Elder John of Valaam (+1958): “Do Not Grieve…”

Most deeply respected co-workers of Elena Akselevna!

I thank you sincerely and from the heart for your greeting and kind wishes. I am deeply moved by your cordiality.

I wish you from the Lord peace, love, harmony, and unity of mind.

Strive not to judge or reproach anyone for anything—above all, see that there is no enmity among you. May the Lord grant you wisdom.

The one who was with me and wept, Elena, told me that your mother has died and that you are very despondent and grieving over her. You must not grieve—your mother has not died, but has passed into another, eternal world, for the body is from the earth and will return to the earth, but the soul is from God, and to God it shall return. This life of ours is temporary and filled with various sorrows, and no one can escape them—only the sorrows differ. And since the soul is created in the image and likeness of God, it can find peace and consolation nowhere and never except in God. If we dispose ourselves to the will of God, then sorrows will disturb us only slightly.

Your mother is now delivered from all these earthly sorrows and will live eternally in another world, where there is no end, and the entire human race—from Adam to the Second Coming of the Savior to the earth—will go there as well.

One must firmly believe in the Holy Gospel and strive, as far as strength allows, to fulfill the commandments of the Savior. But we, like the deaf, do not even hear that the Lord is calling us: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” [Matt. 11:28]. He alone can give us rest. Amen.

I remain with love in Christ,

your well-wisher, the greatly sinful

Schema-Igumen Ioann

 

Source: Письма о духовной жизни, by Elder Schema-Igumen John (Alekseev) of Valaam, Compiled by V. Degtyaryov, Sergiev Posad: Holy Trinity–St. Sergius Lavra, 2014.