59–66

59. The seraph which the holy prophet Ezekiel saw is an image of the righteous and faithful souls that labour to attain perfection. The being Ezekiel saw had six wings, all full of eyes; it also had four faces, turned to all four sides: one face like the face of a man, the second the face of a calf (an ox), the third like a lion’s and the fourth an eagle’s. The first form of the seraph, like a man, signifies the righteous believers who in this earthly life live virtuously and keep the commandments of God. If one of them becomes a monk, he thereby becomes like the calf (the ox), since he bears heavy toil in keeping the rules of the monastic life and for the most part does bodily work. But the monk who attains perfection in keeping the rules of the common monastic life and, going out into the solitary life, begins the fight with the invisible demons — such a monk is like the lion, the king of wild beasts. And if such a monk defeats these invisible enemies of the human race and wholly subdues his passions and desires, then he will be caught up by the Holy Spirit and will behold divine visions: in this case he becomes like the eagle. His mind will grasp and see everything that can come to him from six sides (in front, behind, to the left, to the right, above and below), and by this such a perfect monk becomes like those six wings of the seraph which are wholly full of eyes. Thus a person, having walked this road, will be transformed into a perfect spiritual seraph and will inherit everlasting blessedness.

60. Purity, unfailing and unchanging peace, perfect mercy, which are blessed by God, are in the commandments laid down by God. Strive to fulfil completely these commands of the divine Spirit, by which your souls will be quickened and through which you will gain the Lord Himself within your being: this, the keeping of the commandments, is truly a safe road. Without purity of body and heart no one can be perfect before God. This is precisely why it is said in the holy Gospel: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8). Spiritual perfection springs from purity of heart, for it is in a person’s heart that natural good and unnatural evil dwell. From this evil are born the passions of a person’s soul, such as: the judging and blaming of others, hatred, haughtiness and vain self-exaltation and much else of the kind. But the natural good of a person’s heart brings forth works pleasing to God: the desire for the knowledge of God, the fear of God and purity, that is, the soul’s freedom from defilement by all passions and desires. If a sinful person resolves to depart from sin, to correct himself and to follow God, so that he arms himself against evil with spiritual labour — with tears of repentance, contrition of heart, humble sighing, fasting, vigil, poverty and many prayers offered to God — then the Lord in His goodness will help such a person and will drive away from him all the passions and desires of the soul. Many monks and those living in virginity have long been unable to learn this science of purity precisely because they disregarded the counsels and instructions of their spiritual fathers and teachers and followed only the desires of their own hearts. And for this very reason they were overcome by the evil spirits — the destroyers of human souls — who wound them with hidden arrows day and night and give them no rest in any place; so that the hearts of such monks and nuns are filled now with pride, now with vain self-importance, now with wicked envy of a neighbour, with reviling and the judging of a brother, now with anger, tumult and disorder and many other evil passions. Such monks will share the lot of the five foolish virgins of the Gospel, since they live without understanding — they do not put a bridle on their tongue, they do not keep their eyes and body pure from foul desires, nor their hearts from uncleanness and from much other evil, over which they ought to weep; and all this they do because they are unclean; they are content with the monk’s garment alone, the linen robe, which is only an image of blamelessness and reverence, and therefore they lack the heavenly oil to light the lamps of their souls. And the Bridegroom will never open to such the doors of His dwelling, and will say to them as He said in the Gospel parable to the five foolish virgins: “Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. 25:12). All this I write to you because I desire your salvation, that you may be free and righteous and may become like the holy brides of Christ, for He is the Bridegroom of every soul, as the Apostle Paul says: “…I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2).

61. Gold is cleansed by fire many times over, so that from the strongest heating and tempering it may become still better; in the same way our Lord Jesus Christ in His goodness wishes to cleanse a person and to make him better, for which He tries him, tempers him in the wars of the heart and heats him in the tears of repentance; so that a person cleansed in this way no longer returns either in thought or in memory to those injustices and humiliations which he met from people, but with humility submits to God and sets all his hope on Him, and with this is always ready to do good works, as the holy prophet David said: “O God, my heart is ready, my heart is ready; I will sing and sing psalms with my glory” (Psalm 107:2). Consider, brethren, that temptation may come to you even from your fellow labourers — humiliation, reviling and judgement or some unjust act; think that such a thing may fall upon you even from one of the members of the brotherhood. Therefore, when such a temptation comes to you from monks, stand firm, do not be frightened and do not despair, but give thanks to the Lord for everything that has come upon you, since without Him nothing of the kind happens, and what does happen is allowed only by His will. And this comes about because the bearing of reviling and blame and the fight with one’s own pride are necessary for a servant of God; for a monk who by God’s goodness and mercy is not tried by many temptations, by bodily hardships, by the weariness of labour and by mourning and affliction until he grows quite used to bearing every trial patiently and to abiding always, in every case, in humility and goodness — if a monk does not pass through all this and is not tempered in the fire of trials, then he, untried, will not be able to become worthy of the honour and glory promised by the Lord.

