Preparation in the world

Therefore, my beloved brethren, who are personally called by Christ to His angelic order (the radio operators of the Church), strive, as much as you have strength, first of all to find a spiritual father who loves the monastic life, so that he may help you and watch over you while you are still in the worldly environment (in the world). Better a married spiritual father—so long as he loves the monastic life—than a hieromonk who opposes monasticism. Also, while you are still in the world, be attentive to what I shall write below, and to everything else.

On preserving purity of soul and body

It is better for you to associate with children younger than yourself who are little angels, than with children older than yourself or of your own age if they are little devils. It is better for you to live far from worldly surroundings and to abide with God than to mix in a worldly environment (for the sake of supposedly not being thought unsociable) and imperceptibly become estranged from God. It is more profitable for you to seem a fool to women (or, if you are a girl, to young men) for the sake of your spiritual discernment and purity, and to bear this heavy cross as well, because this heavy cross conceals within itself all the power and wisdom of God, and then you will be stronger than Samson and wiser than the most wise Solomon.

When you walk, it is better to say the prayer and not to look to the right or to the left, even if your relatives think that you are supposedly despising them and do not wish to speak with them, than to look in all directions and suffer harm, and on top of that be misunderstood by worldly people, who understand everything in a cunning way.

It is a thousand times better for you, after the service, to flee from people like a wild creature, in order to preserve your spiritual discernment and what you have received from the service, than to sit and gawk at fur coats (or, if you are a girl, at neckties) and grow spiritually wild from the wounds the enemy inflicts on your heart.

It is more profitable, if you have no work and cannot use your time for spiritual pursuits, to go to a pig farm, to become like the pigs, to wallow with them in the mire, and then return home, wash, change your clothes, and feel relief after the shower, than to be tempted and go to a bar or a discotheque, so that your soul wallows in the mire of pleasures, return home with a heavy heart, and then feel in your soul this hell and this burden upon the heart.

It is better for you to go to the henhouse and listen to the measured clucking of the hens than to be tempted, to go to a neighboring house and strike up a conversation with women about spiritual matters (or, if you are a girl, with men), for however spiritual this affair may seem, it conceals within itself a multitude of the enemy’s snares.

Therefore, for young men who wish to lead a chaste life, it is better to avoid women as the devil (as it is for girls to avoid young men)—and I believe that Christ will not condemn them, because they do this out of the infirmity of their age—than to grow bold and be stripped bare, like little trees stripped by goats, and to become good for nothing.

For a young man—whether his flesh is vigorous or sluggish—it is better to struggle strictly, in order to acquire courage, than to suffer harm from his unruly flesh or—if sluggish—from his weak, womanish character, that is, from feminine emotions and softness.

My brother, look upon these necessary stern words of mine as barbed wire fencing around your little spiritual tree, until your branches grow, for Mother Church awaits fruit from you.

So then, if you are attentive now, later on, besides fruit, you will bring forth a dense and cool shade as well, and you will receive under your shelter not only sheep, but also wretched goats, which, by the grace of God, will no longer do you harm; rather, you will help them.

Try to arrange that your work and your surroundings, while you are still in the world, somehow help you, so that you may have a certain opportunity to derive benefit during your work, come home at peace, and find it easier to concentrate. Then your struggle will be easier.