Many build walls and set up church columns; the marble is white, the ceilings glitter with gold, the altar is decorated with expensive stones, and there is no concern for the choice of Christ's servants. Do not object to me that there was a rich temple in Judea, and in it there was a table, lamps, censers, dishes, bowls, mortars, and other things made of gold (1 Kings ch. 6). This was commanded by the Lord when the priests offered sacrifices and the blood of animals served as atonement for sins. But all this had a prophetic significance, and is described as an instruction to us who have reached the last centuries (1 Corinthians 10:11). And now, when the Lord, Who has become impoverished for our sake, has sanctified the poverty of His house, let us think of His Cross and consider riches to be filth. Why marvel at what Christ calls unrighteous riches (Luke 16:9)? Why accept and love that which the Apostle Peter openly confesses not having (Acts 3:6)? Otherwise, if we follow only the letter and see in the gold and riches of the temple a mere historical fact, then we will have to retain along with the gold the other things that were in the Old Testament. Let the high priests of Christ marry virgins; let a man who has a scar and is ugly of his face be deprived of the priesthood, even if he be well-meaning: let him pay more attention to bodily leprosy than to the vices of the soul. Let us grow and multiply and fill the earth; let us not slay the Lamb and celebrate the mysterious Passover, because according to the law it is forbidden to do this without a temple. In the seventh month we will establish tabernacles, and we will proclaim the solemn fast with the sound of the trumpet. If, however, comparing the spiritual with the spiritual, and knowing with Paul that the law is spiritual (Romans 7:14), and singing with David: "Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Thy law" (Psalm 118:18), if we understand all this as the Lord Himself understood and interpreted the Sabbath, then either we reject gold along with the rest of the Jewish prejudices, or, if gold is pleased, let the Jews also be pleased, whom we must either approve or condemn along with gold.

Avoid feasting with secular people, especially those who are puffed up with honors. It is a shame if the priest of Christ, crucified and poor, and even eating the food of others, should have the lictors of the consuls and soldiers standing at the door, and the judge of the province should dine with you rather than in the palace. If you maintain such acquaintances in order to intercede for the poor oppressed, then know that a secular judge is more likely to listen to an abstinent cleric than a profligate one, and will honor your holiness more than your riches. And if the judge is such that he hears the intercessions of the clergy for the unfortunate only over a drink, then I would better refrain from such a beneficence; instead of asking for a judge, I will ask Christ, who can help more and more quickly than a judge. It is good to trust in the Lord than to trust in man. It is good to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes (Psalm 117:8, 9). You should never smell of wine, lest you hear the words of the philosopher: "This does not mean kissing; it means to treat with wine." The Apostle condemns the priests who are given over to guilt, and the Old Law excommunicates them (Lev. 10:9). Those serving at the altar should not drink wine and strong drink. The name of strong drink in the Hebrew language means any drink that can intoxicate: whether it is made from wheat or from the juice of fruits; whether a sweet drink loved by barbarians is boiled from the honeycomb, or palm fruits are crushed and after boiling the fruit, a thick flowery liquid is obtained. Avoid everything that intoxicates and darkens the mind as well as wine. I say this not to condemn God's creation – and the Lord was called a wine-drinker (Matt. 11:19), and Timothy, who was sick with a stomach, was allowed to drink wine in moderation (1 Tim. 5:23) – but we must observe moderation in drinking in accordance with age, health and the quality of the body. If, even without wine, I am inflamed with youth, the heat of my blood burns in me, my body is strong and full of juices, then I will gladly refrain from a glass in which I see for myself something like poison: the Greeks have a beautiful proverb — I do not know if it is in use among us: "A thick belly will not give birth to a subtle meaning."

Fast as much as you can. May you have fasts that are pure, blameless, simple, moderate, and not superstitious. What is the use of not tasting oil and looking for various seasonings for food, figs, peppers, nuts, palm fruits, grain flour, honey and pistachios? Gardening exhausts all efforts so that we do not eat simple daily bread (by indulging in our successes, we move away from the Kingdom of Heaven). Moreover, I hear that some (clerics), contrary to the nature of things and people, do not drink water, do not eat bread, but partake of soft drinks, and crushed vegetables, and beet juice, drawing not with a cup, but with a shell. Oh, shame! We do not blush at such absurdities, nor are we ashamed of our prejudices. Meanwhile, while enjoying pleasures, we still want to acquire the glory of abstinence. The strictest fast is bread and water. But since it is impossible to gain glory by this, for we all live on bread and water, therefore such a fast is considered simple and ordinary.

Do not be deceived by people's rumors; because of the praise of the people, do not resist God. If I were to please men even now, says the Apostle, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10). People ceased to like him and became a servant of Christ. In the midst of good and evil glory, the soldier of Christ walks without deviating either to the right or to the left; he is not haughty with praise, he is not crushed with blame, he is not proud of riches, he is not oppressed by poverty; For him, both joyful and sad are indifferent. In the days the sun shall not burn thee, the moon shall not burn thee in the night (Psalm 120:6). I do not want you to pray at street crossroads, so that the whirlwind of the people does not disturb the correct course of your prayers. I do not want you to drag your hem along the ground and expand the flaps of your garments (phylacteria) and, contrary to the promptings of your own conscience, surround yourself with pharisaic vanity. Is it not much better to wear it not on the body, but in the heart, and rely on the mercy of God, and not on the views of men? The Gospel, the law, and the prophets, or the sacred and apostolic teaching, are based on this. It is better to carry all this in your mind than on your body. You, believing reader, understand with me what I am silent about and what is better to express by silence itself. May there be as many rules accompanying you as there are kinds of glory. Do you want to know what kind of adornment the Lord requires? Have wisdom, discernment, moderation, courage. Throw yourself into these heavenly nets: these four will lead you, as Christ's charioteer, to the desired goal. There is nothing more precious than this necklace, there is nothing more elegant than the variety of these expensive stones. On all sides you will be adorned with them, embraced and covered with them; they will be your adornment and protection; Expensive stones turn into shields.

Beware also that your tongue and ears do not itch, that is, do not slander yourself and do not listen to others who curse your neighbor. In the Scriptures it is said: When you sat down, you slandered your brother, and you put a stumbling block on your mother's son. Thou hast done this, and hast kept silent. Thou hast despised iniquity, for I will be like unto thee: I will rebuke thee, and will set thy sins before thy face (Psalm 49:20-21). Guard yourself from backbiting, watch your speeches, know that you will be responsible for all the judgments you have expressed about others, and you will be required to pay for everything of which you have reproached others. If you say: "When others have told me something that is not in favor of my neighbor, I could not offend them by inattention," then this excuse is unfounded. No one willingly tells an inattentive listener. An arrow never pierces a stone, on the contrary, bouncing off, sometimes strikes the one who shot it. The slanderer, seeing that you are reluctant to listen to him, let him learn that it is not easy to be sarcastic. Do not enter into communion with the carriers, says Solomon, for their destruction will come suddenly, and there will be no trace of either one or the other (Proverbs 24:22), that is, neither the one who slanders, nor the one who inclines his ear to hear him.

Your duty is to visit the sick, to take care of the houses of matrons and their children, and to keep the secrets of noble men. Your duty is to keep not only your eyes blameless, but also your tongue. Never speculate on the beauty of women; let not through thee be known in one house what is done in another. Hippocrates, before he begins to study, begs and swears to his disciples to keep his words, by means of the sacrament he extorts their silence from them, determines by his prescriptions their conversation, gait, dress and manners. Should not we, who have been entrusted with the healing of souls, love the families of all Christians much more as our own? May they find us comforters in sorrow more than companions in days of happiness. A cleric who does not refuse frequent invitations to dinners is easily despised.

We will never ask and will rarely accept even the gifts offered. It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35). I do not know why even the same man who begs you to accept the gift when you accept it judges you worse, and—the strange thing is—if you do not yield to his requests, he respects you more afterwards. A preacher of abstinence should not arrange weddings. He who reads the words of the Apostle: "Those who have wives must be as those who have not" (1 Corinthians 7:29) — why does he attract a virgin to marriage? Why does a priest belonging to the monogamous class exhort a widow to bigamy? How can clerics be stewards and stewards of other people's houses and dachas, when they are enjoined to neglect their own property? To take something from another is theft; to deceive the Church is sacrilege. To accept anything to distribute to the poor, and, while many suffer hunger, to distribute cautiously or sparingly, or (which is already a flagrant crime) to take some part of the money for oneself, is to surpass all robbers in cruelty. I'm hungry, and you calculate how much my stomach needs? Either immediately distribute what you have received, or, if you are indecisive in giving, leave it to the benefactor to distribute his property himself. I don't want your wallet to fill up for me. No one can save mine better than me. The best giver is the one who does not keep anything.

Thou hast compelled me, most dear Nepotianus, after the book on virginity, which I had written to St. Eustochia in Rome, had already been stoned, and after ten years thou hast compelled me to open my mouth again in Bethlehem and to give myself up as a sacrifice to all tongues. It remained for me either to write nothing, so as not to be subjected to the judgment of men, which you prevented; or write and know that the arrows of all the evil-pagans are directed against me. I beseech them that they may calm down and cease to speak evil: I have not written to enemies, but to friends, I have not attacked those who sinned, but exhorted them not to sin. I was a strict judge not only of them, but of myself; Wishing to pluck the twig out of my neighbor's eye, I first plucked out my log. I have offended no one; No one's name is indicated, not even descriptively. No one in particular was touched by my speech. There was a general discussion about vices. Whoever wants to be angry with me, let him first confess that he is so.

To Eustochia. On the preservation of virginity

Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline thy ear, and forget thy people, and thy father's house, and the King shall desire thy kindness (Psalm 44:11-12). In the 44th Psalm, the Lord says to the human soul that, following the example of Abraham, it should come out of its land and from its kinship, and leave the Chaldeans, that is, as one can interpret, the demons, and dwell in the land of the living, for which the prophet sighs somewhere, saying: "I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living" (Psalm 26:13). But it is not enough for you to come out of your land, if you do not forget your people and your father's house, so that, despising the flesh, you may throw yourself into the arms of the Bridegroom. Do not look back, it is said, and do not stop anywhere in this vicinity; flee to the mountain, lest thou perish (Gen. 19:17). One should not take up the plough and look back, nor return home from the field, nor go down from the roof with Christ's tunic to take on other clothes. A great miracle: A father exhorts his daughter to forget her father. Your father is the devil; and ye will do the lusts of your father (John 8:44), it is said to the Jews. Whoever commits sin is of the devil (1 John 3:8), it is said in another place. Born of such a father, we are black, and before we have ascended to the summit of virtue, we say: Daughters of Jerusalem! I am black, but beautiful (Song of Songs 1:4). I left the house where I spent my childhood, I forgot my father, I am reborn in Christ. What do I get as a reward? This is this: "And the King will desire thy kindness" (Psalm 44:12). This is a great mystery. For his sake a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and both shall no longer be one flesh (Gen. 2:24), but one spirit. Thy Bridegroom is not arrogant, nor proud; He takes an Ethiopian woman to wife: as soon as you desire to hear the wisdom of the true Solomon and come to Him, He will reveal to you all that He knows, and the King will bring you into His palaces, and your color will miraculously change, so that it can be said of you: Who is this that ascends from the wilderness, leaning on his beloved? (Song of Songs 8:5).

I am writing this, my lady Eustochia (I must call the bride of my Lord mistress), so that you may know from the very beginning of your reading that I will not praise virginity, which you have recognized as the best and which you have followed, I will not count the burdens of marriage, I will not speak of how the womb grows fat, how the child cries, how the lover cries, how the household cares disturb you, and finally death stops everything, which seemed to be a blessing. Married women also have their dignity, an honorable marriage, and an undefiled bed, but you must understand that you, who come from Sodom, should fear the example of Lot's wife. There is no affectionate in my composition. A caresser is a flattering enemy.

Nor will you find here rhetorical hyperbole that would place you in the ranks of the Angels and throw the world at your feet. I do not want to inspire you with pride in your virginity, but fear. You are coming with a cargo of gold, you should avoid the bandits. Life here is a field of exploits for mortals; here we strive to be crowned there. No one walks safely among snakes and scorpions. My sword is drunk in heaven (Isaiah 34:5), says the Lord; Do you expect peace on the earth, which gives birth to thorns and thistles, which is devoured by the serpent? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12). We are surrounded by great hordes of enemies; The whole world is full of enemies. The mortal flesh, which will soon be dust, alone is at war with many. When it is resolved and the prince of this world comes and finds no sin in it, then you will hear the soothing voice of the prophet: "Fear not the fear of the night, the arrow that flies in the days, the thing in the darkness that passes away, the gristle, and the demon of the noonday. A thousand shall fall from thy country, and darkness shall be at thy right hand, but shall not come nigh unto thee" (Psalm 90:5-7). But if you are troubled by the multitude of sins and you become agitated by some sinful desires and your thoughts say to you: "What shall I do?" then Elisha will answer you: "Do not be afraid, for those who are dreaming are greater than those who are with them, and he will pray and say: "Lord, open now the eyes of Thy maiden, that they may see" (2 Kings 6:16-17), and with open eyes you will see a chariot of fire, which will lift thee, like Elijah, to the stars; and then in ecstasy thou shalt sing: O our soul, as a bird hath delivered thyself from the snare of those who catch; the snare is broken, and we are delivered (Psalm 123:7). As long as we live in the whole perishable body, as long as we have treasure in poor vessels (2 Corinthians 4:7), and the flesh desires that which is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit desires that which is contrary to the flesh (Gal. 5:17), there is no sure victory. Your adversary the devil walketh about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8). Thou didst put darkness, says David, and there was a night, in which all the beasts of the oak grove would pass. Skimni, roaring, take away, and seek from God food for themselves (Psalm 103:20-21). The devil does not seek as his prey people who do not believe and those who are outside the Church and whose bodies the king of Assyria has lit in lamps; on the contrary, he attempts to rob the Church of Christ. His chosen food (Hab. 1:16). He wants to overthrow Job and, having devoured Judas, attempts to scatter the other apostles. The Saviour did not come to bring peace to earth, but a sword. Lucifer, rising in the morning, fell, and he who ate sweetness in paradise had to listen to the words: "Though thou soar high like an eagle, and make thy nest among the stars, I will cast thee down from thence also, saith the Lord" (Obadiah 1:4). For Lucifer said in his heart: "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mountain in the assembly of the gods, at the end of the north; I will ascend to the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:13-14). That is why God says daily to those who descend the ladder seen in Jacob's dream: I am God, and all are the sons of the Most High. But ye die as men, and fall as one of princes (Psalm 81:6-7). The devil fell first of all, and when God stands in the assembly of gods, and judges in the midst of the gods, then the Apostle will say to those who cease to be gods: If there is envy, contention, and dissension among you, are you not carnal? Do you not walk according to human [custom]? (1 Corinthians 3:3).

If the Apostle, a vessel chosen and prepared for the gospel of Christ, because of the thorn of the flesh and sinful desires, exhausts his body and enslaves him, so that he preaches to no others, he himself will be excluded; and yet he sees another law in his members, which is at war with the law of the mind and captivates it with the law of sin; if, after enduring nakedness, fasting, hunger, prison, scourging, torture, the Apostle, turning to himself, exclaims: "Poor man I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24) — do you consider yourself safe? Beware, please, that one day God will not say of you: "The virgin of Israel has fallen, she rises no more!" It is prostrate in its land, and there is no one to lift it up (Amos 5:2). I boldly say: God can do all things, but He cannot raise up a virgin after her fall. He can deliver her from punishment, but He will not crown her without chastity. Let us fear lest this prophecy be fulfilled in us also: "Good virgins shall fail" (Amos 8:13). Notice that the prophet says: "Good virgins will become poor," because there are virgins and evil ones. It is said: "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matt. 5:28). Thus, virginity also perishes as a result of thoughts. From this there are evil virgins, virgins in body, but not in spirit, foolish virgins, having no oil, for whom the bridal chamber will be closed.