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.

Answer Varsonuphia. Brother, let us consider what we say, and see that our very words convict us. Whoever comes to the doctor, if he does not observe the proper order, he cannot be freed from the disease. And since thou hast wished to receive other cures and cures, I am astonished at thy love, that thou dost not comprehend the all-embracing wisdom of our great Physician, Who cut short the excuse of every man who seeks it; For by opening His medical books to every man who would give heed to his own salvation, He has made us unanswerable. When wives always sing, "But there is a worm and not a man, a reproach of men, and a humiliation of men" (Ps. 21:7), what should men do? I do not say this out of contempt for the female sex, far from it, for we are not commanded to do so, but (wishing to show) that although they were in the beginning the cause of the crime, yet God did not remove them from the Divine teaching. If, then, we desire this healing, why do we reject it? If, however, when we are mocked, we think that we have not rejected it, but are taking advantage of it, then we speak falsely, and do not do it. Truly, when we have tested our inner man, let us be sure that we endure neither chastisement, nor vexation, nor humiliation, nor reproach. And from thy present thought, in which I once tried thee, thou mayest understand this; For when the deed was done, thou didst repent that thou didst not understand. Desiring to test thy love, I have done as thou knowest, and have found that the old man still dwelleth in thee; but I think that thy love hath profited not a little from it. Our Lord is perfect, and desires to be perfect in all His things, for He says: "Be ye perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Whoever endures these cauterizations is saved; For he who smells his own stench does not feel any other (stench) if he stands on heaps of corpses. [51] And he who is robbed by robbers has nothing to give to others. Beware, beloved, that we, who are beyond all care and care, do not even want to think that we are really earth and dust; And we grew old, nourishing vanity in us. For to think that our work is pleasing to God, that our sojourn (in silence) edifies all, and that we have been delivered from judgment and condemnation, is utter vanity, and nothing more. When our great heavenly Physician gave us heals and bandages, on whom does the cause of our destruction depend, if not on the weakness of our will? First of all, He granted us humility, which casts out all pride and every exaltation that is laid upon the mind (2 Corinthians 10:5) of the glory of the Son of God, an obedience that quenches all the arrows of the evil one that have been kindled (Eph. 6:16), in order to cut off in all things one's own will before one's neighbor. And this engenders serenity of the heart, a bright and quiet disposition of the face, and a good constancy of vision. He has also given us a great band, which binds all the limbs together, and heals every sickness and every ulcer, the love of Him. He Himself has become an example for us; For it is said, "He humbled Himself, not only being obedient, but even unto death" (Phil. 2:8), and laying down His life for us, He taught us, saying, "That ye love one another, as ye love... And of this they all understand, as My disciples are, if they love one another (John 13:34-35). If thou wilt not be lame, take the rod of the cross, and strengthen thy hands with it, and thou shalt die in all things, and thou shalt lame no more; for the dead are never lame. And if thou hast this rod, thou hast no need of a gatekeeper: with this rod thou shalt drive away not only the dogs, but also the chief of the beasts, the roaring lion. And Jacob said, "With this rod the Jordan hath crossed" (Gen. 32:10), and again, "Bow down on the top of his rod" (Hebrews 11:21). And Moses performed miracles with a rod (cf. Exodus 7:9); Whoever is nailed to this cross is completely healed of the flowing phlegm; For he who dies dies to sin. What can we expect after this? "A three-day resurrection alone: it is enough for the crucified to be resurrected with Jesus. Concerning the week (I will say): There will be various sorrows and troubles. And by the naming of the mountains to which you have mentioned, we must understand the Holy Mary the Mother of God and the other saints who will live in those times and who firmly preserve the seal of the Son of God; for he saves many for their sake. To him be the glory for ever, amen.

153. (The question) is the same, similar (to the previous ones).

