Монашество и брак

Perhaps this anxiety prompted him to publish the work “The Unity of the Ideal of Christ” in 1915, in which he refutes the theory that arose in the West about the division of the teachings of Christ into generally binding commandments and private advice. Having fulfilled the latter, the Christian supposedly gains “extraordinary merit.” The Church looks at the commandments of Christ, including the commandment of perfection, as common to all Christians, to all members of the one Church, who have the same goals. Everyone is called to deification, but everyone is also called to asceticism. This applies to both monks and laity. The only difference between monks and laity is celibacy, but this difference is more everyday than moral. Monks have the opportunity to devote more time and attention to their spiritual life, and therefore their successes are more obvious. Monasticism is not a magical ritual that guarantees salvation. “Celibacy is only one of the paths of life along with the marriage path,” since, according to the word of the Apostle, everyone has his own gift from God, one this way, the other another (1 Cor. 7:7). “Both of these paths in themselves do not make a person a saint or a sinner. To humiliate one path over another in a moral sense is extremely unwise. Everyone chooses the path that he considers more convenient for himself” 230. Staying and participating in the life of the Church is a necessary condition for salvation and transformation, and the forms in which they take place are a secondary, private question, depending on various circumstances. Hilarion (Troitsky), schmch. The unity of the ideal of Christ // He. Without the Church there is no salvation. P.242.