We love to chat. We have an average of 30 conversations a day. 1/5 of life we ​​talk. In a year, your conversations would amount to 66 books of 800 pages. Men speak 20,000 words a day, women 30,000.

Nothing opens more out of time than our mouth. It produces many problems. But when it is necessary (to testify), he does not want to open up. Whoever masters the language becomes a mature person. “For we all sin a lot. Whoever does not sin in the word, that person is perfect, able to bridle the whole body. (James 3:2)

Why watch your words?

1. Language directs my life. My words become my destiny. “All things are determined by the word, have the basis of the word, originated from the word, but whoever is dishonest in speech is dishonest in everything.” (Hinduism. Laws of Manu 4.256) Examples:

• The habit of hurting others dooms you to a life of conflict.
• Constant complaints and accusations of others lead to irresponsibility, and, consequently, to futility in business.
• Swearing reliably protects you from the appearance of decent people in your environment.
• If you are grossly materialistic in your language, no one will fight for ideals with you.
• If you speak in slogans, stupid people will surround you.
• Those who inspire others have a more positive perception of reality themselves. They can accomplish more, enjoy authority from other people.
• Those who speak sincerely will meet sincere people.
• Telling the truth meet direct, open and brave people who love the truth.

2. With one word, you can destroy everything that you have collected all your life. One extra word can deprive you of a friend. The wrong word can kill a spiritual child, destroy a team, cause a collapse in a person's heart. One word can resurrect, encourage, save a person's life. A whole scandal starts with one word. One word can be the trigger for divorce. One word can restore a relationship. A word can turn history.

The Holy Teacher lit the lamp with the Word,
And the darkness was defeated in the temple of human self
And the precious chamber opened.
And we were amazed, contemplating this greatness
Greatness beyond description.
(Sikhism. Adi Granth, Bilawal M. 5)

“He answered and said to him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Mat. 4:6)

3. My tongue shows everyone who I am.. And I am a rather contradictory person. “With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God.” (James 3:9) One moment I'm praising God, and the next minute I'm screaming, "Shut up!" To praise God is the highest purpose of language. The second purpose is to bear witness to the Truth. Why can we be so affectionate to children, and then be rude to them? The tongue shows the heart. I can pretend for a while, and then my tongue will definitely give me away. Whoever speaks rudely has an evil heart. He who sees problems everywhere has fear in his heart. He who talks a lot has a restless heart. He who criticizes everyone has a grudge in his heart. Conversely, one who speaks softly has a loving heart. Those who speak the truth have sincere hearts.

How to control the language?

1. New heart. Where to get it? True Parents. Being born again through the Blessing means gaining a new heart. The revolution of truth, the revolution of conscience and the revolution of the heart. The Revolution of the Heart is the most important revolution in human history. With problems in our organization, we have lost heart. Now it is important to connect with the spirit of Moon Hyung Jin and find the heart again. The essence of the new heart is the heart of salvation. Such a heart cannot be silent about what is the Principle, what are the True Parents. If we are truly connected with God, the problems of organization should not worry us very much. Of course, we look back to see with whom we will build the Country of universal peace and unity, but if we depend on their decision, then in any case it is no longer ours. You need to make decisions without looking at others, and then look who is with you and who is not with you and what can be done to make him. Bearing witness to the truth begins with oneself. I cannot testify, mainly because I myself am not sure, I myself have doubts, bitterness, resentment and unfulfilled dreams in my heart. You may not testify. Well, let God accept it. But what about your heart? What is it like to carry it all in yourself? Do I want it?

2. Ask God for help. It takes supernatural power to control yourself. So simple, by itself, it will be very difficult to do it. The presence of the Spirit of God is not in speaking in unknown tongues, but in controlling your tongue. To radiate the Divine, you need to receive more Divine. What goes around comes around. One must let the Word of God into oneself (Hundokhwe tradition). "Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth, and guard the door of my mouth." (Ps. 141:3)

3. Think, then speak. Need to listen more. Don't rush to say. This important rule. If you listen more, you will not speak hastily, which means you will not be hastily angry. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. I swear by me: out of my mouth comes righteousness, an unchanging word, that every knee will bow before me, every tongue will swear by me. (Judaism and Christianity. Isaiah 45:22-23)

Priest John Pavlov

16. About the sins of the tongue and word

There is one place in the New Testament where the apostle James discusses the sins of the word. It says that the tongue, although a small member in the human body, often does much evil. The tongue is called by the Apostle a fire kindled from Gehenna, an embellishment of untruth and an evil full of deadly poison, which none of the people can completely tame. These words clearly show, brethren and sisters, how serious the sins of our tongue are. And this is not at all surprising: after all, the gift of the word is one of God's highest gifts to man, and therefore the sins that pervert this gift are very bad sins.

Man is a verbal being, unlike dumb animals. Even the very name "man" is derived by some from the word "slovek" - that is, a verbal creature. But the main thing is not even in this, but in the fact that our God and Creator is God the Word. "Word" is one of the names of God. “In the beginning was the Word,” we read in the Gospel. And for this reason, the sins of language and word are grave sins, for they relate personally to Him, to the hypostatic Word, to the second Person of the Trinity.

The gift of the word is a mysterious gift, and we know that the word can have great power. Our universe itself, as we know, was created by the word of God. “The heavens were created by the word of the Lord,” says King and psalmist David. And this gift of the word, given to us, we can use both for good and for evil. God gave it to man to use it for good. But alas, very often we use it for evil. And of course, the devil always tries to persuade us to this, who knows well that the sins of the word are very dangerous and disastrous for a person. What are these sins? Let's try to briefly list the main ones.

The first such sin is idle talk. Idle talk is when we talk a lot about nothing, wasting the gift of speech on vanity and emptiness. People sin with this sin all the time, they are ready to idle talk with anyone and anywhere - whether at home, at work, at a party or, for example, in church. Many are able to talk on the phone for hours. It is quite obvious that most of these conversations refer specifically to idle talk, because these are conversations in the literal sense of nothing, - according to the popular proverb: he talks all day until evening, but there is nothing to listen to. However, the Divine gift of the word is too great to squander it thoughtlessly, aimlessly and senselessly. Such aimless waste is a sin. In the Gospel, Christ says that for every idle word at the last Judgment, people will give an answer. How shall we answer for our idle words? After all, we will have whole seas or oceans of such words?

In addition, idle talk is extremely detrimental to the spiritual life of a person. It empties the soul and expels the Grace of God from it. The holy fathers cited the following comparison: if the door is often opened in a heated bath, the heat quickly disappears. It happens with us too: Grace comes into the soul, for example, through prayer or Communion, but we, indulging in idle talk, quickly blurt it out, and the soul becomes empty again ...

If the sins of the word were limited to idle talk alone, then it would be half the trouble. However, idle talk is followed by and easily mixed with a number of other sins, and often grave sins. Such as condemnation. Indeed, very often it happens main theme our conversations. We are used to condemning everyone and everything: relatives, neighbors, bosses, colleagues, politicians and anyone. Meanwhile, many holy fathers, for example, St. Ambrose of Optina, say that of all the commandments of the Gospel, the most important commandment is "do not judge." Condemnation is hateful to God, it is, as it were, a denunciation of one's neighbor. When we condemn, we accuse this or that person before God, inform on him. And by this we are likened to the devil, about whom it is said in Scripture that he slanders people before God day and night, that is, he is a scammer. The Lord has commanded us to love one another, and instead we condemn and denounce each other to Him. Moreover, these denunciations are almost always false, for the simple reason that our judgment about any person in most cases is erroneous, incorrect.

Verbal sins do not end with condemnation. The sin of condemnation easily turns into direct slander for us, and then we begin to insult, call names and scold people with swear words, forgetting that for all this we are threatened in the literal sense of fiery hell. For it is written in the Gospel: whoever says to his brother: “cancer”, is subject to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says, "insane," is subject to fiery hell. It happens that in a fit of anger a person comes to the point that he curses other people, and sometimes even those closest to him. Cursing is a terrible thing, especially when parents curse their children. Such a curse can have an effect, the enemy can, as it were, catch the insane word of a father or mother and through it gain the right and access to a person for his activity, which always brings evil and destruction with it. Alas, there are many examples from life that confirm the validity of what has been said.

