Письмо 99
A Gift of Spiritual Instruction
The author sends a collection of sermons as a name-day gift, noting the constraints under which they were prepared.
You wanted to have the sermons you heard. I enclose them with this letter for you to use as you please: this is a gift for your name day.1 They were put together in a hurry; I would have liked—and could have—said even more. There wasn't much time. .2 .3
The Aim of Hearing and Reading
The author explains that preaching must adapt to the diverse needs of listeners, urging the reader to focus on the ultimate goal of putting the word into practice.
Whatever you think is missing, work it out for yourselves; you can't say everything from the pulpit. And this must also be said: the needs of those who listen are just as varied. Some people need logical reasoning, while others just need a vivid picture of the subject—to each their own. But the speaker and the listeners share the same goal: take that goal to heart and read, stirred to put what you've read into practice.
Read the original Russian
Вам желательно было иметь проповеди, слышанные вами. Прилагаю их при сем в полное ваше распоряжение: это вам подарок ко дню вашего Ангела. Наскоро они составились, желалось бы и можно было бы сказать еще более. Мало времени. . . Чего недостает по вашему суду, додумайте сами: всего с церковной кафедры не проговоришь. И то надо сказать, что и потребности слушающих разнообразны.
Одному нужно рассуждение, другому одно живописное изображение предмета – всякому свое, но цель говорящаго и слушающих одна, – проникнитесь ею и читайте, воодушевляясь исполнять делом читанное.
Notes
- 1 ↩Russian «день вашего Ангела» (day of your Angel) is the Orthodox name-day feast of one's patron saint / guardian angel; rendered as 'name day' for natural contemporary English.
- 2 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period with no recoverable Russian text.
- 3 ↩Source sentence is only a bare period with no recoverable Russian text.
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