Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 14

The Month of October

Day 14

45. To Young Monks on Diligence in Their Work

(From the Life of Saint Nicholas Sviatosha)

To all of you young monks, your abbot or the older monks assign various obediences. How do you carry them out? We know that some of you fulfill them with patience and humility, laboring day and night. Others, however, do the opposite: they scarcely fulfill their obediences at all, remain idle, and, worst of all, give no rest to others either. They complain about the abbot, protest that the labors assigned to them are supposedly too burdensome, grumble, and cause many to stumble.

What can be said to such men for their instruction? How can they be turned away from idleness? How can they be trained in labor, humility, and patience? Let us say this: First, let lazy monks understand that if idleness is harmful in every station of life, it is altogether destructive for a monk. Second, let them remember that a young monk who wishes to be saved must completely renounce his own will and submit it without complaining to the will of his elders, who are experienced in the spiritual life. Third, in order to acquire the habit of diligence in labor and unconditional obedience, let lazy monks finally learn how the holy monks, who were a thousand times better than they, labored and how they regarded their own obediences.

Those who are lazy need not look far for examples of this last point. They can find many such examples in the monasteries of our own homeland. To begin with, we shall offer them one example ourselves, for their admonition.

Venerable Nicholas Sviatosha, son of David Sviatoslavich, Prince of Chernigov, renounced for God's sake the honor and wealth, fame and authority of his princely rank, and received the monastic tonsure at the Monastery of the Caves. How did he conduct himself in this state of life? “Above all,” it is said, “he made progress in obedience.”

Prince Nicholas initially worked for the brotherhood in the kitchen for three years. With his own hands he chopped firewood and carried it on his shoulders from the riverbank to the monastery. He was then appointed a watchman at the monastery gates, a position he held for another three years, never going anywhere except to church. Afterward, he was assigned to serve in the refectory, and he fulfilled this duty with the same complete zeal.

Finally, when Nicholas had honorably fulfilled all his obediences, the abbot and the brethren advised him to remain in his cell and practice stillness. He fulfilled this obedience as well. He planted a garden beside his cell, and throughout all the days of his monastic life he was never idle. He always had work in his hands and the Jesus Prayer on his lips. As his Life relates, no one ever saw him without something to do.

It should also be noted that throughout his entire life he contented himself with the common food of the brotherhood, while everything brought to him in recognition of his princely rank he distributed to the poor or offered to the monastery.

Take this to heart, you lazy monks! Here is a man of royal lineage who might perhaps have sat upon a royal throne. Yet, having become a monk, he worked for the brotherhood in the kitchen, chopped firewood, carried it on his own shoulders from the forest to the monastery, served as a watchman at the monastery gates, served in the refectory, and planted gardens. Throughout his entire monastic life, no one ever saw him idle; he was always occupied with work.

How, then, can you give yourselves over to laziness and foolish idleness? How can you grumble, complain, and cause others to stumble? After all, no one forced you to enter the monastery against your will; you came of your own accord. No one compelled you to make vows of humility, patience, obedience, and unceasing labor! You made these vows yourselves. Why, then, lie before God? Why make yourselves an object of ridicule for the devil?

This is wrong, very wrong, my brethren! Come to your senses and take up your work. Humble yourselves and learn to love obedience. Bring your flesh under control and crucify it, together with its passions and desires. Declare an uncompromising war against the enemy of our salvation, and fight him to the end.

Is this difficult? Then call upon the grace of God for help, for with it all things are possible. And know that this grace is stronger than even the strongest will. Amen.

Questions for Discussion 45:

1. Where did Saint Nicholas Sviatosha work for the brotherhood during the first three years, chopping firewood and carrying it to the monastery?

2. What position did Nicholas hold during the following three years, never going anywhere except to church?

3. What service was Nicholas assigned to perform, carrying out this duty with complete zeal?

4. What did Nicholas always have in his hands and on his lips throughout his monastic life?

5. What did Nicholas do with the things brought to him in recognition of his princely rank? 

 

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.