Not seeing this, not understanding and not feeling, it does not feel the need for healing and does not seek it. Was it to be hoped that she would ever be cured in such a condition? Whoever does not want to be healed and does not seek recovery, how can he be healed? Or how will he seek healing who does not know that he is sick and does not understand what his health consists in, and drives away the one who explains it to him and interprets it? By doing so, he shows that he has no need for healing.

4. Such is our affliction, and there is no other cure for this affliction than the one I have mentioned. Neither an angel, nor an intercessor, nor a sage, nor a scribe, nor any questioner of this world could and cannot heal this ailment of ours.

For since the time of Adam's transgression, all the natural forces of human nature have been corrupted, that is, the mind, memory, imagination, will, feeling, which are all combined in the three parts of the soul - mental, irritable, and desirable. Corrupted, but not destroyed. Why a person can think, but cannot think correctly; he may will, but he desires senselessly; He may be irritated (it would be more direct to be energetic), but he is irritated unreasonably. For this reason, everything that he thinks and invents, that he wishes and undertakes, what he sympathizes with and what he disgusts with, all this is crooked, oblique, erroneous.

5. The temptation with which the devil tempts us is of two kinds. As a bird that flies freely on its wings in order to find food for itself is deceived by a bird-catcher who stretches his nets over the ground to catch it, by the fact that, having spread his nets on the ground, he puts a bait on top of them, which, seeing it, the bird flies down to peck, and then becomes entangled in the net and is taken captive; then the bird-catcher also comes, takes it, holds it in his hands, and does with it what he will; In the same way, the devil, knowing that the human mind is in constant motion (soaring), creeps up on a person invisibly, puts some sweetness before his thoughts, as a bait, and under the sweetness he spreads, like a snare, sin, which is at the same time the hand of the devil, invisible and hidden, because without sin it is impossible for the devil to seize a person's soul. When he manages to lure the soul with the lure of sweetness, he immediately entangles it in nets and seizes it. The first thing he does here is to blindfold her, that is, to darken her mind, so that she does not see the light and the way and does not run away; and this he does with all diligence until she, through the habit of sweetness and a long sojourn in sin, completely surrenders herself to his will and becomes his handy and beloved servant in everything. After this, she herself will no longer want to flee from this lord to whom she is accustomed, and who so comforts her and satisfies her with all kinds of sweets, until he completely corrupts her with these unclean and stinking viands of his. When he sees that she is completely corrupt, then he directs her to all kinds of lewdness, sins and evil deeds. But the bird-catcher cannot pull the birds from the air to his bait, and the devil, if he finds the soul naked by the grace of God, can move the aspirations and desires of the soul to sweetness and incline it to his will. For this reason I have said that the temptations of the devil are of two kinds: the first is the bait of sweetness, which he puts before the thought, and the other is the irritation of lusts, by which he compels the soul to lust after sweets and inclines it to his own will.

A soul that submits itself in this way and so much to the devil can do nothing more for itself than to know into what depths of evil it has descended and how its will is bound by the bonds of others, to cry out as from the womb of hell, and to call upon God, Who descended into the pit of the earth, to come to it and set it free. This alone it can do, but it cannot release itself from bondage and escape, just as one who is chained with iron and kept in prison under strong locks cannot escape. She can, I say, call on the name of Jesus Christ, that He may send her help, and when she is thus strengthened through the invocation of Jesus Christ (for He is the only deliverer of our souls) and feels that she has received help from God, then she can also flee from the yoke of the devil and from the bonds of sin. But, fleeing from the devil, it should have recourse to some kind of steward of grace, that is, to a spiritual father, so that the evil devil would not find it unprotected again and would not steal it. By this spiritual father she will be taught and exercised in what she needs to think, until at last she will be able to bear the whole armor of God, that is, Divine grace, and with it to resist all the wiles of the devil, all these principles, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, the spirits of evil. For the soul, united to the flesh, cannot alone, naked, resist such strong and so many enemies, unless it is clothed in the whole armor of God; just as a warrior, even the most courageous, cannot resist the enemies who attack with spears, swords, and shields without weapons, and if he comes out against them, he will immediately be struck to death.

6. As the body of man, composed of different parts, is united by the soul and does not allow it to disintegrate, but when the soul leaves the body, it decays and decays, because then all its connections are resolved, and that which was united and harmonized before death is separated and dissolved; the same happens to the soul, when the Divine grace is withdrawn from it (which is the soul of our soul, and before the transgression of Adam was united to it, as the soul is united to the body, and contained it in the unity and harmony of thoughts, which after the transgression were scattered in innumerable directions) – the Divine, I say, grace of the Holy Spirit, which is again given by holy Baptism to those who receive it, after faith and catechesis, this is a divine mystery - which all the external wisdom of the Greeks does not know and cannot understand. For just as every person is convinced that the soul is the force that harmonizes and unites the various parts of the body into a single harmonious whole, so every baptized Christian must always keep in mind that nothing else, but only the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, which he received through holy baptism and the new birth, it alone unites, unites, and restrains undispersed the innumerable and manifold movements and thoughts of the soul (if this is in him).

