- Geronda, if a young man, studying at a higher educational institution, meets a girl and this acquaintance can make a family, does it make sense to get married without completing his studies?

- I think that no matter how good and kind this acquaintance is, it will interfere with studying. If a student gets married, then such a marriage will torment both his wife and his children - even if his chosen one turns out to be the best life partner. It is better for such a young person to concentrate his mental and physical strength on getting an education and, without straining, graduate from the university. And then let him arrange his personal life. After all, if his forces are scattered, then he will constantly be in a state of spiritual and physical breakdown.

The main prerequisite for the correct entry into the chosen path is spiritual life

- Geronda, do you remember the girl who told you what she thought about monasticism? She told me that a classmate of hers began pestering her with questions about why she didn't go to the movies and didn't go out with the boys. What did she have to say to him?

- I should have told him: "Even my own brother doesn't ask me such questions! Are you going to ask me about it?"

"And a few days later he met her again near the university and grabbed her by the shoulder. She only said to him, "Hello," and immediately went inside.

"No, she did badly!" In this case, it was necessary to rebuff him. She behaved in such a way that he might have the impression that she liked his prank, so he would repeat it again. She is now at a somewhat difficult age, and therefore, if she begins to make friends with young men, it will not do her any good. And she also does not need to talk to them, allegedly in order to help them. If she, having met a kind, good young man, decides to marry, she must inform her parents about this. They will figure out whether the young man has the qualities necessary to create a good family. But now, when she has not yet decided which path in life to take, talking to young men is not good for her, because it will simply turn her head and she will lose peace. Unfortunate young men and women who are inattentive in this respect are in a very unbalanced state, constantly agitated and have no peace. Anxiety and worry are written on their faces and reflected in their eyes.

The attraction of the female sex to the male and vice versa is inherent in human nature. But you tell this girl that this is not the time for this. Let her keep an eye on her studies. Boys and girls, who from an early age cultivate a craving for the opposite sex, press the "button" without waiting for the right time for this. And then, when the favorable hour comes, their "button" has already been pressed and they are not able to experience joy, because they experienced it earlier, at the wrong time. But those young people who are attentive to themselves in this respect, having waited for a favorable time, rejoice more, and until this time comes, they remain in peace of mind. Look at those mothers who lived in chastity before marriage. They are peaceful, despite the fact that they are burdened with a lot of trouble.

I always emphasize that before marriage, a young person should try to live as spiritually as possible and preserve his chastity, which provides him with double health. Spiritual life is the basic prerequisite for both family and monastic life. The world today is like a field sown with wheat. The wheat began to spike, but the pigs came into the field and trampled it all over, dug it up. And now this field looks like this: plowed grass, earth, ears of wheat trampled into the mud, and only here and there untouched ears of wheat rise along the edges.

The more spiritual work a person is engaged in in his youth, the easier it is for him later - no matter what life he chooses. The better he is armed before the battle and prepared for it, the easier it will be for him during the battle, when bullets whistle around and bombs explode. Until the girl decides whether to become a nun or a kind and good mother, she needs to live chastely. Therefore, now she must try, as much as possible, to devote herself to studying. If it is attentive to sight, hearing, if it banishes bad thoughts, then later it will need to throw out less of itself than if it were inattentive. Or a young man, meeting, for example, a beautiful girl, should try to include good thoughts in his work. He should look at her as a living image of some kind of saint. And when he meets a girl who is dissolute, he must look at her as at his sister. We are all children of Adam. He should feel sorry for her, just as he would be upset if his own sister fell to such a state.

- Geronda, but today in universities and in other educational institutions, a young person faces many temptations.

- It is necessary to make friends with children who live spiritually, in order to help each other and be in a spiritual atmosphere. There is no need to exaggerate. I know many guys who study at the university and live chastely. They achieve this with the help of a little effort of their own and the great help of God.

Part One. How to create a strong family

"Spouses, as far as possible, should cultivate the virtue of love, so that the two are always merged into one, and that the Third, our Sweetest Christ, always dwells with them."