Chapter 13

About living by advice

In the preceding chapter, the spiritual life granted by God's Providence to our time is called "Krupitsiya". It is based on guidance in the matter of salvation by the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Holy Fathers, with advice and edification borrowed from contemporary fathers and brethren. In the proper sense, this is the obedience of the ancient monks in a different form, adapted to our weakness, primarily spiritual. To the ancient novices, their spirit-bearing teachers immediately and directly proclaimed the will of God: now the monks themselves must seek out the will of God in the Scriptures, and therefore be subjected to frequent and prolonged perplexities and errors. At that time progress was rapid in the nature of the work: now it is again stagnant in the nature of the work. Such is the favor of our God for us: we are obliged to submit to him and revere him with thanksgiving. Our modern monastic life according to the Scriptures and the advice of the fathers and brethren is sanctified by the example of the head of monasticism, St. Anthony the Great. He was not in obedience to the elder, but in his new beginnings he lived separately and borrowed instructions from the Scriptures and from various fathers and brethren: from one he learned abstinence, from another meekness, patience, humility, from another strict vigilance over himself, silence, trying to assimilate to himself the virtue of each virtuous monk, showing obedience to everyone as much as possible, humbling himself before everyone and praying to God unceasingly. Do the same, novice one! Render to the abbot and other monastic authorities an unhypocritical and unhumane obedience, an obedience that is alien to flattery and caresses, obedience for God's sake. Render obedience to all fathers and brethren in their commands, which do not contradict the Law of God, the rule and order of the monastery, and the orders of the monastery authorities. But in no way be obedient to evil, even if it should happen to you to suffer some sorrow for your lack of humanity and firmness. Consult with virtuous and prudent fathers and brethren; but assimilate their advice with extreme caution and circumspection. Do not be carried away by advice on its initial effect on you! Because of your passion and blindness, some passionate and malicious advice can please you only because of your ignorance and inexperience, or because it pleases some hidden passion that you do not know, living in you. With weeping and heartfelt sighs, beseech God not to allow you to deviate from His all-holy will to follow the fallen human will, yours or your neighbor's, your counselor. Consult the Gospel both about your own thoughts and about the thoughts of your neighbor, about his advice. Vanity and self-conceit love to teach and instruct. They don't care about the dignity of their advice! they do not think that they can inflict an incurable wound on their neighbor with absurd advice, which is accepted by an inexperienced beginner with an unclear trust, with carnal and bloody fervor! they need success, whatever the quality of this success, whatever its beginning! They need to impress the beginner and morally subordinate him to themselves! they need human praise! They need to be known as holy, reasonable, clairvoyant elders, teachers! They need to nourish their insatiable vanity, their pride. The prayer of the Prophet has always been just, and it is especially true now: Save me, O Lord, as the monk is poor: for the truth has diminished from the sons of men. A vain word to his sincere: a flattering mouth in the heart, and an evil speaker in the heart [161]. A false and hypocritical word cannot but be an evil and harmful word. Caution must be taken against such a mood. "Study the Divine Scriptures," says Symeon the New Theologian, "and the writings of the Holy Fathers, especially active ones, so that when you compare the teaching and behavior of your teacher and elder with their teaching, you may see them (this teaching and behavior) as in a mirror, and understand them; to assimilate what is in accordance with the Scriptures and to keep it in thought; but to know and reject what is false and evil, so as not to be deceived. Know that in our days there are many deceivers and false teachers" [162]. The Monk Simeon lived in the tenth century after the Nativity of Christ, nine centuries before our time: it was already when the voice of the righteous man was heard in the Holy Church of Christ about the lack of true, spirit-bearing leaders, about the multitude of false teachers. In the course of time, satisfactory teachers of monasticism became more and more impoverished: then the Holy Fathers began to offer more and more guidance in the Holy Scriptures and the writings of the Fathers. The Monk Nil of Sorsky, referring to the Fathers who wrote before him, says: "It is no small feat, they said, to find an uncharming teacher of this wondrous work (true monastic prayer of the heart and mind). They called him uncharming who has work and wisdom testified to by the Divine Scriptures, and has acquired spiritual discernment. And the Holy Fathers said that even then it was hardly possible to find an uncharming teacher in such subjects; but now, when they are extremely impoverished, they must be sought with all care. If it