You have such a book - "Pray Without Ceasing", it tells about the Athonite ascetics. The following case is described there. One monk, who was in obedience to an elder who, like all Athonite monks, fulfilled the rosary rule, began to persuade his elder to engage in mental work as the Holy Fathers teach, that is, to try to bring the mind into the heart. At first he resisted; Then the monk, who was in obedience, based on the writings of the Holy Fathers, nevertheless convinced his mentor of the need for such work, and he began to do this in his old age, towards the end of his life, and felt some changes in prayer. And before that, for many years, he read everything on the rosary, as it should be, but he did not feel anything like this. Why didn't quantity turn into quality? Some people, having zeal for spiritual progress and not noticing this zeal in themselves, considering it something self-evident, not highlighting it as some special feature, pray the Jesus Prayer unceasingly, all the time, and this quantity turns into quality for them. But they do not notice that it has turned into quality for a reason, but thanks to the diligence that they did not know how to evaluate or even consider in themselves. Here's how this secret is explained. As for the quantity of knowledge, how can it turn into quality?

Question. Tell me about grace. How to keep it? How not to squander praying for others, for enemies?

Answer. Why is it necessary to think that if we pray for others, we are wasting grace? It's just that when we pray for people of little faith, people who lead an unchristian or obviously sinful way of life, it is difficult for us to do this, but when we pray for a person who leads a pious life, or for ourselves, then it is easier for us, it is easier for us. The point is not that we keep grace or spend it, but rather that we gain more or less; and sometimes it is so difficult to pray that all attention is scattered. I think that in practice one should do this: having prayed for one's relatives - a little and moderately and with a blessing, one should pray for oneself and through repentance acquire the proper spiritual disposition, attention to prayer, humility.

Question. At work, I often just enjoy singing. Is this correct? Then, of course, my attention in prayer weakens, and I reproach myself for this.

Answer. Well, if singing distracts from prayer - what to do? Of course, when you hear something beautiful, especially for the first time or not used to it yet, then it is very impressive and your attention is distracted. This is natural. But this does not mean that you need to fight this beauty. After a while, a person gets used to it, and good singing, on the contrary, contributes to prayer, evokes real feelings that are necessary at a particular moment of the service. This is especially true of Znamenny chant, which is designed precisely to evoke appropriate feelings at certain moments of the service. It seems to me that the Supraśl chant is very inspiring. When I serve the Liturgy and our singers sing the Supraśl chant, it helps me a lot to pray. Now I am used to it, and when our singers first began to sing this Liturgy, I saw a sharp difference from how I had to concentrate and even force myself not to pay attention to the singing when it was partes. Indeed, partes singing distracts from prayer, it generally evokes a mood that is not at all prayerful: a kind of melancholy, sadness, sentimentality - anything but real concentration, composure. And it does not elevate the soul, but on the contrary, it draws it to the earth. I experienced this a long time ago, when I was still a layman, when I went to church. In the Assumption Cathedral of our city, they sang very well, I mean professionally, but they sang partes works, performed Tchaikovsky, other, less known, composers. But it was simply impossible to pray. Firstly, not a word was understood, and secondly, with such singing, you do not pray at all, but as if you are present in a concert hall.

But if the correct chanting distracts with its beauty, then it is out of habit. A few services will pass, you will get used to it - and then, on the contrary, it will help you pray. There is nothing you can do about it: when a person sees something new, it naturally distracts him. If we go into a church and see some beautiful icon, it will also attract our attention precisely because of its beauty and distract us from our inner concentration. But later it will also contribute to our prayerful mood, when some, at least a small habit is formed.

Question. And if you do not have the opportunity to visit those churches where they sing Znamenny chant, is it very bad?

Answer. Why is it very bad? There were ascetics who had never heard the Znamenny chant and nevertheless prospered spiritually. For example, Father John of Kronstadt. It is hardly possible to assume that in his church, in the middle of the 19th century, he heard znamenny chants or saw canonical icons. But that did not prevent him from becoming what he had become. Then nothing will hinder spiritual development, but everything will only contribute.

In general, I do not really approve of the desire to listen to church hymns outside of school hours. Sometimes you can. But if a person does this constantly, endlessly (except for singers, of course, who need such listening), then he spends his time in idleness. Perhaps he would have amused himself with pop music or some other music, but since it was impossible, he chose church music. This is better than listening to the stage, but it is probably even better to pray or read the Holy Fathers. Therefore, there is no need to be carried away by church music.

Question. It seems to me that God's commandments presuppose engaging in mental activity everywhere: both in the monastery and in the world. It is said, for example, do not judge. In order not to condemn, a layman also needs to refrain from condemnation in his thoughts, and so it is in everything. Do you agree with this?

Answer. Of course, I agree with this. It cannot be said that mental activity is the only way to fulfill the commandments, but it is the most convenient, the most easy, one might say. Of course, you may object: "Why should we take the easy path?" but only a presumptuous, proud person who for some reason believes that he can take the difficult path will dare to declare himself in this way. And a more or less prudent person will always choose the easiest way. Mental activity is the easiest and (although this word may not be appropriate) effective way to fulfill the commandments. But not the only one. Therefore, it is impossible to condemn those people who are not engaged in mental work, and it is necessary to write them down as those who are perishing. This is also unfair.

Question. What harm is there from a multitude of empty words, and how can one refrain from it? And they also say that as you behave in the monastery at first, so will the whole future life pass. How should a novice behave in order to achieve tonsure or at least succeed a little?

Answer. Of course, there is harm from idle talk, but not every conversation can be called idle talk. If this is a necessary conversation on obedience, even if sometimes it is lengthy (for example, in a sewing workshop they discuss how and what needs to be sewn), it will not be empty talk. And when they begin to talk about things that are not related to the case, or endlessly discuss what has been known for a long time or will come to light by itself, then this is already empty talk. Especially when they talk about extraneous topics. How to get rid of this? It is very difficult to do this, because the tongue is such a member of the body that is moved by all passions. The Savior said: "That which enters into the mouth defiles a man, but that which proceeds out of the mouth, for out of the heart proceedeth evil thoughts" (cf. Matt. 15:11,19). All evil thoughts, coming from the heart, move our tongue. And since we have a lot of evil thoughts in our hearts, a lot of passions, it is difficult to hope that our tongue and our speech will be purified before we get rid of the passions. And you need to try to restrain yourself as much as possible, to accustom yourself to silence as much as possible, at the same time understanding that this is a temporary measure, partial, and the main thing is the purification of the heart. But to neglect the struggle against idle talk, not to concern oneself with the purification of the tongue until we have cleansed the heart, and to act freely according to the passions, or, more correctly, according to many passions, is also wrong. Because by restraining the tongue, thus resisting the passion of empty talk, we also struggle with it. And this can be said in relation to any passion in general. If we want to cleanse ourselves of the passion of fornication, we must not only pray, but also resist it in practice. If we want to get rid of anger, we not only pray against anger, but actually resist. And in the same way, if we want to get rid of empty talk, we must actually resist it and pray at the same time, while understanding that complete victory, complete purity can be achieved only when we get rid of all passions. Therefore, this task is very difficult, for all its external simplicity.

And what does it mean "how will you behave in the monastery at first"? To be zealous for one's obedience, to be zealous for one's spiritual life – this is what is needed from the very beginning. In a monastery, it is impossible to behave well at first. If a sister, for example, has anger, how can she become meek in an instant? Of course, she will not succeed. It will stumble and fall, sin again and again with this sin, and there is nothing to be done about it, patience, repentance, self-compulsion are needed, it can stretch, and most likely it will be, for many years. It is not literally said that you behave as you behave from the beginning, so it will continue, because it is simply impossible. Whoever wants and tries to put such a yoke on himself, but suddenly falls again and again and becomes desperate because of this, he is simply acting unwisely. "We must endure our passions," says St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), "just as we tolerate the shortcomings of our neighbors." Of course, not to endure so much as to reconcile with them, but to endure this struggle with the passions. And the good beginning of a novice is to have zeal, to have zeal for the main virtues, from which all the others are derived. The main virtues are unceasing prayer, inner attention, revelation of thoughts, obedience to the eldress, obedience to the abbess, humility before the sisters. This is the beginning. If it exists, if there are these basic virtues, especially unceasing prayer and obedience, understood as obedience first of all to the eldress - that is, in the spiritual sense, then everything will gradually come. This is where a good start must be made. Those who did not do this, everything can go awry later. After all, if the foundation is laid crookedly, then the wall will be uneven, it may even crack or collapse. The basic virtues that I have named are the foundation, and everything else will gradually come. And besides, another very important point is to discard all thoughts of leaving the monastery. Because if a person thinks that in extreme cases he can leave, then he will always be unsteady. He will think: "Well, if anything, then I will leave. Either I will go into the world, or to another monastery." And when he cuts off this thought, he has no choice but to obey. And there should be one more important thought - the background of all our actions: we must understand that we do not have to fulfill our desires at all. In the world, people usually see the purpose of life in making all their desires come true. If a person has a desire, sinful or good, he strives with all his might to put it into practice. And we must keep in mind that it is not at all necessary to do this, especially if our desires are sinful. And when we have such an attitude, such a view of things, then it will be easier for us to struggle with sin. We know that it is not necessary to fulfill a desire if we know that it is sinful, and then we will look for the means to overcome sin. And if we think in advance that in extreme cases it is possible to fulfill some wish, then, of course, we have already reconciled ourselves to defeat before entering the battle. But the most important thing, I say again, is unceasing prayer and obedience. These are the two mites that our soul, like a poor widow, can sacrifice to God. And this may turn out to be more than what the ancient ascetics gave to God from the excess of their abilities. And we have nothing else - we are poor, wretched people, weak in all respects.