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(42) Word even in our mouth is already creative, forming articulate sounds; with word emerges man's living spirit, not separating from thought and word.  You see, word by its own nature, is creative even in us.  Why is it then that we are at times skeptical and suspicious of the word's creative power, for example, in prayer, that the prayer - this verbal service - will inevitably bring down to us the mercy of the Lord? Thus the word ceaselessly creates flesh: articulate sounds, and writings, or our books, are they not flesh with which word has become invested? While we have become so accustomed to hearing and seeing this, that it seems to us this utterly does not merit special attention.  Not only is the nature of God creative, but by His gift, also the nature of created spiritually-endowed creatures-is creative under God's control: "Be fruitful, and multiply" (Gen. 1, 28).  The souls of living creatures grow themselves bodies under God's super­vision (the spider, bee, worm).  Thus, men, through the power given to them by God, up to now are fruitful and multiply upon the earth; thus, people and animals create for themselves every­thing that is essential for life, especially man - this most in­ventive of beings, which amazes with its infinite creativity in all forms of art.  Since the Word - the Creator is everywhere pres­ent, so everywhere, although not to infinity, are His creations also spread, and everywhere does He build and if need be - transfigurates.

(43) The Word of God is exactly the same as God Himself.  For this reason believe without question in each word of the Lord; the word of God is - deed; and your word must be deed; conseq­uently, having given your word, carry it out without fail; con­sequently, in prayer, too, our words must be deed and truth, and not falsehood, not simulation, not flattery.  So also throughout life.

(44) During prayer always firmly believe and remember that every thought and word of yours may, undoubtedly, become deeds.  "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (St. Lake l, 37).  "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Corinth. 6, 17).  This signifies that even your words shall not be without power.  "All things are possible to him that believeth" (St. Mark J, 2 "2).  Treasure your word: the word is precious.  "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof on the day of judgment" (St. Matt. 12, 36).

(45) When praying, pay steadfast attention to the words of the prayer, feeling them in your heart.  Do not withdraw your mind from them to any other thoughts.  When praying during Divine service, during the celebration of the Sacraments, or having pray­ers upon various occasions, rely firmly upon the words themselves of the Church prayers, believing that not a single word is placed there in vain, that every one of them has its power, that in each word dwells the Lord Himself (in His Three hypostasis), "Who is everywhere present and fills all things": think thus: - I myself am nothing, the Lord does everything.  Also think: when I speak - God the Word, speaks in me.  I need be careful for nothing.  "Casting all your care", it is said, "upon Him, for He careth for you." (I Peter 5, 7).

(46)   As in God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are un­divided, so also in prayer and in our daily life the thought, the word, and the deed ought to be undivided.  If you ask anything of God, believe that it will be done in accordance with your request, as God pleases.  If you read the Word of God, believe that everything that is spoken of in it was, is and shall be; or was done, is being done, and shall be done.  Believe thus, speak thus, read thus, and pray thus.  Great is the Word; great is the thinking, speaking, and acting soul, the image and likeness of the Almighty Trinity.  Man, know yourself! Know what you are, and conduct yourself in accordance with your dignity.

(47) When you doubt in the accomplishment or fulfillment of any word of prayer, remember that the nature of the word is ac­complishment, realisation, and that the Holy Spirit, teaching us to pray for anything as we ought (Romans VIII. 26), is Himself called the Accomplisher. It is He also Who accomplishes our prayer (accomplished by the Spir it).  Remember that the word is power "With God", it is said, "nothing shall be impossible" (St. Luke I. 37) The word of the Lord "shall not return unto Him void" (Isaiah LV. 11), but, like rain or snow it shall water the earth of our hearts, and shall give seed (the fulfillment) to the sower.  Even of men people say: "His word has extraordinary power." You see, therefore, that the word is power, spirit, life.

(48)   God is a Spirit, an incomplex Being.  And in what manner does the Spirit manifest itself? By thought, word, and deed.  Therefore God., as an imcomplex Being, is not composed of a series or of a multitude of thoughts, or of a multitude of words or creations, but He is wholly, in one incomplex thought, God - the Trinity, or, in one incomplex word - the Trinity, or in three Persons, united together in one. But He is also wholly in everything that exists, penetrating and filling everything with Himself.  For instance, when you say a prayer, He is in every word of it, of it, and like a Holy Fire, penetrates each word - everyone may experience this for himself if he will pray sincerely, fervently, with faith and love.  But, especially, He is wholly in the names belonging to Him: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Trinity or the Lord, the Lord God, the Lord God of Sabbaoth, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth ... and in His other names.  The Angels and the Saints are also near to us in their names, as their names and our faith in them are near to our heart; for they are nothing else but the breath of God, and are "one spirit with the Lord." (Corinth. IV. 17).

