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Parables from the book
Parables About the Elder Zosima
Parable about God's Help
and How to Help People
There once was an elder named Zosima who lived in the monastery of a small provincial town. He performed many miraculous healings and helped many people to understand their problems and improve their lives before the Face of God.
He had a disciple — a novice named Nicholas. Nicholas wanted to learn those things that the elder could do, namely: to understand always the Will of God, to help people to heal their diseases, and to find the right words that would help each soul become aware of its problems.
* * *
When the elder was receiving visitors, Nicholas was often with him. He tried to see and understand how God allowed Zosima to touch so miraculously such depths of human souls that the words of the elder became curative for these people. He also tried to understand how, by laying on of hands, he removed pain, restored eyesight, and made it so that many other diseases went away completely by the Will of God; and it all was manifested through the elder…
Once, Nicholas asked:
“Why can’t I heal like you, like Jesus and His Apostles? I would like to help people and heal as you do, but I can’t…”
Zosima was silent for a little, then he said:
“It doesn’t come right away.
“You already were granted to see Jesus with the sight of the soul. You can already hear God’s Voice sometimes. Yet, you are still grumbling…”
“Yes, I’ve learned to hear God — it was easy! But I want to heal like you…”
“Now it is pride speaking in you, saying that you cannot work wonders. You should learn to recognize God’s Providence in everything!
“Sometimes it’s possible to fulfill God’s Wishes with just the help of your own hands or by saying simple words! A miracle of kindness can be done through ordinary work if the love of the heart gives strength to it. After all, as long as our hands are working for God — they are connected with the Divine Hands!”
“I understand all this and I’m learning. Still, I can’t do as you do. You just lay on your hands — and a person becomes healthy…”
“Don’t be sad! Continue working and learning in order to be able to find appropriate words in every conversation to relieve emotional pain, give hope, and explain the meaning of life! Through words and warmth of the heart, a great healing of a soul can be accomplished — even without visible miracles! Through this, sometimes it is possible to help someone even more than through miraculous healings!”
“Nevertheless, will you teach me to heal?”
“Sure! Let’s start right now.
“There is the Great Silence! The Divine Wisdom and Power are acquired inside it. You have already learned how to enter this Silence by staying in the love of your heart! Here, inside it, it becomes clear to the soul that God always lives near us. God embraces us from all sides! God is everywhere: to the left and to the right, forward and backward, up and down — no matter how far we go!
“In each blade of grass, in every tree, in any bird, in each flower or fur-bearing animal life is supported by the Power of God! The Love of God dwells near each soul. To see It, one needs only look attentively!
“Everything and everyone is fed and washed by His Bliss and Caress!
“His life-giving Light permeates everything! Just as the air, which all living beings breathe, is inside and outside of every creature — both big ones and small ones — and each creature lives because it breathes — so God’s Light, seen by the spiritual heart, is both inside and outside of everything and everyone!
“Everything and everyone is filled with life that comes from Him: from His Love and Omnipotence!
“If you learn to love God with all your heart and with all the soul — then you will learn to feel the breath of God’s Light in every being and be able to see and understand the Will of God in His every manifestation.
“And through this, a great Peace will come, a Peace inside Which the Love of God reigns undividedly!
“Inside and outside of your spiritual heart, as well as inside and outside of this cell — God is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Loving! Imagine — as strongly as you can — the Greatness and Infinity of God, Who created everything. And then open your spiritual heart from the inside and go out! Go out — as if out of some kind of a cramped cell — into the Light of God, Which is everywhere!
“This Light is the Holy Spirit, the Great Doer of God’s Will! In this Light, there are Arms of God that are full of Love! They appear in this Light when there is some work for Them. As if from nowhere, these Gentle Arms appear and can do everything. They, in particular, can heal, directing the flow of the life-giving Power of God — into people’s bodies.
“If you — with love and forgetting about yourself — do good, then God works through you! And soon, that which seemed to be impossible, becomes realizable! The Infinite Power of God stands behind all the actions of the one who does good in harmony with God! Miracles will be possible when this person understands that he or she doesn’t work alone but together with God and that God works through him or her!”
… Nicholas made continuous daily efforts on learning how to: enter the Union with the Holy Spirit, perceive the Divine Arms, and see how God’s Power can enter one’s body for healing others…
* * *
One day, a monk of their monastery came to the cell of the elder Zosima…
He was pale and held his belly with both hands…
“Elder, heal me, help me! I suffer from a stomach ache, and I can’t bear it anymore…” — he moaned piteously.
“Go to the hospital, to Doctor Fyodor, he will help you…” — Zosima said, almost without looking at the monk.
“Why do you heal strangers, but do not want to help me?” — the monk said, feeling offended.
“Because you, a monk, gave vows to God, but do not keep them! You ate meat and drank wine! And so, you got this pain deservedly!” — Zosima said with a soft but stern voice.
“But I have confessed this sin! Our prior granted me absolution!”
“I told you: go to the hospital! They will treat you! In addition, ask God to help you to see what you haven’t repented and what is wrong in you. May God help you to understand what is the purity of a monastic life and what are sins committed because of one’s own desires…”
The monk groaned even louder because of the pain, hoping to provoke pity and compassion in the elder. And his pain really increased.
Getting his breath back with difficulty, he sat down on a bench.
Nicholas, who observed all that happened, asked the elder:
“May I try to help him? I really want to learn to heal!”
“Yes, you may help him! Accompany him to the hospital!”
“I’m not talking about this!…”
“Do as you wish…” — the elder said and went out of his cell into the monastery garden, which began right behind the door.
* * *
Nicholas tried to do everything as Zosima explained to him. He saw the Light of the Holy Spirit and numerous Divine Arms, Which were in that Light. But those Arms did not obey him, as if that Light did not want to heal…
Nicholas attributed all these difficulties to his lack of skill and, with even greater power, tried to alleviate the pain of the monk.
Finally, it seemed that he managed to do it.
The monk’s surprise knew no bounds:
“How do you like that! You also can heal! The pain has disappeared as if by magic! The elder couldn’t heal me, but you could! He must be getting old! Look at that! Nicholas has learned to do miracles!”
“Give thanks to God for your healing…” — Nicholas, exhausted by fatigue, said quietly.
The monk devoutly crossed himself and went out…
“I did it!” — with these words, Nicholas greeted Zosima who entered the cell.
“I’m not so sure…” — Zosima said quietly.
“Do you think this disease will come back to him?”
“We will see… Everyone is responsible before God for his or her sins! The only way to help in such cases is to explain how one can change oneself by cleansing the soul.
“We should allow people to receive God’s lessons…”
* * *
The next morning, Nicholas woke up because of pain. Everything that was happening yesterday to the sick monk started happening to him.
His first impulse was to go to the elder and ask for advice and help.
But whether from this thought or from his attempts to move his body, which was full of suffering, the pain only increased.
Then Nicholas asked God about this situation. An understanding came to him that yesterday’s healing was not for the good of the patient: the healing of the body, obtained so easily, caused harm to the soul. That soul did not pass the lessons about the purity of a monastic life, which God wanted to teach it. The evil in that monk, which could have been understood and corrected, consequently wasn’t corrected.
Nicholas began to apologize for his mistake and also started thinking about how to talk with that monk to help him understand.
The pain began to recede. The Ocean of Light of the Holy Spirit embraced him tenderly from all sides! His body, which almost stopped feeling pain, looked tiny and insignificant inside this Ocean! Nicholas tried to cleanse his body and fill it with that Light, but didn’t have enough strength for this.
At this time, Zosima entered:
“Hold on a bit longer! It will pass right now!”
The elder sat down and patted Nicholas on the head like a mother who comforts a little naughty boy who did not listen to her advice.
“Yes, it has passed now!” — Nicholas smiled, feeling how the last bits of pain left his body. He was smiling blissfully and, in fact, felt like a mischievous boy: the elder had known in advance that the healing should not be done, but he wanted to do it so much! He wanted to feel like he was a healer!…
As if answering his thoughts, the elder said:
“Not everything that we would like to do is allowed to us. Sometimes, God teaches people through pain. It happens when they can’t understand in a different way. And it is wrong to allay such pain until God allows this!”
“But why have you healed me just now?”
“It was not I, but God! When you understood everything, God helped you!
“I, too, at one time had to endure a lot of pain until I realized that I should obey God in all cases.
“People can thank God even for pain: for the understanding that it brings!
“Before helping someone through healing, it would be correct to understand whether it is good or harmful for that soul!
“Nevertheless, it’s always better to try to help rather than to do nothing, being afraid that ‘something may happen’. Without providing help, you will never learn to help wisely!
“Now you should master the Great Tranquility of God! If you learn this, you will start making fewer mistakes! You will not rush to help someone in an untimely manner or against the Will of God!
“God will be able to manifest His Will through you only when your will is merged with His Will — when only His Will exists!”
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