О СВЯТЫХ СВЯЩЕННОДЕЙСТВИЯХ И ТАИНСТВАХ ЦЕРКОВНЫХ

– Having already received instruction from you about the true faith, we ask you to explain to us the meaning of the Church Sacraments: how many there are and what they are, as well as what is the power of each of them and what we receive through them. - Brother! What you ask is beyond my strength. Know that only compelled by love for you, I went beyond the limits of self-absorption and humility in order to speak for your benefit. I consoled myself only by the fact that everything I spoke about was extracted from the divine scriptures. It’s the same now: since you want to know about the Sacraments of the Church, I will tell you about them to the best of my ability out of love. But you, if you manage to derive any benefit from my words, do not stop, but look for people who have a higher and purer mind, and ask them questions. This way you can truly get what you want. “We thank you, father, because you have given us so many lessons in humility.” May the Lord grant us, through your holy prayers, “not to think... more than we ought to think, but to think modestly” (Rom. 12:3). Instruct us, we ask you, about the Sacraments. 1. About the fact that there are seven Church Sacraments “At your urgent request, I will speak about them in the name of Christ.” There are, as Isaiah says (Isaiah 11:2), seven gifts of the Spirit and seven Sacraments of the Church, performed by the Spirit. These are: baptism, confirmation, communion, priesthood (χειροτονία), marriage, repentance and consecration of oil (ελαιον αγιον). I will briefly talk about each of them, although, in earlier interpreting the Divine Liturgy, we have already touched on them. Baptism regenerates us with the Holy Spirit. It revives because we once destroyed our first birth, passionless, and now we are conceived in iniquities, and as the psalmist David said, our mother gives birth to each of us in sins (Ps. 50:7). Confirmation puts the first seal and restores the image of God, damaged in us through disobedience. In the same way, it revives in us the grace that God breathed into the human soul. Confirmation contains the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the treasury of His fragrance, the sign and seal of Christ. 4. About Divine Communion Communion connects us with the Master Himself, and in this Sacrament we actually become partakers of His very Body and Blood. We became mortal through food, and fell from paradise, and separated ourselves from God, and now through communion we again accept eternal life. Thus freeing ourselves from corruption, we unite with the immortal God, who for our sake became mortal in the incarnation. Ordination imparts to a person the authority and power of the Creator. Without Him nothing that exists could exist. He Himself came to earth to lead us to a blessed life. And it was this power of His, ascending from us, that He bestowed on us through the priesthood He established. Thanks to this, sacred rites are now performed among us, for without priests they are impossible. Thus, having once placed us over all creatures, He now makes us, through the priesthood, stewards of the highest goods. The psalmist says about this: “I have made princes over all the earth” (Ps. 44:17). For the Lord has given us the keys to Heaven. Marriage was established by God out of His condescension towards us for the sake of having children. This gift is irrevocable until the end of our corruptible world. For God did not want us to be conceived as dumb and in the impurity of lust. And since we voluntarily fell into death, He allowed the succession of the race to take place among us in the same way as among animals, so that we would know the depth of our fall. And so it will be until the incorruptible and resurrected God, who died for us and makes us immortal, resurrects and makes immortal our nature. For this purpose, He Himself blesses marriage, so that the beginning of our life does not remain without blessing. By repentance we correct more and more of our sins. The gift of repentance was given to us because after baptism there is no other way to call us to salvation, except for exploits and labors, except for turning to Christ and tears, except for confessing sins and moving away from evil. The order of monks especially approaches this gift, as a constant guarantee of repentance. Holy oil, as a sacred rite and an image of Divine mercy, was given by God for cleansing and sanctification for those who want to get rid of sins. Therefore, holy oil grants remission of sins, heals illnesses, and is present in sanctification. All this was given to us by Jesus Christ and passed on to us, according to His will, by His divine disciples. Since our nature is dual: we consist of soul and body, the sacred rites that He bestowed on us have two sides. And He Himself became twofold for us, remaining true God and becoming true man. In the same way, He sanctifies our souls with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and with sensual water, and oil, and bread, and the cup, and everything else that is sanctified by the Spirit, He sanctifies our bodies and grants us complete salvation. 9. About the resurrection and rising of bodies In order to make us perfect, such as God created, He will resurrect the dead and raise up those bodies with which we lived and acted, so that we would receive reward for our deeds. And when He raises us up perfect (for He created nothing in vain), then He will not leave our bodies in corruption. Because He created everything for existence and does not want anything to perish. He is God perfect, and the only one who truly exists, and for our sake he became a man like us. For this, He took on a body with a verbal and rational soul, in order to cleanse our verbal souls and fill them with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and to sanctify our bodies and make them incorruptible. This is why He gave us the Sacraments, which have two special properties. On the one hand, these Sacraments are performed in a visible way, but are created by the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, they are intended to impart Divine grace to souls and bodies. He conveyed all this to us not only in word, but also in deed itself. God the Word, having become incarnate through His love for mankind, revealed in Himself the effect of the Sacraments, and became for us the beginning of blessings, so that we, having become our own to Him, would borrow these spiritual blessings from Him as from a source. It was for this reason that He became man, so that we might unite with Him and be sanctified through Him. For He is the same Word of God who created us in the beginning and then recreated us again by the good pleasure of God the Father and the assistance of the Holy Spirit. God the Trinity, who created everything, provides for everything, and especially for us, the fallen. For He has honored us with the greatest honor of all visible creatures, having created man in the image of God. And so the Word - the living image, and the seal, and the radiance of God - takes into its own Hypostasis our verbal nature, created in His image. And it renews precisely in us, and not in any other creature, since this is impossible. “But really, Vladyka, couldn’t, say, an Angel do this for us?” - No way. For every creature is limited, and not omnipresent, and by its nature does not have the power to provide salvation. As for grace, the Angel, even if he gave grace, serving as its instrument, could not act on everyone, being limited. Likewise, he could not recreate those who had fallen before. And how could he give life if he himself was not life by nature? Or how would he himself remain unchangeable, not being such by nature? Let us remember that some of the angels fell, but they were not united with flesh. Only the ever-present Word Himself, unchangeable in His nature, eternally living with the living Father and with the life-giving Spirit, had to unite with us mortals in order to stop our corruption and so that true eternal life would drive away death from us and implant immortality in us. Being omnipresent and eternal, God is able to save those who died before His coming, and those who believed in Him during His earthly life, as well as those who believed after this, those who believe now, and those who believe until the end of the age - God is able to save all through His Sacraments and His servants who have His grace. And He, He alone, always acts and reveals His power through many. This is why He infused His grace into us, so that it would act through us. And there are many of us who have been awarded the priesthood, and we are scattered in different places, but He is one - in heaven, and on earth, and at sea, and in every place, being everywhere co-present with everyone and accomplishing everything through everyone, which is not characteristic of anything created. Therefore, it is not we who act when performing the Sacraments: we only perform sacred rites or serve, but He Himself acts through us. And although countless clergy make sacrifices daily and simultaneously, the Body and Blood are one and there is one Sacrifice, and not many. “For the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12), and it is everywhere and over everything. “Your words are marvelous, sir, and they brought the greatest joy to my soul: I understood much more clearly the mystery of the incarnation of God the Word. 10. Why did the Word of God unite not with the highest angelic nature, but with the human? “These are not my words, beloved, but those of our fathers, and you will find this in many places when you study their writings.” Also delve into the following, which gives the highest and at the same time true knowledge of the Divine mystery. Why did the Word of God, desiring to unite with its creatures, unite not with the Angels, most perfect in their nature, who have something close and related to Him in immateriality, but with us, who are corruptible and fleshly by nature? For the highest and divine reason. If the Word were united with the angelic nature, then only this nature would enter into communion with Him. It would not accept salvation, since it is already saved, but would only exalt itself and be elevated to the highest perfection, worthy of communion with God. Any other creature would not have received any benefit from this, but continued to remain in corruption, and especially fallen man, for whose sake all visible creation came into being and through whose fault it became corruptible. So, understand the wisdom of God and the truly ancient plan, according to which (I think) He created from the non-existent the world, and the Angels, and, finally, man. He is good, and therefore He brought creation into being, so that His creation might become a participant in His goodness. He Himself, all-satisfied, and all-perfect, and eternal, had, of course, no need for anything that exists, for He Himself is the height of bliss. And so, since some of His creatures are only spiritual, others are only sensual, and these two properties are united only in man, God the Word chooses man and truly unites with him, receiving by the Holy Spirit into His Hypostasis all human nature, except one sinfulness, from the Holy Virgin. Having accepted the body together with a rational and free soul, He unites through the rational soul with the rational nature of the Angels, and through His Divine flesh with the sensible creature. Thus, sanctification and grace pass not only to man, who has a spiritual nature in the soul and a sensual nature in the body, but also to all creation, which is fair. And the rational nature of Angels and souls unites with