Revelation of an elder to his spiritual father. Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father

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Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father

No. IS 10-08-0366

© DAR Publishing House

Foreword

“Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father” have long been known to Russian society. Written in the second half 19th century They were distributed in both handwritten and printed form. They were copied on Mount Athos by the rector of the Cheremis monastery of the Kazan diocese, hegumen Paisios, and published by him. In 1884, the fourth edition was published in Moscow.

The author of these stories remains unknown. Various assumptions have been made. Hegumen Tikhon, the rector of one of the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod or Vladimir diocese, the author of several spiritual books, and the Optina elder Ambrose, and even St. Theophan the Recluse Vyshensky, were named among the possible authors. But there is no conclusive evidence in favor of any of them. It is very possible that this is unknown writer, although not devoid of literary talent and taste.

In addition to the first four "stories of the wanderer", in Russia in 1911 was published (in 2 editions) an addition to these stories, found in the papers of the famous Optina elder, hieroschemamonk Ambrose. These new - fifth, sixth and seventh - stories were also republished as a separate brochure abroad in the Russian Church Printing House in Vladimirova on Slovenska in 1933. In this edition, the reader has all seven stories, supplemented, as before, with three "keys" for the internal prayerful doing, composed of the works of famous ascetic fathers.

To a large extent, the success of this book is due to its external qualities, which are quite consistent with its internal content. Needless to say, often the style of spiritual and educational literature, which did not obey the requirements literary criticism and culture, repelled so many readers who yearned for religious enlightenment. For some reason, books of spiritual and moral content were almost always written in a special, unacceptable language for literary hearing, richly equipped with Slavic-Russian phrases, a conditional, sugary-unctuous language and therefore easily seeming insincere. We can safely say that with all the wealth of theological treatises and monographs of first-class scientific value Russian society, longing for religious enlightenment, was completely devoid of books written in completely natural language, not cutting the ear of a literary-educated reader. Even academic translations of patristic writings, almost always performed by professors of higher theological schools, often suffered from this artificial adaptation to the developed style of spiritual leaflets and pamphlets for the people. For some reason, the doors to this area of religious literature were closed to Pushkin's language.

The Wanderer's Tales is a happy exception. Their author managed to rise above the approved level of spiritual and moral writing. This book is written in a lively, folk and correct Russian language. Of course, she is not alien to a certain amount of mannerisms; its language is considerably outdated for our time; it is not free from the admixture of Church Slavism; Rhythm and style in some places is not sustained to the end. But, in general, these details do not detract from the favorable impression of the wanderer's entire narrative. All this is not invented and not artificially created. The author, of course, heard this dialect, so to speak, from nature. He fully entered into this chant and owns it skillfully and confidently.

The question arises, are the second three stories by the same author as the first four? It seems strange why only in 1911, after the book went through four editions and was widely distributed throughout Russia, were suddenly found latest stories.

Much more important than this outer side is the inner content of the book. This is the path of a wanderer along the endless roads, highways and country roads of Holy Russia; one of the representatives of that "wandering in Christ" Russia, which we knew so well then, long, long ago... - Russia, which now does not exist and which, probably, will never be again. These are those who from St. Sergius went to Sarov and Valaam, to Optina and to the Kyiv saints, they went to Tikhon and Mitrofaniy, they visited St. Innocent in Irkutsk, they reached Athos and the Holy Land. They, "having no abiding city, were looking for a future one." These are those who were attracted by the distance and the carefree ease of a homeless life. Leaving their home, they found it in monastic cloisters. They preferred the edifying conversation of the elders and hermits to the sweetness of family comfort. They contrasted the strong way of life of centuries with the rhythm of the monastic liturgical year with his feasts and church memoirs. They seem to us now much closer to the poor man from Assisi, or even closer to those early Christians about whom the ancient author wrote: “Christians inhabit their fatherlands, but like strangers; they participate in everything like citizens, but they all endure like strangers; every foreign land is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign land ... Being in the flesh, they do not live according to the flesh; they wander on the earth, but live in heaven” (the so-called “Letter to Diognet”).

And this “by the grace of God a Christian man, by deeds a great sinner, by rank a homeless wanderer”, who spends the night either with a woodworking peasant, or with a merchant, or in a remote Siberian monastery, or with a pious landowner or priest, leads his artless the story of his travels. The rhythm of his melody easily captures the reader, subdues him and makes him listen and learn. To be enriched by the rich treasure that this poor man owns, who has nothing with him except a bag of crackers, a Bible in his bosom, and the “Philokalia” in his bag. This treasure is prayer. That gift and that element, in which those who acquired it are immensely rich. This is what spiritual wealth, which the ascetic fathers called “smart doing”, or “spiritual sobriety”, which was inherited from the ascetics of Egypt, Sinai and Athos and whose roots go back to the hoary antiquity of Christianity. This is the wealth that is close to all mystics of all religions, that inner self-deepening that opens the “hidden heart of man”, which shows the ascetic “knowledge of the logos of the creature”, that is, the supreme meaning and artistic intent divine plan of the created universe.

The apostolic words “pray without ceasing”, from which, in essence, this spiritual pilgrimage of the wanderer begins, were loved by the Christian mystics of antiquity and, embodied in their inner doing, developed into a special spiritual science of constant sobriety of the mind. Already Clement of Alexandria, a philosopher and theologian, one of the first Christian mystics, knows the basic principles of this work. His perfect "gnostic" strives to pray this inner prayer, which does not need a special time, place, books, or prayer symbols. He does not need words and sounds. The silent prayer of his lips, the whisper of his lips, this is the cry of his heart. He prays all day and all his life. He does not need churches, and the worship of his heart does not obey the church typikon. The purpose of his prayer is not the fulfillment of petitions, but pure contemplation of God. The same prayer is known and taught by Sts. Macarius of Egypt and Anthony the Great, John of the Ladder and Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian and Simeon the New Theologian, Areopagitics and Gregory Palamas. The fact that the Church carefully and jealously preserves in the writings of all these ascetics - the artists of this work, is the pinnacle of all prayerful art.

It received its most complete and vivid expression in the word of St. Symeon the New Theologian about the three images of prayer, which reveals to us the full value and content of this “ugly” prayer - a prayer that is not embodied in liturgical icon-painting symbols, but consists in the incessant repetition of the name of God, delighting in it and contemplating in it the uncreated energies of God, since this is given by God to the purified heart of the ascetic. From Palamas and Sinai this experience was transmitted and preserved by the Hesychasts of Athos; from them, through Paisius Velichkovsky, was received by our elders, the Optina and Valaam hesychasts.

Christian asceticism was repeatedly tried to be stylized as obscurantism or abhorrence of the world and man. But, having “such a cloud of witnesses” behind him, relying on the entire patristic experience of asceticism, the ascetic, the creator of noetic prayer, is at the same time the bearer of true spiritual enlightenment. He, like the perfect Gnostic Clement, not only does not hesitate before the seeming contradictions of true knowledge and faith, but also strives with all his soul and mind to acquire this knowledge about things and about the world. For him, prayer is not only the path to communion with God, but also to the knowledge of God. Prayer has its deep epistemological significance and reveals to him in his mystical contemplation what the fathers called "knowledge of the logoi of things," that is, their supremely peaceful meaning. Hesychast the wanderer, the narrator of his candid stories, a whole worldview and worldview, unknown to the sages of positive knowledge, was revealed. Behind the "rough crust of matter" he sees the divine logoi of these creatures, that real reality, the reflected symbols of which are the things of this world. This fills him with such love for the world, for nature, for animals and people, that not only is it impossible to talk about hatred of the world, but, on the contrary, in his artless story one can read a real hymn of love for this world and man. He himself knew and teaches us what he knew, for example, St. Maximus the Confessor, and other fathers and writers of the Church, namely, that the whole visible world represents an immense organic whole bound by the union of love.

Deep in yourself, in constant repetition holy name Jesus, in the silent contemplation of the Logos of God, he achieves inner illumination of himself, and through that - the contemplation of the world and man transformed in the Tabor light.

Professor, Archimandrite Cyprian.

Sergius courtyard.

March 1948

Story one

I by the grace of God, a Christian man, by deeds a great sinner, by rank a homeless wanderer, of the lowest class, wandering from place to place. My estate is the following: behind my shoulders is a bag of crackers and under my bosom the Holy Bible, that's all. On the twenty-fourth week after Trinity Day, I came to church to pray for mass, the Apostle read from the Epistle to the Thessalonica, conception 273, which says: pray without ceasing. This saying especially stuck in my mind, and I began to think, how can one pray without ceasing, when it is necessary for every person to practice in other matters in order to maintain his life? I consulted the Bible and there I saw with my own eyes the same thing that I heard - and exactly what I needed pray without ceasing(1 Thess. 5:16), pray at all times in spirit(Eph. 6:18; 1 Tim. 2:8), lift up prayer hands in every place. Thought and thought, did not know how to solve.

What should I do, I thought, where to find, who would explain to me? I will go to churches where good preachers are famous, maybe there I will hear admonition to myself. And went. I heard a lot of very good sermons about prayer. But they were all instructions about prayer in general; what is prayer; how to pray; what are the fruits of prayer; but no one talked about how to succeed in prayer. There was a sermon about prayer in the Spirit and about unceasing prayer, but how to get to such a prayer was not indicated. So listening to sermons did not lead me to what I wanted. Why, having heard enough of them and having not received an idea of how to pray unceasingly, I no longer began to listen to public sermons, but decided, with the help of God, to look for an experienced and knowledgeable interlocutor who would explain to me about unceasing prayer, according to my relentless attraction to this knowledge.

For a long time I wandered to different places: I read the Bible and asked if there was any spiritual guide or a reverent experienced driver? By the time they told me that a gentleman had been living in that village for a long time and was being saved: he had a church in his house, did not go anywhere, and prayed to God all the time, and constantly read soul-saving books. Hearing this, I no longer walked, but fled to the said village; reached and got to the landowner.

“What need do you have for me?” he asked me.

“I heard that you are a devout and reasonable person, therefore I ask you, for God’s sake, to explain to me what the apostle says: pray without ceasing(1 Thessalonians 5:17), and how can one pray without ceasing? I want to know this, but I can't figure it out.

The master paused, looked at me intently and said: “Unceasing inner prayer is the unceasing striving of the human spirit towards God. In order to succeed in this sweet exercise, one should often ask the Lord to teach Him to pray without ceasing.

Pray more and more fervently, prayer itself will reveal to you how it can be unceasing; this needs time.”

Having said this, he ordered me to be fed, gave me on the road and let me go. And he didn't unravel.

Again I went, thought and thought, read and read, thought and thought about what the master had said to me and could not understand, but really wanted to understand, so that the nights could not sleep. I walked two hundred versts and now I am entering a large provincial city. I saw a monastery there. Stopping at an inn, I heard that in this monastery the abbot is kind, devout and hospitable. Went to him. He received me cordially, sat me down and began to treat me.

- Holy Father! - I said, - I do not need a treat, but I want you to give me spiritual instruction, how to be saved?

- Well, how to be saved? Live according to the commandments and pray to God, and you will be saved!

– I hear that one must pray without ceasing, but I don’t know how to pray without ceasing, and I can’t even understand what unceasing prayer means. Please, my father, explain this to me.

“I don’t know, dear brother, how else to explain to you. E! Wait, I have a book, it is explained there, - and he brought out St. Dmitry's spiritual teaching inner man. – Here, read on this page.

- Explain to me this, how the mind can always be turned to God, not be distracted and pray without ceasing.

“This is very tricky, unless God himself will give it to someone,” said the abbot. And he didn't unravel.

After spending the night with him and in the morning thanking him for his kind hospitality, I moved further on the road, and I myself did not know where. He grieved for his misunderstanding and read the holy Bible for consolation. I walked like this for five days along the high road, and finally, in the evening, some old man caught up with me, in appearance as if from the spiritual.

To my question, he said that he was a schema-monk from the desert, which is about 10 versts away from the main road, and called me to go with him into their desert. With us, he said, wanderers are received, calmed down and fed along with the pilgrims at the hotel.

I didn’t want to come in for some reason, and I answered his invitation like this: “My peace does not depend on the apartment, but on spiritual guidance, but I don’t chase food, I have a lot of crackers in my bag.”

“And what kind of instruction are you looking for and what are you perplexed about?” Come, come, dear brother, to us, we have experienced elders who can give spiritual guidance and guide you on the true path, in the light of the word of God and the reasoning of the holy fathers.

“You see, father, about a year ago, when I was at mass, I heard the following commandment from the Apostle: pray without ceasing. Not being able to understand this, I began to read the Bible. And there also in many places I found the commandment of God, that we must pray without ceasing, always, at any time, in any place, not only in all occupations, not only in wakefulness, but even in sleep. I sleep but my heart is awake(Song 5, 2). This surprised me very much, and I could not understand how it could be done and what ways to do it. A strong desire and curiosity aroused in me, and day and night it did not go out of my mind. Therefore, I began to go to churches, listen to sermons on prayer, but no matter how much I listened to them, I did not receive instructions in any one on how to pray without ceasing; everything was only said about the preparation for prayer or its fruits and the like, without teaching how to pray unceasingly and what such a prayer means. I often read the Bible and checked what I heard with it, but at the same time I did not find the desired knowledge. And so I am still confused and worried.

The elder crossed himself and began to speak:

– Thank God, beloved brother, for revealing in you an irresistible attraction to the knowledge of unceasing inner prayer. Recognize the call of God in this and calm down, being sure that until now the test of the consent of your will to the voice of God has been carried out over you, and it was given to understand that it is not by the wisdom of this world and not by external curiosity that they reach heavenly light, unceasing inner prayer, but, on the contrary , poverty of spirit and active experience, it is acquired in the simplicity of the heart. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that you could not hear about the essential matter of prayer and learn the science of how to achieve its unceasing action. Yes, and to tell the truth, although a lot is preached about prayer and there are many teachings about it. various writers, but since all their reasoning is based for the most part on speculation, on considerations of natural reason, and not on active experience, then they teach more about the attributes of prayer than about the essence of the subject itself. Some talk beautifully about the need for prayer, another about its power and beneficence, and a third about the means to the perfection of prayer, that is, that prayer requires diligence, attention, warmth of the heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, contrition. And so on. What is prayer? and how to learn to pray? - on these, although the first and most necessary questions, it is very rare for the preachers of our time to find detailed explanations, since they are more difficult to understand all of the above reasoning and require mysterious knowledge, and not just school science. What is more pitiful than anything else is that vain elemental wisdom forces one to measure God by a human standard. Many talk about the matter of prayer in a completely transformed way, thinking that preparations and ascetic labors produce prayer, and that it is not prayer that gives rise to ascetic labors and all the virtues. In this case, they mistakenly take the fruits or consequences of prayer as means and methods for it, and thereby humiliate the power of prayer. And this is completely contrary to Holy Scripture, for the Apostle Paul gives instruction on prayer in the following words: First of all, please pray(1 Tim. 2:1). Here the first instruction in the apostle's saying about prayer is that he puts the matter of prayer first of all: First of all, I ask you to pray. There are many good deeds that are required of a Christian, but the deed of prayer must be before all deeds, because without it no other good deed can be accomplished.

It is impossible without prayer to find the way to the Lord, to comprehend the truth, crucify the flesh with passions and lusts(Gal. 5:24), to be enlightened in the heart by the light of Christ and united in salvation without preliminary, frequent prayer. I say frequent, for both the perfection and correctness of prayer are beyond our ability, as the holy Apostle Paul also says: we don't know what to pray for as we should(Rom. 8:26).

Consequently, only frequency, continuance is left to our ability as a means to achieve prayerful purity, which is the mother of all spiritual good. “Acquire a mother, and she will give you children,” says St. Isaac the Syrian, “learn to acquire the first prayer and conveniently fulfill all the virtues.” And this is something that is not clearly known and is little spoken of by those who are unfamiliar with the practice and with the mysterious teachings of the holy fathers.

In this interview we have insensibly come almost to the desert itself. In order not to miss that wise old man for me, but rather to get the permission of my desire, I hastened to tell him:

- Do me a favor, most honest father, explain to me what unceasing inner prayer means and how to learn it: I see that you know this in detail and experience.

The elder accepted my petition with love and called me to him:

“Now come to me, I will give you the book of the holy fathers, from which you can understand clearly and in detail and learn how to pray with the help of God.

We entered the cell and the elder began to say the following:

– The unceasing inner Jesus prayer is the unceasing, never ceasing invocation of the Divine name of Jesus Christ with the lips, mind and heart, while imagining His everlasting presence, and asking for His mercy, in all occupations, in any place, at any time, even in a dream. It is expressed in the following words: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” And if someone gets used to this invocation, he will feel great consolation and the need to always make this prayer in such a way that it cannot be without prayer, and it will pour itself out in him. Now do you understand what unceasing prayer is?

“Very understandable, my father! For God's sake, teach me how to achieve it! I exclaimed with joy.

– How to learn to pray, we will read about it in this book. This book is called The Philokalia. It contains a complete and detailed science of unceasing inner prayer, expounded by twenty-five holy fathers, and is so lofty and useful that it is revered as the main and first mentor in the contemplative spiritual life, and, as St. Nicephorus puts it, “without labor and sweat for salvation introduces."

“Is it higher and holier than the Bible?” I asked.

- No, it is not higher and not holier than the Bible, but contains bright explanations of what is mysteriously contained in the Bible and is not reasonable in its height for our short-sighted mind. I give you an example of this: the sun is the greatest, most brilliant and most excellent luminary, but you cannot contemplate and consider it with a simple, unshielded eye. You need a certain artificial glass, although millions of times smaller and dimmer than the sun, through which you could look at this magnificent king of the luminaries, admire and receive his fiery rays. So and Holy Bible there is a brilliant sun, and the “Philokalia” is that necessary glass.

Now listen - I will read how to learn unceasing inner prayer. – The elder opened the “Philokalia”, found the instruction of St. Simeon the New Theologian and began: “Sit silently and alone, bow your head, close your eyes, breathe more quietly, look with your imagination into the heart, bring the mind, that is, the thought from the head to the heart. While breathing, say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” quietly with your lips or with one mind. Try to drive away thoughts, have calm patience and repeat this lesson more often.

Then the elder explained all this to me, showed me an example of this, and we also read from the “Philokalia” of St. Everything that I read in the “Philokalia” the elder explained to me with his own word.

I listened attentively to everything with admiration, absorbed my memory and tried to remember everything in as much detail as possible. So we sat up all night and, not sleeping, went to matins.

The elder, releasing me, blessed me and said that, learning to pray, I should go to him with a simple-hearted confession and revelation, because without the verification of a mentor, it is inconvenient and unsuccessful to engage in inner work without authorization.

Standing in church, I felt a fiery zeal in myself to study inner unceasing prayer as diligently as possible, and I asked God to help me. Then I thought, how am I going to go to the elder for advice or for spiritual revelation, because they won’t let you live in a hotel for more than three days, there are no apartments near the desert? ..

Finally, I heard that there was a village four versts away. I came there to look for a place for myself, and to my happiness God showed me convenience. I took a job there for the whole summer with a peasant to guard the garden, so that I could live in a hut in that garden alone. Thank God! - found a quiet place. And so I began to live and study according to the method of inner prayer shown to me, and go to the elder.

For a week I intently studied in my solitude in the garden unceasing prayer, exactly as the elder explained to me. At first, things seemed to work. Then I felt a great burden, laziness, boredom, overcoming sleep, and various thoughts swept over me like a cloud. With sorrow, I went to the elder and told him my situation. He kindly met me and began to say:

“This, beloved brother, is a war against you of the dark world, for which nothing in us is so terrible as heartfelt prayer, and therefore he tries in every possible way to hinder you and turn you away from the study of prayer. However, the enemy does not act otherwise than by the will of God and the allowance, as much as is necessary for us. Apparently, you still need a test of humility, and therefore it is still too early to touch the higher heart entrance with immoderate zeal, so as not to fall into spiritual selfishness.

Here I will read to you the instruction from the Philokalia about this case. The elder found the teaching of the Monk Nicephorus the monastic and began to read: “If, after some effort, you cannot enter the land of your heart in the way it was explained to you, then do as I tell you, and with God’s help you will find what you are looking for.

You know that the ability of word pronunciation is in every person in the larynx. This ability, driving away thoughts (you can, if you want), and let you constantly say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!” - and be compelled to always pronounce it. If you remain in that for some time, then through this the entrance of the heart will be opened to you without any doubt. This is known by experience."

“Here you hear how the holy fathers instruct in such a case,” said the elder. “Therefore, you must now, with power of attorney, accept the commandment to do the oral Jesus Prayer as much as possible. Here is a rosary for you, according to which for the first time perform at least three thousand prayers every day. Whether you are standing, sitting, walking, or lying down, constantly say: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” not loudly and not hastily, and by all means faithfully fulfill three thousand a day, do not add or subtract arbitrarily.

God will help you through this to achieve unceasing action of the heart.

I gladly accepted his order and went to my place. I began to perform correctly and exactly as the elder had taught me. For two days it was difficult for me, and then it became so easy and desirable that when you do not say a prayer, there was some kind of demand to say the Jesus Prayer again, and it began to be pronounced more conveniently and easily, not as much as before with compulsion.

I announced this to the elder, and he ordered me to perform six thousand prayers a day, saying:

– Be calm and only, as faithfully as possible, try to fulfill the number of prayers commanded to you: God will do mercy to you.

For a whole week, in my secluded hut, I went through six thousand Jesus prayers every day, not caring about anything and not looking at thoughts, no matter how they fought; only about this he tried to fulfill the elder's commandment exactly.

And what? - so accustomed to prayer that if short time I stop creating it, then I feel as if something is missing, as if I have lost something; I will begin prayer, and again at that very moment it will become easy and gratifying. When you meet someone, you are no longer willing to talk, and you still want to be in solitude and pray; so used to it in a week.

After not seeing me for ten days, the elder himself came to visit me, and I explained my condition to him. He listened and said:

Now you are accustomed to prayer, look, maintain and aggravate this habit, do not waste time in vain and, with God's help, decide not to waste twelve thousand prayers a day; stay in solitude, get up early, stay up late, come to me for advice every two weeks.

I began to do as the elder commanded me, and on the first day I barely had time late in the evening to finish my twelve thousand rule. The next day I did it easily and with pleasure. At first he felt fatigue during the incessant utterance of a prayer, or, as it were, a stiffness of the tongue and some kind of binding in the jaws, however pleasant, then a slight and subtle pain in the palate of the mouth, then felt a slight pain in thumb left hand, with which he touched the rosary, and the inflammation of the whole hand, which extended to the elbow and produced a most pleasant sensation. Moreover, all this, as it were, aroused and compelled to a greater creation of prayer. And so for five days he faithfully performed twelve thousand prayers, and along with the habit he received pleasantness and desire.

Once, early in the morning, as if a prayer woke me up. Was about to read morning prayers, but the tongue awkwardly pronounces them, and all the desire of itself strives to make the Jesus Prayer. And when I started it, how easy, gratifying it became, and the tongue and the mouth, as it were, uttered by themselves without my compulsion!

I spent the whole day in joy and was, as it were, estranged from everything else, as if on another earth, and easily finished twelve thousand prayers in the early evening. I really wanted to say a prayer, but I did not dare to do more than the elder ordered. In this way, in other days, I continued to call on the name of Jesus Christ with ease and attraction to it. Then he went to the elder for a revelation and told him everything in detail. He listened and began to speak:

– Thank God that the desire and ease of prayer have been revealed in you. This is a natural thing, coming from frequent exercise and achievement, just like a machine whose main wheel is given a push or force, after a long time it acts by itself, and in order to prolong its movement, it is necessary to lubricate and push this wheel. Do you see what excellent abilities the philanthropic God endowed even the sensual nature of man, what sensations can appear both outside of grace and not in purified sensuality and in a sinful soul, as you yourself have experienced it? And how excellent, delightful and delightful is it when the Lord deigns to reveal the gift of self-acting spiritual prayer and purify the soul from passions? This state is indescribable, and the discovery of this prayer mystery is a foretaste of heavenly sweetness on earth.

In the simplicity of a loving heart, those who seek the Lord are worthy of this! Now I give you permission: pray as much as you like, as much as possible, try to devote all your wakefulness to prayer and call on the name of Jesus Christ without counting, humbly surrendering yourself to the will of God and expecting help from Him: I believe that He will not leave you and direct the path your.

Having received this instruction, I spent the whole summer in unceasing oral Jesus prayer and was very calm. In a dream, I often dreamed that I was doing a prayer. And on the day, if it happened to meet with anyone, then without exception they seemed to me as kind, as if they were relatives, although I did not study with them. Thoughts of their own accord completely subsided, and I did not think of anything except prayer, to which my mind began to incline, and my heart at times began to feel warmth and some kind of pleasantness by itself. When it happened to come to church, the long desert service seemed short and was no longer tiring for the forces, as before. My secluded hut seemed to me a magnificent palace, and I did not know how to thank God that He had sent such a saving old man and mentor to me, such a cursed sinner.

No. IS 10-08-0366

© DAR Publishing House

Foreword

“Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father” have long been known to Russian society. Written in the second half of the 19th century, they were distributed both in handwritten form and in print. They were copied on Mount Athos by the rector of the Cheremis monastery of the Kazan diocese, hegumen Paisios, and published by him. In 1884, the fourth edition was published in Moscow.

The author of these stories remains unknown. Various assumptions have been made. Hegumen Tikhon, the rector of one of the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod or Vladimir diocese, the author of several spiritual books, and the Optina elder Ambrose, and even St. Theophan the Recluse Vyshensky, were named among the possible authors. But there is no conclusive evidence in favor of any of them. It is very possible that this is a generally unknown writer, although not devoid of literary talent and taste.

To a large extent, the success of this book is due to its external qualities, which are quite consistent with its internal content. Needless to say, often the style of spiritual and educational literature, which did not obey the requirements of literary criticism and culture, repelled many readers who were thirsty for religious enlightenment. For some reason, books of spiritual and moral content were almost always written in a special, unacceptable language for literary hearing, richly equipped with Slavic-Russian phrases, a conditional, sugary-unctuous language and therefore easily seeming insincere. It can be safely said that with all the wealth of theological treatises and monographs of first-class scientific value, Russian society, thirsting for religious enlightenment, was completely deprived of books written in completely natural language, not cutting the ear of a literary-educated reader. Even academic translations of patristic writings, almost always performed by professors of higher theological schools, often suffered from this artificial adaptation to the developed style of spiritual leaflets and pamphlets for the people. For some reason, the doors to this area of religious literature were closed to Pushkin's language.

The Wanderer's Tales is a happy exception. Their author managed to rise above the approved level of spiritual and moral writing.

This book is written in a lively, folk and correct Russian language. Of course, she is not alien to a certain amount of mannerisms; its language is considerably outdated for our time; it is not free from the admixture of Church Slavism; Rhythm and style in some places is not sustained to the end. But, in general, these details do not detract from the favorable impression of the wanderer's entire narrative. All this is not invented and not artificially created. The author, of course, heard this dialect, so to speak, from nature. He fully entered into this chant and owns it skillfully and confidently.

Much more important than this outer side is the inner content of the book. This is the path of a wanderer along the endless roads, highways and country roads of Holy Russia; one of the representatives of that "wandering in Christ" Russia, which we knew so well then, long, long ago... - Russia, which now does not exist and which, probably, will never be again. These are those who from St. Sergius went to Sarov and Valaam, to Optina and to the Kyiv saints, they went to Tikhon and Mitrofaniy, they visited St. Innocent in Irkutsk, they reached Athos and the Holy Land. They, "having no abiding city, were looking for a future one." These are those who were attracted by the distance and the carefree ease of a homeless life. Leaving their home, they found it in monastic cloisters. They preferred the edifying conversation of the elders and hermits to the sweetness of family comfort. They contrasted the strong way of the age-old way of life with the rhythm of the monastic liturgical year with its feasts and church memoirs. They seem to us now much closer to the poor man from Assisi, or even closer to those early Christians about whom the ancient author wrote: “Christians inhabit their fatherlands, but like strangers; they participate in everything like citizens, but they all endure like strangers; every foreign land is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign land ... Being in the flesh, they do not live according to the flesh; they wander on the earth, but live in heaven” (the so-called “Letter to Diognet”).

And this “by the grace of God a Christian man, by deeds a great sinner, by rank a homeless wanderer”, who spends the night either with a woodworking peasant, or with a merchant, or in a remote Siberian monastery, or with a pious landowner or priest, leads his artless the story of his travels. The rhythm of his melody easily captures the reader, subdues him and makes him listen and learn. To be enriched by the rich treasure that this poor man owns, who has nothing with him except a bag of crackers, a Bible in his bosom, and the “Philokalia” in his bag. This treasure is prayer. That gift and that element, in which those who acquired it are immensely rich. This is the spiritual wealth that the ascetic fathers called “intelligent doing”, or “spiritual sobriety”, which was inherited from the ascetics of Egypt, Sinai and Athos and whose roots go back to the hoary antiquity of Christianity. This is the richness that is close to all mystics of all religions, that inner self-deepening that opens the “hidden heart of man”, which shows the ascetic “knowledge of the logos of the creature”, that is, the supremely peaceful meaning and artistic design of the divine plan of the created Universe.

Christian asceticism was repeatedly tried to be stylized as obscurantism or abhorrence of the world and man. But, having “such a cloud of witnesses” behind him, relying on the entire patristic experience of asceticism, the ascetic, the creator of noetic prayer, is at the same time the bearer of true spiritual enlightenment. He, like the perfect Gnostic Clement, not only does not hesitate before the seeming contradictions of true knowledge and faith, but also strives with all his soul and mind to acquire this knowledge about things and about the world. For him, prayer is not only the path to communion with God, but also to the knowledge of God. Prayer has its deep epistemological significance and reveals to him in his mystical contemplation what the fathers called "knowledge of the logoi of things," that is, their supremely peaceful meaning. Hesychast the wanderer, the narrator of his frank stories, discovered a whole worldview and worldview, unknown to the sages of positive knowledge. Behind the "rough crust of matter" he sees the divine logoi of these creatures, that real reality, the reflected symbols of which are the things of this world. This fills him with such love for the world, for nature, for animals and people, that not only is it impossible to talk about hatred of the world, but, on the contrary, in his artless story one can read a real hymn of love for this world and man. He himself knew and teaches us what he knew, for example, St. Maximus the Confessor, and other fathers and writers of the Church, namely, that the entire visible world is an immense organic whole bound by the union of love.

Deepened into himself, into the constant repetition of the most holy name of Jesus, in the silent contemplation of the Logos of God, he achieves an inner illumination of himself, and through that - the contemplation of the world and man transformed in the Tabor light.

Professor, Archimandrite Cyprian.

Sergius courtyard.

March 1948

Story one

For a long time I wandered to different places: I read the Bible all the time and asked if there was any kind of spiritual mentor or reverent experienced driver? By the time they told me that a gentleman had been living in that village for a long time and was being saved: he had a church in his house, did not go anywhere, and prayed to God all the time, and constantly read soul-saving books. Hearing this, I no longer walked, but fled to the said village; reached and got to the landowner.

“What need do you have for me?” he asked me.

Pray more and more fervently, prayer itself will reveal to you how it can be unceasing; this needs time.”

Having said this, he ordered me to be fed, gave me on the road and let me go. And he didn't unravel.

- Holy Father! - I said, - I do not need a treat, but I want you to give me spiritual instruction, how to be saved?

- Well, how to be saved? Live according to the commandments and pray to God, and you will be saved!

– I hear that one must pray without ceasing, but I don’t know how to pray without ceasing, and I can’t even understand what unceasing prayer means. Please, my father, explain this to me.

“I don’t know, dear brother, how else to explain to you. E! Wait, I have a book, it is explained there, - and St. Dmitry carried out the spiritual teaching of the inner man. – Here, read on this page.

- Explain to me this, how the mind can always be turned to God, not be distracted and pray without ceasing.

“This is very tricky, unless God himself will give it to someone,” said the abbot. And he didn't unravel.

The elder crossed himself and began to speak:

– Thank God, beloved brother, for revealing in you an irresistible attraction to the knowledge of unceasing inner prayer. Recognize the call of God in this and calm down, being sure that until now the test of the consent of your will to the voice of God has been carried out over you, and it was given to understand that it is not by the wisdom of this world and not by external curiosity that they reach heavenly light, unceasing inner prayer, but, on the contrary , poverty of spirit and active experience, it is acquired in the simplicity of the heart. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that you could not hear about the essential matter of prayer and learn the science of how to achieve its unceasing action. And to tell the truth, although they preach a lot about prayer and there are many teachings about it by various writers, but since all their reasoning is based mostly on speculation, on considerations of natural reason, and not on active experience, they teach more about the accessories of prayer, rather than the essence of the object itself. Some talk beautifully about the need for prayer, another about its power and beneficence, and a third about the means to the perfection of prayer, that is, that prayer requires diligence, attention, warmth of the heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, contrition. And so on. What is prayer? and how to learn to pray? - on these, although the first and most necessary questions, it is very rare for the preachers of our time to find detailed explanations, since they are more difficult to understand all of the above reasoning and require mysterious knowledge, and not just school science. What is more pitiful than anything else is that vain elemental wisdom forces one to measure God by a human standard. Many talk about the matter of prayer in a completely transformed way, thinking that preparations and ascetic labors produce prayer, and that it is not prayer that gives rise to ascetic labors and all the virtues. In this case, they mistakenly take the fruits or consequences of prayer as means and methods for it, and thereby humiliate the power of prayer. And this is completely contrary to Holy Scripture, for the Apostle Paul gives instruction on prayer in the following words: First of all, please pray(1 Tim. 2:1). Here the first instruction in the apostle's saying about prayer is that he puts the matter of prayer first of all: First of all, I ask you to pray. There are many good deeds that are required of a Christian, but the deed of prayer must be before all deeds, because without it no other good deed can be accomplished.

In this interview we have insensibly come almost to the desert itself. In order not to miss that wise old man for me, but rather to get the permission of my desire, I hastened to tell him:

- Do me a favor, most honest father, explain to me what unceasing inner prayer means and how to learn it: I see that you know this in detail and experience.

The elder accepted my petition with love and called me to him:

“Now come to me, I will give you the book of the holy fathers, from which you can understand clearly and in detail and learn how to pray with the help of God.

We entered the cell and the elder began to say the following:

“Very understandable, my father! For God's sake, teach me how to achieve it! I exclaimed with joy.

Composition by an anonymous author, second half of the 19th century. Written by excellent literary language, this book reveals the mystical tradition of Orthodoxy. Kern wrote about her: “This is the path of a wanderer along endless roads, highways and country roads of Holy Russia; one of the representatives of that "wandering in Christ" Russia, which we knew so well then, long, long ago ... - Russia, which now does not exist and which, probably, will never be again. These are those who from Rev. Sergius went to Sarov and Valaam, to Optina and to the Kyiv saints; they visited Tikhon and Mitrofanii, visited St. Innokenty in Irkutsk, and reached Mount Athos and the Holy Land. They, "having no abiding city, were looking for a future one." These are those who were attracted by the distance and the carefree ease of a homeless life. Leaving their home, they found it in monastic cloisters. They preferred the edifying conversation of the elders and hermits to the sweetness of family comfort. They contrasted the strong way of the age-old way of life with the rhythm of the monastic liturgical year with its feasts and church memoirs. They seem to us now much closer to the Poor Man of Assisi, or even closer to those early Christians about whom the ancient author wrote: “Christians inhabit their fatherlands, but like strangers; they participate in everything like citizens, but they all endure like strangers; every foreign land is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign land ... Being in the flesh, they do not live according to the flesh; they wander on earth, but they dwell in heaven.”

The significance of The Frank Tales of a Wanderer cannot be overestimated: in a sense, they are the cumulative evidence of the entire Russian spiritual tradition. St. Theophan the Recluse was the editor and publisher of The Wanderer's Tales, and if we remember the style of editing St. Theophan, then we can safely call him the co-author of "Stories". Saint Ambrose Optinsky was either the author or one of the compilers last three"Tales of a wanderer" (in any case, they were found in his manuscripts). The Monk Barsanuphius of Optina began doing the Jesus Prayer precisely because of reading the "Stories". Arseny Troepolsky, who belonged to the "circle of friends" of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) approved of "Stories". Elders Theodosius and Nikodim of Karulsky perceived them as a guide in the Jesus Prayer. Frank Tales of a Wanderer was one of the sources for The Brothers Karamazov. The entire Russian religious revival considered the "Tales of a Wanderer" to be evidence of true Orthodoxy (from Berdyaev to Kern). That. “The Frank Stories of a Wanderer” are recognized by all Russian Orthodoxy (it seems only in our time, A. I. Osipov decided to criticize them).

As notes, the main discrepancies from the first Kazan edition of 1881 and the Athos Panteleimon manuscript No. 50/4/395 are included in the text. The work to identify these discrepancies was carried out by Hieromonk Vasily (Grolimund)

Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father

Preface to the new edition

The outspoken stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father, now published in a new edition, have long been known to Russian society. Written in the second half of the last century, they were distributed both in handwritten form and in print. They were copied on Mount Athos by the rector of the Cheremis monastery of the Kazan diocese, Abbot Paisius, and published by him, dependent on this monastery. In 1884, the fourth edition was published in Moscow. The stories were reprinted twice and abroad by YMCA-Press, in Paris.

In addition to these four "stories of the wanderer", in Russia, back in 1911, an addition to these stories was published (in 2 editions), found in a manuscript in the papers of the famous Optina elder, hieroschemamonk Ambrose. These new - fifth, sixth and seventh - stories were also republished as a separate brochure abroad in the Russian Church Printing House in Vladimirova on Slovenska in 1933. The first (four) stories were prefaced by the rector of the Cheremis monastery, and the preface to the foreign edition wrote prof. B. P. Vysheslavtsev. An additional edition of three short stories was prefaced by Bp. Vologodsky, Nikon, publisher of Troitsky Listki.

In this edition, the reader has all seven stories, supplemented, as before, with three "keys" for inner prayer work, compiled from the works of famous ascetic fathers.

The author of these stories remains unknown. Oral tradition called different names: and hegumen Tikhon, rector of one of the monasteries of the Nizhny Novgorod or Vladimir diocese, the author of several soulful books (for example, “The High Service of the Priest of God on Earth”), and the elder, Fr. Hieroschemamonk Ambrose of Optina, and even Bishop. Theophan the Recluse Vyshensky. But there is no irrefutable evidence in favor of any of them. It is very possible that this is generally an unknown writer. In any case, it must be said that he was not devoid of literary talent and taste.

To a large extent, the success of this book is due to its external qualities, which are quite consistent with its internal content. Needless to say, often the style of spiritual and educational literature, which did not obey the requirements of literary criticism and culture, repelled many readers who were thirsty for religious enlightenment. For some reason, books of spiritual and moral content were almost always written in a special, unacceptable language for literary hearing, richly equipped with Slavic-Russian phrases, a conditional, sugary-unctuous language and therefore easily seeming insincere. We can safely say that with all the wealth of theological treatises and monographs of first-class scientific value, Russian society, thirsting for religious enlightenment, was completely deprived of books written in completely natural language, not cutting the ear of a literary-educated reader. Even academic translations of patristic writings, almost always performed by professors of higher theological schools, often suffered from this artificial adaptation to the developed style of spiritual leaflets and pamphlets for the people. For some reason, the doors to this area of religious literature were closed to Pushkin's language.

The Wanderer's Tales is a happy exception. Their author managed to rise above the approved level of spiritual and moral writing. This book is written in a lively, folk and correct Russian language. Of course, she is not alien to a certain amount of mannerisms; its language is considerably outdated for our time; it is not free from the admixture of Church Slavism; Rhythm and style in some places is not sustained to the end. But, in general, these details do not detract from the favorable impression of the whole story of the Stranger. All this is not invented and not artificially created. The author certainly heard this dialect, so to speak, from nature. He fully entered into this chant and owns it skillfully and confidently.

The question arises, do the second three stories belong to the same author as the first four? It seems strange why only in 1911, after the book went through four editions and was widely distributed throughout Russia, the last stories were suddenly found. Found, apparently, and not immediately after the death of the late elder Ambrose. I personally do not have complete confidence in the identity of the compilers. The author of the last three stories seems to have completely mastered the style of the previous stories, but some degree of doubt still remains. But this is not so important.

Much more important than this outer side is the inner content of the book. This is the path of a wanderer along the endless roads, highways and country roads of Holy Russia; one of the representatives of that "wandering in Christ" Russia, which we knew so well then, long, long ago ... - Russia, which now does not exist and which, probably, will never be again. These are those who from Rev. Sergius went to Sarov and Valaam, to Optina and to the Kyiv saints; they visited Tikhon and Mitrofanii, visited St. Innokenty in Irkutsk, and reached Mount Athos and the Holy Land. They, "having no abiding city, were looking for a future one." These are those who were attracted by the distance and the carefree ease of a homeless life. Leaving their home, they found it in monastic cloisters. They preferred the edifying conversation of the elders and hermits to the sweetness of family comfort. They contrasted the strong way of the age-old way of life with the rhythm of the monastic liturgical year with its feasts and church memoirs. They seem to us now much closer to the Poor Man of Assisi, or even closer to those early Christians about whom the ancient author wrote: “Christians inhabit their fatherlands, but like strangers; they participate in everything like citizens, but they all endure like strangers; every foreign land is their fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign land ... Being in the flesh, they do not live according to the flesh; they wander on the earth, but live in heaven” (the so-called “Letter to Diognet”).

And this “by the grace of God a Christian man, by deeds a great sinner, by rank a homeless wanderer”, who spends the night either with a woodworking peasant, or with a merchant, or in a remote Siberian monastery, or with a pious landowner or priest, leads his artless the story of his travels. The rhythm of his melody easily captures the reader, subdues him and makes him listen and learn. To be enriched by the rich treasure that this poor man owns, who has nothing with him except a bag of crackers, a Bible in his bosom, and the “Philokalia” in his bag. This treasure is prayer. That gift and that element, with which those who acquired it are immensely rich. This is the spiritual wealth that the ascetic fathers called “intelligent doing” or “spiritual sobriety”, which was inherited from the ascetics of Egypt, Sinai and Athos, and whose roots go back to the hoary antiquity of Christianity. This is the richness that is close to all mystics of all religions, that inner self-deepening that opens the “hidden heart of man”, which shows the ascetic “knowledge of the logoi of the creature”, i.e., the supremely peaceful meaning and artistic design of the divine plan of the created universe.

The apostolic words “pray without ceasing,” from which, in essence, this spiritual pilgrimage of the Wanderer begins, were loved by the Christian mystics of antiquity and, embodied in their inner work, developed into a special spiritual science of constant sobriety of the mind. Already Clement of Alexandria, a philosopher and theologian, one of the first Christian mystics, knows the basic principles of this work. His perfect "gnostic" strives to pray this inner prayer, which does not need a special time, place, books, or prayer symbols. He does not need words and sounds. The silent prayer of his lips, the whisper of his lips, this is the cry of his heart. He prays all day and all his life. He does not need churches, and the worship of his heart does not obey the church typikon. The purpose of his prayer is not the fulfillment of petitions, but pure contemplation of God.

The same prayer is known and taught by Sts. Macarius of Egypt and Anthony the Great, John of the Ladder and Maximus the Confessor, Isaac of Syria and Simeon the New Theologian, Areopagitics and Gregory Palamas. The fact that the Church carefully and jealously preserves in the writings of all these ascetics - the artists of this work, is the pinnacle of all prayerful art. It received its most complete and vivid expression in the word of St. Simeon the New Theologian, about three types of prayer, which reveals to us the full value and content of this “ugly” prayer - a prayer that is not embodied in liturgical icon-painting symbols, but consists in the incessant repetition of the name of God, delighting in it and contemplating in it the uncreated energies of God, because it is given by God to the purified heart of the ascetic. From Palamas and Sinai this experience was transmitted and preserved by the Hesychasts of Athos; from them, through Paisius Velichkovsky, was received by our elders, the Optina and Valaam hesychasts.

"Frank Tales of a Wanderer" are the best textbook prayers. This book first appeared in Russia in the 19th century at the very peak of eldership, which was based on the so-called "path of spiritual work", i.e. contemplative attitude to life and knowledge of oneself surrounded by the world. The first edition of the book became, as they would say now, a bestseller - and it remains so a century later.

A series: Pilgrim's Library

* * *

by the LitRes company.

Story one

“What need do you have for me?” he asked me.

Pray more and more fervently, prayer itself will reveal to you how it can be unceasing; this needs time.”

Having said this, he ordered me to be fed, gave me on the road and let me go. And he didn't unravel.

- Holy Father! - I said, - I do not need a treat, but I want you to give me spiritual instruction, how to be saved?

- Well, how to be saved? Live according to the commandments and pray to God, and you will be saved!

– I hear that one must pray without ceasing, but I don’t know how to pray without ceasing, and I can’t even understand what unceasing prayer means. Please, my father, explain this to me.

- Explain to me this, how the mind can always be turned to God, not be distracted and pray without ceasing.

“This is very tricky, unless God himself will give it to someone,” said the abbot. And he didn't unravel.

The elder crossed himself and began to speak:

– Thank God, beloved brother, for revealing in you an irresistible attraction to the knowledge of unceasing inner prayer. Recognize the call of God in this and calm down, being sure that until now the test of the consent of your will to the voice of God has been carried out over you, and it was given to understand that it is not by the wisdom of this world and not by external curiosity that they reach heavenly light, unceasing inner prayer, but, on the contrary , poverty of spirit and active experience, it is acquired in the simplicity of the heart. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that you could not hear about the essential matter of prayer and learn the science of how to achieve its unceasing action. And to tell the truth, although they preach a lot about prayer and there are many teachings about it by various writers, but since all their reasoning is based mostly on speculation, on considerations of natural reason, and not on active experience, they teach more about the accessories of prayer, rather than the essence of the object itself. Some talk beautifully about the need for prayer, another about its power and beneficence, and a third about the means to the perfection of prayer, that is, that prayer requires diligence, attention, warmth of the heart, purity of thought, reconciliation with enemies, humility, contrition. And so on. What is prayer? and how to learn to pray? - on these, although the first and most necessary questions, it is very rare for the preachers of our time to find detailed explanations, since they are more difficult to understand all of the above reasoning and require mysterious knowledge, and not just school science. What is more pitiful than anything else is that vain elemental wisdom forces one to measure God by a human standard. Many talk about the matter of prayer in a completely transformed way, thinking that preparations and ascetic labors produce prayer, and that it is not prayer that gives rise to ascetic labors and all the virtues. In this case, they mistakenly take the fruits or consequences of prayer as means and methods for it, and thereby humiliate the power of prayer. And this is completely contrary to Holy Scripture, for the Apostle Paul gives instruction on prayer in the following words: First of all, please pray(1 Tim. 2:1). Here the first instruction in the apostle's saying about prayer is that he puts the matter of prayer first of all: First of all, I ask you to pray. There are many good deeds that are required of a Christian, but the deed of prayer must be before all deeds, because without it no other good deed can be accomplished.

In this interview we have insensibly come almost to the desert itself. In order not to miss that wise old man for me, but rather to get the permission of my desire, I hastened to tell him:

- Do me a favor, most honest father, explain to me what unceasing inner prayer means and how to learn it: I see that you know this in detail and experience.

The elder accepted my petition with love and called me to him:

“Now come to me, I will give you the book of the holy fathers, from which you can understand clearly and in detail and learn how to pray with the help of God.

We entered the cell and the elder began to say the following:

“Very understandable, my father! For God's sake, teach me how to achieve it! I exclaimed with joy.

“Is it higher and holier than the Bible?” I asked.

- No, it is not higher and not holier than the Bible, but contains bright explanations of what is mysteriously contained in the Bible and is not reasonable in its height for our short-sighted mind. I give you an example of this: the sun is the greatest, most brilliant and most excellent luminary, but you cannot contemplate and consider it with a simple, unshielded eye. You need a certain artificial glass, although millions of times smaller and dimmer than the sun, through which you could look at this magnificent king of the luminaries, admire and receive his fiery rays. So the Holy Scripture is the brilliant sun, and the “Philokalia” is that necessary glass.

I listened attentively to everything with admiration, absorbed my memory and tried to remember everything in as much detail as possible. So we sat up all night and, not sleeping, went to matins.

For a week, in my solitude in the garden, I intently studied the study of unceasing prayer, just as the elder explained to me. At first, things seemed to work. Then I felt a great burden, laziness, boredom, overcoming sleep, and various thoughts swept over me like a cloud. With sorrow, I went to the elder and told him my situation. He kindly met me and began to say:

God will help you through this to achieve unceasing action of the heart.

I announced this to the elder, and he ordered me to perform six thousand prayers a day, saying:

– Be calm and only, as faithfully as possible, try to fulfill the number of prayers commanded to you: God will do mercy to you.

And what? I am so accustomed to prayer that even if I stop doing it for a short time, I feel as if something is missing, as if I have lost something; I will begin prayer, and again at that very moment it will become easy and gratifying. When you meet someone, you are no longer willing to talk, and you still want to be in solitude and pray; so used to it in a week.

After not seeing me for ten days, the elder himself came to visit me, and I explained my condition to him. He listened and said:

I began to do as the elder commanded me, and on the first day I barely had time late in the evening to finish my twelve thousand rule. The next day I did it easily and with pleasure. At first he felt fatigue during the incessant utterance of a prayer, or, as it were, a stiffness of the tongue and some kind of binding in the jaws, however pleasant, then a slight and subtle pain in the palate of the mouth, then he felt a slight pain in the thumb of his left hand, with which he fingered the rosary, and inflammation of the whole brush, which extended to the elbow and produced a most pleasant sensation. Moreover, all this, as it were, aroused and compelled to a greater creation of prayer. And so for five days he faithfully performed twelve thousand prayers, and along with the habit he received pleasantness and desire.

Once, early in the morning, as if a prayer woke me up. I began to read the morning prayers, but my tongue awkwardly pronounces them, and all desire of itself strives to say the Jesus Prayer. And when I started it, how easy, gratifying it became, and the tongue and the mouth, as it were, uttered by themselves without my compulsion!

But for a short time I used the instructions of my kind and God-wise elder - at the end of the summer he died. I, with tears, said goodbye to him, thanking him for the fatherly teaching of me, the accursed one, after him begged for a blessing the rosary with which he always prayed. So, I was left alone. Finally, the summer passed, and the garden was cleaned. I had nowhere to live. The peasant paid me, gave me two rubles for the guard and poured a bag of crackers on the road, and I again went to wander in different places, but I no longer walked like I used to with need; calling on the name of Jesus Christ gladdened me along the way, and all people became kinder to me, it seemed as if everyone began to love me.

One day I began to think, where should I put the money I received for keeping the garden and what do I need it for? E! wait! Now the elder is gone, there is no one to teach, I will buy myself the “Philokalia” and I will begin to learn inner prayer from it. I crossed myself and go to myself with a prayer. He reached one provincial town and began to ask for “Philokalia” on the benches, found in one place, but even then they ask for three rubles, and I only have two, bargained, bargained, but the merchant did not yield at all, finally said: “Go out to this church, ask the head of the church there, he has an old sort of book, maybe he will give you two rubles.” I went and really bought for two rubles "Philokalia", all battered and dilapidated; rejoiced.

Somehow I repaired it, sheathed it with a rag and put it in my bag with my Bible.

This is how I walk now and continually say the Jesus Prayer, which is more precious and sweeter than anything in the world to me. I sometimes walk seventy miles or more a day and do not feel that I am walking, but I feel only that I am doing a prayer. When a strong cold grips me, I will begin to say a prayer more intensely and soon I will warm up all over. If hunger begins to overcome me, I will often call on the name of Jesus Christ and forget that I was hungry. When I become ill, my back and legs begin to ache, I will listen to prayer and do not hear the pain. When someone offends me, I will only remember how sweet the Jesus Prayer is; immediately the insult and anger will pass and I will forget everything. I have become kind of half-witted, I have no worries about anything, nothing interests me, I wouldn’t look at anything fussy and I would be all alone in solitude; It is only out of habit that I want to pray without ceasing, and when I do it, I am very happy. God knows what is happening to me. Of course, all this is sensual or, as the late elder said, natural and artificial from habit, but soon I still do not dare to start studying and assimilating spiritual prayer into the heart, due to my unworthiness and stupidity. I am waiting for the hour of the will of God, hoping for the prayers of my late elder. So, although I have not reached unceasing, self-acting spiritual prayer in my heart, but, thank God, I now clearly understand what the saying that I heard in the Apostle means: pray without ceasing.

* * *

The following excerpt from the book Frank stories of a wanderer to his spiritual father (Collection) provided by our book partner -

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The Great Soviet Encyclopedia gives the following definition of the concept of a dialect (from the Greek diblektos - conversation, dialect, dialect) - this is ...

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