Слово II, в котором повествуется о том, что христианам не следует играть на музыкальных инструментах, плясать и петь 39

Woe to those who look for strong drink from early morning and warm themselves with wine until late in the evening; and the harp and harp, the tambourine and the flute, and the wine at their feasts; but they do not look at the works of the Lord and do not think about the work of His hands. For this reason, my people will go into captivity unexpectedly, and their nobles will starve, and their rich people will languish with thirst 40 . Therefore, the grave expanded and opened its mouth without measure: and their glory and their wealth, and their noise and everything that makes them glad will descend there (Is. 5:11-14). Behold, my beloved Christians, what terrible words the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Isaiah about those who eat and drink to the sound of lyres and tambourines. This is the terrible sentence God Himself pronounces on those who play various instruments, dancers and singers. These are the bitter expressions the Almighty uses when mourning those who amuse themselves by playing, dancing and singing. Woe to those who rise from sleep in the morning and run to drink wine. Woe to those who sit late in taverns, for wine and vodka will destroy them: they drink wine to the sounds of the lyre, harp, tambourines and pipes, and do not even want to remember the commandments of the Lord, nor think about the works of God. Because of this, the people will be captured, and many will die of hunger and thirst, because they do not know or fear the Lord, and hell has opened and widened its mouth to swallow them up. And in fact, those who amuse themselves by playing instruments, singing and dancing are worthy of crying, because in slavery from hunger they are deprived not only of real life, but in addition also of the Kingdom of Heaven and will inherit only punishment and torment in hell. Therefore, I set out to talk with you today, my Christian brothers, in order to show what misfortunes games, dancing and singing have caused and continue to cause you, and, therefore, Christians should not get carried away with them. So listen carefully to understand it all. What misfortunes do games and dancing bring? The first and greatest evil that games and dancing have caused and continue to cause is idolatry. Do you want to make sure of this? Then follow me - we will go to Mount Sinai. The Prophet Moses climbed to its top to receive the God-written Law. He talks with God for forty days and forty nights, and the Jewish people below, seeing that Moses was slow to come down from the mountain, rebelled against Aaron, Moses' brother, demanding that they make a god out of gold. Aaron, having collected the gold earrings of Jewish women, melted them in a smelter and cast them in the shape and likeness of a young calf and said to the people: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Ex. 32:4). The people, seeing the idol, rejoiced and sat down, ate and drank, and then got up and began to play, dance and sing, bringing their games, dancing and singing as service, worship and veneration of the idol: and the people sat down to eat and drink, and then stood up to play (Ex. 32:6). According to Basil the Great, “their game was idolatry” (Conversation on the Drunk). The second evil that games and dancing have caused and continue to cause is false oaths and curses. For in the Book of Judges we read that after the eleven tribes of Israel began war with the tribe of Benjamin because of the great wickedness that they committed with the wife [see: Judges 19:1] of the Levite, and left none of this tribe alive except six hundred men, they swore before God and cursed those who would give their women to these remaining six hundred: for the children of Israel swore, saying: Cursed is he who gives a wife to Benjamin (Judges 21:18). And not only that. There was also a violation of the oath itself, and the curse turned against them, although not directly, but indirectly, because of the dancing. Some of the women living in Shiloh gathered and went to dance on the feast of the Lord. Then the eleven tribes told the Benjamites to go and kidnap these dancers, take them to them and take them as wives: “Go,” they advised their men, “and sit in the vineyards, and see when the maidens of Shiloh come out to dance in round dances, then come out of the vineyards and each of you grab a wife from the maidens of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin” (Judg. 21:20–21). The third evil that dancing and singing led and lead to is bloodshed and murder. And not to simple and random ones, but to the murders of prophets and forerunners. And it is very easy to show this. To do this, just open the Gospel of Matthew. There, in the 14th chapter, everyone can read and see: only solely because the wicked daughter of the adulteress Herodias danced in front of Herod and pleased him with her dance, she was able to convince Herod to send a warrior and behead the greatest of all prophets - the divine Forerunner John and bring her, as payment and reward for the dance, the sacred, all-honorable and prophetic head, which was honored in the desert and Even wild animals, including lions, worshiped. And how