If it were not so, then why do you run to the bathhouse after such a sin? Is it not because you consider yourself the most unclean than any uncleanness? What other proof shall thou seek of how unclean what thou hast done? Or what decision should you expect from God, when you, who have fallen into sin, have such an opinion about what happened? "That such consider themselves unclean, I praise and approve; but that they do not go to the proper place for purification, for this I condemn and reproach. If there were only bodily impurity here, then you would rightly hope to wash off these impurities with the waters of the bathhouse; but having defiled the soul and made it unclean, seek such purification as will greatly wash away its filth. What kind of bath is there to wash away such a sin? Hot springs of tears, groaning from the depths of the heart, unceasing contrition, diligent prayers, almsgiving, and generous almsgiving, repentance for what has been done, a vow not to attempt such deeds any more. In this way sin is washed away, in this way the impurity of the soul is cleansed: so that if we do not do this, then even if we go around all the springs of water, we will not be able to remove a small part of this sin. Of course, it is better not to encroach on this shameful sin at all. But if anyone has already slipped on it in any way, let him hasten to put on the wound the prescribed medicines, making a vow first of all not to fall into the same defilement. If, having sinned, we repent, and then again attempt to do the same, then there will be no benefit from the purification we have undergone. He who washes himself and again falls into the feces — what he destroys, what he has built, and he who builds again in order to destroy again what has been created — receives no benefit, he labors in vain, and burdens himself [3, 224].

53) What we cannot correct by our own efforts, we can complete by prayers, — prayers, I mean, unceasingly. For it is necessary to pray unceasingly, both to everyone who is in sorrow, and to him who is in joy, and to him who is in trouble, and to him who is in prosperity. Whoever is in joy and well-being should pray that such a state may remain motionless and unchangeable, and never be interrupted; and those who are in sorrow and trouble — in order to see at last a favorable change in their position and taste sweet peace from troubles. Do you live in peace? Pray to God that this peace may remain indestructible. Do you see that a thunderstorm is rising? Pray diligently to God to bear the storm safely and restore the disturbed peace. Heard? Thank you for being heard. Not heard? Continue to pray to be heard. God often delays the gift of prayer, not because he is angry and disgusted, but in order to keep you with Him by the distance of the gift, as the child-loving fathers do. Are you unworthy? By perseverance of prayer you will make yourself worthy. A Canaanite woman approached the Lord and cried out mightily: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, my daughter is possessed by evil" (Matt. 15:22). Who was she? A strange barbarian, likened to a dog. But by the persistence of prayer it became worthy of hearing, and not only heard, but also praised: "O woman, great is thy faith" (v. 28). At the beginning of the petition, the Lord did not answer her; but when she came once, twice, and thrice with prayer, then He only showed her His mercy: "Be thou as thou wilt," finally assuring us that in the beginning He also delayed the gift, not intending to refuse the petitioner altogether, but wishing to show the patience of the woman, and to give us a lesson in prayer to endure (Col. 4:2). There is nothing stronger than warm and fervent prayer [3, 319-20].

54) When we pray, then the evil devil attacks us most of all. He sees the greatest benefit for us from prayer; why does he contrive in every possible way to make us return home empty-handed from here from church? He knows, knows well, that if those who come to church approach God with sober prayer, express their sins and warmly grieve over them in their souls, then they will depart from here, having received complete forgiveness: for God is a lover of mankind. Why does He warn them to lead them away from prayer in any way, so that they do not receive anything? And this he does, not by force, but by pleasant dreams entertaining the mind and thereby leading laziness to prayer. It is our own fault that we willingly give ourselves over to its snares, that we deprive ourselves of the blessings of prayer, and we have no excuse for this. Fervent prayer is the light of the mind and heart, an unquenchable, unceasing light. Why does the enemy blow innumerable thoughts, like clouds of dust, into our minds, and even things that we have never thought about, gathering them, pouring into our souls during prayer? Just as sometimes a gust of wind, attacking the light of a lamp that is being kindled, extinguishes it: so the devil, seeing the flame of prayer kindled in his soul, hastens to blow from there and from there innumerable caring thoughts, and does not leave this until he has time to extinguish the light that has been engaged. In this case, let us act as those who light lamps do. Those who do? Noticing that a strong breath of wind is approaching, they block the opening of the lamp with their finger and thus do not allow the wind to enter, because if it bursts in, it will immediately extinguish the fire. The same is true of us. As long as thoughts are attached, we can still resist them; but when we open the doors of the heart and receive the enemy inside, we will no longer be able to resist them in the least. For this reason, just as those who light lamps put their finger on the opening of the lamp, so we will close the door of the heart with a sober thought, and thus prevent the evil spirit from entering it, so that when it enters, it does not extinguish the light of prayer there [3, 358].