is not found, then the Holy Fathers commanded us to learn from the Divine Scriptures, hearing the Lord Himself say: Examine the Scriptures, and in them you will find eternal life." For as it was written in the Holy Scriptures, it was prescribed for our punishment (instruction) [164]. The Monk Nilus lived in the fifteenth century; he founded a skete not far from Bela Ozero, where he engaged in prayer in deep solitude. It is useful to listen to the elders of modern times, with what humility and selflessness the Monk Nilus speaks of the instructions that he taught to the brethren. "No one should conceal the words of God through his negligence, but confess his weakness and at the same time not conceal the truth of God, so that we may not become guilty of transgressing God's commandment. Let us not conceal the word of God, but let us proclaim it. The Divine Scriptures and the words of the Holy Fathers are as numerous as the sand of the sea: not lazily examining them, we teach them to those who come to us and those who need them (those who demand, who ask). It would be more correct: we do not teach, because we are not worthy of it, but the blessed Holy Fathers from the Divine Scripture teach" [165]. Here is an excellent example for modern instruction! He is completely useful to the soul for the teacher and the one being instructed; it is the correct expression of moderate success; it is combined with the rejection of self-conceit, insane impudence and audacity, into which those who outwardly imitate the great Barsanuphius and other sign-bearing Fathers fall, without having the grace of the Fathers. What was in them an expression of the abundant presence of the Holy Spirit in them, in reckless, hypocritical imitators serves as an expression of abundant ignorance, self-deception, pride, and insolence. Beloved fathers! Let us pronounce the word of God to our brethren with all possible humility and reverence, recognizing ourselves as insufficient for this service and guarding ourselves from vanity, which greatly chills passionate people when they instruct the brethren. Think that we must give an answer for every idle word [166], so much the more painful is the answer for the word of God, pronounced with vanity and from the impulse of vanity. The Lord will consume all the flattering lips, the eloquent tongue: let us exalt our tongue, our mouth is with us: who is the Lord to us? The Lord will consume those who seek his own glory, and not God's. Let us be afraid of the Lord's rebuke! Let us pronounce the word of edification at the demand of essential necessity, not as instructors, but as those in need of instruction and striving to become partakers of the instruction given by God in His all-holy Word. As the gift has been received, says the holy Apostle Peter, serving among themselves, as good builders of the various graces of God. If anyone speaks, as the word of God, with the fear of God and reverence for the words of God, and not as his own words; If anyone serves as from a fortress, which God gives, and not as from his own, let God Jesus Christ be glorified in all things. He who works for the sake of vanity, offers both himself and those who listen to him as a sacrifice to Satan: he who works out of the Lord works for the glory of the Lord, accomplishes his own salvation and the salvation of his neighbors by the Lord, the only Savior of men. Let us be afraid of giving a novice any thoughtless instruction that is not based on the Word of God and on the spiritual understanding of the Word of God. It is better to confess ignorance than to show knowledge harmful to the soul. Let us guard against the great calamity of turning the credulous novice from a servant of God into a slave of man [169] by drawing him into the creation of the fallen will of man instead of the all-holy will of God [170]. The humble attitude of a counselor to the one being instructed is quite different from that of an elder to an unconditional novice, a servant in the Lord. Advice does not contain a condition for it to be fulfilled: it can be fulfilled or not. The counsellor does not bear any responsibility for his advice, if he gave it with the fear of God and humility, not spontaneously, but being questioned and forced. Likewise, he who has received advice is not bound by it; it remains at his own discretion and discretion to carry out or not to carry out the advice received. It is obvious how the path of advice and following the Holy Scriptures is in accordance with our weak times. It should be noted that the Fathers forbid giving advice to one's neighbor of one's own accord, without questioning one's neighbor: self-willed giving of advice is a sign of awareness of one's knowledge and spiritual worthiness, which is obvious pride and self-deception [171]. This does not apply to abbots and superiors, who are obliged at all times, in every need, and without being asked, to instruct the brotherhood entrusted to them. But when visiting other monasteries, they should be guided by the advice of St. Macarius of Alexandria to St. Pachomius the Great. Pachomius asked Macarius about the instruction of the brethren and the judgment over them. Abba Macarius answered: "Teach and judge your subordinates, and do not judge any stranger" [173]. This rule has been observed and is observed by all abbots who wish to please God.