God, and, as it were, touches Him (Acts 17:27), and enters into communication with Him, and is abundantly illuminated, receiving the related Divine light from the holy soul of the Word, spiritual and rational. For by nature the angels are now capable of looking at the holy soul of the Savior. They directly receive illumination from the Invisible and are even more filled with wisdom from the Divine Mind of ever-present Wisdom. Now they, as it were, approach Him in a kindred manner and remain with Him, and are filled with amazement, and become more and more humble, having been awarded such great gifts. The same is true for the sanctified souls of saints. And the sensual creation, together with our bodies - through that holy and deified, or, better to say, made divine flesh, which was lifted up on the Cross for us, and resurrected, and became incorruptible - received and preserves the beginnings of immortality. And all that creation, according to the word of Paul, longs for incorruption (Rom. 8:19–21). This is what will happen when the incorruptible and living Word, with His flesh, which has become incorruptible, appears among us at His Second and terrible Coming. Then ten thousand Angels will appear, reverently looking at His splendor, and trembling, and at the same time rejoicing at the glory that they receive from Him. And then the elements will change, “the righteous will shine like the sun” (Matt. 13:43), receiving illumination from the Sun of righteousness united with them, “and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17). Have you, man, understood the mystery of the Savior’s incarnation, as far as we could express it to you? - I understood and was amazed. Glory to God, who has accomplished all this! 11. That Christ Himself received the Sacraments – Now is the time to say how Christ performed the Sacraments in relation to Himself. First, Baptism is the first of His spiritual gifts. He Himself was the first to be baptized in the Jordan by John - not as having a need for this (for what need could He, the only blameless one, have for this?), but for our sake, so that we would be cleansed and washed away from the filth of the unclean conception and ancestral sin, and so that, having been created at first from dust, that is, from earth and water, we in the water, plunging into it with our corruptible body, would be reborn with our soul and become new and a sinless person. Secondly, the Savior received anointing, or divine oil and ointment, at Baptism itself, when the Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove. This is what Isaiah speaks about (as if on behalf of Christ): “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me” (Isaiah 61:1). Peter also says about this: “For God created both the Lord and His Christ” (Acts 2:36), created according to the flesh precisely when the Spirit descended. And in another place the holy apostles say: “Holy is Thy Son Jesus, anointed by Thee” (Acts 4:27). Paul also argues: “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). So, this anointing is the entire grace of the Holy Spirit, which, as we have already mentioned, He received in Baptism according to humanity, as it was also revealed to John. As God the Word, He always had the Holy Spirit inseparable from Himself, but He received Him by grace when He became man. And although the consubstantial and indivisible Spirit was always with Him, although with the Holy Spirit He created Divine flesh for Himself, yet in Baptism He showed us for our sake how the Spirit descends on Him. In the same way, the Pure One accepted Baptism for our sake, so that when we approach baptism, we would receive the Holy Spirit. That is why we are anointed, having a need in that spiritual world 1, and precisely at baptism. After all, one who has not yet received the anointing with myrrh will not fully participate in the grace of baptism, in which a person is reborn and washed by the Spirit from sins, but still has neither the guarantees of grace, nor the fragrance of life, nor the seal of the Spirit. Therefore, as much as it is necessary to be baptized, it is equally necessary to be anointed with myrrh. Peter and John laid hands on those baptized by the Apostle Philip so that they would receive the Holy Spirit, who is Myrrh. For then, under the apostles, and then among many others, this Myrrh was given through the laying on of hands. And then there was the laying on of hands, and now instead of hands there is consecrated great chrism, consecrated not by presbyters, but by patriarchs and bishops, that is, through the sacred prayers of persons invested with the power of Peter and John. This, being sent to all ends of the earth, has the same effect as the previous laying on of hands. It is necessary for every believer to be sealed with them at baptism in order to receive perfect baptism. So, if the Savior received the Spirit during Baptism, and those baptized by Philip received the Spirit through the laying on of the hands of Peter and John, so as not to remain imperfect and unsealed, then those now baptized must be anointed with the great world at baptism, so as not to remain (like the infants of the Latins and others) imperfect and unsealed, not receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit and sealing with the seal of Christ. For the ointment is the seal of Christ in the Spirit, which is what the priest expresses when anointing with the ointment, saying: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, amen. Anyone who has not accepted the ointment has not yet participated in grace and has not been sealed with the seal of Christ. And myrrh is not simple oil, but consecrated on the altar by the prayers of the bishops of Christ, endowed with the power of the apostles, or, better to say, Christ Himself. The myrrh that flows from the relics of saints, such as, for example, from the body of the saint of God Demetrius the Myrrh-Streaming or any other saint (such as, say, the Great Martyr Mamant from the island of Cyprus, to whom eyewitnesses testify), or the myrrh flowing from holy icons, such as, for example, from the Sittina (Σιττήν) icon, is not a mysterious world. The oil from lamps hanging in front of holy icons or relics is not a similar world. For although everything listed above should be an object of veneration, and has Divine grace and can heal, it does not have the power of the most divine peace, which is bestowed on the latter through bishop’s prayers. And it is not simply celebrated, but is placed on the altar (throne) during the ceremony on Holy and Great Thursday, at the end of which sacred prayers are performed. And it is sacredly accomplished by the Divine seal of the cross, like the Divine Mysteries. And just as the bread and cup cannot be the Body and Blood of Christ if they are not consecrated by the prayers of the priest, so the myrrh, not consecrated by the prayers of the divine bishops, is not the Great Myrrh. It is thanks to baptism and peace that we are called Christians and are such in fact, and especially thanks to peace, which is also called anointing (chrisma, χρισμα), since Christ is called Christ (Anointed), because according to the flesh he was anointed (χρισθηναι) by the Holy Spirit. Both Peter, as already mentioned, and David talk about this. “For this reason,” says the psalmist, “I anointed You, O God, Your God with the oil of joy, more than Your partakers” (Ps. 44:8). Which means: He filled You with all gifts (for You accepted the fulfillment of the Divinity), and Your partakers receive gifts from You as from the source. Thus, the Savior received myrrh in Baptism, when the Spirit descended on Him, and before His suffering He was anointed with myrrh, saying that this was being done for His burial (Matthew 26:12), and showed that He was dying for us. He was the living God and had the life-giving actions of the Spirit inseparable from Himself. 12. About the fact that the Savior Himself performed the Liturgy As for the sacred rite of His all-holy Body and Blood, it is obvious that He Himself performed it and commanded us to perform it too. “Do this,” he says, “in remembrance of Me” (Luke 22:19). “He Himself is a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Heb. 7:21), (bringing bread and wine), never ceasing to be a priest, or, better said, an eternal priest. Because He voluntarily offered Himself as a sacrifice on the Cross. And now He will slay. He offered Himself as a sacrifice to the Father - and now He offers and offers Him as an eternal slaughter for the eternal propitiation of the Father for us. It is Him that we have “a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, and let us hold fast His confession” (Heb. 4:14). exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26), but humbled Himself for the sake of us sinners. 13. About the fact that the Savior, according to humanity, accepted the rank of priest and bishop The fact that the Savior took upon Himself the rank of our priest and bishop, He Himself revealed to us. This was manifested in the fact that He, being the Word of God, became incarnate for our sake, and we received a testimony about Him from the Father (Matthew 17:8), and He was ordained by the Spirit, as Isaiah predicted: “And a branch shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his root; and the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him” (Isa. 11:1, 2). See how He accepted this wonderful and glorious ordination. How, being God by nature and being omnipotent, and omnipotent, and holy (for He is God's living Word, holy and omnipotent), He, for our sake, nevertheless accepts ordination from the Father according to humanity. Firstly, in Baptism itself. For then, being at the same time baptized and touched by human hands, He was, as it were, ordained: John laid his hand on Him, and He received the Spirit. It would be more correct to say: He accepted ordination from the Father, when instead of a hand the Spirit descended, and the Father Himself said: “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Secondly, He accepted the most glorious ordination on the Mount of Transfiguration, when He Himself shone with the light of Divine Glory as the Sun of Truth. He was among that bright cloud, which signified the Spirit who was always with Him. From this cloud the Father testified about Him and at the same time revealed that all His Father’s favor rested on Him. He pointed to the Son, the Teacher of the apostles, as His living Wisdom. For He says: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17:5). And he added: “Listen to Him,” which refers to teaching. Christ Himself conveyed this meaning of Divine teaching to His disciples, saying: “He who listens to you listens to Me” (Luke 10:16). Do you see now how He received His ordination from the Father in the Holy Spirit? 14. That Christ blessed an honest marriage and in relation to Himself, through the mediation of the Church, carried it out in the Holy Spirit Notice how He, as the Creator, instituted and blessed marriage. You know that He came to the wedding in Cana. Yes, and He was born from a betrothed woman to her husband in order to sanctify our birth. 15. That Christ preferred virginity to marriage Christ preferred virginity to marriage, for His Father is also a Virgin, giving birth to Him dispassionately and incorporeally. His Mother, who gave birth to Him, the incarnate God, was a Virgin in the flesh, and remained Her, and remains, having given birth to Him without decay, just as she conceived without seed. However, do not forget His wonderful, truly virgin, and Divine marriage. Like a wonderful Bridegroom, He desired our souls and loved us, as He Himself said. And out of love for us He laid down His soul, and gave Himself to us free of charge, and in His Most Pure Blood betrothed us to Himself - us, His pure Church. This is exactly what Paul, the good betrothor, expresses: “he betrothed you to one husband, that he might present you to Christ as a pure virgin” (2 Cor. 11:2). And the marriage of the glorious and beautiful Son of the King is narrated in the Gospels (Matthew 22:1-14) by the Bridegroom Himself, red with kindness more than all the sons of men, as pure and blameless. So He accomplished in Himself and by Himself that which relates to the Sacrament of Marriage. 16. About the fact that virginity is marriage with Christ That is why, if anyone can and desires to become engaged to Him and, for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, has castrated himself with the desire to contain this word within himself, he is received by the Pure and All-Holy One with glory and united with him, and as the pure One is revealed to him and wholly dwells in him. This is how He blesses the union we enter into with Him. But He does not turn His face away from childbearing. For “through childbearing” (1 Tim. 2:15), says the divine Paul, some can be saved. And Christ Himself was a youth, and from children, although dispassionately, he accepted praise, and blessed the children, and hugged them. Fornication and adultery, even down to just an unclean look or movement of the heart, He condemned. He once burned the Sodomites too. And he also predicts punishment, saying that “it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment” (Mark 6:11; Matt. 11:24) than for those who did not accept the sermon, although eternal punishment awaits them along with all the wicked. Further, having thus established marriage and given instructions about it, Christ Himself did something that relates to repentance and confession. “From what you, holy lord, have said so far, we have received much benefit, since we have heard about what is necessary and, especially, about how the only Almighty by nature and the only truly Holy One accepted ordination. On the other hand, we learned how the Undefiled and Pure One accepted the betrothal and entered into an all-holy union, holyly uniting with His saints in Divine and never cooling love. But we are perplexed, how did the Sinless One bring Himself closer to repentance? 17. That the Savior Himself revealed the secret of repentance - Well, you said it. Know that He approached repentance not for His own sake, but for our sake, for “he took upon Himself our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:17). He did not perform repentance, but he taught repentance. This is what He spoke about first of all, knowing our inclination to sin: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). For how could the only Immaculate among people, or, better said, the only Holy and Pure one, begin to repent? But He taught the doctrine of repentance for our sake. He said: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13), therefore he did not refuse to eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners, for which the Jews condemned him. And He received the prodigals graciously, for they also touched His feet, falling down in prayer, and poured myrrh on His head, and washed His feet with tears and wiped them with their hair. And he did not reject the Canaanite pagan wife. And he did not condemn the one caught in adultery, but only told her not to sin again. He never once alienated the self-interested people and predators who retaliated for previously inflicted insults. He accepted it willingly and repeatedly. And he accepted the covetous man and the tax collector who had abandoned his trade. Christ accepted the murderer and the robber after just one word on the cross. He forgave His first disciple, who rejected Him three times, after he mourned his sin and confessed his love to Him three times. He received Paul, the former blasphemer and persecutor, who turned to Divine jealousy. With all this, as well as with the parables He spoke: the parable of the prodigal son and others, Christ established and actually revealed the mystery of repentance. 18. That Christ also performed works of repentance for our sake And He Himself, having no need for it, performed works of repentance in order to show us the path of repentance and humility. For He fasted and prayed and lived in poverty, humility and self-control, eating barley bread and small fish. He often appears as having no bread, although He multiplies the few loaves of bread for those around Him with His blessing. We see Him on foot, and wandering, and not having, as He Himself said, where to lay His head. We see how He endures reproaches and insults, and the threat of stoning, but does not repay evil, but, on the contrary, does good. He is betrayed by a friend, and He suffers from his own slaves, for whom he carried out the feat: he endures slander, and spitting, and strangulation, and beatings on his naked body, and condemnation, and death on the Cross, like a criminal, along with the robbers. He, the Creator of all things, “having become a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13), in order to destroy the first curse that lay upon us and bestow blessing, dies in order to bestow gifts of repentance on both the living and those in hell, for He also saves the believers who were there. Having risen, He brings resurrection and renewal to the entire universe - through repentance, with the help of which the unfaithful and wicked, turning to the faith of Christ, to chastity and virginity, revealed themselves to be equal to the angels. And to this day Christ carries out the work of salvation, attracting the unfaithful to the faith, granting them through baptism the remission of sins, even if they have committed countless of them. Likewise, He again leads the faithful who, having sinned, turn to Him to salvation: through confession, tears, contrition, alms and other feasible good deeds. 19. That for the sake of the mystery of repentance the grace to decide and knit has been granted to bishops, and it is from Christ For the sake of our repentance, He gave us, people, the power to knit and decide, Himself first communicating this gift to the apostles with a breath. For it is written: “He breathed and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.” Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (John 20:22–23). All this is so that those who come to confession in humility of soul, having already evaded sin through sincere repentance, openly receive permission. This power of the Holy Spirit, manifesting itself and acting through the clergy, after death, in an image open to all, shows some as resolved, while others are kept in bonds. 20. About the fact that the monastic image is also encompassed by the mystery of repentance, and why the monastic order is called the angelic image and garment of repentance, and what is its power The mystery of repentance also embraces monastic life: the image of a monk is also called angelic, likening the life of a monk to the life of an angel, for it consists of a vow of chastity, non-covetousness, chanting, prayers, obedience and purity. It is also called the garment of repentance, as a life of sorrow, humility and self-abasement, not tolerating excesses and alien to any human addiction. Like a life that is not only not carried away by any worldly thoughts, words and deeds, but also renounces and runs away from worldly concerns. For it is an example of heavenly life and professes the perishability of the visible and the temporary nature of everything that occurs among people. A monk takes care to think about heavenly things - and this is true wisdom. And he constantly remembers death and the end of this place. That is why the monk’s clothes are dark, because he remembers death and the need for eternal mourning, and lives an unearthly life, and longs for another - incorruptible, which he strives for with all his might. Therefore, the one who is a true monk, according to Paul, here too loves Christ so that nothing can separate him from love (Rom. 8:35) for Christ, and desires to “be separated and be with Christ” (Phil. 1:23). The monk proves this by deeds, retiring for Christ’s sake into deserts, mountains, and secluded abodes, and trying to be one with Christ, so that Christ may dwell in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, with his whole life, the monk imitates Christ, and humbles himself, and is in poverty, and carries out feats of obedience, and does not think about anything here, and crucifies himself in the feats of ascetic life. Therefore, he takes vows of virginity, non-covetousness, feats of fasting and prayer, standing in prayer before the Lord, remaining in all these deeds until death and patience in everything for Christ’s sake. All of these are works of repentance, and everyone must strive in them, except perhaps only for virginity, which is characteristic of monks. For, predominantly, it is the monks who are bound by the vow of virginity. But laypeople who have not yet been married, and everyone who has taken a vow of virginity, are also obliged to keep it. The same is with repentance: every believer, especially those who have fallen into sins (and who is stranger to some kind of fall?), must follow the Lord and do works of repentance. This was also taught by the Baptist, who, after Elijah, was the first to show this way of life. He said: “Create fruit worthy of repentance, repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2, 8), and he called on everyone to live like this. 21. That the Savior Himself showed us this holy image Our Savior and God gave us the great gift of repentance. He preached it through the prophets, and through John the Baptist, and Himself, and through His disciples. Finally, through His life and through the example of His apostles, He showed us this holy image and commanded it to us, saying: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). But these words are addressed to all believers not only in the sense that all the faithful must stand for Christ to the end, even to the death of the cross, “Who bore witness before Pontius Pilate with a good confession” (1 Tim. 6:13) about the Father, and Himself, and the Holy Spirit. These words are also a commandment about those who must show in practice the testimony of conscience, consisting in life according to Christ, mainly in the monastic way of life. To be sure that this is so, listen to what He says to Peter. When the apostle said: “we have left everything and followed You” (Luke 18:28), the Savior promises: “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the coming of life, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28) - this speaks of grace the hierarchy that He bestowed on the disciples. Then the Savior adds: “And everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29). These words obviously point to monastic life. Of course, all these words of Christ remain true for the martyrs, because many of them, leaving everything, died for His sake, but in fact they are revealed in the monastic life that both the Savior Himself and His disciples led. Christ lived in virginity and poverty; “Although he was rich, he became poor for our sakes, so that through His poverty we might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). He labored in prayer on the mountain and was obedient to the Father even to the point of death on the cross, doing not His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him, which he fulfilled even before suffering. He said: “Nevertheless, not my will,” that is, the will of the flesh, “but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). That is: may there be one Divine will of the Father and Him. And in another place, calling for monastic life, Christ says: “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37); “Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). And He said to one young man: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me” (Matthew 19:21) - which does not refer to martyrdom, but to monastic life. And what does the Lawmaker say, who commanded: “Honor your father and your mother” (Deut. 5:16) to the one who asked to be allowed to bury his father first? Raising us to the highest perfection, to a God-like monastic life, He exhorts us to leave even our parents for this purpose, even in the most important circumstances of life. Why? Because God, who created us, must be preferred to everything else. And if we decide to live only for Him and in Him, then we should no longer be tormented by worry about our neighbors in the flesh. Being the Provider for us and for our relatives, He - if we follow Him purely and sincerely - will make us equal to the Angels, who have no attachments, but only one love filled with selflessness. For those whom we left for His sake, He Himself will provide, benefiting them through others. 