Thus, it is better for us to pray to God to punish us here, and have mercy on us there: "Punish us, O Lord, but in righteousness, and not in Thy wrath," says the prophet (Jeremiah 10:24); and here we must endure His punishment with thanksgiving and for our benefit, rather than suffer there with eternal sighing and in vain. If, dear Christian, you think well about what eternity is, and imagine in your mind how grievous it is to lose eternal glory and fall into the fire of Gehenna, from which even the demons tremble, you will choose to endure every calamity and suffering here and thank God for His merciful Fatherly punishment.

9) To endure or not to endure suffering, however, not to avoid it, and not to avert with impatience the suffering that God's Providence has determined for us. And from impatience there is nothing but harm and destruction.

10) Patience alleviates all suffering. Look at those who are in long-term illness or who have been in prison for a long time: they have become so accustomed to this calamity with patience that they do not seem to feel it. For out of tribulation proceedeth patience (Rom. 5:3). On the contrary, impatience multiplies illness, as the deed itself shows, and leads to the fact that many give themselves over to death, and thus are deprived of temporal and eternal life.

11) All suffering, cruel or light. If it is cruel, it will soon cease by death; if it is light, then it is tolerable and can be conveniently tolerated. Therefore both the cruel and the light must be endured: the former, for it will soon come to an end; the other as it is easy and comfortable.

12) If someone suffers from something, one can think in this way: "Up to this time I have endured, so I can endure in the same way. Yesterday I endured, so today and tomorrow we can endure." Such meditation will strengthen you in patience with God's help. He who has endured in the past days can endure in the next. Yesterday and the third day he brought illness, sorrow and other misfortunes – and you can continue to carry it. If he brought trouble and did not disappear, then a tolerable misfortune, tolerable, can be endured. Nothing is impossible for him who desires and strengthens his heart, especially when God helps those who are trying (see Psalm 53:6; 36:40).

13) Impatience and murmuring in adversity are nothing but blasphemy. For he who murmurs certainly thinks that he unjustly endures the misfortunes that God sends upon him, even though he does not pronounce it with his lips. A son who is punished by his father, when he grumbles and is indignant at his father, shows by the indignation that his father either unjustly or does not beat him according to the measure of his sin, and so he provokes his father to anger. Thus, when we are indignant in the troubles sent to us by God, we thereby show that we suffer unjustly, that the goodness and righteousness of God are very repugnant; and therefore we irritate Him more, and thus subject ourselves to great misfortunes. "Those who are God's punishments," says St. John Chrysostom, "receive not with thanksgiving, but with anger and indignation, they subject themselves to great misfortunes" (1 to Stagirius). For who is sinless, and who will be justified before him? It often happens that before the man who persecutes us we have not sinned, but before God we have sinned; and often for that of which we are reproached, we are not guilty, but for something else, and so in all things we are guilty. If there were no sins, there would be no troubles, for all troubles have come from sins. Therefore, in adversity, God's truth must be acknowledged, and our guilt must be acknowledged, and we must gratefully endure the calamity inflicted.

14) This world is like the sea. The sea is always agitated by the wind – our life is always troubled by misfortunes. On the sea, wave after wave follows – in our life, misfortune follows misfortune; one has passed, the other is advancing, and so incessantly our ship is thrown up and down. Patience is like an anchor, which, thrown into the depths of God's mercy with hope, will not allow our ship to be destroyed; or as a quiet refuge to which we flee from drowning. "Patience," says St. John Chrysostom, "is the abode of joy" (Psalm 14).

15) The more the last day draws near, the more wickedness increases, and, because of the increase of iniquity, love disappears from many (Matt. 24:12). In such circumstances, there is nothing to expect but violence and anger. Consequently, everyone who desires to live godly in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:12) must arm himself with patience, as with a spiritual sword, and defend himself against the attack of malice. For malice is conquered by nothing else but patience.

