Письмо 77
A Petition for Spiritual Insight
The author invokes the intercession of Saint Isaac the Syrian to gain the grace of prayer and the strength to walk the path of the commandments.
Venerable Father Isaac, Pray to God for us, and through your prayers, enlighten our minds to understand the lofty contemplations that fill your words. Even more, lift us up—or lead us—into the secret depths of prayer, whose workings, stages, and power your teachings so clearly portray. May we be winged by it, so that we may freely run the path of the Lord's commandments without turning aside, passing by the obstacles we meet along the way and overcoming the enemies who take up arms against us.1
Read the original Russian
Преподобный отче Исаакие! моли Бога о нас и молитвою твоею озари ум наш разумети высокия созерцания, коими преисполнены словеса твои, и паче возведи или введи в тайники молитвы, которой производство, степени и силу так изображают поучения твои; да, ею окриляемые, возможем свободно тещи путем заповедей Господних неуклонно, минуя препятствия, встречаемыя на пути, и преодолевая врагов, вооружающихся на нас.
Notes
- 1 ↩«тайники молитвы» rendered as “secret depths of prayer” (inner chambers/hidden recesses of prayer); «производство» as “working” (practice/operation of prayer); «окриляемые» as “winged by it.”
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