And Abba Elian asked him about everything concerning the management of the dormitory. At the end of the two weeks, the monk summoned all the monastic brethren and, greeting each one in particular, sent them away to their cells; and so in peace and silence he gave up his spirit in the hand of God (Rev. 221).

When the Monk John died, then Saint Barsanuphius also fell silent altogether and gave no more answers to anyone, as Abba Dorotheus says in the title of his 2nd homily. And when Barsanuphius fell silent, Abba Dorotheus himself came out of this monastery and formed his own (separate) dormitory.

Such, beloved brethren, was the life of the God-bearing Fathers Barsanuphius and John, such supernatural and heavenly gifts they were vouchsafed to receive from God, and such a blessed end they received. And now, having ascended to heaven, they enjoy the highest bliss, in vain face to face with God, Whom they loved with all their heart on earth, and illumined by the ineffable light of the three-solar Deity. For, having dwelt in heaven, they became, in the words of the divine Barsanuphius, "wholly in intellect, wholly in eye, wholly luminous, wholly perfect, wholly gods. They have been exalted, they have been glorified, they have been enlightened, they have come to life, because they have died before. They rejoice and rejoice: they rejoice in the Indivisible Trinity and rejoice the Higher Powers." Therefore let us also desire their condition; let us flow through them; let us be zealous for their faith; let us acquire their humility and patience, that we may receive their inheritance. Let us hold fast to their unfailing love, that we may inherit unspeakable blessings: eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed (1 Corinthians 2:9) (Rev. 120).

These blessed fathers loved their neighbors from the bottom of their hearts, did them good and benefited them not only during their lifetime, but also after their death, for they left this holy book to all their brethren as a paternal inheritance to their spiritual children, so that they, diligently reading it, might derive great benefit from it in the age of ages. This book contains 850 answers made to various questions of various persons: bishops, priests, monks, laymen, elders, the young, the infirm, and the healthy. And some of these answers were written by the (so-called) other Elder John, while others, and most of them, were given [6] by the Great Elder Barsanuphius himself, not of his own free will, but at the command of the Holy Spirit, for the benefit of souls, as he says: "And all this I write not of my own free will, but by the command of the Holy Spirit, for the correction and benefit of the soul and conscience of the inner man" (answer 13).

When the great Barsanuphius began to proclaim these answers to the hegumen of the monastery, the Monk Seridus, there followed a circumstance worthy of astonishment (namely): Saint Barsanuphius, having summoned Seridas, his scribe, commanded him to write an answer to the Monk John, a monk of the monastery of Saint Sava. But Serid, unable to keep in his mind all the words that the saint had said to him, pondered and wondered how he would write so many words, waiting for the Elder to command him to bring ink and charters, so that he could write word by word while listening. Saint Barsanuphius, by the grace of insight given to him by the Holy Spirit, knew the secret thought of Seridas, and his face suddenly shone like fire, and he said to Seridus: "Go, write, and do not be afraid; If I speak to you an innumerable number of words, that you may write them, then know that the Holy Spirit will not suffer you to write with a single word more or less than what you have said, even if you yourself desire it, but will guide your hand how to write it in a sequential order" (Answer 1).

In this way this book was written by the command of the Holy Spirit; And from this alone everyone can understand how beneficial and pleasant it is, how full of grace and spiritual reasoning it is; For as the tree is, so is the fruit. Truly, everyone can know this from experience itself, for when he begins to read this book, he hears words that are unnatural and simple, but at the same time he will feel intimately within his heart one wondrous grace and sweetness of the Holy Spirit, which, like a magnet, effectively attracts the will to agreement and undoubted conviction of the truth of the words read, and will know how all these words were born of one enlightened and God-bearing mind. how they were disposed by one heart, in which Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of Christ dwelt, and how they (these words) proceeded from one soul, which was all filled with peace and quietness, all Christlike, all inspired by the subtle breaths of the peace-making and enlightening Spirit, and then he will know that, according to the word of David, God has spoken in His holiness (Ps. 59:8), and that the promise of the Lord has been fulfilled over the words of this book: For ye shall not speak, but the Spirit of your Father shall speak in you (Matt. 10:20).

