Слово VI, в котором говорится о том, что христианам негоже играть в шашки, карты, камешки, салочки, участвовать в состязаниях и тому подобных затеях и даже смотреть такие зрелища

There is nothing more valuable than time, but nothing is so neglected as time. There is nothing more valuable, because, firstly, if a person loses anything valuable - gold, silver, honor, glory or carnal pleasures, he will be able to acquire them again. But not the time. Lost time can never be returned back. According to Gregory the Theologian, “...to every husband and wife, old man and young man, city dweller and villager, commoner and boss, rich and poor, since everyone is called upon by one feat, I give one piece of advice - to prepare for this feat willingly, not to relax, not to hesitate, not to waste time, which is no longer possible to return” (Homily 19). The divine Chrysostom believes the same: “Everything should be neglected, but not time; if you spend gold, you can buy it again, but if you waste time, it’s difficult to get it back” (Conversation 58 on the Gospel of John). The fact is that everything else in the world is in a certain state. Time is in a single continuous movement and flow. Having reached the point of existence, it immediately disappears, going into oblivion. Secondly, at the cost of time you can acquire all of heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven, taste God’s grace, become a son of God and unite with God. Simply put, mortal man can become God by grace and adoption to God. Nevertheless, today we neglect time most of all, for modern Christians cherish and value all other things and part with them with great difficulty. And such expensive and priceless time is treated with extreme negligence. They spend it mercilessly on all sorts of trifles and rubbish, that is, on playing dice, cards, competitions and other amusements. They are thus likened to the mad Herman, who, as historians write, found a diamond that belonged to the Duke of Burgundy Charles. The stone was incredibly large and was a priceless, envious treasure. I will say more: Herman did not understand that this was a treasure, did not know its price and treated it with contempt, like an ordinary stone, and sold the diamond for a bottle of wine. Modern Christians also do not understand how precious the time that God has given them is. They act like the brainless rooster in Aesop's fable. While rummaging through a dung heap, he found an expensive diamond and exclaimed that he would rather have found a grain of barley than this stone. It turns out that Christians prefer things of little value to valuable things, and expensive things to cheap ones. On this occasion, the prophet Isaiah says that the Lord “will come quickly and will not delay” (Is. 14:1). Habakkuk adds that “he who comes will come and will not tarry” (Hab. 2:3). Despite this, Christians think quite the opposite - that God is in no hurry to come, and waste the time of their lives watching other Christians play. The wise Sirach strictly warns: “remember that death does not tarry” (Sir.14:12), keep in mind that the wrath of God is close and will suddenly overtake you: “remember that wrath does not tarry” (Sir.7:16). With all this, Christians cover their ears with their palms, like a shield, and do not hear the calls of the Holy Spirit addressed to them, believing that they are still very far from death and the wrath of God will not touch them for a long time. In addition, they carelessly kill their time on soul-harming shows, mimes, hunting and the like. The time that God gave them so that they would repent and save themselves from God’s wrath. O great deception with which the devil ridicules and deceives modern Christians and causes them to harm their souls! That is why I decided today to expose such deception and show all the evil that the mentioned games cause to their participants and onlookers, and to convince you that Christians should neither play, nor participate, nor even look at them. So here I go. Games cause discord between spouses Firstly, games give rise to misunderstandings, quarrels and disagreements between spouses; strife between fathers and sons, the expulsion of sons and slaves from the house of their father and master. The Holy Scripture confirms this. In the 21st chapter of Genesis we read how Ishmael plays with Isaac, annoys Sarah and thereby forces Abraham to expel Ishmael from the house along with his mother Hagar, Abraham's slave: “When Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham: drive out this servant and her son... and these words appeared very cruel to Abraham concerning his son” (Gen. 21:9–11). This is how a [simple] game gave rise to bitterness in a family that had until then been quite peaceful, favored and blessed by God. Games lead to fights and murders Secondly, games cause evil thoughts, fights, murders and bloodshed. The story from the second chapter of the Second Book of Samuel convinces us of this. From it we learn how two generals once met near the lake in Gibeon. One was Abner, the commander of the army of Ish-bosheth, son of Saul, with his soldiers. The other is Joab, the commander of David’s army with Abishai and Asahel, his brothers, also with their soldiers. As they sat together, Abner ordered the young warriors to play and amuse them. “And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men stand up and play before us” (2 Samuel 2:14). They stood in front of the military leaders and began to play. Now look how sadly it all ended. When the soldiers began the game, they became insane, and the twelve young men of Abner and the twelve of Joab killed each other. The evil didn't end there. A real battle broke out between the troops, which increased the number of killed. “And on that day there was a fierce battle” (2 Samuel 2:17). Abner, seeing what was happening, fled. Asahel, Joab's brother, rushed after him. When he overtook the fugitive, he was stabbed in the back with a spear and died. Joab and Abeesha, seeing the death of their brother, chased after Abner and his army. The battle continued until sunset. In the battle, Abner's army lost three hundred and sixty killed, Joab's - nineteen. Games, especially cards, create a lot of evil Thirdly, games lead to perjury, blasphemy, lies, anger, murder, insults, foul language, turning into a tangled tangle of many evils. This is especially facilitated by the God-damned game of cards. Where there are cards, there - oh Lord have mercy! Oh, who can bear to hear gamblers raining oaths like seeds? How they become inflamed with anger and become enraged and become as if possessed! Having lost all fear of God, they open their chattering mouths, vomiting blasphemy against the Lord, against faith, against the saints with greater audacity than unbelievers and demons. How they riot and scream! How they lose their temper with anger, especially when they don’t win, but lose more and more. Such players, especially gamblers, get into a completely reckless state that the unfortunate ones voluntarily give themselves into slavery, allow themselves to be tied up and sold to anyone, like cattle. In Chapter 14 of The Political Theater we read that in ancient times the Germans descended into savagery, playing cards with incredible desperation. Whether they won or lost, they fought to the end. In an effort to preserve his property, the unfortunate man even put his own freedom at stake, hoping to win back. If he lost, he became the winner's slave. Whoever he was - young, strong and noble, he allowed the winner to tie him up and sell him like a slave to anyone. These are the poisonous fruits! These are the sad consequences of games! Players are compared to thieves Fourthly, games, among other things, always become the reason that government positions are often occupied by villains and debauchees. Of them, one becomes a ruler, another - a commander, the third - some other important person. And as a result of this, cities and entire regions are empty, many souls perish and go to hell. That is why we find in history a story about how the English king Henry appointed the most unworthy people to government positions on one condition: if they played cards honestly. The wise Aristotle was right when he classified the selfish, greedy, gamblers and other players as thieves. “But,” he said, “a dice player, a clothes thief in a bathhouse, and a robber are also among the stingy, for their profit is shameful” (Nicomachean Ethics. 4:3). Since truly they are also thieves, it is better to say even worse than thieves. After all, robbers and thieves work crudely and openly, and everyone can protect themselves from them. Players, especially gamblers, act secretly and very cunningly, stealing other people's money from their pockets without violence. Therefore, the divine Chrysostom was forced to say that games not only cause blasphemy, loss and anger, but also lead to much more terrible vices. “The passion for playing dice often produced blasphemies, losses, malice, abuse and countless things that are much worse than this” (Conversations on Statues. 15). The book “Salvation of Sinners” 75 tells how much evil is caused by playing cards. Let me say that these devilish undertakings cool piety, kill the fear of God, deprive divine love and lower unfortunate people to the extreme degree of religious indifference and apathy. They devote days and even nights to the passions, but never set foot in God’s church - neither for Vespers, nor for Matins, nor for the Liturgy, as Christian duty dictates. What harm do games cause to spectators and what do we call hippodromes and theaters? Satanic games cause equal evil to both the participants and organizers, and those who joyfully watch such spectacles. Anyone who watches the game harms his soul in the same way, for he sees ungodly disgraces, lustful faces, passionate movements, hears dirty language, blasphemy, lies, vulgarity and ridicule. Simply put, the spectators of these undertakings with all their senses themselves plunge into the heart countless stings of voluptuousness and harm, thereby killing their unfortunate souls. They become infected with a weakening of piety, a loss of the fear of God, a careless attitude towards Christ’s commandments, and ultimately descend to the highest degree of lack of fear of God and disregard for their own salvation and oblivion of God’s Judgment, which we hear about at Matins and the Divine Liturgy. They do not go to God’s church to pray and fulfill their Christian duty, but as soon as dawn breaks, they rush to a brothel or to a hippodrome to enjoy the devil’s undertakings, the satanic spectacles of animal fights. So their whole day passes without prayer, without God, like the non-Christians and the wicked. ABOUT! How can one resist tears at the sight of the pitiful state to which Christians have sunk! Chrysostom quite rightly calls the hippodrome, where races of brainless horses are held, “the Satanodrome of carnal wickedness” (Tale of the Circus), and the places where they play checkers, dice, cards, balls, pebbles, organize competitions and animal fights and other outrages - a general school of licentiousness, a public school of fornication and adultery, the throne and seat of debauchees, a haven filled with all kinds of infection, Babylon, hellfire and other most terrible and shameful nicknames. Christians, according to Chrysostom, will also not receive any benefit if during Lent they engage in the mentioned games or go to similar spectacles. “What is the benefit for those who fast to go to the spectacles of iniquity, to attend a general school of shamelessness, a public school of intemperance, to sit on the seat of destruction? Let him not sin who calls the stage - this most destructive place, full of all kinds of diseases, this Babylonian oven - a seat of destruction, and a school of debauchery, and a school of intemperance, and everything else that is most shameful. Indeed, the devil, having plunged the city into the theater, as if into some kind of furnace, then sets it on fire from below.” (About fasting, said in the sixth week of the Holy Pentecost). Would you like to know that not only the players and organizers of the games are punished with death, as mentioned earlier, but also those who come just to watch them? Follow me. We are going to Palestine. There, about three thousand foreigners, men and women, gathered in one large house. They feasted and glorified their god Dagon 76 for having betrayed their worst enemy, Samson, into their hands. There, in prison, this brave and unfortunate Samson, despised by everyone, languished, blinded, whose eyes they gouged out. After the foreigners ate, drank, and had fun, they wanted to mock the blinded captive. They ordered him to be brought from prison. When the prisoner was brought in, they ordered him to amuse and make them laugh with some kind of game. And Samson began to play, and they beat the blind man in the face: “And then their hearts were glad, they said: call Samson from the prison house, let him play before us. And they called Samson from the house of the prisoners and played before them, and they strangled him” (Judges 16:25). All the spectators, men and women, crowded on the roof of the huge house and looked down on the despicable prisoner who stood between the columns and played for them. “The house was full of men and women; All the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were up to three thousand men and women, looking at Samson amusing them” (Judges 16:27). Now look at the pitiful end that befell the spectators who watched Samson’s play from above. The unfortunate hero, while playing and being bullied by his enemies, remembered his former courage. He did not tolerate the mockery and ridicule of those whom he had defeated and exterminated many times before. He began to sob and pray to God, asking him to inspire him and return him to his former strength only for one last time and to respond to the bullying of the foreigners. Samson grabbed the two columns that supported the house with his hands and pulled them with all his might - and the huge building collapsed to the ground. And along with him, all the foreigners died, all the spectators who joyfully watched Samson’s play: “And Samson grabbed the two middle pillars on which the house stood... and Samson said: “Let my soul die with the foreigners!” And he pressed on with force and the house fell on the rulers and on all the people who were in it” (Judges 16:29-30). Do you see, my Christian brothers, what harm games cause to both players and spectators? Have you realized how much harm devilish spectacles also bring to the soul, body, honor and life? Therefore, for the love of God and for the love of saving your souls, stop participating in games, run from them like from fire. For just as a large fire destroys not only those caught inside the flame, but also those who happen to be standing nearby and caught in a hail of burning sparks flying in all directions, so spectacles and games destroy both the organizers themselves and the onlookers gathered there. If the fire does not burn them completely, then it burns their eyebrows and hair, the smoke eats away their eyes, and their face becomes black from soot; This is how games damage the feelings and soul of the players. Whoever gives money to players commits a sin Therefore, the divine apostles advise Christians: “Also avoid indecent spectacles, theaters, that is, and Hellenic ceremonies” (Apostolic Decrees. Book 2, Chapter 62). And they continue: “Their markets and the games performed in them must also be run; for a believer must go to the marketplace only to redeem bodies and acquire souls and to buy other things necessary for life” (Ibid.). Those who give money to those who dance and act in theaters commit a grave sin, for they become the culprits in the death of the unfortunate artists. As the divine Chrysostom says, “Give to the needy, and do not give to the dancing, so that you do not destroy his soul with money. Through inappropriate generosity you become the culprit of his death. If the dancers knew that their art would remain without profit, they would have stopped doing it long ago. But they see that you applaud, run to them, incur costs, spend all your wealth on them; therefore, even if they did not want to continue their business, they are nevertheless carried away by the desire for profit” (Conversation 42 on the Gospel of John). Games are a huge obstacle to the salvation of Christians Games and shows do not only cause harm. They also create enormous obstacles to the salvation of Christians. After all, the time that they could spend on their salvation is spent on empty and useless things. You, my beloved Christians, were created by God in the world not at all to play with toys, but to do good deeds and thanks to this inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. As Paul says, “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to walk in” (Eph. 2:10). You, Christians, believed in Christ and were baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, not in order to watch shows, but to fulfill the commandments of the Lord, that is, to love God and your brother, feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, receive strangers and visit the sick and prisoners. You Christians are not allowed by Christ and the Gospel to seek a life full of games and shows, like the pagans. After all, such a life is a straight and wide path leading to hell. “Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13). On the contrary, you are called to seek a life crucified to all passions, dead to all the pleasures and all the pleasures of the world. And although this path is narrow and cramped, it leads you to eternal life. “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life” (Matthew 7:14). Why are you doing the opposite? Why do you think that life is given to you to succeed in games and entertainment all day long at the hippodromes and theaters? As Solomon says, “they consider our life a game and our living a profitable trade” (Wis. 15:12). Why do you, having made a promise to God at Holy Baptism to hate the procession of Satan, now break your vow by arranging and again showing love for satanic ceremonies, which, according to the divine Chrysostom, are games and spectacles? Don’t you, unfortunate people, understand that by your actions you are like a dog devouring its own vomit, and a pig that returns to the mud again and again? As the Apostle Peter says, a dog returns to its vomit, and a washed pig returns to wallow in the mud (2 Pet. 2:22). Oh! I am afraid that the words of Supreme Peter, which he once said about some similar sinners who break their promises to God, also apply to you, namely: it would be better for you not to know the way of righteousness and Christianity at all, than, having learned, to despise and return to your former atrocities. It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them (2 Pet. 2:21). Because you, Christians, who came to know the faith of Christ and then despised it, deserve an even more terrible punishment than the pagans and atheists who did not know the true faith and Christianity. As the Lord said, “that servant who knew the will of his master, and was not ready, and did not do according to his will, will be beaten much; But he who did not know, and did something worthy of punishment, will receive less punishment” (Luke 12:47-48). Solomon proves the same thing: “For the lesser deserves mercy, but the stronger will be greatly tormented” (Wis. 6:6). But what do some people object to? They say that, they say, the 66th canon of the Holy VI Ecumenical Council prohibits organizing races of foolish horses and shows during Easter week at Pentecost. Likewise, the 70th canon of the Council of Carthage prohibits shows and games both during Easter week and on Sundays and holidays. So, it follows from this that there are no spectacles on holidays, but on weekdays there are no obstacles to their holding. We give them four answers. Firstly, the mentioned Ecumenical Council in the 51st canon absolutely definitely prohibits staging spectacles at any time. This canon precedes the seventieth, which states that the purpose of the Holy Council is to prohibit Christians from all kinds of entertainment gatherings. Thus, the Holy Ecumenical Council speaks out against watching circus performers and going to the theater: “And perform animal spectacles and dance in disgrace” (canon 51). Secondly, the same Council of Carthage in the 17th canon orders to constantly preach to all Christians so that they do not even come close or even look where blasphemies and all sorts of outrages inherent in such undertakings are happening. Thirdly, let us answer with the words of Basil the Great that what is reprehensible in itself cannot turn into good depending on time: “Nothing that has been condemned can be suitable for a time” (Rules, set out at length. 20). Since games and spectacles are reprehensible in themselves, it follows that they are also uncommendable and bad on everyday life. Fourthly, finally, we will say in the words of Father Chrysostom, namely: if spectacles are a good deed, let them always be organized; if it’s bad, let them never exist. “If this is a vicious thing, then let it not happen even once; if it is good, then let it be constant” (Conversation 12 on 1 Corinthians). Games are for children, not adults Games, brothers, are an activity for little boys and girls. Due to their immaturity of age, they have a childish and imperfect consciousness. It seems to them that for great happiness and joy they need to play various games, as it is written in Zechariah: “And the streets of this city (Jerusalem) will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets” (Zechariah 8:5). The task of perfect men and elders is to disdain children's amusements as insignificant, despicable and unworthy for a mature consciousness. It is inherent in them to think and seek high and great deeds of virtue and worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. As Paul says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; and when he became a man, he left behind his children” (1 Cor. 13:11). Therefore, playing men and elders show nothing more than that they have a mind like a baby, and they think like a child, and their consciousness is immature. Here it is appropriate to quote the words that the Lord said to the Jews; “To whom shall I liken this generation? He is like children sitting on the street” (Matthew 11:16). Truly, there is nothing more disgusting, uglier and disgusting than a Christian, a man of advanced years and a gray-haired old man, who in front of everyone sits all day on the street or in a tavern and plays checkers, dice, ball, cards and other children's games, who is proud and rejoices like a child. He either screams or yells (at the top of his lungs), like a cat, then runs and jumps like a panther, then calms down like a snake, wondering to himself how he can fool other players. He takes offense at insults and insults others himself, like a slave. Such people are indifferent to life, like wicked people. What a blatant disgrace! What an unbearable shame for Christianity! How dare such nonentities still give advice to young men not to play and not to be mischievous, when they themselves, being of old age, set a bad example with their actions? May God be merciful to us! For today, because of the devil's games and satanic shows, the holy Christian life has turned into games and theater. Therefore, the Hellenes, the Jews, the Ottomans, and other wicked and pagans, looking at what is happening among Christians, are indignant and blaspheme the holy good name of Christians that we bear. As James, the brother of God, says, “Are they not the ones who dishonor the good name by which you are called?” (James 2:7). So, modern Christians are faced with the need to choose one of two things: either stop playing games and not attending shows in the future, or, if they don’t stop, they will be unworthy to bear their glorious name. For anyone who wants to be called by the name of Christ and be a Christian must stay away from all untruth, sin, and all games and shows. As the Apostle Paul says, “Let everyone who confesses the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2:19). For what? So that by your nasty and depraved life you do not blaspheme the name of God and the teaching of the Divine Gospel, “so that,” as Paul says, “there may be no blasphemy against the name of God and the teaching” (1 Tim. 6:1). However, what do some people object to us? One says: I’ll go, just play a little or just watch others play to pass the time. What are you doing, man, whoever you are, how dare you say such things? Play to pass the time? Has God given you time to waste on toys? Did God give you life to waste it in games? Did he give you life for this reason, so that you could waste it on spectacles? Wasn’t there any other good thing you could do that you liked, that you wouldn’t mind wasting time on, other than disorderly and ugly games that only upset God and cause His anger? Oh, your ignorance and madness! Don’t you know, unfortunate one, how valuable is the time that you love to waste on all sorts of nonsense and sinful deeds? If you valued it, you would not waste a single moment of it on games. God gave you time to live, brother, firstly, so that you would remember the sins you committed and thereby upset Him, repent of them and ask for forgiveness. Secondly, to think about the terrible hour of death and the upcoming painful separation of your soul from your body, to cry and mourn, calling on God at this terrible moment to deliver you from the hands of demons. Thirdly, to remember the Last Judgment of God and the answer that you will have to give for all your thoughts, words and deeds. Fourthly, to remember the future punishment that sinners experience in eternal fire and from which they will never be delivered. Fifthly, to remember the future happiness and the Kingdom in heaven, where the righteous enjoy for ever and ever. Think about all this, remember and study everything. Whatever is good for your soul, let it occupy your time. I’ll also tell you this: when you want to take time, pick up some soul-helping book and read it, if you know how to read and write. If you don’t know, invite some competent brother. Let him read to you, and you listen. If you want to take up time, fulfill some commandment of Christ, visit the sick person and comfort him with a [kind] word, and if you can, then help with deed. Go to the holy church or church vestibule, carefully examine the holy icons and bow to them with reverence. Turn your pious gaze to the holy altar and think about how mysteriously the Son of God is sacrificed there to nourish and sanctify you with holy communion. Think also that the earthly church is an image of heaven and the ranks of heavenly angels and saints are invisibly present in it. Pray to God to have mercy on you, turn to Him with all your heart and say: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” Make several penitential bows from the waist, and if you can, bows to the ground. If you want to spend your time (usefully), contemplate God's creations: the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, trees, animals, the sea, fish and everything else. How beautiful they are! How organized! How good! How strong! Glorify and thank God the Creator, who created all this out of His goodness and for the sake of love for you. This, I will say, is the essence of the holy games that one should, my brother, engage in to pass the time. These are praiseworthy and sacred spectacles, decent and befitting Christians, which should be contemplated in order to pass the time, and not satanic vile and wicked games, not reprehensible and demonic spectacles characteristic of Hellenes and pagans, on which one should not waste a single moment of one’s life. Our world, my Christian brothers, is a fair, and the time of every person’s life is a favorable time to buy various things at this fair, then sell them, make a profit and become a big merchant. So our Lord gave ten minas to ten His servants and ordered them to put them into circulation and multiply them for His Second Coming. “And he called ten of his servants, and gave them ten minas, and said unto them, Use them until I return” (Luke 19:13). Gregory the Theologian, sharing the words of the Lord, also compares our life with a fair and trade, from which everyone makes a profit during his life: “Walk through life as if at a fair. Bargain. You can gain for the small the Great and for the empty the Eternal.” Therefore, if a person, having gone to a fair, wanders around here and there instead of trading and earning a profit, and wastes time on trifles, then after the fair closes he will return home with empty pockets. Just like the one who wastes his life's time on games, shows and other useless and idle amusements. And when death comes, he will find himself in a miserable position, naked, deprived of any spiritual wealth and any profit of virtues. To what has been said, the Theologian adds: If you pass by, there will be no other opportunity. Here is what Basil the Great notes about this: “No one trades when the trading period has expired; no one is crowned if he came after the end of the struggle; no one shows his courage after a battle” (Conversation to those who get rich). Therefore, such a person must not only repent of having spent the time of his life in idleness, but also accept great punishment from God, since he did not properly use the time that He gave him to acquire the eternal profit of his salvation. What will someone who spent their life playing games say? “Ah,” the unfortunate man will exclaim, “where is now the golden time that was in my hands and which I spent on devilish and wicked games? Where are now those precious hours, days, weeks, months and years that God gave me to fulfill His commandments and serve Him in this world in order to receive eternal life? I have completely wasted my time on satanic shows! Woe, woe is me! How wrong I was! How foolishly I had fun and lost years of my life, of which, if I had been given at least a few days, I would have had time to repent and enjoy paradise! What a pity that this is completely impossible! The past cannot be returned. In the Holy Revelation it is said: “Time will be no more” (Rev. 10:6)” 77. What will God answer to someone who exchanged life for games? This is what the unfortunate time waster will ask, and God, for his part, will demand from him an accurate account of the time spent. “I have given you, ungrateful and unreasonable person,” the Righteous Judge will say, “so many golden days and so much precious time of life. Therefore, you should have spent them in serving Me and in fulfilling My commandments, so that at the cost of your time you would acquire eternal salvation. But you squandered it on games and spectacles, and thereby acquired the destruction of your soul. So, since you turned out to be a wicked servant who did not take advantage of My gift of time, I command My servants to cast you into outer darkness, where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).” The Divine Chrysostom agrees with the above and also denounces such people who waste their whole lives on spectacles. The saint says that God will ask them for their fruitlessly wasted time. In his beautiful language he explains: “God has given you a certain time of life to serve Him; and you waste it in vain and without any benefit and still ask: what is the loss? When you waste even a little money in vain, you call it a loss: but when you spend whole days of your life on satanic spectacles, do you think that you are doing nothing reprehensible? You should spend your whole life in prayer and supplication. ...So, if we don’t use it for what we should, what will we say when we go there? ...Yes, and God will tell us: I have given time for you to learn the art of piety; Why did you waste this time in vain and in vain? (Conversation 58 on the Gospel of John). Our life time is too short to achieve perfection and bliss Beloved Christians, you think that your life is so endless and that it is enough for two things: caring for the salvation of the soul and playing games and shows. Is your idea correct? No, this is a big misconception. For the care of the soul is so great and the heavenly blessings that we are to inherit are so great in number and limitless in duration and greatness that if it were possible for at least one person from the creation of the world to live to a ripe old age and spend the entire time of his life serving God and tasting heavenly blessings, without losing a moment to any other worldly business, even during the entire present time, then it would still not be enough to achieve the perfection of virtue and receive eternal good, since the infinite has nothing in common with the limited. The Apostle Paul, although he reached the third heaven and was caught up into paradise during his lifetime and heard ineffable verbs that are impossible for a person to reproduce, although he was directed forward, (always) stayed behind everyone unnoticed. With all this, he preaches and speaks not out of humility, but in truth, about the fact that he has not yet achieved any measure of perfection: “Brethren, I do not consider myself to have attained” (Phil. 3:13), and adds: “Not because I have already achieved, or have been perfected; but I press on lest I may attain as Christ Jesus attained to me” (Phil. 3:12). Paul not only thinks and says this way, but calls us to think the same way: “Therefore, if anyone among us is perfect, he should think this way” (Phil. 3:15). “What is this? - Saint Theophylact asks, interpreting his words and answers: - To forget what is behind. The characteristic of a perfect person is not to consider oneself perfect, because perfection lies in not relying on oneself.” The Divine Gregory of Nyssa said that “true perfection consists in never stopping in growing for the better and not limiting perfection to any limit” (To Olympius on perfection). On this basis, Saint John Climacus very wittily said that it is perfect perfection that is imperfect: “The perfect of the perfect is the imperfect perfection” (Ladder. Homily 29.5). So, if one life, as long and many years old as the whole world is large and many years old, is not enough to serve God and achieve perfection, then think for yourself how crazy you are if you think that your short life is enough to serve God and save the soul, and will still have some left over for all sorts of toys and shows. The devil was cast out of heaven seven thousand three hundred years ago. Only God knows how many more years are left until the end of the world. With all this, he considers even such a long period too short to create his lusts and malice, leading people into error and temptation. Therefore, it is written in the Apocalypse that after the overthrow of the star from heaven by the Archangel Michael, he set foot on earth in terrible rage. For he knew that he did not have long to reign and seduce people: “Woe to those who live on earth and on the sea! for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but little time left” (Rev. 12:12). The evil one considers seven thousand years a short period and therefore fights fiercely to destroy (as many) people as possible. Nevertheless, Christians still consider seventy or eighty years of life to be a long time and therefore want to spend it on games and shows. What terrible madness and ignorance of Christians! And then, do Christians today live to be seventy or eighty years old, as we said above? Most reach only forty, some reach twenty, others only reach ten, or even adolescence. Let's say someone lived all eighty years. But what is the use of this, if forty of them were spent on night sleep, fifteen were wasted, because during all this time human consciousness did not mature to a perfect distinction between good and evil, and another five years were spent on bodily infirmities and illnesses. And how many years remain? Only twenty! Now think about what senseless Christians can hope for, who have lived eighty years and consider twenty years to be a long time and therefore want to spend them in idle and soul-harming games and shows, and not in worries about their salvation? What penances are imposed on players? Therefore, my Christian brothers, leave behind all the excuses that are whispered back to you. Only God knows how many more years are left until the end of the world. With all this, he considers even such a long period too short to create his lusts and malice, leading people into error and temptation. Therefore, it is written in the Apocalypse that after the overthrow of the star from heaven by the Archangel Michael, he set foot on earth in terrible rage. For he knew that he did not have long to reign and seduce people: “Woe to those who live on earth and on the sea! for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has but little time left” (Rev. 12:12). And then, do Christians today live to be seventy or eighty years old, as we said above? Most reach only forty, some reach twenty, others only reach ten, or even adolescence. Let's say someone lived all eighty years. But what is the use of this, if forty of them were spent on a night's sleep, fifteen were wasted, because during all this time human consciousness did not mature to a perfect distinction between good and evil, and another five years were spent on bodily infirmities and illnesses. And how many years remain? Only twenty! Now think about what senseless Christians can hope for, who have lived eighty years and consider twenty years to be a long time and therefore want to spend them in idle and soul-harming games and shows, and not in worries about their salvation? Therefore, my Christian brothers, leave behind all the excuses that the devil whispers to you in order to destroy your souls. Stop playing and going to shows. Fear the terrible penances and canons adopted by the holy apostles, holy Ecumenical Councils, and God-bearing fathers of our Church against those who play and go to theaters to look at the outrages happening in them. What kind of penance is this? Excommunication from the Church, from the Divine sacraments, a ban on entering the church and removal from Christian fellowship. Be afraid of other terrible punishments that God sends to participants in all kinds of games. For the holy apostles in their 43rd canon excommunicate the laity who are involved in playing dice and other activities. Their decrees say that a Hellene who comes to the faith of Christ will suddenly become carried away by games and shows, and must stop his amusements, otherwise he will be expelled and not accepted into the faith of Christ: “Whoever is devoted to the frenzy that occurs at the spectacle, or to fishing, or to horse racing, or to fighting at games, he will either leave him alone or be rejected” (Regulations of the Holy Apostles. Book. 2, ch. 32). So, if the divine apostles excommunicate pagans who go to theaters from the faith of Christ, then all the more so do they do the same in relation to Christians who are hunters of games and shows. The Holy VI Ecumenical Council in the 51st canon, to which we have already referred earlier, excommunicates the laity, lovers of spectacles, mimes, dancing and hunting animals. At the end of the canon it says: “If anyone despises the present rule and indulges in any of these forbidden amusements, then let the cleric be expelled from the clergy, and let the layman be excommunicated from church communion.” The Divine Chrysostom in his “Word against Spectacles” prohibits Christians from even approaching theaters and orders the excommunication from the Church of those who go only to entertainment instead of church. He also calls for excommunicating violators of church prohibitions from the faith in his “Conversation about those who left the Church and went to horse races and spectacles.” The Divine Chrysostom himself went to games and spectacles and dispersed them Let me say that our great father Chrysostom with particular zeal weaned Christians away from games and shows. In his golden and wise words, he never tired of teaching and urging his flock not to go to theaters. The Holy Father convinced not only with his words, but also with his actions. An unknown contemporary remembers this. In Constantinople there was a place where Christians gathered on Sundays and holidays and played games that attracted crowds of onlookers. Father John more than once called on believers to stop this disgrace, but in vain. They didn't listen to him. One Sunday, Father John saw that there were few people in the church and most had gone to the games, his soul was inflamed with jealousy, and he took all the priests and clergy with him. With crosses in their hands, they left the church and went straight to the ill-fated place, where Chrysostom began to denounce the people in such a way for the loss of the fear of God and participation in outrage that the Christians, seeing him and hearing his wise and benevolent words, were very ashamed and dispersed and from that moment never gathered there again. But they began to go to church to repent and ask the holy father for forgiveness: “Having become especially cleansed by repentance, approach God’s churches and ask Him for forgiveness of sins.” It is also not appropriate for children of priests to organize or watch shows. That is why the holy apostles in their sacred canons prescribe the defrocking of priests and clerics who play dice and other similar games. In the 42nd rule it is written: “A bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, devoted to gambling and drunkenness, either cease, or be deposed.” The 43rd rule states: “A subdeacon, or a reader, or a singer who does such things, either cease, or be excommunicated.” The Holy VI Ecumenical Council in the 24th canon prohibits initiates and clergy from visiting theaters and hippodromes and from attending and observing games, and in the 51st canon it commands the defrocking of those clergy who play or watch mime performances or watch hunts. It is unforgivable not only for priests, but also for their children to participate in such matters. Therefore, the Holy Local Council in Carthage in the 17th canon forbids the children of priests to organize spectacles and watch them. And royal and civil laws punish even more severely initiates who participate in the games or only watch them. For in the nomocanon of Photius in the 27th chapter of the IX title it is said that the 34th decree of the 4th title of the 1st book of the Codex 78 is determined that a bishop or cleric who plays dice or other similar games, or communicates with those who play, or sits near and watches others play, is renounced from all sacred degree and is deprived of the feeding that he received from the bishop or clergy, until he repents within a certain period of time; If he continues in his evil and after the time given for repentance has expired, he will be completely expelled from the clergy along with his property and become a curial 79, that is, a secular official of the region where he was a cleric. Those clerics who watch animal fights and other spectacles are subject to the same thing. The 123rd novella of Justinian, according to Armenopoulus 80, prescribes the deposition of clerics who sin by playing dice or other pastimes, and the confinement of such in a monastery. Saint Theodore the Studite writes separately about monks in the Catechetical Teaching on Cheese Friday, that if a monk eats a lot and drinks a lot, or jumps and amuses himself with discus throwing or other games on Cheese Week, then by law such a monk is deprived of communion on Easter day. For the work of monks is not games, dancing or any other impiety, but to constantly glorify God with songs and the established order and order that our holy fathers handed down to us, and to succeed, moving from psalmody to psalmody, from reading to reading holy books, from prayer to prayer, like earthly angels. Therefore, the monastic image is called angelic because of the angelic life befitting monks. And just as the angels in heaven know no other work than praising God, so monks should make it their constant task to pray and glorify God. So, if Saint Theodore forbids monks to play games on Cheese Week, then even more so he does not allow them to play at other times. And if the saint determines that those who play on Maslenitsa should not receive communion on Easter, this applies even more so to those who play on other days. Pay attention, the saint says that there is a law not to give communion to playing monks on Easter, that is, he wants to say that it was not he himself who decided this, but that this is the law and the decision of the holy fathers. What punishments do players receive from God? What kind of punishments are these? Captivity, slavery, contempt and dishonor are allowed by God to the players, as well as the desolation of cities that will be as forgotten as the five cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. This is what God threatens to do to them through the prophet Jeremiah: “I will make you a small thing among the nations, despised among men. Your play has deceived you... And Idumea will be desolate; everyone passing by will be amazed and hiss how Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities have been overthrown” (Jer. 49:15-18). Games seem unimportant, but small things can lead to great sins Do you see, my brothers, what penances, canons and other punishments lovers of games and spectacles receive? Where are those who said: “What’s the sin if a person just plays?”, “And what’s wrong if people watch some show?” Realize this: if the games and spectacles were not bad, then their participants would not be excommunicated. It seems like a small sin to go and play or watch someone else play. But, as mentioned above, this small gives rise to great (evil). The root is small, but its stems are deadly. The spark is small, but the fire from it devours villages and entire populous cities. The Divine Chrysostom says: “Again, going to shows, and looking at horse lists, and playing dice - for many does not seem like a crime, but all this introduces a thousand evils into life. Being at the spectacles often gave rise to adultery, intemperance and all sorts of shamelessness, and looking at the horse lists led to disputes, abuse, blows, insults, and constant enmity" (Conversations about statues. 15). In a word, just as we avoid great mortal sins, so we must avoid those that seem small and insignificant (sins), but entail great mortal sins. As Chrysostom says, “let us avoid not only sins, but also that which, although it seems indifferent, little by little draws us towards these sins” (Ibid.). In another place the same holy father says: “Let us abstain from sins - both in words and in deeds, even if they seem small and insignificant. If we abstain from small sins, we will never fall into big ones” (Conversation 13 on the book of Genesis). The divine apostles and holy councils subject to penance and excommunicate those who are interested in games and shows, because they fall into great mortal sins from small ones. So, my brothers, so that you do not fall under penance and excommunication from the Church of Christ, from the Divine sacraments and other punishments, repent of the fact that you have wasted the precious time of your life on games and shows, and in the future beware of doing such things, since the hour is approaching when you will overflow the cup (of God’s patience) with your devilish and pagan amusements. “For,” says Chief Peter, “it is enough that in the past time of your life you walked according to the will of the pagans” (1 Pet. 4:3). And spend the little time that remains of your life fulfilling God’s all-holy will and His commandments, to which the Apostle Peter calls you, advising you to do so “so that the rest of your time in the flesh you will no longer live according to human lusts, but according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:2). Truly, the time of our lives is short and extremely limited in order for us to truly repent sincerely. Small and limited in order to have time to cleanse yourself of passions and sins. It is small and limited in order to do good deeds and acquire virtues. Simply put, the time of life is too short and limited to have time to please God and become worthy of His Kingdom. That is why the prophet Jeremiah says: “It is a difficult time for Jacob, but he will be saved from it” (Jer. 30:7). Brothers, if it happens that one of the players or other people says to you: “Let's go and play a little and watch a spectacle,” then do not listen to him, be he an initiate, a cleric, a leader, or even a ruler, and answer him: “We did not know until now what evil games and shows represent, but now we know what great disasters they lead to, how many other misfortunes they entail, and therefore leave us alone. We will not go with you, for then we will be excommunicated from the holy apostles, since we fall under the penances of the holy councils, we will anger God and force Him to send upon us punishment, captivity, dishonor and many other disasters. And we want to convince you, like our brothers, not to go to all sorts of games and shows, so as not to see what outrages and sins are happening there today. If you do this, my beloved Christians, you will get rid of sins, penances, divine canons and prevent others from doing evil and thereby encourage them to do good deeds. As Paul says, “let us be considerate of one another, encouraging one another to love and good works” (Heb. 10:24). I repeat, by doing this and helping each other by kind word and example, you will all begin to live a holy, honorable and godly life, as befits Christians. For this, undoubtedly, you will be rewarded with the Kingdom of Heaven, which may we all be worthy of through the grace of the sweetest Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to whom be glory and power with the Father and the Spirit forever and ever. Amen. “The Salvation of Sinners” (Greek – Аμαϱτωλων Σωτηϱια) is a book by the Athonite monk Agapius (Athanasius Landos), first published in Venice in 1641. The title of the first Russian edition, prepared around 1705. “A wonderful book, called Amartolon sotiria, that is, the salvation of sinners, was written in simple Greek by Agapius the Cretan, who wandered in the holy Mount Athos, with much diligence.” – Note. ed. Dagon is a Western Semitic deity who became the patron god of the Philistines at the beginning of the first millennium. Excerpt 1 Samuel 5:2–7 tells us that when the Philistines captured the ark of God from the Israelites, they placed it in front of the statue of Dagon in his sanctuary in the city of Ashdod. When they arrived at the sanctuary the next day, they saw the statue of Dagon lying prostrate in front of the ark. The next day, the statue, returned to its original place, turned out to be completely broken. – Note. ed. Therefore, the ancient sages had the custom of depicting time like a young man, with hair in front of his face, and bald and naked behind him, in order to show with this riddle that only then will you be able to grasp and hold time in your hands when you walk in front of him; when you miss it and it turns back, you will no longer be able to grab and hold it. – Note. at. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain. This refers to the Code of Emperor Justinian (529). – Note. lane During the late Roman Empire, the position of curial, that is, a member of the city government, finally lost its former prestige and turned into a burdensome duty that the state imposed on the shoulders of citizens as a punishment: the curial performed all his official duties at the expense of his own property. Among those who could not be involved in service in the city curiae were clerics, so those who were defrocked naturally became curials for life. – Note. lane This refers to the “Six Books of Armenopoul” - a private codification of Byzantine law, created by the chief judge of Thessalonica K. Armenopoul around 1345 - Note. lane You might be interested in: