We don't have anything like that. If God exists, as He really is, then there is nothing before Him. If He is the Creator of all things, then He is the first of all. If He is the Lord and Lord of all, then all things are after Him, both creatures and ages. I wanted to come to other considerations, but perhaps (your) thought was tired. Therefore, having offered some more instructions that may be useful to you for understanding both the discourses already offered and the future ones hereafter, I will be silent. What are these instructions? I know that many people get tired of the length of conversations. But this happens when the soul is burdened with many worldly cares. Just as the eyesight, when it is pure and clear, is sharp and not tired, easily examining the smallest objects, but as soon as some bad moisture flows down from the head (on the face), or smoke or steam rises from below, then a thick cloud is formed in front of the pupil, which does not allow even the largest objects to be seen clearly, so it usually happens in the soul. When it is purified and has no outrageous passion in it, then it keenly sees what it ought to behold. When, darkened by passions, it destroys its valor, then it becomes incapable of anything lofty, it soon grows weary and falls, inclines to sleep and sloth, loses sight of that which could contribute it to virtue and a virtuous life, and does not turn to it with zeal.

5. Therefore, so that this may not happen to you (but I will not cease to impress this upon you), strengthen your spirit, so that you may not hear the same words that Paul spoke to the believing Jews. And for them, he said, "there was much in the word, and it was difficult to convey," not because it was so in its essence, but "because," he says, "because you were made incapable of hearing" (Hebrews 5:11). The sick and infirm usually trouble himself with as brief as with a long word, and he considers clear and intelligible subjects difficult to comprehend.

But let there be nothing of the kind here; but let each one listen to the teaching, putting aside all worldly cares. When the hearer is seized by an addiction to wealth, it is impossible that he should be similarly occupied with the desire to listen to teachings, because the soul, which is one in itself, cannot contain many desires, but one desire is suppressed by another, and the soul, thus, as it were, is torn apart, becomes still weaker. Meanwhile, if any desire prevails, then everything is already turned in its favor. This usually happens with children. When someone has only one child, he loves this one exceedingly; but when he becomes the father of many children, then his disposition towards them, being divided, becomes weaker. But if this is the case where natural inclination and force prevail, and where the beloved objects are akin to each other, what can be said of voluntary disposition and infatuation, and especially when the kinds of love are directly opposed to one another? And the love of wealth is contrary to the love of teaching. Entering here, we enter heaven, not according to the place, I mean, but (according to the spiritual) disposition. After all, it is possible to stand in heaven while on earth, contemplate the objects there, and listen to the words that come from there.

Therefore, let no one bring anything earthly to heaven. No one, standing here, should be concerned with household chores. From here it would be necessary to transfer to the house and to the marketplace the benefit acquired here, and preserve it there, and not to fill this place with the cares proper to the house and the marketplace. That is why we approach the teacher's pulpit, in order to cleanse the impurities that come to us from without. If, even in the midst of this small instruction, we want to be corrupted by extraneous words or deeds, then it would be better not to begin. Let no one in church be concerned about household affairs; on the contrary, let him meditate on the subjects of church teaching in his home. Let them be preferable to us, since they belong to the soul, and those (household chores) to the body; it would be better to say that both soul and body are useful for the teachings of this world. Therefore, let them be the main thing, and all the rest a fleeting matter. They belong to both the present life and the future life, and external affairs belong to neither, if they are not arranged according to rules based on the former. Here is the only thing that can be learned, not only what we will be after this life and how we will live then, but also how to manage the present life. This house is a spiritual hospital, built in order that we may heal the wounds that we receive from the outside (in the world), and not in order to come out of here with new wounds.

If we do not heed what the Holy Spirit tells us, then not only will we not cleanse the former wounds, but we will also receive others. Let us listen with all diligence to this book, which is now being opened before us. Later, it will not take much labor (to study it) if we carefully learn its initial and basic sayings, but after working a little at the beginning, we will be able to teach others also, according to the words of Paul. The Apostle John is very lofty, abounding in many dogmas, and he talks about them more than about anything else. At the same time, let us not listen in passing. For this reason we explain (the Gospel) little by little, so that everything may be comprehensible to you, and so that nothing may escape from your memory. Let us be afraid to become guilty before the voice that said: "If I had not come and spoken to them, we would not have had sin; ... " (John 15:22). What advantage will we have over those who have not heard (the Gospel) at all, if even after hearing we go home, having nothing, but only wondering at the words that have been spoken? Let us sow in good land; give in order to motivate us still more (to sowing). If anyone has thorns in him, let him kindle the fire of the Spirit; whoever has a coarse and stubborn heart, let him make it soft and easy, using the same fire. If anyone is trampled on by all thoughts while on the way, let him enter into the innermost senses and not communicate with those who want to enter there to be plundered, and then we will see your fields fat.

