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The Legend of Peresvet/Chapter Eight: Love and the Growth of the Soul

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Chapter Eight:
Love and the Growth
of the Soul

“… Let us love one another,

because love is from God…!

Whoever does not love — does not know God,

because God is Love!” (1 Jn 4:7-8).

“… If we love one another,

then God abides in us,

and His perfect Love

is in us!” (1 Jn 4:11-12).

“God is Love,

and all who live in love

live in God,

and God lives in them.” (1 Jn 4:16).

"… My Joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be full!

This is my commandment:

Love one another,

As I have loved you!” (Jn 15:11-12).

“… Whoever is united with the Lord

is one with Him in Spirit!” (1 Cor 6:17).

“… The Kingdom of Heaven is taken
with great struggle,

and those who make the effort

shall reach it!” (Matthew 11:12).

“… When… we shall be like Him… —

… we shall see Him as He is!” (1 Jn 3:2).

The path that led to Pereyaslavl was far away and that town could not be reached in one day.

Peresvet traveled lightly and did not hurry.

It was blissful in the open air of the countryside!

How many times before had he walked and rode on the earth!...

When peace and tranquility are not disturbed by people’s battles and fights, the beauty of nature always brings joy to the heart!

From the pure expanses of meadows and steppes the soul opens wide and embraces everything, as far as it is strong enough! It is as if, effortlessly, the huge, invisible arms of the soul grow to embrace all this beauty! And then, they ever so tenderly begin to hold on their huge, caressing and strong arms all the blooming meadows and endless steppes!

And in the thick forest, the soul plunges into a special silence, as if the body disappears among the trunks of trees, and only the forest is rustling with its leaves on all sides!

Somewhere up there, the tree branches touch the blue sky with a beautiful lace of leaves, and the roots go deep into the serenity and power of the Earth!...

Then there is only the forest and the high clear blue sky above it!

Beneath the sky, there is the depth of the Earth nourishing all life, and carrying all beings on its back.

And the body of man among all this is like a tiny blade which grows and lives by the Will of God…

In this body, the soul has to develop. It was predetermined so by God, and this is how life on the Earth is organized by Him!

And a human soul lives so that it can cognize its Creator-God, so that it can love Him so much that the Heights of God will open! And the Heavenly Father Himself shall appear to the soul!

… The forest road took Peresvet from the thicket of the forest to the open meadow expanses. In the distance, the river Kubr was blue.

“Wonderful, more than half of the road has already been passed!”

… Peresvet sat down to have a rest under a powerful and tall poplar. He leant with his back on its trunk.

The huge tree kindly accepted the traveler in its shade. It was easy and natural for Peresvet to feel bright currents of life-power in the trunk. And he could feel the immensity of the crown with its slightly rustling leaves, and the depth of the roots connecting the tree with Mother Earth! It was as if, for some time, the poplar became kindred with Peresvet, Peresvet became like it, its roots grew deep into the Earth, its three-reaches-wide trunk stretched upwards, and the tree even reached the sky with its many arms-branches and stroked the air with its leafy fingers…

“This is so easy — to feel the power and peace of a tree like this and to feel its connection with the whole Creation of God and with the whole Creator! Why have people forgotten such simple possibilities — to feel Divine Life in everything that exists?

“And Vlada taught me all this…”

… Peresvet went out to the river bank.

The memories of Vlada, of that great earthly love, which awoke in him the love for God, — came involuntarily.

Peresvet did not resist those pictures of the past. On the contrary, he allowed his memory to reproduce the states of love, dear to his heart, which he experienced then so intensely for the first time!

This love did not go anywhere, it continued to live in the soul — as a treasure, as an unquenchable light that could never dim, not even with the passing of so many years. Instead, this love became him, in it, he purified and grew, matured, became closer to the understanding of all Life and of God Himself! This love revealed to him the World of God!

* * *

… When Peresvet opened his eyes after severe wounds and oblivion, he immediately saw her — Vlada — amazingly gentle and so beautiful!

Light-blond hair braided into plaits, eyes calm and deep like the depth of a lake… A slender and flexible body… Amazingly gentle and smooth movements… Purity of the soul — through bodily hands — touched everything around easily, and light streamed through her eyes.

Her gaze could fill everyone with a special tenderness and care.

Her presence transformed all the space around her, filling it with love, which was felt by the soul like a subtle touch.

Together with this return to life, a love for Vlada also came to Peresvet. It was as if this love had been sleeping in the soul, like a blossom waiting to open — and it awakened suddenly, and so strongly that it gave him strength to survive and recover!

