Письмо 19
The Hidden Path of Holiness
True holiness is often hidden in the simple, and we must diligently purify our hearts.
What an edifying lesson from a washerwoman! And how many hidden servants of God and true servants there are in the world! And what about us? Foil: ornate, smooth.1 . . But touch it with your hand — it's limp, weak, and good for nothing. How many mysteries there are in life! And how hidden the path of salvation is! And how much we need to watch ourselves, press the heart, and wring every bit of filth out of it!2 Help, Lord!
Steadfastness Amidst Distraction
Though life brings many distractions and changing moods, we must remain focused on our spiritual work and seek God's grace.
Look at how completely your affairs have pulled you in every direction. Stand firm; this is for your salvation. There are people who stay busy with many cares and still aren't distracted.3 But until God sends this grace, we'll do what we can. What made you sad? Sadness, quiet calm, cheerfulness.4 . . changeable things whose origins are hard to trace. . . There's no point in looking at them, because there's no strength in them. . . You became sad! Glory to God; and you grew cheerful—glory to God. . . But what is yours remains yours. All human weaknesses! But let's finish the things we've started and take up our main work. Yet there are people who have become so established in the Lord that, no matter what distractions pull at them, they still remain with Him.5 Is the strength of their spirit greater, is their recollection more gathered, or is the fire of love and warmth of heart more abundant in them! Let's pray that the Lord grants us this grace as well. And He is free in how He shares His love.6 Zeal, labor, and seeking will not be in vain.7 He Himself has prescribed it: seek and you will find.
Seeking God in Every Circumstance
We are called to seek God continuously, even in our daily dealings, until the end of our lives.
Let's seek, and we'll find. Living among people and dealing with them, you certainly can't do it quickly—but you can do it. And death isn't far off, either. It's good to die still seeking, if the Lord doesn't grant you the blessing of dying in a state of perfection.8 And in the next world, there will still be an ascent from the lower to the higher.
The Spinning of Life's Thread
Life is a continuous act of spinning our deeds, which will be examined and judged in the world to come.
But look—we've forgotten about the world to come; busyness has driven it completely out of our minds. Let’s repent, shake off the drowsiness of distractions, enter the rest of sobriety—and everything will go well.9 It would be better, of course, to draw one unbroken thread—but what can you do when it breaks? We’ll twist it together again and draw the same thread once more. . . For our whole life is nothing but the spinning of one cop of yarn.10 . . It just keeps winding and winding, and a great ball takes shape. In the next world, they'll unwind it all.✦ . . They'll begin to examine the quality of the thread with strict care—measuring it by the arshin, the quarter, and the vershok.11 And the one who spun it will stand there, waiting in fear to hear the final verdict: good or bad.
Read the original Russian
Какой назидательный урок от лица прачки! И сколько есть в мире сокровенных слуг Божиих и слуг истинных? А мы то что? Фольга: вычурно, гладко. . . а коснись рукой – вяло, слабо, никуда негоже. Сколько таин в жизни!
И как сокровен путь спасения! И как нужно внимать себе, жать сердце и выжимать всякую оттуда дрянь! Помоги Господи!
Вот вас со всем разволокли дела. Крепитесь; это спасительно. Есть люди, которые хлопочут, и не развлекаются. Но пока Бог пошлет сию благодать, будем делать, как можем. От чего вам грустилось? Грусть, спокойствие тихое, веселие. . .
вещи переменчивыя, которых источник угадать трудно. . . И смотреть на них нечего, ибо не в них сила. . . Погрустилось! слава Богу; и повеселилось слава Богу.
. . А свое, – все таки свое.
Все немощи человеческия! Но покончим начатыя дела и займемся своим главным. Есть же люди, которые так установились в Господе, что не смотря ни на какия разволоки, все пребывают с Господом. Крепость ли духа у них выше, собранность ли более сосредоточена, или жар любви и сердечной теплоты обильнее! Будем молиться, чтоб и нам Господь даровал сию благодать. А Он любообщителен. Усердие, труд, искание не отщетит. Сам прописал: ищите и обрящете.
Поищем и обрящем.
Живя между людьми, в сношениях, нельзя конечно скоро; но можно. А тут и смерть недалеко. Хорошо умереть в состоянии искания, если не благословит Господь, – в состоянии совершенства. И на том свете будет восход от низшаго к высшему.
Но вот мы и забыли про тот свет, – выбили его из головы хлопоты. Покаемся, отрясем усыпление развлечений, войдем в покой трезвенности и все пойдет. Лучше бы, конечно, тянуть нить непрерывную; но что делать, когда рвется. Опять скрутим, и потянем ту же нить. . . Ведь жизнь то наша вся есть прядение одного початка. .
. Все мотается, мотается и составляется большой клубок. На том свете весь размотают. . . Начнут строго рассматривать достоинство нити, – по аршинам, четвертям, вершкам. А кто прял будет стоять и со страхом ожидать, что скажут наконец – хорошо, или худо.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Cor.5.10;Rom.14.12 — For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what has been done through the body, whether good or evil. Rom.14.12 — So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Notes
- 1 ↩Фольга is metal foil used as a metaphor for something showy and sleek on the surface; kept as 'foil' to preserve the image continued in s7.
- 2 ↩«жать сердце и выжимать» is a vivid kitchen/laundry metaphor of pressing and wringing the heart; rendered concretely rather than smoothed into abstract purification language.
- 3 ↩Russian развлекаются in this spiritual register means the mind is scattered/diverted, not entertainment or amusement.
- 4 ↩Elliptical list of changing interior states; following context treats them as changeable things whose power is not in themselves.
- 5 ↩разволоки is an older colloquial for distractions/diversions that pull one apart; rendered as 'distractions' rather than mere amusements.
- 6 ↩любообщителен is a rare compound: free/open in communicating love. Rendered as 'free in sharing His love' rather than a stiff calque.
- 7 ↩не отщетит = will not bring loss/detriment; sense is that earnest seeking will not prove wasted.
- 8 ↩Russian «если не благословит Господь, – в состоянии совершенства» is elliptical: the dash contrasts dying in seeking with dying in perfection as the higher blessing, if the Lord grants it.
- 9 ↩трезвенность is rendered sobriety in the Orthodox neptic sense (watchful sobriety of mind), not mere abstinence from drink; развлечений as diversions/distractions rather than entertainment.
- 10 ↩початок is a textile term: a cop/spindleful of spun yarn, not a botanical ear of corn; the spinning metaphor continues in the next section (клубок, нить, прял).
- 11 ↩достоинство нити rendered as 'quality of the thread' (worth/merit of the spun life), not social 'dignity'. аршин / четверть / вершок are old Russian measures of decreasing size; kept as concrete units rather than flattened to 'inch by inch,' to preserve Feofan's exact measuring scale.
Letters on the Christian Life companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit