said, “Of course, you must go through Tobolsk, and there my mother is, who is a nun in a monastery for women, and now a hesychast. We will give you a letter, and she will welcome you. Many people come to her for spiritual advice. Oh, by the way, you should take the book of John the Ladder to her, which we copied for her from Moscow on her instructions. If everything goes well!” Finally, it was time for lunch, and we sat down at the table. Four ladies came and joined us for the meal. After finishing the first course, one of the guests who came stood up, bowed to the icon, and then bowed to us, went and brought a second course, and sat down again; then another lady went for the third course in the same way. Seeing this, I began to talk to the hostess: I dare to ask whether these ladies are your relatives or what? “Yes, they are my sisters: this is the cook, this is the housemaid’s wife, this is the butler, and this is my maid of honor, and they are all married, so there is not a single girl in the whole house. Hearing and seeing this, I was even more astonished, thanked God that He had shown me such godly people, and I felt the powerful influence of prayer in my heart; and in order to be able to retire immediately and not to be a hindrance to prayer, I got up from the table and said to the hostess: “You need to rest after lunch, and I, by my custom of walking, will go for a walk in the garden. No, I do not rest, she said; and I will go with you into the garden, and you can tell me some instructive words. If you go alone, the children will not let you be for a moment, for they love beggars, Brotherhood of Christ and wanderers.”There was nothing to do, so we left. When we entered the garden, in order to be more comfortable and not speak, I bowed to the lady at her feet and said: Please, mother, in the name of God, tell me, have you been leading such a godly life for a long time, and how did you achieve this piety? I think I will tell you everything. Behold, my granddaughter is the sainted John of Rostov, whose relics rest in Belgorod. We had a large house in the city, the outbuilding of which was rented by a poor nobleman. Finally, he died, and his wife became pregnant, gave birth, and died after childbirth. The son was left an orphan, and my mother took him in for raising, and a year later I was born. We grew up together and studied with the same teachers and teachers, and became accustomed to living as brothers and sisters. After some time, my father also died, and my mother left the city life and moved here to this village with us. When we came of age, my mother married me to her foster son, gave us this farm, and built a cell for herself, and then entered a monastery. Giving us her parental blessing, she made a will for us to live in a Christian manner, to pray diligently to God, and to try our best to fulfill the most important commandment of God, namely, love for our neighbors, live and help the Holy Brotherhood of the poor, in simplicity and humility, and raised children. That is how we have been living here alone for ten years, trying as best we can to fulfill our mother’s will. We also have a beggar, in whom more than ten people with disabilities and illnesses are now living; we will probably visit them tomorrow.
& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp;& nbsp; Do you have any writer about prayer? I love to read about prayer. There is a new book on prayer, the work of a Petrograd priest. The gentleman came across an interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father and we gladly began to recite it. A little later, the lady came to us, brought tea, and the little ones pulled out an entire snowflake, all silver, something like pastries, which I had not eaten since birth. The gentleman took my book, gave it to the lady, and said: “Here, we’ll make her read it; she reads wonderfully, and we’ll have something to eat with her.” The lady began to read, and we began to listen. While listening to the reading, I listened to the prayer being conducted, inside my heart; the more the reading progressed, the more the prayer developed and pleased me. Suddenly, I saw someone quickly flash past my eyes, as if in the air, like my deceased grandfather. I jumped, but to hide it, I said “Sorry, I dozed off a bit.” Here I felt as if the spirit of the deceased grandfather had penetrated my spirit, or illuminated it, and I felt a kind of light in my mind and a lot of thoughts about prayer. As soon as I crossed myself and tried to drive away these thoughts, the lady read the entire book, and the gentleman asked: “Did you like this work?” And we began to talk. “Very much,” I replied, “but the Lord’s Prayer, Our Father is above and more precious than all the prayers that Christians have; because it is taught by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the interpretation read here is very good, but it is mostly focused on Christian activity, while I had to read in the Holy Fathers and a contemplative, mysterious explanation of it.”A book on the liturgy of the holy Fathers explains that, if this rule is quoted: “For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever” (Mathew 6:13), it should be understood as a suggestion to inspire in the mind the idea that one ought to be conscious in one’s spirit of the continual presence of God, and to imitate the pious popes. This is very fair, but the holy fathers explain it far more spiritually, saying that this expression calls us to lift our minds to heaven, to the heavenly Father, and to remember our obligation every moment to place ourselves in God’s presence and to walk before Him. In the words “Thy kingdom come,” the book says that we should do away with the use of the divine name without reverence, or by means of vain oaths, in brief, that we should pronounce the divine name in a holy way and use it sparingly; but thescret interpreters understand in this direct prayer of our heart, that the most holy name of God should be registered in the heart, and that the strength of our feelings and souls be sanctified and sealed by the help of spontaneous prayers. In the words “give us this day our daily bread,” the book explains that one requests for necessities of the body, not of a vain sort, but essential for bodily life and sufficient help to the neighbors.Oh! What a great work and almost impossible for the inhabitants of the world to attain to inner prayer, exclaimed Mr. Pan, although God might help them to carry it out without hesitation. Do not think, Father, so. If it were impossible and extremely difficult, God would not command it to all. His power lies in weakness; and the experienced Holy Fathers propose ways that make the path to inner prayer easier. Of course, for the hermits of the world they indicate particular and higher means, but they also command convenient and guiding means for laymen to achieve inner prayer. I have never come across any such detailed description, said Mr. Pan. Please, please, let me read it to you in “Dobrotolyubost” . I brought my “Dobrotolyubost” , found an article by Peter Damaskin in part 3 on page 48, and began to read the following: “We must learn to invoke the name of God more than breathing, at every time and place and in every matter. The Apostle says: Never cease from prayer, that is, he teaches us to have things in mind, whether you are doing something, you must have the Creator of things in mind; you have a reason to remember and glorify God, and thus you are always praying, and therefore your soul will always be at peace.” Now, look here, how this method of constant prayer is convenient, easy and accessible to anyone who has at least some human feelings.” They liked it very much. Mr. Pan hugged me with delight, thanked me, looked at my “Dobrotolyubost” , and said: “I will definitely buy such a book for myself; I will get it from St. Petersburg soon; and for the sake of memory, I will copy this article that you read, – tell me.” And he soon copied it perfectly. Then he exclaimed: “My God! I have an icon of the saint! (it was probably the icon of John Damaskin.)” He took the frame, put the written sheet under the glass, and hung it under the icon, saying: “Here, the living word of the servant of God, under his image, will often remind me to carry out this saving advice in his life.”After their companions left, the three of us remained in the room. Here the lady brought me a white shirt and stockings. I bowed at her feet and said, “I will not wear my mother’s stockings; I have never sewed them, we have always worn them under my clothes.” She ran back again and brought her old coat, made of thin yellow cloth, and cut it into two pieces for me. The father, saying that the poor man’s socks were almost ruined, brought his new shoes, which he used to wear over his boots, then he told me, “Go into that room.” I went, changed my clothes, and came back. They seated me on the chair, and started dressing me. The father began to wrap my legs in the sheet, and the mother began to put on the shoes. At first I would not let myself be dressed, but they ordered me to sit and be silent, that Christ had washed the feet of His disciples. I had nothing to do but to cry, and they began to weep.
The story of conversion and the life of the landowner
Forgive me, dear brother, I asked you not only out of curiosity, but also out of goodwill and Christian participation in you, and also because about two years ago I saw an example that gave rise to my question to you. You see, there came to us a beggar with a passport from a retired soldier, very old, very poor, almost naked and barefoot, speaking little and simply, like a steppe peasant. We took him in for a pension. A few days later he fell seriously ill, so we moved him into this gazebo, calmed him down and began to visit him and take care of him ourselves. Finally, he was probably approaching death; we prepared him, calling our priest to confess him, anoint him, and make his preparations. On the eve of his death, he arose, requested a sheet of paper and a pen from me, asked that I lock the doors and not let anyone in until he had written a will to his son, who he asked to be sent to St. Petersburg at the address he had given. I was surprised when I saw how he wrote, not only in an elegant, highly educated handwriting, but also in a beautiful, correct and very touching piece of writing. I will read you his will tomorrow; I have a copy of it.
Being in such a painful state, I realized my sins, repented, confessed, and freed all the people around me who had served me, vowed to torment myself with all kinds of work for the rest of my life, and hid myself in a wretched image, so that I could be the last servant of the lowest class of people for my sins. As soon as I decided on this with determination, then all the visions that had tormented me ceased. I experienced such joy and pleasure in reconciling myself with God that I can’t fully describe it. Here I also experienced firsthand what paradise means and how the kingdom of heaven is revealed within our hearts. Soon I recovered and carried out my plans, and with a retired soldier’s pass I secretly left my homeland. And for 15 years now, I have been wandering throughout Siberia. Sometimes I was hired by farmers to do hard work, and sometimes I provided for myself with the name of Christ. Oh! During all these tribulations, what peace of mind, joy, and peace I experienced! Only one who has been miraculously taken from the burning hell by the mercy of the Intercessor can fully feel this. Speaking of this, he handed me his will to be sent to his son, and the next day he died. But now I have his letter of will in my bag, tucked inside my Bible. If you wish, I’ll read it now. Please be kind!
I unfolded it and read: In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit of Holy Trinity exalted. Dear son,
For 15 years now, you haven’t seen your father, but he is in a state of uncertainty, occasionally letting you know about yourself, nursing for you the paternal love that forces me to send you these premonitions as a lesson in life.
You know how I suffered for my carelessness and careless life, but you have no idea how I was blessed in my unknown wanderings, enjoying the fruits of repentance.
I am calmly dying in the arms of my good and kind benefactor, because the benefits poured out on a father deserve to reach a merciful son. Convey my gratitude to him as you can.
Wishing you my parental blessing, I swear to you to remember God, keep your conscience, be careful, kind, and prudent, deal with your subordinates as gently and lovingly as you can, do not despise beggars and strangers, and remember that a dying father also tormented his soul in misery and humiliation.
Calling on you with the grace of God, I calmly closed my eyes in the hope of eternal life, with the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.After the Lord’s service, the priest, the servants, and all the beggars went to the dining table together, and there were as many as forty beggars; and there were the lame and the sick, and the boys. They all sat down. What a silence and hush there was! Taking courage, I said lightly to the master: in monasteries, the lives of the saints are read at the dinner table; how about you, and you have a circle of older men. The master turned to his wife and said: indeed, Masha, let’s establish such an order. This will be reprehensible. Here, at the first meal, I will read, then you, and then the priest, and then the brothers, one by one, who are able. The priest, after eating, began to speak: I like to listen, but the humble servant does not have the time to read or preach. As soon as you come home, you do not know how to return all the worries and concerns; and it is necessary and necessary; the boys are a lot, and there is plenty of cattle, all day long in the hustle and bustle, not to read nor to preach. Hearing this, I shuddered, and the lady, sitting beside me, grasped my hand and began to speak: the priest is saying this with humility, he always humiliates himself; and he is the kindest and the most godly of lives; he has been a widow for twenty years and has been raising an entire family of grandchildren, and he often serves. At these words, the following saying of Mykyti Sfyfat in Dobrotolubie came to mind: according to the inner state of one’s soul, the nature of things is measured, that is, whoever one is, one judges others in the same way; and he goes on to say: He who has attained true prayer and love does not distinguish the nature of things, he does not distinguish the righteous from the sinner, but loves all equally and does not condemn, as God does; just as the sun shines and rains on the righteous and the wicked.
&nbs nbs ; One day, when I was in the presence of the Lord, it was as though there was a great fervent prayer, a strong desire for fervent prayers, and for a whole day there was no more solitude or silence. I felt in my heart as if there were a wave that wanted to break through and spill out into all my limbs, but as I kept it back, a great pain in my heart arose, one that demanded silent calm and nourishment through prayer. Here I discovered why the true creators of prayer, that spontaneous in them, fled from people and hid themselves in obscurity, as well as why the Reverend Isaac and even a spiritual and useful conversation, but comprehensive, is called vain speech, just as St. Ephraim the Syrian says: Good speech is silver, and silence is pure gold. In reflecting on all this, I went to the poor man; there everyone was resting at lunch. I went up to the attic, calmed down, rested, and prayed. When the beggars got up, I found the blind man and took him outside the yard; we sat alone and began to talk.
Having read these words, I began to think that this was very convenient for me, and I began to recite a soft prayer about my sewing work, and I liked it. Those who lived with me in the house noticed this and began to laugh at me; a sorcerer or a magician, why are you constantly muttering? or what are you praying for? I, in order to conceal this, stopped moving my lips, and only started praying in one language. Finally, I became so accustomed to praying that the language itself, day and night, uttered it, and I liked it.
We went out with the blind man, and we walked slowly, page after page, ten to fifteen per day, and spent the rest of the time in secluded places, reading Lovingkindness. I read it to him in the order that the deceased elder had shown me, starting with the book of Nicetas the Monk, Gregory Sinaita, and so on. With what eagerness and attention he listened to this, and how much he liked it and enjoyed it! Then he began to ask me questions about prayer that I could not answer.
After reading the necessary part from Lovingkindness, he began to insist on me actively showing him how to locate the heart with the mind and how to enter the divine name of Jesus Christ into it, and how to pray with inner joy. I began to tell him: here you do not see anything, but you can imagine with your mind what you have seen before, that is, a person, or some object, or a part of your body, for example, a hand or a leg, you can imagine it as vividly as if you were looking at it, and you can direct and focus on it even though you are blind? I can, the blind man answered. So you can imagine your heart, focus your eyes so as to look at it through your chest, and quickly imagine it, and listen carefully with your ears how it is beating. When you get used to this, start to connect the prayer words with each beat of your heart, looking at it. Thus, with the first beat, say or think Lord, with the second Jesus, with the third Christ, with the fourth Forgive me, and with the fifth me, and repeat this many times. This is convenient for you, because you already have the beginning and preparation for heart prayer. When you get used to this, start to enter and withdraw the entire Jesus prayer into your heart along with your breathing, as the fathers teach, i.e. taking the air in, say, imagine: Lord Jesus Christ, and when you breathe out, say Forgive me! Do this more often and more, and soon you will feel a subtle and pleasant pain in your heart, then there will be warmth and expansion there. In this way, with the help of God, you will achieve the joyful inner prayer of the heart yourself. But at the same time, be very careful to avoid images in the mind, and all kinds of visions. Do not accept any images; for the holy fathers strictly advise you to keep the mind closed during inner prayer, in order not to fall into beauty.
The blind man, when he had listened to all this with respect, began diligently to act in the manner indicated, and at night, when we stopped to spend the night, he mostly engaged in this for a long time. After a few days, he began to feel a strong warmth and an inexpressible pleasure in his heart, and he also had a great desire to follow this prayer, which opened in him a love for Jesus Christ. Sometimes he began to see light, although he did not notice any objects or things in it; sometimes it seemed to him, when he entered his heart, as if a strong flame from a burning candle was burning sweetly inside it and, shooting through his throat outward, illuminated it; and he could even see distant things in this flame, as happened once.
I told him: love Jesus Christ and give thanks; but beware of taking different visions for direct revelations of grace; for this often happens, of course, in the order of things. The human soul is relatively unrelated to place and matter. It can see in darkness, and very far away, as what is happening nearby. We only do not give strength and flow to this spiritual ability either by the dependency of our body or by the confusion of our thoughts and scattered thoughts. And when we concentrate on ourselves, get distracted from everything around us and become clearer in our minds, then the soul enters its purpose and acts to the utmost, this is a natural matter. I heard from the late elder of mine that not even prayerful people are capable of this, whether pained or not, see light in a dark room, distinguish objects, feel their double, and penetrate into other people’s thoughts. And when prayer originates directly from God’s grace, it is so pleasant that no words can speak, and nothing material can be applied to it, nor compared to anything; everything sensory is low compared to the sweet sensations of grace in the heart. My blind man listened to this with diligence, and became even more humble; his heart’s prayer developed more and more, and delighted him. I was glad about this from my heart and thanked God for having granted me to see such a blessed servant of His.
Eventually we reached Tobolsk, I took him to the charitable foundation, left him there, and, after a loving farewell, went on my way.
For a month I walked slowly and deeply felt how instructive and encouraging good living examples are; I often read Good-Lovingship and believed everything I told the blind prayer person. His instructive example ignited in me zeal, gratitude, and love for the Lord; the prayer of the heart so delighted me that I did not think there was anyone happier on earth than me, and marveled at how much greater and richer a delight there might be in the kingdom of heaven. I not only felt this inside my soul, but everything outside also seemed to me in a wonderful state, and everything drew me to love and praise God; people, trees, plants, animals, all seemed to me like family, on everything I saw the image of the name of Jesus Christ. Sometimes I felt such ease as if I did not have a body, and I did not walk, but flew blissfully in the air; sometimes I entered entirely within myself and clearly saw all my makings, marvelling at the wise composition of the human body; sometimes I felt such joy as if I were made a king, and for everyone’s sake I wished, as if God would give me to die as soon as possible and descend in thanksgiving at the very steps of His kingdom.
Trial on the road and the story of the old soldier
Apparently, I was feeling an immense delight in these sensations, or it was a manifestation of God’s will, but after a while I felt some trembling and fear in my heart. Would there not be some misfortune or trouble awaiting me, like for that girl I taught the Jesus Prayer in the chapel? Thoughts entered my mind like a cloud, and I recalled the words of St. John of Krapivna who says that he who frequently teaches is condemned to disgrace and suffers misfortunes and temptations for those who have benefited from him spiritually. Overcoming these thoughts, I intensified my prayer, which drove them away completely, and I was cheered by saying to myself, “Let God’s will be done!” I was ready to endure everything, no matter what misfortunes and pride Jesus Christ would send me. And those who I had just revealed the mystery of the inward entrance and inner prayer to were also prepared for our meeting through direct Divine revelation. Pleased with this, I continued on with joy and prayer, and enjoyed my old life again. The days were rainy, and the road was so dirtied that it was hard to get my feet out of the mud, so I went through the steppes, and did not see any settlement for miles; eventually, towards evening, I saw a yard alongside the road and thought: ‘Here I shall ask for a rest and shall spend the night, and tomorrow morning, if God gives his blessing, the weather might be better.’
“I sat there a while, thinking how long it would take her to calm down, and I said to her: ‘Where, mother, shall I sleep? I’m tired from the road.’ Here, Father, is the bedding, and I laid a bench near the front window and spread the bedding and put my head on it. I fell asleep, and my eyes closed as if I were asleep. The cook kept stirring around for a long time; at last she went away, putting off the fire, and came to me. Suddenly the entire window, with the frame, the panes, and the broken planks, let out a terrible crash, the whole house shook, and there was a heavy howl, scream, and wail outside the window. My grandmother jumped in fright in the middle of the floor and fell to the ground. I stood up without any thought, thinking that the earth had split open beneath me. And there I saw two yamakers bringing a man into the house, all covered in blood so that I couldn’t see his face. That frightened me even more. It was the camp sergeant who had been riding here to change the horses. The yamaker had not managed to turn properly into the gate, and the whip had slammed into it, knocking the window out, and since there was a ditch in front of the house, the cart had turned over, and the sergeant, falling, had ridden his head deep into the pointed nail used to hold the railing. The sergeant had asked for water and wine to pour over his wound, smeared it with wine, and drank a glass, then shouted, ‘Horses!’ I went over to him, saying, ‘How are you doing, Father, riding with such agony?’ ‘I’ve had my health from God,’ he said, ‘and I’ve ridden along.’ The servants dragged my grandmother to the stove in the corner, without feeling anything, covered her with a blanket, and said, ‘It was only a delusion of fright; she will recover.’ The servant who had been drinking wine became sober again and went back to yard duty.”(p136) Six years after this event, walking past a female monastery, I went to the church to pray. A strange abbess took me into her cloister after lunch and ordered that tea should be brought. Suddenly unexpected guests arrived; she went out to them, leaving me with the nuns, her daughter-in-law. The humble nun who served the tea aroused my curiosity to ask: how long have you been in this convent, mother? She replied, 10 years; I was brought to this convent mad, and God has shown me mercy here. Here the abbess left me in the cell and made me a novice. Why did you go mad, I asked. It was out of fear. I was employed on such a post, and at night, during my sleep, the horses tore the window out; frightened, I became distraught. I was brought around by my relatives to holy places for a whole year and here I have just recovered. Hearing this, I was overjoyed and praised God, wisely doing everything for the benefit of the one who performs it.
