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Part III - INDEX for "Talks with Spiritual Children"
The Elder's History
- The Prophecy of Paul to be Elder Barsanuphius................................421
- A talk with a priest at a public meal wanted made Paul want to be a
- monk..........................................................................................................423
- How Elder Barsanuphius is nothing and is great, in his own words.......438
- In the world the Elder loved serious music, ie. Beethoven, Schubert.....471
- The Elders' ?idealism? led him to monasticism...................................472
- The Elders' fears as a youth towards becoming a monk...................476
- The Elder's thoughts of monasticism as a youth and his view of
- rejecting his previous world...................................................................495
Prayer and the Jesus Prayer
- The power of the sign of the cross and the Name of Jesus ..............432
- On the Jesus Prayer..............................................................................453-454
- On understanding the Jesus Prayer...................................................456-457
- Despair and the Jesus Prayer..............................................................455-458
- The Jesus Prayer is only known by experience...................................458
- Prayer and obedience..............................................................................458
- Prayer (and in the Church) is a higher delight than good music......471
- When we pray we must rely on God despite our despair, lack of joy,
- and ?stony insensibility?........................................................................471
- To fulfill God's commands one must labor in prayer fasting and
- sobriety....................................................................................................495-498
- It is a struggle to pray..............................................................................496
- What to expect from prayer.....................................................................496
- One must oppose despondency, fear and despair with the sign of the
- Cross and prayer........................................................................................496
The demons
- A fellow monks' physical fight with demons..........................................429
- The demons and Saint Anthony...........................................................429-430
- Another fellow monks' struggle with a demon due to his involvement
- with sorcery...............................................................................................430-432
- All demons are not equal ? the man possessed in the Gadarenes was by
- a ?chief? of demons....................................................................................431
Monasticism and the World
- It is difficult to be with God while remaining with the bustle of people 502-503
- Differences between the monastery and the world.................................424
- The story of his friend, the musician Paschalov, who said he served God
- with his music instead of being in Church, and latter was taken
- by the devil...................................................................................................425-427
- All vices are found in various monks at monasteries..............................436
- It's hard to be saved in the world, just don't leave Christ.......................448
- It's no sin to take delight in beautiful things of the world, BUT..........451,452
- For the attainment of blessedness people enter a monastery (ex. in
- Shakespeare), though there is salvation in the world (ex. of an
- esteemed woman)..........................................................................................466
- Prayer (and in the Church) is a higher delight than good music............471
- The Elders' talk with an artist telling him to become a monk and his
- rejection of it.................................................................................................473-476
- ?I preserve my soul from destructive thoughts? a story example of the
- ?whole essence of monastic activity?.........................................................485
- If one lives in the world they must not forget God...................................500
- The soul of an artist is ascetic......................................................................500
- When the heart turns from worldly enjoyments to spiritual ones.........440-441
- The earth is a place of banishment and exile and we're only left with hints
- of beauty...........................................................................................................468
Books and Reading
- The shift from worldly literature to the Psalter and the whole Bible......441-442
- Read the Psalter when in despair...................................................................444
- On ?In the mountain of the Caucasus?.......................................................456-457
- The enormous effects, good and bad, of reading........................................484
- The origins of the book, ?In the Mountains of the Caucasus?...............488-489
- Background for the book, ?The Spiritual Meadow?....................................490
- Don't read athiestic books................................................................................494
- Good authors can lead people to God but in a roundabout way. It's better
- to read the Fathers and the Lives of the Saints.............................................502
Salvation, growth and the keeping of commandments
- It takes time for sinners to turn from sin......................................................436-437
- Why would one who didn't attain dispassion want to be heaven..............437
- Read the lives of the Saints, read the lives of the Saints, read the lives of
- the Saints..............................................................................................................439
- When the heart turns from worldly enjoyments to spiritual ones...........440-441
- How to nurture spiritual enjoyments...............................................................441
- ?Whosoever has not seen Christ in this life will not see Him in the next?
- (1st & 3rd para.)......................................................................................................443
- The passions are contagious.........................................................................446-447
- Attendance at Church services is a sign of growth in the soul...................448
- One love's God by keeping His commandments, ie. Alms, forgiveness..460-462
- Two virtues needed in the work of salvation: love & humility..................462-463
- Salvation is one plan with many paths, an example of the Old Testament,
- according to Bishop Ignatius..........................................................................463-466
- Faith saves throughout all of life's bitterness..................................................477
- The poet Gogol's struggle towards God, search for a teacher, going to
- Optina, believing, succeeding.........................................................................477-484
- Don't be afraid for the Church, be afraid for yourself..................................485-486
- The beginning of a fall is a thought from the evil one, ex. Tolstoy...........486-487
- ?In whatever state I find you, I will judge you?, examples..........................491-492
- One needs to serve Christ not the world, even at the expense of one's life
- .............................................................................................................................492-494
- Serving the world means serving the passions...............................................495
- Fasting is outward and inward........................................................................496-497
- The Apostles were told not to think about a reply to their torturers because the Holy
- Spirit would lead them, ex. Atilla the Hun and Met. Philaret .....................497-500
Miscellaneous
- A man's face expresses his soul.....................................................................425-425
- A ladies dream of hell turned her from despair and suicide.......................427-428
- The spiritual vision of some
-
- ? the case of Prince Alexander Menshikov....................................433-434
- - the case of one not bowing to Ivan the Terrible.............................434
- A story of how a great man confesses to his Elder that he thinks his elder
- to have discernment but not grace................................................................438-439
- That one should not despair at the world's present condition.................439-440
- That the Slavonic language is more beautiful than Russian.........................442
- A Christian's life is one of ?ascent? that God conceals from one to keep
- him from pride.......................................................................................................443
- In Optina the monks communed six times per year.........................................445
- The Optina monks could confess every day...................................................445
- Elder Macarius' body was incorrupt.................................................................445
- Some animals can sense passions or see Saints.............................................447
- The deep melancholy of Church hymns..........................................................450
- An example of a heart given over to pain and hurt....................................459-460
- Moses knew he prefigure the Savior...............................................................464
- Why Christ was crucified between two thieves............................................466
- The blogovest represent the voice of the archangel....................................470
- Dostoyevesky had faith because he saw ?P?aradise...................................470
- The twelve gates surrounding the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse
- are the Apostles...............................................................................................470-471
- Despite the increase in technology there is not a machine that will
- make men happy..............................................................................................472-473
- Tolstoy did not want to speak with the Elders..............................................482