62. Bear patiently all the trials — the troubles and sorrows — that meet you in this earthly life, and give thanks to the Lord for them with the greatest humility, so as to taste true joy for your labour. Do so like blessed Susanna, a woman courageous in the fight with the devil, who overcame the wickedness of two lawless elders possessed by foul desire and because of their slander met with many misfortunes and sorrows, but whom God exalted for her patience and firmness of soul, while He quieted her enemies. Do so likewise, like holy Thecla, a woman still more courageous, who was not frightened by the torments inflicted on her by her parents, nor by wounds, nor by fire, nor by the tearing of her body, nor by raging wild beasts, and to whom God in the end granted the true joy of the heart as a gift for the labour she had borne, when her unshaken faith put out the blazing fire, shut the mouths of the bloodthirsty lions and put all her enemies to shame. And again, do so like holy Joseph, humble and obedient before God and before people, whom God’s help delivered from certain death when his own brothers hated him and persecuted him so far as even to resolve to kill him, moved by envy and hatred because their father Jacob had singled him out among the brothers and loved him most of all; overcome by wicked envy, the brothers sold him into slavery; and in this slavery the wife of the master whom he served brought a great misfortune upon him and had him cast into prison, where death awaited the righteous youth; but God did not abandon His chosen one, for Joseph was reverent and humble, having a pure and undefiled body and soul, and he did not fall into sin in the time of temptation, but with God’s help always hoped in Him and therefore patiently bore all the misfortunes which fell upon him through the malice of others. And for this God repaid Joseph as he deserved — He so exalted him even in his earthly life that, when at last He set him as ruler of all Egypt and steward of all Egypt’s possessions, the brothers who had hated him submitted to him and repented of their crime. These holy people named above, and many others, their followers, received such honour from God and were glorified not at the beginning of their labour and struggle, but only after they had been taught and tried by God — cleansed and tempered in the fire of misfortunes and sorrows — after which they learned how to endure trial and not to fall in the time of abuse and blame and of many other trials. So when God saw that these people met courageously all the misfortunes and sorrows that fell upon them, did not despair but always hoped in the Lord God — only then did He grant His chosen ones the honour of divine help, while their enemies and haters He severely put to shame and subjected to them.

63. Abide always in patience and do not let your hearts grow weak when you fall into trouble, but give thanks to God for everything, so that grace may be repaid you by the Lord. Let there be in each of you peace, truth, the love of God and good will toward one another! Let division, slander, opposition to one another, wicked envy and disobedience, pride and vain self-exaltation be far from you! And do not give offence to anyone, and let there be among you no mockery or blaming of anyone, no hatred and no intolerance of one another! If in some monastery such evil deeds have sprung up among the brethren, there the wrath of God overtakes them too. Always remember that our life in this world is very short. Therefore take care of it and do not waste it in sloth, lest the hour of departure from this world overtake you at the very moment when you are angry with your neighbour for nothing, and lest you be reckoned as murderers, as it is said in Holy Scripture: “He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3:15). For the Saviour Himself urges the same upon us when He says: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). If slander from evil people comes upon any of you, let him receive this trial with joy and commit all that is his to the Lord, who alone is the righteous Judge and the dread Avenger. But if anyone himself slanders his neighbour, let him hasten to humble himself before the Lord and to ask forgiveness of his neighbour, and then the Lord will forgive such a one. Do not allow yourselves to be in anger and not to put anger away from you before the setting of the sun, as the Apostle Paul teaches us. So tear out by the root from the heart the evil thoughts that have sprung up in it against one another, so as to cut off at the very beginning anger and the wish for evil to a neighbour, which are kindled by hatred and envy. These two passions of the human heart are by their very nature the most evil, and therefore the most hateful both to God and to people. Therefore neither of these passions should abide in the heart of a believer or in the heart of a servant of God, that is, of a monk. So let none of us boast (in his utmost senselessness) and say: I am above my weak brother, I have overcome him and will not spare him. Let such a monk, who says this, know that he has handed his soul over to death and will inherit that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, the undying worm and the ever-blazing fire of eternal torments.

