Письмо 35
The Sanctuary of the Heart
The author encourages the recipient to seek inner peace and divine help during their monastic retreat.
May the Lord bless your time at the monastery. May the Mother of God warm you and wipe away everything the world's bustling way of life has blown into you.1 You'll rest, settle down, and gather yourselves — and then, with new strength, go on to a new struggle or a new spending of your strength.2 But only God knows—maybe an opening for a new way of life will appear as well. How good that will be. Inner peace and outward quiet—these are two enclosures for the person hidden in the heart. Right now, everything keeps pulling at him, and he doesn't have the strength to settle.3 May the Lord help you in everything!
Gathering Spiritual Honey
The author advises patient spiritual growth and the diligent study of holy writings to build a store of wisdom for the future.
Not all at once: seed is sown with patience; sprouting, growth, and fruit-bearing are waited for patiently — and everything is kept by patience too. That is where the wisdom lies. It's good that you brought your friends along—the writings of the holy4 ascetics.5 Under the influence of monastic quiet and a prayerful spirit, their counsel will come closer to the heart and be understood more clearly. So, like a little bee, gather the honey from the flowers. The future will provide you with the space and the opportunities to put it all to use. A little store never hurts. There's a proverb: save a little money for a rainy day. Life has many expenses. So keep gathering, without growing weary. Everything will come in handy. Every blessing to you from the Lord!
Read the original Russian
Да благословит Господь ваше пребывание в обители. Матерь Божия да согреет вас и отреет все, навеянное толкотным порядком жизни мира. Отдохнете, успокоитесь, соберетесь в себя, – и потом с новыми силами, на новый подвиг или новую растрату сил. Но, Бог весть, может быть откроется возможность и новому порядку. Как хорошо будет. Мир в себе и покой совне – две ограды потаенному в сердце человеку. Теперь у вас все теребят его; и он не имеет сил установиться. Господь, буди вам помощник во всем!
Не вдруг; с терпением сеется, терпеливо ожидается прозябение, возрастание и плодоносие, – терпением и хранится все. В этом и мудрость. Хорошо, что взяли с собой приятелей ваших – писания св. подвижников. Под влиянием монастырской тишины и молитвеннаго настроения, наставления их поближе будут к сердцу и яснее сознаны будут. Вот и собирайте, как пчелка, медок с цветов. Будущее даст место и случаи приложить все к делу. Запасец не мешает.
Есть пословица: береги денежку про черный день. – В жизни много расходов. Собирайте же, не утомляясь. Все пригодится.
Всякаго вам благословения от Господа!
Notes
- 1 ↩отреет is older Russian (from отреяти): wipe away / shake off; толкотный suggests the jostling, crowded rush of worldly life.
- 2 ↩подвиг here is spiritual struggle / ascetical labor, not athletic feat; растрата сил keeps Feofan's frank note that restored strength may also be spent again.
- 3 ↩его / он refers back to the 'person hidden in the heart' of the previous sentence.
- 4 ↩св. is the abbreviated form of святых (holy/saints); completed sense depends on s4 подвижников.
- 5 ↩подвижники: Orthodox term for those who practice podvig (ascetic struggle); rendered 'ascetics' rather than generic 'saints' or 'athletes'.
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