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Evang. from John zach. 9th, ch. III, 13–17. 1. Gospel reading in the week before the Exaltation, indicating the saving fruits of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ The Gospel reading for this week is taken from the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus, who secretly came to listen to the teaching of Jesus Christ. In it the Lord says that: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:14–16). These words of the Lord contain an indication of the kind of death He chose to redeem fallen humanity and the saving fruits of His suffering. “I’m afraid to speak and touch with my tongue the terrible tale of the Savior’s suffering. Sadness and tears squeeze my heart when I imagine that the Lord is suffering insults and reproaches from his slaves, scourging, spitting and strangling.” This is what St. Ephraim the Syrian says in one of his works. Genuinely, great, unspeakably great and immeasurably grave were the sufferings that the sinless Christ the Savior endured for us from the lawless Jews. Soulless nature itself shuddered and sympathized with the man nailed to the cross: the foundations of the earth shook, the sun darkened and withheld the rays of its lightness; and the holy inhabitants of heaven - angels and archangels - covered their faces with their wings, horrified at the desecration of the Lord. But no matter how great the suffering of Jesus Christ was, His merits are just as important and saving for us, sinful people. Through the suffering of the Son of God Jesus Christ, our sins were cleansed, the oath was taken away, eternal death was put to death, fallen human nature, upset by sin, was restored and renewed. Having accepted human nature from the Blessed Virgin Mary, becoming human in everything except sin, the only begotten Son of God became the new ancestor of people. Just as the sin of Adam, due to the natural descent from him of all people, brought corruption and eternal death to the entire human race, so the most holy righteousness of Jesus Christ, the second Adam, imparted justification and eternal life to people. Just as through Adam’s sin all his descendants were condemned by God, so just as through the merits of Christ the Savior, His atoning death, all who believe in Christ were justified. Just as in the first Adam we all perished, so in the second Adam, Jesus Christ, we are all saved. “Like a single sin,” says St. Apostle Paul, there is condemnation for all men; In the same way there is one justification for all men, the justification of life” (Rom. 5:18). The sin of our forefathers brought upon people a curse from the Lord, the all-righteous Judge. Christ, the Son of God, took upon Himself the curse of the human race, taking the cross on His shoulder and being lifted up on it, “for it is written: Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal. 3:13). The sufferings of Christ on the cross, which He voluntarily endured out of love for fallen man, serve as a sufficient ransom for all the iniquities of people; they alone exhaust the cup of suffering assigned to each and every person as punishment for sins. The sufferings of the sinless God-man have an infinitely high price; they incomparably exceed the entire severity of human sins and constitute the most perfect sacrifice to God’s justice for the sins of the entire human race. Because of this sacrifice made for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. God the Father “forgave us our former sins” (Rom. 3:25), restored us to His favor and freed us from eternal death. “The blood of the prophets could not redeem us,” says St. Ambrose of Milan - Peter or Paul did not redeem us; He alone could redeem us by His death, who is both God and man.” And St. Basil the Great argues this way: “What can a person find so valuable that he can give it as a redemption for his soul? But there was found one thing of equal value to all people together, which was given as the price of the redemption of our souls: this is the holy and valuable blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He shed for us all.” So great and saving for us are the fruits of the suffering on the cross and the death of Christ. Thinking about them with fear and trembling, with tears and sighs, let us thank the Lord for His immeasurable goodness. Remembering what great mercy the only begotten Son of God has shown to us sinners, let us continually lift up the Lord our God with songs of thanksgiving and worship the passion of Christ. May the saints who always remembered the suffering of Jesus Christ be an example for us in this case. So, in the desert of Jordan, Abba Stephen was saved, who only thought about the crucified Christ. One day three elders came to him to consult. The holy ascetic was silent for a long time and finally said in response to their questions: “Forgive me, brothers, that I have not listened to your conversation until now. I'll just tell you this. that day and night I think about our Lord Jesus Christ, nailed to the cross.” The same thing is told in the lives of the saints about the Monk Pimen (whose memory is celebrated in the church on August 27). One day Abba Isaac came to him and found him sitting in silence, as if in some kind of frenzy. After waiting for some time, the abba asked the monk where he had ascended with his mind during the continuation of silence. Convinced by his prayer, Saint Pimen replied: “My mind was where the Most Pure Virgin Mary the Mother of God stood at the cross and wept” (“Ur. and note of Christian faith, above. and love,” Priest. Gr. Dyachenko, part I, p. 79). But, reflecting on the saving sufferings of Christ, let us strive, Christians, for saving communion with Christ. We need close communion with Christ, our new Divine Progenitor. Without this, the suffering and death of Christ will not bring us any benefit; in alienation from Christ, our Advocate and Redeemer, we will all be under the wrath of God. Communion with Christ is accomplished through faith, love and participation in the holy sacraments established by the Lord. Knowing this, beloved Christian, let us use all divine means, including life and piety. Let us become partakers of the saving passions of the Lord Jesus and the immortal life He bestowed, let us abide with him and in Him by faith, love, holy and immaculate life. Blessed is the man who has the Crucified One before his eyes and, in imitation of Him, crucifies his flesh with its passions and lusts. (See “Resurrection leaf.” No. 312, appended to the magazine “Sunday Day”). 2. Miracles of the cross of Christ (sign of the cross) (From the book “The Stone of Faith”). Worshiping the cross of the Lord, St. The church calls him the guardian of the entire universe, the beauty of the church, the power of kings, the glory of angels and the plague of demons. She calls upon the incomprehensible and divine power of the cross of the Lord, so that we, protected by this grace-filled power, defeat the enemies of our salvation. The Cross of Christ is that victorious banner, under the shadow of which every Christian fights, like a good warrior of Christ. One type of cross, one image of it in the sign of the cross, is terrible for the spirits of darkness: it reminds them of Christ’s victory over their kingdom of evil, it scorches them like the flaming sword of the cherub that turned in the gates of heaven after the expulsion of our sinners from paradise. The Lord, in His mercy, has shown and continues to show His power for our salvation precisely through His cross. Marvelous are the miracles of the cross of Christ! Who will count them?.. And how many miracles have been performed by the sign of the cross since our Lord, departing into heaven, raised His hands and blessed His disciples, and they, following His example, began to bless the believers! – St. Prochorus, a disciple of John the Theologian, tells that the Apostle John once found a sick man on the road and healed him with the sign of the cross. He says: there was one poor Christian who, not having anything to pay off his creditors, decided to commit suicide and went to a certain Jewish sorcerer. He gave him some kind of poison, and the unfortunate man, when he came home, did not know what to do with himself: it seemed scary to him to die. Finally, he sealed the vessel with the poison with the sign of the cross and drank... The poison had no effect at all. Then he again went to the Jew and began to ask for stronger poison. The Jew was surprised that he remained alive, but he gave what he asked. The poor man again crossed the vessel, drank and again remained unharmed... He comes again to the Jew and begins to scold him as a deceiver. He can’t believe his eyes that the Christian is alive... “What were you doing when you drank poison?” he asked. “Nothing special,” answered the Christian: “I just protected the vessel with the sign of the cross.” Then the Jew learned the power of St. cross and, wanting to make sure of this even more, he gave the same poison to the dog: the dog immediately fell... And so, both of them, the Jew and the Christian, run to St. to the Apostle John the Theologian and tell everything that happened. Jew receives St. baptism, and for a Christian St. the apostle orders a bundle of hay to be brought, which the beloved disciple of Christ immediately transformed into gold for the poor man with the sign of the cross. – St. Evangelist Matthew healed one prince, his tormentor, with the sign of the cross. St. ap. Philip ordered one newly enlightened Christian, named Iru, to sign the sign of the cross on the sore members of a certain Aristarchus, and as soon as Iru fulfilled the command, Aristarchus’s withered hand came to life, his blind eye began to see, his ears began to hear, and he became healthy. The holy martyrs Zinon, Alexander and Theodore, making the sign of the cross, crushed the idols in the church with one breath. Young Indian prince, St. Joseph drove away from himself with the sign of the cross the spirits of malice sent to him by the sorcerer Theudas in order to incline him to carnal sin, and the crafty demons were forced to confess to their master, the sorcerer, that they could not bear even the shadow of the saint. cross, - the Venerable Hilarion the Great dispersed the demonic hordes with the sign of the cross, and once calmed the stormy sea that threatened to flood the town of Epidaurus, located not far from his desert, by drawing three crosses in the sand. When St. Epiphanius, later the famous bishop of Cyprus, was still a boy; he fell from his donkey and broke his thigh, so that he could not rise from the ground. At this time, a pious man named Kleovius passed by; he made the sign of the cross over Epiphanius's sore spot, and the youth rose up healthy... This same Epiphanius himself later healed the blind eye of one young man with the sign of the cross. And there are many, many such tales in the lives of the saints, so that if we were to collect them all into one, we could write a large book. – Having so much evidence from church history about the saving power of God’s grace, always abiding and acting through St. the sign of the cross of Christ, we kiss the cape with love to St. the cross as a sign of our salvation, and we worship it as the footstool of Christ, sanctified not only by the touch of His most pure flesh, but also by the outpouring of His most holy blood. 3. The cross is the accuser of the criminal In the village of Ilinskoye, Borovsky district, on August 31, 1887, a merchant of red goods arrived at Zelenin’s inn for the night. Almost simultaneously with him, the ofeni, sellers of books and various small items, arrived at the inn. While at the inn, the arrivals began talking about trade, and the ofeni learned that the Krasnoryad merchant was trading from a cart, driving around the estates of landowners in many provinces, that trade was going well, and that the cart contained velvet, furs, and silk fabric. After talking before dinner, they sat down at the table together and, having finished the meal, went their separate ways to spend the night. At 3 o'clock the Ofeni got up and woke up the hostess to collect from them for dinner and overnight accommodation. The hostess was surprised that they were setting off too early, but they said that they needed to be in Medyn early. Having seen them off and locked the gate behind them, the hostess went back to bed. At 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning she was awakened by the voices of many people and, having dressed, she learned that a bale of silk fabric had been stolen from a merchant's cart. They sent for a police officer. Having arrived and gathered witnesses, the police officer inspected the yard, and it turned out that the abduction was carried out by digging up the earth under the wall of the yard, from behind. Inspecting the tunnel, the constable noticed that on the clayey soil, at the bottom of the tunnel, there was a very clear imprint of the wooden chest cross that the thief had worn when he, probably wearing only a shirt, and perhaps with an unbuttoned collar, climbed into the tunnel. The constable carefully took out a lump of earth with an imprinted cross and, putting it in a box to preserve the imprint, went on a search along the road to Medyn. A few miles from Ilyinsky, he saw resting ofenians who had spent the night at Zelenin’s inn, and, in view of their early departure from the yard, he found it worthwhile to inspect their boxes. Nothing was found in the boxes, and the ofeni were so calm that anyone would have been convinced of their innocence, but the policeman wanted to be completely sure of this and asked them to show the crosses. They quite calmly took their breast crosses out of their bosoms, and one of them turned out to be exactly the same as it was printed on clay. This amazed the culprit so much that he immediately confessed to the crime and showed where the stolen goods were hidden. The culprit has been brought to justice. Isn't this wonderful? It was necessary for the thief to lay it on the clay with the exact part of his chest where the cross was located, and to lay it down on such soil that the cross was clearly imprinted! Just as the cross and the overshadowing of the cross with faith saves from enemy power and all misfortune, so it exposes the wicked who have committed a crime and an ungodly deed. Truly great is the power of the cross! (“Raven. Eparch. Ved.” 1888, No. 20). 4. The blessed power of the three-fingered sign of the cross over the sick, the blessing of God over the inviolably preserving the decrees of St. churches I do not want to remain silent any longer about the mercy of God, which was shown to me about 30 years ago, and I decide, for the edification of those who live piously, to glorify the name of God and to prove the holiness of the decrees of St. church, to make public everything that the Lord God has done to me. I was born in Moscow, into a merchant family, from parents committed to the Old Believers. Although he was baptized in the Orthodox Church, he was brought up in the spirit of the Old Believers and prayed with the schismatic cross, with two fingers. From birth he was a weak, frail and scrofulous child; he did not walk at all until he was 10 years old. After 10 years, although he began to walk, he felt weak in his legs, was tongue-tied, did not understand book learning, could not stand the smell of white bread and ate black bread and potatoes. He lived in this state until he was 14 years old. This year, on the day of my angel, April 17, the most merciful God showed His mercy on me: I became completely healthy, strength appeared in my legs, my tongue began to speak clearly and firmly, and the right appetite for eating food appeared in me. It happened like this. On April 17, on the occasion of my name day, I was with my mother at mass in one of the Moscow churches. Here, standing among the worshipers, I noticed that everyone standing near me was making the sign of the cross with three fingers, as well as the deacon, when he addressed the people with the words: And forever and ever, he held the orarion with three fingers. Some invisible force forced me to cross myself with three fingers. When I did this, that is, I folded the three fingers of my right hand for the first time in the name of St. Trinity and the other two bent into the confession of the Divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus, then I felt a scorching fire in me, and some ball like a ball turned in me, tears flowed from my eyes, sweet love for the Savior appeared, unearthly peace and tranquility, brotherly love for everything around me, and what is most surprising, I felt completely healthy. Immediately there appeared in me a persistent determination to always be baptized with three fingers, even if my parents began to scold me for it. So I cried and sobbed throughout mass. During the great entrance, the serving priest noticed me crying, and when after mass I, along with others, went up to serve a prayer service to my angel, he asked me what I was crying about. I answered him that I cried with joy that I had been healed of my illness, and at the same time I told him what a change had taken place in me, and how my legs had become stronger, and that all this happened because for the first time in my life I crossed myself in faith with a devout sign. The priest, knowing my parents, was amazed and attributed such a change in me to the grace of God. He gave his blessing to continue what I had started, but advised me not to argue with my parents about this and to treat them with filial respect, to endure all reproaches from my parents patiently, and advised me to believe that the omnipotent hand of God was invisibly stretched over me, which would always guide, confirm and strengthen me. After mass and prayer service, I returned home with my mother. Here my parent, a strong zealot of the Old Believers, having learned about what had happened, instead of thanking God for healing his son from illness, was angry with me for the change in constitution and told me: “If you have become self-willed, then you are not my son” and kicked me out. I felt the strength in myself to follow the inspiration from above and, believing in the inscrutable destinies of God, looking at the image of the Savior with the blessing right hand, from Whom I mentally asked for blessings, I said to my parents: “farewell” and left my parents’ house, not knowing where I was going. Finding himself on the road leading to the Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, he walked along it. Meanwhile, the parent regretted that he had treated me so harshly, and sent two workers to catch up with me. The messengers caught up with me, walking near the village of Rostokino, and returned me to my parents’ house. After this, my father, although he was hostile towards me, did not prevent me from praying with the three-fingered cross. My legs became completely stronger, and I became completely healthy. But God’s works are marvelous, and his mercy towards me, a sinner, is indescribable! Due to the frivolity characteristic of young people and “lack of attention to myself, I began to forget the work of God’s mercy that had happened to me and was baptized less reverently, and sometimes even carelessly, and generally behaved differently than when I first received healing. And so, the Lord God was not slow to reason with me. I was again struck by illness, but the illness was more serious. For a whole year he suffered from vomiting and diarrhea, and another year he suffered from bile. During these two years I became so weak that I constantly lay in bed and could hardly walk. Lying on my sick bed, I remembered my first recovery. It was then that I cried out to the Lord with all my heart: Lord God! From now on I will earnestly place the sign of the cross on myself with faith in You, in the Holy One. Trinity of the worshiped. The prayer of faith saved me another time from illness, and little by little I began to recover. I was 19 years old, and at that time I completely recovered in strength, grew and became stronger, and my previous illnesses never returned to me. Having twice experienced the traces of God's mercy from the depiction of the sign of the cross on myself with the correct formation of fingers, I no longer hesitated in the truth of three fingers and from that time decided to be baptized with three fingers, not paying attention to the comments from my parent. My parent did not stop looking at me with hostility and apparently deprived me of his favor, often giving me a job where I was under the authority of clerks, and sometimes completely removing me from the job. But God did not leave me with admonition and help. I often consoled myself with the thought that I endured everything for the glory of God’s name and for the benefit of my soul. Faith and hope in God strengthened me, and I was encouraged and endured all the sorrows and hardships from my parent with generosity. My brothers (two) were in good health and were loved by their parents. Their father was always favorable to them and gradually transferred his trading business into their hands; He moved me more and more away from himself and, finally, in order to completely remove me from joint trade with my brothers, he separated me from himself. In one trading area he bought a piece of land for me and built a wooden house on it with a shop for trading. It was in this house that my parents placed me for permanent residence. I submitted to the will of God and my parents. At the same time, I only wanted one thing, that my parent would bless me at my new residence with an icon of the Lord Pantocrator with an outstretched open Gospel and a blessing right hand. And so, my parent, by mistake, instead of the icon intended for blessing, brought with him exactly the icon that I wanted, and blessed me with it in the new house, although he wanted to bless me with another icon. Since that time, God's blessing has apparently rested on me and my family. Always looking at St. the icon given to me by my parent as a blessing, I always mentally ask for God’s blessing on all my deeds and enterprises and believe that in St. In His icon, the Lord God, with His almighty hand, instructs and admonishes me on the path of life, strengthens and confirms me in virtue. I believe that the sign of the cross has saved and is saving me from all troubles and misfortunes and gives me a peaceful and serene life. I see an example of all this in my life and the lives of my brothers. By the grace of God and the blessing of my parents, I still live in the same area and in trade. But my brothers gave up trading long ago and live under different conditions, but not as comfortably as before. Therefore, I believe and confess that the life of every person is controlled by the hand of the All-Good, Almighty, All-Wise and Just God. Great is the power of the sign of the cross. Great is the faith in the true God worshiped in the Trinity. I testify before everyone that I was saved and healed from illness by the power of the cross, with strong faith depicted on the forehead, chest and shoulder in the name, honor and worship of St. Trinity, with strong prayer and hope in my Savior, who through His suffering on the cross gave me the path to salvation, making me a beloved child of God and a partaker of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (See "Sunday Day", 1897, No. 35). Erection Week 173 Evang. from Mark, count. 37th, ch. VIII, 34–38; IX, 1 art. 1. Examples of God’s wrath against those who have fallen away from the faith of Christ 174 The Holy Hieromartyr Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, in his essay “On the Fallen” (i.e., those who rejected the faith of Christ), gives the following stories: I. One man, having renounced Jesus Christ in the Capitol, was struck dumb. II. One woman, who after her apostasy went straight to the bathhouse, was seized there by an unclean spirit and wounded her tongue with her teeth. III. Julian, the son of Julius Constant, brother of Constantine the Great, although he was baptized, later, falling under the influence of pagan philosophers and persons hostile to Christianity, renounced Christ and openly declared himself a pagan when he became emperor. However, all his attempts to resurrect paganism and destroy Christianity were powerless. Studying the history of that time, we must admit that Julian never consciously belonged to Christ, and that he did not understand the spiritual immeasurable greatness of Christianity, its saving power for humanity, against which he, in his blindness, fought in vain. But the providence of God was pleased to soon stop this insane and blasphemous struggle: in the battle with the Persians, an enemy arrow fired by an unknown person struck the apostate. Exhausted in the throes of death, he took a piece of his dried blood from the shot wound and, throwing it up, said: “You defeated me, Galilean!” IV. St. Vadim lived in the 4th century in the Persian kingdom. At that time, the Persian king Savorius initiated a severe persecution of Christians. All who did not want to worship the sun and fire were condemned to death by order of the king. Many true Christians at this time showed the firmness of their confession and, having courageously endured various tortures, sealed their faith with martyrdom; Among these confessors was St. Vadim, Archimandrite of Persia. Imprisoned in prison, he did not want to show even external worship to the sun in order to get rid of death. But at the same time, there were also traitors to the Christian faith from among those imprisoned: such was a certain Nirsan, an Aryan prince, who, fearing the impending torment, declared to the king his desire to return to his former pagan faith, in order to thereby gain the favor of the king and return to his former position. The king agreed to return Nirsan to his former princely rank and his former wealth if he personally killed St. Vadim, who was kept in prison with him. The traitor to the faith of Christ was not afraid to raise his fratricidal hand against the saint. But when Rev. Vadim was brought in chains, and Nirsan had already taken the sword to fulfill the royal command, suddenly a sense of conscience awoke in the soul of the traitor. The reproachful gaze and meek words of the monk, who was not afraid of death, but grieved over the death of his brother, struck the criminal: he trembled, and his hand became numb. The unfortunate man would have had to obey the voice of his conscience in order to avoid his eternal condemnation, but he drowned out his conscience with a trembling hand and killed the saint more than once. The king returned Nirsan to his former princely dignity and all the wealth, but nothing could return his peace and joy to the criminal soul. Out of remorse, he fell into a state of despair, like the fratricide Cain, and committed suicide, thus experiencing the fate of Judas the traitor. (“Ch. M.” April 9). 2. Two kinds of enemies of faith, in whose presence the need to confess faith may arise Some of them are persecutors, charged with the command to persecute believers and force them to renounce their faith; other enemies are unbelievers who do not have the right to use violence, but persecute believers with their conversations, ridicule, behavior, conversion, and thus instill fear in weak Christians to profess the true faith and live by its rules. When our silence can offend the greatness of God, or degrade the glory of God, or cause harm to the church and the salvation of others, then it is shameful to remain silent and agree is a great sin: a Christian must boldly confess his faith. (Rom.10:10). Therefore, neither seduction, nor threats, nor death itself could force the apostles, martyrs, confessors and all true Christians to renounce Christ and His faith; they boldly confessed their faith: with faith, with the same words (Ps. 116:1; cn. Rom. 10:10). However, zeal for the profession of faith, coupled with the danger of life, must be controlled by prudence. Jesus Christ Himself repeatedly hid from the Jews who were bitter against Him (John 7:1) and commanded the apostles: when you are persecuted in this city, flee to another (Matthew 10:23). 3. Church historical examples of firm confession of the Orthodox faith 1. St. ap. Jacob. Clement of Alexandria conveys the following legend about the last hours of the life of St. Jacob, the elder brother of St. John the Theologian, who suffered for I. Christ in Jerusalem under King Herod Agrippa. The man who brought Jacob to the judgment seat, seeing how unshakably he professed his faith, was deeply moved by this and declared himself a Christian. Then they took both of them to execution. On the way, he asked the apostle for forgiveness for himself, and both of their heads were cut off. Ap. Jacob died in the 44th year A.D. and was buried in Jerusalem. His memory is celebrated on April 30th. (Evs. “Church history” II, 9). 2. St. The Hieromartyr Zinovy ​​and the Martyr Zinovia were brother and sister, they lived in Cilicia, in the city of Egakh, in the 3rd century. Their parents taught them piety and charity. Having received a large inheritance from their parents, they used it for charity. The Lord rewarded them for this here on earth by the fact that Zinovy ​​received the power to heal diseases with the touch of his hand, and St. Zinovia is a fortress to maintain the vow of virginity, despite past temptations. For St. life Zinovy ​​was elevated to bishop in his native city. When Emperor Diocletian opened the persecution of Christians, the ruler Lysias said to Zinovy: “choose one of two things - either life or death.” – “Life without Christ is not life, but death; “Death for Christ is not death, but eternal life,” answered Zinovy. And they began to torture him. Having seen his brother's torment, St. Zinovia rushed to him and, turning to the tormentor, said: “And I confess Christ together with my brother, with him I want to suffer and die for Christ.” “Woman, take care of yourself,” Lysy said to Zinovia. “You will be ashamed and hurt if I order you to be naked and tortured.” “Spiritual nakedness brings greater shame,” answered St. martyr - than bodily, and incomparably more painful is the suffering in hell than on earth.” The torturer ordered that Zinovy ​​and Zinovy, placed on an iron bed, be burned with hot coals, and he himself laughed: “may Christ come and help you.” The Lord preserved His saints unharmed, then the tormentor ordered to cut off their heads. (Ch. M. Oct. 30). 3. St. torment. Christina came from the city of Tire from rich and noble parents. She was distinguished by her remarkable beauty, and her father wanted to designate her as a pagan priestess. To prepare for this, her father placed her in a special part of his house, where he placed many gold and silver idols. But St. Christina, in her solitude, often admiring nature - contemplating, for example, the sky dotted with stars and planets - wondered: who created such a beautiful world? Are these our lifeless idols? And if not they, then who created it? Where is the religion that would clearly and intelligibly resolve all questions about the world, man and their Creator? I asked St. about this. Christina brought her servants, and they introduced Christian teachers to her, who resolved all her questions. Christina was baptized and abandoned the idols. When Christina’s father found out about this, he became terribly angry, killed all the maids, and cruelly tortured her and imprisoned her. Christ’s mother came here and tearfully begged her to renounce Christ; but Christina remained firm. The next day, the father ordered his daughter to be taken out of prison and began to persuade her with affection to renounce Christ; but, seeing her inflexibility, he ordered her to be tortured again and then drowned in the sea. An angel saved Christina from drowning, and she appeared before her father. The father wanted to destroy the martyr with a sword the next day, but did not have time, because he died that night. The new chief of the city tortured her, but he was also punished with death. The one who took the place of this commander ordered the saint to be placed in a lit oven and shut there. But she spent 5 days in the oven and remained alive and unharmed. The tormentor threw her to the snakes, but they did not touch the martyr. Finally, they stabbed her to death with swords and pikes. There lived St. martyr around 300, under Diocletian. (Ch. M. July 24). Week before Christmas Evang. from Matt. zach. 1st and 2nd, ch. I, 1–25 art. 1. Genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ The genealogy of I. Christ in the Evangelist Matthew falls into three sections: from Abraham to David (2–6); from David to the captivity of Babylon (7–11) and from the captivity of Babylon to Christ (12–16). Art. 1. Book of the kinship of Jesus Christ. Son of David, Son of Abraham. First expression: The Book of the Kinship of Jesus Christ, according to some, serves as a kind of general title, which indicates the main subject and main content of the entire Gospel, and this is not unreasonable, because everything that the evangelist tells about Jesus Christ is contained in the genealogy, as in the root or beginning. “The most amazing thing, beyond all hope, says Chrysostom, is that God became man. And when this happened, everything that followed was both understandable and natural.” It is more direct and better, however, to understand by this expression a legend, a record of the origin of Jesus Christ in the flesh or His genealogy, just as in 4 v. Chapter II Book of Genesis expression: this book of the existence of heaven and earth means a description of the origin of heaven and earth. The name Jesus is a personal name, in Hebrew Yeshua, which means God the Savior or simply the Savior, a name quite common among Jews. Here, in application to Christ, it has a special meaning, expressing the concept of the salvation of the human race accomplished by Him (see v. 21). The common name Christ is actually Greek and means anointed - the same as the Jewish Mashiach - Messiah, which is why Jesus is called either Christ or Messiah, which makes no difference. “In the name of Christ, according to St. Irenaeus, refers to the Anointed One and the Anointed One, and the very anointing with which He is anointed. The Father anointed, and the Son is anointed by the Spirit, who is the anointing, as the Word says through Isaiah: “The Spirit of God is upon Me, because He has anointed Me” (Is. 61:1), signifying both the anointing Father, and the anointed Son, and the anointing, which is the Spirit.” Son of David, Son of Abraham. The descent of Jesus Christ from David and Abraham was the first and most important basis in the eyes of every Jew of His messianic dignity; with many of the most amazing proofs of the messianic dignity of Jesus Christ during His earthly life, what were His miracles and the Divine, which involuntarily led everyone to amazement, His teaching, one doubt about the origin of the Savior from David was enough for complete unbelief to take the place of the already beginning faith in Jesus as the Messiah (John 7:41-42; John 7:52). Every Jew, as soon as there was talk about the messianic dignity of Jesus, first of all asked: from whom does He come? The apostles, in their oral speeches and writings, to arouse faith in Jesus as the Messiah, often pointed primarily to His descent from David (Acts 2:22–30; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8. Rev. 22:16). And ev. Matthew, if he had the goal, as all Christian antiquity asserts, to prove to the Jews in his gospel the messianic dignity of Jesus, he could not begin it otherwise than with the words: “Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. The evangelist calls Jesus Christ the Son of David and Abraham in the general sense, that is, in the sense of a descendant, which Jesus Christ was, according to the promise of God (Gen. 12:1 et seq. Gen.22:18; Gal.3:17; 1Ch.17:11; Ps.131:11, etc. He called Jesus Christ first the Son of David, probably because the promise to the latter was newer, did not apply to the entire nation of Judah, as it was in the promise to Abraham, and not to one of the twelve tribes, as it was in the promise to Judah, but more specifically, it referred to the house of David, whose name was adopted by Him (Jer. 30:9; Ezek. 34:24; Ezek. 37:24). Thus, the evangelist, calling Jesus Christ first of all the Son of David, wanted to show the Jews that he was talking about the Christ whom they were waiting for, as the Son of David and the Heir of the promised glorious kingdom. After this brief introduction comes the genealogy itself. First section (2–6): “Abraham gave birth to Isaac. Isaac gave birth to Jacob. And Jacob begat Judah and his brethren. Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez begat Esrom. Esrom gave birth to Aram. Aram gave birth to Abinadab. Amminadab gave birth to Nahshon. Nahshon begat Salmon. Salmon begat Boaz from Rahab. Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth. Obed gave birth to Jesse. Jesse begat David king. David the king begat Solomon from Uriah. Why St. Matthew mentioned in his genealogy only the brothers of Judah and said nothing about Ishmael, the brother of Isaac, or Esau, the brother of Jacob? “The evangelist did this, as Chrysostom noted, not without good reason. He wanted to show through this that Ishmael and Esau with the peoples who descended from them: the Ishmaelites, Saracens, Arabs and others. had nothing in common with the Jewish people, and that Christ did not come from them”; while the children of Jacob - Judah and his brothers - were the ancestors of the twelve tribes of the people of Israel, who made up the seed of Abraham chosen by God. That the evangelist named Judas from the children of Jacob is because in the name of Judas all the descendants of Jacob are embraced, and he is (Gen. 49: 3–8) like their head. And the genealogy only includes the heads of the clans from which the Messiah was to descend. What is the meaning, what significance do the female faces introduced by St. Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus Christ: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah? But before that, what kind of women were they? Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. The Bible reports the following about it. After the death of her two husbands, the sons of Judah, she remained childless and, at the suggestion of her father-in-law, had to retire to her father’s house and live there until the coming of age of Judah’s third son Shiloh, whom his father promised to marry her. Meanwhile, Judah's wife died. After this it happened that Judas went out into the field to see how his sheep were being sheared. When Tamar was told about this, she took off her mourning clothes, dressed herself up and went out to meet her father-in-law. She knew that Shiloh was already big, and yet, according to the promise, she was not yet his wife. Judah, seeing Tamar and not recognizing her, was seduced by her, the fruit of which were two sons - twins - Perez and Zara (Gen. 38). The evangelist named both, as they think, because Perez and Zara served as a prototype of the two peoples who entered the kingdom of Christ - Jewish and pagan. Rahab was the wife of Salmon son of Nahshon, from whom Boaz was born. Most interpreters recognize her as one person with Rahab. The Harlot of Jericho, which is mentioned in the book of Joshua (Joshua 2:1; Compare Heb.11:31), but some doubt it more for chronological reasons, which allegedly do not allow Rahab to be identified with Rahab. Her high position among the Jews is attested in the apostolic writings (James 2:25 and Heb. 11:31). Ruth, the mother of Obed, was of Moabite origin, a pagan, and by chance became Boaz’s wife according to the law of cohabitation. The fourth female person introduced into the genealogy was David's illegitimate wife, Bathsheba, whom he took from Uriah. By introducing such women into the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the evangelist wanted to show that Jesus Christ does not receive His dignity from His ancestors, that His mission is based not on human merits, but on the goodness and mercy of God, that the promises of God are not destroyed by the sins of people, that Christ appeared on earth not for the salvation of only the chosen people, but for the salvation of the entire human race, for the salvation of everyone, no matter what kind, rank, dignity and gender. The apostle teaches: there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free: there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:28). This is the meaning and significance of the female faces introduced by the evangelist into the genealogy of Jesus Christ, although contrary to the custom of Eastern writers... The second section begins with Solomon, the son of David (7–11): Solomon begat Rehoboam. Rehoboam gave birth to Abijah. Abijah gave birth to Asa. Asa gave birth to Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat gave birth to Joaram. Joaram gave birth to Uzziah. Uzziah gave birth to Jotham. And to Jotham begat Ahaz. Ahaz gave birth to Hezekiah. Hezekiah begat Manasseh. Manasseh begat Amon. Amon gave birth to Josiah. Josiah begat Joachim and his brothers. Joachim gave birth to Jehoiachin for the Babylonian exile. In the second section, two omissions are mainly noteworthy - firstly, the omission of three kings - Ahaziah, Joash and Amaziah, between Joaram and Uzziah, the other omission concerns the name of Joachim, the son of Josiah, and the father of Jehoiachin. This name, indeed, is missing in our Slavic translation, it is also missing in all printed editions of the original text, as well as in many manuscripts of the so-called Western review, the Vatican, Ephraim the Syrian and others; but this name has been preserved in many manuscripts of the Eastern review, which are distinguished by greater accuracy compared to Western manuscripts. Therefore, it has long been thoroughly noted that the omission of the name Joachim in many ancient codes occurred, in all likelihood, from a copyist deceived by the similarity of the names of Joachim and Jeconiah, and the following reading, already partially accepted in our Russian translation, is rightly considered to be the original text of the Evangelist Matthew: Josiah begat Joachim and his brothers... Not only in the Russian translation, as we have just noticed, but also in our Slavic Bible this exact reading is given under the line with an explanation that this is how this place is read in some Greek copies of the Gospel of Matthew. This reading is undoubtedly genuine, otherwise there would not have been fourteen generations from David to the Babylonian captivity, as Blessed Jerome already noted. The question, therefore, about the so-called lack of genealogy in the Gospel genealogy of the second section now turns out to be completely unnecessary, although previously a lot of work and time was spent on solving it. Art. 12–16. After the migration of Babylon, Jeconiah gave birth to Salathiel. Salathiel gave birth to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel gave birth to Abihu. Abihu gave birth to Eliakim. Eliakim gave birth to Azor. Azor gave birth to Zadok. Zadok gave birth to Achim. Achim gave birth to Eliud. Elihu gave birth to Eleazar. Eleazar begat Matthan. Matthan gave birth to Jacob. And Jacob begat Joseph, Mary's husband, and from her was born Jesus, the spoken Christ. In this last department, some dwell on an imaginary error. They say that the name of Joseph was included in the text by mistake of the copyist, who instead of Ἰωαϰίμ - Joachim - read Ἰωσήφ - Joseph, and then, knowing that Joseph was not the father, but the betrothed husband of the Holy Virgin Mary, replaced the word “father” with the word “husband”. Therefore, the correct reading is Art. 16. The Gospel of Matthew, according to such interpreters, should be as follows: And Jacob begot Joachim, the father of Mary. This assumption is not based on anything and is, no more and no less, a conjecture invented in order to justify the opinion that Matthew sets out the genealogy of the ancestors of the Virgin Mary. But this is absolutely incredible. On the contrary, since St. Matthew wrote his Gospel primarily for Jewish Christians, whose unbelief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, he had in mind, then for this very reason he had neither the urge nor the opportunity to deviate from the general Jewish custom - to count generations only in the male line, for this alone, we repeat, he had to introduce Joseph into his genealogy, whom the Jews looked at as the natural father of Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:55; Luke 4:22 ; John 6:42 ). That Joseph is called here the husband of Mary is explained, on the one hand, by the fact that among the Jews, immediately after betrothal, the bride and groom were called husband and wife (cf. Gen. 29:21; Deut. 22:23–24), and on the other hand, by the fact that Joseph, at the command of an angel, received the Most Holy Virgin into his house as his wife (I, 20). In the Talmud and among the ancient church fathers, Joseph, the imaginary father of Jesus, bears another name Panthira, and Jesus is called the son of Panthira or Panther. But how and why is unknown. Finally, what is remarkable in this verse is the very expression of the evangelist about the birth of Jesus Christ. He did not say as He spoke above about the birth of His ancestors according to humanity: Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac - Jacob, Jacob - Judas, etc., He did not say: Jacob begat Joseph, Joseph Christ; but: Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, and from her was born Jesus, the spoken Christ. Joseph was not the father of Jesus in the flesh, but was only betrothed to the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is why the Evangelist attributes the birth of Jesus only to Mary: from Her Jesus was born. This last expression forms the introduction to the evangelist’s further narrative about the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ. In conclusion, the evangelist, as if summing up all that has been said, says that the genealogy of Jesus Christ is divided into three divisions or eras, and that each era consists of fourteen genera. Art. 17. And all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations: and from David to the Babylonian exile there are fourteen generations: and from the Babylonian exile to Christ there are fourteen generations. The general division of genealogy into three sections or eras is based on three very important moments, or states, in the life of the Jewish people, after which, according to the word of God, announced through the prophets, the Savior of the world was to appear. Thus, the first era from Abraham to David embraces the beginning of the formation of the Jewish people and the times of theocracy until the establishment of royal power and the appearance of the king, the ancestor of the Messiah. At this time the people were under the control of patriarchs, or prophets. The second era embraces the times of the kings until the loss of national independence with the onset of the Babylonian captivity. Finally, the third is the time of restoration of national independence under the control of the high priests until the appearance of the Messiah Himself. The Messiah, according to prophecies, was supposed to be both a Prophet, a King and a High Priest. Thus, the three indicated eras preceding His appearance were an actual prophecy about Him. The Lord Himself pointed out these three eras in the preparation of the human race in secret in the parable of the vine workers (Matt. 21:33–41; Luke 20:9 et seq.). What is also very remarkable here is the amazing proportionality of childbirth in all three eras, which, not without reason, draws the attention of readers of St. evangelist. Fourteen generations or clans passed from Abraham, when King David appeared, the most glorious after Abraham of the ancestors of the promised seed. The same number of generations changed from King David to the captivity of Babylon: the kingdom fell, and barely part of the people taken into captivity returned to the land of their fathers. From the captivity, exactly the same number of generations passed until the complete enslavement of the Jews by the Romans: shouldn’t something special have happened at this time, as St. evangelist? According to the prophecies, all that remained was for the Savior of the world to appear - the hope of the tongues and the joy of Israel, as Jacob predicted when blessing his son Judah (Gen. 49:10). But since the Savior of the world appeared, according to the prophecies, from the line of Abraham and David, since everything that was predicted came true in Him, then we must believe in Him, as the evangelist would say. (See the book “Collection of articles on interpretations. Read. The Four Gospels” by E. Barsov, vol. I 175). 2. How does the holy church celebrate the Feast of the Nativity of Christ? With what joy we celebrate the holiday of the Nativity of Christ! As if we were expecting a dear guest to come to us on this great day and are taking care that everything in our homes is clean and tidy for the holiday, and St. The Church, like a caring mother, is in a hurry to prepare us for a worthy meeting of this day. She knows that a pure soul is dearer to the Lord than anything, and therefore she commands a fourty-day fast, so that we look back at ourselves, examine our soul and heart: is there any sinful impurity in them (and how could there not be!), and cleanse ourselves in advance with repentance and prayer. She knows that we are lazy to repent, and therefore, long before the holiday, she gives us a taste of all the sweetness of the upcoming spiritual celebration and excites us with the chant: Christ is born - glorify! Christ from heaven - drop it! Christ is on earth - ascend!.. And how joyful it is in your soul when you hear this - Christ is born. As if from afar the heavenly fragrance of this good and bright celebration will blow upon you! The dormant soul will wake up, listen to the sacred sounds, and if it does not rush towards Christ the Savior coming from heaven, then at least it will sigh to Him from the depths of its heart and ask Him for gracious help to break away from the earthly vanities and cares of everyday life, to which it has clung so tightly. But now the fast is approaching the end: in church hymns the sacred names of Joseph and Mary, Bethlehem and the nativity scene are heard more and more often. You feel that the holiday is not far away. The church devotes the last two Sunday days before the holiday to the memory of all the Old Testament forefathers and patriarchs, starting with Adam and ending with Zechariah, Father the Baptist. It is as if a wondrous picture of the entire Old Testament economy of God unfolds before us, we remember everything that was done by God to prepare people for the worthy acceptance of Christ the Savior. And how timely it is now, before the feast of the Nativity of Christ, to revive in memory all the Old Testament prophecies and foreshadowings about Christ, all the aspirations and hopes of the ancient holy men, their holy desires - to quickly see the day of Christ, to see the joy of Israel - the desired Savior and Redeemer! “Lord, they cried, bow down the heavens and come down! Sit on the cherubim, appear!” As if responding to this cherished prayer of the ancient forefathers, St. the church cries in its chants: “Rejoice, prophets! Rejoice, patriarchs! Get ready, Bethlehem! Open yourself to everyone, Eden! Show off, Euphratho! Beautify yourself, manger! Christ is born before the fallen to restore the image!” The last day before the Feast of the Nativity of St. church . devotes special attention to fasting and prayer. Believers, remembering the star of the Magi, do not allow fasting until the star appears, commemorating it in prayer, for on this day the late liturgy of Basil the Great is combined with Vespers. And a special clock, called the royal clock, was composed for this day in the likeness of the clock of the great Heel: what touching troparions are sung on these clocks! Even more solemn are the hymns at Vespers: Come, let us rejoice in the Lord... What shall we bring to Thee, O Christ, for Thou hast appeared as a man for our sake?, and others. After the stichera, eight paremias, or readings from the Old Testament, are read, the last of which ends with the sublime song of the prophet Isaiah: God is with us, understand the Gentiles and submit. At the end of the liturgy, a lamp is lit in front of the Royal Doors, in memory of the star that showed the way to the Magi, and all the clergy, like shepherds gathered from the valley where they grazed their flocks, go to the middle of the church and solemnly sing the troparion of the holiday: Thy Nativity, Christ our God... and the kontakion: The Virgin today gives birth to the Most Essential... It is difficult to hold back tears of tenderness and spiritual delight at this sacred moment... The holiday has arrived, Christ is on earth, the soul rejoiced!.. How many gracious consolations flow into the heart of a Christian just by thinking about the Nativity of the Savior! The Eternal God Himself, for the sake of us sinners, became a young child, was born in a den, reclined in a poor manger, was fed in rags, like every poor baby... “Oh, Divine Lover of Mankind! Thy poor swaddling clothes are more precious to us than all the royal ornaments of David and Solomon; The manger in which You reclined is a hundred times more sacred than the ancient temple of Jerusalem!” (Innocent). Come, brothers, let us prostrate ourselves before this sacred manger: in them rests our hope and salvation! Let us throw off our heavy burden of sin here: He who rests in the manger is the Lamb who takes away the sins of the whole world! Let us kiss His most pure shrouds: He will cover our spiritual nakedness with them!.. On the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, the Russian Church gives thanks to the Lamb of Bethlehem - Christ the Savior for saving our Orthodox Fatherland from the invasion of the Gauls in 1812. It is touching to hear, amidst the many years of the Reigning House, eternal memory of Alexander the Blessed and His companions. The main altar of the Bethlehem church is located above the very den of the Nativity of Christ the Savior. On both sides of the altar, 15 marble steps lead down to the underground church. Is it possible to explain the sweet feeling of delight and reverence that fills the heart upon entering the mysterious darkness of this sanctuary? Before I could see anything, writes one pious pilgrim, I fell prostrate on the marble platform, where the silver star, illuminated by lamps, signifies the birthplace of our Redeemer! Having poured out a feeling of touching gratitude to the Savior for the salvation of all mankind and my soul, I read the Latin inscription around the shining star: “Jesus Christ was born here of the Virgin Mary.” What more can be said? This place is located in a semicircular depression. The platform of the Nativity scene, also forming a semicircle, is hung with sixteen rich lamps, above which a marble plaque serves as a throne where the liturgy is celebrated. Having retreated a few steps from the place of the Nativity of the Savior, you see on the right side a special cave, where you go down two or three steps; there was a manger where that Child rested, for whom heaven is the throne, and earth is His footstool (Is. 66:1), and where the wise men and shepherds first worshiped Him: wisdom and simplicity. The manger is carved out of natural stone (for wood is quite expensive in Judea). They look like an oblong box and are lined with white marble. This holy place, illuminated in the same way as the Nativity scene, with precious lamps, serves as a throne for the celebration of the liturgy. The altarpiece depicts the worship of shepherds. Opposite the cradle of the Savior, in the same den, another throne was built in the place where the Most Holy Theotokos received, with the Child Jesus in her bosom, the adoration of the three wise men. All the walls of the nativity scene, both here and at the sanctuary of the Nativity, are dressed in rich fabrics, many silver and gilded lamps hang along the main vault and on the sides. The entire den is generally 5 fathoms long and one and a half fathoms wide. (See “Trinity leaf.” No. 37). 4. Spiritual conversation of Blessed Jerome in Bethlehem with the Infant Jesus Let us transport our thoughts to Bethlehem, where our Lord Jesus Christ was born from the Blessed Virgin Mary. Imagine that you are standing in a den above the manger where the baby Lord Jesus lay sleeping. What feelings would fill your soul then? We will tell you one wonderful conversation that Blessed Jerome had in his soul with the Infant Jesus when he lived in Bethlehem and stood at the manger of the Lord. “Whenever I look,” says Jerome, “at the place where my Savior was born, I always have a sweet conversation with Him in my soul. “Lord Jesus!” I say, how hard it was for You to lie there in Your manger for my salvation! What should I repay You for this! And it seemed to me as if the Baby was answering me: “I do not desire anything; sing only: “Glory to God in the highest”... It will be even worse for Me in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross.” And I say: “ah, beloved Baby! What will I give you? I would give You everything I have."... But He answered: “Both my heaven and my earth: I do not need anything: you better give it all to the poor people, and I will accept it as if it were done for Me.” I continued: “I will do it willingly; but what would I actually give You? Then the Child answered me: “If you are so generous, then I will tell you what you must give Me: give Me your sins, your corrupt conscience and your condemnation.” - “What do you want to do with them?” I asked. “I will take them on My shoulders: this will be My property and that great deed about which Isaiah predicted: “He who bears our sins and suffers for us.” Then I started crying and said: “Divine Child! Take what is mine and give me yours! By you I am justified from sins and believe in eternal life!” (Extracted from “Sunday Thursday” for 1867). 5. About the incarnation of the Son of God The Son of man came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). “The Incarnation of the Son of God and His coming into the world greatly encourages sinners to repentance,” says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk. “For whose sake did Christ come into the world? For the sake of sinners. For what purpose? For their salvation. God has placed our salvation so dearly and highly. He himself came into the world for our salvation. Hear, O sinners, and understand! God Himself came into the world for our salvation and came in our image. Oh, truly a great mystery of piety: God appeared in the flesh. God! What is man, as thou hast known to him? Or is it the son of man that you blame him for? Truly wonderful is the kindness of God to man, and this is His work. Seeing this, the prophet exclaimed to Him with fear and horror: Lord, I heard Your hearing and was afraid. Lord, I understood Your works and was horrified (Hab. 3:1-2). Sinners! Let us remember the work of God, created for us, and repent: let us remember how, for our sake, our Lord was born of the Virgin and became a baby, feeding on his mother’s milk, the invisible became visible, the beginningless received the beginning, was wrapped in swaddling clothes like a Baby, the intangible was touched, the Word became flesh; Let us remember how He, while still an Infant, fled from the murderer, King Herod; Let us remember how He lived on earth and wandered, how He moved from place to place, working for our salvation, how He was unapproachable to both cherubim and seraphim among sinners, how, having heaven as a throne and earth as a footstool and living in an unapproachable light, He had no place to lay His head, how rich He became poor, that we through His poverty might be enriched; Let us remember how he was clothed with light, as with a robe, with perishable clothing, who gave earthly food to all flesh and fed on earthly bread, as the omnipotent was weak, and he who gives strength to all was weary; Let us remember how the highest of all honor and glory was blasphemed and reviled from lawless lips, how he was sick, grieved, grieved, cried and was horrified; Let us remember how he was sold and betrayed from a lawless disciple and abandoned from other disciples, how he was bound and taken to trial, how he was judged by the lawless, strangled, beaten, dressed in a robe of reproach, how we congratulate the King on his reproach: Hail, King of the Jews! He was crowned with thorns, a reed was struck on the head, He heard from His lawless people: take him, take him, crucify him. He was led with two villains to be crucified, and on the cross between the villains He, the Son of God, was crucified, bearing all kinds of power with His power. He created all this for our salvation. In Adam we lost salvation and all our bliss, but Christ, the Son of God, by the good pleasure of the Heavenly Father, returned it to us. So, let us consider, sinners, whether it is not the very blood of Christ, shed for our salvation, and all His suffering cries out to us, so that we may repent and through that eternal salvation we may achieve. Without repentance there is no salvation for anyone; however, the damned sinner does not neglect this. Christ the Savior presents to him in the Gospel His coming into the world for his sake, Willful exhaustion, free poverty, free and deep humility, His labors, sorrows, illnesses, sorrows, suffering and death on the cross and says: man! I accepted all this for the sake of you and your salvation, but you are careless, because you do not want to repent and give up your sins, you do not want to use My blood and have life. But the sinner, although he hears this pitiful and sweet voice of Jesus in the Gospel, does not care about it. Christ promises not to remember his sins and iniquities if he turns to him; but the sinner still does not give in. Christ calls him to Himself and promises him peace, but the sinner is negligent about this: he remains faulty, as he was, lawless, as he was lawless, does evil deeds, as he did, loves darkness, as he loved, hates the light, as he hated, and therefore does not come to the light and remains with the devil, the prince of darkness. O poor sinner! Wake up and feel yourself; if not, then the very blood of Christ, shed for you, will cry out for vengeance against you. Listen to what the prophet of God says to you on behalf of God: I will convict you and bring your sins before you, that is, all your deeds, words, thoughts, plans and evil undertakings will follow you to the next world, appear at the world court of Christ, and you will receive a worthy reward for them. If now you do not want to repent and be saved by the grace of Christ, then later, although you will want to repent, it will be too late and useless: arise from sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you (Eph. 5:14), who is God blessed above all forever and ever.” (From the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). At one rural church, the watchman was an old man, a retired soldier. He was a nice man! He had been dead for a long time, but the memory of him was preserved for a long time by the parishioners of that church, and not a single Sunday passed without one of them visiting his grave and singing a requiem there for the repose of his soul. The villagers loved the deceased for his various good qualities: for his unfeigned participation in the grief of every neighbor, for his readiness to help everyone in any way he could, especially for his interesting and entertaining stories, in which, mainly, there was truth everywhere, and not just some kind of fiction or nonsense, as sometimes happens. Village children, eager for different stories, surrounded the old man in a crowd, hanging on his every word. And not only children, but also adults and the elderly sometimes sat down with him on the heap to hear from him: what and how happens in this world? Once upon a time, here is an incident from his own life that the old man told to his listeners. “I was walking, my dear ones,” he said, “to my homeland to a village I knew, when dusk overtook me. It was autumn time then, deaf; It became dark enough to poke out your eyes; Moreover, it was drizzling and raining. It was impossible to go further; I had to look for somewhere to stay for the night. There were many inns on the road here, and although these inns were not very convenient for our brother, a serviceman, there was nothing to do here, there was no time for choice at such a time. I approached one of these courtyards and looked: there was a man standing at the gate, so bearded and broad-shouldered. “Great,” I say, “compatriot; if you are the owner, then let him spend the night in the hut. “Who are you,” he says? - And if so, then move on; we know you. I want to feed you for nothing... “Did you,” I say, “count in my pocket?” Not a hundred rubles, tea, will you take it for the cabbage soup? He will, I say, pay you back. The owner thought for a minute, however, he let him into the hut. I entered, prayed, and greeted the owner; I see that there is a hostess, only she is as angry and taciturn as the host himself. I didn't like them; Well, I’m thinking: I can’t live here forever, I’ve come today, and tomorrow I’ll be out before the light; I'll spend the night sometime; Luckily I still found peace... I had dinner and immediately began to pay so that in the morning I could go my way without delay. Only the owner and the hostess saw that I didn’t have a penny, and they started talking... “You know, servant,” says the owner, “you’re not going home with an empty bag.” Apparently there is money? “There is,” I say, “a small fraction.” - Where did you get them from, servant? – asked the hostess. “I served in the foreign army,” I say, “and they gave me a big salary there; Well, so I took care of him, and endured the need, and took care of him. “My brother,” I say, “is a nobleman in the village, with a family: so I worked harder for him to come to him with help; Well, God willing, I’ll come, maybe we’ll get better. Getting up from the table, I took off my overcoat, put my knapsack under my head, and fell asleep as soon as I fell; I just prayed to God and read a prayer to my angel. Suddenly, I wake up at night, it’s as if someone poured cold water on me, and I immediately jumped to my feet; I look: the owner is standing next to me and holding a knife right over my neck, which means he wants to destroy me... I am lost, therefore: I think what kind of den the difficult one has brought me into, and I didn’t even have a road batog with me to defend myself... I just don’t know how and why it suddenly occurred to me to say these words to the owner: “What are you doing? After all, I am not the only soldier here; There are a lot of us here, they’ll catch me!”... My host seemed a little taken aback and thought for a moment, but perked up again. “It’s too late now,” he says, “to spread fables.” Pray, and death to you! – Why are you listening to him? – the hostess shouted from behind the partition and she rushed at me with an ax. My life hung by a thread; except for the will of God, no one could give help; it was midnight; in the village everyone around me was sleeping... Expecting that a knife would now plunge into my heart, or an ax would split my head in half, I fell to my knees and began to read a prayer to my guardian angel, as I always did in moments of mortal danger. Only suddenly I heard someone knocking hard on the window, so that the glass shook. - Master, master! - a voice shouted from outside, - unlock it quickly, or we’ll break the gate; gentlemen officers have arrived to stay. The owner and hostess saw that things were now going badly for them, and they fell at my feet. “Don’t destroy, don’t betray,” they screamed, the enemy has confused us, the accursed one... But I had no time to listen to them. I grabbed my knapsack from the bench, threw on my overcoat, without boots, and slipped out of the hut. I ran out into the street: there was no one at the gate, anywhere, yes, no one knew, and there was no one, only in the distance it seemed as if a bell was ringing somewhere. But I was incredibly glad that I had escaped from under the knife, and, as best I could, I ran forward along the dirt road. How long or short I ran, I don’t know; as if some force was carrying me, I didn’t even feel tired. It was only then that I stopped, when I ran into the middle of a village I knew. Then my heart was relieved: I was saved! – Who knocked on the window and said that the officers had arrived when you didn’t see anyone at the gate? - asked the listeners. - Oh, you of little faith! And then you need to interpret! Who did I pray to in danger? And who carried me out healthy and unharmed from all the battles that took place during my 30 years of service? Of course, my guardian angel!” (“Stran.” 1884, sn. “Podolsk. Eparch. Ved.” 1889, No. 29). Week after Christmas Evang. from Matt. zach. 4th, ch. II, 13–23 art. 1. Flight of St. Families in Egypt When the wise men worshiped the Lord Jesus and left Bethlehem, the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and says: “Get up, take the Child and His Mother, and flee to Egypt and be there until I tell you, for Herod wants to look for the Child in order to destroy Him.” Joseph arose, took the Child and His Mother by night, and went to Egypt. It was hard for the old man to undertake this long journey; but he had to obey the command of God. An ancient legend has preserved the touching details of this journey of St. families. Let us briefly describe some of them. - Not relying on his weak strength, Joseph took with him his son, St. James, who was later called the brother of God. A few days later St. the travelers found themselves in the same waterless deserts through which the people of Israel walked from Egypt. Terrible difficulties and adversity met them here. The road was sandy in places and often completely disappeared among the sandy hills; in the desert there was nowhere to get what was necessary for food, and therefore everything had to be taken with them in the required quantity, and they had only one donkey, which was necessary for the young Mother and the Divine Child. During the day they were exposed to unbearable heat, at night they were forced to protect themselves from the cold; But how can they protect themselves from all this where the only place of rest, both day and night, could be the sand along which they walked, and the only vault of heaven as shelter? - They say that in one place, in the middle of the desert, robbers attacked them and wanted to take away their donkey, but one of the robbers was so captivated by the beauty of the Divine Child that he did not allow his comrades to offend the holy travelers: “if, he said, God Himself had taken upon Himself a human form, then He would not have been more beautiful than this Child.” Then the Mother of God said to this prudent thief: “Believe that this Child will not forget your good deed. He will reward you with good reward for the fact that you have now protected His life.” This was the same thief who was later crucified at the right hand of the Lord and was honored to hear from him: “Today you will be with Me in paradise.” Thus the word of the Mother of God was fulfilled over him! – Near the Egyptian city of Hermopolis there was a large beautiful tree in which an unclean spirit lived; The locals worshiped this tree as God and made sacrifices. But as soon as the Mother of God approached it with Her Infant God, it immediately shook terribly to the roots, and the demon, frightened by the coming of the Lord Jesus, fled, and it itself bowed its branches to the ground, rendering due veneration to its Creator and His Most Pure Mother. The tired wanderers took refuge from the heat of the sun under its broad-leaved shade, and from that time on the tree began to heal from all sorts of diseases with its leaves. - St. came in. Joseph with the Mother of God and the Infant Jesus to the idol church, where there were 365 idols, and all these idols fell to the ground and were crushed; and the prophetic word was fulfilled over them: behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud - in the arms of the Most Pure Virgin - Mother, and he will come to Egypt and the Egyptians made with hands will shake at His presence (Is. 19:1). - St. stopped. a family near a village called Matarie; St. Joseph left the Mother of God with the Lord Jesus under the same tree, and he himself went to the village to look for shelter where they could stay. And so the tree under which the Mother of God was resting suddenly split in two from top to bottom, tilted its top and formed at its roots like a tent for the Divine Wayfarer and Her wondrous Child, and near that tree a spring of clean, cool water suddenly appeared to quench their thirst. The huge stump of this tree has survived to this day; From its top there are now succulent branches. A spring abounding in tasty water has also been preserved. - How much time did St. wanderers in Egypt - unknown. Herod, meanwhile, waited a long time and in vain for the return of the Magi. When he saw that they had deceived him, he became extremely angry and decided to kill the Child Christ, whose age he did not know for sure. He ordered that all infants from two years old and under be beaten in Bethlehem and its environs, for in this way, he thought, even a child, terrible to him, would not escape death. Soon after this, Herod died a terrible death. After the death of Herod, an angel of God again appeared to Joseph in a dream, and at his command, St. the family returned to the land of Israel. 2. Blessed is the fate of dead babies 177 The Holy Church believes that “all infants who die after baptism will undoubtedly receive salvation according to the power of the death of Jesus Christ. For if they are clean from sin, both from the sin common to all people - because they are cleansed by divine baptism - and from their own, for, like children, they do not yet have their own will and therefore do not sin - then, without any doubt, they are saved.” This is exactly what St. taught. church fathers. St. Ephraim the Syrian says about babies: “their level is higher and more beautiful than that of virgins and saints: they are children of God, pets of the Holy Spirit.” The soul of a baby,” says one of the teachers of our church (Metropolitan Philaret), “purified by baptism, not defiled by arbitrary sins, with its innocence, simplicity, and gentleness represents some fellowship with the angelic nature. And that, indeed, babies are in the heavenly abodes, this was confirmed by the celestials themselves. Thus, the Monk Sergius announced to one sick woman the fate of her dead infant brothers: “They are happy there,” he said, “but you cannot be with them; they, like babies, are sinless, and you, despite the fact that you are small (eleven years old), already have sins, albeit small ones. In vain did your mother regret their death: if they had remained alive, they would not have received it.” So, there is no doubt that babies are heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, as the Savior Himself clearly expressed, who, having called children to Himself, blessed them and said: of such is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14). Therefore, those parents who indulge in inconsolable grief over their dead children act sinfully. As for the fate of infants dying without baptism, two main opinions of the ancient fathers and teachers of the church are known about this. Some (such as, for example, Blessed Augustine) believed that such babies endure torment, although as light as possible. Others placed them in some middle state between bliss and condemnation. This last thought is expressed by: 1) St. Gregory of Nyssa: “the premature death of infants does not yet give rise to the idea that the one who ends his life in this way would be among the unhappy, as well as that he would inherit the same fate as those who in this life have purified themselves with all virtue”; 2) St. Gregory the Theologian: “the latter (those who were not worthy of baptism due to their infancy) will not be glorified or punished by the righteous Judge, because, although they are not sealed, they are not bad, and they themselves have suffered more than they have done harm, for not everyone unworthy of punishment is worthy of honor, just as not everyone unworthy of honor is worthy of punishment.” The same applies to stillborn children. Their fate is not known to us, but it is enough to know that it is determined by God Himself, and it is not possible for us to change it. Therefore, our prayer to God for such children is useless, and even more so, various superstitions on this occasion are useless and even harmful - superstitions based on the ignorance of the people. It would be better if we prayed to God for the forgiveness of our sins, which cause various troubles and misfortunes in family life. After all, the birth of stillborn children for the most part, with the exception of illness, depends on the carelessness of the mother. Therefore, the fate of a stillborn baby should prompt the mother, firstly, to be careful (especially during pregnancy), and secondly, to pray to God about her sins, and not about the fate of the innocent baby (See No. 391 “Resurrection leaf.”, appendix to the “Sunday Day”. 3. The wicked are evil and perish, according to the judgment of God’s righteousness 178 Do we want to see confirmation of what has been said from history? Arius, who rejected the Divinity of I. Christ, the spreader of this destructive teaching, died a terrible death: his womb split open, and his entrails came out. Julian, the Greek emperor, an apostate and a scoffer at the faith of Christ, died in the war, pierced by an arrow, - in despair he said: “You defeated me, Galilean!” (i.e. I. Christ). Ahab, the king of Israel, who destroyed Naboth and misused his vineyard, died the same evil death with which he destroyed Naboth. He was wounded in the war, he was carried in a chariot, and dogs licked the blood dripping along the road - exactly what Naboth, who was killed at his hand, experienced. The envious people of the prophet Daniel, who plotted to prepare for his death in a den from the mouth of lions, themselves had to undergo this fate, which was inflicted on a righteous man, and, thrown into the pit, they themselves were eaten instead of Daniel by hungry lions, who tore them to pieces while still on the fly. And how many similar examples can be cited both in history and in life! 4. Several biblical and church-historical examples of God’s justice Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk says: “It happens that a person digs a hole for some of his needs, but, by chance, he himself falls into that hole. Thus, the evil in store for their neighbors often befalls slanderers and evildoers. Often the poison that they prepare for their neighbors is drunk and killed themselves; often with the sword that they raise against their neighbor they strike and kill themselves; They often fall into great reproach when they plot to slander and discredit their neighbors; Often they are deprived of their land and other property when they want and try to take possession of someone else’s, and so they fall into a hole, which they dig for the sake of others. We see enough of this in the world. So the king of Egypt was chasing the Israelites, who had freed themselves from his work, he wanted to catch up with them and take them captive again; but instead of this he found his own destruction and drowned with his entire army in the Red Sea. So Absalom, the son of King David, planned to take possession of the kingdom of Israel and was looking for an opportunity to kill his innocent and holy father: but, instead, he caught his long hair on a tree and hung, like Judas, between heaven and earth, and so he fell into the ditch that he was digging for his righteous father. Here are more stories like this. Under the Persian king Artaxerxes, there was a courtier named Haman, so proud that he ordered that Divine honors be given to himself. A certain Jew, Mordecai by name, did not want to humiliate himself so much as to honor Haman as God and worship him to the ground. Angered by this, the courtier orders a gallows to be erected in front of his house, on which he wanted to hang Mordecai. Haman was the closest person to the king; but circumstances changed, and the king ordered Haman to be hanged on that same gallows (Esther, chapter VII). So, whoever dug a hole for someone else fell into it himself. St. Apostle Thomas preached the Gospel in India. There, one idol priest killed his son with his own hand and blamed himself on St. Apostle Thomas. The news soon spread throughout the city that Thomas had committed murder. A lot of people gathered. Apostle Thomas was captured and put on trial as a murderer. Nobody could justify him. Then the apostle began to ask the judges and the people for permission to ask the murdered man: who killed him? To this question of the apostle the dead man answered: “my father killed me.” The priest was immediately put on trial and then executed. “Don’t dig a hole for someone else; you yourself will fall into it.” The priest fell into the pit that he had prepared for the apostle” (Thurs. Min. 6 Oct.). (Works of St. Tikhon, Book. Vol. IV). 5. The judgment of God, punishing murderers Thou shalt not kill (Ex. 20:13). I will also require your blood... I will require... the soul of a man from the hand of his brother (Gen.9:5). How often the most unimportant circumstances, the most random signs give grounds for not always experienced judges to recognize and convict a murderer who has escaped... But sometimes God allows a murderer to escape for a time from legal prosecution, but even then how amazingly, how instructively the righteous judgment of God exposes the murderer! I. Torment of conscience for committing murder. Rev. Zosima spent a silent life in the Sinai desert. One day, a robber came to him and, having confessed his grave crimes, asked the monk to accept him as a monk in order to wash away his sins with tears of repentance. Ave. Zosima, after testing the sincerity of the repentant, clothed him with the monastic order. Soon after that, he told the newly admitted monk that it would be difficult for him to hide in this place, because many come here and he, as a former robber, might recognize him, therefore he advised him to leave the monastery, and he himself escorted him to the secluded monastery of Abba Dorotheos. A repentant robber lived in this skete for nine years, studied all the psalms and invariably fulfilled all the skete obediences. After such a long monastic life, he unexpectedly leaves the monastery and returns to St. Zosima, asking him to take the monastic clothes from him and return them to the world. Zosima asked in bewilderment: “What makes him renounce his monastic life?” The former robber told the elder the following: “For nine years now, as you yourself know, I, father, have been in the monastery and, as much as possible, fasted, remained in abstinence and labor, obeying everything with meekness, silence and fear of God, hoping for God’s mercy for the forgiveness of my grave sins, but I did not find peace and joy. Every minute I imagine a child killed by me and asking: why did you kill me?.. This seems to me not only in a dream, but also in reality, when I stand in church in prayer, when I approach the divine mysteries, when I eat food at a meal with the brethren, when I go somewhere, a child is constantly before me, saying the same thing: why did you kill me?.. Therefore, father, the former robber continued, I want to go to where I robbed, so that they would take me and put me to death.” Rev. Zosima, not foreseeing any other outcome to pacify the soul of the robber, released him, and he, having surrendered himself into the hands of justice, was beheaded with a sword and thus only with his own blood could wash away his crime, the painful memory of which no amount of repentant tears and contrition could erase from his conscience and heart. (“The venerable tale about the ancient saints and blessed fathers”). II. Sometimes it happens that confusion of conscience produces some kind of insanity in the murderer, so that the one who innocently shed human blood reveals himself to be a murderer and recognizes the direct judgment of God over himself. Here is one such example recorded by history. Theoderic, the king of the barbarian Ostrogoths, when he took possession of Italy, through slander and unfounded suspicion, contrary to the convictions of his conscience, killed Pope John in prison, tortured the famous senator Boethius in terrible torture, and cut off the head of his father-in-law Symmachus. Although he had long been accustomed to murder and blood, he still could not help but feel remorse for shedding innocent blood; he wanted, however, to drown out the judgment of conscience and did not want to admit and repent of the crime. Meanwhile, the judgment of God by the judgment of conscience did its job: Theoderic, from mental confusion and spiritual struggle, fell into a gloomy and weary mood, and then completely lost his mind. One day at dinner, the servants served Theoderic the head of a large fish. It seemed to him that this was the head of the recently killed Symmachus, and that she, biting her lower lip with her teeth and looking at him with eyes expressing wildness and rage, was terribly threatening him... Frightened by the unusual phenomenon and trembling as if in a fever, he ran to the bed. He mourned his sin against Symmachus and Boethius, expressing regret for this misfortune, and immediately died. III. The judgment of God sometimes acts in convicting a murderer through dumb animals and even inanimate things. In the kingdom of Greece, under Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, this is what happened: a traveler walked along a deserted road, accompanied by a domestic dog. A robber attacked the traveler, killed him and disappeared. The animal, a witness to the murder, remained with the corpse of the murdered owner inseparably. Another passerby buried the dead man's corpse; the animal followed its owner's benefactor and remained with him. The new owner was a hotel keeper. A lot of time has passed, and then that hidden murderer enters the hotel; the dog, which, as usual, caressed all the guests, suddenly, to the amazement of everyone, with barking and anger, rushes at the stranger and throws itself in his face; She is forbidden, she does not obey and repeats her attack several times. Those who saw this suspected the stranger of hostile relations with the previous owner of the animal and announced this to the court. At the trial, the villain admitted to murder. Or here’s another remarkable case: two comrades were walking together; one decided to take the life of another in order to take possession of his treasure. The defenseless sufferer in the hands of the villain begged to take his treasure, if only he would not kill him, and swore an oath to keep his villainous attempt a secret; but the villain did not heed the pleas of the sufferer. And so, when he delivered the final, fatal blow to his victim, the sound of a church bell reached them; the dying man called upon this sacred sound in the name of the all-seeing God as a witness to the murder and an accuser of the murderer. With an evil mockery of the powerlessness of the dying man and the unrealizability of his hopes, the villain completed his terrible work. So what? From that time on, the murderer could not calmly hear the sound of the church bell: every time he heard it, the villain became embarrassed and trembled. Tormented by the consciousness of God's judgment on himself, the criminal was convinced of the need to confess to murder, and he confessed. IV. The providence of God often punishes the murderer with the kind of death that he used in relation to his victims. a) Several years after the murder of St. John the Baptist, King Herod of the Jews, both for this inhumane crime and for mocking the Redeemer on the day of His suffering (Luke 23:11), was subjected to the righteous wrath of God. It was revealed like this: having been slandered before the Roman Emperor Caligula by his own nephew - Herodias' brother - Herod Agrippa in supposedly treasonous plans against the Romans, Herod was deprived of all his power and wealth and exiled to prison first in Lyon (Lugdunum) in Gaul, and then in Lerida - a Spanish fortress. Herodias and her daughter (Salome) shared his exile with him, in which they ended their lives in misfortune. Salome died before them. Tradition says that once, in winter, she crossed the small river Sikoris on the ice; In the middle of the river, the ice broke under her, and she sank into the water so that the ice squeezed her neck and she hung on it with her head, while her body, not reaching the river bottom, swayed from side to side until the ice cut her neck. The corpse sank to the bottom of the river, and the head of the deceased was brought to Herod and Herodias. Thus, God’s justice punished the dancer, for whose sake the honorable head of the Forerunner of the Lord was beheaded! (Sunday Thurs.). b) Everyone who takes a knife with a knife will die (Matthew 26:52). This truth was justified by the teacher. Moses Murin: having been a robber before accepting Christianity, he was later himself killed by one of the robbers who attacked him. (“Ch. M.”). If we were more attentive to ourselves, we would see many experiences of this truth in our own lives - we would see not only that every crime is followed by punishment, but that the very instrument and image of our crime is very often the instrument and image of our punishment. May each of us revere the inscrutable justice of God and, at the admonition of the Savior, hastily throw down his knife, so that he does not die with the knife. (Prot. G. Dyachenko). 6. How should a Christian view dreams? (Concerning the dreams of righteous Joseph). Even pagan sages judged dreams differently. One pagan sage (Protagoras) said: “every dream has its own meaning, its own meaning, and it is useful for human life to pay attention to dreams.” Another pagan sage (Xenophanes) explained that all dreams are empty and deceptive, and that those who pay attention to them and arrange their affairs according to them are mistaken. – Truth must be sought in the middle; that is, firstly, not all dreams need to be paid attention to; but, secondly, not all dreams should be despised and considered empty. Firstly, we say, not all dreams need to be paid attention to. God Himself admonishes people through Moses “not to guess by dreams” (Lev. 19:26). “Foolless people,” says Sirach, “deceive themselves with empty and false hopes; he who believes in dreams is like one who embraces a shadow or one who chases the wind; dreams are exactly the same as the reflection of a face in a mirror” (Sir.34:1-3). Most dreams are only a natural consequence of a person’s excited imagination. What a person thinks about during the day, what he is strongly interested in, what he passionately desires or does not desire, this is what he dreams about. St. Gregory tells about one man who foolishly believed in dreams, and who was promised a long life in a dream. He collected a lot of money in order to have something to live his long life safely; but suddenly he fell ill and soon died, and thus could not make any use of his wealth, and at the same time could not take any good deeds with him into eternity. Consequently, there are many empty and deceptive dreams that mean nothing and to which you should not pay attention. But, secondly, there are also dreams that matter to us and that we need to pay attention to. Let us point out, as an example, the dream of Joseph, one of the twelve sons of the patriarch Jacob. Joseph dreamed that he and his father and brothers were reaping wheat in a field: Joseph’s sheaf stood upright, and the sheaves of his father and brothers surrounded him and bowed to him. This dream definitely came true: after some time, Joseph, sold by his brothers to Egypt, became the ruler of Egypt, and his father and brothers who came to Egypt had to bow to him and honor him. In exactly the same way, the prophetic dream of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, came true. If Pharaoh had not paid attention to this dream and had not made large reserves of grain in the harvest years for the lean years, he would have bitterly repented - the inhabitants of Egypt, as well as Joseph’s father and brothers, would have died of starvation. And many of the people, and perhaps even those among us, have reason to repent that they did not pay attention to some of their dreams. Here is one story as an example. One dissolute young man, who did not listen to the admonitions of his best friends, who directed him to another, better path, once saw in a dream his father, who strictly commanded him to leave his dissolute and godless life and live better; but - according to the saying of I. Christ - “if they do not listen to the law, then they will not listen to him who would rise from the dead” - the young man did not pay any attention to his dream. Then he again sees the same dream: he again dreams of a father who tells his son that if he does not change his life, then on such and such a day death will overtake him, and he will appear before the judgment of God. The young man jokingly told his comrades like him about the dream and not only did not think about improving his life, but even seemed to want to laugh at the threat received in the dream. Precisely, on the day on which the father threatened his son with death in a dream, he scheduled a big feast with his comrades. So what? While drinking wine, my son suddenly suffered from an apoplexy, and within a few minutes he died! From the stories given here we see that not all dreams are deceptive and empty: there are dreams that actually come true in life. Here are some tips on how to relate to dreams: 1) if dreams encourage you to do good and keep you from evil, then consider these dreams to be the finger of God pointing you to heaven and turning you away from the road to hell. “God speaks once and, if they do not notice, another time, in a dream, in a night vision, when sleep falls on people, while dozing on a bed. Then He opens a person’s ear and seals His instruction in order to lead a person away from any enterprise and remove pride from him, in order to lead his soul from the abyss and his life from being struck by the sword” (Job.33:14; Job 33:18). “When you see the image of a cross in a dream, teaches St. Barsanuphius, know that this dream is true and from God; but try to get an interpretation of its meaning from the saints and do not believe your own thoughts.” (“Guide to Spirit. Life” Barsanuphius and John, p. 368). 2) If you are not sure or do not have a reasonable reason to think that a dream comes from God, especially if the dream concerns unimportant, indifferent objects, then there is no need to pay attention to dreams and organize your actions according to them; Be careful that, by paying attention to every dream, you do not become superstitious and fall into danger of sinning. 3) If, finally, a dream tempts a person to sin, then it is a consequence of our corrupted, disordered imagination, our fantasy, or it comes from the one from whom may God save us with His grace, i.e. from the devil. (Compiled from No. 9 “Prop. Leaflet” for 1890 and other sources). Evang. from Mark. zach. 1st, ch. I, 1–8 art. 1. The Holy Forerunner of Christ John, his sermon on repentance in the Jordanian desert and baptism In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar (5538 A.D., 30 A.D.), when Pontius Pilate was governor (commanded) in Judea, Herod (was) tetrarch in Galilee, Philip his brother tetrarch in Ituraea and the Trachonite region, and Lysanias tetrarch in Abilene, under the high priests Anna and Caiaphas, was the word of God to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went throughout all the surrounding country of Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, who says: a voice crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord; straighten His paths; Let every valley be filled, and every mountain and hill be humbled; crooked places will be straightened, and rough paths will be made smooth; and all flesh will see the salvation of God. (Luke 3:1–6; Isa.40:3–5). John wore clothes made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his loins and ate locusts 179) and wild honey. (Mark 1:6.) “That century was a transitional century of uncertainty and doubt. The scepter had already been handed over to the stranger; already the Idumean tyrants, or Roman procurators, began to interfere with the high priesthood; Already the main influence on the humiliated Sanhedrin was in the hands of the flattering Herodians, or the insidious Sadducees. There seemed to be no consolation in anything except intense fidelity to the Mosaic Law, except intense anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. This was the general expectation of the “coming wrath,” which was the pain before the birth of the coming kingdom, the deepest darkness before the near dawn. The world is outdated and the extravagance of paganism has reached disgusting proportions. Atheism, as has always happened among peoples, was followed by a decline in morality. Injustice has reached extreme limits. Philosophy began to deny, with the exception of some favorite ones, all its functions that it had previously boasted of. Crime reigned everywhere, and there were no remedies against the horrors and destruction of which it was the cause. There seemed to be no remorse; people became, as it were, “unfeeling.” The hardness of hearts and the petrification of moral feelings were such that those who were capable of feeling mental anguish in this state of affairs were considered abnormal and unhappy by people.” (The Life of Jesus Christ. F.V. Farrar, translated by Matveev. M. 1887. Part I, 58, 59. Wed. Ephesus IV, 17–19). At this time of languid fear of future wrath, tense anticipation of the coming of the Savior - the Messiah, the voice of John was heard in the vicinity of the Jordan: repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2.) John, the son of the prophet Zechariah and Elizabeth, during the barbaric beating of infants by Herod, saved from the hands of murderers by his mother, who fled with him to a mountain cave, and - after the death of his mother, which followed a few days later - remained a helpless baby, was nourished by an angel until his age and from the very cradle lived in the desert (Cheti Menaion. September 5. Life St. the Prophet Zechariah, Father the Baptist. See also the X Conversation of St. John Chrysostom on the Evangelist Matthew), without worrying about shelter, food, or bed. For him, the whole desert was his home, the bare earth was his bed, and his food was what the desert could provide, and he, wearing flesh, led some kind of angelic life. “In such a harsh life, in such deep solitude, in prayer and conversations with an angel, in thoughts about the great deeds of God, revealed by nature, and about the disasters of fallen humanity, at the sight of the damned Dead Sea, he acquired complete mastery over himself and that unshakable firmness in the pursuit of truth, which is not afraid of any dangers, is not softened by flattery and praise; and from Divine revelations I learned what no school can teach. His spirit was completely imbued with fiery love for God and expectation of the Savior, for Whom he was to prepare the way.” “Only such teachers are suitable for such times. Before the thunderous sound of his voice was heard, his tanned appearance, long hair, leather belt, clothes made of camel hair already proved that here was truly a man in all his natural greatness, with indestructible willpower - a man who, like the stern Elijah of Thesbite, could calmly stand before Ahab dressed in purple and the depraved Jezebel. Not counting on anything from the love of his followers, he was not afraid of their dislike. He stood above his brothers on an immeasurable height of calm and purity, not blinded by the insignificant darkness that obscured their eyes, and unperturbed by the influences that disturbed the tranquility of their lives.” (The Life of Jesus Christ. F.V. Farrar, translated by Matveev. M. 1887, Part I, pp. 60, 61.) “The rumor has spread far and wide that in the desert of Judea there lives a man whose burning word is worthy of being heard, who with his sayings resembles Isaiah, and with his life - Elijah. The place of his preaching was the wild, uncultivated, desolate desert, stretching south from Jericho and the waves of the Jordan to the shores of the Dead Lake. Hanging menacingly over this narrow passage leading from Jerusalem to Jericho, the rocks were a den of the most dangerous robbers; the wild beasts had not yet been exterminated in the reed-filled pools of the Jordan” (Ibid. pp. 61, 62); “But from everywhere from Jerusalem, from all over Judea and from the environs of Jordan, people came to see the son of the high priest Zechariah, who, after thirty years of life in the desert, appeared to preach, and to listen to his words. The Jews never felt their sins, but, being subject to extreme vices, they always considered themselves righteous, and this actually destroyed them and alienated them from the faith; therefore, John sought to persuade and persuade them to repentance, so that, having become humiliated and despicable to themselves by the consciousness of their sins, they would resort to receiving forgiveness. For if they had not condemned themselves, they would not have asked for mercy, and without seeking it, they would not have been worthy of remission of sins.” (X Conversation of St. John Chrysostom on the Evangelist Matthew. M. 1843, Part I, p. 178). Without being embarrassed by anything, John denounced everyone for their sins: publicans, or tax collectors, for their extortion; warriors - for their violence and discontent; rich Sadducees and pompous Pharisees - for their pretense. He told them: spawn of echidnina! Who inspired you to flee from future wrath? Bring worthy fruits of repentance and do not think of saying to yourself, our father was Abraham; for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even the ax lies at the root of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Heb. Luke 3:7–9; Matt. 3:7–10). All of John’s words were like a hammer crushing stone hearts into dust, or like a flame penetrating the deepest recesses of souls. Feeling the remorse of an awakened conscience, people listened to him with a broken heart and asked: “What should we do?” He answered and said to them, “Whoever has two coats, give it to the poor; and whoever has food, do the same. The publicans also came to be baptized by him and said to him: “Teacher! What should we do? He answered them: do not demand anything more specific to you. The soldiers also asked him: “What should we do?” And he said to them: do not offend anyone; do not slander, and be content with your salary. (Ev. Luke 3:10–14). John chose baptism as a symbol of repentance, “and the whole country of Judea and Jerusalem and the whole region of Jordan came out to him, and they were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.” (Ev. Matthew 3:5–6; Mark 1:5; Luke 3:21). “But John had a different, special, hopeful calling - the appointment to be the herald of the coming Messiah. For himself, he did not demand any glory other than the glory of the Forerunner: for his baptism no meaning other than initiation into the secrets of the kingdom that is coming.” (The Life of Jesus Christ. F.V. Farrar, trans. Matveeva. M. 1887, Part I, p. 62.) “And when the people were waiting, and everyone thought in their hearts about John: is this not the Christ? John answered everyone: I baptize you with water (Heb. Luke 3:15–16) to repentance; (Heb. Matt. 3:11), but he who is stronger than me comes after me (Heb. Mark 1:7), whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His shovel is in His hand; and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into His barn; and he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Heb. Luke 3:16–17; Mark 1:7; Matt. 3:11–12.) This is the main purpose for which John himself came to baptize in a well-known place. “He came as a witness, to testify of the Light, so that through him all might believe. He was not (himself) the Light, but was sent to testify about the Light.” (Ev. John 1:7–8). He humbly acknowledges the insufficiency of his baptism, which can do nothing more than bring people to repentance; but the forgiveness of sins depends on the One who comes after him, who is so great that John considers himself unworthy to be even the last of His servants and to untie the thong of His sandals. This one coming after him, now, at His first coming, will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire and will not only grant complete forgiveness of sins and kindle a spiritual, cleansing fire in the heart; but He will even give the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him; and, at the second coming, he will consign the unbelievers to unquenchable fire, like tares and stubble that are worthless and litter only the wheat. Now everything is mixed together, and although the wheat shines, it lies along with the tares, as on a threshing floor, and not as in a granary. Then there will be a big difference. (X and XI Conversations of St. John Chrysostom on the Evangelist Matthew. M. 1843, Part I, pp. 179, 180, 203–207). He preached many other things to the people, teaching them (Heb. Luke 3:18) and explaining that in order to receive forgiveness of sins and salvation, it is not enough just to confess one’s sins and renounce previous bad deeds, but one must also bear fruits worthy of repentance. (Ev.Lk.3:8; Matt.3:8). These fruits of repentance consist in a complete change of previous life and in deeds opposite to sin. Whoever stole someone else's property, give your own first. Anyone who has insulted others must not only not insult anyone in the future, but also endure insults without complaint and do good to those who offend. He who was proud, considered himself superior to everyone and despised everyone, then consider himself worse than everyone and respect everyone. Anyone who indulges in voluptuousness and drunkenness must lead a life of abstinence.” (X Conversation of St. John Chrysostom on the Evangelist Matthew. M. 1843, Part I, pp. 189, 190). Thus, humbling the proud, correcting the morals of the violent, turning the depraved to repentance, arousing mercy in the covetous and exhorting everyone to do good, John - according to the word of the prophet: Behold, I am sending My angel (messenger) before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You (Mal. 3:1), - prepared the way for the Lord and announced to people that the time The coming of the long-promised Messiah has come that He is already among them, but they do not feel it. (See Lebedinsky’s book: “Jesus Christ the Son of God, Savior of the World”). 2. Do not hesitate to turn to the Lord and do not put off repentance Lord, before I even completely perish, save me - this is the cry of a repentant sinner, which St. church . This is how caring the Holy Church, our spiritual mother, is for us! What measures does she take to encourage the sinner to repentance! My soul, my soul, it cries out to every Christian soul, arise, write down what? The end is approaching... Time is shortening; Arise, there is a Judge near the door. But are we listening to these maternal calls of our Orthodox Church? Do we think about our salvation, do we care about our correction? Unfortunately, very little. We only think about earthly, everyday things; We are only concerned about how to live and live comfortably, in contentment, in peace. But we care very little about how to get rid of sins and begin a virtuous life; we postpone this concern for the future, from today to tomorrow. Years go by, but we are still the same, with the same dispositions and thoughts, with the same everyday concerns, with almost the same desires and passions - there is almost no change in us. What will be the end of this? After all, death is always behind us, as they say. What if she suddenly decides our fate? And he will decide, of course, not to our delight. After all, according to the word of God, the death of sinners is cruel (Ps. 33:22). The end of sinners is destruction. The Lord will consume all sinners (Ps. 145:20), says the same word of God. The Lord Himself said: unless you turn (Matthew 18:3) and repent, you will all perish (Luke 13:3). It is true that the Lord is long-suffering and abounding in mercy; but the Russian proverb rightly says: “God endures for a long time, but also hurts,” and there are many examples of this contained in the word of God. You have heard, of course, about the global flood. It’s terrible to imagine what a terrible disaster the corrupted human race has suffered! It would seem that after the flood people would begin to live piously and virtuously. But alas! It didn't turn out that way. Of course, there were and are righteous people, but still there are more sinners than righteous people. What then? Will today's sinners also be subject to the wrath and condemnation of God? It is with regret that we must say: yes, God is always and in everything just. An even more severe and more terrible punishment awaits today's sinners. They are predetermined by another, no longer a watery, but a fiery flood, in which they will burn forever and will never be consumed. That this terrible execution will definitely happen to sinners, and will befall them just as suddenly as it did our ancestors, listen to Christ the Lord Himself about this, Who says: as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For as in the days before the flood they ate and drank, married and were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and thought not until the flood came and destroyed them all: so will the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew 24:37-39). The Son of man will send His angels, and from His kingdom they will gather all temptations and those who practice iniquity; and they will be cast into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:41–42). Oh, what an invaluable gift of God - repentance! One has only to turn to God, confess our sins before Him, ask Him for mercy and forgiveness, and we are pardoned and saved. An instructive example of such pardon is the story of St. prophet Jonah. The holy prophet Jonah was sent from God to preach repentance to the pagans - the Assyrians and to announce the destruction of their capital - Nineveh - for their iniquities. The prophet knew that the Lord was abundantly merciful, that if the Ninevites began to repent, He would take pity on them and would not fulfill His threat; the prophet knew this and was afraid that his prophecy would remain unfulfilled; therefore, instead of going, at the command of God, to Nineveh, Jonah boards a ship and sails to Tarshish, avoiding the preaching assigned to him by God. But can a person run away from the face of God and change His holy will? As soon as the ship on which the prophet Jonah was sitting set sail, a terrible storm arose, which threatened to sink the ship. Those on the ship, seeing imminent death, began to pray, each according to their own faith, and cast lots to see which of them had especially angered God. The lot fell on the prophet Jonah; Jonah was thrown into the sea, and the excitement subsided. But the prophet did not die. The Lord God commanded a huge sea beast, a whale, to swallow Jonah, keeping him alive and unharmed in the belly of the whale. Here the prophet turned to God with a cry of repentance, and the Lord heard his prayer: three days later God commanded the whale to throw Jonah to the ground and again sent the prophet to proclaim the fall of Nineveh. And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord; began to preach, saying: “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be destroyed.” And the Ninevites believed God, and fasted themselves, and put on sackcloth. Word of the prophet Jonah reached the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and took off his royal vestments, and put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes. And he ordered throughout the entire kingdom: “So that neither people nor cattle should eat anything or drink water; and that people and cattle should be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; and that everyone should turn from his evil way and from the violence of his hands. Who knows, maybe God will have mercy and turn His anger away from us, and we will not perish.” Indeed, the repentance and prayer of the Ninevites did not remain in vain. God, in His mercy, spared them, and their city remained intact. But this greatly upset the prophet Jonah: he left the city and, having made himself a booth (tent), sat under it to see what would happen to the city. And so, by the command of God, a large tree grew over the prophet’s head, which protected him from the heat of the sun; Jonah was very happy about this plant, but the next day a worm undermined the plant and it withered. When the sun rose, God brought a sultry wind, and the sun began to scorch Jonah’s head, so that he became exhausted and asked for death, saying: “It is better for me to die than to live.” And God said to the prophet Jonah: “You regret the plant that you did not work on and that you did not grow, which grew in one night and disappeared in one night. Should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand infants who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, and a multitude of cattle? So the merciful Lord enlightened the prophet and spared the Ninevites. (See “Resurrection sheet”. Nos. 260 and 261, appended to the magazine “Sunday Day”). 3. The dead came alive to repent for a short time (From the diary of a village priest). I. If all the wondrous things that God’s Providence clearly does for us sinners, constantly happening in our pastoral practice, were written down, then we could cover the entire universe with these records, and how, I think, this would not be superfluous, especially in modern times, when unbelief, or disbelief, is so intensified, dragging along with it the many different misfortunes of people in this life, and with the transition from it to eternal life, rewarding even greater sorrows - eternal crying and inconsolable melancholy... Such thoughts occupy me on the occasion of the following story of an exemplary elder, confessor of our district, Father Jacob K.N. - Having read in the brochures I gave several cases of grace-filled healings of the sick, the spiritual father, with special inspiration, full of deep reverence for the wondrous Providence of God for sinners, said the following: “Yes,” he said: “indeed, many such wondrous cases occur in human life, especially in our pastoral practice. By the grace of God, I have been a priest for more than 37 years, and during this time I have seen with my own eyes so many marvelous things in the world of God - even only in my parish... But what was most marvelous of all was that before my eyes one little child suddenly came to life, who had died, and soon died again. This was about 25 years ago. Once a schismatic, well known to me, my parishioner, comes to me and asks me to come to him as soon as possible “with communion”: a boy of 11-12 years old, his son, is very, very bad: he would not die... - How long has he been sick? - I ask. “Yes, it’s been a long time,” the schismatic answers. Feeling something was wrong, I rush without further questioning to the schismatic who is dying in the house, preoccupied with the thought: they are almost asking me to go to the dead; but how good it would be if the Lord brought the baby to find him alive and give him communion, in order to save the unfortunate man from the bitter fate of the unrepentant, which his father, a schismatic, does not want to understand. I’m coming... And what did you think?! My premonition did not deceive me: the poor little one lies under the images and is already without the slightest signs of life - dead! You won’t believe how mentally sorry I felt for him and how annoyed I was at the cruel father, the soul-killer of his child... It was noticeable that he came to me from the dead body. I was very sorry, I say, for the poor little one: for, although he was baptized and anointed in the Church of Christ, he never once partook of the Most Pure and Life-Giving Mysteries of Christ. Heartily pitying the unfortunate child and looking at him with pain in my heart, I am positively convinced that he is no longer in this world, and the highest bliss of communion with Christ has already been irretrievably lost for him. The obdurate father stubbornly remains silent to my pastoral reproaches and seems to be secretly triumphant, meaning, of course, to persuade me to bury his brainchild “without any hassle,” since he had been ill for a long time and died a natural death... after all, they wanted to give communion, but it’s just a pity that they didn’t have time... What can you do? It’s already obvious that it’s sin!” Of course, I had nothing to do: having regretted and groaned about the unfortunate death of the baby, standing at his bedside for quite some time (about half an hour, and perhaps more), with deep heartache and mentally asking the merciful God to spare the unfortunate man on the day of His terrible coming, I bless him and head out of the disastrous house... But what kind of miracle suddenly?! Lord, my God! Wonderful are Your works... The little one suddenly perked up, opened his eyes and looked at me. I was extremely amazed at the apparent miracle; However, I was not confused, but, inexplicably rejoicing, I immediately said to the revived one: “Take communion, my darling...” The little one looks intently and listens... “Do you want to take communion, friend, I came to you on purpose and brought Christ’s communion,” I say again... “I wish, I want,” the boy exclaimed loudly and, seeing the little girl, his sister, who was right there in the nanny’s arms, he began to cry and shouted: “my dear, my dear, forgive me, forgive me...” With special reverence and gratitude to the ineffable Providence of God for us, the boy was confessed by me and received the Most Pure Mysteries of Christ... Glory to God! But what struck me even more was that the obvious miracle did not at all touch the hardened heart of the schismatic’s father: he didn’t even seem to be glad that his son came to life only to take communion and then die again...” - Like: “die again?!” - I interrupt with amazement the wonderful story of the venerable priest. “Yes, to die: the little one came to life and soon died again,” continued the spiritual father. This is the miracle that should convince everyone; because if the boy had not died a second time, one would have thought that he froze in a fit and, after it passed, recovered. But he really died and only by the incomprehensible sight of God came to life in order to accept the Mysteries of Christ. He accepted them and on the same day, soon after the parting words, he died again with a joyful smile, leaving the heartless father to live out his life according to his superstitious wisdom...” II. At the above story from my spiritual father, I involuntarily remembered a similar story from my dear mother, which I cannot help but add here. In her young years, in her homeland, her aunt, an elderly woman, dies in their house. She was already laid in a coffin and the next day after her death she was scheduled to be taken to church and then buried. The stove was lit on the morning of the day appointed for the burial of the deceased, and my mother took part in the usual cooking for the funeral... “Only suddenly we look,” said my mother, “the deceased spread her arms folded on her chest, opened her eyes and, raising her head, seemed to be trying to rise, but could not. This amazed us all so much that the cook’s frying pan, which was in her hands, fell out of her hands, and we, neither alive nor dead, were so scared!..” - “Come here, my dears!” - suddenly the one who came to life spoke in a weak voice: “Don’t be afraid, because I’m alive! Come to me." What to do? Everyone tiptoed up to the coffin, and the revived snake raised her hands and again asked to be lifted and helped to get out of the coffin. I don’t even remember how we dared and dropped her out of the coffin. She immediately ordered to call the priest: “I forgot my sin,” she said, “darling, quickly call the priest—I need to repent.” Having dared, we could not resist asking the resurrected one: what is it like in the next world; what did she see there, etc.? - “Woe to sinners, my dears!” Auntie told us... “My fathers, woe! live - fear God and do not offend each other, but pray more fervently and repent of all your sins - do not forget: woe to sinners - a terrible misfortune! The priest came to her and gave her communion again... they talked about something. “After him, she only said: “Forgive me, everyone, my dear ones, for Christ’s sake,” and immediately gave her soul to God. “Our wake was disrupted that day - everyone had no time for it... Such fear fell on everyone!” We don’t remember how we whiled away the time. They buried her on the 3rd day after this... And it’s wonderful and scary to recall such soul-shattering events in my memory! (See Athonite sheet No. 54). (The story of St. John Climacus). Flock together, all you who have angered the Lord, and come; come and hear what I tell you; gather yourself together and see what the Lord has shown me for the edification of my soul. I, weak, heard about the wonderful humility of the convicts, imprisoned in a special monastery called the Prison, and having come to this monastery of the penitents, in this truly weeping land, I saw that some of these innocent convicts stood all night, until the very morning, in the open air, without moving their legs, and did not give themselves any rest, but reproached themselves, and aroused them with dishonor and reproach. yourself. Others looked tenderly at the sky, and with sobs and cries called for help from there. Others stood in prayer with their hands tied behind them, like criminals; their sad faces were bowed to the ground; they considered themselves unworthy to look at heaven; from unworthy thoughts and from remorse, they did not know what to say and how to say it, what prayers to offer to God. Others sat on the ground in sackcloth and ashes, hiding their faces between their knees and hitting the ground with their foreheads. Others continually beat their chests. Others wet the ground with tears; and others wept for their souls as if they were dead. Some were speechless from intense sadness. Others sat thoughtfully, bowed to the ground, and groaned from the depths of their hearts. I saw there souls so humiliated and contrite that they could bring even the stones into tenderness with their words and cries to God. “We know,” they said, bowing to the ground: “we know that we are truly worthy of all torment and torment, for we cannot pay the multitude of our debts, even if we called the whole universe to weep for us... But this is only what we ask, this is what we beseech, and this is what we seek, and this is the mercy we seek, so that do not reprove us with Your wrath, O Lord, nor punish us with Your wrath (Ps. 6:2), nor Torment us with Thy righteous judgment, but with mercy. It is enough for us, Lord, to be freed from Thy terrible rebuke and unknown and secret torments; We don’t dare ask for complete forgiveness.” - Others tormented themselves with the heat; others tormented themselves with cold. Some, having tasted a little water, stopped drinking, just so as not to die of thirst. Others, having tasted a little bread, rejected it far away from themselves with their hands, saying that they were unworthy of human food, because they did what was typical of cattle. Others, striking themselves on the chest, as if standing before the gates of heaven, said to God: “Open to us, O Judge, open to us!” We have closed these doors for ourselves with sins; open to us!” They all constantly had death before their eyes and said: “What will happen to us? What verdict will follow about us? What will be the end for us? Let us do what depends on our will; and if He opens the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven, then it is good and good; and if not, then blessed is the Lord God, who righteously closed them for us!.. However, we will knock until the end of our lives; Perhaps, due to our persistence, He will open it to us.” This is what these blessed condemned men did. Their knees were visible, numb from many bows; eyes darkened and much sunken; cheeks, wounded and scorched by the heat of many tears; faces, withered and pale, no different from the dead. What, in comparison with them, are the sufferings of those who rage, or weep over the dead, or those convicted of murder? And I pray you, brothers, do not think that what I am telling you is a fable. “They often begged their shepherd to put iron and shackles on their hands and necks, and their feet, like the feet of criminals, to be imprisoned in stocks and not freed from them until the coffin received them. But sometimes they deprived themselves of a coffin. Seeing himself at the end of his life, he begged and conjured the great Abba, so that he would not grant him a human burial, but, like cattle, would order his body to be given over to river streams, or thrown into the field to be devoured by animals. - And what a terrible and touching sight there was at their last hour! These convicts, seeing that one of them was approaching death, surrounded him while he was still fully conscious, and with tears they asked the dying man: “What, brother and convict? How do you feel? What can you tell us? What are you hoping for? What do you think? Have you opened the door of mercy for yourself, or are you still guilty of judgment? Was there a voice within you saying: Behold, you are healthy (John 5:14), or: Your sins are forgiven you (Matthew 9:2); or: will faith save you? (Matthew 9:22). Or do you hear such a voice: let sinners return to hell (Ps. 9:18); also: bind his hand and nose (Matthew 22:13); again: let the wicked be taken and not see the glory of the Lord? (Isa.26:10). What do you tell us, our brother? Tell us briefly, we beg you, so that we too may know what state we will be in.” To this, some of the dying answered: “Blessed is the Lord, who has not forsaken my prayer and His mercy from Me (Ps. 65:20).” Others said: “Blessed is the Lord, who did not let us be caught by their teeth (Ps. 123:6).” And others with illness said: “Woe to the soul that did not keep its vow beyond depravity; Only at this hour will she know what is destined for her.” “I, seeing and hearing all this from them, almost fell into despair, knowing my own negligence and comparing it with their suffering. And what else was the structure of that place and their home! Everything is dark, everything is unclean and stinking. It was rightly called the Prison and the prison of the condemned. Having stayed there for thirty days, I, impatient, returned to the hostel, to the great father, who, seeing that I had completely changed, said: “What, Father John, have you seen the exploits of the working people?” I answered: “I saw, father, I was surprised and blessed those who fell and wept more than those who did not fall and did not weep for themselves; because through the fall they rose up with a trustworthy uprising.” There is no sin that a truly repentant sinner cannot atone for through repentance. How many sinners do we know who, through repentance, have received forgiveness and pardon! By repentance the publican was justified more than the Pharisee; for repentance, a sinner was pardoned, having washed the Savior’s feet with her tears; through repentance the doors of heaven are opened to the thief; through repentance and bitter tears, the Apostle Peter, who denied the Lord three times, was again elevated to the rank of apostle; Through repentance, many of the greatest sinners followed the path of virtues and received eternal bliss. Yes, St. The Venerable Martyr Evdokia was at first an open harlot, but, having repented, she received the gift of miracles and was honored to receive the crown of martyrdom. Thus, the Venerable Mary of Egypt spent 17 years in a life full of sinful, vicious pleasures, but, having repented, she found such grace from the Lord that she crossed the Jordan River as if on dry land. Thus, Jacob the hermit, who committed a sin against the seventh commandment with one maiden and then killed her, completely atoned for these grave mortal sins and again received the gift of miracles. Truly, the power of repentance is great and incomprehensible! St. John Chrysostom says: “Repentance cleanses all sins, whatever they may be. Repentance is the healing of sins, the consumption of iniquities, a weapon against the devil, a sword, cut off his head, the hope of salvation, the destruction of despair. He who repents after a sin is not worthy of crying, but he must be imputed to the blessed one” (see “The Works of St. Tikhon, Bishop of Transdon,” vol. I, p. 146). 6. Reminder from the spiritual world about repentance One of my spiritual daughters, reports Fr. Archpriest P. Polidorov, told me her dream, quite remarkable, which had a very beneficial influence on her moral life. She imagined that she saw a woman dressed from head to toe in a white robe. "Who is this?" My said spiritual daughter asked a certain husband who was standing here, whom she considered to be a saint. "This is your death"! - he answered. - “What, do I really have to die now?” “Yes,” he answered. “But I’m not ready for death yet,” says the dreamer in fear. “Turn with fervent prayer to the Lady,” that husband told her, “and ask her to pray to the Lord for you, so that you do not depart from this life, like many others, without Christian guidance!” At the same time, the one who had the vision saw on the wall an icon of the Mother of God, in which she had special faith. Immediately prostrating himself before this saint. icon, she tearfully asked the Intercessor of the human race not to allow her to die prematurely and without repentance. But, to her horror, she saw on the icon that the face of the Mother of God had turned away from her. After this, with great fear and trembling, she began to beg the Lady more strongly and wept so much and so much as she had never wept in her life. Then the aforementioned holy man approached her again and repeated the words spoken before: “Go! Prepare for death, so that you don’t leave this temporary life, like many others, without parting words!” - And she woke up. Now this woman, with Christian guidance, moved into eternity, having lived 10 years after her vision. (“The Wanderer,” 1873). Evang. from Matt. zach. 8th, ch. IV, 12–17 art. 1. Gospel reading per week according to the Enlightenment Rejected by the Nazarenes, Jesus Christ came and settled in Capernaum by the sea, within the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah would be fulfilled, who says: the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the seaside path, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the pagans, the people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and for those sitting in the land and the shadow of death it dawned light. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:13–17; Isaiah 9:1–2). From that time on, Capernaum became His city (Matthew 9:1), where He, even before the first Easter, left His Most Pure Mother and where His brothers, the children of Joseph, also moved, who could not help but feel the common hatred of the Nazarenes weighing on Him, which, of course, affected their lives. But their house was not His house, which, in the proper sense of the word, He did not have at all. For a temporary refuge, He chose the house of one of the oldest apostles (“The Life of Jesus Christ.” F.V. Farrar, trans. Matveeva. M. 1887, Part I, p. 123). 2. Voices calling us to salvation There was a time when Christ Himself, walking through the land of Judea, called people to salvation. But let us not forget that the Lord is the same yesterday and today and forever; Let us not forget that now, as before, He incessantly calls to us: repent. The Lord calls us to Himself through ourselves. Know not, says the apostle, that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16). So, we are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in us: is it then necessary to prove that the Lord is calling us to himself through ourselves? We live, move and exist through Him (Acts 17:28), receiving from Him all the divine powers, including life and piety (1 Peter 1:3): what then do all our bright thoughts, good feelings mean, if not the good broadcasts of the Spirit of God in us?.. And this unearthly joy with which our heart plays after every good deed, these reproaches of conscience, are so strong tormenting us for our sins, these sighs that escape from time to time from our chest, or tears of tenderness that sometimes appear in our eyes, what is this but the strong voice of Him who says about Himself: 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 )? - St. Barbara was formerly a terrible robber: three hundred souls fell under his murderous knife, including two priests!.. Who would have thought that such a person, seasoned in murder, could ever come to his senses? But sin is strong, and the grace of God in us is even stronger. Barbarian did not hear the voice of God within himself among the murders and noisy conversations with his comrades: but when he was left alone in the den, when he went deeper into himself, then inside him, in the reproaches of his conscience, the accusatory voice of God rang out so loudly and strongly that Barbarian suddenly completely changed. The Venerable David and Moses Murin were like Barbarian, and the same voice of God transformed them from fiends of darkness into children of light (Thurs. Min. May 6, Sept. 6 and August 28). This voice of God is heard in us too; but our trouble is that it sometimes remains in us without any action, just as in churches the words of God are often heard, but sometimes they are heard past our hearts, or even past our ears. The Lord once called out to the fallen Adam: Adam, where are you? Adam heard the voice of God; but instead of responding to it with contrition of heart, with the consciousness of his guilt, he thought of hiding from the Omnipresent among the trees of paradise... Doesn’t the same thing happen to us? Sometimes it is heard in our soul: Adam, where are you? Sinner, where are you? One more step, and you are in the abyss, come to your senses, stop... And we, instead of coming to our senses and stopping, run from the persecution of conscience and think to drown out its saving voice with the noise of worldly amusements and pleasures. And the voice of God in us remains fruitless. The Lord calls us to Himself through the circumstances of our lives. Our life is a school where the Lord acts on us just as a wise mentor acts on his pupils. For the students to succeed in science and morality, the mentor either rewards them, or punishes them, or brings them closer to people who could have a beneficial influence on them. The same thing happens to us. The Lord pours out His mercies on us: He gives us wealth, invests us with strength, crowns us with honor and glory, isn’t it so that we turn to Him more often with grateful prayer, so that we share our abundance with His lesser brethren, protect the innocent with our power, and wipe away the tears of the unfortunate with our power? And isn’t all this His call to us: come to Me! Good and faithful slave! Oh little be Mi faithful; I will make you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord (Matthew 25:23). Oh, if only we were more attentive to all the circumstances of our lives: how often would we hear the voice of the Lord here to us: repent! Have you paid due attention to those persons with whom the Lord brings us closer? Children! You have parents who gave you life and upbringing. Parents! You have children who provide you with peace and comfort in your old age. Spouse! You have a wife who shares your joy and sorrow with you. Friends! You have loved ones who give you good advice, care about your happiness and delight your sorrows... Tell yourself, are these not silent messengers, loudly preaching that the Lord Himself, by the power of love, has instilled in the depths of your family, that He has sent you such people for whom you should forever thank and glorify Him? Are these not the essence of earthly angels - your guardians, through whom the Lord Himself protects and supports you on the slippery path of life?.. The Monk Niphon, in the prime of his years, at first surprised everyone with his rapid successes in science and morality, but then, little by little, he became so accustomed to a dissolute life that it was impossible to recognize him: idleness, drunkenness, theft, murder, debauchery were the young man’s favorite pastimes; he was reproached, he was threatened, but he was more insensitive than a stone. But the Lord is merciful! One day, his former good friend, Nicodemus, meets Niphon, and, looking at his face, disfigured by debauchery, he says in amazement: “My friend! I don’t recognize you: your face is terrible!” Few words, but they had such a strong effect on the young man that he suddenly changed and pleased God so much with the holiness of his life that he received many revelations from Him (Thurs. Min. Dec. 23). In a similar way, the Lord called St. Martyr Justin and Venerable Martyr Eudokia (Thurs. Min. June 1 and March 1). This is how He calls each of us to Himself, sending to us good people and leaders... The Lord calls us to Himself through the nature that surrounds us. He Himself, during His earthly life, more than once pointed to nature as a book in which there are many useful lessons for us, and we only need to look at it in the spirit of piety, and here a whole school of piety will open for us. Here is the boundless sky with its sun and countless luminaries! Look, my soul, and learn... The sun is bright, so bright that we cannot even look at it directly: but the eyes of God are incomparably brighter than the sun. It is a shame for us to do dark deeds in the light of the sun: oh, how ashamed it should be for us to even think what is evil in the eyes of God!.. No matter how much we sin, however, under the sun, it never ceases to illuminate us and warm us: teach us, sun, to do good to people, no matter how much they sin against us... Who will number the stars of heaven? Who will number the mansions of the Heavenly Father? For us they are appointed; there is our pier, there is our homeland; but, my God, how little do we think about them, and how much do we care about the earth, as if this is our eternal home?.. Thunder and lightning are terrible for us, and who will depict the horror of a sinner when the sun darkens and the moon does not give its light, when the stars fall from the sky and the powers of heaven are shaken, when with the sound of the angelic trumpet the Son of Man comes in all His glory and all the holy angels with Him (Matt. 24:29; Matt. 24:31)!.. The sky is instructive for us, but the earth is also instructive. How many thorns and thistles there are in it! Where are they from? They were not in paradise: our sins gave birth to them. So, doesn’t every thorn and every thistle remind us of our sins? And, plucking the tares from the earth, don’t we come to the idea that we need to pluck the tares from our hearts?.. How much torment the earth endures under the farmer’s plow! But the more it is cut, the more suitable it becomes: isn’t it the cross, isn’t it the disasters that make us fit for the kingdom of God? It is pleasant for a farmer to look at ears full of grains: oh, how pleasant it is for God to look at virtuous people! Full ears tilt their tops down, and empty ones look up: isn’t this an image of virtuous and vicious people?.. There are grains, there are stalks; there is deep humility, here there is exorbitant pride. Behold, next to the wheat and the tares: they grow on the same soil, the same sun warms them, the same dew and the same rain nourish them, but their fate will not be alone; and in the world the evil and the evil live together with the good, and the saints and sinners; for both of them there are the same conditions of life, but only until the time: the time will come, and the first will be gathered into the kingdom of God, like good wheat into the barns, and the last will be thrown into the fire of Gehenna, like worthless grass... The land is instructive, and the sea is instructive. Isn’t it the sea and our whole life on earth? There are so many waves in the sea, and so much vanity in the world! A wave rolls a wave, a wave pursues a wave, but why is this force of the sea, why is this tension of the wind? Just so that the waves rush and crash on the seashore... Isn’t that how all our everyday thoughts and worries end, that they are finally smashed to pieces on the shore of death. Trouble for a swimmer without an anchor: disaster for a Christian without faith... But we would not have finished the words if we wanted, in the spirit of piety, to examine in detail all the objects of nature. How many objects there are in it, there are so many lessons in it for us. That's why one St. my father said: “I don’t even need books: I have one big book in which everything I need is written for me; this book is nature.” (See the book “Minutes of Pastoral Leisure”, by Hermogenes). 3. Stories about repentant crying and heartfelt contrition for sins I. Disciple of St. ap. Peter, St. Clement says that St. Every night, Peter, hearing the rooster crow, immediately remembered his rejection of Christ, got up from his bed and threw himself to the ground, shedding many tears in bitter weeping, and he did this throughout his entire life. And the church historian Nicephorus adds that the eyes of St. The apostles were always red and, as it were, bloody from everyday crying. This is what Peter’s repentance was like! “And you, who hope to mourn all your sins in one hour, can you cry as bitterly as Peter cried?” - asks Saint Demetrius of Rostov. “Can you cry every night like he cried? Are you able to endure such labors and exploits as St. Peter for the sake of his Lord for his rejection, even to the point of being crucified with his head down on the cross. So, do not rely on your small certain contrition of heart, do not rely on your weak work, on a short-term feat: show repentance before the Lord, corresponding to your great sins, and even more than them, with many tears, and then, O sinner, expect mercy from Him! II. There is a legend about one old man who, having left the world, retired to deserted places, but did not build a cell for himself, but moved from place to place like a migratory bird. It is not known whether anyone saw him eating food; but no one saw him without tears, sobs and lamentations. If it happened that he was approaching a city or village, he did not go inside, but sat outside, on some stone, and, bowing his head to the Persians, cried out with tears: “Alas! Oh woe! Oh trouble! Will something happen? It happened that the inhabitants of that place came out to him and, out of compassion, began to console him, but this further aggravated his grief and multiplied his crying and tears. They offered him food, clothing, and money - nothing consoled him, nothing occupied him, and his tears were his bread and butter day and night. Sometimes they addressed him with a speech, saying: “Why are you crying, and what misfortune has befallen you? Tell us; Perhaps, according to our strength, we will help you and ease your bitter fate.” But the elder began to cry even more from these words, covering his face with the same cry and not having the strength to utter a single articulate word. And only after much pestering, sometimes through tears he said: “I don’t know if you will help me, but here’s my problem: my master entrusted me with great wealth, and I squandered it all on balls, theaters, festivities, feasts and a luxurious, unclean life with vicious women, now my master is looking for me and, having found me, will bring me to trial and shameful execution. And I don’t know what to do... will something happen?” And again he indulged in crying, sobbing and screaming. Do you understand what he was crying about? He cried about his sins and was afraid of the judgment of the Lord of all - God!.. Let's cry like this, and maybe God will have mercy on us! (From “Writings on the Life of Christ,” Bishop Theophan, p. 139). III. They talk about Rev. Arseny the Great, that throughout his asceticism, sitting at work, he had a scarf on his chest, because tears constantly flowed from his eyes. Abba Pimen, when he heard that he had died, said, tearing up: “Blessed are you, Abba Arseny, who mourned yourself in this world! For whoever does not weep for himself here will weep there forever.” (“Honored legends about the ancient saint and blessed father.” 1846). 4. The main feeling of our heart is sadness (From “Letters on Christian Life” by Bishop Theophan). What does it mean that after the most complete joy the soul plunges into sadness, forgetting about all the joys that it previously did not remember? Is it not that from the depths of our being the soul is given to know how insignificant all these amusements are, compared with the bliss that is lost with the loss of paradise? We are ready to rejoice with those who rejoice, but no matter how varied and great the objects of human joy are, they do not leave a deep mark on them and are soon forgotten. But if we see a mother crying over her dead son, her only support, or a wife sobbing over the grave of her beloved husband, grief deeply cuts through our soul, and the word and image of those who mourn remain indelible in our memory. Doesn't this mean that sorrow is closer and more akin to us than joy? You listen to singing or music; Of course, cheerful tones also resonate pleasantly in the soul, but they glide only on its surface, leaving no noticeable trace in it, while sad tones immerse the soul within itself and remain memorable to it for a long time. Ask a traveler, and he will tell you that out of the many things he has seen, the ones that stand out in his head are mainly those objects and places that plunged him into sad reverie. These examples are enough, it seems, to explain the idea that the main feeling of our heart is sadness. This means that our nature cries for a lost paradise, and no matter how we try to drown out this cry, it is heard in the depths of the heart, in spite of all the stupefying gaiety, and clearly tells a person: stop having fun in self-forgetfulness; You, fallen one, have lost a lot: better look, is there somewhere a way to get back what you lost?.. One pagan overheard this cry of the human soul, and this is what allegory he clothed his thought about it with! Some sage was walking in a secluded place, immersed in thoughts about the fate of humanity. He was brought out of this reverie by the question: “You probably saw him? Tell me where he went; I will rush after him and, perhaps, I will overtake him,” Turning around, the sage saw the girl. She was wearing the clothes of the king's daughters, but they were worn and torn. Her face was gloomy and tanned, but its features showed the former high beauty. Having examined the wanderer, the sage asked her: “What do you need?” She repeated again: “You probably know him, tell me where and how I can find him?” - “But what are you talking about? - said the sage. “Don’t you know about this? - answered the maiden. And I think that there is no person who does not know about my grief.” The sage asked her with sympathy: “Tell me what your grief is, and maybe I’ll figure out how to help you.” “Think and help,” she answered. “I’ll tell you this: I was in a land filled with joy.” I felt good there, so good! Marriage was being prepared... My fiancé, I don’t remember his facial features, was of indescribable beauty... I’ve almost forgotten everything... but I remember that everything was already ready for marriage... when someone came and spoke to me such sweet words... Then he gave me something to drink. I drank and immediately fell unconscious or fell asleep. Waking up - ah, it would be better for me never to wake up! – I woke up and found myself on this earth, gloomy and stuffy. Where did that bright home of mine go? I didn’t know where my fiancé and his joyful eyes were. At first, I just ran unconscious here and there, tearing out my hair and beating myself in the chest from the intense torment that tormented my soul. Having calmed down a little, I decided to look for what I had lost. And now, for how long have I been walking on earth and not finding that one, my soul loves him. During the day I ask the sun, and at night the moon and stars: “As you circle the earth every day, have you seen somewhere the one whom my soul is looking for?” And they don’t give me an answer... Are there mountains where my voice is not heard? Are there forests where my cry would not be heard? Are there any valleys that my foot will not trample? But, for how long I have been wandering, looking for what I lost, and I can’t find it. But tell me: don’t you know and haven’t heard where is what my soul is so sad about?” The sage thought a little and said: “If you told me the name of your groom and the name of his kingdom and the country where your bright home was, I would show you the way there, but since you speak vaguely, no one can guide you! Will not your fiancé take pity on you and send someone to show you the way to the blessed home you have lost, or will he not come for you? Having said this, the sage turned away, and the maiden went further, again looking for the unobtainable. It’s clear what this allegory means! It depicts a soul lamenting the loss of paradise and communion with God, looking for it and not finding it. Such is every soul, such are our souls by nature! What's the difference? The fact is that the pagan soul only searched and searched, but did not find what it was looking for, and the pagan could not go further! The mind encounters clear signs - indicators of the fall and loss of paradise, but does not know how to find a way to restore the fallen and return the lost. We are not the sons of night and darkness, but the sons of light and day. We cannot have any confusion about this. We know that the Lord and Savior Himself came to earth to seek and save the lost: He Himself calls everyone to Himself: come to Me, and I will give you rest. You have lost your kingdom... It has come closer. Repent and believe in the Gospel, and I will take you to Me, and you will be with Me in paradise, in the abodes of My Father, to have fun and supper. Note The Gospel reading this week is the same as in the 3rd week of Lent. The articles and stories posted here complement those of that week, and vice versa. In relation to the Gospel. Mark. Chapter VIII 38 art. Note For the Gospel account of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, see Part 2 under the 25th day of December. Regarding the appearance of an angel to Joseph in a dream. Regarding the Gospel account of Herod beating the Bethlehem infants. Regarding the terrible death of Herod, who beat the Bethlehem babies, who died alive eaten by worms. Acrids are called: locusts, tree shoots and sweet grass roots. You might be interested in: