22)

But when the devil attempts to slander and exerts himself intensely into the silent and peaceful soul to let in his thoughts, like kindled arrows, in order to suddenly burn it, to make it hold his thoughts on them longer and more irresistibly: then, repelling and preventing such attacks with intense attention and sobriety, like a wrestler who manages to avoid a blow by keen observation and agility of bodily movements, it is necessary to give it over to prayer and invocation, all things are lifted from above, and the cessation of the battle and the deflection of arrows. This is what Paul teaches us, saying: "Over all these take up the shield of faith, in which ye shall be able to quench all the arrows of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).

If such violence of thoughts continues, because of the inexorability of the one who is at war with us; then, even in this case, we should not fall into despair, and should not abandon the podvig halfway through the work, but patiently remain in prayer until God, seeing our firmness, illumines us with the grace of the Spirit, which puts the slander to flight, purifies and fills our minds with divine light, and gives our thoughts the strength to serve God in undisturbed silence [5: 424-6].

23) By nature we have a desire for the beautiful. "But what is more wondrous than God's beauty?" What image is more pleasant than God's splendor? What desire of the soul is so alive and irrepressible as the desire engendered by God in the soul, cleansed of all evil, which with true disposition says: "I am wounded by love" (Pes. 2:5)? Truly ineffable and indescribable are the lightning-like splendor of God's beauty; neither a word can express them, nor can the ear contain them. Whether we call the splendor of Lucifer, or the brightness of the moon, or the radiance of the sun, all this is unworthy to reveal even a small semblance of the glory of God, and in comparison with the true Light it is farther from Him than the deep night and the most terrible darkness are from the clarity of the noonday. If this beauty, invisible to the bodily eyes, and comprehensible only to the soul and thought, illumined one of the saints, and left in him an irrepressible wound of love, then, burdened by this life, they said: "Alas for me, for my sojourn shall continue" (Psalm 119:5), "When shall I come, and appear before the face of God" (Psalm 41:3)? "My soul is thirsty for the mighty God" (Psalm 41:3). So many were irrepressible in their striving for God those whose souls were touched by divine desire. Because of their insatiable desire to contemplate the Divine goodness, they prayed that the vision of God's beauty would extend to all eternity (Psalm 21:4). [5, 100—1].

24) By nature we have love and affection for benefactors and are ready to do any work in order to repay the good deed done to us. But what word can depict God's gifts? They are such in multitude that they exceed every number, so great and important in qualities that even one is sufficient to oblige us to all gratitude to the Giver. I will keep silent about those of them, which, although in themselves excessive in grandeur and attractiveness, nevertheless surpassed by the luminosity of those as large as the stars by the radiance of the sun's rays, do not so clearly show their beneficence. For there is no time, leaving the most excellent, to measure the goodness of the Benefactor by His lesser gifts. Therefore, let the rising of the sun, the rotation of the moon, the dissolution of the air, the changes of the yearly changes, the water from the clouds, the water from the earth, the sea itself, and all the earth that is born of the earth, that dwells in the waters, the generations of living creatures in the air, the thousand differences between animals, all that is assigned to the service of our life, be silenced. "But one thing, even if one wants to, cannot be avoided, one thing it is even absolutely impossible for one who has a sound mind and a word to remain silent about — namely, that God — having created man in His image and likeness, having vouchsafed knowledge of Himself, adorning him before all animals with the gift of speech, allowing him to enjoy the immeasurable beauties of paradise, making him a prince over all that is on earth, And after he had been caught up by the serpent, he fell into sin, and through sin into death, and into all that is worthy of death, he did not despise it, but first gave it the law, and appointed angels to protect it and care for it, sent prophets to rebuke its iniquity, and teach virtue to rebuke it, and cut short vicious desires with threats, and stirred up zeal for good works with promises,  And then, when we proved incorrigible even with all such aids, He deigned to call us out of death and to revive us in our Lord Jesus Christ by a kind of dispensation. For He, "in the image of God, was not equal to God in the rapture, but made Himself small, and took the form of a servant" (Phil. 2:6), took upon Himself our infirmities, bore sicknesses, was wounded for us, that we might be "healed by His wound" (Isaiah 58:5), "redeemed us from the oath, having been cursed for us" (Gal. 3:13), endured the most shameful death, that He might lead us to a glorious life, and He was not satisfied with this, but also granted us the dignity of communion of the Divine, prepared eternal repose, the greatness of consolations exceeding all human thought. — "What shall we repay the Lord for all, which He will repay us" (Psalm 115:5)? "When I bring all this to my thoughts, then (I will reveal myself in my weakness) I come into a kind of horror and terrible frenzy from fear lest, through inattention of the mind or because of vain occupations, falling away from the love of God, I may once become a reproach to Christ. For he who now deceives us, and with vile baits in every way tries to make us forget the Benefactor to the destruction of our souls, then this forgetfulness of ours will turn into a reproach to the Lord, boasting of our disobedience and our apostasy; for he did not create us and did not die for us, yet he had us as his followers in disobedience and negligence about the commandments of God. This reproach to the Lord and this boasting of the enemy seem to me heavier than the torments of Gehenna — to serve as an excuse for the enemy of Christ to exalt himself before Him Who died for us and rose again [5: 102-4].

