Letters of St. Ambrose of Optina on the Bright Resurrection of Christ


Letters of St. Ambrose

The words and images of the patristic teachings were not simply translated by the elders into a language understandable to their contemporaries, but were experienced along with them, and therefore were truly soul-saving for many. We offer you an excerpt from the book of the Sretensky Monastery “Letters of the Great Optina Elders”.

February 24, 1882

St. Ambrose Optinsky

You again write about your doubt and bewilderment whether it is God’s will for you to live in this place, and maybe in another place it would be more convenient for you to receive salvation.
Nowhere is it said that our salvation is determined by place; and opposite in St. We read directly and clearly in the Gospels: “If you want to be taken into your belly, keep the commandments”; No matter where anyone has to live, according to what is said in the psalms: “His dominion is in every place; bless the Lord my soul.” A Christian can receive salvation anywhere, even while living in the world. But in another place in the Gospel we read the following: “If you want to be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor,” and so on. St. Isaac the Syrian, based on these words, writes: one can receive the small mercy of God and the great mercy of God in perfection - who completely devote themselves to God, leaving the world. At the same time, consider the words of the Lord; “if you want to be brought into the belly, if you want to be perfect”; and you will see that nowhere does the Lord want to force a person involuntarily, but everywhere he submits to our good will, and through their own will people are either good or evil. Therefore, in vain we will accuse that those living with us and those around us interfere and hinder our salvation or spiritual perfection. Samuel lived and was raised by Elijah the priest, with his depraved sons, and preserved himself, and was a great prophet. But even three years of life in the presence of the Savior Himself did not make Judas any better, when he saw so many miracles and constantly heard the Gospel sermon; and he became even worse, selling his Teacher and the Savior of the world for thirty pieces of silver, each of which was no more than a Russian fifty. I am writing all this to you so that you can be fully convinced that our mental and spiritual unsatisfactoriness comes from ourselves, from our lack of art and from an incorrectly formed opinion, which we do not want to part with. And it is this that brings upon us confusion and doubt and various bewilderments; and all this torments and burdens us and leads us to a desolate state. It would be good if we could understand the simple patristic word: if we humble ourselves, we will find peace in every place, without bypassing with our minds many other places where the same, if not worse, may happen to us. I don’t know why I talked about this subject so much, when I was extremely short of time. Apparently this is necessary. I have written to you about this many times, but you still continue to ask whether this place in which you live will be saving for you. You also ask whether it is, or will be, the will of God for you to put on monastic dress. Taking tonsure into the mantle is another matter; and dressing in monastic dress is not particularly important when you want to do it. Because you have been living in the monastery for many years now, and you don’t think about returning to the world; and finally you live in this place by blessing. And according to the apostolic word, “sow a blessing, and you will reap a blessing.” May it be so according to the will of God! Say: Amen. And I am a sinner and say: Amen. And let others say: Amen, amen, amen!

June 8, 1886

In one of your letters you mentioned that you and NN had a rant about relics and about some bodies of sinners that are incorruptible after death. Indeed, now there are no relics on Athos, as they say, for the following reason.

One pious elder lived there in silence and solitude, and he always taught his disciple to maintain a silent and solitary life. After the death of the elder a year later, according to Athonite custom, they dug up the grave and found the head of the elder, exuding fragrant and healing myrrh. Many began to go to worship this chapter, and anointed themselves with healing myrrh, and thereby broke the silence of the student. Therefore, he reproachfully said to the deceased elder: “Father! During your life you always taught me silence and solitude, but after your death you break this.”

After these words, the fragrant and healing myrrh dried up, and only a simple bone remained, and people stopped going to worship. And they say that after this they found only yellow, or white, or black bones in the graves, by which they distinguished the state of the deceased souls; or dark, uncorrupted bodies were found.

