Письмо 40
The Dangers of Worldly Distraction
The author warns against the theater as a source of spiritual distraction and forgetfulness of God.
You reminded me of a piece of advice someone gave you during our last war: not to go to the theater only for the duration of that war. How merciful.1 Couldn't we add something to that? Since war is brought on by forgetting God in peacetime, we must do everything possible in peacetime to avoid anything that leads to forgetting God. Isn't that exactly the nature of theaters? Remember what happens to the soul in the theater, and what follows afterward? The Turks have no theater; they replace it with opium. Opium and the theater are one and the same.
Spiritual Blindness and Western Influence
A critique of the Western spirit's influence on society and a prayer for divine illumination.
The theater is entirely un-Christian, and it's wise for a person to stay away from it. We adopted it from the West. The Lord has punished us through the West, and He will punish us through it again—yet it still doesn't sink in.2 Another evil among us is our literature, which is filled with the Western spirit—and the Lord is purifying that, too, with blows from the West. But still, nothing sinks in.3 We're stuck up to our ears in Western muck, and everything's fine.4 We have eyes, but we don't see; we have ears, but we don't hear; and we don't understand with our hearts.✦ Lord, have mercy on us! Send forth Your light and Your truth!
Overcoming Fear Through Prayer
The author encourages the recipient to overcome irrational fear through prayer, fasting, and obedience.
What's this fearfulness of yours? It isn't natural. Pray to the merciful Lord about it, and He will give you courage.5 So take heart, take heart, people of God, for He will conquer!6 At the monastery on the Borodino field, the Psalter is read continuously in church for the slain soldiers. At night, the sisters take turns reading it. One of them told me that when her turn came, she nearly fainted and often ran out of the church. But later, her spiritual father told her to pray specifically against this fear. She prayed with fasting, and the fear left her.
Read the original Russian
Вы напомнили об одном совете, который кто-то дал вам во время последней нашей войны: не ездить в театр только во время той войны. Очень милостиво. Нельзя ли прибавить? Как война призывается забвением Бога во время мира, то во время мира всячески надо бегать всего, что ведет к Богозабвению. Не такого ли свойства театры? Припомните, что бывает с душею в театре и что после? У Турок нет театра, его заменяют они опиумом. Опиум и театр – одно и тоже.
Театр есть вещь вовсе не-христианская, и умен человек, который не бывает в нем. Мы его переняли у Запада. Западом и наказывал и накажет нас Господь, а нам в толк не берется. Другая злая у нас вещь – наша литература, западным духом наполненная, и ту очищает Господь тоже ударами с Запада. Но все неймется. Завязли в грязи западной по уши, и все хорошо. Есть очи, но не видим; есть уши, но не слышим; и сердцем не разумеем. Господи, помилуй нас!
Посли свет Твой и истину Твою!
Что у вас за боязливость? она не натуральна. Молитесь против нее к милостивому Господу, и Он даст бодрость. Дерзайте убо, дерзайте, людие Божии, ибо той победит! В монастыре, что на Бородинском поле, в церкви читается непрерывно псалтырь по убиенным воинам. По ночам читают его сестры по очереди. Одна из них сказывала мне, что, когда ей приходила очередь, едва в обморок не падала и часто выбегала из церкви. Но потом отец духовный велел ей молиться именно против сего страха.
Она помолилась с постом, и страх отошел.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Isa.6.9-Isa.6.10;Jer.5.21;Matt.13.13-Matt.13.15;Mark.8.18 — And he said, "Go and say to this people: Keep hearing, but do not understand; keep seeing, but do not know." Isa.6.10 — And Make the heart of this people dull; make their ears heavy and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed. Jer.5.21 — Hear this, O foolish people, and without understanding; they have eyes, but they do not see; they have ears, but they do not hear. Matt.13.13 — This is why I speak to them in parables: because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Matt.13.14 — And in them Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled: "You will keep hearing, but never understand; you will keep seeing, but never know." Matt.13.15 — For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Mark.8.18 — Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
Notes
- 1 ↩Очень милостиво is dryly ironic: the advice looks kind only because it limits abstinence to wartime.
- 2 ↩Западом is instrumental: God punishes by means of the West, not that the West itself is the agent independent of the Lord. 'а нам в толк не берется' is idiomatic stubborn non-understanding—rendered as 'doesn't sink in.'
- 3 ↩неймется is colloquial Russian for stubborn refusal to take a lesson or let a correction land; 'still nothing sinks in' preserves the force without stiff paraphrase.
- 4 ↩'и все хорошо' is ironic self-satisfaction, not a sincere assessment; kept in plain contemporary cadence to preserve the bite.
- 5 ↩бодрость can mean courage, cheer, or spiritual vigor; rendered as courage for the fear-context.
- 6 ↩Church Slavonic liturgical cadence (Дерзайте убо… людие Божии); той rendered as He, referring to the Lord.
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