Chapter 14

The purpose of monastic life is to study the will of God, to assimilate it to oneself, in obedience to it

The essence of monastic life is to heal one's damaged will, to unite it with the will of God, to sanctify it by this union. Our will, in a state of fallenness, is hostile to the will of God; because of its blindness and the state of enmity towards God, it constantly strives to oppose the will of God. When its efforts remain unsuccessful, it leads a person to irritation, to indignation, to confusion, to grief, to despondency, to murmuring, to blasphemy, to despair. In the renunciation of one's own will in order to inherit the will of God lies the renunciation of oneself, commanded by the Saviour, which constitutes a necessary condition for salvation and Christian perfection, so necessary that without the satisfaction of this condition salvation is impossible, and even more impossible is Christian perfection. Life is in His will, said the Prophet [174].

In order to fulfill the will of God, one must know it. Only with this knowledge is it possible to reject one's damaged will and heal it by the will of God. The will of God is a Divine mystery. No one is God's message, says the Apostle, but the Spirit of God [175]. Consequently, the attainment to men of the knowledge of the will of God can be accomplished only by means of Divine revelation. Teach me to do Thy will, prayed the inspired David, for Thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall guide me to the earth of righteousness. Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Thy law. Do not hide Thy commandments from me [177]. The will of God is revealed to mankind in the Law of God, but above all, with special precision and detail, it is declared to us by the incarnate Word of God. As the highest attainment, it is accepted by faith. "I have come down from heaven," said the Saviour, "that I may not do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me the Father." Behold, this is the will of Him who sent Me the Father, that I may not destroy all that I have given Me, but will raise him up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that whosoever shall see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day[178]. I did not speak of Himself, but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what a river and what I would proclaim. And we know that His commandment is eternal life [179]. The study of the will of God is a labor filled with joy, filled with spiritual consolation, at the same time a labor associated with great sorrows, sorrows, temptations, with self-denial, with the mortification of the fallen nature, with the salvific destruction of the soul. It is associated with the crucifixion of the old man [180]. He demands that the wisdom of the flesh be rejected, trampled underfoot, destroyed: be transformed by the renewing of your mind, says the Apostle, in order to tempt you, which is the will of God that is good, pleasing and perfect. With such certainty did the Son of God reveal to men the will of God, with such essential consequences He combined this manifestation of the will of God, that Holy Scripture calls Him the one who confessed God,[182] that is, He revealed Him in the fullness in which mankind is capable of receiving, capable of receiving not by itself, but by an abundant action of Divine grace. The same meaning is given to the words of the Lord: "I have manifested Thy name as a man,"[183] and I will tell them Thy name, and I will say, that they may love Me in them, and I in them."184 The manifestation of the name of Him Who is above every name is the most perfect knowledge of Him Who is above all knowledge. The highest knowledge, which comes from the sanctification of man by the Divine will, leads into Divine love, into the union of man with God.

Some of the Gospel commandments teach us to act pleasing to God; others teach us to behave in a God-pleasing manner when we are influenced by others. The study of the second is more difficult than the study of the first; but the first will be understood satisfactorily when the soul studies and accepts the second. It is necessary to assure oneself that God manages the participation of the world and the participation of each person. The experiences of life will not be slow to confirm and confirm this teaching of the Gospel. The consequence of the acceptance of this teaching by faith is humble submission to God, the retreat of confusion, peace of soul, and the strength of courage. Whoever accepts the teaching of the Gospel in this way will receive the shield of faith, in which all the arrows of the evil one can be quenched. This faith is called by the Holy Fathers active, in contrast to dogmatic [186]. It appears in man from the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, grows in proportion as they are fulfilled, withers and is destroyed in proportion as they are neglected, is transformed, in due time, after the overshadowing of grace, into a living faith, fills the Christian with spiritual power, by which the saints of God conquered the kingdoms, did righteousness, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the fiery power, escaped the edge of the sword, was able from weakness, were strong in battle, putting to flight the regiments of strangers [187]. It is necessary to revere the incomprehensible destinies of God in all God's allowances, both private and public, both civil, moral and spiritual. Humble yourselves, exhorts the holy Apostle Peter, under the mighty hand of God, Nan, who has cast up all your sorrow, for He cares for you. It is fitting to humble oneself according to that excellent example which is presented to us by the Holy Scriptures in the prayer of the three holy youths, who were subjected in Babylon to a severe test for their faithfulness to God and who recognized all God's allowances as the consequences of the righteous Judgment of God. Need is to come by temptation, the Lord has determined [190]; having foretold the terrible calamities that were to befall those who believe in Him and all mankind, He said: "Behold, do not shrink, for it is fitting for all these things to be." If so, then we have neither the right nor the opportunity to say or think anything against the definition pronounced by the all-good, all-wise, omnipotent God. Ye shall be betrayed, the Lord hath foretold us, and parents, and brethren, and kindred, and friends, and they shall put you to death from you: and ye shall be hated by all men for my name's sake. Whosoever shall kill you shall be deemed to serve God. In the world ye shall be in sorrow: but be of good cheer, for I have conquered the world. Having depicted and foreshadowed the position of true Christians during their earthly life, the situation predestined for them by God, the Lord added: "And the hair of your head shall not perish" [194]. This means: God will vigilantly care for you: He will keep vigilant over you, He will keep you in His almighty right hand, and because whatever sorrowful things happen to you, it will happen only by His permission, by His all-holy will, for your salvation. The Lord concluded the instruction to the disciples in relation to the misfortunes of earthly life, who must comprehend them, with a decisive and definite commandment: In your patience gain your souls [195]. Acknowledge and confess God as the ruler of the world; reverently, with self-denial, submit yourselves and surrender yourselves to His will: from this consciousness, from this obedience, holy patience will vegetate in your souls. It will be known to the soul by the peace that it will bring to the soul. Every word against the destinies of God will be silenced in the mouth, every thought will be silent before the greatness of the will of God, as the holy Evangelist Luke said of himself and his companions: "Be silent, rexe: let the will of the Lord be done." It should be known that any thought that appears with the property of contradiction and opposition to the destinies of God comes from Satan, and is his offspring. Such a thought, as ungodly, must be rejected at the very appearance of it. The Lord gave us an example of this. When He told His disciples about His impending sufferings and violent death, then the Apostle Peter, moved by compassion in the nature of the old man, began to rebuke Him, saying: "Thou art merciful, O Lord: Thou shalt not have this to be." The Lord answered Peter, denouncing the beginning of the thought he had expressed: "Follow Me, Satan, Thou art a temptation of Me: for thou art not thought, which is God's, but man's"[197]. Why does our spirit revolt against the destinies and allowances of God? Because we did not honor God as God; because we have not submitted to God as to God; because we have not given ourselves our proper place before God; from our pride, from our blindness: from the fact that our fallen, damaged, perverted will has not been destroyed or rejected by us. Then I will not be ashamed, when I look upon all Thy commandments. Let us worship Thee in righteousness of heart, when we learn the destinies of Thy righteousness [198]. Thou art my Saviour God, and I endure Thee all day long,[199] enduring with good humor throughout my earthly life all the sorrows which it pleases Thee to allow me for my salvation. St. John of the Ladder defines the gift of spiritual discernment, which is sent down from God exclusively to monks who walk the path of humility and humility, as follows: "Discernment, in the broad sense, consists and is known in the infallible comprehension of the Divine will in every time, place and deed, which is peculiar only to those who are pure in heart, body and mouth" [200].

Chapter 15

Love for one's neighbor serves as a means to achieve love for God

The Saviour of the world combined all His particular commandments into two main, general commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, He said, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind: this is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy sincere one as thyself. In this two commandments hang all the law and the prophets [201]. Although the commandment to love God is as much higher than the commandment to love the image of God, man, as God is more exalted than His image, the commandment to love one's neighbor serves as the foundation of the commandment to love God. He who has not laid a foundation labors in vain for the construction of a building: it cannot stand without a foundation. Through love for our neighbor, we enter into love for God. A Christian's love for God is love for Christ, and love for one's neighbor is love for Christ in one's neighbor: by loving one's neighbor, by loving him in the Lord, that is, according to the Lord's commandments, we acquire love for Christ, and love for Christ is love for God. The union of love for God with love for one's neighbor is excellently set forth in the Epistles of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian. It is impossible to love God, according to the teaching of the Theologian, without first loving one's brother. Love for one's brother consists in the fulfillment of the Lord's commandments regarding him [203]. The same teaching is proclaimed by the holy teachers of monasticism. St. Anthony the Great said: "Both life and death (of the soul) depend on one's neighbor. By gaining a brother, we gain God; by seducing our brother, we sin against Christ" [204]. St. John Kolov, one of the greatest Fathers of the Egyptian Skete, said: "It is not possible to build a house by starting from the top, but it is necessary to begin the construction from the foundation, and build it to the top." He was asked: "What is the meaning of foundation?" He answered: "The foundation is our neighbor: we must acquire it and begin with it. All the commandments of Christ are based on it" [205]. St. Mark the Ascetic: "It is impossible to be saved otherwise than through one's neighbor"[206]. All the Holy Fathers reason and teach in accordance with this; it is the general Christian teaching, the teaching of the Church, the teaching of Christ. "Pay all your attention to the acquisition of love for your neighbor as the foundation of your life and monastic podvig. Love your neighbor according to the instructions of the Gospel commandments, not at all according to the inclination of your heart. Love, implanted by God in our nature, is damaged by the fall and cannot act correctly. Don't let her act! her actions are devoid of chastity, they are abhorrent before God, like a defiled sacrifice; the fruits of actions are soul-destructive, deadly. In the following way, love your neighbor: do not be angry, and do not remember his anger; do not allow yourself to say any reproachful, abusive, mocking, prickly words to your neighbor; keep peace with him as far as you can; humble yourself before him; do not take revenge on him, either directly or indirectly; in everything in which you can yield to him, yield; unlearn from reproach and dispute, reject them as a sign of pride and self-love; speak well of those who curse you; repay good for evil; pray for those who inflict upon you various insults, insults, misfortunes, persecutions[207]. In no way, under any pretext, do not condemn anyone, do not even judge anyone, whether he is good or bad, having before your eyes that one bad person for whom you must answer before God – yourself. Act towards your neighbors as you would that it would be done towards you [208]. Forgive and forgive from the depths of your heart to men their sins against you, so that the Heavenly Father may forgive you your innumerable sins, your terrible sinful debt, which can cast you down and imprison you forever in hellish prisons [209]. Do not acquire addiction, especially fornication, for your neighbor; By the name of the neighbor is meant not only the male, but also the female sex. If, having been shot by an enemy's arrow, you somehow unexpectedly become infected with them, then do not lose heart, knowing that we carry within ourselves the ability to be infected with all kinds of passions, that this has happened to great saints; make every effort to heal yourself. Finally: do not injure your brother with verbosity, empty talk, intimate acquaintance and free treatment of him. By behaving in this way towards your neighbor, you will show and acquire for him the love commanded by God and God; with it you will open the door to the love of God. St. Symeon the New Theologian said: "You cannot acquire special love with any person, especially with a novice, even if it seems to you that this person is a very good life, and not shameful. For for the most part, spiritual love is changed into passionate love, and you will fall into useless sorrows. This happens most often with those who struggle. You should consider yourself strange in relation to every brother in the community, especially in relation to those with whom you were acquainted in the world, and love everyone equally" [210]. St. Isaac: "Love for the young is fornication, which God abhors. There is no plaster for this wound. But he who loves everyone equally in mercy and without distinction has attained perfection. The young man, following the young, leads the prudent to weep and weep for them. The elder, following the youth, acquired a passion that is more stinking than the passion of the young; even if he converses with them about virtue, his heart is wounded" [211].

