Speak with your lips what you read only in such a high voice. so that this may be heard by your ears: since we are commanded to bring fruit to God, with all our soul and with all our minds thanks to the all-wise God, Who loves mankind and cares for us, Who by His immeasurable mercy has vouchsafed us to pass safely through the abyss of the past night, and to see the bright field of the present day, and praying warmly that He may grant us to flow comfortably through the gloomy and fierce storm of demons and passions.

27) How it is proper to live from morning to lunch.

From morning to noon, having placed your whole trust in the One God, and having prayed to Him with a contrite heart, may He be a helper to you, who are weak, lazy and careless, try to spend all your time as much as you have in heartfelt prayer, pure and unwavering, and in reading. When you read what is due to you from the Psalter, the Epistle and the Holy Gospel, read it while standing, and do the same when you lift up prayers to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Most-Pure Mother of God; and the rest of the readings of the Holy Scriptures are to be performed while sitting. Then, in due time, sing attentively the usual hours, very wisely established by the Holy Fathers, all-mightily and wholeheartedly rejecting idleness, the teacher of all evil, and avoiding along with passions and the occasions for them, no matter how small and harmless they may seem.

28) On how necessary it is to avoid idleness, and on the fact that the Church tradition should be observed even by the silent.

St. St. Isaac says: "Beware, beloved, of idleness, for in it is hidden certain death, and without it it is impossible to fall into the hands of those who seek to capture the monk. On that day, God will not condemn us for the psalms, nor for the omission of prayers, but for the fact that by this omission the demons are given entrance. But these, when they have found a passage for themselves, will enter in and shut the doors of our eyes; then they will terannically fill us with such impurities that they subject us to divine judgment, with the most vicious vengeance. And we thus become for the omission of small things, which, nevertheless, for Christ's sake is considered worthy of great care, as it is written: "Whoever does not submit his will to God will fall under the yoke of His adversary. Wherefore let it be esteemed by thee, as it were, as a wall against those who seek to take us captive, this, which seems to thee small, the accomplishment of which in the cell, in the spirit of revelation, has been wisely established by the heads of the church rite for the preservation of our lives, and the omission of which is considered small by the unwise, who do not take into account the harm resulting from it. But for these both the beginning of the path and the middle is unbridled freedom, which is the mother of passions. Why is it better to asceticly compel oneself not to omit this little thing, than to give place to sin by omitting it? For the end of this miserable freedom is cruel slavery" (Verse 71, p. 519).

A little later he immediately said again: "Oh, how sweet are the passionate urges! It happens that some people can sometimes cut off and by moving away from objects establish a certain peacefulness in themselves and rejoice in peace from them, but they cannot stop the urges of passion. Why and not even though we are tempted; and we grieve for the passions (that have arisen), but we love the prolongation of the urges or sweets of the passions. We do not desire sins, but we accept with pleasure the urges that lead us to them; wherefore these latter become in us the cause of the former in reality. Whoever loves passionate passions is involuntarily and handied by them, and unwillingly, a slave is a slave to the passions. He who hates his sins will cease to sin, and he who confesses them will receive their remission. It is impossible for a person to abandon the habit of sin before acquiring enmity towards it, and to receive forgiveness before confessing his sins; of which one serves as the cause of true humility, and the other of contrition, which is born of shame in the heart" (ibid., pp. 520-1). And again: "There is no sin that is not forgiven, except that of which one does not repent" (Verse 2, p. 12). However, enough about this.

And thou, after singing the said hours, sit down to sing, — keeping prayer also while partaking of food, so that, acting in this way, come, by the grace of God, to the habit of praying unceasingly, according to the commandment. But let the word about food, the body, Who created and sustains the body in ineffable wisdom, wait a little, and first let the word about food, which strengthens and enlivens the soul, which is served, according to the words of the Holy Fathers, sacred and divinely created prayer: which is quite true, because the soul is more precious than the body.

29) Also about prayer, and that one should always pray.

Just as this our body, after the departure of the soul from it, is dead and stinking: so the soul that does not move itself to prayer is dead, accursed and stinking. And that to be deprived of prayer should be considered the bitterest of all death, this is well taught to us by the great prophet Daniel, who chose to die rather than to remain without prayer for even one moment of time (ch. 9). St. Chrysostom also teaches us this goodness: "Everyone who prays converses with God. How great it is to converse with God as a man, none of us is unaware, but hardly anyone can express this honor in words; for this honor surpasses even the angelic dignity." Again: "Prayer is the common cause of angels and men; and in the matter of prayer there is nothing in the middle (the mediastinum of the component) between one and the other nature: it separates you from the dumb, but it unites you with the Angels. And he who strives all his life to exercise himself in prayer and service to God, soon becomes like the Angels in life, honor, nobility, wisdom and understanding." Again: "When the devil sees the soul protected by virtues, he does not dare to come close to it, fearing the power and strength that prayers give it, which nourish the soul more than the brush nourishes the body." Again: "Prayers are the nerves of the soul. As the body is kept in line by its nerves, lives, moves, and is steadfast; but when someone cuts them off, then the entire harmony of the body is disturbed: so the souls are well-ordered by holy prayers, they accept steadfastness, and they easily flow along the path of piety. But if you deprive yourself of prayer, then you also do what you do by taking the fish out of the water: for as this life is water, so is prayer for you. It can be carried through the air, as through water, ascend to heaven and stand near God." Again: "Prayer and supplication make people temples of God; and as gold, precious stones, and marmaras adorn the royal houses, so prayers, the temples of Christ, adorn the souls of the faithful. Again: "And from this we can see the power of holy prayers, that Paul, who, like a winged one, flowed around the whole world, lived in prisons, was scourged, wore chains, lived in blood and troubles, He cast out demons, raised the dead, stopped illnesses, did not hope for any of these things in the dispensation of the salvation of people, but protected the soul with prayers, and after the signs and the resurrection of the dead, he hastily flowed to prayers, as the main podvig crowning the work, since prayer is the giver of the resurrection of the dead and everything else. For as much as the waters have power in wood, so are prayers in the lives of the saints." Again: "Prayer is the wine of salvation, the source of immortality, the indestructible wall of the Church, an invincible fortress, terrible for demons, and salvation for us in the work of piety." Again: "As every queen who enters the city is followed by all riches, so every virtue enters the soul." — Again: "As the foundation of a house, so is prayer in the soul; and it is necessary, having planted it in the soul, as a foundation and root, to diligently establish chastity on it." And again: "The light of the mind and soul is diligent prayer, an inextinguishable and unceasing light; why our evil enemy puts immeasurable impurity of thoughts into our minds, and having collected many things that we have never even thought about, he overwhelms our souls during prayer." "And again: 'Prayer is a great weapon, a great enclosure.' And the Theologian says: "One should remember God more than breathe." And again: "Think about God more often than you breathe." And St. Isaac: "Without unceasing prayer you cannot draw near to God." — Again: "After the labor of prayer, placing another care on the mind produces the scattering of thoughts." Again: "Every prayer in which the body is not weary, and the heart is not broken, like the premature fruit of the womb: for such a prayer is without a soul." — And St. Climacus: "Prayer, by its quality, is communion (, — sucking, merging into one being) and the unity of man and God; but according to its action, it is the standing of the world, the reconciliation of God, the mother of tears and again the daughter, the propitiation for sins, the bridge through temptations, the mediastinum from sorrows, the suppression of strife, the work of the Angels, the food of all the bodiless, the joy that has no end or limit, the source of virtues, the intercessor and author of gifts, the invisible predence, the food of the soul, the enlightenment of the mind, the axe to despair, the proof of hope, the release of the bonds of sorrow, the wealth of monks, the treasure of the silent, the diminution (gradually to zero) of anger, the mirror of predence, the manifestation of measures (on what measure one stands), the indication of the state (or spiritual order), the herald of the future. the sign of glorification. For him who truly prays, prayer is torture, the judgment seat, and the throne of the Lord, before the throne to come" (Verse 28:1); And again: "Prayer is nothing but alienation from the visible and invisible world." And St. Nilus: "If you wish to acquire prayer, renounce everything, and you may inherit everything." Again: "Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God." Again: "Prayer is a conversation of the mind with God." Again: "As bread is food for the body and virtue for the soul, so prayer is spiritual food for the mind."

And about this (i.e., about prayer as spiritual food), so (reason).

Now it is opportune for us to say briefly about bodily food, about its measure, quantity and quality, what is appropriate, according to our strength.

30) On the bodily diet, i.e. how the silent should eat.

It is written: "Son of man, bear thy bread by weight, and drink water by measure" (Ezekiel 4:9, 10), as much as is necessary, so that, being content with this, he who strives according to God may live. For, as one of the fathers says, if you do not give blood, you will not receive the Spirit. And the great Paul says: "I mortify my body, and enslave it, that I may not preach to others, and I myself shall not be included" (1 Corinthians 9:27). Likewise, the divine David: "My knees are faint from fasting, and my flesh is changed for oil's sake" (Psalm 108:24). And the Theologian: "Nothing pleases God so much as through suffering or bodily deprivations for His sake; and nothing attracts His love for mankind so much as tears." And St. Isaac: "As a mother cares for her child, so Christ cares for the body of the afflicted (who suffers bodily deprivations for His sake), and is always near his body" (Verse 58, p. 443). Again: "In the womb there is no vision of the mysteries of God" (ibid.). Again: "As those who sow with tears receive the handles of joy: so are the afflicted filled with joy (those who lift up arbitrary bodily deprivations) for God's sake." Again: "Blessed is he who has barred the entrance to himself to every voluptuousness that separates him from His Creator" (Homily 75, pp. 533-535).

Again: "For a long time he was tempted in the right hand and in the neck, having repeatedly tried himself in these two ways. having taken upon myself the innumerable blows of the enemy, and having been vouchsafed in secret great opportunities, in the course of many years I gained experience, and by the grace of God, I learned by experience the following.