This collection of the thoughts of the soul is and is called the life of the soul, which God grants it. But just as some forget and remain carelessly unthinking that their body consists of many and varied parts, which is why it is subject to many ailments, and that it is contained in union and harmony by the soul, so that when they are healthy and do not feel any illness, they boast of it (as if it were not a gift of God, but something of their own), so some of those who have been vouchsafed to receive Divine grace are subjected to similar wrong-thinking, when, not heeding themselves and not keeping in their minds and thoughts this great mystery of Divine grace, which they have received (and which keeps in union and harmony the various thoughts and aspirations of the soul), they incline to a proud thought of themselves. For this pride they fall into the judgment of the devil (1 Timothy 3:6), are stripped naked of Divine grace and descend into a worse state than in which they were before Baptism. And only those of them who, having understood what great evil they have suffered, shed many bitter tears to receive Divine grace again, after much labor and sweat are again vouchsafed this great mercy of God.

However, we must also know that God, the All-Good and Loving of mankind, did not leave all virtues naked to human nature after the fall, which is why even among the most unfaithful peoples some natural good qualities are manifested, and some manifest meekness, others compassion, some love, and these other kindness of soul. The all-good God did this so that human nature would not be deprived of help, but so that in this what it has it would find help to acquire what is lacking in it. However, it is by no means possible that the unbaptized will ever attain the perfection of virtues.

For if they do not have virtues, they will be condemned as unvirtuous, but if they acquire them by the grace of the All-Holy Spirit and become proud as self-virtuous, and begin to boast of them, as if they did not receive them from God from above, but had them (if we suppose they had them) from their labors and efforts, then they will be condemned together with the devil. Wherefore let every virtuous Christian, as contrite and humble, believe that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit dwells in him and accomplishes all the virtues, and not he himself. Such a one truly is, and is righteously called a spiritual man, inasmuch as the Holy Spirit works in him, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Примечания

1. То же говорил и святой Макарий Великий. Добротолюбие в русском переводе. Т.1. М. 1895. С.146.

Слово пятнадцатое. 1. Есть семь классов лиц, для которых потребна молитва Церкви о спасении их. 2. Те, которые молятся Богу, а между тем сами не знают, о чем просят, не бывают услышаны. 3. Всуе трудятся те, которые не молятся в духе.

Есть семь классов лиц, о спасении коих потребна молитва Церкви: погибшие, плененные, заблуждшие, уязвленные, падающие, восставшие, шествующие. Есть еще и восьмой класс - совершенные, которые, задняя забывая, все в предняя (будущее. - Ред.) простираются. Каждый из этих восьми классов имеет нужду в особой молитве Церкви Божией о спасении его: погибшие имеют нужду в молитве о том, чтобы их взыскал и обрел вездесущий Бог, для Которого явны и ад, и пагуба; плененные, то есть порабощенные (страстям и диаволу), - чтоб их освободил Божественною благодатию своею Тот, Кто все содержит и над всем господствует, потому что такого рода порабощенник не может освободиться сам собою; заблуждшие - чтобы просветила их Божественная благодать и направила на путь истины, как учит и псалом: настави мя, Господи, на путь Твой, и пойду во истине Твоей (Пс.85:11); уязвленные, то есть сокрушенные, - чтобы их уврачевал и поднял с одра Господь, потому что ни один из уязвленных не может исцелиться и стать на ноги собственною своею силою; падающие, то есть те, которые впадают в грехи, - да укрепит их великомощная десница Всевышнего Бога, чтоб они не падали; восставшие, то есть те, которые перестали грешить, - да утвердит их Божественная благодать, чтоб они не низвергались более в ров сей; шествующие, то есть те, которые подвизаются в добродетели, - да шествуют без преткновений, и Ангел Господень да устраняет камни и препятствия с долгой и тесной стези добродетелей, чтоб им не подвергаться более по причине их крайним бедам и опасностям; восьмой же класс, то есть совершенные, - чтоб не гордились и не думали о себе, что они лучше других, но скорбели и сокрушались, чувствуя, что они ниже всех, и сознавая, сколь многого еще недостает им до той истинной высоты, которая выше всего. Дело совершенных, как говорит Апостол, есть - к намеренному тещи, к почести вышняго звания: ибо, сказав сие, он присовокупил: елицы совершенни, сие да мудрствуим (Флп.3:14,15).

2. Итак, сам ли кто восхощет, по любви Божией, или упрошен будет другими помолиться о каком-либо из показанных восьми классов, пусть позаботится сделать молитву свою сообразною с каждым из них, чтоб не потрудиться понапрасну, испрашивая того, что несообразно с тем или другим. Ибо в таком случае как можно, чтоб услышал его Бог? - Один из отцов Церкви нашей так поучает настоятеля (обители): не неради молить Бога о тех, кои крайне нерадивы, но проси Его не о том, чтоб Он помиловал их, потому что это невозможно, пока сами они сидят в бездействии и с места не двигаются, - а о том проси, чтоб Он просветил их, пробудил от усыпления и сделал рачительными [1]. Кто станет кормить грубою и тяжелою пищею дитя, еще отдоеваемое грудьми, тот не оживлять его будет, а расстроивать его жизнь и убивать. Равным образом кто стал бы отдоевать мужа совершенна, был бы бессмыслен и бессмысленного отдоевал бы. Так и здесь всему свой чин и свое время. Ибо Бог есть Бог порядка и мира. Правда, что большею частию не имеют ведения о сказанных восьми классах людей, но всячески необходимо, чтобы тот, кто молится, просил у Бога того, что потребно тому, о ком он молится. Так и Христос Спаситель молился ко Отцу Своему, говоря: не якоже Аз хощу, но якоже Ты.