If passion rages like a storm, then lower the sail, which means true humility. If the rope, that is, the strength of patience, is erased, correct it by the power of the mind. In this way you will enter with the weight of your virtues into the quiet abode of life, having made a happy purchase, being enriched with eternal treasures, and rejoicing with our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is due glory, honor, and worship with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.

HOMILY 28: On Spending Time in Ascetic Labors and Deeds for the Sake of Receiving Eternal Blessings

My fathers, brethren and children! Because of the illness of the legs, I cannot participate with you and help you in the bodily labors in which you find yourselves; and for this I grieve greatly. True, even if I were with you, I would not be of any use to you; but then I would see you and rejoice at the diligence, good obedience, patience and thoroughness of each of you, I would rejoice that I would see and observe all those who work with zeal and help each other in spiritual and bodily labors. And I pray more to God, that your faith may not fail, and that your spiritual love, which you have for me, humble, may not grow cold, and that you may be strengthened in oneness of mind and in the same love, and that you may fulfill the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ. I know that you are cramped, in labor, suffering, and sweat. But I beseech you, be of good courage for the love of the Lord; endure, fighting the good fight, that you may be crowned and rejoice in heaven. O that I, children, may work together with you! O that I also may go out with you to work, that by labor I may humble my body. Blessed is he who labors according to his strength together with the brethren, and venerable is he who participates in bodily labors. By such labors you sanctify your bodies, and make your souls the most passionless, as truly the Lord's workers, if only you do what is commanded as you should, that is, when the stewards and their helpers give commands with the fear of God and compassion, and those who obey show obedience to those who are higher than themselves.

Look, my child, steward, thou art my beloved Zosima, my venerable Ephraim, and also ye my glorious ones. Pimen and Lucian, one cellarer, and the other gardener, and the first in everything, see how you dispose of it, as you command. Do not command, with violence, without pity, and carelessly, but with attention, brotherly love and prudence, since the brethren are not all equal in mind, morals and strength. With this condition alone, the power over the brotherhood has been entrusted to you; and if you dispose of it in this way, then you are blessed and will be heirs of eternal blessings. See also you, my children, who are in obedience, my venerable Nilus, Dositheus, Tiphoi, Aphra, and you Dius — there is not enough time to call them all by name — see how you accept the commands of the administrators, how you obey, how you live. Do not laugh, my children, for by this you grieve the Lord. Do not be idle, for by doing so you offend the Holy Spirit. The Apostle says: "Let all sorrow, wrath, and wrath be taken away from you with all malice" (Ephesians 4:31). And again: Let not every rotten word proceed out of your mouth, but let it be good for the building up of needful things, let it give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:29). Be merciful to one another, meek, brotherly; condescend to one another out of love; bear one another's burdens, forgive, give preference to one another, and revere one another, with the fear of God.

If you do this, and lead such a life, then you will be my beloved, especially the saints of God, His earthly angels, worshippers of His power, ministers of His glory, and heirs of the heavenly kingdom: you will be cohabitants with the saints, inhabitants of paradise, and partakers of eternal and inscrutable blessings. Wherefore I, unworthy, pray for this, O sinner, for this I beseech the humble, that your steps may always be directed to God, that you may be strengthened by the help of His power, and that for my sake, a sinner, there may not be any temptation or stumbling, nor pernicious murmuring, nor deadly insolence, nor slander in any evil deed, nor anything else forbidden or sinful; but in every deed and movement, let the light of God's mind come before you, that you may abide in a peaceful dispensation and in the silence of brotherly love.

May the Lord our God send down to us a faithful angel, a guide, a guardian of your souls and bodies, so that he may drive away evil demons and assist you in every good deed and in a good life. May the Lord our God open to you the door of righteousness and the way of truth, may He receive you, warm you, make of you an organ and a beautiful psalter for joy, may He make you all temples of the living God, may He dwell in you, and may He also give you the betrothal of the blessedness there. Little and insignificant is what I have told you today, as always. But in imitation of Christ, accept as the two mites of a widow, the seed of our poverty, and repay us by doing what is said to you. For if this is sung, we do not demand praise; but if we speak repeatedly, do not be amazed; for although we have heard the same commandments so many times, we have not fulfilled them. Oh, that while we are alive and breathing, I may speak and listen to you! May the Lord our God preserve and strengthen you, may He correct your way and works, may He rejoice you, may He delight you, and may He vouchsafe you the heavenly kingdom, in Christ our Lord, to Whom is due glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

INSTRUCTION 29: On Not Pleasing Any Other Life Than Those Who Live in the Dormitory

My fathers, brethren and children!

