May God Give You Wisdom

 I am done reading May God Give You Wisdom: The Letters of Father John Krestiankin (St. Xenia Skete, 2007) which I am passing along to Max Doppman to take out into the world with him. I think it will be a help to him. A few things to share with you:

...It usually happens like this: a man falls away from the Source of Life, he commits unworthy acts, and his soul falls ill; if he harden in his delusions, he will fall ill physically, also.

p.161

I think we have all seen proofs of this.

Life itself teaches life. The greatest and most important act a peson can learn is to live in peace and love with everyone.

p. 171

***

You are only supposed to pray for them, and not dictate your own views, even the most pious ones. Live piously yourself...  For if you start to live according to the law of love, this law will be understandable to both believers and unbelievers.

p.173

And is not that last sentence of the last paragraph the best possible advice for Christians? For anyone? 

sch

3/1/20

[While posting this I found online this:

MAY GOD GIVE YOU WISDOM! THE LETTERS OF FR. JOHN KRESTIANKIN. INTRODUCTION. RECOLLECTIONS OF A SPIRITUAL SON

A year has passed since the repose of Russia’s righteous elder, Archimandrite John Krestiankin of the Pskov-Caves Monastery. But his memory has far from faded; to the contrary, it is spreading far beyond the Russian borders, his writings being translated into other languages. Pravoslavie.ru (English edition) is therefore pleased to present each week day excerpts from the forthcoming book May God Give You Wisdom! The Letters of Fr. John Krestiankin (published by Sretensky Monastery and St. Xenia Skete). May our readers find in them answers to perplexities, sober instruction, and deep Christian wisdom, coming from a true elder and confessor of the Faith.

From which I decided to copy this passage: 

I recall, when I was still a young novice in the monastery, a Moscow pilgrim came up to me and told me what he had just witnessed: Fr. John, surrounded by pilgrims, was hurrying through the monastery courtyard towards the church. Suddenly a tear-stained woman with a three-year-old child in her arms rushed up to him: "Batiushka, bless me to go ahead with his surgery-the doctors say it must be done immediately, in Moscow." And then something happened which stunned both me and the pilgrim who told me the story. Fr. John stopped and firmly told her: "Under no circumstances. He’ll die on the operating table. Pray and give him medical treatment, but by no means have the surgery. He’ll recover." And he made the sign of the Cross over the child.

The pilgrim and I sat down and were terrified by our own speculations: What if Fr. John is mistaken? What if the baby dies? What would the mother do to Fr. John if that happens? Of course, we couldn’t believe that Fr. John had displayed a crude denial of medicine, something which, however rare, still is not unheard of in some Church circles. We knew of many cases when Fr. John would bless surgery and even insist on it. There were many well-known doctors among his spiritual children. With dread we awaited what would happen. Would the broken-hearted mother show up in the monastery and raise a monstrous scandal? Or would nothing of the kind happen, as Fr. John had predicted?

Apparently nothing happened, because Fr. John went on as before with his daily walk between the church and his cell, surrounded by pilgrims filled with hope and gratitude. It remained for us to assume that Fr. John foresaw God’s Providence for that infant, and took upon himself the great responsibility for his life. And the Lord did not put the faith and hope of his faithful servant to shame.

Here is another except which may interest you to read. 7/10/21]