The next, also very common sin of the tongue, is foul language. Who is forcing you to speak foul language, O man? Is it really impossible for you to speak like a human, without vile obscene words and expressions? And after all, people often swear for no apparent reason, not even for a red word, but just like that, out of a bad brainless habit. Is it necessary to say that foul language and swearing is a grave sin? After all, if even for an idle word it will not be easy for us to answer before God, then how will we answer for bad and obscene words?

Another of the sins of the tongue should be mentioned the sins of lies and hypocrisy. Like the sin of condemnation, lies and hypocrisy are also in their essence the most diabolical sins, for these qualities are deeply inherent in the devil, who is called the father of lies in the Gospel. He is also the father of hypocrisy, because, being an angel of darkness, he always takes the form of an angel of light. And the person who is accustomed to lying and hypocrisy should know that by this he has become like the devil and become related to him.

So, we briefly listed the sins of the tongue. As you can see, there are indeed many bad and grave sins among them. Let us say again: the word is a great gift from God, and any great gift, depending on how it is used, can cause both great good and great evil. That's the word - it can create, or it can destroy, it can heal, or it can kill, it can bring a blessing, or maybe a curse. Let us always remember this, brothers and sisters, let us be very attentive and careful in how we use the word. Let us try to curb our tongue and prevent, as far as possible, the commission of those sins of which we have spoken. Of course, it can be very difficult to bridle one's tongue, and the apostle James directly says that this work belongs to the perfect. But we are just called to Christian perfection, called by our Lord and Creator Himself. Therefore, if we work hard and make efforts, then the Lord will help us, and little by little we will learn to use the gift of the word the way it should be used - for good and salvation. Amen.

Everyone must have heard the expression My tongue is my enemy. And it is true. Sometimes we happen to say things that we later bitterly regret. We get angry at our own language and think about how to curb it. In the series "My Tongue..." we will talk about how to stop fighting with own language how to turn it into your own best friend how to find mutual language With different people regardless of gender and temperament.

"A word spoken from the heart goes straight to the heart."

Lesson 1. How to make friends with your own language.

Today we will deal with the nature of language. Let's start with Chekhov's Chameleon. The circumstances are quite curious - a certain dog bit the artisan on the finger (he poked her with a burning cigar in the nose), and they do not change, the situational coloring of the circumstances changes (the dog can be either incomprehensibly someone's or a general's). Well, what about the poor police warden Ochumelov?

Hm! .. Good ... - says Ochumelov sternly, coughing and moving his eyebrows. - Well... Whose dog? I won't leave it like this. I'll show you how to let the dogs loose! It's time to pay attention to such gentlemen who do not want to obey the regulations! As soon as I fine him, the bastard, he will learn from me what a dog and other stray cattle mean! I'll show him Kuz'kin's mother! .. Eldyrin, - the warden turns to the policeman, - find out whose dog it is, and draw up a protocol! And the dog must be killed. Don't hesitate! She must be mad... Whose dog is this, I ask?

This, it seems, is General Zhigalov! - says someone from the crowd.

General Zhigalov? Hm!.. Take off, Eldyrin, my coat... Horror, how hot it is! It must be before the rain... There's only one thing I don't understand: how could she bite you? - Ochumelov addresses Khryukin. - Something she will get to the finger? She is small, and you are so healthy! You must have cracked your finger with a nail, and then the idea came to your head to rip it off. You're... well-known people! I know you, damn!

My tongue is my enemy! Right, oh, how right was Martin Luther when he said, "To know what fruit is on a tree, you have to shake it." In moments of upheaval, language is a particularly clear barometer. Stop stop stop!!! From this place in more detail ... What is the barometer, what are we talking about?

OK. Let's go in order.

So, the principle of the language. It is described in the best and most detailed way in the Epistle of the Apostle James. I won't give the full biblical text - anyone can open the Bible and read it (James 3:1-12). But I advise you to pay close attention to the eighth verse: "But no man can tame the tongue: it is an uncontrollable evil." Blimey! Yes, this is great news! Since this occupation is impossible (Jacob speaks about it twice), therefore, it is worth stopping doing a useless thing, because the repetition of the same actions with the hope of a different result is a sign of insanity. Take a deep breath and feel good - no need to fight the tongue! Due to inappropriate action.

James gives examples of horses and ships as illustrations, but we will not analyze these examples, because most have little idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe management of ships and horses. Therefore, we will transfer everything to more modern rails. KAMAZ! Great example! Modern Jacob would say this: "KAMAZ is a very heavy car, it is impossible to stop or try to hold it. But KAMAZ is not independent! Its behavior on the roads depends on the driver. If the driver is normal, sober and respectable - everything is fine, KAMAZ is not for anyone will not cause harm, but if a drunken maniac is driving ... Everyone hove!".

Gold words! And why does no one read them literally, as well as other words of the same James: "Does sweet and bitter water flow from the same fountain?"

Let's take a look at the sources. First, what is a source. As a geologist, I would say that this is a natural way to earth's surface groundwater. Those., what is under pressure inside is poured out as soon as it finds a suitable hole. Or a suitable occasion.

In other words, trying to curb the tongue - we are, as it were, trying to plug a hole in earth's crust. Meaning? What is under pressure inside will find another reason to come out. Therefore, it makes sense to pay attention to what is under pressure. Sweet or bitter water?

The question thus rests on replacing the internal content or state as you see fit. What about language? And the language is not the enemy, it is just the voice of what is inside.

It's simple - do not fight with the language, it's better to take care of your brains, your worldview, your relationship with God, finally.

After all, words are secondary to thoughts. And the man himself is what his thoughts are. And all our failures and misfortunes are nothing more than a signal that we are in disharmony with the outside world, and the reason for this is negative or just useless thoughts wandering in our minds. And if we want to change our lives for the better, then we must first change our thinking. By changing our thinking, we will change ourselves, and as a result, the world around us.

What do we have to do? Listen to wise people:

1. Apostle Paul "Finally, my brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is lovely, whatever is glorious, consider these things"
2. Moses "Beware that your lawless thought does not enter your heart"
3. Yogis Beware of intemperance in thought. Follow your thoughts strictly. Rejecting all evil in thoughts, strive with pure thought to perfection.
4. I do not know who, but very correctly confirmed: Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they go into . Watch your habits, they shape your character. Watch your character, for it determines your destiny"
5. Marcus Aurelius "Our life is what our thoughts make it"

How can this be put into practice?

Who hasn't heard of Aesop? Whose ear did not touch the expression "Aesopian language"? Who does not know the fables of later writers, based on parables invented by a malicious and ugly, but witty and cunning slave?

The owner of Aesop, the obtuse and arrogant Xanthus, who is considered a philosopher, asks to bring the best of treats for his friend. Aesop goes into the kitchen and returns with a tongue. "Why language?" Xanth asks. “Because there is nothing better in the world,” the slave replies. - We bless the gods with our tongues, confess our love, recite poems, make wise speeches. There is nothing better language».

“Okay,” the owner says. “Bring us now the worst we have.”

As you may have guessed or remembered, Aesop again brings the tongue and explains to the stupid and tipsy owner why: with the tongue we lie and slander, we curse and spread gossip - there is nothing worse than the tongue.

The guest of Xanth expresses surprise at the wisdom of the slave, Xanth himself does not fully understand how this something can be both the worst and the best of the existing at the same time, and we, the audience, receive the most important lesson. Language is indeed a unique organ human body, and the theme presented by the cinematic Aesop is closely adjacent to many biblical texts.

In portraying the ancient Greeks, we never depict them as they were. Most likely, we do not even try to do it, and it is unlikely that we are capable of it. That Aesop performed by Kalyagin was more like a Christian before Christ than a cynical freak sage. Through the prism of the subsequent triumph of Christianity and through the Renaissance dreams of an ideal man, we see the ancient Greeks. It is good.

If you watch a similar film, you can immediately look for relevant parallels in the Bible. You won't have to search long. The parables of Solomon and the epistle of James will flash with a bright brilliance of associations.

Man sins most of all with his mouth and tongue. According to the Lord, this is what really defiles a person - unlike anything that is eaten. “Whatever enters the mouth passes into the belly and is cast out. But what comes out of the mouth comes out of the heart - this defiles a person ”(Matt. 15: 17-18). The Lord goes on to explain that O comes from the heart: evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, thefts...

Apparently felt it. wise people ancient times, without even hearing the Divine Scriptures, once they introduced, like the Spartans, the "currency of the word" and learned to speak little, but accurately and to the point. An uncontrollably open human mouth is a garbage can that infects the air, or even a ruptured radiation burial ground. Everything that lives in the heart (God, whatever lives there!), comes out and defiles both the speaker and the listener.

Now look, I beg you, from this point of view at "freedom of speech", and you will feel uneasy.

When Isaiah, in the year of the death of King Uzziah, saw the Lord of hosts on the high and exalted throne (see: Isaiah 6), the first reaction of the prophet to this vision was a strange exclamation: “And I said: Woe is me! I died! for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts” (Isaiah 6:5).

One must think that among the sins of Israel were not only slander and foul language. There were murders, and oppression of the poor, and the condemnation of the innocent for bribes, and all kinds of debauchery, from everyday to ritual. The fact that all this happened is clear from the angry speeches of the prophets, and even Isaiah himself. But here the prophet calls himself and all the people people "with unclean lips", and this characteristic covers all aspects of sinfulness.

Indeed, “the tongue is in such a position among our members that it defiles the whole body and inflames the circle of life, being itself inflamed from hell” (James 3: 6).

We tempt and are tempted, we deceive and are deceived through the word. In fact, we get caught and entangled in thin nets woven by crafty lips, including ours. No sin is committed without a word. A person fornicates, steals, robs, kills, helping himself with his tongue. And without this “oar”, the “boat of iniquities” would stand still. And if “with verbosity, sin cannot be avoided” (Prov. 10:19), that is, if you don’t want to sin, but you talk, then you will sin, then what can we say about the intentional commission of evil? It is, of necessity, accompanied by a sin in the word. In this case, the tongue is “the embellishment of unrighteousness” (James 3:6).

It is obvious that healing will come from the side of abstinence. By abstinence we understand more and more often only fasting works, that is, “by mouth, and not from the mouth,” that is, we turn the Gospel over. But it turns out that the abstinence of the tongue is the root of a holistic correction of a person. “For we all sin a lot. He who does not sin in word is a perfect man, able to bridle even the whole body” (James 3:2).

You can not eat, but cackle irritably like a chicken. Or you can, as Dimitri Rostovsky said, fast in the image of a bear. That paw sucks and rumbles discontentedly in the lair. Like him are all grumblers and lovers of grumbling during fasting.

No, the thought of the Lord and the thought of the wise are perfectly clear. We must start with the language.

We don’t advise beginners to go to church, and that’s all in terms of externals. Wear a long skirt. Read Akathist. Quit smoking. Something more...

And you can start with the third chapter of the epistle of James. “Here, read it and harden it well. And if you want, learn by heart. If not understand that here, you're not going anywhere."

“Behold, we put the bit into the mouth of the horses so that they obey us, and rule over their whole body. Behold, the ships, no matter how big they are and no matter how strong winds rush about, with a small rudder they go where the helmsman wants ”(James 3: 3-4).

That is, if you want to become the master of your life, then first become the master of your language. Council in the highest degree creative and prolific, influencing the whole later life in case of execution.

Let's go back to Aesop. He said that with the tongue we do the best deeds and at the same time the worst. It was also said that Aesop in the cinema looks more like a Christian preacher than a historical himself, and that this is good. Truth is good. And here is a Christian sermon that sounded almost six centuries after the days when Aesop lived on this earth.

