May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Laypeople. Part 5

Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romanstov) and Hieroschemamonk Macary (Eremenko), elders from Glinsk Hermitage, who spiritually guided Fr. John during his Riazan years. Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romanstov) and Hieroschemamonk Macary (Eremenko), elders from Glinsk Hermitage, who spiritually guided Fr. John during his Riazan years.
Schema-Archimandrite Seraphim (Romanstov) and Hieroschemamonk Macary (Eremenko), elders from Glinsk Hermitage, who spiritually guided Fr. John during his Riazan years.

Be the salt of the earth

Pray to the Holy Martyr Tryphon, and through his intercessions you will always have work. Go to church to pray, and help whomever you can, but your main work should be your occupation in the world.

Believers should be the salt of the earth, and not close themselves up to people. Preach not so much with words as with your life, your patience and love towards suffering and lost people.

Do not look too far ahead, and if you will live every day with God and with prayer, the Lord will draw your little boat through life and direct it toward salvation.

May the Lord preserve you and make you wise!

Do your work with prayer

Dear in the Lord A.!

Live at home and labor to the glory of God in the field that the Lord has given you. It is our business to do our work with prayer, and the result will come from God. You see that the question of an apartment is resolved—a confirmation that you need to remain at home.

May God give you wisdom!

Masseurs are needed everywhere. And the sick woman died because her time had come; God called her.

Look into your heart

Dear A.!

I will not refuse to pray for you, but neither I, nor your mother, nor your father confessor can make your choice for you. Only look thoughtfully and with prayer into your own heart. Do not rush.

Nowadays, when people have lost the fear of God, they often dare to break their vows: marital, monastic, and priestly —this is a sign of the times. Every man is therefore answerable before God and man for what he has chosen.

Read the works of St. John Climacus about family and marriage, acquaint yourself with the podvigs[1] of monastic life from the works of the Fathers, and think deeply about one and the other. Those who try to talk you out of monastic life do not know its joys and sorrows, and make a one-sided judgment based only upon what they themselves know. Do not rush, but at the same time do not put off gaining a theoretical knowledge about both [marriage and monasticism].

We will pray for you!


[1]The Russian word podvig cannot be directly translated into English. It implies an ascetic labor, struggle, or accomplishment [trans.].

See also
Fr. Abbakum and the Pskov Religious Affairs Commissioner Fr. Abbakum and the Pskov Religious Affairs Commissioner
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)
Fr. Abbakum and the Pskov Religious Affairs Commissioner Fr. Abbakum and the Pskov Religious Affairs Commissioner
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov)
That is just how it was. From early morning, at his post by the Holy Gates, Fr. Abbakum, demanded that every person entering the monastery read the Nicene-Constantinople Creed, composed by the fathers of the first and second Ecumenical Councils in the fourth century. His calculation was ingeniously simple: every church-going Orthodox person knows this text by heart.
May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Clergymen,To Those Desiring the Priestly Rank, and to Priests’ Wives. Part 1 May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Clergymen,To Those Desiring the Priestly Rank, and to Priests’ Wives. Part 1
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Clergymen,To Those Desiring the Priestly Rank, and to Priests’ Wives. Part 1 May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Clergymen,To Those Desiring the Priestly Rank, and to Priests’ Wives. Part 1
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
Proof of our rightness in God is a peaceful spirit, which the Holy Spirit generates in the righteous soul. You do not have this peace, which means that you have no rightness. You are governed by fleeting impressions, and do not delve into the depths of God’s judgments, Holy Scripture, and the whole history of the Church which witnesses to them.
May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Laypeople. Part 6 May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Laypeople. Part 6
Archimandrite John (Krestiankin)
May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Laypeople. Part 6 May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin. Letters to Laypeople. Part 6
A. has not made his life’s decision, you are not yet free, and everything is still ahead of you. Everyone has to make his own decision. Therefore, enjoy life, do what God has blessed you to do with love and eagerness: warm the souls of the sick and suffering, and paint icons.

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