Chapter 13
On Unceasing Prayer and the Ordering of Our Affairs
13.2.1 May the mercy of God be with you!
13.3.1 I don’t know how to settle the question about the factory. For all the affairs of life, there is one principle: to adapt them to the one thing needful, and not to conduct them in a way that harms it. It seems to me that it would be better to get rid of the distillery. Vodka causes much harm. How could some of the responsibility not fall on those who produce it?![1] So give it up! What instead of it? Starch would be much better in every way.
13.4.1 It occurs to me that if you’re able to convert everything you have into capital, live without want, and raise and settle your children—that would be the best thing of all. I think this way because of your desire to spend more time with the Lord. But in any case, you are the head of your family. See what works best! When your duties don’t allow you to complete your prayer rule in full, then perform it in shortened form. But you should never rush. God is everywhere. In the morning, give thanks to Him and ask His blessing in your own words, make a few prostrations—and that’s enough! Never turn to God carelessly. Always do so with great reverence. He doesn’t need our prostrations or our long-winded prayers... A cry from the heart, short and strong—that’s what gets through!.. And you can do that on the go... And so you can pray unceasingly. So take care of this and direct everything toward it. They asked Saint Epiphanius: how should we keep the Hours? The Hours?! For prayer there are no special hours: it must be every hour and every minute. They asked Saint Basil the Great: how can we pray unceasingly? He answered: Keep a spirit of prayer in your heart, and you will pray unceasingly. Work with your hands, but lift your intellect to God. The apostles traveled the whole earth—what labors they endured! And yet they prayed unceasingly. And they wrote this commandment. The spirit of faith, hope, and submission to the will of God—that is what you must kindle in your heart.
13.5.1 You can arrange your own prayer rule, judging by what I wrote to your wife. Memorise the prayers you read, and recite them from memory with understanding and feeling. And right there insert your own prayer as well; the less you depend on the book, the better. Memorise a few psalms and, when you’re walking somewhere or doing something else and your mind isn’t occupied, recite them... This is conversation with God. The rule should be in your own free will. Do not be his slave.
13.6.1 Save yourselves!
13.7.1