Tips. Permission.

It is impossible to heal other people's souls ("to help people") without curing oneself, to put in order someone else's spiritual economy with chaos in one's own soul, to bring peace to others without having it in oneself.

Our help to people often consists not in a system of deliberate actions on their souls, but in the invisible and unknown to us action of our spiritual gifts on them. When Anthony the Great asked his silent visitor, "Why don't you ask me anything?" he said, "It is enough for me to look at you, holy father."

How much a suit means. Clothing and uniform are associated with a whole complex of feelings, concepts, and spiritual movements. In particular, a priest should not, I feel, wear civilian clothes. By taking off his clothes, he inevitably acquires a "non-priestly" feeling, to some extent betrays his priesthood.

Every Christian person, and especially a priest, must always be ready to give up everything for God when God requires it.

We must hesitate to visit the most dubious families in the ecclesiastical sense. I know from experience that they will be happy, they accept everywhere with great joy, they do not let go, they thank me.

Advice of Fr. I. Kronstadtsky. One is no stranger to serving, even the services – always with reverence. Carefully prepare for the Liturgy (you can divide it for the whole day). Do not raise your eyes during the service.

Not acting.

Do not close the doors to those who come, whoever it is.

Do not refuse money (pride).

To confess everyone who comes as if it were his last, dying confession.

The priest listens to tearful confessions and listens with full participation, and, at the same time, he does not get tired, does not feel broken by this avalanche of human sin and sorrow that falls upon him, because he does not receive it (by the power of the grace of the priesthood) on his heart. This is how you should live.

In addition to parishes and common church life, we need what in ancient Russia was called a "small church" – i.e. such clots of church warmth, small churches of individual families, where communion of people would take place, which would be impossible in large, motley and fluid parishes. It is the duty of the priest to lead such groups, the goals of which may be different: the study of the Gospel or church services, the service of the sick and the poor. But the main thing is not even these tasks, but the communication of people with each other. It is difficult to even imagine how many lonely and wild people live among us.

When I think about what to say, I almost always have a real process of theological and verbal creativity, and the sermon itself thus becomes a reproduction. This means that this first process must be performed aloud, in front of people. But there are two conditions for this: a full heart and complete simplicity.