I wrote to O. that whoever is seriously seeking the Kingdom of God would feel loneliness, but the Lord will send the searchers on the way to this goal such consolations that no earthly joys are able to come in comparison with them. It is only necessary to go forward, like Ignatiy (Bryanchaninov), without glancing back. Did Nikolay Germanovhich tell you what No. 11 says about freemasonry? Please read this very attentively. We all must beseech spiritual wisdom, because close beside it there is devilish wisdom. People, in fact, in their essence, in their core, are much better, than what they appear to be in daily life. Image of God at creation and grace received at the Baptism – this is what makes up man’s true, original, personality, his “own self,” his “I.” This is a great gift of God. A new center of self consciousness, “one’s own self,” self-aware of itself and of the entire world around, has come out from non-existence. This “my own self,” “Me” is equal to the whole Universe, because “I” as a self-aware personality has the whole Universe and even God as his objects. This “I-person” strives for perceiving and making part of himself the whole Universe and God Himself. “You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.” So, this kind of knowledge is permitted to man by the Creator; man is called to acquire knowledge, but only in a rightful way. This is how high man’s status is! That is why sometimes man looks so winsome, though his great original “essence” is not manifest, as if lying in the grave covered by empiric rubbish: shallow knowledge, feelings, petty interests, occupations and goals. “Man being in honor, abideth not…” In youth – and some people always – many are able to feel the depth of human soul through their empiric sensitivity. With the time, permanent encounter with the “old” – empiric man - makes one be careful with him, to which our Savior calls us. I will not expatiate on this further, though there is much what can be said on this topic. I hope the above would suffice. The other day, I was reading, though rapidly and without due attention, “The Karamazov Brothers.” This is where human soul is revealed! The scientific psychology looks a poor parody before the psychology of Dostoyevsky. Once I was so naive as to seek knowledge of human soul attending courses on psychology. It is amazing how many silly things a young man may do without due supervision. My condition was as if I were living in woods. The Prince of this world blinds people, so that they have to blunder their way along and therefore they move stepping out from one puddle into another. Science lies if it claims its data to be absolute, for tomorrow science will reject its achievements of today; Art is conscious falsifcation for the most part; politics is always full of deceit, falsehood and crime – all things here should be seen the other way round; what is known as “life,” is nothing but “vanity of vanities; all is vanity;” and what is more important, there is pettiness and emptiness, lies and lies without end. In short, this is an “era of lying,” the realm of the prince of this world. I am writing this letter in the morning, with a refreshed strength, and therefore have lost myself in chattering and got carried away by philosophizing. My dear, try to break away from “unreality” to the “reality” in your own expression; from empiricism to noumenal reality, where there is truth, peace and joy. Cling to the Savior. He is the Way, the Truth and Life. He is the Door for us to enter into the truth and eternal life. Only with His help we can break away from the vanity and the kingdom of the devil and get into the Kingdom of God. We all are blocked up by the rubbish, but a small light of the authentic human core is glimmering no matter what. #Abbot_Nikon_Vorobiev #spiritual_letters