(49) Every word of the Holy Writ, every word of Divine liturgy, of the morning and evening services, every word of the Sacra­mental prayers and of the other prayers, has in itself the power corresponding to it and contained in it, like the sign of the honorable and life-giving cross.  Such grace is present in every word of the Church, on account of the Personal Incarnate Word of God, Who is the Head of the Church dwelling in the Church.  Besides this, every truly good word has in itself the power cor­responding to it, owing to the all-filling simple Word of God.  With what attention and reverence, with what faith, must we therefore pronounce each word! For the Word is the Creator Himself, God, and through the Word all things were brought into existence from non-existence.

(50)   You are a being endued with speech.  Remember that you derive your origin from the word of the Creator of all things and that in union (through faith) with the creative Word, by means of faith, you can yourself be a material and spiritual creator.  Believe that by your faith in the creative word of the Father, your own word, too, shall not return to you vain, powerless (when, for instance, you pray to God, the Benefactor, in accord­ance with the holy Church's direction or the Lord's guidance), but it shall bring you the gift necessary for good deeds; believe that through faith in the creative Word you will not be unsuccessful in teaching people either in the temple during Divine service, or during the celebration of the sacraments in private houses neither shall your teaching in schools be unsuccessful but has or should have power in itself.  Woe to those who speak you.

(51) Be firmly convinced that every word, especially those pronounced during prayer, is realizable, remembering that the author of the word is God the Word, that our God Himself, worshipped in the Holy Trinity, is expressed by the three words or names: The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; that each word has a corresponding being, or that every word can become being and deed.  Therefore reverence the word and value it.  Remember that the Son of God, as the Personal Word of God, is always united with the Father and the Holy Spirit, in the same manner as the Father, as the Supreme Wisdom, participates, by His omni­presence, His creative Word, and the Holy Spirit the Accom­plisher in the words of Holy Scripture, or in the prayers or in the writings of the most wise Fathers.  This is why no word is vain, but it shall bring you the gift necessary for good deeds; believe idly, for they will have to answer for their idle speaking! "For with God nothing shall be impossible" (St. Luke I. 37).  Power and accomplishment are, in general, the properties of the word.  Such should it also be in the mouths of men.

(52) I love to pray in God's temple, especially within the holy altar, before the Holy Table or the Prothesis, for by God's grace I become wonderfully changed in the temple.  During the prayer of repentance and devotion the thorns, the bonds of the passions, fall from my soul, and I feel so light; all the spell, all the enticement of the passions vanish, and I seem to die to the world, and the world, with, -all its blessings, dies for me, I live in God and for God, for God alone.  I am wholly penetrated by Him, and am one spirit with Him.  I become like a child soothed on its mother's knee.  Then my heart is full of most heavenly, sweet peace.  My soul is enlightened by the light of heaven.  At such times we see everything clearly; we look upon everything rightly; we feel friendship and love towards everyone, even towards our enemies, readily excusing and forgiving everyone.  O, how, blessed is the soul when it is with God!  Truly the Church is earthly paradise.

(53) O, holy temple, how good, how sweet it is to pray in thee! For where can there be ardent prayer if not within thy walls, before the throne of God, and before the face of Him Who sitteth upon it? Truly the soul melts from prayerful emotion, and tears flow down the cheeks like water.  It is sweet to pray for all.

(54) During Divine service, during the celebration of all the sacraments and prayers, be trustful, as a child in relation to his parents.  Remember what great Fathers of the Church, what inspired luminaries, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, are guiding you! Be simple, trustful, undoubting as a child in godly matters Cast all your care upon the Lord, and be entirely free from sorrow.  "Take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, which speaketh in you." (St. Matthew X. 19, 20).  The Lord has long ago freed us  from this care, this sorrow, having taught our God-fearing Fa­thers by His Spirit, what to say and how to pray to the Lord at Divine service, at the celebration of the sacraments and upon various other occasions and circumstances of human life, requiring prayer to bring down a blessing from above.  It ought to be easy for us to pray.  Only the enemy troubles us.  But what matters his troubling if our heart is firmly established in the Lord! It is only a misfor­tune if we do not rest in God; if there is no firm faith in us, if we have bound ourselves by worldly attachments, if our intellect is proud and presumptuous, then, even in the most holy, most pure matter of service, at the celebration and communion of the HolyMysteries, the enemy will greatly hinder us.

