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The Legend of Peresvet/Chapter Four: Hesychia

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Chapter Four:
Hesychia

Let this silence ring out

with the good news, the holy message:

God is near at every moment!

God is Love! God is right here!

Open the doors of your heart, open it — and you’ll know His Love!

God is right here, He is — within,

in the Radiance of Eternal Purity!

And only a fussy life

in captivity of the mind and evil passions

prevents you from cognizing

the Love of the Father of all people…

Revelation from Matthew the Apostle

In the morning, after the prayers, hegumen Sergius again explained in his sermon to all the brethren of the monastery about Hesychia, a special inner silence. He said that prayers must not come from one’s head but must instead “go down” and come from one’s spiritual heart, from being within the spiritual heart. He also spoke about the purification of thoughts and about keeping one’s attention on God at all times.

He reminded the monks of the great words of the Gospels: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!” (Matt 5:8), “The Kingdom of God is within you!” (Luke 17:21), “When you pray, enter into your chamber (chest) and, shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret” (Matt 6:6), and “He who unites with the Lord is one Spirit with the Lord” (1 Cor 6:17).

* * *

Sergius always spoke with a heartfelt and laconic voice.

The monks listened in awe; they marveled at Sergius’ holiness!

For most of the brethren, the mystery of the “intelligent prayer”, which was always active in the spiritual heart, seemed inaccessible and unfathomable, the summit of spiritual achievements, despite the hegumen’s explanations about how this spiritual silence could be attained.

Yegor also dreamed of achieving inner silence, but so far he had little success in doing so. Only sometimes, for a brief moment, his mind quieted and his spiritual heart filled with joy.

That is why Yegor was sad after the morning sermon. He thought with sadness that his failure must be because he was a sinner and unworthy of God’s Grace…

Peresvet, with the blessing of hegumen Sergius, looked after Yegor and instructed him in monastic life. Yegor, in turn, helped Peresvet in many matters of the monastery, acquiring through this various abilities, both simple worldly ones and special spiritual ones.

* * *

On this day, Peresvet and Yegor were gathering young goutweed for the whole brethren: to make soup for a meal. The supplies of food in the monastery had greatly depleted during the winter.

Hegumen Sergius, who made it a rule for all the monks of his monastery to live in non-acquisitiveness, strictly prohibited begging in towns and villages. Ever since the founding of the monastery, this rule had been in place and was strictly observed, even though in other poor monasteries in those days, monks often collected alms to survive.

Another one of Sergius’ rules was that all the property of the monks should be part of their communal belongings. And everyone, to the best of his ability, worked for the good of all. And the meal for all was communal as well. It was a joy for Peresvet and Yegor to gather young green sprouts of goutweed. Yegor’s morning sadness was dispelled by this simple task in the open air of the flooded meadows.

Everywhere, the gentle and vivid manifestations of spring could be felt. Blue and white primrose flowers covered the slopes of valleys, ravines, and hollows. The spring sun was warming the air. Birds were singing their spring songs. A gentle breeze — still a little cool, but not strong — as if spreading its wings, flew over the earth, bringing to every corner the joyful message: “Spring! Spring is here!”. The lapwings cried out over the meadows, and the trills of the larks hovering in the sky decorated the beginning of the day.

* * *

Peresvet and Yegor sat down to rest on a knoll with sacks full of goutweed.

Yegor asked Peresvet:

“Tell me, please, more about you, Rodion, and that Elder!”

“Now is not the time: a long conversation will make us late! I’d rather show you something that the Elder taught us back then. These birches here are reminding me of that since they are very suitable for this! They are not too thin and not too thick, and they are growing in abundance! Look: what a beauty!”

Peresvet approached a young, slender birch, which swayed slightly in the wind, as if dancing. Raising his head, he admired how the thin branches with the first sticky green leaves swayed in a special rhythm against the blue sky.

Yegor came up too. He stroked the trunk with his palm:

“How white it is! As if with the spring all its beauty awakened in it!”

“Hug this birch tree, cling to it with all your body! So that you feel every movement of it from the wind! Sway with it in this expanse of spring beauty and spaciousness! When embracing a tree in such a way, you can feel how God cradles everything around us and in us, how He caresses and embraces all of us with His Care, like a mother rocking her child in a cradle.

“And then it becomes clear to us that the Holy Spirit permeates all living things with Its Light, and that it is the Power of God that enables everything in the world to live! And then we, in response, irrepressibly pour out our love to God!

“Try to feel God’s Love not as a human being but as a little birch tree! And then your body becomes like a graceful dancing birch! And the soul can dissolve in the Flow of God’s Grace!”

Yegor pressed his body against the trunk and fell silent. The wind gently rocked the white trunk of the birch tree together with Yegor’s body…

Peresvet sat down far away. He habitually felt the River of Divine Light, and allowed this Light to become visible to the soul and united with the Flow of Divine Love-Caresses.

He did not hurry the lad, so that the beautiful Gifts of the Holy Spirit could be revealed to Yegor himself.

… Afterwards, Yegor said with tears in his eyes:

“I saw the Light of God! I heard a special silence! I had never been able to do it before! And I so wanted to know the silence and warmth of my heart! I wanted to, but I couldn’t! And then it just happened! It happened! It was as if only the birch and the Light of God remained, and I was not!”

Yegor whispered words of thanks to God.

Then he and Peresvet picked up the sacks full of goutweed and went to the monastery.

* * *

Peresvet rejoiced at Yegor’s success. For many in the monastery the peace of heart, even for just a short time, was an unattainable dream. Hegumen Sergius himself was able to do many things and instructed others in them. But not everyone was able to do it…

Peresvet often tried to understand this, wondering: how and why does everything happens so with souls? Why do some people find spiritual knowledge easy, while others do not? Maybe the Elder was right in saying that a soul lives on the Earth more than once? And could it be that some souls are just young and unskilled, only just now starting to mature and learn, and therefore, learn more slowly?

Peresvet met people who were not the brightest mentally, but were kind, with hearts full of love. And on the contrary, he had seen others who boasted of knowledge and were important people who, at the same time, had no notion of love in their hearts, even if they possessed flawless logic and never missed a chance for profit…

Peresvet had started learning long ago how to see souls and understand people, but he still hadn’t learned how to best help such a wide variety of souls…

He had many conversations about this with hegumen Sergius. Peresvet told about his understanding, about his special visions. Sergius listened attentively, and he never criticized anyone, but he was careful — not to introduce something new into monastic practice.

… And now — Peresvet was glad for Yegor! But for a moment, he imagined teaching all the monks to embrace birches and realized how quickly it would all turn into nonsense! Everyone would have thought it was ridiculous!…

If, of course, hegumen Sergius himself had commanded it, then everyone would have obeyed. But would anyone have succeeded…? Who knows?

“Yegor is a pure, transparent soul! He is so sensitive that even a subtle touch causes an immediate reaction in him, as a soul. Much like how a crystal glass begins to ‘sing’ when touched a certain way, the soul seems to ‘sing’ in response to such love and purity! But it’s not like that with others…” — he thought.

Peresvet thanked God for His Love, for His Great Joy, and for such a wonderful day! All felt right in Peresvet’s heart! The future seemed bright!

The response of God’s Love came instantly, as It always does as soon as one directs all of one’s love to Him. And He opens His Embrace to such souls, allowing them to dissolve in His Light and live thus — with Him, and in Him!