Answer: In the same way the publican was saved, as the prophet said: humble yourself, and the Lord will save me. For the sacrifice to God is a contrite and humble spirit, a contrite and humble heart God will not despise. In this way the poor, and the sick, and the aged, both the learned and the unlearned, can be saved.

From the questions of St. Athanasius of Alexandria.

For the brother came to the elder alone, and said to him: Father, the Lord said in the Holy Gospel: Fight against the man of his household. And who is the essence of such enemies? The elder answered: 1st gluttony, 2nd drinking, 3rd love of money, 4th covetousness, 5th arrogance, 6th disobedience, 7th disobedience, 8th condemnation of the brethren, 9th eyes of shame, 10th tongue of eloquence, 11th heart angry, 12th slander and lies, 13th insolence and laughter. These are the acts of unmercifulness against a man of his household.

Instructions of St. Isaac the Syrian.

At all times, think of yourself as knowing nothing. In every matter consider yourself poor to teach, and all your life you will prove wise.

Wherever you go, acknowledge yourself as a stranger, and you will be freed from liberty in your treatment.

With men wealth is honorable, but with God a humble soul is honorable.

Always keep in mind those who endure the most grievous sorrows and bitterness, and you will endure your own, insignificant, small sorrows with thanksgiving and joy.

256. When a spiritual child's heart is calm, then the elder also rejoices

Be of good cheer and rejoice in the Lord!

First of all, I offer you my most earnest gratitude for your sincere love for me, unworthy, which may the Lord remember! Thank you both for your writings and for your sincere frankness! To all your letters, to all your questions and perplexities, I should answer you at length, but my strength is poor in me, and there is no healing in my flesh, and therefore I rarely write to anyone; wherefore I humbly ask your merciful forgiveness for my silence before you; however, I always remember your holy and dear one in my unworthy prayers before God, asking His blessing upon you! And when you are calm and joyful in the Lord, then I also have a feast in my soul; and when you frown and become sad, then even on a red day there is bad weather in my soul! . . . My heart was especially ached by the former temptation with you in the first week of Lent; I wondered whence such lofty reasoning, or more to put it bluntly, a pitiful lack of reasoning, was revived in you, i.e., to establish oneself in self-reflection, and to separate oneself from communion of the Holy Mysteries. Mysteries; where you should have humbly affirmed yourself on the word of your mother, as on the word of God, but you thoughtlessly said to her: You cannot console me and help me! Who will console and help you, if not Matushka, to whom you have been brought and entrusted by God Himself? How my heart ached for this! However, I am reassured by your present tranquility, and for your former restlessness I forgive you with all my heart and absolve you! At a personal meeting with you, I will give you what you need to acquire for your eternal peace and joyful sensation in your heart. Do not be grieved with me for the Lord's sake, because I have remembered what has happened; then there was sorrow, and now the universal joy is approaching us, i.e. the Radiant Resurrection of Christ, which God grant to attain in health, and to spend in joy in the Resurrected Lord; which your unworthy Abbess Anthony wishes you with all his heart.

March 23, 1849

257. One must always begin with one's own sins

You suffer in spirit from lack of humility, and I often ache in my belly from intemperance; But I think it's easier to be sick with the belly than with the spirit! In response to my illness, the cure is diet, i.e. abstinence; and on yours is the humility of Christ, and you will find rest for your restless soul. If you, my dear friend, had your heart nourished, like a kind of lip, with the humility of Christ, then you would have neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but constant comfort and consolation; for God Himself and His angels love the humble in heart, but men also revere them; but demons with temptation and do not dare to show their noses before the humble. Moreover, the humble themselves love everyone, and do not reproach them; You, my dear friend, in your temptation have taken a look at me, a great sinner, and your mother, and said: "Evidently they have ceased to pray to God for me!" However, forgive God for my sake, a great sinner, for having bitterly grieved you; and may God forgive you in everything, and may He rejoice you with the joy of salvation after the multitude of past sorrows and illnesses of the heart, which I wish you with all my heart. Unworthy Hegumen Anthony.