Fr. Arseny always asked to write camp memoirs without camp "folklore", criminal words, the specifics of the camp dialect: "Write without this rubbish, write in the intelligent Russian language." I was able to write down several conversations conducted by Fr. Arseny – interesting and spiritually useful.

That day, eight people gathered at the table, three I saw for the first time, the rest I knew. The conversation was about faith in God and love for one's neighbor. No one argued about anything, they just discussed what was more important – deep faith or full dedication to helping loved ones. Father Arseny, sitting in an armchair, slowly drank tea, stirring it from time to time with a teaspoon, and, listening to the conversation, smiled and said:

"Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus, who answered the lawyer who tempted Him: 'Teacher! What is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment; and the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:36-40).

In the words of the Lord it is said so clearly and definitely about love for God and one's neighbor that, it would seem, no additional interpretations are needed. And yet the Apostle James writes: "What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says that he has faith, but has not works? Can this faith save him?" (James 2:14), and continues: "In the same way, faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself" (James 2:17), and once again writes: "But do you want to know, unfounded man, that faith without works is dead?" (James 2:20).

The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the obligation of faith: "And without faith it is impossible to please God; for it is necessary that he that cometh unto God should believe that he is, and that he shall reward them that seek him" (Heb. 11:6), but in order to bind together faith in God and love, the Apostle Paul continues: "If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not love, then I am sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, and have not love, then I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions, and give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

I have often met such people: kind, friendly, ready to share the last piece of bread, but indifferent to God, denying Him, or hostile to God. And you know, for all the "goodness" of these people, I noticed in their behavior, character, perception of life inferiority, out of their own kindness they created their own religion, which replaced the Lord for them.

Only the Lord can evaluate and weigh the good deeds performed by these people, and give credit to these deeds (perhaps they made life easier for many people or saved someone from desecration and death); but without faith, it is impossible to be saved by good deeds alone. On the other hand, in the Acts of the Apostles it is said: "But in every nation he that feareth him, and doeth righteousness, is acceptable unto him" (Acts 10:35). Perhaps in these words there is little hope for the Lord's mercy to people who do good deeds, although they do not have the proper love for God, but still – with the obligatory understanding that God exists, and with a religious consciousness: "I, man, believe in Him."

It is not for me to speculate about this – I am a simple hieromonk, and not a learned theologian, as the Holy Fathers teach."

FATHER HILARION March 15, 1964

"On my pastoral path," said Fr. Arseny, "I have met with people endowed, by God's mercy, with clairvoyance, capable of reading in the soul of a believer everything he has done, and even foreseeing his future. In the camps and exiles, I witnessed the miraculous healings of completely hopeless dying patients through the prayers of bishops, priests, monks, I saw camp "dodyags" – completely devoid of will, physical resistance, emaciated dystrophics, who were transformed by the prayer of Priest Valentine, became healthy, gained freedom and left the death camp before me (and now, already old people who come to me). Father Valentin served as a priest in one of the churches in Moscow and was shot on November 21, 1942. He was a great man of prayer and helper to people.

By the way, I was also supposed to be shot on November 21, the day of the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael. In the morning, after the inspection, the convoy took me to the watch (the gate at the entrance and exit from the camp), about twenty-five people were gathered, mainly priests, deacons and one bishop. It was frosty, the convoy shifted from foot to foot, we were also freezing, but we began to sing "It is truly meet..." and "Holy God..." The guards were silent, realizing that these were our last words before death. We knew that we would be taken to be shot in the deep Voronin ravine, where prisoners were shot.

About an hour passed, we sang in a low voice. Suddenly, a soldier ran up and ordered the prisoners to come out, whose numbers he began to call out. He also called my number. I summoned five people and ordered: "Quickly to the barracks." The rest were taken out of the gate, fifteen minutes later there was a crackle of automatic bursts. Why was I summoned from the group of convicts? I don't know. It was the Lord's will.

Twice more, when he was in the camps, in the morning he was summoned to the watch to be shot, but after many hours of waiting he was sent to the barracks or to work. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable!

I was summoned for the second time on January 19, 1943, on the day of the Holy Epiphany – the Baptism of the Lord, and for the third time – on August 19, 1943 – on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord. Of course, in everything there was the Lord's will. He has taken death away from me, and I sit with you now; This is a miracle granted to me, a sinner!