"My beloved spiritual child, do not seek that which is higher than you, and do not investigate that which is deeper, for in order to understand what you have asked me, you must cease to be an imperfect infant who cannot digest solid food. It is beyond your power to comprehend lofty concepts, just as the food of perfect men is of no use to tender babes, who need only milk.

 Falling at his feet and holding them tightly, I earnestly begged him to answer. Condescending to my earnest request, Gregory said: "He who does not see the resurrection of his soul will not be able to know exactly what an intelligent soul is."

 "Tell me, father, have you reached the measure of this ascent, that is, have you learned what a wise soul is?"

 -Yes.

 Then I asked him, for the love of the Lord, to teach me also what could be of great benefit to my soul. The divine and all-honorable Gregory, praised my zeal, taught me such a teaching.

 - When the soul uses all its zeal and with reason and discernment strives in active virtues, then, pushing aside all passions, it subdues them to itself. And when she has conquered the passions, she will be surrounded only by natural virtues, which follow her as a shadow follows the body. It is these virtues that will not only follow her, but will also teach and guide her to that which is supernatural, like climbing the spiritual ladder. And when the mind, by the grace of Christ, ascends to a higher natural state, then, enlightened by the radiance of the Holy Spirit, it will also shine into contemplation. Having risen above himself, according to the measure of grace given by God, he clearly and purely sees the nature of things, its connections and order, but not in the way that the external sages chatter, who have recourse only to the shadow of things and do not try to follow the essential energy of nature as they should, because, as the Scriptures say, "their senseless heart is darkened; calling themselves wise, they have become fools" (Romans 1:21). Then, the soul that has accepted the betrothal and grace of the Holy Spirit, little by little, by virtue of the multitude of contemplations that it has, leaves the former and ascends to the highest and Divine, as the Apostle Paul says: "Forgetting what is behind and stretching forward" (Phil. 3:13). The soul, truly cleansed in this way, puts aside all fear and timidity, and, clinging with love to the Bridegroom Christ, sees that its natural thoughts completely cease and fall away, as the Holy Fathers command. Having attained unprecedented and ineffable beauty, she converses alone with the One God, brightly illuminated by the brightness and grace of the Holy Spirit. Thus enlightened by infinite light, it moves only towards God Himself, and through this wondrous and new change it no longer feels the low, earthly and material body, because the soul appears transparent and light, without any additions or earthly attachments, with a nature pre-eminently intelligent, as our ancestor Adam was before his transgression. At first he was covered with the grace of that infinite light, and then for a hateful crime (O woe!) he was deprived of radiant glory and sanctification. So this precious animal, man, turned out to be naked.

 The monk also told me that a man who had attained such a height through the tedious study of mental prayer, and who had clearly seen and known his own state, into which he had come by the grace of Christ, saw the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection, for which we all hope. The soul, thus purified, can say with the divine Paul: "Whether in the body I do not know, whether outside the body I do not know" (2 Corinthians 12:2), but it itself is perplexed and amazed at this, and cries out in amazement: "O the abyss of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His destinies, and how unsearchable are His ways!" (Romans 11:33). This is what that divine father told me.

 As for his disciples, who, under the guidance of the monk, ascended to the heights of virtue, I do not know how to worthily tell and how to tell about their battles and feats. The first of them was St. Gerasimos, who came from Euripus, as I have already said. Afterwards he became a disciple of the most holy Patriarch Isidore, and he was of great benefit and deserved his praise, for from the very beginning he was well taught by the divine Gregory virtue and the life befitting a monk. This wondrous man imitated the ancient Monk Gerasimus (of Jordan), and just as he walked the apostolic path and tamed the Jordanian wilderness, having erected honorable monasteries in it, so this new Gerasimus, filled with Divine grace and enlightened by God, came to Greece. Like the Apostles, he went around it and saturated all those who hungered and thirsted for the word of God with the sweetest teaching of Virtue, enriching as much as possible with the riches of sanctification and piety. But Gerasim himself, thanks to his diligence and diligence, gathered around him a multitude of disciples and, with the help of God, founded a heavenly dwelling and a monastic monastery, passing on to the brethren the rules of a strict angelic life, taught them, being an example of virtue, as the Monk Gerasim had done in antiquity. Likewise, this new Gerasimus was vouchsafed to behold Divine visions in silence, and spent his life in spiritual feats, worthy of astonishment, after which he reposed in the Lord.

 The second disciple of the monk was Joseph, a compatriot and companion of Gerasimos, who fought with courage for Orthodoxy, resisting the Latins, and extracted many from this wickedness, by the grace of Christ bringing them to Orthodoxy. Few of those known and successful in external wisdom were able to do as much for Orthodoxy as Joseph did, for he had inner and true wisdom – the grace of the Holy Spirit, with the help of Whom even those fishermen, the divine apostles, were glorified and shamed the external wise men. Thus the wondrous Joseph was glorified by God and put the Latins to shame. Of his other virtues and famous and humble life, who can deservedly tell? I will keep silent about this too.

 You, O listener, meditate on another disciple of the saint, the wondrous Abba Nicholas, an elder of eighty years old, from Athens, who was worthy of reverence not only for his respectable age, but also for his prudence and modesty of morals. He bravely endured for Orthodoxy numerous persecutions from the Latin-minded Michael Palaiologos: he was exiled, his estates were plundered, and many times he was imprisoned in gloomy prisons. At a time when the divine Nicholas was preaching the word of God in his homeland and teaching the people to preserve the Orthodox faith, not accepting the vicious teaching of the Latins, the emperor sent his cruel and inhuman Latinizing servants to punish him. Obeying the order of the tsar, they tied Nicholas tightly with ropes, put chains around his neck and hands; in order to shame them, they shaved their beards and, cruelly beating them with sticks and feet, led them along the roads everywhere for show. The superstitious did not know that by doing so they only flaunted their malice, and for Nicholas they were the cause of greater glory. But since, by the mercy of God, peace had come to the Church of Christ at that time, and the persecution of the Orthodox had ceased, the Ecumenical Patriarch, His Holiness Joseph, tried various ways to ordain the divine Nicholas as bishop. The latter, humble-minded, did not agree to become a bishop, and, desiring silence, came to the Holy Mountain. The then archpriest of the Holy Mountain took great love of Nicholas, adorned with all virtues and piety, and appointed, against his will, ecclesiarch in the honorable monastery of Kareev. After a while, Nicholas met with the wondrous Gregory and, having heard his sweetest teachings, with all his soul he wanted to become his disciple.

 Just as a magnet with its tremendous natural power attracts to itself the hardest iron, so our divine teacher Gregory with his spiritually beneficial words (which every prudent person would justly call the words of eternal life, and truly with a Divine voice) attracted to himself all who saw him or conversed with him.

Thus did Abba Nicholas, who not only forsook the honours and glory of man as a vain and superfluous burden, but also despised his own old age, throwing himself at the feet of the monk. He joyfully accepted the podvig and the labor of obedience, as if he had acquired some great treasure. Listening to the sweet words of the monk, absorbing his instructions, he was tempted in every virtue, and especially in humility, surpassing in this all his brethren.

 One should also marvel at how the divine father treated his novices. When he wanted to correct a sinful disciple, then, having pondered with clairvoyant spiritual eyes how to benefit the novice, he suddenly began to revile him, calling him evil and vicious, saying that he had grown old in evil, and had done nothing good. The monk called him a lazy man, who neglected the salvation of his soul and often ordered some monk to drive the sinner out of the refectory with a stern look. With all this, the monk was concerned in every possible way for the salvation of his brother's soul. Hearing of all this, the ascetic of Christ, Abba Nicholas, fell down with great humility at the feet of the saint and began to weep. And I myself, who is telling this, my heart shrinks and tears flow with abundant amazement when I imagine the venerable elder stretched out at the feet of his teacher. You, listener, ponder and marvel at this story. Having thus scolded the sinning disciple, Gregory instructed him and, having forgiven him, dismissed him with great spiritual benefit for him. What I have just told you about is only a tiny particle, since it is not possible to tell in detail about all the feats of the monk.

 And you, beloved, look at another disciple of the divine Gregory, the wonderful Mark, who was a native of Clazomene. Coming to Thessaloniki, he was tonsured a monk in a monastery called the monastery of Lord Isaac. Finding himself on the Holy Mountain, he asceticized with great zeal and diligence, having acquired mental prayer, sobriety, and he was extremely fond of unceasing prayer. Although Mark became a precious repository of all virtues, he loved humility and obedience so much that he wanted to zealously serve, as far as possible, not only to the superior, but also to all the brethren in Christ. He was very displeased if he could not serve, like a slave, all the monks who came there. Truly, by his deeds he unhypocritically fulfilled the commandment of Christ: "Whosoever will be first among you, let him be your servant" (Matt. 20:27). There was no one who did not marvel and praise the divine Mark, and did not feel his spiritual fragrance. Having seen him only once, any person received his sanctification from him and took from him an example of humility. This divine ascetic, having come to a very old age, with great joy wanted to perform the same feats as in his youth, not thinking at all about old age, or about impotence, or about anything else that could hinder him. He zealously fulfilled his obediences in the kitchen and never neglected his duties, under any pretext. For this reason God, Who blesses the humble in heart, seeing such humility of his mind, raised him to such glory that, shining with Divine grace, he became the brightest instrument of the Holy Spirit. Having reached a serene and quiet harbor, he united his aspiration with God, conversing with Him alone and inexpressibly rejoicing in His brightness, bringing spiritual benefit to many from his teachings and holiness. In this way I also came to know him, and had the opportunity to experience him for a long time, because I began to live with him, having one thought and one desire in everything, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. From the very beginning, when I first met him, I fell in love with him with all my heart, revering his friendship unusually highly. And although he commanded me not to divulge about the virtues that God had given him, but since the praise of the saints refers to God, I judged it fair not to hush up his feats in the least, about which they speak and listen with joy and gratitude, and which incline the listeners to imitate the ascetic. Deciding to return to the honorable Lavra, our divine father Gregory so united us, one with the other, with his teachings and instructions, that it seemed that we had one soul in two bodies. Commanding us to remain inseparable to the end, moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he told us about many good things, including the fact that if we remain in unity, then we will be vouchsafed the Kingdom of Heaven. We, however, having made the usual bow and received the blessing of prayer, remained together and were inseparable, thinking and doing everything in the same way. We didn't know what "mine" and "yours" were, but we lived together for twenty-eight years. If someone called Callistus, then Mark was with him. If anyone called Mark, then Callistus also came. All the fathers who lived with us in the skete saw in us a commendable example because of the good harmony that existed between us, by the grace of Christ. And if sometimes there were disagreements and disputes among some of the brethren, out of devilish envy, they often remembered our God-pleasing example.