64. So let us wake from sleep, brethren, while we are in this mortal and corruptible body! Let us always mourn for ourselves and day and night weep for ourselves with our whole heart, so that by such repentance and self-abasement we may perhaps escape those dreadful torments, sighs, weeping and a thousand other hardships which will have no end! Let us beware of entering by the wide gate and of walking the broad way that leads to destruction, but let us enter by the “strait gate” and walk the narrow, hard way that leads to eternal blessed life, though few walk by this way. The people who walk the narrow way are true workers and doers, who in the end will receive with joy the greatest reward for their small labour and will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. And let the believer in Christ who is still slothful not slacken his diligence but hasten to set out on this road while there is time, while it is not too late, so that at the needful hour, when the Bridegroom, the Lord, comes, he may not be left without oil, like the five foolish virgins, and that too with no one nearby who might sell him oil. For so it happened with those foolish virgins: they did not keep watch, and at the needful hour found no one from whom they could buy oil for their lamps. Then with weeping they cried out to the Bridegroom: “Lord, Lord, open to us!” But the Lord answered them thus: “Verily I say unto you, I know you not” (Matt. 25:11–12). And this lot befell those foolish virgins only because they were slothful and, while waiting for the Bridegroom, gave themselves to sleep. Afterwards, though they woke and began to take care to get oil, it was already too late, since the master of the house had already come and the doors were shut, as it is said in the holy Gospel. I will tell you another example like this one: when righteous Noah entered the ark with all his household — with his sons, with his sons’ wives and with all that he had with him — and when he shut the door of the ark because of the waters of the flood, which God brought down from heaven upon the people who did evil, he, Noah, being in the ark, no longer opened the door and did not let his sons see that dreadful calamity which fell upon people because of their wickedness. And still less, after the door of the ark was shut, could those evil people enter it and save themselves, though the rain went on for forty days and nights. So the wicked were not found beside the righteous, and all perished by a dreadful death in the waters of the flood precisely because of sloth and disobedience; for beforehand Noah, for a whole hundred years while he was building the ark, called them unceasingly to turn from wickedness and to live by God’s commandments, but the sinful people would not listen to Noah’s counsel, did not believe his words and therefore perished.

65. Keep the brotherhood in one place, and order the monastery in peace, in oneness of soul, in obedience, in the fear of God and in prayer. And then, if you can do all this, in your perfection the good of the house of God will be granted you, which you will hold with joy and with courage. And then let true faith, hope, peace and good will toward the brethren adorn you besides all this! Whoever gains these divine gifts will be clothed in the wedding garment and will in everything be a doer of the commandments of the Holy Spirit. So abide always in humility and patience, so as to put away from yourselves evil passions and foul desires.

66. Whoever submits in everything to the will of God — and such obedience is sweeter than the honeycomb to a person’s soul and fills it with every joy — for him this will of God will itself help him and strengthen him in every work, will give him strength to accomplish wondrous deeds and will prepare all his paths for walking, since such a person is pleasing to the Lord. And then none of the enemies will be able to withstand him and hinder him, for such a believer always walks by the will of God. But a person who in everything walks and acts by his own will, God does not help in any work, and he, wretched man, is left alone before the demons. And these evil spirits, as we know, rage in his heart day and night and so do not let him find peace even in one work, make him weak and unable to do anything in every work, both outward and inward, and bring upon him much else that is evil and harmful to the soul. To such believers, who are imperfect in spiritual labour, the devil sometimes sends joy and cheerfulness, but this cannot be true joy, since everything sent by the devil turns out in the end to be nothing but hardship and grief. The joy sent by the devil is only a seeming joy, since it is not from God. True joy comes forth from God and is granted only to that person who labours unceasingly to reject his own will and to fulfil the will of God in everything. Three wills can act in a person’s heart: God’s, the person’s own and the devil’s. The last two wills God does not accept, but approves in a person only that will which comes from Himself. So know yourselves, brethren, reject everything outward and submit only to the will of God! For the greatest importance for a person in this world is always to seek the will of God in every work. I assure you that if you do not reject your own will wholly and do not submit in everything to the Lord by way of obedience to your spiritual fathers and teachers, then you will be able neither to know the will of God nor to fulfil it, and you will be deprived of the Lord’s last blessing.