Elder Nikolay Guryanov’s Spiritual Counsels


“Our life is blessed… A God’s gift… We have a treasure in us – our souls. If we preserve it in this temporary world, where we came as pilgrims, we will inherit eternal life with Christ. Joy, unspeakable joy… Angels and saints, God the Father and the Queen of Heaven await us… How happy we are to be Orthodox*, right and glorious.”

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“Our thoughts and words have great power over the world around us. Pray with tears for everyone – the sick, the weak, the sinners, for those who have no one to pray for them. Cry out to the sweetest Savior of the world: “Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

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“The Gospel is the most important and wise counsellor and mentor. A person can be wrong but the Gospel cannot. Read it, follow it, live according to what is written, and you will find faith, hope and love. “

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“The grace of God is given to us through the sacraments, especially through Holy Communion. Unite with Christ as often as your conscience and repentance allow. Approach the Lord with love and faith – and He will burn away everything sinful, and your soul will be whiter than snow. Fiery white… The Grace of the Sacrament is a power that is indestructible for darkness. It saves you from all misfortunes. “

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“It is necessary to support one another, be gentle and kind. Compassion and mercy are the main Christian traits. “

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“Do not respond to injustice with malice and revenge. Forgive and do not be offended. Then the Heavenly Father will forgive you. “

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“Saints are your best friends. They will never betray you. Trust more in the Lord and His saints, and there will be less frustration for you from dishonesty and betrayal. “

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“God listens to the prayers of righteous people. What people do not achieve with weapons in their hands, the righteous achieve through prayer. “

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“Don’t be too strict. Excessive severity is dangerous. It limits the soul to the ostentatious feat only, without allowing depth. Be gentle, don’t chase formal rules. Talk in your mind with the Lord and the saints. “

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“Try not to teach, but gently prompt and correct one another. Speak if your heart is not silent. Heart to Heart… Be simple and sincere. The world is so Godly… Look around – all creation thanks the Lord. And you live this way – in peace with God. “

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“Seek purity. Do not listen to bad or dirty things about anyone… Do not dwell on unkind thoughts… Flee from untruths… Never be afraid to speak the truth, as long as you do it with prayer and ask the Lord for His blessing first.”

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“All of you are looking only for spiritual fathers… But you forget the Gospel… We all have one spiritual father – the Gospel. It is the meaning of life, our Living Faith, Hope and Love… It is painful to me to see that everyone is looking for a person while the Lord is forgotten… It’s a blessing if there is a sensible, faithful priest that you can turn to… But what if the Lord did not send you one? Does that make it impossible to be saved?!”

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“Do not judge priests harshly… What matters is for him to be a believer and a God-fearing man preaching the Gospel.”

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“Mystery and secrecy characterize the way those elevated in spirit and heart stay on earth. Those who are close to God keep silent and rarely reveal themselves, for they all keep the Divine secret, which the world cannot and, more importantly, does not want to contain.”

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“The evil that exists in the world cannot be corrected by evil. God did not create evil. The Lord is merciful. We are saved only by the grace of God. Salvation is only from God … We, the Orthodox Christians, live on earth to prepare for eternity… And we must fight evil – but so that we ourselves do not fall away from Divine love.”

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“A believing person lovefully relates to everything that surrounds him. Lovefully! “

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“Believe in the Lord, without doubt. The Lord Himself lives in our hearts and there is no need to look for Him somewhere out there… far away. “

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“Be always joyful, and in the most difficult days of your life, do not forget to thank God. A grateful heart does not need anything.”

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“Go to church regularly and have faith in the Lord. He, to whom the church is not a mother, cannot address the Lord as ‘Father’.

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“Trust, my dears, in the will of God, and everything will be as you need.”

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“You can be saved both in your family and in a monastery, just live a holy and peaceful life.”

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“Take care of your own spiritual world, and the whole world will be in good order.”


* From the Eastern Orthodox Church article on Wikipedia: The meaning of holding to a faith that is true is the primary reason why anyone’s statement of which church split off from which other has any significance at all; the issues go as deep as the schisms. The depth of this meaning in the Eastern Orthodox Church is registered first in its use of the word “Orthodox” itself, a union of Greek orthos (“straight”, “correct”, “true”, “right”) and doxa (“common belief”, from the ancient verb δοκέω-δοκῶ which is translated “to believe”, “to think”, “to consider”, “to imagine”, “to assume”).[45]

The dual meanings of doxa, with “glory” or “glorification” (of God by the Church and of the Church by God), especially in worship, yield the pair “correct belief” and “true worship”. Together, these express the core of a fundamental teaching about the inseparability of belief and worship and their role in drawing the church together with Christ.[46][47] The Bulgarian and all the Slavic churches use the title Pravoslavie (Cyrillic: Православие), meaning “correctness of glorification”, to denote what is in English Orthodoxy.

Translated by The Catalogue of Good Deeds
Source: https://obitel-minsk.ru/chitat/den-za-dnyom/2020/nastavleniya-otca-nikolaya-guryanova

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  1. I just read a story about this blessed Elder last week on the Orthodox blog, ‘The Inkless Pen’. What a beautiful soul. We are so lucky to have these incredible, gentle saints.

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