In short, he believed the words of God, and for this faith the Lord accepted him. There are many obstacles to acquiring humility, barring the path to it; but there is no obstacle that could hinder believing the words of God. As soon as we desire it with all our souls, we will immediately believe. For faith is a gift from the all-good God, which He gave us to possess naturally (imbued it into our nature), subordinating its use to the autocracy of our will. This is why both Scythians and barbarians naturally have faith and believe each other's words. But to demonstrate to you by experience the effect of wholehearted faith, listen, I will tell you a story in confirmation of what I have said. There lived in Constantinople a certain man named George, a youth of about twenty years old. This happened in our day, within our memory. He was handsome in appearance, and there was something ostentatious in his gait, his bearing, and his mannerisms. For this reason, those who look only at appearances and, ignoring what lies within, judge others erroneously, formed various unkind assumptions about him. He met a certain monk living in a Constantinople monastery, a holy man, and, revealing the secrets of his heart to him, he also told him that he deeply longed for the salvation of his soul. The venerable elder, having instructed him as was proper and given him a short rule to follow, also gave him a small book by St. Mark the Ascetic, in which he writes about spiritual law.
The young man received this little book with such love and reverence, as if it had been sent to him from God Himself, and he had great faith in it, hoping to receive great benefit and great fruit from it. Therefore, he read it with great diligence and attention, and, having read it all, received great benefit from all its chapters. But of all the chapters, three were especially imprinted on his heart: the first: "When seeking healing, take heed to your conscience (pay attention to it); and whatever it tells you, do that, and you will receive benefit" (Chapter 69). The second: "He who seeks (hopes to receive) the effectiveness of the Holy Spirit, before fulfilling the commandments, is like a slave bought with money, who, at the same time as he was bought, seeks that, together with the payment of money, they also sign away his freedom" (Chapter 64, on those who desire to be freed from deeds). Third: “One who prays bodily and does not yet have spiritual understanding is like the blind man who cried out: ‘Son of David, have mercy on me’ ( Mark 10:48 ). Another man, who was previously blind, when he received his sight and saw the Lord, no longer called Him the Son of David, but confessed Him as the Son of God ( John 9:35, 38 )” (chapter 13:14 on the spiritual law).
These three chapters pleased him greatly, and he believed that through attentiveness to his conscience, as the first chapter suggests, he would receive healing (for his spiritual ailments); through the fulfillment of the commandments, he would attain the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, as the second chapter teaches; and by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he would mentally discern and behold the ineffable beauty of the Lord, as the third chapter promises. And he was wounded by love for this beauty, and although he had not yet seen it, he greatly desired it and earnestly sought it, in the hope of finally beholding it. For all this, however, he did nothing special (as he assured me with an oath), except that every evening he faithfully repeated the short rule the elder had given him; and only after having completed it would he lie down in bed and fall asleep. But over time, his conscience began to tell him: do a few more bows, read some other psalms, say as many times as you can, and: Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!
He readily obeyed his conscience, and whatever it suggested, he did without hesitation, as if God himself had commanded him. Never once did he go to bed with his conscience reproaching him, saying, "Why didn't you do this or that?" Thus he always obeyed his conscience, never failing to fulfill what it suggested. And each day, it added more and more to his usual rule, and in a few days, his evening prayers grew to a great extent. During the day, he stayed in the chambers of a patrician, and was responsible for all the needs of the people living there. Each evening, he left, and no one knew what he did in his own home.
He also shed copious tears from his eyes, and made many prostrations, falling face down upon the ground. When he stood in prayer, he kept his feet close together, one next to the other, and stood motionless. He recited prayers to the Most Holy Theotokos with anguish of heart, sighs, and tears. Turning to Christ the Lord, he fell at His most pure feet, as if He were physically present to him, and implored Him to have mercy on him, as once upon the blind man, and to grant sight to the eyes of his soul. Since his prayer increased each evening, he finally stood praying until midnight. And yet, throughout the entire time of prayer, he neither allowed himself to be lazy, nor allowed himself to be careless, nor did he loosen his limbs, nor did he turn his eyes to the sides or upward to look at anything, but stood motionless, like some pillar or as if incorporeal. One day, as he stood thus in prayer, saying with his mind more than with his lips, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," a divine, most luminous radiance suddenly descended upon him from above and filled the entire place. Then the youth forgot that he was in a room and under a roof, for he saw only light on all sides; he did not even know whether he was treading the earth with his feet. He no longer cared for anything worldly, and none of the thoughts that usually occur to those who bear human flesh occurred to him. Instead, he was completely immersed in that immaterial light, and it seemed to him that he himself had become light. He then forgot the entire world and was filled with tears and inexpressible joy. Then his mind ascended to heaven, and there he saw another light, brighter than the one around him. And it seemed to him, to his amazement, that at the very edge of the world stood the aforementioned holy and angelic elder, who had given him that brief commandment on prayer and the little book of St. Mark the Ascetic. Hearing this from the youth, I thought that the elder's prayer had greatly aided him, and that God had arranged such a vision to show the youth the height of virtue at which the elder stood. When the vision passed, the youth came to his senses and found himself (as he said later) completely filled with joy and amazement, and wept with all his heart, which was filled with tears and great sweetness. Finally, he lay down on his bed; but immediately the rooster crowed, indicating that it was already midnight. A little later, the church bell rang for matins, and the youth arose to read the matins service according to his custom. So he did not sleep at all that night; sleep did not even enter his mind. How it happened, only the Lord, Who brought it about, knows, and by what means, the fates themselves know. The youth did nothing special, except that with firm faith and unwavering hope he always faithfully followed the rule he had heard from the elder and the instructions he had read in the book. And no one should say that he did this as a test. Such a thing never even occurred to him. He who tests lacks firm faith; but the youth, having laid aside every passionate and self-indulgent thought, was so concerned with faithfully fulfilling thatwhat his conscience told him was that he no longer had any sympathy for the things of this world, and did not even taste food and drink for sweetness or in abundance.
Have you heard, my brethren, what faith in God, evidenced by good works, can do? Have you understood that neither youth harms nor old age benefits when understanding and the fear of God are absent? Have you come to understand that neither the world nor worldly affairs hinder one from fulfilling God's commandments when zeal and attention are present? Nor are silence and withdrawal from the world of no use when laziness and negligence reign supreme? We all, hearing of David and marveling at him, say: There was only one David, and there was never another like him. But behold, in this young man something greater was revealed than in David. David received testimony from God, was anointed king and prophet, received the Holy Spirit, and had many testimonies about God.
Why, when he had sinned and lost the grace of the Holy Spirit and the gift of prophecy, and was alienated from customary communion with God, what wonder if, remembering the grace from which he had fallen, he again sought from God the lost blessings? But this youth had none of that, but was bound by worldly affairs, caring only for the temporal, and had no time to think of anything higher than earthly things—and yet—wonderful are the judgments of the Lord!—as soon as he heard something small from that holy elder and read those three chapters of Abba Mark, he immediately believed without question what he had heard and written, and with unshakable hope he put it into practice, and with that small work which he performed as a result, he was deemed worthy to raise his mind to heaven, moving the Mother of the Lord to mercy; Through her prayers, he propitiated God and attracted the grace of the Holy Spirit, which overshadowed him with such power that he was granted to see the light that many desire to see, but few are granted. This youth neither observed long fasts, nor slept on the ground, nor wore a hair shirt, nor physically departed from the world, but only spiritually—in his spiritual state—and with the brief vigil he observed, he appeared superior to that wondrous Lot who was in Sodom, or, better said, he appeared as an angel in a human body, a man in appearance and an angel in mental constitution. For this, he was granted to behold that most sweet light of the spiritual Sun of Righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ, which light assured him that he was destined to receive the future light. And rightly so: for his love and his heartfelt attachment to God made him ecstatic, tore his spirit away from this world, from his own nature, and from all things, and made him entirely the light of the Holy Spirit, despite all this, that he lived in the midst of the city, and ruled the entire household, and cared for both slaves and freemen, and did everything necessary for this present life. This is sufficient praise for the youth and to inspire you to come to the same love, imitating him. Or do you wish me to tell you something greater, something which perhaps even your ears cannot accept? Indeed, what could be greater and more perfect than the fear of God? Certainly nothing.
St. Gregory the Theologian said, "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. For where there is fear, there is the keeping of the commandments; where there is the keeping of the commandments, there is the purification of the flesh—that cloud that envelops the soul and prevents it from seeing the divine light clearly; where there is purification, there is illumination, and illumination is the fulfillment of divine desire." In saying this, he showed that sanctification by the Spirit is the never-ending end of all virtue, and whoever attains such sanctification by the Spirit has done away with all that is sensual and has begun to dwell consciously in the spiritual. These, my brethren, are the wonders of God. And God brings His hidden servants into the open for this very purpose: that the good and the good may imitate them, and that the wicked may remain unanswered. For even those who move among the crowds and spend their lives in the turmoil of the world, if they behave as they should, will find salvation and will be granted great blessings from God because of the faith they show in Him, so that on the day of judgment those who do not find salvation because of their laziness and negligence will have nothing to say in their defense.
So true is He who promised salvation through faith in Him! Therefore, my beloved brethren, take care for yourselves and for me, who love you and often shed tears for you. For the compassionate and merciful God has commanded us to be compassionate and merciful, and to grieve both for ourselves and for one another. Believe in the Lord with all your souls, hate this world as you should, and do not care for its temporary and uncertain blessings, but draw near to God and cleave to Him. For yet a little while will pass, and the end of this world and this present life will come; and woe to those who fall from the kingdom of God. I am choked with tears, and I weep and grieve with all my heart when I think that, having such a great-gifted and philanthropic Master, Who, for one sincerely manifested faith in Him, grants us such great and wondrous blessings, and mind, and hearing, and expectations that surpass all expectations, we, without thinking, like dumb animals, prefer to all that the earth and earthly things, which, by the goodness of God, were given to us for the needs of our body, so that, while it would be nourished in moderation, the soul would unhinderedly complete its course to the supermundane, being itself nourished by the mental food emanating from the grace of the Holy Spirit, in the measure of its purification and renewal. For we humans were created by God with intelligence, so that we might glorify Him, give thanks, and love Him for the small blessings He has bestowed upon us in this present life, and thus be deemed worthy to receive greater and eternal blessings in the future. But woe to us, that, having absolutely no care for the future, we remain ungrateful to God even for the present, becoming like demons, or, better yet, worse than they. For this, it is only right that we should be subjected to torment greater than they.
For we are more blessed than they: we have become Christians, we have received so many spiritual gifts, we believe in God, Who became man for our sake and endured such suffering and death on the cross to deliver us from the error of delusion and sin. But what shall I say to all this? Woe to us! We believe in God only in words, but in deeds we deny Him. Is not Christ named in every place—in cities, villages, communities, and mountains? Are not Christians to be found everywhere? But seek, if this seems blessed to you, and investigate thoroughly whether they fulfill the commandments of Christ, and truly, among so many thousands and myriads, you will find with difficulty one who is a Christian in both deed and word. Did not Christ and our God say: “He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these will he do?” ( John 14:12 ). But who among us will dare to say: I do the works of Christ and believe rightly in Christ?
