In English

‘Father’ said someone, ‘Holy Scripture advises us to be “wise as serpents”. Explain to us the meaning of the phrase’. ‘When the time comes for the snake to change its skin’, he answered, it goes through a narrow place. In this way, it gets rid of its old skin easily. The same with us. To get rid of our former self, we have to pass along the narrow path of the Gospel. But there’s something else, as well. When it’s in danger, a snake is interested in protecting only its head. We should imitate it. Our first concern should be protection of our faith. As long as we keep the faith, everything else is fixable. Somebody else asked: ‘Father, when, without me ...

Prayer's a spiritual weapon with which we solve all our problems. It's the master key to all the locks in the world, all the difficulties of life. Through their prayers, people who believe properly bring down heaven to earth and have God at their service. Prayer’s the oxygen for our soul and people who don't pray are consumptive. In effect they're dead.

Once, in a skete, a brother fell into error and after a conference, the others sent word to Abba Moïsis, asking him to come. But he didn’t want to. So the oldest of the monks sent a message to him saying: ‘Come, because people are waiting for you’. So he set out and made his way there. He picked up a basket with holes in it, filled it with sand and carried it on his back. The brothers came out to meet him and asked: ‘What’s this, father?’. The elder said to them: ‘My own sins are behind me and I don’t see them. And I’m supposed to come here today to judge the sins of somebody else?’ When they heard this, ...

Consider yourself lower and worse than everyone else and don't seek praise, honor or glory from other people.

  ‘I believe that there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, more rational, more manly, and more perfect than the Saviour; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would even say more: If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth’. This great thinker could hardly fail to be attracted to the majesty of Optina. He was very interested in following the process of eldership and in becoming acquainted with the enlightened starets, Amvrosij. And in June 1878 he visited him and stayed for two days. ...

Children's behavior is directly linked to the state of the parents. When children are hurt by the way the parents behave towards each other they lose the power and the will to make any progress. They're badly built and the structure of their soul is at risk of collapse at any moment.

 In the middle of Holy and Great Lent, the Church places before the faithful the Honourable Cross of the Lord for us to venerate and draw strength from, so that we can continue the gruelling but lambent journey towards Great Week. This decision is judicious and full of meaning, my brothers and sisters. Because the Cross of Our Lord is the pre-eminent symbol of life and sanctification in our lives. Whereas, through the wood (that is the tree) of disobedience, Adam lost the delights of Paradise, through the wood of the Cross, the new Adam, Christ, has again opened up the gates of Eden to humankind. The sacrifice of the Cross is the means by which the great chasm created by ...

Parents and teachers, take great care not to allow your children to become capricious. When they grow up, they'll complain that you spoiled them when they were younger and encouraged their outlandish behavior. Eccentricity is the microbe that corrupts the heart, the rust, the moth that eats away at love, the seed of the devil, a mockery of the Lord.

Allow yourself whatever's constructive for you, but not what causes spiritual damage, upset and turmoil. What rational person would drink from a glass which they knew had been poisoned?