And there are sleds, and the mountain is not far, but my parents won’t let me go – they’re afraid that I’ll get infected from my peers with something dangerous to my soul. He will see enough bad examples or hear a bad word, but like a seed, it will lie and lie and grow. And a good boy will begin to speak rudely or act not according to the commandments of love. A child’s soul is like a plowed field. And a good seed, if it falls into it, sprouts, and so does any weed. It is not easy to pull out this thistle when it becomes prickly. So the parents protected their child so that he would not fall from the heights of childhood purity into the abyss of sin.
But a boy is a boy. I really want to ride! And then the time of Lent came. The people in those days strictly observed fasting. Children were not even allowed on the ice mountain. They blocked it with a stick to prevent them from rolling around. And Ganya decided that now it was possible, since there was no one there. I took the sled and headed up the mountain.
But can anything good happen without the blessing of the parents and their permission? And the Lord does not allow you to indulge in fun during Lent. Previously, when people did not forget God, even theaters were closed these days. The people prayed fervently, visited the sick, helped the poor, read the Holy Books and went to church.
But the boy, violating age-old customs, decided to do his own thing. He rushed down the icy cliff and ran into the very stick that covered the mountain. And not just on a stick, but on a nail sticking out of it. He tore his pants, slashed his new felt boots, and injured his leg. The blood is running, it hurts… But most of all the boy was afraid of upsetting his mother. As soon as he does something, mom kneels in front of the icon and prays with tears:
“Lord, I begged You for my son, but he is naughty and doesn’t listen.” What should I do with it? And he himself may perish, and he may destroy me… Lord! Don’t leave him, bring him to his senses!
Gana felt sorry for her mother. He couldn’t bear her tears, he came up and whispered:
– Mom, mommy, I won’t do it anymore.
Seeing that she continued to ask God, he himself, standing next to her, began to pray.
“Now mom will be so worried! – thought Ganya. – What to do?” The boy climbed into the hayloft and began to pray to Saint Simeon, the Wonderworker of Verkhoturye. He is revered throughout Siberia. Ganya prayed with contrition of heart, cried, and promised to improve. He also made a vow to go on foot to worship the righteous Simeon in Verkhoturye. And this path is not short. He prayed fervently. I was tired and fell asleep unnoticed. In a dream, an old man approached him. The face is stern, but the look is friendly.
– Why did you call me? – asks. Ganya, without waking up, answers:
– Heal me, servant of God.
— Are you going to Verkhoturye?
– I’ll go, I’ll definitely go! Only you heal me! Please heal!
The holy elder touched his sore leg, ran his hand over the wound and disappeared. Ganya woke up from a strong itch in his leg. He looked and gasped: the wound had healed. The boy stood up and began to reverently and joyfully thank the Wonderworker.
And a few years later Ganya went with pilgrims to Verkhoturye to venerate the saint. The day before, in a dream, he saw the road along which he had to go: villages, forests, rivers. That’s how it all turned out later.
For seven days the pilgrims were at the holy place. When they left, Ganya gave new copper patches to the wanderer, very similar to the old man who appeared to him in a dream and healed him. The Stranger quietly said to Gana:
– You will be a monk.
He said and disappeared into the crowd.
Years have passed. Ganya became a monk, Archimandrite Gabriel. God granted him to know the height of the Divine Spirit. Thousands of people came to him for spiritual advice, and he helped everyone to save themselves from the disastrous abyss of sin.
It’s good that his parents protected him from evil. That is why he was affectionate with people until his last breath. Now he is in the heavenly world praying for us
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