22. What does Christ’s words “let the dead bury their dead” mean? That is why He restrained him, saying: “Let the dead bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60). The Lord raised him to the imperishable age and placed him next to the immortal Angels according to the strength of his fiery zeal. You are not dead, he says, and therefore do not worry about the dead remains of your parents. 23. What do the words of Christ mean: “No one has laid his hand to the plough...” And what does He say to a certain person who wanted to make orders about those who remained in his house - about his wife and others? “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). These words mean this: You began cultivation that is not human, but you transferred your work to Heaven, so you will not be successful if you turn to the temporary. Know that you are exchanging the Kingdom of Heaven for your house and those who dwell in the house. So, we find that the Lord lived in the monastic image and taught it to others. And the apostles had the same life, which is why the Lord convinced them not to have two clothes, a staff, shoes, etc., as befits monks. And not just with words and prayers he strengthened them in this matter (as well as in relation to the feat of preaching), but also sent them with a blessing and “gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and heal every disease and every infirmity” (Matthew 10:1). These gifts were not only among the apostles, and not only in those days, but also subsequently among the saints, and especially among the holy ascetics. And the existence of monastic rites and sacred rites from the beginning and under the apostles is testified by the great Dionysius, who describes, along with other sacred actions, monastic initiation. Thus, those who say that monastic life arose in later times and was not established by the Savior or His Apostles are mistaken. For it has already been shown that it was Christ God Himself who taught this to us, as well as His disciples. According to legend, the very ritual of monastic initiation and the special clothes that distinguish monks from laymen originate from them. The divine Dionysius also mentions this. And what we find in the writings of the holy fathers is that subsequently the monastic robe was given by an Angel to Saint Pachomius, this is true and fair, for he received from the Angel some special accessories of monastic clothing, which were supposed to serve as symbols of higher things. When piety began to gradually spread and prosper, and church orders became more numerous, when the rites of liturgy and baptism, rites and psalmody received a most magnificent appearance through the efforts of holy men, whom the Holy Spirit raised up at different times, then the Angel showed Saint Pachomius that which could improve and make the monastic order more decent. These are: a vestment more comfortable than the chiton, then a belt and a leash, then a kukul and pallium, sandals and a mantle - objects that serve as symbols of the most sacred things. There are seven accessories in total for the monastic robe, just like the robes of the bishop, and by their number they testify to the most perfect life, according to the number of gifts of the Holy Spirit. However, we will talk about this in more detail when we offer instructions on each of the existing Sacraments. 24. That the Sacrament of holy oil, or prayer oil, was established by the Savior Now it is necessary to say about the seventh of the Sacraments - about holy oil - how our Savior established it and Himself accepted It not for His own sake, but for our sake, just as He accepted the other Sacraments. Let's also talk about the power it has. So, He established this Sacrament when He sent His disciples two by two before His face. And they, as the story goes, “went and preached repentance; They cast out many demons and anointed and healed many sick people” (Mark 6:12–13). Do you see that this oil, like the Mystery of repentance, was instituted by the Lord? Thus, consecrated oil is given to the repentant, and heals the sick, and heals not only the body, but also the soul. James, the brother of God, testifies to this, saying: “If any of you is sick, let him call the elders of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will heal the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him” (James 5:14–15). Here another opinion of the new-wise Latins is refuted. They say that holy oil should not be given to those who still have hope of life, but only to the dying, because it supposedly gives remission of sins. And here they speculate, as in everything - contrary to the words of the apostles. For, despite the fact that the brother of the Lord cries: “And the Lord will raise him up,” they say that this Sacrament should be taught only to those who cannot rise from illness. Moreover, they limit the remission of sins to the action of oil alone, although it is also granted through constant confession, combined with the blessing of oil, whenever it is performed, and with the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ and our God, if only a Christian started to do it after repentance. And the fact that the Savior Himself was anointed with oil for our sake can be seen in the Gospel story about how a certain harlot anointed Him with ointment (Luke 7:36–38). She washed with tears and anointed His feet, and wiped them with her hair - and this ointment was truly the oil of repentance, brought by a sinner, who anointed herself in this way, for she anointed her hair and received remission of many sins, as the Gospel clearly testifies to this. This is not Lazarus’ sister Mary, who was anointed before the time of suffering, who was both pure and whose peace was prepared for burial by the Lord, as He Himself said (John 12:1–8). This was not the same wife who was in the house of Simon the leper, who was not the same person as Mary (Matthew 26:6-13), for this also happened before the time of suffering, and the Lord said about this anointing that it prepared Him for burial. The Lord first told the owner of the house, Simon, a parable about two debtors, one of whom owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty, and that their debt was forgiven. And he asked the question: which of the two will love the master who has forgiven them more? When Simon answered: “I think the one to whom he forgave more. The Lord said, you judged correctly. And turning to the woman, he said to Simon: Do you see this woman? I came to your house, and you did not give me water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head; You did not give Me a kiss, but she, since I came, has not stopped kissing My feet; You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you: her many sins are forgiven, because she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:43–47). Do you see that this refers to the holy oil? Having sinned, we come to divine men and, bringing repentance, make a confession of sins. At the command of these fathers, we bring holy oil to God, in the image of His mercy and compassion, in which the divine and quiet light of grace shines, for we also bring light. When prayer is offered and the oil is consecrated, then those who are anointed with oil receive remission of sins, like the harlot who anointed the Savior’s feet and received the anointing from them for herself. 25. Why is oil used in both the holy and great world and in anointing? Because both here and here oil is an image of God’s mercy. In anointing, it signifies our salvation and deliverance from death, as well as the seal of the Life-giving and Good Spirit, by whom we were removed from the flood of sin. That is why, during the flood that occurred under Noah, the dove, as an image of the Spirit, announced salvation, bringing an olive branch in its beak. And at the hour of washing from sin with the waters of the Jordan, at the Baptism of the Lord, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove, testifying to Divine mercy and grace. And here this offered oil is consecrated, as we said, in the image of Divine mercy and compassion towards us, and through it we are awarded the mercy of God. Is what has been said enough to explain the sacred Sacraments of the Church or do you need even more? – Enough, sir, there is no need for other explanations. We only ask you to expound each of the Sacraments separately, and interpret the sacred rites for us, and show us what power lies in each of the sacred rites performed. – This is beyond my strength, as I already said. This is a matter of higher power and higher wisdom. For if Dionysius and Maximus decided to touch these sacred objects with such fear and reverence that it is difficult to depict, then how can I begin to explain this? But since trust in God can do everything, for He gives the believers help according to their faith and admonishes them for the sake of love, because He is love, inasmuch as we, deciding on a word for the sake of your love, believe that we will accept the word at the opening of our lips. And so, out of obedience, in the love of Christ, we will try to fulfill your request and about each of the sacred rites we will say what we ourselves have learned from the Holy Scriptures and what our holy fathers taught us. Let us present it as we were able to understand. First of all, we will talk about divine baptism, because it is the beginning of our Sacraments. However, since baptism is preceded by our carnal birth, we must first talk about the prayer performed at the same time. Since after birth according to the flesh we are raised to regeneration by the Spirit, the Church of Christ, undefiled and purified in Christ among the godly, immediately cleanses our sinful and carnal birth. 26. Why does the priest pray immediately after the birth of a baby? When a baby is born from a pious wife, the priest comes and praises God, thanking Him for “that a man was born into the world” (John 16:21). Then, as a sign, he blesses the newborn and prays to God that the baby will be alive and worthy of baptism and anointing. Asking the Lord for the mother of everything that is necessary for salvation, he also teaches the women who are with her grace and sanctification and permission to begin their usual affairs, despite the fact that they are involved in uncleanness, without which there is no birth, and despite the envious embarrassment from the evil one that can attack them for the sake of the fact that they served the birth, which took place in sin and voluptuousness, which is recognized by some and is the threshold decay and death. 