Continued on Fasting. Conduct at Home During the Fast

I continue on the subject of the fast observance. The person observing the fast knows only church and home. When you have come home—what then? Here too one must, as much as possible, maintain a reverent turning of the mind and heart toward the Lord. Hasten directly to your room from the church and greet it with several prostrations, asking the Lord reverently to grant that you spend the time of home solitude that lies ahead with benefit to your soul. Then it is necessary to rest a little by sitting down. But all the same, do not let your thoughts wander; instead, without thinking of anything in particular, say within yourself: “Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!” Having rested, you must do some activity: either pray, or do some handiwork. Which one at any given time—determine this yourself. It is not possible to be occupied with spiritual things all the time; one must have some undemanding handiwork. But one should take it up only when the soul is fatigued and is capable neither of reading, nor thinking, nor praying to God. If those spiritual occupations are going well, the handiwork need not be touched. It is appointed to fill the time which, without it, would have to be spent in idleness—most ruinous always, and all the more so during the fast observance.

How should one pray at home? You have said well that one should add a little more beyond the usual prayer rule. Yes, indeed. But it is better if you add not extra readings of prayers, but pray longer without the prayer book, expressing your deepest spiritual needs before the Lord in your own words. Read both morning and evening no more than you do on ordinary days, but before the beginning of your prayer-rule and after it, pray in your own prayer, and between the printed prayers insert your own, making waist-deep and full prostrations and kneeling down. Importune the Lord, the Mother of God, and your Guardian Angel in your own words to them, asking for everything you feel to be absolutely necessary; pray that they may grant you to know yourself, and having come to that knowledge, may instill the desire and supply the strength to correct all that is uncorrected, and above all, that they may fill your heart with the spirit of contrition and humility—in which lies the sacrifice most pleasing to God. But do not bind yourself with an overly long and drawn-out rule. It is better to rise to prayer more often and make prostrations throughout the day a little at a time, but frequently, so that the whole day is threaded through with prostrations. And in your mind, never depart from the Lord, whether you are standing at prayer or doing something else.

After prayer—reading with meditation. One must read not in order to fill the memory with various pieces of information and concepts, but in order to receive edification and to understand how to fulfill better what is needed for us during these days of the fast observance. For this reason, read little—but bring every point that is read to the level of feeling by means of prolonged attention to it.

What to read? Of course, only spiritual books. Among them I will recommend nothing to you more than the writings of Saint Tikhon. There is a little book called “Arise, O Sleeper”—a selection of articles from Saint Tikhon that dispose the reader to repentance. There is also a little book on repentance and communion, with sermons for Great Lent and the preparatory weeks before it. I have heard that it is very useful at this time: it speaks exclusively of repentance and communion. I find no better reading for you. These books have been given to you. Take them and read.

Unhurried reading with meditation on suitable books is what most powerfully stirs the soul. Lean into it. Devote the whole morning after prayer to it—since Matins is heard in the evening—right up until the Hours. It will also prepare you for prayer in church. After the Hours you can continue the same, when you have the inclination and attention for it. If a prayerful movement arises during reading, rise and pray. Should you read together with someone or alone? Alone is better—because in that way it is easier to attend to yourself and to apply what you read to your own situation. Meditation must be interspersed throughout the reading; otherwise the reading alone will drift into daydreaming, and you will not be able to catch hold of it.

So—reading a while, reflecting, making prostrations—these are all the occupations proper to a person observing the fast at home. But it is not always possible to sustain attention at such a level of intensity the whole time. When you are tired, you may sit down to do some work, as I have already mentioned.

You have also said well that one must fast. Yes, indeed—but not excessively. You eat little as it is. One must have the strength to stand through the church services and make prostrations at home. But do whatever you find most convenient and practicable. It is only necessary to let the body know that it too is at fault in what must be repented of, and that therefore it must bear the labors of the fast observance. From sleep you should also take away a little—both in duration and in comfort. This, it seems, will require a sacrifice from you. Do not be too lazy to make it, as best you can. Every kind of deprivation is fitting during these days.

And conversation? One may converse as well—only not about trifles, but about the same things. Instead of conversation, it would be better to set aside an hour for reading together—and read together. In the evening this would be very fitting. Nothing could be better than if one of you were to tell edifying stories in which the power of repentance and communion was shown. For joint reading too, one should choose such accounts from the Menologion.

Enough for now. Whatever else is needed I will add later.