4. From St. Ephraim

Brothers! We are spiritual merchants, like ordinary merchants who count profits and losses every day. If they see that they have suffered a loss, they make special efforts and diligence to compensate for it. So you, beloved, check your trade carefully every day, evening and morning. In the evening, when you enter the region of your heart, count everything and say to yourself: "Have I angered God? Have you not spoken an idle word? Was he indifferent, did he irritate his brother, did he not slander someone? Was it not so that my lips sang, and my mind thought of worldly things? Did not lustful lust enter into me, and did I not accept it with satisfaction? Did not earthly cares overwhelm me and did I not forget about God at that time?"

Think carefully about this and other similar things, and if you see that you have failed in something, hasten to make amends. Groan and weep and pray to God not to repeat the same mistake And in the morning think about the same thing and ask yourself: "How did I spend this night? Did you benefit or suffer? Were my mind and my body awake? Did my eyes cry? Was I not captivated by sleep during prostrations? Did not evil thoughts enter into me, and I, instead of immediately banishing them, gladly combined with them?"

This is how you need to examine yourself from all sides: perhaps you have sinned in some of the above. And then you need to work to correct these mistakes and stand guard over the heart so as not to endure the same thing again. If you always think so, you will keep your trade and place your profits safely in the heavenly treasuries.

Chapter 11: That it is dangerous for a believer to break even one commandment, for the fulfillment of all others depends on it; and that even a minor evil brings great harm

1. From the Life of St. Pachomius

Pachomius the Great said to his disciples: "Imagine, brothers, that there are a hundred rooms in a house, but if someone buys the main hall, the owner will not be able to enter any of the rooms. In the same way, a believer, if he possesses all the fruits of the Spirit, but through negligence and malice of the enemy loses at least one, exchanging virtue for deceit, he will become weak, for he will voluntarily lose all his possessions."

2. If a man does not awaken his own soul with sobriety, and does not strengthen himself against even the weakest attacks of the enemy, he will destroy all his virtue. If the army is advancing on the enemy, but there is a gap in their formation, then the enemy will break through it to the rear, and it will be difficult to dislodge him from there, and the entire army will most likely die. Therefore, each of us must strengthen himself with all the virtues. For no small loss occurs when even the most insignificant virtue is neglected.

2. From Otechnik

The brother asked Abba Pimen:

— Can a person rely on any one of his deeds?

The elder answered:

Abba John Kolov said: "I would like a person to adopt a little of all the virtues, and not always adhere to only one."