"It is not possible for us to know the truth except by allowing temptations," we read in the first Sermon of St. Isaac in the translation of St. Paisius. "And God has many providence on man, and there is no man who is not under His providence, and even more so on those who have come to seek Him and endure passions for Him with a finger (as if at the direction of the finger) sees brighter."65

Such and similar truths were found by the blessed Elder Paisius in the translation given to him with great effort. And these truths became the basis of a living and joyful inner life, which he revealed to others.

"The beginning of the path of life, to learn with one's mind in the words of God, and to dwell in poverty," we read in the same Homily of Paisius' translation. "Until the soul acquires drunkenness in the faith (ecstasy of faith) of God, in raising the power of its sensations, it heals the weakness of the senses, it can trample down the visible substance by force, which is the fence of the interior, and does not feel it."66

Such is the beginning of the sea of the words of the Monk Isaac (if the sea has a beginning) – the words into the depths of which the Monk Paisius tries to penetrate. We touch upon the sea of these words, these spiritual revelations below briefly, selectively, mainly in order to make it clear what a great work the divinely wise Paisius worked on and what he considered to be the basis of the spiritual life that he communicated in his elderly guidance.

For example, St. Isaac writes about the difference between tears: "The essence of tears is more burning; And first of all, in this order of tears man reaches in need, and by these the door is opened to him to enter the second rank, which is the best of this, which is the land of joy, by which man receives mercy."67

The words of the Monk Isaac about prayer: "And this behooves you to understand, beloved, that every conversation is in secret, and every care of good thought about God, and every spiritual instruction in prayer is determined, and in the name of prayer it is established and within this name is contained the name: either the reading of the words of differences, or the voices of the lips in praise of God, or the care of the Lord in sorrow, or the body of worship, or the psalmody of verses, or other things, from which teaching abides pure prayer, and from it love is born of God. For love comes from prayer, and prayer from being a hermit".68 Such is the breadth of the judgments of the Monk Isaac, and after him the thoughtful, word by word, living of the Monk Paisius into the translation of what was written...

Sometimes in his clairvoyant spiritual freedom, the Monk Isaac goes even further, and in Homily 34 he suddenly utters: "The gift without temptation is perdition to those who accept that diminution (shortcomings) in certain guardians of truth. There is one who makes his life with the wisdom of God."69 Such is the incomprehensible reflection of the Monk Father, – and it is possible that the Monk Paisius often comprehended it in his elderly work!

From the deep experience of the inner life, the Monk Isaac also wrote such a reflection that cannot be forgotten. "Understand the rest," he turns to his invisible disciple, "for this is not yours, it is beneath your virtue, but this grace is that which bears you in the palms of your hand, lest you be afraid." Man with all the possessions of his life in the hands of God's hands! How can it be forgotten, how necessary it is, especially in moments of deep sorrow!

"This," continues St. Isaac, "put into thyself in the time of joy, and weep, and weep, and prostrate over the remembrance of thy sins, which occur at the time of thy allowance."70

With reflections of the Monk Isaac on the life of the future age, it is appropriate to conclude our brief extracts from the translation of his works, made by the blessed elder Paisius Velichkovsky. St. Isaac speaks of a person who abides in the teaching of the Divine Scriptures. "Glory to His Divinity," exclaims such a person, "glory to His miracles: most glorious and foremost is all His works: Thou hast raised up my wickedness to the heights of His wickedness, and to what thoughts Thou hast swept away and delighted my soul, and abiding in these miracles, and ever wondering, He is always drunk and is as if he were abiding even after the Resurrection." Such a person, according to St. Isaac, "taking in mind the glory of the age to come, and the hope preserved by the righteous and its new dispensation, does not think, nor remembers the things of this world." This man, contemplating the age to come, thinks of the age in which he exists: "For when the age is wondrous, God has prepared for him, for there is a fault for Him to create this world first, and to spread it, and to enrich it with a multitude of species and natures." The question is very lengthy – and the answer to it is: "With the destruction of this world, the beginning accepts the age to come. And then every man says this: O mother, who is forgotten from her children, whom she has given birth to, and the true children who are barren, who have never given birth! Rejoice, O thou who does not give birth to barrenness, for the earth hath given birth to thee."71

Let us not continue the immortal lines of St. Isaac about eternal life, just as we will not touch upon those many questions of spiritual life that he touches upon. They are boundless and deep. The above is enough to understand the great work of Elder Paisius, who introduced Russian monasticism to the fount of spiritual life, hidden in the Homilies of the ascetics of St. Isaac the Syrian.

Eldership in the Optina Hermitage

... truth without humility is blind What light shines when we humble ourselves and peace reigns in our hearts! Love everyone, even if you are not loved; do not seek love from others, but love them yourselves. (From the letters of St. Macarius of Optina)