In the first Homily of the "Ustav" the monk teaches about mental warfare, distinguishing: preposition, combination, addition, captivity, and so on. In the Second Homily the Monk Nilus writes: "The best and most reliable warfare can be when the thought is cut off at the very beginning and when there is unceasing prayer." "Let no one despise prayer," repeats the monk in Homily 4, "neither the healthy nor the infirm.

If you remember all the wondrous venerable ascetics of the Russian North: Pelshem, Vologda, Olonets and Valaam, Prilutsk and Solovetsky, Obnorsk and Glushitsky, you will truly repeat the words of one clergyman who exclaimed on the feast of the Russian Saints: "There is no other country where there would be so many saints as in the Russian land. And therefore the Russian land will never perish, having so many intercessors and mourners for it! And no one will ever take possession of the Russian land!"

These holy defenders remained in separate monasteries, and in their monasteries the precepts of the elders' leadership glowed, until the time came for new state changes, and with them the impoverishment of the spirit of monastic and elderly work. The synodal period of the Russian Church, especially the 18th century, was marked by the closure of many monasteries, the introduction of severe laws, so that many who wished to take monastic vows and live a true monastic life were forced to leave the borders of the Russian state. The true concept of spiritual life and elder leadership became even more impoverished during this period. From this epoch only the names of individual luminaries of spiritual life have survived: St. Demetrius of Rostov, St. Mitrophanius, Bishop of Voronezh, St. Innocent of Irkutsk. But the Russian Church sought the lost spiritual paths; it was this search that the Lord revealed in the clairvoyant work of the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky.

Restoration of the eldership in Russia

Thou wast cheerful in form, and Thou didst bow Thy ears to those who asked Thee for help, and Thou didst stretch out Thy hands to lift them up... (Kontakion to the Monk Paisius Velichkovsky)

Russian monasticism, and especially the leadership of the elders, needed to be restored, to acquire those high and salvific foundations that it had from its beginning in Kievan Rus, which were preserved, strengthened, and grew during the difficult years of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, and which had to experience external and internal impoverishment in the era of Peter's reforms and subsequent reigns.

God's Providence watches over the world. He watches over the fate of each individual person, He watches – incomprehensibly for us – and over the existence of His Church, His Body and His Bride. Periods (and not small ones) are allowed in which impoverishment seems extreme, more irreparable, as if the breath of life in the building of the Church of Christ is already ending. But the word of Christ is not false, and the gates of hell, which already seem to be open, do not prevail against the Church of Christ. Events of a global or national scale take place, and the Church of Christ emerges victorious from an extreme, seemingly terrible situation: the gates of hell have no power over her. In other circumstances, when great world shifts are not needed for the salvation of the Church, the Lord sets events of a smaller scope, puts forward individual people to whom Divine Providence is given an enviable lot – salvation, the restoration of the Church's heritage.

A similar lot in Russia was prepared for St. Sergius of Radonezh, the abba of the host of the Radonezh Fathers and all subsequent Russian monasticism, and in him – the leadership of the elders. The eighteenth century required other paths and other personalities to restore monastic life in Russia. The collapsed Byzantium could no longer be a stronghold of Orthodoxy and spiritual teaching for Russia, as it was in the time of St. Sergius. Even the teaching of the hesychasts was not as accessible to Russia as it was at that time. Living sources of the spiritual foundations of Orthodoxy and monastic life now had to be sought, also outside of Russia, somewhere on Athos and in the surrounding lands. And in order to attain what was sought, a man endowed with salvific striving and firmness was needed. Such a person, capable in his search to make a sacrifice, to cross the boundaries of his homeland, to strive to find the spiritual treasures that he had previously had, but had been lost, was revealed by the Lord, His incomprehensible Providence in the person of the Monk Paisius, as he is called in his life, "the native of Poltava."

Peter, the son of Archpriest John Velichkovsky of Poltava, early discovered in his heart the call to the living God, overcame many obstacles, external and internal, before he reached the desired monastic monastery. But even having found this monastery, having gone into various deeds and obediences, "washing," in the words of his life, "the brother's shroud," he could not calm his spirit, without finding genuine spiritual guidance, which would explain to him all the perplexities, questions, and ambiguities that arose on the monastic path. A long and arduous search for young Peter (in Plato's monasticism) begins; the search for that teacher and those basic spiritual guides, the writings of the Holy Fathers, which show the path of man to God.

Father Platon came to Moldavia, then reached Athos, seeking and seeking this word of the Fathers of past centuries. A heavy disappointment awaits him, a great spiritual temptation, since he does not find what he is looking for. But the young ascetic does not lose faith in the truth of his search. After many difficult wanderings and illnesses, the Lord vouchsafed him in Moldavia to meet with the true bearers of the spirit, redeeming the monastic path in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Fathers.

Elders Vasily and Michael Polyanomerulsky acquaint Father Platon with translations of the Philokalia62 – and the zealous ascetic falls down to the living spring. On Athos, he understands that the translations of the writings of the Holy Fathers are inaccurate, imperfect, and therefore he considers it necessary to study the Greek language in order to delve into the details of the spiritual life taught by the holy ascetic elders.

Elder Basil Polyanomerulsky came to Athos and tonsured the young ascetic into the mantle with the name Paisius. The Monk Paisius lived on Mount Athos, leading a strict ascetic and contemplative life, studying the writings of the venerable ascetic Fathers and, delving into the very essence of the inner life they depicted, began to make all possible corrections in the previous translations and himself translated the main fathers of the Philokalia.

People flock to Father Paisios, seeking salvation, its authenticity and foundations, and, despite his relative youth, call him their father and teacher. When a small brotherhood gathers, Father Paisius considers it necessary to return to his homeland and after 17 years of staying on Athos, he settles in Moldavia in the Dragomir Monastery provided to him. Here is, as it were, the peak and flowering of the entire life of Paisiev and his spiritual flock. Here is genuine monastic work with the statutory divine services. Here is the work of the elder himself and his brethren on the book. Here, on the basis of the acquired treasures of the word of the Holy Fathers, there also grows the true guidance of the elders, the art of leading souls to God, which rests on the authentic knowledge of God established by the Fathers. Here is a revelation of those subtle movements of the soul, which, when affirmed, commit sin, and when revealed, mourned many times, are rejected by the ascetic. Their very revelation makes the disciple grow to his spiritual father with an unflattering, strong, spiritual love.