Письмо 24
The Need for Vigilance
A call to awaken from spiritual distraction and recognize the enemy's subtle traps.
You've become completely distracted. Settling into your own little hut, and among the flattering dealings of those around you, I suppose you've forgotten that you need to keep a sharp ear.1 The enemy doesn't sleep. He'll spin your head a little, and right then he'll slip some little figure at you: that's among his tricks.2
The Sweetness of the Name
Instruction on the practice of the Jesus Prayer as a path to interior peace.
I think I once gave you the lesson you needed. Did it reach you? Rack your brains and your soul over that work.3 Good—how very good! And has the name—the sweetest name—of the Lord stuck to your tongue?✦4 You need to reach the point where it recites itself.5 Even if the thought runs off somewhere. . . And when you come back to yourself, you'll find that same name on your tongue. . . Strive until you reach this. And your heart will grow even warmer. There—that's paradise: on earth, yet heavenly! And what else is there to seek?
The Reality of Death and Judgment
A meditation on the inevitability of death and the nakedness of the soul before God.
Treacherous death will come and close the eyes, bind the hands, cut the legs out from under, and hand the body over to the worms.✦ How merciless! And you won't even know how it steals up.✦ . . But then what! There, the reckoning is swift!6 The poor soul, naked and all alone—you can see right through it.✦ . . She sees herself, and everyone else sees her too. . . And there's nowhere to hide or run.7 What distress and straits!✦ Think about this hour and this minute.
The Path of Repentance
Repentance as a cleansing grace and the danger of self-righteousness.
And the Lord will help you prepare for it, and stand before the Lord with bold confidence and say: I have fought the good fight.✦ The Lord has given us repentance as a heavenly washbasin.8 It cleanses the whole soul and makes it white as snow.✦ Let us weep and be contrite. There are many sins, and no good in us.9 What are we to do? Lord, have mercy! At a loss for any answer, we sinners offer You this prayer as to our Master: have mercy on us!10 How sweet this voice is to the Lord, coming from a sinner's lips and heart! Let’s take our place among the sinners. Their contrite cry pierces heaven and draws the Lord down from there to earth. The cry of the unrepentant brings the Lord down for judgment, like with Sodom, but the cry of repentant sinners brings Him down for mercy, like with Nineveh. What business do we have pretending to be righteous? And it’s a disaster for us when the thought of self-righteousness takes hold. . .
The Father's Embrace
The joy of the repentant sinner returning to the Father's mercy.
What an evil thought this is! How it kills the soul! It's like a toxic dew on a tender flower, or a bitter wind that freezes everything solid. How different it is for the repentant sinner! The Father's arms are open to him. "He fell on his neck and kissed him." God will not despise a broken and humble heart. Let's do it that way. Once we taste the sweetness of repentance, we won't even want anything else.
Read the original Russian
Вы что то совсем рассеялись. Упокоясь в своей хате, и среди окольных льстивых отношений, чай забыли, что надо ухо остро держать. Враг не дремлет.
Закружит немного голову, и в эту пору подсунет какую-нибудь фигурку: Это в его уловках.
Кажется я прописал вам однажды нужный урок. Дошел ли он до вас? Поломайте голову и душу свою на то дело. Хорошо, куда как хорошо! А навязло ли вам на язык имя – сладчайшее имя – Господа? Надо добиться до того, чтоб оно само читалось. Хоть и мысль забежит куда. .
. а опомнясь найдет на языке тоже имя. . . Добивайтесь до сего. И на сердце еще теплее будет. Вот и рай, – на земле, но небесный! А другаго чего искать?
Смерть неверная придет и глаза закроет, и руки свяжет и ноги подкосит и червякам отдаст. Какая немилосердная! – А ведь и не узнаешь как подкрадется. . . Но потом что! Там уже расчет короток! Душа бедная, голая, одна одинехонька – всю на сквозь видно.
. . И сама себя видит, и все другие ее видят. . . а спрятаться и убежать не куда. Вот нужда и теснота! Помышляйте час сей и минуту сию.
И Господь поможет вам подготовиться к ней, и с дерзновением предстать пред Господа и сказать: подвигом добрым подвизалась. Покаяние Господь нам дал, как умывальницу небесную. Оно всю душу вычищает, как снег белу делает. Станем плакать и сокрушаться. Грехов много, добра нет. Что сотворим? Господи помилуй! «Всякаго ответа недоумеюще, сию Ти молитву, яко Владыце грешнии приносим, помилуй нас!»
Как сладок Господу глас сей из уст и сердца грешника! Станем в ряд грешников. Небо проходит глас их сокрушенный и Господа оттуда сводит на землю. Вопль нераскаянных на суд низводит Господа, как Содом, а вопль кающихся грешников – на милость, как Ниневия. Уж куда нам в праведники? И беда нам, когда мысль попадет на самоправедность. . .
Какая злая сия мысль! Как она убивает душу! Точно зловредная роса на нежный цветок, или страшно холодный ветер, который все окостеневает. То ли дело грешнику кающемуся. Объятия Отчи отверзты ему. «Пад на выю облобыза его». Сердце сокрушенно и смиренно Бог не уничижит. Давайте так делать.
Когда вкусим сладости покаяния, иной и не похочем.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Phil.2.9-Phil.2.11 — Therefore God also exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name, Phil.2.10 — so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, Phil.2.11 — and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
- ↩Job.17.14 — I have called the Pit, 'You are my father; my mother and my sister, to the worm.
- ↩1Thess.5.2;Matt.24.43-Matt.24.44 — For you yourselves know accurately that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Matt.24.43 — But know this: if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Matt.24.44 — Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
- ↩Heb.4.13;2Cor.5.3 — And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. 2Cor.5.3 — since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
- ↩Luke.21.25 — There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves,
- ↩2Tim.4.7 — I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
- ↩Isa.1.18;Ps.51.7 — Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. Ps.51.7 — Behold, in iniquity I was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Notes
- 1 ↩Russian 'чай' is colloquial 'I suppose/likely'; 'ухо остро держать' is idiomatic for staying alert, not literal ear-hearing only.
- 2 ↩Russian фигурка (diminutive of 'figure/form') here is the enemy's crafty little presentation or device, not a physical statue. Rendered as 'little figure' to keep Feofan's concrete, slightly ironic tone.
- 3 ↩Поломайте голову is idiomatic ('rack your brains'); paired with душу for whole-person exertion, not mere cleverness.
- 4 ↩навязло на язык: become habitual on the tongue/lips, as in the Jesus Prayer practice of continuous invocation.
- 5 ↩само читалось: not silent reading of a book, but the Name praying itself—automatic, unforced utterance on the tongue.
- 6 ↩«Расчет короток» means the account is settled quickly/briefly—little room left for negotiation or delay at judgment.
- 7 ↩Source has 'не куда' (two words); read as intended 'некуда' ('nowhere').
- 8 ↩умывальница is a washbasin/laver for cleansing; kept concrete rather than paraphrased as 'means of purification.'
- 9 ↩добра нет is absolute and bare: 'there is no good.' 'in us' is supplied only for English clarity of the confession's force.
- 10 ↩Quoted liturgical Slavonic prayer; rendered with solemn, uncontracted address (You/Master) to match direct petition to God.
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