Discourse 3. That the brethren should live among themselves sincerely, in simplicity, in love, in peace, and wage war and warfare with inner thoughts.

1. The brethren must abide with one another in great love. Whether they are praying, or reading the Scriptures, or doing some work, let them lay love for one another as a foundation; in this case, their will can be vouchsafed God's favor. And whoever prays, and who reads, and who works, can do all things profitably, if they live among themselves in righteousness and simplicity. For what is written? Thy will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth (Matt. 6:10), that just as the angels in heaven dwell among themselves in great unanimity, living in peace and love, and there is no arrogance or envy, but mutual love and sincerity, so the brethren may dwell among themselves. If it happens that some thirty people are doing the same thing, they cannot continue it all day and all night; on the contrary, some of them will spend six hours in prayer and want to read, while others are zealous altar boys, and others are engaged in some kind of work.

2 Therefore, brethren, if they do anything, they should be in mutual love and in joy. Whoever works, let him say of him who prays: "The treasure which my brother possesses is common; therefore I also possess it." And whoever prays, let him say of him who reads: "Whatever he uses in reading, that will be of benefit to me." And whoever works, let him say again the following: "In the service that I render, there is a common benefit." As the members of the body are many, and they constitute one body, and mutually help each other, and each member does his own work; moreover, the eye looks over the whole body, and the hands work for all the limbs, and the feet walk, bearing all the parts of the body, and one member suffers for others: so let the brethren also be among themselves. And he who prays, let him not condemn the worker because he does not pray. And he who works, let him not condemn him who prays, saying: "He continues to pray, and I work." And he who serves, let him not condemn another. On the contrary, whatever he does, let him do it for the glory of God. Let him who reads with love and joy look at the one who prays, reasoning thus: "He also prays for me." And let the one who prays think about the worker: "What he does, he does for the common good."

3. And in this way, great unanimity, peace, and unanimity can keep all together in a bond of peace, and it will be possible to live with one another in righteousness and simplicity, attracting God's favor upon oneself. The most important of all, as is obvious, is a timely stay in prayer. Moreover, let the object of the search be one thing – to have treasure and life in the soul, that is, to have the Lord in mind. Whether anyone works, or prays, or reads, let him have this unfailing acquisition, that is, the Holy Spirit. Some say that the Lord demands only manifest fruits from people, and God Himself does what is secret. But this is not the case in practice; on the contrary, as much as one protects himself according to the outward man, so much must he struggle and wage war with thoughts; for the Lord demands of you that you be angry with yourself, that you wage war with your mind, that you do not consent to evil thoughts, and that you do not delight in them.

4. But in order to eradicate sin and the evil that dwells in us, this can only be done by God's power. For it is not given and impossible for a man to eradicate sin by his own power. It is in your power to fight it, to resist, to inflict and accept ulcers; and to eradicate it is God's work. And if you yourself were able to do this, then what would be the need for the Lord's coming? As it is impossible to see with the eye without light, or to speak without tongue, or to hear without ears, or to walk without legs, or to work without hands, so without Jesus it is impossible to be saved, or to enter the kingdom of heaven. But if you say, "Visibly I am not a fornicator, nor an adulterer, nor a lover of money; therefore righteous"; then you are deceived in this, thinking that you have already done everything. Not only three parts of sin, from which a person must protect himself, but thousands of them. Where does arrogance, fearlessness, unbelief, hatred, envy, deceit, hypocrisy come from? Should you not wage war and struggle with them in secret and in thought? If you have a robber in your house; then this already crushes you, and does not allow you to be careless, even you yourself begin to attack him, inflict wounds on him and accept them: so the soul must resist, confront and repel him.

5. Your will, in opposition, in toil and sorrow, finally begins to gain the upper hand; it both falls and rises; sin again destroys him; in ten and twenty struggles he conquers and overthrows the soul; but the soul also conquers sin in one thing with time. And again, if the soul stands firm and does not weaken in anything, it begins to take advantage, to decide the matter and to gain victories over sin. But even if you look attentively, then sin still overcomes a man, until he reaches a perfect man, to the measure of his stature (Ephesians 4:13), and completely conquers death. For it is written, "The last enemy shall be made extinct by death" (1 Cor. 15. 26). In this way, people overcome sin and become its conquerors. And if, as we said above, someone says: "I am not a fornicator, nor an adulterer, nor a lover of money, this is sufficient for me"; then in this case he fought with three parts, and with the other twenty, by which sin is also at war with the soul, he did not fight, but on the contrary, he was overcome by them. Therefore, one must struggle and strive in everything; for the mind, as we have repeatedly said, is a fighter, and has an equal power to argue with sin and resist thoughts.

