Letters, Volume 1

Letters to an elderly monk named Andrew

LETTERS TO AN ELDERLY MONK NAMED ANDREW (72–123) LETTER 72 An old man who was ill, named Andrew, who was living in stillness in the monastic community, declared some of his secret faults to the same Great Old Man, while at the same time giving thanks for the fact that he had been counted worthy to dwell near such a person; and about his bodily illness. Response by Barsanuphius. F YOU TRULY believe that it is actually God who has brought you to this place, then entrust him with all your cares1 and cast on him all your concerns; and he will dispose your affairs as he wills. If, however, you hold back from him in regard to any matter at all, whether about some bodily illness or the passions of the soul, then you are obliged to deal with these as you see fit. For when someone has discharged everything to God, and that person experiences even the slightest affliction, duplicity always leads that person to say: “If perhaps I had taken care of my body, I would not have to be afflicted in this way.” Therefore, one who gives oneself to God must surrender oneself to him unto death and with the whole heart. For God knows, far more than we do, what is good for our soul and body. And to the degree that he allows you to be afflicted in the body, he accordingly lightens the burden of your sins. God, then, demands nothing from you but thanksgiving and patience and prayer for the forgiveness of sins. See how proud I am, that while I am ridiculed by the demons, thinking that I possess love according to God, I am reduced to telling you: “I now bear half of your burden;2 and for the future God is again 1. Or, “seal” (WJVEKMZb). 2. Cf. Sayings, Antony 16. 97 98 BARSANUPHIUS AND JOHN able to help you.” I have spoken as someone beside himself. For I know that I am weak and incapable and naked of every good work. Yet my shamelessness does not allow me to despair. For I have a compassionate Master, one who is merciful and loving, who stretches out his hand to every sinner until his last breath. Cleave unto him, and in [every] matter he will do “far more than all we can ask or imagine.”3 To him be the glory to the ages. Amen. Forgive me, my brother, and pray for me. LETTER 73 Having heard this from him, namely, the words: “I bear half of your burden,” grieving that he did not promise him complete forgiveness, he entreated and begged him urgently for a second time, that through Christ he might grant him this completely. Response by Barsanuphius. I am astonished by your love, brother, because you do not understand the affairs of love that is according to God. In the first place, God knows how I regard myself as earth and ashes, being nothing at all. Yet, if I say something to someone beyond my measure, or beyond my power, I do so moved by the love of Christ, knowing—as I said—that I am nothing but a worthless slave. Since, then, you did not understand what I told you, namely, that I bear half your sins, I have made you my partner. For I did not say to you: “I bear one third,” leaving you to bear more and be burdened more than I. And again, I said what I have said in order to banish self-love; this is why I did not speak to you of bearing two-thirds, showing myself to be stronger than you; for such conduct would be vainglory. Nor did I say: “I bear the whole.” This belongs to the perfect, to those who have become brothers of Christ, who laid down his own life for our sake, and who loves those who love us and do this for us in perfect love. And again, I would have rendered you a stranger to spiritual labor if I had not spoken in this way. So I am not vainglorious, as if ascribing to myself the whole; nor am I envious , by making you a partner in this good conversion. If we 3. Eph 3.20. are brothers, then let us share equally in our Father’s property,4 and injustice will not divide us...