16) The essence and power of Christian podvig consists in nothing else than in the constant endurance of temptations and misfortunes. The feat of the sons of this world consists in brave resistance against the enemy, and victory is in his exile and subjugation. But Christians struggle well when those who find troubles patiently, gratefully and generously endure; and then they gloriously conquer, when they yield to those who persecute them, and overcome evil with good, they give love for hatred and blessing for curse. Oh, what a noble victory it is! Truly more noble than to conquer nations! For there is no greater victory to conquer your anger and indignation. A long-suffering man is better than a brave man, but he who restrains anger is better than he who takes a city, says Solomon (Proverbs 16:32).

17) How much God Himself suffers the wicked of this world, Who is able to destroy everyone in an instant! How many terrible blasphemers are there who spew terrible blasphemies against His holy name? How many idolaters ascribe His honor to a soulless creature! How many atheists are there who reject His eternal existence! How many persecutors and heretics are trying to exterminate His Church! How many other sinners are not afraid to violate His holy law clearly and fearlessly! But the goodness of God tolerates everyone. By this great patience of Him we also learn to endure our enemies. For all will have an end; all those who offend and are offended will receive what is theirs: Behold, the Judge stands at the door (James 5:9); He prepared His Throne for judgment (Psalm 9:8). Manifest before Him are those who rape and those who are raped, those who persecute and those who are persecuted, those who deprive and those who are deprived of, those who reproach and those who are reviled, those who beat and endure scourging, those who cast out and those who are cast out; the tears of those who mourn and the sighs of the poor are numbered with Him – then all will be revealed. All of us must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil according to what he did while living in the body (2 Corinthians 5:10).

18) True patience is a virtue that the Merciful God looks upon with favor and sends down His grace on the heart of the patient. On whom shall I look? Only on him who is meek and silent, and trembles before My words, says the Lord (Isaiah 66:2).

19) Patience makes a person courageous and invincible. A patient person can be deprived of everything, can be banished, can be beaten, can be imprisoned, can be killed, but cannot be defeated. For his strength is not bodily, but spiritual. He is overcome by the body, but by the spirit he is invincible; on the body he receives wounds, but in spirit he does not receive wounds; in body it is contained, but in spirit it is free; He is killed in the body, but he cannot die in spirit, and so he triumphs over all his enemies in spirit. Thus conquered the holy martyrs, whom neither chains, nor prisons, nor wounds, nor fire, nor water, nor the teeth of beasts, nor death, nor life, could conquer, but over all they triumphed in spirit. What did the torturers do to them? What kind of torment did they invent? But they departed from disgrace shamed and defeated by them, although their flesh was torn apart like beasts. The Torturer Diocletian, when he was unable to do anything to the holy Martyr Vitus by his torture, fled from disgrace, beating himself in the face, and crying: "Woe is me, for by such a young lad I have been defeated!" (Life of St. Vitus, June 15).

20) Sufferer, look at those who have great sorrow and endure sickness. If you are in a long-term illness and have any consolation from those who serve you, look at those who endure an illness greater than yours, who are burned inwardly by the fire of sorrow and sorrow, who are covered with wounds from without, and who have no one to serve them, who would feed them, give them water, raise them, wash them from their wounds, but they endure. If you endure exile, bring to mind the convicts, who are in chains, in rags, half-naked, removed from home and Fatherland, who receive beatings and wounds every day, who are at hard work during the day, at night in prisons, filled with impurities and stench, prisoners, without any consolation, for whom death is more pleasant than life, but endure.

If you endure poverty, think of those who were formerly rich and glorious, but have come to such a point that they have nothing to feed themselves, nor their wives, nor their children, nor where to lay their heads, wandering in other people's courts; moreover, they are burdened with debts, they endure crowding, sorrow, and unbearable sorrow from everywhere, as if they were burning in a furnace. You, although you do not have your own needs, can ask in the name of Christ; and they are ashamed to ask, because they were formerly glorious and rich. Look also at the poor peasants, the beggars, the half-naked, the sick, who cannot move, from whom taxes and rents are demanded; And not only can they not give, but they themselves need someone who would give them, and even serve them in extreme poverty and sickness.