The Father’s Tale (an excerpt from 1072 pages novel)

I have known gladness and sorrow. I have rejoiced and I have wept. The same happens to me now, but as the days pass, sorrow and gladness, joy and tears, pass with them. I have been praised and exalted. I have been criticized and abused. The same ones who praised me, have cursed; and the ones who abused me have turned to praise me - such is human constancy!

Poor is man from his mother’s womb unto his grave. Born with a cry, he lives tossed up and down as ship on the sea, and dies with tears. Once I lived in a house of plenty, now I live in a hut. And this too will pass. I had friends – some have become enemies, some have become false brothers. Where are the times when I was driven in a coach-and-four? Where are the days of reproach and unhappiness? These too pass away. Such is our existence in this world. Not so will be our life to come, of which the Word of God and our Faith assures us. Once begun, that life will never end. (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, an 18^th century bishop and ascetic)