John's answer. Brother! The love of fathers for their children is different, and the love of the brethren for their brothers is different. The measure of the love of spiritual fathers for their children has nothing harmful or carnal in it; for they are strengthened by spiritual wisdom, and both in word and in deed they always and in all things try to benefit the young. Loving them in this way, they do not keep silent before them about their shortcomings, but often rebuke, admonish and console, as a good father admonishes his children. For it is said to them, "Rebuke, rebuke, beseech" (2 Tim. 4:2), as your abba often does to you, although you do not understand when he rebukes, rebukes and comforts you, and, for the sake of love, he does not keep silent about your sins. By this it is revealed that his love for you is spiritual. Everyone loves his neighbor according to his measure; the measure of perfect love consists in loving one's neighbor as oneself for the sake of the love that a man has for God. Youth must guard itself in everything, for the devil soon stumbles the young. In conversation, they first begin to speak, as it were, about the benefit of the soul, or even about something else, but then they move on to something else: to irritation, to idleness, to laughter, to slander, and to other evils, so that the words are fulfilled in them: "Thou hast begun in the spirit, now ye are dead in the flesh." A little will suffer (Gal. 3:3-4). Thus the young are subjected to a fall because of their foolish love for one another, and because they gather together for special conversations. The measure of their love for one another should be as follows: not to slander one another, not to hate one another, not to despise one another, not to seek one's own, not to love one another for the sake of bodily beauty, or for the sake of some bodily occupation, not to sit with one another without extreme need, so as not to fall into insolence, which destroys all the fruits of the monk and makes him like a dry tree. To this the measure of the love of the young for each other extends. And just as they themselves should beware of insolence and idle talk, so let them also guard their brethren, fearing to sit down untimely with one another, lest they be caught in these nets and catch their brethren, fearing him who said: "Woe to him who makes his friend drunk with muddy corruption" (Hab. 2:15). And again: "Good customs corrupt, evil conversations" (1 Corinthians 15:33). Pay attention to yourself, brother!

Question 340 of the same. What should I do? "I suffer from bad thoughts. And if I learn that another also has them, I always say, "Behold, others also think evil." Also, why do I have neither weeping nor tenderness? Thought tells me that as long as I am with people, I cannot gain them. Show mercy to my weakness and tell me, my father, how can I get rid of these thoughts?

John's answer. Evil thoughts, as well as when you hear or learn that someone else has something similar, to say: "Behold, others like me think evil," curse all such evil suggestions. Say of your brother, 'He is better and holier than I,' and your thoughts will be stilled. As for weeping: if you do not force yourself, being with people, to strive so that you do not have free treatment with anyone, then you will gain neither weeping nor tenderness. And if they bring you to the point of fleeing from your brethren under the guise of goodness, then they will bring you to the point where you will flee from podvig and the field. Therefore, compel yourself, being with people, not to have free treatment with them; [95] For the Apostle says: "If a man strive, he shall not be crowned, unless he strives lawfully" (2 Tim. 2:5). Do what is due according to your strength, brother, and God will help you in everything. Do not forget to keep humility, obedience, obedience, and you will be saved in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever, Amen.

Question 341, the other. Another brother asked the same Elder: "Abba, I wish to be saved, and I do not know the way of salvation." Thought says to me: "Why do you live here in a dormitory, doing nothing? Go somewhere else." What should I do in this case?

John's answer. Brother! God, through the Divine Scriptures and the fathers, showed us the way of salvation, saying: "Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will tell you" (Deuteronomy 32:7). And so, if you wish not to go astray under the pretext of humility, agreeing with the thought of departing from the place where you are profitable, then do nothing without asking the spiritual fathers, and you will not go astray, by the grace of God, Who desires to be saved with all men, and to come to the understanding of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4).

Question 342 of the same. Thought tells me that if I go somewhere and begin to be silent, I will finally attain complete silence. Being a debtor in many sins, I desire to be freed from them. What shall I do, my father?