She is the teacher of patience, the extirpator of murmuring, the sword that cuts off one's will, the axe that strikes at the pleasure of men, the guide to true and perfect humility, who teaches us to consider ourselves as nothing; the herald of repentance, the mother of weeping, and the intercessor for the salvation of souls and perfection in Christ. That is why the ancient divine fathers diligently read it, and many of its answers were included in their writings. Thus the Monk Paul of Euergetes contributed much of it to his book; Thus the Monk Nikon, who asceticized in the Black Mountain at Antioch, in the year 1060 under Constantine Ducas and under John, Patriarch of Antioch, entered many testimonies from it into two parts of his collection; In the same way, St. Theodore the Studite in his Testament says that in this book of Barsanuphius he did not find anything disagreeable or inappropriate. It is also commemorated by Symeon the New Theologian, Peter of Damascus and other Fathers. Accept it gladly also because, as the saying goes, "all that is rare is desired." This book is so rare that not only has it never been printed, but its manuscripts are seldom to be found. By the great mercy of God, only one complete and very ancient manuscript of it ended up in the rich library of the great Lavra of our holy and God-bearing Father Athanasius the Athonite.

Who were the publishers of this book? The most venerable among the monks Cyrus Ananias and the most venerable hieromonks Cyprian and Euthymius, the Athonites, the carvers of crosses. It was they, who had a warm reverence for the venerable and God-bearing Fathers Barsanuphius and John, and a great love for their holy book, as having learned from it various divine virtues, especially obedience, valiant cutting off of one's will, and highly creative humility, copied it, and not only moved me, their brother in spirit, to correct what had been copied and to add to it the lives of the monks and the table of contents of their instructions contained in the book. but having taken away something of the last grains of their daily bread, they published only a few copies of this book, because they had no means of publishing many.

Therefore, read this book diligently, and be vouchsafed the grace-filled gifts contained in it; And when you derive the benefit that flows from it, pray to God, brother Christians, for the spiritual salvation of those who have published it to the glory of God, in honor of the venerable fathers, and for your benefit.

Devoted to your love, the least among the monks of the Holy Mountain Nicodemus,

June 22, 1803.

A WARNING OF AN ANCIENT HOLY MAN, [7] WHO GAVE THESE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO THE SCRIPTURES, TO THOSE WHO WISH TO READ THE BOOK BEFORE HIM

We ask those who read this book to accept with reverence and faith what is written in it, and to strive more to attain by the grace of Christ an imitation of the life and deeds of the elders who spoke this, for they, having trained themselves in all the circumstances of life, over a long period of time, with patience and faith according to God, striving, according to the words of the holy Apostle (2 Tim. 2:5), lawfully and following the entire path of the Holy Fathers, were worthy to receive such gifts from God.

And when we begin to read what is written in this book, we must know that one (of these) was said to the hermits, and the other to those who dwell in the dormitories; one to those who live in spiritual harmony, [8] and the other to priests and Christ-loving laity; one to the young, that is, the novices, another to those who have already succeeded and have been taught by long study (Heb. 5:14), and another to those who are approaching the perfection of virtues; in a word, what it was proper for each of them to hear; for the same instructions are not proper for everyone, but just as in bodily age the food of a child, a young man, and an old man are different from one another, so it happens in spiritual age. And many times (the elders) answered and in accordance with the spiritual weakness of the one who asked questions, providentially condescending to him, so that he would not fall into despair, as we see in the lives of the elders. And by no means should we take as a general rule what was said so leniently to some because of their infirmity, but immediately pay attention to the fact that in every way the answer of the saints was made in accordance with the dispensation of the questioner, for it happens that such a person, having sobered up (from the darkness of sin), through the prayers of the saints, comes to a dispensation befitting monks, and then again hears from the fathers what is useful to him. I beseech you in the Lord, that you also remember my humility in your holy prayers, as one who gave these answers to the Scriptures with the help of God, in favor of those who will read them with the fear of God, that they may not serve me to condemn the words of the saints, but that I may now and on the day of Judgment be covered with their prayers and yours. Amen.