We must constantly remember that the devil constantly tries to pollute our soul with his hellish rubbish, of which he has too much and which is too small and varied. And so, whether your heart's eye is darkened by enmity, whether by pride, impatience and irritability, whether by pitying material possessions for your brother or for yourself – I mean avarice – by covetousness and love of money, by not the peace-loving and offensive words of others, by despondency and despair, by envy, doubt, lack of faith, or disbelief in revealed truths, by vanity, by laziness in prayer and in every good deed and in general by the work of service,  — say in your heart with firm confidence the words: "This is the dung of the devil, this is the darkness of hell, this is the stench of demons." "With faith and hope in the Lord, with constant sobriety and attention to oneself, one can, with God's help, avoid hellish rubbish and darkness. He who is born of God watches over himself, and the bow does not touch him (1 John 5:18).

The temptations and incitements of the enemy are necessary for Christians, for by them he awakens them from spiritual slumber and petrified insensibility [369] and by them, like thorns and sorrows [370] he forces them to constant spiritual sobriety and attention to themselves and to complete correction in life. This purpose of the enemy's temptations is also shown by the Apostle James, when he speaks of the enemy's temptations thus: "Have all joy, my beloved brethren, when ye fall into various temptations, knowing that the temptation of your faith worketh the work: but let patience be a perfect work, that ye may accomplish all your ends, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).

In the sight of the Creator and Lord, all material worlds are as nothing: He created everything out of nothing, and He can transform everything into whatever He wants, even into that which we cannot even think of. "Therefore, for the Lord's commandment, for example, about love for God and neighbor, sacrifice all material things without pity. Why? For God is the Creator of all matter, and is infinitely higher than it, dearer than it, more dear than it; and the neighbor is the image of God the Creator, who himself creates many things through the action of the image of God in him through faith in the Lord, and in comparison with the neighbor every thing is insignificant. "The neighbor is immortal, and all material things pass away.

Sometimes I am frightened by the inner emptiness and poverty of my soul, the petrified insensibility of my heart, but suddenly a bright thought illumines me that my Lord is Most Good and Almighty, and He can comfortably and suddenly fill the most terrible emptiness of my soul, warm my cool heart with sympathy and love for God and neighbor — and my accursed soul is filled with hope and joy and says to itself: About! I have not yet perished under such a Lord, there is still hope for me to be reborn and corrected, and it becomes easy in my soul. About! How life-giving and sweet is Christian faith and hope! Therefore, my brethren, no matter how poor you may be in Christian love and good works, never lose heart and do not despair: your Lord is all-powerful and all-good, and from moral insignificance He can make you great in the Christian faith and virtuous life; of the children of the devil into the children of God (cf. John 1:12; Rom. 8:21); only turn your hearts with faith and love to the Lord, and say: I have sinned, Father, in heaven and before Thee, and Thy son is already worthy to be found: I am as one of Thy hired servants (cf. Luke 15:18-19). How many examples do we know of the conversion of our hearts from the most extreme corruption of our hearts to God (cf. Psalm 72:26) and of mercy by the Lord! They became great righteous men.

When praying, one must believe in the power of the words of the prayer in such a way as not to separate the words themselves from the very deed expressed by them — one must believe that after the word, like a shadow after the body, follows the deed, just as with the Lord word and deed are inseparable: for Him spoke, and it was: By Him He commanded, and He was created (Psalm 148:5). "And thou shalt also believe that what thou hast said in prayer, what thou hast asked for, shall come to pass: thou hast sung it, and God hath received the doxology, thou hast given thanks to the Lord, and God hath received thy thanksgiving in the stench of spiritual fragrance." — The misfortune is that we have little faith and separate the word from the deed, as the body from the soul, as the form from the content, as the shadow from the body — we are also at prayer, as in life, bodily, having no spirit (Jude 1:19): for this reason our prayers are powerless and fruitless. - July 28, 1861.

When we call upon the saints in prayer, then, having pronounced their name from the heart, it means to draw them closer to our very heart. Then, without a doubt, ask for their prayers and intercession for you: and they will hear you and present your prayer to the Lord — quickly, in an instant, as the Eternal and the Knower of all things. —The name of articulate sounds replaces, as it were, the flesh of a saint or a saint, and when at the proskomedia you commemorate the Lord Jesus Christ, or His Most-Pure Mother, and the saints, or the living and the dead, then the particle taken out represents and replaces, as it were, the body of the Lord or His Most-Pure Mother, or any saint, or the multiplicity of many saints, the flesh of the living or the dead commemorated, and what is thought in the name represents and replaces the soul of the being invoked or commemorated. Thus, in a small form, in our mouths and in our souls, the beings of the world above and below are reflected, as it were, and all this through faith by the Holy Spirit, Who is one (Exodus 3:14), Who is everywhere and fulfills all things [373].

When a stranger tells you that there are good rumors about you as a man of strict Christian life, reject such a rumor about yourself in the face of this person, and say to him, pointing to your household, "These people know better than anyone else what I am," ask them to speak impartially about me, and they will tell you what a passionate person I am. how every passion nestles in my heart, how it torments me, and how some are often discovered. Strangers see only the light, grace-filled side in me, but they do not see the dark, sinful, carnal side, and therefore they think falsely about me.

I am afraid that no one will despise me, if he sees me, or hears anything from me. (2 Corinthians 12:6).

I have two names: one name for me is weakness, sin, passion, and the other is the grace of the Lord (John).

Прощай погрешающему против тебя брату 1) потому, что он образ Бога, а Бог много тебе самому прощает; 2) потому, что он — немощь, грех, так же как и ты; 3) потому, что все в мире ничтожно в сравнении с душою брата и все можно потерпеть из–за нее, как Сын Божий потерпел крест и смерть; 4) в частности, во время молитвы прощай брату потому, что вражда с ним разлучает душу от Бога, Живота нашего, Которого должно любить всею душою и всем сердцем всегда, хотя бы и жизнь свою для того требовалось положить; 5) потому нужно прощать, что при вражде нет мира, а следовательно, и жизни в собственном нашем существе.

Все мое счастие и несчастие заключается в сердечных мыслях и расположениях. Если мысли и расположения моего сердца согласны с истиною Божиею или с волею Бога моего, тогда я покоен, исполнен духовного света, радости, блаженства; если нет — беспокоен, исполнен духовного душетленного мрака, тяжести уныния. Если переменю совершенно мысли и расположения сердца ложные, богопротивные — в истинные и Богу приятные, тогда я опять покоен и блажен. Июля 30 дня 1861 года.

Начало и Вина словесных существ — Ангелов и человеков — есть Слово Отца Ипостасное с Духом Святым: каждое слово Его — истина и жизнь для них, Кем сказано: о всяком глаголе исходящем из уст Божиих жив будет человек, а не о хлебе единем (Ср.: Втор. 8, 3; Мф. 4, 4). Потому, о, человеки, соглашайтесь душами своими с каждым словом Собезначального Отцу и Духу Слова: и живы будете (Рим. 8, 13) душами и телами вашими. Боритесь, если потребует нужда, до пота и крови с противоречащим внутри вас противником Божия Слова — отцом лжи диаволом (Ср.: Ин. 8, 44) и клевретами его, стойте твердо и мужественно за Божию истину, как за истую жизнь свою, и ни на минуту, ни на мгновение не поддавайтесь ему мысленно, имея споборником своим Самое всех оживляющее Духом Своим Слово Бога невидимого. Не прилепляйтесь сердцами своими ни к чему земному и вещественному; не живите во лжи, в злобе и других страстях, ибо кто хоть мыслит зло, не производя его в дело, — и тот служит начальнику зла — диаволу.

Увы мне! Весь сонм святых осуждает меня в нерадивом, греховном, любосластном, земном житии. Осуждают меня апостолы, святители, мученики, преподобные, бессребреники, праведные и все святые, от века Богу угодившие [374] презревшие все земное, как дым, и распявшие плоть свою со страстьми и похотъми (Ср.: Гал. 5, 24). Как я буду призывать их и просить их молитв о себе пред Богом, когда я каждый день предаюсь чувственности и усердно ласкаю свою плоть? — Я совсем противен им по жизни моей.

Пресыщение и лакомство вредны для всего существа человека тем, что оземленяют душу и расслабляют и помрачают ее для духовного делания, отягощают тело, делают его расположенным к болезням, особенно желудочным и головным, к простуде. А умеренность полезна для души и тела: душу делает бодрою, легкою и ясною и весьма склонною к духовному деланию; тело также делает бодрым, легким и здоровым и нелегко склонным к болезням.