Chapter 16

Humility before one's neighbor serves as a means of achieving love for one's neighbor

Love for one's neighbor is preceded and accompanied by humility before him. Hatred of one's neighbor is preceded by condemnation of him, humiliation, backbiting, contempt for him, or pride. The holy monks constantly remembered the words of Christ: Amen, I say unto you; If you have created one of these my least brethren, you have created me [212]. They did not enter into the consideration of whether the neighbor was worthy of respect or not; they did not pay attention to the multitude and obviousness of his shortcomings: their attention was drawn to the fact that the concept that our neighbor is the image of God, that Christ accepts our actions towards our neighbor as if they were done in relation to Him. The proud fallen angel hates such a concept and uses all means to steal it from a Christian in an imperceptible way. This concept is not akin to the carnal and spiritual wisdom of fallen human nature, and special attention is needed to keep it in mind. A significant spiritual feat is needed, the assistance of Divine grace is needed in order to assimilate this concept to a heart damaged by sin, in order to keep it constantly in mind when dealing with the brethren. When, by God's mercy, this concept is assimilated to us, then it will become a source of the purest love for one's neighbor, the same love for all. There is only one reason for such love – Christ, revered and loved in every neighbor. This concept becomes the source of the sweetest tenderness, the warmest, most distracted, most concentrated prayer. The Monk Abba Dorotheus said to his disciple, the Monk Dositheus, who at times was overcome by anger: "Dositheus! Are you angry, and are you not ashamed that you are angry, and do you hurt your brother? do you not know that he is the Christ, and that you insult Christ?" [213] The great venerable Apollos often told his disciples about the reception of strange brethren who came to him, that it was proper to pay them homage with earthly worship: in bowing down to them, we bow not to them, but to God. "Have you seen your brother? thou hast seen the Lord thy God. This," he said, "we received from Abraham [214], and that which should comfort the brethren (shelter, show hospitality) we learned from Lot, who compelled (persuaded) the angels to spend the night in his house" [215]. Such a way of thinking and behavior was assimilated by all the monks of Egypt, the first in the whole world in terms of monastic success and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These monks were vouchsafed to be foreseen and foretold by the Prophet: there will come women of prayer from Egypt, St. David foretold about the monks of Egypt [216]. The Monk Cassian of Rome, a church writer of the fourth century, narrates the following: "When we (the Monk Cassian and his friend in the Lord, the Monk Germanus), wishing to study the decrees of the elders, arrived from the countries of Syria to the region of Egypt, we were amazed that there we were received with extraordinary cordiality, and the rule for eating was never observed, for which a certain hour was appointed, contrary to this, as we were trained in the Palestinian monasteries. Wherever we went, the established fasting of that day was permitted, with the exception of the legalized fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays. We asked one of the elders: "For what reason do they omit daily fasting without distinction?" – He answered: "Fasting is always with me; but I must let you go at once, and I cannot always have you with me. Although fasting is useful and constantly necessary, it is a gift and an arbitrary sacrifice, and the fulfillment of the work of love is an indispensable duty required by the commandment. Receiving Christ in your person, I must show Him the most earnest hospitality; and having seen you off, after showing love, the cause of which is Him, I can reward the absolution with an intensified fast, alone." Married sons cannot fast, until the bridegroom is with them. And when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they fast lawfully" [217]. Living in a monastery with the brethren, acknowledge yourself alone as a sinner, and all the brethren, without exception, as angels. Give preference to everyone over yourself. When your neighbor is preferred to you, rejoice in it and approve of it as the most just deed. You will conveniently attain such a spiritual mood if you distance yourself from intimate acquaintance and from free circulation. On the contrary, if you allow yourself a close acquaintance and free conversion, you will never be worthy to come into the dispensation of the saints, you will never be worthy to say from a sincere conscience, to say with the Apostle Paul: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, from whom I am the first" (218). "Because of humility before one's neighbor and because of love for one's neighbor, hardness departs from the heart. It falls off like a heavy stone from the entrance to the tomb, and the heart comes alive for a spiritual relationship with God, for which it was dead until now. A new spectacle opens up to the eyes of the mind: the numerous sinful ulcers with which all fallen human nature is filled. He begins to confess his miserable condition before God and beg Him for mercy. The heart helps the mind with weeping and tenderness. This is the beginning of true prayer. On the contrary, St. Isaac of Syria likens the prayer of the malignant to sowing on a stone [219]. The same must be said about the prayer of one who condemns and despises his neighbors. God not only does not heed the prayer of the proud and angry, but also allows the one who prays in such a spiritual disposition to undergo various humiliating temptations, so that, struck and oppressed by them, he would resort to humility before his neighbor and to love his neighbor. Prayer is an active expression of a monk's love for God [220].