Письмо 92
The Need for Interior Stillness
The author gently rebukes the recipient for their constant self-justification and urges them to find inner peace.
What's this—you're always justifying yourself? Your entire letter is about that. Apparently every quarrel and scrap fell to your lot.1 My fault!2 That is another matter—that is how it should be. By now, you have surely recovered.3 Well then, has your soul settled? You need to calm down a little, and it is high time you did.
Finding Shelter in Prayer
Practical advice is given to withdraw from external turmoil and seek the refreshing peace of God through prayer and solitude.
May the Lord help you. How much longer will you remain so rigid? It’s no use standing out in the wind. Find a little shelter. You could even go a day or two without seeing anyone at all, just to settle down. In the meantime, spend some time reading, praying, and reflecting. Then peace will descend like rain upon a fleece.
Providence and the Reward of Virtue
The author clarifies that suffering in this life does not negate God's providence, as true reward is found in the age to come.
God has sent you a new acquaintance. His feelings are worthy of respect. But his conclusion—that if N., filled with extraordinary kindness, N. should meet with some misfortune or grief, he would then doubt God's providence—is not true, for God nowhere said that all the reward of virtue is here on earth. That would be demeaning to virtue itself. God sometimes allows injustice here so that He may exalt the one who endures it in the age to come.
The Necessity of Spiritual Nourishment
The letter concludes with an exhortation to engage in spiritual reading to prevent the soul from starving in isolation.
Have you started reading anything yet? It's time. Start with Macarius the Great, then move on to Isaac the Syrian or someone else. You mustn't stay as you are. You'll suffocate, because without reading it's stifling, and the soul goes hungry. But I suspect that now, on your own, you're surely busy with that. I wish you peace.
Read the original Russian
Что это вы все оправдываетесь? Письмо ваше все о том. Верно, на вашу долю достались все брани и свары. Виноват! Другое дело, – так следует. Теперь вы, верно, уже поправились. Что ж, улеглась ли душа? Надо и пора немного успокоиться.
Помоги вам, Господи! Долго ли закостенеть? На ветре стоять худо. Укройтесь немного. Можно денек-другой и совсем никого не принимать, чтоб только усесться. А между тем – то почитать, то помолиться да подумать. Вот и сойдет мир, как дождь на руно.
Вам Бог послал новаго знакомаго. Чувства его достойны уважения. Но заключение его, что, если исполненному необыкновенной доброты N. N. случится какая беда или горе, он усумнится тогда в промышлении Божием, не верно, ибо нигде Бог не сказал, что добродетели вся награда здесь – на земле. Это было бы унизительно для самой добродетели. Неправду Бог попускает иногда здесь за тем, чтоб возвысить терпящаго в будущем веке.
Начали ли вы что-нибудь читать? Пора. Начните с Макария Великаго и переходите к Исааку Сирианину или еще к кому. А так оставаться не должно. Задохнетесь, ибо без чтения душно, и душа голодает. Но, думаю, теперь наедине, верно, занимаетесь тем. Мира вам желаю.
Notes
- 1 ↩«Верно» can read as 'true enough' or 'apparently/surely'; «брани и свары» covers scolding, quarreling, and bickering.
- 2 ↩Brief admission of guilt, set against the self-justifying posture of s1–s2; not a formal confession formula.
- 3 ↩«поправились» may mean recovered from upset/illness or set oneself right; following s7 favors restored composure.
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