I had many different experiences. If I relate them in order, I could not tell them all in three days. Would you like to hear one more occasion?
Here is what he said: The priest called me to himself and left me to have lunch. At the table I said to him: How piously and for a long time you serve! “Yes,” he replied, though it is not liked by the parishioners and they complain, but there is nothing to do; for I love every prayerful word before I think about it and enjoy it, and then I pronounce it aloud, but without inner feeling and compassion every word uttered will be wasted, both for myself and for others; it is all in inner life and in prayerful prayer! “And how little,” said the priest, “are people engaged in inner activity!” This is because they do not want to, they do not care about spiritual, inner education, said the priest. I asked again: how can we achieve this? It seems very difficult. To become spiritually enlightened and an attentive and inner person, one should take up a text from the holy scriptures, and dwell on it alone for as long as possible, meditating and reflecting, and a light of understanding will be revealed. The same must be done in prayer: if you want it to be pure, proper and pleasing, you should choose a short prayer with few strong words, and repeat it many times and for a long time, and then you will feel the taste for prayer. I mentally thanked God for showing me such a true shepherd of his church.
I was a young and beautiful girl; my parents arranged my marriage: in order to have a wedding tomorrow, the groom came to us, and suddenly, not taking ten steps, fell down and died, never breathing! I was so frightened by this that I refused to get married and decided to live in celibacy and go to holy places to pray to God. But I was afraid to set out on the journey, for if I were too young, evil people would scold me. So an old woman who was my acquaintance taught me to always say the Jesus prayer wherever I went, and she firmly assured me that with this prayer no misfortune could happen on the journey. I believed her and went home safely, even to distant holy places; my parents gave me money for this.
So I lived alone for about three years. The boy who served me had quick wits and turned all my household chores around; he cleaned the room, stoked the fire, cooked my porridge, and boiled the samovar himself. However, he was an extremely lively and restless simpleton; he was always running about, knocking, shouting, laughing, and bouncing, which very much disturbed me. And I, because of illness and boredom, always loved spiritual reading. I had a wonderful book by Gregory Palamas on the Jesus Prayer: I read it almost non-stop, and little by little I began to recite the prayer as well. My boy disturbed me, and no threats or discipline could keep him from causing mischief. So I came up with this method: I enclosed him in a room on the benches, telling him to say the Jesus Prayer constantly. At first, he didn’t like this at all, and tried in every way to avoid it, often retreating silently. In order to force him to follow my orders, I had a blade by my side. When he was saying the prayer, I would calmly read a book or listen to him say it, but as soon as he finished, I would show him the blade, and he would be so frightened that he would begin reciting the prayer again; and that would calm me down, because there would be silence in my house. After some time, I noticed that I no longer needed the blade; my boy was now more willingly and diligently following my orders; then I noticed a perfect change in his lively character, he became quiet and silent, and got on better with the household chores. This comforted me, and I began to give him more freedom. And what happened? He got so used to saying the prayer that he almost always said it, without any of my force. When I asked him about it, he said that he felt an inexplicable urge always to say the prayer. And how do you feel doing this? Nothing. I just feel good when I say the prayer. And how do you mean, good? I don’t know how to say. It is fun, is it? Yes, it is fun.
The poor boy was already twelve years old when the war in Crimea began. I went to see my daughter in Kazan, and he went with me. They put him in the kitchen among other people, and he was very sad and complained to me that people were playing and chattering with each other, and they were mocking him and distracting him from prayer. Finally, three months later, he came to me and said: I’ll go home. I cannot stand the noise here. I said to him: How can you go such a long way alone and in winter? Wait until I go, then I’ll take you too. The next day, my boy was gone. Everyone was looking for him, but they couldn’t find him anywhere. Finally, I received a letter from people who had remained in our hamlet in the Crimea, saying that my boy was found dead in my empty house on April 4, the day after Easter. He was lying on the floor in my room, folding his hands on his chest, his cap under his head, and in the same cold kitchenette in which he had been with me and had gone. So they buried him in my garden. Upon receiving this news, I was very surprised at how quickly the boy had reached the hamlet. He had left on February 26, and on April 4 he was found. In one month, he had to travel about three thousand versts, God willing, and on horseback. After all, it would have been a hundred versts a day. And besides, in cold clothes, without a passport and without a single kopeck for money. Let us assume that it is possible that someone might have driven him part of the way, but this could not have been done without the special Providence of God and care for him. My boy, I said to the gentleman at last, tasted the fruit of prayer, and I, even in my old age, have not yet come to his level.
After that, I began to tell the gentleman: what a wonderful book, Father, the book of St. Gregory Palamas that you wanted to read, I know it. But it is mostly about the unconscious prayer of Jesus, and read a book called Dobrotolubie; there you will find a complete and perfect science of how to reach the spiritual prayer of Jesus in your mind and heart and to taste the sweetest fruit of it; at the same time, I showed him my Dobrotolubie. He, I noticed, was happy to take my advice and promised to get his hands on such a book.
My God, I reasoned to myself, what strange miracles of God’s power do not come from this prayer! And how wise and instructive this event is; the boy’s harshness taught her prayer, and it also served as a means of consolation! Don’t these same harshness of God’s angels meet us on the path of prayer? And what are we afraid of and troubled by when our Heavenly Father’s hand, full of infinite love, shows us these trials and adversities, and when these harshness teach us to study prayer more diligently and lead us to the consolation of the ineffable?
And having finished these accounts, I told my spiritual father: Forgive me, for the sake of God, I have already spoken too much, and the holy fathers call speaking, although spiritual, but unrestrained, gossip. I must go to see my fellow pilgrim of Jerusalem. Pray for me, the wicked sinner, that the Lord might, with His great mercy, arrange my path to good.
Always wishing, my dear brother in the Lord, he answered, and the gracious grace of God shone upon your path and accompanied you, like the angel Raphael with you!
Three Keys to the Inner Prayer Treasury
Found in the Spiritual Possessions of the Holy Fathers
In my heart is kept the word of your mouth
The mind tries to trick people with all kinds of tricks, so that bring them to ruin
If each person has his own specific properties, inclinations, and abilities, then achieving the same goal happens in different directions, in different ways, guided by it. Similarly, achieving the goal of inner prayer acts is by means of many paths, as we read in the observations of the holy fathers.
One of these ways is common both for success in prayer and for success in the Christian life: unconditional obedience, as Simeon the Theologian says; the works of charity and asceticism, as the Church proclaims in its chants: the works that you found, divinely inspired, in the visions of the East (Tropárion) eliezer; outer prayer for inner prayer: Lord, teach us to pray; special gracious influences, such as: Cappas Calivis once touched the icon of the Mother of God, after two years of prayer to her, suddenly felt sweetness and warmth that fell into her heart; The young George, in a simple prayer, suddenly saw an inner light and accepted an unceasing automatic prayer, etc.
There are other essential ways to inner prayer that seem to be directly related to it. There are three such ways, as we find in the holy fathers.
1) The part& ie;of calling on the name of Jesus Christ;
If quantity leads to quality, and frequent, almost continuous invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, although at first and scattered, can lead to attention and warmth of heart; since the human nature is capable of adopting a certain mood through frequent use and habit. In order to learn to do something well, one must do it much more often, as one pious writer said; and St. Isaac the Syrian says that frequency begets habit and appeals to the nature (Ch. 7). As can be seen from the observations of experienced men, this is how it happens with regard to interior prayer as follows: the one who wants to attain interior prayer resolves to invoke the Divine Name frequently, almost continuously, that is, to pronounce the Lord’s Prayer out loud: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner.” Sometimes this is abbreviated, that is, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” as St. Gregory of Sinai teaches. He adds that the abbreviated invocation is more convenient for beginners, though he does not deny either one or the other, only advising one not to frequently change the prayer verbs in order to more easily get used to the invocation. And in order to even more stimulate the constant creation of prayer, the pupil considers himself bound by viewing the time, knowing the number of times he should invoke, that is, as many hundreds or thousands of prayers he should say out loud during the day and night, not hastily, but by speaking and straining the mouth and lips. After some time, the mouth and tongue of the disciplined person acquire such a habit and as a kind of self-movement, that they already move of themselves with the expression of the divine name, even without a voice. Then the reason listens to this movement of the tongue and gradually gets purified from distraction and comes to the attention of prayer. Finally, one can imitate the poverty of the mind in the heart, as the fathers express it, that is, the mind, having returned to the heart, warms it with the warmth of divine love, and the heart itself will move without compulsion, freely, with ineffable joy, invoking the name of Jesus Christ and pouring out the plea, “My heart watches.” About the fruitfulness of frequent rational invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, St. Isaac wonderfully expressed: as the rain that increases on the earth falling down, it also supports the earth, so the earth of our heart, invoked joyfully by the name of Jesus, works and delights us, the more frequently it is invoked.
Although the method described, based on the observations and experiences of the holy Fathers, is sufficient to be a convenient guide to achieving the desired goal of interior prayer, there are still higher methods, namely: attention and bringing the mind into the heart. This first method is suitable mainly for those who have not yet been accustomed to attention and are not yet able to work successfully on the heart, or it can be an introduction and assumption to the following methods. However, according to differences in properties and abilities, one may choose whichever is more convenient for them, as St. Nicholas the Monk says.
Second Key: Attention of the mind to the heart
The sixth principle of mindfulness is the observance (bibliostasis), as St. Nikon the Ascetical says, or the concentration of the mind on oneself, and the deepening of it into some specific object, while leaving all external thoughts and images. As it is necessary when one is engaged in prayer, the Holy Fathers Callist and Ignatius assure us, quoting the words of St. Nil Sota, that the mind which seeks prayer must draw it to itself; for prayer imitates more than anything else the Lord’s way of doing so, and it is expedient to take care of it (The Good of Eloquence, 2nd book, chapter 24). St. Isaac of Nineveh writes similarly: as for thoughts, listen carefully to them, if you wish to speak with Jesus in prayer (chapter 90); and also: the atmosphere of the joy and silence of the heart is filled by inner mindfulness (chapter 91), which “is as necessary for prayer as the lamp for the light of a lamp” (chapter 102). Similarly, Nikon the Ascetic concludes, on the basis of his teaching on interior prayer, that if it is not convenient, according to the pattern he has set, to enter the heart, then one should use every possible kind of mindfulness in prayer, which, without a doubt, will open the inner door and develop interior prayer, as the Holy Scriptures assert this truth, that without mindfulness one cannot commune with God, saying: Cease and understand that I am God.
Thus, one who wishes to achieve interior prayer by means of mindfulness should stay in solitude as much as possible, avoid conversation with people, perform prayer not in a hurry, and not too suddenly, but with some arrangement, deepen the mind in the prayer words, as is the case when one reads a book attentively, sometimes invokes, and asks for his or her graciousness: sometimes, when one has formed a prayer, one should be silent for a while, as if waiting for God’s response, try to maintain mindfulness both in distraction and always remember that one has chosen to be in constant prayerful attention to the Lord, and keep one’s mind purified from thoughts.
Third Key: Calm Breathing and Rhythm
The third key is to enter oneself, or the heart. Without extending our reasoning here, we present the image and teaching of the Holy Fathers about deepening and entering the heart, according to the ways they have tested, as faithful guides to the true spiritual interior prayer. We present the instructions on this subject of the Holy Fathers in their own words, dividing them for convenience into three rows and arranging them in the following order:
The first row comprises the Fathers who have left us a complete instruction on the Lord’s Prayer, namely: 1) St. Simeon the New Theologian, 2) Gregory of Sinai, 3) Nikon the Anchorite, and 4) the monks Callist and Ignatius of Ksanthropol.
The second row consists of the Fathers who have left short expressions on interior prayer, namely:
1) Saint Simeon of New Theologian, 2) Philoefy of Sinai, 3) Filoelit, Metropolitan, and 4) Wsernonfty and John.
In third place, we put the saving story of Abba Filimon. He mentions the path of asceticism throughout.
Saints’ instructions on inner heart prayer
First group of instructions
1) Instructions of St. Simeon the New Theologian
St. Simeon the New Theologian describes the method of entering into the heart in the description of the third form of prayer, in word 68 (page 163, in the Russian translation of the second edition):
The third form of prayer is truly amazing and indescribable, and for those who do not know it thoroughly, it is not only inconvenient, but also seems incredible. Indeed, in our time, this form of prayer is met in a few, at the same time as they are destroyed by the schemes and tricks that the demons use to distract the mind to thoughts in many and diverse ways. For then the mind, being free from everything, has the right time, without any obstacles, to investigate the thoughts that the demons supply, and with great ease to drive them away and offer prayers to God with a pure heart.
After describing the conditions for success in this form of prayer, namely: perfect obedience, and keeping one’s conscience pure, both in relation to God and in relation to people, and in relation to things, and inspiring everything to be done as if you were before God, he continues:
Working in this way, you will align your true and unadulterated path to the third form of prayer, which is as follows: let your mind keep your heart while you pray, and let it turn continuously inside, and from the depths of your heart let it send prayers to God. This is all there is to it: work this way until you taste the Lord. Once your mind is there, inside your heart, and you feel through it that the good Lord is there, it will no longer want to move away from that place inside your heart; then it will say, just as St. Peter did: “It is good to be here, and it will always look inside the heart and turn without cease, driving out all the thoughts that the devil stirs up.”
There are three things you should keep in mind first of all: worry about everything, even the blessed, and not only the unblessed and the fleeting, or else you will be dead to everything, have a pure conscience in everything, so that it does not betray you in anything, and have perfect impartiality, so that your mind does not wander to anything. Then sit in a particular silent place alone, lock the door, turn your mind away from any temporal and fleeting thing, bow your head with your head, and thus concentrate your attention within yourself (not in the head, but in the heart), bringing there your mind and the sensory eyes, and watching over them. Having your mind there, try as much as possible to find it, where the heart is, so that, having found it, your mind is already fully there. At first you will find some darkness and roughness inside; but then, if you continue this exercise of attention day and night, you will gain some incessant joy. The mind, by practicing this, will reach the place of the heart, and then you will see at once things within that you never saw or knew. From the moment something comes up from which side and appears in this world, before it enters within and thinks, or imagines, the mind immediately chases it away and destroys it by the name of Jesus, that is, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. From that moment, whenever any thought arises or appears, before it enters within and thinks, or imagines, the mind immediately chases it away and destroys it by the name of Jesus, that is, Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me. Another thing that usually happens with this work, with God’s help, you will learn from experience by keeping attention and holding Jesus, that is, His prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!
2) Instructions of St. Grigory the Hermit
St. Grigory the Hermit sets out the teaching on inner, heart-to-heart prayer and a way to practice it in his three articles on silence and prayer, placed in the section “The Blameless” of the first part of his “Dobrotolubii”, pages 112-119. Here is a shortened extract from them:
We should speak to the Lord as a choir, with a heart-to-heart prayer, but we do not understand the greatness, honor and glory of the grace of the resurrection, and we do not care about growing spiritually through the fulfillment of the commandments, and we do not rise to the state of wise contemplation, and we fall into indolence, through which we fall into the abyss of insensibility and darkness. It often happens that we even remember little about whether there is a God, and we do not know at all what we should be, as children of God by grace. We believe, but do not act on faith, and after being renewed by the Spirit in baptism, we do not stop living carnally. If we sometimes begin to perform the commandments after repentance, we do so only externally, not spiritually, and we distance ourselves from spiritual life to such an extent that the manifestations it takes in others seem to us to be injustices and errors. Thus, we remain dead in spirit until death, living and acting not for Christ, and not corresponding to the definition that the one born of the Spirit must be spiritual.
Sometimes by the grace of baptism, received in Holy Ordination, in confession of Christ Jesus, tarnish is removed from it, and it is only covered with earth. But prudence and thankfulness require that every effort be made to uncover it and bring it to light. How must this be done?
There are two ways to this end: first, this grace is opened by laborious observance of commandments, so that the more diligently we execute them, the more clearly does this grace reveal its splendor and its brilliance; and secondly, it is obtained by constant invocation of the Lord Jesus, or, what is the same, by a constant remembrance of God. The first method is powerful, but the second is so powerful that the first gains its full force from it. Therefore, if we genuinely wish to discover the hidden seed of grace within us, let us hasten to cultivate this last spiritual practice and keep only one thing in our hearts, prayer, not merely in its outward form, until it has warmed our heart to an inexplicable love of our Lord.
The efficacy of this prayer in the heart is twofold: sometimes the mind proceeds by drawing close to the Lord in the heart with unceasing remembrance, and at other times the power of prayer, by itself being driven to heat by vehemence, draws the mind into the heart and brings it to nourishment of the Lord Jesus’ call and to holy devotion. In the first case the power of prayer begins to manifest itself by subduing the passions through the keeping of the commandments, by the warmth of the heart, owing to an intensified invocation of the Lord Jesus. In the second case, the Spirit draws the mind into the heart, maintaining it there, keeping it from wandering about, as is usual. In both cases the mind is either active or contemplative: by its activity it overcomes the passions with the help of God, and by its contemplation it beholds God as far as man can see Him.
The active spiritual prayer takes place in this way: sit down on a chair at a height in the center of the room, lower your mind from your head to your heart and keep it there, saying with full possession of mind and heart, «Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!» In this condition, keep your breathing down, to avoid the embarrassment of your breath, since this could dispel your thoughts. When you notice thoughts, ignore them, whether they are simple, good, or even bad thoughts. As you put your mind in your heart and constantly cry out to the Lord Jesus, stop and listen to those thoughts that are false. Fitful breath can spoil them. If you have noticed that thoughts arise, do not give in to them, even if they are simple and good, and not only vain and wicked. As soon as you arrange your mind in your heart and call on the Lord Jesus frequently and patiently, you will soon break down such thoughts and extinguish them with the invisible power of God’s name. The Holy Archpriest says, “With the name of Jesus, defeat the warriors. There is no other weapon, neither in heaven nor on earth, more powerful than this.”
When in such a work one becomes exhausted and the body and the heart become weary from the constant effort of the Lord Jesus’ call, then rise up and sing, or meditate on some passage of Scripture, or remember death, or read, or study needlework, or something else.
When you undertake this work of prayer, it is appropriate for you to read only books that expound the teachings of the inner life, of sobriety and prayer, namely, the Ladder, the words of Isaac the Syrian, the ascetic writings of Maxim the Confessor, Simon the New Theologian, Enoch, Philo of Sinai, and others. Read other kinds of books until such time; not because they are bad, but because it is unbecoming for you, with your true state of mind and desire, to occupy yourself with such books: they may distract your mind from prayer. Read a little, but with depth and assimilation.
Do not abandon prayer either. Others keep a great prayer rule, others quite abandon the prayer book, praying to the Lord with a single reasonable prayer. You should choose the middle ground: do not pray many prayers, because this causes embarrassment, but do not abandon them, in case of weakness and relaxation. If you see that prayer works in you and does not cease to move in your heart, do not abandon it and do not engage in the prayer book. This would mean leaving God within, going out from there and extending the conversation to Him from the outside. For those who do not yet have the action of prayer, it is necessary to pray a lot and even in excess, in order to constantly be in this abundant and varied prayer, until the pain of such laborious prayer warms the heart and the action of prayer begins in it. Whoever finally tastes this grace should pray in moderation and spend more time in rational prayer, as the fathers commanded. In the event of inward relaxation, it is necessary to pray or read the writings of the fathers. Excessive use of music is unnecessary, when the wind is blowing the sails: they are needed when the wind drops and the boat stops.
The great weapon of those who have enemies is to keep the broken cry in prayer, so as not to fall into arrogance from the pleasures given by prayer. Whoever preserves such a joy-sure, will avoid all harm. True, not magical, inner prayer is the one in which the warmth, arising from the Lord’s prayer, puts fire in the earth of the heart and inflames the passions, like thorns. It illuminates the soul with delights and the world, and comes not from the clear or stinking land, nor even from above, but bursts from the heart, like a source of water, from the life-giving Spirit. Love this one and return to acquire it in your heart, keeping your mind constantly non-dreaming. Fear nothing with it; for He Who said: Rejoice, do not fear, is with us Himself.