If we take care of ourselves in this way, and with diligence apply ourselves to this spiritual conversation, then, although not suddenly, at least little by little, we will renounce all worldly things. Let us be attentive, lest it be said of us: "Their ears are like those of a deaf adder" (Psalm 57:5). Tell me, what is the difference between such a hearer and a beast? On the contrary, is he not more dumb than any dumb person who remains inattentive when God speaks? If to be a man consists in pleasing God, then he who does not even want to hear how to do this, what is there but a beast? Think how great this evil is, if, while Christ wishes to make us from people equal to the angels, we turn ourselves from people into beasts! To be a slave of the belly, to be possessed by a passion for wealth, to be angry, to torment, to trample others under foot, is characteristic not of people, but of beasts. However, each beast has, so to speak, its own special passion, and moreover by nature, and man, who has cast off the power of reason, who has been torn away from life according to God, gives himself over to all passions, and becomes no longer only a beast, but a kind of monster of various kinds and character, and in his very nature he no longer finds excuse for himself.

All evil comes from volition and free intentions. But let it not be that I should ever think of this about the church of Christ! We think better of you, and have the hope of salvation. But the more we are convinced of this, the more we will not abandon the precautionary suggestions, so that, having ascended to the very summit of virtues, we may attain to the promised blessings, which may we all be vouchsafed to be vouchsafed by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom and with Whom the Father and the Holy Spirit may attain to the Holy Spirit. Glory to the Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

CONVERSATION 3

In the beginning was the Word (1:1)

1. It would be superfluous now to urge you to listen attentively. You have already hurried to show it in reality. This confluence, this standing with intense attention, this haste to push one another aside to take the nearest place from which our voice would be more clearly heard for you, the unwillingness to leave here, despite the crowding, until this spiritual spectacle, applause and exclamations of approval are over - all testify to your warmth of soul and zeal for listening. That is why it is superfluous to exhort you to listen, but it is only necessary to impress upon you that you should always retain such diligence in yourselves, and not only show it here, but that when at home, husband and wife, father and children, should talk about it; let some pass on to others and ask each other, and let all give such kind help to each other.

No one tells me that we don't need to do this with children. Not only should this be done, but there is only one thing you should be concerned about. However, for the sake of your weakness, I do not say this; I do not take the children away from extraneous activities, just as I do not distract you from public affairs. I think it only fair that one of the seven days should be dedicated to our common Lord. In fact, how incongruous it is for our servants to command that they serve us all the time, and that we ourselves should not devote the slightest time to the Lord, and moreover, when our service brings nothing to Him (because God needs nothing), and only to our own benefit! When you take your children to spectacles, you do not find an obstacle to this either in the sciences or in anything else. And when it is necessary to gather and receive some spiritual benefit, you call this work idleness. How can you not anger God, when you exercise your children in everything else and find time for this, but consider it burdensome and untimely for children to occupy them with the work of God?

No, not so, brethren! It is this age that mainly needs such lessons. Age is tender - he soon assimilates what he is told, and like a seal on wax, what they hear is imprinted in the souls of children. And yet their life then begins to incline either to vice or to virtue. Therefore, if at the very beginning, and, so to speak, in the antecedent, they are diverted from vice, and directed to a better path, then in the future this will already turn into a habit for them and into nature, as it were, and they will no longer so conveniently deviate from the worse of their own free will, because habit will attract them to good deeds. Then for us they will be more honorable than the old men themselves, and for civil affairs they will be more useful, revealing in their youth the qualities of the elders. It is impossible, as I have said before, that those who enjoy such a hearing (of the Gospel) and listen to such an apostle depart from here without receiving some true, great good, whether the partaker in this meal is a husband, or a wife, or a young man. If, by accustoming animals to our words, we thus tame them, then is it not much more through this spiritual teaching that we can correct people, when there is a great difference between both the healings and those being healed? For coarseness in us is not the same as in animals: with them it depends on nature, and with us on the will; and the power of words is not the same: there it comes from human thought, and here from the power and grace of the Spirit.

Therefore, whoever despairs of himself, let him think of tamed beasts, and he will never fall into despair. Let him always come to this hospital; let him constantly listen to the laws of the Spirit and, returning home, write down what he hears in his mind. In this way, he will be in good hope and safe, actually feeling successful. And the devil, as soon as he sees that the law of God is written in the soul, and the heart has become the tablets of this law, will no longer approach. Where there will be royal writings, not inscribed on a copper table, but sealed in a God-loving heart by the Holy Spirit, and shining with grace, there he will not even be able to look, but will run far away. For him and for the thoughts that come from him, nothing is so frightening as a thought occupied with divine objects, a soul constantly attached to this source. So-and-so can neither grieve anything in the present, even if it be unpleasant, nor puff up anything favorable; but, in the midst of storms and disturbances, she will enjoy silence.

2. And it is not from the nature of things that our confusion comes, but from the weakness of our spirit. If we were subjected to this suffering by circumstance, then all men should experience it, because we all sail on the same sea, on which it is impossible to avoid waves and storms. If there are people who remain outside the storm and the agitation of the sea, then it is obvious that it is not circumstances that produce the storm, but the state of our spirit. Consequently, if we tune the soul so that it can easily endure everything, then there will be no storm or drowning for us, but there will always be a favorable silence. But I don't know how, assuming not to say anything of the sort, I became so carried away by this teaching. Forgive me for this verbosity. I am afraid, and very much afraid, that your present zeal may be weakened. If I were sure of this, I would not tell you anything of the kind now. Diligence can make any task easier for you.