25) It is necessary to "guard one's heart with all guarding" (Proverbs 4:23), so as not to lose the thought of God, and not to defile the remembrance of His miracles with vain notions, but to carry the holy thought of God, imprinted in our souls by constant and pure remembrance, as an indelible seal. For in this way we acquire love for God, which both arouses us to fulfill the commandments of the Lord, and at the same time it is again observed by them, becoming uninterrupted and unshakable [5, 109].

26) In every matter that lies before us, we must set the will of Him Who commanded us as a goal, and direct our thoroughness according to it, as the Lord says of Himself: "I came down from heaven, not that I should do My will, but the will of the Father who sent me" (John 6:38). For as the arts necessary in life, having assumed certain goals inherent in them, private actions are directed towards them; thus, since there is one limit and one rule to our deeds – to fulfill the commandments pleasing to God, then there is no other way to succeed with accuracy in the deed than by doing it according to the will of Him who gave the commandments. And with strict thoroughness to do the work according to the will of God, it will be possible through remembrance to enter into unity with God. A Christian must consider every action, unimportant and important, in accordance with the will of God, and at the same time keep the thought of Him Who commanded us to act in this way. And whoever violates the accuracy of the commandment in his deeds obviously has little remembrance of God. "Therefore, remembering the words of Him Who said: "I do not fill the heavens and the earth" (Jeremiah 23:24), and again: "I am God, and not God from afar" (---23), it is necessary to do every deed as if it were done in the eyes of the Lord, and to formulate every thought as if the Lord were edifying it. In this case, there will be eternal fear, and love will be perfected [5, 109-11].

27) Where does absent-mindedness and thoughts come from? And how to put them in order? "Absent-mindedness comes from the idleness of the mind that does not deal with what is necessary. And the mind remains in idleness and carelessness from disbelief in the presence of God, who searches the heart and the womb. For if anyone believes this, he will undoubtedly do what has been said: "I have seen the Lord before me, that I am at my right hand, that I may not be moved" (Psalm 15:8). And whoever has attained this and similar things will never dare and will not have the leisure to think of anything that does not tend to build up faith, even if it seems good, and not only something forbidden and displeasing to God [5, 225].

(28) How can we succeed in non-distraction? If anyone assimilates the thoughts of the chosen David, who sometimes said: "I have seen the Lord before me, as I am at my right hand, that I may not be moved" (Psalm 15:8), but sometimes: "My eyes are lifted up to the Lord, for He will pluck out my nostrils from the snare" (Psalm 24:15), and sometimes: "Behold, the eyes of a servant are in the hand of his master, as the eyes of a handmaid are in the hand of his mistress: so are our eyes to the Lord our God" (Psalm 122:2). And in order to trouble ourselves with a small example to the most thorough acquisition of the most important things, let each one consider for himself how he behaves in the presence of others, even if they are equal to himself, how he tries to achieve that nothing is condemned in his ability to hold himself, in the gait, in the movement of each member, and in his reprimand. But just as before men we try to observe what is visible to men, so far more surely those who are sure that they have as spectators — God, according to what is written, "Who searcheth the heart and the bowels" (Psalm 7:10), — and the only-begotten Son of God, Who fulfills the promise: "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am in their midst" (Matt. 18:20), — and the Holy Spirit, Who governs us, divides the gifts and acts in us, — and the guardian angels of each of us, according to the words of the Lord: "Take heed, lest ye despise one of these little ones: 'For I say unto you, that their angels in heaven behold the face of My Father which is in heaven' (Matt. 18, 10); he takes upon himself the most important and most difficult podvig, how to make his piety pleasing to God; and in this way non-distraction is strengthened in him more strongly and perfectly, especially if he tries to fulfill what has been said: "I will bless the Lord always, I will bring forth His praise in my mouth" (Psalm 33:2), so that, with the unremitting and unceasing contemplation of the glory of God, the mind will not find even time to dissipate [5:372-3].

29) Why does it happen that good thoughts and cares pleasing to God seem to become impoverished in the mind? And how to protect yourself from this? Since David says: "My soul is asleep because of despondency" (Psalm 118:28), it is evident from this that this happens from spiritual slumber and from insensibility.

For it is said: "Thy judgment is an abyss of many" (Psalm 35:7), and in another place: "Be amazed at Thy understanding of me: be strengthened, I will not be able to reach him" (Psalm 138:6), and many similar things. If a good thought in the soul becomes impoverished, then it is obvious that enlightenment also becomes impoverished in it, not because of the impoverishment of the one who enlightens, but because of the slumber of that which should be enlightened [5, 254].

30) Blessed is the soul that day and night has no other care than this, but on the great day when all creation will stand before the Judge to give an account of its deeds, and it will not be difficult to answer for its life. Whoever has this day and hour before his eyes, and always thinks of justification at the infallible judgment seat, will either not sin at all, or sin very little; for we sin because of the lack of fear of God in us. And in whom the expectation of the threatening is clearly imprinted, the fear that dwells in him will not give him time to fall into actions or thoughtless thoughts. Therefore, remember God, have the fear of God in your heart, and call everyone to fellowship and helper in prayer, for great is the help from those who can propitiate God. And you don't stop doing it. For their prayer will be a good helper to us in this life as long as we live, and when we depart from here, it will serve as a sufficient farewell to the age to come. But just as concern for a future answer is a good deed, so again faint-heartedness and hopelessness belong to the soul-destroying things. Trust in the goodness of God, and expect God's intercession, knowing that if we turn to Him as we should and sincerely, then He will not only not reject us at all, but while we are still pronouncing the words of the prayer, He will say: "Behold Az!" [6, 357—8].

31) "Worship the Lord in His holy court" (Psalm 28:2). The court of the Lord is the holy church. It is necessary to worship the Lord not outside this holy court, but being inside it, so that remaining outside and being carried away by external things, we do not turn into nothing our presence in the court of the Lord. For many outwardly stand at prayer, but are not in the courtyard, because their thoughts rush hither and thither, and their minds are distracted by vain cares [1, 232].

32) "In His temple everyone declares glory" (Psalm 28:9). Let them hear these words, and let them be ashamed who give themselves over to many words. What does the Psalm say? He who is in the temple of God does not speak evil, nor does he utter words of vanity and shameful things from his mouth, "but in His temple everyone speaks glory." Here stand the holy angels and write down your words; here is the Lord Himself, — and advises the disposition of those who enter. Everyone's prayer is open before God: it is revealed to Him who is in disposition, who wisely asks for heavenly things, who only for appearances, utters words with only the corners of his lips, and his heart is far from God, who, although he prays, asks only for bodily health, material wealth, and human glory. In the temple of God, however, it is necessary to proclaim the glory of God first. To glorify God is the occupation of the Angels. It is one thing for all the heavenly hosts to send glory to the Creator. Every creature, both silent and speaking, worldly and earthly, glorifies Him Who created. But miserable people, having left their homes and flocked to churches, do not incline their ears to the words of God, do not fulfill the duty of nature (to praise), do not grieve that they are under the power of sin, do not grieve when they remember their sins, do not tremble at judgment; but with a smile stretching out their hands to each other, they make the house of prayer a place of long conversations, not heeding the Psalm, which testifies and says that "in the temple of God everyone speaks glory." And not only do you not speak glory, but you also serve as an obstacle to another, drawing his attention to you, and drowning out the teaching of the Spirit with your noise. See to it that instead of receiving the reward of praise, you do not come out of here condemned together with those who blaspheme the name of God. You have a psalm, you have a prophecy, you have the Gospel commandments and the Apostolic sermons. Let the tongue sing; Let the mind seek out the thought of what has been said, in order to sing to you in spirit, and sing to you also with your mind. God does not demand glory, but wants you to become worthy of praise. "For what a man sows, that he will also reap" (Gal. 6:7). Sow praise, that I may reap crowns, and honors, and praises in the kingdom of heaven [1, 244-5].