July 17, 1814 Hermitage
My dearest little brother, Alexander Ivanovich, Save yourself in the Lord!
I was delighted to receive your letter proceeding from unforgettable brotherly love. I rejoiced in my heart that you are alive and well. I would be glad to help you with books, but it is a pity that we are so far away from each other now and there are no opportunities for me to do so. But to satisfy your request, which indeed is pleasing to me, along with this letter I am sending you at least a few readings I have copied out. And yet they contain much, and one might say everything necessary for guidance unto salvation. Let your soul make good use of them; nourish it daily with the words of life, with prayer, and with every good work—just as we nourish the body with various kinds of food and drink, by means of which our exhausted strength is renewed and our life is preserved.
If the spirit of piety is growing weaker in you, that is not surprising, because you are found in a social circle where you both see and hear everything that is in opposition to this spirit, and your heart participates in these things either willingly or unwillingly. That is why I feel sorry for you. But, my little brother, you must not entirely neglect your soul. You must somehow kindle that spirit of piety; by a little spiritual reading, or by prayer even though it may be brief, or by remembrance of eternity and by fulfilling the rest of Christs commandments, you must nurture yourself and mature unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Remember the publican of the Gospel, who was pursuing such a shameful and pernicious career, but did not leave off going to the temple even though his way of life was completely opposed to that which is pleasing to God. And once upon a time it so turned out that he pleased God much by just a few words of repentance and left the temple justified rather than the Pharisee, that zealous keeper of the entire law. My dear one, do not entirely quench the spirit and do not enfeeble yourself by carelessness and by overindulging the body and dissipating the mind in obsessive imaginings, lest you afterwards suffer the lot of the slothful servant of the Gospel, who hid the talent of grace received at baptism, which absolutely must not remain barren and fruitless in the soul of a Christian.
So as to arouse our heedlessness, here is another consideration that we must always bring to mind: that we are mortal. Our life is fleeting and most perilous on account of the uncertainty of the hour of death. For although we know well that we shall die, what we do not know is when we shall die—today or tomorrow, sooner or later, during the day or during the night? This lot of each person is completely unknown—when the sickle of death will overtake whom, and what condition it will find him in, made ready by good works, or unprepared and full of evil ones. For in whatever it finds a person, that is how it will deliver him over to judgment before God, and by his deeds everyone shall be either glorified or put to shame. And no one will help us in that hour of death, only good works accomplished in God. Here we must discuss both good works and evil works, and the results of each. We know from the Holy Scriptures that we are not created just to eat and drink pleasurably, have a good time and enjoy ourselves heedlessly. We are created for good works, through which in this brief life we attain the eternal and blessed life to which we are all called by the grace of God.
And so our life here is a time of ceaseless bodily and spiritual labors, and the future life of recompense according to our works. But we must find out for certain what kind of works will yield a blessed eternity and what kind will yield a bitter one, so as to shun the one and always hold to the other. Man is twofold, body and soul; his works are also twofold. One is called the outer man, the other is called the inner man. These two, united in the single hypostasis of the man, are as far removed from one another as the heaven is from the earth, and they are so opposed to each other that one who is not enlightened by the grace of Christ cannot come to know himself and cannot steer clear of disaster. For the outer man is a corruptible body, fashioned by God to serve the soul, and it demands its own gratification; the inner man is an immortal soul, created in the image and likeness of God for good works, and it demands its own kind of cultivation and gratification.
Our works are called sowing, and this too is twofold—some unto the inner man and some unto the outer man; and the differing fruits of the two are evident. "For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting" (Galatians 6:8). The sowing and reaping unto the outer man in this life has three aspects—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (I John 2:16). Unless the inner man meditates upon the law of God and is nourished thereby, unless he is strengthened by reading and by prayer, he is conquered by the outer man, and he serves his master. Hence there are manifested works pleasing to the flesh but hateful to God, such as pride, avarice, gluttony, the fulfillment of all kinds of lusts, idle talk, laughter, amusements, drunkenness, malice, duplicity, lying, envy slothfulness and others. These are the fruits of the sowing unto the flesh, and that is why flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 15:50). But when the soul meditates upon the law of God and the body is subjected to the wisdom of the soul, then the following works are seen: love for God and neighbor, peaceableness, meekness, simplicity, kindliness, mercifulness toward all, modesty, temperance, chastity, guilelessness, and the rest, and these works are the fruits of the Holy Spirit and are called the sowing unto the Spirit.
Our works in this life are the sowing, and the future life is the harvest of what we have sown. Whatever one sows here, that is what he shall reap there. If one hastens to cultivate the field of his heart, to fertilize it and to sow in it the seeds of immortal grain, he can confidently expect to see a corresponding harvest unto eternal rest and delight. He that sows with tears of repentance shall reap with rejoicing and "shall be filled," says the Prophet (Psalms 16:16 and 125:6), for sweet rest follows upon the labors of piety. But rest and refreshment are denied to him who has not labored in the work of piety—he that is idle should not eat, it is said (cf.II Thessalonians 3:10).
Dear brother, always depict this truth to yourself, that what a man sows in this life he shall reap a hundredfold in the future life. And check yourself daily on the basis of this truth—what have you sown for the future life, wheat or thorns? And having examined yourself, resolve to do better the next day, and live your whole life in this manner. If you have spent the day poorly, without praying to God as you should, without even once feeling contrition of heart, without humbling yourself mentally, without showing kindness or giving alms to anyone, without forgiving someone at fault, without patiently enduring an offense—if instead you have given way to anger and showed no restraint in your speech or in eating and drinking, or if you have immersed your mind in impure thoughts—when you have reviewed all this in your mind, condemn yourself according to your conscience and resolve on the following day to be more attentive to that which is good and to guard more against that which is evil.
And so ever watch over your field, my dear one, and clear it of thorns, and take heed as a true Christian to labor not merely for the food which perisheth, but for that which endureth unto everlasting life (John 6:27). For what good does it do us if we fully gratify ourselves in this life with honor, glory, wealth and all kinds of pleasures, but empty our soul of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and then appear before God barren as a fruitless tree which is hewn down and cast into the fire (Matthew 3:10)? With your outer man render to Caesar the things that are Caesars (Mark 12:17), but with your inner man always gaze toward God and meditate upon His law, and God will be with you.
More than anything else, I fear lest you be harmed by keeping bad company. A companion who always has women and good times on his mind is a bad companion for sure. For wine and women have destroyed many, the Scriptures say (cf. Sirach 19:2, 34:25). Keep away from such people, for loose and passionate habits take root in us quickly and easily, and it is very difficult to get rid of them. Few are they who have entirely freed themselves from evil habits—most have ended their lives in these passions unto their eternal condemnation, from which may the most merciful Lord spare you and me. I trust that you have the spirit of the fear of God by which you can guard yourself from sin and be guided toward virtue. These readings I am sending you can also aid you in this. Keep these precepts as well as you can, and surely "thy youth shall be renewed as the eagles" (Psalm 102:5).
As for me, I am living in the same solitary place as before. Glory be to God! I am in good health and protected by the grace of God.
Ever wishing you well, I remain your devoted brother,
Sinful Timothy
I bow most deeply before you.