I lie for the sake of sickness, and I cannot stand before your face and teach you with my insignificant word. But if you are healthy and strong in soul and body, I do not feel sickness, and I do not grieve at all; For you are my children, in truth my health and joy, my repose and my crown. With you I have a happy life and prosperity, feast and praise, wealth and pleasure, joy and joy. And if you were subject to spiritual ailments, which should not happen, then this would cause me illness and contrition.

Then the blessed voice of the Lord will be heard by those who worthily accomplished their podvig, who desired nothing from this world and were not deceived by its vanity. For then, it is said, the righteous will shine like the sun (Matt. 13:41), when they come from the east and the west, and from the north and the sea, and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Hakov (Matt. 8:11), in inexpressible joy, when our King and Lord will divide His gifts according to the merits of each.

Woe, woe, my brethren and children! What glory will the blessed novices inherit! Truly, everyone in what order has pleased God, in that he will receive blessings. Though great in the sight of God are those who served Him in the mountains, and in caves, and in the abysses of the earth, stylites, hermits, and in every other way of life who glorified God, nevertheless know, my beloved and longed-for brethren, that when our Lord Jesus Christ, the divider of innumerable blessings, came to earth, He did not choose a wilderness or stylite life, but an image and rule of obedience. For He Himself says: "As I came down from heaven, I do not My will, but the will of Him that sent Me" (John 6:38), and yet I do not speak of Himself nothing, but the Father who sent Me, "To Him will I give a commandment, as a river, and as I shall speak" (John 12:49). Honey mushrooms girded with ribbons. He took the form of a servant, washed the disciples' feet and wiped them with lenticum. And in another place he said: I am in the midst of you, as you serve. (Luke 22:27). And so, my children and brethren, as you see, the Lord has chosen our life in preference, a life in obedience, and not any other of all the others. How can you not rejoice? How not to have fun? How can you not be filled with joy and gladness, that you also live in the likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ? Is there anything more blessed for you than this? Or will you be surprised at any other way of life? Therefore, do not please any other life than ours, if only you spend it correctly. Therefore, as it is narrated in the Patericon about the three images of monasticism: the hermit, the sick, and the novice, was not seen in the revelation a novice with a crown brighter than the rest? To her, verily I say to you, my brethren, great is our way of life and holy; and in every way, if you worthily perform it, then without a doubt you will be glorified with Abraham, you will rejoice with the martyrs, and you will dwell with the righteous.

Therefore, make the course with diligence; anoint your feet with the oil of patience, so that your spiritual veins may be warmed, and you may receive strength for further flow. Put on the garment of righteousness and joy, drink the water of virginity and chastity. Do not say, How long? This is the word of the lazy. We don't live for a thousand years. Grief! In ancient times they lived for nine hundred, seven hundred, and a hundred years, as, for example, Enoch, Noah, Abel, Abraham, Job, and others, who pleased God; and in our time it is even more, if someone lived seventy years, as David says: "The days of our years are seventy years or eighty" (Psalm 89:10); It is around these numbers that our life ends. And now I see that even little children and infants die before they come of age and choose any kind of residence. So we, children, will die today or tomorrow. Remembering this every day, we do well, spending our lives according to the spiritual law. And so our fathers lived their short days. Therefore, may there be among us, through the holy prayer of our father, mercy, peace, love, non-envy, non-jealousy, non-acquisitiveness, obedience, good words, concord, compassion for one another, humility; Thus abide, thus live, praying also for my humility, so that I may not be cast into the unquenchable fire. O that we may all be delivered from it and be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom all glory is due with the Father and the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

HOMILY 30: On Pernicious Insolence

My spiritual children and most honorable brethren! I am not slothful to speak to you often, and to confirm you with the words of truth, lest any of you, through ignorance or negligence, be wounded in any way by the sting of death, that is, by sin, transgressed the commandments, or done anything that was not proper, all the more so since the wicked Satan finds a place elsewhere even when I am doing my work. And for all your sins, no matter how you sin, I, the most accursed, must give an account on the day of justice and revelation to the Lord God, unless I warn you, if I do not confirm and teach you beforehand. Woe is me! I am in the rank of shepherd, whereas I would not be worthy to be called a sheep.