many other evils do dancing, games and singing cause? For their sake, people dress up, put on jewelry - all the brightest and sparkling, whether men or women, and only after that they go to have fun, not forgetting to sprinkle themselves generously with perfumes and all kinds of incense. This ultimately leads to indiscreet and profane looks, lewd talk that offends the ears, lustful jokes and laughter, foul language and disgraceful behavior that incites carnal lust. And in human hearts fornication and adultery are committed: everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28). Even if a person just happens to meet a woman and, carried away by her beauty, feels lust for her, he commits fornication and adultery with her in his heart, then how much more sin in his heart, be it a man or a woman, those who deliberately go to dances only to look at beauties or handsome men? In addition, during the dance, men hug women, feel their bodily warmth, and lust and desire flares up between them even more strongly. Moreover, it often happens that fleeting passions that flare up during dancing and singing later actually turn into fornication and adultery. That is why, on the one hand, the wise Sirach advises not to date singers at all, so as not to fall into fornication: Do not stay long with a singer, lest you be captivated by her art (Sir.9:4). For his part, Basil the Great adds that if dancers come as virgins, then after the fun they lose their virginity, and married women lose their chastity. “You kick your legs and dance like crazy? Do you dance when you should be sad and kneel in worship? Who will I cry about? About virgins who have not experienced marriage, or about those who are in a marriage union? If the first returned no longer having virginity, then the second did not return to their husbands chaste” (Conversation on the Drunk). What games and dances are like. - Where there is dancing, there is the devil. – In Holy Baptism, Christians take a vow not to participate in games, for in games and dancing the pride of Satan is expressed Therefore, it would be fair to call games, dancing and singing a satanic school, in which the main teacher is Satan himself, or the devil, and the demons serving him are the teacher’s assistants. The excellent students in this school are those who play the lyre and other instruments, and the students are men and women who dance and sing. The subjects taught at the school are debauchery and intemperance, foul language, idle talk, fornication, adultery, sodomy and other sins. Games, dancing and singing can even be called a devilish competition and struggle, and the building where all this happens is the place and field. At the highest place in the establishment sits the organizer of the competition and the distributor of awards - the devil himself. Spectators who happily watch performances are demons. And the wrestlers and competitors are musicians, dancers and singers, no matter whether they are men or women. Whichever of them plays, dances or sings best is declared the winner and receives sin and eternal torment as a reward. Therefore, the words spoken by Chrysostom are decisively and extremely accurate and wise: “Where songs and dances are started, the devil immediately appears. “I dare to say,” explains the saint, “that where you dance, there is the devil, and that fornication gives rise not only to wickedness, but also to murder” (Conversation 14 on the Gospel of Matthew). And further Chrysostom notes: “What are you doing, foolish man? By inviting jesters and dancers into your house, you become a second Herod, because you imitate that Herod and bring to your feast, like another Herodias, dancing women and men, and although you do not kill John, you kill the members of Christ, namely, what is even worse, many souls of those who dance, and those who sit at the table and watch, because the same devil who through the dancing of his daughter Herodias then killed John, and he also kills the souls of those celebrating with dancing: “And if John is not killed, then the members of Christ are killed, and with even greater cruelty. That is why, my beloved Christian brothers, for the sake of God's love, the blood of Jesus Christ and for the sake of your own salvation, stop the murders! I ask you, stop killing yourself with games, dancing and singing, for they are the works of the devil, the punishment of your life, the destruction of your soul and salvation. They are deeds and deeds that are not inherent in Christians, disciples of Jesus Christ, children of light and heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the machinations and machinations of Hellenes, Jews, Turks, unbelievers and pagans, who are darkened by devilish delusion and do not understand what they think and do. If until now you have been devoted to such satanic and pagan activities, then from now on, leave them and hate them. Well, if any Christian begins to force and force you to go and have fun with games, dance or sing in such an establishment, be very careful not to listen to him, even if he is a big boss, a priest or a layman, since he cannot help you on the Day of Judgment, nor save you from torment in hell. When you received Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity in the holy font, you made a promise to God, angels and people that you would turn away and hate all the works of the devil. Why are you breaking your promise now? Do you want to make sure, Christian, that you promised at Holy Baptism not to participate in games, not to dance or sing? Listen. When you are baptized, you confess before God and people with these words: “I renounce Satan, and all his works, and all his pride.” What does it mean to say “I deny”? Saint Cyril of Jerusalem answers this question. He says that this means to say: “I turn away and abandon the agreement and surrender that Adam, and with him every human being, made - by the advice of the devil, to violate the commandment of God to eat from the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge; It is precisely this agreement with Satan that I refuse in the Holy Baptism I receive and spit on Satan’s glory and power, I reject friendship and alliance with him, I turn away from all his deeds, that is, from all sins, and I hate them; I loathe and hate all his pride.” What is the pride and glory of Satan? These are all sorts of solemn processions of vices with which he appears at shows, various games, demonic dances, satanic songs, races of dumb animals, hunting and similar entertainments. After these vows, you immediately said: “I am matched with Christ.” What does it mean to be united with Christ? We find the answer in St. Cyril’s catechesis, where he says: “This means that I express my consent and promise to be a slave of Christ, to submit to all His behavior and to do His will.” To what has been said, the holy apostles in their decrees (Book 3, chapter 18) add: “So let him who is baptized remain a stranger to wickedness, inactive in relation to sin, a friend of God, an enemy of the devil, having renounced Satan, his powers and errors, and all his works, blameless, pure, righteous, God-loving, the son of God.” Why are Christians not supposed to play and dance on Easter, holidays and during fasting? Have you heard, brothers, what terrible confessions and promises you made at Holy Baptism? So think constantly and never forget about them. If you forget, God will remind you. After all, they are written in His book, and there is no way to extract them from there, nor erase them, nor destroy them. These are the questions you will have to answer on the Day of Judgment. For them the terrible Judge will judge you, and He will ask: did you promise in Holy Baptism to hate the devil, and all his works, and all his pride, and all his glory? Why didn't you keep your promise? Evil servants, I will judge you from your mouth: bind their hands and feet and throw them into outer darkness (Matthew 22:13). What a terrible problem! What a tear-worthy grief! Therefore, my brothers, in order to avoid such a sentence, in the future, when you hear about games, dances and songs, it is better to close your ears so as not to hear it, and run away, like from fire, from the place where they are having fun with such things. If the devil and evil thoughts incline your heart to “go and just see,” listen to no one and say: “We have vowed to God to hate such games and the pride of the devil, and our promise is written in the book of God. How can we now break our word and bring misfortune and punishment upon our own heads? Get away from us, Satan and vicious thoughts, we do not want to listen to you and follow you.” But what do some people tell us about this? Let there be days when it is indecent to play games, dance and sing. What about holidays and special days? For Easter, Bright Week, or the Holy Week? How can we express our joy? How will we show that we are celebrating, celebrating and fasting, without games, without dancing and songs, if we don’t shoot guns, don’t shout something like that in honor of the holiday and as a sign of our spiritual joy? These are all pathetic excuses for some fools. That is why, Christian, if on holidays you do not act like this, but call jesters to you, dance and sing, then you no longer glorify and honor the saints being celebrated, you even dishonor them. For you do things that are hateful and disgusting to the saints. And you imitate not the saints, but the pagans. What can I say? With the games, dancing and singing that you organize on holidays, you glorify not the saints, but the devil. And all this is pride and glory of the devil. You turn out to be an imitator not of saints, but of demons. Likewise, Easter and Bright Week occur so that Christians would think about how the Son of God, through His Passion, Cross, death and Holy Resurrection, redeemed them from the hands of the devil, rescued them from hell, freed them from death and gave them resurrection and the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus would give thanks for all these benefits and for the grace of Christ, Who suffered, was crucified, died and rose again in His own way. Your own love for them. Christians are not supposed to fire a gun on Bright Week Now, my Christian brothers, I ask you, how does your soul bear it when, instead of thanking and praising the sweetest Jesus Christ, your God and Father and Creator, you dishonor and insult Him with the devilish deeds that you commit on the days of His resurrection? He suffers so much to kill sin, and