"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

3Inscriptions on the second side of the binding of the diary notebook

Pies—enemies—right.

Sermon of His Grace Philaret on the 4th Sunday of Great Lent on Fasting. Notice, an exceedingly instructive Word! [1]

Remembering the Most Holy Theotokos with all the saints, let us commit ourselves, each other, and all our life to Christ our God. [2] Why remember the Most Holy Theotokos with all the saints? In order that we might surrender ourselves more firmly to the Lord: they gave themselves up to the Lord: Behold, the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38), says the Virgin to the angel, and was saved; we will give ourselves up: and we will be saved. Also – in order to remind everyone that they all pray for us and greatly contribute with their God-pleasing prayers to our salvation, if only <we> ourselves are not lazy. Let us not be lazy, for our souls are weakened (cf. Quar. 12:3).

GRAINS OF THE LORD'S TABLE.

Unworthily making use of the Lord's innumerable gifts, both spiritual and material, at least with gladness of heart, and not with sorrow, receive thy loaves of bread, and this will be imputed by the Lord for the cleansing of thy sins, for the manifestation of God's righteousness (cf. Rom. 3:25) over thee. "Do you think that your brother eats your bread not by right: but do you eat the bread of God by right?" Oh! If we judge in truth, then none of us rightfully uses God's gifts, but only by mercy, only by mercy. O our self-love! O our blindness! In our brother's eye we always see one twig (Matt. 7:3) when it comes to our possessions, but we do not see even a whole log in our own. Brother, in our opinion, is not worth both, and that, and the third, but we ourselves are worth everything. Such are we, you think, great, perfect, many-doing, many-useful members of the Church and society! In fact, they are the most sinful of all, the most insignificant, lazy, useless members. "Oh, pride! Pride! Pride! O blindness of self-love! Consider yourself unworthy of all the gifts of God, and you will always consider your neighbor worthy of the gifts of God given to you!

Do you still not consider all earthly things to be vanity? — Have I not yet learned to trust in the one Lord, according to the Scriptures: "For every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, man shall live" (cf. Matt. 4:4)? Has your heart still clung [3] to earthly acquisitions and to perishable poison? [4]