Dear C.!
Now I am going to tell you my only argument against all of yours which are now pushing you into hell.
Know, that for every child that is unborn due to his mother’s will, each child to which she later gives birth for her own “joy” will take revenge upon her with sorrows, sicknesses and psychological oppression. This is a law. You cannot expect happiness in earthly life after infanticide,[1] and as for life in eternity, well it’s terrible even to think about it. In a word - hell.
Hell on earth, hell after the grave. Do you know why this is so and cannot be otherwise? Because by doing this terrible, evil deed you would be consciously, knowingly killing an angelic infant soul.
So think about it. Repent that such a thought even came to your mind.
Trampling on the grace of a priest
Slave of God M.!
It’s sort of hard to even call you by that name, for right now you are entirely a slave to the enemy.
And you quite understand that your soul has tripped over voluptuousness, and the enemy is satisfied with having caught a priest and stolen him from God. After all, everything that that priest celebrates at the altar table will fall down on his head like hot coals, and the enemy will lead you away from the Church by indifference towards your salvation.
God will not be mocked, and the two of you are doing just that.
It is natural for people to fall, but once you’ve fallen, you must get up right away. You have not just fallen - you have trampled on God’s grace, given to a man at his ordination.
You need to confess your sins to a Bishop; a priest cannot absolve them. Sins are easy to commit, but to arise from sin takes much effort and labor. Life is so short, and eternity is ahead. I can witness to you now that hell awaits you both. Both of you go to Vladyka if you want to save yourself and the priest.
Despair is a poor guide
Dear in the Lord E.!
You cannot possibly think about going to a monastery until you have finished your maternal obligations. You must raise all three children, and give them a fundamental education and vocation. This is necessary for secular and monastery life alike.
You, the parent, are responsible before God for your children, and not your brother. Furthermore, your daughters should not control you, but you them. They are both too little to choose a path in life. Their podrasniks will not stop them when they have gotten a little older and decide they want another path in life.
Forgive me. Despondency and despair are poor guides in life.
[1]?Fr. John uses the word “infanticide” in place of the more modern word, “abortion” [trans.].
