Theophan the recluse, letters about the spiritual Christian life. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it (St. Theophan the Recluse). Saint Theophan the Recluse “Letters on Spiritual Life”

Letter one.

You would like to know my opinion about Count Speransky’s letters about spiritual life. I will gladly fulfill your wish. But arm yourself with patience, because I have come to want not to limit myself to short notes, but to conduct a lengthy conversation about the subjects touched upon in the mentioned letters. That these items are worth it, there is nothing to say about that. But the letters are also so complex that they involuntarily provoke thought.
So you see, Count Speransky is going through a spiritual life. A statesman, almost constantly busy with administrative institutions and improving the order of state life, found it possible to intelligently and heartily abide in God, the all-ruling, omnipresent, all-seeing. This brings to mind the usual excuse with which secular people cover up their reluctance to work as they should on the work of God, the work of their salvation: “Where can we be!” Speransky actually denounces them, and he is not the only one, but many others as well. I remember that Elder Vasily denounced the same excuse in his prefaces to the articles of the Philokalia about doing smart or prayer placed in the biography of Elder Paisius Nyametsky. “Look,” he says, “what high life people were passing by, busy with external affairs on duty,” and lists them. Such was the noble steward mentioned by Simeon, the new theologian, in his word on faith placed in the Philokalia; such was Patriarch Photius, who was familiar with this matter before the patriarchate, during the works of the Secretary of State; such were the other patriarchs, who had in their hands the management of church affairs, mostly external, which was quite troublesome. Elder Vasily, by presenting these spiritual figures among external obligatory affairs, had in mind to dispose the zealots of piety to the same kind of life, in due time. Will you and I not be able to motivate someone to similar experiences by presenting them with a picture of spiritual life, as Speransky paints it in his letters, of course, from his own experience.
That Speransky’s thoughts are based on his own experience, that he is talking about what he himself was doing, is clear from his very speeches. He portrays the matter of spiritual life in its present form and very sensibly. Having quickly skimmed through these letters for the first time, I thought about exposing their wrongness; but, having later delved deeper into everything expressed in them, he abandoned this unjust attempt. Here only some terms and phrases borrowed not from our books are incorrect. One has only to give these expressions of insistence the meaning that they should have in the course of thoughts, and there will be no room left for criticism. And in general it is very inconvenient to criticize thoughts about spiritual subjects. Spiritual states are similar to walking through rooms full of various objects that are seen differently from different points of view. A person passing by sees one thing, but does not see another, because it is obscured by something; and what he sees, he sees from the side facing him, which may have features that are not similar to the features of the opposite side, visible to another viewer. And even the general overview may not be the same depending on the location from which you look; and here light and shadows, their own power of vision, and the mutual relationship of objects influence the viewer’s concepts. All this applies to those who write about spiritual subjects. When a writer writes from his own experience, one must accept how he testifies. It is unfair to suspect him of insincerity and measure him by one’s own standards. Only theorists, who rarely reach the truth in their speculations, are subject to judgment - and the trial not of speculation, but of experience. With all this, I find it completely fair to distinguish in Speransky’s letters hints about his spiritual states, Speransky’s own view of these states, and his own language about that. The last two belong personally to Speransky, the first are common property. I believe that you could think differently and speak differently about your conditions. And if you see any difference in my speeches with the speeches of Count Speransky, it will concern precisely this necessary distinction. My speeches will run parallel to Speransky’s speeches. These will be two paintings, one against the other. The whole difference, perhaps, will be that in one there will be light and shadows, and in the other there will be only general outlines.
It occurred to me whether it would be better to collect into one everything that Count Speransky said about spiritual life in order to more fully characterize him from this side, as he is characterized from the outside social activities. But this would lead us to long and distant work, and meanwhile, perhaps, we would not have to get everything related to this. Therefore, abandoning this idea, which is not uninteresting, I will hasten to satisfy your desire, limiting my speech to the circle of concepts expressed in the present letters.
The compiler of the preface to Count Speransky’s letters says that they expressed the contemplative quietism of the great worker. I dwell on this phrase in order to say that one cannot indiscriminately use this word, which expresses the wrong direction of inner life, as well as mysticism, whenever one happens to come across someone talking about spiritual life: after all, the true Christian life is a life that delivers deep peace, intimate and mysterious. Speransky was neither a quietist nor a mystic, although he speaks in the words of mystics, and even calls his speeches mystical theology. He was a man who had developed a full Christian life, and, having been confirmed in spirit in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, he turned all other powers of soul and body to serving God, fulfilling His commandments in all circumstances of his life, for the glory of God and the salvation of himself and his brothers. theirs in the Lord. This is the norm of Christian perfection, and he approached it as far as it is possible for a person in family life, and in the administrative and civil fields. A clear justification for him from criticism of quietism and mysticism is represented by his prayerful appeal to the Mother of God, to the Guardian Angel, his prayer, confession and communion, reading the word of God and its simple understanding, and even more so reading the lives of the saints. All these are activities and actions that the worst mystic and quietist would never agree to. That the language is similar to the language of Western mystics is probably because he wrote to a person familiar only with Western writings about the inner life, and that he himself, rereading these writings, together with that person and, perhaps, only for him, I involuntarily picked up the turns of their speech. His own language, of course, was the language of the Orthodox Church, the language of St. fathers and the Philokalia, which he himself speaks of in his letters. That is why Count Speransky avoided deviations from the truth, because he knew in advance from these reliable sources the exact description of the life hidden in Christ, and despite the fact that he read the writings of Westerners full of errors, he maintained sobriety of thought. as the same compiler of the preface writes, that is, a sound view of the inner life in Christ, and was able to draw the right line between it, as it is, and between how the false mystics portray it.
Mysticism and quietism are the morbid products of misdirected religiosity. They appeared and were possible only in the west, in those who had fallen away from the St. Churches in Christian communities, and mainly during the ferment of minds produced by Protestantism and the Reformation. They were looking for a good deed, living communication with God, but they were looking for it in the wrong way; and most importantly, they hoped through their own efforts and, as it were, by right to take possession of what was to be expected from the mercy of God, and what was to be accepted as a gift of this mercy. In the tension of this self-confident initiative, the imagination flared up and gave rise to dreamy expectations, which, as ardently desired, soon seemed and were considered fulfilled, and the goal of the work was achieved. All this was painted in the most attractive colors, and presented in charming images, in dreamy, transcendental contemplations. The Scriptures entice them, because they talk about subjects dear to their hearts, but they only attract and give nothing. This distinguishing feature all of them. True life in Christ is a hidden, mysterious (mystical) life. The Apostle Paul calls it the life hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3); Apostle Peter - a hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3, 4); The Savior Himself is the kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:21). But in its appearance it is very simple. It is unknown how the Spirit comes and excites us to repentance. Having accomplished this internal revolution, He then equips the believing heart for the difficult struggle with passions, guides and helps in it. Everyone has this struggle, more or less long and painful; it leads to purity of heart, for the sake of which the believing worker is rewarded with the clearest comprehension of the truths of God and the sweetest sensation - both in such features as are precisely defined in the Gospel and the Apostolic writings. This last appears at the end of long labors and many trials, like a crown of reward. The mystics, directly or predominantly, grasp at this highest point of perfection, and they paint it as it is depicted in the dreams of their imagination, always in false colors. The truth can only be told by experience, by experiencing only spiritual blessings in action; and mystics block the real road there for themselves with their very dreams. On the contrary, in the writings of the fathers, the least thing is said about these higher states, and everything is about the works of repentance, the struggle with passions, and various cases of this. Such is the Philokalia, from which Speransky drew sound concepts about the hidden life in Christ.

© Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery, 2017

© V.G. Gorbachev, V.F. Kiselkova. Compilation, 2017

From the compilers

The outstanding Saint Theophan the Recluse left an extensive and precious spiritual and literary heritage. A special place in it is occupied by his answers to various people who asked him for advice or spiritual help, solutions to perplexed questions, consolation in sorrows, relief in troubles... From all sides of Russia these requests flocked to the Vyshinskaya Hermitage, where the Right Reverend Theophan had been staying for the last twenty-eight years of his life, and twenty-two of them he was in strict seclusion. Before this, he had already gone through a significant life and spiritual path, given to the service of the Church of God in various fields and in different places.

The saint used all the greatest and invaluable experience accumulated over the years of his life, and especially during the years of seclusion, in his extensive correspondence with numerous correspondents, among whom were representatives of all classes, from dignitaries to peasants. Every day the mail brought from twenty to forty letters, and Bishop Theophan always answered each of them, sensitively guessing the spiritual state and needs of the writer, and finding for each the necessary word that went straight to the heart. He had a rare gift: to speak simply, clearly, concisely about the most complex subjects, about the most profound things.

In the 1880s, the confessor of the Gethsemane monastery at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, later abbot of the Zosima Monastery, Fr. Hermann. The reason that prompted Fr. Herman turned to the saint because he wanted to learn the Jesus Prayer, which he strove to acquire throughout his entire ascetic life. After the death of his elder, left to his own devices, Fr. Herman “began little by little to deviate into the breadth of the vast path,” as he wrote in a letter to the saint, “at first he began to follow the events of the life of the world with great interest, then, prompted by the desire to convey his impressions to others, he could no longer resist lengthy conversations and gossip ; finally, I became attached even to the temporary, perishable... Emptiness has taken root in my soul, my heart has grown cold to prayer, and the memory of my former life stings me and prompts me to seek guidance again.”

At the same time, Fr. Herman turned for advice to the Optina and Valaam monks. Having visited the Valaam Monastery, he met Schemamonk Agapius (Molodyashin) and other elders. Father Herman asked the elder to give him written instructions on how to do the Jesus Prayer intelligently. Father Agapius was inclined to the so-called “artistic” way of saying prayer, attaching excessive importance to external methods of prayer. When did Fr. Herman began to resort to this method, but an inner feeling told him that it was imperfect and dangerous. The Lord, seeing from the side about.

Herman's sincere and diligent search inspired him to turn to His Eminence Theophan for clarification. “To you, Vladyka, I turn for help, at your feet I throw myself in the hope that you will not refuse to teach me how to avoid attachment to the world, to cleave to God with all my soul,” he wrote to the saint. A correspondence began between them. Reading it, one cannot help but notice how at the beginning Fr. Herman diligently relied on external methods of prayer. He not only asked about them, but even defended them. In response, Saint Theophan did not advise him to resort to them, considering them to be of secondary importance and even dangerous in the absence of an experienced leader.

Saint Theophan also found that the “artistic work” performed by Fr. Agapium is not entirely correct. When Fr. Herman reported about. Agapius about the advice of the Vyshensky recluse, he humbly accepted this as a fatherly instruction. Between Saint Theophan and Fr. Agapius began a correspondence that soon led to good results. Archpriest Justin (Olshevsky, in monasticism - Sylvester, from 1915 - Bishop of Omsk and Pavlodar), who published this correspondence in the Poltava Diocesan Gazette in 1905, wrote in his closing remarks: “These are nine letters from a high mentor to a worthy student. In the letters, one is equally struck by the humility and depth of understanding of the innermost high movements of the spirit in one, the height of the spirit together with childish simplicity in the other. “Everything (in the soul) must be absorbed in feelings for God, or contrition, or thanksgiving, or glorification, or asking for something necessary for the soul and for the body, and for the external situation, with faith and hope,” explains the unforgettable Bishop Theophan to the monk. How necessary this is for us, pastors, in our pastoral work.”

In the first part this collection We offer the reader the letters of Saint Theophan, written by him to Schema-Abbot Herman and to Schemamonk Agapius, as well as the instructions “On the Jesus Prayer, performed verbally, mentally and heartily,” compiled by Schemamonk Agapius and his companions, reviewed and corrected by Saint Theophan, the recluse of Vyshensky.

We draw the reader's attention to the fact that in the fifth and sixth letters of Saint Theophan to Schemamonk Agapius, he addresses Hieromonk Agafangel (Amosov), who later became the rector of the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery.

The next generation of Valaam monks continued the Jesus Prayer. In 1971, S. N. Bolshakov’s book “On the Heights of the Spirit” was published in Brussels, in which his conversations with monks and laity about spiritual life and the Jesus Prayer were published. In particular, the author talked with famous Valaam elders - Hieroschemamonk Mikhail (Pitkevich) and schema-abbot Ioann (Alekseev). The elders, first of all, advised both monks and laity, practitioners of the Jesus Prayer, to “have deep humility and not at all doubt.” “Why do we read the Jesus Prayer? - was talking about. John. “So that, constantly remembering the Lord and repenting of sins, we come to spiritual peace, inner silence and love for our neighbor and truth - then we live in God, Who is love.”

The correspondence of St. Theophan the Recluse with Fathers Herman and Agapius, as well as S. N. Bolshakov’s conversations with practitioners of the Jesus Prayer of the 20th century, are of enduring importance for the modern reader. They capture the invaluable spiritual experience of the great ascetics of Orthodoxy, which, protecting against mistakes and false understanding of spiritual life, instructs on the true, narrow path of salvation.

Part I
Saint Theophan the Recluse on the Jesus Prayer in letters to Hieromonk Herman and Schemamonk Agapius 1
Reprinted from: Answers of Bishop Theophan, a recluse of the Vyshenskaya Hermitage, to the monk’s questions regarding various activities of monastic life. Tambov. Printing house of the Provincial Government. 1894. pp. 1–66.

Initial letter sent by Hieromonk Herman to Bishop Theophan

Your Eminence Vladyka, gracious Archpastor!

Rumors about your kindness and readiness to provide everyone with all possible help gave me the courage to fall at the feet of Your Eminence and ask for guidance on how to learn from the memory of God, which has long been the desire of my heart.

Having enjoyed for ten years the spiritual nourishment of an old man who devoted himself entirely to the feat of prayer, I had the opportunity to see what benefits the participants in this wonderful work were blessed with, and I had the desire to always carry the most gracious and sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ in my heart. Although my work was accompanied by some kind of dryness of heart, the example of the old man, who was inflamed with such strong love for Him that even the presence of people was a burden to him, and the charms of the world had lost their charm for him, in every possible way encouraged me to force myself to prayer.

After the death of my mentor, left to my own devices, I began to gradually deviate into the breadth of the vast path: at first I began to follow the events of the life of the world with great interest; then, prompted by the desire to convey his impressions to others, he could no longer resist lengthy conversations and gossip; finally, I became attached even to the temporary, perishable... Emptiness took root in my soul, my heart grew cold towards prayer, and the memories of my former life seemed to be like butts 2
Goad (glory)– piercing, wounding weapon; pointed stake

It stings me and motivates me to seek guidance again. I look around and see no one: for my sin, I cannot know the hidden servants of God!

To you, Vladyka, I turn for help, at your feet I throw myself in the hope that you will not refuse to teach me how, having avoided addiction to the world, cleave to God with all my soul.

Forgive me, gracious father and archpastor, that I dare to bother you with a request, but some kind of confidence that it will be fulfilled and I will hear from you what the Lord God says about me, gave me the courage to decide on this.

Then, having asked for your archpastoral blessing and holy prayers, I have the honor to be.

Your Eminence, the lowest novice, unworthy hieromonk Herman.

Letters to Hieromonk Herman

Having been under the guidance of the elder for so long, you, of course, heard everything that was required. - Remember and execute, without putting it off until tomorrow.

The Athos people have books: “The Path to Salvation” (an essay on asceticism), “What is Spiritual Life”, “Letters on Spiritual Life”, “Invisible Warfare”... Get them and learn from them... not to know, but to do.

Anything else that disturbs the conscience must be abandoned immediately. I think everything that you imposed on yourself after the death of the elder belongs to this category.

What is considered necessary in the matter of salvation and prosperity cannot be avoided in any way; no matter how you cover it up, it must be fulfilled.

The Jesus Prayer, in its power, appears not at the beginning, but at the end of prosperity, like flower and fruit. It is preceded by an inward gravitational pull.

God bless you!

Save yourself!

Please pray for my many sins.

God's mercy be with you!

Prayer is an internal matter. Everything that is done externally does not belong to the essence of the matter, but is an external situation.

Everything that appears to be good from this appearance only seems good, but is not. Therefore, no attention should be paid to this.

It's better to stop what you're doing. The main thing you need to practice is the memory of God or walking in the presence of God. Try to acquire the skill of always being aware and feeling that you are under the eye of God, penetrating the entire depth of your heart and seeing all your internal movements.

The Jesus Prayer is among the means to success in the skill of walking with God. Everything you need to know about the production of this prayer is in the book on invisible warfare.

The main thing here is to pay attention in your heart and cry out to the Lord, who exists everywhere. It's better to stand than sit. It’s better not to think at all about breathing, head position, etc. And pay all your attention to your inner structure.

The root of a good inner order is the fear of God. It must be made non-waste... He will keep everything in tension and will not allow either members or thoughts to dissolve, creating a cheerful heart and a sober thought.

But we must always remember and feel that success in spiritual life and in all its manifestations is the fruit of God’s grace. Spiritual life is all from the Most Holy Spirit of God. We have our own spirit, but it is powerless. It comes into force when grace overshadows it. Save yourself!

Your good friend E. Feofan

God's mercy be with you!

Seek and you will find, the Lord promised. You are looking, and be sure that you will find.

What should you look for? Living tangible communication with the Lord. The grace of God gives this, but we need to work for it ourselves. Where should the labor be directed? To always remember the Lord, as if he is near and even in the heart. In order to succeed in this, it is advised to become accustomed to the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, repeating it constantly with the thought of the Lord, as existing in the heart or near the heart. Become attentive in your heart before the face of the Lord and say: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.“That’s the whole point, and essentially nothing more is required.”

