For those who are beginning the monastic life, coenobitic monasteries are more appropriate, as they represent a vast field for the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. However, if you have entered a regular monastery, then do not lose heart; Do not leave him without a good reason: and in the regular monastery, make every effort to educate yourself by the Gospel commandments. The general rule is that a monk must first learn to do the commandments in human society, in which spiritual work is connected with bodily work, and then, having achieved sufficient success, engage exclusively in spiritual work in silence, if he proves capable of it. They are rarely capable of silence. A novice cannot endure spiritual activity alone. By spiritual activity we enter the world of spirits, for which it is precisely for this purpose that experienced monks retire into solitude. In the world of spirits, the fallen spirits initially meet the Christian, as belonging to the host of their soul because of the fall, as having to prove the good direction of his free will by rejecting communion with fallen spirits and accepting communion with God, communion granted to us by the Redeemer. Spirits conveniently kill the one who enters into a struggle with them without proper experience and without proper preparation[95]. The fulfillment of the commandments in human society provides the executor with the most experienced, clearest and most detailed knowledge of the fallen human nature and the fallen spirits, with whom through the fall mankind entered into communion and into the same category of beings outcast, hostile to God, doomed to burial in the dungeons of hell. The Holy Fathers affirm that "he who truly desires to be saved must first endure vexation, dishonor, deprivation, humiliation in cohabitation with people, free himself from the influence of his feelings, and then go into complete silence, as our Lord Jesus Christ Himself revealed in Himself, for He, having endured all this, finally ascended the holy cross, which means mortification of the flesh and passions, and holy, perfect tranquility" [96]. Then know for sure that you will succeed everywhere, both in a coenobitic and in a regular monastery, if you engage in the study and fulfillment of the Gospel commandments; on the contrary, everywhere you will remain without success and alien to spiritual reason, everywhere you will come to a state of self-deception and spiritual disorder, if you neglect the study and fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. Do not stop studying the gospel for the rest of your life! Do not think that you know him well, even if you know him by heart! The Lord's commandment is broad [97], although it consists in small words. The commandment of the Lord is infinite, just as the Lord who spoke it is infinite. The fulfillment of the commandments and success in them are infinite: the most perfect Christians, brought to a state of perfection by Divine grace, remain imperfect in relation to the commandments of the Gospel.

Chapter 7

О хранении себя от добра, принадлежащего падшему естеству человеческому

Придет ли тебе какая благая мысль? остановись; никак не устремись к исполнению ее с опрометчивостию, необдуманно. Ощутишь ли в сердце какое благое влечение? остановись; не дерзай увлечься им. Справься с Евангелием. Рассмотри: согласны ли со всесвятым учением Господа благая мысль твоя и твое благое влечение сердечное. Вскоре усмотришь, что нет никакого согласия между евангельским добром и добром падшего человеческого естества. Добро нашего падшего естества перемешано со злом, а потому и само это добро сделалось злом, как делается ядом вкусная и здоровая пища, когда перемешают ее с ядом. Хранись делать добро падшего естества! Делая это добро, разовьешь свое падение, разовьешь в себе самомнение и гордость, достигнешь ближайшего сходства с демонами. Напротив того, делая евангельское добро, как истинный и верный ученик Богочеловека, соделаешься подобным Богочеловеку. Любяй душу свою, сказал Господь, погубит ю: и ненавидяй души своея в мире сем в живот вечный сохранит ю [98]. Иже хощет по Мне ити, да отвержется себе, и возмет крест Свой, и по Мне грядет. Иже бо аще хощет душу свою спасти, погубить ю: а иже погубит душу свою Мене ради и Евангелия, той спасет ю [99]. Господь повелевает полное отвержение падшего естества, ненависть к его побуждениям, не только к явно злым, но и ко всем без исключения, и ко мнимо добрым. Великое бедствие — последовать правде падшего естества: с этим сопряжено отвержение Евангелия, отвержение Искупителя, отвержение спасения. Кто не возненавидит душу свою, не может Мой быти ученик [100], сказал Господь. Объясняя вышеприведенные слова Господа, великий Варсонофий говорит: «Как отрекается от себя человек? — Лишь тем, что оставляет естественные желания и последует Господу. Посему-то и говорит Господь здесь собственно о естественном, а не о неестественном; ибо если кто оставит только неестественное, то он не оставил еще ничего своего собственного, ради Бога, потому что противоестественное не принадлежит ему. А тот, кто оставил естественное, всегда взывает с апостолом Петром: се, мы оставихом вся и вслед Тебе идохом, что убо будет нам? [101] и слышит блаженный глас Господа, и обетованием удостоверяется в наследовании жизни вечной [102]. Что оставил Петр, будучи не богат, и чем хвалился, если не оставлением естественных своих желаний? Ибо если человек не умрет для плоти, живя духом, он не может воскреснуть душою. Как в мертвеце вовсе нет желаний естественных, так нет их и в духовно умершем для плоти. Если ты умер для плоти, то как могут жить в тебе желания естественные? Если же ты не достиг меры духовной, а еще младенчествуешь умом, то смирись пред учителем, — да накажет тя милостию [103], и без совета ничего не делай [104], хотя бы что и казалось тебе по видимому добрым; ибо свет демонов обращается впоследствии во тьму» [105]. Точно то же должно сказать и о свете падшего человеческого естества. Последование этому свету и развитие его в себе производит в душе совершенное омрачение и вполне отчуждает ее от Христа. Чуждый христианства чужд Бога: всяк, отметаяйся Сына, ни Отца имать [106] — безбожник.

В наш век, гордый своим преуспеянием, большинство человеков, провозглашающее себя и христианами и делателями обильнейшего добра, устремилось к совершению правды падшего естества, отвергнув с презрением правду евангельскую. Это большинство да услышит определение Господа: приближаются Мне людие сии усты своими и устнами чтут Мя: сердце же их далече отстоит от Мене. Всуе же чтут Мя, учаще учением, заповедем человеческим [107]. Делатель правды человеческой исполнен самомнения, высокоумия, самообольщения; он проповедует, трубит о себе, о делах своих, не обращая никакого внимания на воспрещение Господа [108]; ненавистию и мщением платит тем, которые осмелились бы отворить уста для самого основательного и благонамеренного противоречия его правде; признает себя достойным и предостойным наград земных и небесных.

Пред каждою скорбию, посылаемою Промыслом Божиим, он с покорностию преклоняет главу, ведая, что Бог обучает и образует скорбями служителей Своих во время их земного странствования. Он милосердствует о врагах Своих и молится о них, как о братиях, увлекаемых демонами, как о членах единого тела, пораженных болезнию в духе своем, как о благодетелях Своих, как о орудиях Промысла Божия.

Глава 8

On the Enmity and Struggle Between the Fallen Nature and the Gospel Commandments

If you renounce and constantly renounce your own understandings, your own will, your own truth, or, what is the same thing, the reason, will, and truth of your fallen nature, in order to implant in yourself the mind of God, the will of God, and the truth of God, taught to us in the Holy Gospel by God Himself, then your fallen nature will reveal within you a fierce battle against the Gospel, against God. Fallen spirits will come to the aid of fallen nature. Do not fall into despondency because of this: by firmness in the struggle prove the thoroughness and positivity of your will. Defeated, get up; deceived and disarmed, arm yourself again; defeated, rush to battle again. It is most useful for you to see in yourself both your own fall and the fall of all mankind! it is essential for you to know and study this fall in your own heartfelt and mental experiences; It is essential for you to see the weakness of your mind, the weakness of your will! The vision of one's fall is a spiritual vision. The vision of one's own weakness is a spiritual vision [110]. In it, the viewer is the mind. Vision is provided by the grace implanted in us by baptism: by the action of grace the blindness of the mind is resolved, and it begins to see clearly in the field of its podvig what it has not seen before, being outside this field; he cognizes the existence of something of which he did not suspect at all. Associated with the spiritual vision of man's fall is another spiritual vision: the vision of fallen spirits. This vision is again a spiritual vision, a gift of grace [111]. In it, the spectator is the mind: the mind, from doing the commandments, striving for the most thorough fulfillment of them, begins little by little to discern fallen spirits in the thoughts and sensations they bring, begins to see the sorrowful communion of people with fallen spirits, the subordination of people to fallen spirits, the intrigues and actions of spirits for the destruction of people. There is nothing sensual in spiritual visions: they are brought about by thoroughness in the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments and by the struggle with sinful thoughts and sensations. A person who does not know these visions by experience cannot have any idea of them, does not even know that they exist. The war and struggle of the ascetic of Christ with his fall and with the fallen spirits was excellently depicted by the Holy Spirit in the Psalter. The monks of the first times studied the Psalter by heart, and with the words of the Spirit they clothed their prayers for their deliverance from the pit of passions, for deliverance from the jaws of the enemy, the devil.