55) Isaac prayed for the removal of his childless wife Rebekah, and God heard him (Gen. 25:21). Do not think that as soon as he called on God, he was heard. No, he spent a lot of time praying to God for this. For twenty years he prayed to God about this. He was forty years old when he took Rebekah in marriage (v. 20); and when he had children, he was sixty years old, v. 26. For twenty years Rebekah was childless, and during all this time Isaac prayed to God. —

That is why we always leave here empty-handed. Who among us has prayed to God for twenty years for one thing, or even for twenty months? [3, 361—2].

56) It is not enough for our salvation to pray if we do not pray according to the laws that Christ has laid down for this. What laws did He put down? Pray for our enemies, even if they sadden us a lot. And if we do not do this, then we are lost, as is evident from what happened to the Pharisee. For if this one, not praying against enemies, but only being vain, suffered such a punishment, then what punishment awaits those who pray many and for a long time against enemies! What are you doing, man? Do you stand asking forgiveness of sins, and fill your soul with anger? When we ought to be the meekest of all, because we converse with the All-Merciful Lord, we pray to Him for our sins, we ask for mercy, love for mankind and forgiveness; Is it then proper to rage, to give oneself up to brutality, and to fill one's mouth with bitterness? And how, tell me, can you and I obtain salvation, holding the appearance of supplicants, and pronouncing words of pride, and thereby grieving our Lord? You have come in to heal your own wounds: this is a time of propitiation, a time of supplication and lamentation, and not of anger, of tears, not of irritation, of contrition, and not of indignation. Why do you disturb the order of things? Why are you fighting against yourself? Why do you ruin your own structure? He who prays above all else must be peaceful in soul, have a humble mind and a broken heart; but he who cries out against his enemies cannot do anything of the kind, because he is full of anger and is incapable of having meek feelings [3, 366].

57) When you see that any difficulties have arisen either in marriage or in the situation of other worldly things, call upon God for help. This is the best way to solve the difficulties encountered. The weapon of prayer is the most powerful. This I have often said, and I say now, and I will not cease to say. Though you are a sinner, look at the publican, who did not receive a refusal, but cleansed so many of his sins. Do you want to know what the power of prayer is? God does not have so much friendship as prayer. And this is not my word: I would not dare to pronounce such a statement from my own mind. Listen from the scriptures how friendship did not do what prayer did. "Whosoever is of you, saith the Lord, has a friend, and goes to him at midnight, and saith unto him, Friend, give me three loaves of bread for each other, because the friend hath come from the way to me, and the Imam hath not offered him anything: and he saith from within, Thou hast not laboured me: the doors are already shut, and my children are with me in the couches: and I cannot arise, give thee. I say unto you, Though he not give him a rise, he shall have no friend, but because of his wickedness, he shall give him a man who requires" (Luke 11:5-8). Do you see how, what friendship was not strong enough to do, did persistence (prayers)? Since the petitioner was a friend, so that you would not think that for this reason the request was successful, the Lord said: "If he does not give him, he will not have a friend, but for his lack of grace he will give him him." Even if friendship does not do it, he says, perseverance will do what friendship was not strong for. "But where was it in practice?" On the publican. The publican was not a friend of God, but became a friend. So you, even if you are an enemy, will become a friend by perseverance. Look also at Syrophoenicissa, and listen to what the Lord says to her: "It is not good to take away bread with a child, and destroy it with a dog" (Matt. 15:26). How did He do this if it is not good? By perseverance the woman has attained this good, so that you may understand that what we are unworthy, we become worthy of through unceasing prayer [3, 370].

58) Do not say: I am a sinner, I have no boldness, I do not dare to pray. He also has boldness who thinks that he has no boldness; On the contrary, he who thinks that he has boldness takes away the power of boldness, like the Pharisee. Whoever considers himself rejected and bold, will be heard more like a publican. See how many examples you have of this, to Syrophoenicis, the publican, the thief on the cross, the friend in the parable, who asked for three loaves of bread and received them not out of friendship, but because of the persistence of his petition. Any one of these, if he had said, "I am a sinner, I am ashamed, and therefore I cannot come with a petition," he would not have received anything. But since each of them did not look at the multitude of his sins, but at the riches of God's love for mankind, he became bold and took on boldness, and being a sinner, he began to ask for that which was above his dignity, and received what he desired. Remembering all this, let us pray unceasingly, with sobriety, boldness, with good hopes, with much zeal. Let us pray for both enemies and friends, and of course we will receive all that is useful. For the Giver is a lover of mankind, and it is not so much that we desire to receive as He desires to give [3, 370-1].

59) Although you are outside the church, cry out and say: "Have mercy on me!" not only with your lips, but crying out from your heart. For God hears also those who cry out to Him in silence. It is not a place that is required, but a well-disposed heart. Jeremiah was in the pit, and had God with him; Daniel sat in a pit with lions, and was covered by God's favor: three youths, cast into the fiery furnace by songs of praise, bowed down to mercy of God; the thief was crucified, but the cross did not prevent him from opening paradise; Job sat on the festering pit, and made God merciful to himself; Jonah was in the belly of a whale, and God heard him. Even if you are in the bathhouse, even if you are on the way, even on your bed, and wherever you are, pray. You yourself are the temple of God, do not look for another place for prayer: you only need a prayerful mood of mind and heart. The sea was in front, the Egyptians behind, Moses in the middle. Prayer was extremely constrained, and yet the prayer was most extensive. The Egyptians were chasing behind, the sea was ahead, prayer was in the middle. Moses said nothing, but God said to him: "Why do you cry out to Me" (Exodus 14:15)? My lips did not speak, but my heart cried out. "And you, beloved, always and everywhere have recourse to God!" God is not a man to go to Him in a certain place. He is always and everywhere near. If you want to ask a person for something, ask what he is doing, what he is doing, or resting. Going to God, there is no need to investigate anything like this. Wherever you come to Him and call on Him, He hears. Say: have mercy on me, and God is already near. "Yet saith unto thee, saith He Thyself, the river, Behold Az" (Isaiah 58:9). O voice full of humanity? Nor does he wait for the end of prayer; before you have finished your prayers, you will already receive a gift [3, 458-9].60) When I say to someone: pray, ask God, beseech Him," another answers: I asked once, twice, three, ten, twenty times, and still I do not receive what I ask for. "Don't retreat, brother, until you get it." Let the end of prayer be the receipt of what is asked. Then cease when thou hast received; or better then, do not cease, but continue to pray. Until you receive, pray that you may receive; and when you receive it, pray thanks for what you have received [3, 458].

61) Many enter the church, read thousands of verses, and come out; but they don't remember what they read. His lips moved, but his ears did not hear. Do you not hear your own prayer, but do you want God to hear your prayer? "I have knelt, you say; but your mind wandered outside. Your body was inside the church, and your thought was outside it. The lips said a prayer, and the mind counted profits, pondered transactions and the exchange of goods, surveyed the fields and other estates, and conversed with friends. The evil devil, knowing how useful prayer is for us, attacks us with his thoughts during it. Often we lie idly on our bed, and have no thoughts. But they came to pray, and their thoughts were innumerable. It is the enemy who is trying to make us depart from prayer with nothing [Ibid.].

62) You see, beloved, that everything written in the Divine Scriptures has been handed over to memory for no other reason than for our benefit and the salvation of the human race. Learning from it, each of us finds and inflicts his own appropriate remedies on the wounds. For this reason everyone has access to it, and it is convenient for everyone who wishes to find the medicine required for his affliction, to make use of it, and to receive the quickest recovery; only let him not reject the proposed cure, but accept it with willing submission. For there is not a single disease that seizes human nature, either spiritual or physical, for which there is no cure. And look! Whoever enters here, tormented by sorrow and oppressed by the circumstances of life, and because of this overcome by faint-heartedness; But when thou didst enter thither, and immediately hearing the words of the prophet: "Thou art sorrowful, O my soul, and hast thou troubled me? Trust in God, that we may trust in Him, for the salvation of my face and my God" (Psalm 41:6, 4), receives sufficient consolation, and departs shaking away all faint-heartedness. Others, tormented by extreme poverty, grieve and are tormented, especially seeing how wealth flows to others, and they puff up and come out with such pomp. But he hears the words of the Prophet: "Cast thy sorrow upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee" (Psalm 54:23). And again: "Do not be afraid, when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases: for when he dies, he will not take it all" (Psalm 48:17, 18), and he is inspired to endure his lot good-naturedly. Some again grieve, having been subjected to slander and slander, and does not count life in life, finding no human help anywhere. But this one also receives a lesson from the same Prophet — in such circumstances, not to resort to human defense, but to act as he says about himself: "I will slander me, and I pray" (Psalm 108:4). Do you see where he seeks help and help? Others speak, weave intrigues, slanders, and calumnies; but I have recourse to the impenetrable wall, to the secure anchor, to the unwavering harbor — to prayer, by which all difficulties are made easy and manageable for me. Still others, being rejected and despised by those who helped him before, and abandoned by friends, are troubled and troubled by thoughts. But he, too, if he wishes to come here, will hear the words of this blessed prophet that he needs: "My friends and my sincere ones are right near to me, and my neighbors are far from me: and they that seek my soul are in need, and they that seek evil words of vain things, and all day long I teach the flatterers" (Psalm 37:12, 13). Do you see how they wove calumnies until their deaths, and waged war incessantly? "For all day means all life. What did he do when they slandered him so much and built such snares for him? "And I," he says, "do not hear as a deaf man, and do not open your mouth as a man: and do not hear, nor open your mouth" (v. 14, 15). Do you see the abundance of wisdom, how he, holding on to opposite paths, gained the upper hand? Those snares were weaving, and he stopped his ears so as not to even hear about it. They were all the time sharpening their tongues and learning vanities and intrigues, and he disarmed their mania (evil designs) by silence. Why did he act in this way, and when they were plotting against him, he behaved as if he were deaf and dumb, having neither hearing nor language? Listen to what he himself says about the reason for such wisdom. "For in Thee, O Lord, I trust" (v. 16). Since, he says, I have placed all my hope in Thee, I have no more concern for what they do. For Thy one beckoning is sufficient to scatter and render fruitless all their slanders and snares, and not to allow anything they have prepared to pass into action. You see how in every need, misfortune and sorrow, it is possible to receive suitable healing here and depart from here, shaking off all worldly sorrow. For this reason I beseech you: come here more often and listen carefully to what is read here from the Divine Scriptures, and not only here to listen to the Scriptures, but also to take up the sacred books at home and diligently assimilate to yourself what you read. For great benefit will come from this [4, 261-2].

63) Prayer must be combined with fasting. And that this is truly so, listen to what Christ says: "This kind shall come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:20). And it is written about the Apostles that, after the souls of the disciples in Derbe, Lystra and Lycaonia had been confirmed in the faith, they prayed with fasting, and committed them to the Lord (Acts 14:2, 3). Again the Apostle says: "Do not deprive yourselves of one another, but by agreement until the time comes, that ye may continue in fasting and prayer" (1 Corinthians 7:5). Do you see how fasting needs assistance from this side? And then they pray more soberly, since then the mind is more quickly moving, not being burdened by the evil burden of passions [4, 279].

64) Prayer is a great weapon, a great fence, a great treasure, a great refuge, a safe refuge; only if you approach the Lord soberly, and having gathered your mind from everywhere, in such a mood do we enter before Him, in no way allowing the enemy of our salvation to creep up to us. For he, knowing that at this time, having confessed our sins and shown our wounds to the physician, can receive perfect healing, attacks us more strongly, and uses all sorts of tricks to discourage us from prayer and plunge us into negligence and absent-mindedness. Wherefore let us be sober, I beseech you, and, knowing the intrigues of the enemy, at this time to try to repel him, as if seeing him inherent and standing before our eyes, and renouncing every thought that disturbs our minds, to prostrate our grief entirely, making our prayer a true prayer, so that not only the tongue may pronounce the words of the prayer, but also the mind may follow the words of the prayer. But if the tongue pronounces words, and the mind wanders outside, now reviewing things at home, now imagining deeds in the marketplace, then there will be no benefit to us, and even more so condemnation. St. Paul inspires us to pray at all times in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18) — not only with the tongue, but also in the soul itself — with the Spirit. Let our prayers be spiritual, let our thoughts sober and let our minds stretch out together with our words [4, 280].

65) Prayer is a great blessing. If, in conversing with a virtuous person, we receive no small benefit; then he who is vouchsafed to converse with God, what good will he not receive? For prayer is a conversation with God. That this is so, listen to what the Prophet says: "Let my conversation delight in Him" (Psalm 103:84), i.e., let my speech with God be made pleasing to Him [Ibid.].