Note that the faith according to the God-given words is twofold: one, common to all Orthodox Christians, in which we were first baptized, and with which we will finally depart, and the other is the property of rare people, such who, through the fulfillment of all the God-created commandments, having ascended to the state of being in the image and likeness of God, and thus enriched by the divine light of grace, have established all their hope in the Lord, and to such an extent that, according to the word of the Lord (Mark 11:23), during prayer they do not at all meditate in their hearts on their petitions to God, but with faith they ask and readily receive what they need. But such firm trust was acquired by these blessed ones, as those who resolutely rejected from themselves all knowledge, reflection and hesitation, and all care, and all who were wholly immersed in the divine ecstasy of faith, hope and love for God, and, according to the divine David, were changed by a better and blessed change of the right hand of the Most High (Psalm 76:11).

Of the first faith it is now at length to speak to us, not in time, but of the second, which, like a kind of divine fruit, is born and blossoms from the first, very opportunely. "This faith is, as it were, a kind of root and head of the eminent God-created silence. "If the silent man," says Climacus, "does not believe, then how will he become silent?" (Verses 27:68). And the divine David says: "Believe, with the same cry" (Psalm 115:1); and the great Apostle Paul declares: "For there is the faith of those who trust, the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1), and "the righteous shall live by faith" (Heb. 10:38). And the Saviour, when His disciples asked His disciples to add faith to them, thus said: "If ye had faith as a grain of peas, they said to this buttock, 'Be raptured, and sit down in the sea, and I would hear you'" (Luke 17:7); And another time: If you have faith, and do not doubt, do not only make a fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, 'Move and turn into the sea, it will be.' And whatsoever ye ask in prayer believeth, ye shall receive it" (Matt. 21:21, 22). St. Isaac also writes: "Faith is more subtle than knowledge, as knowledge is more subtle than sensual things. All the saints who have been vouchsafed to attain this life — a tremendous reverence before God — by the power of faith abide in the delight of this prenatural life. And we do not understand the faith by which one believes in the distinction of the worshipped divine hypostases, of the one all-transcending nature of the Godhead, and of the pre-dispensation in the incarnation through the assumption of our nature, although this faith is also extremely exalted, but the faith which shines forth in the soul from the light of grace as a testimony of the intellect, which affirms the heart to be unshaken in the faithfulness of hope, far from all conceit, which does not manifest itself in the inclination of the ears, not in the contemplation with spiritual eyes of the mysteries hidden in the soul, the riches of grace, hidden from the eyes of the sons of the flesh and revealed by the Spirit to those who are nourished at the table of Christ in the squatting of His laws, as he said: "If ye keep My commandments, I will send you the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, Whom the world cannot receive, and by Him ye shall teach all truth" (John 14:17, 26). He points out to man this holy power, which dwells in him at all times, always covering him and repelling from him all that is harmful. It is this power that the spiritual mind senses with the eyes of faith. She is the Comforter Himself, by the power of faith, as with fire inflames the powers of the soul, — and the soul aspires to grief, neglects every danger in hope in God, on the wings of faith rises above every visible creature, and always remains as if intoxicated, in amazement before the Divine care for us and in pure contemplation of the divine nature. For until that which is the celebration of the sacraments comes and we are not vouchsafed clearly the revelation of them, until then faith between God and the saints sacredly acts the ineffable sacraments (i.e., receives, contains and contemplates these sacraments), which, by the grace of Christ, may we also be vouchsafed, here as in pledge, and there, in the kingdom of heaven, in the most real truth" (Verse 28, pp. 190-192).

c) You must be at peace.

As for the third, that is, that you should be at peace with all, the saying of Blessed David gives you a strong suggestion, and the word of the Christ-bearing Paul is louder than the trumpet: "Peace be unto them that love Thy law, and they shall not be offended" (Psalm 118:165), and "With them that hate the world be at peace" (Psalm 119:6), and "Seek peace, and marry" (Psalm 33:16). 15); and this says: "Have peace and holiness with all, but they except none shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14), and "If it is possible from you, have peace with all" (Rom. 12:8).

d) You must not be distracted.