But do you see, my brothers, how on the day of judgment we will be found unfaithful and given over to greater torments than those who knew Christ not at all, that is, the unbelievers? One of two things is necessary: either we will be punished more severely than the unbelievers, or Christ will be found unfaithful to His word—which is impossible. I have written this not to prevent anyone from withdrawing from the world, nor because I prefer life in the world to silence, but to assure all who read this account that he who desires to do good receives from God the strength to do so anywhere: both in the world and in silence. On the contrary, the subject of this account is such that it should further urge one to become a hermit. For if he who moved among the world and never thought of renunciation, poverty, or obedience received such mercy from God simply for believing and acknowledging Him with all his soul, then what blessings should those who, leaving the whole world and all men, surrender their very lives to death for God's commandment, as He has commanded, hope to receive? However, whoever begins to do good works with unwavering faith and great zeal, and senses the benefit that comes from them, will recognize for himself that worldly cares, dwelling and moving among the world, serve as a great obstacle to those who desire to live according to God. What happened to the young man, as we have said, is something marvelous and extraordinary; and we have not heard of such a good thing happening to anyone else. But even if he was with a few, or will be later, let them know that if they do not withdraw from the world, they will soon lose the benefit they have received.
I later learned the following about that young man from himself. I met him when he had already become a monk and had spent three or four years in the monastic life. He was then thirty-two years old. I knew him very well: we had been friends from our youth and were raised together. So he told me the following: “After that wondrous vision and change that occurred in me, not many days passed when many worldly temptations befell me, because of which, while I was performing those hidden works according to God, I saw in myself that I was gradually losing that good, and I had a strong desire to withdraw from the world and seek Christ, Who had appeared to me, in solitude. For I believe, brother, that He deigned to appear to me for this very purpose, in order to take me, an unworthy one, to Himself, separating me from the whole world. But since I was unable to do this immediately, I gradually forgot everything I had previously told you and fell into a complete darkness and insensibility, so that I no longer remembered anything I had told you, neither small nor large, not even the slightest movement of thought or feeling. Then I fell into greater evils than before and reached a state as if I had never heard or understood the words of Christ. I even regarded that saint, who had been so merciful to me and given me the little commandment and the book of Mark, as just another person, not at all reflecting on what I had seen of him.
"I tell you this in detail," he continued, "so that you may know to what depths of ruin I, the wretched one, fell through my own negligence, and marvel at the ineffable goodness of God revealed to me afterwards. I cannot tell you how, without my knowledge, love and faith for that holy elder remained in my poor heart, but I believe that for their sake, after so long, the merciful God, through his prayers, took pity on me and, through him, snatched me from delusion and rescued me from the depths of evil. I, unworthy as I was, did not completely distance myself from that elder, but when I was in the city, I often visited him in his cell and confessed to him what had befallen me, although I, the shameless one, did not fulfill his commandments. Now, as you see, the merciful God has overlooked my many sins and arranged for me to become a monk under that very elder and has granted me, truly unworthy as I am, the privilege of always being with him." After which, with great difficulty and abundant tears, with decisive alienation and separation from the world, complete obedience and cutting off of my own will, many other deeds and methods of strict self-mortification and an irrepressible striving for everything good, I was honored to see again, although somewhat gloomily, a small ray of that sweetest and divine light.
But such a vision as the one I saw then, I have never yet been granted to see again." He told me this and much more with tears. And I, poor thing, listening to his holy words, thought that he was completely filled with divine grace and was wise, despite not having been taught external wisdom. Receiving knowledge from practice and experience, he acquired the most subtle understanding of spiritual things. Therefore, I asked him to tell me what kind of faith it is that can produce such wondrous manifestations, and to impart it to me in writing, with a teacher's manner. He immediately began to speak to me about it, and what he said, he did not hesitate to write down. What exactly, so as not to prolong my present speech beyond measure, I will write in other words, for the joy and delight of those who love to read such writings with faith. So, I urge you, my brethren, let us run with diligence along the path of Christ's commandments, and our faces will not be ashamed. For just as the Lord opens the doors of His kingdom to him who knocks with patience, according to His promise, and gives the all-holy Spirit to him who seeks, and it is impossible for anyone who seeks with all his soul not to find Him and be enriched by His gifts. So too, you will undoubtedly receive from Him the wondrous blessings He has prepared for those who love Him—here in part, as spiritual wisdom will indicate, and in the age to come, entirely, with all the saints from the ages, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Source: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/prochee/dobrotoljubie_tom_5/29?