वाचनालय

Spiritual Instructions to Laypeople and Monks

Seraphim of Sarov

Short chapters on God, faith, hope, prayer, tears, sorrow and despondency, peace of soul and its preservation, guarding the heart, the light of Christ, attention to oneself, silence, fasting and the active and contemplative life, with advice for the novice and for the superior. Woven from quotations of Isaac the Syrian, John Climacus, Barsanuphius, Gregory of Sinai, Ephrem and John Chrysostom, they convey a sober hesychast teaching: the Jesus Prayer repeated in the mind, inner peace as the condition of all light, and caution towards contemplation without a guide. It is the earliest and least manipulated source of his teaching.