(55) In Divine Services the Church shows us those things or needs, for which we should beseech God's mercy with undoubting hope of receiving them, because we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who said: "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (St. John, 14, 13).

(56) When, standing in church, let all of you be as though in heaven with God; for in church everything is heavenly ... Here common prayer is of nothing other, worldly, but - for the soul'ssalvation, for the forgiveness of sins, for success in acts of goodness and the granting of immortality to our souls - prayer for all Every worldly care must be laid aside upon entering church and while standing within.

(57) The Liturgy is a visible representation in persons, in various objects, words, and acts, of the birth, life, teaching, commandments, miracles, and prophesies, of the sufferings, of the cruci­fixion, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven of the Founder of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God.  During the Liturgy He Himself invisibly assists He Himself acts and accomplishes everything through the priest and deacon, who are only His instruments.

(58) You hear in church oftener than anything the voices of the priest, deacons, readers, and singers praying to God to have mer­cy upon us.  What does this signify? It signifies that all of us who are in God's Temple are deserving, by our sins, of God's punish­ment, and that before everything - on our coming into the church - we must remember that we are sinners, and have come to the Lord of Heaven and Earth, to our Benefactor, Whom we have daily and hourly angered by our iniquities, to ask for mercy, each one for himself, and also, in accordance with Christian love, for others.  The prayers asking for mercy are called in the Russian Orthodox Church "great," "small," and "redouble." As there is not a single superfluous word in the church service, it is especially necessary at the time of the singing of the redouble litany to pray to God most fervently, from the very depths of a most contrite heart, as we are reminded at the very beginning of the litany by the words: "Let us say with our whole souls and with our whole understanding." At this time we must lay aside even the slightest coldness, the slightest inattention of heart, and, burning with the spirit of humility, becoming all attention, offer up to the Creator our most fervent prayers to have mercy upon us sinners.  But what do we see at the time of the exclamations of the priest and the singing by the singers of the great and redoubled litany? For the greater part, the usual inattention and indifference on the part of those praying.

(59) If, during service, your brother does anything irregularly, or somewhat negligently, do not become irritated, either inwardly or outwardly with him, but be generously indulgent to his fault, remembering that during your life you yourself commit many, many faults, that you yourself are a man with all infirmities, that God is long-suffering and most merciful, and that He forgives you and all of us our iniquities an innumerable multitude of times.  Remember the words of the Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us." These words should always remind us that we ourselves at all times are great trespassers, great sinners before God, and that, remembering this, we should be humble in the depths of our hearts, and not be very severe to the faults of our brethren, weak like ourselves; that as we do not judge ourselves severely, we must not judge others severely, for our brethren are - our members, like ourselves. Irritability of temper proceeds from want of self-knowledge, from pride, and also from the fact that we do not consider the great corruption of our nature, and know but little the meek and humble Jesus.

(60) Those who go to attend the Divine service after having eaten much, voluntarily lay upon themselves an unnecessary and in­jurious burden, and deaden their hearts beforehand to prayer, obstructing the access of holy thoughts and feelings to it.  We must be most careful not to eat before Divine service.  We must remember that "The kingdom of God is not meat and drink," (Romans XIV. 17), that is, that God cannot reign in the heart that is overburdened with surfeiting and drunkenness.

(61) To the glory of the most holy name of our Master the Lord Jesus Christ and that of Our Lady, the Mother of God, I have experienced a thousand times in my heart, that, after the Com­munion of the Holy Sacrament or after fervent prayer at home - ordinary prayer or prayer in consequence of some sin, passion, and sorrow and strait ness - the Lord, at the prayers of Our Lady, or Our Lady Herself, by the Lord's grace bestowed upon me, as though it were a new spiritual nature, pure, good, great, bright, wise, beneficent, instead of impure, despondent, languid, faint-hearted, dark, dull, and evil.  Many times was I thus changed, with a marvelous great change, to mine own wonder and often to that of others.  Glory to Thy power, Lord! Glory to Thy mercy, Lord! Glory to Thy bounties, Lord, which Thou hast manifested upon me a sinner!

(62) Both learned and unlearned young men seldom go to church, and in general do not attend to their spiritual education, looking upon it as unnecessary and giving themselves up to worldly vanity.  Attention must be paid to this.  It is the fruit of pride, of want of spiritual development.  They consider attendance at church and Divine service as the business of the common people and women, forgetting that, in the temple, Angels officiate with trembling, together with men, and regard this as their highest bliss.

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