About the fourth, i.e. that you should not be distracted, the Monk Isaac admonishes you, saying: "If lust is a product of the senses, then let those who assert that they preserve peace of mind even in vain amusements for many be silent at last. Do not have fellowship with such restless people."

e) You should not be too caring and caring too much.

As for the fifth, i.e., that you should not be too anxious and too anxious, both about blessed and unblessed things, let what the Lord says in the Gospel serve as a lesson to you: for this reason I say to you: Do not be concerned with your soul for what you eat, nor with your body, with what you put on. Is not the soul more to eat food, and the body to be clothed; Behold the birds of the air, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns: are you not better than them? Whoever cares for you can add only a treat to his age; and for the garments that you take care of; "Do not be anxious, saying, 'What are the pits, or what do we drink?' For all these tongues seek: for the tidings of your heavenly Father require them all. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all this shall be added unto you. For do not be anxious about the morning, for the morning is anxious for himself: his wickedness prevaileth in the day (Matt. 6:25-28, 31-34). And St. Isaac says: "Without liberation from cares, do not seek light in your soul, nor silence and silence in the dissoluteness of your feelings" (Verse 69, p. 508). And Climacus: "A small hair troubles the eye, and a little care destroys silence, for silence is the laying aside of all thoughts that are not related to the work of salvation, and the rejection of all cares, even blessed ones. Truly, he who has attained silence will not care for his body, for he who promised to take care of it is not false (27:51, 52).

f) You must be silent.

And as for the sixth, i.e., that you must be silent, the order of the word compels us to say to you: "For St. Isaac should speak to you about this also: "Above all, love silence; because it brings you closer to the fruit. And the tongue is powerless to depict it. First let us force ourselves to silence, and then from silence something will be born for us, which will lead to silence itself. May God grant you to feel this something born of silence. But if you begin to live this life, then I do not know how much light will shine for you from here. "When you put all the deeds of this life (monastic, silent) on one side, and silence on the other, you will find that it is pulling in the balance" (Verse 41, p. 250 1). "Silence is the mystery of the age to come, and words are the instrument of this world" (Verse 42, p. 263). "Whoever forbids his mouth to talk (to speak much) guards his heart from passions. And he who guards his heart from passions sees the Lord every hour" (Verse 8 at first). And to St. Arsenius the divine voice for the second time decreed thus: "Arsenius! run, be silent, remain in silence, for in this lies the roots of sinlessness" (Dost. Tale of Abba Arsenius-2-).

g) You must be silent (love solitude).

In the same way, about the seventh, i.e., that you must lead a silent life, the reliable pointers to you are Basil the Great and again St. Isaac: of whom the former says: "Silence is the beginning of the purification of the soul," and the latter: "The limit of silence is silence from everything" (all-round). With these words, the former briefly signified the beginning of it (silence), and this one the end. And in the Old Testament Scriptures it is said: "Be abolished, and understand that I am God" (Psalm 45:11). And St. Climacus says: "The first work of silence is carelessness about all things, both blessed and unblessed; for he who opens the door first will certainly fall into the second. The second thing is prayer without sloth; and the third is the undisturbed activity of the heart. As it is impossible, according to the natural order, for one who has not learned the letters to read books, so it is even more impossible for those who have not acquired the first work of silence to reasonably pass through the last two" (Verses 27:46). And again St. Isaac writes: "The desired work of silence should be the unceasing expectation of death. Whoever enters into silence without this thought cannot bear what we must endure and bear by all means" (Verse 41, p. 255).

h) You should thank God for everything.

Likewise, in the case of this, i.e., that you must thank God for everything, let the divine Apostle Paul be a sufficient Teacher for you, who commands: "In all things give thanks" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Add to it the Monk Isaac, who writes: "The gratitude of the one who receives induces the giver to give gifts greater than the former. Whoever is ungrateful for the lesser is deceitful and unjust in the greater" (Verse 2 from the beginning). Again: "The conductor of God's gifts to man is the heart, which is constantly moved to thanksgiving, and the conductor of temptation to the soul is a murmuring thought, always moved in the heart." Also: "The lips, which are always thanksgiving, receive blessing from God, and grace suddenly descends into the heart that abides in thanksgiving."