3) Guidelines of Nicéphoros the Monk
Nichiphor the monk explains in his article on sobriety and guarding the heart (Praise, part 2, page 36-43) how to enter the heart in the state of purity.
Those of you who wish to experience the fire of the heavenly heart in their feelings and to experience intelligently what the kingdom of heaven is like, come, and I will tell you the science of the heavenly life, or rather the art that effortlessly and without toil leads its maker into the haven of impartiality. Because of our fall, we have left the path; return to ourselves, turning away from the external. Forgiveness and kinship with God are not possible for us if we do not return to ourselves and enter inside. Only inner life is truly Christian life. All the fathers testify to this.
Thus, the brother asked Avva Agathon: What is more important, bodily work or guarding the heart? The old man answered: A person is like a tree; bodily work is like leaves, and guarding the heart is like fruit. Since, according to Scripture, every tree that does not bear good fruit will be uprooted and thrown into the fire, it is evident that you should devote all your care to the fruit, that is, to guarding the heart. However, for us, it is also necessary to have a leafy garment, that is, bodily work.
Saint Lyssiphon says: Close the doors of the cell for the body, the doors of the mouth for the tongue, and the inner doors for the evil spirits. While sitting at a height (that is, having fixed attention on the heart), observe, if you are able, what and in what numbers are arriving to the father, to enter the vineyard of your heart and to harvest its grapes. Having worked, the watchman (that is, the healer of the heart) gets up to pray, and then sits down again and bravely takes up the same task (that is, the attention to the heart and prayer).
Saint Macarius the Great teaches: The main task of the ascetic is to enter his own heart, to create a struggle with the devil and to resist his thoughts, to fight against him.
Saint Isaac of Syria writes: “The main thing is to enter your inner treasury, and you will see the heavenly treasure. The lily is hidden in your heart, that is, inside you. Therefore, wash yourself of sin, and gather yourself inside your heart: there you will find the degrees by which you may climb the heights.”
This is the saying of Carpathius: much effort and labor is needed in prayer in order to attain an undeterred state of thoughts, this is the inner heart heaven where Christ lives, as the Apostle says: “Do you not know that Christ lives in you?”
Here are the words of St. Symeon the New Theologian: Since the time when man was expelled from Paradise and separated from God, the devil and his demons have been given freedom day and night to sway every person’s imaginary power. The only way to protect oneself from this temptation is to constantly remember God. Whoever permits thoughts of God to upset him can hold his mental strength at bay. So teach all the holy Fathers. This is the most important thing among all works; almost everyone acquires it through instruction. Very rarely do some people obtain it directly from God, by the grace of their faith. Therefore, we must seek out a teacher who knows the matter. If such a teacher does not exist, then, invoking God’s help for the purifying of the heart and through tears, do what I tell you. It is known that the breath we breathe, passing through the lungs, carries the air to the heart. So sit down and, concentrating your mind, lead it through the breath to the heart and compel it to
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; The most important points of the instructions of St. Callistus and Ignatius Ksanatopul are:
< h3 class = “wp-block-heading”> 4) Instructions for Callist and Ksanatopuls
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; The beginning of life for God is jealousy and all strenuous effort to live according to the saving commandments of Christ; the end is the perfecting of what is given to us by divine grace in baptism, or what is the same: to put off the old man with his works and desires, and to dress in a new spiritual one, in Christ Jesus, as the divine Paul says: “My dear child, let him be your spirit until the day of resurrection.”
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; When we are baptized, says St. Zosimo, then our soul shines more than the sun, it is purified by the Holy Spirit. Like pure silver that lies against the rays of the sun, and it emanates rays from the glory of the Spirit. Not by its own essence, but by being illuminated by the sun; so the soul that is purified in baptism receives the rays of the glory of the Spirit, and is itself internally glorious. Alas! But this glory, ineffable and terrible, is only in us for one or two days, and then we extinguish it, stirring up a storm of worldly concerns and passionate deeds.
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; In the divine baptisms, that is, in holy baptism, we receive a full divine grace. If, after that, we hide it under the turmoil of worldly concerns and passions, then we can renew it and cleanse it by penance and the fulfillment of divine commandments, and see its natural brilliance again. This happens to the extent of each person’s faith and the fervor of striving to live by faith, especially with the blessing of Lord Jesus Christ. St. Mark says: Christ, the perfect God, gave those who were baptized a full grace of the Holy Spirit, which requires no program from us; it opens itself to us and is clearly wrought in proportion to the fulfillment of the commandments, until we reach the fulfillment of Christ in proportion to our age.
Thus, since the beginning and the root of salvific action is to live according to the commandments of the Lord, and the end and the fruit is to restore the grace of the Spirit, which we have been given through baptism, but which is buried in our passions, and which is revealed once again by the observance of God’s commandments: we are duty-bound to proclaim this gift. Let us purify and see it more clearly. The diaconians of the Lord, John, tells us that he who keeps the Lord’s commandments with the Lord is with the Lord. The Lord Himself explains this even more clearly, saying: “He who keeps My commandments loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and appear to him. When someone loves Me, My word dwells in him, and My Father loves him, and He will come to him and make His dwelling among him.”
This exact fulfillment of the saving commandments is not possible for us without the Lord Jesus Christ, as He Himself says: “Apart from Me you can do nothing,” and as the Apostle teaches that “there is no other salvation.” He is the way, the truth, and the life. That is why our glorious teachers and masters, with the living and Holy Spirit in them, wisely teach us to first of all pray to the Lord and ask Him unhesitatingly for our mercy, and to constantly bear His supremely holy and sweetest Name in our hearts, mind, and spirit, and to never sleep, rest, eat, or drink. For just as in the time when we do not have such a calling, all evil and destructive things flow into us: so in the time when we do have it, all the opposite is driven away, and nothing good is deficient, and there is nothing we could not do, as the Lord Himself said: “Whoever is in Me and I in him, he will grow.”
Therefore, realizing our own nothingness and placing all our hope in the Lord, and loving the commandments with a readiness to lay down our lives rather than violate any of them, let us direct all our efforts to getting used to and establishing ourselves in this continuous invocation of the Lord’s saving Name, which destroys all evil and creates good. To adapt this work, the holy fathers pointed out a particular activity called an art or even the art of arts. Here we present to Your Holiness Nicholas’ natural art, how to enter into the heart through breathing, which greatly helps to concentrate the thoughts.
Intend to understand that all the fathers taught this. Saint Gregory the Theologian says: I beg you, brothers, never cease to practice this rule of prayer. Somewhere else he says: it is proper for everyone, whether he is eating or drinking, sitting, working, traveling or doing anything else, to call out incessantly: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” and “the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, going deep into our hearts, calms down our minds.” Therefore, stop constantly invoking the name of the Lord Jesus that your heart may devote itself to the Lord and the Lord to your heart, and that the two may become one. And yet again, do not separate your heart from God, but keep it always remembering the Lord our Jesus Christ, until the name of the Lord is established within your heart, and do not think of anything else except the glorification of Christ in you. Saint Lysimachus says, “Let the remembrance of Jesus be united with your breath.” And Saint Isaac writes: If you wish to cover with shame the thoughts of others and to be constantly sober in your heart, let the prayer to the Lord Jesus become attached to your breath, and within a few days you will find your desires fulfilled.
Know moreover that all such adaptive positions of the body are ordered, are determined by detailed rules, and are considered necessary until pure and unparalleled prayer arises in the heart. When, however, by the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have attained this, then, having left many and various works, you will be more united with the one Lord by the pure and unparalleled prayer of the heart, without needing these adaptations.
Therefore, if you wish to dedicate yourself to the life of Christ Jesus, striving to reach that which, from the time of infancy, you may have attained that complete, age-appropriate fulfillment and desire to run to the Lord in prayer in the heart, in order not to waste it with your prayer rules. This is how Philip teaches: whenever the time comes, in any time or at any hour, and in any work, to pray to the Lord in the heart with a pure and unparalleled heart, in order thereby, from childhood as infants, you may fully attain that complete, age-appropriate fulfillment toward Christ Jesus (see Phil 4:4). Never forget that when, at times, the Lord may grant you a pure and detached prayer, you should in no way destroy it with your prayer-rule formulas. Thus, as Isaac the Syriac teaches: whether night or day, the Lord shall bestow upon you a pure and detached prayer that, resting therein, you will abandon your own rules and, as far as possible, strive to cling to the Lord God, and He will illuminate your heart in spiritual action.
When you have attained the unquitting presence of prayer in the heart, then as Isaac the Syrian teaches, you have achieved the end of all virtues and have become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Then prayer will not cease, whether you sit, stand, eat or drink, or do anything else; even in sleep, prayer-form hovers from the heart easily. If prayer becomes silent in sleep, it nevertheless secretly carries on its spiritual action unfailingly and continuously.
A second group of precepts
1) Messages of Isaiah the Presbyter
1) Vigor is a continuous absence of thought, silent in the heart, in which it absorbs Christ Jesus, the Son of God and God, and Him alone, so that it always breathes incessantly and incessantly calls out to Him, and leans against its enemies with Him, and has the power to leave sins (confess its sins).
2) Sobriety is the firm establishment and stationing of the mind at the door of the heart; so that it sees as strangers’ thoughts approach, these thieves, hears what they say and what they do, these destroyers, and how these demons draw a line and lay a trap trying to capture the mind through dreams and seduce it. If we find it hard to pass through this operation, then it will clearly show us the art of mental trickery (ch. 6).
3) Images of temperance: the first is to look down irretrievably on vanity or imitation; the second is to have a heart constantly silent and speechless and prayerful in every thought; the third is to constantly call upon the Lord Jesus Christ in humility; the fourth is to have a constant remembrance of death in the soul; the fifth is the most effective of all – to look up to heaven and not reproach the earth in any way (chapters 14 to 18).
8) Bа diavol-jak лев рикаючи гoдит с своїми полчищами понякшo поглинути хібно. Нехай не припиняються в нас ніколи серцева увага, тверезість, розумі вужа, і молитва до Христа Ісуса, Божого нашого. Бо кращої допомоги, окрім Ісусової, не знайти тобі на все життя, бо тільки Він один Господь, як Бог, знає демонські кови, обходи та лукавства (гл. 39).
9) Якій смачний сіль подарує хліб і всяку їжу, захищає неймовірно м’ясо від гниття і зберігає надовго в цілості, так розумій і про розумне зберігання вигаданої насолоди і дивовижного в серці діяння. Бо і це божественно придає насолоду і внутрішній, і зовнішній людині, проганяє сморід худих думок і зберігає нас постійними в добрі (гл. 87).
10) Наскільки пильно заслухаєшся до розуму, настільки з теплим бажанням будеш молитися Ісусу; і знову наскільки недбало відчувається увага до розуму, настільки віддалишся і від Ісуса. І, як перше, сильно висвітлює повітря розуму, так останнє, тобто ухилення від тверезіння і солодкого покликання Ісуса, зазвичай зовсім нeзробит його (гл. 90).
11) Неперервне, з теплим якимось бажанням, сповнене солодощів і радості, заклику Ісуса робить те, що повітря серця від крайньої уваги наповнюється втішною тишею. Того ж, щоб серце повністю очистилося, винуватцем буває Ісус Христос, Син Божий і Бог, всього доброго винуватцеві і творцеве. Бо Він сам каже: Я Бог із створенням світу (гл. 91).
12) Народжується боговдатний стан від невпинного пригадуваня і заклику Господа нашого Ісуса Христа, якщо ти не будеш недбати про постійне до Нього в розумі моління і безперервне тверезіння, як про єдину настійно необхідну справу. І, дійсно, одне й те ж завжди повинні ми мати справу – заклик Ісуса Христа, Господа нашого, з гарячим серцем волавши до Нього, нехай дасть Він нам причаститися і скуштувати Його імені. Бо почастішання є матір уроки, як до чесноти, так і до пороку; а навиком вже така успадковується, як і природа. Прийшовши в такий стан, розум вже шукає своїх супостатів, як звіролівний пес зайця в кущах; але цей шукає для того, щоб пожерти, а той для того, щоб вбили і повалити (гл. 97).
13) The experienced wise man David says to the Lord: I will keep my kingdom with you. And the preservation of our inner and imaginary state of silence, from which all virtues are born, depends on the help of the Lord, who has given us commandments, and drives away, when we constantly call to Him, the unneeded forgetfulness that most often destroys the inner silence, like water that extinguishes fire. Therefore, do not give in to sleep because of carelessness or give up for your own ruination, but with the name of Jesus, you may discipline your adversaries. And this is the sweetest name, and it will be a breath of life for you, and you will then know the benefit of silence (Chapter 100). 14) When we are unworthy, shunning and fearing, we may receive the divine and pure Mysteries of Christ, the God and King, about to enter into us, then will we show most markedly our composure, the preservation of reason and earnest attention, and this divine fire, that is, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, requires sin upon sin. For as soon as He enters into us, He immediately drives away from the heart the evil vices of anger and forgives us once for all our earlier sins; and our reason is then free from the restless importunity of evil thoughts. If, after this, you diligently preserve your reason, then when you once again receive the divine Mysteries, the divine body will more and more illuminate our reason and make it shine like a star (Chapter 101). 15) We should ardently guard what is precious; and whatever is precious in truth for us is that which keeps us from every evil, both real and imaginary. Such is the preservation of reason with the calling of Jesus Christ, to always gaze into the depths of the heart and unceasingly silence all thoughts, and even turn away from what appear to be right thoughts, so that they do not hide under them their vices (Chapter 103). 16) We should always turn the name of Jesus Christ about in the space of our heart, like the lightning flashing in the air before it is raining. Those who have spiritual experience of the inner struggle know the trick of it. We should conduct this inner war as if we were conducting a real war. First of all, we should pay attention; then, when we notice an evil thought approaching, we should spit out with anger the words of curses from the heart; and then, still, with prayer, we should turn our hearts to the calling of Jesus Christ, so that this demonic delusion will instantly scatter and the mind won’t go in the wake of that dream, like a child, who is lured by some expert magician (Chapter 105).17) How marvelous is the fruit of silence to the mind, in which sins, striking first at the mind only by thoughts, if they are accepted by the heart, become later gross sins of the senses, all being cut off by the immovable virtue of sobriety in our inner man, which does not allow them to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside, and to enter and remain inside,21) On the right, unceasingly cleanses the mind from sensual and distracting thoughts, and it is immediately possible to discern vain thoughts that are formed in the mind. On the left, it is a question of exposing and exposing the intention that made a bid to enter our minds through the perception of a sensual object. The same thing that immediately extinguishes and disperses every intention of the adversaries, every thought, every dream, every idol, and every pillar of malice, is the call of the Lord. And we ourselves see how strongly Jesus, our great God, affects them and how he protects us, the humble, the poor, and those who are unworthy of anything (chapter 153).2) Sentences of Filotheia Synajskaya
1) The Creator of holiness enjoys such a mind, and the purpose is to seek to calm the memory of God with wisdom, so that a marigold or a precious stone may perfectly calm the heart. It helps to abandon everything, even the body, and to disregard real life, in order to obtain the one God in our hearts (chapter 1).
2) From the morning, it is necessary to stand firmly and unwaveringly at the gate of the heart, with a firm memory of God and an incessant prayer to Jesus Christ in the soul, and with this thought to kill all the sinners of the earth (Gl 2).
3) Sobriety is rightly called a path, because it leads to the kingdom, and to what is inside us, and to the future, and to the Creator of the mind, because it produces and polishes the spiritual customs and converts passion into sobriety. It is also similar to a window of light through which God descends to the mind (chapter 3).
4) Where humility, a memory of God with sobriety and attention, and a prayer often directed against the enemies, there is the place of God, or the heavenly heart, in which the host of demons fears to stand because God lives there (chapter 4).
5) The first doors leading to the spiritual Jerusalem, to the attention of the mind, are the wise silence of the lips, even though the mind is not yet silent; the second is a moderate moderation in food, drink, and sleep; the third is the purification of the mind and body, the unceasing memory and reflection on death (chapter 6).
6) Sweet remembrance of God, that is, Jesus Christ, with a heartfelt anger and a saving enmity (to everything that is sinful), usually destroys all the charms of thoughts, various imaginations, words and dreams, shameful visions, and, in short, everything that is hostile, to swallow our souls. Jesus, when called, destroys all easily. For there is no salvation for anyone but Jesus Christ. This is what the Savior himself said, saying: “Without Me you can do nothing” (chapter 22).
7) Clothe your heart day and night with the sainthood by keeping your heart from thoughts that darken the mental mirror, in which only Jesus Christ should be reflected and written. Let us constantly seek the kingdom of heaven within our heart; and, of course, we will find there the secret grain, the seed, the leaven and everything else if we cleanse the eye of our mind. For this reason, our Lord Jesus Christ said: “The kingdom of God is within you” (chapter 23), meaning the divinity that is within the heart.
1) The setting of the sun makes it night; and when Christ departs from the soul, it is enveloped in the darkness of passions, and the beasts of desire begin to ravage it. The sun of the senses has set, and the beasts hide in their dens. Christ illuminates the mind that prays; and every world of this department departs, and the mind goes about its own work, that is, the divine instruction of the day (Letter 45).4) The words of Constantine the Great and John the Prophet
5) The Lord said: “Ask and it shall be given to you.” So, pray to the All-Blank God; let Him send you the Holy Spirit of Comfort and he who came will teach you everything and reveal all the ceremonies to you. Look for Him in your guide; He will not allow vanity or confusion to enter your heart; He will not allow thoughtlessness, dispersion or sloth to enter your mind. He will enlighten your eyes, strengthen your heart, and raise your mind. Attachment to him, believe in him, love him (Reply 136).
6) When you see that an enemy’s combination prevents you from praying, do not engage in argumentation with him, but try to call upon the name of God, and God will help you and cancel the wiles of the enemies (Reply 424).
7) The perfect prayer consists in talking with God, without dispersing your thoughts, gathering all your thoughts and feelings. A person enters such a state when he dies for all people, the world and everything that is in it. In prayer, he has nothing in mind except that he is waiting for God and conversing with Him (Reply 79).
Agiorname on Avva Filimon
1) It was said about Avva Filimon the hermit that he retired in some cave, not far from the Lavra, called Romieva, and gave himself to ascetic struggles, mentally repeating to himself what the Great Arseny is said to have repeated to himself: Filimon, for your sake? There was a good time in that cave. His task was to make garlands and knit baskets, which he gave to the economy, and from him he received small loaves of bread on which he lived. He did not eat anything, except bread and salt, and not every day. He probably did not take any care of his body, but, practicing contemplation, he was in divine illumination, and, enjoying the incomprehensible mystery from there, he was in spiritual maturity. Going to church on Saturdays and Sundays, he always went alone in self-immersion, not allowing anyone to approach him so that the mind would not be distracted from its action. In church, however, he stood in a corner and bowed his face down, shedding streams of tears, constantly holding the recitation and in the mind turning the hearts and figures of holy fathers, especially Arseny the Great, to whose footsteps he sought to follow in every way possible.
2) Când se răscula vorba adevărată în Alexandria și în apropierea ei, el a plecat de acolo și s-a retras la Lavra Nicanor. Prietenosul său, cel prea sfânt Paivich, i-a dat locul său individual și i-a furnizat liniște. Un an întreg nu a permis nimănui să-și vorbească cu el, și el era singurul care-i deranja. Doar atunci când îi dădea hrana. A sosit Învierea Domnului și, când s-au întâlnit, au discutat și s-a ajuns la întrebuințarea vieții de pustnic; atunci, Filipon a recunoscut că și prea sfântul Paivich avea în el o dorință prețioasă (pustnicim). Paivich-i a învățăt doar cuvinte de sfințire, scrie și nu scrie, îndemnând pe fiecare să-și afle mîntuirea, că fiind singur se pot atinge cele mai perfecte îmbinări, că singurul nemijlocit loc de ascetism este cel pe care-l alege Domnul. Mîntuirea poporului se face prin pustnicie, iar pustnicul este cel care îngrijește de inimă, pe care Dumnezeu o mai apreciază și mai mult decît orice altă virtute.3) Filimon said to him: It is necessary for you, by means of silence, to completely purify the mind and give it the unceasing activity of the spiritual. Just as the eye, turning to the sensible, is astonished by the visible, so the pure mind, turning to thought, is delighted with the spiritual vision, so that you cannot turn it away from it. And as it is revealed by means of silence from the passions and purified, so the conduct (spiritual things) is pleasing. The refined mind is when it tastes the essence of enjoyment and is united with God. Then it has the dignity of a king, no longer feels poverty and is not overcome by temporal desires, even if you offer to him all the kingdoms. Therefore, if you want to achieve such things, run away from the world and diligently follow the path of the saints, abandon the care for your outward appearance, dress in poverty, and adorn yourself with humility. Keep your actions simple, your speech unpretentious, your behavior wicked, and your voice weak. Love to live in poverty and be despised by everyone. Most of all, be careful to preserve your mind and be sober. Be patient in every affliction and preserve the spiritual blessings that you have obtained intact and immobile. Care for yourself carefully and do not accept any of the passions that creep in secretly. For although silence controls the passions of the soul, if we allow them to flare up and rage, they usually become more furious, and those who allow this cause greater sin, just as bodily wounds become incurable when they are rubbed and torn apart. Perhaps one word can take the mind away from the remembrance of God when demons are hungry for it, and the senses agree with them. It is a great feat and a fearful thing to preserve the soul. Therefore, it is necessary for you to completely withdraw from the world and, having torn the soul from all bodily sympathy, to become homeless, destitute, without property, without money, selfless, carefree, detached, indifferent to worldly matters, humble, compassionate, good, gentle, meek, quiet, and silent. For it is impossible to write on wax without first erasing the letters already engraved on it, as the Great Basil teaches us. Such was the picture of the saints, who, having completely withdrawn from all worldly customs and preserving in themselves an undisturbed heavenly thought, were illuminated by divine laws and shone with pious deeds and words, having died in the flesh assailed By restraint, godly fear, and love. For by incessant prayer and study of the divine scriptures, the discerning eyes of the heart are opened, and they see the Ruler of Powers, and there is great joy, and a divine desire for inexhaustible action flashes up in the soul, with the flesh being preserved by the action of the Spirit, and man is made altogether spiritual. This is what the creators of blissful silence and the most intense ascetic life prefer, who, having cut themselves off from all human pleasures, converse constantly with the only Sovereign in heaven with the One who is.
4) Hearing these things, the pious brother, struck with the love of God, left his place and, together with Filimon, reached the ascetic cell where the greatest of the fathers had achieved the path of virtue. They settled there, entrusting their cares to the monastery authorities, for they wished to remain in silence. And they remained there by the grace of God in complete silence, gathering on sabbaths and feast days for general worship, while remaining alone the rest of the days; and each one performed his prayer and service separately.9) Brother Ivan, leaving Moravia, came to the holy and great father Filimon, and, embracing his feet, said to him: What should I do, father? For my understanding is wandering here and there, where it should not be. And he, after a while of silence, said: this illness (of the soul) is the heritage of those who are external and it dwells in them. And in you it is, because you have not yet received love for God, the warmth of love and the knowledge of Him has not yet come to you. The brother says to the elder: What should I do, father? He said to him: Go, take into your heart the hidden teaching, and it will purify your mind from this. The brother, not being initiated into what was given by signs, says to the elder: What is this hidden teaching, father? And he said to him: Go, be sober in your heart, and in your thoughts speak soberly with fear and trembling: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me! In this way the venerable Diacoh explains the beginning.11) His brother asked him again: I see many vain dreams in my sleep. The Elder said to him: Do not be lazy or discouraged; but before you go to sleep, do many prayers in your heart and resist the thoughts and actions of the devil to lead you by his will, so that God accepts you. As much as you can, take care to fall asleep with psalms on your lips and wise admonitions, and in no way allow your mind to accept the thoughts of others, but with what thoughts you prayed, to which you fall asleep and on your bed, so that when they are in you, they will also be when you pray for them. Also say the Holy Sign of the Orthodox Faith before going to sleep, for the life of God is the source and protection of all good things. 12) His brother asked him again: cultivate love, Father, tell me, what thoughts does your mind have? Teach me to save myself. He said to him: Why do you want to know this? He rose up, embraced the holy man’s feet, and, licking them, begged him to tell him. The Elder, after a long time, said: You cannot bear this yet. It is natural for a man to do a service worthy of each feeling, who is used to turning in the goods of truth; and it is not possible for this gift to be granted to one who has not become completely clean from the vain thoughts of the world. Therefore, if you truly desire this, keep the secret admonition in a pure heart. For if prayer and admonition in the Scriptures are constantly present in you, then the eyes of your soul will be opened, and there will be great joy in it, and a sense of something indescribable and ardent, at the warmth of the Spirit and flesh, so that the whole person becomes spiritual. Therefore, whether day or night, God will enable you to pray undisturbed with a pure mind; abandon your prayer rule and, as much as you can, strive to cling to God. And He will illuminate your heart in a spiritual act for which you have set yourself. 13) He added: once a hermit came to me, and when I asked him about the ordering of his mind, he told me: I spent two years in prayer before God, from the heart of my soul, I asked Him earnestly to grant me that my prayer, which is the work of my labour and patience, should be constantly and undisturbed printed in my heart.
And behold, still he said to him: Think about things that are vain, which are in the heart, are the disease of an immaculate heart that has been given to neglect; therefore, we are commanded by the Scriptures to maintain intact our reason, to sing soberly, without distraction, and to pray with a pure mind. Therefore, brother, God wants us to show our zeal towards Him, first of all by works (ascesis and good deeds), then by love and constant prayer, and He will show us the way of salvation. It is obvious that there is no other way that leads to heaven other than perfect withdrawal from all evil, acquisition of all good, perfect love for God, and being with Him in righteousness and truth, so that when we have achieved this, we will quickly rise to the heavenly glory. But at the same time, everyone who wants to ascend to the heights must immediately put to death the vices that exist on earth. For when our soul delights in the sight of true goodness, it no longer turns to any of the passions that are aroused by sweetly sinful indulgence; but having turned away from any bodily sensuality, it receives the revelation of God with a pure and untainted mind. Therefore, we need a great self-restraint, many bodily labors and purification of the soul, and we need God to enter our hearts so that we may do His divine commandments without fault, and so that He Himself may teach us to observe His laws by radiating His actions upon us through the grace of the Spirit. By works and temptations we must purify the image by which we were created as reasonable and capable of understanding and being made like God, bearing sensations pure from all impurity through their re-melting in the furnace of temptation, and being melted into the dignity of royalty. God and the human race created a partner in every good thing that can be seen in the mind, the joys of the angels of glory, dominion, power, beginning, authority, incomprehensible light, glorious honor. But when you correct a virtue, do not let your mind rise above your brother, for you corrected it, and he hated it; for this is the beginning of pride. When you struggle with a temptation, do not mourn or despond because the temptation is determined; but rise up and return to the face of God, saying from the heart with the prophet: God judge those who oppress me, for I am not strong against them. And He, seeing your humility, will soon send you his help. When you are traveling with someone along the road, do not entertain a vain conversation, but give the mind a spiritual act that it had in order to make that good habit stay in it and to forget the worldly pleasures, and he would not leave the habitation of self-control.
13) A little later he came again and, beginning to speak, asked: “What should I do, Father? My vigil in the night burdens me with sleep and prevents me from praying properly and from deepening my devotion; and I want to take up work when I am singing. “The elder replied: “When you can pray properly, don’t touch the needle; but when you become distracted, detaching yourself from the thought, handle the needle.” He asked again: “Do you yourself, Father, not become burdened with sleep during your vigil?” The elder replied: “Not so easily; but whenever distraction comes, I move a little against my thought, but begin to read from the beginning of the Gospel of John, raising the eye of my mind to God, and it immediately disappears. I do something like this also with thoughts, especially when I come upon one of them, I meet it like fire with tears, and it disappears. But you have not yet learned how to arm yourself against them; but strive to carry out the private teachings of the holy fathers, such as the day prayers, the daily service of the third, sixth, ninth, and vespers. And by all means, don’t do anything out of human consideration, and be careful not to divide yourself from God your own by having a quarrel with anyone in the brotherhood, so that you do not remove yourself from God. Also, try to keep your mind from being scattered, so that it listens intently to inner thoughts. When you are in the church and intend to receive the Holy Mysteries of Christ, do not leave it until you receive the perfect communion. Once you have settled in one place, do not leave it until the time of dismissal; inside, keep thinking of being on heaven and awaiting the Lord with the holy angels, the moment of receiving Him into your heart; prepare yourself for this with fear and trembling, so that you can be a worthy communicator of the holy spiritual gifts.14) One day I asked a brother who was with me, as follows: Were you tempted by demonic delusions while you were living in the desert? He answered: “Forgive me, brother, if God allows the devil to come to you and tempt you, as I was, I don’t think you would be able to bear such temptations. I am seventy years old, or more, I have endured many temptations while living in various deserts, in complete silence; what I have experienced and endured from these demons is not worth telling to those who have not yet been tempted by silence. In these temptations, I always did this: I placed all my trust in God, to whom I gave vows of renunciation, and He soon rescued me from every difficulty. Why, brother, do I now make no plans for myself? I am completely unable to do so; but knowing that He cares for me, I easily bear the temptations that come to me. And I present to Him only this, to constantly pray. Great help comes from this and from the hope that the more attacks of suffering and trouble I experience, the more crowns I am granted for perseverance, for the righteous Judge balances them against each other. Knowing this, brother, do not yield to cowardice. You have entered into the midst of struggle to fight, and fight, inspired by the fact that there are so many more fighting against the enemy of our race than there are enemies. And how could one dare to stand up against such a terrible enemy of our race if the royal arm of the God of the Word did not embrace us, enclose us and cover us? How could human beings withstand his attacks? For as Job says, “Who will open the doors of his clothing? Who will come to his destruction? Sputters of fire come from his mouth, and sparks of fire spread. Smoke of a devouring furnace comes from his nostrils, and a fire that burns. His soul is like a flame, and its flames come from its mouth. Power is in his neck, and ruin flows before him; his heart is like stone; standing as firm as a forge. It consumes the abyss like a brass furnace, looking upon the sea as a quiet citadel, and a deep pit as a prison. All that is mighty he sees, and the whole of the creatures in the waters.” This is against whom we struggle, brother! This is the number and appearance of the word of this tyrant! Despite all this, victory over him is advantageous for those who, as it should be, live a solitary life, through their absence in themselves of anything that belongs to him, through their renunciation of the world; through their high virtues, and through the fact that we have one who fights for us. For who can say to me, having approached the Lord and taking his fear into account, has not been transformed by nature and has not acquitted himself of divine laws and deeds, has not made his soul bright and capable of shining with divine understandings and thoughts? But holy he never allows her to be, having God in himself, who incites the mind to be eagerly striving for light. And this is how the soul continuously acts, influencing the spirit not to be tempted by passions; but like a king who, breathing a terrible wrath and harmony, ruthlessly mows them down. Such a person never turns back, but, by practice, he acquires victory in the struggle by the influence of his hands on heaven and by reasoned prayer.15) His brother was telling us that Abba Filimon had these other virtues: he was unable to endure empty words, and if someone, in passing, narrated something that did not concern spiritual benefits, he did not comment on it at all. Likewise, when I was going on any matter, he did not ask, “Why are you going?” And when I returned, he did not say, “Where were you? What did you do there?” So, on one occasion, I left for Alexandria for a necessary need, and from there, on a church matter, I went to Tsargrad, without telling the servant of God; then, after spending enough time there, visiting the pious brothers there, I finally returned to him in the hermitage. When he saw me, the elder was surprised, and with the usual greeting, after saying the prayer, he sat down; but he did not ask me anything at all, and was engaged in his customary, rational activity.18) Before that, he added the story of a hermit who had already achieved the state of impartiality and, by the grace of an angel, received bread to eat, but lost this honor through distraction. For when the soul loses its concentrated and concentrated attention, it is overcome by darkness, and the soul cannot thus look upon the One God and tremble with the words of its Lord. “God comes near to me,” says the Lord, “and not God from afar. Or does man hide in secret places, and can he not see him? Does not I fill heaven and earth?” And he recalled many others like them, who had suffered like these. He also mentioned the fall of Solomon, who, he said, had attained such wisdom and, though revered by all because he was like a morning star rising, had, by slight indulgence, lost that glory. Therefore it is a fearful thing to be indulgent to indolence; but we must pray constantly that another plan may be found to spare us from God, and that instead of Him our minds may not be given something else. Only a pure heart, having become the habitation of the Holy Spirit, sees in itself, as in a mirror, God Himself in all His glory.
19) Listening to this, the boy Philemon, who had lived in with Auphios, said to me, “Now I have seen one in whom there is no trace of carnal passions, and who so loves every kind of perfection that he is always transformed by the divine Spirit and raised from glory to glory. He who understands himself, and keeps himself steadily, like on a balance, and works hard to keep from being disturbed by anything or from being caught in some mysterious entanglement; having seen this, I, roused by my zeal for such a way of life, began earnestly to ask him, “How can I obtain the purity of my mind such as they have?” And he said to me, “Go and work; for work is necessary for this purpose, and heart soreness. Godly spiritual blessings, worthy of diligent seeking and labor, will not be ours, if we lie on the couch and sleep. The worldly goods of any man will not be easily gained. Therefore, whoever desires to succeed, does well first to renounce his own desires, to acquire constant sorrow and dispassion, to have no sympathy for the sins of others, and to mourn day and night over them only, and have no profane friendship with anyone among men: for the soul, tortured by remembrance of former sins, is dead to the world, even as the world is dead to her, that is, the carnal passions are then dead to the soul, and the person, undivided by them, is capable of nothing. Moreover, he who has forsaken the world and united with Christ is in silence, and he who loves God preserves His form, and is thereby enriched with His likeness; for from above he receives favor from Him in the form of the Holy Spirit and becomes the house of God, and not of demons, and presents righteousness to God.
Therefore, with all our strength, let us be concerned with the practical works (of piety and acts of virtue), which lead us to beauty, which is an apparent purity, the fruit of which is the divine contemplation inherent in our nature. For acts are a way of ascent to contemplation, as the penetrating and divine mind (of Gregory the Theologian) expresses it. For if we hate what we do, we shall be strangers to all holiness; for however high in piety even one may reach, all the efforts of asceticism are necessary to restrain the sordid drives of the body and to keep on preserving our thoughts. By this means alone can we be brought into contact with Christ. For the more our righteousness grows, the more our spiritual growth expands; and when reason attains its perfection, it becomes completely attached to God and discerns divine light, and it sees the hidden mysteries. Then it truly perceives where wisdom is, where power, where understanding for the knowledge of all things, where long life and where light of eyes and light. When it is engaged in the struggle against desires, it cannot enjoy that. For piety and vices make the mind blind; one cannot see what is good, and the other cannot see what is evil. But when it receives its rest from the noise of distractions and is equipped with spiritual gifts, it becomes entirely radiant with the grace of God, and is incapable of being separated from the contemplation of spiritual things. Such a man is not bound to anything earthly, but has come from death to life.20. This and more was revealed to us by the brother who lived with Avva. But who cannot be amazed at him and at this further example of his great humility? Having been honored with the priesthood many years ago, and having touched heaven with his life and mind, he avoided divine sacraments as a burden, so that for many years of his ascetic life he scarcely consented to partake of the holy communion (for liturgical purposes). But he did not partake of the divine sacraments, even though it was always at risk to do so, because he was in contact with people, although they were told nothing earthly, but something useful to those who sought to speak to him. And when he intended to partake of the divine sacraments, he pestered God for a long time with his prayers, psalmody, and confessions. He was afraid of the voice of the priest who spoke: “Holy and precious are these things,” because at that time, he said, the Church is filled with holy angels, and the Lord Himself is secretly performing the sacraments, transforming bread and wine into His body and blood, which, through Holy Communion, enters our hearts. Why, he continued, should we lightly accept, without hesitation or misgiving, the holy communion of the immaculate Christ’s sacraments, so that we may share in the illumination that comes through them. Many of the Holy Fathers saw holy angels guarding them (against everything unworthy): and so they displayed great silence, speaking to no one.
21) Here is what the brother said: when the elder needed to sell his handicraft, in order to avoid any kind of untruth, falsehood, or superfluous speech, or any other kind of sin, to avoid talking or bargaining, he pretended to be a hermit. Anyone who wanted to buy his handicraft took it from him and paid for it. He made small baskets. He accepted them with gratitude, without saying anything, this generous man.
Summary of the holy fathers’ lessons
Finally, we offer the following summary of the teachings of the fathers found in this book:
Part of the prayer, that is, the repeated repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Attention, or immersing the mind in Jesus Christ, by driving away other thoughts.
Change of prayer words, that is, the uttering of the Lord’s Prayer is sometimes complete, sometimes shortened.
Timefulness, that is, to have the prayer, the psalms, the sitting, the standing with outstretched hands, and then the Lord’s Prayer again and the afternoon reading of the fathers.
Walking before God, that is, to always feel the presence of God and to remember God at all times and in all actions.
Dismantling the world, when thinking about death and about the joy of prayer.
Constant calling on the name of Jesus Christ, at any time and in every situation, if alone, out loud, and in public, only in one’s mind.
Sleeping on a burlap with the Lord’s Prayer.
External prayer for internal prayer.
So, a soul that desires to obtain internal prayer and desires constant communion and the most delightful fellowship with Jesus Christ, come, consider and perform the instructions of the holy fathers as follows:
1) Sit down or better yet, stand in a dark and silent corner in a state of prayer.2) Before starting, kneel down and do not let go of the members. 3) Imagine a place for your heart under your left armpit and fix your attention there. 4) Take your mind from the head to the heart and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” silently, with your mouth, or with your mind, as you please, speak slowly with reverent fear. 5) Try to maintain your attention as much as possible and do not take into account any thoughts, neither bad nor good. 6) Have patient patience and let yourself stand for a long time, forgetting everything. 7) Maintain moderate restraint and humility by force. 8) Stick to silence. 9) After lunch, read the Gospel and the Fathers who meditate on interior action and prayer. 10) Sleep for five or six hours a day. 11) Sometimes pray externally for the action of the interior. 12) Do not touch any crafts that distract. 13) Most often, trust your experiences with the instructions of your parents. 14) “Oh Lord! Send forth the strength of my power,” Saint David used to exclaim. Exclaim, my soul: “Lord, send forth the firm resolve of my attachment to attention! For from You there is both what to want and what to do; let Your help and support help me purify my mind and heart by means of attention, and prepare them for Your abode, Who are the Trinity!
So, you see, my friend, remember that last year I went away with a deaf old man, having a letter from the merchant of Irkutsk to his son in Odessa, to send me to Jerusalem. So we reached Odessa safely and in a short time. My companion immediately hired a place on a ship to Constantinople and went, and I, staying behind, went to look for the merchant’s son. Soon I found his apartment, and, to my great surprise and regret, I did not find this my benefactor alive: three weeks had already passed since his short illness, and he had been buried. This saddened me greatly, but I submitted to the will of God. The household was in poverty, and the widow of the deceased, left with three small children, mourned so deeply, that she kept crying repeatedly during the day and suffered from frequent fainting spells; it seemed she would not live long because of such deep grief. However, she received me kindly; since, given their circumstances, they were not able to send me to Jerusalem, she let me stay with them for about two weeks until the deceased’s father arrived in Odessa to manage, settle accounts, and organize the trading affairs of the orphaned family. So I stayed.
I lived for a week, a month, and another. But instead of coming, the merchant sent a letter informing that, because of his circumstances, he could not come to them and advised them to make an inventory and immediately leave for Irkutsk. The preparations began, and since I noticed they were no longer interested in me, I thanked them for their generous reception and said good-bye and went on my journey again across Russia.
I wondered where I should go now? And, finally, I decided to first go to Kiev, where I had not been in many years. So I set off.
Of course, although at first I was grumbling that my wish to be in Jerusalem did not come true, but it was not without God’s providence, I reasoned, and was comforted by the hope that the merciful Lord would take my intention as a deed and would not leave my poor path unfinished.
That is exactly what happened, because I encountered people who revealed to me many things that were not known to me before, and enlightened my darkened soul to salvation. If I had not been driven to this path by necessity, I would not have met these spiritual benefactors of mine.
So, I walked with prayer in the daytime, and in the evening, when I stopped for the night, I read my The beginning of love to strengthen and rouse my soul to fight against the invisible enemies of salvation.
Finally, after leaving Odessa 70 verst away, I came upon a wonderful event: a large convoy of goods was passing � 30 carriages, and I caught up with them. One of the vans, acting as a leader, was walking ahead of his horse, while the others, gathered together, were walking behind. We had to pass by a pond in which the broken spring ice was whirling and breaking up with water in a circle with a terrible noise. Suddenly, the front young van stopped the horse in front of it, and all the carriages had to stop. The drivers gathered around him and saw that the pond was dissolving. They asked him why he was undressing. And they received the answer that he really wanted to take a bath in the pond. The drivers were surprised � some began to laugh at him, others to reprimand him, calling him crazy, while the senior, young brother of the van that was undressing, began to prevent him from going and push him. He defended himself and did not want to listen. Some of the young drivers, for fun, began to dip buckets, from which nine horses were drinking water and splash the one who wanted to bathe � hurt his head or his clothes, saying: �Here we buy you.� As soon as his body touched the water, he exclaimed: �Oh, how good!� and sat down on the ground, while they still splashed him; then, soon, he lay down and quietly died. Everyone was frightened, not understanding why this had happened. The elders took care and said that they should report this to the court, while others said that such a death was written in his fate.
— I have nothing to say to you about this, my dear brother, except that there are many wonderful and incomprehensible things in nature. This, I think, is arranged by God in order to show more clearly to man the providence and the works of God concerning nature, in unnatural and immediate changes of her laws on certain occasions. I myself once witnessed a similar event: not far from our village there is a very deep rift in the river, although it is not wide; it is even frightful to look at its dark bottom. A bridge has been built from it for pedestrians. A peasant from my parish, a person of family and good behaviour, suddenly felt an irresistible desire to jump from that bridge into that deep river. He struggled with this thought and feeling for a whole week; in the end, he could no longer bear this strong impulse, and, getting up in the morning, he hurried away and jumped into the river. Soon afterwards, having heard a cry, they pulled him out of the river with his legs broken. When they asked about the cause of his fall, he replied that although he now feels a great pain, he is at peace in his soul, that he had fulfilled his irresistible impulse, which had been so exciting him throughout the week that he was ready to give his life to fulfil his desire. He was treated in a hospital for more than a year; I visited him often and, seeing the doctors around him, I would like, as you do, to hear from them about the cause of this case. The doctors all answered me unanimously that it was a(a)… When I asked them for an explanation of this from science, I heard no more from them than that this is a mystery of nature, not yet discovered by science… But I noticed that, if the man who encounters this mystery of nature could call for an irresistible impulse like your ‘racch’ to reach his goal. Indeed, in our lives there are many encounters which cannot be explained clearly.
Thereupon he told me an amazing story. While traveling several days and being quite tired, I came to a large trading town called “White Church.” Since it was late in the evening, I began to look for a place to stay. Just then I happened to meet a person who looked like a traveler, asking around about the house of a local resident named Yerevynov. Seeing me, he came up to me and said, “I see that you, too, are a traveler. Let’s go together and find this town’s native, Yerevynov. He is a good Christian who keeps a wealthy inn and likes to welcome travelers. Here’s a note I have about him.” I agreed with pleasure, and we soon found him. Although we did not meet the owner of the house himself, his wife, a good old woman, kindly welcomed us and showed us a special room on the attic. We sat down, rested a bit, and then the master came in and invited us to have dinner with him. After dinner, we talked, and somehow the conversation came around to the reason why he was called Yerevynov. “I will tell you a wonderful story,” he replied and then began his tale:& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; After dinner, thanking God and the host, we went to our lodging to rest. We still did not want to sleep, and we talked with our companion. He told me that he was a merchant from Mogilev, who had lived in Bessarabia for two years as a servant in one of the monasteries there, but only on a temporary passport, and now he was going to his homeland to obtain permanent release from the merchant community to the monastic life. He praised the monasteries there, their statutes and orders, and the strict life of many pious elders living there, and assured us that the Bessarabian monasteries are as far away as heaven from earth. He persuaded me to go there. At this time, as we were talking, they brought a third traveler to us, it was an under-officer, who had been discharged from the army for some time and was going on a holiday visit. We saw that he was very tired from the road. After praying together to God, we went to bed. Waking up early in the morning, we began to prepare for the journey. And as soon as we wanted to go to say goodbye to the host, we suddenly heard the service for the morning. We and the merchant began to think: how can we go, having heard the service and not having visited the Church of God? It would be better to stand vigil for the morning and pray in the holy temple, and then we would go with a more pleasant heart. So we decided, and we called the under-officer with us. And he told us: “what kind of rest is on the road, and what profit is there for God that we visit the church? Once we get home, we can pray there! Go when you want, and I will not go. While you spend the morning in prayer, I will go five versts ahead, and you can take me home: say in advance how God will bring me.”
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; We went to church, and the under-officer went on the road. After the morning prayer (there was also the morning prayer), we returned to our lodging and began to pack our bags. We looked: the mistress brought us a samovar, and said: “where are you going? Here drink some tea, and have some lunch with us; do we send you hungry?” Not even half an hour had passed, and we were sitting at the samovar, when suddenly our under-officer came running to us, breathless.
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; – I came to you with sorrow and joy.
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; What is it? we asked him.
– And that’s it! While I was saying goodbye to you and leaving, I wanted to go into the tavern to exchange the assignation for small coins and have a drink to ease my journey. I went in, exchanged the money and flew away like an eagle. After walking three versts, I wanted to count the money, just to see if I had given it all to the tavern owner. I sat down, took out my wallet, counted it and everything was all right. Suddenly, I found my passport that had been lying right there, but it was gone, and there were only notes and money. So I got scared, as if I had lost my head. And I understood what was going on: of course, I had hidden it when I made the payment at the tavern. I have to run back. I run, I run, and it will be useless trying again: why, it’s not there! I’m in trouble! When I return, I ask the tavern owner, and he says, “I haven’t seen it.” I’m in despair again. I have to search and wander around the places where I stood and walked. And what? Fortunately, I found my passport, exactly how it was folded, lying between the straw and rubbish on the floor, all trodden in the mud. Thank God! I almost fell off a mountain! Although for being untidy and dirty by the dirt in my teeth, I will be sent to the gallows immediately, but that’s okay, at least I can come home with my eyes wide open. And I came to you to tell you about it, and while running away in fear, I rubbed my leg against a live thrust, so I can’t walk anymore, and I asked for salve to bind the wound.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ How true! Česlav grinned. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ – There you have it, my brother! That’s what you get for not listening and not going with us to prayer – the merchant began. – You wanted to go far ahead of us, but you turned back toward us, and you cagied. I told you not to run ahead, and here you are! And not only did you not go to church, but you even said such words as: “What good is our praying for God.” This, my brother, is wrong. Of course, God does not need our sinful prayers, but out of His love for us, He delights in our prayer. Not only is He pleased by the sacred prayer, which the Holy Spirit makes possible for us to recite and inspires us to utter, but He is pleased by every, as it seems, small cause we do for our salvation, by every inclination we feel. For all these things, God’s infinite mercy bestows generously. Divine love bestows grace a thousandfold more than this worthy human action; if you do a small favor for God, He gives you a gold coin. And if you are just about to go to the Father, He is already awaiting you. You say a short, dry word: “Accept me! Have mercy on me!” And He is already embracing your neck and patting you on the head. What love Heavenly Father bestows upon us! With that very love He rejoices and takes joy in our every, even smallest saving action. And from that very love He rejoices, and to each and every one of them. You find that there is no glory in it from the Lord and no benefit to you if you do little prayer, or if you do some insignificant good thing, for example, that you read a prayer according to the rules, or that you bow down a dozen or eighteen times; you sigh from the heart and call out the Name of Jesus Christ, or have a good thought, or make up your mind to read something salvific, or refrain from eating, or pass over a small offense in complete silence. – All of this to you appears to be inadequate for your perfect salvation, and seems to be fruitless. But no, each of these little actions is not lost to the well, everything is tallied up by the All-seeing Eye of God and is rewarded not only in the eternal life, but also in this life. This is what St. John Chrysostom says. “No good deed, he says, how small it might be, is neglected by a righteous Judge. If sins are judged in such detail that we are to give an account for our very words, for our desires and for our thoughts, then the most good deeds, however small they may be, are examined with particular attention and given a hundredfold recompense.”He will present an example, learned by me last year. In the Bessarab monastery where I lived, there was an old monk of good life. One time he was tempted; he had a great desire for dried fish. And since it was not possible to obtain it in the monastery at that time, he intended to go to the market and buy some. He struggled long with this thought and reasoned that a monk must be content with the food of his brethren and strive to avoid selfishness, and that walking among the people on the market is also improper for a monk. Finally, the evil whisper prevailed over his reasoning, and he dared to go for the fish, indulging in selfishness. When he came out of the monastery and was walking along the city street, he noticed that he had no crosier in his hands, and he began to think: “How can I go as a warrior without a sword? This is improper, and the worldly people will condemn me when they meet me and will be tempted to see a monk without a crosier.” He wanted to return to take it, but when he looked in his pockets, he found it there. He took it out, made the sign of the cross, put it on his hand, and walked quietly. As he approached the market, he saw a horse standing near the stalls, with a huge cart full of huge baskets. Suddenly, this horse, having been frightened, rushed away with all its might and struck with its hooves; it fell on it and, grabbing him by his shoulder, threw him to the ground, although it did not hit him very hard. This was followed by the cart, which had flipped over and all its contents had been shattered. When he got up, he was frightened, but also surprised that God had spared his life, for if the cart had fallen a little earlier, he would have been destroyed just as it was. Without thinking about this any longer, he bought fish, returned, ate it, and, having prayed, went to sleep… In the lightest of dreams, a stranger, a noble old man, appeared before him and said: “Listen, I am the patron of this monastery and I want to warn you so that you understand and remember the lesson, so that the struggle against sensual pleasure and laziness in self-understanding and self-sacrifice allowed the enemy to approach you and he prepared this fatal event for you that burst before your eyes. If you had listened to this warning and expressed it truthfully, it would have saved you from death. After saying this, the old man who appeared hurriedly left the cell, and the monk bowed to him at the door and with that woke up, feeling himself no longer on the floor, but standing at the door in humility.”
The truth is, God’s love for us, sinners, is infinite! Is it not strange that for such a small deed, for taking a few coins out of his pocket and putting them in his hand and calling God’s name, one person was given their life! And on the scales of human destiny, a short moment of Jesus Christ’s call outweighed many hours spent in idleness … Indeed, we have given there, for a small contribution, a precious life … Do you see, brother, how strong the prayer is, and how powerful the name of Jesus Christ, which we call upon! Saint John of Karpakhia in his book “Charity” says that when we pray to Jesus, calling the name of Jesus and saying, “Have mercy on me, sinner,” a secret voice of God answers each such petition, “Child, your sins are forgiven for the past hours.” Prayer is nothing different from prayers of the saints, the righteous and the martyrs, for as Saint Zlatoust says, “Prayer, though it is uttered by us, who are full of sins, instantly purifies.” (Hom. 2) God’s great mercy toward us, and we, sinners and careless, do not want to give even a single hour to Him in thankfulness and exchange the time of prayer, which is the most important, with the worries of life, forgetting God and our duty! For this reason, we are often subjected to misfortunes and hardships, but this is part of God’s merciful plan, which is determined for our understanding and turning to Him.”
He took a book from his pocket and began to read a wonderful tale about a pious Agaphonikos who was taught by his pious parents to read, every day, the prayer “Holy Mother of God, Pray for Us” and other prayers before the icon of the Virgin. He did this every day, as a child, before entering adulthood. Then, overcome by trouble and other concerns of life, he rarely ever read the prayer, and finally stopped doing so altogether. One evening he hosted a traveling man, who told him that he was a hermit from Phaevaida and that he had a vision asking him to go to Agaphonikos and reproach him for failing to recite the prayer to the Holy Mother of God. Agaphonikos explained that he had done so for many years and did not see any benefit from it. Then the hermit told him: “Remember, blind and ungrateful one, how many times this prayer has helped you and saved you from adversity. Your companion fell off the cart with you? He broke his leg, but you were unharmed. And there are many other events I can recall that have happened to you precisely because of this prayer, by which you cultivated your soul for union with God… Remember, continue doing it, and do not leave it abandoned by Her.”
After this, I walked for nine days, enjoying the reminiscences of the stories I had heard from the pious merchant from White Town; then I began to approach Kiev, when suddenly, out of nowhere, I felt a weight, a feeling of weakness, and gloomy thoughts; prayer was difficult, something seemed to unsettle me. Therefore, in order to rest, seeing a forest and thick shrubbery on the side of the road, I went there to sit somewhere by a lonely hut and read Dobrotolyubye to strengthen my weakened soul and calm my cowardice. Finding an uninhabited village, I began to read Prelate Cassian of Rome, in the fourth part of Dobrotolyubye about eight thoughts. With delight, I read for half an hour, then I suddenly saw someone standing motionless on his knees, 50 steps away from me, in the depths of the forest. I was pleased to see this, thinking that he was certainly praying to God, and I resumed reading. After reading for an hour or more, I looked at this person again, and he continued standing motionless. I was deeply moved by this, and I thought, “Indeed, these are pious servants of God.” As I was thinking about this, suddenly this man fell to the ground and lay down respectfully. I was surprised by this and, not seeing his face, as he was standing with his back to me, it occurred to me that I might go and see who this person was. Approaching, I found him in a deep sleep. It was a village boy of about 25 years old, clean-faced and noble, but pale in appearance, in a peasant coat, tied with a rope for carrying baskets, and there was nothing else with him – no bag or even a stick. Hearing the sound of my approach, he woke up and got up. I asked him who he was. He told me that he was a state peasant from Smolensk province, who was going to Kiev.
Well, just look, he said: I’ve been wandering as a shepherd in our village since childhood, and for ten years everything was fine. Finally, one day, after driving the flock home, I didn’t notice that one of the best sheep was missing. And our forester was a wicked and inhuman man. When he came home in the evening and saw that his sheep were missing, he came to me, started scolding me and threatening to beat me to death, break my arms and legs. Knowing that he was so wicked, I went looking for his sheep in the places where the herd had grazed during the day. I searched, searched, searched deeper into the forest, but there was nowhere to hear anything. The night was so dark, because it was the autumn season. As I went deeper into the forest, which is impassable in our province, a storm suddenly struck. It was as if the trees were huddling together! Wolves were howling in the distance, and I felt such fear that my hair stood on end; the further away I went, the worse it got, and I felt like falling from fear and terror. So I fell to my knees, crossed myself, and with all my might said: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” As soon as I said this, suddenly it became easy for me, as if there were no grief, and the fear passed, and I felt so good in my heart as if I had risen to heaven… I was delighted by this, and I kept saying that prayer without stopping. And I don’t even remember how long the storm lasted, and how the night passed, and look – it was already day, and I was standing in one place on my knees. I stood up and felt perfectly fine. I could see that I couldn’t find the sheep, so I went home, and I felt so good in my heart that I wanted to keep saying the prayer. As soon as I got into the village, the forester, seeing that I hadn’t brought the sheep, beat me to death. That’s when he twisted my leg. So, for six weeks after those blows, I lay almost motionless, only knowing that I was saying prayers, and those prayers comforted me. Then I recovered a little, and began to wander the world; but when it seemed to me among the people that it was boring to constantly encounter sin, I set out to wander the holy places and the forests. That’s how I’ve been traveling now for a year
There were seven versts from Kyiv on the Kitaev Pustel, a place of ascetic life, where a priest lived who was very wise and sober-minded. Whoever met Him became aware of the feelings of repentance, and, returning with the salvific counsel and ease in his heart, knew how to return to God. This completely encouraged me, and I immediately went to see him. After consultation and conversation, I gave him my letter to review. After reading it, he said to me: “My dear friend, you have written a lot of empty words. Listen: (1) you should not mention the sins you have formerly repented of and were forgiven without repeating them, otherwise you would be disbelieving in the power of the sacrament of confession; (3) the Holy Fathers forbid confessing sins, along with all their aspects, and instead, you should recognize them generally, so as not to stir up temptations in yourself and in the priest through a private discussion of them. You have read everything, but the most important thing you have left out is that you do not love God, you hate your neighbor, you do not believe the word of God, and you are full of pride and ambition – in all your sins there is an abyss of evil, and all the branches of our sins against God spring out of these. How can one not love God, the Creator and our Protector? I have nothing praiseworthy.
– Unfortunately, dear, you didn’t fully understand what I was explaining to you. In order to teach you quickly, here I give you a list that I have always followed myself. Read it and you will clearly see the exact evidence of what I have just been saying to you.
The priest gave me a list and I began to read it.
The Confession of the Inner Man Leads to Humility
“Carefully looking at myself and observing the course of my inner life, I am well convinced that I do not love God, I have no love for my neighbor, I do not believe in anything religious and I am full of pride and vanity. All this I really find in myself through a detailed examination of my feelings and actions,”
2) I do not love my neighbor. For not only can I not venture to lay down my life for the good of my neighbor (according to the Gospel), but I would not even sacrifice my honor, good fortune, or peace for the good of my neighbor. If I loved my neighbor according to the Gospel as I love myself, the misery of my neighbor would concern me, and his prosperity would arouse my enthusiasm. But, on the contrary, I listen with greater interest to sad stories about my neighbor, I am not compassionate, but am indifferent, or even worse, I find some pleasure in him, and I do not cover over my brother’s wicked deeds with charity, but rather, with condemnation, disclose them. His prosperity, honor, and happiness do not arouse in me joy as if they were my own, but rather, they arouse in me only a sense of envy or contempt.3) I do not believe in anything religious. Neither in immortality nor in the Gospel. If I were firmly convinced and absolutely believed that beyond the grave there is eternal life with recompense for earthly deeds, then I would constantly think about it; the very thought of immortality would horrify me, and I would regard this life as an alien who is preparing to enter his homeland. On the contrary, I do not even think about eternity and consider the end of actual life as the limit of my existence. A secret thought dwells in me: who knows what will happen after death? If I say that I believe in immortality, then I speak only with reason, and my heart is far from firmly believing in it, which is clearly shown by my deeds and my constant concern for the well-being of corporeal life. If the Holy Gospel, as the word of God, were to be accepted with faith in my heart, then I would constantly study it, enjoy it, and even with profound reverence would look at it. Wisdom, goodness, and love, which are hidden in it, would excite me; I would enjoy the teachings of the Law of God day and night, feed on it like regular food, and be drawn heartily to obey its rules. Nothing earthly would be able to turn me away from it. On the contrary, if I occasionally read or hear the word of God, then either out of necessity or curiosity, without going into a deep attention, I feel dryness, insipidity, and, as if reading something ordinary, I leave it without any fruit and am willingly willing to replace it with reading about secular things.When the priest preached this sermon to me, I was terrified, and thought to myself, “My God, what terrible sins lie within me, and I have not noticed them yet!” So my desire to cleanse them led me to ask for guidance from this great spiritual father, in whatever way I could, by recognizing the causes of all evils, to find a way to correct them. And so he began to explain to me.
With all due respect, I begged this holy father to confess me and to grant me the holy sacraments. So, in the morning, after having received communion, I wanted to return to Kiev with this blessed blessing, but this good father, intending to go to the Lavra in a few days, left me in his desert cell, so that I could freely go to prayer in this silence. And indeed, all those days I spent as if in heaven: with the prayers of my confessor, I, the unworthy, enjoyed perfect tranquility. Prayer flowed so easily and peacefully into my heart that I seemed to have forgotten about everything and myself, I was thinking only of the one and only Jesus Christ!
So I wanted to leave and already went out into the yard, when I unexpectedly saw a man who was not Russian, lying in bed and reading a book, with the door open. He invited me to himself and asked who I was. I told him. Here he began to speak: ” listen, my dear, would you agree to serve me for a week, until I recover with God’s help?