O indivisible Trinity, do not be separated from us: out of the mouth of the babe and of those who suck Thou hast made praise (Ps. 8:3). My good father! You, as a true disciple of a true Physician, have given me cures and remedies. But even the first cauterization has penetrated through my heart, and I can't stand the pain. Thou hast written unto me to sing, I am a worm, and not a man" (Ps. 21:7), and indeed I sing, and worship, and praise, and exalt for ever, but I dare not say that I am a worm and not a man, for I am a man stung by a corruptible worm. What is the power of this Imperishable Worm? This Worm (so called Himself in humility) came for my sake, that He might deliver me from the corruptible worm that corrupted the human race. And as this corruptible worm, smouldering and smoldering, enters into sores and produces putrefaction and stench, so also came this Imperishable Worm, of Whom it is said: "I am a worm, and not a man" (Ps. 21:7). And as that worm enters into the plagues, so the Imperishable Worm came down into the pit of the earth, and from there began to corrupt all the wickedness of the old worm. And having thus cleansed, He raised them all up, and He Himself remained incorruptible. It was this Worm who cleansed Job from the corruptible worm, and said to him, "Arise, gird thy loins as a man" (Job 38:3). This Worm, hanging on a tree, attracted the serpent with a fishing rod. To this Worm all things are subjected, except Him Who subjected all things to Him: for thou shalt subdue all things under His nose (1 Corinthians 15:27). The corruptible worm corrupts all things, and there is nothing left on the earth that it does not destroy, neither wood, nor food, nor earth, nor body, except salt and oil. What is salt and oil? "The Father, Who subjected all things to Him, Who salted His creation with His mercy, and gave salt to the Apostles, may they salt the world, so that from the stench of idols men may pass into the good stench of our true God." Amen.

What is the power of mustard, that (the Lord) likened the kingdom of heaven to it, and not to an olive tree, a date, or one of the great trees, but to it, the smallest? For it is very corrosive, and it constricts our hearts. Yes, my father, pray to the Lord, that He may show us the mystery of this (parable), I mean the worm and the mustard, that we also may glorify the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit forever, amen.

My father! Thou hast reminded me of the past, and I have not forgotten it, but I always remember that in which the enemy did not succeed, but only raged when he saw the fruit that was in this place; Your patience and God's love for mankind did not allow his evil will to be fulfilled, and we still exist, glorifying God. Thou hast told me that I repent after I have done; About! If only he had repented, though after, and not remained in it to the end. And as thou hast said, that he that hath been caught by robbers, and that hath been stolen, hath nothing to give to another, therefore I also, who hunger, beseech you, to give me of your morsels, that I also, like a dog from the table, may receive food from you who have it. And as thou hast said that pride and pretence have grown old with me, pray that they may forsake me. Amen.

Answer Varsonuphia. David declared, "I have stinked and bent my wounds from the face of my folly" (Ps. 37:6). Madness, then, is the receptacle of all evil; Foolishness bringeth forth disobedience, and disobedience hath bred a plague; After the plague, the same madness gave birth to negligence, and negligence produced putrefaction and stench, and the accursed flesh was covered with worms, and was corrupted. And the corrupt one was cast out into the sea, and became the food of the great fish, and remained in its womb, until the Worm of Heaven came. And when he had been taken to the ouda of the cross, he came down into the belly of the fish, and through its mouth together with its womb he brought forth the food which it had swallowed, and having taken on the flesh, he anointed it with oil, and washed it with water, and baked it with fire, for it is said, "By him ye baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Luke 3:16), and fed it with bread, and made it glad with wine, and salted it, and delivered it from corruption. To this he added mustard, which holds back corruption, and compresses the nostrils of the serpent, that he may not smell the flesh, and darkens his eyes, that he may not behold the perfection of its humility. Knowing all these things, let us not despise his admonition; Let not that which was said be fulfilled upon us: If salt be salted, what shall it be salted? (Matt. 5:13). And what is the disadvantage of this? "Is it not only that he is mad in his heart, 'There is no God' (Ps. 13:1)? If you haven't forgotten the former, you know the latter; Hearken unto Him who said, Thou knowest the will of thy master, and thou shalt not... having created... There will be many bienas (Luke 12:47). If, in knowing, we speak and are careless, then the woe that awaits those who sin in knowledge is not far from us. If, following the example of Abraham and Job, we think that we are earth and ashes (Gen. 18:27; cf. Job 42:6), we will never be robbed; but we will always have something to give to others: not gold and silver, but an example of humility, patience, and love for God. To him be the glory for ever, amen.

154. The same one, eating (only) bread, asked the same Great Elder about the use of food.