148. Услышав сие, они просили Великого Старца помолиться, чтобы Бог продлил жизнь (больному).

Ответ. Благой и Милосердый Бог мой более и более да исполнит вас радостью Святого Духа, аминь. О брате же скажу вам: достаточно ему и того, что он сподобился получить; ибо он обогатился внезапно и из раба сделался свободным. Но да будет благословен Бог, благоволивший так и принявший моление. Не говорите ничего брату, чтобы не ввести его в скорбь, а сохраните эту тайну: ему предлежит не смерть, а переход от смерти в жизнь вечную, и от скорби в покой. Чада мои возлюбленные, радуйтесь о Господе.

149. Когда брату стало еще тяжелее, и он весьма страдал, снова просили того же Великого Старца, чтобы он умолил Бога скорее помиловать брата. Великий Старец отвечал:

Болезнь его продлилась для того, чтобы не приписал себе дарованного ему по молению о нем. Бог же сотворил и творит полезное ему молитвами святых, аминь. — И после сего ответа брат тот скончался с миром.

150. Один безмолвствующий старец, именем Евфимий, послал нижеследующую молитву к тому же Великому Старцу, чтобы чрез него Бог даровал ему ответ на вопросы, заключающиеся в сей молитве.

О Жизнодавец! Путь сущих во тьме! Просвети и нас, пребывающих во мгле. Ты, Святой, сказал: просите, и дастся вам… толцыте, и отверзется вам (Лк. 11, 9), а как Ты и нам хочешь отверзть дверь спасения, ускори, потому что уже начал. Если бы Ты не хотел спасти нас, то не сделал бы нам известным того, что для нас невозможно, для Тебя же, как для Бога, возможно. Святой! Ты сказал нам: очисти себя, если хочешь, чтобы пришел Я к тебе; а я говорю, Святой, что брение само себя очистить не может. Владыко! Ты сказал нам: желающий сподобиться Моих дарований должен познать стези Мои во всем. Как же может познать их слепорожденный, если не откроются его очи? Слепой ищет руководителя, чтобы каким-нибудь образом найти для себя хотя малую услугу. Как Вартимей (сын Тимеев), сидя при пути, просил милостыни; и когда услышал, что Свет правды проходит мимо него, по пути сему, воззвал: Сыне Давидов, помилуй мя (Лк. 18, 39), и когда умилосердилась над ним благость Твоя, и Ты призвал его и сказал: что хощеши, да ти сотворю? Он же рече: Господи, да прозрю, и тотчас же благость Твоя рекла: прозри; и он прозрел, увидя следы Твои, и последовал за Тобою (Лк. 18, 41–42). И я (также) хочу воззвать (к Тебе), но возбраняет мне тот, кто всегда хочет омрачить очи видящих. Если благости Твоей угодно призвать и меня и сказать: что хощеши, да сотворю тебе? — воззову и я, по примеру того (слепца): Господи, да отверзутся мои очи. Ибо если бы некий прокаженный мог очистить себя, то не взывал бы: Господи, аще хощеши, можеши мя очистити (Мк. 1, 40); но очистил бы сам себя. Подобно ему и я взываю: обрати ко мне тот святой глас: хощу, очистися (ст. 41), и проказа немедленно оставит меня. Когда же прозрю и буду очищен, тогда и познаю следы Твои, чтобы ходить вслед Тебя; ибо Ты — путь заблудших.

И я прошу тебя, отца моего: ей, отче, помолись Владыке моему Христу, да отверзет мои очи; ибо я имею в тебе руководителя, приводящего меня ко Владыке Иисусу. Тому слава со Отцем и Святым Духом во веки веков, аминь.

Answer. And now the time is favorable for singing the words of the Gospel: "For the health of a physician is not required, but the sick (Luke 5:31). But if a sick person has recourse to a physician, then he must also do what the physician commands, according to the words (of the Scripture): "It behooves him that cometh unto God, as he is, and he that seeketh Him shall be a rewarder" (Heb. 11:6); For faithful is he who said, I will repay you a hundredfold this day in this time... and everlasting life (Mark 10:30). Those who come to our great Physician receive enlightenment from Him, and He heals all their mental passions. Let us not boast that we are faithful, for otherwise we shall be condemned, like hypocrites and unbelievers: through the visible things the invisible faith is known, which is hidden in the recesses of the heart. If we believe in Christ the Saviour, Who says, "Be thou according to thy faith," then He will say even now to our soul, which is in the body, "Be of good cheer, O daughter: thy faith shall save thee" (Matthew 9:22). Thus our faith does not consist only in speaking and pronouncing with the mouth, but perfect faith is known from healing. If thou hast believed and been healed, walk and stumble no more, and limp no more. "Are you healed?" Show that your bleeding has stopped. And if you, O man, have attained this, then you are not far from hearing the words of the Saviour to your purest and most beautiful soul: "Thou art all good, my neighbor, and there is no blemish in thee" (Song 4:7), and the Apostle's word: "I have no filth, or blemish, or any of these" (Eph. 5:27). The door is open to us, and the way that leads to eternal life is open to us. Through many tribulations it behooves us to enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). Let us patiently continue our labor: truly, we are not worthy of the passion of the present time for the glory that is manifested in us (Rom. 8:18). God is righteous, and will not forget so many of our labors, if we keep our obedience to the end; For He Himself said, "He that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13) through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

151. The same question to the same Great Elder about evil thoughts and about the resurrection, offered in the form of a prayer.

Life and Resurrection! Visit us as Thy creature and cleanse us, O Holy One, from the evil legion, just as Thou didst have compassion on Thy creature and cast out the legion of demons who wished to enter into the swine. Is it in dumb swine, or in me, endowed with a verbal soul? For I took them in, and rushed along the shore, and fell into the sea; The waves hit me and I don't understand (what's happening to me). And now, as it were, from within, who is urging me to awaken the Helmsman, that He would give me His hand and draw me out of the depths, as He did with Peter, and say to me, "Thou hast little faith, why hast thou become troubled?" (Matt. 14:31). And as Thou hast promised through Thy saint Barsanuphius, in his answers, that we shall be laid in the same sepulchre: shall we also rise again? I am afraid of Him who said, There shall be two in the country: one shall be eaten, and the other shall be forsaken. Two are grinding in a millstone: one is eaten, and one is left (Matt. 24:40-41). And just as from the very foundation of the world men have rested (in the earth), and it often happens that the bodies of saints and sinners are laid together in one tomb, will they also arise together at the time of the resurrection, when Thy chosen angels will come to raise up all the righteous, or not, and only the elect will arise? Fearing this, I pray through Thy saint, that as Thou hast declared unto me that we shall rest in one grave, so show me that Thou wilt raise us up together. And I beseech my father Barsanuphius: since we have both received the fields in order to squeeze them, and I am exhausted and cannot reap, let him labor, as a strong man, to bring to Thee, the Lord, and for me the handles of righteousness. For in the ancient Fathers we find a similar example: three went out to reap, and one of them, like me, fell ill and returned to his cell, while the rest remained cheerful and squeezed everything. And when they had finished the harvest and returned to the house, they compelled him to take his share of the wages; And he contradicted, saying, "What portion, when it was not I who labored for it, but you?" And when they insisted that he should also take his portion, the fathers also decided to take it for him, and praised their judgment. But thou, O Lord Christ God, confirm this prayer of mine, for thine is the glory for ever, amen.

Answer Varsonuphia. As the master of a house chooses his faithful stewards, entrusting them with keys and goods and his whole house, so it depends on the faithful steward when he sleeps, what food he eats, what honour he receives from his master, and with whom he dwells, whether with those who are drunk with wine or with those who live honestly, the former is punished, and the latter is rewarded; In the same way, our God has made faithful men rulers over Himself, and has given them His keys to shut and open, that is, to set them free. They are faithful: because all Christians are baptized; It is good for them to arrange the things entrusted to them, that is, the works according to baptism, for their own salvation. Whosoever therefore strays from this right way is made a partaker of drunkards, who are drunk with the wine of iniquity; such a one may be called a verbal pig, and you know what he will endure at the coming of the Lord. And if he arranges well what has been entrusted to him, then all know what blessedness has been appointed by the Lord for this; For it is said, "Their words shall go forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world" (Ps. 18:5). As for the resurrection, this age is like a threshing floor, and the wheat is mixed with tares. The Gospel teaches us that at the time of the resurrection all together (the righteous and the sinners) will arise, saying: "And he shall separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats" (Matt. 25:32). As for the two wives and the two husbands, this is said of the end, and refers to faith and unbelief, that is, that in the end alone (faith) is accepted, and by it alone a man is saved. Concerning the brethren's harvest, both sides did well; The sick man had the will to do it, but the sickness prevented him; and they believed that the Lord had strengthened them by the prayers of their sick brother; and the grace of the Holy Spirit came upon all. The Lord said to the Apostles: "Rejoice not, for they obey you: but rejoice, for your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20); In the same way, we will not seek whether we will all rise together, but that we may hear: "Come, with the blessing of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matt. 25:34), and to be with Jesus, as He said to the Father. To Him be the glory for ever, amen.

152. Of the same (question) similar (to the former).

O Lord Jesus Christ, Physician of wounded souls, we offer Thee prayers (borrowed) from Thy holy words, which we accept for the sake of Thy saint; For Thou, O Holy One, hast said, "They do not require the health of a physician, but the sick (Luke 5:31); Your saint Paul also reminded us of this: "Let not the lame be turned away, but rather let it be healed" (Hebrews 12:13). Holy! Thou hast said in one answer, If thou art healed, why dost thou be a temple? The one who is healed does not limp, but walks upright. "But I am lame and wounded, therefore I cry out, asking Thee to visit me also, as thou didst visit him who went to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers; For I have fallen into the hands of the same robbers, and have been wounded by them, bind up my scabs also; And put me on Thy holy ensign, which is good faith, and bring me to Thy holy inn, and take care of me, where Thou hast cared for all who suffer. Master! The bleeding woman was healed by coming to Thee from behind, and touching the hem of Thy robe; but every day I receive healing from Thy holy members, that is, from the Holy Body and Blood and water that proceeded from Thy holy side, and yet my passion boils (in me). "Saint!" For Thou hast said that whoever comes to a physician and desires to be healed must do what he commands; Use for me, O Lord, whatever healing, cauterization and bandage you want, only stop my fetid flow, that is, my impure thoughts. And thou, O Lord, said that the door was opened, but the dogs watched on every side, and would not suffer them to come near the door; And the Good Lord of the house, seeing from afar that the beggar who came to Him was attacked by dogs, sends a doorkeeper to drive away those dogs, so that the beggar may draw near and receive alms from His goodness.

My father! For thou hast written unto us, that he that hath lived one week shall see things which have not yet been seen since the foundation of the world; What are we young to do, how can we be saved? Pray to the Lord, that He may show us those holy mountains to which He commanded us to flee (cf. Matt. 24:16), that we may be saved, what kind of mountains they are, whether mental or visible, that we may know them and, when the time comes, may flee thither and be saved in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, forever, Amen.