Now, if you like, he said, I’ll tell you more (and he spoke with scholarly precision, for he had said that he had studied at the Academy of Athens). Here’s what happened: many times I’ve heard many God-fearing Christians perform the Jesus Prayer that is the commandment of God’s Word and the tradition of the holy Church, and do so not only in their home prayers, but in the Lord’s temple as well. Listening to this low, impressive recitation of the prayer can be helpful, because one can notice that in many people the spark of this prayer’s singing voice is different, more or less, namely: Some people lower their tone when they say the very first word of the prayer, namely, “Lord,” and then everyone else says the rest of the words in a descending tone. Other people start the prayer on a low note, because they want to raise it in the middle of the prayer, namely, on the word “Jesus,” and at the very end of the prayer, on the word “forgive me”, they quickly change the tone from a low note to a high note. Others start and continue the previous prayers on a low, even tone, but then suddenly rise their tone on the word “Son of God” at the very end of the prayer, when they say, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Others start and continue the previous prayers on a very low, even tone, and then raise it on the word “Son of God.”
Now consider this: prayer is one and the same; Orthodox Christians hold the same faith; everyone knows that the most important and highest of all prayers consists of two subjects – the Lord Jesus and His mercy. Therefore, why do not all express it in the same way, that is, in the pronunciation? Why is it that at each and every place a soul is particularly moved and expressed in a particularly elevated and intense tone? It may be that many say that this is due to habit, or to the example taken from others, or to a concept corresponding to each person’s view, or, finally, to whoever finds it easier and more convenient to pronounce, given his ability to speak. But I think differently. I wish to look for something higher here, something unknown not only to those who listen, but also to those who pray themselves: there is no hidden working of the Holy Spirit which “sighs with a silent groan” in those who do not know how or what to pray. And if each prays in the name of Jesus Christ, in the Spirit of God, according to the revelation of the Apostle, then the mysterious Holy Spirit, working secretly, which “suffers for those who suffer”, gives each person, against his own will, his own grace: one has a reverent fear of God, another has love and another firmness. Therefore, one who has received the gift of grace praises and glorifies the All-Potent Lord, and in his prayer expresses the word “Lord” with a particular feeling and delight, in which he means the greatness and power of the Creator of the world. One who receives the mysterious gift of love is particularly enraptured and overwhelmed with the joy of exclaiming, “Jesus Christ!”, just as one old man was unable even to hear the name of Jesus, spoken in ordinary conversation, without being deeply moved by the sweetness of love. One who unshakeably believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is coeternal with God the Father, bursts forth in a more intense joy and firmness of faith when he utters the words, “Son of God.” One who has received the gift of humility and is deeply conscious of his own powerlessness in the words, “Have mercy on me,” weeps, humbles himself, and with a strong emotion overflows in these last words of the prayer to Jesus, which nourishes hope in the mercy of God and grieves over his own failures. This, I believe, is the reason for the difference in the intonation when the prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is pronounced. From this observation, one can understand (to God’s glory and for one’s own guidance) who is especially touched with emotion and who has what spiritual gift. Some people said to me: “Why, then, are not all these signs of the mysterious spiritual gifts revealed together, in their entirety? Then not one, but each word of the prayer would be imbued with a one-dimensional, marked intonation of the person praying.” I answered this as follows: “Just as the grace of God distributes the gifts of the Holy Scripture, who can try to experience it and enter within the limits of his reason into the disposition of grace?”
I spent five days with this elder, and he slowly began to recover his health. This time was instructive for me, as I did not notice how it was passing, for we in this little hut, as if in a silent prison, were absolutely engaged in nothing but prayer in secret, invoking the name of Jesus Christ, or talking about only one subject, namely, the love of God.
There he began to draw near to Pochaiv. When I was a hundred steps off, I was overtaken by a soldier. I asked him where he was going; he told me he was going home to the Kamianets-Podolsk region. In silence, after walking with him for ten steps, I noticed that he was sobbing uncontrollably, as if he was grieving about something, and he was terribly glum. I asked him: “Why are you so sad?” And he began to cling to me and said: “Good man! If you already noticed my sorrow, then fight hard and swear to not tell anyone about it, and I’ll tell you everything about myself, because death is coming for me, but I have no one to consult.”
And he said to him: “Do you see? I was sent to the army as a noble squire. After serving for six years, it became unbearably hard for me, and I was often beaten for disobedience and drunkenness. I decided to run away. That’s how I’ve been on the run for the last eleven years. For six years, I hid and hid here and there; I broke the skis of horses and made a living by selling them to various thieves; I met a soldier in retirement who was heading home to a distant province. My soldier died and all his bones grew. He went bravely to the distant Astrakhan province. There, I became reasonable and took a job as a worker. I drank, too, and in a year we spent everything we had left from the old days. Once, I had a hard time, and I took an old, bony horse to a farm, and sold it for a penny to a merchant. I went into the forest to wait for midnight. When I lay down there, I fell asleep. My head and hands were left outside. Then that horrible cloud as if descended to the ground, and my old grandfather, who had died twenty years ago, came out of it. Some thieving things I had stolen at different times. I was even more frightened. Squeeze him harder!” And suddenly the ground began to squeeze and press me from all sides so strongly that I could not bear the pain, the oppression and the exhaustion, and I moaned and shouted: “Have mercy!” Squeeze him harder!” And I felt such a sharp pain and oppression that no torture on this earth can compare with it. Finally, this old grandfather took the horseradish I had stolen yesterday, and shouted: “What’s this?” Squeeze him as hard as you can!” And it squeezed me so painfully from all sides that I cannot even describe how cruelly, horribly and exhaustingly it was; as if something was pulling me out of me and stabbing my heart with such pain that I just had to faint, if this torment had lasted even a little. My jaw was torn open. In that moment, with this blow, I woke up in a terrible panic and, squirming as a shaky man, I barely got up and went home. My feverishness lasted for a long time, you see, and now there’s a scar that wasn’t there before. I often get sick and, finally, I began to be afraid of people and ashamed as if everyone knew of my previous frauds. I became confused. So, despite my endurance, I wanted to drown myself. But I came to the conclusion that I won’t live long anyway, and I’ll die soon, because all my strength has disappeared, so I decided to go and say goodbye to my homeland and die there. What should I do now? After all, I can’t take it anymore!”
After listening to all this, I was surprised at myself and praised the wisdom and goodness of God, seeing how he takes sinners by various means, and began to say to him: “My brother!”
But it’s impossible, he said to me, “it seems that when I begin to pray, God will immediately spoil me.”
– You are wrong, brother! The devil puts these thoughts into your head. God is infinitely merciful and has compassion on sinners and forgives those who repent soon. After all, you know the Lord’s Prayer, that is, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Here, pray it without ceasing.
I was surprised and pleased by this, and asked him to tell me in detail what had happened to him.
He stood behind the church. Then a person came out, not very well dressed, but looked like a nobleman, who asked me where candles were sold. I pointed them out. The obidnya went away, and I stayed to pray at the feet of the Mother of God. I did so, and went on my way. After walking a little in the street, I saw an open window in a house, and a gentleman was sitting there reading a book. I could not help but walk past that window, and I saw that it was the same person who had asked me about the candles in the church. As I passed by, I took off my hat, and he called me over and asked who I was, and where I was going; then he offered me some tea and said, “Listen, little man! I am traveling the same way, and I am walking on foot on my way.”I greatly liked this reasoning of his and his desire for prayer, and asked him: “What particular Evangelical instruction do you draw from in the doctrine of prayer?” – From all four Evangelists, he replied, from all the New Testament, reading it in order. By long reading it and reading it thoroughly, it became clear to me the progress of and the right sequence in the teaching on prayer throughout the entire Gospel, beginning with the first Evangelist and moving in a perfectly logical order (systematically). For example: the entry or initiation into the teaching of prayer is set out first, then the form or external expression in words, then the condition necessary for prayer, the means of how to learn it, and examples. Finally, the secret teaching on the inner, spiritual, unceasing prayer to Jesus Christ, which is presented as higher and more fruitful than the formal prayer; then its necessity, the good fruits, etc. In short, the complete knowledge of the prayer exercise is set out in a systematic order or sequence in the Gospel from beginning to end.He was happy to agree and told me: “Reveal your Gospel, look into it, and mark what I shall say” (he gave me a pencil). Please look at these notes of mine. “Here,” he began to say, “first of all, go to St. Matthew, Chapter 6, and read from verse 5 to verse 9 (Mt 6:5-9). Do you see here a preparation for prayer or an introduction that teaches not to begin praying out of piety or in a noise, but in a secluded place and in silence, and pray only for forgiveness of sins and union with God, and not to make many and unnecessary requests for various material needs. Then read on in the same section, from verse 9 to verse 14 (Mt 6:9-14). Here the formula of prayer is given, that is, in what words it should be uttered. It wisely combines everything necessary and required for our life. Then continue reading verses 14 and 15 of the same section and you will see the condition that must be kept in order for the prayer to be effective, because without forgiveness by us of the ones who offend, God will not forgive our sins. Crossing over to Section 7, you will find from verse 7 to verse 12, the means for success in prayer and being approved in hope: “to ask, to seek, to knock”; this strong expression represents the frequency of prayer and the paramount practice in it, so that prayer not only accompanies us in all our activities, but also exceeds them in time. This is the most important characteristic of prayer… We see this example of the frequency of prayer in Chapter 14 of St. Mark, from verse 32 to 40, where Jesus Christ Himself repeats many times the same prayerful language. A similar example of the frequency of prayer is given by St. Luke (Lk 11:5-14) in the parable of the unflagging request of a friend, also in the many times repeated intrusive request of the widow in front of the judge (Lk 18:1-15), showing the commandments of Jesus Christ that should always be in all cases.
After this thorough introduction, the teaching about secret inner prayer of the heart is also revealed in the Gospel of John, and firstly, it is presented in the wise story of Jesus Christ’s conversation with the Samaritan woman, where the inner worship of God in the spirit and in truth that God desires, which is continuous and ceaseless, is revealed. (John 4:5-25). In chapter 15, verses 4 to 8, the power, potency, and necessity of inner prayer, that is, the state of the soul in Christ, in perpetual communion with God, is further illustrated. Finally, read in chapter 16 of the same Gospel, verses 23 to 25. Look how the mystery unfolds! Do you see that the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, or the so-called Jesus Prayer, that is, Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, when repeated often and many times, has great power and more easily opens the heart and purifies it. This can be seen very clearly in an example. The Apostles, who, though they had been disciples of the Lord Jesus for many years and had already been taught by Him the prayer of the Lord, that is, the Our Father, which is also known to us by them, but at the end of His earthly life Jesus Christ revealed to them a secret, of which they had lacked in their prayer to make it decisive. He said to them: Ask not anything in My name. Let it be enough for you to ask in My name whatever you want from the Father; He will give you it. This was the case with them, because after this, when the Apostles learned to bring their prayers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then how much they did of wondrous miracles, and how enlightened they became! Now do you see the bond and fullness of the teaching about prayer, so wisely expressed in the Holy Gospel? If you then proceed to reading the Apostolic letters, you will also find there a consistent teaching about prayer.
Thus, by reading long-term and carefully, one can find many more discoveries of the secret knowledge hidden in the word of God, which escape from the rare or hasty reading of it. Have you now noticed how wisely and consistently, that is, in a mysterious systematic order, the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ unfolds its teachings on this subject, which we have now traced? In what marvelous order of sequence is it arranged by all four evangelists? For example: in St. Matthew we see the beginning or entrance to prayer, its form, conditions, etc. On going further, in St. Mark we find examples; in St. Luke, parables, and in St. John a mysterious exercise in inner prayer, although in all four evangelists (more briefly or more extensively) all this is found. In Acts, the practice and results of prayer are shown; in the Apostolic Letters, as well as in the Apocalypse itself, many tools are inextricably linked with the matter of prayer! That is why I rely only on one Gospel for the study of all paths to salvation.
During the whole time that he pointed out and interpreted for me, I noticed all the obvious places in my Gospel, which was placed next to my Bible. All this seemed very wonderful and instructive, and I thanked him a lot for it.
Then we continued walking for another five days in silence. In this companion of mine, his legs were very sick, probably from the unusualness of walking for a long time, and therefore he hired a pair of horses and took me with him. So we reached your borders and stayed here for three days, to rest, and immediately set off for Hazard, where he desires it very much.
– What a wonderful companion you have! He is probably very knowledgeable because of his piety; I would like to see him.
We are on the same floor; I think I will introduce him to you tomorrow. Now it is late . . . Sorry!
The Sixth Visit
Брат от брата поможем, ибо
град утвержден и высок; он укрепляется
как царство крайне сейское.
(Прип дней, ХVIII, 19).
— Вот по этому вчера, своим словом и обещанием, явившись к вам, привожу с собой и того чесного спутника, кто душевным спасением облегчел мою странницкую путь и кого вы хотелы увидеть.
— Очень нравится как мне, также, полагаю, и этим чесным моим гостям видеть вас обоих и слушать полезное счастливое ваше слово. Вот и у меня: это — преподобный схимник, а это — благодатный иеромонах. Следовательно, где два ли три собраны во Имя Иисуса Христа, там Он и Сам быть обещан; а нас теперь уже и всех вместе в Его Имени, то, разумеется, и благодать Его на нас те ищеднюються!»
— Вчерашний рассказ спутника твого, любимый брате, об огнемяную твою причастность к святым Евангелиям, очень замечательный и поучениящий. Интересно почутить, как позналась тебе эта великая благочестя и тайна?»
– “The gracious Lord, who wishes to be saved by all men and to come to the knowledge of the truth, revealed to me, by His great mercy, this knowledge in a surprising manner, without any human mediation. With great effort I had been a professor at the Lyceum, walking the murky paths of debauchery, being absorbed in the tumultuous philosophy of the world, not for Christ, and may have utterly perished if it had not been for the little comfort that I received from my pious mother and my dear sister, in whom I found agapē. On Boulevard I met and made the acquaintance of a brilliant young man who announced himself as a certified student from Paris, who had only recently arrived and was looking for a job as a tutor. His amazing intellectual brilliance greatly pleased me, and I invited him to my place as a guest, and we became great friends. For two months he frequented my house, and we went for walks together, talked, and went out into society, naturally the most moral kind. Finally, he came to me with an invitation to one of these societies and, in order to convince me more quickly, he began praising the special liveliness and pleasantness of the place to which he was inviting me. Having said this a few words, he suddenly asked me to leave my study, where we were sitting, and to sit in the living room. This seemed strange to me, and I, having already noticed several times that he was reluctant to be in my study, asked him why. And I kept him here for a long time, not only because the living room was near my mother and sister’s room, but also because it would have been indecent to talk about things that were empty here. He maintained his wish by various subterfuges, and finally he bluntly told me this: “Look, you have the Bible on that shelf between your books. I respect this book so much that it is difficult for me to be in your presence while you are talking about our scattered subjects.” I, for my sincerity, smiled at his words and said: “It would have been good to tell you this long ago!” And handing him the Bible, I said: “Please put it in that room!”. The moment I touched the Bible with my hand, he was completely overcome and vanished . This struck me so hard that I fell unconscious on the floor. When the servants heard the knocking, they ran to me and for half an hour they could not bring me to myself. Finally, I felt a strong fear, trembling, restlessness, and absolute numbness of my hands and feet, so that I could not move them. A doctor was called and he diagnosed my illness as paralysis, resulting from some strong shock or fright. For a year after this incident, with careful treatment by many doctors, I lay motionless, receiving no relief from the disease, which eventually showed the necessity of retiring from academia. At this time my old mother had died, and my sister had settled on the path of monastic life. So all this further burdened my illness. The only consolation I had in this painful time was in reading the Bible, which, from the beginning of my illness, had not left my hands as a token of the miraculous event with me.
One day, a stranger unexpectedly appeared before me, a hermit who went to the monastery to gather his belongings. He convincingly told me not to rely only on medicines, which, without God’s help, cannot help, but to ask God and pray fervently about it, because prayer is the most powerful means for healing all diseases, both physical and spiritual. “How can I pray in this state when I am unable to bend my knees or lift my hands for the sign of the cross?” I objected to him because of my negligence. He said to me, “Pray somehow!” And further, he could not explain to me in a substantial way how to pray … After this visitor had left, I began to think about prayer and its power and effects involuntarily, recalling the theological lectures I had heard at the institution when I was a student. It was very meaningful for me, it revived the bright religious knowledge in my memory, it warmed my soul, and I immediately began to feel some relief from my painful attacks. Since the Gospel was always with me, I, out of my faith, turned to it, as a result of a miracle, and also remembering that I had heard the whole tract on prayer at lectures based on Gospel texts, I considered it the best to learn Christian prayer and piety. Having read this, I drew from it, as from a plentiful source, a complete system of salvific life and true interior prayer. With awe, noting all the places and texts on this subject, I have since been trying to study these divine precepts and put them into practice as much as possible, though difficultly. In this my occupation, my illness gradually improved and, as you see, I was completely healed. Left alone, with gratitude to God for His paternal mercies and healing and enlightenment, I decided, following the example of my sister and the impulse of my soul, to devote myself to the hermit’s life so as to freely accept and assimilate the sweet commandments of eternal life, indicated to me in the Word.SCHEMATIC ENGINEER. — It would be wonderful if I, the weak and impotent, could learn this secret, so that through it, as through a means, I might correct my lazy life to the glory of God and my own salvation!
BUILDER. — I beg your forgiveness, dear brother, for intruding on this subject! Can you tell me the secret of salvation through unceasing prayer?
SCHEMATIC ENGINEER. — This secret is known to you from your book “The Pursuit of Charity,” isn’t it? It consists in unceasing prayer, which you have learned so thoroughly and which you have zealously exercised and found so comforting.
BUILDER. — I fall at your feet, holy father! For God’s sake, make me worthy to hear from your lips this beneficial secret concerning this sacred practice, which I most desire to hear and which I love to read, to strengthen and exhilarate my sinful soul.
SCHEMATIC ENGINEER. — Although I am not able to satisfy your desire by my own reasoning on this high subject, because I am still inexperienced in it; yet I have a very clear notebook by a spiritual writer, especially on this same matter. If you will allow me, I can bring it here now, and if you wish, I can even read it to you. Thank you!
ALL. — Do us the kindness, holy father! Do not deprive us of such a lifesaving knowledge.The question how to save oneself naturally arises in the mind of everyone, arising from a feeling of wounded and relaxed human nature and the remainder in it of the primal desire for truth and righteousness. Everyone, even though somewhat believes in immortality and the reward of eternal life, involuntarily meets with the thought of how to save oneself when he turns his gaze to heaven… Struggling to solve this problem, he asks the sensible and knowledgeable, then reads, following their instructions, the books of spiritual writers on this subject, with the relevant truths and rules. In all these teachings he meets with conditions that seem to be necessary for salvation: a pious life, efforts and work on oneself for sincere self-sacrifice, leading to the creation of good deeds, to the constant fulfillment of all God’s commandments, which testify to the firmness and consistency of faith. performed with deep humility and in their entirety, because as all virtues depend on one another, they should also support each other, perfect one another and inspire one another, similarly to how the sun’s rays only reveal their power and make fires glow when they are concentrated through glass in one point. And otherwise, “the wicked are many and have many evildoers” (Ezekiel 18:30).
In addition, to give the greatest assurance of the need for this complex and comprehensive activity, he hears the high praise of the refinement of virtues and the condemnation of the low and heavy nature of vices. All this is echoed by a false promise of great rewards and beatitudes, or painful punishments and pain in the eternal life.
This is especially the character of the preaching of the new age!
Such a beginner eagerly sets out to fulfill all the instructions and study everything he hears and reads with great pleasure. But, alas! he fails at the first hurdle of his ambition, anticipating and even sensing that his corrupted and debased nature will take the upper hand over the persuasions of reason; that his free will is bound, his inclination corrupted, and the strength of his spirit weakened. With this awareness of his powerlessness, he naturally falls into the belief that there is no means to enable one to fulfill the requirements of God’s law, the demands of Christian piety, and those who have been privileged to attain salvation and holiness. As a result, in order to reconcile the demands of reason and conscience with the impotence of executive powers, he turns for advice to the preachers of salvation, asking: How can one be saved? How can one justify the conditions of salvation, which are inaccessible to him? And can the preacher himself consistently fulfill everything he teaches?… “Pray to God, pray to God that He will help you!” Would it not be more fruitful to learn to pray earlier, at all times, and above all, to instruct everyone in the attitudes required by Christian piety and the means by which salvation is obtained? argues the questioner, and thus begins to study prayer, to read, to reflect, to understand the teachings of those who have written on this subject. True, he finds many thoughtful ideas, profound knowledge and expressions. Another person reflects wonderfully on the necessity of prayer; another one on its power, its helpfulness, on the obligation to pray, on the fact that diligence, attention, warmth of spirit, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, and penitence are required in prayer…
The general concept of prayer of those who are not familiar with the writings on inner prayer and the contemplative works of the holy fathers. Finally, a seeker comes across a book called “The Love of Godliness, with a Miraculous Power” (1), in which twenty-nine holy fathers have clearly depicted the science of genuine and essential heart prayer. Here the mystery of salvation and prayer begins to lift its veil for him, and he sees that to truly pray is to direct one’s mind and memory to the unceasing remembrance of God, to walk in His divine presence, to subject oneself to His love through meditation, and to unite His name with the breath and movements of the heart, the control of Jesus Christ, or the creation of the prayer of Jesus, at any time and place and constantly, without ceasing.
For the salvation of the soul, in true faith, good works are necessary – virtues, because – “faith without good works is dead” (James 2:17), because by doing good deeds a person is judged not by faith alone, but by their deeds (James 2:10), and “If anyone wants to enter into my rest, let him obey the commands: Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not covet the possessions of others, and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19). All these commandments must be observed together.
St. James, imagining the weakness of man, says that “by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified” (James 2:24). “For I know that the law is spiritual, but I am bondservant under the law” (Galatians 2:19). “I am not weak in faith, but I am weak in my own strength, for I do not have the power to keep the law in myself” (Galatians 2:19).
It is not possible until one asks for it, until one prays for it. “Do not ask of those who do not give, and do not ask for what you cannot have” (James 2:24). And Jesus Christ himself says: “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And he teaches us how to act with him: “Keep me, and I will keep you” (John 12:35). “He who remains in me and I in him, abounds in fruitful works” (John 15:5). And to be with him means to constantly feel his presence, to constantly ask in his name: “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do” (Matt. 10:29). Thus, the ability to perform good deeds is acquired through prayer! An example of this is seen in the Apostle Paul himself, who three times prayed for victory over temptations, bowed his knees before God the Father, asking him to grant strength within his soul, and finally commanded that first of all, prayers should be “made” and that one should constantly pray for everything. From all of this it follows that every spiritual salvation of a person depends on prayer, and therefore it is first of all necessary, because it renews faith, and through it all the virtues are accomplished. In short, everything done with prayer will succeed, and without it no work of Christian virtue can succeed.
A true prayer requires certain conditions: it must be offered with purity of thought and heart, with fervent effort, with steady concentration, with trembling reverence, and with deep humility. But who in a conscientious manner cannot admit that he is far from the above conditions for true prayer, that he offers his prayer more by necessity, more by forcing himself than by inclination, by enjoyment of prayer, by love of prayer? The Holy Scriptures bear clear witness to this, saying that man cannot keep from evil thoughts from his youthful age: “Does a man make up his thoughts of evil?” (Prov. 1:10). It is God Himself who gives us a new heart and a spirit, and Who says, “Let His will be done, as in heaven so on earth” (Matt. 6:10). The Apostle Paul himself says: “My spirit prays, but my flesh is without fruit” (Rom. 8:8). And in another place he states: “I do not know whether I am praying in the spirit or in the flesh” (1 Cor. 2:14). From this it follows that we are not able to reveal the essential qualities of prayer in our prayers!
Yet, how much weakness is still left to the will and the power of each person! He cannot faithfully attain the gift of faith, neither can he properly perform good deeds. At last he cannot really pray either. What remains then for him, which depends on his will and strength, to be saved, and not to perish?
Just as in every matter there is quality, so the Lord gave it by His will and by a gift. And to make it clearer how dependent we are on the will of God and how deeply to immerse us in humility, God gave to human will and strength a certain number of prayers, in order that at any time, in any place, one should pray continually. And in this way we find the secret way to attain true prayer, together with faith, and the fulfillment of the commandments, and salvation. Therefore, a certain number of prayers is given to the person’s will… This is precisely how the Fathers of the Church teach. St. Makarios the Great says: “somehow praying (but often) is in our power, while praying truly is a gift of the grace of God.” St. Isaac the Syrian says that the frequency of prayer favors habit and turns to nature; that without often invoking the name of Jesus Christ, it is impossible to purify the heart.
The holy Fathers Calist and Ignatius advise us first of all to begin our deeds and virtues with prayer before the Name of Jesus Christ, often and continuously, because frequent and impure prayer often brings it to purity. Blessed Diogenes states that if a person frequently invokes the Divine Name (prays), they will not fall into sins. What practical, wise, and close to the heart instructions these Fathers offer! They shew in a profound simplicity the ways and means of refining the soul. What a high contrast they present to the moral teachings of theoretical reason! Reason affirms: do this and that well, arm yourself with courage, exert your volition, convince yourself of the good consequences of virtue, for example, – cleanse your mind and heart of mundane thoughts, fill the place of those thoughts with instructive reflections, do good, and you will be honoured and tranquil, live as reason requires, and all this, with every effort, fails to achieve its goal without frequent prayer, without the intervention of Divine help. Let us then analyse further the Fathers’ teachings and see, for example, how they speak about the purification of the soul. St. Basil says: “When your soul is darkened by impure thoughts, fight off your adversaries with the Name of Jesus, frequently repeating it. You will not find any stronger and more effective weapon on heaven or on earth.” St. Gregory of Sinai teaches: “Know that no one can keep his mind under control on his own, and therefore – when the thoughts of your mind are impure – call upon the Name of Jesus Christ more frequently and with more vehemence, and the thoughts themselves will subside.” What a simple and handy, but yet experienced, method this is – and it is the opposite of the thoughts of theoretical reason, which strives to achieve purity by their own efforts! Having understood these experienced instructions of the holy Fathers, we come to the true conclusion that the main, the only, and the most convenient way in attaining salvation and spiritual perfection is part of, continuous prayer, no matter how powerless it may be.
Christian soul! If you do not find in yourself the strength to worship God in spirit and in truth; if your heart does not yet feel the warmth and sweet taste of spiritual and inner prayer, then offer in a prayer sacrifice what you can, what is within your power, what is proportionate to your strength. Let the lower organs of your mouth echo the first with an unceasing prayerful cry; let them constantly invoke the powerful Name of Jesus Christ. This is not a great task, and it is within the reach of all. At the same time, this is required by the most experienced commandment of the saint. The apostle says: ” Let us offer our sacrifice to God, always, or the fruit of our lips, which is dedicated to His Name.“ Prayer on a regular basis will become a habit and a nature, and it will lead the mind and the heart into the proper state of mind. Imagine if a person had incomparably performed one of these Divine commandments concerning incessant prayer, then in one act he had performed all the commandments, because if he had constantly prayed at all times, in all his actions and occupations, secretly invoking the Divine Name of Jesus Christ, although at first only without the soul, but then he would have no time for sensual sinful pleasure. Each sinful thought would have been blocked in its spread, each sinful act would not have been considered as skilfully in an empty mind: many words and empty talk would have been shortened or completely destroyed, and every sin would have been cleansed immediately by the gracious power of the Name of God. Regular practice in prayer would often distract the soul from sinful deeds and draw it to a deeper knowledge of itself – to union with God! Now do you see how important and necessary quantity in prayer is? Part in prayer is the only way to acquire pure and genuine prayer, it is the best and most effective preparation for prayer and the surest way to achieve the prayers’ goal and salvation!
For further persuasion of the necessity and fruitfulness of frequent prayer, take note: 1) that every excitement, every thought regarding prayer is an act of the Holy Spirit and the voice of your guardian angel; 2) that the Name of Jesus Christ, invoked in prayer, contains in itself the spontaneous and self-sustaining beneficial power, and therefore 3) do not be daunted by the impurity or dryness of your prayer, and patiently wait for the fruit of frequent call to the Name of God. Do not listen to the inexpert, unfounded suggestion of the empty world that even invariable, but cold, repetition is a useless futility. No, the power of the Name of God and the frequency of its invocations bear fruit in their own time!
Nicodemus has a wonderful discussion about this. He says: “I know that for many false, arrogant philosophers, who are always searching for vain greatness and fine accomplishments in the eyes of reason and pride, the simple, oral, and individual exercise of prayer seems unimportant, or a little, or a low-grade occupation. They forget the saying of Jesus Christ: ‘Unless you are like little children, you will not enter the Kingdom of God.’” They make for themselves a science of prayer, on the deception of natural reason. Don’t they extol frequent prayer themselves? half the world, there is no need! It is just necessary to continue it, do not hesitate, and do not worry: it will purify itself on its own.
So, after all these arguments that the frequency of prayer, despite its weakness, is so powerful, easily accessible to man, and lies entirely within his will — dare to try, at least once, to monitor yourself for a day about the frequency of your prayer so that, on the prayer call of the name of Jesus Christ, it is used much more; and this superiority of prayer over worldly affairs will certainly demonstrate to you, that on that day nothing has been lost, but gained toward salvation; that on the scales of God’s judgment, frequent prayer lifts the plank of your weaknesses and deeds, and smoothes over the sins of that day in the book of remembrance of conscience, placing you on the scale of righteousness, and granting hope of sanctification in the life to come. (From the author’s manuscript, received by Fr. Ambrose from the Good Monastery of Dobra).
MASTER. — From the whole of my soul I thank you, holy Father! you have blessed my sinful soul with this reading. For God’s sake, bless me to copy this list out for myself — I will transcribe it in a few hours. Everything that has been read is so wonderful and enjoyable, and so clear and precise to my stupid mind, just as in the “Recollections of Andrey” the holy fathers discuss it. For example, John of Karpasia in the 4th part of “Recollections” also says that if you do not have strength for moderation and active deeds, know that the Lord wants to save you through prayer. And in your notebook everything is so beautifully and clearly spread out. Thank you, first of all, to God, and then to you, for having had the opportunity to hear this!
PROFESSOR. – And I have listened to your lecture with the greatest respect and pleasure, Reverend Father! All the proofs, in the strictest logic, are true for me; but at the same time, I think it is the favorable conditions and the complete solitude that allow the possibility of uninterrupted prayer. For I agree that frequent or incessant prayer is a powerful and unique way of obtaining God’s grace in all works of piety and the sanctification of the soul, and it is accessible to human powers, but it can be used only when one has the opportunity for solitude and peace: when freed from duties, chores and leisure; and then one must only fight against laziness or boredom from thoughts; but if one is bound by one’s post, by constant duties, and must constantly be among the noisy company of people, and one wishes to pray often, then one cannot do so because of the inevitable dispersion. Therefore, the only way of frequent prayer under favorable conditions can be used by not everyone and by not everyone.
& nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; & nbsp; SCHEME. & nbsp; – It is in vain that you make this conclusion! Not to mention that the heart, trained in inner prayer, can always, at all times (both physical and mental) in any noise, without hindrance, pray and call on the Divine glory (the guide himself knows this firsthand, and the uninitiated needs gradual training in this), we can confidently say that no external circumstance can hinder prayer. because the secret thought of man is not subject to any external connection, and is completely free within itself, it can be felt and turned into prayer at any time, even the language can secretly express prayer without external sound in the presence of many people, and during external activities; and at the same time, our occupations are not so important, and our conversations are not so interesting, that one could not find a convenient opportunity to call upon the name of Jesus Christ, even if the mind is not yet accustomed to continuous prayer; although, of course, seclusion and the dispersion of objects are the main conditions for attentive and incessant prayer; nevertheless, in the event of impossibility to take advantage of these, one should not be guilty of lack of prayer: since the abundance available to each person – both healthy and sick – lies in his will. There are examples of people who were burdened with obligations, busy positions, worries, chores and work, who not only constantly called on the Divine glory of Jesus Christ, but even through this managed to learn and achieve constant inner prayer of the heart. Thus, Patriarch Photius, who was raised from senators to the rank of patriarch, while administering the large population of Constantinople, was constantly praying in the divine name, and even through this he learned and attained to a spontaneous, heartfelt prayer. So Calystus on Mount Athos, while performing the tedious office of cook, learned to chant the prayer without ceasing. So the simple-hearted Lazarus, burdened with constant labor for the brotherhood, incessantly, amidst all the noisy work, uttered the Lord’s Prayer and was soothed. And many others who similarly practiced unceasing invocation of the divine name. If it were impossible to pray in the presence of distracting occupations, or in the company of people, then, of course, it would not be forbidden. St. John Chrysostom, in his sermon on prayer, says the following: “No one should picture to himself the impossibility that it is always impossible to pray to those engaged in life’s cares, or cannot be in church. In every place where you are not, you can set up an altar to God in your mind through prayer.” In any place it is possible to pray. And indeed, if a person pays close attention to himself, he will find a comfortable place for prayer, as long as he is convinced that prayer should be the main occupation before all his responsibilities, multifariousness, and not to rush unnecessarily into chores in order to gain more time for quiet prayer. It is presented to the possibilities and will of man, and that at any time, condition and place one can pray, and it is convenient to switch from frequent oral prayer to rational prayer, and from this to heartfelt prayer that opens the kingdom of God within us.
PROFESSOR. – I agree that in all mechanical occupations it is possible and even convenient to perform a constant or continuous prayer, because mechanical handicraft does not require intense concentration and a lot of thought, and therefore my mind can immerse itself in continuous prayer and my lips follow it. But when I have to engage in something purely intellectual, such as attentive reading, or contemplation of a profound subject, or a work, then how can I do so at the same time with the mind and the lips? And since prayer is mainly a matter of the mind, how can I give my mind different occupations at the same time?
SCHENMANIK. – The solution of your question is not difficult if you take into account that prayers are divided into three categories: 1) beginners, 2) those who manage and 3) those who have learned to pray. Therefore, beginners can have and periodic frequent stimulation of the mind and heart to God, and the pronunciation of a short verbal prayer; and those who are able or have entered into a constant state of mind can engage in reasoning or work in the continuous presence of God as the basis of prayer. This can be expressed by an example. Imagine that a severe and demanding Tsar has ordered you to make a reflection on a given deep subject – in His presence – at the foot of His throne; however, the presence of the Tsar, in whose hands is your life, has taken possession of you, and will not allow you to forget for a moment that you are reasoning, understanding and composing not alone, but in a place that requires special reverence, respect and propriety. This feeling and lived sensation of the proximity of the Tsar very clearly expresses the possibility of engaging in continuous inner prayer and in intellectual exercises.
As for those who, by long practice or the grace of God, have acquired the prayer of the heart, such people not only in a deep intellectual occupation, but even in their sleep, do not stop their continuous prayer, as the Wise Man says: “As I sleep, my heart awakens ” … My God, who, by His own power, awakens to prayer, draws the mind and the whole soul into a continuous prayerful flow, in which the person who prays has not been, and has been engaged in what is abstract and intellectual.
Ier. – Allow me, venerable father, to express my thoughts. In the article you have read, it is perfectly expressed that the only way to salvation and perfection is part of prayer – “whatever it may be” – but for me this is incomprehensible, so I think that what will benefit me is if I constantly pray and call only in the language of “My God”, but not in it? This will be nothing but idle chatter! The result will be only that the language becomes obscure, and the mind, which prevents this in its thoughts, also suffers damage to its active ability. God requires not words, but a vigilant mind and a purified heart. Is it not better, though only occasionally, or only at the prescribed time, to have even a short prayer, but with attention, diligence, warmth of the soul, and with a proper understanding? And otherwise, even if you recite a prayer day and night, but do not have purity of soul or works of piety, then you will gain nothing. But by remaining with one external, but useless practice, and by becoming tired and bored, you will come to the point of completely cooling your faith in prayer and completely abandoning this fruitless practice. Readers can also see the futility of mere oral prayer in the scriptures quoted, such as: “These people show me honor with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, with distance.” “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” “I would rather say ten thousand words with my mind than a thousand words in the language of darkness.” And so on. All this expresses the fruitlessness of external, careless oral prayer.
Paragraph. — The conclusion you offered could have some basis, if it were not connected with the advice of oral prayer, — perseverance or continuity; if prayer in the name of Jesus Christ did not have spontaneous power, and did not attract attention and diligence by gradual practice of prayer … But since here it is a question of frequency, duration and perseverance of prayer (even if it was initially careless or dry), then let us consider this more thoroughly. One spiritual writer, convincing of the greatest benefit and fruitfulness of frequent prayer, expressed in unvarying words, says at the end: “Although many uninformed people consider this verbal and frequent practice of the same prayer to be ineffectual and even trivial, calling it mechanical and senseless; the secret that is later revealed by this mechanical exercise does not know how this careless and unheard cry gradually becomes a real cry of the heart, penetrates into the inner being, becomes more pleasant, becomes like a natural state for the soul, illuminates it, nourishes it, and leads to union with God.” Children who are instructed in the alphabet and reading; the tediousness of this teaching of letters was a mystery to them. How can you cleanse your soul before purifying your body? Do you fast for the sake of God, so conveniently forgotten by you? religiously, so conveniently forgotten by you? And you feel by experience that through the external fasting of your body you acquire an inner refinement of mind, a resting of the heart, a weapon for subduing desires, and a reminder of spiritual practice. And thus, with the help of external matter, you acquire an inner spiritual benefit. Prayer, which by its long duration develops the inner prayer of the heart: it kindles and contributes to the intellectual union with God. What often happens is this: anyone who dares to continually invoke the name of Jesus Christ, or, what is the same, to constantly utter the Jesus prayer, naturally feels the work and struggles with sloth, but the more he practices it, the more insensitive he grows to this occupation, so that later, silently, so that later, silently, efforts go on without effort and speak the prayer without a voice. To incline and listen to this involuntary action of the lips, being thus aroused to attention, which is, in the end, the source of the sweetness of the heart and true prayer. To the objections you cite as evidence against this, it is explained by a proper consideration of them. They did not accept it with the heart. This does not apply to the reading of prayer, of which Jesus Christ directly and positively, or certainly commanded so: “It is good to always pray and not knock” (Just as he does not chide). Either in vain, or in an unfamiliar language in church, understanding this about public teaching, and not about prayer itself, as he says positively: “Let them be able to pray in every place”, generally advises: “Pray without ceasing” Is this a correct understanding of Holy Scripture?
БУДИВЕЛЬНИК. Truly so, sincere father! I have seen many people who, simply and without any enlightenment, and without knowing what is the attention, by themselves, continuously, in word, creating the Jesus Prayer, achieved what their mouths and tongues could not withstand from expressing a prayer that subsequently so delighted and enlightened them, and from being weak and unwise.
СХІМНИК. Yes, it’s true! Prayer somehow transforms a person. Its power is so great that no other force of passion can resist it. If you so wish, I will read you, dear brothers, a short, but interesting article, which I have in my possession.
ВСІ. With a sense of reverence and devotion, we will listen!
СХІМНИК.
Confession about the power and effect of prayer
Prayer is so strong and powerful that, if we love truly, we do everything we want, and our love will motivate us to do everything we want. Says the blessed Augustine: For there is no need for anything more than love for good works; for if we love truly, we cannot and do not want to do anything that is not pleasing to our beloved. Since prayer is the outpouring and operation of love, we can say similarly about it: Do what you want, and you will reach the goal of prayer and become purified by it.
To better explain this concept, we will explain it with examples:
1) If you want to expel thoughts and purify your mind, pray and keep your thoughts on the right path, as St Gregory the Sinaite says: “If you want to chase away thoughts and purify your mind – he counsels – keep on chasing them by the Intercessor’s Prayer, because, apart from the Prayer, nothing can chase the thoughts out of your mind.” St. John Climacus also says: “Hail, Christ, and overcome all imaginary enemies. Other than this weapon you will not find a solution to your problems.”
2) If you pray and do what you want, your actions will be of God, and for you they will be useful and salutary.
(1) Often pray, however soundly, without ceasing (Mark the Foolish) because in it alone there is a grace-power. “Holy is His name, and every one that calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” For example, the person who prayed fruitlessly in infidelity in this prayer was given a vision and an urge to repent. The lustful young woman prayed on her return, and prayer indicated a way to a chaste life and to obey the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Now you can see how many profound thoughts are concentrated in this wise saying: “Love and do what you want. Pray and do what you want!” – Such words are joyful and comforting for a sinner burdened with weaknesses – for one who bears the weight of contending passions.
Prayer is the all-powerful means of salvation and perfection of the soul… Yes, but with the name of prayer is closely connected here and its condition: “Pray without ceasing”, the word of Bonia commands. Therefore, prayer will show its all-powerful strength and fruit when it is performed frequently, constantly, because often prayer is definitely within our will: just as purity, diligence and perfection of prayer are a gift of grace.
Therefore, let us pray as often as possible, let us devote our whole life to prayer, even if it is initially disorderly! Frequent practice will teach us attention, and quantity will surely lead to quality.
Father. Indeed, prayer is a great work! And eagerness for its frequency is the key to unlocking its beneficial treasures. But how often do I encounter a struggle in myself between zeal and laziness! How I wish I could find a means and help to overcome this struggle, and to convince and inspire me to constantly be engaged in prayer!
Developer. Many spiritual authors present various means based on a sound understanding – to inspire diligence in prayer: for example:
1) They advise us to delve into thoughts about the necessity, advantage and fruitfulness of prayer for the salvation of the soul.
2) They firmly convince us that God certainly requires us to pray, and His word everywhere proclaims this.
3) We must constantly remember that behind laziness and neglect of prayer we cannot keep up with the works of piety and gain peace and salvation; and therefore we inevitably must suffer this as a punishment on earth, as well as torment in the afterlife.
4) We must inspire our determination with the examples of God’s Saints, who by the way of constant prayer have achieved sanctification and salvation, etc.
The apostle exhorts us with this example. Though all these means posses their own dignity and result from a genuine understanding, yet a careless and unbridled soul, accepting and using them, rarely sees their fruitfulness because these medicines are bitter to the taste of its pampered palate and weak for its deeply wounded nature. For some Christians do not know that prayer should be frequent and zealous, that this is what God requires; that we shall suffer punishment for neglecting prayer; that all the saints prayed zealously and unceasingly; nevertheless, this knowledge rarely produces its beneficial consequences! Every observer sees that either he himself or his brethren do not justify these convictions of the mind and conscience by deeds, and, when he thinks about this, he lives just as indifferently and lazily.
Father Elijah. Isn’t it the case that the unexperienced might be led by these considerations to spiritual vanity, i.e. the striving of the soul which strives for excessive delight and the glory of grace, not being content with what it should do in keeping the commandments, without dreaming of a reward?
SUMMARY – One of the great theologians, St. Macarius of Egypt, says in a very understandable way: “As in the case of planting a vine, attention and labor are put in place to harvest the fruit, and if they are not there, then all this is useless. And in prayer, if the fruits of the spiritual, that is, love, peace, joy, etc., or the fruit of hope, that is, the enjoyment in our hearts, we must perform.”
Don’t you see how clearly this holy father explained the need for enjoyment in prayer? – And here, recently, something I remembered struck me that is the main cause of the urge to guzzle; and therefore the examination of this nature, may also serve as a powerful means of stimulating diligence in prayer, of which the professor seeks, by searching, that there can be no action without a cause, and following the descending scale of obvious things, finally reaching the supreme cause of God. Therefore, no nation, no savage tribe has ever been, and there is none, without any conception of God. something drives it to the heights, something yearns for the unknown … For this reason, all natural religions arise, while it is very strange that the essence, or soul, of every religion consists in a secret prayer which is signified by some kind of movement and an apparent conception of the heathen people!– How strange this phenomenon is before the mind, the more it requires from it an opening of the secret cause of this strange phenomenon, which is expressed in the natural desire for prayer.–
The psychological answer to this is not complex: the root, division and strength of all passions and actions in man lies in innate self-love. This is clearly confirmed by the radical and universal idea of self-preservation. Every desire, every undertaking, every human action has the aim of satisfying self-love, the pursuit of one’s own good. The satisfaction of this need accompanies all the life of the natural man. But the human spirit is not satisfied with anything sensual, and innate self-love never resists in its drive; therefore desires grow more and more, the desire for good grows, fills imagination and turns this feeling. The outflow of this inner feeling and desire is naturally aroused, there is a natural arousal to prayer, there is a need of self-love that hardly reaches its goals. The less a person achieves success and the more the reference is to one’s own good, the stronger the desire, the more the desire is poured out in prayer; one turns with the request for the desired to the unknown cause of the whole being. Therefore, innate self-love – the main principle of life, is the root cause that arouses the natural man to prayer!–
Wise the Creator of nature instinctively put in the nature of man the ability of self-love as a bait, as the parents say, which would lure and draw the decayed human being to a high communion. –
Oh, if only man did not misuse this ability and kept it over and above his spiritual nature! Then he would have strong encouragement and a means on the path to moral perfection. But, alas! How often does this noble ability become a foolish passion of vanity, when it is turned into a tool for the beasts of his nature!
Thank you kindly, my dear visitors! Your heart-warming conversation has greatly pleased me, and it has given me much instructive information. May the Lord grant His grace for your instructive love.
Everyone said goodbye.
Seventh Encounter: Spiritual Conversations
‘Pray for one another, to purify and complete one another’ (Jak. V, 16).
BUILDER. – My companion, a pious professor, and I could not overcome our common desire to set out on the road and not visit you finally to say goodbye and ask for your prayers for us…
PROFESSOR. – Yes, your sincerity and the saving conversations we enjoyed with you among your friends are clear to us. This memory will remain in our souls as the assurance of communion and Christian love, even in the far away country where we are heading.
– Thank you for your memories and love, and meanwhile, as your coming is opportune! I have two travelers: a Moldavian monk and a hermit, who had lived for twenty years in silence in the forest. They want to see you, I will visit them now…
Here they are!
BUILDER. – Ah, what a blessed life in the desert! And a smooth way of bringing the soul to union with God! The silent forest, like the Garden of Eden, in which the tree of life is growing sweetly in the prayerful heart of the hermit. If I had any means of providing food, it seems I would not part with the monastic life in the desert.
PROFESSOR. – Everything seems to us especially good from a distance, and everyone is convinced, by experience, that every place, having its own conveniences, has its own drawbacks. Naturally, for those who have a melancholy temperament and a desire for silence, solitary life is comforting, but how much danger there is on this path! The ascetic history presents many examples in which it is clear how many hermits and hermits have deprived themselves of contact with people, have fallen into self-deception and deep arrogance.
THE MONK. – I am amazed how often, not only in religious monasteries, but even among some god-fearing laymen, one hears that many who are inclined to a solitary life, or to an inner life of prayer, are deterred from following this impulse by the fear of falling prey to temptation. Insisting on this, they cite examples in support of their conditions; that is, they shun inner life themselves and keep others away from it… I think this comes from two sources: either from ignorance of the matter and lack of spiritual knowledge, or from their own laziness to the inner life, to the contemplation of the mind, and their envy to not be surpassed in higher understanding by those who are on a lower level than them. The wise Fathers of the Church enter into these considerations, who directly and decisively teach that one must not be afraid or doubt, when calling upon God. If some have fallen into self-deception or madness, it has happened to them from pride, from the lack of a spiritual guide, and from accepting visions and dreams as truth. If such deception had occurred (they continue), it would lead to self-knowledge and hubris; for the quick help of God intervenes in this instance of indulgence. Dare! I am with you, fear not! says Jesus Christ. (Greek. Sin. l. f.) And from this it follows that it is useless to fear and intimidate from inner life under the pretext of self-deception: for humble awareness of one’s sins, openness of the soul to the spiritual guide, and “ignorance” in prayer, form a firm and secure bulwark against temptation, which many so much fear, and so many fear, and so many so much fear, and so many are in temptation, as the prescient words of St. Philotheus of Sinai say, who says the following: “Many of the monks do not understand the temptation of their minds, which they suffer from demons; that is, they diligently practice only one activity (external virtues), but they do not concern themselves with the mind, that is, with inner contemplation, do not concern themselves, and do not concern themselves… Even if they hear about others who have been inwardly penetrated by grace, they consider this a sign of envy.” (Greek. Sin. l. f.)
The Solitary Walker. Although the guidance of an experienced and spiritually wise guide, or elder, to whom one can freely open his heart, thoughts and encounters on the path of inner teaching with trust and benefit, and who constitutes the primary condition for the practice of heartfelt prayer, which is to be practiced in silence, represents an exception. St. Nikon the Hermit teaches clearly on this: “In the practice of inner, heartfelt action, a true and knowledgeable guide is necessary. If such a guide does not exist, then one must seek eagerly: if you cannot find it, then with sorrow of heart, ask God for help to receive instruction and guidance from the teaching of Holy Scripture.” At the same time, one should also take into consideration that a genuine, diligent seeker can hear a useful and instructive word from ordinary people, for the Holy Fathers also assure us that if one asks a Saracen with faith and a righteous intention, then he too can speak a useful word; if one demands instruction from a prophet without faith and a just purpose, then he too will not satisfy you … An example of this is seen in the Great Roman Maximus, to whom one ordinary peasant once delivered an understanding and thereby ended his obsession. As for “nothingness”, that is, not to imagine or receive any manifestations during contemplation, neither light, nor an angel, nor Christ, and any saint, and to turn away from any dream; this is what the experienced Holy Fathers have taught, of course, for the reason that the imagination can favourably embody, or as it were, bring to life the images; and therefore the inexperienced can easily be taken in by these dreams, pay homage to them as being manifestations of grace, and fall into self-deception, and, as the Holy Scripture depicts it, that “the devil also transforms himself into a bright angel.” And that the mind naturally and conveniently can be in “nothingness” and maintain it even in the vivid presence of God, this is seen from the fact that the power of the imagination can perceptibly imagine something in “nothingness” and keep the image in mind, observing objects that do not depend on the sense of sight, which have no form, are not perceived by touch, which is not measured with a touch of what is on coldness! Similarly, the presence of the spiritual and unfathomable essence of God can be imagined in the mind, perceived in the heart in “nothingness.”
Architect. – It has also happened that, in my travels, I have heard from pious and those who seek salvation that they are afraid, even by the remembrance of temptation, to touch the inner work. Some also, with my help, have studied the instructions and exhortations of St. Gregory of Sinai in his
PROFESSOR. — According to my credentials to you, I would very much like to hear your critical analysis of my thoughts on the celebrated silence and the beneficial effects of solitude, which the hermits like to keep. Here is how I think about it: since all people, by the law of nature, commanded by the Creator, are in the necessary dependence on one another, and are therefore obliged to help one another in life, and to work and be useful to one another, this fellowship is the foundation of the welfare of the human race, and love for one’s neighbour. And what can a silent recluse, who has withdrawn from contact with people, do in his inactivity to serve his neighbour, and what benefit does he bring to the welfare of human society? He completely destroys in himself the Law of the Creator on the union of love with his fellow man and on the beneficial influence on one’s neighbor! ..
Loner. — Since your view of silence is not correct, so is the conclusion not correct; let us analyze this in detail:
1. The isolated hermit is not only not in a state of inaction and emptiness, but he is mainly active, and even more than one who participates in public life. He never ceases to work with his finest mental strength: he observes, understands, and keeps a watchful eye on the state and course of his moral being. This is the true purpose of silence! And how useful this is to his own self-perfection, as much as it is to the well-being of others who are deprived of the opportunity to immerse themselves undisturbedly in themselves, for the development of moral life, for a watchful hermit, communicating his inner experiences, either orally (in exceptional cases), or by transmitting them in writing, blesses more and more, than the public and private benefactors, because the private, sensual charity of worldly people is always limited to a small number of benefactors; and the benefactor, who acquires convictions and experienced ways to improve spiritual life, becomes the benefactor of entire nations; his experiences and teachings pass from generation to generation, as we see and use, and what is not different from the generous mercy of Christ for the sake of Christian love, but even surpasses it in its consequences.
2. The beneficial and useful influence of the silent man on his neighbors is revealed not only in his instructive observations on inner life, but even his own example of an isolated life is useful to the attentive layman, leading him to self-awareness and inspiring a sense of reverence. The stirring to a pious life, reminding him of what a person can be on earth and how easily to return a person to his original contemplative state, from which he came from the hands of his Creators. The solitary hermit of silence teaches by his silence, benefits by his own life, inspires and convinces people to seek God …
3. The benefit shown is derived from the silence of the genuine, enlightened and grace-gifted person. But even if the silent man did not have these gracious gifts in order to be a light to the world, and entered into a path of silence with the sole purpose of concealing himself from his fellow human beings, through his laziness and neglect, and a bad and seductive example, then he would still have done much good and had a beneficial influence on society. And even then, he would have done a great service, and had a beneficial influence on society by drying out and sterile branches and removing harmful plants to allow the best and most useful ones to grow unobstructed. And this is already a great deal, and this is already a community benefit, because the silent man, by his solitude, takes away the temptation that would inevitably have arisen from his seductive lifestyle among people, and would have harmed the morality of others. Saint Isaac the Syrian remarks on the importance of silence as follows: “When we put all the matters of this life to one side, and silence to the other, we will find that silence outweighs all the deeds of this world on the scales: the signs, miracles and powers of the world do not compare to silent and wordless people, as if their silence were dishonesty. Peace, and the conversion of many nations to God.” Even the most impassioned sages recognized the benefit of silence: the Neoplatonist school, which had many famous successors under the guidance of the philosopher Plotinus, developed the contemplative inner life to a great extent, which is primarily achieved in silence.… One spiritual writer said that if a state were perfectly educated to the point of needing people for other, contemplative purposes, besides social citizenship, to sustain the spirit of truth, to receive it from all of the past ages, to preserve it for the coming ages, and to pass it on to future generations. Such people, in the Church are hermits, hermits, and hermits.
– Architects: it seems that no one has appreciated the advantages of silence as clearly as St. John the Ladder: “Silence, he says, is the mother of prayer, the return from the realm of sin, an insensible success in virtues, and a constant ascent to heaven.” And Jesus Christ Himself, to show us the usefulness and necessity of solitary silence, often left public preaching to go to the silent places for prayer and rest.
Contemplative hermits are like pillars that support the holiness of the Church with their uninterrupted prayers: even in ancient times it is clear that many pious laymen, even kings and their dignitaries, went to visit hermits and contemplatives to ask them to pray for their strengthening and salvation. Therefore, a solitary contemplative can also serve others and contribute to the benefit and good of society by his solitary prayer.
Professor: here is another thought that is uncomfortable for me: in all Christians there is a common custom of asking for prayers from one another; wishing that another would pray for me, especially a member of the Church who is trusted by me. Is this not simply a desire for self-interest, or is it not a custom merely to repeat what one has heard from others, as one desires without any further reasoning? Yet God demands human petition, having foreseen all things and done them by His all-blessed providence, not according to our desires, as the Holy Gospel says; knowing and determining all things before our request. Can the prayer of many be more powerful than that of one? Would God then be sincere? Or can the prayer of another save me when someone is preoccupied with his own business, or is glorified, or is shamed? And so the requirement of the prayer of another is (as I think) only a pious fruit of spiritual instruction, which supplies a pretense of humility and a desire to please one another by advantage, and nothing more!
Monk: from an external point of view and an instinctive philosophy it may appear so, but a spiritual mind, illuminated by the light of religion and trained by the experience of internal life, penetrates deeper, sees more clearly, and reveals the mysteries of the opposite! To understand this more quickly and clearly, let us explain by example and verify with an example. For example: a disciple went to a teacher to take lessons in education. Weak abilities, and no less indulgence and inattention, prevented the disciple from succeeding in his studies and classified him among the lazy and unsuccessful. Distressed by this, he did not know what to do, how to fight against his faults. Once meeting another student, a classmate, more gifted, studious, and successful, he announced his misfortune to him. He took part in his suffering and invited him to study together: “Let’s study together,” he said, “it will be more willing and more fun, and therefore more successful.”
So they began to study together, passing the lessons on to each other, the subject being the same. And what happened after a few days? The negligent became diligent, loved the teachings, negligence turned into diligence and diligence, which had a beneficial effect on his character and morality. And the diligent friend became even more capable and hardworking. They benefited each other by acting on each other… And this is natural; because a person is born into a society of people, develops intelligent notions through people, absorbs the customs of life, emotions, desires, in short, everything from those like himself. And therefore, since people’s lives consist of the closest relationship and powerful influence on each other, whoever among whom they live, becomes accustomed to habits, actions and customs. Therefore, a cold person can warm up, a dull one can gain clarity, a lazy one can be stimulated to active participation similar to him. The spirit of the spirit can transmit itself, can have a beneficial effect on each other: attract him to prayer, to attention, encourage him in despair, discourage him from sin and incite him to holy activity. One helps the other, can become more pious, more active and godly. One person prays for another!
And from this we can see that God is not satisfied with many requests and petitions (as is the case in strong countries), but the very spirit and power of prayer purifies the soul for which one prays, and presents it as capable of communion with God.
If such fruitful mutual prayer is possible among those who live on earth, then it is obvious that prayer for those who have departed is equally mutually beneficial due to the closest bond between the worldly and the heavenly sides; it can also bring the souls of the Church of warriors into communion with those of the Church triumphant; or, that is, with those who have departed.
Although everything I have said is a psychological judgment, but by opening the Holy Scriptures, we will be convinced of its truth! .. 1) Jesus Christ thus tells the Apostle Peter: “Pray for you – that your faith may not be shaken.” Here the power of Christ’s prayer strengthens Peter’s spirit and encourages him in the face of faith-obstruction. 2) When the Apostle Peter was in prison, diligent prayer was offered in the church for him. Here the help of fraternal prayer in life’s difficult circumstances is demonstrated … 3) But the most clear commandment about praying for others is expressed by the holy Apostle James as follows: “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. For many will be benefited by the prayer of the righteous, and it will hasten to come to you.” Here the above psychological conclusion is clearly confirmed…
With these practical examples, let us continue, as the holy apostle Paul said. Furthermore, with this model of a prayer for one another we must be taught how much mutual prayer is needed when also this holy and strong spiritual worker himself has recognized his own need for this spiritual and prayerful assistance. In his letter to the Hebrews, he expresses his request as follows: “Pray for us, for we are expecting that the good conscience of those who desire to live the truth will inspire us to strive for it.” Taking all this into account, how unreasonable would it be not to rely on our own prayers and successes when a humble and simple man, through his own humility, asks us to unite his prayer with that of others? And therefore, with what humility, simplicity, and union of love must we not reject or despise the prayer of even the most powerful of believers, when the perceptive spirit of the apostle Paul did not make any distinctions in this instance; he asked for joint prayer from everyone, knowing that the strength of God works in weakness, and therefore can sometimes be found even in the weakest of prayerful people.
Convincing ourselves of this example, let us also note that the prayer of one for the other supports the union of the Christian love commanded by God, shows humility and sincerity of the person who prays, and inflames this mutual prayer.
Teacher. – Your analysis and arguments are wonderful and accurate, but it would be interesting to hear from you yourself the way and form of a prayer for one’s neighbour, because I think that if the fruitfulness and efficacy of a prayer depends on the lively participation of others and, above all, on the unrelenting influence of the spirit that prays on the spirit that needs to beg, it will not be possible to place oneself in the invisible presence of God and pour out one’s soul before God in one’s personal need? And if one only mentions one’s neighbour once or twice a day with their participation and asking them for God’s help; then is this sufficient to attract and strengthen the soul of the person for whom one is praying? In short: one would like to know the way or how one should pray for one’s neighbour?
Monk. – The prayer, whatever it is and whatever is offered to God, must not, and cannot, lead to placement before God: since, if it is poured out to God, it necessarily is in His presence… As for the manner of praying for one’s neighbour, we should note that the power of this prayer lies in sincere Christian participation. Therefore, when we mention him (the neighbour) or in the set time, we must direct our intellectual gaze to God, to offer a prayer in the following form: Gracious Lord, may Your will be done, which is that all may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth: save and have mercy on Your servant (such and such). Accept this wish of mine as a cry of love, given to us by You.
Usually, these words are repeated during the movements of the soul or you may find yourself repeating the strands – with this prayer. I know from experience how beneficial such prayers are for the person about whom they are said.
PROFESSOR. – The instructive conversation and bright thoughts, drawn from your views and reflections, oblige me to keep them in my unforgettable memory, and to have respect and gratitude for each of you in my grateful heart…
MASTER BUILDER AND PROFESSOR. – So, the time of our leaving has come; we heartily request your prayers as farewells and companionship.
Oh Lord of the world, by raising the Shepherd from the dead, with the blood of the eternal covenant, Lord Jesus Christ, may He create the good will in you for all your works, creating in you what is pleasing to Him, Jesus Christ, and unto Him be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.