This love was mutual, and Vlada did not hide it.

… Vlada was very happy when Peresvet woke up.

She called Rodion. He came and leaned over his friend’s bed:

“Finally! You’ve been unconscious for over a week!

“Do you know who is treating you?”

“Vlada… It was as if I was dreaming about her face and hands.”

“Yes, Vlada! She is a great healer!

“And — you won’t believe it! — the Elder is here. Do you remember him? Vlada is his disciple.”

… The Elder almost did not interfere in the treatment of Peresvet, he was busy with other things.

Only sometimes he came to the bed and looked attentively, as if he saw through everything. Then he would say a few words — and go away.

For example, it was like this:

“Why are you breathing here barely, as if you are only half alive? The breath in man can be united with the Divine Spirit! Breathe in the air, together with the Light of God! And breathe out so that — except this Light — there is nothing else in your body! Then the wound in your chest will begin to heal!”

… Afterwards, Vlada would explain in detail these meager instructions from the Elder.

… Rodion was soon sent home by the Elder. The Elder said:

“Your wife is waiting for you, your son is growing up. Go! By summer, Vlada will have finished nursing your friend!”

… Rodion, of course, obeyed and left.

… Strength very slowly returned to Peresvet. He was lying on his bed in a very large cave, well-equipped for permanent living. In the center of the largest room, there was always a burning fire, the smoke from which went up easily through a hole in the ceiling. The cave itself went deep into the soft limestone rock. It had several rooms well adapted for living.

One night, Peresvet heard Vlada pleading with the Elder:

“Cure him, please! There is no one in the world who is dearer to me!”

“I know! That’s why you’ll cure him yourself! And you will use everything that I taught you, and new Knowledge will come to you from God! You understand that if I heal him at one moment with the Power of God, it will not be of much use! But when you yourself help him to cognize the power of the soul and awaken the Power of God in himself — then the benefit will be great! A person can cure oneself of any ailment with God’s Help, but one usually does not know how… And you do know! So cure him!”

… And Vlada treated him.

She taught Peresvet a special kind of breathing, whereby air-light filled the whole body and moved inside it.

She taught him to feel the power of Mother Earth — directly from the cave — to feel its surface with grass, with trees, with birds and gentle beasts.

She taught him to feel it with the soul so that its power would penetrate into his body and fill it.

When Peresvet was able to leave the cave, she taught him to bathe in the ice-hole so that all the remains of weakness could leave his body and his strength could renew.

At other times, she taught him how it was possible to feel the water, becoming the silence, peace, and the transparent depth of the lake.

She taught how to cleanse oneself by using fire and the light of a candle or campfire.

And later, in spring, she taught him how to unite with the light and fire of the shining sun.

Vlada also revealed to Peresvet greater depths of spiritual cognition. For example, she showed him how to perceive the Light of God — the Light of the Holy Spirit — and merge with It.

How simply she taught it all! Everything around — the cave, the campfire, trees, the small waterfall, the river, the lake, the expanse of meadows, the forest — they all provided wonderful opportunities for her lessons!

* * *

Peresvet took his shoes off on the bank of the river. Slightly cool water flowed, caressing his feet which were tired from walking, and warm memories filled him.

He remembered how Vlada had taught him in spring to feel as if he were lying on a river bottom, while his body was standing on the bank.

She had said:

“A soul must not be a prisoner to the flesh of a body! Here is a simple experience for you: feel yourself lying on the bottom.”

“As if I was drowned?”

“No. As if — you can easily breathe underwater, admire the sunlight through the water, touch the sand on the bottom, and observe the swaying algae…

You also can swim — as a soul! — in the current of this river…”

… Now Peresvet tried to do this exercise and felt how the jets of river water washed around him and through him and how easily and freely the soul could swim just like that — in a stream of water saturated with sunlight! He recalled how such a simple action helped Vlada to teach him to float in the Flow of the Light of the Holy Spirit, to dissolve in that Flow!

Peresvet was surprised at how naturally the memory of the soul resurrects the memories of those exalted states that had been experienced before. For now — the Flow of Living Light of God became the naturally perceived Reality! His body stood on the bank of the river, and the soul floated in Mergence with the Great River of Divine Light, Which gently flowed far and wide!

Easily, as if by itself, the prayer-meditation “Heavenly King” sounded in the subtlest Light.

And there were no contradictions between the ancient knowledge of the Magi, which the Elder and Vlada possessed, — and the Teachings of Jesus Christ about the Heavenly Father and about the Love of God!

In the purity of Love all this was One Eternal Knowledge of the Divine!