Chapter 9

On the Reading of the Gospel and the Writings of the Fathers

From the above it is clear that the main cell occupation of a novice monk should be the reading and study of the Gospel and the entire New Testament. The entire New Testament can be called the Gospel as containing one Gospel teaching. However, a novice must first study the commandments of the Lord in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. From the study of the commandments in these Evangelists, in the fulfillment of the commandments by deeds, the other Scriptures that make up the New Testament will become more comprehensible. When reading the Evangelists, one should also read the Evangelist, that is, the explanation of the Gospel by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. The reading of the Evangelist is necessary: it contributes to the correct understanding of the Gospel and, consequently, to its most accurate fulfillment. Moreover, the canons of the Church require that Scripture be understood as the Holy Fathers explain, and by no means arbitrarily: guided in the understanding of the Gospel by the explanation of the Holy Father, an explanation accepted and used by the Church,[113] we will preserve the Tradition of the Holy Church. The writings of St. Tikhon of Voronezh are very useful for our time: they do not have a one-sided goal, they serve as an excellent guide for the ascetics of Christ who dwell in the midst of the world, and for coenobitic monks, and for monks living in regular monasteries, and for solitary silents. The grace of God inspired the saint with writings that especially correspond to contemporary needs. These scriptures explain the doctrine of the gospel. There is no obstacle to living according to the Gospel commandments in any monastery, no matter what the rule of that monastery is, no matter what the amenities of that monastery may be. The latter is said for the encouragement and comfort of those who are not satisfied with the improvement of their monastery, rightly or wrongly. For each monk it is more correct to look for the cause of his dissatisfaction in himself than in his surroundings. Self-condemnation always brings peace to the heart. It does not follow from this that a well-organized monastery does not deserve preference over an unwell-organized monastery, when the choice of a monastery depends on us. This is not always the case.

Having made the teaching and fulfillment of the Gospel commandments as the rule of life, without being carried away by the directions provided by the various writings of the Holy Fathers, one can begin to read them for the closest and most accurate acquaintance with the monastic labor, which is difficult, painful, but not joyless either. In reading the writings of the Fathers, one must observe gradualness, and in no way read them hastily. First one should read the books written for coenobitic monks, such as: the Teachings of the Monk Abba Dorotheus, the Catechumens of St. Theodore of Studio, the Guide to the Spiritual Life of the Monks Barsanuphius the Great and John the Prophet, beginning with answer 216 — the preceding answers are given to the most recluses, and therefore do not correspond to the novices — the Homilies of St. John of the Ladder, the works of St. Ephraim of Syria, the Cenobitic Decrees and Conversations of St. Cassian the Roman. Then, after a considerable time, one can read books written by the Fathers for the silent, such as: the Philokalia, the Patericon of Skete, the Homilies of St. Isaiah the Hermit, the Homilies of St. Isaac of Syria, the Homilies of Mark the Ascetic, the Homilies and Discourses of St. Macarius the Great, the prose and verse writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian, and other similar active writings of the Fathers. All the books enumerated here belong to the category of active, or ascetic, because in them are set forth the work and podvig of monasticism. St. John of the Ladder said: "Since you lead an active (ascetic) life, then read active (ascetic) books" [114]. Active books arouse the monk to monastic feats, especially to prayer. The reading of the other holy writings of the Fathers leads to reflection and contemplation, which is too early for an ascetic who has not been sufficiently cleansed of the passions [115].

Chapter 10