"They say: we soon get tired of praying. Why? Because you do not imagine the Lord alive before you... but look at Him unceasingly with the eyes of your heart, and then you will stand all night in prayer — and you will not get tired. What do I say: night? "Stand for three days and three nights and you will not get tired."

Father John repeatedly thanks the Mother of God for her help in prayer to Her: "Wondrous art Thou, Most Merciful Lady, in Thy mercies. Behold, I wear an icon of Thy Tikhvin Icon on my breast... and the wisdom of God flows like a river from my tongue... To my Lady and Lady, the Most Holy Theotokos, I inscribe a thanksgiving offering, a great sinner: today twice through my prayer She delivered my heart... I raised the eyes of my heart to Her twice... and She delivered me from my doubt..."

Father John writes down his reflections on the Holy Gifts and Communion: "Those who approach the sacraments of repentance and communion should remember that this is the mystery of God, and should not be curious and questioning inwardly, much less doubt..." Heartfelt faith is needed that "the smallest particle of the Holy Mysteries of Christ is the whole of Christ."

"Place God and your soul as the image of God, as well as the soul of your brother, as the image of the All-Creator God, immeasurably above everything. By doing so, you will please Him who created you and you will be moist on earth," Father John writes down his thoughts about the human soul. He also thinks a lot about love for one's neighbor, about the attitude to sorrows, about the Christian faith and the significance of the Church: "The word of the Lord is so firm and unchangeable that the whole world, visible and invisible, is held together by it, the angelic and human worlds. That is why the word of the Gospel is so firm... Everything that the Lord said in the Gospel is so true and so sure that heaven and earth can pass away and disappear sooner than the words of the Lord spoken in the Gospel... The divine services of the Orthodox Church, the sacraments, and all prayers are the path of spiritual life, by which the saints of God have walked and been saved, and which [i.e., the divine services, the sacraments...] even now prove to be the path of life for all the faithful... Glory to the Christian faith – Orthodox! Its true fruit has always been and is the unity of believers among themselves through love and communion of spiritual and material goods... True Christianity also establishes well-being on earth, because it looks upon Christians as one great body..."

Father John writes about the need to preserve the purity of the faith, he is concerned about the schism in the Christian Church: "The Church is like a verdant tree with leaves and fruits: and a schism is a dry branch that has broken off from the tree..."

In the diary notebook there are many blanks for the sermon, advice addressed to the priest, many references to his own experience: "When preparing a sermon, have a high respect for it, as for the living seed of the Lord... the simpler and more heartfelt, the better it is... remember that the Lord is with you, and He speaks through your mouth."

On the pages of Father John's diary, we find an assessment of the state of contemporary science along with reflections on the universe:

"Idols are worshipped by natural scientists, who do not want to see God in nature, but only by irrational forces, giving them the name of nature... The progress that now exists is the progress of the carnal, old man, the progress of the flesh, not of the spirit... One God is Himself: He is all in every place, so that His presence does not displace a single atom of matter, but He fills every atom of matter, which is why it is said of Him that He is everywhere and fills everything, that is, every substance, great and small."

In the diary of Father John of Kronstadt, entries of a spiritual nature predominate, but there are often entries that reveal the life of the soul of Father John himself: "Christ is my life, and without Him everything is sorrow and collapse of spirit. May I be with Christ every minute... I am a servant of God: because the laws of my God are written in my thoughts and in my heart, and I ever work for Him in the fulfillment of His laws, and if I do not fulfill them, I am tormented, and if I work, my Lord repays me for it with peace, with the life of my heart... I am the instrument or organ of my God; His thought is in my mind; His word is in my mouth; His whole bodily constitution is mine. "May I be convinced of this every minute, may the Lord give a firm hand to my heart."

All his thoughts were written down by Father John in his diary not for the purpose of publishing them, as he himself said, but exclusively for spiritual edification, and were the fruit of his spiritual ascetic work and the inspiration of God. The publication of these inspired writings is of inestimable importance to us. Every reader who is zealous for his salvation and resorts to them as to a source of living water, will find in them something that will strengthen his faith, make him wise and strengthen him on the path to God.

Hegumen Peter (Pigol)

"Who brought all things from those who are not! From those who are not, let this book be beautiful to those who are. Amen."

St. John of Kronstadt (From the diary for 1860-1861)

Diary of 1860–1861