you revive this sin again? He rises to resurrect you from vices, and you again fall into the same mud? And when? In the very days that He raised you up? Oh, great wickedness! Oh, the unheard-of cruelty of Christians! Throughout Great Lent and Holy Week you stretch out your hands, pray and create the image of the cross, and when Easter comes, do you even dare to make those same hands instruments of sin and play the strings, beat tambourines and other devilish games? With your tongue and lips do you commune with the Body and Blood of Christ and sing so many spiritual and divine songs on Easter Day, and then with the same tongue and lips do you sing and utter prodigal and devilish songs? You stand with your feet in the church of God, make bows and, kneeling, worship God Almighty, and when Bright Week comes, how can your heart bear the fact that [in dancing] you knock on the floor with those same feet of yours? Why are you jumping like goats? Why are you dancing like crazy and possessed? And that with these disorderly movements of yours you are worshiping the devil? And finally, on the holy days of Pentecost and Easter, you become a church to God and the Holy Spirit, and then again you, the same ones, with your satanic games, dancing and singing, turn into a church for the devil and evil spirits? These are discordant and incompatible things, for what unity can light and darkness have? The devil with Christ? At God's church with an idol church? As Paul says, what fellowship does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what is the communion between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does the faithful have with the unfaithful? (2 Cor. 6:14). And just as we say that on Easter and in the days of Bright Week Christians are not supposed to indulge in fun, dance and sing, we also say that on Easter Christians should not fire from rifles, pistols, firecrackers and use other similar firearms (means), since the risen Christ not only does not need this, but also hates and turns away from such undertakings, because 1) from this many people receive injuries, and often death; 2) with their noise and din they prevent Christians from listening to the prayers and spiritual troparia and songs of the Resurrection. Gunpowder and firearms existed before, and Christians also fired guns at Easter, but even then all the holy divine fathers, of course, wrote and fought for the abolition of this pagan custom. For firing on holidays is typical of pagans, and not of Christians, who should rather ring the sacred bells and sing “Christ is Risen” and other joyful hymns of the Holy Resurrection. Christians anger God with their fun and dancing on holy holidays Truly, brothers, for the outrages committed on holidays and Easter, you anger the Holy God so much that you force Him to frighten you with the same words that He once spoke against the Jews through the prophet Amos, namely, that your celebrations and celebrations will turn into weeping and sorrow, and your spiritual songs into sobs and tears: I will turn your holidays into lamentation, and all your songs into lamentation (Am. 5:21). This is what actually happened during the time of the Maccabees, as stated in Scripture: The sanctuary of Jerusalem was desolate like a desert, its feasts turned to mourning, its Sabbaths to reproach, its honor to humiliation (1 Mac. 1:39). With your games, dances, songs, drunkenness, swearing, fights and other evil that you commit on holidays and Easter, you force God to say that He has hated and no longer desires your celebrations and turns away from your holidays: I have hated, turned away from your holidays and do not smell the victims at your celebrations (Am.5:21). If God, for the sins of the Jews, hated and no longer wanted to listen to either their divine songs that were sung to Him, or the sacred instruments and spiritual melodies that were played in the middle of His Church, and this despite the fact that they were performed as praise, honor and magnification of His holy name on the days of holidays, for He speaks through the prophet: Remove the voice of your songs from Me, and I will not listen to the sounds of your instruments (Amos 5:23). If, I repeat, He hated their singing, then how much more, incomparably more, does He hate and turn away from the devilish amusements that you Christians organize on holidays not at all for the sake of glorifying God, but for the glory, honor and pride of Satan. How much more does He hate and reject the dances and songs of wicked women and men for the mere feeling of lust, temptation and thirst for carnal pleasures. As Basil the Great says, “among intemperate people, just hearing an obscene woman, who has driven herself to the point of debauchery through intoxication and sings delightful melodies, can produce any kindling of pleasure” (Conversation on the Drunk). But this makes virtue sad, chastity blushes from shame, Christian modesty and decorum weep, the fear of God, the fear of punishment and Judgment are driven out, Christ grieves and the angels and all the saints and righteous people cry. Oh, and how can you not cry? What heart would not be shed with tears, seeing the death and madness of so many Christians? They are so unreasonable that, instead of gaining something from the fast of the Holy Pentecost, they suffer complete loss in the conspiracy. And even if they gain a little something, they immediately lose it with interest. They act like unreasonable traders, working not to benefit themselves, but to their detriment. And this harm they received in the conspiracy exceeds the benefit they will gain from the coming Lent. May our God be merciful, merciful, merciful! And may He enlighten the holy bishops, confessors and mentors, so that they prohibit this evil with the help of excommunications and penances, as prescribed by the 62nd canon of the Sixth Holy Ecumenical Council. How Christians should rejoice on holidays and Easter Christian brothers, do you want to truly rejoice and have fun on holidays, on Easter and during the fast? Then do not amuse yourself with games, do not dance or sing. But sing any short troparia or hymns that you find to Christ and the Most Holy One; sing “Christ is risen”, “An angel is crying” or “It is worthy to eat”. The Apostle James commands Christians to do this: If anyone is happy, let him sing psalms (James 5:13). In short, let those who are joyful and have a good heart sing, but not songs. So God will bless your meal, angels will come down to you and protect you. Your food and drink, your holidays and prayers - everything will go to the glory of God, as befits Christians and as the divine Paul commands, everything you do, do to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). As Chrysostom notes, where there is dirt, there are pigs, and where there is fragrance, there are bees. Therefore, the divine apostles, in their collective decrees, clearly indicate to Christians not to do any ungodly words or deeds on the Lord’s and other holidays. But so that food and drink should be, according to the commandment, with fear and trembling, and that at the same time none of the Christians should sing pagan and vulgar songs, otherwise it may happen that a demon and an evil spirit will enter their hearts instead of the Holy Spirit: “In the days of the Lord, and in the days of joy, we do not allow you to say or do anything dishonest, for the Scripture says in one place: work for the Lord with fear and rejoice in Him. with trembling (Ps. 2:11). Therefore, your joys should be with fear and trembling, for a faithful Christian should not utter from his lips either folk singing 42 or harlotry songs, because while singing he will be led to remember the demonic names of idols, and instead of the Holy Spirit, the evil spirit will attack him” (Book 5, Chapter 10). John Chrysostom also warns about the same thing. In the Word (Epistle to the Abbot) on prayer, he explains that the above-mentioned expression of David, rejoice in Him with trepidation, is understood as the joy that a person receives when he eats and drinks; such joy should always be filled with fear, trembling and great attention, so that from an excess of feelings and satiety with food and drink, a person would not be inclined to lustful thoughts, dancing, singing and other sins, as happened with by the Israelites, about which the Scripture says that he grew fat, began to kick, and left his Creator God: And Jacob ate, and was filled, and became stubbornly beloved; became fat, grew fat, grew fat, and left God who created him, and retreated from God his Savior (Deut. 32:15). Why thank God after a meal? For this, the divine fathers of the Church wrote for us in a prayer for the meal, which is printed in the Book of Hours and begins like this: “Blessed be God, who has had mercy and nourished us from our youth...” and so on, and at the end it says: “May we be found pleasing before You and may we not be ashamed, always rewarding each according to his deeds,” to teach us that when we get up from the meal and our belly is filled with food and drink, we should think about the Day of the Last Judgment of God, on which we will have to give an answer for what we did, said and thought. And so that with this fear and thought we curb the impulses and desires of our full body and drive out the shameful thoughts that, due to the fullness of the belly, bother us in abundance. Likewise, the divine Chrysostom greatly praises the prayer of thanksgiving for these words and orders Christians to say it after the meal (Conversation 55 on the Gospel of Matthew). How Christians can pray while working Men and women engaged in handicraft work, of course, are not supposed to sing at work, or chatter, or engage in inappropriate and idle conversations, because on the Day of Judgment you will not only have to make excuses for idle talk, about which the Lord warns you: I tell you that for every idle word that people speak, they will give an answer on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36). And besides, you will not succeed in your craft. What to do in this case? At work, from time to time, pray in your mind and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” From time to time, say this with your lips and silently sing some troparik, for example, “It is worthy to eat as truly...”, “Virgin Mother of God...”, “Holy God...”. In a word, season every craft and every business you do with salt, prayer and the holy name of Jesus Christ and the Mother of God, so that your deeds and property may be blessed by God, and so that it grows and multiplies. How to act in various cases, the holy apostles command you in their decrees: “Do not be flighty, do not wander, do not wander the streets to untimely observe those who live badly, but, practicing your skill and work, try in every possible way to do what is pleasing to God and, remembering the sayings of Christ, study unceasingly, for the Scripture tells you: study in His law day and night,” walking in the field and sitting in the house, lying down and getting up, so that you understand everything (Book 1, Chapter 5). The divine Chrysostom advises you to do this: “Are you a craftsman? Sing psalms while sitting. But don't you want to sing with your lips? Make it a thought. The psalm is a great interlocutor: from this you will not be exposed to anything dangerous, but (even in the workshop) you will sit as in a monastery, because it is not the convenience of places, but the severity of morals that gives us peace. So, Paul, while doing needlework in the workshop, did not suffer any harm to his virtue” (Catechetical Words. 2). Basil the Great also advises doing the same (Letter two). What penance is intended for players and dancers For you, my Christian brothers, the time is already coming 43 in which you usually play, dance and sing not at all like holy Christians and children of God, but like wicked people, infidels and pagans. On the coming (holiday) days of the next year, hate such customs with all your soul, so that you do not fall under the terrible punishments, excommunications and curses and God’s wrath, which were established by the holy apostles, the Ecumenical Councils and God Himself for those who organize lawless deeds. For the holy apostles excommunicate lyre players, dancers, and all players and organizers of entertainment in general. In their decrees they warn: “If anyone, man or woman, comes to faith, being the head of the games or a participant in the Olympic Games (that is, a wrestler and competitor), or a player of the pipe, cithara or lyre, or a dancer, then either let them stop their activities, or be rejected” (Book 8, Chapter 32). This means that since the apostles reject the infidels for playing games and do not allow them to come to the faith of Christ when they do not stop their amusements, how much more severely do the saints punish the faithful who amuse themselves with such things? And the holy Sixth Ecumenical Council, in its 62nd canon, prohibits women from dancing in front of people, and whoever violates the prohibition is subject to excommunication. The Seventh Holy Ecumenical Council also excommunicates, along with the players, those Christians who invite players to their homes and indulge in fun. Those who eat and drink to the accompaniment of vulgar songs and dances and do not give due thanks to God, who gives them food, are punished in the same way: “For those living in marriage, with children, in a worldly state, it is not reprehensible for husbands and wives to eat together, only let them give thanks to Him who gives food, but not to eat with any shameful inventions or with satanic songs, singers and prodigals. cries upon which the prophetic curse falls, saying: Woe to those who drink wine with the harp and singers, but do not consider the works of the Lord and do not consider the work of His hands. And if there are such Christians anywhere, let them correct themselves, but if they do not correct themselves, let those who were before us be canonically observed in relation to them” (Rule 22), that is, the punishment of excommunication. And the Holy Local Council, held in Carthage, in its 71st rule, decrees that on holidays and on the days of remembrance of martyrs there should be no dancing and games either in residential buildings or outside - in the churches of the martyrs, since all these are Hellenic customs. Basil the Great introduced the following rules and punishments in relation to the mentioned violators: if men or women are given to drunkenness, let them fast for the same amount of time as they sang 44, let them come to their senses and read the same number of psalms from the Psalter, and if they are illiterate, then let them say the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”; those who laughed uncontrollably, let them cry and shed tears; the men and women who danced should do the same number of genuflections, that is, 45 great bows; those who applaud the dances strike themselves on the chest many times; let those who dressed up and went to dance humble themselves and repent; and in addition, let those who have committed all the above atrocities do alms to get rid of sin: “Let drunkenness be cured by fasting, shameful chants by psalmody, let a tear be a cure for laughter, instead of dancing let one bend the knee, instead of clapping let one's hands be struck, instead of decorating one's clothes - humility, and above all this, let mercy redeem you from sin” (Conversation on revelers). The greatest of all the above-mentioned rules, which Saint Basil speaks of in the same Word, is that all Christians should never indulge in games, dances and songs; if they see those who used to amuse themselves with games, dancing and singing, and now repent, then let everyone have compassion for them, as for their weak brothers; if they begin to act willfully and with disdain and again take up the old ways, then no longer communicate with them and avoid and do not greet them, in order to thereby make them realize their evil and repent: “If you see those who repent of those inappropriate deeds that they have done, have compassion as for your sick members, and if you [see] those who act self-confidently and neglect your sorrow for them, then go out from among them, separate yourself from them and do not touch the unclean, so that in this way these, being ashamed, will come to the realization of their own evil, and you would receive the reward of Phinehas’ 46 jealousy” (Ibid.). These are the punishments 47 and the rules that the apostles, Ecumenical Councils and holy fathers introduced in relation to players, dancers and singers. How God punishes players and dancers What are the punishments 48 that God established for them? These are curses and sorrows, as He says it through Amos and Isaiah: woe to [you] who applaud the sound of pipes, who think that it lasts forever and does not end, 49 who drink choice wine and anoint themselves with the best aromas (Am., ch. 6); woe to all who drink wine to the sound of harp, harp, tambourines and pipes (Is. 5:12). These are the wraths of God, by which the joys of such will turn into sorrow; their songs will turn into tears and sobs; their games and lyres and their dances will turn [into the opposite] and become weeping and sighing; this sounds through the mouth of Job: my harp has turned to weeping, and my songs to mourning 50 (Job 30:31), and through the mouth of Ezekiel: and I will stop the noise of your songs, and the sound of your harps will no longer be heard (Ezek. 26:13), through the mouth of Jeremiah: the joy of our heart has ceased; Our round dances turned into lamentations (Jer. 5:15), and through the Maccabees: and the joy of Jacob was taken away, and the pipe and harp were no longer heard (1 Mac. 3:45). Tell me about other, greater punishments that God determines for them? Those who are in games, dances, songs and parties are given over by God into the hands of enemies, infidels, and the wicked, are captured and die of hunger and thirst. This is what God says through the mouth of the prophets Isaiah and Amos: Therefore my people will go into captivity, and there will be many dead because of hunger and thirst for water (Is. 5:13); therefore now they will be taken captive by the princes of the mighty ( Am. 6:6 ); As [it] seems to me, this is the reason and basis why we, Christians, find ourselves captive and are now under the yoke of slavery to the infidels - precisely because of these and other similar inappropriate deeds of ours. The last, the very last punishment that those who play, dance and sing receive happens when they, if they do not stop [from such activities] and do not repent and do not accept the rules that Basil the Great defined above, but die unrepentant, after death they absolutely go to hell and suffer. This is what God says through Isaiah, [namely,] what we already said [at the beginning]: and hell widened its womb and opened its mouth so as not to let [anyone] in (Is. 5:14). Do you see, brothers, [what] misfortunes? Do you see the terrible punishments? Do you see the disasters that those who play, dance and sing receive from God? From now on, Christians, let us be afraid, lest we receive the same punishments from God. And in the future, not only will we not play ourselves, we will not dance and we will not sing, but let us absolutely not even go to places where they play instruments and there is dancing and singing. Because if we just go there and look, then we, together with them, will have the same sin and receive the same punishments, although we will not take part in games, dancing, or singing - because if we go and look at them, then we will give them reasons to dance and sing, so that we become conductors and a noose for them. If we don’t go there, then they too will be forced to stop playing the instruments and leave; so that when we go and look at them, we are the basis of the destruction of these unfortunates, and especially if we give them some little thing as a reward. Yes, yes, with tears I ask you, listen, my Christian brothers, to these words of God and the saints, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit and His angels, and do not bring joy to the devil and his demon servants, such pagan and anti-Christian atrocities of yours! Do not irritate God and do not cause Him to become angry and send hunger, weakness, slavery, mortal diseases, poverty, misfortune and other similar evils upon you in the present life, and in the future life He will send the deprivation of His Kingdom and eternal torment: for for this the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience, as the divine Paul says (Col. 3:6)! But, on the contrary, let us tame the wrath of God and let us appease Him by abstaining from the above inappropriate actions, by repentance, humility, decorum and modesty, as befits the holy life of Christians - through this, let us be delivered from eternal torment and may we be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion with the Father and the Spirit forever. Amen.