27. A consistent explanation of what happens before, during and after baptism Having overshadowed the water with the sign of the cross as a harbinger of divine baptism, the priest sprinkles the house. It then marks the baby as well. He places a cross on his forehead - for the sake of his mind, on his lips - for the sake of his verbal gift and breathing, and on his heart - in order to impart vitality and so that grace will preserve him until saving baptism. After which, having given permission to everyone, the priest leaves. On the eighth day, someone brings a baby before the face of God, and in front of the church doors, as if it has not yet been sanctified by baptism, the priest again seals it with the sign of the cross on his forehead, lips and chest and with sacred prayer gives him the name chosen by the parents 2 who participate in the baptismal rite. 28. That the Lord also took a name on the eighth day, when he was named Jesus So it was with the Lord, for having received circumcision on the eighth day, He was named Jesus. We do not have circumcision, because the Savior fulfilled the requirements of the law for us and delivered us from slavery to the law. He gave us a different circumcision for our entire being - Divine baptism, which does not circumcise the flesh, but takes away sin. Among the ancient Jews, circumcision was performed on the eighth day - and now we, the faithful, receive a name on the eighth day, because the eighth day marks renewal. For when the seventh day ends, beyond which the counting of the days of the week does not extend in this life, which completes its circle in weeks, then the counting begins again from the eighth day, which serves as a sign of the resurrection and a prototype of eternal life. For on the eighth day the Lord rose again, and we look forward to the last day of eternal life, which will already be endless, as we know from teaching. So, on this eighth day, as imperfect, the Jews were circumcised only males, receiving the seal on the male organ. On the one hand, this rite also foreshadowed the resurrection at the end of the week (i.e., the present age), and on the other, it meant that one day the lust of the flesh would cease and imperishable life would begin, alien to the deeds of the flesh. Although the Jews did not fully understand this, not thinking about true circumcision, that is, the rejection of sin. Now this is done in holy baptism, which inspires us that we will be incorruptible, whole and nothing can harm us. Meanwhile, the one who is circumcised spoils his body, and it is no longer the same as by nature. Since we are not born dispassionately, this birth from lust remains with us. But through baptism we are given birth not from carnal lust, not from the desire of a man, but from God, that is, rebirth through the baths of rebirth. Therefore, the baby receives a name on the eighth day, like the Savior, Who was named with the saving name Jesus. After baptism, sealed with the seal of the Spirit and overshadowed with the sign of the cross on the forehead, lips and heart (as I have already said, for the powers of reason, verbal and life) and inscribed in the Eternal Book along with the acquired name, the baby is returned to the mother. On the fortieth day, the mother again brings it to the church as a gift to God. The priest, standing in front of the doors of the church (because you cannot enter there before prayer), seals them both and sanctifies them with prayers. Then he teaches the mother cleansing from voluptuous and impure birth (since forty days have already passed since birth, during which meaningfulness awoke in the baby and he learned to play). Then the priest allows her to enter the church, where she could not enter until then as unworthy of either this or the Holy and Pure Communion. Then the priest, taking the child in his arms (as Simeon did when he accepted the Infant of the Lord into his arms), exclaims: now you forgive, so that the child may be cleansed from sins and see the light - Christ, the revelation to the pagans and the glory of the New Israel, and being generated by the Spirit, then see the Lord. If the baby is baptized, then the priest brings him to the altar, to the throne, and carries him around, performing a kind of worship and showing that the child is an offering to God and worships the Creator. If the child has not yet been baptized, then, standing in front of the entrance to the altar and bowing towards the altar with the baby in his arms, the priest returns him to the mother and releases her. From this moment on, the baby is considered a catechumen, and the mother, as having been purified, receives free access to the church and the opportunity to partake of the Holy Mysteries when she wishes and considers herself ready. This is exactly what happens. 29. Explanation of what happens in Divine Baptism Now learn what relates to the most divine baptism and, above all, that there are no time exceptions for it, so that the baby does not die unenlightened. If there is a danger of death, then everything is done according to the rules immediately after birth, however, with due attention and a reverent and sober priest. And if time permits and there is no danger of death, then immediately after the liturgy, so that the baby can receive Holy Communion. This is what Dionysius means when he says that for us all the Sacraments are completed by Communion, which is the summit of all the Sacraments. The priest undertakes to perform sacred prayers and pronounce them with attention, without haste - unless absolutely necessary - and read them aloud. We heard from the fathers that those who are often frightened by ghosts suffer this because the priests who baptized them ignored incantations and other sacred prayers. So, if there are no obstacles, then not only at the beginning of the rite of baptism should one read the incantatory and other prayers prescribed at the beginning of the rite of baptism, but also many times. For Trebnik 3 prescribes reading them from eight to ten times, since in ancient times it was customary in the Church that the catechumen priests read these prayers over those being baptized on each of the seven days, and on the eighth day again the bishop or the priest who was supposed to baptize. After which the baptism was performed by the bishop or priest. We also know such reverent priests who read these prayers three times and then baptize. And Divine baptism is performed like this: if a baby is baptized, then he is carried in the arms of a woman, accompanied by a recipient, and if it is an adult or a grown-up child or youth, then he comes on his own, because he must come voluntarily, and with him the recipient, who becomes a guarantor for the person being baptized before Christ and has the duty to guard his faith and Christian life. This is shown by the very name “receiver”, which means the one who perceives something on himself. 30. That the recipient of the baptized person must be Orthodox and pious It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that people who are pious and capable, to some extent, of being mentors in the faith should be chosen as recipients. But I had to hear something very strange and difficult to feel: some (according to some calculations) invite - it’s scary to say - enemies and denigrators of the faith, atheists and heretics to be their successors. Such people reject the Sacrament itself. They do not enlighten children with its light, but rather darken it, and make the officiating priest an accomplice of those who are alien to God. And how could one who dares to blaspheme teach piety? It is said: “What does light have in common with darkness... Or what is the complicity of the faithful with the unfaithful?” (2 Cor. 6:14–15). Anyone who does this is worthy of condemnation, as is he who takes children from the wicked. However, if the latter first confess that baptism is holy, divine, cleanses from sin and regenerates in Christ, that the one receiving baptism will become a Christian, then the matter changes. In this case, if the father makes a promise that the baby will be faithful to Christ, although he himself deviates, then one can accept the baby and bring him to sanctification, so as not to take him away from God by refusing to be a recipient. The person being baptized stands next to the recipient, showing by this that he came voluntarily and has a guarantor. When the priest blesses, he must first of all, as always afterwards, thank God for the salvation of the perishing. Following this, the catechumen is freed from his clothes and remains completely naked, standing under the veil, and the priest blows on him three times in the shape of a cross, with this breath conveying to him the first breath that Adam received from God, when “God blew into his face the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7). The priest himself portrays Christ, so it is better to baptize and make a breath after communion with the Body and Blood of Christ. And the blowing occurs three times in the name of the Divine Trinity, for the Trinity has common grace and power. Cross-shaped - for the sake of Christ, who became incarnate for us all and suffered for us in the flesh, the only one of the Trinity, who conquered through the Cross. The cross-shaped breath indicates His sacrifice, humility and victory, since through the Cross He “by death deprived of the power of him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14), and trampled on the opposing forces of the most evil one. The cross is both a sign of the Savior, and a seal, and a trophy. So, the priest blows three times and then with his hand three times seals the catechumen with the sign of the cross, according to the word of Scripture: “Your hands have made me and created me” (Ps. 119:73), namely on the forehead, lips and heart - for the sake of mental, verbal and vital forces, as was previously said. After this, he places his hand on it, sanctified and creative in the Spirit, and reads sacred prayers. What does it mean that before these actions he frees the catechumen from clothing, standing him barefoot and with his head uncovered, facing the east? The fact that he who comes to God and looks at the true Light, for which the image of the East is chosen (for from there the light comes), must be free from passions and renounced from unbelief, naked from all malice and alien to the clothing of sin, and must show slavish obedience to God. That's why he remains naked. On the other hand, this is done because a person through nakedness learned sin and lost his richly woven clothing, which is what nakedness indicates. Since the one being baptized comes to be baptized in order to cast off the filth of sin and unbelief, and to be made entirely new, and to put on the image of the new Adam, and to become better than he was before, he stands naked, feeling ashamed. Standing like this, he cleanses himself, seeking the restoration of the image of God in himself. Now, in order not to satiate our ears, let us repeat what has been said. The bishop and the baptizing priest represent the Lord Himself, Who accomplishes everything and in everyone. And they accept His power - the One who first created and now recreates. And the one being baptized represents the fallen Adam, since his very arrival shows free determination. If a child is baptized, then the very fact that it is brought to the church in the arms of the faithful indicates that the baby will be baptized by faith, and not by force. The recipient is the guarantor for the faith and life of the baptized person. The release of the catechumen from his clothes and leaving him naked, with only a girdle, means that he rejects all malice and is freed from the bonds of sin and that naked, that is, freed from error and corruption, he comes to Christ. Before, he was naked because he fell into error and destroyed his former clothes, and now he comes to put on the light clothes of baptism. He turns to the east, seeking the true Light, which is the Trinity and which is Christ, one of the Trinity. The baptized person will also seek the lost paradise, which was planted in the east. He receives a breath from the bishop - for the sake of the first breath, which is renewed by this. He takes the threefold breath as an image of the Divine action of the Life-giving Trinity, by which he was created and is now being recreated. With the hand of the bishop holding the cross, it is imprinted as a sign that we were created by the hands of God - the Son and the Spirit. The Cross is a sign of Christ and a trophy, for, having defeated the Cross, Christ crushed the demons with it. And now, when a cross is depicted, demons flee from it. The forehead of the person being baptized is sealed so that his mind is sanctified, avoiding errors. Mouth - so that his word is sanctified and confesses the truth. Breast - so that he becomes pure in heart and sees God and no evil is hidden in him, so that he lives, moves and exists by Him (Acts 17:28). After this triple sealing, the bishop blesses God, because it is righteous to bless Him for the recovery of the lost and for human salvation. This is followed by the laying on of hands - for the communication of grace and re-creation. The first prayer is addressed to the Holy Trinity: it commends the baptized to one God, and the baptized is sanctified by it. It is a petition to God: may he abide undeniably in him in the name of the Trinity and may he be worthy of divine baptism, anointing and holy communion. The second prayer is an incantatory prayer: it drives away and reflects the devil and all his power with terrible and Divine names and Sacraments. She pushes the devil and his demons away from man and commands them to retreat from him and not cause harm. In a similar way, the third prayer, being an incantation, drives out demons in the name of God. The fourth again turns to God with a request to completely expel the evil one from God’s creation and confirm the baptized in the faith. Therefore, the bishop immediately performs the fifth prayer, even more important, through which he conveys the baptized person to God. Praying with it for the person being baptized, he blows on him a second time, which is a most important action, since this marks the restoration of life and renewal. After which he again seals the baptized person three times on the forehead, lips and chest for the sake of reason, word and life, as well as for the sake of the fact that our God is a Trinity - Mind, Word and Spirit, restoring life to him and giving him a hedgehog in the image that he lost. At the same time, the celebrant says: “And cast out from him every evil and unclean spirit hidden and nesting in his heart.” For demons love to inhabit the souls of the unbaptized with the intention of seducing and desecrating them. They have the power to do this because of the crime our ancestors once committed. Therefore, they obviously live in the hearts of the unsanctified and unfaithful, and defile them, and incite them to deeds that are hateful to God. At the end of this prayer, the renunciation of the devil and union with Christ takes place in this way: the bishop turns the baptized person to the west, because from there comes the darkness in which the devil dwells, and commands him to raise his hands to the mountain, as a sign that the baptized person does not hide anything evil in himself and begins to imitate the Crucified One for us. Then the bishop commands the baptized person to say: “I renounce Satan and all his works...” - and the baptized person renounces the evil one and completely rejects it. He says this three times, as evidence of the immutability of renunciation of the enemy and as a sign that he is fleeing the evil one with all his soul, and moreover, in honor of the Holy Trinity, which seals and accomplishes everything. Having asked three times: “Have you renounced Satan?” - and having received from the person being baptized a threefold affirmative answer: “I have renounced” - that is, I have renounced the evil one and rejected him (for renunciation of evil must be clear and firm), the bishop says: “Blow on him” - that is, tear him out of the heart, and reject him from the heart, and disgrace the enemy. The baptized person does this three times as evidence of his decisive renunciation of the evil one and for the glory of our One God in the Trinity, Who has cast down the evil one. Then the celebrant turns the baptized person to the east, as he raises him to light from darkness and from lies to truth. And he says: “Say: I am united to Christ, and I believe in one God the Father, the Almighty...” And since the person being baptized must purely confess the Trisunlight in order to perceive His radiance with his heart, he pronounces aloud the Creed three times in honor of the Trinitarian Deity, thereby confirming his confession. He pronounces it out loud, openly, because he proclaims the truth, which must be confessed before Angels and people and through which he will receive salvation: the Consubstantial Trinity - the God of all - the one truly existing God, as well as the incarnation for us from the Virgin of the one Word from the Trinity, which must be confessed with boldness. When the bishop asks again three times: “Have you been coupled with Christ” - and the person being baptized will answer him sincerely, from the heart, also three times: “Have you been coupled with Him” - the priest says: “And worship Him.” After the person being baptized, sealed with the cross by the hand of the priest (which serves as a confession and sign of Christ), bows three times, showing that he is a servant of God, obedient to Him in everything (as promised), the bishop turns to the east and blesses God, who wants to save everyone. For this is how one should thank God for everything, and especially for the salvation of people. Then, holding the catechumen by the hand, as if having found the deceased, the celebrant leads him into the church - as if leading him to Heaven itself or to paradise. With this action he signifies that he is returning the baptized person to the Master who lost him, and expresses the joy with which God rejoices with the Angels over the repentant sinner with the song: Rejoice, O Joyful One. For She, the Mother of God, is the beginning of saving joy, the door of salvation, since through Her our salvation was arranged and true joy was given to the world, through Her, who gave birth holy and virgin, for our re-creation, God the Word, incarnate from Her. Further, pretending to be Saint Simeon, the bishop leads the person being baptized to the altar, showing by this action that he, as it were, made a sacrifice. At the same time, he commands him to worship God three times, since he has already been reconciled with Him through conversion, like the Gospel prodigal son, and through Divine baptism he is increasingly approaching adoption and incorruption - the primitive robe of the Spirit. And so that both the conversion and the confession are firm, the bishop calls the recipient and commands him to bow three times before the altar, where God dwells, testifying by this that he himself makes a vow to fully observe the baptized person in faith and pious life. If a baby is baptized, then the recipient, bending down, takes him lying in front of the Holy Gates, as if from the hands of Christ. If the child is older, then he receives him from the bishop, also signifying that he will receive him from the hands of Christ and becomes a surety for him before the Savior. From that time on, he becomes a father in spirit for the baptized person, and therefore brings (or, holding the hand, leads) to the sacred font, showing that the baptized person comes voluntarily, and not under duress. All this is done in the presence of witnesses: first of all and primarily in the co-presence of God Himself, and then in the presence of the hierarch and the faithful present in the church, who act as witnesses to the person being baptized. Also with the recipient himself, who brings the baptized person. Especially with the divine and pure Angels, invisibly present here, rejoicing over the divine birth from the Spirit and the salvation of the baptized and recording it in Heaven. They had already become his neighbors and friends since the time of his purification by the divine bath and sealing with the world. For this reason, it is necessary that all the faithful be in the church with the greatest possible reverence and joy, being convinced that the Angels are present with them, rejoicing over the one repentant sinner. They also firmly believe that the person being baptized is now transferred to the holy Guardian Angel, who will always be with him, driving away envious demons and any slander of the most insidious enemy, and will begin to observe him for the Kingdom of Heaven, if only the person baptized by faith and deeds retains the grace of baptism. Since the most Divine baptism is, therefore, the greatest thing, the Church previously performed baptism through bishops in cathedrals precisely at the time when on holidays at the Divine Liturgy we sing: “Be baptized into Christ” - and especially on Holy Saturday before the Divine Liturgy, when much is read from the divine prophets. This was done because the most sacred baptism is rebirth, and re-creation, and purification, and enlightenment, and sonhood, and gift, and sanctification, and very much more of what the holy fathers talk about. But mainly it depicts the death of Christ and the three-day Resurrection, which most clearly recalls that time (baptism on Holy Saturday): for through the death of Christ, and the three-day burial, and the Resurrection, we received immortality, and incorruptibility, and the hope of a future resurrection and renewal, the hope of eternal life, the firstfruits of which was Christ, the only sinless one, who suffered for us sinners, without deserving of death, as having sinned in nothing, but dying for us. Sin, as Isaiah and Paul say, is the sting of death, that is, its beginning, root and cause, and Christ Himself did not create sin and, not being guilty of death, died for us, and thus abolishing death, resurrected and overthrew our passions and condemnation. Impassive, having voluntarily suffered and becoming the Originator and leader of our lives, He ascended to Heaven. Having clothed ourselves with Him through baptism, we await His descent from Heaven, when He will resurrect us and grant us perfect incorruption, for which He now grants the guarantee through baptism. However, baptism should not be refused at any other time, lest due to such a delay someone die unenlightened, which would be the greatest misfortune, since the unbaptized will not be saved. It is also necessary, as far as possible, to perform baptism with solemnity and reverence. The priest must be attentive and be in a state of spiritual sobriety, since he is performing the greatest work of God - the re-creation of humanity... But let's move on to the next step. Preceded by the bishop, the recipient leads the person being baptized to the sacred font, guaranteeing that he comes voluntarily. The bishop stands nearby, portraying Christ Himself and having His power. The font is filled with water (it represents the Jordan) and candles are lit, signifying enlightenment by the Spirit and the fact that the baptized person comes from darkness to light and becomes a son of light. The bishop burns incense around the font, thereby signifying the fragrance and holiness of the Spirit, washing away all sinful stench, for this is the Holy Spirit. Then the bishop blesses and glorifies the Kingdom of the One God - the Holy Trinity, Which alone rules and now reveals Its royal power, having rescued the newly enlightened one from under the power of the evil one. Then, when the deacon reads peaceful prayers and petitions (litanies), and the people cry out: “Lord, have mercy,” for truly at this time the great mercy of God is bestowed, since the one who was previously a lawless person and an enemy of Him is adopted. The bishop prays in secret for himself, asking God to find purification and mercy, so that, while purifying others, he himself will not appear defiled by sins. He also asks himself for the strength and grace to serve the Sacrament with dignity and as it should. For this Sacrament is great: Angels stand here, Christ is represented by waters, the Holy Spirit descends, and the one who is baptized from the defiled, and the sinful, and the unclean, and the enemy, and the corruptible is made holy, and pure, and the son of God, and incorruptible. O great grace! O gift of God! O blessing, greatest for us, and grace! Therefore, when the petitions are fulfilled, the bishop, having finished the prayer, exclaims: “Great art thou, O Lord, and wonderful are thy works!” And he exclaims this three times, glorifying the Trinity Deity and magnifying the Benefactor. Then he offers a prayer to the Son of God who became incarnate for us and counts all His miracles from the ages, then he remembers His Incarnation from the Virgin in the Spirit and the Baptism in the Jordan, through which He recreated us, crushing “the heads of the serpent in the water” (Ps. 73:13), as the prophet says. That is why he begs Him to come and sanctify the water by the influx of the Holy Spirit, for the Son is inseparable from the Father and the Spirit and they have common grace. Then he marks the water with his hand three times in the shape of a cross, depicting the image of Christ above it, and prays to Him to make it a source of incorruption. Then, a little later, he again blows on the water three times and sends down abundant grace upon it, imitating Christ and testifying to what happened for the sake of baptism at the beginning: that “the Spirit of God hovered over the water” (Gen. 1:2). And again he marks it with his hand, depicting a cross, and says: may all resisting forces be crushed under the sign of the image of Your Cross, adding further, so that the water becomes spirit-bearing and holy and nothing evil is hidden in it, but, on the contrary, so that it is unbearable to the devil and is able to drive him away, so that it has the power to recreate and sanctify, and adopt (to God) those baptized in her, and make them children of light. Thus, having prayed and taught peace, which is Jesus Christ (for here Christ is co-present - the peace that surpasses all understanding), the hierarch, having received peace himself, and bowing his head, again prays in secret, calling on Jesus, meek and quiet, and omnipresent. You,” he says in this secret prayer, “who came to the Jordan and sanctified the waters, receive us, who slavishly fall to You, and sanctify these waters and us, and may they be for the health of our souls and bodies. And then raising his head, in commemoration of the fact that Christ has raised us, the fallen, he praises Him, calling Him the Sanctification of all. Then the font is filled with the Spirit, containing consecrated water and - invisibly in it - Christ. And since it is necessary for the image of Divine mercy to be present here, holy oil is also used. For water signifies washing and purification, and is already sanctified. Oil shows Divine mercy and the compassion of His goodness: it is oil that is given to those who were wounded by the common enemy and defeated by him, as Christ says in the Gospel (Luke 10:30-37). This was also shown under Noah, for a dove, holding an olive branch in its beak, flew to those who were carried by the waters of the sea in the ark. In this case, the water represented baptism, and the dove symbolized the Holy Spirit. The olive branch that the bird carried in its beak was a sign of the mercy and boundless goodness of God. That is why holy oil is used in baptism. The oil is consecrated in this way: it is brought in some clean vessel to the bishop (or priest, if there is no bishop), he blows on it and draws a cross on it three times with his hand. At the same time, the breath expresses the grace of the Spirit, which the bishop received from Christ through His Divine breath on the apostles, and the sign of the cross depicts Himself Crucified for us, who accomplished our salvation through the Cross. Therefore, the cross itself has sacred power, and without the cross nothing divine can be accomplished. Then the celebrant, bowing his head, prays that the oil will be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, Who once sent a dove to Noah with an olive branch, and during the time of the law gave the oil, and passed it on to the apostles. Having finished the prayer and offered thanksgiving, the priest pours consecrated oil onto the water three times in a cross shape, proclaiming the much sung song of Hallelujah. 31. What does "hallelujah" mean? This song, “Hallelujah,” was uttered by the prophets inspired by the Holy Spirit. It means the coming of God, it means: “God is coming” and “sing to Him,” which is prophetically spoken and sung, because, indeed, the Lord comes, both in His first and in His Second Coming, and always sends us His grace in the Holy Spirit. That is why the Church always sings this song, having already accepted Christ and again awaiting Him from Heaven, as we said. The Divine Dionysius says that myrrh is poured into the sacred font, but now this oil is poured in before the world, and myrrh comes after. One might, however, think that the sacred Dionysius also calls this very oil peace, as a harbinger of peace, since through it the one who is baptized receives the firstfruits of sanctification and is anointed for divine exploits, and subsequently is finally strengthened and perfected, and is sealed with the most perfect world of grace. That is why both are mentioned in baptism. Having consecrated the oil, the bishop anoints the person being baptized with it, and precisely with consecrated oil, otherwise what would be the need for it for the person being baptized after anointing with myrrh, if there was already myrrh at baptism? So, with this oil he anoints the person being baptized in advance, saying: “He (name of the rivers) will be anointed with the oil of joy in the name of the Trinity.” This joy is the joy of the Spirit, who saves us by grace and mercy. For David exclaims: “Reward me with the joy of Your salvation and strengthen me with the Lord’s Spirit” (Ps. 50:14). Then someone, a deacon or a servant, anoints, starting from the head, the entire body of the person being baptized, for he is fully preparing for divine exploits and has come not to fall again, but to imitate Christ, in whom he puts on both to fight the evil one and to take courage. In ancient times, wrestlers anointed their bodies with oil. Then the person being baptized is led into the water completely naked, just as he was born and as he was created before. But before he had Divine clothing and, being naked, was not ashamed, but now, having been born naked, he is covered with the shame of crime. Only by entering into holy water is he freed from the shame that sin brought upon him, and receives glory and the robe of incorruption. For the hierarch (or priest), laying his hands on his head, which is the organ in which everything that concerns the activity of the senses and mind takes place, and immersing him once in water, exclaims: “The servant of God is baptized (the name of the rivers) in the name of the Father” - and immediately raises him up. Then he immerses him again, saying: “And the Son,” and again he raises him up. Then, immersing it a third time, he says: “And the Holy Spirit.” After which the bishop elevates it, already sanctified, through the Sacrament of divine baptism, simultaneously creating and sacredly fulfilling it in the name of the Holy Trinity, proclaiming three Persons in one Divinity, saying: “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” These words confess the three Divine Persons, inseparable and unmerged, while at the same time the three-day burial and resurrection of Christ crucified in the flesh and risen from the water is depicted by three times immersion and raising from the water. 32. About the fact that (the formula) “the servant of God is baptized” has an advantage (over the expression) “I baptize the servant of God” The bishop says: “I am baptized” - and not “I baptize”, like the Latins of the new wisdom, because he testifies to the good will of the baptized. For this “I baptize” does not show that the one being enlightened is baptized voluntarily, but as if under compulsion and autocracy of the baptizer, against his own will, and expresses that only the baptizer baptizes him of his own free will. On the contrary, the formula “is baptized” expresses the good will of the baptized and the fact that he is “baptized by me,” that is, by the bishop or priest who is already doing the work of the Triune God, whose name is clearly proclaimed to the baptized. Having been reborn in this way, the baptized person emerges from the sacred font into the world as a completely new man, enlightened in Christ and a son of God - the son of our spiritual Mother, as if from a virgin, pure and holy womb. For just as Christ was born of a virgin to cleanse our defiled birth, so we come to new life from a pure font. Just as then the pure blood and holy womb of the Virgin created the flesh of God the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit, so now in us the pure water of the font and the Divine Spirit have accomplished a pure rebirth. Further, just as there, at the Baptism of the Savior, there was a descent of the Spirit in order to reveal in the Incarnate all the fullness of the Divinity bodily, so with us baptism is followed by anointing with myrrh so that we too receive the grace of the Spirit. For it is said: “Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace” (John 1:16). 33. What does anointing, or ointment, bring to the person being baptized? Therefore, the bishop immediately anoints the baptized person with divine myrrh, which is not only oil, but is composed of many other types of incense and depicts in symbols the abundance of power, and the variety of actions, and the variety of gifts of the Spirit, as well as the fragrance of His shrine. Myrrh is given to us as a seal and sign of Christ. Christ Himself is called Christ precisely because He physically had in Himself from the Father all the power of the Spirit, as Isaiah says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, for the Lord has anointed Me” (Isa. 61:1), so we, having received from Him grace in confirmation, are called Christians and become Christians (i.e. anointed) of the Lord. For the Lord does not consider it unworthy for us to be called by His name, because He considers us sons of God by adoption, being Himself a Son by nature, and considers us gods by grace, being God by nature, and Christs by His grace, having grace in Himself by nature, as the Word of God the Father and as inseparable from the Spirit. Anointing someone who has already been baptized, the bishop says this: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, amen, showing at the same time that anointing is a sign of Christ, since the newly baptized person is anointed with the cross, and teaches the gift of the Holy Spirit. 34. That everyone who is baptized and anointed has within himself, potentially, all the divine gifts that are revealed at a certain time, excluding the gift of the priesthood He who is baptized and anointed has within himself, potentially, all the Divine gifts that are revealed in him at one time or another, depending on how much he purifies himself and becomes worthy of the action of the gifts of God in him, with the exception, however, of the Divine priesthood alone. For it, as a special gift and exclusive work of God, is given by ordination. And no one, not even a miracle worker, will perform anything priestly without ordination. Then how to perform healings, and prophesy, and be pure in body and thoughts, and lead a truly virginal life, and pray constantly and relentlessly, and be flaming, and animated by Divine love, and be rewarded with Divine insights and sacred revelations, and mysteries, and Heavenly contemplations, and become almost like Angels - all this and without ordination, by the grace of baptism and confirmation many had the opportunity to achieve and achieve, and are rewarded with all this. But enough about that. Before anointing, after baptism, when the baptized person puts on clothes that are blessed by the bishop, he gives thanks to God, glorifying Him for the salvation of the one reborn by water and the Spirit. Then he prays that the Lord will honor the person being baptized with holy anointing and, through it, the gift and sanctification of the Divine Spirit. For through the divine ointment, the one baptized is holy and sealed to Christ, an object of care for the Angels, and elusive to enemies, if only he remains awake. The priest also prays that the person being baptized will be worthy of the sacrament of the Mysteries and will no longer be a child of the flesh, but a child of the Kingdom of God. 35. Why do they cut the hair of those being baptized and put kukul and anavolium on them? After the anointing - I mean the all-holy ointment - the bishop cuts the hair on the head of the person being baptized in a cross shape, partly as a sign that he has Christ as his head and that he must pray with his head uncovered, as Paul teaches (1 Cor. 11:4), and at the same time, putting a kind of seal on it. That is why he tonsures himself crosswise, so that the person being baptized will reject every unnecessary thought. And since every faithful person must distance himself from everything superfluous and unnecessary, monks are tonsured in the same way. In addition, the hair of the baptized is offered to Christ as the firstfruits and sacrifice of the human body, for they are like incense from the whole body. Then the baptized, anointed and tonsured person puts on a tunic and puts on his head a kukul, also called a helmet: the first - as a sign of gentleness and childish innocence and purity, and the second - as a sign of the protection of God and the storage of feelings (for most of the feelings are concentrated in the head). Then he puts on a white robe, also called anavolium, as a symbol of Divine Light and angelic purity, for the baptized person has become a son of light and is completely undefiled and pure. Having thus received grace through sacred rites, he stands in front of the font and, if he has reached the age of reason, he himself holds a candle as a sign and in honor of the Most Divine Light. The receiver holds the candle for the baby. Meanwhile, church hymns sing Elitsa, being baptized into Christ. And the bishop also performs other prayers: he prays that the baptized person will keep his baptism undefiled and the seal indelible, and that tonsure will serve to strengthen his feelings, and for many other things for his salvation. Then, having glorified God, he joyfully takes the baptized person by the hand and, accompanied by the recipient, forming a face, as if rejoicing and rejoicing with the Angels, he walks around the font three times, rejoicing in the spiritual Mother and in the One born of Her by the power of the Divine Spirit. At the same time, the bishop sings along with the Elitsa singers and is baptized into Christ. Then, when the singers sing the psalm “Blessed are those whose iniquities are left behind” (Ps. 31), he, walking in front of the baptized person, leads him to the altar and there he administers the great and terrible Communion. 36. That communion of the Mysteries is the crown of baptism and confirmation This is the purpose of all the Sacraments, so that, having freed ourselves from error and sinful impurity and become pure and sealed with Christ in the Holy Spirit, we would partake of the Flesh and Blood of Christ Himself and be closely united with Him. He speaks about this through the mouth of the prophet: “I will dwell in them and walk in them” (2 Cor. 6:16), and He Himself prays to the Father about this, saying: “That they may be one, just as We are” (John 17:11, 22) and: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). For through the Sacraments the Lord will be with us in an invisible way, “until He is revealed... as He is,” as His beloved disciple says (1 John 3:2). For this reason He became incarnate from the Virgin, to unite with us. For this reason He was crucified and shed His blood for us, so that we might become partakers of Him. And He taught the Holy Mysteries in sacred rites before the Cross in order to be with us and so that we would be partakers of Him both now and in the next century. He did this so that we would all become partakers of His blessings, according to His desire. And His Father “so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “And just as the children share in flesh and blood, He also received them” (Heb. 2:14) - precisely so that we could have fellowship with Him, for, as the beloved disciple says again: “He is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). To Him - the true Light - glory forever. Amen. Having taught the baptized person the sacrament, thanked the Savior, given the dismissal and blessed the baptized person together with the recipient, the bishop departs. The baptized person returns home, and they walk in front of him with candles, since he has already become the son of Light. Those who preceded him sing: “Those who were baptized into Christ were baptized,” for the one who was baptized put on Christ, and Christ was depicted in him, and the grace of the Spirit dwelt in him. The baptized person undertakes to pray and wear sacred clothes, namely: kukul and anavolium, also called emphotion (enlightenment) and formerly constituted a special garment that the enlightened wore on top until the seventh day, for the sake of holy unction, and undertakes not to wash at all, wiping his hands with these same clothes, as befits a sanctified person. And after the seventh day, which marks the end of this seven-week life, he must come to the church to the priest and take a bath from him. The priest, with sacred prayers, washes him with a sponge and water in those places of the head and hands where he was anointed with the most holy myrrh, and the other parts of the body are washed by the baptized person himself in a decent place, so that something from those shrines - the water of baptism and myrrh, falling, would not be trampled underfoot. That is why baptized adults should receive instructions from the priest about guarding themselves, about prayer and going to church. As well as about cleansing oneself from sins and constant communion of the Mysteries, for this is what the life of a Christian essentially consists of. If the person being baptized is a baby, then his mother must be warned: she must be inspired to bring the baby after the seventh day to be washed by the priest, and then she herself washes his entire body, and pours out the water in a decent and clean place. In addition, she must thoroughly wash the clothes in which the baby was dressed for seven days. The baby must always be brought to partake of the Mysteries, for in this way he will be better preserved and nurtured by Christ. 37. Against the Latins and that children should not be excommunicated from Communion Communion should not be neglected, following the example of some who are foolishly new in this matter, and children should not be separated from it. Children, they say, do not know what they are participating in. Ah, what foolishness and what a strange thought! Why then do you baptize? Or why do you anoint with myrrh? However, the Latins, as you know, do not anoint at baptism, and all this is done in disagreement with the Universal Church. The Orthodox himself, by faith, brings the baby to God and, through a faithful recipient, makes vows, and the baptized baby is reborn for the Kingdom of Heaven, and is anointed with myrrh, and is sanctified, and, if he dies, inherits the Kingdom of God. In the same way, let him be brought through the faithful to Communion. For it gives eternal life. Just as one who is not reborn by water and the Spirit cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so one who does not eat the “Flesh of the Son of Man,” according to the words of the Lord Himself (John 6:53), and does not drink “His Blood,” will not enter into the eternal belly. Having verbally conveyed to you briefly and to the best of my ability about divine baptism, I wrote to you, beloved, about this. And you need to accept this to the best of your ability. Expect the highest teaching from those who have risen more than me in divine things. For we, the poor, wrote this for you only for the sake of your request, and also for some who, perhaps, have not fully understood and do not fully understand the meaning of what is performed in sacred rites. For the same reason, we will tell you about the other Sacraments, as you asked. 38. That a priest should use the water of baptism and similar shrines with caution In addition, beloved, we must pay attention to something that some do not care about, considering it unimportant: let the hierarch and priest not haphazardly use the remnants of the holy oil of gladness, since it prefigures the divine ointment. But let them keep them and consume them in the altar lamp, keeping them in a special and consecrated vessel, and not at all use them as food. Let them also preserve the divine water of baptism, in which sin was drowned, into which Christ descended, the Holy Spirit was infused, and through which man was recreated. Let them pour it out in a sacred place, for if it is poured out in an inappropriate place and in the wrong way, it will be trampled upon by those who do not know that it is water from the Sacrament. For this water is in no way lower than the water of Holy Epiphany; over it even more prayers are performed for the re-creation of the baptized. And moreover, she receives the oil of gladness. Therefore, one must have reverence for her and honor her. I say this for the ignorant, because I myself knew very many who were careless in this and almost imputed it to nothing. And I sighed from the depths of my soul when I saw that this meant nothing to them. And every baby, like Jesus Christ, is baptized with its own name, and not, as some foolish people among the common people say, that everyone should be baptized with the names of John and Mary Probably Saint Simeon had in mind some very ancient Trebnik. In ancient times, indeed, there was a custom to perform incantatory prayers over adult catechumens several times, with each catechumen You might be interested in: