The blessed one remained in the church for seven days, he ate nothing, only a prosphora taken from the hands of the hegumen; withdrawing from everything, he dwelt only in fasting and prayer. David's song was constantly on his lips, the words of the Psalms, with which he consoled himself, and with them he praised God. He sang to himself and thanked God thus: "Lord! I have loved the beauty of thy house, and the dwelling place of thy glory; the holiness of the Lord shall abide in thy house long days. How desirable are thy villages, O Lord of hosts! My soul is weary for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God. And the bird finds a dwelling for itself, and the turtledove a nest for itself, where to lay its young. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they shall praise thee for ever and ever. A day alone in thy courts is better than a thousand days; it is better to be at the threshold in the house of my God than in the dwelling of sinners."
When Sergius saw off the hegumen who had tonsured him, with much humility he said to him: "Here, father, you are now leaving here, and you are leaving me, humble, as I wished, alone. For a long time I strove with all my thoughts and desires to live alone in the wilderness, without a single person. For a long time I asked God for this in prayers, always hearing and remembering the prophet exclaiming and saying: "I departed, fleeing, and remained in the wilderness, trusting in God, who saves me from faint-heartedness and from the storm. And therefore God heard me, and hearkened unto the voice of my supplication. Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor turned away his mercy from me." And now I thank God, who did everything according to my will, for allowing me to live alone in the desert in solitude and silence. And Thou, Father, now departing from here, bless me, humble one, and pray for my solitude, and also teach me how to live alone in the wilderness, how to pray to God, how to live without misfortune, how to resist our enemy and his proud thoughts. After all, I, a newly-ordained man, have just been tonsured and become a monk, so I must ask you about everything."
The abbot, seized with horror, answered, astonished: "And you," he said, "ask me that you know much better than we do, O worthy man! After all, you are always accustomed to showing an example of humility in this way. But all the same, now I will answer, as it behooves me to answer you with the words of prayer, thus: May the Lord God, Who chose you even earlier, generously bestow upon you, enlighten you, teach you, and fill you with spiritual joy." And, having talked a little about spiritual things with Sergius, he wanted to leave. But the Monk Sergius, bowing down to the ground, said: "Father! Pray to God for me, that He would help me endure carnal temptations, and demonic invasions, and beast attacks, and labor in the wilderness." The abbot replied: "Says Paul the Apostle: 'Blessed be the Lord, Who will not give us beyond the strength of temptations.' And he said, 'I can do all things, if God strengthens me.'" And again, leaving, the abbot entrusts him to God and leaves him alone in the wilderness to remain silent and live in solitude.
Sergius, seeing the hegumen off, once again asked him for his blessing and prayers. The hegumen said to the Monk Sergius: "Here I am departing from here, and I leave you to God, Who will not allow the death of His monk, Who will not allow sinners to lift up the rod against the life of the righteous, Who will not give us into the teeth of sinners. For the Lord loves the righteous and will not forsake His saints, but will preserve them forever; The Lord will preserve you at the beginning of your life and at the end of it, from now on and forever, Amen." The hegumen said this, and having prayed and blessed Sergius, he left him; And he went back to where he came from.
It is also necessary to know what those who read the Life know: at what age the monk was tonsured. He could have been given more than twenty years in appearance, but more than a hundred years in sharpness of mind: for although he was young in body, yet old in mind and perfect by the grace of God. After the departure of the hegumen, the Monk Sergius asceticized in the wilderness, living alone, without a single person. Who can tell of his labors, or who is able to tell of his exploits, which he accomplished while remaining alone in the wilderness? It is impossible to tell us with what spiritual labor and with many cares he began his life in solitude, how long and how many years he bravely remained in this deserted forest. His steadfast and holy soul courageously endured everything far from every human face, diligently and blamelessly kept the rule of monastic life, blamelessly, without stumbling and remaining pure.
What mind or language can conceive or convey the desires of the saint, and his original first zeal, and his love for God, the secret virtues of his podvig, — and how clearly to write about the solitude of the saint, and daring, and groaning, and about the constant prayers that he always addressed to God: who can describe his warm tears, the weeping of the soul, the sighs of the heart, all-night vigils, fervent singing, unceasing prayers, standing without rest, diligent reading, frequent kneeling, hunger, thirst, lying on the ground, spiritual poverty, poverty in everything, lack in everything: whatever you name it, it did not happen. To all this was added the struggle with demons, visible and invisible battles with them, struggles, clashes, intimidation of demons, diabolical delusions, horrors of the desert, expectation of unknown misfortunes, attacks of beasts and their ferocious attempts. But in spite of all this, and in spite of all this, Sergius was fearless in soul and brave in heart, and his mind was not terrified before such enemy intrigues, and fierce attacks, and aspirations: many beasts often came to him at that time, not only at night, but also during the day; And there were these animals - packs of wolves that howled and roared, and sometimes bears. The Monk Sergius, although he was a little afraid, like any other man, nevertheless diligently turned his prayer to God and was strengthened by it; and thus, by the mercy of God, he remained untouched by them: the beasts departed from him, but did him no harm. After all, when the place was just beginning to be arranged, then the Monk Sergius endured much grief and evil from demons, and from beasts, and reptiles. But none of them touched him or offended him: for the grace of God guarded him. And let no one be surprised at this, knowing truly that if God lives in man and if the Holy Spirit overshadows him, then all submit to him, as in ancient times to the first-created Adam before he broke the commandment of the Lord; likewise, everyone submitted to Sergius when he lived alone in the wilderness.
ON THE CASTING OUT OF DEMONS BY THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINT