Г) О постепенном действии восстановления в отношении к каждому человеку.

a) About the gracious kingdom of Christ and grace About the continuation of the royal ministry of Jesus Christ after his ascension to heaven. The need for this - The God-man, “by His resurrection, ascending to His Father by nature, by grace and to our Father, He opened for us with Him the entrance into heaven itself, so that, according to the Apostle, God the Father of those who are dead in sins, by faith, made us alive with Christ, and according to hope, raised us up with Him and made us sit in heavenly places (Eph. 2:5-6). With all this, the Christian “feels that the root of sin has not been plucked out of him, as the Apostle also admitted, that he feels sin living within himself, and that what is good does not live in his flesh (Rom. 7:17-18)” 661. Meanwhile, complete communication between God and man is possible only when man does not have anything sinful in himself. “It is not right for you to bring into the blessed city of God all manner of evil, and to create abominations and lies (Rev. 21:27)... This is how it should be in the righteousness of the Living God, for Whom it would not be fitting to allow into the communion of His own eternal life the rebellious and those who oppose His will” 662... This is how it should be because it cannot be otherwise. “Just as a fish cannot live in the air, so the flesh, with its passions and lusts, cannot live in the kingdom of God. The son of Adam must be born again in order to become the son of God” (John 3:3) 663; You must then use a lot of effort to completely eradicate the seed of sin in yourself 664. All this suggests that the Love of God, after His resurrection, could not leave the redeemed sinner without its guidance and without its Divine help. Having shown man the way to heaven, the God-man had to give him the means and strength to ascend there into communion with God 665. For this very reason, the royal ministry of Jesus Christ on earth did not end with His ascension to heaven; His royal procession into heaven only revealed His grace-filled reign, which would culminate in the kingdom of glory. The actual existence of the gracious kingdom of Christ and its relationship to the kingdom of glory “The Lord Jesus began His Gospel sermon with the announcement that the kingdom of heaven was drawing near (Matthew 4:17) and at the end of His earthly career he determined this nearness with the shortest measure: I have no food, no food, until the kingdom of God comes (Luke 22:16. 18). But His disciples did not yet fully understand the kingdom of heaven; they had not yet freed themselves from the Jewish thought of the earthly kingdom of the Messiah. With the resurrection of the Lord, the time has come, since it became convenient to give them a clear, experienced concept of the kingdom of heaven, to show them in action. For this purpose, the risen Lord appears to the disciples gathered by His preliminary command to Galilee and proclaims His reign in that kingdom, the approach of which He predicted: Jesus came, speaking to them, saying: all power has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). Now you see: the king of the kingdom foretold is the risen Christ; His kingdom is heavenly, because His resurrected life, obviously, is no longer earthly, but heavenly and above-heavenly, and such is His activity, but His kingdom is not limited to heaven, but extends to the whole earth, especially so that those who believe in Him from an earthly, imperfect, mortal life, through a grace-filled rebirth, are raised into heavenly life, into perfect life, into the bliss of the kingdom of heaven,” in order to “introduce believers from the kingdom of damaged nature to the kingdom of grace, in order to give the children of the Old Adam the area to be children of God (John 1:12) “so that, then, “from the kingdom of grace they will be raised to the kingdom of glory” 666. Why not before, as after the resurrection, was all power in heaven and on earth given to Christ, when He had this power from eternity, as the Only Begotten Son of God? To this it is necessary to answer that “to our Lord Jesus Christ, who rules over all according to Divinity, as a result of the merit of saving suffering and resurrection, in a new way, as the God-man, was given, according to His own saying, all power on earth as in heaven” 667. Before death and resurrection, Christ ruled the world as Creator and Provider. With the resurrection from the dead, He reigns as the God-man, and, moreover, establishes two new areas of reign - the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory" 668. After this, the kingdom of Christ is divided into three areas: “the kingdom of Christ is, firstly, the whole world, - secondly, all believers on earth, - thirdly, all the blessed in heaven” 669. About the first two areas of the kingdom of Christ, it should be noted that “we see God here only as a mirror in fortune telling” (1 Cor. 13:12); whereas in the kingdom of glory "He appears to the sons of the kingdom face to face and raises them from glory to glory." “Both (first) kingdoms, gradually reaching their predestined completion, will be transformed into a single kingdom of glory”; Moreover, “only those who are chosen and who bear within themselves the inner seed of the kingdom will be called to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34)” 670. Our talk will be about the kingdom of grace; because “in what various forms all the power (of the glorified God-man) appears in heaven is inaccessible to our contemplation” 671. The concept of the gracious kingdom of Christ – The kingdom of grace is a spiritual kingdom. “The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). In living faith and in firm hope, in a clear conscience, in angelic love - here is the kingdom of God. Here Christ the second is conceived, born, dwells, and reigns. In this Divine kingdom there are no troubles, no famine, no thirst, for our King feeds His servants with hidden manna (Rev. 2:17); neither sorrows nor despondency - He is joy; no illness; neither death, - He is life; neither persecution nor oppression, but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Cor. 3:17). The heavenly breath of this Spirit, refreshing the air of the soul, diffuses in it the sweet stench of peace. The heart is this great and spacious sea, which is so often agitated by storms, filled with countless reptiles, and to which the serpent of the abyss curses, crushes its waves on the stone of constancy, and in its meek striving depicts a single desire: I will be satisfied with ever appearing in Your glory (Ps. 16:15). Here the sky is always clear: neither the clouds of doubt cover the light of God, nor the thunder of His anger shakes the inner ear. The field of activity is not covered with golden classes, which the more the warmth of love fills and increases, the more humility bows down. Behold a new heaven and a new earth" 672. Christ rules the kingdom of grace in part directly Himself The king of the earth governs his kingdom partly directly himself, but mostly through proxies. We see something similar in the grace-filled kingdom of Christ. The kingdom of grace is partly ruled by Christ Himself directly. He Himself testified to this when He said: Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). “This promise is not limited to the Apostles alone; it extends to us and to those who will come after us, because it extends to the end of the age. What did the Lord give to His disciples according to this promise? Is it really just the thought of His presence? Would this be enough to console them, strengthen them, give them hope? – Without a doubt, He gave His presence in power and action; gave them the opportunity to contemplate Him mentally, heartily, and, if favorable, figuratively, to receive hidden inner suggestions from Him, and, if necessary, to hear His voice, comforting, strengthening, instructing, as this is especially clearly revealed in the life of the Apostle Paul” 673. “The experiences of those who love the Lord show that He appears to them, depending on their need and ability, sometimes figuratively and visually, in His deified humanity, and sometimes not figuratively, but nevertheless significantly and truly, giving them His peace, surpassing all minds, His joy, unspeakable and glorified, His inner gracious light, the dawn of the day of no evening, the reflection of eternal glory” 674. The appearance of Christ is accompanied by extraordinary joy (John 16:22), regardless of whether Christ appears “figuratively and visually” or “non-figuratively.” “Just as the sun, when it rises and looks at the earth, thereby gives beneficial light to earthly creatures, insofar as each of them is capable of receiving it; So the God-man Jesus, when he looks at souls and hearts, - especially after He, in true spring and in the new morning of the world, ascended from the earth in the already glorified humanity, which, having been exalted through suffering, became, so to speak, transparent for the fulfillment of the Divinity living in it, and whose ulcers are the open doors of Divine light - to such His presence bestows grace-filled light on souls and joy on hearts, but in proportion their spiritual ability to accept it, that is, according to the measure of faith and love. Just as the enjoyment of the light of the sun does not depend decisively on whether someone sees the circle of the sun above him or not, but even the one who does not raise or strain his eyes for this uses the light, and even the one who sits in the shadow or stands under a cloud; Thus, the enjoyment of the light of Christ and the joy of the Lord is not necessarily tied to whether someone beholds Christ, figuratively appearing bodily even to the eyes, but the one who does not dare to raise his gaze to the height of His glory, out of humility, and the one who stands under the cloud of faith, and the one who rests in the shadow of hope, can also enjoy spiritual light and heavenly joy, and sometimes even safer than a spectator of extraordinary phenomena for which one must have an eagle’s eye so as not to be darkened by an excess of light” 675. "God is a God of truth and order." Therefore, there must be and indeed “is a law of God’s condescension to man and the gracious appearances of Christ the Lord to those who believe in Him. We know this law, which came from the lips of Christ the Savior Himself just before His departure to suffer and die on the cross, as if to precede His disciples, that in accordance with this law His appearance will follow after His resurrection: if you have My commandments and keep them, then you love Me; but he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and appear to him Myself (John 14:21). From this law it follows that whoever predominantly succeeds and rises in active love for Christ, he predominantly approaches Him and becomes predominantly capable of contemplating Him and receiving grace-filled revelations from Him” 676. If we become like Christ in our lives, then He, “attracted by the power of His likeness in us, will appear and visit us” (Bl. Mac. 33), as one of those visited by His grace explains, He will visit the soul through all its exits, paths and feelings. He will come through a closed door (John 20:19) and appear in its inner foundation; will comprehend and approach on the path (Luke 24:15) of external activity; will precede in grief (Matthew 28:16) the thought of God; He will shine in the spirit with His unapproachable light; He will kindle in the heart with His love that surpasses the understanding (Eph. 3:19). A person will not so much feel his life and existence as the presence and action of his beloved Savior. I live not for this purpose, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20)” 677. Christ rules the kingdom of grace chiefly through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The God-man ascended into heaven, that he might pray to the Father, and give us another Comforter, that the Spirit of truth might be with us forever (John 14:16). At His intercession, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit indeed “appeared in the sign of tongues of fire and penetrated into the Apostles the human nature, in order to assimilate to him the favor of the Father and the merits of the Son and to make us partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4)” 678. For this purpose, just as “at the creation of the world He was carried along on top of the water, He is also carried now, with the ongoing re-creation of man, over the abyss of our disordered nature and with life-giving overshadowing, He fertilizes it for a grace-filled rebirth” 679; "breathing, wherever he wants... Visible, often coming from nowhere, His action of the sinner, stubborn in sins, “convicts, admonishes, encourages to turn to God; he teaches those who do not know how to turn; He strengthens and inspires those who are exhausted in the feat of conversion, and thus introduces into man the kingdom of God, which is truth, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit”; “out of the human race is created a harmonious building with amazing unity in diversity, stretching across all dimensions of space and time, and with its height hidden in the heavens,” “in order to finally bring man completely into the kingdom of God, when Jesus Christ appears to call the blessed of His Father to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world” 680. What is the grace of the Holy Spirit, through which the Savior rules the kingdom of grace? “Grace, in the Apostolic word, means the highest degree of the gifts and benefits of God” 681. “Grace,” if we want to exhaust the full meaning of this name, “is a giving from the Good, a good giving, a giving according to the sole goodness, without the prior right or merit and dignity of the recipient. If we accept in our reasoning that, according to the word of the Lord, no one is good except the One God and, consequently, the source of everything that is good in creatures cannot be sought anywhere except the One God, who by pure goodness gives and not repays (for who first will give to Him and will be rewarded to Him? Rom. 11:35), then one could conclude that man is everything, both in himself and around himself, his very being, life, body, the soul, the ability and use of the ability to know, desire, act - everything has by the grace of God. But since the good that God placed in creatures through the action of His creation was assimilated by them as if it were their property, what was in its beginning grace, in its continuation became the nature of beings and those born by nature, and, in contrast to this, what is called grace is what the All-Good God bestows on man above nature and nature. In this mind, the word of God uses the name of grace, meaning by it a teaching giving or Divine power, exuding gracious influences, as, for example, in the following saying: the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all man (Titus 2:11), - and a teaching giving, or a gift of grace, as, for example, in the following testimony of the Apostle: To one of us alone was given grace according to the measure of the gift Christ (Eph.4:7)" 682. “It is also in accordance with the spirit of the sacred language to call grace, if it seems simpler, mercy, to mark such a property and disposition of a good being, by which another being appears to him as sweet, attracting love - insofar as there is goodness, - compassion, insofar as there is poverty, - forgiveness, insofar as it is guilty. Or, if it is necessary to more accurately distribute the concepts, love and mercy, when they come into action, are called grace, and received grace becomes a gift” 683. The origin of grace and its effect on man “Many sacred sayings show that the source and immediate beginning of grace is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The father serves it; Jesus Christ brings it in His name; The Holy Spirit breathes it into the souls of believers and with it inspires them to spiritual life, strengthens them and motivates them to activities that are truly beneficial, and therefore God-pleasing and saving” 684. Now we understand in what sense the “saving power of God” is called the grace of the Holy Spirit. Grace, like any power in general, is characterized not only by its origin, but also by the effect that it is capable of producing under certain circumstances. What are the actions of the grace of the Holy Spirit, “what is the Spirit sent by the Son from the Father (John 15:26) in His original gifts? – He Himself explains this with His fiery tongues. He is an immaterial fire that acts with two forces: light and warmth, - the light of faith and the warmth of love. This heavenly light, in the words of Solomon, comes and enlightens until the day is corrected (Proverbs 4:18); dispels the darkness of ignorance and doubt; reveals the deception of ghosts, which the mind, mired in sensuality, often takes for truth; allows a person to see himself in the nakedness of corrupt nature, to know the world in relation to the soul and to feel the presence of God as a source of light; He gives warning to those who hope, reproof of things unseen (Heb. 11:1). As the light from the Sun of Truth multiplies in the mind, the heart warms and ignites. God's love drives out selfishness from him; The thorns of carnal desires burn within him; cleanses, abolishes it and mutually attracts new light into the soul. The fusion of these original spiritual gifts forms a fiery tongue, uttering the law of God the Word in the heart (Ps. 37:31) of a person, imagining Christ in him (Gal. 4:19), bringing about rebirth into spiritual life” 685. “The grace of God, like a seed, like the beginning of a new life in a person, inspiring him with faith and love for God, constantly produces in him good thoughts, intentions and deeds” (1 John 3:9, 2, 20, 27) and in general “gives a person’s life in all respects the right direction towards the true goal, that is, towards eternal salvation and bliss” 686. For this, “saving grace bestows and teaches us to use three forces: chastity, so that a person does not harm himself through carnal knowledge; righteousness, so that he does not harm his neighbor through selfishness; godliness, so that he does not offend God with pride and wickedness” (1 Tim. 2:11-3) 687. In general, “grace turns into a priceless treasure everything it touches in a person devoted to it” 688. It is impossible to comprehend the “way in which a person is filled with grace-filled gifts” 689; he “is the one indivisible action of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:11), which, “accompanied by tangible consequences, escapes from reason, which wants to ascend to its beginning. Extending from the internal to the external, it is likened to the moisture descending on the fleece of Gideon (Judges 6:38), which opens from the air into drops of water and fills the window; or the wind, noticeable in those movements that it produces, but not in those that make it up (John 3:8). What are the most remarkable changes that can signify the path of the Spirit of God in the human soul? – There are moments in which a person devoted to the world and the flesh awakens from the spell in which they hold him; sees clearly that his past life is a chain of errors, weaknesses, crimes, betrayals of God, that his deeds are the seed of future executions, “and that his very virtues will not stand before the gaze of the eternal Judge; condemns himself; trembles with his whole being, and, being despairing in himself, through this despair he is drawn to trust in God; - this disposition to repentance is nothing other than that great and strong Spirit, plundering mountains and crushing stones (that is, casting down pride and softening hard-heartedness), which the passing Lord sends before him. (1 Kings 19:11)? What if not that stormy breathing that foreshadows the descent of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:2)?.. Little by little this stormy breathing will turn into those meek, unutterable sighs with which the Spirit Himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26); in that living voice with which He cries in our hearts: Abba, Father (Gal.4:6)” 690... The difference in the effects of grace depends on to whom it is extended. “The Spirit of God, in his infinite goodness, ready to give to every person every gift of grace, distributes gifts in accordance with the law of righteousness, which is worthy, and in accordance with the law of wisdom, who are able to use them for good purposes.” Therefore, we can believe that the highest determination of the kind, degree, strength, space of grace-filled gifts sent down to a believer, occurs according to some application to the kind, degree, strength, space of his free spiritual dispositions and his exploits and virtues,” always corresponding to the readiness of the recipient, but never depending on his arbitrariness” 691. The power of grace is not only highly beneficial, but positively necessary for our salvation. Man necessarily needs “not only the light of grace, as darkened by nature by ignorance and sensuality, but also the healing power of grace, as weak and suffering, not only in the flesh, which is naturally weak (Matthew 26:41), but, what is much more important, in the spirit” 692. Is it not possible, however, to be saved by reason alone, without the assistance of grace? But a reasonable person must “know what has long been known, for the Lord gives wisdom, and from His presence knowledge and understanding (Prov. 2:6); that true wisdom is from above (James 3:17); that saving intelligence comes from grace.” “The mind that is born on earth and never grows above feelings,” “always promising more than what it is capable of, and, due to constraint by feelings and seduction by passions, always fulfilling less than it is capable of, has long been condemned to rejection and destruction: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will hide the understanding of the prudent (Is. 29:14). This self-praising human mind is that universal ignoramus, whom the Gospel sent by Grace has come to first put to shame, and then teach, or re-teach in its own way” (1 Cor. 1:21) 693. Let us assume that it is impossible to be saved by reason alone. But perhaps a person redeemed by Christ will receive salvation by generally following the voice of nature in his life? To this it should be said that “if a person, undamaged by sin, did not live by nature alone, but was more blessed by grace, then will life by nature be quite good, which is damaged by sin and not corrected by grace?... To determine the dignity and significance of life by nature, it is necessary to look at the place it occupies in the dominion of God and Christ... The kingdom of grace is directly adjacent to the kingdom of glory, and only through this lies to This is the way out of the kingdom of nature. Consequently, whoever lives only by nature is a whole kingdom removed from the blissful kingdom of glory. And therefore, when on the last day the whole kingdom of grace finally passes into the kingdom of glory, and the earth and the works on it are burned up, where will graceless life remain by nature, if not in the nature of the underworld” 694. Is it finally possible to be saved by fulfilling the revealed moral law, about which “the Supreme Lawgiver Himself said: whoever created that man will live in them (Lev. 18:5). But let us dare to say freely: if the first people had kept the first law, not to eat from the tree, and thus received eternal life; and then they would not receive according to legal right, or according to merit, for what is the merit of a baby that, according to his father’s warning, he does not pick up a knife or a burning coal? If this obedience gives the right to any reward, then this reward was received in the fact that he did not cut or burn his hands. Thus, the perfect executor of the law would receive eternal life no other way than by the grace of the All-Bountiful Lawgiver God, Who, not limiting himself to the fact that the commandment saves from the evil against which it is set, in addition grants to its executor the benefit to which it does not give the right. However, why talk a lot about this, when the first law and its truth collapsed even in the first man, and we are nothing more than natural lawless people? Now Job, seemingly the righteous one, is crying out - who will be clean from filth: no one, even if he lived only one day on earth (Job 16:4-5); At the same time, we must not forget that rule of legal truth, that if he keeps the whole law, he will sin in one thing and be guilty of everything (James 2:10). So, what is the majestic promise of the Old Testament for us, that he who keeps the commandments will live in them? Nothing more than that we will not receive life through the commandments. I have found the commandment which is in life, this is in death (Rom. 7:10). The law shows what to do and what not to do; demands the fulfillment of commandments; promises life; but the execution is left to me; since I am not successful in this, then my lot is not life, but death.” However, in the matter of salvation the law is important; he “appears with his commandments in order to expose lawlessness, so as not to leave a person forever as a hardened lawless person and forever deprived of life, in order to awaken in him an aversion from lawlessness and a desire to do good, in order to begin the work of salvation.” “Only grace, Christ and faith can end it. The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom.10:4). It is by grace that we are saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not by works, lest anyone should boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Grace, by faith, forgives and blots out former iniquities revealed by the law, and gives strength to avoid new ones, or to fulfill the law” (Rom. 8:3-4) 695. “If the existence and well-being of lower creatures depends every minute on the grace and power of God, how much more does the spiritual life and bliss of man, created in the image of God and recreated in the image of God, every minute, as well as eternally, depend on the co-operating grace of God.” Indeed, “the highest region of the human spirit, so as not to give itself over to the abomination of desolation, so as not to turn into a land of darkness and the shadow of death, must be the living abode of the Most High and be enlightened by His true light, which, as the servant of light sees and shows, actually enlightens every person coming into the world (John 1:9).” “No one and nothing can nourish the human soul with food that is characteristic and satisfactory to it, grow the fruit of virtue, quench the hunger for righteousness and the thirst for truth, strengthen the heart with spiritual strength, and rejoice with holy joy, except God and His Word, as His Only Begotten Son says: without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).” “A person is not content and thinks that what is good is from himself, as from himself (2 Cor. 3:5)” 696. Since in Christianity everything is by grace; and nothing without grace"; then “the word of the Apostle often turns to the thought of grace and affirms everything in Christianity on it. Does it want to lead to the beginning of our salvation? It raises us to grace: the grace of God has appeared, saving all mankind. Does he want to point out our salvation as already accomplished? The instruction again refers to grace: by grace is salvation (Eph. 2:5). Does he want to explain the purpose, power and action of the incarnation of the Son of God and His coming to earth? And he explains this with the thought of grace: Jesus Christ became grace and truth (John 1:17). Does he want to show how the Apostles, Prophets, evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers, and their work of serving the salvation of other people came into being in the church? He shows the beginning of this in grace: to one of us alone grace was given, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Does he want to strengthen a Christian in feat? Strengthens with grace: therefore, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1). Does he want to guard against sin? He warns you with grace; let sin not dwell in you, for it is not under the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14). Does he want to improve our external activities? – He improves by grace (Col.4:6). Does he want to greet and bless? And for this he calls on grace to help: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" 697. Universality and accessibility of grace The beneficence of grace and its necessity for our salvation suggest that the gift of the Holy Spirit is “for all, as all things are for him.” Indeed, “the treasures of grace are available to everyone. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and ye shall find; press and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7)... He assures of this, he who is rich in mercy, the Lord of the treasures of grace, promises this; He, of course, is faithful in his assurance: he is ready to fulfill His promise given to everyone for each of us, although, however, only for everyone who asks, seeks, pushes”; He wants all mankind to be saved and to come into the world of truth (1 Tim. 2:4); - “He wants not with an idle, but with a powerfully active desire. No one, says the Savior, will come to Me unless My Father draws him to Himself (John 6:44); Consequently, everyone who is saved is drawn by the Heavenly Father” 698. “Like a newborn baby, renouncing the life of its mother, has no difficulty in looking for a new life of its own, but within itself carries a source of activity that is constantly developing and improving, and around itself it finds the air needed for its breathing; Thus, drawn by grace from the world and called to higher birth, a person is closer to the realm of new life than he thinks; for we can only be far from the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God cannot be far from us.” Christ the Savior does not pass by any of us. In His boundless wisdom, constantly marching towards countless goals of beneficence and bliss of His various creations, in His boundless mercy He stops over each of us”; He “gives His Spirit to everyone who is willing to receive Him” 699. Nothing can prevent grace from being made available to everyone; it can penetrate everywhere without hindrance. Grace is “a good power, an action, a gift from God almighty, eternal, omnipresent: what other power will be content to oppose it? What time can rule it out? What creature could be beyond her reach? If in the state of nature God so embraces and penetrates man with His action that, as the Apostle puts it, He Himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone, and that in Him we live, move, and are (Acts 17:25–28): what can we say about the state of grace? The Spirit of God, the source of grace, “according to the Wise One, spirits pass through everything (Wisdom 7:23), being inviolable in His holiness and omnipresent in His goodness; He is poured out upon every power and ability that is given over to His action; and in the very heart of the Old man the source of new life opens" (John 7:38-39) "Even before the solemn descent of the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of faith, the children of the law felt His omnipresent and all-effective power so vividly that they could not hide anywhere and rest in awe! I will walk from Your Spirit (Ps. 139:7) - David exclaimed. Should we not understand how the spontaneous human spirit can stand under the constant action of the Almighty Spirit? 700 For the universal action of God's grace on the souls of believers, there is also no obstacle to the abundance of grace. “Saving grace is more than sufficient to save people; so that no one can “falter in his trust in the grace of God” (1 Peter 1:13). The atoning sacrifice of the God-man attracted more grace to the sinner than he had in his primitive, innocent state. “Sin, which multiplied before the manifestation of grace, did not pose an obstacle to its action, but only served to most solemnly reveal its victorious power: where sin abounded, grace abounded (Rom. 5:20)” 701. Grace does not restrict human freedom No matter how much people need the grace of God, no matter how universal and beneficial its effects on those being saved, it does not act overwhelmingly on them and does not restrict their freedom. This is how it should be according to the universal law of God’s relations with rationally free beings. “God preserves inviolable the free will of man, preserving in it the feature of His image, and therefore, during the action of unlimited omnipotence, when His action must touch the inner spiritual state of man, he takes into account the free will of man” 702. When dealing with a person, a free being, “God does not drag him to heaven, like a slave in prison, because this would be unworthy of both God and heaven, and useless for an uncleaned person who, having brought earth or hell with him, could not resist in unrelated communion with pure, blessed forces” 703. This is how the gracious visit of God is depicted in one place of Scripture: Behold, I stand at the door and understand; If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and him with Me (Rev. 3:20). “He who lives in the unapproachable light, sitting on the throne of glory, hides His light, which even the eyes of the Cherubim cannot bear, descends into the lower world to approach a wretched, dilapidated hut, such as the soul of a person, born in sins and living, before He who created it with a church and in His image restores it and adorns it with His presence; He stands at its door, for whom the gates of death are opened with fear, before whom the gates of heaven are grounded, and who enters even with a closed door; as if he were a stranger without boldness, He carefully knocks on the doors that were closed before Him, and patiently waits to be heard: and this is because, bringing a new gift of grace to man, the Lord wants to preserve intact the ancient gift of freedom” 704. The grace of God not only does not suppress human freedom, but for its effect it necessarily requires some manifestation of it on the part of the person being saved. “Grace, powerful and effective, is announced and given to us in order to strengthen our weakness, encourage our hopelessness, inspire our good activity, and not in order to disturb our negligence and lull us into inaction. We pray, writes St. Paul to the Corinthian Christians, that you will not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6:1)... Apparently, this can happen when the Apostle so carefully warns against this... The saving grace of God is in itself, but does not save us without us” 705; “It is not characteristic of the grace of God to free a person from sin without his own will; grace does not want to force his will; does not want to take away from him the wonderful gift of freedom” 706. Under what conditions does grace act on a person? Faith as a necessary condition for the action of grace on the one being saved Saving grace can be compared to medicine. “Medicine does not cure what is contained in a vessel, but is introduced with its power into the body of the sick person through correct use.” “The most reliable medicine must be taken correctly in order for it to be healing and life-saving; and isn’t it often necessary to have a special art for the medicine to be taken, a special preparation for the medicine to have an effect?” It is very possible that at the time when the “all-healing healing of grace” is offered to a person, “the mouth of his soul is not opened; the hand does not extend, or trembles; and in vain the cup of salvation is bowed to him” 707. Therefore, certain conditions are required from each person to accept grace - “God’s mercy does not require merit that would be given in truth, but only a willingness to accept the grace given.” This readiness is expressed in living faith. “A soul without faith is a vessel closed for grace, but a believing soul is open. Faith opens the soul to receive grace. To be convinced of this action of God's faith, let's look at the action of human faith. In relations with a person to whom we have neither trust nor devotion, do we not notice that our soul is locked for him; that its effect on us glides, so to speak, on the surface of our heart, without penetrating inside it; that his reasoning does not convince us and does not touch us with his feelings, although they are not without force? On the contrary, to whom we trust and are devoted, even a light thought and a simple word bows our mind, penetrates our heart, moves our soul; and such communication of souls is sometimes so close that we find it appropriate to call it unity” 708. Let us confirm with appropriate evidence the proposition that saving grace is assimilated by us through faith. About Abraham it is said: Abraham believed Jehovah, and He counted this to him as righteousness (Gen. 15:6), i.e.: “a) Abraham did not have his own and natural righteousness; b) he did not acquire it through external acts of virtue; c) his faith was not only recognized as a virtuous action, since it was not so much a transitory action as a permanent property, but it was also placed as the basis of his righteousness, accepted before the immutable judgment of God instead of his merits. This is how the truth or justification of Abraham and the Apostle Paul is explained (Rom. 4:3-5)” 709. Old Testament circumcision also testifies to justification by faith. “This sign is explained by the Apostle when he calls the circumcision of Abraham the seal of the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:11) and when he calls our circumcision made without hands the circumcision of Christ (Col. 2:11) 710. If in the Old Testament faith in Christ served as a means of justification; then all the more power should it have in the New Testament, when an atoning sacrifice was made for people, for all have sinned and are deprived of the essence of the glory of God: we will be justified by His grace, by the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus, for whom God has proposed cleansing through faith in His blood. We imagine that by faith a man will be justified without the works of the law (Rom. 3:23-8). “The whole epistles to the Romans and Galatians belong here.” Thus, “grace justifies by the power of the merits of Jesus Christ, which a person assimilates to himself by living faith.” “Faith is the appropriate instrument of a saving touch to Christ; she is a spiritual magnet that attracts heavenly powers.” This can be explained by the following gospel stories. Once “a wife secretly touched Christ, ashamed to publicly explain her illness; but when His question is double; who is touching? showed her that her act could not be hidden; then she, although not without embarrassment, revealed both the intention and the effect of Her touch. The Lord, teaching her not to be ashamed of her previous illness, but to be comforted by the healing she received, at the same time reveals for everyone’s instruction the secret of her miraculous touch: be of good cheer, daughters, your faith will save you” (Luke 8:48) 711. “So, what was approaching and touching before the eyes of the body, according to spiritual contemplation, the Lord calls faith. This is how we should understand that search, approach, touch, as a result of which the power of the Lord was evident over a multitude of people, healing everyone. By faith they sought Him, with faith they approached Him, with spiritual faith they touched His power, they physically touched His most pure body or vestments”; rightly “they drew from the source of grace, as if they were stealing by force the all-healing power of the Savior. All power came from Him and healed” 712. In the story about the healing of the paralytic, “as if in passing, among the narrative, the name of faith appears: and Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven (Matthew 9:2). But upon careful examination, important and edifying truths are revealed here regarding faith. The first truth: faith has a beneficial effect on a sinner to receive forgiveness of sins. For the Evangelist does not notice in vain; that the Lord pronounced remission of sins, seeing faith. Apparently, the Lord acted not simply according to His will, not only because He had the sick person before His eyes, not even because He had compassion for the needy, although this is also characteristic of the Source of mercy, but because He saw faith. It is clear that if faith had not been provided for, the remission of sins would not have followed. God alone gives real forgiveness of sins; faith alone accepts it”... In these words, a particularly important truth testifying to the power of faith is that “the faith of one person can work beneficially for the benefit of another. The Gospel story says: Jesus seeing their faith, spoke to the paralytic. From this it is clear that it was not the faith of the paralytic himself, or at least not his faith alone, that attracted him to forgiveness of sins and healing; but the faith of some other people helped him: and when Jesus saw their faith,” i.e. brought the paralytic. “One soul that has attracted grace by faith through sincere communication with another soul can also impress upon it the effect of faith and facilitate the acceptance of grace. Thus, the souls of the bearers of the Gospel of the paralytic, on the one hand, strove to Christ by faith, on the other hand, through love for mankind and suffering, they clung to the soul of the paralytic: and when Jesus saw their faith, a current of grace flowed through Him through their souls onto the soul and body of the paralytic.” - Perhaps someone will say about this: “one believes, and the other is healed: what is the consistency here? One believes and the other is freed from sins: what is the truth here? To this it should be noted that “the spirit is higher than the flesh, grace is higher than nature, faith is higher than reason; Therefore, it is not surprising that the flesh does not understand how grace works; It is not clear to reason how faith works.” “Strict truth alone would not allow sins to be forgiven in any case; For this we need the help of mercy; and her mercy requires merit, which would be given in truth, but only readiness to accept the grace given” 713. That faith serves as a necessary condition for the Acceptance of grace can also be seen from those cases when unbelief blocks the saving current of grace-filled power. “It is said that everything is possible to a believer (Mark 9:23): through this it is also said that little is possible for a person of little faith, and nothing is impossible for an unbeliever that requires power higher than human power. One day the Apostles could not cast out a demon. Why are we not able to drive him out? - they asked the Lord. Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief (Matthew 17:19, 20). But what’s even more amazing is that the Almighty Lord Jesus, having once come to His fatherland, did not create many mighty powers because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58). Is omnipotence really weak against unbelief? No! It always remains omnipotent: but either a hardened heart does not accept the gracious power, just as a rough, ignoble stone does not accept light, or holy power, out of merciful precaution, does not touch the unworthy, like fire does not touch straw, so that it does not disappear in it 714. “The Savior Himself provides salvation to faith. Your faith will save you (Matthew 9:22), He often said to those on whom He performed miraculous healings. And he promised everyone, without exception: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). But is every faith the same? Is there no difference between faith and belief? What, for example, is that faith that the Apostle praises with such terrible praise when he says: you believe that there is only one God; do good things; and the demons believe and tremble (James 2:19). Who can be satisfied with such faith? What kind of faith is that that could save a person” 715? Living faith that saves, manifested in appropriate works – “Justification through faith, being a mystery of grace even in the times of the Apostles, was misunderstood by some carnal people. They wanted to be content with speculative and cold faith and thought that it both delivered them from condemnation for iniquity and freed them from the obligation to walk in the law of God. The Apostle James condemns this disembodied, dead faith and shows by the example of Abraham that true justifying faith is accomplished by works” 716. "Truly universal faith" 717 ; there is one “who in Abel offered an increased sacrifice more than Cain; which in Noah pleased God and saved the human race from final destruction by the flood; who in Abraham sacrificed her only begotten son to God and, through the distance of many centuries, saw the day of Christ; who in Moses crossed the sea with a rod and led the people of God through the abyss; which opened the eyes of the Prophets and made them contemporaries of hereditary (subsequent) events; who, as disciples and witnesses of Jesus Christ, left everything to follow His footsteps, and then by His power healed every ailment and every ulcer; she walked with Him on the waters, did not die in the terrible days of His death, received the promise of the Holy Spirit after His ascension; commanded all nature in His name, and conquered in His name the whole world of his persecutors” 718. Such strong faith can only be faith promoted by love (Gal. 5:6). “If there is no love, then faith has no strength and success and does not achieve salvation. Faith without love is an image without life (James 2:20); love, like the breath of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5), animates faith and makes it active and saving” 719. And the fulfillment of the law is inseparable from love, “Love,” says the Apostle, fulfill the law; there is fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8–10). This is not said in that sense, as if love allows one to fulfill the law without fulfilling it; No! She is the fulfillment of the law because she is the soul of the law, and the soul and the whole body animate and move: so love gives strength to the one who does the law, and makes the commandments easy to fulfill.” 720 It is impossible to imagine living, saving faith otherwise. To believe and not act on faith is “pernicious insolence and madness. Let us explain this with an example: if someone were to say to someone wandering in unknown and dangerous places: here is the path along which you can come to a safe place; and if he, having no reason to doubt this instruction, began to hesitate, or went in the opposite direction, perhaps to meet an animal or a robber, wouldn’t that be destructive insolence and madness? 721. "How? - another will say, - I believe in the consubstantial Trinity, in the Lord Jesus Christ the God-Man, in His saving suffering, death on the cross and resurrection, in His ascension to heaven and the coming judgment, in the gracious mysteries of the Holy Spirit, I reject all non-Orthodox wisdom: is this not pure faith in God?.. There is no dispute that this is truly Apostolic faith in the essence of its dogmas; but there may be doubt as to whether you really have it and how you have it. Since you have it in the Word of God and in the Creed, since it belongs to God, His Prophets, Apostles, Fathers of the Church, and not yet to you. When you have it in your thoughts and memory, then you begin to assimilate it to yourself; but I still fear for this property, because your faith in your thoughts, perhaps, is only a deposit by which you must receive the treasure, that is, the living power of faith. How to get it? - with the heart, as the Apostle Paul says: with the heart he believes in the truth (Rom. 10:10)" 722. “The mind is the eye of the soul, it tends to discern the truth and distinguish from lies, and accepting and, so to speak, assimilating it is a matter of the heart and will... To belief with the heart the Apostle adds confession with the lips (the lips are confessed for salvation), because, as the Chief of Salvation Himself said: out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34); and therefore, if the heart is filled with the spirit of faith, with the power of the saving gospel, then, without a doubt, the lips will belch out a confession of salvation at the right time; and if someone does not have the zeal to confess his faith in the testimony of the truth, then this shows that his heart is not sufficiently filled with the power of faith, that the saving gospel is not completely accepted by him. But oral confession can also be an imperfect manifestation of faith, and even insignificant, since some, as the Apostle denounces, confess God’s knowledge, but His deeds are rejected (Titus 1:16).” Only then “confession would not be one easy word, but at the same time a strong deed,” if someone “confessed his faith, like holy confessors and martyrs, amid the horrors of persecution, with threats of death for the faith.” “Without one who knows whether oral confession comes from true inner strength, from living faith. In the spring, trees also bloom that do not bear fruit, and because of the weakness of the roots and lack of sap, they themselves wither and dry up.” “Indeed, the received gospel, according to the lips, must be confessed by works of faith and by the whole Christian life” (Rom. 6:12–13; Col. 3:1–2) 723. In what deeds, by the way, should faith assimilated in the heart be manifested? - In matters of philanthropy. “If someone has assimilated faith into his heart, that is, in the depths of his soul he felt its dignity, holiness and power, loved it, clung to it, then as a result of this, according to the word of the Apostle, it is necessary for Christ to indwell faith in the heart (Eph. 3:17), that is, to bring into it His grace, His light, strength and life, His wisdom, love and virtue; and then (such a person) will love all people - it cannot be otherwise - with the love of Christ; and in love and gratitude to the one who suffered and died for him, he will be ready to suffer and die for those saved by His love and redeemed by His death; to put it briefly, as one becomes perfect in faith one will be perfect in love for mankind. Thus, one of two things: either a person has pure faith, and along with it, love for mankind, and in general Christian virtue and integrity, or, if he does not have these, then let him not be bold, boasting of faith alone, only verbal or mental.” “Love of mankind is an inseparable consequence of pure faith; the absence of an inseparable consequence must necessarily be a sign of the absence of an active principle; and consequently, where there is no love for mankind, pure faith cannot be assumed” 724. We must come to the same conclusion if we analyze the very concept of faith. “Applying the property of our language to the spirit of the Gospel teaching, it seems, without fear of error, we can recognize in the full concept of faith three subordinate and constituent concepts: confidence, trust and fidelity. When the Apostle says that without faith it is not possible to please God, but faith is fitting for one who comes to God, for He is also a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6), he points especially to the initial part of faith, to confidence in the truths of the knowledge of God, to the faith of the mind. But when the same Apostle in another place says about Abraham, that he believed in God, who gives life to the dead, and calls those who are not as though they are; that he is more than the hope of the hope of faith (Rom. 4:17-18): here it is no longer a simple faith of the mind, but a deeper and stronger faith of the heart; this unconditional devotion of a person to God, an unlimited trust in the promises of grace, without the need for any guarantee of arguments and certifications; this is the decisive direction of the soul towards the Divine, as if naturally encountering the grace of God... But that this kind of faith, even miraculous, can sometimes be incomplete, not justifying and not saving, the truly formidable saying of Christ does not allow us to doubt it: Matthew 7:22-3. So, a necessary addition to faith, for it to be justifying and saving, must be fidelity. The Apostle points to this addition of faith when he says: the righteous by faith will live, and even if he hurts, My soul will not be pleased with him. ( Heb. 10:38–39 ). Faith, the opposite of disastrous accusations, wavering, backsliding, inconstancy, betrayal, is fidelity - fidelity to God and Christ in the unchanging confession of the Orthodox faith, fidelity in relation to the commandments of God, consisting in their unslothful fulfillment, fidelity in relation to the sacraments, gifts, ministries, in the careful use of them according to the intention of God, for the glory God." Thus, in order for our faith to be a valid condition for justification and sanctification, we need “not only to accept the explained sacraments of faith without inquisitiveness of mind, with confidence, but to surrender to faith with all our soul, with all our life, so that faith is the main thought of our life and our whole life is an expression of faith” 725. Truly saving “faith can be likened to a beautiful tree, enriched with wonderful fruit” (Gal. 5:22–3) 726. Hope as a necessary companion to living faith A sign of a living, saving faith, in addition to active love, is also Christian hope, which is “rest of the heart in God with the assurance that He continually cares for our salvation and gives us the promised bliss” (1 Tim. 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:13) 727. The Apostle considers hope to be the basis of blessedness, along with faith and love (1 Cor. 13:13). Without hope there can be no strong faith. Here is the saying of the Lord about the power of faith: Amen I say to you, even as he who says to this mountain, He is moved and cast into the sea, and does not consider in his heart, but has faith, as he says, it happens: it will be done to him who also says (Mark 11:23). “But from this very saying one can see that this power of faith can produce its effect only with the help of hope. For the words: if he speaks and does not reflect in his heart, what do they mean other than that the word of faith must be strengthened in the heart by the power of hope? If a believer, but who has not entered the stage of perfect hope, wants to utter a word and do a work of faith, although not to move a mountain, but to remove some obstacle that makes it difficult on the path of salvation, the thoughts of his heart are divided and represent to him that what he wants is difficult, that God does not show His special help to everyone, that the times of miraculous faith have passed, and from such hopeless thoughts the spirit of faith crumbles, his word becomes weak and its work is not accomplished. Thus, one who does not strive to enter the level of perfect hope and falls from the level of faith” 728. The inextricable connection between faith, love and hope Living faith, necessarily manifested in love and united with hope, is one inseparable mood in the soul. Faith, hope, love are closely united with each other either by the fact that one cannot exist without the other, or by the fact that one is necessarily expressed in the other; there is a close, inextricable connection between them. We have seen that there cannot be strong faith without hope. In turn, “the acquisition of trust in God is made easier” by attentive reflection “about His omnipotence, wisdom, goodness, about the faithfulness of His promise, especially about His ineffable mercy in Jesus Christ, whom the Apostle Himself significantly calls our hope.” Faith and hope are necessarily manifested in love. “Faith gives birth to love, and hope, together with faith, nurtures” it. Faith and hope in relation to love are nothing more than “temporary, preparatory and particular virtues for the universal, complete and eternal”; because love believes all things, hopes all things, and never fails (1 Cor. 13:7–8) 729. But love itself has a beneficial effect on faith and hope. By demonstrating love in his life, a person acquires a “good testimony of conscience,” which “affirms hope in the mercy of God”; “hope in a merciful God brings with it confidence in the means of His mercy, or faith” 730. The difficulty of fulfilling the commandments of love forces us to “deeply and inwardly recognize the dignity and power of the merits and benefits of Jesus Christ, His suffering and death, for us propitiatory and cleansing from sins, His resurrection, for us the giver of life” 731. Man's own strengths in the matter of salvation So, “the highest principle of our salvation is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” On the part of the one being saved, it is required to “correspond to grace through faith, diligence and deed” - “to accept this seed of eternal life by faith, to place it in the heart with love, to deepen it with humility, to warm it with prayer and thoughts of God, to nourish or water it with tears of tenderness, to strengthen it with deeds of virtue” 732 . What is more important in the matter of salvation - grace, or the person himself? – The main power in the matter of salvation is grace (Luke 17:10) 733. The influences of grace and human efforts in the complex, continuous work of salvation are so closely united that it is very difficult to accurately determine what is a consequence of human efforts and what is the fruit of the influences of grace. All that remains for a person is “to work out salvation, not thinking that it will work out by itself, to work with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), not relying on what he does himself, and constantly being careful not to resist the action of God” 734. b) About the means through which the grace of God acts on man. On the common grace-filled calling to salvation The power of grace acts on a person, as a physical-spiritual being, through certain means. “If people’s hearts hadn’t grown weak, if they hadn’t heard the heavy hearing and didn’t close their eyes.; then all their feelings would be constantly filled with the voice of grace, anticipating and calling for conversion and salvation: a voice from without, proclaiming in visible nature; a voice from within - emanating from the depths of the soul; a voice descending from above in Divine revelation, a voice below, reflected in the events of the world, moved by the finger of the Lord and the breath of His lips.”... The collective voices and sighs of creation, the voice from the source of the original good in the world and the sigh from the abyss of the evil that has arisen, the voice of heavenly order and the sigh of earthly disorder, the voice of life and the sigh of death, the voice of the universal does not the preservation and sighing of universal incorruption say to every person: “who besides you could bring evil into the creation of the All-Good? Was it not you who turned the kingdom of splendor into an ugly desert and planted thorns and thistles around the fruits of life? How long do you yourself suffer and leave all creation with you to sigh and suffer? Until you turn with your whole being, so that all your dominion will come closer to you, to the One Author of all good and perfection, from Whom you have moved away, but Who is still so visibly approaching you from everywhere with His glory and His bounty? - “In a moment of inner silence, when thoughts tired of vanity return from their distraction, when satiated desires are renounced from their objects, and we accidentally begin to listen within ourselves (1 Tim. 4:16), do we not experience a certain emptiness in the spirit, a certain tightness in the heart, in which lies a deep and incessant sighing”? It is sometimes like the “tormenting roar of a lion” (Ps. 37:9), sometimes like the “softening moaning of a turtle dove.” It says that “walking in the stubborn ways of the world and the flesh only hurts and tires the soul; that in vain they expand for her the paths of her exile wandering, along which she moves even further away from the heavenly fatherland; that for her she must seek ways of returning to the Heavenly Father and a saving visit from above "... - "Since everything that exists and acts in the world is carried by the verb of the power of God (Heb. 1:3), then there is no doubt that in all the events of the world, insofar as they are the actions of Providence, the word of God is contained, and especially in the events that act on man - the word of God, extending to man!... Prosperity proclaims to him the love and mercy of God; temptations and sudden deliverances teach faith and trust in Providence; disasters expose sin and call for repentance; deprivation of temporary goods and external advantages preaches humility and self-sacrifice; obstacles and stumbling blocks in the ways of the world and the flesh call to the path of the Lord” 735. The Voice of Grace in Supernatural Revelation In view of the fact that the word of God, heard in nature and in the events of the world, is not sufficient for the conversion of a sinner, God “from time to time opened the ear of His elect, filled their spirit with His life-giving word, and formed them as the trumpets of His voice and the lips of His speaking to the sons of men in the language of the sons of men. “The father spoke in many parts and in various ways in the prophethood; in these last days he spoke to us in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2); henceforth He poured out His Spirit with new abundance on the Apostles, that they might prophesy, and through them He continues to pour out unto this day on all flesh (Joel 2:28)” 736. Special grace-filled means of salvation are the word of God and the sacraments. “At the intercession of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit who came to earth, breathing wherever he wants, breathes especially effectively and perceptibly in the word of the Gospel and in the sacraments of the church” 737. – “In the Gospel the word of Christ the Son of God is heard. And it is one and the same word with which He created the world, with which He carries all things, as the word of His power, which in the days of His flesh healed the sick, drove away demons, and raised the dead. What will it not do (now) for the believer?” 738. The Word of Christ, like God, acts infinitely powerfully; however, it never acts) unnecessarily” 739. “The Lord spoke; The verbs that I speak are spirit and life (John 6:63). These very words are announced to us in the Gospel; consequently, spirit and life come from them” 740. They “for sensual people are sensual sounds and writing, but for believers they are spirit and life” 741. Through them, “the power of grace enters and dwells in a person” (Heb.4:12; Rom.10:17; Eph.3:17) 742. Another, especially important means through which the grace of God acts is the Christian sacraments, into which “God introduced His Divine gracious and saving power, in order to introduce it into Christians through them” 743. “A sacrament is a sacred action through which grace, or, what is the same, the saving power of God, secretly acts on a person” 744. Sacraments are “vessels in which grace-filled, Divine power, victorious over evil, beneficial for good, is enclosed and open - visibly enclosed, invisibly open, enclosed for the searching mind, open for the believing heart” 745. “By the grace of the All-Holy Spirit (in the sacraments) a work is accomplished that is visible in its signs, invisible in its essence, mysterious in the relationship between its signs and its essence - a work that has the appearance of a human in its instruments, but is truly Divine in the power acting in it, not so much understandable to reason as tangible by faith - perhaps not quite tangible due to our imperfection, but nevertheless real and essential” 746. If the human mind “does not understand how the human soul is united with the body, then it would in vain strive to rise above itself and understand how in Divine institutions the material is united with the spiritual, the earthly with the heavenly, the natural with the supernatural, and how important this connection is for the production of grace-filled and saving actions in man.” Although it is incomprehensible, it is nevertheless certain that God was pleased to combine an invisible grace-filled power with certain visible actions. Here is proof of this from Old Testament life. “God predestined David as king to His people, and wants to announce this appointment to David and his family before the time has come to actually fulfill the predestination. Samuel is chosen as an instrument of God. What is needed for this? it seems, just go and say the word” ... “But what does the Lord say to Samuel? Fill your horn with oil (1 Samuel 16:1), and then: arise and anoint David (1 Samuel 16:12). If one cannot think that God would do anything unnecessary or useless (for to think so would be blasphemy), then one must conclude that in this case the anointing was beneficial even in the eyes of God, and therefore one cannot help but recognize it as important for man. This is even more clear from the direct effect of the anointing on David: his anointing in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord moved over David from that day, and then. Here the sacred anointing is not a simple rite to impress the audience, but a dead sign associated with the signified only in thoughts, and not in reality; but a mysterious action, in which the sensual form is invisibly accompanied or imbued with spiritual and Divine power, and with the pouring of oil on the anointed one the influx of grace is combined. If the Old Testament sacred ritual actions turn out to have such importance and power, whereas they were only the shadow of things to come (Col. 2:17), while we pour out the Holy Spirit abundantly, as Jesus was not glorified (John 7:38), then what should we think about the New Testament sacred and sacramental institutions, which received their origin from Jesus Christ Himself, while from His fulfillment we all receive acceptance and grace give grace (John 1:16); while the life-giving currents of the Holy Spirit, poured out abundantly on the Apostles because Jesus was already glorified, flow continuously 747 . By the grace of God, acting through many different means, and especially through the word of God and the sacraments, “man must be recreated, so that he is, according to the word of Scripture, a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17), or regenerated, so that in righteousness he can be called a new man (Eph. 4:24).” “If Christ Himself represents natural birth as an image of the spiritual, and if for natural birth a mother’s womb is needed, then for spiritual birth is not a mother’s womb necessary, not in the literal meaning of this word, as Nicodemus thought, but in a higher sense, corresponding to the subject? This question is both justified and resolved at once if we say that the mother’s womb and treasury of life for the New Man is the Church of Christ” 748. What is the Church of Christ and how does it “give birth to children of freedom and grace”? 749 The Savior wanted those who believed in Him to form a closely united society. “Departing from this world, He concluded his last conversation with the Apostles with a prayer for His newly created Church. To all who believe in Him, He asked from His Heavenly Father for unity in faith and love among themselves, ascending to unity with God Himself: that they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us (John 17:21)” 750. Christ made the unity of believers a necessary condition for salvation. That same time, having first prayed for His Apostles, He continued His prayer like this: I pray not for these only, but also for those who believe their words for Me, that they may all be one (John 17:21); not only does the Author and Finisher of faith care about this, that believers remain in the faith, but especially that believers are all one; so that if someone imagines he has faith, but does not adhere to the great unity of all believers, one must be very afraid for him, lest he remain outside the action of Christ’s saving prayer, and consequently outside salvation; for there is no doubt that only those for whom the Intercessor of God and men brought His prayer and over whom it was fulfilled will be saved. Therefore, the Apostle, exhorting Christians to act worthy of their calling, “exhorts them to maintain unity (Eph. 4:1-3). Revealing the foundations of Christian unity and urging the observance of it, the Apostle adds: one body, one spirit, just as you are called quickly in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all” 751. From these words of the Apostle we see not only that believers in Christ must form themselves into a single society, a single spiritual union, usually called the Church, but we also see what should lie at the basis of church unity. “The Apostle indicates the inner focus and the extreme height of church unity in the One God the Father and significantly adds that He is one over all, according to His highest power, one through all, according to the all-embracing and all-penetrating action of His providence and government, one in all of us, according to the inner grace-filled action of the Holy Spirit... A more open source of church unity, according to the teaching of the Apostle, is there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, who in the same epistle is identified as the Head of the Church, accordingly called His body” (Eph. 1:22–23; 4, 15–16) 752. Thus, the Church is nothing other than the great body of Christ, who is for her “the heart, or the beginning of life, and the head, or ruling wisdom.” “He who is united with Christ is united in Him with all those who are faithful to Him as much inseparable as incomprehensible union” - “a union closer than mere human society - a union not only of one power, mutual needs, common benefit, but also a union of one life” (1 Cor. 12:26) 753. The space of the Universal Church is not limited to any place, time, or people; it contains true believers of all places, times and peoples. The Apostle Paul says that those who preach the gospel exist throughout the whole world, and are fruitful and growing (Col. 1:5-6), and that in the Christian Church there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian and Scythian, slave and free, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11); Those who are of faith will be blessed together with faithful Abraham (Gal.3:9)” 754. “Not only all Orthodox Christians living on earth belong to the Church of Christ,” but also “all who died in true faith and holiness,” 755 and even not only people, but also Angels. This can be based, among other things, on the following words of the Apostle Paul. He says: “You are approaching Mount Zion, and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and ten thousand angels, the triumph, and the church of the firstborn, written in heaven, and God the Judge of all, and those perfect in the righteous spirit, and Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 12:18-24). That is: we Christians, entering into a covenant with God and Christ, approached the invisible Mount Zion, entered into immediate, spiritual communication with heaven; we have free and unrestricted access to communication with many Angels, with the majestic cathedral and church of the spirits of righteous people who have achieved spiritual perfection, written in heaven, as citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem, sincerely assimilated to God, just as the firstborn were once characteristically assimilated to Him; finally, in this community of heavenly citizens we have the boldness to approach the very King of the heavenly city, God and Christ.” “All this began from the words of the Lord’s promise: from now on you will see heaven open (John 1:51); it was fully and solemnly accomplished, I think, in the resurrection of the Lord and in the ascension into heaven. Since the fall of the first man and his expulsion from paradise, the doors of paradise and heaven have been closed to the human race; a cherub blocked the entrance with a flaming weapon. The flame of this weapon was extinguished by the blood and water from the side of Jesus suffering on the cross. To the resurrected Jesus through the sealed tombstone, the doors of heaven were opened as to God; but since He is collectively and man, they were also opened for humanity, and the opportunity was opened for us to approach the city of the living God, to ten thousand angels, to the Church of the firstborn, written in heaven” (Eph. 4:8) 756. The closest unity with the Church and its Head, Christ, should be the goal of every person’s life. “In the pure unity of faith and love (still) on earth, the ability for the highest union with God and the saints in heaven should be formed” 757. This ability can only be formed in the earthly Church, which is “an established society of people from God, united by the Orthodox faith, the law of God, the hierarchy and the sacraments” 758. Founding of the Church – Christ Both for the entire Church, and in particular for the visible Church, “Christ is both the foundation, according to the Apostolic word: no one can lay another foundation than the one who lies, who is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11), and the builder, according to His own word: I will build my Church (Matthew 16:18)” 759. He is “the original, deepest, one, universal, eternally unshakable, bearing all things, the foundation on which we must establish our hearts, our faith, our lives, our hope of salvation” (1 Pet. 2:4-5; cf. Eph. 2:20). From the words of the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 3:11) it is clear that he not only recognizes Jesus Christ as the original and unshakable foundation of the Church, but also denies the possibility of another similar foundation.” Ap also teaches exactly the same. Peter, who knows only one name, without which one cannot be saved - the name of Christ. For, he says, there is another name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12) 760. “The Word of God knows only one Head of the Church - Christ”; so “in addition to this Divine Head (it is impossible) to give the immortal body of the Church another head - a mortal one.” “The Church, which must endure throughout all generations of the age, requires an always abiding head, and such is one Jesus Christ.” The Church, as a single body, “cannot be two-headed” 761. How does the Supreme Creator, the Head of the Church, create the body of the Church? To find out this, let us mentally enter into that “house where I exist late, alone from the Sabbaths and the doors closed, holding the assembly of the disciples (John 20:19) of our Chief Shepherd. We will see Him there, standing in the midst of them, announcing them with peace, giving them the feel of His resurrected body, filling them with fear and joy, breathing on them with the Holy Spirit, and thus resurrecting and regenerating those killed by His death into the communion of His resurrected life, and immediately showing them the path that they must follow in this power of the Spirit. As the Father sent Me, I send you too (21),” He then said to His disciples (cf. Mark 16:15; 1 Cor. 9:16–17) 762. In fulfillment of this command of our Shepherd, the Church at first “was created by the preaching of the Apostles, by baptism from them, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit through their ordination, by the mysterious teaching from them of the life-giving Body and Blood of Christ to believers, by receiving from each other the spread of the priesthood with the power of mystery, and to knit and decide spiritually, through which the building of the Church by the Apostles began, and after Since these stones of foundation and confirmation were hidden in the invisible, heavenly Church, also through their successors, shepherds and teachers,” who should “edify the believers on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, that is, teaching them to act and themselves doing as the Apostles taught and acted,” the Supreme Creator Christ continually continues. He gave them both Apostles, prophets, evangelists, for the beginning of edification, and shepherds and teachers for the continuation of creation, both of them together for the perfection of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-2). Whether Paul, Apollos, or anyone else, but who, by succession from them, has accepted the same work of service, is an accomplice of God; the rest of the believers are God’s treasure, God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9)” 763. Thus, in the visible Church of Christ it is necessary to distinguish, first of all, the first God-chosen, its extraordinary builders, from their successors; both of them must be distinguished from other believers who are part of the Church, who “in the first Epistle of Peter are designated by the allegorical name of the flock (5:3), but the most common name among the leading Christians is the name of brethren” 764. Extraordinary Church Builders Of the extraordinary builders of the Church, “established by God primarily for the initial spread of the faith,” the main ones are the Apostles. “The distinctive advantages of the title of Apostle are: 1) their direct calling to service from Jesus Christ; 2) Divine inspiration, or the obvious communion of the Holy Spirit, guiding into all truth, and the resulting authority in teaching and government; 3) perfect agreement in revealed truths; 4) a vision of Jesus Christ, Whom they were supposed to be self-witnesses; 5) the ubiquity of service throughout the world; 6) abundance in miraculous gifts and the power to communicate the visible gifts of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and 7) the right to write canonical epistles." 765 Equality of apostolic power All the Apostles were equal builders of the Church; none of them had the advantage of power over the others. All of them are equally “auxiliary builders, building with the instruments of the word and the sacraments (1 Cor. 3:9-10)” 766. All of them are equally laid at the foundation of the building of the Church (Eph.2:20-22; Rev.21:10-14). Although at first Peter alone was promised the power to decide and knit (Matthew 16:19), soon the other Apostles were invested with the same power (Matthew 18:18). From the words of Jesus Christ: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church (Matthew 16:18), one cannot draw conclusions about the visible primacy of the Apex. Petra. Blazh. Augustine explains these words as follows: “Thou art Peter, saith Christ, and on this rock which thou hast confessed, on this rock which thou hast known by confessing: thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, I will build my Church.” On Me I will build you, not on you I will build Me (that is, My body, My Church). For those who wanted to edify men on the basis of men said: I am Paul, and I am Cephas (that is, Petrov, 1 Cor. 1:12). From this reasoning Bl. Augustine shows that the rock on which the Church is based is not Peter the Apostle, but Peter’s firm confession of Christ and Christ Himself - that those who say: I am Cephas, or Petrov, that is, I primarily belong to Peter, I recognize Peter as the head of all teachers and the Church itself, according to Bl. Augustine, they want to edify men on the basis of men.” The Apostle Peter had to build the Church not on himself, but on Christ. When he wanted to establish himself in his own thoughts and in his own strength and said: even if everyone is offended, I will never be offended (Matthew 26:33), then it soon turned out that he was building on sand: from the light wind from the lips of an idle slave, his spiritual church fell with a renunciation of Christ” 767. To Ap. Peter did not fall completely; Christ had to especially pray for him: I have prayed for you, so that your faith will not fail (Luke 22:32). This prayer, of course, did not give Ap. Peter some special power over the other Apostles. “Jesus Christ, in prayer for all the Apostles and all those who believe in Him, asked for incomparably more than what he asked for Peter” (John 17). In connection with the triple renunciation of Ap. Peter needs to put “the threefold commandment of Jesus Christ, according to the threefold question: do you love Me, given to Peter: feed (more precisely from the Greek: feed) My lambs, feed My sheep; feed (feed My sheep (John 21:15-7)." "By Peter's threefold confession (that is, this: Lord, you know that I love You) the crime of threefold rejection was atoned for (Matthew 26:69-75). Feed My sheep, said Jesus Christ, again placing him in the rank of apostleship, so that it would not seem violated through rejection, due to human weakness what happened." These words of Christ contained “a commandment, and not an honor, and not so much an authority as a position. And the position that the word of God entrusts to all servants of the faith: feed the flock of God (1 Pet. 5:2),” which is equivalent to the expression: feed the sheep and the lambs, because “in the flock are both sheep and lambs” 768. The need for a permanent hierarchy With the death of the Apostles, the hierarchy should not have ceased in the Church of Christ. “If the human body, governed by the necessity of nature, has a need for a court that would determine to its members the type and measure of activity and rest, contain its General and particular requirements within the limits of Justice and benefit, monitor its health and; discovering his illness, using medicine or completely separating what was alien to the life of the whole” 769, then the society of believers in Christ is all the more in need of governance. Power serves as a necessary condition for public improvement 770. “No society can be well-ordered, or even exist, without leaders or mentors.” “According to the word of Christ (John 17:3), eternal life, or eternal bliss, consists in knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. According to the word of the Apostle, it is fitting for one who comes to God to believe (Heb. 11:6). But God is incomprehensible; and Christ is the mystery hidden from ages and generations in God, but now revealed to His saints (Col. 1:26), not in the flickering of natural reason, but in the light of revelation of grace. Hence the question of the Apostle necessarily arises: how can they believe without hearing it? How can they hear without someone preaching (Rom. 10:14)? – We need a preacher of the truth of God, a mentor in the faith, a builder of the mysteries of grace. Faith, in order to be saving, requires life by faith. For faith without works is dead (James 2:26)), and, consequently, is unable to bring a person to eternal life. In order to live by faith and do good deeds, for this you need to know the commandments of God, combine understanding and fulfillment of them with the spirit of faith, and correctly apply them to various circumstances of life. Only someone who is inattentive to himself or is arrogant can say that for this he is content with himself and that he has no need for a mentor or adviser. We must constantly be either in labor against sin, which is already more or less living and active in us, or on guard against sin, which is ready to tempt, seduce, enslave and kill us. For this you need to look for a mentor who has feelings and has been trained by long teaching in the reasoning of good and evil (Heb. 5:14)” 771. The Church is the “universal leader” 772 in salvation because in her there are universal leaders of those being saved, builders of the building of the Church. “However, Hierarchy or Hierarchy is not similar to any type of worldly government, that is, such an order according to which certain persons, in accordance with their abilities and service, divided into categories and degrees, on the basis of the word of God, with the help of successive grace, act for the sanctification of souls in such a way that the eldest in spiritual power becomes a servant of all duties” 773. The basis of legal shepherding in the Church lies in the shepherding of Jesus Christ, “Who calls Himself the One Shepherd, because all other shepherds are only His pastoral instruments” 774. They “visibly represent His invisible shepherd and act by the authority entrusted to Him (1 Pet. 2:25)” 775. “As the Heavenly Father sent His Only Begotten Son, and the Only Begotten Son of God sent Apostles; and the Apostles, or rather the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, sent our God-bearing Fathers, and these others who succeeded them.” Through continuous embassy, ​​the shepherds of Christ's Church “join the golden, pure and Divine chain of messengers of the Lord 776. In this way, the pastors of the Church represent Christ Himself on earth, Who, “so that the ministering shepherds would listen as if it were the Supreme One Himself, proclaimed that listening to them and Him is one thing: listen to you, He listens to Me (Luke 10:16)” 777. Such power cannot be obtained from anyone else except from persons already vested with it. “God gave His Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11), and did not give it to everyone at will to appoint themselves as spiritual mentors. It is precisely about this that it is said that no one receives honor for himself, but he who is called from God (Heb. 5:4), either directly, as in the beginning the Apostles, or successively, through those called from God before” 778. “If He, by whom the whole body of the Church, the compositions and associations are given and so greatly increases the return of God (Col. 2:19), has not appointed someone through the eye or mouth of this body, then he should not assign to himself the special responsibilities of these members” 779. Our Savior, “so that they would recognize those given from Him (the shepherds), set a sign: the shepherd who enters through the door eats the sheep (John 10:2), that is, he who enters into this ministry through grace-filled election is a true shepherd” 780. Shepherds who do not enter by the door, according to the judgment of the Chief Shepherd, are also thieves (John 10:1); they, as “not called by God through the Hierarchy, did not accept either the honor of the names assigned to them, or the grace-filled power and authority” 781. The inviolability of hierarchical service was experienced by the king of Judah Uzziah, who, “exalted in his greatness, dared to stand with a censer before the altar of incense,” for which “in this very place, when he wanted to express his anger at the high priest Azariah and the eighty priests who denounced him, he was struck down with leprosy” 782. “From ancient times, the permanent and indispensable hierarchy of the Christian Church was divided into three degrees: bishop, presbyter and deacon. The name bishop signifies an overseer. The apostolic origin of this dignity, distinct from the title of elders, can be seen from the first letter to Timothy, where the Apostle Paul instructs him to use the authority entrusted to him to appoint elders and deacons (1 Tim. 3:5, 22), instruct them (5:1-2), encourage (17) and judge (19-20); from the letter to Titus, where this one also appears to have been left in Crete with the right to appoint elders (Titus 1:5) and govern them; from the Apocalypse, where each of the seven Asian churches is assigned one bishop under the name of Angel (Rev. 2:1). Ignatius the God-Bearer in his epistles, speaking about the clergy, usually names bishops, presbyters and deacons. Just as the power of the bishop includes that which belongs to the presbyter; then the positions and titles of the first were not strictly distinguished at first (Acts 20:9. 28; Tit. 1:5. 6. 7); while the advantage of bishopric has always been the right to ordain and guide elders. The name presbyter means an elder and was probably borrowed by Christians from the Jews, since the first presbyters were installed, no doubt, in Jerusalem (Acts 11:30). The office of the elders has always been to teach the people and administer the sacraments, depending on the bishops. They were also advisors to the bishops. The name of deacons, that is, ministers, common to the ministers of faith (1 Cor. 3:5), was assigned by the Apostles to the seven ministers of the meals established in Jerusalem (Acts 6:2); and following this example, this third degree of ministers of the Church was introduced in other places (1 Tim. 3:8). Their position at first consisted of taking care of the maintenance of the poor, and then of serving in the celebration of the sacraments. The example of Stephen and Philip shows that they could preach” 783. Shepherds as instruments of the sovereignty of Christ The pastors of the church, as Apostolic successors, must be equal to each other 784. The One Shepherd, “dividing His own Bishopric of souls (1 Pet. 2:25)” 785, endowed each shepherd of the Church with the same hierarchical authority. This power is limited to the boundaries of the individual church community. “The general confession and decree of the Universal Church is determined from the word of God by the general consent of the Universal Church through the mediation of its teachers - “by the assembly of pastors and teachers of the Christian Catholic Church, if possible, from the entire universe.” The conciliar form of church government is established by “the example of the Apostles who held the council in Jerusalem (Acts 15). The basis for this is also the saying of Jesus Christ, which gives the definitions of the Church such importance that he who disobeys them becomes deprived of grace, like a pagan (Matthew 18:17). The way in which the Universal Church pronounces its definitions is the Ecumenical Council” 786. Under conciliar government, the Church of Christ, both in the time of the Apostles, “represented, and still represents, the image of the supreme unity of command in Jesus Christ, governing it through His revelation and the gifts of the Holy Spirit” 787. The instruments of Christ's sovereignty are the shepherds; through them the Savior teaches people revealed truths and brings down grace 788. For this purpose, they are not only continuously sent from Apostolic times, but are also sanctified each time by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The gift of grace, which the risen Lord influenced the Apostles with His Divine breath and which was revealed in them by the descent of the Holy Spirit, through the ordination of the Apostles, and then paternal, flows in a continuous stream until the present priesthood and priesthood, and the mother-in-law will be until the end of the age 789. “As then, so now, the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28) places in the hierarchy and priesthood and acts in it to bring down grace, to multiply the living offspring of the Spirit of God and the vessel of grace” 790. The shepherds of the Church are sanctified by the special grace of the Holy Spirit in order to sanctify believers. The gracious means of sanctification in the hands of pastors are the word of God and the sacraments of the church. “There are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, communion, repentance, priesthood, marriage, consecration of oil.” “Are not seven pillars erected to establish the house of the Wisdom of God? Aren't the seven spirits of God sent to govern the Universal Church? Are not seven sacraments given for the sanctification of souls? How dare some, with a dreamy thought, crush this or that pillar of the house of God, and think that there may be a time when the seven spirits of God stop breathing in the Church; or; to put it more clearly, they damage and destroy the visible affirmation of the Church in the priesthood, and they do not want to recognize other church sacraments”? 791 “It is fitting for you to be born again,” the Lord said to Nicodemus in a late-night, solitary conversation with him. He did not say: you must be born again, although he spoke to only one person, but he said: it is fitting for you, so that it would be clear that this is not about the need of this or another person in particular, but that the law is spoken to all who desire to be true disciples of the heavenly Teacher, Jesus Christ.” “Regeneration is required in order to obtain the kingdom of God. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, says the Lord." 792 A person receives this rebirth through the sacrament of baptism. Just as “the entrance to the kingdom of nature is opened to man by natural birth,” just as “the kingdom of glory is opened by the resurrection from the dead and the final judgment,” so the entrance “to the kingdom of grace (is opened) by baptism” 793. Baptism is a sacrament in which a believer, by immersing his body three times in water, with the invocation of God the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, dies to a carnal, sinful life, and is reborn from the Holy Spirit into a spiritual, holy life 794. “The baptism of a Christian is birth by water and spirit (John 3:5), and birth is nothing other than the beginning of a new life; Consequently, a Christian in baptism receives new life, and, of course, that about which the Apostle said: “I live not for this purpose, but Christ lives in me” 795. In accordance with the promise: I will dwell in them and likewise (2 Cor. 6:6), God “really dwells in the souls of Christians by the grace of baptism” 796. For as many as were baptized into Christ, they put on Christ (Gal.3:27). And just as in Christ lives every fulfillment of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:6), then in those who have put on Christ there cannot but be present a certain power from the fulfillment of the Divinity, by which a new birth from God takes place in them (John 1:13)” 797. And the little ones received Him, and gave them the realm to become children of God, who believe in His name (John 1:12). From here “it is clear and certain that all believers, or, in other words, all partakers of the heavenly calling, all Christians, from first to last, are brethren, not according to the flesh, but according to grace, not according to earthly, but according to heavenly kinship, as children of the Heavenly Father... since all who have received Christian baptism have received cleansing from sins and sanctification in it (Eph. 5:25-6), then it is worthy of acceptance that all of us who believe, who have been baptized, are called heavenly partakers, by the power of faith, by the gift of grace, by the action of baptism, should be holy brethren (Heb. 3:1) 798. The doctrine of the grace of baptism leads to the recognition of its non-repetition. “As a member of a natural body never ceases to be a member, except through irrevocable cutting off and perfect death; So a person who has put on Christ in baptism never ceases to be a member of the body of Christ, except through irrevocable falling away from the Church of Christ and eternal death.” “Baptism is spiritual birth; but a person will be born once, therefore he will be baptized once” 799. In the external aspect of the sacrament, “the most important thing is the threefold immersion in water in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” In Apostolic times, “this sacrament was preceded by instruction in faith (Acts 8:35) and its confession (37), and was performed, in accordance with the institution of Jesus Christ, by the invocation of the Holy Trinity (Acts 19:4-5) and immersion of the body in water, as shown by the very name of baptism (baptismos) and its comparison with the death and burial of Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:3-4 ). The placement of this sacrament in the place of circumcision (Col. 2:11-12) and examples of entire families baptized by the Apostles (Acts 16:15-13; 18, 8; 1 Cor. 1:16) make it clear that this sacrament was also communicated to infants” 800. Divine institution of the sacrament Baptism, like all other sacraments, is of Divine origin. “Before Jesus entered into great service to the human race, John was sent to prepare His way.” Preaching repentance and the approach of the kingdom of heaven, he “received confession of sins and baptized in the Jordan,” which made it clear that baptism would be important in Christianity. This became even clearer when Christ Himself, “forcing (John) to baptize Himself, sanctified the sacrament of baptism with Himself and (by this event) opened His ministry of Redemption.” At this time, “baptism is sanctified not only by the example of the incarnate Only Begotten Son of God, but also by the influx of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, the presence and action of the entire Divine Consubstantial Trinity” 801. Between the Epiphany at the baptism of Christ and the time of the solemn establishment of the sacrament of baptism, there was an event that prepared people for the reception of the great sacrament. This is the healing of a thirty-eight-year-old paralytic at the sheep's font (John 5:2-9). “What is this image of healing? What sacrament is revealed to us? asks Saint Chrysostom, pointing to the Gospel story about the sheep font. “Once upon a time,” he answers, “baptism was given, containing much power and a great gift, baptism that cleanses all sins and makes the dead alive instead of the dead. And so all this is clearly signified through the font, and through many other waters, as if through an image. Let us dare to continue this explanation. It was necessary to demonstrate through experience immersion in water, which destroys all disease, in order to prepare minds for the discovery of baptism in water, which destroys all sins. It was necessary in the tangible phenomenon of the movement of water to allow one to notice the beneficial action of the Angelic spirit over it, in order to make the new-created and regenerative action of a Spirit higher than the Angelic, the Spirit of God itself, less incredible in the water of baptism. It was necessary that the beneficial power of the sheep font be given only to those who, with a zealous desire for healing, leave behind everything earthly. It was necessary to imagine the Angelic action as limited; it was necessary to keep the paralytic next to the Angel himself for thirty to eight years without healing, so that then, as Christ healed him with a single word, it would be obvious from this that this Healer is without comparison higher than the Angels, that His power is unlimited, that he is the Hypostatic Word of God and the true God” 802. Thus, the “sheep font with its accessories” represents “a small model of the great font in which the whole Christian world was reborn”; “she is an intelligible indicator of the lofty truth and incomprehensible mystery of Christ the Savior and God” 803. Baptism was finally established at the time when “after His resurrection, Christ gave the Apostles a solemn command: therefore, as you go, teach the tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19)” 804. The baptism instituted by Jesus Christ differs significantly from the baptism of John. John baptized with water, but you must be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), Christ said. If the baptism of Christ “was only baptism with water, it would hardly differ from the simple cleansing washings used during the Old Testament; it would be a rite and would not deserve the name of sacrament, which the Church distinctively gives it; the sovereign name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit would appear strangely inactive in baptism; to say that we were baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit, but were not baptized in the Spirit, would be an irreconcilable contradiction in itself. Those who are baptized into Christ, says the Apostle, put on Christ (Gal. 3:27): without a doubt, water cannot do this, but perhaps the spirit. If our baptism is more than baptism with water alone, then it is impossible not to admit that it is baptism with water and spirit, or, according to the word of the Lord, birth with water and spirit, and according to the Apostle’s expression, the bath of regeneration (Tim. 3:5); in a word, rebirth (1 Pet. 1:23).” “In the sacrament of baptism, the Spirit of God, breathing wherever He wants, breathes invisibly, and brings in His breath treasure, the incorruptible seed of rebirth, new life from God” 805. Having been mysteriously reborn in baptism into spiritual life for growth and strengthening in spiritual life, a person receives the corresponding grace in the sacrament of confirmation - “grace that spiritually grows and strengthens” 806. Confirmation is the name given to “a sacrament in which the believer, when anointing parts of the body with the sacred, in the name of the Holy Spirit, is given the gifts of the Holy Spirit, increasing and strengthening in spiritual life” - “anointing from the Holy One (1 John 2:20. 27; 2 Cor. 1:21-22), confirmation in faith and the actual use of spiritual gifts.” “One might think that the words of the Apostle John (about anointing from the Holy One) also apply to visible anointing; but it is more known that the Apostles, to communicate the gifts of the Holy Spirit to those baptized, used ordination (Acts 8:14. 16).” Such an external action of the sacrament “could especially signify: 1) God’s blessing, following the example of Patriarch James, 2) communion with the spiritual priesthood, in the image of the Levitical consecration, 3) the offering of the one receiving ordination as a sacrifice to God, since this rite was used over sacrificial animals, and 4) spiritual enlightenment, just as this was a consequence of the ordination of Moses over Jesus.” 807. “The successors of the Apostles, instead of ordination, began to use anointing, which could serve as an example of the anointing used during the Old Testament (Ex. 30:25; 1 Kings 1:39; Dion. Areop. about church hierarch. Chapter IV)” 808. About the sacrament of communion. The concept of it Just as the life of a plant requires not only the power of growth, but also the soil, the elements of which the plant organism feeds; so for a regenerated person, in addition to the grace-filled power of growth, appropriate food is needed. “Only Divine food can truly nourish, and only Divine healing can heal the aching soul of man, which in its beginning is the breath of life from the mouth of God. But since the Divine, in its essence, cannot but be hidden for man, it was necessary to invent a means of making Divine food and healing accessible and acceptable to man in the simplicity of faith. “Such food and in this form is served to the believer in the sacrament of communion, “in which the believer, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ for eternal life” 809. “The Son of God offers us in mysterious food and drink, and in all-healing medicine, under the forms of bread and wine, His Divine Body and His Divine Blood. Yaste, he says, this is My body. Drink of it, all of you, this is My blood. Perhaps something similar to this meal will appear when a mother feeds her baby with her milk, which is separated from her body and blood only for the duration of this feeding. But how small is this likeness compared to the great sacrament! The mother teaches the baby only the excess of her body, prepared for this by nature - she teaches without difficulty, and even to her relief from the excess that could burden her. Our Divine Nourisher teaches us His very Body, His whole Body, teaches it with the sweetness of love, without comparison exceeding that of a mother, but at the same time teaches us His Body, prepared for us as food through bitter and mortal suffering. This, he says, is My body, broken for you. This is My blood, which is shed for you and for many. As the wheat suffers in the millstones, and under the hand of the breadmaker, and in the kindled oven, let there be bread that strengthens the heart of man; as the blood of Grozdovo suffers in the oppression of the winepress, let there be wine that gladdens the heart of man; Thus, the incarnate Son of God deigned to give up His Body to various sufferings, the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem and Golgotha, and allowed His Blood to be poured out long-sufferingly in the torments of the Cross and the Cross, in order in them to prepare for us the food and drink of life and healing, immortality and bliss” 810. “The Lord, and His words that are handed down to us - the Holy Scriptures (Luke 22:19-20), speak of St. The Eucharist not only as a remembrance, but as a true sacrifice for all" 811. “By arranging and preparing the communion of the saving sacrifice everywhere and every day on the mysterious altar, Christ renews every day His incarnation and sacrifice on the cross” 812; “renews the same thing that on Golgotha ​​made all creation tremble, and shook the earth, and crushed the stones, and brought mortal darkness upon the animal eye of the world” 813. In the Old Testament church there were “bloody, wordless, imperfect harbingers of the one universal sacrifice, all-saving suffering, death and resurrection of Christ; (in a Christian church) a bloodless sacrifice, verbal service, the everlasting renewal of the living sacrifice of Christ the Savior, in the sacrament of His Body and Blood” 814. This is the sacrament of the Eucharist. As great as the sacrament of communion is, its fruits should be so important for believers. He who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ “is most closely united with Jesus Christ Himself, and in Him becomes a partaker of eternal life” 815. “Where is the Body and Blood of the Lord, crucified but also risen, there, without a doubt, is His Spirit and His Divinity; He Himself is present there” 816. “What could be more desirable and beneficial than this mysterious union with Christ, in Whom dwells every fulfillment of the physical Divinity?” 817. When those who eat receive “the Body (of Christ), not separated from the spirit of Christ the God-man,” at that time Christ “feeds (them) with spirit and truth, that they may be one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17), feeds with His Body and Blood, that they may share His one body, of His flesh and of His bones (Eph. 5:30),” “and in fellowship His universal sacrifices He will exalt us entirely as an acceptable offering to His Father” 818. Although “from the Divine body (Christ), which suffered for us, from the Divine blood (Christ), shed for us, a cleansing power was extended to all humanity; but primarily (it extends) to those who are part of the mystical body (of Christ), through the sacrament of holy baptism and the holy Eucharist” 819. “The grace-filled gifts given to us in the communion of the Lord’s Table, grace-filled nutrition, healing, strengthening, enlightenment, reflection of evil, incorruption are most comprehended by faith and embraced by hope, above vision and sensation, although, however, according to the measure of faith, according to the need, according to the measure of attention, dignity, purity, and in experienced sensation and in obvious action, they are recognized by many in a variety of ways. According to the manifold power of Divine food and drink, according to the manifold wisdom and goodness of the Divine Nourisher, the tangible fruit of partaking of the Lord's table is for the believer either indescribable joy in the heart, then sweet silence in the soul, now lightness in the mind, now deep peace in the conscience, now the calming of overwhelming temptations, now the cessation of mental and physical suffering, and sometimes complete healing, then a lively feeling of love for the Lord, or an increase in zeal and strength for spiritual exploits and virtues” 820. The blessed fruits of the Eucharist show us all the necessity of it for our salvation. “In establishing His Divine table, the Lord says: take, eat (Mark 4:22). Wouldn’t it be enough to say: taste, so that you can understand that it is enough to partake of the Lord’s table just once, or to partake of it sometimes, when there is a special need, just as one uses medicine: for this meal actually contains powerful medicine for souls and bodies; and his power, as Divine, is so great that if one eats of this bread even once, it will be enough for him to live forever (John 4:51). But no! The Lord offered us His Body not for a one-time, or infrequent and occasional use, as medicine, but for constant and everlasting nutrition: eat... When the Lord gave it to us as our daily bread, according to His word: bread, which I will give, my flesh (John 6:51), then through this very thing he not only allowed, but also commanded that we often begin to eat His meal.” “Another founding word of the Lord, namely about the Holy Cup, says: drink of it, all of you (Matthew 26). The Lord did not say about the mysterious bread: take, eat, all of you; and righteously, for some cannot eat, for example infants. But about the mystical cup he said: drink from it, all of you, and thus eliminated any exception, of course for those who remain in faith and church unity” 821. Communion of the Body and Blood cannot be replaced by spiritual communion, as some people think to do. “Christ the Savior established the sacrament (Eucharist) to remember Him and His saving suffering; He suffered not only in spirit, but also in body and blood; therefore, body and blood essentially belong to the sacrament, and to remove or replace them means to completely destroy the sacrament” 822. By what external action is the sacrament of the Eucharist, so beneficial and necessary for our salvation, performed? “Bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ when the word of Jesus Christ is proclaimed at the liturgy: receive, etc., which constitute the eternal law, the foundation and preparation of the sacrament, and therefore are essential in it, as all liturgies testify - when the Holy Spirit is invoked as the performer of transubstantiation, and the Holy gifts are blessed, through which the sacramental transposition is truly and finally accomplished” 823 ; “the image by which bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord”, “cannot be comprehended by anyone except God”; but there is no doubt that “truly, truly and essentially, the bread is the very true Body of the Lord, and the wine the very Blood of the Lord. Similarly, John of Damascus writes about the Holy and Most Pure Mysteries of the Lord: The Body is truly united with the Divinity, which began to be perceived from the Holy Virgin, not as the ascended Body descends from heaven, but as the very bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of God. If, as happens, you are looking for an image, it is enough to hear that by the Holy Spirit, in the same image and from the Mother of God, by the Holy Spirit, the Lord made flesh for Himself and in Himself; below is more than we know, but only because God’s word is true, valid and omnipotent, but an untested image” 824. To accomplish transubstantiation, first of all, the words of establishing the sacrament are necessary. “The Church has never rejected this 825. Those who think otherwise can be objected: “by attributing transubstantiation to the mere words of the priest, you are insulting the words of Christ, presenting them without any power or effect, but thinking to produce the Divine effect with human words” 826 . But those who, “attributing all the mysterious effect to these words alone, make prayer and blessing unnecessary, contrary to the clear word of the Apostle: the cup of blessing blesses (Cor. 10:16)” 827 are also mistaken. The necessity for the transubstantiation of prayer and blessing is confirmed by secretly effective prayer itself. When pronouncing the words of the prayer: and create this bread, “obviously, the celebrant has before him still bread that has not yet been created by the Body of Christ, the consecration of which, however, began in the proskomedia, and, of course, not in vain, and not without any significance. But when this blessing is completed, the celebrant, through earthly worship, already expresses reverence for the Body and Blood of Christ” 828. If after this we ask: “What finally accomplishes transubstantiation? The necessary answer is: blessing" 829. “A person is born infected with ancestral sin. Holy baptism revives him into a new life, but does not immediately destroy the life of the Old man, for the all-effective grace of God gives place to the action of faith and the deed of man, so that mercy is not without truth and so that we voluntarily accept salvation. Thus, the regenerate one was not ashamed to admit that if we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8), if we say that there is no sin, we deceive ourselves” 830. Indeed, “who does not see that ancient leprosy is crumbling into new sores and after cleansing (in the sacrament of baptism) the root of evil constantly gives to the branch? What right do we have to want God to leave us in the blink of an eye those sins that we want and do not want to leave throughout our entire lives? 831 Even “those who in the first times of Christianity, at full age, with the free use of reason, having, by inner conviction, renounced all filthiness of the flesh and spirit with the first and decisive repentance, passed through the all-purifying bath of baptism, (even) later, over time, more or less dark stains appeared on the robe of the soul, requiring a new cleansing power of repentance.” “What can we say about us, whom the grace of baptism visited without our knowledge, not met with repentance, not accompanied by gratitude? An important advantage is to be protected by the shrine of baptism before the innate seed of sin develops and grows in arbitrary sins; but did our parents, adoptees, educators, and finally we ourselves, take advantage of this advantage quite correctly for us?” 832 If John the Baptist, Christ Himself and His Apostles preached to all people about the need for repentance, and not as a temporary need, but as a permanent one; then it is natural to assume that they had in mind a real means that could satisfy this universal need. This means is the confession of sins, which must be followed by God, as faithful and righteous, the remission of sins and cleansing from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9; cf. James 5:16) 833. “To the apostles, Jesus Christ promised the power to forgive sins when he said: if you bind on earth, they will be bound in heaven, and if you loose on earth, they will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). After His resurrection, He really gave this power when He said: receive the Holy Spirit; and if you forgive sins, they will be forgiven them, and by them you hold, they are held (John 20:22-3)” 834. This is how Jesus Christ established the sacrament of repentance. Before the resurrection, the Apostles “knew repentance as a feat,” “as a need and duty.” After the resurrection of Christ, after He opened their minds to understand the scriptures, they “knew repentance more deeply in the name of Jesus, as the spirit and power of achievement”; “they knew more perfectly its fruit and reward, remission of sins” 835. “After this, “repentance is no longer a fire that devours the soul (of a sinner), but a quiet rain that waters it, because he (the sinner) plunges his sins into the blood and water that flowed from the side of the Savior.” The grace of cleansing (from sins) is poured out as many times as our vessel is opened and abolished for it” 836. Thus, “tears of repentance and the deeply fallen Peter were restored to the supreme Apostleship; and Paul’s repentance, not yet begun, but foreseen, was accepted by the arms of the Savior of sinners extended from heaven” 837. However, the grace given in the sacrament of repentance does not save the one who abuses the mercy of God. “What would we think of a son who would not cease to multiply insults to his good father, precisely because he received forgiveness in many previous cases, or remained without punishment? Wouldn't they consider such a monster, unworthy of any more forgiveness, below the name of his son? Such is a man in the eyes of the Heavenly Father who does not cease to multiply his sins, in the daring hope of an abundance of forgiving grace 838. Thus, “repentance is a sacrament in which the one who confesses his sins, with a visible expression of forgiveness (from the shepherd of the Church), is invisibly absolved from sins by Jesus Christ Himself 839. In case of bodily illnesses, the sacrament of consecration of oil was established, “in which, when anointing the body with oil, the grace of God is invoked on the sick person, healing mental and physical infirmities.” “This sacrament originates from the Apostles, who, having received power from Jesus Christ, anointed the sick with oil and healed them (Mark 6:13).” “It is obvious that this anointing of oil was performed at the command of the Lord, and thus the Holy Scripture testifies that the consecration of oil was established and given by the Lord Himself 840. The Apostles handed over this sacrament to the clergy of the Church, as can be seen from the words of the Apostle James (James 5:14–5). The Apostle “clearly distinguishes two actions of presbyteral prayer and sacred anointing: healing of the soul: if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him, and healing of the body: the Lord will raise it up, of course, not always unconditionally, but according to the measure of faith and according to the saving types of God’s Providence” 841. Civil unions, composed of individual families, and religious unions, formed by believers in Christ, have their own needs, different from the private religious and moral needs satisfied by the sacraments discussed above. – To meet these special social needs, there are two special sacraments: marriage and priesthood. Marriage is a sacrament in which, with the bride and groom freely promising before the priest and the Church in their mutual marital fidelity, their marital union is blessed, in the image of the spiritual union of Christ with the Church, and the grace of pure unanimity is asked for the blessed birth and Christian upbringing of children. That marriage is a sacrament is clear from the words of the Apostle Paul (Eph.5:31–32) 842. Priesthood is the name given to such a sacrament, “in which the Holy Spirit, who has been rightly chosen, through the ordination of a hierarch, ordains to perform the sacraments and shepherd the flock of Christ” (1 Cor. 4:1; Acts 20:28) 843. Ordination in the sacrament of the priesthood “is not a rite signifying the impartation of office and power, just as, for example, kissing the face is a rite expressing the communion of Christian brotherly love” 844: ordination is a sacred act necessary to receive the grace of the priesthood 845. The Holy Apostle Paul, who in a miraculous revelation saw the Lord Jesus Christ and from Him directly accepted the call to the faith of Christ and to the Apostolic service, when the time came for him to actually begin to establish churches and the priesthood in them, then he and Barnabas accepted for this purpose the ordination of Simeon, Luke and Manael. Then (says the book of the Acts of the Apostles) having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, she sent them away (Acts 13:3). So necessary and so important is sacramental ordination! “The need for ordination involves more than just a rite.” “When (Apostle Paul) taught those ordained by him the duties of their ministry, then he said to them: the Holy Spirit has appointed you bishops (Acts 20:29)" 846. Through ordination, the ordained one is informed of "the current of hierarchical grace, poured out on the Apostles by the descent of the Holy Spirit, extending from generation to generation, from century to century, through successive ordinations, communicating to those who are ordained is the gift of God, living in them from then on (1 Tim. 4:14) and secretly acting in the church." 847 At ordination, the same gift is transmitted that "God taught the Word to the Apostle by word, but also by inspiration, for the sake of consubstantiality with the Holy Spirit; consubstantiality with God the Word; and who, finally, in the Apostles and their successors, as instruments of the Spirit, also chose the hand as an instrument and a sign, as the most powerful of instruments” 848. The grace given in the sacrament of the priesthood is “part of that gift with which the evangelists betrayed and preserved the Gospel of Christ intact, with which the Prophets illuminated the darkness of the hidden and the future, with which the Apostles transformed the pagan world into a Christian one, with which John thundered about God the Word, with which Peter shook the synagogue, with which Paul carried out the gospel from Jerusalem and around even to Illyricum Christ (Rom.15:19; cf. Eph.4:11) 849. From the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy about the gift of God received through the laying on of hands (2 Tim. 1:5; cf. 1 Tim. 4:14), it is clear that “it is not just a gift laid down and given to the will of the recipient, but living and, as is characteristic of the living, having its own power and effect.” “As in a grafted tree there lives a force that produces fruit according to the type and quality of the graft; so in a person in whom, through sacred secret action, the power of grace is, so to speak, instilled, it then lives, acts through him, and produces fruit of grace according to the kind and degree in which it is imparted” 850. It “extends the highest power and action onto natural human forces and actions; It illuminates the mind to discern what is true, righteous and saving for souls and for the entire Church, strengthens the will for exploits for the truth and righteousness for salvation.” If the ordained do not rekindle the gift of God (living in them), then its action may fade away in them or retreat into a mysterious depth, from which, although it will not cease to extend through them in the performance of the sacraments, it will not actually pour out on them and on their lives” 851. The grace of the priesthood is not imparted to hierarchical persons in the same measure. The bishop receives the fullness of grace. “From this fullness of God’s gift, the bishop, by his ordination, imparts to a lesser extent the grace of the priesthood, necessary for the lower degrees of the hierarchy, so that without episcopacy there would be neither presbytery nor deaconry. In this meaning of episcopal ordination, its continuity turns out to be necessary; because with the suppression of ordination, the flow of hierarchical grace is stopped, and a hand, not watered by grace from above, cannot convey to others what it itself has not received” 852. “Let there not be an untamed curiosity about how spiritual power is transmitted by the laying on of hands, or sacred writings, or vestments; but let a reverent mind observe and consider how even in those times when the currents of grace were not as open as they were in the wounds of the crucified Savior - still, I say, in those times Elijah, for example, casts his vestments on Elisha, and he feels an irresistible urge to leave everything, so that suddenly from a simple farmer he will be reborn into the son of the prophet; how again the same Elijah, at the moment of his ascension, casts down his mantle on Elisha, and he receives with it the deep spirit of his initiator; or how the least gracious of the bishops (because he pronounced condemnation on Grace and Truth Itself) still discovers in himself the highest prophetic power, only because he is a bishop: he is not speaking about himself, notes the Holy Evangelist, but, this Bishop, he is prophesying (John 11:51). If even during the times of the canopy and fortune-telling the secret power sometimes shone so clearly: what should we think about the times of grace and truth itself? If in a vessel full of hellish influences the grace of the bishops who had previously been influenced into it still continued to act: what can we say about vessels that were not only sanctified in their time by the sacrament, but also preserve, multiply, and renew their sanctification through pure faith, pure prayer, pure life, and cleansing repentance? 853. The earthly church, as a means of uniting and sanctifying believers. “The True Church is created in such a way that the head and foundation of all believers is Christ, they are established on Him, and by the succession from His Apostles of sacred ordination, and by the communion of other sacraments, Orthodox shepherds and teachers of all times and places are inextricably united, and with them other believers.”854 At the same time, “the hierarchy and priesthood, which from the one living Vine, Christ, through the Apostles, proceeds to like branches extending over all places, continuing through all times and never being cut off, grafts believers into one and the same living Vine, spiritual and Divine” 855. Thus, the shepherds placed at the head of the visible Church do not separate the believers from Christ, but, on the contrary, they were established for this purpose in order to create from those who believe in Christ one organism, one body, which includes the shepherds of the Church themselves. The external unity of the Church is expressed in the Ecumenical Council. “The center of church unity has always been and is in the Spirit of Christ” (Eph. 4:3–6) 856. The following “features of church unity are: the unity of the calling to salvation and the hope of future blessings, the unity of faith and its dogmas, the unity of baptism and the sacraments in general, and finally the unanimity and union of peace” 857. The external institution that fosters the unity of believers both among themselves and with Christ is the church, which contains everything that serves to unite the members of the earthly Church 858. Knowing what the unity of the Church consists of, it is not difficult to “agree with the unity of the Church that there are many separate and independent Churches, for example, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Russia. These are the essence of private Churches, or parts of the one universal Church. The separateness of their visible structure does not prevent them from spiritually being great members of the one body of the universal Church, having one Head, Christ, and one spirit of faith and grace” 859. The unity of the universal Church is not destroyed even if private church communities, with the unity of faith, hierarchy and sacraments, with the communion of love, have “some random diversity in rituals.” “If the Church is to be the body of Christ,” then the universal Church must be one, because “no one has ever attributed many bodies to Christ” 860. The earthly Church unites its members not only among themselves, but also with members of the heavenly Church. “The Holy Church strives in various ways to bring us closer from the visible to the invisible. Thus, during the secret operation, she not only represents the invisible Angels as present and co-serving, but also commands us ourselves to mysteriously depict the Cherubim within ourselves. Thus, she calls us to solemnly commemorate the saints who have passed from the visible to the invisible. And God’s Providence partly draws us into communication with them through their visible miraculous remains, but partly hides these from our vision, so that faith learns, without the help of the visible, to ascend to the invisible” 861. “If the universal Church is the body of Christ the Son of God, then this body, without a doubt, is always pure, because anything contrary to this would be unworthy of the Son of God” 862. The entire structure of the earthly Church speaks for the purity and holiness of the Church, aimed at making believers holy and blameless 863. Believers in Christ are sanctified and continually sanctified by Him “through His sufferings, through His teaching, through His prayer, and through the sacraments” ( Eph. 5:25–7 ) ( John 17:17, 19 ) 864 . The earthly Church also receives sanctification through communion with the heavenly Church 865 “If even in the heavenly hierarchy, as God-enlightened contemplatives will tell us, not everyone is able to directly receive the Divine Light, but the blessed spirits of the highest ranks transmit it to the blessed spirits of the lower degrees; then how much more so for us who are on earth, it may be useful and beneficial, under the one supreme Intercessor of God and men, the God-man Christ, the subordinate grace-filled mediation of the saints, so that the supreme grace of God, often not accessible to us, due to the lack of purity of mind and exaltation of the heart, due to the burdening of the spirit with the flesh, due to the incommunicability of the highest purity God with a nature uncleaned from sin, so that the grace of God itself descends to our baseness and is more closely adapted to our particular and gradual needs, through the private and gradual gifts that the Holy Spirit shares with the saints” 866. The saints are truly nothing more than vessels of grace and sources of the sanctifying, miraculous power of God; Not only are they like this themselves, but sometimes, by the will of God, their very bodies are like this. Jesus Christ “as God works all in all (1 Cor. 12:6), he works now, just as he worked from the beginning, and will work until the end; acts in the small as well as in the great; acts both in the entire Church, which is His body, and in all believers, who are His members. He is imagined in them (Gal. 4:19), lives in them (Gal. 2:20), and just as in the None Himself lives every bodily fulfillment of the Divinity (Col. 2:9), so, according to a certain image of this Divine sacrament, He also deigns to live in His chosen ones even bodily, since He finds them capable of internal communion with Him. Does He acquire a mind constantly turned to Him with reverence and prayer? He is imagined in the mind, fills it with His light, His truth, His unknown and secret wisdom reveals to him (Ps. 50:8). Does a heart that is open to Him in repentance gain faith and love for Him? He dwells in the heart (Eph. 8:17) and with Himself brings into it new life, instead of the carnal, spiritual, instead of the earthly, heavenly, transforms human love into Divine, and human properties into Angelic. Does the body finally acquire, in conformity with the soul, constantly purified by abstinence and deeds and therefore capable of receiving and preserving in itself, as it were, certain imprints and traces of the inner movements of grace? And it, in some way, even in earthly life, begins to be God-bearing. Like a vessel in which fragrant ointment is stored for a long time, it borrows the power of fragrance from it; Thus, the very body of a Christian, in which the grace-filled power of Christ constantly dwells, is permeated by it in its entire composition, and is even fragrant with it for others. And since the power of Christ is incorruptible, it is natural that, when it dwells (2 Cor. 12:9) in people who are Christ’s (Gal. 5:24), it imparts incorruption to their bodies; since the power of Christ is omnipotent, it is in accordance with its nature that it works miracles through them, when it is pleasing to the Lord, just as it once worked miracles through the heads and ubrusts, who were on the body of the Holy Apostle Paul and received the water from him (Acts 19:12), and through one overshadowing of the shadow of the Holy Apostle Peter (Acts 5:15)” 867 . Thus, “it is fair that if anyone cleanses himself, the vessel will be sanctified in honor and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work (2 Tim. 2:11). Therefore, the saints, as vessels, purified by faith and spiritual deeds, filled with grace, opened and delivered by love, are not so much recipients and distributors of blessings, for a time, according to position, according to need, but rather living streams of blessings, inexhaustibly flowing and irrigating. The blessing of Christ continually flows into them and overflows through them.”868 The Visible and Invisible Church However, the Church has both healthy members and weak ones (1 Cor. 8:10–11). Even in the time of the Apostles there were many uncleanly preaching the word of God (and Cor. 2:17)” 869. But this does not prevent the Church from being holy. “Those who sin, but cleanse themselves by true repentance, do not prevent the Church from being holy, and sinners who are unrepentant, either by the visible action of church authority, or by the invisible action of the judgment of God, like dead members, are cut off from the body of the Church; in this way she is kept holy from this side too” (1 Cor. 5:18; 1 Tim. 2:19) 870. Not everyone who is considered a member of the visible Church is necessarily saved through this, but through this he is certainly a member of the heavenly Church. Only Christ, the Head of the body of the Church, “knows the full measure and internal composition of this body. We know various parts of it, and a more external image, spread out over space and time." “In this visible image or visible Church is the invisible body of Christ, or the invisible Church, the glorious Church, having no filth or defect or anything from such (Eph. 5:27), but whose glory is all within (Ps. 47:14) and which therefore we, purely and separately, do not see, but in which, following the symbol, we believe, for faith is the evidence of invisible things ( Heb.11:1)" 871. “The building of God (the Church), so visible as a whole, is imprinted with such intimacy in its parts and its internal composition that only the Lord truly knows His existence” 872. The sure foundation of God stands, having this seal: The Lord who is is will give His praise, and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness (2 Tim. 2:19). A solid foundation “means that which is especially built on the Son of God, as on the universal foundation, in the human race; that which is built on Jesus Christ, as on the deepest foundation, is built in every truly Christian soul” 873; why it is possible to distinguish who is God's, who is truly saved. “Perfect appropriation to God” is hidden both from the person being saved and from outside observers. “The gracious foundation of God is hidden in people, because it is placed in the very depths of the soul, so that deeper than that nothing human remains that could weaken the firmness of the Divine foundation. This, as the Apostle puts it, is the hidden man of the heart (1 Peter 3:4): you cannot meet him at the crossroads, or see him in a mirror. The foundation of God is hidden from the world, partly not by intention, but by the natural consequence of its sensory formation. The world does not see the saints, just as the blind do not see the light. The foundation of grace is hidden in people, partly by the intention of the Providence of God that protects them, so that hostile forces that threaten it with destruction can all the less attack it. Likewise, the foundation of an earthly, material building is hidden in the ground, because, if it were exposed and subject to the variable action of the elements, it would weaken and weaken the entire building along with it. The foundation of God is hidden in man and from this man himself, so that he does not imagine himself to be something, nothing (Gal. 6:3), and does not deceive himself with his own mind; so that he does not become arrogant and spoil the gracious foundation within himself with pride, which lies firmly and safely only in the depths of humility” 874. But so that it is not unknown, “who are those with whom we live and interact, whom we are formed by suggestions, whose examples we follow? Who are we and ourselves? Are they God's? Are we God's? Am I in company with the enemies of God? Isn’t that why I am also in danger of being and remaining alien to the true, gracious assimilation to God? 875 – For this purpose, “the mysterious seal with which God seals His faithful and chosen ones for Himself, as known to Him alone, is marked by some noticeable and quite sure sign, by which one could attentively distinguish those who are God from those who deceive, or are deceived, presenting themselves as such. This is the second mark, or the second inscription, which the Apostle noticed on the spiritual building of God in men: let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” 876. Saint Basil the Great considers hatred of untruth to be the most reliable sign of a state of grace. How can, he asks, a soul know that God has forgiven its sins? And he answers: if he sees himself in the same disposition as the one who spoke: he hated untruth and became disgusted (Brief. Right question 12; Ps. 119:113)” 877. The earthly Church will fulfill its great purpose until the end of time. There is no reason why it would cease to exist before the end of the world. “Just as cedar trees by the waters (Num. 24:6) always grow green, always rise, so the Church never loses the life that arose in it from the uncorrupted seed of the Word of God, and is constantly supported by the Holy Spirit; she continually rises to heaven in order to be completely united with Her Head, Christ, and become completely heavenly” 878. The Church itself, as the body of Christ, does not bear the source of destruction. “If the universal Church is the body of Christ, the Son of God, then this body, without a doubt, is always pure, always healthy, never destroyed; because anything contrary to this would be unworthy of the Son of God. If from Him the entire body of the Church, the universal, is composed and put together decently with every touch of alms, to create a return; then, without a doubt, from Him it is filled with nothing other than life, strength, light, purity, incorruptibility” 879. The sinful corruption that is noticed in individual members of the Church is not so great as to destroy the entire body of the Church. “As a body that grows and continues to live, some substances belong only temporarily, and over time, even in abundance, are separated from it, without thereby interfering with its growth and perfection; So the growth and perfection of the body of the Church is not hindered, even if they were numerous, by people who believe in time, and during adversity, or other types of temptations, fall away (Luke 8:13), who departed from us, but did not flee from us (1 John 2:19) 880. Not only individual members of the Church, but even “private Churches can waver and fall” without shaking the foundation of the entire Church. “In the Apocalypse (Rev. 1:20) they are likened to lamps, in which not only can the light of truth and the oil of love become scarce, but which can even be moved from their place (Rev. 2:5), that is, sensually and completely destroyed. But while some of them go out and fall, one who walks in the midst of the seven golden lamps (Rev. 2:1) carries them from one country to another and kindles them again brighter than before” 881. The unshakable existence of the Church until the end of the world. The steadfastness of the Church can be confirmed by many testimonies. “The first of these testimonies is given by Jesus Christ Himself, the faithful and true witness (Rev. 3:14), when He says: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18). Her enemies will rise up against her; will sometimes be strong; at some times, in some places, they will triumph, tearing away her members; and she will suffer and be sick, but they will definitely not overcome her. How long? Without a doubt, until the end of time. For if they could ever overcome, then the One who foresees times to eternity could not say decisively that they will not overcome” 882, “The second evidence of this truth can be borrowed from the Apocalypse, or the Revelation of St. John the Theologian, which prophetically depicts the fate of the Church of Christ until the end of the age” (Rev. 4, 7, 11, 12,19, 20, 21 chapters) 883. “It is worthy of note that the seer; depicting the most dangerous times for the Church, he presents it unharmed from dangers, but miraculously preserved. For example: the serpent pursues his wife; but he does not catch up with her and does not overthrow her, because the wife was given two wings of a great eagle; and the earth will help the woman (Rev. 12:13–16). Providence so directs the course of events that even earthly institutions promote the peace or security of the Church; and the wings of a great, perhaps royal eagle, reverently carry her above the malice and wickedness of her enemies, into the desert into her place - of course, not just into outer desolation, for the Church itself is a crowd of believers, but into the desert, especially the inner one - ever further from the world, ever closer to God; for the Church’s place is closeness to God and union with Him” 884. “We find the third evidence of the same truth in the words of the Holy Apostle Paul (Eph. 4:11-13). To the question, how long will pastors and teachers be in the Church for the perfection of the Saints, for the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ? - he answers: until we achieve everything in the union of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, in a perfect husband, to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ. Consequently, as long as there are on earth those who have not reached the union of faith, who have not reached the perfection of spiritual age, who still need the knowledge of the Son of God, so long will there be shepherds and teachers in the Church for the perfection of the Saints” 885. Thus, “The Church of Christ is unshakable, firstly, in Jesus Christ Himself, on Whom, as on an eternal foundation, it is forever established, and with Whom, like body and head, it is united by the union of immortal life; secondly, it is unshakable in its universal unity, not in such a way that no part, larger or smaller, could fall away from this unity, but in such a way that, despite the sometimes falling away of some parts, there always remains one, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, preserving the pure confession of faith and teaching of life, intact Holy Scripture and sacred tradition, and the continuous succession of the hierarchy and sacraments" 886. Continuous stay in the Church of the Grace of God. Testimonies about the steadfastness of the Church until the end of time also speak of the continuous preservation in it of the grace of God, by which the Church “defeats her enemies and preserves herself invincible,” and which “brings man into the joint of the immortal body of the Church” 887. If “pastors and teachers, or, in other words, the church hierarchy must be preserved in the Church continuously, since the creation of the body of Christ must continue continuously,” and if “the perfection of the Saints (Eph. 4:11–13) through shepherds and teachers cannot be without the all-holy grace of God; then she, too, according to the certification of the Apostle, must remain with the shepherds and teachers in the Church operating until then, as, having overcome all obstacles, she will lead all those destined for salvation into the union of faith. Let us give further evidence of the ever-present presence of grace in the Church, especially the secret one. The same Apostle, exhorting the Corinthian Christians with special reverence to approach the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, saying: as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until it comes (1 Cor. 11:26). That is: the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ will be performed inviolably in the true Church of Christ until the very second coming of Christ, or, what is the same, until the end of the age. since this cannot be without secret grace, without the grace of the priesthood, and the borrowed grace of the priesthood cannot be without the teaching grace of the bishop; then it is obvious that the secret grace and the order of the hierarchy, according to the prophecy of the Apostle, will remain in the Church at all times, and although not always in an abundant stream, they will never flow in an unstoppable stream even to the borders of the kingdom of glory” 888. “When the mysterious body of the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), which now, being composed and composed by Himself, through the mutual cohesion of the members, by the corresponding action of each of them, increases in its composition (Eph. 4:15-16), is created completely and finally; then, erected by its Head, imbued with the Holy Spirit, it will solemnly reveal in all its members the one image of God, and the great Sabbath of God and men will come” 889. c) About the final fate of man Personal immortality of a person from the point of view of reason The life of every person, whether he belongs to the Church of Christ or not, necessarily ends in bodily death. What happens to a person after death, how God arranges the fate of the deceased - these are questions that are important for each of us. “And from ancient times natural man had the fortune-telling that the grave was not the final limit of his existence. Peering into the book of truth that was open before him, written by the finger of God externally - in visible creations, and internally - in himself, he read in it a prediction about his immortality. Truly all nature cries out against the terrible thought of destruction. Plants wither and vegetate; the grain dies to give life to the tree or grain; the reptile falls asleep and wakes up winged; the grossest essences are resolved into the subtlest; light departs and returns; times end and begin; disappearing voices are resurrected in echoes; everything is destroyed to be recreated, dies to live, perishes to be preserved: will one person, just a big name, make a momentary sound and not respond again? On the contrary, even if the existence of the visible world could be reduced to the limits of human earthly life, it would not be characteristic of the existence of the human spirit to be constrained by the existence of the visible world. Sensible beings are improved hastily and reach their destination: man, growing unceasingly and always feeling an inner appeal to the highest perfection, continues to try to get closer to heaven until he descends to the earth; and is it possible that this son of heaven was born only for infancy and education? Animals, driven by sensuality, find their happiness and peace in satisfying needs limited to the preservation of being. A person controlled by higher motives lives more in the future than in the present, and cannot satisfy his endless desire. Is it really in this case that the ruler of the world should be more unhappy than those who are subjugated under his feet? Will he never comprehend this future, which he so tirelessly pursues? Could this infinite desire really be implanted in finite nature? What will be his high motives of love for God and neighbor, if one of these objects is never achieved, and the other always disappears? What will meek virtue be like if daring crime, which sometimes precedes it in the acquisition of earthly blessings, mingles with it in the dust of the grave and, perhaps, survives it in the memory of posterity? The Lord of order, truth and goodness lives, and in Him our soul lives after death! However, no matter how natural this conclusion is, we admit that natural reason cannot become the conqueror of death. Like a cowardly warrior, he is proud of his brilliant weapon as long as he is out of danger, but at the sight of the enemy he trembles and drops it from his hands" 890... A Look at Immortality in the Old Testament The Old Testament man crossed the limit of life with sadness and fear. “In the book of Genesis about the Patriarchs of the first and second worlds it is written the same way: live and die (Gen. 5:5). It is written about the father of believers himself: Abraham died weak (Gen. 25:8). Likewise about the Prophet Samuel: Samuel died (1 Samuel 25:1). Patriarch Jacob himself spoke even more sadly about his death: I went down to my son, lamenting, to hell (Gen. 37:35). Why, in Old Testament times, did even the saints have such a depressing view of death, although they, no doubt, like us, believed in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century? - Because then, as the Apostle says, royal death (Rom. 5:14) has not yet been defeated by the life-giving death of Christ; - because the way of the saints had not yet been revealed (Heb. 9:8), the entrance to the sanctuary of heaven, where Jesus was seen as the forerunner of us, had not yet been opened (Heb. 6:20); - from the fact that the Old Testament Patriarchs, Prophets, and righteous people died by faith, not receiving the fulfillment of the promises, but seeing and kissing from afar (Heb. 11:13); and therefore they were more strongly marked by the near darkness of death than by the distant light of resurrection 891. So, “when the reign of death from Adam even to Moses, and over those who had not sinned in the likeness of Adam’s crime, when from the day of primeval immortality and the evening dawn there was almost no memory left... then, so that poor mortal life would not be completely mired in the darkness of ignorance and despair, it was necessary, like a lamp, although one in a dark church, like a star in the night sky, to illuminate obvious immortality Godly Enoch. And again, when from the time of Moses, the law came, let sin increase (Rom. 5:20), because by the law the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20) increases, and not the power that overcomes it, and thus the commandment was found again, even to life, this to death (Rom. 7:10); when the very blessings and promises of the law, sensual for sensual people, temporary for those who are not far-sighted, in some way blocked the light of the future life: it was sometimes necessary to cut through this Old Testament mortal night with instant lightning: and such lightning of eternal life was once the fiery ascension of the zealot of the truth of God, Elijah” 892... Death, according to the teachings of the New Testament The examples of Enoch and Elijah proved that personal immortality exists for man. But this, in itself, could not yet particularly please a person - a sinner, because this immortality could be a painful state, a state of eternal spiritual death... “If we, even in the first ancestors, were condemned to death and daily ourselves confirming our own condemnation by arbitrary sins, were not redeemed from mortal condemnation by the suffering and death of Christ; then temporary death would carry us into eternal death without the hope of awakening to life. It would be perfect death." To free man from perfect death, our Redeemer “combines all our deaths into one own death; lifts them up with Him on the cross; He casts Him into His tomb and, after His resurrection, leaves in it a single vestment, in order to show that in our tomb only the outer vestment of our being, woven from the coarse elements, will remain, and man will soar to the highest heavenly life. With the coming of the Savior, the distant promise of the law of life is presented in tangible materiality, so that the Holy Spirit uses a simple human oath when he wants to assure us that the death of those united with Christ is no longer death, but a blessed rest from the labors of life” (Rev. 14:13) 893. When Christ died for us (Rom.5:8); when we are reconciled to God through the death of His Son (10); When God, who is rich in mercy, for His abundant love, love us with it, and make us alive through our sins while we are dead (Eph. 2:4-b); when, as a result of this, just as in Adam everyone dies, so in Christ everyone will come to life even after death (1 Cor. 15:22), and will come to life into eternal and blessed life, which life in Christ cannot but be: then death ceased to be death and turned into a dream.” For a Christian, death is nothing more than a dream - “a short-lived sleep in comparison with the eternal life that follows, a peaceful sleep, like rest from work, like relief from sorrows, like the peace of those pacified by Christ in the conscience, sleep is not unconscious - for the body sleeps, but the soul does not sleep - but consciously sweet, like a foretaste of future bliss" 894. Indeed, in the writings of the Apostles one can see an established custom - not only in special significant cases, but also in general, of calling death dormition and sleep. Thus, the Apostle Paul writes about the eyewitnesses of the risen Lord: the greatest remain until now, but the few are numbered (1 Cor. 15:6). He also writes regarding the resurrection of the dead: “We will not all fall asleep, but we will all change (51).”... “By renaming death as dormition and sleep, the Godly wise men, no doubt, wanted to inspire their followers that a Christian should look at death not like others who lack hope; that death is not a decisive negation of life and the destruction of personality and being, that just as one who falls asleep in the evening awakens in the morning with renewed strength of life, so one who falls asleep through bodily death will awaken into a new immortal life on the day of general resurrection.” .. General resurrection from the dead. The true resurrection of the righteous to eternal life The truth of human immortality is confirmed by the entire system of Christianity; the hope of resurrection with the body has a completely sufficient basis in the resurrection of Christ. Even if someone did not desire immortality and resurrection, even then there should be a resurrection from the dead for him. “The treasured blood was shed for everyone - both for the righteous and for sinners: but for no one it was shed in vain” 895. Therefore, “not only saints, but also sinners will have participation in the general resurrection, not only the blessed, but also those subject to condemnation to eternal torment. The hour is coming, proclaims the Head of the resurrection Himself, in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they will come out, having done good for the resurrection of life, and having done evil for the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-9)” 896. Thus, not all people will be resurrected to life, therefore not everyone will be resurrected in the true sense. Blessed and holy is he who is frequent in the first resurrection (Rev. 20:6). “The Seer of Secrets proclaims the one who has a part in the first resurrection to be blessed and holy... What should be understood by the first resurrection? “Whoever sees the Son, says the incarnate Son of God, and believes in Him, will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:40). The last resurrection has been found: the last because it must take place on the last day of this transitory world. From this limit one must necessarily return back along the path of time in order to seek the resurrection of the first. Is it far? Without a doubt, no further than the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. For, as the Apostle says, Christ rose from the dead and became the firstfruits of those who died (1 Cor. 15:20). In Christ, everyone will come to life, he continues, each in his own order; Christ is the firstfruits, then he who believed in Christ at His coming, the same end (1 Cor. 15:22-24). So, the first resurrection, the resurrection of the blessed and saints, must be sought between the day of the resurrection of Christ and the last day of the world” 897. “A correct knowledge of what death is can lead to an understanding of the (first) resurrection. So what is death? Separation of the soul from the body? – The concept is common in human language, but alien to the Christian language and to the word of God... When, for example, it was said to Adam; On the same day, if you eat from him, you will die (Gen. 2:17), but he lived an ordinary, visible life for us, after eating from the forbidden tree, for nine hundred and thirty years: then shall we really say that the word of God was not fulfilled? If, as everyone must admit, it was fulfilled correctly and accurately; then doesn’t it reveal that death, according to the wisdom of God’s word, is not at all what we imagine when we see a soulless body? True death was born on earth exactly on the day of the first sin, and from that day it lived with Adam, participated in his affairs and in the birth of his children, which is why it was born along with the human race. What is death? To answer this, according to the wisdom of God’s word, it is best to use the question: what is life? For death is only the deprivation of life. Let us experience life at its source. In That is life, says the Theologian, and life is light for man (John 1:4). There is life in God the Word, and this life is the light of men. The communion of the life that exists in God the Word and His light is the true life of man. It is an active state of light, tranquility, freedom, strength, purity, incorruptibility. Consequently, separation from the life of God the Word, and alienation from His light, is the true death of man. It is a state of darkness, sorrow, anxiety, weakness, impurity, and finally decay. Consequently, the renewal of communication with the life of God the Word and the return to His light is the true resurrection of man, in which the one who participates is blessed and holy. The last resurrection of the wicked in bodies of condemnation is not a true resurrection: since they are resurrected not for communion with the life of God the Word and His light, but for a New removal from Him: depart from Me, cursed (Matthew 25:41); they are raised to the second death (Rev. 21:8). The final resurrection of the righteous with bodies of glory is a true resurrection, but not initial, but final; it is the solemn discovery in the bodies of the righteous of the preliminary, hidden, spiritual resurrection, just as bodily death is only a visible manifestation of the invisible, spiritual death that preceded it. The power of the final bodily resurrection lies in the preliminary spiritual one. The last bodily resurrection of the wicked is therefore true and blessed, because in them the first, spiritual resurrection did not precede it” 898. The fate of a person immediately after death Thus, the fate of each person must end for the righteous with a true resurrection to eternal blessed life, and for sinners with a resurrection to the eternal second death. “The state of the human soul after death is determined by its internal state, and there is no purgatory in which it must endure fiery torment in order to prepare for bliss (John 5:24). There is no need for any other cleansing when the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin." According to the extent to which one has benefited from the cleansing blood of Christ, each will be given one or another retribution from the Judge. In this case, “the grave is the border beyond which the kingdom of righteousness and the kingdom of glory begin”; meanwhile, “on this side of the tomb lies the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of mercy, the kingdom of wisdom, in hidden mystery 899. Behind the coffin “you will find what you yourself have chosen and prepared (before death). For as a man sows, that will he also reap.” He who sows to the flesh will reap corruption from the flesh; he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life (Gal.6:6–8) 900. “If we have learned in good time to look with a faithful and unwavering eye at the hidden path of the invisible, and have resolutely directed our feet towards the eternal; then death leads us into the highest abodes of light and life, and those blinded and burdened by an addiction to the visible cast us into a dark abyss, into the terrible threshold of the second death” 901. “Whoever has aroused and preserves life in himself (by faith in Christ), he will not sleep in the tomb into death, but from the womb of corruption he will rise into incorruption, into life, into heaven, into bliss, into glory. But whoever, without striving to penetrate into the higher, blessed life of the spirit, lives the life of the Old Adam, leads a carnal, sensual, sinful life, driven by thoughts of passions and lusts, among the signs of life he plunges into actual internal death, because the sin of his actions gives birth to death (James 1:15); then, if he does not turn and repent, he dies the visible death of a sinner, which is fierce (Ps. 83:22), because with it, finally, he passes into eternal death, which no matter how much he wants to turn into a deep sleep in order to forget from its torment, but he will not be able to, because they will constantly wake him up - an unquenchable fire, an undying worm, a boiling bogeyman, and they will wake him up not to life, but always to a new death" 902. “The Seer, proclaiming to us the bliss and peace of those who die in the Lord, gives a reason for this: for their deeds follow with them (Rev. 14:13). How can things that are done and finished go with the person who did them, and even beyond death? – I think this is nothing other than because they always remain in his conscience? “If the substance of some good deeds, for example, given alms; and belongs to the earth and remains on it, nevertheless the spirit of good deeds belongs to the soul; heart, water, conscience, and therefore is transferred to eternity, and is revealed by the peace of conscience, holy willpower, joy of the heart, bliss of the soul" 903. State of mind of the deceased immediately after death - is depicted, by the way, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. “The beggar came to die, and the angels carried him into the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:22). The fact that these words belong to a parable should not lead to doubt about their meaning, because; that the tributary faces are depicted by features of real nature. Just as the death and burial of a rich man are features of real nature, so the carrying by angels of a dead beggar, who through patience acquired his soul, is a feature of real contemplation.” Thus, “Scripture testifies that the souls of holy men, proceeding from the body, are received by Angels”... “It is true that this is an honor for the worthy; but isn’t this also a benefit to those in need? If on the path of the visible world we need the protection and guidance of Angels, then isn’t it even more so when entering the unknown and boundless invisible world! Now the physical world stands before us like a barrier, closing the bright kingdom of heaven from us, but also separating the dark kingdom of hell from us; but even now the influences of the underworld of darkness more or less penetrate to us, and all the more beneficial are the assisting influences from the kingdom of light: what will happen when our soul, estranged from the body, crosses the barrier of the physical world and comes into direct contact with the spiritual world! 904. Isn’t she threatened by an open attack of dark forces, while she cannot say about herself, as the only Sinless One could say: the prince of this world is coming, and in Me he will have nothing (John 14:30)!... In the prophet Isaiah this says the Lord: blessed is he who has a tribe in Zion, and a tribe in Jerusalem (John 31:9). If this saying has a force of meaning in relation to earthly Jerusalem and the people of Judah, then it is incomparably greater in relation to spiritual Israel and heavenly Jerusalem. A Jew, if he cannot come to the house of a relative in earthly Jerusalem, can find a hotel there for himself, and for money receive what he cannot have due to family affection. But in the heavenly Jerusalem there are no rented dwellings, no money, no buying or selling. Either come there as a fellow tribesman and relative, or you will not be accepted there. But how can we become relatives of heavenly citizens, whom for the most part we don’t even know? We can become kin not only to the citizens of heaven, but also to their King Himself. Read in the Gospel His long-read letter for all of us regarding this high kinship. These are My mother and My brothers, who hear the word of God and do it (Luke 8:21)" 905 ... Incomplete reward for deeds immediately after death – Thus, the soul of a righteous person immediately after the grave is accompanied on an unknown path by Angels and supported by the love of the saints. Finally she achieves a certain position in the afterlife. “The souls of those who have fallen asleep in faith” are there in a state corresponding to “what they prepared themselves for in earthly life - (some), according to the word of God, in the hand of God (Wis. 3:1), - in the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:23), - at peace, (Wis. 4:7), and others are unpacified, and in lamentation, as Jacob once foretold to himself: I will go down to his son, lamenting to hell (Gen. 36:35)” 906. However, the soul of the deceased is not given full reward immediately after death; “because the full reward for deeds is predestined for the complete man to receive, after the resurrection of the body and after the final judgment of God. The Apostle Paul says: For the crown of righteousness is kept for me, and the Lord, the righteous Judge, will reward it to me in the day: not only to me, but also to all who loved His appearing (2 Tim.:8) and again: for it is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may receive what I have done with the body, either good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10 )". “Until the general resurrection, the souls of the righteous are in light, peace and the beginning of eternal bliss,” which “is united with the sight of Jesus Christ Himself” (Phil. 1:23) 907. Prayer of the Church for those who have died in faith The souls of people who died with faith, but did not manage to bear fruits worthy of repentance, although they do not experience the initial bliss of the righteous, do not endure torment similar to the torment of “the rich man in the Gospel parable, who lived and died without faith and virtue, and therefore was cast into the depths of hell, from where neither the heavenly abodes nor the shrine of this visible world are accessible.” The souls of those who have died with faith “can be helped to achieve the blessed resurrection by prayers offered for them, especially those combined with the offering of bloodless sacrifices of the Body and Blood of Christ, and acts of charity performed with faith in their memory.” “The death of the body does not separate believers from the Church of Christ, which, like the ladder seen by Jacob, stands between heaven and earth, stretches from the visible to the invisible, from the lowest degrees of the earth reaches to the lofty degree of the sight of God in heaven, calling for the desired ascent and allowing a blessed condescension” 908 ... How can “the effect of prayer extend so far, – even from one world to another, from the visible to the invisible,” this is incomprehensible to us. But it does not follow from this that the prayer of the Church does not change the state of the dead. “Is the ordinary mind understandable to the effect of the prayer of a person living for another living, especially if the prayer is offered for someone who is absent, or for someone present, but is offered to ask for something, moral and spiritual, such as: forgiveness of sins, correction from vices, taming passions, enlightenment, confirmation in virtues? Two souls, each with its own mind, will, inclinations, freedom, aren’t they two separate worlds for each other, separate all the more so because they are blocked by bodies? How does the prayer of one extend its effect to the other?... Just as the separateness of being and freedom does not interfere with the action of prayer for the living, so the same separateness does not interfere with prayer for the dead... The Holy Spirit, for general guidance in prayers, especially public ones, clearly expresses what one should pray for. For example: I pray, first of all, to make prayers, intercessions, petitions, and thanksgivings for all people (1 Tim. 2:1). Again: if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not leading to death, let him ask and give him life for those who sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; This is not what I say, that he may pray (1 John 5:16) And again: pray for one another, so that you may be healed by Me, for the prayer of the righteous may be granted (James 5:16)... The Holy Apostle Paul prays for others, and demands the prayers of others” (2 Thess. 1:11–2.3,1; Eph. 6:18–19). “If we do not know what to pray for, but to enlighten our ignorance the Holy Scripture has been given to us, which is able to make us wise for salvation, even until the man of God is perfect, prepared for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17); then from the wisdom and goodness of the Spirit of God, who spoke this Scripture, we should expect that it will not only satisfactorily instruct us about what to pray for, but also protect us with prohibitions, so that we do not pray about what prayer would not be pleasing to God. This aspiration is justified by the very fact... We have seen how the Holy Scripture, commanding prayer for all people, from prayer that is not pleasing to God and not useful to man, protects the believer with the prohibition: there is a sin leading to death; That’s not what I’m saying, but praying. From this it follows that if there is no special, definitive commandment in the Holy Scriptures about praying for the dead, but it is derived only from more general concepts and commandments about prayer; but if, moreover, there is no prohibition against this prayer in the Holy Scriptures, as indeed there is none; This very thing is not a prohibition, the very silence of Holy Scripture is already proof that praying for the dead is not disgusting to God and is not useless for people” 909. The all-discerning wisdom of God in the Divine Scripture does not proclaim quite loudly the commandment to pray for the dead, perhaps so that, in the hope of this benefit, those living before bodily death with fear of working out their salvation would not become lazy. But when he does not forbid this kind of prayers; Doesn’t this mean that it also allows you to throw, although not always decisively reliable, but sometimes, and perhaps often, a helpful rope, to those who have been torn away from the shore of temporary life, but have not reached an eternal refuge, to souls who, between bodily death and the last universal judgment of Christ, float over the abyss, now elevated by grace, now brought down by the remains of damaged nature, now delighted with Divine desire, now getting entangled in the coarse, not yet completely shed, clothing of earthly thoughts? And this, perhaps, is why prayer for the dead has existed and exists in the Church since ancient times, not as a solemnly proclaimed, essential member of the faith and a strict commandment, but as a pious tradition and custom, always supported by the free obedience of faith and private spiritual experiences. Let us give some evidence of this. The grace of giving, writes the son of Sirach, be with every living person and do not withhold grace over the dead. What does the grace of giving mean here? If it is a gift to the altar; then the words: do not withhold grace from a dead man obviously mean: make a sacrifice for the deceased, or, what is the same, pray for the deceased. If anyone wants to consider it more probable that the grace of giving means doing good to the poor; then the words: do not withhold grace from a dead person will mean: give alms in memory of the deceased. The son of Sirach had one or the other thought: they both assume one thing, they have a common ground - that the living can and should do good and soul-helping deeds for the sake of the deceased. In the history of the Maccabees we find precisely sacrifice and prayer for the dead. Judas offered it for the soldiers who died in the sin of taking military spoils from idols' gifts, with which a pious man should not have desecrated his hands (2 Mac. 12:39–46). Since the formation of public Christian worship, prayer for the dead has been included in it as a part that constantly belongs to its composition. All the ancient rites of the Divine Liturgy testify to this, starting with the liturgy of St. James, the brother of the Lord. Therefore, there is no doubt that prayer for the dead is an Apostolic tradition" 910 ... "St. Cyril of Jerusalem says: there will be great benefit for the souls for whom prayer is offered at the time when the Holy One is presented with a terrible sacrifice (secret teaching 5, chapter 9). Saint Basil the Great, in his Pentecostal prayers, says that he vouchsafes the Lord to accept from us prayerful propitiations and sacrifices for those held in hell with the hope for them of a world of weakening and freedom. Other Fathers and teachers of the Church 911 also teach about this. The final determination of man's destiny at the second coming of Jesus Christ The transitional state of the dead will not last forever; the day will come when their fate will be finally determined. This is the day of the second coming of Jesus Christ, the day of the Last Judgment. The angels who appeared during the Ascension of Christ said to the saddened Apostles: This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way, in the same way you saw Him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). The apostles, consoled by the thought of the second coming of Christ, often later reminded others of this joyful event for a true Christian. “Christ, the Apostle Paul writes to the Jews, having been brought in one to bear the sins of many, He will appear again without sin to those who wait for Him for salvation (Heb. 9:28). Instructing Titus to teach the doctrine of saving grace, he says that this grace teaches us that, having rejected ungodliness and worldly lusts, we will live chastely and righteously and piously in this present age: but how can we fulfill such great demands of grace? - In response to this, he adds: waiting for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13). Encouraging Timothy to advance in truth, piety, faith, love, patience, meekness, to fight the good fight of faith, he instructs him to keep this commandment purely and not reproachfully - for how long? Perhaps an exhausted ascetic would sometimes ask; and the perspicacious mentor, warning of this, indicates the joyful limit of exploits: even until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 6:11–14). Likewise, the Apostle Peter, calling on the shepherds to true pastoral feat: be a model for the flock, arouses in them zeal for the feat no other than the thought of the appearance of the Crowned Shepherd: and when you appear to the Chief Shepherd, receive an unfading crown of glory (1 Peter 1:3-4). With this hope he also dissolves the bitter cup of those who suffer: you will more and more partake of Christ’s passion; Rejoice, for even at the revelation of His glory you will rejoice and be glad (1 Peter 4:13)... It can be said that the thought of the expected appearance of Christ was in primitive Christianity the universal foundation by which the entire building was supported - the universal power with which the whole body was animated - the universal motive instrument with which great and pure actions were carried out... When and what kind of Christianity can stand without this foundation, live without this force, act without this instrument? We are saved through hope (Rom. 8:24), says the Apostle; we are saved in hope, not in the complete accomplishment of salvation. What does salvation in hope mean? – Waiting, as the same Apostle defines, for the blessed hope and manifestation of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13). So, where this expectation is not there, there is no Christianity.” “If anyone wishes to explore by his own reasoning the extent to which hope and unceasing expectation of the appearance of Christ enters into the essence of Christianity, let him consult with his best understanding and conscience. Whoever feels sin within himself, doesn’t he essentially need the firm hope of perfect forgiveness and cleansing? Without this, would he not be threatened by despair, which is hell in the soul before it brings the soul down to hell? Whoever suffers does not really need the joyful hope of a better state? Whoever experiences or even sees injustice, does not he also need the hope of justice to calm his heart and conscience? Whoever strives to the point of exhaustion, doesn’t he need the encouraging hope of reward?... What would happen to a Christian if he did not hope and incessantly expect the resurrection of Christ, which in all parts, even to the body of humility, should transform him into the glorious image of Christ, and, without a doubt, the slightest remnants of sinful impurity will disappear, and every battle of sin, every temptation forever will it stop?.. How unhappy a Christian would be if he did not think, if he did not feel in his suffering that through suffering he who entered into glory (Luke 24:26) is approaching every minute to illuminate the sufferers with glory” 912... Thus, one cannot doubt the second coming of Christ. When, in what form, and for what purpose will the Judge of the world come? The angels who announced to the Apostles about the second coming of Christ pointed out to them some features of this coming: he will come in the same way as you see Him going to heaven, “The Ascension of Christ was unexpected and unforeseen for His disciples. This happened, as much as can be learned from the brief narratives of the Gospels, in such a way that He, appearing to them in Jerusalem, as happened many times, and departing, led them behind Him as accompanying people, talking with them, as usual, about the kingdom of God and especially about the approaching descent of the Holy Spirit... It was not only by His own permission that He did not warn them about this great event; but even when they asked about the times of the great events of His kingdom, he resolutely refused them this knowledge. He said to them: You cannot understand the times and years which the Father has ordained in His power (Acts 1:7). This refusal to understand the times obviously extends to the time of the future coming of Christ and relates primarily to this. Even before, He impressed upon His disciples the suddenness of this event, likening it to lightning, which is the most striking image of complete suddenness in nature. Just as lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:27). Similarly, the Apostle explains: the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (1 Thessalonians 5:2)... “Another circumstance of the Ascension of the Lord, noted in view of the expected coming of the Lord, is that the Lord ascended before the eyes of His disciples clearly and solemnly. He will be taken away by those who see him, and the cloud will be lifted from their sight. What kind of cloud? – The cloud of light and glory that once overshadowed and filled the tabernacle of Moses and the temple of Solomon... When the luminous preachers announced to us that He would also come, as they saw Him going to heaven, through this they made us understand that He would come clearly and solemnly. This is exactly how the Lord predicted about Himself that the Son of man would come in His glory, and all the Holy Angels with Him (Matthew 25:31). So the Apostle explains that the Lord will descend from heaven by command, or by foretelling, in the voice of the Archangel, and with the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16)” 913. Although it is unknown whether the second coming of Christ will be soon; however, “in the word of God, some signs of the imminent coming of Christ are revealed, namely, a decrease in faith and love between people, an increase in vices and disasters, the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, the coming of the Antichrist (Matthew 24) - the enemy of Christ, who will try to destroy Christianity, but instead he himself will perish in a terrible way (2 Thess. 2:8)” 914. General resurrection from the dead and the final judgment of people At the second coming of Christ the kingdom of glory will be revealed; it “will be revealed by the resurrection from the dead and the final judgment” 915. The resurrection from the dead is “an action of the omnipotence of God, by which all the bodies of dead people, uniting again with their souls, will come to life and will be spiritual and immortal. The natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised (1 Cor. 15:44). It is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this dead thing to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). How can a body that has decayed in the ground and crumbled be resurrected? Since God created the body from the earth at the beginning, He can also renew what had been scattered into the earth. The Apostle Paul explains this by the likeness of sown grain, which decays in the ground, but from which grass or a tree grows. You who are sown will not live unless you die (1 Cor. 15:36)." incorruption itself, gradually vegetate and prepare for the life-giving spring of the general resurrection. But some of the bodies of the righteous are like laurel and some other trees, which clearly grow and turn green during winter itself; Their bones, preserved by the Lord (Ps. 33:21), even after death, reveal in themselves, like fat and ointment, the spiritual power of life, miraculously pouring out onto what surrounds them; their bodies, before the general resurrection, flourish with the firstfruits of incorruption” 917. On the day of judgment all the dead will be resurrected; and “for those who remain alive until the time of the general resurrection, their present gross bodies will instantly change into spiritual and immortal ones. For we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed: in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed (1 Cor. 15:5-2)” 918. All people will have to appear before the throne of the Judge. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will set the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left (Matthew 25:32-33). Then “the conscience of every person will open before everyone, and not only all the deeds that someone has done throughout his life on earth will be revealed, but also all the words spoken, secret desires and thoughts. The Lord will come, who will bring into light the secrets of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart: and then everyone will have praise from God (1 Cor. 4:5; cf. Matt. 12:36)” 919. The judgment of people will be carried out through the saints Do you not know that the saints of the world have to judge (1 Cor. 6:2). “We draw the first and main information about the judgment of the saints from the words of the Son of God Himself, to whom God the Father gave all judgment, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father (John 5:22-23), and who in his turn shares his judgment with the Apostles: Amen I say to you, because you have walked after Me, in the coming of being, when the Son of man sits on the throne For your glory, you will sit on the throne of the ten, judging the deception of the ten tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). In this saying, it should be noted, firstly, that the judgment of the saints will open solemnly in rebirth, in the secondary existence of men, that is, after the resurrection of the dead, and, consequently, this judgment will be universal not only in relation to people of the last times, but also in relation to the human race from the beginning of time to the end of it. Secondly, that this judgment will be revealed solemnly when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory; but how will this happen, according to another saying of Him, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy Angels with Him (Matthew 25:31); therefore, the judgment of the saints will be carried out not only before the human race, but also before the Angels of God. Thirdly, that the followers of Christ will sit on thrones for judgment at the same time when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory; consequently, their court will be united with His court: they will separately be instruments, or subordinates, private agents of His one, universal, supreme court. Fourthly, that the Apostles will sit on the double throne, judging the deceived ten tribes of Israel; But then there are still many peoples and tribes that will appear before the world court, then we can conclude from this that, in addition to these twelve judges, many more judges will have to appear. This conjectural conclusion turns out to be a clear and confirmed truth in the saying of the Apostle, who says that not only the Apostles, but the saints of the world in general, have to judge? The Prophet says with even greater certainty that all the saints of God, without exception, will be elevated to the dignity of judges, in order to carry out judgment on nations and people, on kings and their glorious ones: to create judgment in them is written: this glory, that is, the glory of being judges in this court, will be to all His saints. Let us add to this the testimony of an eyewitness to this trial: for Saint John had already seen it in revelation. Having seen, he writes, the thrones and those who sat on them, and judgment was given to them (Rev. 20:4).” “It is difficult to imagine how a single, unanimous and not subject to any dispute trial of so many judges will be carried out, over an even greater number of defendants, on so many, varied and subtle subjects of trial, which are all the open and secret deeds, words, desires and thoughts of every person throughout his entire life. To explain this, we find something in the Psalmist, who says that the saints will execute the judgment that is written, and in the Seer of Mysteries, who writes like this: and I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books bent; and another book was opened, even a living book; and judgment was received by the dead, from those written in books according to their deeds (Rev. 20:12) As is usually the case between people, a written trial is used, partly for convenience in relation to the highest judges, since it presents not only the words and actions of the defendants, with all their circumstances and details, but also a multitude of witnesses located in different places and other arguments of the court case in several written sheets; partly for the sake of fidelity, since the word spoken instantly is hidden and can be retold differently, and the word written remains visible and variable: so the judgment of the saints appears to be written in books, and especially in the book of life, in commemoration of the fact that they will be given from the Supreme Judge a way to also conveniently and truly, or, better said, incomparably more convenient and more accurately, to see the entire external and internal life of everyone judged by them, rather than as an ordinary judge sees the actions of the defendant in the written complete court case; and that therefore there will be no way left for judged sinners not to confess what the saints will expose and condemn them for. But who and when writes the book of our lives for the future judgment of the saints? I think that we write it ourselves, and write it continuously, at the very time when we do or say something, wish or think; This should be so that we do not have an excuse to deny it in court and say that someone once wrote in it that we do not know and that was not written by us. But where is this book? – Who knows in what place the judge keeps the written judgment until the time comes to open it publicly? However, I hope we will not be mistaken if we say that in the heart of each of us lies the book of life for our future judgment - where not only those who know God, and His law, and His grace, but also the pagans show the work of the law with a written conscience bearing witness to them, and with the thought of condemning or justifying one another (Rom. 2:15), for this internal phenomenon is nothing other than a greater or lesser revelation of the book of life, which is finally the whole, from beginning to end, it will be revealed, and from our insides it will be illuminated either with a quiet light or with a consuming fire, on the day when God judges the secret of man. One can also say that in our body itself, which, under the cover of corruption, is being prepared for the resurrection, as if in some kind of book, we write our life with features that are inconspicuous now, but clear for our future judgment; Whatever treasures now, says Saint Macarius, the soul has acquired within itself, such will be opened and then appear on the body (Des.5:8); perhaps also on other creatures of God, for the Seer of Mysteries says that, in addition to the special book of the animal, there are also books that must be unbent for judgment according to what is written in them - perhaps, I say, on other creatures of God, which we unlawfully use, defile, and damage, the judgment of our present life will appear piecemeal written, for example, our gross uncleanness on earth and water, our idle words in the air, traces our malice in what was the object or instrument of evil actions, the evidence of our temptations in those whom we seduced. – Thus, the fratricide of Cain, not exposed by living witnesses, was written on earth with the blood of Abel: and the heavenly Judge, as if with these bloody, not only clearly readable, but even speaking letters, convicted the unconfessed criminal: the voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the earth (Gen. 4:10). So one of the future judges of God first accepts the rust of gold and silver as a witness against the lovers of money: their rust, he says, will be obedient to you (James 5:3). Finally, the very grace that dwelled in the saints, which we did not accept for no other reason than through spontaneous negligence or stubbornness - their faith, their deeds, their virtues, which we had for a long time before our eyes in these people servile to us, but which we did not imitate, appearing on the day of judgment in full light, will produce the effect that the effect of the judgment of the saints will of itself appear above us through our conscience: like Noah, without delivering judgment, without carrying out a judicial investigation, by the very faith by which he himself was saved from destruction in the flood, the first world that did not believe condemned: by faith, says the Apostle, we received the answer Noah, about these, I was not in sight, being afraid, create an ark for the salvation of your house: with it, that is, by faith, condemn the whole world. 920 Eternal Bliss of the Righteous The final judgment on people will be pronounced by Christ Himself. It can be predicted already from the division of all people into sheep and goats. Those standing on the right side of the Judge, as blessed by the Heavenly Father and the righteous, will receive as a reward from God a life “so blessed that we now cannot even imagine this bliss. But it appeared that we would be (John 3:2). “We know man about Christ,” says the Apostle Paul, who was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable verbs, which man is not old enough to speak (2 Cor. 12:24). Such bliss will come from contemplating God in light and glory and from union with Him. Now we see as with a mirror in fortune-telling, but then face to face: now I understand in part, but then I know, even as I was known (Cor. 13:12). Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). God will be all things in all (1 Cor. 15:28).” “When we see the perfect work of the human mind, we are filled with curiosity to see the creator; when we hear about praiseworthy, philanthropic deeds, our eyes would like to rest on the chest in which such a kind heart beats; when we listen to the glory of the mighty of the earth, our imagination rushes to their places of residence, and we consider ourselves happy if we can place ourselves before them. However, seeing the face of a sage, they do not yet see his wisdom; looking at the virtuous, they do not see virtue; surveying the splendor that surrounds the strong, they do not see the strong spirit that passes through and moves the huge members of the state body. The bodily gaze embraces only the body, but to see God - of course, no longer with this mortal eye - is to contemplate (but the possibilities of a limited creature) His wisdom - and always be illuminated from it with a new light of knowledge, and His goodness - and immortal ones will be filled with love and joy from it, and His greatness - to rise to the bliss of the purest spirits. If the mind, not blinded by passions, not darkened by prejudices, finds pleasure in examining the traces of the Divine in the kingdom of nature; if a believing soul is immersed in raptures, mentally passing through the wonderful paths of grace in its mysterious kingdom; What should one feel who, leaving these distant regions of the Almighty, would penetrate into the interior of His power, would enter His immortal city, would feel everywhere - both around himself and in himself, His glorious presence? If we love to listen to how these visible heavens in silence tell the glory of God (Ps. 19:2), the smallest insect proclaims the greatness of the Creator; what if in the heavens of heaven, instead of the radiance of dead bodies, we saw the light of immortal spirits, we would listen to their silent praise, unite our voices with their choir, learn, by pouring, so to speak, praise into God, to draw inexhaustible joy from God? The God-inspired king, who, it seems, learned their songs from the Seraphim and tried, as much as possible, to more perfectly experience their heavenly exercise - to glorify the King of kings, does not expect any other bliss there than to be closer to Him and praise Him forever. Blessed, he sings, are those who live in Your house; they will praise You forever and ever (Ps. 83:5). The apostles, confirming us in the faith, thought that they had said everything when they said that we would see God face to face, we would see Him as He is. Their Divine Teacher Himself describes the high state of the Angels with this one feature, that they can always see the face of the Heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10)” 921. “And the body will participate in the bliss of the soul; it will be glorified by the light of God, just like the body of Jesus Christ during His transfiguration on Tabor. It is sown not in honor, but is raised in glory (Cor. 15:43). For as we have put on the image of the vain (that is, Adam), let us also put on the image of the heavenly (that is, our Lord Jesus Christ) (1 Cor. 15:49). – There will be different degrees of bliss, depending on how one labored here in faith, love and good deeds. Another is the glory of the sun, and another is the glory of the moon, and that is the same as the stars: a star differs from a star in glory. Likewise the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:41–42) 922. How great will be the eternal bliss of the righteous, so great will be the eternal torment of sinners. “They will be given up to eternal death, in other words, to eternal fire, eternal torment, along with the devils.” Depart from Me, cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). - the Lord will say to sinners at the Last Judgment.” We, not seeing God now, due to the coarseness of our feelings and natural weakness, how much we endure! What darkness in the mind! What emptiness in my heart! What joy in desire! But what a terrible extreme will these disasters reach, when they will not be our weakness, but the endless consequences of God’s wrath, when these accidents of our being will pass into nature itself! Absalom, rejected by David, asks Job to either ask him permission to see the king and his father, or kill the unfortunate man. Thus, a sinner rejected by God will prefer death to his condition; only he won't find her. He will die continually, and he will not be able to die just once. Accumulate a thousand hells, exclaims Chrysostom, this is by no means as hard as being cast out from glory, being hated by God! The punishment of those condemned at the Last Judgment does not consist merely in the deprivation of goods and the sight of God, but in the actual suffering of evils. The judge sends them to the fire. It will be so pleasing to strict justice that the whole person should be subject to the action of its vengeance, since he was completely given over to the action of lawlessness. It posits the same difference in the punishments that we carry out for sins. Of these, some are born in the soul and through it they enslave their bodily forces, such as pride or anger; others take place in the body and defile the soul, through whose participation it receives pleasure, such as luxury and lust for power. Thus, alienation from God, gnawing at the memory of the disorder of life, complete despair are the essence of executions that devour the soul, and only extend to the body, as long as it is connected to it. Fire is a material torment that torments the body and passes through it into the soul. And therefore it is in vain to explain this fire as the action of conscience; in vain they ask: what kind of torment is this? What kind of fire is this that could act on an immortal person? Whoever can transform this corruptible into incorruptibility (Cor. 15:44-53) and make the body spiritual, how difficult is it for him to prepare such a subtle and penetrating fire that it will also be felt by the immortal composition, like the present fire by the present body. Whoever wants to know in detail the nature of torment alone, let him first explain exactly the nature of immortal bliss. But if the one in the third heaven did not describe what is prepared there for those who love God, and admitted that it is completely impossible for a person more or less carnal to comprehend; then can anyone who has not descended into hell even imagine the nature of the terrible final acts of God’s wrath? We can, and it is enough for us, to know only that this anger is endless; go into eternal fire, says the Eternal Judge.” “In vain, some, to mitigate this terrible threat, resort to the mercy of God. But what kind of mercy is there for those who reject mercy with insurmountable stubbornness? God is one infinite good; evasion from Him is a single infinite evil. God created man for Himself; the Fall removed man from God; mercy again opened the way to unite with Him. Whoever does not follow this path, according to the law of justice, remains subject to eternal evil, as a necessary consequence of moving away from God. It will be too late to look for this path in the darkness of hell. The path to immortality lies in the vale of mortal life. Here you can have a lamp in order to find it and safely continue the procession along it. Death for every person, and the final judgment for the entire human race opens the door of fate. Wise virgins enter the marriage of the immortal bridegroom, while others are expelled. To receive pardon, one must repent. But who can accept a cry emitted by torment as pure repentance? The more painful these torments are, the less capable the heart is of having feelings other than those of the fiercest sorrow. It single-handedly suppresses all thoughts and desires with despair. So, a mortal, as long as he wears a mortal body and is subject to change with it, can become better or worse. But when he puts aside the clothes of corruption and mortality, then either an immortal sense of good or an immortal sense of evil will remain in him. No new atheists will be born in heaven, nor will anyone confess to the Lord in hell (Ps. 6:6).” For a clearer idea of ​​the torment of sinners, “imagine, as much as you can, a country of impenetrable darkness, boiling with fire and bogeymen and worms, noisy with gnashing of teeth and furious groans: there minutes pass like years; but years pass - and this is still the beginning of torment; As many millennia will pass as there are specks of dust that make up the present world, there will still be the beginning of torment! ... Think also with whom sinners will share this endless curse of eternal torment: this is the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The enemy's destructive gaze will constantly pierce the victim he killed! The fierce serpent will kiss the heart poisoned by it with his vile sting, and will always shed new poison into new wounds” (Rev. 2:14–15; Mark 9:47–49) 923. Why will sinners be dealt with so harshly? “It’s not because God wants them to perish, but they themselves perish, having not accepted the truth for love, how they can be saved (2 Thess. 2:10)” 924. With the final determination of the fate of man - the king of nature - nature itself must necessarily change in order to correspond in its life to the state of its resurrected and renewed ruler. With the resurrection of man from the dead the end of the present world must come; “This corruptible world will end by being transformed into an imperishable one. For the creation itself has been freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21). But the heavens and the earth are new according to His promise, and in them righteousness dwells (2 Pet. 3:13).” “The world will be transformed through fire. The present heavens and earth, by the same word (that is, of God), are hidden by fire for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Pet. 3:7)” 925. On the characteristics of the dogmatic teaching of M. Philaret The further task of the essay, after bringing the dogmatic teaching into the system, is to characterize it. The content, the method of presentation, the methods of studying the dogmatic teaching contained in the writings of M. Philaret - all this can be seen from the dogmatic system itself, compiled by us based on the writings of Philaret. After this, we need only point out these aspects of the system. The task is made easier by the fact that the introduction, based on the writings of Philaret, sets out the General Principles that should guide the theologian in the compilation of dogmatic Theology. In the introduction to dogmatic theology, we showed what general features, in the opinion of M. Philaret, should be distinguished by a dogmatic system worthy of its lofty subject. From the very presentation of the system one can see what features his theology actually differs from. The question comes down to whether our famous theologian remained true to his basic views. Filaret had no reason or motivation to change his general principles of theology, especially since they did not contain anything incorrect. Indeed, we see that the dogmatic system compiled from his writings is fully consistent with his general principles. In the introduction we devoted a lot of space to discussions about the importance of the tenets of faith. As if confirmation of this is the fact that in the writings of M. Philaret we find answers to all the questions of Christian doctrine; so that, based on his writings, a complete system of theology was compiled. That Filaret wanted to touch upon, if possible, all dogmatic issues in his teachings is, by the way, clear from a comparison of his two sermons, in which he depicts the state of the humiliation of Jesus Christ. What one says in detail, the other says very briefly 926. In his teaching on the sources of doctrine, Filaret says that in St. The Scriptures contain all the truths of the faith. In accordance with this, in the system of doctrine we see that Philaret mainly based and remarkably firmly knew how to base his teaching on Holy Scripture. Only in those cases where the dogmatic teaching is not entirely clearly and definitely expressed in Holy Scripture, did he refer to tradition. But this happened very rarely, because he always knew how to find clear and sufficient confirmation of dogmatic truths in Holy Scripture. According to Filaret, what could not be confirmed by the word of God should not have the character of indisputable truth. Not without a purpose, therefore, in his notes on dogmatic Theology, Philaret, before listing the subjects of “Theological Spirituality (Pneumatologia Theologia),” says: “it argues according to the mind of St. Scripture, whereas before listing the subjects of other departments, he simply says: “it (theology) reasons.” He made an addition, imperceptible at first, probably because, given the brevity of the biblical teaching about Angels, the dogmas may easily have a desire to supplement it with details from non-biblical sources, which, without confirmation by Holy Scripture, do not have the authority of infallibility 927. In understanding the Holy Scriptures and in explaining the dogmas of faith, Filaret undoubtedly adhered to the Patristic interpretations, with which he was perfectly familiar. Having mastered the very spirit and essence of the church’s understanding of the dogmas of faith, he did not try too hard to adhere to the letter of interpretation. Sometimes, however, as if not trusting himself, he cited in his teaching a passage from the teachings of the Father of the Church and pointed out to his listeners the agreement of his teaching with the teaching of the respected teacher. For example, in one of the sermons We find the following words: “The reflection now proposed (about the power of blessing) must be reliable, since it is based on the immutable truth of Holy Scripture. But so that no one doubts whether our conclusion is correctly drawn from Divine truth, we present to you the testimony of a holy man who, from the same beginning as us, drew the same conclusion as us.”928 Without referring to the source from which the teaching was borrowed, Filaret sometimes literally repeated the teaching of some father or teacher of the Church. In his study of the dogmas of faith, M. Filaret was extremely careful. With his insightful analytical mind, he peered into the pure source of revealed truth, tried to find it there in its inviolable form, fearing to change it by the intervention of the limited human mind. First of all, he understood the revealed source as required by the direct meaning of the text, taken together with the context and with other similar passages of Scripture. Even in using the original and translated texts of Scripture, Filaret remained true to his views; it happened that he gave preference to the text that more clearly expressed dogmatic truth. So, for example, to prove that Jesus Christ is the supreme Bishop, he resorted to the Greek text, where the word bishop appears, while in Slavic this word is translated by the word visitor (1 Pet. 2:25) 929. Always being true to himself in his basic views on the sources and method of dogmatic Theology, M. Philaret successfully achieved the main goal of clarifying and expounding the dogmas of faith, which, in his opinion, should be knowledge of God and pleasing Him, contemplation of God’s perfections and the cultivation of faith. The general features of the dogmatic teaching of M. Philaret will be even more confirmed and clarified if we make an attempt to explain them. Through this we can substantiate the position that M. Philaret not only had certain views on Christian Orthodox theology, not only carried them out in practice, but that he had to have these views and apply them in practice. Filaret was a deeply religious man, an energetic and selfless figure. As such, he had to teach what he himself loved to teach and what needed to be taught for the benefit of society. He, as we said earlier, loved to study theology because he found consolation in it, which he did not find in “cold philosophy.” After this it was natural to expect that he would pay special attention to dogmatic teaching. Filaret was also prompted to do this by the needs of the time. Not to mention the fact that knowing the Christian doctrine at all times is necessary for the salvation of a Christian, which the saint could not help but understand - he was prompted to present and explain the truths of the faith by the state of Russian society, which was little familiar even with the basic truths of the Orthodox faith 930. The unfamiliarity of Philaret’s contemporaries with Orthodox teaching came either from a passion for anti-Christian literature, or from contempt for Orthodoxy as a common people’s faith, or from the fact that those who were supposed to care about it paid little attention to the dissemination of religious knowledge. The poverty of religious knowledge in Russian Orthodox society depended in part on the schools from which preachers of the word of God emerged. This is how Filaret spoke about schooling in his “opinion regarding the education of spiritual youth” (1828). “Before the rules on the formation of theological schools, published in 1808 and put into effect in relation to seminaries in 1814, some of these schools, which ascribed to themselves superiority over others, believed this superiority, almost exclusively, in the predominant knowledge of the Latin language. Hence, the priests, who knew pagan writers better than sacred and church writers, spoke and wrote better in Latin than in Russian, were more capable of shining in the circle of scientists with the choice expressions of a dead language, rather than shining the light of the people with a living knowledge of the truth. Only dogmatic theology was taught, using a too school-like method. Hence, in the priests who did not use special zeal and did not have special ways to complete their education, there was dry and cold knowledge, a lack of active edification, a forced tone and fruitlessness of teachings, an inability to speak with the people about truths that seemed very familiar in school. Instead of tests in the highest subjects of teaching, so-called disputes were used, in which most of the students did not participate and, consequently, were not tested at all, and some were divided into two sides, so that the art of proving a lie competed with the art of defending the truth, and a cunning objection was approved no less than a thorough refutation; hence the tendency to disputes, often seductive, and mostly useless for instructing the people, because school objections and decisions are not included in the circle of concepts circulating among the people.” “Because the forced way of teaching Theology in a dead language is not conducive to the education of parish priests, who are obliged to expound the truths of the faith to mostly unlearned people, as simply as possible in a natural language, and, moreover, the Latin language, which, according to its original formation, has a pagan character and, according to its current use, belongs to the Western Church, without rights and decency constrains the presentation of the truth in the Eastern Church; then to establish decisively, especially in seminaries, the teaching of theological teaching in the Slavic-Russian language (with preservation, however, in favor of Latin, as classical, a more appropriate place for it in the classes of literature and philosophy), and to encourage capable people to compile theological educational books, in the true spirit of the word of God and the holy fathers, with an accurate scientist, but as much as possible, a generally understandable presentation of truths, with careful application of the teaching to the state Eastern, and especially the Russian Church, that is, with a statement of the true reasons why it accepts or rejects something, and with a thorough refutation of those false teachings that priests can currently encounter in the field of their ministry" 931. Those who recommended such measures to raise religious knowledge among the people were already encouraged by this to implement these recommendations in practice. Filaret, indeed, until the end of his life did not cease to explain the truths of the faith from the church pulpit and was an exemplary teacher of the faith, touching on all issues of doctrine, resolving them both from the positive side and from the negative (when refuting non-Orthodox teachings). The need to compile a dogmatic system, “in the true spirit of the word of God and the holy fathers, with an accurate scientist, but, as much as possible, a generally understandable presentation of truths,” was recognized by Philaret even after. So he wrote to Gabriel Tverskoy in 1842: “If I find the opportunity to be somewhat secluded, then what do you think? Should I begin to compile a dogmatic theology, which was demanded of me in the name of the Sovereign, or is now not the time? It seems to me that one can already dare to say that I am old, because I have already entered my seventh decade, and, moreover, for a long time with a weak foot. In St. Petersburg, they say, students of the academy copied excerpts from the works of St. Demetrius, arranged them by subject, and the authorities called this dogmatic theology and assigned it to the classical book for the seminary. What can we conclude from this? Is it that a different dogmatic theology is no longer needed? Or does this all the more prove that it is necessary? Give me some sense. Meanwhile, if you began to force me to work, my weak strength and weakening eyesight would force me to say: “Have me renounced” 932. Not having time to compile a dogmatic Theology, Filaret tried to fill this gap in Russian theological literature with his sermons and additions to the lengthy catechism. “The wanderings of the teachers of the law prompted me to replenish (the catechism), so that now the Holy Synod has recognized it as a guiding book not only for schools, but for Christians in general. The greatest additions have been made to the doctrine of Revelation, Holy Scripture and tradition, and to the doctrine of the Church, and the doctrine of beatitude has been written again, and protections from the tares scattered by non-Orthodox people have been placed in places” 933. A little earlier, Filaret wrote to the rector of the Moscow Academy, Filaret (Gumilevsky), about the same thing: “seeing that you theologians still do not know how to stand on a firm foot in theology, and not having time to do theology, I am now revising the catechism in order, if possible, to prove in it what previously belonged to theology, but which your theology does not prove” 934. By explaining the truths of the Orthodox faith, Filaret satisfied the needs of the time 935. The beginning of Filaret's life coincided with a period of religious excitement among the upper classes of society. The passion for encyclopedicism gave way to Freemasonry and mysticism. “The most losers among the revolutionary movements, the upper classes and governments, grabbed onto religion as the most conservative element in life, as the only anchor of salvation from the weary tossing and stormy anxieties of the recent past, and in order to unite more firmly with each other, they began to develop some kind of common religion in which Catholics, Protestants, philosophers, and Masons could equally agree with each other,” some kind of abstract Christianity without the Church and dogmas, relying on one inner illumination of each from the Holy Spirit Himself. All of Europe is swarming with mystics” 936. The awakening interest in religious issues in Russian society forced the pastors of the Orthodox Church to pay attention to preaching the word of God. Dogmatic preaching was not only modern in the time of Philaret, but positively necessary. Mysticism perverted Christianity. Therefore, it was necessary to enlighten Russian society and give it the correct solution to questions of faith, based on the word of God, and not on the dreams of an excited imagination. Since mysticism touched on almost all issues of faith, the preacher, as time allowed, also had to touch on all subjects of doctrine, dwelling on the more important and more in need of clarification. Filaret was aware of all these demands of the time and conformed to all of them in his activities. Mysticism not only encouraged him to reveal to his listeners the truths of the Orthodox faith, but pointed out to him the very topics of dogmatic preaching and the aspects to which priority attention should be paid. Mysticism, which gripped high society at the beginning of this century, extended its influence on Filaret even further. It is not surprising if Philaret, who was naturally inclined to the mysterious 937 and placed at the center of the mystical movement, sometimes expressed himself in the language of mysticism and sometimes in his sermons approached its teaching 938 . The time was such that it was difficult to resist being carried away by extremes 939. To the credit of Russian theologians, and in particular Filaret 940, it must be said that they firmly adhered to the foundations of Orthodoxy. Of course, there were exceptions, as there always are. But it cannot be said, for example, that “the false doctrine of mysticism was taught at the academy,” or that he “was in the then clergy outside the academy.” “There were misunderstandings,” Filaret wrote in 1852 regarding the biography of Kirill, Archbishop. Podolsky - but it was difficult to make them out even for someone seeing them up close, and even more so from a distance. For example, it happened that when one proposed publishing the Philokalia and the book of Isaac the Syrian, another objected: won’t they say that this is a mystical trend? But the Philokalia is still being printed, the writings of Isaac the Syrian were published “in Christian Reading” in parts, and now they want to print them in full. Will the writer say that this is all mysticism? Will he accuse the publishers of the New Translation of Scripture of mysticism? Macaria? For historians of mystical theology classify Macarius among the mystical theologians” 941. Moderate mysticism is quite reconciled with Orthodoxy. By the way, this explains why features of mystical teaching are found in the works of M. Philaret. The dogmatic teaching of Philaret, although somewhat similar to the mystical teaching in content and expression, differs sharply from it. This difference is noticeable primarily in the basic views on dogma. While Filaret attached very important importance to dogmas, throughout his life he revealed them from the church pulpit and was constantly concerned that careless expressions would damage the purity of Orthodox teaching, mysticism rejected almost all meaning of dogmas, found in them the cause of division and an obstacle to the formation of “universal” Christianity. Filaret, like the mystics, did not consider natural reason to be the source of faith. This view of the participation of reason in the matter of faith could have been formed in him only partly under the influence of modern mysticism; In the character and life of Philaret, many other conditions can be identified that limited the inquisitiveness of the mind when explaining the truths of faith. The living faith with which Filaret was imbued encouraged him to restrain his reason when studying dogmas. “Faith teaches not so much to explore as to feel.” So “where there is curiosity, there is still no pure knowledge; where there is doubt, there is still no complete faith" 942. The historical conditions of life, under the influence of which mysticism was formed, could act on Philaret directly. Coups d'etat, explained in part by freethinking, showed what sad consequences the unbridled mind can lead to. In view of this, our government, since the end of the last century, has been concerned with eradicating the causes that produced social upheavals in Western Europe. One of the reasons for popular unrest was rightly seen in the desire to reason about everything, to be critical of everything. Here, for example, is what a secret police agent once wrote in his report: “the education of youth is misdirected: young people reason when they could be using their time much more usefully” 943. In view of society's desire for critical discussions of all kinds of phenomena, the government naturally considered it necessary to curb the free-thinking of society. It is clear how the government’s protective measures should have affected Filaret, especially since “he himself sympathized with them. The concern for protecting the foundations of state life among some government officials of that time even went to an extreme, from which M. Filaret also had to suffer, although he was far from being carried away by liberalism. To confirm this, one need only recall the persecution brought against the famous hierarch by Shishkov’s party. All this was supposed to teach Filaret caution in word and action. Extreme caution is one of Filaret’s outstanding character traits. “It is unpleasant and not harmless to see the oversights of the leaders of a higher educational institution,” he wrote in 1839 to Archimandrite. Philaret, rector of the Moscow Academy - and especially in such circumstances, when from an accidental mistake a conclusion is quickly drawn about non-Orthodoxy and a person’s mistake is turned into a criticism of the class. I think I have bored you with talking about prudence; but we still have to talk.” “For how many years have I been interpreting,” he wrote another time about. to the rector - that the days are evil and that even innocent things must be done carefully: they do not listen to me; - my fears come true and again they don’t look around so much as they complain” 944. Filaret considered St. Scripture and St. tradition (together with Holy Scripture, and not separately). The mystics did not draw their teachings from these sources. Rejecting natural reason, they invented spiritual reason, as a special organ of supernatural revelations. This view directly followed from the teaching of the mystics about the relationship of God to man. The Christian doctrine of rebirth was understood by mystics in a pantheistic sense. According to their concepts, the restoration of the image of God in man is nothing more than the incarnation of the Son of God in the soul of the believer; whereby the life of the person being regenerated is gradually absorbed by the Divine life and identified with the life of the Hypostatic Word of God. The reborn, having God in his heart, has no need for external sources of revelation, which are completely replaced by the broadcasts of God the Word. “Sacred books, according to the Zion Messenger (1817), bring only the benefit to the reader that they excite and instruct his heart to listen to the inner word and prepare it to accept the teaching taught internally by Christ.” According to Philaret, “in every line of God’s word there is hidden light, in every sound there is wisdom” 945. The mystics, with their view of the sources of the doctrine, understandably could not follow the strict method of presentation and study of the tenets of the Christian faith that Philaret followed. In Philaret we find an explanation of dogmas based on a deep understanding of Holy Scripture and completely consistent with the teachings of the Holy Church. Among the mystics, instead of a deep understanding of Holy Scripture, we will find a random selection of texts, and instead of a strict presentation of dogmas, we will find enthusiastic phrases. The consequence of the sharp difference in the basic views on dogma should be a difference in the very content of the doctrine proposed by the mystics and expounded from the church pulpit by Philaret. How meager in content is the mystical dogmatic teaching, reduced to the doctrine of rebirth and the closest unity of the believer with God; So rich in content is the theological teaching of Philaret, who revealed in his writings not only those points of Orthodox doctrine in which the mystics sinned, but answered all almost dogmatic questions, touching on subjects of Orthodox doctrine similar to mystical teaching. Filaret sometimes also expounded mystical teachings, only within the limits permitted by Orthodoxy (for example, about the new birth from above, about the hidden life, about the imitation of Christ). Greater care was required from Filaret to refute mystical views, which were not at all reconciled with Orthodox teaching. Mysticism rejected everything external in Christianity. He looked at the sacraments as signs of a spiritual direct relationship to the Divine. He also rejected the visible Church and any external mediation between Christ and the believer. The denial of mysticism even extended to original sin 946. All this caused Philaret to either correct the mystical teaching (for example, the word on the Annunciation; Words, ed. 1848 1, 168), or to confirm what was rejected by the mystics; Moreover, confirmation was required primarily from Holy Scripture, which in a certain sense was respected by the mystics. Mysticism influenced the content of the dogmatic teaching of M. Philaret only in the very first period of his activity. Both at this time and subsequently, in the religious life of the Russian people there were many other phenomena that prompted Filaret to say an authoritative word. Schism with many different ramifications, sects of different shades, Catholics and Protestants, which the Orthodox have to constantly deal with - all this caused the famous preacher to discuss dogmatic issues (for example, about the Church, about Holy Tradition, about the conditions of our salvation, etc.) Social unrest, directed, among other things, against the monarchical form of government, forced us to illuminate this subject from a religious point of view, and to consider hereditary royal power as a weapon Divine Providence. The volume and content of M. Philaret’s dogmatic teaching are explained, finally, by the circumstances and purposes of writing his theological works. Dogmatic teaching is mainly found in the sermons of M. Philaret. When choosing the subjects of the sermon and when disclosing them, Filaret was undoubtedly guided by the importance and edification of them and the time of delivering the sermon. From the church pulpit, for example, it was inconvenient to enter into the subtleties of the metaphysical teaching about the properties of God. Therefore, in Philaret’s sermons we find detailed teaching only about the goodness and omnipresence of God. They speak in detail about the importance of the resurrection of Christ in the matter of our salvation, perhaps because they were spoken on the holiday of Easter, when it was quite natural to talk about this. Words, ed. 1877 3, 398; ed. 1848 1, 255; Wed 244; ed. 1873 1, 124–5. Words, ed. 1874 2, 352. Words, ed. 1874 2, 285. “Can dry grass withstand the presence of fire in the same way as does gold, which is purified and perfected by it? Will he not instantly turn her into ashes and dust? Ibid. 267–8. Words ed. 1873 1, 180–1. 177. 184–8; ed. 1848 1, 63. 2, 283; ed. 1861 3, 280; ed. 1877 3, 460–1. Words; ed. 1882 4, 520. Words, ed. 1861 3, 312. 313. Words, ed. 1861 3, 312. 300; Wed ed. 1873 1, 210. Words, ed. 1861 3, 312–3. Words, ed. 1848 2, 274. Words, ed. 1861 3, 313. Words, ed. 1873 1, 138–9; Wed 135. Words, ed. 1861 3, 121; Wed 5. “Read.” in General l. spirit. etc." 1868 5, 63. Words, ed. 1874 2, 50; Wed 79–80; ed. 1873 1, 264. Words, ed. 1848 1, 41–2. Words, ed. 1861 3, 307; Wed 121–2; ed. 1848 1, 50; ed. 1874 2, 268–9. Words, ed. 1873 1, 181. Words, ed. 1848 1, 59. Words, ed. 1848 1, 151; ed. 1874 2, 313; Wed ed. 1861 3, 47; Catech. 80. Words, ed. 1848 2, 151. Words, ed. 1848 1, 186–7. Words, ed. 1877 3, 434; Wed 394; ed. 1874 2, 223; ed. 1848 2, 151. Words, ed. 1877 3, 434. Words, ed. 1848 1, 60; Wed 187. “The distribution of gifts (the Holy Spirit) has no other end than the communication of the power of God to weak creatures to achieve bliss.” Right Review 1869 1, 357. “Human life in its activity moves between three limits, towards which it strives incorrectly, it confuses its own movements and damages itself. These spiritual limits are: man himself, his neighbor and God.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 282. 215–6. “The spirit of wisdom shines in his mind..., spiritually seeking everything (1 Cor. 2:15), in order to turn everything into a means to the one eternal good of the soul. His will is moved by the spirit of freedom: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus freed him from the law of sin and death, which gives its slaves as many heavy masters as there are needs and whims, passions and habits. In the depths of his heart rests the spirit of consolation and peace, which surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7), which Jesus Christ gives to His disciples, not as the world gives (John 14:27). In him dwells the spirit of greatness... the spirit of humility... the spirit of power, with which the Christian is a good warrior, clothed with all the armor of God (Eph. 6:11), able to do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens him (Phil. 4:13), and with power he delights in the kingdom of God (Matt. 11:12).” Words, ed. 1848 1, 60–2; Wed 2, 18–9. “Subjects often cannot know why human power acts in one way or another, much less the power of the incomprehensible Deity.” Words, ed. 1861 3, 279. Words, ed. 1861 3, 279; ed. 1848 1, 60; Wed Cat. 48. Words, ed. 1848 2, 12. Words, ed. 1877 3, 438–9. Words, ed. 1848 1, 188–9. Words, ed. 1877 3, 439–440; Wed ed. 1848 1, 62–3. Words, ed. 1877, 3, 437–8; ed. 18731, 243–4; Wed ed. 1861 3, 100. Words, ed. 1848 2, 187–8; ed. 1877 3, 438. Words, ed. 1861 3, 122; ed. 1882 4, 624. Words, ed. 1848 1, 65, 64; 2, 106; Wed 1, 201. Words, ed. 1848 1, 65; 2, 151–2. Words, ed. 1848 2, 151–2; 1, 187; Wed ed. 1861 3, 44; ed. 1873 1, 208–9. Words, ed. 1861 3, 53; Wed ed. 1848 1, 92. “Freedom is an unrepentant or irrevocable gift of God.” Words, ed. 1877 3, 421. Words, ed. 1882 4, 625. Words, ed. 1848 2, 58–9; Wed ed. 1877 3, 410. Words, ed. 18481, 188; Wed 114; ed. 1877 3, 440–1. Words, ed. 18482, 290; Wed 24, 124. 273. Words, ed. 1873, 1, 219; ed. 1848 2, 12. Words, ed. 1848 2, 102. “Right, or in the language of Holy Scripture, justification (Ex. 24:3; Rom. 2:26), is that by preserving which one can be right before people and righteous before God.” “To impute originally means: to put into account (Lev.25:27. 50.52), and according to usage also: to attribute to someone some property, sometimes alien to him (Prov. 17:28). To be counted as righteousness means to be recognized as virtue and to be credited as a merit worthy of recompense (Ps. 105:31).” The essence of the Abrahamic faith, “as true, must be believed in the sincere and unconditional surrender of the mind and will to God, in the acceptance of His testimony into oneself (1 John 5:10) contrary to the testimony of flesh and blood, rather than hope (Rom. 4:18).” Zap. on Gen. 2, 85–6; Read in General l. spirit. Ave. 1872 4, 70. Zap. on Gen. 2, 109–110. Read in General I. and Dr. Ross. 1870 1, 39–40. Words, ed. 1848 1, 120–1. Words, ed. 1848 1, 100–102; Wed 49–50. Words, ed. 1848 1, 213; Wed 66; ed. 1874 2, 266–9. – Faith, attracting the grace-filled power of God to a person, through this increases its own strength. If they had faith like the grain of a mountain, they would quickly say to this buttock, “I was delighted and sat down in the sea, and I would have listened to you” (Luke 17:6). “That is: oh, if only you had the beginnings of faith from the sincere disposition of your heart! Then you would surely receive great strength from grace... Have a heartfelt disposition to believe, which depends on you: and God will not fail to impart to you strong faith, which is the gift of grace.” Words, ed. 1861 3, 46–7; Wed ed. 1848 1, 121; ed. 1882 4, 565. Words, ed. 1848 1, 85. “However, he shows justification in faith and works, just as life is in the root and fruit of a tree, and faith appears to be the root of justification”... Read. in General Is.etc. R. 1870 1, 40. Ecumenical, it must be in the sense that it infuses the believer with the grace of God. Words, ed. 1848 1, 121; Wed 2, 286. Ibid. 1, 85; Wed Catech. 3, 93–4. Words, ed. 1848 1, 86; Wed Zap. on Gen. 2, 49. 59. 159. Words, ed. 1848 1, 124–5. Words, ed. 1877 3, 398–9; ed. 1848 1, 172–3; Wed Cat. 19. Words, ed. 1848 2, 9. Words, ed. 1848 1, 283; Wed ed. 1877 3, 399–401; ed. 1861 3, 144–5. Words, ed. 1873 1, 272; Wed 273–6. Words, ed. 1877 3, 425–6. Zap. on Gen. 2, 172; Wed Words, ed. 1877 3, 426. 465–9. Words, ed. 1848 1, 111; Wed ed. 1877 3, 427. Words, ed. 1848 1, 83; ed. 1861 3, 93; Wed 26.201. Read in General I. and D. Ros. 1870 1, 39–40; Zap. on Gen. 1, 112; Words, ed. 1848 1, 188. Words, ed. 1848 2, 284; Wed ed. 1877 480. Words, ed. 1848 2, 203–206; Wed ed. 1877 3, 410–411. Words, ed. 1848 2, 203–6; Wed ed. 1877 vol. 3, 410–411. Edition 1874 2, 313; Wed ed. 1877 3, 378; ed. 1848 2, 80. In the name of the sacraments one can see an indication partly that the gracious power of God secretly acts in them, partly to the fact that these sacred actions, out of reverence for the Divine power contained in them, should be a secret, inaccessible to the unprepared and unworthy (Ib. 515; cf. Right. Review 1866, 2 books 87). Words, ed. 1848 2, 185–6. Words, ed. 1882 4, 514–5. Words, ed. 18482, 273. Words, ed. 1861 3, 350. Words, ed. 1848 2, 239; Wed ed. 1861 3, 183. Words, ed. 1861 3, 153; Wed Catech. 49. Conversation between Spanish and confidence o right. 128; Words and piw, ed. 1848 2, 240; 1, 17; 2, 188. Words, ed. 1882 4, 603. Words, ed. 1848 2, 240. Words, ed. 1861 3, 142. Words, ed. 1861 3, 100. Ibid. 99; Catech. 50; “Read. in General I. and D.R.” 1870 1, 42; Wed Conversation 153. Words, ed. 1848 2, 337. Words, ed. 1874 2, 408–9; ed. 1848 2, 214. Words, ed. 1861 3, 142. cf. 246–7; Thurs. in General I. and D. R. 1870 1, 42. Razg. 137–143; Wed 143–4; Wed ed. 1848 1, 264–6. Words, ed. 1873 1, 252. Words, ed. 18482, 181. Words, ed. 1861 3, 108. Words, ed. 1882 4, 621. Bible East. 478–9; Wed “Thu.” in O.I. and D.R.” 1876 1, 42. Words, ed. 1848 1, 233. Ibid. 220; cf.2, 340. 337; 1, 217–221. Words, ed. 1848 2, 337; Wed 3, 410. Words, ed. 1848 1, 220. Words, ed. 1848 2, 188. Words, ed. 1848 2, 18; Wed 1, 230–2. Words, ed. 1848 1, 220; Wed Bible East. 474–5. Words, ed. 1861 3, 184. Bible East. 481–3; Wed ed. 1848 341; ed. 1861 385–387. Words, ed. 1848 2, 98–9. Words, ed. 1848 2, 340. Cat. 17; Bible East. 486–7; ed. 1861 3, 387–8. The church teaching seems to disagree with the words of Jesus Christ: you are not called teachers: for there is one teacher, Christ, and you are all brethren (Matthew 23:8). With these words, Christ “does not reject the teaching ministry,” but “our wisdom humbles, exaltation brings down, insolence is curbed, self-will cuts off, condemns and prohibits self-ordained and self-appointed teaching Do not be scolded, teachers: do not admire this title for yourself; do not volunteer to teach when you are not called to do so. And if you are called to this, if God appoints you, if the sacred law calls you teachers; and then do not be exalted by a title that belongs to you only by gift and by participation, since your Teacher, Christ, is originally and essentially one. Consider yourselves no more than the brethren of those who call you teachers; be servants, and not rulers of the teaching and disciples: whoever is in you, let him be your servant (Matthew 23:11).” Words, ed. 1848 1, 229. Words, ed. 1861 3, 183–4; Wed Bible East. 475; ed. 1877 3, 443. Words, ed. 1882 4, 497; ed. 1848 2, 343; Wed 65. Cat. 57 pp.; ed. 1874 2, 316. Words, ed. 1848 2, 281–282. Words, ed. 1848 1, 188. Words, ed. 1848 2, 153. Words, ed. 1882 4, 610. “The Apostle Peter calls baptism an imagination or antitype (antitype) of Noah’s ark (1 Pet. 3:20, 21). So, the ark was an image (1 Cor. 10:2) of the baptismal font, and the great renewal of the human race, an image of the rebirth of every person. Before the flood, the human race was carnal, not participating in the Spirit of God, filled with evil in all its thoughts, corrupt in all its actions; such is man outside the grace of baptism and regeneration. The old human race was buried in the flood, but at the same time a new race was prepared, preserved in the ark; Likewise, we are buried by Christ through baptism into the death of our old man, and at the same time we are introduced by Him into His immortal Church, and begin to walk in newness of life (Rom. 4:4-6). Zap. on Gen. 1, 131–2; Wed Bib. East. 90; ed. 1848 2, 15; Zap. on Gen. 2, 13. Razg. between Spanish and confidence o right. 23, 4 pp.; Wed Catech. 61. Bible East. 404–5; ed. 1848 2, 101; Wed Cat. 58. Words, ed. 1848 5, 31. Words, ed. 1848 2, 31. Words, ed. 1848 2, 282–283. – What will happen to those who, not due to some stubbornness, but due to circumstances beyond their control, could not receive baptism? This time we should remember that “just as God’s justice is incomprehensible and limitless, so His mercy is incomprehensible and limitless. A soul that bears only the sin of its ancestors, and this only because it did not have the opportunity to receive relief from this burden, of course, will not be compared with God with a soul that, through willful sins, makes its way to Gehenna. Here is what Gregory the Theologian writes about baptism: “others do not even have the opportunity to accept the gift of grace (baptism), either, perhaps, due to their infancy, or due to some coincidence of circumstances completely independent of them.” And further: “the latter (about whom they were now speaking) will not be glorified or punished by the Righteous Judge, because although they are not sealed, they are not bad, and they themselves suffered more than they did harm. For not everyone unworthy of punishment is worthy of honor, just as not everyone unworthy of honor is worthy of punishment.” Zap. about the life of Filaret-Sushkov, adj. 121 Page Cat. 57; Wed Bib. East. 439.435.473. Words, ed. 1882 4, 513; Bib. East. 473–4; Wed 69. 112. 121. 220. 387. Cat. 61–2; Bible East. 473. – The anointing of David shows that even in the Old Testament the teaching of spiritual gifts was combined with visible anointing. David, long before his accession to the throne, was anointed by Samuel. “Why was David anointed king so early, so, apparently, at the wrong time, with danger? In order (by the way) to impart to him royal grace by anointing, which would make him a winner, and dear to the people, and invincible in persecution, and finally bring him to the throne, as it is said in Scripture that, as a result of the anointing, the Spirit of the Lord hovered over David from that day and then (1 Sam. 16:13).” – Words, ed. 1861 3, 241; ed. 1848 2, 187. Cat. 62–3; Wed ed. 1848 1, 226. Words, ed. 1848 226–7. “Read. in General love spirit. etc." 1868 5, 155. Words, ed. 1882 4, 496–7; ed. 1873 1, 148. Words, ed. 1848 2, 73; Wed 50. Words, ed. 1848 2, 186. Words, ed. 1861 3, 147. Words, ed. 1861 3, 199; ed. 1873, 1, 148; ed. 1848 1, 67. Words ed. 1848 1, 227–8. “Note how those who do not allow infants and minors up to a certain age to enter the Holy Mysteries deviate from the accuracy of the Lord’s commandment; and how, on the contrary, the Orthodox Church is faithful to the word of the Lord when she gives the Holy Cup to infants, so that everyone may drink from it, even those who can only drink, without having the strength to eat. Even more worthy of note is how the Lord, at the first presentation of the Holy Cup, at the same time denounces its taking away from the people - an innovation of later centuries... As for those who do not begin the Lord’s Table once a year or completely shun it, their judgment is written in the Gospel: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man, nor drink His blood, you will not have life in you (John 6:53).” Ibid. 2, 49–50; Wed “Read. in O.I.Dr. R." 1870 1, 40–1. Letters of Met. File to Muravyov, 152 p. 234–5 pp.; Wed Cat. 65. Letters. Flp. to Muravyov 150 item 221 page; Wed 219. Ibid. 150 paragraph 219 page; Wed 152 items 234 pages Ibid. 150 paragraph 221 pp. - “The Latin thought about the time of transubstantiation is simply incompatible with the ancient tradition and, may I say, stupid.” 152 paragraph 235 page – In the Law. Spanish “transubstantiation is associated with two actions: invocation and blessing.” 153 paragraph 237 pages - “The teaching message recognizes the words of the Lord as essential for the accomplishment of transubstantiation, not being satisfied with the words of invocation and blessing.” 153 p. 238 pp. – That the utterance of the words of the establishment of the sacrament is necessary for transubstantiation, this is evidenced, by the way, by Gregory of Nyssa in his catechumen 37, Simeon of Thessalonica in the book about the church (in chapter 88), Mark of Ephesus in an essay written during the Council of Florence, under the title: “On how not by the exact pronunciation of the Lord’s words are sanctified holy gifts", book. Tablet, the work of John Nathanael, presbyter of Crete (p. 419), St. Demetrius in twelve articles on transubstantiation... 153 items 238–240. – The Breviary of Peter the Mogila, part 1, page 238, contains a purely Catholic teaching about the time of transubstantiation. Ibid. 240 pp. Words, ed. 1861 3, 109; Wed 103. Words, ed. 1873 1, 178. Words, ed. 1848 1, 222–4. Ed. 1848 1, 37; Cat. 68. Ibid. 159; ed. 1873 1, 178. Ed. 1848 1, 267; Wed 253. Ed. 1877 3, 440; Wed ed. 1848 1, 86; ed. 1874 2, 320. Catech. 68; Wed ed. 1848 1, 224–274; Bible East. 340–474. Catech. 71; Read in O. love. d. pr. 1868 5, 155. Cat. 71. Ed. 1861 3, 188–9; Wed ed. 1848 1, 211; Bib. East. 475. Catech. 70; “Christ the Savior said to the Apostles about single life: not all can bear this word, but to them it is given to eat (Matt. 19:11). That is: not everyone can remain celibate, but only some have the gift of permanent virginity.” So that everyone “can, with a peaceful conscience, in accordance with the word of Christ, choose what can accommodate, either holy virginity, or a blessed marriage, without fearing those unblessed mentors who dreamed of destroying with their commandment the universal blessing of God to men: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28).” Ed. 1861 3, 169; Wed Bible East. 9. 69–70. 134. 219. 290. 384. 457. 475. Right review 1866 2, 86. “Ordination is presented for the first time in the blessing of the children of Joseph by Jacob, and, moreover, in the form of a cross (Gen. 48:13-4). Through it the communication of the gifts of grace is clearly depicted, since the outstretching of hands usually precedes giving.” Bible East. 69. Words, ed. 1885 5, 571. Right Review 1866 2 books. 86. Ed. 1848 2, 340; Wed 341–343. Ed. 1848 2, 338; Add. to Creation St. Father Part 21, pp. 489–490. Right Review 1866 2, 86. Words, ed. 1848 2, 338–9. Words, ed. 1874 2, 410–411. Ed. 1848 2, 240; Wed ibid. 1, 54–55. Conversation between trials and confidence 121–2. Ed. 1882 4, 515; ed. 1848 2, 61; Wed 139; 1, 302–4; ed. 1877 3, 454; ed. 1873 1, 131–2; ed. 1861 3, 146; Wed 1873 1, 226, 7; ed. 1848 2, 152; Wed 205–59. 65; ed. 1861 3, 198–9. Words, ed. 1848 2, 240–241. Words, ed. 1848 2, 97. Words, nz. 1848 1, 320. Ed. 1848 2, 37. 51. 193. 207. 224. 263–4. 292.308.320; 2, 14–7. 40–3. 51. 72. 79. 87, 89. 101. 111. 306; ed. 1861 3, 176, 192–3; ed. 1873 131. 143–4. 147–9. 172. 176. 178, 213; ed. 1877 3, 377; ed. 1885 4, 621; Catech. 63–7. Ed. 1848 307. 308. 315; Letters from Philar. to the arch. Antonio, letter 152. “Therefore, I think, in this sense, the primal Church clearly recognized the communion of saints as a member of the faith, as can be seen from some ancient symbols of faith. Therefore, I think, the Apostle, as an important advantage of the Christian Church, points to its communion with the heavenly Church.” Heb.12. 22–23. Ed. 1848 2, 46; Wed ed. 1861 3, 279–280, ed. 1882 4, 518. Words, ed. 1848 1, 296–7. Words, ed. 1848 1, 278; Wed Catech. 51–3. Razg. between Spanish and uv. 129. Razg. between Spanish and uv. 128–9. Words, ed. 1848 1, 170. Words, ed. 1848 1, 169. Words, ed. 1848 1, 173. Words, ed. 1848 2, 34, Words, ed. 1848 2, 97–8. Words, ed. 1848 2, 98. Razg. between Spanish and confidence 125. Words, ed. 1848 2, 35–6. Words, ed. 1848 2, 36. Words, ed. 1848 1, 99; Wed Catech. 49. Zap. on Gen. 1, 31; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 121. Words, ed. 1873 1, 159–160; Wed Zap. on Gen. 2, 88. Words, ed. 1861 3, 55. Words, ed. 1877 3, 430–1. Words, ed. 1873 1, 160–1; Wed ed. 1848 1, 82–3. Words, ed. 1861 3, 54–5; Wed 49; ed. 1874 2, 278–280. Words, ed. 1873 1, 220. Words, ed. 1874 2, 395. “Where is it? The genuine taking of the Blessed Virgin with her body into heaven, according to the signs remaining on earth, similar to the resurrection of Christ, is not this the first example of the first resurrection? If the Mother of the Chief of the Resurrection follows Him in resurrection on the third day after Her Dormition; then could it not happen that some others, primarily saints and worthy of bliss, such as, for example, those who gave their lives for the name of the Resurrectionist, through many, perhaps centuries, but before the last general resurrection of the dead and the change of the living, receive some preliminary participation, especially given to them, both in the resurrection and in the glory, in the bliss characteristic of Him? How simply, apparently, and naturally, the words of the Seer of Mysteries are explained in this way - the souls of those who were crushed for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God came to life, but the rest of the dead did not come to life; – this is the first resurrection (Rev. 2:4–5)! But who understands the mind of the Lord (Rom. 11:34)? A person who does not know what the coming day will give birth to (Proverbs 3:28), can he seek knowledge of what the centuries, fraught with the secrets of God’s destinies, will give birth to?... Words, ed. 1874 2, 395–6. 397–8 et al.; Wed ed. 1848 1, 295–8. “Read. in O. love. etc.” 1871 13, 3. Words, ed. 1848 1, 199; Wed 198; ed. 1874 2, 280. 322. Words, ed. 1848 1, 320. Words, ed. 1861 3, 56. Words, ed. 1861 3, 267, 50; Wed from. 1873 1, 162. “If we take into account what the Apostle is talking about the spirits of evil in heaven, that it is common for the spirits of evil to be in hell, then won’t we have to conclude that our poor world, on the one hand, by the gift of creation and by the grace of redemption, permeated by the gracious, bright atmosphere of heaven, - on the other, by the disastrous, sinful damage, is not completely locked for the dark atmosphere of hell that has expanded in it? Souls blessed and perfected, emanating from the body, reflect this atmosphere with the blessed light infused into them and, without feeling it, go to heaven to souls less purified, less strong in the light, it is amazed - and here are the ordeals.” Letters. Filar. to the arch. Anthony, letter 543. Words, ed. 1848 1, 209–210. Words, ed. 1861 3, 186. Words, ed. 1861 3, 186; Cat. 73; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 304; ed. 1873 1, 162. “Isn’t it superfluous, apparently, to pray for saints? However, Saint Paul commands to pray for all saints (Eph. 6:18). Is it not superfluous to pray for the Apostles, who are the distributors of grace to all others and the first of the saints in the Church (Cor. 12:23)? However, the Apostle Paul demands that non-Apostles pray for him, and moreover, when he was already approaching the crown for the exploits of the Apostleship. There is prayer in favor of the Gospel itself (Rom. 1:16): is it possible to be afraid of excess in prayer for believers? Or, they will ask, is not prayer for those who have died in sin futile? I answer: in vain - for those who died in mortal sin, spiritual death, and in this state suffered by bodily death - for those who inwardly fell away from the spiritual body of the Church of Christ and from life by faith, through their unbelief, unrepentance, decisive and final resistance to the grace of God. Where the signs of this bitter death are clear to an enlightened and impartial eye, there is no place for the consolation of prayer: there is sin leading to death; I’m not saying that, but praying. But what can prayer do for a brother who is sinning a sin that does not lead to death? Might give him a stomach. Is it really possible for someone who has died physically? – Saint John, whose words we are now guided by, does not say yes; but don’t say and – no. He does not forbid praying for the dead, but he forbids praying for a desperate and hopeless sinner.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 21–3. Catech. 73; Words, ed. 1848 2, 23–4; Wed ed. 1861 3, 178–9; Read in General I. and Dr. Ross. 1870 1, 44. Words, ed. 1848 1, 254–6. Cat. 45; Wed Words ed. 1874 2,321; ed. 1848 1, 63. “In order to form his false life, the Antichrist will take its elements in hell and in wicked people,” and, like the body of the Church of Christ, “he will form his body - the church of the wicked.” Letters from Philar. to Anthony, letter 93. Words, ed. 1848 1, 295; Wed 297–8. Katvh. 72; Wed Words, ed. 1861 3, 54–5. Words, ed. 1848 1, 272–4; Wed ed. 1861, 3, 276. Words, over. 1873 1, 295–6; Wed 202. Catech. 74; Wed Read in O. love. d. pr. 1872 4, 108; ed. 1848 1, 233–6. 54–5. Cat. 75; Words, ed. 1873 1, 296–9; Wed ed. 1848 1, 157. Cat. 75; Wed Words, ed. 1878 1, 295. Catech. 72; Wed Sl. ed., 1848 1, 19. 33–4. Words, ed. 1848 1, 9–11 pp., compare. 26–28. Read in General l. spirit. enlightenment 1872 4, 58–61 – In looking at the sources of dogma, at the evidence of dogmas, Filaret joins the school of Feofan Prokopovich, who in the preface to his course on Theology says: “If I had to say something that would not be confirmed by the testimony of the word of God, or would be proven by arguments that are not entirely clear and not relevant to the point, then I declare my desire in advance and the requirement that everything like this not only not be accepted by the disciples on faith, but is directly rejected as unsatisfactory and false. And I would like my listeners to point out such mistakes to me, giving me the opportunity to correct and refute my incorrect opinions. For I know that one cannot call healthy a person who, madly imitating his father, considers himself infallible.” Feofan Prokop. as a writer. P. Morozova. 1880 126. Words, ed. 1848 1, 276; Wed 257. Reading in general l. spirit. enlightenment 1874 6, 979–81. Collection of opinions and reviews of Philar.; ed. 1885 2, 217–220 pp. Read in General love etc. 1877 November. 128–9. Letters from Filaret to O. M. Golitsyn, letter 30 of 1839. Letters from Filaret to the architect. Anthony, letter 1012. P.V. Znamensky. Read from the source rus. c. Ave. Sob. 1885 1, 29–30. “Metropolitan. Filaret in his regard. to the world of sacraments. Phenomena." Soulful. Read Histor. Russian verbal. Galakhova 1880 vol. 2, 453–8. Faith and Reason, 1884 November. 605. Letters to Alexei, Archbishop. Tverskoy, 104–5. Words, ed. 1848 2, 259; 1, 148. Russian Star. 1881 t. Oct. 316–7 pp. Read in General love d. enlightenment 1872 4, 77–8. 80; Wed 3, 52; 5, 81. 86; 6, 103. Words,.ed. 1848 2, 49; Wed 1, 92. Exposition of the mystical scientific review, in Prav. Sob. 1885 Sept. pp. 82–98; East. rus. verbal. Galakhova, vol. 2, 393–428.