Письмо 52
The Call to Interior Stillness
The author urges the recipient to withdraw from worldly distractions and cultivate a life of prayer and solitude.
You've grown scattered; it's time to settle down, drop everything, and sit with yourself at the heart. Recall the fast and compare it with your present state; what a tremendous difference! But you'll likely be at Iver when this letter reaches you, and there everything is different.1 Take up reading and keep away from everyone. How your surroundings are ruining you! Arrange things somehow so that prayer, reading, and handwork go on in an undisturbed succession. Cut back on your dealings with people. God alone, and you—how good that is!
The Seriousness of the Soul's Journey
The author warns against the vanity of worldly diversions and reminds the reader of the impending reality of death and judgment.
But as for when that will happen, let's leave it to the Lord to decide. Things work out better when they happen on their own, because then they're ordered not by the human mind, but by God's will. But as it stands—look how far things have gone!2 You yourselves started striking up acquaintances and diversions. What is there to joke about? Today, tomorrow—death. And there, they won't be laying out cards to decide what our fate will be.3
Read the original Russian
Рассеялись вы, пора остепениться, бросить все и сесть у себя при сердце. Припомните пост и сравните его с теперешним состоянием; куда какая большая разница! Но вы, верно, будете в Ивере, когда дойдет до вас письмо это, а там все иное. Возьмитесь за чтение да уклонение от всех. Как губит вас ваша обстановка! Устройте как-нибудь, чтоб молитва, чтение, рукоделие шли невозмутимою чередою. Сношения сократите. Един Бог да вы – как хорошо!
Но когда сему быть, предоставим решить Господу. Дело делается лучше, когда делается само собою, ибо тогда оно устрояется не человеческим умом, но Божиим изволением. А то вон уж куда! Вы сами начали завязывать знакомства и развлечения. Что шутить то? Ныне, завтра – смерть. А там не по картам будут раскладывать, какова должна быть участь наша.
Notes
- 1 ↩Ивер (Iver): kept as a place-name; likely Iveron/Iver monastery or related locale in Feofan's correspondence.
- 2 ↩Colloquial Russian 'А то вон уж куда!' marks a sharp contrast with the better path just described: otherwise/as things stand, see how far it has already gone.
- 3 ↩'Не по картам будут раскладывать' uses card fortune-telling as a metaphor: after death, judgment is not a game of chance or a casual reading of fate.
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