April 20, 1854

3. Both joys and sorrows are allowed to us by the Lord

Beloved and much pained Sufferers of Christ!

Your notification of the grievous temptation that has befallen you again – the bruise and breaking of both legs of the innocent infant Paphnutius D., your beloved and dearest son, has saddened me to tears and to the depths of my soul. If, according to the words of Christ the Saviour, even the head of our head does not fall away without the will of the Heavenly Father, then such a terrible contrition of an innocent infant did not happen without the permission of God, whose depth of fate is incomprehensible even to His Angels — why did it happen so much more so to us? Grant God, that the words of Christ, "Neither this one shall sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God may be manifested in him" (John 9:3) may be referred to your present severe trial, that is, that the Lord, through the prayers of the great Wonderworker Paphnutius, grant speedy healing to the suffering infant Paphnutios, and thus grant you consolation. To the Holy Elder Father Ar. G. must fully believe that if E. G. and her children had gone to the Venerable, there would not have been such a bitter temptation, which I also believe. But in one church story it is mentioned that a certain pious man, who lived in Kiev, with his wife and having a small child, went on May 1 for pilgrimage to the feast of Sts. Boris and Gleb, and rode by boat across the great Dnieper River.

And therefore, whenever they rode, the baby would not fall into the water. But the Lord God, through this incident, glorified His saint, showed salvation to the infant, and thereby rejoiced the weeping parents. And if God is wondrous in His saints, then He, according to the command of His mercy, can be wondrous in us, sinners, when we humble ourselves before Him and weep. And therefore let us fervently pray to Him and humble ourselves before Him so much that in our humility the Lord will remember us and turn our tears into joy. However, forgive me for Christ's sake. Your present sorrow is so great and heavy that I have no words worthy of your consolation. Only the Lord God, through the prayers of His saint St. Paphnutius the Wonderworker, is able to alleviate the suffering of your soul, and to grant perfect healing to the suffering infant.

After this, I inform you about myself that I, by the mercy of God, through the prayers of the Saints, am still alive; but after the former vigil of Passion Week I suffered with my feet until May 1, and on the feast of the Monk Paphnutius my first appearance was in the holy church for the service; therefore, your sad premonition of that day should be attributed to you not to me, but to the grief that has befallen you with a blow for your most beloved son. And I wrote to you something else, that the devil is trying to bring you a temptation, but he has not corrected it, but the most difficult thing has befallen you. And therefore let us fervently pray to the Lord God: Our Father, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!

With all my heart I earnestly wish you mercy and consolation from the Lord God and healing to the suffering infant Paphnutios, and I will forever remain, with my high reverence for you and with my condolences for you, your benevolent worshiper and most humble servant – the unworthy John Anthony.

May 8, 1854

4. Without the will of God, nothing is done; The Lord tests us in order to make us worthy of Himself

You inform me that the innocent sufferer of Christ, Paphnutius D., is somewhat better, which I heartily rejoiced at. Grant, O Lord, that he receive complete healing for the prayers of St. Paphnutios the Wonderworker. And at the same time, O Lord, grant you to be freed from suffering, for it is not so much the feet of an innocent child that are broken, as your hearts are broken and wounded with sorrow. You would like to know why such a grievous temptation was allowed to be: but I have already written to you that the destinies of God and His Angels are unknown, how much more so we, sinners, i.e. whether this temptation occurred for sins committed, or for protection from future sins, or as gold, so that God tempted you, may He make you worthy of Himself. You know, it seems, the story of the righteous and long-suffering Job, who in a short hour of time endured so many terrible tortures not for sins, and for all this he blessed God and, calming himself, said: "If we have received good from the hand of the Lord, then shall we not endure the wicked?" And since this Righteous One, in which he himself was much tempted, received from the Lord God great grace to help those who are tempted, then I advise you to turn to him with fervent prayer, and humbly ask for his prayerful intercession before God for deliverance from temptations and troubles; and I hope that for the sake of his holy and all-powerful prayers the Lord will gladden you with His mercy.

May 15, 1854

5. May we lay our sorrows on the Lord, and may we humbly bear our cross

To your beloved son, the blessed infant Paphnutios, grant eternal rest with the Saints, O Lord! You weep for him, but now he rejoices and rejoices in the brightness of the Saints, and from there he proclaims to you: "Do not weep for me, my parents, but weep always for those who sin against yourselves; for the joy of all the righteous has been determined by the child, for we have done nothing in temporal life for which we would now weep." Calm down about communion of the Holy Mysteries. For your child is inseparably united with the Lord. Do not think about the toll-houses, at which there was nothing to torture him about. And that before death he suffered terribly, he thereby showed that he was a child of sinful parents, conceived in iniquity and born in sins. Do not grieve for the rest of the children, but cast your sorrow on the Lord, without Whose will even the chicks do not die, much less a man. For the Lord God, in the depth of His wisdom, so ordained, after the fall of our forefather Adam, that every man should be born into this world in order to die, and die in order to live forever. Wherefore be the glory of Thy ineffable and incomprehensible goodness and wisdom for us, O Lord, Lover of mankind!

Do not complain about those who easily judge the death of infants; for they do not know from experience how bitter it is for the mother and how hard it is for the father to lose his child! Then their bowels are troubled, and their hearts are filled with great pity, when their child dies, who comforted them with his babbling. Whoever has not experienced this can be excused. However, one's sorrow should be tempered by joy over their salvation, as they themselves declare: "The joy of all the righteous (and not one) is determined for us."