Answer. Brother! A person who is in debt, if he does not first pay his debt, then wherever he goes, whether to the city or to the village, and wherever he settles, he is a debtor and has no freedom to dwell anywhere in peace. But when he is troubled with the reproach of men, he is ashamed, and then he pays his debt somehow; and, having been freed from it, he can boldly and fearlessly walk among the people and live wherever he wishes. Likewise, whoever tries, according to his strength, to bear patiently vexations, reproaches, dishonors, and deprivations for the sins he has committed, learns humility and labor, and for their sake his sins are forgiven, according to the words of the Scriptures: "See my humility and my labor, and forsake all my sins" (Psalm 24:18). Think also about the fact that before the cross our Lord Jesus Christ endured many annoyances and reproaches, and after that He ascended to the cross. In the same way, no one can attain perfect and fruitful silence and holy and perfect repose, unless he first suffers Christ and endures all His sufferings, remembering the words of the Apostle: "Therefore we suffer with Him, that with Him also we may be glorified" (Romans 8:17). Do not be deceived: there is no other way of salvation but this. May the Lord help you, according to His will, so that, as He says in the Gospel, you may lay a solid foundation for Your building on solid rock (cf. Matt. 7:24-25). And the stone was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4).

343. Petition to the Great Elder. The brother asked the Great Elder, saying: "I am a passionate man, pray that God will have mercy on me."

Answer Barsanuphius. Whoever desires to be pardoned, let him keep the commandment not to eat of the tree, and he will not fall into disobedience, but he who does not fall into disobedience receives mercy and is saved by the grace of Christ our God; for such a person says to his thought: "I and God are alone in the world," and if I do not fulfill His will, I will no longer belong to Him, but to a stranger; and every day he awaits his departure from the body, thinking how he may meet God, and such a person quickly improves the path of salvation.

344. Petition to the same. The brother, who had fallen into temptation, asked for prayers from the Great Elder himself and, having received relief, informed him of this, offering him gratitude and at the same time asking (prayers) for the headache that had occurred to him, and also for his heart to be enlightened.

Answer Barsanuphius. Brother! Let us heed ourselves with the fear of God, and if the gracious God, in His love for mankind, eases our battle, then even then let us not be negligent, for many, having received relief, have become disgusted for themselves and have fallen headlong. But we, having received relief, will thank God, (remembering) from which He has delivered us, and we will remain in prayer, so that we may not fall again into either the same passions or others. Thus, if someone eats something, and his stomach, or spleen, or liver aches, and with the diligence and knowledge of the physician he is healed, then he no longer indulges in negligence about himself, remembering the former danger, so as not to come to an even worse situation, as the Lord said to him healed by Him: "Behold, thou art well: sin not, lest it be more bitter than thee" (John 5:5). 14. Brother! Good warriors, even in time of peace, constantly learn the art of warfare; for he does not allow the time of battle, with comfort, to learn what is necessary for battle; it is said: "Prepare thyself, and be not troubled" (Psalm 118:60). Therefore, do not have a free relationship with the one in whom you have been tempted by passion, as well as with no one else; for the Fathers say of free conversion that it destroys the fruits of the monk. A man cannot remain without concern for the battle even to his last breath, lest he fall into the valley, as if he had been caught by a cunning enemy, whom the Lord would destroy from us by the spirit of His mouth (2 Thess. 2:8). Remember what the Elder said: if a man creates a new heaven and a new earth, then he cannot be without care. As for headaches: force yourself not to relax yourself, and you will get help. The Lord, seeing His disciples exhausted, said to them: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into trouble" (Mark 14:38). My son! He who enlightened the eyes of the blind, let him enlighten the eyes of your heart, that you may understand what is good and profitable; May the God of hosts strengthen you and strengthen you with perfect faith, saying: "All things are possible to him that believes" (Mark 9:23), and may I see you in the face of those who are saved by the grace of the Intercessor of our souls, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever, Amen.

345. A lay brother of the same Great Elder, being himself already old, expressed a desire to see him through a messenger.

The elder answered him as follows: "I have a brother Jesus; but if, despising the world, you become a monk, then you also will be my brother." Hearing this, he departed with many tears, and after a certain time he came again to this monastery, renounced the world and, falling into watersickness, through a messenger he asked the Great Elder to pray for his illness.

He answered him thus: "This illness has befallen you so that you do not depart to God barren." Thus, if you endure and give thanks to God, then it is imputed to you instead of asceticism, since you did not stay long in the monastic image. In part, this sorrow has befallen you because you have considered me, insignificant, and yourself to mean something: me as a great man, yourself as a brother to such a man, and you do not know that we are children of Adam's transgression, earth and ashes. Thank God, Who has brought you to such a state. If we had the humility of Jesus Christ, we could say: "Who is My Mother, and who are My brethren" (Matt. 12:48), and so on.