Письмо 46
Surrendering to God's Will
We must abandon our own plans and trust in God's providence, especially during times of suffering and purification.
May the Lord comfort you. In my view, it's better to leave everything to God's will. He alone knows what each person needs and how everything should be arranged. So don't try to map out anything about how your lot will be arranged. Time and circumstances will make everything clear. Your friend is suffering in her soul and grieving. May the Lord comfort her. The martyrs were purified and prepared for the Kingdom of God through fire, scraping, and cutting. . . But for us, it's a different purification. Everyone has their own: for one it's great, for another small. Lord, have mercy on us and give us understanding!1
The Swiftness of Life
Reflecting on the fleeting nature of time, we recognize the difficulty of self-mastery without divine aid.
And here the year is almost over! How quickly life flows by—hour by hour, day by day. You look, and the door of the grave is right before your eyes. What is one to do with the soul? It takes great skill to master yourself.2 God's holy elders overcame themselves—and even they didn't always succeed.3 Go ahead and talk about the strength of the will and the soul's self-rule!4 Where is it? Point it out, philosophers!
The Strength of Surrender
True self-mastery is a gift of grace granted to those who fully surrender to the Lord's work within them.
Only to the one who gives himself wholly to the Lord is the strength given to master himself—or such strength is poured into him. And once He begins to work on the soul, just hold on.5 The poor thing groans, but there's nothing for it.6 Obey.
Read the original Russian
Господь да утешит вас! По моему, лучше все оставить на волю Божию. Он знает един, что кому нужно и как что устроить. Потому не загадывайте об устроении своей участи ничего. Время и обстоятельства все укажут. Ваша приятельница болит душею и скорбит. Да утешит ее Господь! Мучеников очищали и приготовляли в Царствие Божие огнем да строганием, да резанием.
. . А нам другая очистка. Всякому своя; одному большая, другому маленькая. Господи, помилуй нас и вразуми!
Вот и год на исходе! Как скоро течет жизнь, час за часом, день за днем. Глядишь, и дверь гроба пред глазами. Что делать с душею? Великая хитрость нужна, чтоб владеть собою. Старцы Божии одолевали себя, но и то не всегда. Вот тут и толкуй о силе воли и самовластии души! Где она, укажите, философы?
Только тому, кто Господу отдаст себя со всем, дается сила владеть собою, или вливается в него такая сила. И уж как начнет он ворочать душею, только держись. Кряхтит бедная, да делать нечего. Слушайся!
Notes
- 1 ↩вразуми: instruct / bring to sense / enlighten with understanding; rendered as 'give us understanding' in a direct petition.
- 2 ↩хитрость here means craft/skill in self-governance, not deceit or slyness.
- 3 ↩Старцы Божии rendered as God's holy elders (Orthodox spiritual elders), not merely 'old men of God'.
- 4 ↩самовластие души: the soul's autonomous self-mastery / self-rule; the sentence is ironical, dismissing confident talk of unaided willpower.
- 5 ↩ворочать душею is colloquial: to turn, haul, or manhandle the soul—hard, decisive interior work, not gentle reflection. он most naturally continues the person who received the strength in s1; if read as the Lord acting on the soul, the sense of forceful remaking still holds.
- 6 ↩бедная is feminine and refers to the soul (душа); rendered as 'the poor thing' to keep Feofan's familiar, almost pitying tone without sounding archaic.
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