The whole brotherhood prayed for such people for three years, annually tearing up the grave and asking local bishops to read a prayer of permission. Some bodies, even after three years, remain uncorrupted. That's how they are left. The reason for this is the following: God forgives sins against God through the prayers of others, especially through church prayers and for commemoration at the Bloodless Sacrifice or for alms given for these dead; and God does not forgive sins against one’s neighbor—offense and untruth—if the one who offended and committed the untruth does not satisfy the offended one in time, or is not reconciled by asking for forgiveness. (In monasticism, such cases can be for self-indulgence and disobedience of fatherly orders and commandments, for unrepentance and concealment of sins). In the forties, or earlier, the Turks carried out plunder in Bessarabia. The Russian government demanded satisfaction from the Turkish government; those who were robbed were ordered to show their grievances. Those who acted unfairly, and doubled or tripled their loss, found their bodies to be uncorrupted and dark after death.

In Russia there are many relics of saints: St. Sergius of Radonezh, Saints: Mitrofan of Voronezh, Tikhon of Zadonsk, Demetrius of Rostov and many others who testify to their holiness with miracles.

There are also sinful bodies that are incorruptible. In one monastery, the body of one hierodeacon was accidentally discovered, uncorrupted and dark.

The local bishop was traveling around the diocese at that time. The Bishop was asked to read a prayer of permission over this body. But even after permission prayer, the body remained in the same position. The Bishop asked: who was he, and what was the reason for this situation? In response he received that he was the only son of a poor widow, and against his mother’s will he went to the monastery; and his mother, due to poverty, always grumbled at him, and someone said that his mother was still alive. The Lord ordered to find his mother. They brought in a ninety-year old woman, bent over. The Bishop, pointing out the situation of her son, told her to forgive him. But the old woman, turning away, did not agree, repeating: “I endured so much grief through him!”

The Bishop continued to convince the old woman, and finally said: if you don’t forgive, then you yourself will be tied up. The convinced old woman, as if reluctantly, said: “Well, God will forgive him!” The dark body immediately crumbled into dust.

Here is my feeble-minded rant in response to your ranting. I am writing this in the midst of great lack of leisure, and rubbing myself with simple alcohol; because every morning I get up with difficulty and exhaustion, feeling cold.

(Without date)

In your letter dated January 18, you conveyed to me the following question from your son:

“According to the Gospel, human society before the end of the world appears in its most terrible form. This rejects the possibility of constant human improvement. Is it possible after this to work for the benefit of humanity, being confident that no means are able to achieve the possible moral perfection of humanity in the final result before the end of the world?

In your letter dated March 24, you conveyed the same question somewhat differently:

“The duty of a Christian is to do good and try to ensure that this good triumphs over evil. At the end of the world, the Gospel says, evil will triumph over good. How can one strive for the victory of good over evil, knowing that these efforts will not be crowned with success, and that evil will triumph in the end?”

Tell your son: evil has already been defeated - defeated not by the diligence and strength of mankind, but by our Lord and Savior Himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, Who for this purpose came down from heaven to earth, became incarnate, suffered as humanity, and through His suffering and resurrection on the Cross destroyed the power of evil and the evil leader, the devil, who ruled over the human race, freed us from the devil’s and sinful slavery, as He Himself said: “Behold, I give you power to tread on the serpent, and on the scorpion, and on all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:10) . Now, in the sacrament of baptism, all Christian believers are given the power to trample on evil and do good, through the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, and no one is anymore forcibly possessed by evil, except those who are careless about keeping God’s commandments, and especially those who voluntarily indulge in sins. To want to overcome evil with one’s own strength, which has already been defeated by the coming of the Savior, shows a misunderstanding of the Christian sacraments of the Orthodox Church, and reveals a sign of haughty human arrogance, which wants to do everything with one’s own strength, without turning to God’s help, while the Lord Himself clearly says: “without Me.” you cannot do anything” (John 15:5).

You write: the Gospel says that at the end of the world, evil will triumph over good. This is not said anywhere in the Gospel; but it only says that in the last time faith will diminish (Luke 18:8), and because of the increase of lawlessness the love of many will dry up (Matthew 24:12). And St. the apostle Paul says that before the second coming of the Savior “a man of lawlessness will appear; son of perdition, adversary and exalt himself above every spoken God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7), that is, the Antichrist. But it is immediately said that “the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of His mouth, and will abolish him by the appearance of His coming.” Where is the triumph of evil over good? And in general, any triumph of evil over good is only imaginary, temporary.

On the other hand, it is also unfair that humanity on earth is constantly improving. There is progress or improvement only in external human affairs, in the comforts of life. For example, we use railways and telegraphs, which did not exist before: coal is dug up, which was hidden in the bowels of the earth, etc. In Christian and moral terms, there is no general progress. At all times there have been people who achieved high moral Christian perfection, guided by the true faith of Christ, and following the true Christian teaching, in accordance with the divine revelation, which God revealed in His Church through God-inspired men, prophets and apostles. There will be such people in the time of Antichrist, which for their sake will be shortened, according to what was said: “for the sake of the elect these days will come to an end” (Matthew 24:22). And again: at all times there have been people who indulged in various vices and iniquities, or fell into various heresies and delusions, carried away by a false mind (1 Tim. 6:20), and thinking according to earthly principles, contrary to the warnings of St. Apostle Paul, who says: “brothers, take heed lest anyone deceive you with philosophy and vain flattery, according to the tradition of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). I advise you to buy the recently published book: The Life of Gregory the Theologian, compiled by Archimandrite Agapit. Read it yourself, and let your son read it. Then you will see what scientists were like in the 4th century after the birth of Christ. Compare them with the scientists of today. The scientists of that time, like Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, despite the fact that they were people of high teaching and high morality, out of Christian humility, despised earthly glory and earthly pleasures, and strived for only spiritual, eternal blessings. Are today's scientists following their example? Doesn’t most of them bow to earthly glory, to earthly pleasures, and to the acquisition of temporary goods, dissolving all this with a proud consciousness of their unworthy dignity? After this, is there even the slightest sign of universal moral improvement on earth?

Moral perfection on earth (imperfect) is achieved not by all of humanity in the aggregate, but by each believer in particular, to the extent that they fulfill God’s commandments and to the extent of humility. Ultimate and complete perfection is achieved in heaven, in a future endless life, for which human short-term earthly life serves only as preparation, just as the years spent by a young man in an educational institution serve as preparation for his future practical activity. If the purpose of humanity was limited to its earthly existence, if for a person everything ended on earth, then why “the earth and the things on it will burn up,” as St. Apostle Peter (2 Pet. 3:10)? He adds: “The heavens are new and the earths are new according to the promise, and in them righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13). Without a future blissful, endless life, our earthly stay would be useless and incomprehensible.

The desire to work for the benefit of humanity is very plausible, but it is placed in the wrong place. Royal Prophet St. David says: “First turn away from evil, and then do good” (see: Ps. 33:15). For today's people, things are turning upside down. Everyone wants, in words, to work for the good of their neighbors, and they do not care at all, or very little, about the fact that first they themselves need to evade evil, and only then worry about the benefit of their neighbors. The broad ideas of the younger generation about great activities for the benefit of all mankind are similar to those who, without finishing a course at the gymnasium, dreamed a lot about themselves that they could be a professor and a great mentor at the university. But on the other hand, thinking that if we cannot move forward all of humanity, then it is not worth working at all - this is again the other extreme. Each Christian is obliged, according to his strength and in accordance with his position, to work for the benefit of others, but so that all this is on time and in order, as said above, and so that the success of our labors is presented to God and His holy will.

In your first letter you mention the books Self-Help, Self-Activity. I haven’t seen these books yet, and I don’t know what they contain. The ancient people used to say: without God there is no way to reach the threshold. And the Lord Himself in the Gospel says: “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). But the new sages, as can be seen from the titles of these books, now reason differently. But it is known that homemade things come at the cheapest prices, with a general reproach: “homemade, clumsy work.” However, I’ll tell you how you can understand self-help and self-activity in the Christian sense. Read for yourself, and let your son read with attention in the Gospel of Matthew from the beginning of the 5th chapter to the end of the 10th; then, let him try to fulfill the Gospel commandments contained in these chapters in his life. Through such Christian initiative he will provide himself with great help in moral and Christian terms.

In conclusion, I will say: advise your son not to confuse external human affairs with spiritual and moral ones. Firstly, somehow, in external inventions, partly in the sciences, let him find progress. But in Christian and moral terms, I repeat, there is no universal progress in humanity. However, in many sciences or branches of knowledge, progress is imperceptible. I don’t think that today’s scientists know and understand so well, for example. mythology, and classical antiquity in general, as Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian knew and understood them.

(Without date)

Forgive me that due to poor health I could not answer your letter immediately, although I really wanted to, being convinced by you in the name of our common father, the late Father Fr. Macaria. May his prayer cover us both, and for his spiritual intercession may the Lord enlighten us to all that is beneficial and saving.

When reading spiritual books without direction, you are afraid that you might fall into some wrong thoughts and wrong opinions. Your fear is very reasonable. Therefore, if you do not want to suffer such spiritual calamity, do not indiscriminately read any new works, even if they are of spiritual content, but by such writers who have not confirmed their teachings with the holiness of life;

and read the works of such fathers who are recognized by the Orthodox Church as firmly known and without a doubt edifying and soul-saving. In order not to lose your firm Orthodoxy, take the book “Orthodox Confession” by Peter Mogila as a guide for yourself and your children. Examine it with attention and diligence, and keep what is written there firmly in your memory, so that you yourself know well the matter of your salvation, and know what needs to be said and pointed out to your children at the appropriate time. The second book of this kind will be the Chronicle or the 4th part of the works of the saints. Demetrius of Rostov. Read after it and other parts of his works not only for guidance regarding right opinions and understandings, but also for guidance in life itself, in order to know and be able to know how to act in a purely Christian manner, according to Orthodox decrees. For the same purpose, read the book of Abba Dorotheus, which is rightly called the mirror of the soul. This mirror will show everyone not only his actions, but also the very movements of his heart. During fasting and especially during fasting, it is decent and useful to read the works of Ephraim the Syrian in Russian translation, choosing chapters on repentance. The rest of his works can be read at any time; It also doesn’t hurt to repeat the chapters on repentance.

You are burdened by the concern of how to give your children a Christian upbringing. And you express this concern like this: “every day I see from experience that I do not have enough firmness to fulfill my duty according to my conscience, and I feel very incapable of molding a person’s soul in the image and likeness of Divine teaching.” The last thought is expressed very strongly, and relates more to the assistance and help of God; and it will be enough for you if you take care to raise your children in the fear of God, instill in them the Orthodox concept, and with well-intentioned instructions protect them from concepts alien to the Orthodox Church. What good you sow in the souls of your children in their youth may later vegetate in their hearts when they come to mature courage, after bitter school and modern trials, which often break off the branches of good Christian home education. Centuries-established experience shows that the sign of the cross has great power for all human actions, throughout the entire continuation of his life. Therefore, it is necessary to take care to instill in children the custom of protecting themselves with the sign of the cross more often, and especially before eating and drinking, going to bed and getting up, before leaving, before going out, and before entering somewhere, and so that children do not make the sign of the cross carelessly or carelessly. fashionable, but with precision, from the forehead to the chest, and on both shoulders, so that the cross comes out correctly. If for some reason it’s inconvenient for you to do a good job so that they don’t forget about the sign of the cross, it doesn’t hurt, in addition to other teachers, if possible, to have a good Russian nanny for this: let the other nannies do other parts, and the Orthodox nanny do the Orthodox part, and especially the sign of the cross; ask her about this item. As far as possible and to the extent possible to adapt this to the present case according to the circumstances, try; This should not be completely lost sight of. Protecting oneself with the sign of the cross saved many from great troubles and dangers.

In order to become more firmly established in Orthodox concepts, I would advise you to read with attention and diligence all the works of the new saint of God, Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. Although their style is heavy, when reading, try to pay your attention more to the thoughts and to the proposed Christian rules. Reading of two Russian luminaries, St. Demetrius of Rostov and St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, will explain a lot to you and confirm a lot for you. Add to this the words of the Apostle Paul: “Do not attach yourself to strange and different teachings: for it is good to strengthen hearts by grace, and not waste, from which those who walked in them received no benefit” (Heb. 13:9). And in another place: “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach the good news to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). Hold tightly to this testimony, and do not agree to accept any new teachings, no matter how plausible they may be, imitating one who knows well all the signs and signs of pure silver, who soon notices the admixture of any ligature, and rejects impure silver. Likewise, you reject any teaching where you notice even the slightest ligature of various human opinions that are charged to the mind of God (2 Cor. 10:5). Having established yourself in the Orthodox teaching, first read all spiritual journals, with the indicated analysis, and then choose the one that suits your spirit more.

You write: “I would like my husband and I to avoid that disastrous disagreement in the matter of education, which I see in almost all marriages.” Yes, this thing is really sophisticated! But you yourself have noticed that arguing about this in front of children is not useful. Therefore, in case of disagreement, it is better to either evade and leave, or show as if you did not obey; but don’t argue about your different views in front of your children. Advice and discussion about this should be in private, and as calmly as possible, so that it is more effective. However, if you manage to plant the fear of God in the hearts of your children, then various human quirks cannot have such a harmful effect on them.

At the end of your letter, you write that you are concerned about the time of a difficult birth: you care and fear so much that this prevailing thought prevents you from enjoying every good thing in life, and therefore you want to have some kind of prayer to support yourself. There is an Orthodox tradition that in these cases they resort to the Mother of God, after the name of the icon, Theodorovskaya. Exchange, or write for yourself this icon, the celebration of which occurs twice a year: March 14 and August 16. If you wish, you can perform a home vigil in the evening before these days, and on the very day - a prayer service with an akathist to the Mother of God. If you are diligent, you can do this at other times as you wish. You can daily pray to the Queen of Heaven yourself, reading to Her at least 12 times a day “Rejoice, Virgin Mary,” even with bows from the waist. Read the kontakion to Her the same number of times: “There are no imams of other help, no imams of other hope, except for You, the Lady. Help us, we rely on You and boast in You: for we are Your servants: let us not be ashamed.”

This is what I could, due to my weakness and my feeble-mindedness, write to you diligently. May the All-merciful Lord and His Most Blessed Mother arrange for you and your family everything useful and soul-saving! I call upon you the peace and blessing of God.

(Without date)

On N.’s advice, you responded to my thinness in writing, explaining your situation, but not clearly. Not knowing your circumstances and your spiritual mood well, I will answer you as much as I can understand from your letter.

You write, “I suffer severely from mental and physical relaxation, which alienates me from all the joys and connections of the world, and even from matters of duty. There is no hope for me in the future. Only one intense prayer to God supports me, with the assistance of the prayers of the blessed heart of Father Seraphim of Sarov, to whom I have a deep spiritual attachment. But sometimes my suffering reached such an extent that I completely despaired. I reveal to you my cowardice: I have no strength to endure anymore.”

The content of your letter shows a dual disposition in you. Saying that only intense prayer to God supports you shows that you are a zealous Christian. In other words, mental and physical weakness alienates you from all the joys and connections of the world, etc., and your attachment to the world is revealed. But you yourself should know from the Gospel teaching that “no one can work for two masters: either he will love one and hate the other, or he will stick to one and begin to neglect the other. You cannot work for God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). So we must choose: either to seek worldly pleasures and earthly joys, or only to seek consolation and joy from the Lord in due time, having taken care in advance of Christian life and living according to His holy and life-giving commandments. But peace needs healthy people. You explained that you are physically weak. Moreover, earthly joys are soon transitory, and worldly consolations are not always reliable and true, but for the most part are deceptive. St. Demetrius of Rostov says: the lying world promises joy, but gives us sorrows and misfortunes and misfortunes; promises gold, but delivers gold, etc. Therefore, it is more thorough and reliable to seek consolation and joy only in the Lord, especially for those who are not blessed with physical health and spiritual courage. The Lord says in the Gospel: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” And if you undertake this imitation, being forced to abandon all selfish pretensions, according to the customs and decencies of the world, then you can undoubtedly enter on that Christian path that leads to a peaceful and calm state of soul. If you are forced, according to the Gospel teaching, to humble yourself; then little by little, with God’s help, impatience and cowardice will recede from you. How much faith do you have in the blessed elder Fr. Seraphim, then resort to the Lord, so that, for His prayers, He will show you His mercy. Also, resort to the common Intercessor of all of us, the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, praying to Her with the prayer always sung by the Church: “My body is weak, my soul is also weak, I resort to You, Most gracious, reliably unreliable, Help me.” If you have time, then I would advise you to read this entire canon of the Mother of God, sung by the faithful in all spiritual sorrow, which begins like this: “possessed by many misfortunes”; and if you have the zeal, then according to the 6th song you can add the akathist “Joy to All Who Sorrow.” But I think that the main thing in our external and internal circumstances is to carefully and accurately consider your life, starting from the years when you began to remember yourself; and in order to do this more accurately and accurately, I advise you to carefully read the “Orthodox Confession” by Peter Mogila, as well as the book of Abba Dorotheus, which is rightly called the mirror of the soul. When will you take a thorough look at your life? then you will need to find a more experienced confessor, to whom you could confess with faith everything that needs to be confessed, and who would be pleased to give you decent spiritual healing.

This is what I could tell you in my feeble mind, and I wrote it as I understand it and as I understand it. The All-Good Lord, who wants everyone to be saved and come to the understanding of the truth, may he enlighten you like the news, and may he enlighten your heart to everything that is beneficial and saving, for the prayers of His Most Pure Mother, our shameless Hope, and for the prayer of the blessed elder Fr. Seraphim, whose memory you so deeply honor.

I forgot to tell you about the despair that St. John Climacus considers it worse than any sin. A person can repent of any sin, having a firm intention not to return, and thus receive forgiveness and mercy from the Lord. What can a desperate person do and what can he get? Truly despair is worse than all evils. Let us assume that a person sometimes suffers a lot and very much: but there are few people who suffer according to the example of the righteous Job. Most of us who suffer are subject to suffering as a consequence. or wrong thoughts and opinions, or erroneous actions, But there is also the comforting word of the Apostle for those who suffer: “The Lord loves him, punishes him, beats every son, and accepts him” (Heb. 12:6).

You also say: there is no hope for me in the future. I don’t know what you refer to this word to. If to earthly life, then not only for you, but for no one else the future is secure. The word futurity in its proper sense refers to a future life, eternal, never-ending. Whoever takes care of this future will find it lasting, never changing. There, for you and for other Christians, there is a whole paradise with all pure pleasures and many other blessed abodes of the Heavenly Father. Whoever wants to arrange an earthly future needs physical strength and many other abilities suitable for worldly affairs. But for the eternal future, which the All-Good Lord has prepared and is preparing for His servants, this is not required. The Apostle says: “God has chosen the evil of the world, and does not exist, so that he may bring to nothing that which is” (1 Cor. 1:28). That is, what is not suitable for the world, the Lord chooses for Himself, and does not require great abilities, but says to His incapables: just endure your inability, and do not be cowardly, trusting in the mercy and goodness of God. “In your patience gain your souls,” He says in St. Gospel, and meant a whole series of blessed abodes for those incapable of peace. The first abode of the poor in spirit, that is, those who humble themselves before God and before people for the sake of their inability. The second blessed abode is for those who cry about their sins. The third monastery is for the meek, suppressing selfish pretensions within themselves, and restraining themselves from anger at others, leaving behind all reasons and reasons. Then follow other blessed abodes, which you yourself are not unknown to. Choose any one for yourself, and prepare yourself properly for it. On earth, in a worldly state, one wants to serve in the army, another in the guard, a third in the civil service: according to this, everyone prepares himself that way. Earthly models in some cases serve as models for heavenly things. May the All-merciful Lord enlighten us to everything useful!

Invoking God’s peace and blessing upon you, I remain with sincere goodwill.

Alib.ru > Book title: collection of letters of the Optina elder Ambrose

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Collection of letters of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose of blessed memory to lay persons.

The Optina Elder Ambrose, by universal and unanimous recognition, was one of the deepest experts on the innermost movements of the human soul, the most experienced unraveler of spiritual perplexities, the wisest and most loving mentor." "; two years later, in 1908, a second, expanded edition was published. In 1908-1909, the “Collected Letters of the Optina Elder Hieroschemamonk Ambrose to the Monastics” was published in two editions. In addition to holiday greetings and instructions on how to behave in various particular cases, the letters contain very specific advice on acquiring the fear of God and the Christian virtues of patience and humility, on the fight against passions, and on prayer.

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