Everything that is invented besides this is invented only as an aid to this main thing. *** people say: keep your attention in your heart or at the end of your tongue and keep your hand at your chest; the old woman says, imagine the Crucified Lord and say your prayer to Him as if He were alive. If it helps them, let them do it for themselves, just don’t consider it the main thing. Others did this: he sits on a small chair that is placed under his feet, presses his head to his chest, bends down to his knees and breathes, says one half of the prayer, inhaling air, and the other - exhaling... By working like this, they get used to prayer, and then they advise others to do the same Well... And let them, just don’t think that this is the whole point. - But all this and the like is not business, but an addition. The point is to become your mind in your heart before the face of the Lord and say a prayer to Him. At the same time, know that mental prayer is standing with the mind before the Lord with sighs to Him, and the Jesus prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me... is verbal, external prayer.

In this way, the memory of God will be established in the mind, and the face of God will be in the soul, like the sun. Put a cold thing in the sun and it will warm up. Thus the soul will also be warmed by the memory of the Lord, Who is the intelligent sun. And what will happen next - you will see later.

The first work is the skill of constantly repeating the Jesus Prayer... And begin, repeat and repeat, but all with the thought of the Lord.

And that's it...

Where is the heart? – Where sadness, joy, anger, etc. resonates and is felt, that’s where the heart is. Stand there and pay attention... The bodily heart is a muscular heart, meat... but it is not the meat that feels, but the soul, for the feeling of which the meat heart serves only as a tool, just as the brain serves as a tool for the mind.

Don't judge the *** people. – That’s right, they start by keeping their attention at the end of the tongue, and then move to the heart. Well, let them do it, just don’t consider it a smart activity, just like saying the Jesus Prayer. Both are external matters, bodily... The mental matter is one thing: to ascend to the Lord with your mind and heart.

Is the imagination of the Crucified Christ an essential matter? – No, and it is also helpful, not the main thing. The old lady says the truth that to keep the mind from wandering it is good to imagine an object figuratively... This is possible... But there is no reason to become attached to one image. The Lord is now in glory, sitting at the right hand - and all the saints are around Him. - And so you can imagine. But it’s better to do without images, because imagination is brute force. It is better to stand in faith alone, that the Lord is near, than to imagine. The old woman got used to it, and the image of the Crucified Lord merged with her heartfelt prayer, which is what it’s all about. That the old woman goes deep into prayer until she forgets everything, this is true and is the mercy of God, for the sake of her humility, without which this would not have been possible...

It is not in delusion, but in truth.

You can't stop talking idle talk. - Idle talk is the most ruinous thing. Equally evil is when they walk around without respecting their feelings... Both of these greatly interfere with success in prayer. When the Jesus Prayer begins to take hold in the heart, then the tongue will be bound... It will be bound by reverence for the Present Lord.

Know also that you must conduct your affairs in such a way that your conscience does not condemn anything, and if it does, you must immediately pacify it with repentance. – And the body must be lightened by little food, and little sleep, and overexertion...

God bless you!

Save yourself!

Your good friend E. Feofan

P.S. Do you have the book “Invisible Warfare”? The matter of prayer is described in detail there... Please read and delve into it.

God's mercy be with you!

I am very glad that your confusion has been clarified. Place more emphasis on presenting yourself mentally to the Lord than on your physical actions and positions.

Save yourself!

Your good friend

God's mercy be with you!

What the old woman said about visible objects being necessary during prayer, I think you misunderstood. When thinking about God, we must try in every possible way to think about Him as the purest Spirit, having no form or image. But having such a thought gives only grace when a feeling for God is formed in the heart. Until then, our thoughts about God are not complete, they are mixed with some form. For example, the Prophet says: I will foresee the Lord before me, like there is at my right hand (Ps. 15:8). This is an image. Another similar one: How can I walk away from Your Spirit and whence will I flee from Your presence? Even if I ascend to heaven, You are there; Even if I go to hell, there you go. If I take my wings early and dwell in the last of the seas, then Your hand will guide me and Your right hand will hold me (Ps. 139: 7-10). And this is the image of the omnipresence of God... So it is with any other thought about God and divine things... The thought of the old woman is that it is difficult for us to free ourselves from images when thinking about God; but you understood that you must always have an image, and that without such an image you cannot pray. It's your fault, not the old woman's. Please try in every possible way to pray without images of God... Stand in your heart with faith that God is right there, but don’t imagine how He is. Pray and seek so that the grace of God will finally give you a feeling for God.

Who came up with this: keep attention on lips or end language?! It's a bad idea, come on. Try to be attentive in your heart, and nowhere else. That the mind, after several prayers, runs away from the heart and lags behind the memory of God, is due to weakness of attention and indifference to prayer. The soul does not value prayer and is in a hurry to get rid of it as quickly as possible, muttering it somehow. Seek the fear of God and with it begin to pray and pray, keeping your attention on the meaning of the words of prayer. Then short prayers and the Jesus Prayer are used to instill in the heart a feeling for God and thereby attract attention. But if we are careless about prayer, we will never succeed in it. Remember also that prayer alone is not perfect, but together with all the virtues. As virtues improve, prayer also improves. The most important essence: fear of God, chastity, humility, contrition, mortification of the flesh, patience, love... When they are there, all the others will appear, and with them prayer.

“Should I define myself by the number of prayers and bows or should I be more concerned about attention?” – Without attention, prayer is not prayer. Therefore, this is the main thing. But at the same time, it is necessary to determine the number of prayers and bows as a rule. This is for home prayer. The best way to succeed in prayer is to go to church for all services and try to be in reverent prayer there. Look in the Slavic Philokalia at the legend about Maxim Kapsokalivite and imitate him. When you receive what he received, then you will have a real prayer. Lying on your side won't gain anything... You ask about a certain brother. Tell him everything that is written here, and that’s enough... Let him leave his lips and tongue, but do as the fathers wrote, that is, stand with attention in the heart. We can advise him: leave all these extras, just be in your heart and with feeling, falling to the ground, crying out: “Lord, have mercy!” This is how Maxim Kapsokalivit. And let everything work like that. Let him go to church without hesitation, make as many bows as possible at home, and let him constantly repeat some prayer verse with attention and reverence, especially the Jesus Prayer. The limit of labor is a never-wasting feeling for God, or what Maxim Kapsokalivit received. It is especially necessary to refine the flesh through fasting, vigilance and physical labor and constantly keep it in tension, like a soldier on guard. Yes, distraction, running around, idle talk and laughter, and empty reading. And everything will go well.

You need to work hard and overwork yourself without pity. God bless you!

Save yourself!

Your good wish

May God's mercy be with you, most venerable Fr. Hermann!

You did well to send me a letter from *** people. I didn't understand them before. Now I understand well and see that they consider it essential to keep attention on the end of the tongue, lips and fingers pressed to the chest above the left nipple, and therefore they are in delusion. This is a dangerous situation. But what’s even worse is that they teach others the same thing as something of urgent importance. There is no importance in this. The essence of prayer is in the mental presence of the Lord with an invocation to Him, in a feeling of either thanksgiving, or praise, or petition, or contrition, or fear, or hope, or some other feeling related to the Lord, so that if there is no one to the Lord feelings, then prayer is not prayer. When someone is feeling, he has no time to pay attention to the external position of both the whole body and its different parts - lips, tongue, fingers. In the heart one must pay attention, but not before the heart, but before the Lord. If the Lord is not in your attention, then there is no prayer.

The *** people claim that when they perform prayer according to their newly invented method, they feel something must be in the heart pleasantness And warmth... This does not prove anything: this pleasantness and warmth is tawdry, empty... Once upon a time there were good fellows who focused their attention on navel; that's why they were called navels. Of course, they felt something too.

One told me that he feels something when he stands with his attention on the ridge, against the chest, behind... So, should we recognize this matter as right because he feels something?

We do not need to justify our actions by the fact that we feel something from them, but by the fact that they were indicated to us by the ancient fathers. The *** people cannot refer to this, because their method is their invention, as they themselves admit. Yes, they didn’t say anything to your question whether this technique agrees with the instructions of the fathers, but began, without knowing what, to weave about which members pronounce syllables in words: Lord have mercy. Why this speech or this sophisticated idle talk?

Seeing now that the *** people are delusional and are trying to push others into the same place, I am forced to tell you: before I told you - listen to them, but now I say - don’t listen, because they have lost their way.

Instead of a preface.

The proposed Letters on Spiritual Life were compiled in relation to the letters of Count M. M. Speransky, published in the Russian Archive for 1870, in the January book.

It was my intention to present a picture of spiritual life in its various shades. Speransky's letters served only as a reason for this. The only desire was to provide those who are zealous about spiritual life, partly with some necessary instructions, and partly to give them the opportunity to take up the same subjects themselves and think about them more applicable to themselves.

Letter one.

You would like to know my opinion about Count Speransky’s letters about spiritual life. I will gladly fulfill your wish. But arm yourself with patience, because I have come to want not to limit myself to short notes, but to conduct a lengthy conversation about the subjects touched upon in the mentioned letters. That these items are worth it, there is nothing to say about that. But the letters are also so complex that they involuntarily provoke thought.

So you see, Count Speransky is going through a spiritual life. A statesman, almost constantly busy with administrative institutions and improving the order of state life, found it possible to intelligently and heartily abide in God, the all-ruling, omnipresent, all-seeing. This brings to mind the usual excuse with which secular people cover up their reluctance to work as they should on the work of God, the work of their salvation: “Where can we be!” Speransky actually denounces them, and not he alone, but many others as well. I remember , the same excuse was denounced by Elder Vasily, in his prefaces to the articles of the Philokalia on mental work or prayer, placed in the biography of Elder Paisius of Nyametsky. “Look,” he says, “what a high life people lived, busy on duty with external affairs,” and lists them. Such was the noble housekeeper mentioned by Simeon, the new theologian, in the word on faith placed in the Philokalia; such was Patriarch Photius, who was familiar with this matter before the patriarchate, during the works of the State Secretary; such were other patriarchs who On his hands lay the management of church affairs, mostly external, rather troublesome. Elder Vasily, placing these spiritual leaders among external obligatory affairs, had in mind to dispose the zealots of piety to the same kind of life, in due time. Will you and I not be able to motivate someone to similar experiences by presenting them with a picture of spiritual life, as Speransky paints it in his letters, of course, from his own experience.

That Speransky’s thoughts are based on his own experience, that he is talking about what he himself was doing, is clear from his very speeches. He portrays the matter of spiritual life in its present form and very sensibly. Having quickly skimmed through these letters for the first time, I thought about exposing their wrongness; but, having later delved deeper into everything expressed in them, he abandoned this unjust attempt. Here only some terms and phrases borrowed not from our books are incorrect. One has only to give these expressions of insistence the meaning that they should have in the course of thoughts, and there will be no room left for criticism. And in general it is very inconvenient to criticize thoughts about spiritual subjects. Spiritual states are similar to walking through rooms full of various objects that are seen differently from different points of view. A person passing by sees one thing, but does not see another, because it is obscured by something; and what he sees, he sees from the side facing him, which may have features that are not similar to the features of the opposite side, visible to another viewer. And even the general overview may not be the same depending on the location from which you look; and here light and shadows, their own power of vision, and the mutual relationship of objects influence the viewer’s concepts. All this applies to those who write about spiritual subjects. When a writer writes from his own experience, one must accept how he testifies. It is unfair to suspect him of insincerity and measure him by one’s own standards. Only theorists, who rarely reach the truth in their speculations, are subject to judgment - and the trial not of speculation, but of experience. With all this, I find it completely fair to distinguish in Speransky’s letters hints about his spiritual states, Speransky’s own view of these states, and his own language about that. The last two belong personally to Speransky, the first are common property. I believe that you could think differently and speak differently about your conditions. And if you see any difference in my speeches with the speeches of Count Speransky, it will concern precisely this necessary distinction. My speeches will run parallel to Speransky’s speeches. These will be two paintings, one against the other. The whole difference, perhaps, will be that in one there will be light and shadows, and in the other there will be only general outlines.

It occurred to me whether it would be better to collect into one everything that Count Speransky said about spiritual life, in order to more fully characterize him from this side, as he is characterized from the side of social activity. But this would lead us to long and distant work, and meanwhile, perhaps, we would not have to get everything related to this. Therefore, abandoning this idea, which is not uninteresting, I will hasten to satisfy your desire, limiting my speech to the circle of concepts expressed in the present letters.

The compiler of the preface to Count Speransky’s letters says that they expressed the contemplative quietism of the great worker. I dwell on this phrase in order to say that one cannot indiscriminately use this word, which expresses the wrong direction of inner life, as well as mysticism, whenever one happens to come across someone talking about spiritual life: after all, the true Christian life is a life that delivers deep peace, intimate and mysterious. Speransky was neither a quietist nor a mystic, although he speaks in the words of mystics, and even calls his speeches mystical theology. He was a man who had developed a full Christian life, and, having been confirmed in spirit in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, he turned all other powers of soul and body to serving God, fulfilling His commandments in all circumstances of his life, for the glory of God and the salvation of himself and his brothers. theirs in the Lord. This is the norm of Christian perfection, and he approached it as far as it is possible for a person in family life, and in the administrative and civil fields. A clear justification for him from criticism of quietism and mysticism is represented by his prayerful appeal to the Mother of God, to the Guardian Angel, his prayer, confession and communion, reading the word of God and its simple understanding, and even more so reading the lives of the saints. All these are activities and actions that the worst mystic and quietist would never agree to. That the language is similar to the language of Western mystics is probably because he wrote to a person familiar only with Western writings about the inner life, and that he himself, rereading these writings, together with that person and, perhaps, only for him, I involuntarily picked up the turns of their speech. His own language, of course, was the language of the Orthodox Church, the language of St. fathers and the Philokalia, which he himself speaks of in his letters. That is why Count Speransky avoided deviations from the truth, because he knew in advance from these reliable sources the exact description of the life hidden in Christ, and despite the fact that he read the writings of Westerners full of errors, he maintained sobriety of thought. as the same compiler of the preface writes, that is, a sound view of the inner life in Christ, and was able to draw the right line between it, as it is, and between how the false mystics portray it.

Mysticism and quietism are the morbid products of misdirected religiosity. They appeared and were possible only in the west, in those who had fallen away from the St. Churches in Christian communities, and mainly during the ferment of minds produced by Protestantism and the Reformation. They were looking for a good deed, living communication with God, but they were looking for it in the wrong way; and most importantly, they hoped through their own efforts and, as it were, by right to take possession of what was to be expected from the mercy of God, and what was to be accepted as a gift of this mercy. In the tension of this self-confident initiative, the imagination flared up and gave rise to dreamy expectations, which, as ardently desired, soon seemed and were considered fulfilled, and the goal of the work was achieved. All this was painted in the most attractive colors, and presented in charming images, in dreamy, transcendental contemplations. The Scriptures entice them, because they talk about subjects dear to their hearts, but they only attract and give nothing. This is the hallmark of all of them. True life in Christ is a hidden, mysterious (mystical) life. The Apostle Paul calls it the life hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3); Apostle Peter - a hidden man of the heart (1 Pet. 3, 4); The Savior Himself is the kingdom of God within us (Luke 17:21). But in its appearance it is very simple. It is unknown how the Spirit comes and excites us to repentance. Having accomplished this internal revolution, He then equips the believing heart for the difficult struggle with passions, guides and helps in it. Everyone has this struggle, more or less long and painful; it leads to purity of heart, for the sake of which the believing worker is rewarded with the clearest comprehension of the truths of God and the sweetest sensation - both in such features as are precisely defined in the Gospel and the Apostolic writings. This last appears at the end of long labors and many trials, like a crown of reward. The mystics, directly or predominantly, grasp at this highest point of perfection, and they paint it as it is depicted in the dreams of their imagination, always in false colors. The truth can only be told by experience, by experiencing only spiritual blessings in action; and mystics block the real road there for themselves with their very dreams. On the contrary, in the writings of the fathers, the least thing is said about these higher states, and everything is about the works of repentance, the struggle with passions, and various cases of this. Such is the Philokalia, from which Speransky drew sound concepts about the hidden life in Christ.

Everything that Speransky said about himself contains the most ordinary signs that accompany the introduction of mental prayer to the Lord in the heart, self-made, laborious. Anyone who happens to pray fervently experiences a pleasant warmth in their heart. Those who are accustomed to mental prayer and perceive it with a feeling of the heart experience it constantly. For all saints, this warmth is considered the first fruit of instilling mental prayer to the Lord in the heart. It is necessary, however, to know that manifestations of this warmth are not all of the same dignity. Elder Vasily, a fast-monger of Paisius, writes about this from the words of Patriarch Callistus, the following: “first comes the warmth from the kidneys, as if encircling you, and that seems to be a charm: but this is not a charm, but a matter of nature, as a direct consequence of that feat. But if anyone begins to consider this a matter of grace, and not of nature, then this will be delusion. This, whatever it may be, the aspirant should not love, but reflect. Another warmth comes from the heart, and if at the same time the mind descends into lustful thoughts, delusion is truly: if the body is completely melted from the heart, but the mind remains pure and dispassionate, and as if attached to the inner depths of the heart, this is truly an action of grace, and not delusion. the body must be treated unfavorably. When prayer goes deep into the heart and overpowers it with warmth, then the mind is always collected and present in itself, and therefore is quick to understand and quick-witted. From this time on, all the truths of revelation begin to enter the heart, each in its own time, as if suddenly, in the form of insight. Only one feature expressed by Speransky seems untrue, or untruely expressed. The form, he says, of my contemplation has always been emptiness, the absence of any image and any thought. “Such complete thoughtlessness is alien to the holy fathers. They inspired to leave everything, but in order to be united with the Lord. They stood during mental prayer and to everyone They advised to stand in the conviction that the Lord is near and listening, that is, to stand intelligently before the Lord and cry out to Him: I will seek Your face, as the Prophet sings, I will seek Your face, O Lord. When they say that it is necessary to drive away every thought, then they always added: drive away any extraneous thought.

With this we conclude the revision of the sixth letter, which has occupied us quite a bit.

Letter twenty-one.

Let us now move on to the seventh letter. It is short and does not contain anything new. Its entire content consists of the following point: “The main thing is to walk in the darkness of the world, that is, in the complete absence of any thought, and not to become too attached to visions and revelations, no matter how spiritual they may seem, but to accept them, however, with gratitude and reverence."

We have already spoken about the darkness of faith. This is a phrase of the mystics and means something vague, like everything else with them. If you can give any good meaning This expression, then by it we must understand devotion to the will of God. Walking in the darkness of faith will mean walking in devotion to the will of God. Faith, according to Patriarchy Callistus, is twofold: one is theoretical, which believes in dogmas; the other is active, which consists in confidence in God, in that. that God will not leave those who cling to Him, but will keep them unharmed, and by means of destinies will bring them into His eternal kingdom. But this is the essence of devotion to the will of God and humble submission to His orders regarding our fate. Patriarch Callistus expresses this as follows: we mean faith that, by the testimony of the mind, confirms the heart to be undoubted in the communication of hope, which is separated from any opinion (hesitation).

We also talked about visions. We have seen that Speransky’s idea of ​​visions does not agree with the teachings of his fathers. The Fathers say not to accept visions at all, and Speransky says: “not to cling to them, but to accept them with gratitude,” and gives the following reason: “this is the Spirit of God; but the Spirit passing through a substance that is not yet sufficiently purified. That is why the imprint left by it , is not yet clear enough.” One cannot speak so decisively and without restrictions about visions. We must not forget that there are visions that are the fruit of a heated imagination, and there are visions that are a demonic delight. Visions of grace are very rare and are arranged by the Spirit of God, in the form of spiritual education. Thus, there are visions from the Spirit of God; but we must be very careful in distinguishing them, for not far from us we have a dark master who knows how to take the form of a bright angel. And how many careless people died from indiscriminate trust in visions!...

Letter eight deals with a very important subject, the origin of false mysticism, with instructions on how to avoid it.

First let me say a few words. The true Christian life is a life hidden with Christ in God. It is mysterious both in its origin, and in the ways of maturation, and in its perfection. Therefore, not all mysticism is false. False mysticism comes from deviation from the right path of ascension to communion with God. The beginning of this path is repentance. The one who repents corrects all the paths of his life, and imposes rules on his soul and body, in all their powers and functions, the fulfillment of which kills and erases the evil that has been grafted onto them, and the good that is akin to them is nurtured and strengthened. All this together constitutes the order of a godly life. The regulator of everything is prudence, with the advice of experienced people. They establish all the rules in accordance with the character of the person and his external position. Walking in these routines constitutes an active life. But since everyone wants to please God with all this, the attitude towards God is inevitably observed in all such matters; in all such matters, the communication of the mind and heart to God should be an integral part, their inner soul, a condition for their pleasingness. If the turning of the mind and heart to God is prayer, then prayer constitutes the soul of active life, in its proper structure and direction. But prayer also has its own special part that belongs exclusively to it in life, where it alone reigns. This is a feat of prayer. It begins with the assimilation of other people's prayers, left to us by the wise fathers; when the spirit of prayer is thus cultivated, prayer begins to ascend to the level of personal prayer, where it passes through new degrees, of which the first is mental prayer, the second is smart-hearted, and the third is spiritual or contemplative. Life in God whole life; she is also the being of prayer. Consequently, the right path of ascent through the degrees of prayer is the right path of ascent to communion with God, or, which is also right, is right mysticism. Deviation from the right ascent of prayer to perfection is at the same time a deviation into false mysticism. It is not difficult to notice the place of this deviation, or the first point of departure into deviation: this is the transition from verbal prayer, according to ready-made prayers, to personal prayer, in other words, the transition from external prayer to internal, mental. To remove delusion from this point will mean to remove the deviation into false mysticism. The deviation into false mysticism among the sober ascetic fathers is called deviation into delusion. We have seen these deviations from rightness, on the path of movement from the outside to the inside... Some get stuck on the imagination, others stop on the mental doing. The true step is taken by those who, bypassing these stations, go to the heart and take refuge in it. But even here, error is still possible, because part of mental-heart prayer is self-made, laborious: and where we are, there is always the possibility of falling into delusion, just like into sin. Security begins when pure and unsweetened prayer is established in the heart, which is a sign of the overshadowing of the heart with tangible grace, for here feelings are formed that are trained in the judgment of good and evil. So, from the very beginning of the movement from the outside world to this blissful moment, it is possible to deviate into false mysticism. How to avoid this misfortune? The fathers indicate one way for this: do not be left alone, find an experienced adviser and leader. If he is not there, get together, two or three, and be guided mutually in the light of the fatherly writings. I don’t know of any other way to avoid the errors of mysticism, except perhaps for the special grace-filled guidance that God’s chosen few were granted. But these are specifics: and we are talking about ways of life that are common to everyone.

Now let's see. What does Speransky say about this?

"Where do the errors of false mysticism come from? From zeal for faith, not purified from self-love. What is the means to this purification? Fasting, strict observation of one’s thoughts, combat with feelings, a life of repentance. But all this is the activity of my own mind and heart, which must kill, and although the activity is, without a doubt, commendable, it is still an exercise, everything is the development of mental strength, everything is an occasion and a reason for the same pride and self-love. Consequently, without rejecting active paths, it remains to conclude that prayer and mental prayer is a single, completely safe path. Visions, deep and apparently inspired thoughts are all thoughts, all exercises of the mind, and not its clinging, not its numbness in the one God."

About the letters of St. Theophan the Recluse

The written heritage of another saint and spiritual writer, Bishop Theophan, is truly enormous. In his letters,178 the saint vividly responds to the events of state and public life, gives his apt comments and definitions about everything, follows the course of the Crimean War, the life of the militias. In letters to publishers and editors of his extensive literary and translation works, he expresses judgments about the progress of publication, about reviewers, talks about his successes or obstacles in creative work. Briefly, and where necessary in detail, he describes the progress of work on his wonderful “Gospel Story”; For this work he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology. He also advises on the progress of work on other spiritual books, such as “What is Spiritual Life”, etc. In his business letters Saint Theophan also touches on spiritual issues, providing his business correspondents with thoughts about the mysteries of spiritual life, about doing the Jesus Prayer, etc.

For our topic, the letters of the Saint as a mentor, elder, and leader in spiritual life are of greatest importance. They naturally reflect the spirit of their author. They are often quite short, kind-hearted, rich in humor and edification. Detailed analysis writing all the letters in this section is impossible for us, and it would not answer the task we set. What is essential and fundamental for us is the general tone, the spirit of elder leadership, which the Saint conveyed in his letters.

“I am sure that your inner worth is good,” writes Saint Theophan to a spiritual person living at the monastery, “and if it ever stirs up, then you know how to put it in order.” “The Lord takes away your human supports<...>so that you finally have one support left - the Lord Himself. He wants to elevate you to the state or heights of hermits,” the Bishop writes in the following letters. To the question of his spiritual daughter, for what sins such sorrows occur, the Saint answers: “For what sins? – Not always for sins. It also happens because a pebble has been selected and polished for the crown<...>It is best not to ask such questions, limit yourself to one imprint: Thy will be done<...>the wisest and most soothing."

Below in the same letter, to console the grieving woman, the elder writes: “My books<...>at your service. I am sending two each named by you. All three of them are toys... But one toy is a revolver.” “I am very glad,” the Bishop writes to her in the next letter, “that<...>your prayer is worth it. This is prayer in the heart. It is better and more valuable than a reader’s prayer book. Is there a pain in the heart?<...>a feeling for God that does not leave the heart<...>not a thought, but a feeling that serves<...>source of the memory of God and all spiritual feelings.”

When a sad event happened to this spiritual daughter of the Bishop and she had to move to live in another monastery, Bishop Theophan wrote to her: “It happened<...>It would be better if you managed to arrange it in such a way that everyone would forget or not remember that you live among them. Then the monastery would be a desert for you.” The Lord called his spiritual daughter to such a height of humility, having undoubtedly experienced the strength of such a state among people.

The letters of Saint Theophan to worldly persons are always a call to spiritual life. “Every day must be considered the first day of life in the fear of God,” writes the Bishop to the mother of a large family, “forgetting everything behind, except for sins, which must always be repented of.”<...>Beginning again is the law of spiritual life.” “As soon as you see the wrongness of a thought, feeling or word,” he writes to her in subsequent letters, “repent immediately<...>Add to this an observation of how the fall proceeds, and from this inspection learn a lesson on how to overcome yourself in such encounters. Experiences in abstinence will give you experience in self-control, and falls will be less and less frequent. God will help". “We need more humility,” the Bishop continues. - Speeches or outbursts of words that are upsetting to others are not from the nobility. The consciousness of nobility is pride.” The Bishop in his letters teaches this mother of the family to pray and tells her about humility. “It’s best if you completely forget yourself, and only keep in mind how not to anger God with anything displeasing to Him in thoughts, words and deeds.” Teaching this soul in the following letters, Bishop Theophan writes: “It grieves you to look at the violation of God’s commandments. But how God, the Most Pure, Omnipresent, All-Seeing, bears our sins... And so<...>The Lord endures, waiting for us to come to our senses someday and begin to guide our souls.” Advising to endure family sorrows, the Bishop, with deep sympathy, writes: “Settle in the thought that without God nothing happens and therefore everything happens for our good. It is up to us to take proper advantage of everything that happens. But if we show only patience, then good self-control is self-control before God.”

In this family, the Saint determined the path of two young girls, calling one Chernichka and the other Belichka. Blueberry, according to the inclinations of her soul, was determined by the path leading to the monastery. Belichka was given the opportunity to choose her ministry among people or start a family, which later came true. The Lord gave instructions to both for decades, confirming each on her life path and in the inevitable sorrows.

The letters of Saint Theophan to people asking how they can build the building of their lives are very informative and lengthy. The Lord answers their serious questions in detail, urging them to carefully consider the inclinations of the soul. With people who have decided to choose the path of monasticism or priesthood, His Grace Theophan in-depth examines their serious spiritual temptations and gives detailed advice on how to say the Jesus Prayer. The Lord teaches the people of this plan to create a prayer of thanksgiving, compiled from the dogmas of the Orthodox Church:

“Glory to Thee, our God, worshiped in the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Soul.”

“Glory to You, who created everything with a word and provides for everything.”

“Glory to You, who has honored us with Your image.”

“Glory to You, the Son of God, who deigned to be incarnate, to suffer, to die, to rise, to sit at the right hand of the Father, and to send down the Holy Spirit to us.”

“Glory to You, O God, who has called our people into Your Kingdom.”

“Glory to You, who has arranged the path of repentance and conversion for me.”

"Glory to You for everything."

A detailed study of the letters of St. Theophan could form the subject of a special study, in which all the issues raised by the Right Reverend Vladyka in his correspondence could be considered. We will not be able to delve into this part of his works in more detail.