ALTĂ ÎNVĂȚĂTURĂ, ASEMENE CEȘTIIALALTE
The Fruit of Good Roots
Good roots produce good offspring, and a holy city will have holy children, reflecting the character of their parents.
Truly, good roots yield good offspring; from a holy court, holy children will emerge. If the emperor's city is not holy, then no holy children will emerge. Indeed, let what is due be given: let what is earned be given; let honor be given to the honorable; let mercy be shown to the one who is to be shown mercy; and let the one who is to be held cheap be held cheap. For if you are enlightened, your children will be enlightened too; if you are a lover of Christ, your children will also be lovers of Christ.
A Father's Lament and Heavenly Hope
The father expresses his grief over his son's passing, entrusting him to Christ's heavenly teaching and resolving to send his earthly message to his son's resting place.
My dearly beloved Ioasaf, you were the light of my eyes and the brightest candle of my heart.1 I had written out a certain teaching for you to learn from me; but now may our Lord Jesus Christ receive you and teach you himself, among his saints, in the kingdom of heaven.23 So there's no way for me to send this teaching to you now; instead I'll send it to the place where your body will lie.
Provision for the Resting Place
The father pledges to show mercy and provide for the monastic community and the physical needs of the place where his son's body will lie.
And as for you, holy fathers, who will find yourselves living in that place—partly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ's will, and partly for your own—I mean to show mercy there and to strengthen it, so that that body won't lie there alone.4 And whatever that place may need—vestments, food, anything at all—I'll take the trouble to see that the place has plenty of everything.5
Read the original Romanian
Cu adevărat, ale rădăcinii cei bune, bune sunt și odraslele, și din curtea cea sfântă și fii sfinți vor ieși, și de nu va fi cetatea împăratului sfântă, nici fii nu vor ieși sfinți. Ce, cela ce iaste de dar, dar să i să dea; cela ce iaste de mertic, mertic să i se dea; cela ce iaste de cinste, cinste să i se dea; cela ce iaste de miluit, să-l miluiești; și cine iaste de a-i fi ieftin, ieftin să-i fie. Ce tu, fiind luminat, și fiii tăi sunt luminați; tu fiindu iubitoriu de Hristos, și fiii tăi vor fi iubitori de Hristos.
Preaiubitul mieu Ioasafe, tu ai fost lumina ochilor miei și lumânarea cea prea luminată a inimii méle. O învățătură oarece mi-ți scrisesem să te înveți de la mine; ce Domnul nostru Iisus Hristos să mi te priimească și să mi te învéțe, cu ugodnicii săi, întru împărățiia ceriului. Deci această învățătură acum eu n-am cum o trimite, ci o voi trimite unde-ți va zăcea trupul.
Și iar voi, sfinți părinți, carii vă veți afla a lăcui la acel loc, una, pentru voia Domnului nostru, lui Iisus Hristos, alta, pentru voia voastră, am grijă a milui acolea și a întări, ca să nu zacă acel trup sângur. Și oare ce va trebui la acel loc, măcar odăjdii, măcar bucate, măcar fieștece, eu am a mă osteni ca se aibă acel loc de toate den destul.
Notes
- 1 ↩The son addressed throughout the Teachings is Theodosios; here the source names him "Ioasafe" (Ioasaf), most likely the monastic/spiritual name evoking the prince Ioasaph of the Barlaam and Ioasaph legend, a standard model for a royal son taught to renounce the world. Name kept as given.
- 2 ↩"Ugodnicii săi" (Slavonic ugodnik, "one pleasing to God") means those who have pleased God — rendered "his saints," the standard Orthodox sense, rather than a generic "his favored ones."
- 3 ↩Old Romanian "ce" here carries the adversative force of modern "ci" ("but"): the father's own teaching is set against the teaching Christ will now give. Rendering it as a weak "and" would flatten the turn.
- 4 ↩"una... alta..." is the old Romanian idiom for "on the one hand... on the other," rendered here as "partly... and partly." "A milui" carries both "show mercy to" and the concrete sense of endowing a monastery with gifts; "and to strengthen" (a întări) likewise points to confirming the foundation with grants, so the merciful and the material senses are held together.
- 5 ↩The repeated "măcar... măcar... măcar" is an inclusive list marker ("whether... or... or"), rendered as an open-ended series. "Odăjdii" are specifically liturgical vestments, not ordinary clothing; "fieștece" is the archaic "whatever/anything at all."
Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to His Son Theodosios 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