“With it (tongue) we bless God and the Father, and with it we curse people who are created in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse: it must not, my brethren, be like this. Do sweet and bitter water flow from the same fountain? My brethren, a fig tree cannot bear olives, or a vine of figs. Likewise, one spring cannot pour out salty and sweet water” (James 3:9-12).

As we see, the thought of the apostle is identical to the words of the sage-slave. This is because the gospel Soviet years it made its way through untrodden paths and came to a person in unusual clothes, for example, in the speeches of movie heroes. After all, people need to know and think about this, even if they are forcibly deprived of the opportunity to read the word of God.

It is necessary, because "life and death are in the power of the tongue" (Prov. 18:22).

Aesop, Isaiah, Jacob, and finally - Christ, who is God over all.

It seems to be enough to apply what you heard to your heart and start curbing your own body from curbing not the largest in size, but the most important member of the body - the tongue.

The greatest need lies with us to manage our tongue properly and bridle it. The engine of language is the heart; the fuller the heart is, the tongue is poured out. But, conversely, the feeling of the heart poured out through the tongue strengthens and takes root in the heart. Therefore, language is one of the most important factors in the formation of our character.

Good feelings are silent. Outpourings through words seek more egoistic feelings in order to express what flatters our self-love and what can show us, as we imagine, with better side. Verbosity in large cases comes from a kind of proud self-conceit, according to which, imagining that we are too knowledgeable and that our opinion on the subject of speech is the most satisfactory, we are irresistibly compelled to speak out and, by abundant speech with repeated repetitions, imprint the same opinion in the hearts of others, being imposed by such in the way they are uninvited teachers and dreaming of having sometimes as students such persons who understand the matter much better than the teacher.

What has been said, however, applies to such cases when the objects of speech are more or less worthy of attention. For the most part, verbosity is unequivocal with empty talk; and in such a case there are no words to fully describe the evils resulting from this bad habit. In general, verbosity opens the doors of the soul, through which the warmth of the heart of reverence immediately comes out, all the more so does idle talk.

Verbosity diverts attention from itself, and the usual passionate sympathies and desires begin to creep into the heart, thus not being served, and sometimes with such success that when the empty talk ends, not only consent, but also a decision to passionate deeds will appear in the heart.

Wasteland is a door to condemnation and slander, a carrier of false news and opinions, a sower of dissension and strife. It suppresses the taste for intellectual labors and almost always serves as a cover for the lack of sound knowledge. After verbosity, when the child of complacency has passed, there always remains a certain feeling of melancholy and laziness.

Does this not testify to the fact that the soul then reluctantly realizes that it has been robbed?

The Apostle James, wishing to show how difficult it is for a talkative person to refrain from anything unprofitable, sinful and harmful, said that keeping the tongue within the proper limits is the property of only perfect men: “If anyone does not sin in the word, this man is perfect, he is able to bridle the whole body” (Jacob. 3, 2).

The tongue, as soon as it begins to speak for its own pleasure, then runs in speech like an unbridled horse, and blurts out not only good and proper, but also bad and harmful. Therefore, this apostle calls him "an irresistible evil, full of deadly poison" ( Jacob. 3, 8). According to him, Solomon also said in ancient times: “From verbosity you cannot escape sin” (Prov. 10, 19). And let's say with Ecclesiastes that in general, whoever talks a lot, he exposes his madness, for usually only "madman multiplies words" (Eccl. 10, 14).

Do not spread yourself in long interviews with someone who does not listen to you with good heart lest by wearying him, you make yourself abominable to him, as it is written: "multiplying the words will be vile" (Sir. 20, 8). Beware of speaking harshly and high-tonedly, for both are extremely hateful and make you suspect that you are very vain and think too much of yourself.

Never talk about yourself, about your affairs or about your relatives, except when necessary, but at the same time speak as briefly and quickly as possible. When you see that others talk too much about themselves, force yourself not to imitate them, although their words seem humble and self-reproachful.

As for your neighbor and his deeds, do not refuse to speak, but always speak briefly even where and when it would be required for his good.

When talking, remember and try to fulfill the commandment of St. Falassia, which says: “Of the five kinds of objects of speech in conversation with others, use three with prudence and fearlessness; use the fourth infrequently, and completely refuse the fifth ”(“ Philokalia, hundred 1st, ch. 69).

One of the writers of the first three understands this: yes, no, by itself or of course; by the fourth he means the doubtful, and by the fifth the completely unknown. That is, whatever you know is true, that it is true or false, and that it is self-evident, speak about it with determination as true or as false, or as obvious; about what is doubtful, it is better not to say anything, and when there is a need, speak as about doubtful, without prejudging; Don't talk about things you don't know.

Another someone says: we have five techniques or turns of speech: vocative, when we call someone; interrogative when asking; desirable or pleading, when we wish or ask; definitive, when we express a decisive opinion about what; commanding, when we command authoritatively and authoritatively.

Of these five, always use the first three freely, the fourth - as little as possible, and do not touch the fifth at all.

Talk about God with all affection, especially about His love and goodness, but with fear, thinking how not to err in this too, saying that it is not blasphemous about the Divine and confusing the simple hearts of those who hear. Therefore, love more to listen to the conversations of others about this, putting their words into the inner storage of your heart.

When they talk about something else, then let only the sound of the voice touch your hearing, and not the thought to the mind, which let it stand unshakably striving towards God. Even when it is necessary to listen to someone speaking about something in order to understand what is the matter and give a proper answer, and then, between the speech heard and spoken, cast your mind’s eye to Heaven, where your God is, thinking, moreover, of His greatness and that He does not take His eye off you and looks at you either favorably or not, according to what happens in the thoughts of your heart, in your speeches, movements and deeds.

When you need to speak, think well beforehand about what comes into your heart to say before it passes into your tongue, and you will find that much of this is such that it is much better for it not to come out of your mouth. But at the same time, know that even from what seems good to you to say, it is much better for someone else to remain buried in a coffin of silence. Sometimes you yourself will find out about this immediately after the end of the conversation.

Silence is a great power in our invisible battle and a sure hope for victory. Silence is very kind to those who do not rely on themselves, but rely on God alone. It is the guardian of sacred prayer and a wondrous helper in the exercise of virtues, and at the same time a sign of spiritual wisdom. St. Isaac says that “keeping the tongue not only makes the mind rise to God, but also in obvious deeds done by the body, secretly delivers great power to their accomplishment. It also enlightens in secret deeds, if only one observes silence with knowledge” (“The Philokalia” in Russian translation, sl. 31, p. 208). In another place, he praises him in this way: “When you put all the deeds of this hermit life on one side, and silence on the other, then you will find that it outweighs on the scales. There is much good advice for us; but when someone comes close to silence, it will be superfluous for him to keep them ”(“ The Philokalia ”in Russian. Lane, sl. 41, p. 251).

Elsewhere he calls silence "the sacrament of the age to come"; words, he says, “are the instrument of this world” (ibid., f. 42, p. 263). Saint Barsanuphius puts it above theologizing, saying: “If you almost theologize, then know that silence is more worthy of admiration and glory” (ibid., Rep. 36). Therefore, although it happens that “the other is silent, because he does not have what to tell; different... because waiting for a convenient time for his word "( Sir. 20.6), otherwise for some other reason, “glory for the sake of human or zeal for this virtue of silence, or because he holds a conversation with God hidden in his heart, from whom the attention of his mind does not want to depart” (St. Isaac, f. 76, p. 546), but in general it can be said that whoever is silent shows himself prudent and wise ( Sir. 19, 28, 20:5).

In order to get used to silence, I will show you one of the most direct and simple means: take up this work - and the work itself will both teach you how to do it and help you in this. In order to maintain zeal for such work, think more often about the harmful consequences of indiscriminate talkativeness and the saving consequences of prudent silence. When you reach the point of tasting the saving fruits of silence, then no more lessons will be required for you in this regard.

Saint Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer

"Invisible Swearing"