6. But if you say that the opposing force is stronger, and vice completely reigns over man; then you accuse God of injustice, who condemns mankind for obeying Satan. When Satan is strong and subdues him by some involuntarily force; then, according to you, he is higher and stronger than the soul. Listen to me, at last. If a young man fights with a young man, and the lad is defeated, and the lad is condemned for being defeated, then there is a great injustice in this. Therefore, we affirm that the mind is a fighter, and an equal fighter. And the struggling soul, seeking help and protection, receives them, and is vouchsafed deliverance; Because struggle and podvig are possible with equal forces. Let us glorify the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

Conversation 4. Christians, in order to be vouchsafed heavenly praise from God and from the angels, must attentively and carefully carry out their course in the field of this world.

1. Whoever wishes to lead the Christian life with great precision and perfection must first of all take care of the meaning and reason of the soul, so that, having acquired the ability to distinguish accurately between good and evil, and in any case discerning what has come into pure nature that is not peculiar to it, we may live correctly and without stumbling, and that, using the intellect as an eye, to be able for us not to make friends and not to agree with the suggestions of vice, but through this, having been vouchsafed the Divine gift, to become worthy of the Lord. Let us take an example from the visible; for there is a similarity between the body and the soul, between the bodily and the mental, the visible and the hidden.

2. The body has the eye as its guide, and it sees, and the whole body leads the proper way. Imagine, then, that someone walks through wooded places, overgrown with thorns and shady, where fire blocks the way and swords are thrust in; there are rapids and many waters. If the traveler is quick-witted, cautious and fearless, then, having an eye as a guide, he passes through these difficult places with great attentiveness, and with his hands and feet he restrains his tunic in every possible way, so as not to tear it among the trees and in thorns, not to stain it with mud, not to cut it with swords; and the eye, serving as a light for the whole body, shows it the way, so that it does not break down in the rapids, or drown in the waters, or suffer harm in some difficult place. Thus the quick-witted and clever traveler, having carefully picked up his tunic, walking directly at the direction of the eye, preserves himself unharmed, and the tunic he wears preserves unburned and untorn. If a person who is negligent, lazy, careless, clumsy, inactive passes through such places; then his tunic, fluttering hither and thither, because the traveler lacks firmness to choose his clothes in every possible way, is torn against knots and thorns, or is set ablaze by fire, or cut by thrust swords, or gets dirty in the mud; in a word, his beautiful and new tunic soon deteriorates from his inattention, inactivity and laziness. And if the traveler does not pay full and due attention to the direction of the eye; then he himself will fall into the pit, or drown in the waters.

3. In the same way, the soul, wearing the garment of the body like a beautiful tunic, and having an intellect that gives direction to the whole soul and body, when it passes along the wooded and thorny paths of life, among the mud, fire, rapids, that is, lusts and pleasures, and other inconsistencies of this age, must everywhere restrain and protect itself with sobriety, courage, diligence and attentiveness. And so that the bodily tunic in the wooded and thorny places of this world does not tear somewhere from cares, lack of leisure and earthly amusements, and does not burn from the fire of lust; then the soul clothed in it turns away the eye so as not to see deceit, and also turns away the ear so as not to hear gossip, restrains the tongue from vain conversations, hands and feet from evil occupations; for the soul is given the will to turn away the bodily limbs and not to allow them to engage in evil spectacles, to hear anything evil and shameful, to indecent words, to worldly and evil occupations.

4. The soul itself turns away from evil circles, guarding the heart, so that its thoughts do not spin in this world. And in this way, asceticizing, using all diligence and with great attention on every occasion restraining the bodily members from evil, he keeps the beautiful tunic of the body untorn, unburned, unblackened. And she herself will be protected by the curiosity, intelligence and prudence of her will, and most of all by the power of the Lord, since, to the best of her ability, she restrains herself and turns away from any worldly desire, and for this she receives help from the Lord to actually protect herself from the evils enumerated above. For the Lord, as soon as He sees that someone courageously turns away from worldly pleasures, from material amusements and cares, from earthly bonds and from the whirling of vain thoughts, He gives His grace-filled help to such a person, and without stumbling He preserves this soul, which beautifully completes its course in the present evil age. And in this way, the soul is honored with heavenly praise from God and from the Angels, for having beautifully guarded both itself and the robe of its body, as far as it was possible, turning away from all worldly lusts, and, aided by God, beautifully completed its course in the field of this world.

5.

For this reason she is expelled from the kingdom. For what will God do to him who, of his own free will, gives himself over to the world, is deceived by its pleasures, or wanders, whirling in material things? He gives His help to those who turn away from material pleasures and former habits, who always directs his thoughts with effort to the Lord, who renounces himself, and who seeks the Lord alone. God also watches over him who, in the wilds of this world, on every occasion beware of snares and snares, who with fear and trembling works out his own salvation (Phil. 2:11), with all attentiveness avoids the snares, snares and lusts of this world, but seeks the Lord's help and, by the mercy of the Lord, hopes to be saved by grace.