SR
← Letters on the Christian Life/Book 1 · Письма о христианской жизни
Chapter 54FeofanPisma.1.54

Письмо 54

Guarding the Inner Life

The believer is called to cultivate holy fear and solitude to protect their spiritual progress from worldly distractions.

May God help you—work out your salvation!1 We ought to go about our work, our life, and our service with fear and trembling—whatever has been assigned to each of us, and wherever and however it has been assigned.✦ You have to guard this fear like a little bird of paradise, so it doesn't fly away. If it flies off, it's hard to catch again. To keep it from flying away, you need to shut the cage door: gather your thoughts and bind your feelings with attention. To help with that, you need to settle into staying home and living alone.2 You already have both. So you just need to watch out that some old acquaintance doesn't pull you first into conversation and then out into social rounds. You've already fallen quite a way behind the others.

The Two Paths

True spiritual progress is not measured by worldly standards, as those following Christ are on an entirely different path than those living by the spirit of the world.

How could you catch up with them! Wouldn't it be better to leave them behind entirely and stop checking in on those who live by the spirit of the world?✦ That seems better. If you do have to face the world after that, you should keep your head and heart as a Christian ought to, without giving in. What a great loss, that you don't have what the lovers of the world possess!3 —as if that were news to you! That's what you set out for.4 You should take some encouragement from the fact that the contrast between your direction and worldly ambitions is already so clear; it means you're succeeding in what you've begun. But where did you get the idea that you've fallen behind? Does that word even apply to what we're talking about? One has gone ahead, and the other has fallen behind. You can say that about people walking the same road. But you can't say it about those who take different—or even opposite—paths. Those who love the world race west, while those who avoid the world's spirit head east; each is on their own road.✦ As for those looking toward the east, even if they weren't walking but simply stood still, you'd have to say they're further along than the lovers of the world, who press on without rest—but straight into the pit of hell. .

Discerning the World's Vanity

One must look past the outward elegance of worldly life to see its lack of connection to the Lord.

. After all, this is the truth. So why the hesitation?5 Don't be led astray by the seeming kindness of worldly people. Listen with your own sense: do they have — i.6 that is,7 does their heart have any relation to the Lord at all? You'll see that it doesn't; and what is their elegance if not the adornment of a tomb?✦8 It is true.

Courage in the Final Reckoning

The believer is encouraged to remain steadfast, knowing that the final judgment will reveal the true value of a life lived in the Spirit.

Lord, keep you from ever leaning toward the thought that lovers of the world have any advantages over those who want to live by the spirit of the Gospel. After all, we're not the first!9 The day will show who comes out ahead, and that day isn't far for any of us: today or tomorrow.✦ So take courage, and let your heart be strong.✦ Lord, grant them every consolation!10

Read the original Russian

Бог в помощь, спасайтесь! Со страхом и трепетом подобает нам проходить дело свое и житие свое, и служение свое, то, что кому положено, и где, и как положено. Как райскую птичку, надо беречь сей страх, чтобы не улетел. Улетит, трудно поймать. Чтобы не улетел, надо двери клети затворить: собрать мысли и связать чувства вниманием; в помощь к тому надо устроить домоседство и единоседство. То и другое у вас есть. Стало быть, только беречься надобно, как бы не увлекла какая старая знакомка сначала на беседу, а потом и на гулянье. Уж вы довольно отстали от других.

Где догнать их! Не лучше ли же совсем отстать от них и не заглядывать к живущим по духу мира? Думается, что лучше. Если за тем придется стать с миром лицом к лицу, то всячески подобает держать голову и сердце, как должно Христианам, не поддаваясь. Великий убыток, что у вас нет того, чем обладают миролюбцы! – и будто это новость для вас! На то уж пошли. И кажется, надо бы несколько воодушевления возъиметь от того, что уже так заметен контраст вашего направления с стремлениями мирскими, ибо это означает, что есть успех в начатом.

Да откуда у вас помышление, что отстали? Идет ли это слово к тому, о чем речь? Один ушел вперед, а другой отстал. Это можно сказать о тех, которые идут одною дорогою. А о тех, кои идут разными и даже противоположными путями, сего сказать нельзя. Миролюбцы бегут на запад, чуждающиеся духа мира идут на восток; стало быть, всякий своею дорогою. О тех, кои зрят на восток, даже если б они не шли, а стояли на одном месте, надо сказать, что они успешнее миролюбцев, кои точно стремятся без устали, но во дно адово. .

. Ведь все это истина! За чем же колебания? Не соблазняйтесь мнимой добротой светских. Прислушайтесь чутьем своим, есть ли у них, т. е. , у сердца их, какое либо отношение ко Господу, и увидите, что никакого нет, а изящество их что есть, как не прикраса гроба? Воистину так.

Избави же вас, Господи, склоняться как-нибудь на мысль, будто миролюбцы имеют какия преимущества пред желающими жить по духу Евангелия. Ведь не первые мы! День явит, кто в выигрыше, и день сей не далек для каждаго из нас: ныне, завтра. Мужайтесь же, и да крепится сердце ваше. Даруй вам, Господи, всякое утешение!

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Phil.2.12 — Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
  2. ↩1John.2.15-1John.2.17;Eph.2.2 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever. Eph.2.2 — in which you once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit now working in the sons of disobedience;
  3. ↩1John.2.15-1John.2.17 — Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1John.2.16 — For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the world. 1John.2.17 — And the world is passing away, and its desire; but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
  4. ↩Matt.23.27;Luke.11.44 — Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Luke.11.44 — Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and the people walking over them do not know it.
  5. ↩1Cor.3.13 — each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will test each one's work, what sort it is.
  6. ↩Ps.31.24 — Love the LORD, all his faithful ones. The LORD preserves the faithful, but repays the one who acts in pride abundantly.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩Russian epistolary formula «Бог в помощь, спасайтесь!»: a blessing plus the imperative to keep working at salvation, not a bare farewell.
  2. 2 ↩«Домоседство» and «единоседство» are Feofan's home-staying and solitary-sitting pair: a settled homebody life and aloneness, not merely occasional quiet.
  3. 3 ↩Ironic/sarcastic in context: the addressee lacks worldly goods or pleasures, and Feofan treats that lack as no true loss.
  4. 4 ↩Russian «На то уж пошли» is idiomatic: they deliberately took this path of separation from worldly company; rendered as purpose of the chosen way, not mere physical departure.
  5. 5 ↩Source has older spacing «За чем» for standard «Зачем» (why); rendered as ‘why’ / ‘so why’, not as ‘for what’ in a literal object sense.
  6. 6 ↩Sentence is truncated mid-abbreviation «т.» of «т.е.» (that is / i.e.); continued in s6–s7.
  7. 7 ↩Standalone «е.» is the second half of the split abbreviation «т.е.» (that is / i.e.).
  8. 8 ↩Opens with a leading comma and completes the thought begun in s5–s6 after «т.е.»; «какое либо» read as «какое-либо» (any).
  9. 9 ↩Elliptical Russian: 'not the first' likely means not the first to choose Gospel life over worldly advantage, or not the first to face this trial of comparison; left as a natural ellipsis matching the source.
  10. 10 ↩Russian 'Даруй вам, Господи' is a petition to the Lord for the addressees (вам = dative 'to you/them'); rendered as a prayer over the letter's recipients. 'Утешение' kept as consolation rather than generic comfort to preserve spiritual register.

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
Chosen Portion — Daily Prayer (free iOS app) →