About Orthodoxy with warnings against sins against it

Contents 1. What is Orthodoxy, and how to preserve and support it 2. A complete outline of Orthodox truth and an indication of deviations from it 3. An indication that our confession of faith, and rules of life, and grace-filled sanctification, and pastoral leadership are the same as those established by the Lord through the Apostles, and an exhortation not to deviate from this 4. The true Christian confession consists in: to confess Jesus Christ as God with all souls - with mind, will and heart, and where this is not there, there is Arianism 5. On the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, humanity for the first time after the fall breathed the Holy Spirit and breathes it, in the Orthodox Church this breath is full, but for others it is incomplete or completely absent 6. The general structure of life required by Orthodoxy as a condition of salvation 7. A warning against being carried away by novelties 8. Theology the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian - the norm of the Orthodox confession 9. Subjugation of the mind under the yoke of faith - the protection of Orthodoxy 10. On the immutability of the Orthodox confession 11. An exhortation to stand in the Orthodox truth despite the influx of false views 12. What does it mean in Orthodox Christianity to be a mother-in-law and to be immovable 13. The strength of the prosperity of the state is not only in good morals, but also in Orthodoxy 14. In Christianity, nothing should be changed, submitting to the spirit of the time, but it should strictly adhere to everything, as originally commanded, without seeking benefits 15. The basis of Orthodoxy is unanimity; its beginning is what has always been confessed by everyone and everywhere; strength and steadfastness lie in the knowledge of the truth 16. Schism is not antiquity, but innovation 17. Warning against schism teachers 18. General warnings against temptations in the matter of faith, life and piety 19. The true knowledge of Christianity is gleaned from Christian life 20. Have you joined the Church? Stick to the Church - there is no other salvation 21. Stick to the Church, live in its spirit - and you will be saved, but turn away your ears from flattering teachers 22. Prosperity comes from the blessing of God given for faith and piety; Since unbelief and schism destroy faith and piety, we must be careful from them in every possible way 23. The schismatics cannot fulfill the conditions of salvation, and what they wanted to replace what was missing has no power or value 24. Vladimir as a provincial city should be an example for everyone in the province - both in the knowledge of Christian truths, and in a good Christian life, and in Christian piety 25. How anyone can understand the dogmas of the Creed through reading to prevent the evil influence of flattering false teachers 26. How those who cannot read can succeed in understanding dogmas by listening to what is sung, read and acted in church 27. An example of how to learn from the daily readings in church lessons in knowledge and Christian life 28. Another similar example 29. Complaining about rumors that, living among the Orthodox, one cannot be saved 30. Our Holy Faith, carefully guarded by one another, is glory the basis of ours and our prosperity 31. Our attitude towards the word of God as undoubtedly true 32. How to assimilate the Word of God 33. The principles of faith in Christian life must be kept motionless 1. What is Orthodoxy, and how to preserve and support it “Proclaim it with a trumpet throughout all your land... And sanctify the summer, the fiftieth year” (Lev. 25:9-10). Thus the Lord commanded through Moses “the sons of Israel” (Lev. 25:2). Today the fiftieth anniversary of this sanctuary of spiritual enlightenment has passed. And so, not by the noisy voice of the trumpet, but by the attraction of the spirit of love and gratitude, we have all gathered here today to sanctify this day with a prayer of gratitude to the Lord God and an expression of mutual joy and consolation. So - thanks be to the Lord, who put in the thought and blessed the work - to establish and erect this institution - and who has kept it until now for our good! Thanks also to all the chosen instruments of His good care for us: thanksgiving in God to the deceased sovereign emperors - Alexander the Blessed and Nicholas the First, with prayer for the repose of their souls! Thanks be to the now safely reigning most pious sovereign, Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, who pours out his mercies on us too! Thanks to the Holy Governing Synod, which fatherly takes care of everything that concerns us! Thanks to all those who have done and benefited us, to all who have worked and are toiling for us, to all who wish us well and rejoice in it! We all deeply understand how worthy and righteous such thanksgiving is. Therefore, it would be unnecessary to depict or arouse these feelings. And what can be said in this regard that everyone does not know and feel stronger than any word? But, brothers and fathers, food for more than one heart is our celebration. It also contains lessons for us. In the Old Testament, when the consecration of the fiftieth year was legitimized, after: “Blow the trumpet... sanctify” - it was added: “and let each one... go to his own country, and each one go to his own country” (Lev. 25:9-10). That is, there the fiftieth summer was a time of equalization of property rights and personal freedom, or the restoration of the previously destined and established order, subjected to changes due to some accidents - therefore, by the time of trial and reprisal: they analyzed the past and prepared the course of affairs for the future. Shouldn’t we do the same? And we need to look at our past in order to see whether the order of teachings destined for us is not in some way disturbed there, and turn to the future in order to prepare in advance how we should meet what we have to meet there. Let's do it! When turning to the past, they usually ask: “What has been done?” And, in relation to the teaching, what new discoveries have been made, new improvements, new changes in direction, etc.? What will we find in our past? We don't see anything special. Everything is the same, both in the beginning and now. Of course, no one will consider small changes in external appearance as something significant worth taking attention to. What is this? Stagnation? Yes, we often hear this word, indiscriminately used as a reproach for us. The only reproach, perhaps, that the reproached can boast of! For in human teachings this is the glory of science when it is renewed from time to time and in repeated renewals represents a movement towards the best, the most perfect, towards its exemplary size and development. Such variability there is perhaps a good sign - at least, an inevitable destiny. Not so in the doctrine mainly taught here and characterizing us. As a Divine teaching, it must always remain one and unchanging, just as God Himself is unchanging and eternal. And it would be a terrible revelation for us if in our past we could indicate any changes in the teaching, even under the magnificent title of improvement and development; and the fact that it is now invariably the same as it has been for fifty years is not worthy of reproach, but of approval. He must remain as he was not only over these fifty years, but also over dozens of other fifty years - until the Apostles themselves and our Lord Jesus Christ. Other Christian societies that have fallen away from unity with the True Church of God can boast of additions, changes, and developments. They disappeared due to changes in teaching, and variability became their essential feature. And let them - not to their honor - boast of novelties! Let the papists boast, having invented the center of unity and lost the true point of support - let them boast and measure their vitality by this, if they can boast of unnecessary growths or scabs that disgrace the body, as, for example, double-headedness, six-fingered, hunchbackedness disfigures it! Let the Protestants, fickle as the wind and unstable as the waves of the sea, boast with their false and never-before-existent freedom of conscience and convictions, who in their latest conclusions have reached the point of all-theism and atheism! So - let them boast; “Let us not boast” (Gal. 6:14), is it zeal to preserve our teaching as it was in the beginning, to the praise of the Church of God on the Day of Christ, fearing the terrible judgment pronounced by the Apostle: “If we, or an Angel from heaven, brings you more good news (he didn’t say “the opposite”, but “more”, that is, something else besides the gospel, something Moreover, if we preach the gospel to you, let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8). Our institution has given more than twenty births in this fiftieth anniversary, and thanks be to the Lord if our last ones are the same in spirit as the first ones, presenting neither excesses nor shortcomings, not deviating either on the wrist or on the surface. Is this true? Here we are all here - both the first and the last; all, standing before God in the “covenant of peace” (Eph. 4:3), we testify that “we have all drunk in one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13), except perhaps those who “went forth from us, but were not made mad by us” (1 John 2:19). We, the last, learn from the first; the former guide, warn, and keep us within proper limits. Thus, one truth passes from fifty years to fifty years, from generation to generation, from century to century. If there is a doubt whether something new has come to us, whether the truth has not been sold into captivity to superstition - this illegal freedom to think, without considering anything and without being limited by anything - then we are all open to each other, we will all judge together and return to the truth, “let it go” “to its own place” and “to its own fatherland” (Lev. 25:10), for we all equally know that the unbridled freedom of science is the captivity of truth. Let us bind science, so that the one truth of God may remain free forever. Turning their gaze forward, they usually try to determine what else needs to be done, what path to take, what to pay attention to. What's here for us? It's the same thing for us and ahead. Human teachings all strive for something new, grow, develop - and naturally, for they do not have the truth, but only seek it. And let them search, if only they find something durable. For us, both the truth and the path to the truth are determined once and for all. We possess the truth, and all our work is directed toward assimilation, and not toward discovering it. It became a law there: forward, forward! And regarding our teaching, it is said from above: “stand …” (1 Cor. 16:13), “... motionless... remain” (Col. 1: 23). If anything remains for us, it is only to “establish ourselves” (1 Cor. 16:13) and affirm others. In this regard, our teaching is also characterized by movement—expansion, but not in the realm of truth, but in the realm of those who possess the truth and are submissive to it. It is our duty to communicate and instill in every new generation among us the truth of God, to enlighten peoples who do not know it, to enlighten the preaching of it, and most of all to keep the truth of God inviolable in the hearts of all who are within the fence of the Church of God. And here, according to the time, there may be special works for which it is necessary to prepare students and invite students. Yes, brothers and fathers, our job is to see through and predict the tricks of the spirit of lies and counteract its machinations with a strong and effective rebuff. Since the appearance of the Lord on earth, the spirit of lies has not ceased to rebel against the truth and has been hostilely attempting to suppress it, modifying methods and techniques and remaining unchanged only in deceit, flattery and guile. After various heresies, he invented a center of unity in the West and with its help, directly and indirectly, he propagated there many harmful teachings, which almost completely obscured the truth, which was exhausted in the fight against them, because a part of the lie was mixed in with it, weakening it. That is why Europe, which is ahead of us in some respects, suffers greatly from false faith, unbelief and indifference (indifference in faith). Meanwhile, in our country only Europe is praised, and now whole ships are bringing to us from there, along with goods, hordes of enemies of truth (things, persons, books), for whom it is difficult to find a decent name, between which one can, however, distinguish, as it were, two enemy camps: papism and freethinking (as if they are opposites, and yet this is the father and his fiend). They enter our region through secret paths in the hope of certain success. For us personally, of course, neither the cobwebs of this society of renegade papists, nor the illusory flattery of superstition, covered with the guise of common sense and advocating in the name of freedom of opinion, are scary; but we must not only save ourselves, but also protect the flock of Christ. And here is the domestic enemy, who is in conspiracy with external enemies and is preparing the way for them - the separation of the flock from the shepherds, it is not known (it is unknown) how it was formed, but has already begun to be expressed in print - on the one hand, and the increasingly expanding development of the elements of the worldly spirit, contrary to the spirit of Christ, on the other. You know all this, brothers and fathers; It’s true, your soul ache about it and burn with readiness to confront your enemies. I only take this opportunity to simultaneously spread the word to everyone in order to unite everyone into one thought and one determination to actively save the holy faith and everything that is affirmed by faith. At least you see what we have to do ahead, what kind of struggle we need to prepare students for and what kind of labor we should invite students to. It is no secret to anyone that our time is a time of some kind of fermentation, similar to the decomposition (chemical) of the elements in the material world. But just as the latter, they say, is always accompanied by a kind of connection, little noticeable under the visible discordant movements of the elements, so a kind of spiritual connection must also occur among us today. Just what kind are they?! The Lord, having come to earth, brought about a saving separation between the wickedness of the world, which was strong in unanimity. The fire of Divine life cast onto the earth by Him, repelling (pushing away, rejecting) sensuality and selfhood and attracting the spirit of man to itself, from this copulation formed the spiritual Kingdom of God, the Holy Church, which He has preserved to this day both in us and among us. Why is this being done now?! Is it not the fire that springs from the abyss that again inflames selfhood and sensuality in order to extinguish the spirit that was kindled at the beginning? If so, then we, brothers, have been entrusted with keeping the fire of God unquenchable in the sanctuary of God. Let us stir up our jealousy! The current state of affairs is not unexpected. The holy Apostle Paul foresaw it in all its details and then prescribed, in the person of the Apostle Timothy, instructions on how and what their successors should do in such cases. “This is true,” he says to Saint Timothy, “for in the last days times of cruelty will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, majestic, proud, blasphemers, opposed to parents... unloving, unforgiving... intemperate... traitors... lovers of voluptuousness rather than lovers of God, having the form of godliness, but denying the power of it... diving into houses and taking captive the bridegroom..." (2 Tim. 3, 1–6). Isn't that the case now? “Always learning and never more able to come into the mind of truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth; men are corrupt in mind (and) unskillful in the faith” (2 Tim. 3:7-8). “There will come a time when they will not listen to sound teaching, but according to their own lusts they will choose teachers for themselves, with their ears scratched; they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to fables...” (2 Tim. 4:3-4) Is this not what is happening now? What should a zealot of truth do in such circumstances? That's it! “But be sober in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelist, make your ministry known” (2 Tim. 4:5). “Do not be ashamed... of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ... but suffer the gospel of Christ according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling... Have the example of sound words, which you heard from me” (2 Tim. 1:8-9,13). “Preach the word, be present in season and untimely, reprove, rebuke, entreat with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2). So, let us preach, brethren, in churches and homes, in general meetings and private conversations, orally, in writing, and in print. Let us be trumpets, constantly sounding, but intelligible. Let us put an end to the division that is secretly taking place in our ranks; Let's form a fraternal alliance, concentrate our forces, and direct them all towards one thing. The truth stands for itself; Let us make it known to everyone, and it itself will attract “whom... foreknew” (Rom. 8:29) Our Heavenly Father. Let’s just conduct this matter in such a way that no one can tell us the truth: “to the doctor, heal yourself” (Luke 4:23). So this is the lesson our celebration led us to. And naturally. Our institution prepares shepherds and mentors for shepherds. Consequently, our triumph is the triumph of shepherding not in visible splendor without strength and not in external advantages, but in the inner strength of their word over the souls of the flock, when every shepherd can say: “The sheep... listen to my voice” (John 10:27), that is, they submit their mind and will to his word, form their concepts according to his teaching, arrange their life according to his advice and resolve their doubts with his admonitions. How can all this be achieved? No other way than through the preaching of the word, for we have only one weapon. Take one more thing into account. Our triumph coincided with the time when the sheep publicly began to rebel against the shepherds. What does our celebration mean? The last flash of life or the color on the face of the deceased? No, this is a call for the shepherd to really appear and become triumphant, to be jealous of this triumph, characteristic of it, which is revealed not in external dominance, but in internal power over souls, - this is a call for intensified activity - to stand not for their rights (let them all take and leave one freedom without hesitating to speak in a pastoral way), but for the cause of God entrusted to us - the work of preserving and spreading the truth of God on earth by force a word preached incessantly. We are the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14): we will shine. We are “salt”: let us not “overwhelm” (Matthew 5:13)! Amen. For the fiftieth anniversary S.P.B. spirit. Academy 2. A complete outline of Orthodox truth and an indication of deviations from it In the name of God, worshiped in the Trinity - Father and Son and Holy Spirit, I greet you, the flock entrusted to me by God, with an apostolic greeting, in the desire of grace and peace. “May grace and peace abound to you” (1 Pet. 1:2) as two sources of every good, mental and physical: may your mind be filled with the knowledge of God and all truth that comes from Him, with corresponding feelings and dispositions; May your heart open to brotherly love and every kindness, and may all your undertakings turn to the glory of the One God... May the goodness of the air, the fertility of the earth and everything that is necessary for your temporary well-being be granted to you by the generous mercy of God, if it pleases you. About all this is my unceasing sinful prayer to God. For we are no longer strangers to each other. At the hour of the naming, not yet knowing you, I had already entered into communication with you, making a vow to God and the Holy Church to belong to you through care, labor and even this life. In equal retribution, as I believe from the confidence in your Christian conscience, you have done something similar, dedicating yourself to attention and, if necessary, to obedience to my weak word and deed of faith in love. And now this mutual union, based on mutual self-sacrifice, is sanctified by the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice to the Lord who sacrificed for us, from Whom for this reason may every blessing descend upon our beginning co-existence. From this moment, we have both good and evil in common, and this is not only for a time, but also for eternity, for this coexistence, although it began in time and for a while, is imprinted with a character that goes beyond time, because, being associated with mutual obligations, determined from above, and on the Day of Judgment it will serve to justify or condemn us. This seems to be enough of an incentive for us to walk before each other, as before the face of God, with all attention and kindness, with mutual good wishes, in prayer for each other and in mutual assistance to each other, working out our salvation with fear and trembling. I think, however, that there is no need to disclose to you our mutual obligatory relationship. This is not the first time you have entered into them, but let me remind myself of them to myself. I consider it necessary to offer you only one thing in some detail for the first time, namely: to draw an image of sound Christian teaching, which you need to heed, like a lamp shining in the darkness of human opinions and errors, and which I will follow in my feasible service to the word of truth. Listen to what I confess, what I teach and what I will seek to believe in, out of duty as a shepherd, and according to this judge who is ours and who is alien to us, with whom we should communicate and whom we should run away, what we should follow and what we should move away from. It is not something new or something that is our own that will be offered, but something that has been handed down to us since ancient times as the holy law of faith and the unchangeable rule of life. Thus, I confess that God, One in Essence, is Trinity in Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - and that these Three are not names of one and the same Person and not names of different actions of the same Person, but Three Hypostases of the One Divinity. This is how the Holy Church commanded to confess, this is how I will teach and this is the faith I will seek from everyone in the duty of shepherding. I confess that this Trihypostatic God, all-perfect, by His free will, without any internal or external necessity, in six days, with His one word, created this world, not pouring into the world and not merging with it, but remaining in Himself whole and unchangeable, although He is omnipresent and fulfills everything. This is how the Holy Church commands to confess, this is how I will teach, and this is the kind of faith I will dutifully seek from everyone. I confess that the All-Good God, having created the world, did not leave it to the mercy of fate and did not shackle it with the bonds of some inexorable necessity, as unbelief and superstition teach, but with the same freedom and power with which He created it, with the same He rules it and graciously cares for every creature, especially rational ones, freely directing everything to His good goals, not embarrassed by the laws of nature, which themselves are nothing more than an expression of His will, and therefore are entirely subject to His free order and change where His infinite wisdom requires it. This is how the Holy Church commands to confess, this is how I will teach, and this is how I will seek faith from everyone. I confess that we, having been created for constant communion with God and unchangeable bliss in Him, in our first parents, by violating His commandments, fell away from Him, brought upon ourselves His righteous wrath and fell under temporary punishment and eternal condemnation, and that therefore every visible and experienced evil, internal or external, is not our natural state or a consequence of our limitations, but is the direct fruit of sin - punishment, only by the grace of God converted into an instrument of purification for us, under the condition of faith, repentance and humble submission to the will of God. This is how the Holy Church commands to confess, this is how I will teach, and this is how I will seek faith from everyone. I confess that the Lord, moved by love, not tolerating His beloved creation - man - perishing in this plight, deigned to descend to earth, take upon Himself human nature, satisfy the truth of God with suffering and death, and, after the Resurrection, ascend to Heaven, and, sitting at the right hand of God and the Father, again open to man free access to living communication with God. I confess that all the restorative Divine powers, “even unto life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3), were placed by the Lord in His Holy Church, as our only physician, and act in it by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Sacraments and other sanctifying institutions on all who approach them with a heart opened in faith, and that there is no other way to receive the powers of grace, and there cannot be, no matter what. planned and no matter how differently some dreamy minds dreamed of becoming spiritual. I confess that everyone who seeks salvation must first of all repent with the determination not to sin again, even if it costs his life; then proceed to the Sacraments to receive grace, to strengthen those who are weak for good in their natural powers, then to go as far as we can along the path of the commandments of Christ among all the sanctifying institutions and prayers of the Church, which are essential to kindle the spirit of grace in us, under the influence of feats of self-denial to mortify passions, until, finally, we reach the bright region of dispassion and purity, to this “measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ” ( Eph.4:13). I confess that those who have begun this path, entering into communion with God, at the same time enter into communion with the invisible world - the Angels and all the saints who have previously pleased God, and, resorting to their intercession, receive timely help from them - most of all from our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary - our all-powerful Intercessor and Intercessor. I confess that for original sin the soul will be separated from the body by the action of death and will remain in this separation until the Future Resurrection and Judgment - either feeding on the hope of eternal bliss, if it followed the will of God in everything, or languishing with the fear of eternal torment, if it resisted the commandments of the Lord. I confess all this with all my soul, with all my heart and with all my thought, because the Holy Church commands to confess this. This is how I will teach and this is the kind of faith I will seek from everyone. And so I deliberately outlined our entire confession to you in order to renew in your thoughts the bright face of our faith - I pointed out the path that we are commanded to follow, and hinted at those crossroads that some deviate from due to lack of teaching, others due to ill-directed erudition. And may the Lord deliver you from these deviations! Everything I depicted is not new! Hold on to this old faith, as our fathers held on to it and for this they left us clear traces of their pleasing to God, from them there is also Sergius of Radonezh, so zealously revered by you and glorified by all Orthodox Russia, whose memory is now celebrated. Avoid new things in matters of faith and piety and beware of these “false prophets who come... in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15) - understand the lies hidden in the attractive words of flatterers who seek to corrupt you under the guise of goodwill. I mean all those who are wrong-thinking and wrong-doing, not out of weakness, but out of perseverance, with the desire to attract others to their side - I mean: – those who do not believe in the Holy Trinity and who think that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not the Persons of the One Deity, but are the names of one Person; – those who reject Divine Creativity and Providence and think that the world with all the creatures in it spontaneously arose and is governed by itself; – those who do not believe in the fall of man and our disastrous state in another way; - those who do not believe in the Holy Church as a single physician who contains within herself all the powers that restore us, and who consider her Holy Sacraments and sanctifying means to be simple rituals without inner strength; – those who dream of receiving the sanctifying power of God’s grace in some hidden, invisible way, and not in the way offered by the Holy Church; - those who do not recognize asceticism and all works of self-denial as necessary, flattering themselves with the false hope of combining the spirit of Christ with the spirit of the world; – those who are alienated from communication with the saints and disdainfully (arrogantly, impudently) rejecting their intercession and intercession, as well as the destructive actions of “spirits of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12); - those who do not recognize the spirituality of the soul, its immortality, the future resurrection of our bodies and the eternal reward to all of us according to our deeds; - open and secret violators of the statutes of the Holy Church of God, who do not consider it necessary to observe fasts, confess, take communion, who do not honor holy holidays and Sundays, or, instead of properly honoring them, indulge in unreasonable amusements and amusements; - with daring self-justification for those who do not maintain purity before marriage and marital fidelity after marriage - inventing, instead of the one blessed by God, some other way of cohabitation; - in general, everyone who is carried away and captivated by the indomitable self-will in their way of thinking and the rules of life... You see now who is ours and who is not ours, on whose side is the truth and where is the lie. Avoid evil and do good. The holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, seeing the destruction from the appearance of false teachers in the flock of Christ, on the one hand, aroused the vigilance of believers, pointing out this appearance, on the other hand, he taught them to recognize the falsity of their teaching by internal spiritual anointing. Finding ourselves in somewhat similar circumstances, we turn to you the words of the same Apostle: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but tempt the spirits that are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). “Now there have been many Antichrists ... who have gone forth from us, but they have not been maddened from us” (1 John 2:18-19). Ask how to recognize them and their teaching? According to the outline of the truth that we have proposed, or according to the wise rule proposed by Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer: “Stick to the lawful shepherding and never fall away from the truth.” For shepherds and teachers are given to the Church by the Shepherd and Head of the Lord “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of service, for the building up of the Body of Christ... let us not be... babes, tossed about and tossed about by every wind of doctrine, in the lies of men, in the deceit of the wiles of flattery” (Eph. 4:12, 14). “Now may the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the aim of your heart may be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding majesty of His power among us who believe, according to the working of the might of His might” (Eph. 1:17-19). Amen. upon joining the Tambov flock 3. An indication that our confession of faith, and rules of life, and grace-filled sanctification, and pastoral leadership are the same as those established by the Lord through the Apostles, and an admonition not to deviate from this During my first communication with you, I cannot find a better word with which to address you than the one that is now offered to all of us in the apostolic reading on behalf of the holy Apostle Paul. The lesson contained in it is terse, but significant, and especially comforting for all of us, assuring us that the path we follow, and the way of life and action by which we can be saved, are the very ones that were prescribed and indicated by the Apostles, therefore, as true as God Himself is true. You will see this for yourself if, together with me, you trace the contents of the current Apostle (Col. 3:12-16). Here the holy Apostle Paul, having praised the Colossians for the fact that some of them, leaving Jewish dreams, and others - Hellenic errors, became Christians, then indicates what they, as Christians, should do, how to act and how to behave... First. “Be clothed with... - he says, - in the womb of generosity, kindness, humility, meekness... long-suffering,” forgive, if anyone has anything against another, “peace... be in your hearts... be grateful... over all... acquire love, which is the bond of perfection” (Col. 3, 12-15), that is, the Apostle indicates the feelings and dispositions characteristic of Christians, as well as the corresponding they care. Second. Further he adds: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16). “The Word of Christ”, that is, the teaching about our Lord Jesus Christ - how He, the One of the Holy Trinity, came to earth to save us who had fallen, how He became incarnate, taught, worked miracles, suffered, rose again, ascended to Heaven, sat down at the right hand of God the Father and sent down the Holy Comforter Spirit on the holy Apostles and with them founded and established the Holy Church on earth, and in general - the word of Christ is all Christian teaching. “May it dwell in you richly,” that is, may it fulfill your mind, feeling, will, and your whole being. Third. Finally, the Apostle inspires: “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:18–19), “singing in grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Col. 3:16). Psalms, chants and spiritual songs mean the entire order of church prayers and observances: the Holy Sacraments, the order of daily services and all sanctifying actions and prayers performed in the Church by the legal priesthood. Bring all this together - and it turns out that the holy Apostle Paul, as it were, said to the Colossians: “Now you have become Christians, see that you firmly hold the teachings of Christ, or the confession of the holy faith, and, strengthened by the grace of God, given in the Holy Sacraments and warmed by sacred rites and church prayers, walk steadily along the path of the commandments of Christ under the guidance of lawful shepherds and teachers.” This is what the Apostle taught to the Colossians!.. But this is the same thing that is working in us now, the same thing by which we hope to be saved. For look what we are doing?.. We pray at home and in the churches of God we gather for prayer, we are sanctified by the Sacraments and the grace acceptable in them is kindled by church sacred rites... That is, we are zealous to be filled with the Spirit, “saying to ourselves,” according to the Apostle, “in psalms and songs and spiritual songs.” Further, both at home and in private, and in churches, we solemnly express the confession of the holy faith, reading the Creed, which is an abbreviation of the entire Christian teaching; we listen and read the word of God and the fatherly writings, read other soul-saving books and ourselves reflect on the truths of salvation... That is, what are we doing? We make sure that the word of Christ “dwells richly in us.” Finally, in life we ​​strive as much as we can to be meek, humble, generous, peaceful, loving... We strive, that is, to fill our hearts with Christian feelings and dispositions, which are indicated by the Apostle and which are expounded at length in the teaching about the commandments of the Decalogue (Ex. 20:2-17) and the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). Consequently, the way of confession of faith that we maintain, the way of life that we lead, the way of sanctification that is acceptable - in general, the path of salvation that we follow, is the same one that was established on earth by the Apostles and from them has successively come down to us and remains among us without any change - without addition or subtraction. What a great consolation! Therefore, the hope of salvation with which we feed is not false, the boldness before God and people with which we are inspired is unfeigned, the sense of our righteousness with which we are filled is undeceiving! Let us give thanks to the Lord, who has so favored us, let us give thanks for the fact that we are born, raised, and grow old in the depths of the One Holy Church, containing the complete truth, brought to earth by Himself, without any special effort on our part. Let us give thanks also for this confidence that we stand in the truth, that we are walking on the straight path, that the image of salvation that we hold on to is false. For, brethren, there is no greater consolation on earth than that provided by the conviction that the One True God (besides Whom there is no other god) is our God, that this God is pleased to consider us His people, His sons and daughters, and that by the way of our confession, our life and piety we do not offend Him, but please Him, do not depart from Him, but draw closer and closer to Him. Fourth. Realizing all this, let us set ourselves a law - to sacredly preserve the holy faith that we profess, keeping unchanged both the image of confession, and the image of sanctification, and the way of life prescribed for us by the Church, without succumbing to those who have had the misfortune of falling away from it, getting lost and becoming rigid in this error - that is, those who not only lack the sanctifying Sacraments and prayers, but the very confession of faith is frantic, like the Molokans (a pseudo-Christian sect), and those whose confession of faith is not completely corrupted, but who, not accepting the true priesthood, deprive themselves of the Holy Sacraments and, consequently, the grace of God, which cannot be received otherwise than through the Sacraments, such as the schismatics are. For neither one nor the other contains the true image of salvation indicated to all of us by the Apostle. Fifth. But let us leave them to the goodness of God, praying for them, so that their minds, darkened by lies, will be enlightened, and their hearts, hardened by persistence in error, will be softened. Let us take more and more care of ourselves, so that, while maintaining the true image of salvation, we do not find ourselves unsaved; that is, we will holyly fulfill everything necessary for salvation. For it happens that someone lies in a good hospital and is not deprived of proper care, but nevertheless is not healed. Why? Because he does not do everything in full and as it should, as the doctor prescribes to him. So it may happen to us that, belonging to the True Church of God, our only healer, we will not receive healing of spiritual infirmities and, therefore, will not be saved when we do not fulfill everything that is prescribed by the Church - and do it as prescribed. What good is it if someone has a clean well before their eyes, but to quench their thirst takes water from another muddy and unhealthy source? And it will not benefit us if, while staying in the courtyard of the House of God - the Holy Church, where the water of salvation flows abundantly, pouring out in seven streams on everyone, we do not use it, but turn to other wells, broken and waterless or containing rotten water. What exactly are we going to create? What the Apostle commanded: maintaining a holy confession of faith and strengthened by the grace of God, given in the Sacraments and kindled by sacred rites and church prayers, let us walk according to the commandments of the Gospel and the charter of the Holy Church, under the guidance of legitimate shepherds and teachers - walk steadily, without omissions and additions, without laziness and false apologies, in simplicity of heart, as before the Lord, the Knower of the Heart, everything those who see and have everything will be rewarded a hundredfold. This is what I decided to remind your love and your piety on my first visit to you - only to remind you, for I am sure that all of you have been maintaining all this for a long time and thus strive to live as best you can and save your souls; remind you only so that, according to the Apostle, with this reminder you will warm your hearts with unflagging zeal to continue the ongoing course - praying to the Bountiful God, so that, having begun His work in you, He will complete it and present you pure and innocent on the Day of Christ to the glory of His all-holy name. Amen. 4. The true Christian confession consists in confessing Jesus Christ as God whole-heartedly - with mind, will and heart, and where this is not there, there is Arianism Now the Holy Church remembers the holy fathers, who became famous for their firm confession of faith in the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, who defended this dogma and approved it at the First Ecumenical Council. The holy fathers are brought to our attention and honor in order to inspire us with their zeal to stand until we bleed for the Divinity of our Lord and Savior and to arm ourselves with courage against everything that rebels against Him. How can we fulfill this suggestion of our mother, the Church, at this time? Do you know that the wicked Arius preached blasphemously? He preached that our Savior is not the True God, although he called Him with the highest titles. Such a teaching sought to destroy Christianity itself as the only path to salvation. For if the Savior is not God, then there is no salvation for us. Then the Only Begotten Son of God and God became incarnate, so that the wisdom of God did not find any other more convenient way for our salvation. We are one with the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ; humanity in the Lord is hypostatically united with His Divinity and in Him with the Triune God. Believers become one body with the Lord, and as the Lord is One with God, worshiped in the Trinity, then all believers through Him enter into unity or sincere communion with the Trinitarian God. This is the whole secret of salvation! “I am in the Father,” says the Lord to the disciples, “and you are in Me” (John 14:20). Why did you pray to the Father: “That they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us” (John 17:21). So you see that, rejecting the Divinity of our Lord and Savior, Arius attempted to destroy the most necessary link in the chain of reuniting us with God, leaving us in the same dark distance from God, or, what is the same, with the Gospel in his hands, he wanted to undermine the foundations of Christianity. That is why then all the holy fathers, who were everywhere zealous for true salvation, rebelled against him - all who wanted to work out salvation by deed, and not to philosophize only about it. By this they showed us an example - also in their own way - in our circumstances to defend in every possible way the Divinity of our Lord and Savior and to arm ourselves against everything that is contrary to it. For there were and are many enemies of the Lord, or of our salvation. The Arian vowel has long since disappeared; but the unspoken walks through the Christian world and collects victims from the circle of those who are inattentive to the matter of salvation - most of all from the circle of those who trust themselves too much. Please delve into the following thoughts. Those who confess the Divinity of the Lord with all their being worship Him as God - they worship with their mind, with their will and with their heart, they bring Him into their inner church and seat Him, as on Cherubim, on all the powers of their spirit, so that these latter have no movement other than that which is given to them by the Lord seated on them. This is the essence of confessing our Lord and Savior to God, and not in one oral reading: “I believe... And in one Lord Jesus Christ” and so on. One can, while reading this, be internally – according to the mood of one’s spirit – an Arian... So, confessing the Divinity of the Lord, one must have Him as the God of the mind, the God of the will and the God of the heart. The mind has the Lord as God when it unquestioningly accepts everything He brought to earth and the teaching preached through the Apostles... If anyone has the Lord as God for their mind, then how can he not only speak, but even think anything contrary to His clear teaching? When God speaks, the creature must silently accept His word as a law for itself. So, if someone does not accept something from the Christian teaching, or does not accept everything, or, while accepting something, is delusional about it, his mind does not recognize Christ as God - he suffers from Arianism. This does not mean that it would be disgusting for the Lord to know anything other than Christian teaching, but that Christian teaching should stand at the head and guide everything. Accept this teaching for yourself and go with it into the realm of all other knowledge, rejecting everything that disagrees with it. He who acts in this way truly worships the Lord with his mind as if he were God; anyone else is an Arian. The will has the Lord as God when it unquestioningly bends its neck under the yoke of His saving commandments, or when it patiently and reliably follows the path of salvation, which was established by the Lord and Savior, without inventing its own self-made paths in arrogance. You and I once found out what this path is. I repeat to you: having received Divine powers in the Sacraments and warming them through all the sacred rites of the Church, walk, in the light of faith, along the path of the commandments, under the guidance of shepherds, and you will be saved. He who humbly submits to this saving yoke worships the Savior as if he were God; whoever acts differently is an Arian. This does not mean that it is only permissible for us to walk in the rank shown. No. But tune your inner self according to the program shown and then act under its sanctification and under its guidance in all circles where you can act: in the family, in trade, in warfare, in the civil service - wherever you want, just do not allow yourself to violate the order that the Lord has laid down as a law for us and as a condition for our salvation. Whoever has such a mood sincerely confesses the Savior as God; whoever doesn’t is an Arian. The heart has the Lord as God when, completely clinging to Him, it delights in Him alone and, apart from Him, only in that which bears the clear imprint of His face, His properties, His favor and special closeness... You can already guess where this leads. The Lord dwells in the Church. Churchness is His vestment - there is a trace of His stench... The heart that loves the Lord finds sweetness and peace here only... It enjoys only spiritual singing, spiritual painting, spiritual action, that is, sacred rites; spiritual poetry, that is, church songs... Here is the paradise of that heart that has the Lord as its God. This does not mean that we are not allowed any pleasures - aesthetic or even bodily... No. It is only impermissible to tear the heart away from the Lord and attach it to anything other than Him. Set your heart in such a way that it finds true - pleasing - pleasure only in Divine things and in all the divine institutions of the Church on earth, and then look: which pleasures strengthen and elevate this pleasure, accept and taste, and which weaken it and extinguish it, reject them. Whoever acts this way has the Lord as the God of his heart, and whoever does otherwise is an Arian. This is the lesson the Holy Church now offers us. She inspires us: “Worship the Lord Jesus Christ as God with your mind and do not understand things otherwise than as He depicted in the Divine teaching of the Church or in accordance with that and according to the guidance of that. Worship Him as God, by your will, and do not establish for yourself any other order of life than the one that He established - for our salvation. Worship Him as God with your heart and find no taste in anything other than Him and the Divine things that are His traces.” Remember, brethren, that in Christianity the main thing is not a sonorous word or an external deed, but an internal mood. The Lord is God for us when He is the beginning for our knowledge through His teaching, the beginning for our enterprises through His commandments, and the beginning for our aesthetic pleasures through the graceful structure of the Church. He who does not have this is an Arian; for him the Lord is not God. If not God, then not the Savior. And to whom Jesus Christ is not the Savior, he is a victim of destruction and is subject to the condemnatory determination of the three hundred and eighteen God-bearing fathers who were at the First Council of Nicaea, although outwardly he belongs to the Church of God. Amen. First Ecumenical Council 5. On the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit, humanity for the first time after the fall breathed in the Holy Spirit and breathes it, in the Orthodox Church this breath is full, but for others it is incomplete or completely absent With what grace the Holy Church surrounded the feast of Pentecost! We see special manifestations of joy in songs, in the image of sacred rites, and in the decoration of churches, houses, and even paths. And it’s clear why. All this is the fruit of the joy of life through the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus our Lord. And how many instructive – lofty symbols there are here! Of many, I will draw your attention to one, namely, the fact that now everyone is preparing bunches of flowers and fragrant herbs, the aroma of which they inhale with effort, especially at that time when prayer appeals to God, worshiped in the Trinity, are read. What does this very simple-looking action mean? It expresses that the descent of the Holy Spirit has the closest resemblance to breathing. And indeed, the first reception of the Holy Spirit, and His presence in the Church, and how He spreads throughout the entire body of the Church and how each member of it is received, is most obviously reflected in the action of our breathing. Look how it is! The descent of the Holy Spirit is the first breath of humanity by the Divine Spirit. Look back and remember Ezekiel's prophecy about a field full of human bones (Ezek. 37:1-10). Remember how, at his word, bones copulated with bones, how they were then covered with veins, flesh and skin, but there was still no spirit in them. And it was said to Popok: “Prophets about the Spirit.” “And he prophesied,” he says, “and everything came to life” (Ezek. 37:9-10). This field of bones is an image of fallen humanity, which, at a distance from God, had no life in itself and was without the Spirit, as the Apostle says. But the merciful Lord did not abandon him, but prepared him to receive revival through various providential actions. By the time of the appearance of Christ the Savior, it, one might say, was completely ready to accept new life, it looked like a whole corpse, in which bones were joined to bones and covered with veins, flesh and skin... only “there was no spirit in it” (Ezek. 37:8). And the Gospel clearly says that the time for his revival has already come. There was little left: “You have not the Holy Spirit (why?), For Jesus has not been glorified” (John 7:39). But then the Lord rose, ascended in glory to Heaven, the Divine Spirit descended, and humanity came to life, breathing in the Divine Spirit - this is the first time, like a newborn child, coming into the world, inhales air for the first time. The Apostles, or the entire first Church gathered in the Upper Room of Zion, were only the lips through which humanity received this first inhalation of the Spirit. But let’s make this comparison further. The air taken in by breathing usually passes into the lungs - from a large channel into smaller and smaller ones until it reaches the final limits. The receivers of the life-giving elements of air are the lungs, and the way of communicating its life-giving power is the very action of breathing, performed by oscillating the chest, or inhaling and exhaling. So it is in relation to the Holy Spirit. Having once breathed the Divine Spirit, the human race has been breathing It incessantly ever since. The lungs in which this is accomplished are the Holy Church; the channels in the lungs are the Divine Sacraments of the Holy Church and its other sanctifying actions. The vibration of the chest is the annual movement of all the sacred rites of the Church, for example: Great Lent with all its rites, then the fifty-day festivals, then there will be fasting again, and again bright days, and so on - this is exactly the vibration of the chest. This is how the Church of Christ, or all Christian believers everywhere, breathes. And just as Christianity is in humanity, all of humanity breathes in it, although not all of it participates in the life-giving actions of this Divine breath. The reason for this is that in one part of humanity the respiratory organs are damaged, while another - a large part - does not expose itself to the influence of this beneficial breath. For just as in order for breathing to produce its full effect in the body, it is necessary that the channels of the lungs are not damaged or clogged, so in order for the Divine Spirit to exert its full effect, it is necessary that the organs established by Himself for communicating Himself are intact, that is, all the Divine Sacraments and sacred rites are preserved in the form in which they were established by the holy Apostles, at the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Where these institutions are damaged, there the breath of the Divine Spirit is incomplete and, therefore, does not have full effect. Thus, among the papists, all the Sacraments are damaged and many saving sacred rites are distorted. Papacy - mild with scabs or suppurated. Among Lutherans, most of the Sacraments and sacred rites were rejected, the rest were distorted both in meaning and in form. They are like those whose three-quarters of their lungs have rotted and the rest is smoldering. Close to them, but even more damaged are our schismatics, Molokans, Khlystists and others. All of them do not breathe or breathe incompletely, therefore they are smoldering corpses, or waste away, like one whose chest is upset. However, let us not delude ourselves that we possess sound instruments for breathing the Divine Spirit, that is, the true Sacred Sacraments and the real structure of the Church. There are also conditions here for revival by the Spirit. See how. While the air from above descends into the lungs and disperses through them through the channels, through other vessels from below the spent blood and the not yet alive juices produced from the food taken ascend there and also disperse through the channels of the lungs. Being inspired here by the life-giving elements of the air, these juices are transformed into living blood. Obsolete, dark blood is the image of sinners darkened by sins, and new juices are newborns or those who have converted and accepted the catechumen of Gentiles or infidels... Both are revived in the Holy Church of God, exposing themselves to the infusion of the Divine Spirit in the Holy Sacraments. Christian sinners are deprived of the Spirit, but they fast, confess, partake of the Holy Sacraments and again begin to breathe the Divine Spirit. Without the breath of the Divine Spirit there is no life. Just as the Church breathes the Spirit, so we should all breathe it. The mouth by which the Divine Spirit is received or the heart is opened to receive Him is living faith; contact with Him is participation in the Sacraments and sacred rites according to the charter of the Holy Church; assimilation of Him is action according to His inspiration, expressed in the demands of conscience and the commandments of the Gospel. He who lives like this breathes the Spirit and is quickened by Him. The true evidence of spirituality is prayer, which is rightly called the breath of the Spirit. He who prays well, collectedly and warmly at home or in church breathes the Spirit... I pray you, brethren, “do not be drunk with the wine” of sensual pleasures, “but rather be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and the Father in everyone” (Eph. 5:18-20). Amen. 6. The general structure of life required by Orthodoxy as a condition of salvation Inspecting your churches, I saw your unflattering zeal to take refuge in the house of God and your readiness to cordially communicate with everything that is active and who is active in them. This alone pleases and testifies to your living faith. But when, moreover, I bring to mind your intentions - either to renovate dilapidated churches, or to restore abolished but still memorable monasteries, then I cannot help but say with the Apostle: “I thank my God through Jesus Christ... for your faith” is so clearly “proclaimed” (Rom. 1:8) by deeds in the presence of all who know you. Therefore, further, wanting, like the same Apostle, to teach you “a certain... spiritual gift for your strengthening,” I must involuntarily limit myself to one consolation - “the common faith, yours and mine” (Rom. 1: 11-12) and one expression of good wishes to you. So, may the Lord bless your labors and your undertakings, may he improve your outer and create your inner. I believe that this will come true according to your faith. For the abundantly merciful Lord will not put to shame your works of love and your trust. But at the same time I cannot hide my fears: the enemy would not laugh at the simplicity of your faith and, covering up the roadblocks with appearances, would not deviate you onto the wrong path, portraying it in your mind as right. In this assumption, I consider it my duty to remind you of some warnings, which, however, are valid everywhere and for everyone. First. In deeds of piety and in works pleasing to God, do not forget to balance the internal with the external. External things are things that are visible to everyone; internal is invisible to others, but nevertheless known to conscience and visible to the All-Seeing mood of the mind and heart, that is, the way of thoughts, dispositions and feelings. The outer one is leaves without fruit or a flower without an ovary - a barren flower. The inner one, if it is possible, is like the force of vapors, not limited by anything and therefore dissipating in the air. The same and the other together are a blessed-leaved (shady) tree, full of vital juices and abundant in fruits, pleasing the eyes of all. Thus, not only by silence testify to your non-resistance to faith, but also in your thoughts do not contain anything contrary to it. Don’t worry about just one thing, so that you don’t speak provocative speeches with your tongue, but also drive away every hostile feeling from your heart. Not only stand in the church with your body, but with your mind and heart stand before the Throne of the Most High, and so on. Where the internal does not agree with the external, there is contempt, hypocrisy and hypocrisy. May the Lord save us all from this infection that is destroying many, many! Often, by virtue of our position, we must appear to be what we are not in our inner mood. But there will be a time when all this will be brought to universal fame. And then everyone will be praised not according to what he appears to be, but according to what he is in his heart. This is the first and most important thing! Second. Set laws for your inner life: submission of the mind to the definitions of dogmas, submission of the will to the commandments of the Gospel, submission of the heart to detached hopes and aspirations for good in the future. There are many temptations to the mind from the diversity of thoughts and other thoughts that surround us or the almost universal enslavement to vanity; there are many temptations to the will from the examples of non-Christian living among Christians around us; There are many temptations to the heart from the pleasures of the world scattered before us, with which the enemy attempts to obscure the heart’s memory of the desired eternal bliss and tie it to the earth. It is appropriate to fight against all this especially now, when the superstition of the mind is increasing, evil customs are expanding and the charms of the world are multiplying richly. Don't say: "It's hard to overcome yourself and resist the hobbies of others." We are not alone. The Lord is near, Who said: “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The Lord Himself is our wisdom, and strength, and comfort (Ps. 45:2)... Third. For your external, make it a law - the charter of the Holy Church. Take a good look at this charter, and you will find that it determines our behavior in all, one might say, details. Here food, work, rest, staying at home and in the church, activities of the day and night, and so on are defined. For example, you came to the church: the charter has already determined how you should stand in the church, that is, quietly, not speak, listen to what you sing and read, and so on. Also: sit down at the table; The charter states that when you can eat - now, for example, only fasting. The hour of sleep has come: it has already been said how one should go to sleep in a Christian way, namely: make peace with everyone, confess your sins, pray, and so on. Likewise, for every matter there is a rule in the Church. A Christian, a member of the Church, must live like a churchman, just as a warrior lives like a warrior. Nowadays there is an especially urgent need to remind us of this often, for many Christians, carried away by superstition, do not want to know the rules of the Church, considering it below their rank, and themselves above it. No, brethren, the charter of the Church comes from God. Whoever does not submit to him resists God. The Holy Apostles, martyrs and all the saints who lived according to the order of the Church and laid their lives in it are witnesses to the fact that there is nothing arbitrary or superstitious in it, but everything is established with wise proportionality and consciousness of need and imposed on everyone as a duty. Are not the experiences of all the essence of indicating the urgency of the law? Fourth. So, having established your internal and external, do not rely on your own labors or tension, but completely surrender yourself to the all-arranging welfare of God. Look for fulfillment from Him, just as from Him there is beginning and continuation. Without Him everything is nothing. You need to make a sacrifice out of yourself and your deeds to God. God, who looks upon everything, will accept her graciously only when she is dedicated to Him. He who confines his affairs within himself or in his external life wastes time and labor in vain. Here, perhaps, he will still get some fruit from this, but not in the future. “Give Me, son, your heart” (Proverbs 23:26), says the Lord. The heart means the whole person. He who does not give himself to God is outside of God. He who is outside of God is outside of true life and bliss. The darkness and emptiness terrify us. There is darkness and emptiness in that spirit in which God does not dwell. But how will He dwell in one who does not surrender himself to Him and does not devote himself entirely to Him? This tradition is an opening of the heart to one who interprets and seeks (Luke 11:10) the entrance of the Lord into it. Many people think that the more independent they are, the higher they are. But this is flattery. Because of this, Satan fell and thus drags everyone into his fall after the first successful experiment with our forefather. “Come to Me... and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28), says the Lord, and did not say: “And rest yourselves as you know”... Thus, in devotion to God, live according to the rules of the Church, in obedience to the dogmas, commandments and prohibitions of God. By balancing your inner with your outer in this way, you will glorify God in your souls and bodies - glorify with complete glorification, for which He who Himself glorified Himself with the Father after He glorified Him on earth will not deprive you of eternal glorification. Amen. 7. Warning against new hobbies Walking around your city and examining your churches, I could not help but see so clearly your love for the holy faith and the Church imprinted on everything, I could not help but notice the spirit of sincere piety animating you. I rejoice in this, as one who has gained much self-interest, and I thank the all-merciful Lord, who is setting you up in this way, praying for His goodness to preserve the same spirit in you until the time of His Last Coming, so that you may appear blameless on the Last Day before the face of the whole world. But, while expressing such joy about you before you, I cannot hide my fears for you, “lest... your minds corrupt from simplicity” (2 Cor. 11:3), lest you deviate into crossroads - to unfruitful concepts and deeds. Therefore, I consider myself obliged to say a few words in relation to this as a warning to you. Take care, brethren, most of all, so that the spirit of zeal for the holy faith and life pleasing to God does not go out in you. You have it, and it is predominant. But since many spirits have entered the world and every spirit seeks dominance, then be careful not to be carried away by any of them, not to the glory of God and not to your own praise. One cannot live without the spirit of life; Everyone who lives is inspired by something. The spirit inherent in us is the spirit of Christ, which alone must animate us, subordinating all others to its power and making them instruments of service to itself. The Spirit of Christ is known to you as Christians. This is to do everything for the glory of God and one’s salvation. Opposite to it is the spirit of the world, according to which, in oblivion of God, they work tirelessly, chasing empty dreamy goals, never achieving them and never enjoying the peace of this achievement. Otherwise, it is called a “flattering spirit” (1 John 4:2), which, under various appearances, entices many, transforming itself “into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). For example, it is impossible not to have. But whoever, in oblivion of God and His holy law, indulges in covetousness (greed, selfishness), is inspired by an evil spirit. Acquire, but according to God and for God. It is impossible not to have pleasures in life, otherwise life is not life. But whoever sets the goal only for joy and pleasure has strayed from the wrong path. You must have a good name. But anyone who only bothers to hear good reviews or the noise of flattering rumors is pursuing a dreamy goal. All these are wrong spirits, each of which is born into many branches and species, which it is impossible to count. One thing is common to all of them - to turn away from God and, plunging into forgetfulness of God, extinguish zeal for salvation. Beware of all this, keeping the true spirit of Christianity still alive within you. Keeping the spirit of zeal according to faith, be careful not to exhaust the strength of this spirit in vain, not to waste it on something that does not bring glory to God or salvation to the soul. There are many things and deeds that seem good without actually being so. You know how this is possible and in what respect it is possible. To avoid mistakes, here's what to do: do everything with advice. In matters of trade, for example, you consult with skilled traders, in matters of craftsmanship - with skilled craftsmen. And in matters of faith and piety, consult with those who are entrusted with their care in the Christian world and their creation in your souls. Of course, your best advisor is the very spirit of piety. But on the one hand, not everyone can have it in force, on the other hand, there are already many examples of deviation towards the wrong directions, which, judging by the faces and places where they are found, seem to be right. How long does it take to make a mistake? Nowadays many are carried away by novelty, but not everything new is good, just as much of the old has outlived its usefulness. We need to take it apart. The old, however, as tested, is always better than the new, not yet tested. In matters of faith and piety, the older the better, or even the old is the truest. Of course, only the spirit should remain unchanged, but in the external expression of this spirit there is much that is so essential and close to the spirit that it cannot be touched except at the expense of the spirit itself. Breathing, for example, is the outer expression of life. But man has been breathing the same air since creation. Almost everything is of the same kind in the outer vestments of our faith and the Church. There is very little here that can be compared to the cut of a dress or the way it is sewn. And what need is there to change, for example, the design of an icon or the notes in a chant, especially when the old creates and the new destroys. Europe is driving us crazy; but almost all of Europe and in its entire composition became pagan. Isn't it better to leave her to herself? The true light came to us from Byzantium. And we are not little, we didn’t come into the world yesterday. Soon it will be a thousand years since we believe in the Lord and keep His holy law. And let others learn from us in this, as they should, for the truth is with us. I did not touch on this to force you to put the external on an equal footing with the internal. No. To each his own, and the inner is always higher. But here is a new warning: be careful that, while indulging in worries about external matters of piety, you do not forget its inner spirit; but be careful not to abandon the external entirely under the pretext of preferring the internal to the external. The external can still exist without the internal, but the internal can never exist without the external. Have you ever seen plant power without the visible body of the plant?! And how many plant bodies – trees – are there without inner life?! Not leaving the external is the law. But let us not stop at him alone, but under him - under his influence, guidance and direction - to mature internally. The inner faith is composed of the knowledge of holy faith and the deeds corresponding to it, or from the totality of sound concepts and holy feelings and dispositions. I especially draw your attention to a collection of common sense concepts about everything, or to clarifying for yourself the truths of the holy faith. See how the teachings of the world spread! And how many books are written and published, imbued with the spirit of the world! The ability to read is also expanding more and more. Do not be too greedy for worldly writing. There is, of course, some good there, but there is also a lot of bad. I consider it my duty to warn you: do not get carried away by that reading. You cannot remain without enlightenment. But we must distinguish light from light. And the dung heap smoking in the darkness emits some kind of light. But what kind of light is this?! “The lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Pet. 1:19), according to the Apostle, is the Revelation of God - or the totality of the teaching, content and offer to the Holy Church. Strive for it, be jealous of it, and you will be truly enlightened... Brothers, beware! Many evil teachings are now being spread. Contrast them with the knowledge of truth. Listen to the conversations that will be said here, in this church, every Sunday - take care to purchase books as directed by your shepherds, read, talk, reflect. “Let the Word of God dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16). And you will walk in the light, as sons of light and day: “darkness has not you,” and you will never “be stumbled” (John 12:35, 11:9). If you are jealous of such enlightenment, then in it you will find guidance on how to generally balance the internal with the external - how to avoid wasting the strength of the spirit of zeal for faith and how to preserve this very spirit. That is, appear and will always appear as you should be before the face of God and the Christian world. The Lord bless you “as mothers-in-law, that you may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24) and, “when I appear to the Chief Shepherd, you will receive an unfading crown of glory” (1 Pet. 5:4), which the Lord has prepared for those who love Him and are sincerely zealous for His glory and the salvation of their souls. Amen. 8. The theology of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian - the norm of Orthodox confession The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John is primarily called the Theologian before the other Apostles - because of the most obvious confession of the Word of God by God, because of the height of his contemplation and the depth of his knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Why on the day dedicated to his memory is it most fitting to study theology, and to study from him. Blessed are those who heard his word orally in Jerusalem, Cyprus, Ephesus, Patmos and in the Churches of Asia Minor. But we are not deprived of the opportunity to join the ranks of his disciples. Before us are his apostolic letters. Let us uncover them and assimilate the truths they contain. We have thus received a complete course of Christian theology in its essential features. If all the truths contained in the epistles of John the Theologian are brought together, then they will be included under one review in the following order (come and listen as if you were standing before his pulpit). By his nature and the character imprinted in it, man is destined to be in communion with God. This is his Eternal Life, his life full of joy (1 John 1:3-4). But “God is Light, and in Him there is not a single darkness” (1 John 1:5). Why, in order to be in communion with Him, you must walk in the light, just as “He Himself is in the light.” Whoever walks in darkness ceases to be in communion with God, and even if he said that he has this fellowship, there is a lie and “does not create the truth” (1 John 1:6-7). While our forefathers walked in the light of God's will, they were in communion with God; but when they loved the darkness of their desires, they fell into sin and ceased to be in God. In them we too fell into the same darkness and fell asleep from communion with God. This is such an immutable truth that whoever does not confess it, whoever says “that we have not sinned,” is “creating a lie” to God Himself, in such “his word is not” (1 John 1:10). No. If we say, “that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). But in sin there is death and destruction. What does the love of God do? “Father of the ambassador of the Son of the Savior to the world” (1 John 4:14). “God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we may live by Him” (1 John 4:9). And here is the love of God for us! We did not resist in love, but He did not stop loving us and “He sent His Son... cleansing for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Now “the intercessor of the imams to the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous. And He is the cleansing for our sins, not for ours specifically, but for the whole world” (1 John 2:1-2). He appeared “to take away our sins” and “to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:5, 8). In Him is the “Belly,” He “was with the Father and appeared to us” (1 John 1:2). So “God has given us the Eternal Life to eat, and this Life is in His Son” (1 John 5:11). From now on, this is the law of truth and love of God, that “if you have the Son of God, you will have Life, but if you do not have the Son of God, you will not have Life” (1 John 5:12). For whoever has the Son has both the Father and the Spirit (1 John 2:23, 3:24, 4:13) - the Triune God, in Whom is the source of Life. These are the laws of communication with God. But here is the advantage and its fruits. Those who abid in God are called and are “children of God,” who, as “born of God, do not commit sin” (1 John 3, 1, 9, 5:18). For His light abides in them (1 John 2:24) and they, according to their kind, always bear the fruit of righteousness. Even if someone sins, the Blood of the Son of God cleanses him “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Whoever confesses his sins, they are forgiven, and he is clean “from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Therefore, those who remain in Him, when He appears, will not be put to shame “at His Coming,” but will have “boldness” before Him “on the Day of Judgment” (1 John 2:28, 4:17), for “this is a promise... He himself promised... Eternal Life” (1 John 2:25). Such is the blessed end of communion with God! Having been vouchsafed this gift, let us labor to abide in Him. Anyone who wants to remain in unceasing communion with God must “keep His word” (1 John 2:5). Only “whoever keeps His commandments abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 3:24). “And His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). This is His commandment – ​​“that we believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). The first commandment is: Let us believe in the Son of God. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he also in God” (1 John 4:15). Whoever wants to please God without the Lord Jesus Christ, let him hear the verdict for himself - only he has the Father who has the Son. And “everyone rejects the Son, so as not to have the Father.” So whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ rejects the Father and the Son. And “this is the Antichrist” (1 John 2:22–23). Whoever does not believe in the Son is perpetrating a “lie” against God Himself, because he does not believe the testimony “to which God testified concerning His Son” (1 John 5:10). So, let everything that you heard at first abide in you! “If that which you heard from the first abide in you... you also will abide in the Son and the Father” (1 John 2:24). For “whoever transgresses and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; but if you continue in the teaching of Christ, he will have both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9). The second commandment is: Let us love one another. Whoever is in Christ must also “walk” as He walked (1 John 2:6). And He “laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:16). So, “beloved, if God so loved us... we also must... love one another” (1 John 4:11). “God is loving, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). The one who says: “I love God is enough” deceives himself. No. The commandment is that he who loves God should also love his brother. For whoever does not love “his brother... whom he sees... God, whom he does not see... how can he love” (1 John 4:20). The one who says: “I will love the brothers and that’s enough” also deceives himself. No. This is the law that only those who love God truly love the children of God (1 John 5:2). He who does not love his brother “remains in death.” That’s why “we know that we have passed from death to the Belly if we love the brethren.” Whoever hates his brother “is a murderer and ... does not have the Eternal Life abiding in himself” (1 John 3:14-15). So, brethren, only when “we love one another... God abides in us, and His love is perfect in us” (1 John 4:12). “Beloved, do not be like what is evil, but what is good,” knowing that only “whoever does good comes from God, but whoever does evil is not in the sight of God” (3 John 1:11). If someone has “the riches of the world” and, “seeing a brother” in need, “shuts his womb from him, how much of the love of God abides in him? My children, we do not love in word... but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18). Such is the bright, blessed brotherhood of the children of God. Those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, do not accept His teaching or, accepting it, are alien to His spirit in life and the mood of the heart, constitute a destructive world lying in evil (1 John 5:19), which thinks evil, does evil and teaches others to do evil. Brothers! “Do not love the world, nor anyone else in the world. He who loves the world does not have the love of the Father... Everything that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father, but is from the devil. But the world also passes away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17). “Not to every spirit.” believe, but tempt the spirits, even if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. For this know the Spirit of God and the spirit of deceit: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ in the flesh is not from God: and this is the Antichrist, of whom you have heard. is coming, and now... is already... in the world" (1 John 4, 1-3). "Children, the last hour is... You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and now many have become antichrists... They have gone out from us, but they are not mad from us" (1 John 2, 18-19). If one of these comes to you and does not bring the true teaching of Christ, do not accept him into your home and do not say to rejoice at him, so as not to become accomplices in his evil deeds. “They are from the world: for this reason they speak from the world, and the world will listen to them. But we are from God: whoever knows God will listen to us, and whoever is not from God will not listen” (1 John 4:5-6). We, “what we have heard” with our ears, “what we have seen... with our eyes... and what our hands have touched,” we proclaim to you “about the Word of the living.” “And the Life appeared - and we saw and testified and proclaimed to you the Eternal Life... By seeing and hearing, we will tell you and you will have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3). And God Himself testified about Him. “If we accept... the testimony of man... the testimony of God is greater.” Everyone “believes in the Son... have the testimony in himself” (1 John 5:9-10). He who stands in the truth knows the truth. “You have the anointing of the Holy One and know all things” (1 John 2:20). “And you have received the anointing from Him, and it remains in you, and you do not demand, but whoever teaches you: but because the anointing itself teaches you about all things, both true and not false: and whatever you have taught, abide in it” (1 John 2:27). This, brethren, is the whole course of Christian theology in brief! Having accepted it as from the lips of the Apostle himself, let us hold fast to it. Now “we know... that the Son of God came into the world, and gave us light and understanding, that we might know the true God, and that we might be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and the Eternal Life” (1 John 5:20). “And now, brethren, abide in Him: that when He appears, we may have boldness, and we may not be put to shame by Him at His Coming” (1 John 2:28). Amen. on the day of the holy apostle and evangelist 9. Subjugation of the mind under the yoke of faith - protection of Orthodoxy The Holy Church now remembers the First Ecumenical Council of three hundred and eighteen holy fathers, who defended the dogma of the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and condemned Arius, who philosophized wickedly about this. The intention of the Holy Church in this action is that by reminding us of the dangers to which Christians were exposed at that time from the false teachings of the Aryans, to direct our thoughts and concern to the dangers of faith with which we are surrounded now, and by the example of the Christians of that time, especially the Holy Fathers, to inspire us to stand firmly in the truth, not swayed by the wind of passing and rapidly changing opinions. True, we do not now have any Arius - the boss and leader of false teaching; but false teachings impersonally spread everywhere - they destroy simple souls, just as a corrupting wind or malignant dew destroys plants and flowers. These teachings come from the centers of secular enlightenment; but even there they are not native, but are brought there from everywhere; so that what the holy Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians is exactly being fulfilled over us, as you heard in the current Apostle: “For I know this, that after I am gone, heavy rabies will enter into you, not sparing the flock. And from among you men will rise up, saying things that are corrupt, and you will cut off the disciples after you” (Acts 20:29-30). Wolves come to us - strangers; ours, taking from them, following their example, say “corruptions” and, tearing away from the holy faith, drag them after themselves. But no matter what great place evil comes from, it is nevertheless less evil, and our duty to be on guard does not become less obligatory. You see that lies are walking around us, crawling into our ears and eyes in order to break through inside us and kill there the truth that we also love and honor. I think that when you saw this, more than once a question rose from the depths of your heart: “What should we do?” Nothing more than what Christians have done at all times when lies attacked the truth: stand in faith and for faith. To maintain faith, you must first take care of yourself. The Apostle Paul, pointing out to the Ephesians the danger to their faith, added: “For this reason be on guard” (Acts 20:31). First of all, we need to watch over ourselves. We ourselves carry within ourselves a ready-made leader of the heresy and a forger of all lies - our mind. Just give in to him - and he will lead you who knows where. You will be surprised, perhaps wondering, that such was the mind; but in reality it is so. Nowadays everyone is looking for rationality everywhere. All you hear is: “This is what reason requires, this is what reason says, give a reasonable view, a reasonable conviction, a reasonable faith.” If the proverb is true: “What hurts someone, that’s what they talk about,” then the mind is the disease of the present time. It's good that they are looking for rationality. But it is not good that they look for it in the human mind alone. They want to make this mind a universal mentor - the king of truth. It is not clear where he got such an honor? When a person is born into the world, he knows nothing; He doesn’t even know how to name a single thing himself, he learns everything; and as soon as he gets on his feet, before he has yet come of age, he begins to rise with pride and repeat: “I and my reason will judge everything and decide for ourselves.” Reason is definitely a great gift of God, but in giving it to us, God did not make it the source of truth, but only its receiver. He didn’t tell us: “Here is wisdom for you, listen to it and do as He teaches you,” but what did He do? Having created a man with reason, he immediately appeared to him and began to teach him the truth, and since then he has not ceased and has not ceased to guide him to the knowledge of it and to enlighten his mind with the knowledge of it. He Himself appeared many times, sent Angels, raised up Prophets, “and in the last days... He spoke to us in His only begotten Son,” our Lord Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1-2). And a voice was heard from heaven more than once: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I was well pleased; listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). This is who you need to listen to, not reason. Reason is the ability to know truth; but the truth itself is not in him, but must be taught to him from without. Who else if not God – the Source of being and true knowledge! It was taught by Him, remains on earth, is preserved and taught to everyone. The mind must be told: “Study it and preserve it; from yourself you can only emit empty imagination, like soap bubbles, or draw out an intricacy of thoughts, like a spider’s net, which scatter with a light breath of wind.” So, brethren, when the urge for excessive rationality stirs in you, like some worm, and reason, puffed up, climbs onto the teacher’s pulpit, bring him down from this height, like an impostor, and, placing him on the student’s bench, say: “Your job is to listen, not to teach.” “But you also need to listen with reason,” someone will say. Yes, with reason, but with a reason completely submissive to the voice of God - with a reason that does not examine and criticize, but humbly assimilates. For when God speaks, the creature must listen, and not philosophize. The apostles who went out to preach were tasked with captivating “every mind into the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5). They captivated; but not by the wisdom of the word, but by the power of God that accompanied their word. Thought is powerless against action, and everyone submitted. This does not mean that the mind should be completely suppressed, but that it should expand entirely only to assimilate what is preached on behalf of God, without arrogating to itself the right of judgment over its content. This judgment is that action which the Apostle called “a charge levied on the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:5) and which was condemned then and is now worthy of all condemnation. Co-questioning - why, for what, how - is inappropriate when orders are received from God Himself - the Lord of all. Everyone tell yourself, would you ask God why and how, when He Himself personally gave you commandments on how to live and how to understand things? Of course not. It has become that when we allow ourselves to do this now, we ourselves do not understand what we are doing. For the teaching now taught to us is the same one that directly came from God and came to us through mutual succession. Someone will say: “I want to make sure whether the teaching I hear is from God.” Do you think that the mind is a test of truth?! No. But this is this: the teaching from God, which is confessed by the whole Church. For the Church itself, both in structure and in spirit, is all from God, and everything in it is God’s. God taught the Apostles, the Apostles taught the believers and conveyed to them all the truth of God. Those who accepted the truth from the Apostles passed it on to their successors as they received it. So, find out how the Holy Church confesses what, and be sure that it is commanded by God to confess it this way, and when you encounter thoughts that are new to you, do not worry about how it turns out according to your considerations, but about whether the Holy Church contains it in the right way. God did not place reason as the source of truth, nor did He give it a sample of truth. It is outside of him, in the Holy Church and precisely in the community of confession, so that what was confessed by everyone, always, everywhere, is true. Three hundred and eighteen holy fathers gathered at the Council to approve the main Christian dogma. And what did they do? Did you philosophize? Did you indulge in thoughts? Not at all. But they only asked each other how and where the confession about the Lord the Savior was contained. When they were convinced that everyone, everywhere, had not heard any other teaching about the Savior than that He is God, then they unanimously affirmed that he is a fighter against God who teaches otherwise, that this is the paternal, apostolic and Divine faith. As this Council acted, so did all subsequent Councils, so does the Holy Church act to this day, and all those who seek truth in the knowledge and determination of all truth have rummaged and are rummaging not in their own considerations, but in the God-devoted confession of the Holy Church. Here is a banner and a test of truth for you! Just as during a war, when they are confused, they look at the erected banner to distinguish their side from someone else’s, so God in His Church raised the banner of truth, so that with the confusion of concepts that almost always takes place in humanity, everyone, seeing this banner, could say with trustworthiness: “This is the truth, this is what God wants!” The inscription on this banner: “Community of Confession.” And independence of research, personal comprehension was and is always a source of heresies and delusions. Why did Arius, Macedonius, Nestorius and all the other heretics fall? Because when questions arose, they turned to the wrong place for a solution, they turned not to the community of confession, but to their own considerations, to their own comprehension of the truth - they became confused and fell. History preserves these experiences as a lesson for us, so that we do not succumb to the vain and proud urge for independence and independence, but humbly maintain what has been confessed everywhere, by everyone, everywhere, or, which is the same thing, what is contained by the Holy Church. This is the only unforgettable (reliable) path to the truth. This is why, brethren, we need to establish guard over ourselves! If we keep ourselves this way inside, then no external differences of opinion will shake us. When we tame the waywardness of our mind, other people's superstition will do nothing for us. It is necessary, however, not to abandon the work of studying what is contained in the Church. Our trouble is that, having learned the truths of the holy faith, as much as we have to in the course of our teaching in our young years, we then abandon this holy occupation, as if we already knew everything completely. Meanwhile, books after books are read or rumors after rumors are listened to. The head is filled with many images and thoughts, which push the truths of faith far from consciousness, obscure them or even completely drown them out; so that when we finally have to enter this region of objects of faith, it turns out to be a land almost completely unknown to us. In such a state, with all the readiness to be faithful to the principles of the holy faith, it is very easy to be carried away by the wind of false teachings, to get lost and remain in error, thinking that we stand in the truth. The trouble is considerable! And you can see for yourself how to turn her away. We need to read and listen more to church patristic writings, which set forth the pure truth of God. Another problem we have is that we think that Christianity is a theory, like all other theories, that it is something only mental, and not active. Thinking this way, we leave Christianity in one thought, not worrying too much about embodying it in ourselves and fully introducing it into our lives. And it turns out that thoughts that are contrary to faith, coming to us, are met only by thoughts against ourselves. And a thought, even a true one, not attached by deeds to our being, but hovering in one head, easily gives way to an untrue thought that seems interesting and valuable from some other point of view. Truth, which should be a matter and which is not a practical matter in us, accepts a certain shadow of inconsistency in us and stands weak, defenseless, unsupported - and we easily betray it. Do you see now what the trouble is, and do you understand how to avoid it?! We must become accustomed to Christianity through action and life, and not in some superficial way, but in its essence and in all its fullness. After all, Christianity is all work and begins to mature in us and reaches perfection, too, all by work. The more it goes into action and life, the more deeply and broadly it is comprehended, the more firmly and heartily it is confessed. We can say that only those who are Christians in practice know Christianity. And no lie can overcome this. With the strongest influx of false teachings, the heart, having sensed the truth in action, will reflect them, no matter what sophisms (false conclusions) they arm themselves with. For then the truth will be in our being, and sophistry in our thoughts. The wind will not shake a church founded on stone, as the Savior says (Matthew 7:24–25). Much more could be said about the same thing. But I think what has been said is sufficient. Tame the wildness of the mind and subordinate it to the Divine teaching, the content of the Church, then become more familiar with the patristic writings, and most importantly, take care to experience by yourself what the truth is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Set yourself up so that “and the gates of hell will not prevail” (Matthew 16:18) against you. “And may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,” may He enlighten “the eyes of your heart,” so that you may see what is the “hope of the calling” of Christ and what “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:17-18); “may He grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the innermost O man, let Christ dwell in your hearts by faith,” so that, rooted in love, you may be able to “understand with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height” (Eph. 3:16-18) – the great work of salvation that the Lord created on earth. Amen. 10. On the immutability of the Orthodox confession In my last conversation, on the day of the Transfiguration, if anyone happened to hear it, I, not untimely, as it seemed to me, briefly reminded you of the outline of the general program of a truly Christian life, which I spoke about more than once. Now I also find it not untimely to point out one warning to you, namely, regarding new teachings that are so prolific in our time. I will express my thought in the words of the Apostle: “Do not add to strange and different teachings” (Heb. 13:9). Do not think that I took this idea for any reason of my own. The current Apostle gave me a reason for it and, therefore, obliged me to dwell on it, the content of which inspires everyone to stand steadfastly in the gospel, which was first received from the Apostles, in which all those who are saved were and are being saved. “I conveyed... to you... - says the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, - what... I myself received; Therefore, as I preached and as you believed, stand firm in this and be saved” (1 Cor. 15:1-3,11). This is how it is and it cannot be otherwise. In another place he expressed the same thought as follows: “Do you think that my word to you is either “her” or “neither”? No. “Faithful... God... Our word... is not swift to you.” But what I told you “to her” is “her”, and what is “neither” is “neither”. “For the promise of God is in this, and in this is Amen” (2 Cor. 1:17-20). Just as God is unchangeable, so His word is unchangeable. And we must also all remain unchanging in our faith, having received the word from the Apostles and their successors, “not as the word of men, but as in truth it is the word of God” (1 Thess. 2, 13). “Be not,” therefore, brethren, “put under another yoke” (2 Cor. 6:14), that is, to any other teaching than what is contained by us, which has testified and testifies to its Divinity. “But even if... an angel from heaven” came to us “to preach the gospel... moreover, the gospel” was preached to us by the holy Apostles, we all say with one voice: “let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8), following the Apostle, who, out of love for the truth, included himself among those condemned - if for some reason he began to preach the gospel differently from the gospel. May no one think such a sentence is too harsh. He's fine. Human teachings are by nature changeable. This is both a necessity and a benefit for them. Everything around us flows, nothing stands, both things, public destinies, and human enterprises. It would be strange if someone stubbornly stuck to the same concepts when there was nothing around to apply them to. But it is not so in the matter of faith, in this inner relationship of our spirit to the Supreme Being. Here, just as God is unchangeable and our nature is unchangeable, so the Creed must also be unchangeable. That's how it is. It was still inscribed in paradise immediately after the fall, then clothed in a preparatory form by Moses, and perfected by the Savior and is now active in all consciences that sincerely turn to God. So it is and so it will be until the very end of the century. Do not raise an objection to our thought that some change appears in the Divine teaching, namely: Moses gave one system of faith, and the Savior abolished it and gave a new one. But, besides the fact that this change concerned only the visible form, and not the essence, both the structure of faith was accomplished by God Himself. For we know that “Moses said God” (John 9:29), and the Savior Himself is God; Therefore, submission to both is obligatory for us, as submission to the will of God. That's the essence of the matter! We cannot approach God and please Him otherwise than in the way He Himself determined and permitted. God determined through Moses the image of pleasing God and salvation: so everyone, before the Coming of the Savior, was saved and pleased God. The Savior came and abolished the Mosaic law, fulfilling it, or enclosing it in Himself, and gave a new law. “Now the ancient thing is past, and it was all new” (2 Cor. 5:17), says the Apostle. Now there is no other approach to God, no other way of pleasing God and salvation, than the one that was commanded by the Lord, preached by the Apostles and maintained by the Holy Church. “Of many times and in many ways God spoke to the Father as a prophet, but in these last days He spoke to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2). In His Son, God spoke to us for the last time. This means that there will be no other changes in the Divine dispensation of salvation. That the Mosaic Law would be abolished as temporary, and a new law introduced in its place, this was predicted and everyone expected it. Moses himself said: “A prophet... will raise up for you... The Lord, as for me... Hear him” (Deut. 18:15). But the Savior, after revealing to us the will of God, did not predict any change, but said: “I am with you... to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He is with us when we think with His mind, live His life, are sanctified by Him. by force. This means that as we now believe, so it must be until the end of the world. For this reason He established the Church, against which “the gates of hell will not prevail” (Matthew 16:18), and legitimized that whoever “disobeys the Church will be... like a pagan and a publican” (Matthew 18:17), that is, lost. So, until the very end of the age, we should not expect any new Revelation. What, therefore, should we think about someone who would come and begin to assure us that he brings us a new Revelation from God? We must honor him as a liar and a deceiver. Even if he said that an Angel or some spirit was telling him, then he must firmly reject him, not allowing himself to reveal the spirit of inquisitiveness or any flattering hopes. “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism” (Eph. 4:5), the Apostle teaches. What other difference in faith and pleasing God should we expect, desire and accept?! And what need do we have to listen to everyone we meet, especially when he preaches “another Jesus” - a different image of salvation, which was not preached by the Apostles, or offers to accept a “different Spirit” that has not been accepted before, or inclines to a “different gospel” that has not been heard before (2 Cor. 11:4)? What other teaching is needed when the one we contain has proven its saving power in such a variety of ways?! Only an idle desire for change can lead to this. Listen to what the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian writes about these spirits, preachers of new teachings: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but tempt the spirits, if they are from God: for many false prophets have gone out into the world. For this reason know the Spirit of God, and the spirit of deceit: every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ in the flesh is not from God: and this is the Antichrist, whom you have heard is coming, and is now already in the world” (1 John 4:1-3). This decisive word of the Apostle requires no other explanation. One thing only needs to be clarified: what does it mean to “confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh”? This means confessing that we fell in our ancestors, so that we could not be restored by ourselves. The Only Begotten Son of God and God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, became incarnate for us and, having suffered in the flesh, justified us before God and earned us the grace of the Holy Spirit, which, by receiving by faith through the Sacraments in the Holy Church, we are sanctified and receive the strength to live according to the Spirit of Christ, in fulfillment of His commandments, for whose sake we hope for an endless, blessed Life in the future. This is what it means to “confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh.” If any spirit begins to preach anything other than this, he is not from God, but is “the spirit of ... the Antichrist.” Note especially the following points. First. Jesus Christ is True God and true man in One Person. Consequently, the spirit that does not confess Jesus Christ as the True God, rejecting His Divinity, is the Antichrist. Second. Our salvation consists in sanctification. Sanctification is achieved by the grace of the Holy Spirit, accepted by believers in the Sacraments and leading us to holiness. Whoever proposes a different way of purification, sanctification and improvement is the Antichrist. Third. We hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the Future Age after the Lord comes a second time and judges the living and the dead. So that anyone, during this perhaps long period of time, does not arbitrarily expect any wondrous adventures to happen to himself, a repetition, for example, of his appearance among those living on earth, the Apostle sharply defines: “it lies for man to die alone, and then judgment” (Heb. 9:27). One death for each, therefore, one birth. The Apostle’s thought is this: “This term of life has been given to you, hasten to use it for your salvation, do not expect another life like this.” You will die one day; After your death, judgment will be pronounced on you, and your fate will be decided forever. Any spirit that preaches otherwise and promises another birth and another death is the Antichrist. Do not listen to all such spirits, and if the word of any of these reaches you, you can safely pronounce judgment on him with the word of the Apostle, that this is “the spirit of ... the Antichrist” (1 John 4:3), and add to this judgment the apostolic decision: “let him be anathema” (Gal. 1:8). I considered it my duty to tell you this, brothers and fathers, as a warning against the teachings that are approaching us, “lest, as the serpent deceives Eve with his wickedness, your understandings will corrupt through simplicity” (2 Cor. 11:3). Do not be “babies, tossed about and tossed about by every wind of doctrine, in the lies of men, in the deceit of the wiles of flattery” (Eph. 4:14). But “be strong and impenetrable” (1 Cor. 15:58). “Watch, stand firm in the faith, take courage, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). And the God of truth, peace and love will be with you. Amen. on the 12th Sunday after Pentecost 11. An exhortation to stand in Orthodox truth despite the influx of false views Behold, my last service with you has been completed, and I address my last word to you. I did not enjoy your love for long; but for that I also give thanks to the Lord and your kindness - for these short days of my peaceful life among you. The all-ruling right hand of God, having brought us together, united our souls in such a way that one might not even desire separation. But since it pleased the same Lord to place this on the hearts of those in whose hands these lots of changes are, then one must complacently submit to the decrees of God. For this means throwing one’s fate into the hands of God - the safest repository and the most powerful thing that carries. Therefore, as I myself say, I ask you to say from your heart: “God’s will be done!” “I have lost my life” (1 Cor. 9:26) according to what is written about me; “I commend you...to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to reward and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). The word of grace is known to you. What was my greatest concern, if not to “tell you without hesitation the whole will of God” (Acts 20:27)? I thank you from my heart that because of the weakness of my flesh you did not disparage my weak words, but diligently listened to what you heard. Your attention comforted and encouraged me. And I pray to the Lord that He will forever preserve in you these sincere feelings for your shepherds, which I witnessed during the short time of my service among you. You know that “never... would I come to you with a word of caress” (1 Thess. 2:5). Therefore, do not suspect my sincerity if I add to you the word of the Lord about the sheep who are attentive to their shepherd, who “hear His voice... and... walk on Him, as they are led by His voice” (John 10:3-4). But do not be offended if I express a caring desire, so that the subsequent word of the Lord will also always be applicable to you: “But they do not follow a stranger, but flee from him, because they do not know the strange voice” (John 10:5). From this sacred place you will never hear an alien voice. No matter who it is published, there will always be the voice of God, the voice of the Lord the Chief Shepherd. The Lord will always raise up a shepherd for you according to His heart: “Listen to him” (Matthew 17:5). Alien voices come from everywhere. You will meet them on the streets of the city, at parties of joy, in the friendly frankness of superficial erudition, and even in open conversation of hypocritical self-praise with suspicious conviction, in the exclamations of not much thinking writing, rich in words, in the bold statements of ill-educated and ill-educated youth, in the claims of much-seen and much-heard cosmopolitanism (anti-patriotism), in demands of poorly understood rights of mind and freedom - and not to mention the multitude of all kinds of novelties of foreign omniscience. I am quite sure that you will not succumb to any misinterpretations. And I remind you of this only so that in case of silence, no one would think that there is a time when you can relax lies and abandon sanity. Bring to mind more often the cautionary advice of the holy Apostles - about the distinction of spirits, “if they are of God” (1 John 4:1), - about avoiding vain talk and contradiction, about not being carried away by the flattery of vain words, and so on. “Stay firm,” brothers, and “impedimentable” (1 Cor. 15:58), so that those who attempt to move you may lose all hope. I am not a prophet, so that, like the Apostle, I could tell you that “after my departure heavy oxen will come in among you, not sparing the flock,” or that “men will rise up from you, saying that you are corrupt, and will tear away the disciples after you” (Acts 20:29-30). Every time, however, and especially the present one, is such that it is in no way superfluous to warn you with the words of the Apostle: “Beware of dogs... beware of being cut” (Phil. 3:2). What St. Peter foresaw is already being fulfilled: “And among you there will be lying teachers, who will bring heresies of destruction, and the Lord who redeemed them will be rejected, bringing swift destruction to themselves. And many follow their uncleanness, and for their sake the true way is blasphemed” (2 Pet. 2:1-2). The time has come when many “will not listen to sound teaching, but after their own lusts they will heap for themselves teachers with scratchy ears” (2 Tim. 4:3). This is what prompts me to ask you, brethren, “be not children in your minds, but be childish in malice, and have perfect minds” (1 Cor. 14:20). Firmly preserve the teaching that has been handed down to you, “avoiding the vile talk and contradictions of a false mind: in which you have nothing to boast, but in the faith you have sinned” (1 Tim. 6:20-21). “Let no one flatter you with vain words” (Eph. 5:6). Do not follow the footsteps of other nations, who, despite the good rumors about them, “walk in the vanity of their minds, their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts” (Eph. 4: 17-18). If someone, perplexed, asked: “Why should we hold on?” - I’ll tell you what I’ve always said: take the Orthodox catechism, study it, imprint on your mind and heart the truths interpreted there and adhere to them steadfastly. With this laconic but vast knowledge, you will be more enlightened than all the enlightened and wiser than all the wise, and you will boldly reject every teaching that is contrary to it. And this is the primary testament that I bequeath to you, or rather I repeat the testament of the Holy Church of God, always kept in it and passed on from generation to generation. Let wicked people “prosper in evil, by deceiving and by being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:13). But you, having this “form... of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13), continue “in what you have been taught and what... has been entrusted to you” (2 Tim. 3:14), so that even when “I hear things that are not among you,” I can always be comforted by the fact that “in the truth you stand in one spirit, and with one accord strive for faith of the gospel, and not wavering from any of those who are opposed” (Phil. 1:27-28). I pray you to be like this in relation to faith. Regarding virtue, “you do not demand, but someone teaches you” (1 John 2:27). In this regard, I would like to say: remain such as I mainly know you to be. But, fearing the perplexed hesitation of your modesty, I will bring to your memory some of the final lessons of the apostolic epistles. “I beseech you, brethren,” in the words of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, “present in your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, your verbal service: and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may be tempted, what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1-2). “Hating what is evil, cleave to what is good: being kind to one another through brotherly love: doing one another great honor: not being lazy with diligence, burning in spirit, working for the Lord: rejoicing in hope, enduring sorrows, remaining in prayer: communing with the demands of the saints, holding on to hospitable love. Bless you who persecute: bless, and do not curse." May you “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Rom. 12:9-15). “Repaying no one evil for evil, providentially kind to all people. If it is possible for you, have peace with all people” (Rom. 12:17-18). “Owe no one else, but rather love one another” (Rom. 13:8). Do not condemn: “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ,” where “each of us will give a word about himself to God. For no one do we condemn one another: but judge this much more, so that you do not lay a stumbling block or offense for your brother” (Rom. 14:10, 12-13). “Putting aside lies, speak the truth to each one of you who is sincere: we are pleased with each other. Be angry and do not sin: let the sun not set on your anger... Work, doing good with your own hands, so that you may give to those who demand. Let not every word that is rotten come out of your mouth; but let it be good for the creation of faith, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not offend the Holy Spirit of God, Who is marked by Him on the day of deliverance. Let all grief, and anger, and rage, and crying, and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice” (Eph. 4:25-26, 28-31). “Fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness below, let it be called among you, as it becomes saints: foul language, and blasphemies, or blasphemy, even that which is not like that, but above all, thanksgiving... As children of light, walk... in all goodness and righteousness and truth: tempting, that which is pleasing to God. And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is fornication: but rather be filled with the Spirit, saying to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:3-4, 8-10, 18-19). “Over all of these, acquire love, which is the basis of perfection: and let the peace of God dwell in your hearts, in the same place and in the name of speed... Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourself... And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father" (Col. 3, 14–17 ). “Know those who labor among you, and your superiors in the Lord, and those who punish you: and have them in abundance in love for their work: be at peace with yourself... admonish the disorderly, comfort the faint-hearted, intercede for the weak, be patient with everyone. Be careful that no one will repay evil for evil; but always pursue goodness towards each other and towards everyone. Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in you” (1 Thessalonians 5:12–18). “The rest, my brethren, as much as is true, as much as is honest, as much as is righteous... as much as there is good praise, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise, think about this... and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8-9). This is the second half of my will. It remains to add to you the words of the Apostle Paul, which he said to his beloved disciple Timothy: “I will testify before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and His angels, that He may keep these things without hypocrisy, doing nothing out of deviation” (1 Tim. 5:21). I want to believe that you will save it. But who knows the future and who can predict the change of the human heart? Why, in my good wishes for you, not having the strength to affirm the unchangeability of your good dispositions in you and not knowing how to prevent random changes that could occur in you, I turn to the most reliable means - God's help, protection and intercession. “I commend you...to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to reward and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified” (Acts 20:32). “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you, perfect in everything: and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved perfect at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith... that you may be filled with all the fulfillment of God” (Eph. 3:14, 16-17, 19). When this happens in you, you will find the Kingdom of God, which is “within you” (Luke 17:21). And when you find this Kingdom, everyone will become the owner of what the Lord promised to add to those who seek and find it, saying: “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). May the Lord add happiness to happiness, contentment to contentment, health to health. May he bless your homes and your children and your household members. May He prosper you in all your deeds and undertakings, grant goodness to the air and give fertility to the earth, and with all His mercy may He enrich you on all the paths of your life. There is one more word left to say: sorry. You know what I was like with you. To the best of my ability, I took care to show myself in good order, but as a person I could make mistakes and fall. Forgive for the Lord's sake if you have offended anyone in any way, lied (unfairly accused) or seduced. Someday we will all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and will have to give an account for this, albeit short, period of our mutual relations. Let us cleanse ourselves with mutual forgiveness. Forgive me, but I have no one and nothing to forgive, for I have seen nothing but goodness from you and in you. I ask you not to leave me in your prayers to the Lord, so that a new field will help me to pass without blemish, untested from the evil ones. Finally, accept from me the usual but significant blessing: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:13). Amen. farewell to the Tambov flock 12. What does it mean in Orthodox Christianity to be mother-in-law and immobile? Having performed the first sacred act with you, I turn my first word to you. And what will I tell you? If we said everything that is possible and desirable, then there would be no end to the interview. Let’s better give freedom to the flow of thoughts, and whatever comes out of the many, we’ll take as a lesson for ourselves as a memory of the present day. Behold, the all-ruling right hand of God shows me a pastoral ministry among you - and gives you a shepherd in me, and a flock for me in you. Let us bless the Lord, who has been so kind to us! As for you, you, of course, have no other tangible incentives for thanksgiving, except for the general commandment to give thanks in everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18). In my new assignment, I see God’s special mercy towards me, multiplying His grace on me due to the abundance of my weaknesses. Knowing the long stay of my new flock in Christ, the great labors they undertook in serving the Lord, and even more so the great gifts of God poured out on them in the glorification of their saints, in the incorruptible relics, miraculous icons and the repeated miraculous blessings of God, I enter, as it were, into a paradise of grace, as if into a ready dwelling of God, and am filled with hope for an early life. help me in raising the work of shepherding. Now, even if my prayer is weak, it will be filled by the saints who have shone here, now standing in Heaven at the Throne of God, who, usually praying for you, may they accept me under their merciful protection. Even if I am not rich in active wisdom, it will be replaced by many years of experience by the saving orders of life established among you. Let my word be powerless for the edification of your souls - instead, the long ranks of your ancestors, strong in faith and piety, preaching louder than any word about the path of salvation, will edify you. Bringing all this to mind, how could I not bless the Lord by entering into unrequited spiritual communication with you! However, I say this, brethren, not so that, having laid down all the tools of good shepherding, I will indulge in peace, but so that, feeling the established ground under me, I can more boldly enter into action and act more trustworthy. For, no matter who and where he is sent in the earthly flock, the word of the Apostle Paul to Titus can always go to him as an indication of the goal: “let the unfinished thing be corrected” (Tit. 1, 5). I must accept this lesson, and I do. Do not, however, imply presumptuous promises in this word. Everything is from God - both the beginning and the execution. Let us commend our souls to Him in prayer, listening to His gestures and receiving strengthening help from Him, without sparing, however, our strength. This law is equally urgent for me and for you. Meanwhile, there are also general outlines of actions, which naturally come into focus always, especially in cases like the present one. There are many of them that can be listed. However, I will not burden your attention with much: I will point out the most important and necessary. Bringing to mind your proven love for pastors, I find in that support my hope for sincere communication between us and urge you to preserve forever your usual spirit of love and peace. May peace and love of all of you among each other and with me settle in your hearts, evidenced not only by goodwill to each other and sympathy, but also by assistance and all kinds of mutual assistance. Let us tolerate each other, respect both human and, more importantly, Christian dignity in everyone, be forgiving of infirmities and in everything “not look for our own”, but rather “friends... look” (Phil. 2:4). Above all, let us be “of one mind” and “of one mind” (Phil. 2:2), standing “in one spirit and with one mind striving together according to the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27) and “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3), so that “with one mind and one mouth” we may glorify God (Rom. 15:6), for “there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism: one God and Father of all” (Eph. 4:5-6). “Let there not be in us strife,” divisions, “zeal,” “heresies,” strife and contention over words, but “let the same be the same,” with the verb “all,” and let us be “held in the same mind and in the same thought” (1 Cor. 1, 10, 3:3, Gal. 5, 20) So, all together, united in thoughts and feelings, we will form a strong vessel into which the Lord will more reliably pour out His bounties. And therefore we will be like “a tree... at the issue of waters” (Ps. 1:3), watered by the grace of God to bear abundant fruit. Further, remaining in such unanimity and like-mindedness, mutually encouraging each other and mutually helping each other, let us, brethren, with zeal “stretch out... into the things that are before” (Phil. 3:13) according to our strength. I remind you of this out of fear that you have somehow weakened from being in the same kind of action for a long time. Although Christianity itself is a way of life that fulfills, and not depletes, excites, and not languishes, but as the weakness of our nature is inventive in deviating from what is due, then, not being carried away by the spirit of the times, but heeding the word of the Apostle, I consider it my duty to arouse your zeal, inviting: “drive... with zeal... to the honor of the highest calling,” ascend from strength to strength and be constantly renewed in yourself, “the back... forgetting and the front... stretching out” (Phil. 3:13-14), so that it can be said that in you “the ancient past is present, and behold, it was all new” (2 Cor. 5:17). But, brethren, “tread this way, that ye may comprehend” (1 Cor. 9:24). Constantly rushing forward, remember another word of the Apostle: “stand” (1 Cor. 16, 13), “... do not move... remain” (Col. 1, 23). There are people who, without comprehending this union of immobility in Christianity with the striving forward that is obligatory for Christians, fall into a mistake that is detrimental to them and dangerous to others. Instead of striving to renew themselves “in the past” according to the model of Christianity, they want to renew Christianity itself according to their whims, not subordinating themselves to it, but applying it to themselves. Remaining the same, they dream that they are moving forward and helping others to achieve this through various abolitions and changes in Christian orders and in the laws of the Holy Church of God. Order requires that our structure, commanded by Christianity, remain unchanged, but we approach it, renewing and changing, according to its example, in ourselves. But they do not want to change themselves, but Christianity - and thus spoil the whole thing, undermining any possibility of our real improvement. Christianity, offering us an example of high perfection, provides all the necessary means for this. It is a ladder leading to Heaven, a path leading to the Belly, a medicine that heals all our infirmities and imperfections. This ladder has already been established and has led many to Heaven. It is not necessary to rebuild it, but to ascend along it. This path has already been tested: it is simple, visible and true to everyone. It would be unwise to waste time and effort on paving a new path or correcting in one’s own way one that has already been laid. By laying out a new path, you can, through myopia, direct it into destruction, and by rearranging it, you can only spoil it by making potholes and diggings. You need to follow the indicated path, and not scream senselessly, isn’t it better to go here, isn’t it better to evade there, idly staring at who knows where, or running uselessly back and forth. The medicine of Christianity has proven and is proving its healing power before the whole world for everyone who uses it without any fuss. It would be an unforgivable mistake to try to cancel one, then another, then another from its healing compositions. This recipe in Heaven is compiled and executed from Heavenly substances. Trying to correct him, the earthly ones arrogantly take on a task that is completely beyond their strength and harmful. You must not correct the medicine, but use it in the simplicity of faith in order to be healed by its healing power. Now you understand what it means to be a mother-in-law in Christianity. So do it. Maintain Christianity all as it is and is preserved in the Church of Christ, and stand firmly in it, without attempting to change or abolish anything in it, and constantly improve yourself according to its example, taking every possible care to achieve the measure that it indicates to everyone, aiming for its healing, carefully flowing where it leads, and untidyly ascending where it leads. But at the same time, brothers, another deviation from the truth occurred to me, no less harmful, which I also consider it not inappropriate to mention. Others make mistakes regarding how it should remain immovable in Christianity, by mistake including in the area of ​​the unchanging dispensation of our salvation that which has come into the pious life of Christians due to the needs of changing times, due to unintentional mistakes or intentional abuse that was not noticed and not prevented at the time. They are like those who, being on the straight and true road, become entangled in sticky grass and spin around in one place, deludedly thinking that they are doing something important both for themselves and for others, and considering the burden of unnecessary bonds and associated troubles to be valuable in the eyes of God as feats of faith and piety. They block their own path and torment themselves with hunger and thirst, inventing food that does not nourish and water that does not drink in view of the true House of Wisdom, in which a plentiful Meal is prepared, offering true Food and true Drink. Thus depriving themselves of truly life-giving forces and nourishing juices, they stand motionless and waste away. Do not cleave to such people, much less follow them. These “form of godliness” have, “but its powers” ​​are rejected (2 Tim. 3:5), and the first are rather “...clouds... without water... blown by the wind” (2 Pet. 2:17), although it may seem that they bring beneficial irrigation. So, without deviating either on the right or the other, follow the royal path indicated by the Holy Orthodox Church, “which is... the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). This is what we have come to. And unintentionally, as if in our word, the beginnings of Christian belief and life were outlined. This is what I lay as the foundation on which I will later edify, if the Lord does not leave me with His gracious help. Help me too with your attention to my word and your obedience. Of course, you have stood in the faith for so long that, perhaps, “you do not demand, but whoever teaches you” (1 John 2:27), are content to teach others; but this does not relieve me of the duty to speak, and from you the duty of listening. I take on my conscience the cautious word of the Apostle: “Woe... to me... if I do not preach the good news” (1 Cor. 9:16) - and I will try, according to my strength, to tell you the whole will of God, and you try to know this will and, having learned it, fulfill the instructions in all their breadth and with all the strength of your zeal, so that you may be sheep who listen to the voice of the shepherd and follow him, but I am in fact a shepherd, calling “my sheep... by name” and driving them out without laziness into the pastures of the word and grace (John 10:3-4). Grant, Lord, that the praise of diligent attention and obedience will never be taken away from you, as from me - continuous teaching and leadership. In conclusion, let us pray, brothers, that the Lord bless this new summer of our lives and grant us, in mutual attention to each other, to amicably pass through the time allotted to our cohabitation for the glory of God and the common salvation of us all. The protection of the Mother of God, the prayers of all the saints who rest here, may they overshadow us and, constantly warming us, may they excite us to work and strengthen us in them. Amen. upon joining the Vladimir flock 13. The strength of the state’s prosperity lies not only in good morals, but also in Orthodoxy We now celebrate Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, everyone’s quick helper in all needs, sorrows and hardships. May he look down upon us from above and from the Throne of God’s glory, asking us through prayer, and may he send down to us the comforting, enlightening and guiding overshadowing of God’s grace in everything. This is necessary for us, and even more so for the heir to the All-Russian throne, the blessed sovereign Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the hope of ours and the fatherland. Praying for his health and salvation, now, on his namesake day, what else is better to wish for him? When the shadow from above comes over him, everything will be - his glory will be like the noonday, and then his throne will be like the days of the world. But, brethren, the fate of royal persons is not the same as the fate of private persons, and the structure of their lives is not the same as the structure of the life of each of us. Private individuals are the only ones responsible for their fate. The fate of royal persons and thrones is not from them alone, but together from the spirit, rules and aspirations of the people themselves. How often does the Lord take away a God-chosen and God-loving king, along with his throne and kingdom, from a people who have made themselves unworthy of it! In this thought, turning to the future and prayerfully desiring a continuous series of successions to the throne in our fatherland, it is impossible, along with this desire, not to take upon ourselves irrevocable obligations in the face of the all-ruling Providence, the fulfillment of which determines our dignity by the grace of God and determines the strength of the thrones. The royal throne will be unshakable for us forever and ever, if we ourselves form an inhumanly strong foundation for it, but worthy of God’s special favor and protection. To explain this, I will point out to you the sorrowful fate of some peoples, which was determined by the public judgment of God as punishment for their bad character and their unkind deeds. After this, you yourself will give guidance: if we are not like that, we will not experience the same fate. There was a people - the Babylonians. God, according to His special intentions, gave him strength that no one could resist. And he conquered the entire East under his rule. He would have humbly given glory to God, but he became so proud that he did not fear God and was not afraid of people. And here is the judgment spoken through the prophet Isaiah against proud Babylon: “You...thou hast said in your mind: I will ascend to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven... I will ascend above the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Now you will go down to hell, and to the foundations of the earth... and you will be cast down on the mountains, like a dead man... and I will lay you down empty, as if you were a hedgehog nesting in you, and it will come to nothing” (Is. 14: 13-15, 19, 23). This is done. Thus, God “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Let us humble ourselves under the strong hand of God, and He will not destroy us, but will rather exalt us always in glory. There were Syrians - a weak people. God blessed them with contentment and protected them with security many times. They forgot about God the Helper and, instead of the One who created them, they based all their hopes on alliances with neighboring peoples. For this, God was angry with them, and here is His judgment through the prophet Isaiah over Syria and Damascus, its capital: “Behold, Damascus will be overcome by hail, and will fall... And there will be no kingdom in it, and the remnant of the Syrians will perish” (Is. 17: 1, 3). “Thou hast forsaken God thy Savior, and the Lord thy Helper,” and the nations trusted “in the works of their hands.” “Oh, cruelty to the multitude of many languages! Like a stormy sea, you will be troubled... like the dust of spit blowing against the wind, and like the dust of wheels (dust),” the wrath of God will scatter you in a storm in countries that are foreign to you (Is. 17:10, 8, 12–13). This came true! So, brothers, the one who trusts in people leans on a “broken reed” (Isa. 36:6, Matt. 12:20). The Lord turns away His face from him and gives him into the hands of his fall (Ezek. 39:23). “Whoever trusts in the Lord will receive mercy” (Ps. 31:10). “He who lives, with the help of the Most High, will dwell in the shelter of the Heavenly God... Evil will not come to him and no wound will come close to his body” (Ps. 90: 1, 10). This is the law both for each person and for the whole people. You see for yourselves what lies upon us, the Poseticians - the seed of the merchant. There were Phoenician merchants. As a network they settled all the coastal countries with ships and colonies and became strong princes of the earth; but, forgetting the truth in heartless self-interest, they then began to absorb someone else's property, like a leech sucking someone else's blood. And here is the vengeance of the righteous right hand of God on the unrighteous merchant people! “The ships of Carhidonstia lament, for Tire perished... and was taken captive... Who is this council on Tire?” “The Lord of hosts conspired to scatter” his wealth “and to dishonor” his glory. “His hand will not strengthen the sea, angering kings... To whom do not reproach and offend... Take the harp, walk around the city, forgetful harlot, sound well and sing” (Is. 23, 1, 8-9, 11-12, 16) a lamentable song about your former glory. This came true. Thus, brethren, untruth, through violence or cunning, succeeds in falsehoods and misappropriations, usually triumphs for a time. But there is an eye that watches the right side; the measure of iniquity will be fulfilled, and the judgment of God will not be stagnant. So for every person, so for every people! I won’t continue with any more instructions! So, the spirit of humble submission to God, the spirit of perfect devotion to His leadership and strong trust in Him alone, the spirit of truth of people to people, alien to any unrighteous appropriation and violence - this is a spirit pleasing to God, not anger, but mercy, attracting from above and imparting trustworthy strength to kingdoms. God will never abandon a people so disposed and filled with such spirit. Let us always dispose ourselves this way, and the Lord will be merciful to us. “He will overshadow us with His cloaks” (Ps. 90:4) and with His “arm” He will “strengthen” and “intercede” (Ps. 88:22). Just recently, proud Babylon - France, weak Syria, based on alliances, Austria and commercial Tire - England, rose up against us! Since we humbled ourselves before God, as obedient slaves and abandoned by everyone, we placed all our trust in Him alone, not to appropriate what was alien to us, but only wanting to hold on to our own, then we were honored with the merciful care and intercession of God. What a spirit of power He has sent us! And what confusion he brought into the minds and hearts of those who attempted to deceive us! It will always be so. If we preserve this spirit of humility, hope and righteousness, God will not only preserve us, but will choose us as an instrument for the fulfillment of His providential plans for all the peoples neighboring us, announcing mercy or judgment to them through us. I have shown you the characteristic features of the entire face of the people that attract the mercy of God. But the people themselves are a multi-component whole. Just as the strength of our body depends on the integrity of its parts, so the strength of the state depends on the legal action of its constituent classes of people. Let us again take the holy prophet Isaiah as a teacher and learn from him what is required of us for the strength of the state in this regard. The Spirit of God introduced the spirit of this Prophet into all the ways of life of the people of God and marked with the prophetic imposition of judgment and punishment everything that irritated God and attracted His wrath. Listen to what it is so that you can see what should not be with you if you do not want to lose God’s mercy! “Your princes (nobles, nobility),” says the Holy Prophet, “do not repent, they are plotting new laws and a new way of government.” “For this reason the Sovereign Lord of hosts says: Woe to the mighty in Israel: for My wrath will not cease against the enemy... And... those who do not repent... I will destroy” (Is. 1:23-25). “Your judges,” the Prophet further says, “are all civil ranks, they judge for a reward, together with thieves and robbers, they love gifts, they do not judge the orphans, and they do not listen to the judgment of widows.” “For this reason the Lord says: ...I will bring My hand against you, and I will burn you cleanly... and I will destroy all the wicked” (Isa. 1:23-25). “How is it,” cries Saint Isaiah, “that Zion, the “faithful city,” has become “full of judgment”! Previously, “in him righteousness rested,” but now in him are robbers and offenders, unrighteous measures, counterfeit silver, wine mixed with water (Is. 1:21-22). And the following sentence is written about them: “Woe to those who say good is evil, and evil is good... to those who put... bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter! As a reed is burned by a coal of fire and burned by a burning flame, so their root is like dust... the Lord will lay His hand on them and smite them with His wrath” (Is. 5:20, 24-25). Then the Prophet looked at how the Jews spent their time - and saw that “from early morning” they got up and waited for the “evening” (balls, theaters) then to have fun “with the harp... and lanterns, and timbrels, and pipes”, “but they do not regard the works of the Lord” - the pious order of life - “and do not consider His hand” (Is. 5: 11-12). And here is the judgment for them: “Enlarge hell with your soul and open your lips... and all the riches will descend into it, rejoicing madly” (Is. 5:14). The Prophet looked at the women - and this is what he saw! “The daughter of Sioni ascended, and walked with her neck high, and with her hair twisted, and with her feet stepping, dragging her garments along the valley (today’s headdresses) and her feet dancing (dancing).” And this is what he awarded them: “The Lord will humble the chief daughters of Zion... and will take away... the glory of their garments... and their golden braids... and rings, and monistas, and bracelets, and fine jewelry... and the storehouses of their utensils will mourn” (Is. 3, 16-19, 25). When, finally, he surveyed the whole people and all their iniquities, he cried out in grief: “The earth will decay with corruption, and the earth will be spoiled by robbery... for you will create iniquity for the sake of those who live on it, even if you transgress the law and change the commandments, breaking the everlasting covenant” (Is. 24: 3, 5). This is the order of life that is contrary to God, attracting judgment and punishment. These punishments strike those who sin in parts - each in his own way. But when then evil, unstoppable, covers the entire people, the whole earth is considered empty and becomes the home of eagle owls and bats! You can see for yourself what follows from this. Do you want to strengthen the kingdom? We must avoid such things and practices that attract the wrath of God and strike the entire body of the people. Whether all the reproaches and threatening sentences of the Prophet come to us and to what extent, see for yourself. God grant that they don’t go at all. But if they do, it is better to confess it and correct themselves, rather than hide under the guise of correctness and remain faulty. Not human judgment, but God's! The eye of God sees everything even in the dark secrets. So we often praise ourselves: “Holy Rus', Orthodox Rus'.” Oh, if only we could forever remain saints and Orthodox, at least loving holiness and Orthodoxy! What a sure guarantee of indestructibility we would have in these titles! But look around! What is sad is not only the corruption of morals, but also the apostasy from the way of confession prescribed by Orthodoxy. Have you ever heard - in Russian - blasphemy against God and His Christ?! And now they not only think, but also speak, write, and publish a lot of things against God. Do you think it will remain for nothing? No. He who lives in Heaven will answer us with His anger and crush us with His fury (Ps. 89:7). Is the West dragging us along? The sun of truth is already setting in the West. We, the Eastern ones, must remain in the light and not only be illuminated, but also shine for everyone. Recently there was a political coalition against us. We all merged into one desire and stopped the very attempt to attack us. Let us do the same in the matter of faith. There, in the West, there is another coalition directed against the light of our faith. Evil teachers rise up one after another. Clouds of evil thoughts rise to darken the sun that illuminates us. God would grant that even in repelling these enemies, we would all merge into the living unity of Orthodoxy and with our combined efforts we would sweep away from our land the pernicious dust that comes from there. Now the English are distinguished by their fidelity to the principles of their faith, but what happened before? Godless teachings have begun among them. How did they manage to cleanse themselves? So, when the atheists began to spread their teachings among them, they all rose up - both spiritual and even more secular - and with conversations, sermons, meetings, writings, they argued against all the nonsense of the Christ-fighters - they convinced everyone of their falsity and thereby saved the faith in their kingdom. Now their country is clean of Christ-fighters. This wickedness passed on to the French and Germans, and from them it comes to us. We are slowly growing apart. What should we do? Leave it like that? Everyone will finally be damaged in their faith. We must raise the spirit of Orthodoxy within ourselves and unite in rebellion against any way of thinking that does not agree with it. With this alone we will repel the enemies of Christ, just as we repelled the coalition of enemies of the fatherland. You should start, the secular ones, and the more educated ones among you. Evil is spreading among you, you must begin a rebellion against it... Your silence will be either unbelief, or indifference to faith. Speak and write. You blame everything on spiritual things. Yes, we are only judging by guesses what kind of talk is going on between you. Which of you ever came to your spiritual father and revealed to him your illness, that you heard this and that and I was embarrassed? There is hardly such a thing. And another is completely confused in unbelief, but comes and speaks as a believer. What can we do when you alienate yourself from us so much and are secretive? Let's act together. We will open conversations from the church pulpit, we will organize evenings for reading and interviews, we will compile books - we will do everything in defense of the faith. Just make a start. Come and reveal what is going on between you. We only guess that there are persons who are conspiring against Christ the Savior and His Holy Church. But we don’t hear what thoughts guide them. Arguing with assumptions is the same as fighting shadows. And so we inevitably remain inactive. So I agreed on mournful speeches. But I don’t take my word back. May the Lord make everyone - both you and us - unite together in the cause of defending the faith! May the zealot of Orthodoxy - Saint Nicholas - illuminate our minds and fill our hearts with his zeal for the holy faith - to stand for the glory of God and His Holy Church. This is the guarantee not only of eternal salvation, but also of temporary prosperity. Amen. on the day of the Heir's name day Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich 14. In Christianity, nothing should be changed, submitting to the spirit of the times, but everything should be strictly adhered to, as originally commanded, without looking for benefits It has come to my ears that you consider my teachings very strict and believe that now you can’t think like that, you can’t live like that, but now it’s impossible to teach like that. These are not the times! How I rejoiced when I heard this! This means that you listen carefully to what I say, and not only listen, but are ready to do it. What more could we wish for, those who preach (thus) as it is commanded, and what is commanded? Despite all this, I absolutely cannot agree with your judgment and consider it my duty to qualify it and correct it. For, besides, perhaps, your desire and conviction, it comes from that evil principle, as if Christianity can be changed in its dogmas, rules and sanctifying actions in accordance with the spirit of the time and that, applying itself to the changing tastes of the sons of this age, it can add some things and subtract others. This is wrong. Christianity must remain eternally unchanged, in no way being under the dependence and control of the spirit of the age, but on the contrary, being itself appointed to govern or rule over it in all those who submit to its leadership. To convince you of this, I will offer you a few thoughts. They say my teaching is strict. My teaching is not mine, and should not be mine. From this sacred place no one should or can preach his teachings. And if I or anyone else dared to do this, get us out of here. We preach the teaching of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, His holy Apostles and the Holy Church, guided by the Spirit of God, and we take every care that it is preserved whole and inviolate in your minds and hearts, carrying out every thought and using every word with caution, so as not to in any way cast a shadow on this bright Divine teaching. There is no other way to act. Such a law for preaching in the Church on behalf of God was laid down from the beginning of the world and must be in force until its end. The holy prophet Moses, having laid out the commandments to the people of Israel on behalf of God, concludes: “Do not add to the word that I command you, but let you take it away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord our God, as I command you and as I command you” (Deut. 4:2). This law of immutability is so immutable that our Lord and Savior Himself, teaching the people on the mountain, said: “Do not think that he came to destroy the law, or the Prophets: he came not to destroy, but to fulfill. Amen, for I say unto you: Until heaven and earth pass away, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass from the law, until they all shall be." This is how men will be called in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:19). That is, whoever interprets them crookedly and belittles their power will be rejected in the Future Life. This is what He said at the beginning of His sermon. He testified the same thing to St. John the Seer of Mysteries in Revelation, where, depicting the final fate of the world and the Church, He says: “I testify with... everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these, God will add to him the plagues written in this book: and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away part of him from the book of the living, and from the city. holy" (Rev. 22:18-19). For the entire time from His First Appearance to the World until His Second Coming, this is the law He gave to the Holy Apostles and their successors: “Teach all the tongues... to observe them often, according to all the commandments given to you” - teach, that is, not what anyone pleases, but what I commanded - and this until the end of the world: “And lo, I am with you... to the end of the age” ( Matthew 28:19–20). The apostles accepted this law and laid down their lives for its fulfillment, answering those who, through fear of punishment and death, wanted to force them not to speak as they preached: “If there is righteousness before God, you will be listened to rather than God, judge: for we cannot, even though we have seen and heard, not speak” (Acts 4:19-20). This same law was handed down to their successors by the Apostles and was accepted by them and is always in effect in the Church of God - and is why it is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). See what inviolable steadfastness! After this, who will dare to arbitrarily touch anything or shake anything in Christian teaching and laws? Listen to what was said to the prophet Ezekiel: “for seven days” he was in prayerful admiration and “for seven days” he heard a word from the Lord: “Son of man, I have given you as a watchman for the house of Israel, so that you may hear the word from My mouth and tell it to the people” (Ezek. 3:15-17). And here's the law for you! “If you see a lawless man and do not say to him: “Forsake iniquity and turn from your way,” the wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at your hand” (Ezek. 3:18). “If you tell the wicked that he should turn from his wicked way, and he does not turn, then the wicked will die in his iniquity, but you will deliver his soul” (Ezek. 3:19). Likewise, “if you see a righteous man begin to waver in his righteousness, and you do not support him and do not take care to reason with him with your word, that righteous man, having sinned, he will die in his sins... but I will require his soul from your hand. If you tell the righteous not to sin, and he will not sin, then the righteous will live life... and you will deliver his soul" (Ezek. 3:20-21). And it is heard in the consciences of all shepherds at the time of their election and ordination, when a difficult yoke is placed on them - to shepherd the large or small flock of Christ entrusted to them, and not only to shepherd, but also to fall. How can you dare to distort anything in the law of Christ, when this will cause harm to both us and you! If the salvific nature of the teaching depended on our view of it and your consent to it, it would still make sense when someone, out of condescension for weaknesses or due to some claims of the age, decided to rebuild Christianity and apply it to the lusts of the evil heart. Otherwise, the salvific nature of the Christian Economy does not depend at all on us, but on the will of God, on the fact that God Himself arranged this particular path of salvation, and, moreover, in such a way that there is no other way and cannot be. Therefore, to teach in any other way means to deviate from the right path and ruin yourself and you. What's the point? Look what a strict judgment was pronounced when something similar happened among the people of Israel during the troubled times of their captivity. Some Prophets, out of pity for the troubled and suffering, spoke to the people not as the Lord commanded, but as their hearts inspired them. This is what the Lord commanded about them to Ezekiel: “Son of man, establish thy countenance... on those who divine from their hearts, and the prophets on them... woe to those who sew heads together under every piece of hand, and to those who make veils over every head of every age, so as to corrupt souls” (Ezek. 13:17-18). Woe, that is, to those who prescribe all sorts of benefits and offer such gentle orders so that no one feels any trouble either from above or from below, not paying attention to whether it is salutary or harmful, whether it is pleasing to God or disgusting. Woe to such, for “this says the Lord: ... your heads... and... veils (that is, flattering, preferential teachings), in which you corrupt souls... I will tear away - the souls corrupted by this teaching, I will scatter, and you, the corrupters, I will destroy" (Ezek. 13, 20-21). This is the benefit of the benefits and indulgences that you want to hear from the lips of preachers! Taking this to heart, you should not desire that we, out of false gratification to you, make any concessions from Christian teaching, but, on the contrary, insistently demand that we adhere to it as strictly and unwaveringly as possible. I'll tell you one case that I almost witnessed in the East. One Christian sinned; comes to his spiritual father, repents and says: “As the law commands, do so. I am opening a wound for you, heal it and, without sparing me, do what is necessary.” The confessor was moved by the sincerity of his repentance and did not apply the plaster to the wound that is required in the Church. That Christian died. After some time, he appears in a dream to his confessor and says to him: “I opened your wound and asked for a plaster, - you did not give me the proper plaster, - and now they are not justifying me for this.” The confessor's soul was overcome with grief upon awakening from sleep, and he did not know what to do. And he appears again - a second time, and a third time, and many times, and every day, every other day and week - and he keeps repeating the same words: “I asked for a plaster, but you didn’t give it to me, and now I feel bad for it!” The confessor was exhausted from grief and fear. He went to Athos,, on the advice of those there, imposed a strict penance on himself, spent several years in fasting, prayer and labor, until he received notification that for the sake of his humility, contrition and labor, both he and the Christian whom he had not healed due to false condescension were forgiven. This is what indulgences and benefits can lead to! And who gave us the power to prescribe them? So you have nothing to expect from us! Have you heard about the Pope's indulgences? This is what he gives in defiance of the law of Christ. So what? Because of them, the entire West was corrupted in faith and life... And now it is perishing in unbelief and the liberties of life with its indulgences. The Pope changed many dogmas, spoiled all the Sacraments, relaxed the rules of church leadership and the correction of morals, and everything did not go as the Lord intended - worse and worse. Then Luther appeared - an intelligent man, but wayward. “Dad,” he says, “changes everything he puts his mind to: why shouldn’t I cheat?!” And he began to build and rebuild everything in his own way and thus established a new faith - Lutheran, far from being similar to the one that was commanded by the Lord and handed down to us by the holy Apostles. After Luther, philosophers spoke. “Here,” they say, “Luther started a new faith, even if it was from the Gospel, but according to his own mind. Why shouldn’t we, apart from the Gospel, compose a teaching according to our own mind alone?” And they began to speculate and guess - about God, and about the world, and about man, each in their own way, and they made so many teachings that it would make your head cloudy just listing them. And now they have it: believe as you please, live as you want, enjoy whatever your soul desires. They do not recognize any laws or restrictions and do not obey the word of God. They are wide: all barriers are scattered. But “this wide path leads to destruction” (Matthew 7:13), as the Lord said! This is where the relaxation in teaching has led! Deliver us, Lord, from these expansions! Let us rather love every hardship that the Lord prescribes for us for our salvation. Let us love Christian dogmas and constrain our minds with them, commanding them not to think differently. Let us love the Christian rules of life and constrain our will with them, forcing it to humbly and patiently bear this good yoke. Let us love all the leading, corrective and sanctifying Christian rites and services and constrain our hearts with them, obliging it to transfer our tastes from earthly and corruptible things to this Heavenly and imperishable. How we will imprison ourselves in some cage, or how we will be dragged along some narrow passage. It may be cramped, so that it is impossible to deviate either to the right or to the left, but it is certain that along this narrow path we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This kingdom is, after all, the Kingdom of the Lord. And the Lord prescribed this narrow path and said: “Follow this path and you will reach the Kingdom” (Matthew 7:13-14). How can you doubt that the person walking will get there? And with what mind would someone wish for any cancellations, when through them you will immediately go astray and perish? Establishing yourself on these concepts, do not grieve if something else in our teaching seems strict, and only want to make sure that it is the Lord’s. And when you are convinced that it is the Lord’s, accept it wholeheartedly, no matter how strict and shy it may be. Not only do you not desire benefits and relaxations in the teachings and rules of life, but run from them as from the fire of hell, which cannot be avoided by everyone who invents them and with them draws the faint-hearted after them. Amen. on the Sunday of the Nativity of Christ 15. The basis of Orthodoxy is unanimity; its beginning is what has always been confessed by everyone and everywhere; strength and steadfastness are in the knowledge of truth Today we celebrate the Triumph of Orthodoxy - the victory of truth over lies and error. Just as, after an ordinary victory, the victors proclaim the main battles with their enemies, in which they prevailed over them, and praise their most courageous leaders and warriors as a lesson to subsequent generations, so the Holy Church - “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3, 15), - at different times subjected to attacks by superstition hostile to the truth, and having repelled them with glory, solemnly established to now proclaim their victories, condemning the enemies of the truth, denouncing their false speculations and at the same time proclaiming the holy truth and glorifying its champions, so that its faithful sons know what it wants, and thus protect themselves from the same or similar errors. Hearing this, let us glorify the Lord, who gave triumph to the truth, so that it, like a light in the darkness, shines in the darkness of human error and shows the correct path to those seeking the right path. The Lord is watching: who will steal?! But let us not forget that the Lord does not watch over His supernatural power alone, but at the same time He was so pleased to organize the Holy Church that it was and will remain capable of forever preserving this truth under His leadership. In this sense, our duty in relation to the holy truth is twofold: what is from the Lord to preserve it, we accept gratefully and obediently, what is from the Church, to that, as her faithful sons, we must both recognize our duty and provide all possible assistance, and this is everyone - both big and small, both dedicated and uninitiated. Here is an idea that is not recognized by everyone and is implemented by even fewer. I want to bring your conviction closer to it. What is the power to preserve the truth that the Lord has laid down in His Church itself? In unanimity. Look how the Christian truth has spread across the earth. The Lord came and taught the holy Apostles; then he sent down the Most Holy Spirit upon them, by which they were strengthened and enlightened, and they spread the same Heavenly truth everywhere. Since there is One Lord and One Spirit, the teaching was one everywhere. “There is one Lord,” says the Apostle, “one faith.” Why is there “one body and one spirit, just as... all were called in one hope of calling” (Eph. 4:5, 4). Thus, unanimity, unanimity, like-mindedness became an essential feature in Christianity, as if the initial beginning of its life - the cornerstone of the foundation in its standing. And the holy Apostles valued him so much that in their instructions they constantly turned to their convictions in him: and there is no speech, no message where this is not mentioned. They either exhort us to be “of one mind” and “of one mind” (Phil. 2:2, 1 Pet.3:8), then they urge us to “strive for the faithful faith of the one saints” (Jude 1:3), “to be diligent in maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph.4:3), then they praise those who “in the truth” stand “in one soul... wavering about anything from those who are opposed" (Phil. 1:27-28), then they warn against "the influence... every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), then they are strictly rebuked for “division”, and precisely in doctrine (1 Cor. 1:10). This spirit of unanimity, introduced into the believers by the holy Apostles, remained forever between them and later became the main beginning of Christian knowledge and the touchstone for distinguishing truth from lies. Those who sought the truth, those who were embarrassed by lies, those who demanded identification, were told: “Go to Jerusalem, to Antioch, to Alexandria, to Ephesus, to Rome. The truth was sown there by the Apostles, and as they teach everywhere, so believe.” Or: “The truth is this and that, for this is how everyone taught and teaches everywhere.” And this - “everything, everywhere, always” - has become a term characterizing Christian truth. How should we believe and teach? The way “everyone, everywhere and always” believed and taught. It was this unanimity from the beginning that Christian truth was verified and lies exposed, for it was not only depicted in books, but was alive in the minds and hearts and constituted the real mood of everyone. Why, as soon as a difference of opinion was discovered anywhere by anyone, it was immediately noticed by everyone and denounced by everyone and brought to the forefront as a matter deviating from the general order - lawless. Arius began to say: “There was a time when there was no Son,” meaning the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity. This immediately set everyone in motion. One, two, three asked: “How did it not happen? Is it possible for it not to happen? Where is this news from? From Alexandria this movement spread to other dioceses, there throughout the Church. And everywhere the lie was exposed and the truth confirmed by the unanimous confession of all. The same thing happened with Nestorius. The preacher who preached under his leadership used one word about the Mother of God: “Christ Mother.” This new word alarmed everyone. “How,” they say, “Christ Mother?” She bore God to us in the flesh and is truly the Mother of God, just as Elizabeth confessed at the beginning, saying: “Where do these things come to me, that the Mother of my Lord may come to me” (Luke 1:43). This is how the people, the clergy, the authorities spoke - and even to the king. And the heretic was exposed, despite all his tricks. It is now obvious to you that the power to preserve the truth lies in the Church itself - this is the living unanimity of its members - then when the truth lives in the minds and hearts of everyone and is possessed by everyone, when, according to the Apostle, everyone “the same” philosophizes “towards each other” (Rom. 15:5), all “the same” verbs and are “affirmed in the same understanding and in the same thought” (1 Cor. 1:10 ). I had the intention of bringing your thoughts to this truth, not in order to justify on the basis of it the judgment of the Church, which you will hear, but then in order to bring to your consciousness the responsibilities that lie on every Christian to preserve the truth. If part of the preservation of truth is entrusted to the Church itself, that is, to all its members, and the power for such preservation is hidden in unanimity, and living unanimity, then it is obvious that everyone, to the best of his ability and strength, must enter into this unanimity and then maintain himself in it - recognize these truths “everywhere, by everyone and always” and preserve them. In order to keep the truth, you must have it; in order to have it, you must know it. Thus, everyone who leads the Christian truth becomes its guardian, guardian and defender. The more people lead the truth, the stronger its protection, the safer it itself is - not in itself, but among people. On the contrary, the fewer those who lead the truth, the fewer the bulwarks against lies, the more dangerous the position of truth among us. For in this case, if any false teaching appears, someone ignorant of the truth will miss it, because he has nothing with which to recognize and expose it. From him it will go to another unknown person, from another to a third - and so on. Lies will come in and crowd out the truth. Is the one who missed it right?! No way. It will be the same as if a warrior, who through negligence did not recognize the password, let the enemy into the camp. In this regard, therefore, anyone ignorant of the truth is already a traitor to it and a traitor to the society of believers, or the Holy Church. Strictly? But that's how it is. It goes without saying that this guilt falls heavily on those who have the strength and means to find out the truth and do not know it, that is, mainly on the educated class. You yourself know to what extent the educated people of our fatherland are guilty of this. You yourself know what differences of opinion with Christian teaching have begun to take place everywhere among us. And it passes through them, although it is not their invention. They take it from others and pass it on. Would they take someone else's lies and pass them on to their own if they knew their truth? And it is again adopted from them by those who do not know the Christian truth, and because they do not know it. We have a strange prejudice that as a layman, he does not need to bother himself with full knowledge of Christian truth - they are ashamed to take on this work, they are ashamed to declare this knowledge, if they have it, and even more so to stand up for it. And thus the area of ​​lies and the kingdom of its father are expanding among us. Another will say: “I myself have reached conclusions that are dissimilar to Christianity.” Doubtful. Or rather, I came across a strange book that was contrary to Christianity - I read it and was confused; he became confused because to the ignorant, things and deceptive probabilities seem like business, and he lacked the desire to check false testimony and listen to the opposite truth due to indifference: they seized the ghost and, thinking that they had the truth, were satisfied. Others are carried away by a passion for independent views, and they measure this independence by independence from Christian teaching, alienation from it, opposition to it. And this again comes from ignorance of Christianity, which alone provides support for independence. Independence is a good thing. But we need to find the right point to stand on. Christianity is based on the truth of God. Where can I find the best foundation? God teaches intelligent creatures. The duty of rational creatures is to listen to this teaching, and everyone who listens will undoubtedly know the truth, for God is the Truth Himself. God “of old” spoke “in the prophetic, in the last days... of the word to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1-2), the Son of God and the Lord conveyed the truth to the holy Apostles, and the Apostles to the Church. In the Church, what is undoubtedly recognized as true? What was confessed “by everyone, everywhere and always.” Stand at this point yourself - and you will be independent with the most faithful and unerring independence, although it will be a denial of independence, as it is usually understood. Ordinary independence is a feature of knowledge, and Christian independence is a community of belief. A Christian is alien to the urge to understand everything in his own way, but seeks one thing - how “everyone, always” understood things and judged them. According to his conviction, to separate oneself means to fall away from the truth and, therefore, not to go towards perfection, but to destruction. But, submitting to the general belief, he does not think that he is losing his independence. In this general, he assimilates to himself only the principles - the true principles, for they come from God - and, based on them, he then judges everything and decides everything, and decides without error, for he proceeds from true positions, imprinted by Divine authority. All heresies and all lies arose from the violation of this fundamental rule of truth. Heresy is a judgment about something in one’s own way, without considering how the Lord gave the Church to judge it. Arius began to judge the Lord in his own way and fell into heresy, not recognizing His Consubstantiality with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Luther began to compile a system of Christian teaching in his own way - and how many lies did he invent? It’s the same with dad, and it’s the same with all the new errants. When a question arises, a Christian seeks a solution not in himself, not in his own comprehension, but in the common confession of all. It’s not that he himself didn’t reason and didn’t construct any considerations; They can swarm with him faster than with anyone else. But the fact is that he will not give them any price until he checks them with general teaching. If they agree with this teaching, he leaves them behind him; if they disagree, he rejects them. And this is his peace. He stands on this common ground as on a solid stone. For through it he ascends to God as the Source. What has been said is enough, I think, to encourage a full knowledge of Christian truth and to choose the right path to that path. Let us force ourselves, brethren, to recognize her and, having recognized her, to become her defenders, learning this from the Church and those champions whom she glorifies. How much work has the Church had in the struggle for the truth?! How many protective actions does the Lord have for her?! And all this seems to be in vain! Let us pray that the one truth will always remain triumphant, offering ourselves as faithful instruments for preserving and protecting it. Amen. on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy 16. Schism is not an old thing, but an innovation Our Lord and Savior in this Gospel warns believers against false teachers, saying: “Take heed from lying prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). That is, be careful not to trust these humble people, whose flattery will entrap your souls into destruction, not bringing you sound teaching, and “speaking” always “corrupt” (Acts 20:30), in order to turn people away from the unity of faith to follow them. The Lord foresaw that among the children of His Church “the wolves of gravity would come in... not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29), therefore he arouses vigilance: “See that you do not get carried away.” And you know how many of these evil wolves there were! Some wanted to damage Christianity with an admixture of Judaism, like the Judaizing heretics, others tried to overshadow it with the dreams of pagan wisdom - the Gnostics, Manichaeans; others distorted the teaching about the Holy Trinity, like Paul of Samosata; they rejected the Divinity of Jesus Christ, like Aryans; and these did not honor the teaching of the Holy Spirit, like Macedonius. Behind them rose the Nestorians, Monophysites, Monothelites, Iconoclasts, then the Papists and Lutherans with all their offspring. And here in Russia, soon after accepting the holy faith of Christ, Martin the Armenian appeared, similar to the current schismatics, then the Strigolniki, Judaizers (pseudo-Christian sects), Molokans, Khlysty and schismatics with all their “disagreeing” agreements and “stupid” opinions. The Holy Apostles and their successors, fulfilling the warning word of the Lord, strictly looked after all these deviations from the true teaching of Christ and, immediately after their appearance, denounced them - both privately, and especially at councils - announcing to all believers: “Look, here and here there is a lie: do not follow this.” This is how the ancient heretics were exposed and rejected: Arius, Macedonius, Nestorius, Eutyches, the iconoclasts - this is how our schismatics were also exposed and rejected. The sound teaching of our Lord and Savior, accepted from Himself by the holy Apostles and their successors, spread everywhere, is confirmed and protected and is preserved in its intact integrity by the Holy Orthodox Church. It came to us intact and undamaged and is our precious property. Let us thank the Lord for this inscrutable gift of His! The Holy Church now enjoys peace, there is no persecution, and no influential false teachers are visible! The humble children of the Church, listening with obedient faith to her holy teaching and being sanctified by her Divine Sacraments, all work out their salvation according to their strength, hoping to receive eternal bliss at the end of their lives. But lies are not peaceful and lying prophets have no peace. And so, excited by the enemy of all truth, they rebel against the Lord and His Christ and with their false interpretations they want to eclipse the bright teaching of Christ and corrupt the minds of those who sincerely believe and honestly live according to the laws of the holy faith. To a greater or lesser extent, these false teachings, of course, reach your ears. Why, fulfilling my duty, on my first visit to you, I find it not indecent to address you with the word of this Gospel: “Hearken... from lying prophets” (Matt. 7:15) - beware of the distributors of false teachings. When I say this, I mean all sorts of lies in general, of which there are many now circulating in the writings and speeches of men, but especially schismatic lies. Any other lie is immediately visible. It is contrary to our Creed and is preached in the name of reason, for which believers are not students, but teachers; and a schismatic lie can seduce, for it is preached in the name of the Apostles and the Holy Church, as if it were some kind of “ancient fatherly” teaching. The dissenters falsely hide behind this title. The Lord said to the apostles: “Behold... I send you out as lambs among wolves” (Luke 10:3) - and the cleavers, hiding behind the name of the apostolic teaching, appear in lamb’s clothing, but since they preach lies, they are truly wolves in these sheep’s clothing. “Take heed” from these ravenous wolves. They humbly creep into homes, and just as the serpent once deceived Eve with his wickedness, so they corrupt the minds of the unconfirmed. They all insist that their rumors are the essence of an “ancient” tradition. What ancient fatherly? These are all new inventions. The ancient patristic tradition is contained by the Orthodox Church. We borrowed the holy teaching from the Holy Orthodox Greek Church, and all the holy books came to us from it. In ancient times these books contained everything as we do now. But a hundred or a hundred and fifty years before the blessed Patriarch Nikon and the most pious sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich, inexperienced scribes began to spoil them and during that time they spoiled and spoiled everything and, finally, they spoiled everything so much that it was no longer possible to tolerate it. These damages included in the books were all new without exception. When they were later abolished and the books were put in the same form as they had been since ancient times, did that mean that something new had been introduced into the books?! They did not introduce new things, but returned them to the old ones. In our books now everything is the same as it is in the Greek and as in our ancient ones, after Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. Anyone who wants to, go and look at the old books in the Patriarchal Library in Moscow, and see for yourself. It became that we have the old books, and not the schismatics, and the ancient tradition is also with us, and not with them. They have everything new: the books are new and the tradition is new. Let me explain this to you with an example. St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv - the oldest cathedral - was originally painted on the walls. Sometime later, no one remembers, they plastered over this painting and painted the church again on new plaster. The old painting remained underneath. But recently, this new plaster and schedule were knocked off and the schedule that was under it, the oldest, was restored. What is it: did they introduce something new into the St. Sophia Church or put it in its ancient form? Of course, they put it in its ancient form. Now the St. Sophia Church is in the same form as it was in ancient times, and not as it was twenty years ago. That's how it was with books. When they threw out everything that was newly introduced, they did not update them, but returned them to the ancient ones - and our corrected books are truly ancient, and not schismatic - damaged. So reflect back when one of the schismatics begins to explain to you that they have ancient books. Their books are no more than two, many three, hundreds of years old, but ours are a thousand or more. And when they begin to assure that they have an “ancient fatherly” tradition, ask them: “Where do you have the ancient fatherly tradition - among the priests or bespopovtsy, among the Filippovites or Fedoseevites, among the Spasov consent, or among the re-baptists, or among the new Austrian (various Old Believer sects) rogues?” Are there ten ancient legends? After all, it is one. When they have more than one, it became, it is not ancient, but all human inventions. We have one and it is completely in agreement with our most ancient tradition, in agreement with the Greeks and all Orthodox Christians existing throughout the entire earth. We have agreement everywhere, but they have disagreement everywhere. In some villages there are three or four people talking - or even in the same house the same thing happens - and they don’t communicate with each other. Where is the United Church of Christ here? What kind of body of the Church is this when all the members disintegrated and went in different directions? Where is this one herd? And how can one say that the One, True, Divine Shepherd is their shepherd? Judging by this, it is clear as day that they have no truth, no following of Christ, no Church. And when there is no Church, there is no salvation, for only in the Church is salvation, as in Noah’s ark. The Church of Christ has a priesthood. They have no priesthood; became, there is no Church. The Church of Christ has the Sacraments. They have no one to perform the Sacraments; therefore, they do not have a Church. How dare they still open their mouths and approach the Orthodox and seduce them! “We want to save,” they say. How can we save when we ourselves are dying?! They themselves perish and drag others into destruction, rather than saving them. Note to yourself: salvation without grace is impossible; grace is not given without the Sacraments; The sacraments are not performed without the priesthood. No priesthood, no Sacraments; no Sacraments, no grace; no grace, no salvation. Some of them say: “Now we have found the priesthood, or have planted the root of the priesthood.” They planted a root, but it was rotten and barren. Judge for yourself. Ambrose, whom they lured to themselves, was bound by prohibition - bound by legal authority. The Lord promised this legal authority: “If you bind anyone on earth, they will be bound in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Therefore, Ambrose was also bound in Heaven. If he was bound in Heaven, then how could he, bound in Heaven, communicate Heavenly grace? Where did he get it?! He could not communicate it and did not communicate it; and everyone who was assigned to them, as they were laymen, remained laymen, even though they they call themselves priests and bishops. These are the same names, as when children, while playing, give themselves different titles - colonels, generals, commanders-in-chief. “Let it be,” they say, “it was prohibited. The elders allowed it.” Wonderful thing! Ordinary laity authorize the bishop and return to him the power to episcopate. Don’t you know that only the one who has the power to ordain can authorize? Their old men did not even have sexton consecration; how could they return episcopal power to the bishop when this is the same as ordaining? They didn’t return it, and Ambrose remained banned, despite the ridiculous rituals performed on him. If it is prohibited, then grace in him is stopped; if it is stopped, then it could not be poured out on others. When, for example, water flows through a gutter, it overflows from it onto other gutters and vessels; and when the gutter is locked, water will not flow through it and will not overflow to other places and things. So Ambrose, until he was banned, was like a trench overflowing water; and when he fell under the ban, he became like a dry trench, closed, and could no longer communicate to others the blessed water that he himself did not have. Thus, it is in vain that some of the schismatics deceive themselves and others, thinking that they have obtained the priesthood. They got names, but there was no case. That's right, Orthodox Christians! Don't listen to these flattering words! There is no truth in them, but only lies and deception. They deceive themselves and plunge others into the same deception. The truth of God is clear. She does not hide, but goes openly and presents all the evidence of her truth. We stand on solid “rock” (Matthew 7:25), “on which the apostle and prophet were built, which is the chief cornerstone of Jesus Christ Himself” (Eph.2:20). This is true, stand courageously in the faith and boldly testify to its truth - and not only do not give in to schismatics, but on the contrary, try to win them over to your side, sincerely convincing them that they have fallen into lies and error and are on the path of destruction, holding on to new things, which, through deception, they consider to be antiquity. Amen. 17. Warning against schism teachers Beginning his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote to them: “First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). With a similar speech I can begin my word to you, for your faith, if not throughout the world, then throughout your entire country, is proclaimed to everyone who knows you. Hearing this from afar, I rejoiced over you, and now, seeing you, I rejoice greatly and thank the Lord that you not only keep the purity of your faith inviolable, but also justify the sincerity of your unfeigned faith with your deeds. For us, pastors, there can be no greater consolation than to see the sons of the Church walking properly. But for you yourself there cannot be a more solid foundation for a state that can bring true joy, like maintaining faith and arranging life in accordance with its requirements. Have you heeded what was read in today's Gospel? The Lord says: “Whoever hears these words of mine, and does it, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his church on the rock: and the rain came down, and the rivers came, and the wind blew, and attacked that church, and did not fall: it was founded on the rock” (Matthew 7:24-25). With these words, the Lord promises a certain indestructible strength to those who accept His teaching with faith and live according to it, strength primarily of the soul, and after it, of course, strength of external well-being, as interpreted by the Apostle, who showed us in piety the promise not only of the age to come, but also of the present (1 Tim. 4:8). This is true, you know from your own experience, from the testimony that your heart gives you. I remind you of this only in order to tell you that if there is a blessing from God over you, then it is attracted by nothing other than your ardent devotion to the faith and deeds according to it - and to draw a lesson from here: guard the holy Orthodox faith like the apple of your eye. I take comfort in hearing that you are all pure in faith and there is not a single soul among you infected with schismatic misinterpretations. But beware, Orthodox Christians, “let not, as the serpent deceive Eve with wickedness, lest your minds corrupt through simplicity” (2 Cor. 11:3). Dissenters spread many lies, hoping with them, like the net of the evil one, to deceive the gullible. Look, stay on guard. I hear that there are horse breeders not far from here. So - whether they come to you on their own or you hear their speeches from the side - do not believe anything. They are all lies. We have the right side. They say that they have old rules and regulations - they say this is a lie. They don’t have old rules and regulations, but we do: they have everything new. What we contain, we contain in the same way as was customary from Constantinople under Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir. And what they contain was brought into the books a hundred or a hundred and fifty years before the blessed Patriarch Nikon and the pious Tsar and Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich. All they have are mistakes and damage to books. When the books began to be corrected, the foolish Avvakum and Nikita Pustosvyat and others like them clung to these corruptions, believing themselves and assuring others that they had been in the books since ancient times and that the correctors of the books were introducing new things. In fact, the corruption of books was not ancient, but was new in the books, and when they began to correct them, they did not introduce new things, but drove out the new ones and returned, rather than expelling the old ones. The schismatics, keeping to themselves all the mistakes and damage, kept the new, not the old. And they are the true innovators. Consider them that way and don’t let them tell you that they are of the old faith. They are outright new believers and deceivers. They say that the sovereign recognized their faith as right and gave them benefits. What they say is a lie. They are not given any benefits. The laws remain the same as before. And the fact that they are allowed to live peacefully is not because the sovereign recognized their faith as right. Both Tatars and Jews are allowed to live peacefully. Does the sovereign really recognize their faith as right?! The sovereign allows people of all faiths to live peacefully because he does not want to force anyone into his faith - for what kind of faith is there under bondage? And the schismatics misinterpret the mercy of the sovereign emperor, as if he recognized their side as right. The law says this: “Live peacefully for yourself, even though you are a schismatic, but do not dare to seduce or seduce anyone.” Whoever seduces an Orthodox Christian into schism will be sent into exile. Would this law remain in force if the sovereign recognized their side as right?! The schismatics also say: “Now it is allowed to print our books... Therefore, they have learned that the truth is written in them.” They say this about books written by schismatics, in which schism is praised and defended. And this is where they misinterpret the matter. These books were allowed to be published not because they see the truth in them, but to show everyone – including the schismatics themselves – that look what absurdities you believe. You have heard, it’s true, what happens when schismatics admonish you. They will clearly and clearly explain to them that they are in error, and will bring them to the point where they have nothing more to say. Then, to calm their conscience and, together, to cover up the shame that they persist for no reason, they say: “We have books where everything is clearly proven that we are right.” They say so, but they say it unfairly, because nothing has been proven in their books, and they have written only absurd fables. So now they have printed some of their books so that they can be exposed by their own books. This is allowed so that when someone says: “We have books where everything is proven,” one can answer them: “Here are your books. And here all the nonsense is written, but nothing has been proven.” It is for this reason that printing is allowed, and they turn this matter to their advantage - as if by printing their side was recognized as right. They interpret it crookedly. As if everything that is printed is true. How many fables and fairy tales are published?! A fable—and a printed one—is still a fable. Likewise, schismatic books – and printed ones – all remain absurdities. These are the precautions you should take against schismatics. However, everything you should be afraid of from them cannot be told. And this is what you do: when you hear that from them and you yourself cannot expose the schismatic lies, go immediately to your priests and tell them everything and ask how to expose what from the schismatics and how to respond to what. They will explain everything to you, and will calm your soul, and they will prepare you to be able to repel schismatic rumors yourself. By acting this way, you will be completely safe from any deception and deception by the enemy. I hear that you are thinking about buying books for yourself and starting a library. This is a very good deed: books will greatly support your schools, they will serve to continue your studies at home. Then take care to choose books - all good ones, and buy some of them that expose the schism. Then, having read such books, you will not only expose the schismatic lies, but you can also enlighten and convert the schismatics themselves. And this will be the most salutary work, for he who turns the “wicked” from “his way” (Is. 55:7) will deliver his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins (Ezek. 3:19, 21). So, Orthodox Christians, “stand in the faith, take courage, be strong” (1 Cor. 16:13). May the merciful Lord help you in this, may you be like lamps burning in your country, showing everyone the right path. Amen. in the village Landekhe, Gorokhovetsky district 18. General warnings against temptations in matters of faith, life and piety It is not the first city that I enter my real train, but in your first city I meet complete cordiality, dissolved in the simplicity of faith and unconstrained sincerity. The abundance of consolation from this permits my tongue to praise you and wish you well. According to the breadth of your love, may the Lord expand His generous hands over you and fill you with every good thing - may he bless your homes, and your children, and all the works of your hands, and may he ward off any misfortune that could disturb your peace and your contentment. I would like to attach to this prayer an indication of ways to strengthen the blessing of God resting on you, if I did not know that they are not unknown to you and are not part of all the orders of your life. It would not be out of place, however, and at the same time I find it necessary to tell you in the language of an ordinary proverb: if you have, beware of losing what you have. The Apostle Paul once assured: “Now... is our near salvation” (Rom. 13:11). And with the course of current events among us, the assurance is pressing into our thoughts - that now the closest thing to us is fear for salvation. Then it seemed to be given into our hands, but now, even reluctantly, you will meet many who are trying to snatch it out of our hands. “Take heed how dangerously you walk... unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, for the days of evil are” (Eph. 5:15-16). The days of this age have always been evil and will remain so, but isn’t our age more evil than all others and doesn’t it therefore require more wisdom from us in order to redeem this dangerous time, turning opposition to it into the purchase of salvation. Our faith, life, and piety are all surrounded by temptations. On the one hand, ignorance, which has turned the letter into dogma, expands its area; on the other hand, falsely directed enlightenment, which does not want to know even Divine words, corrupts minds, seducing them with the ghost of truth. The enemy of light and goodness acts from two opposite ends and presses into the still healthy middle in order to shake it and prevail over it. Those who are in this middle must be told: “Whoever is closer to which end, understand the danger and walk cautiously among the nets being laid.” The fulcrum for action against superstition is the position: “No one knows God’s message, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). A point of support for action against ignorant false faith: avoid the “section” (Phil. 3:2), do not fall away from the unity of faith, and in the community of the Orthodox confession and those who profess it, learn to find the truth. Such are the dangers to faith. But he who is pure and firm in faith encounters other dangers where he must walk by faith. Customs come to us from everywhere and disturb the order of life, in which, not without instructions from above, our holy faith was clothed from the beginning. Beware of false shame to change the rules of faith, in favor of the shaky and changeable rules of the world. Methods of seemingly innocent pleasures are introduced, which, however, as if on a slippery slope, can easily push into the ditch of sin and passion. Be careful here of indiscriminate passion, so as not to stain your pure soul and immaculate conscience. And there - sometimes too much calculation, sometimes indiscretion, sometimes a fleeting fashion, sometimes an ever-difficult attachment to what was once established, sometimes a whim, sometimes an irresistible need, sometimes an attractive affection, sometimes a repulsive hostility, representing a kind of opposites, in the face of which good workers, perhaps, need to be constantly reminded: “Beware how dangerously you walk” (Eph. 5:15). These are dangers to living by faith. To avoid all of them, there is one rule: “Weigh the commandments? Do not deviate from the commandments, even if you have to die for it.” And the spirit of piety - multi-moving and varied, nourished by faith and life and mutually nourishing them and sharing their dangers with them, in itself no less requires attentive observation. There are many manifestations of it, many deviations in it from the truth in all its forms! One is captivated by the more visible side, the other is carried away by the more invisible and internal. Both are saving in connection; but neither one nor the other leads to goodness with exclusivity, giving rise either to empty holiness or to dreamy detachment. In these cases, considerable labor is often deprived of all fruit and due retribution. To avoid this disaster, there is one law: “Walk in the middle and you will avoid danger.” So be careful everywhere! The bright type of saving behavior is composed of faith and works, of internal and external life. Falling from the heights of faith into life and moving from the external to the internal, its movements, intertwined, form a cross, which from above brings a sanctifying and strengthening blessing and fruitfully expands the circle of everyone’s life. And this is what forever strengthens the favor of the Heavenly Father, who gives inner bliss and outer contentment. Keep the structure of your life in this form, and God, rich in mercy, will be with you. And when God is with you, everything will be yours - both earthly and heavenly. “You are Christ’s,” says the Apostle, “but Christ is God. With Him and in Him you become “a holy tongue... a chosen race... a people of renewal” (1 Pet. 2:9).” You are beloved to God and, as His own, you are the subject of His closest care, which is never in vain. May this benevolent eye of God's Providence remain firmly established over you. Amen. 19. True knowledge of Christianity is gleaned from Christian life I haven’t had the consolation of talking to you for a long time. I find it difficult to choose a subject and don’t know what to talk about. Whatever I decide to talk about, the thought comes that you know, and cuts off the desire, because talking about what is known is only annoying. Figure out for yourself what I would tell you about that you didn’t know. You know about the Holy Trinity. You know about the creation and Providence of God. You know about the Incarnation of God the Word, His teaching, miracles, death on the cross, Resurrection, Ascension and the accomplishment of all this in our salvation. You know about the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, about their preaching of the Gospel to all creation, about the founding of the Holy Church of God on earth and the establishment in it of everything necessary for our salvation. You also know that a person seeking salvation must wholeheartedly believe in the Lord and His holy teaching and fulfill His holy commandments, he must accept the grace of God through the Holy Sacraments, performed in the Holy Church by the legal priesthood, he must also fulfill all the prayerful, sanctifying and cleansing statutes of the Church - fasting, fasting, confessing and receiving communion, he must engage in other feats of self-sacrifice, in the struggle with “passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24), with full confidence that today or tomorrow death will come and, taking us from here, will deliver us from the hardships of life here, placing us in another, endless life - bright or dark, depending on our merits. You know all this: what can we say about it? Take today's Gospel (Matthew 14:22-34). Are there lessons in it that you wouldn't know? This Gospel tells how the Lord, after feeding five thousand with five loaves and two fish, sent the disciples alone to the other side of the sea, and He Himself went up the mountain to pray, how “in the fourth... watch of the night” He walked across the sea to the disciples, how the disciples were afraid and were calmed by Him, how the Apostle Peter walked along the waves, then, fearing the wind, began to drown, was taken out of the water by the Lord and brought into the ship, whereupon they all calmly landed on the shore. The Lord arranged this event in order to arouse and strengthen faith in His Divinity in the holy Apostles, who alone witnessed it. And it was also given to us in order to revive and strengthen our faith in the Divinity of the Savior, and at the same time in order to present to us a general outline of our life according to faith in the Lord and to give a lesson on how to behave in it. Both in this event, and in the Christian life of each of us, the Lord first saturates us with grace in Baptism and Confirmation or in Repentance and Communion, if someone, after moving away from the Lord through sins, turns to Him again; then, those thus saturated with grace, he releases into the sea of ​​life - alone, and here we are “swept” (Eph. 4:14) by the wind of internal passions and waves of external oppositions, ready to divert the ship of our life from the direct direction to the desired shore - safe, serene and calm in the Lord of the Future Life. It is difficult to live in constant struggle. A tired fighter often thinks that he is alone, left to himself, abandoned even by the Lord; and the Lord is near and at the right time immediately reveals Himself to him, appears at first unclearly, as if in a ghost, and then is clearly seen and clearly speaks to his heart an inspiring and comforting word: “Be of good cheer, I am, do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27). Most of the topics calm down completely, and, having received the Lord into their ship, they flow as usual. And another, in a fit of jealousy, plunges himself into the most striking experiences of devotion to God, remains calm while the heat is there, but then cools down and begins to plunge into relaxation and hopelessness and is saved only by the special help of the right hand of God. This is our life! Everyone live as God commanded: do not take upon yourself what is higher than you, but endure trials and troubles. The Lord is about to come, and when I “get into His ship”, the wind will cease (Matthew 8:23,26). This is what the current Gospel leads to: but who doesn’t know this? The words are different, but the thoughts have long been known. Let us now take the current Apostle (1 Cor. 3:10-18). Is there anything in it that you don't know? In the apostolic reading, the holy Apostle Paul depicts the work of our salvation under the guise of a building. The foundation of the building is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, which is also the scale. “No one can lay other foundations...,” he says, “than the one that lies, even Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). When the foundation has been laid—strong faith in the Lord—then everyone must see how to build the building of salvation on it. “Let every one... take heed how he edifies” (1 Cor. 3:10). For one can “edify” with it “gold, silver, honest stone,” and another can use “wood, hay, reeds” (1 Cor. 3:12). That is, some do things that are truly valuable and lasting, and others do things that are not valuable and durable, so that when the fire of the universal Judgment comes, some people’s works will burn up and nothing will remain, only they themselves, while others’ works will not burn up. “Everyone’s work, as it is, will be tempted by fire. And if his work endures, he will receive a reward again; but his work will be burned, it will be lost, and he himself will be saved as by fire” (1 Cor. 3:13-15). That is, whose work remains, he will receive a reward, and whose work is burned, he will receive nothing, but he himself will be saved - but he himself will not be burned, but will remain intact, only in fire for all eternity, as St. Chrysostom interprets. The question now is: which of these things are like “gold, silver” and “honest stone”, and which are like “firewood, hay”, brushwood! “Firewood, hay”, brushwood - this is the life of those who outwardly only adhere to Christian orders, but do not care about the Christian mood of their hearts. “Gold”, “silver, honest stone” is the life of those who are not only Christians outwardly, but also inwardly - who, that is, thoughts, feelings and dispositions within themselves form and preserve truly Christian ones, as the Lord commanded. From here I would tell you: “The Lord has given you the grace of faith; look, be tuned inwardly to faith. Do not stop at just external correction of behavior, but let a “pure heart” be built up in you, and a “right spirit” be renewed “in your bellies” (Ps. 50:12).” But who doesn’t know all this?! Thus, you know what is contained in the current Gospel, and what is contained in the current Apostle. And this is not only about the current ones, but about every other Gospel and every other Apostle you can say. You know everything, so instead of long teachings and instructions, all that remains for you is to say one word from the Lord: “This is the news, blessed is it if you do” (John 13:17). That is: you know - then live as you know. You know that you must be humble, meek, peace-loving, pure, patient, zealous for good deeds, etc. - and be like that. You know, that you need to take your “treasure” “in heaven” and place your “heart” there (Matthew 6:20-21), without being bound by earth and earthly things, do so and do everything you know. Christianity is not a teaching without end. His teaching is short, and life according to him has no end. And in everyday affairs: someone learns something and begins to act like an expert, and not everything is learning and learning. Likewise, in Christianity, not everything is to be learned—you have to live. Life here is real science. As soon as someone begins to live like a Christian, only then will Christianity begin to enter into him, only then will he begin to recognize it and its power. And it is impossible to know Christianity in any other way than actively. And moreover, in such a way that only through this activity are all the secrets of Christian knowledge, or the entire area of ​​its spiritual objects, revealed to consciousness - although Christians care not about knowledge, but about life - knowledge itself comes as an appendage. The Christian life is like climbing a mountain. The one who climbs the mountain actually works to ascend; but at the same time, as he ascends, more and more objects are revealed to him, for his horizons become wider and wider. So it is in Christianity: the more one succeeds in living according to it, the larger and larger range of spiritual objects becomes known to his mind and consciousness. A true sage is only one who is perfect in Christian life. Without life you will not understand anything. What they know about Christianity with the mind without life is not at all what it is in reality. Just as the taste of food is known by tasting it, and not by listening to a story about this taste, so Christianity is truly known through living according to it. So, brothers, even if you know everything, but if you also begin to live according to what you know, then your mind will open wide and you will become wiser than all the wise men. Then there will be no need to address you with teachings, and we would gather here only for praise and thanksgiving, just as our holy divine service is not organized at all for teachings, but for the outpouring of holy feelings before the face of God, the Father of us all. It’s true, its founders were all holy and did not demand, but who teaches them. The Gospel and the Apostle were read. Through life, the enlightened and strengthened mind of everyone comprehended everything on its own and thereby fed and nourished its entire spiritual nature. May the Lord grant us all to achieve this. Amen. on the 9th Sunday after Pentecost 20. Have you joined the Church? Stick to the Church - there is no other salvation (Monday of the 11th week. Ev. Mark 1, 9–15) Today's Gospel commemorates the fact that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ began to preach for the first time. He then said this: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is drawing near: repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). The Kingdom of God, or the Holy Church of God, in which the Lord reigns as the Head, Lawgiver and Judge, was only then established. The Lord had not yet taught all His teachings, had not yet performed miracles, had not yet suffered death on the cross for the sake of our Redemption, had not yet risen, ascended into Heaven and sent down the Holy Spirit, the holy Apostles, endowed with power from above, had not yet proclaimed the sermon to the universe, had not gathered believers from all languages ​​and had not established everything necessary for salvation and for the organization of the lives of those being saved. All this was promised, but was not yet fulfilled - it was hoped for, but was not visible in reality. The time has only come for this to be fulfilled. That is why the Lord said: “The Kingdom has come, enter it through the door of repentance and faith” (Mark 1:15). And all who heeded this call believed, repented, were baptized and became sons of the Kingdom. This is how the Lord called, and after the descent of the Holy Spirit, this is how the holy Apostles called. And the Kingdom of God, or the Holy Church of God, spread and embraced the entire universe. Finally, it reached us, the Russians. Our ancestors heeded the calling of God, believed and, along with others, became sons of the Church of God, sons of the Kingdom. It is for their sake that we are now born in the Church, and grow, and are brought up in it. What should we say now? When there was no Kingdom or Church yet, the Lord said: “Go into it,” in order to form it. And now, when the Church, or the Kingdom of God, is full and blooming, what should we say to its members? It should be said not: “go to the Kingdom,” but “hold on to the Kingdom,” or “keep yourself in the Kingdom of God, or in the Holy Church of God.” Keep yourself in the Kingdom, or in the Holy Church, so that you yourself do not somehow fall away from it. Hold on to the Kingdom, so as not to be thrown out of it by the judgment of the King of this Kingdom. There is nothing more necessary for us than to keep ourselves in the Holy Church, and nothing is more valuable than this. Whoever is in the True Church is delivered from sin, curse and death, he is a son and heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, to him belong all the gifts of grace here and all the blessings of the inheritance in Heaven. So there is something to take care of so as not to fall away from the Holy Church. Whoever falls away is deprived of all these invaluable benefits and destroys his soul. In the Holy Church, and only in her alone, everything is arranged for our salvation, which is why those who fall away from it do not have anything to save themselves with. For salvation you need grace: where can you get it outside the Church? Grace is given through the Holy Sacraments, and the Sacraments are kept in the Holy Church. To perform the Sacraments, a priesthood is needed, and the true priesthood exists only in the Church. It became that whoever is outside the Church is without the priesthood, without the Sacraments and without grace. How can he save his soul?! So he dies outside the Church. Be careful not to separate yourself from the Church, and do not listen to others who begin to deviate from it. Whether the priests come or the non-priests, drive them away. These Netovites, Fedoseevites, Spasovites, Beglopopovtsy (Old Believer sects), Austrians and others are the essence of a bunch of dead. They themselves die and drag others into destruction. I hear that although there are many of you, you all keep the pure holy faith and there is not a single schismatic among you. And may the Lord protect you from that plague. Watch out! And the blessing of the Lord will be on you and on all the works of your hands. And if someone like this comes across among you, all of you - in peace - tell him: “Either be at one with us in the Holy Church, or go wherever you want, and do not dishonor our pure Christian society.” But keeping oneself strictly in the Holy Church should not be limited to this alone. Those who belong to the Church as its members must also live according to its spirit. By grace-filled rebirth we are all children of God. “If children, then heirs” (Rom. 8:17), says the Apostle. But the greater the promise, the more caution must be taken so as not to lose it. The son is the father’s heir, but if he begins to live badly and offends the father, the father often deprives him of the inheritance. Our Heavenly Father can do the same to us if we anger Him by living a life unworthy of His sonship. The Apostle says: “Let you have a Father in Heaven; but since this Father will judge each of you “unfeignedly” according to your works, work out your salvation “with fear and trembling” (1 Peter 1:17). Christians are truly the sons of the Kingdom. Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven: but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness" (Matthew 8:11-12). This bitter fate will also be experienced by all those who are considered only Christians, and do not care about being real Christians, who, having hoped that they belong to the Holy Church and are registered among the Orthodox, then begin to live as they live, without denying themselves any desire, no matter how bad it may be. Such, when the Judgment comes, will not be justified, but will be condemned and expelled into “utter darkness,” where there is “crying and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). Remembering this, brethren, do not be negligent, but “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12), as the Apostle commanded, taking all care to appear pure and blameless on the day “when God is to judge the secret of men” (Rom. 2:16). In your life here, among your activities, I think it will not be difficult for you to escape. From morning to evening you are at work, there is no idle time and you have no time to do bad things. All you have to do is do your job as it should, as assigned and as promised. Then - do not offend each other, do not take what belongs to others, do not envy, do not quarrel or curse, live in peace, help each other - with advice and deeds when necessary. Perform your prayers in the morning and evening as required, go to church on Sundays and holidays, and spend these days, both in church and at home, reverently and piously - not in drinking and partying, but either read holy books, or talk about Divine things, or admonish each other about those who do not understand something. Flee all kinds of excesses and lewdness, keeping yourself clean from carnal defilements. During fasting, fast, confess and receive communion, whoever is able - and not just once, and not only during Great Lent, but also during others. I will give you what commandments the holy Apostle Paul taught to the Ephesians, and through them to all Christians. Writing a message to them, he teaches them this way. “Behold,” he says, “you have come to know Christ: you have believed and entered the Church. See, be true Christians, true members of the Holy Church, namely: “putting aside lies, speak the truth to everyone who is sincere,” do not be angry, and if you are angry, be at peace quickly: “let not the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:25-26). He who stole, let him stop stealing, and “more than that, let him labor, doing good with his own hands, so that he may give alms to those who ask.” “Let not every word that is rotten come out of your mouth: but this is indeed good for the building of faith... Let all sorrow, and anger, and rage, and crying, and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice. Be kind and merciful to one another, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:28–29, 31–32). “Fornication, and all uncleanness, and covetousness below, let them be called among you... and foul language, and blasphemies, or blasphemies” (Eph. 5:3-4). “Do not get drunk with wine, in which there is fornication: but rather be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, making melody and singing in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18-19) instead of shameful songs. “Wives, submit to your husbands... Husbands, love your wives” (Eph. 5:22,25). “Children, listen to your parents about the Lord... And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and teaching of the Lord” (Eph. 6:1,4). Let those who go to work listen to “their masters... in simplicity of heart... like Christ: not working before their eyes, like people-pleasers, but like the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul: serving with prudence as the Lord, and not like a man: knowing, like everyone who does good, this will receive from the Lord" (Eph. 6:5-8)." Here is your path to salvation! It’s true, you know him, and you try to live no differently. I cited these words of the Apostle in order to renew in your memory everything how you should act, and so that everyone, having remembered this, looked over his life and, what is missing in it, corrected it, repenting before the Lord about all the omissions - large and small - and about all the sins with which he has ever offended our Lord and Master. You know the commandments, try to fulfill them. If you have sinned, like people, hurry to repent; But don’t become stubborn in sins, for this is Satan’s work and leads to despair. May the merciful Lord keep you in His Holy Church as true Christians, zealots of good deeds, with whom, appearing before the Lord at the Judgment, may you all become heirs of the Eternal Kingdom with all the saints. Amen. in the church of Gusevsky plant 21. Cling to the Church, live in its spirit - and you will be saved, but turn away your ears from flattering teachers (Tuesday of the 11th week. Apostle 2 Cor. 5, 15–21) In the present Apostle (2 Cor. 5:15-20) it was read, as you have heard, about how God in Christ Jesus reconciled the world to Himself and entrusted the word of this reconciliation to the Apostles, and how the holy Apostles, having accepted such an assignment, went everywhere and begged everyone to be reconciled with God, saying: “We pray for Christ, as we pray to God, we pray for Christ: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). This word of reconciliation from the Apostles passed on to their successors and to all the servants of God and is heard everywhere in the Holy Church of God. I have a word about him for you today, brethren. Having listened to our enemy and God’s in our ancestors, we all became enemies of God. But God, despite this, did not abandon us, but showed great concern for us, sending His Only Begotten Son to save us, Who reconciled us with God by death on the cross and called everyone to participate in this reconciliation. The essential condition for reconciliation was a complete change in the previous way of thoughts and feelings, dispositions and hopes, words and deeds. About this, announcing the converts for the first time, the Apostles said that for a time God “left... tongues to walk” in the wills of their hearts (Acts 14:16). Now he “commands... repent of everyone everywhere” (Acts 17:30), that is, to leave the previous errors and accept the true dogmas brought by the Lord to earth, to leave lusts and passions and take up the good yoke of the holy commandments of the Lord, to abandon the former wicked priesthood and accept the Holy Sacraments, which truly bestow God's grace, and all the rites of sanctification and prayer, which warm that grace, to leave behind the godless priests and submit to the true shepherd, acting on behalf of the One Shepherd of all and according to His leadership. Those who heeded such a calling of the holy Apostles became new in all parts and in all respects, new not out of arbitrariness and passion for newness, but at the direction of the Lord Himself, to please Him, so that, becoming new, they at the same time became God’s, appropriated to God, living according to God. Briefly, this one true path of salvation and reconciliation with God can be depicted this way: having assimilated the truths of the Gospel and received Divine powers through the Holy Sacraments, live according to the holy commandments, under the guidance of the shepherds indicated by God, and you will be reconciled with God. God demanded this through the holy Apostles, and after the Apostles he demands through their successors, so that the indicated traits became immutable in Christian life and in Christians who live piously, namely: to listen to the guidance of legitimate shepherds, to accept the Holy Sacraments and all the sanctification and prayer rites of the church, to fulfill the commandments of God to the best of their ability and to firmly believe in all the revealed teachings. This is how it has always been, and this is how it is now. There is nothing else that pastors now demand from their flock, and they demand not from themselves, but in the spirit of the True Church, of which they are slaves and servants. And whoever listens to them according to all the listed instructions is at peace with God, he is under His favor, he is saved. Thanks be to the Lord, who has so favored us and placed us in such a saving order. Thanks be to the Lord, who has established the saving Church and has made us worthy to be its members. But here is our grief! The enemy of truth and goodness is not at peace and is dissatisfied with the fact that we are protected by such a reliable stronghold. Why, both in the time of the Apostles, and now, does he raise up vain talkers, deceived by their minds, opposed to sound teaching, who secretly enter houses and “corrupt, doing things that are not proper,” being themselves “abominable and disobedient and unskilled in every good work” (Titus 1:11, 16). I mean schismatics and schismatics, who travel along dark paths almost everywhere and teach what they themselves do not understand. Some old girl of the Pomeranian (Old Believer) sect or Bolshak, who barely knows how to read, comes and begins to explain that there is no Church now, there are no Sacraments, there is no priesthood: everyone must be saved as you know. They listen to them and begin to shun the Holy Church. What they say is not marvelous, “bad things for the sake of profit” (Titus 1:11), as the Apostle pointed out, but that they are listened to, this cannot be marveled at. No Church, no Sacraments, no priesthood, no salvation? Where did all this go? Did the Only Begotten Son of God come and suffer death on the cross for nothing? Was it for nothing that Heaven moved after the Lord for our salvation? Did the Holy Spirit descend for nothing and reveal such wondrous powers and signs? Did the martyrs suffer for nothing, did the saints struggle for nothing? As if all this served no purpose and could not save the Church, whose Head is Christ, who made the promise to abide with her (Matthew 28:20)?! O blindness and wickedness! Look what is happening in the holy city of Jerusalem and all of Palestine, in Alexandria and Antioch, in Caesarea and the Churches of Asia Minor, in Cyprus and Hellas, in Constantinople, in Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldavia and Wallachia and throughout Russia! Everywhere there is the priesthood, everywhere the Sacraments, everywhere the presence of the power of God is clearly visible - a sign of God’s favor and conciliatory approach to us! As at the beginning, so now we hear the word of reconciliation and see the very power of it, which has invariably remained to this day, but they do not see or do not want to see this, because malice has blinded their eyes. Here are Saints Tikhon and Mitrofan of Voronezh, Saint Innocent of Irkutsk, Saint Demetrius of Rostov, who shone forth like the ancient saints, which Church did they belong to? To our Holy Orthodox Church. In our Holy Orthodox Church, many others have pleased God, although they were left hidden by God’s will. Isn’t this a clear sign that we have a Church-savior, with Sacraments that are powerful to sanctify, and a priesthood that is capable of leading, a Church that preserves the Divine faith and indicates godly orders of life, a Church that is the daughter of God, the bride of Christ, adorned with all goodness. We will love this Holy Orthodox Church, of which we are all members, brothers, with strong love, and we will lay down our lives for it, but we will not retreat from it—we will not listen to women’s schismatic fables. They lie, godless blasphemers, and only want to corrupt everyone, “they themselves are the servants of corruption” (2 Pet. 2:19). I deliberately brought this up in order to warn you. There seem to be few dissenters among you, but there are many around you, and among them there are deceiving spirits capable of darkening. I would like to think that you are firm and will prove yourself to be so. Citizens must be leaders of the villagers - both in the rules of life, and in words of wisdom, and in fidelity to faith. Let them look at your fidelity to the Holy Church and come to their senses. Not only is it not typical for you to succumb to misinterpretations and schismatic fables, on the contrary, you yourself must expose and convert them. Strengthen yourselves with mutual advice and indications of dangers. The schismatics have raised their heads, but they are deceiving themselves and want to deceive others, as if freedom was promised to their side. This lie and flattery will not last long. They still don’t know about these illegally spread rumors. They will find out and silence you. But while this happens, the inexperienced may be carried away and perish in alienation from the Church. This is what you need to be careful of. Beware yourself and beware of others, and when you notice a wavering soul, bring it to reason and keep it in the bosom of the Holy Church. It will be like snatching a sheep from the jaws of a wolf. May the Lord protect your city from every attack (attack) by unclean and nasty women’s schismatic fables - and may you shine in faith and piety, as a model for everyone around you and as admonition and strengthening for all the weak! Amen. 22. Prosperity from the blessing of God given for faith and piety; Since unbelief and schism destroy faith and piety, we must beware of them in every possible way We now celebrate the transfer of the relics of the holy blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky and celebrate the namesake of our most pious sovereign, Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich. The transfer of the relics took place from our city of Vladimir. But we don’t complain. The holy, noble Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky laid his relics at the foundation of the reigning city, in order to be there the closest assistant to our kings, admonishing them for all good and helping to accomplish it. There his relics became the common property of all of Russia and bear the most abundant fruit, attracting both the thoughts and the hearts of the faithful children of the entire fatherland - and thereby uniting souls at the foot of the throne itself. Taking our thoughts there, we - now even more so - will pray that he may not cease to be the leader and supporter of his namesake pious sovereign, our emperor. Our most pious sovereign needs special help from above, for he is undertaking much more to do. And whoever does a lot needs both guiding admonition and strengthening strength! Pray harder. But I will tell you that neither the sovereign’s concerns, nor the Heavenly help itself will bring the desired good to our fatherland, if we ourselves do not contribute to the sovereign’s concerns for us and do not make ourselves worthy of Heavenly guidance, through humble submission to the order established by God on earth, embracing the labors of the mind and the deeds of life. Hear why this is so! The Emperor is ready to do everything for our good. But what will he succeed in if we resist at every step? He leads, but you need to give him a hand. How will a military leader win if his army does not move at his command? How can a builder build anything when the workers do not follow his instructions? The same is true in government life. An order or instruction comes from the sovereign: how will it bear fruit if no one acts on it? We must enter into its spirit and, submitting to it completely, be inspired by zeal for its fulfillment. When everyone is tuned in like this, then everyone becomes like one - one soul, the same movements of all. Then it will be easy for the sovereign to give orders, and the matter itself will be completed more successfully and blamelessly. The Emperor wants the labors of our hands not to weaken; for this purpose he writes laws, gives instructions, and gives everyone room to act. But we must act ourselves according to his suggestions. Everyone needs to think about their own and the common good and take care to ensure that it prospers. And then both private and general thoughts will be formed and, converging in one, form one universal thinking and concern for the good; and from here will come common, unanimous efforts, which will make of all of us, as it were, one anthill, where activity is in full swing, and one thing, common to all, is being built. So the Emperor wants enlightenment to spread everywhere through the education of children - boys and girls - and for institutions and orders to be established everywhere to alleviate the lot of the suffering. Where they listened to this, literacy began to be accepted and societies began to be established to help the poor - hospitals, almshouses. Such places bloom with prosperity and happiness. Here, too, I see a school for girls and a hospital. God bless these institutions. But in other places this has not yet been accepted. Didn't it work? There is no good that is brought by this. So in everything we must be diligently attentive and obedient to the instructions and orders of our father who cares for us, so that the happiness of each and every one will increase and stand firmly. But this alone is not enough. It is not only the intentions of the sovereign that must be taken into account, but even more so the intentions of God. For everything comes from God, and apart from Him you cannot do a single good deed. How does it mean to enter into God’s intentions? God's intention for us is one: that we all be saved in our Lord Jesus Christ, through the Holy Church established by Him on earth. Whoever fulfills this intention reveals himself to be a sincere believer and pious person. After this, we can say that the one who succeeds in faith and piety enters into the intentions of God. From here I say: work to establish your happiness and thereby contribute to the prosperity of the entire fatherland, but moreover, succeed and be firm in faith and piety, for without these latter the former is unreliable. Faith and piety are the foundation of the people's well-being - the most solid and unshakable. Why is this so? Because they attract God's blessing. And where God’s blessing is, there is every good and abundance. When God bless, where does everything come from! And when there is no blessing from God, a person works and works and everything is not for the future. Jacob went to Mesopotamia with one staff, and from there he returned with twelve sons, with male and female servants, and with a multitude of all kinds of livestock. Why? Because God blessed him. What happened to Cain? “Wailing and shaking” (Gen. 4:12) he ran across the face of the earth, afraid that someone would kill him. Why? Because God took His blessing from him. So in every matter, God’s blessing multiplies the good and gives it strength. How can one earn God's blessing? Faith and piety. Will God bless the wicked and unbelieving? David was faithful to God and God said to him: “You have been faithful to Me and I will bless you and your house, and your sons will sit on your throne forever” (Ps. 131:12). It became, the increase of faith and piety is the attraction of the greatest blessing from above, and the reduction of faith and piety is a reduction of blessing, and the reduction of blessing is an undermining of prosperity. And so it seems to us that the unbeliever and the wicked only destroy himself, but in reality it turns out to be more: he harms the entire body of the people. The distributor of unbelief and wickedness is not only an enemy to himself, but an enemy to the fatherland. That is why we all have a duty to be believers and pious, not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of the integrity and firmness of our entire state. Don't be surprised that I talk so much about this. There was a time when it would have seemed strange to convince people of this, because everyone was already pious and sincere believers. And now - thanks be to the Lord - there are many more like this. But there are many whose faith is weakening and their piety is growing cold. And to our grief, this evil is growing and spreading more and more - ungodly opinions enter and undermine faith, and by undermining faith, they spoil piety. For us, this ulcer appeared in two forms: in the form of unbelief - from the wrong direction of mental education, and in the form of schism - from gross ignorance of what the main matter of salvation is. This is the destruction of the upper, educated class, and this is the common people. Empty ideas contrary to faith are disseminated through the press, mostly covertly, and through mutual communication and conversations. Beware of this poison, all who read, and do not read indiscriminately. Equally, accept what you hear indiscriminately and do not get carried away by the appearance of much learning, often tawdry. But just as taste distinguishes food, so let your ear distinguish between the true and the false. Have the word of God as your standard, and closer the Creed. Here is God's truth and God's mind. What is the human mind and human opinions compared to it?! The split is spread by old girls, often depraved, and men, sometimes vagabonds, but always those who do not want to work and have decided to earn their bread through false priesthood and live at the expense of ordinary people. All of them have barely learned to read and can barely wander through a book, but are trying to become teachers. They shout: “Here is the old faith, here is the fatherly faith,” but don’t ask if they have seen the books of the Holy Fathers and read at least one. And their faith is newly invented, and the holy fathers did not even think about such faith. What holy father believed faith in his mustache and beard, in his fingers and in the ends of the cross, in old icons and books, or in how many times to say “Alleluia”, how many prosphoras to have at mass, how to walk - with the sun or against the sun? None. They placed saving faith in the holy dogmas, in the commandments, in the Holy Sacraments and in the Church with the priesthood; and this is all the wisdom of men, characteristic of blind ignoramuses. Don't listen to them and don't take them into your eyes. They have little use in cities. Here everyone is smarter than them and will immediately understand their nonsense, and in the villages, where someone who can read is already considered a great sage, how many people are confused by them. We need to regret this, and not only regret it, but also take care that these wolves do not devour the meek sheep of Christ. You, city dwellers, must be leaders of the villagers, and whether you see them here or visit villages and towns yourself, your duty is to warn and admonish when you see that there is a danger to anyone from schismatics. You yourself, I think, are firm, and there is no point in persuading you so as not to be tempted by a schism. This is what the Emperor has thought about. He sees that unbelief and schism are destructive and that it is easier for you to protect yourself from them mutually, and he makes orders that brotherhoods be formed everywhere, for other good purposes and in defense of faith from unbelief and schism. When the provisions about this reach you, hurry up to establish such a brotherhood, and God grant you such zeal that not only among you, but so that in your entire district there will not be a single schismatic and unbeliever left. Oh, if only this would come true! It came true not only in your district, but throughout our entire province and throughout Russia! Then we would have a truly blessed celebration! Let us pray about this, praying now for the Emperor and his blessed kingdom. Amen. 23. The schismatics cannot fulfill the conditions of salvation, and what they wanted to replace what was missing has no power or value. I have long been looking for an opportunity to talk with people who are alien to the Holy Church - our only savior - in order to see how they think about what, and thus use it to admonish them. Yesterday we talked for a long time. Their darkened unbelief and dark reluctance to see the power of salvation where the Lord has concluded it is worthy of pity. Listen, feel sorry for them and pray, so that those who are blind in mind will come to their senses and those who are stubborn in heart will be softened. They themselves see that they lack much that constitutes an essential condition for salvation - they lack the priesthood and the Sacraments, without which it is impossible for the Church to exist and salvation to be accomplished. They say that the Church is where the right dogmas are kept. This is not true in general, and even more so in relation to them. This is generally incorrect, because the Church contains not only dogmas, but also other objects without which it cannot exist. Namely: the Lord, having established the Church through the holy Apostles, commanded that all its members, firstly, should contain dogmas, or sound teaching about everything; secondly, they fulfilled the commandments; thirdly, they received the Sacraments and, fourthly, they submitted to the legal priesthood. So, not one, but four points constitute the essence of the Church and the work of salvation. That it is necessary to maintain sound teaching and fulfill the commandments is self-evident to everyone. Where is the lie and sin, what salvation is there. But in order to fulfill the commandments and live pleasing to God, this requires Heavenly grace; grace is not given for free. It cannot be received otherwise than through the Holy Sacraments: the Lord has already determined so. And to perform the Sacraments, the priesthood is necessary. So, all four points are necessary. Sound doctrine shows how one should live. Whoever begins to care about living holy and virtuously will feel the need for Heavenly help, or grace, and to receive it must resort to the Sacraments. He will perform the Sacrament, direct the execution of the commandments, and teach sound doctrine to the priesthood. So the whole matter of salvation can be expressed this way: maintain sound, apostolic and patristic teaching and, receiving grace through the Holy Sacraments, live according to the commandments of the Lord, under the guidance of the lawful shepherds of the Church, and you will be saved. He who goes through all this is saved. And in such a society all this works, salvation is arranged there, that society is being saved and saving, it is the True Church of Christ. And where there is not at least one of those four, there is no salvation, there is no Church. The Pomeranians, and even the priests, do not have a priesthood; no priesthood, no celebration of the Sacraments; no Sacraments, no grace; no grace, no salvation, no Church. For those only are saved who are in the Church; Outside the Church, like outside Noah’s ark, there is no salvation. They themselves see that they lack what is essential to the cause of salvation, namely: the priesthood and the Sacraments; but they reassure themselves with the words that “we maintain the dogmas of the ancient fathers, perhaps we will be saved with them alone.” Listen, what are these “ancient fatherly” dogmas? This is a two-fingered addition, double “hallelujah”, walking on the sun, not shaving your mustache and beard, speaking the name of the Lord Savior in a corrupt way – “Jesus”. But look through all the holy fathers and see if there is at least one who would consider these petty things to be dogmas? Not a single one. Do they have any hint that salvation depends on these things? None! Why are they called “ancient fathers”? Because they haven’t read the holy fathers, but they know that they should listen to the holy fathers. Although they know nothing, they think that by referring to the holy fathers they will justify themselves and win the case. The Creed tells us how to recognize the Holy Church. “I believe...,” he says, “in one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.” These are the signs of the True Church! Unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity. Look, do they have all these signs? There is nothing! There is no “unity”, because everyone has diverged into different thoughts and does not communicate with one another. There is no “holiness”, for without grace what is holiness? Only uncleanness and sin. There is no “conciliarity”, because they abandoned the conciliar Rules and did not listen to the Council of Patriarchs, which represented the Universal Church. There is no “apostleship”, because you can’t get them further than Avvakum and Nikita the Pustosvyat and others like them, and not only to the Apostles, but to our saints - Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip. All of them and their teachings, one might say, were born yesterday. This is how they do not have the signs of the True Church indicated in the Creed, they invented others. They don’t say: “Where the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is, there is the True Church,” but what do they say? “Where there are two fingers, and double hallelujahs, and the corrupted name of the Savior - “Jesus” - there is the Church”: and they changed the truth into misinterpretation. They say that these are their “ancient fatherly” dogmas. What kind of “ancient fathers” are these? They are all new, and the ancient fathers did not know about them at all. This is how it was: immediately after the Baptism of our forefathers, under the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the sacred books from the Greeks in the Slavic translation were accepted, and when anyone needed them, he hired copyists, and they copied them. While we had Greek metropolitans, they, knowing both Greek and Slavic languages ​​well and strictly watching the scribes, immediately corrected mistakes if they noticed. But when the Greeks ceased to be metropolitans among us, the Russians, not knowing the Greek language, could not notice the mistakes. So the books began to deteriorate. This began about a hundred and fifty years before Patriarch Nikon, and the books became more and more deteriorated. One omitted one “hallelujah” out of three, and the other did not dare to add it - so they began to write “hallelujah” twice. The name of the Lord - Jesus - was written “Isa.”, but was still pronounced “Jesus”. Not knowing the Greek language from which this word was taken, they began to pronounce “Jesus”, and then write “Jesus” in all letters. You should have asked the Greeks. But they didn't ask. Someone thought that it was better to cross himself with two fingers, and he put it in the books. So one introduced one error into the books, another another; one made one increase, the other another. As it was written, they began to print it later. Although the printers were ordered to correct the books, but as they corrected them according to already damaged books, and more according to their own intelligence, they made even more mistakes and additions. By the time of Patriarch Nikon there were so many of these errors and additions that the true teaching began to be damaged. Noticing this, Patriarch Nikon entered into council with all the Patriarchs, and everyone unanimously ordered the Council to correct the books not according to their own intelligence and not according to Russian books, but according to the ancient Greek ones, of which a great many were brought then of all kinds. When the books were corrected in this order, then they all became as they were from the beginning, from the time of Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles. All new additions and errors have been thrown out, and everything has been put back as it should be and as it was in the beginning. So Patriarch Nikon did not update the sacred books, but returned to the old ones. Still, I discarded the novelty. These novelties remained with the schismatics and constituted their “ancient fatherly” dogmas, as they say. Judge for yourself: what kind of ancient fathers are these? "Ancient Fathers"! They will only be, if we count from us, two or three hundred years old. And these are ancient! The ancients, as the Apostles decreed, we support, but with them everything is new. And they are not Old Believers, but New Believers. That's how you count them. They themselves see this partly. And whoever does not see can see. Take old written and old printed books and compare them, and you will see that we are absolutely right, and they are all to blame. Oh, watch out, brothers! The work of salvation is a great work, the primary work. What's worse is how the soul will perish. But the schismatics have no salvation for her. For they do not have the priesthood and the Sacraments. One part of the schismatics was afraid of this and began to seek the priesthood. For a long time they accepted fugitive priests, and then some Austrian schismatics found themselves a fugitive bishop - a banned one. Ours also borrowed from them, giving a lot of money. They think that they have found the true priesthood through this bishop, but it is not true. It’s all the same – he’s a runaway. Although he is a bishop, he is the same as a pope, and he is also under oath. He was forbidden, and therefore had no active grace; did not have grace - he could not communicate it to others. And even though he made many bishops and priests on his own behalf, all these are just names without real power, just flattery and nasty profitability. What a pitiful and destructive blindness! The schismatics have lost the True Church and are wandering. The enemy has blinded their eyes. Why did they have to look so far? Before their eyes they have the True Holy Orthodox Church, but they do not see. There is a True Church, in which everything is there - there is sound teaching and the commandments of the Lord, there are the Sacraments and the priesthood. The blind will find it by groping, but they do not see. On! Here it is, the Holy Orthodox Church - one that has the power to save its obedient children and raise them to glorification. Look, the saints became famous in it - Tikhon, Mitrofan, Innocent and Demetrius of Rostov. And Saint Demetrius still argued and denounced them, the schismatics. Glorifying his relics with incorruption, God seems to be saying to all of them: “Look, he denounced you, and I glorify him with the incorruptibility of his relics, precisely so that you could even see with your eyes that he was telling the truth.” Orthodox Christians, bring all this to your memory more often, and thereby affirm your faith, and denounce schismatics. The blessed Christians acted more prudently. Knowing that without the priesthood there is no salvation and that the true priesthood is nowhere to be found, as in the True Church of Christ, they turned to the right Church and asked for priests for themselves. The priests perform the holy Sacraments with them, and they had the commandments and dogmas before. So their image of salvation became not hopeless. For they began to have everything they needed for salvation. So now, if anyone does not want to turn to the Orthodox Church, accept the same faith, and do not destroy souls outside of any communion with the Holy Church. This is the only thing I say to schismatics: but whoever goes to the Orthodox Church is not fit to convert to the one of the same faith. This means moving backwards, which is not appropriate. You, Orthodox Christians, bless God that you belong to the Church of God, that you are within its saving fence, and in every possible way guard against any tendency toward schism, which destroys souls! You are surrounded by schism: but take heart. All Christians are looking at you, hold on and show everyone that you know how to stand in the fight for the faith. God bless you! Amen. in the village Mstera, Vyaznikovsky district 24. Vladimir, as a provincial city, should be an example for everyone in the province - both in the knowledge of Christian truths, and in a good Christian life, and in Christian piety During my travels through the diocese, every time I had to serve, I heard everywhere that at the litanies they pray after the reigning cities for the city of Vladimir, and, of course, not for the walls, buildings and terrain, but for you - the inhabitants of this city. Do you know this? If you know, do you remember? If you remember, do you behave in relation to other cities and towns in the way that their prayer for you obliges you? I consider it necessary to remind you that, through oblivion, you do not turn out to be ungrateful and, through inattention, do not respond to good wishes with disfavour. I don’t mean your influence on them regarding civil administration, trade and community life. I want to tell you that you should be a beneficial influence on them in relation to faith and good living. And just as in relation to external life this city serves as a mediator of relations with the ruling power and all centers of well-being, so in relation to the spiritual, may it be the promoter of all in the ascent to God - the King of all, from Whom comes “every good gift” (James 1:17). From this one thought, you yourself can already understand what this obliges you to. What the Lord said to the Apostles: “you... are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), I will apply to you. You must be a light for the entire diocese - the light of an enlightened faith, the light of an immaculate and edifying life, the light of unswervingly following all the rites and statutes of the Holy Orthodox Church - that is, you must know in detail and clearly all the Orthodox teachings - not only for yourself, but in order to instruct and instruct everyone who has a question, to warn and distract from deviating into any kind of malice or malice. You must live so holyly that everyone who comes to our city is edified without words by your virtues through the examples you present on all paths and all types of your affairs - in courts and trades, in family and official life, even in all external relations. You must be more faithful than all others to the saving statutes of our Holy Church, in honoring Sundays and holidays, in observing holy fasts, in unforgettable fasting, Confession and Holy Communion, in performing all prayers and sanctifying rites, in diligently visiting the churches of God, in reverently standing and praying in them, and in everything else. So that not only in the diocese, but everywhere, and there is no other name for you, like the holy city of Vladimir, and because of the shrines that shine here, and because of the desire of all residents to sanctify themselves through the Holy Church in our Lord and Savior. I remember that in the first times of Christianity, if any confusion arose among Christians, the teachers of the Church usually pointed them to the main cities in which Christianity shone most, and sent them there to seek admonition and solutions to their confusion. “Go,” they said, “and see how they believe, live and are saved in Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, Caesarea, Thessaloniki, Athens, Rome and other cities - and believe in yourself, live and be saved.” Such honor was given to those cities not because of their civic significance, but because they were filled with exemplary Christians in all respects. Oh, if only our city would be jealous of such an honor, so that everyone who does not know the holy faith or is tempted by schism and seeks admonition could be told: “Go to Vladimir - there children will teach you the right faith, and not just adults and the elderly,” so that everyone who lives sinfully and viciously and wants to improve can be advised: “Go and live in Vladimir - there will blow upon you from all the inhabitants the spirit of holiness and sober up and strengthen your weakened soul,” so that anyone who has lost interest in the Holy Church can be inspired: “Hurry to Vladimir - there they know how to rush to the house of God (Ps. 83:11), they know how to be sanctified under the influence of grace-filled shrines and warm their spirit by strict fulfillment of the rites and rules of the Holy Church, - there your heart will warm and be inflamed with a new zeal for everything that is holy and sanctifying.” Can this be said about you? You yourself know better than anyone else. I imagine your conscience will either praise you, if I may say so, or reproach you, if not. But I cannot remain silent about the danger and destruction for you, if not only this cannot be said about you, but the opposite must be said - if those who come here and enter into fellowship with you return from here, instead of building in faith, shaken in it, instead of strengthening in good morals - with the seeds of depravity, instead of warming the spirit - with cooling towards the Church. I cannot remain silent, for this is the formidable word of the Lord: “Woe... to whom temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7), and also: “Whoever causes one to stumble from... these lesser ones, it would be better for him not to be born” (Mark 9:42), and the inhabitants of villages and hamlets are definitely lesser in relation to you. You are a city “on the top of the mountain” - and you cannot “hide” (Matthew 5:14). reluctantly, you reveal yourself to others, and when they see you, they are either edified by your goodness, or they are corrupted by your badness and prepare for you either a reward or condemnation. Why is the word more applicable to you: “Be careful... how dangerously you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:15-16), - not so as to manage to hide yourself and be hypocritical, but then, in order to present yourself in everything as an example of wise living and knowledge, as in the current Apostle (2 Cor. 6, 1-10) Saint Paul teaches to live so as not to give anything to anyone “stumbling”, “but in everything” to present ourselves as true servants and “servants of God”: “in patience... in tribulations... in labors, in vigils, in fastings, in purification” (that is, fasting, Confession and Holy Communion), “in understanding” (rational knowledge of faith), “in unfeigned love, in the word of truth” and all-round justice (2 Cor. 6, 3–7). I have no intention of burdening you with reproaches and I do not deliberately bind you with a heavy burden in order to place it on your shoulders. But, caring for you, I show you in your situation - both the danger, so that you manage to avoid it, and the opportunity for salvation, so that you are able to take advantage of it. For if you truly edify everyone to everyone, then prepare for yourselves a great reward. To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). Your city is honored with primacy in its area, such shrines have been revealed among you, every indicative order quickly flows to you - and I would have shown one more spiritual advantage among you, if for that moment my immodesty had not departed from me. Is all this for nothing? All these gifts or talents have been entrusted to you by God, as today’s Gospel teaches us with the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30). Everything you have, internally and externally, is from the Lord, and all of it is talent. By putting it into circulation, with a beneficial effect on others, you can increase it even when the Master of the House comes to “contest... about words” (Matt. 25:19), you will hear joyful approval from Him: “Good and faithful servant, you have been faithful for a little, I will make you ruler over many; enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:23). Just as vice versa, if someone does not make any acquisition with the talents he has received, he will hear: “Cast the unworthy servant into utter darkness: he will weep and gnashing his teeth” (Matthew 25:30). After all, it happens in a worldly way that someone who is placed in an advantageous position begins to rise, but in a Christian way it doesn’t: “You have been placed first - be a servant of all” (Matthew 23:11). Set it in your heart to be a servant to all the cities and villages of our diocese and servants in our Lord and Savior, being zealous in every possible way to build everyone up in faith, holiness, steadfastness and devotion to the Holy Church of God. According to the wise popular saying: “about each other, and God about everyone.” Cities and villages remember you in prayer, remember them in prayer and in everything that prayer serves as an expression and for, be beneficial for them. This, on your part, will be a reward - for their heartfelt union with you, and the revitalization and strengthening of this union, and so, all united within ourselves, with one heart, and behind the heart and “one lips” we glorify the One God, worshiped in the Holy Trinity - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 25. How anyone can understand the dogmas of the Creed through reading to prevent the evil influence of flattering false teachers Some time before this, I told you that I find it difficult to choose subjects for teaching, believing that you know everything. This is exactly what I still think. But recently, while talking with one person, I decided to bring up the dogma of the Holy Trinity in order to make sure how much he knows it. It turned out that he knows what the Holy Trinity is, but he does not know how to define the teaching about It. I transferred the speech to the Divine Face of our Lord our Savior: and here it was clear that he reverently worshiped our Lord and Savior, but what teaching about His Face is contained by the Holy Orthodox Church, I could not say definitively. And this was a man who reads, goes to church and is not careless about the salvation of his soul. It’s true, he is sure that he knows well all the dogmas of our holy faith, but he never verified his knowledge and did not undertake to expand and confirm it through reading, reflection and conversations. Why, reading and thinking about everything else, did not touch upon this part of knowledge, considering it complete. This incident led me to think that, probably, it is not just this one, but there are many others who think that they know well the dogmas of the holy faith, but in fact they know them incompletely, unclearly and indefinitely, leaving this knowledge in the form in which it was formed in the initial training. Why does it happen that, for example, people don’t listen to sermons? They think to themselves: “The sermon, it’s true, is about faith and virtue. But who doesn’t know this! And they leave. Why don’t people read spiritual books so much? It happens that they don’t read out of coldness, or even more because they consider the objects of faith to be known. “What,” another will think, “wasting time,” and decides to read some history, travel, description of physical phenomena, or even something not entirely good. And the objects of faith move further and further away from attention, being obscured by other things and pictures, becoming more and more dim and eclipsed in consciousness. Why, if they happen to hear or read something contrary to the sound teaching of Orthodoxy, do they become confused and hesitant and are immediately ready to prefer some alien teaching to the truth of faith. It is not proper for this to be so, brethren. We must acquire clear and definitive knowledge of the teachings of the holy faith and then constantly renew it, expand it, purify it and confirm it with all kinds of foundations and guard every part of it like the apple of our eye. Just as a thrifty merchant often reviews and re-cleans his goods so that they do not stagnate and are always new, so the truths of faith, learned and stored, like in a store, in memory of the heart, must often be reviewed with attentive reflection, so that the knowledge about them is always new. Just as the owner of his house often orders the windows to be polished so that they do not become dim from sweat, dust and heat, so we also need to rub the holy truths, each of which is a window into the spiritual world, with memory and reflection, so that they do not become darkened and make the spiritual world uncomfortably visible for us. The Holy Church leads us to this, leaving not a single service or even a small prayer without reading the Holy Scriptures and the Creed, which is an abbreviated summary of the content of the entire Divine Revelation. What is she saying? He says: “Listen, reason and learn.” And we need to reason and learn. For those who wish, I will offer the simplest way to understand the true faith. Whoever knows how to read, take the Orthodox catechism, or the Orthodox confession of faith, find there an explanation of each word of the Creed and establish it in your thoughts and memory. It stands in the Symbol: “I believe” - look in the catechism what it means, and confirm it. It stands: “in one God the Father” - read what these words teach, and remember it. It stands: “Almighty, Creator” - look at what truths are contained here and memorize them. So, explain every word of the Symbol to yourself with the help of the catechism and hold this explanation firmly in your thoughts. Then, often re-reading the Creed, at the same time bring to your memory the explanation of all its words: what you forget, look again at the catechism and confirm. So in a short time you will clearly and definitely learn the entire content of our holy faith, and every time you read the Creed, the whole picture of the Divine Economy of our salvation and all the hidden mysteries of the wisdom of God revealed in this will pass through your thoughts, and will enliven and refresh the inner church of your spirit, just as in the cool of the morning the air that has stagnated in the rooms is refreshed and purified by fresh air. And the more you delve into this knowledge, the more it will become clear, expand your mental horizons and impart firmness and steadfastness to your spiritual knowledge. Then, if someone asks about the Most Holy Trinity, you will not stand in bewilderment, but will say directly: “I confess this about the Most Holy Trinity: God is One in Essence, but Trinity in Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; but not Three Gods, but One God, cognizable in Three Hypostases. In this Most Holy Trinity there is neither first nor last. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal in essence and co-essential. As is the Father, such is the Son, such is the Holy Spirit. The Father is without beginning, the Son is without beginning, the Holy Spirit is without beginning. But there is another Hypostasis of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is not begotten, the Son is begotten, the Holy Spirit proceeds.” Likewise, if anyone asks about the Face of the Lord and Savior, you will not wait, but will immediately say: “The Only Begotten Son of God, the One of the Holy Trinity, deigned to be incarnate and accept into His Hypostasis human nature, consisting of soul and body. And therefore there is a True God and a true man: two natures in the One Person of the Son of God, united inseparably, inseparably and unchangeably.” Likewise, you clearly and definitely confess and expound every other dogma for the consolation and edification of the believer, for the confirmation and admonition of the hesitant and doubtful. Then the light of the knowledge of God would expand more and more among us, and we would all walk in this light as in the middle of the day. Then neither any infidel nor schismatic would dare to appear in our midst. Just as bats are blinded by the light of day, so would they be blinded by the light of Christian knowledge spreading around us. And such a person would not have dared to open his mouth then, fearing a strong and thorough reproof. Let us strive, brethren, to reach this point, praying to the Lord, that He may send us His light and His truth, and may He teach us to walk in the light of His face and rejoice in His name forever. Amen. 26. How can someone who cannot read succeed in understanding dogmas by listening to what is sung, read and acted in church? I want now to continue the word about the same thing that I talked to you about last time, namely: about clarifying and confirming our knowledge about the objects of our holy faith, or knowledge about God and Divine things. He who knows how to read, I said, study the faith with the help of the catechism or by reading other pious books. And whoever does not know how to read, I will now say, multiply, clarify and confirm your knowledge of faith through hearing. Listen, listen, reflect and learn right here, in the church of God. I have said more than once and will repeat again that our churches, with their significant structure, with their magnificent and deeply mysterious worship, are truly schools of Divine wisdom - all-embracing, explaining both the present and the future, and our and the whole world's state and action. Take the all-night vigil. She presents to us the entire course of the world’s existence from the beginning until the Coming of Christ the Savior into the world: it represents how from the darkness of insignificance everything was raised to existence and beautifully arranged, how the first parents were introduced into the paradise of sweetness and into the possession of everything as God’s vicegerents on earth, how through a bitter fall their happiness and the well-being of all things faded, how the Lord, without completely condemning them, promised them restoration through the seed of the woman, as he then continuously supported through types and prophecies this sweet hope of salvation, which, as the time of His Coming approached, became increasingly clearer and more definite, until it appeared in full light, and Heaven itself called to the praise of Him who showed this light in the angelic song: “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14). Take the Divine Liturgy: it represents the entire earthly life of our Lord and Savior with His Birth, growth, departure to preach, suffering, Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven. And isn’t this all, in faces and actions, depicting the wondrous Economy of our salvation?! Meanwhile, here not only is this general, but every thing, and every action, and every song and word has its own thought and offers its own teaching of truth - just listen and you will become wise! Take the simplest word: “Lord, have mercy!” Look what touching thoughts it brings to mind! Whoever is being punished feels pain and, wanting it to stop, shouts to the one punishing him: “Have mercy.” And we all, for disobeying the commandment, bear the punishment of a sorrowful stay on earth and, wanting to alleviate it, we cry out to the Lord, who righteously punishes us: “Lord, have mercy!” Those who are about to be executed, turning to their judge, cry out: “Have mercy!” For our sins, the execution of eternal condemnation in fire is being prepared for us. Fearing this bitter fate and wanting to get rid of it, we also beg the merciful Lord: “Lord, have mercy!” He who is mired in mud, or drowning in water, or surrounded by enemies, turns to and fro and shouts to everyone: “Have mercy, have mercy!” We, too, are mired in the mud of sins, the waves of the sea of ​​life wrestle us and enemies surround us in multitudes, although they devour us, why, without asking for help from anywhere, we cry out to the One Lord: “Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!” One word gives so many thoughts! But such is every word and every action of our worship. And don’t even talk about how many holy truths every Apostle and every Gospel read at the liturgy contains. Start thinking here - and you won’t see the end of the flow of your thoughts and the revelation of secrets that will unfold in your mind. This is our worship! So, go to it without hesitation, listen, pay attention, reflect on what is sung, read and acted in its continuation - and you will become more and more wise for salvation in the knowledge of God. There are those who, without knowing how to read, but only by learning from what the holy service offers, become so wise that they can clearly and definitively explain every truth of our holy faith, to the great edification of those who listen. Sim and be jealous. I offer all this to you in order to arouse your jealousy - by yourself, through your personal labor, to achieve an accurate knowledge of the dogmas of faith and the rules of life. You can’t just wait for someone to come and teach you. Raise the question yourself and find a solution to it yourself, whether through reading and reflection or through conversation with someone. By acting in this way, you will gain invincible strength of mind and become a strong champion of the truth. Whereas, by keeping your thoughts drowsy and inattentive, you will weaken your mind more and more, which will no longer be able to withstand every bewilderment that arises within and every doubt heard from outside. However, know that strength does not lie in the strength of the mind alone. “Into an evil soul,” says the Wise One, “wisdom will not enter” (Wisdom 1:4). Take care to make your soul good. Good behavior makes the soul not only a vessel suitable for containing Heavenly wisdom, but also a spacious container into which this wisdom flows and is pressed by itself. The Lord did not hide His wisdom in Himself. It is revealed by Him in the arrangement of everything around us and constantly appears in the arrangement of the fate of each of us, and of our entire family, and of everything that He blessed to establish for our sake. Divine wisdom moves around us and in us and, since our soul is good, flows into it, is given to it itself and fulfills it. And the Lord Himself, the Source of all wisdom and all knowledge, is everywhere and fulfills everything, excluding unclean souls. Since the soul is pure and adorned with good morals, He, visiting it and bringing with Him the wisdom that sits before Him, fills it with all the light of knowledge and spiritual understanding. Here is a reliable path to enlightenment of the mind! He is also the way of salvation! For how is salvation obtained? Maintain the tenets of faith intelligently and have a good heart, under the influence of grace through the Sacraments and under the mysterious influx of souls through holy worship. This is not the case in secular education. There knowledge can go separately from the mood of the heart; in spiritual education they go hand in hand and, supported by one another, grow and come into strength together. Here knowledge with good morals, both with spiritual taste, develop together and receive proper education in our spirit. In this order, may the Lord grant you “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him and the enlightened pursuit of your heart... that you may be filled with all the fulfillment of God” (Eph. 1:17-18, 3:19). Amen. 27. An example of how to learn lessons about Christian conduct and life from the daily readings in church I want to briefly retell to you the contents of the current Gospels in order to show you how to read the church readings from the word of God with reason and learn spiritual wisdom from them. You will see how much is taught to us in a little and how just the reproach is for those who are careless: why do you leave this inexhaustible source of saving knowledge and turn everything to the books of men - these “broken treasures” (Jer. 2:13), which cannot contain the pure and healthy water of truth? Here, listen! Now two Gospels were read: one for the sake of the holy Evangelist Luke, whose memory is now, and the other for the sake of Sunday. The first Gospel (Luke 10:16-21) contains the end of the instructions of Christ the Savior, which He gave to His disciples, sending them to preach, namely, the Lord said to them: “Listen to you, He listens to Me; The Apostles, but it concerns us more than the Apostles, obliging us to wholeheartedly submit to the apostolic teaching, devoted to the Church and the contents of it. The Lord brought the truth to earth - the truth that he heard from the Father. He entrusted it to the souls of the holy Apostles by the Holy Spirit, the holy Apostles entrusted it to the souls of believers and appointed their successors as its guardians. From them, in mutual acceptance, it passed from generation to generation, from century to century - up to us - and will continue to pass until the end of the world. But its power and our duty to it do not weaken with time. Just as in the beginning he who listened to the Apostles listened to the Lord Himself, and he who “dismissed” the Apostles rejected the Lord Himself, so now: whoever listens to the preaching of the apostolic teaching listens to the Lord Himself, and whoever does not listen does not listen to the Lord Himself or is “swept away” by Him. He who rejects the Lord rejects Him who sent Him - the Father. Such a one “has neither the Father nor the Son” (1 John 2:23), as the Evangelist John the Theologian teaches, and therefore neither the Holy Spirit, for They are inseparable, and he has no part in the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity. For this reason, it is necessary to listen to the word preached in the church, not as the word of man, but as it truly is, as the word of God, and in every possible way to watch out for fluctuations in confidence in its truth, and even more so for its rejection - for fear of being ejected from the saving Kingdom of God; We must also avoid that frivolity by which the words of God are pushed around more carelessly than any simple human speech. “The seventy disciples returned” (Luke 10:17), reads further (the Evangelist Luke is counted among the seventy Apostles, for this reason this Gospel is read on the day of his memory), “the seventy returned” and, having told about their sermon, “with joy” they remembered: “Lord, even the demons obey us in Your name” (Luke 10:17). The wondrous power of the word, which took possession of the souls of those who listened, did not interest them so much, because, being with the Lord, they were accustomed to seeing this both in themselves and in others. But they never expected the demons to obey them. Therefore, as if by chance, with childish simplicity they said to the Lord: “and the demons obey us.” The Lord tells them: “I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven” (Luke 10:18). This is a figurative image of the end of Satan's power. The Lord says something like this: “Do not be amazed! The power of Satan has ended: the churches will be empty, the idols will be destroyed, the oracles will be silent! The One God will reign everywhere and He will be revered and worshiped by all.” Such is the inalienable power of the name of Christ - to drive away hordes of demons and, with the sign of the image of His cross, to crush all opposing forces! There is one power in the world of God, worshiped in the Trinity, through the Lord our Savior. Satan, with malice and flattery, attempts to conquer souls, but the wave of God turns all his machinations to dust. This power of the wave of God is assimilated by every believer - and demons flee from him like fire. Go for it! The Lord has won. He will show you conquerors of all kinds of resistance if you are jealous of Him and by faith - living and active - appropriate the power of His name to yourself. Thus, victorious power over invisible enemies is natural in those who wholeheartedly profess the name of the Lord. “I give you power,” says the Lord, “to tread on the serpent and... the scorpion and all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). But this is not the essence of the matter. The essence of the matter is in the internal change of the human spirit, in its sincere union with the Lord, in putting on Christ, as St. Paul says (Gal. 3:27), and victory over demons is already a consequence of this. Just as light from the sun, warmth from fire, and shadow from the body are natural and inalienable, so the power to disperse evil spirits is inherent in all those who are internally enlightened by our Lord and Savior. Why does the Lord say: “Don’t pay any attention to this. Keep in mind, moreover, that “your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20), that is, that you are numbered among the one blessed Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity, which, beginning on earth, ends in Heaven, where all the sincere and all-hearted confessors of Christ are designated in advance. Having said this, the Lord seemed to survey His entire future Kingdom with His Divine All-Seeing Eye: and who did He see in it? I saw only babies and none of the wise and reasonable ones - not one of those who believe in their own reason alone and rely on their own strength alone, but all of them who, in the childish simplicity of their hearts, without any questioning, accept the Christian teaching and, wholeheartedly surrendering to God, like children to the Father, hope to be strong in His strength in walking along the paths of His commandments. “At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said: Confess, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid this from the wise and prudent, and revealed it as a child. Yes, Father, for such was my good pleasure in Your sight” (Luke 10:21). This is how it was decided in the Eternal Council of God - otherwise this has not happened and will never happen. Whoever was saved was saved in this way, and whoever has to be saved will be saved in this way: there is no other way. Here is one Gospel! In short, this is what it teaches! Listen to the teaching of Christ preached in the Church, and listen with childlike simplicity, without any philosophies. For if you do not listen like this, you will be an opponent of God and for this you will be rejected by God. Having devoted yourself wholeheartedly to this teaching and having formed yourself according to it, you will be filled with such light and strength that from the very name of Christ, which you pronounce, all the power of the enemy will disappear. But this is not important, but the important thing is that for this reason you will undoubtedly be included in the list of heirs of the Kingdom of Christ - the only eternally blessed one. “Okay,” you say, “I wholeheartedly accept the teachings of Christ in full, not rejecting anything, not contradicting anything, and not indulging my mind in anything. But you say that in order for the power of this teaching to enter into me, I myself need to be educated according to it and conform to it in my deeds and feelings. How should I act and how should I position myself?” The second current Gospel answers this to you (Luke 6:31-36) and it does not burden you with much, but only gives two rules, such, however, that they combine everything. First: as you want others to act in relation to you, so act in relation to them. Second: love everyone, even your enemies, and do good to everyone impartially and without calculation. Namely, in it the Lord says this: “Let men do as you will, and so do you to them” (Luke 6:31), that is, if you want to be helped when you are in need, help yourself the one you see in need. If you want to be forgiven, when you do something wrong against someone, forgive yourself. If you want not to be judged and reviled, do not judge or revile anyone yourself. If you want not to be offended, do not offend yourself. So it is in everything. Transfer your brother’s condition to yourself, and whatever you wish for yourself while in a similar position, do for him without refusal, without shrinking your hand, to the fullest extent of your good will. This is the law of truth! And the Lord says this about the law of love: “If you love those who love, what grace is there for you? for even sinners who love them love them” (Luke 6:32). Which of us doesn't love someone? We love our parents, we love our brothers and sisters, we love our relatives and all our acquaintances with whom we have pleasant relationships. Why, when the commandment of love is offered to us, we think that we are fulfilling it and remain calm. The Lord does not think so. He does not value our love at all. “So,” he says, “sinners, that is, pagans - non-Christians - love each other, but you - Christians - need to love your enemies. It will only be an undoubted sign that you have true Christian love when you love your enemies. Until this happens, do not boast about your love.” Likewise, the Savior does not appreciate if we do good only to those who do good to us, or if we give in return to those from whom we receive tea. “This is not a big deal,” he says. “And everyone does it, even non-believers.” But you, when you want to show yourself as My true followers, “love your enemies, and do good, and give in return, but expect nothing: and your reward will be many, and you will be sons of the Most High: for He is good for the graceless and evil. Be... merciful, as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:35-36)." This is the content of today's Gospels! Two small readings, and how many truths they offer you! In short, they teach how to believe, and how to live by faith, and give a complete overview of Christian life, from the first acceptance of the teachings of Christ to the crowning for him in the endless Kingdom of God. And these are only the Gospels, and the Apostles contain their own vast teachings. Isn’t it true what I said at the beginning, that in a little we are offered a lot, and this not only now, but always. Every church reading is like this. Here is an inexhaustible source of saving knowledge. Flow to him and get drunk from him. When a resurrection or a holiday has come, in the evening, after the all-night vigil, or in the morning, before mass, find the prescribed Apostle and the Gospel and read it with reasoning, analyzing word by word, delving into what teaching it contains, extracting rules from it and applying them to your life. If you don’t have time to read or don’t know how to read, listen carefully to what will be read in church, and then go through everything with reasoning more than once or twice in order to learn something. When you begin to do this, you will soon become theologians. No one is born a theologian, but reads, reasons, memorizes and becomes well-versed in Divine things - that’s the theologian! And anyone can achieve this. However, strength does not lie in the title, but in a definite and clear knowledge of Christian teaching. I implore you to achieve such knowledge through your work. Although it is true that he who has knowledge does not already have everything; but there is no doubt that knowledge of Divine truth serves as the basis of saving life. He who clearly understands the truth of God walks in the light, and he who does not understand it walks as if in darkness, as if in darkness. Whoever walks in darkness must avoid stumbling! How, on the contrary, it is not so convenient for someone who walks in the light to stumble. God gave us conscience - the guardian of his truth. But this truth must be known so that the conscience has something to guard. When a soul knows the truth, then, even though it will have to act contrary to it due to weakness, conscience will always remind it of this violation of the truth and will return it to the right path. And when the soul does not know the truth or does not know it well, conscience has nothing to take hold of in order to disturb the soul when it deviates into the path of lies or vice. For this reason, our Savior and God, who desires for everyone to be saved, desires together with those who are being saved “to come into the understanding of truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). For this reason, the Apostles commanded everyone to grow not only “in grace,” but also in “mind” (2 Pet. 3:18), and they prayed to the Lord, “that He guard” not only their “hearts,” but also their “understandings” (Phil. 4:7). Let us also pray, “may the Lord give us also “understanding in all things” (2 Tim. 2:7). Amen. 28. Another similar example In the service before last, I told you on Sunday, in the evening, or on Sunday, before the liturgy, to read the prescribed Gospel with meditation, so that through this festive service the soul could be nourished and disposed to spiritual rejoicing in the church, and as an example, I briefly explained to you the two Gospels. Have you done this yourself now? If you haven't done it, let's do it now. I will also explain the current Gospel to you, and you listen and thereby fill in the unfulfilled lesson of thinking about it at home. Today the parable of the sower was read (Luke 8:5-15). Even though I told you little about it last year, it is of such a kind that even if I have to talk to you several more times, you won’t be able to exhaust everything that it teaches. She is so vast. Why did the Lord, having spoken this parable, add: “If you have ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8) - and, having explained it, he repeated the same word again: “If you have ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:15). Of course, you know the content of this parable. The Lord was surrounded by many people - and He taught them. There were a lot of people, and the word was abundant. But His All-Seeing Eye saw that not everyone listens to the word as they should, not everyone accepts it with the proper disposition, and therefore not everyone bears the desired fruit. Why, wanting to enlighten the faulty listeners and teach everyone to “be careful... how to hear” (Luke 8:18), He explains to them the fate of His word in the hearts of those listening to the participation of the seed sown by the sower. He likens the many people who stood before Him to a field, He compares Himself to a sower, His word to a seed. And he says: “Just as when a sower sows, some seed falls “along the way” and is “trodden down” by those passing by and the “birds of the air” peck at it; another falls on a rocky place, where there is little soil, and, having vegetated and sprouting, soon dries up due to lack of moisture and soil into which it could go deeper; some fall “in the midst of thorns” and grow, but before they bear fruit, the thorns that grow faster suppress them; some, finally, fall on the good land and, having vegetated, bear “fruit a hundredfold”, - so My word, - he says, - for others who hear it, it is the same as seed along the way; for others it is the same as a seed on a rocky place; for others it is like seed among thorns, and for others it is like seed in the good land.” The Lord immediately explains who and why this is the fate of His word with several characteristic features, to which you will pay all your attention. To whom does this word of God, heard, become the same as the seed “along the way”? Here's how we think about it. The roadside soil does not open its depths to receive the seed - the seed falls on it, but remains on the surface and does not enter inside. This feature, that the seed remains on the surface and does not enter inside, will indicate to us what kind of listeners of the word of God are represented by this. Precisely, these are those who hear the word, but it does not enter their soul: the thought does not understand it, the heart does not express sympathy for it and does not promise any change in disposition - so that it, even what is heard, is as if not heard; received by the ear, but did not touch the soul; the soul did not open itself to accept it; the word remained alien to him. Whoever exactly has such a soul will be shown the following properties of the roadside soil. The roadside land is not plowed and not prepared for sowing, and the sower’s seed falls on him by chance. With this feature she represents the image of those souls who do not think at all about God and Divine things, but are occupied with something completely different - they are accustomed to something completely different, why, when they suddenly hear the word of God, it does not fit into their soul: their mentality and whole mood are not like that - and the word remains unaccepted by them. The roadside soil is dry and hard. With this trait, in relation to how we say: “Dry, he treated me harshly,” it depicts those who are hostile to Divine truths and things, and the word about them is rejected by them with rage, like a seed bounces off dry ground and is trampled with contempt, like a seed is trampled upon by those passing along the way. Roadside land is passable land: those passing by trample it and do not allow anything to grow on it. Even though the seed falls, it remains outside, you can see it, and flying birds peck at it. With this trait she depicts those who do not slow down their thoughts and, without paying attention, give free rein to the imagination, which, presenting image after image and constantly replacing one another, makes the soul look like a road along which different faces pass one after another. In this state, if a word is heard, it is immediately forgotten, another is heard and is also forgotten, and so on. Dreams force them out of memory, or, better, the demon of oblivion comes and steals the word from the heart. As a result, someone, for example, will spend an entire service lost in thought and not remember anything that happened in church. These are the listeners of the word who are represented by the roadside soil! Who, secondly, has the audible word of God like a seed falling on rocky ground? Here's how we'll think about it. Rocky ground is not the same as bare rock. It is sometimes covered with a small layer of earth, sufficient to accept the seed and hide it within itself. The seed here, moistened and warmed, quickly produces roots and sprouts; but since there is little land, the sun soon dries it up, and the seed, having no moisture to nourish itself, dries up. Note that the distinctive feature of this type of soil is that only on the surface there is earth, and then there is stone; Only the surface accepts the seed, but deeper it is not allowed to go. With this line, the rocky earth depicts all those who accept the word of God, but superficially - they accept it, as it were, with the upper part of the soul, but do not let it penetrate into the depths, do not allow it to penetrate themselves, namely: those, firstly, who hear Divine truths and understand them and know what they teach, but do not transform their mind according to them, but allow it to contain other thoughts and views; secondly, those who hear the Divine commandments and understand well what they require, but do not transform their dispositions according to them, but allow dispositions that do not agree with the commandments of God to hide in their hearts; thirdly, those who hear with joy the promise of eternal blessings and wish to be their heirs, but at the same time do not cut off earthly attachments and in their lives rely more on earthly hopes than on Heavenly aspirations. In general, those who are Christians on the surface, but in their inner mood, in the way the All-Seeing Eye of God sees them, are not that at all. They have Christian speeches, reasoning, and deeds, but all this is only for the time being, as the Savior says. When everything is favorable for them, they are good. And if some kind of tightness happens because of the Christian confession, they will immediately renounce the truth, and all Christian rules are ready to break, since they do not constitute their inner mood. So the Savior says about them that they “believe in time, but fall away in time of adversity” (Luke 8:13). This is who the rocky earth represents! Who, thirdly, is the word heard like the seed that fell among the thorns? You see, there are no stones here, there is a lot of earth; the seed that fell into it gives root and trunk and is already ready to bear fruit; but thorns immediately grow, suppress it and choke it - and it remains fruitless. This line, that is, that the seed has already grown - all that remains is to bear fruit, but the thorns did not yield - two types of persons are depicted: firstly, those who, having sincerely believed in their hearts and begin to establish their lives according to the spirit of Christ, but, having labored in this way for some time, are again carried away by sensual pleasures or the charm of wealth and much-sadness, lag behind the previous Christian rules, become coarsened by the vanity and pleasures of life in their thoughts and feelings and they almost completely forget their previous concepts and pious orders, that is, all the previously returned good freezes in them; and, secondly, those who hear the word and delight in it and are fully aware of the duty to follow it, but do not bother to cleanse their hearts of passions and leave them to manifest themselves in it in all their strength. Because of this, as soon as it is necessary to act in a Christian manner, in defiance of passions, passion rebels and suppresses the good intention, which has already been formed and which only remained to be carried out. I should forgive, and I would be ready, but pride arises and suppresses the thought of forgiveness. It would be necessary to help, but stinginess arises and suppresses the thought. So it is in everything. Such are all, as the Lord says, whose good intentions “through sorrow... riches and worldly pleasures... are suppressed and do not come to fruition” (Luke 8:14). Who, finally, when the word of God is heard is like a seed that fell on the good ground? “Those,” says the Lord, “who have a good heart and good heart, have heard the word, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). Those, that is, who do not have the bad qualities of all the listeners depicted in front of this, but on the contrary, have the opposite good qualities, who hear the word of God with an open heart, with warm zeal and love, who “hold” the word they hear, and not superficially, but embrace it with all the strength of their soul and are completely imbued with it, and who “create fruit in patience” - fulfill the word, no matter what labors and hardships it may be. stood, not succumbing to emerging passions and patiently and courageously resisting them and defeating them. Here is the interpretation of the current parable. Have you heeded this interpretation? If you have heeded it, take care to apply it to yourself and what is reproachful, avoid it, but what is worthy of praise, make it a point to be jealous about it. This will be the exact fulfillment of what the Lord said at the conclusion of the parable and its interpretation: “Having ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:15). And again: “Be careful what you hear” (Luke 8:18). Amen. 29. Complaining about rumors that one cannot be saved by living among the Orthodox Recently I heard one very sad news: as if in our villages, villages, and even in cities, very few people come to care about the salvation of the soul - they are preparing to fall into schism, in the thought that schismatics live better and, now, are moving more directly towards salvation. And before this, I have heard more than once: “Look,” they say, “how well the Molokans and, especially, the Khlysty live - soberly, sedately, honestly, hardworking, while the Orthodox do not live so well and are subject to various weaknesses and vices.” So, according to these reviews, Orthodox means a person who lives dissolutely, indulges in passions, has no fear of God and has lost all care for salvation. What happened to us?! The whole order of God has changed and “the truth of God has become a lie” (Rom. 1:25) has turned! We are Orthodox. The true saving faith of God is our faith. By it we secure to ourselves all the great promises of God about Christ Jesus our Lord. For her sake, truth is entrusted to us, grace belongs to us, for her sake we are sons of the Heavenly Father, and for the sake of sonship we are heirs of all the blessings of the Father, prepared for us for eternity. So, whoever wants to be saved, come to us: for we have all the strength “for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3), but in another place you don’t have them anywhere and you won’t find them. What happened that they shun being among the Orthodox as a dangerous thing and point to them no longer as role models?! It's good if it's false. Then, together with the Apostles, we, the blasphemers, will be comforted. What if... But I leave it to your consciences to decide to what extent the reproach is fair that life among us Orthodox is so licentious and unpraiseworthy. I myself am ready to rather indulge in lamentation and invite you to ask: why is it like this? Why has this matter reached the point where we are blaspheming the Orthodox, Christian name among those who have fallen away from the truth and who have gone astray?! Is this how it should be? Let's remember how it was in the beginning. The Apostles preached the holy faith, the elect listened, were converted, were reborn by the grace of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments and, having been renewed internally, in the sources (sources) of life, and then walked outwardly in the renewal of life - according to new commandments, rules and orders. This change from a worse life to a better one, pure, immaculate, grace-filled, holy, was so sharply obvious that the Apostle did not doubt that the distinctive feature of Christians is that they are “children of God, blameless in the midst of a generation of crooks and corrupted,” being “like... lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). So, as a whole, Christians, by the knowledge of holy truth, by purity of morals, by mutual love, by alienation from all filth and vice, exactly fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that in the days of Christ the Savior the “mountain of God” would be “revealed”, and the “house of God” at the top of the mountain (Isa. 2:2) - revealed, that is, the height of moral and religious perfection, which “everyone will see.” the pagans will desire her and, encouraging each other, will say: “Come... Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will tell us the way... and let us follow it” (Is. 2:2-3), that is, let us leave paganism and its bad morals, let us go to the Christians, accept their immaculate law and follow it. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies that when first three thousand were converted in Jerusalem, then five, then many more, this community of Christians attracted, amazed, and terrified everyone with the height of their spiritual life. After and outside Jerusalem, writing to real pagan Christians, the Apostle Peter praises and encourages them, saying: “Before this, you did the “will of the pagans”, walked “in uncleanness, in lusts... in drunkenness, in goat-crying” (by which we mean dancing, singing, festivities, theatrical antics and other indecencies), now you have abandoned all this and decided to live according to the will of God, and everyone who sees you “marvels” that you no longer converge “into the same fornication” (1 Pet. 4:3-4) (that is, into the same licentious, riotous, lustful and fearless life), as happened before and as all those who have not yet turned to Christ and have not entered into the society of Christians do now.” That's what happened! “Everything... is true, everything is honest, everything is righteous, everything is most pure, everything is most loving, everything is good, if there is any virtue and if there is any praise” (Phil. 4:8) - this is what was on the side of Christians and what constituted their distinctive feature. We, the Orthodox, are the successors of those Christians - the only successors who truly keep the faithful guarantee of the salvation of the world entrusted to them and to us. How dare they now say to our faces: “These are a debauched people, run away from them! Such and such—renegades, lost ones—are better than them!” “How dare they?” - this is how you should ask them strictly. But maybe they will point out a lot of things between us in reality that you will reluctantly keep silent. What is this? Has the power of God weakened or has the grace of God been exhausted? No, you can't think like that. For “The Lord Jesus... is the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). So what, the truth of God is not in us? She went over to the side of those whom we consider apostates from her?! ABOUT! It won't happen! Those who expose our weaknesses to sight, and through them bring shame to the name of Orthodoxy, this is what they want to prove, that is, “your life is bad, it has become - you have no truth.” But I, on the contrary, in this very licentiousness and our comprehensive self-indulgence, I find obvious and decisive confirmation that the truth is on our side - so, however, that in connection with this there must be an indisputable denunciation of us in our extreme folly. That's how! All the promises of God certainly belong to the true Orthodox faith and the Church. Conviction of this fills the entire Church of God in all its internal and external structure, and every Orthodox member of the Church of Christ, living in it and embraced by it, is filled with the same conviction, as if breathing this air. This is how it is and should be. But then the error begins. Others use this internal identity in the wrong way, or build on this basis. “I am Orthodox,” he feels in his heart. – To the Orthodox belongs forgiveness, purification, sanctification, sonship, the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, I am a son, and in my Father’s house all is mine.” Then, considering this matter has already been decided, he forms in his thoughts: “Why else should I bother myself? Why work? I will begin to live for my own pleasure” - and he lives as he lives, without denying himself anything, without shunning any of the pleasures of the world and not obeying any rules. That's not what he should have planned. One should have reasoned like this: “This is what was promised to me! This is great, but undoubtedly it is mine. I will take care in every possible way to preserve this inheritance, I will live in the house of the Father, who gives me this inheritance, worthy of the Father, so as not to anger Him and not force Him with my unworthiness and disorderly life to tear up the handwriting of the will and deprive me of the promised inheritance.” This is how one should think and act according to this thought, but he, in unreasonable oblivion, rushes to all the lusts of his heart. And exactly the same son comes out, having received a rich inheritance and squandering it (Luke 15:12-13). But just as the extravagance of this latter does not take away the truth and dignity of the inheritance, but only exposes the foolishness of the heir, so the licentiousness of the morals of some Orthodox Christians does not refute the truth and dignity of the promises belonging to Orthodoxy, but only exposes the extreme foolishness of licentious Christians. So, don’t tell me that because the Orthodox live poorly, there is no truth in Orthodoxy; This is not what follows from this, but this: the Orthodox have been given and undoubtedly belong to such great promises that it is impossible to exhaust their abundance in thought and embrace their greatness. Consequently, Orthodox Christians who live weakly, carelessly, carelessly, indulging the lusts of the heart and the bad customs of the world, vain and ungodly, and thereby depriving themselves of these promised benefits, reveal such unreason, such blindness, such short-sightedness that there is no name for them in the human language. I believe that all of you – both right and wrong – will agree to this conclusion. And one cannot but agree with him. One of two things remains: either expose yourself, or betray the truth of Orthodoxy to shame. Let us better clothe ourselves with reproof, so that we may preserve the bright face of the truth of God inviolable. “Let it be... God is true,” says the Apostle, “but every man is a lie, as it is written: that thou shalt be justified in Thy words, and overcome, and never judge Thy” (Rom. 3:4). Let us expose ourselves and let the bitterness of this reproof produce on our hearts all its effects, just as Divine reproof works. “I will reprove you,” says the Lord, “and kindle you into purity” (Is. 1:25). Let the fire of reproof kindle our heart with contrition and reveal it pure, throwing out all uncleanness from itself, like melted metal throwing out all foreign impurities. You know what this leads to. To recognize your shortcomings, repent of them and decide not to be subjected to them in the future. Then let us not reveal the truth of Orthodoxy by exposing ourselves, but in the same way that pure and undisturbed water reveals the face of the sun. 30. Our holy faith, carefully guarded by one another, is our glory and the foundation of our prosperity “The Lord told Moses his ways, to the sons of Israel his desires” (Ps. 102:7) The holy king and prophet David, in one of his songs, gratefully remembering the blessings of God, especially draws attention to the fact that He was pleased to give the Israeli people through Moses the right law and show the direct path to pleasing God. Imitating him, we now, having gathered in this church to give thanks to the Lord for that special mercy of Him, which He shows in blessing the royal house of blessed Russia, cannot help but remember all His mercy to us and among them the first and highest - the gift of the one right faith. The latter is all the more natural since our present celebration is consecrated by a celebration in honor of Blessed Olga, Grand Duchess of Russia, who was the first to receive this grace. Our ancestors wandered in the darkness of idolatry, but God, who did not want the death of even one sinner (Ezek. 33:11), much less an entire people, in the richness of His goodness deigned to shine among them the light of His Holy Gospel. The first vessel of such grace was the blessed Princess Olga, and then through Saint Vladimir the holy faith, like a river stream, quickly flowed throughout our entire land and became the common property of all. May our soul bless the Lord and our “all inner” “His holy name” (Ps. 102:1) for He told us “His ways” and revealed to us “His desires” (Ps. 102:7). Great is truly the mercy of God towards us in that He has vouchsafed us the gift of holy faith. This gift is so valuable that there is nothing on earth that can be compared with it. Our faith is not just an image of sound words or a composition of the most perfect concepts about everything that exists, but it is the one true Building of salvation, established by God on earth, it is the power of God for salvation. She recreates and transforms every person and entire nations. Those who receive it become from the servants of the devil the servants of God, from the children of wrath - children of mercy, from the weak - strong, from the ignorant - wise, from those given over to passions - zealots of good deeds, from victims of death and corruption - partakers of the life of God in Christ Jesus, from non-people - “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy tongue, a people of renewal” (1 Pet. 2, 9). Apart from this faith, there is no other that would lead to God and provide salvation. All nations that do not know it still walk in darkness and are dead by their “sins” (Eph. 2:1). And we have already been called into the wonderful light of God and taste how good the Lord is, although we have done nothing to deserve His special favor towards us. May our soul bless the Lord, who has been pleased to give us faith, “cleansing all our iniquities,” “healing all our ailments,” “relieving our belly from corruption,” renewing our youth “like an eagle” (Ps. 102:2-5). Our faith is not some beneficent temporary institution, but is the only image of salvation, common to all times and to all those being saved. We believe as we received from our fathers; our fathers believed as the Orthodox East betrayed them; The East believes as taught by the Apostles; and the Apostles were taught by the Lord and spoke by the Holy Spirit. If we go further along the line of time, we will find that the Prophets, Patriarchs and all the Old Testament righteous believed in the same way - David, Moses, Abraham, Noah, Enoch and the forefather Adam himself, with the only difference that they sought salvation in the Lord who has to come, but we are looking for it in the Lord who has come. Thus, our one, perfect and pure faith unites us with all believers and brings us into fellowship with all the saints and elect of God. With it we approached “Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and the hosts of angels, the triumph and church of the firstborn in heaven written” (Heb. 12:22-23). She is the great saving tree, the root of which is still in the earthly paradise, and the top is in Heaven, there is a single animal tree in the middle of the earth, a single true vine, on which if someone does not abide, he will not be able to create worthy fruits (John 15:4). May our soul bless the Lord, who has deigned to be grafted into this living and life-giving vine for us! Moreover, having been grafted into this true vine, we are not left to be barren or a dry branch, but are shown to be a living branch, full of strength and life. “The grace of God, which” through faith “was not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:10) in our generation, but, having become our property, brought God an abundance of the fruits of truth and holiness. Kings, princes, saints, priests, monks, people of every rank and title shone with high life and glorified God with the greatness of good deeds. And God, dwelling among our pious fathers, blessed them with every spiritual blessing, or glorified the remains of those chosen from them with incorruption and gifts of healing, or imparted miraculous power to the holy icons that appeared at His beck in different places. Look around in your mind all the borders of our fatherland and see that it is all dotted with incorruptible relics, miraculous icons, and other signs of God’s special closeness to us. Our holy faith was and is so rich in grace! May our soul bless the Lord, who crowned and crowns us with His mercy and bounty! Recognizing, therefore, the great mercy of God in giving us the holy faith, let us also take care to maintain it worthy of its greatness. Our ancestors, having reverently accepted, gratefully kept the gift of the holy faith and, as the best inheritance, passed it on to the children “born”, so that they would “tell” about it “to their sons” (Ps. 77:6). Such was the general spirit of all the testaments that fathers made to their children that the father, departing from this life, called all his people to his deathbed and, putting his heartfelt confession of faith at the head of everything, then extended an exhortation to those around him - to preserve this faith, as a most precious inheritance, which he also received from the fathers who were before him. This is what everyone did: kings - to the heirs of the throne, shepherds - to their flock, and every head of a family - to their household, in the first place, bequeathed the holy faith to preserve and pass on intact to the children “born”, and they too would “lead... to their sons.” Whether we have heard or not heard such a covenant, nevertheless it must be sacred for us, because it has always been extended to all subsequent generations. Let us, imitating our fathers, gratefully honor and piously preserve intact and intact the holy faith handed down to us. Our fathers loved her with all their hearts and treasured her as the Eternal Belly. Are we children of these fathers? May we show in our heartfelt feelings the similarity to their spirit, may our deepest of all dispositions be love and devotion to the holy faith. The son is assigned to one or another father based on the similarity of the face; Let us therefore maintain ourselves in relation to faith, so that it can undoubtedly be recognized that we are not only the children of our pious fathers by name, and so that our fathers, when we all stand together on the Last Day, can recognize their descendants in us by one reflection of faith on our foreheads and confess to God the Knower of the Heart: “Behold, we and our children.” Amen. On the day of Her Imperial namesake Highness, Grand Duchess 31. Our attitude towards the word of God as undoubtedly true The Holy Apostle Paul in the current reading from his Epistle to the Galatians, as you have heard, reproaching the Galatians for the fact that they were soon ready to “be converted... to another gospel” (Gal. 1:6), inspires them that the gospel preached to them “is not according to man” (Gal. 1:11) and that he did not receive it from men and did not learn it from them, but was taught by Himself Lord Jesus Christ. “I received nothing from man, less than learned, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:12). He seems to be saying to them: “When my teaching is not mine, but is the teaching of God, how come you want to deviate from it so quickly?” I want to draw your attention to this consciousness of the Holy Apostle Paul, which, however, was a common consciousness among all the Apostles - that the teaching they preached was not human teaching, but Divine teaching, given by God to them for preaching to the entire human race, and to show you what this obliges us to. “We are the last messengers of God, as men on death row” (1 Cor. 4:9), says the Apostle Paul on behalf of all of them: we “according to Christ... are embassies,” that is, we are fulfilling the embassy of Christ God, and when we speak to you, it is not we who speak, but God who speaks through us: “according to Christ” we “pray” you, “as I pray to God with us” (2 Cor. 5:20). Why do you act righteously when, receiving our word, you accept it “not as the word of men, but as truly the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). This is what is said about the Apostles. But it is also known about the Prophets that their teaching was not left in the hands of their will: “For every prophecy in the book does not come from its own telling, nor was it prophesied by the will of man, but holy men of God were enlightened by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:20-21). And what does our Lord Jesus Christ Himself say about Himself, according to His humanity? “My teaching,” he says, “is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me” (John 7:16). “I did not speak from Myself, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a commandment, whatever I should speak, and whatever I would say... even as I spoke, as the Father spoke to Me, so I speak” (John 12:49-50). As the Son of God and God, He is the Hidden One to God the Father and the Holy Spirit in the all-wise outline of the Economy of our salvation, but having come to accomplish in the mystery of the Trinitarian Divinity in the humanity He assumed, He says that He reveals only what He saw from the Father, and “does... works” only those that “the Father shows Him” (John 5:19-20). Then placing the Apostles in service, He tells them: “What the Father commanded Me... I command to you” (Luke 22:29). “Go, preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mk. 16:15). “Comforter... the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and He will remember to you all the things that have been spoken to you” (John 14:26) and “you will no longer be the ones who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you” (Matt. 10:20). Thus, “God spoke in many ways and in many ways in ancient times by the Father as prophets; in these last days He spoke to us in His Son” (Heb. 1:1–2) and in the holy Apostles whom He sent. You see how persistent Divine care is for enlightening us with the truth. God teaches Adam before the fall, teaches him after the fall, then speaks to Noah, Abraham, Moses, raises up Prophets, Himself comes to earth in human nature, inspires the Apostles - all in order to plant His word on earth, establish it and confirm it. What shall we render to the Lord for this high and valuable gift of His? God spoke to people more than once and not in the same way. Do we remember this and give thanks for it? When the king issues a manifesto or decree, everyone rushes to recognize him. When the father writes from home, the children, who are absent, crowd with uncontrollable joy in order to quickly hear what is being written. Behold, the King of kings, who deigned to reveal Himself to us and to our fathers, has revealed His merciful will to us. Are we crowding around to quickly find out what God is telling us and what he wants from us? Do we at least feel the power of God’s goodness revealed to us through this? The blessing is that there is the word of God on earth - the word of truth - and we not only know where the truth is, but we are also called to possess it. Look around and see what human opinions and teachings present to us! An insoluble mixture of lies, delusions, doubts. Standing in the truth, we cannot feel the languor that the spirit, thirsting for truth, experiences while being in the midst of such disorder. Detach yourself a little and put yourself in this environment. Imagine a person in this situation: all around is darkness, confusion, obscurity. He doesn’t know where to turn, where to find even a little guidance, and it seems that the very ground beneath him is unsteady. This is an image of the spirit outside the Divine word of truth. But shine a ray of light towards him: with what joy will he rush after him and with what care will he strain not to take his eyes off him? Show him a solid stone: with what trust will he stand on it and with what care will he hold on so as not to move from it? Lead him into a quiet refuge: with what consolation will he take refuge in it and how will he value it so as not to lose it again? With these comparisons we can partly approach the concept of those feelings that a spirit that possesses the truth in the unfaithful word of God should experience. There is darkness of ignorance and lies all around, but he is bathed in the light of truth. Feeling this, he cannot help but consider himself blessed and rejoice. Others are overwhelmed by waves of human false thinking, but he stands where “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Feeling this, he cannot help but feel confident in the safety of his position, like one standing on a cliff in the middle of a stormy sea. Those “are blown... by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), having a storm within them of doubtful thoughts, but he, as if carried in his arms or hidden in a calm haven, rests in warm peace in the bosom of truth. The Word of God for him is light, stronghold, refuge. He values ​​it most of all, he pays attention to it more than anything, and he delights in it more than honey and honeycomb. Is this all true in our hearts, brothers?! If so, let us thank God. This means that we faithfully fulfill our obligatory relationship with the word of God. But is it really so?! Let us test ourselves more strictly so as not to fall into self-delusion due to conceit! Doesn’t it happen that when we talk about venerable books, we list dozens and hundreds of them, but the word of God does not come to mind? But this should not be, if indeed it is for us - light, stronghold, and refuge. There was a man who, when asked: “What is the first book in the world?” - answered: “The Bible.” “What about the second one?” - “The Bible.” “And the third?” - “The Bible.” “Fourth?” - “The Bible.” “Will there be an end?” - he asked. “You will not expect the end from me,” he answered, “for, having remembered the Bible, which contains the true word of my God, I do not know by what number to indicate the distance from it of the best books of men.” This meant that he tasted the good word of God and felt its power. If the first is not found in us, is it not better for us not to boast of the last? Doesn’t it happen that when you need to confirm your thought with the testimony of others, someone will read entire pages from human writings, but will not say a small text from the word of God, as it should be. Can this be expected from someone for whom the word of God is definitely “the testimony of the Lord is true” (Ps. 18:8), is “a lamp for the feet... and a light for the paths” (Ps. 118:105)? Does it happen that someone buys book after book - he has already bought a lot and is planning many more - but it has not yet occurred to him to buy a Book of Books. Should this have been the case if for his mind and heart the Divine Scripture was definitely “God-breathed and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for punishment, even in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). And what a long way to go. If now someone walked here through all our ranks and asked each one according to his conscience, has he read anything from the word of God and does he know anything? What do you think would turn out to be? Grant, Lord, that there may be something comforting. But meanwhile, one cannot help but remember how many are dissuaded from reading the word of God with the following answer: “Am I spiritual, am I a monk or a nun?” As if this alone is what we need to know the truth of God and learn from it for salvation?! Or you'll hear worse than this. “I’m afraid,” he says, “to read the Bible: you’ll go crazy.” The testimony of the Lord makes “babies” wise (Ps. 18:8), as the prophet David assures, but they are afraid to go crazy! Those who turn away from the word of God and do not know the saving truths contained in it should be considered crazy. When you bring to mind such and similar cases, you will involuntarily come to a perplexing question: do we really all treat the word of God as we should? Of course, on this basis it may be too much to suspect belief in the Divinity of Scripture. But it is very incomprehensible that almost everywhere there is almost inattention to him and ignorance of him. Behold, before us is a storehouse of pure truth. We see it and are exhausted with thirst from the drying out of the throat of the mind by human lies. Wisdom herself has prepared a bountiful meal for us and with lofty preaching invites everyone to come, eat and take for free everything offered. We know this and we are starving. What does this mean? And it would have cost us nothing - for nothing. No. Why are others so shaky in truth and unsteady in goodness? Mainly from ignorance of the word of God. Lies or temptations concern our consciousness. Having nothing to oppose them within ourselves, we suffer defeat and fall. The one who knows the word of God will not soon be led astray by lies, nor will he soon be carried away to the paths of sin by the allure of passion. Just as other soft and easily decomposed bodies, taking into themselves hard - stony particles, themselves become hard, petrify and become inaccessible to damage and decay, so the soul, fed and imbued with the word of God, hardens in truth and good dispositions so that it becomes safe from the attacks of lies and sin. The Word of God, emanating from the depths of the Divinity, itself possesses Divine properties and, penetrating the soul that receives it, imparts these properties to it. Light is God, and the word of God is luminous, and the soul that receives it becomes enlightened and luminous. God is unchangeable - the word of God is immutable, and the soul, “having girt up the loins of its thoughts” (1 Pet. 1:13), becomes firm and unyielding. God is Life itself, and the word of God is life-giving, and the soul that has received it and been nourished by it has life in itself and exudes it from itself. If only with these great spiritual blessings we could dispose ourselves to read and study the word of God. Let us rejoice, brethren, in this disposition of the Lord, who has thoughtfully provided us with His word. Let us light the lamp of love for Him in our hearts and then constantly keep it burning by constant reading and meditation, as if adding oil to a lamp. By listening to this lamp “like a shining light in a dark place”, we will finally achieve that “the day will shine and the day will shine in our hearts” (2 Pet. 1:19), and we will then walk as in the light of day, without any danger of “stumbling” (John 11:9). Let us listen to the admonitions of the Wise One on behalf of the wisdom that revealed itself in the word of God. “Son, if you receive the word of my commandment, hide it within yourself: let your ear listen to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding... Seek it like silver, and try it like treasure. Then you will understand righteousness and judgment, and straighten all the good paths. If wisdom comes into your thought... good counsel will preserve you, but a holy thought will keep you: May he deliver you from the path of evil and from the man who speaks nothing truly" (Prov. 2, 1-2, 4, 9-12). "Son, do not forget my laws, but let your heart keep my words: for long life, and years of life, and peace will be added to you... May you walk in peace in all your ways, lest your foot stumble. if you sit down, you will be fearless, but if you sleep, you will sleep sweetly: and you will not be afraid of the fear that comes... For the Lord will be on all your paths, and will strengthen your foot, so that you do not slip” (Proverbs 3, 1-2, 23-26). Let us listen to these admonitions and give the word of God the attention it deserves. Amen. on the 20th Sunday after Pentecost 32. How to assimilate the Word of God Now the Holy Church offers us her lesson with the parable of the sower (Luke 8:5-15). How many times have you heard it from one Evangelist or another! How many times have you listened to the interpretation of it proposed by the Lord Himself, and how many teachings have you listened to to explain its content! But it seems to me that it would not be superfluous to say a word or two about sowing the word of God, or even more so about receiving what is sown in the hearing of the ear. It is not for nothing that the Savior, when telling this parable, said twice: “If you have ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8, 15). What seems simpler is how to hear, but how much time we listen and often we do not know how to hear everything. Come, let us now learn to hear—shall we not finally learn? The Lord sows His word. The sowed word is received by hearing and, once accepted, already bears fruit. The whole point, then, is in accepting the word, or hearing. Why, in the interpretation of the parable, the Lord added to each type of fate of the sown seed: “These are the ones who hear,” “These are the ones who hear” (Luke 8:12-14). From the depths of the Father, the Word came forth with a meager hand and sowed His word during His sojourn on earth. Having ascended, the Apostles were sent to broadcast the truth throughout the entire universe - to teach it to all languages. The whole earth is sown with this Divine seed. But even after that the word of God did not return to Heaven, but remains on earth, continues to be sown - it sows every generation, coming again and new, untouched soil, representing the soil. The successor of the work of sowing is the Holy Church. She in herself, in her structure, is an inexhaustible basket of seeds, sowing abundantly. Here the word of the apostolic and prophetic teaching, reading and singing, the motionless appearance of the structure of everything and the constantly moving sacred action - everything is a living word, ready to fertilize us. Let us present to him the good land in ourselves, so that we may have the praise of those who “having heard the good heart and good, keep the word and produce fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). But in order to be such, one must not be like those for whom the word is either a seed “along the way,” or a seed “on the rock,” or a seed among thorns (Luke 8:5–7). The Savior wanted to signify entire classes of people with this comparison. But it also applies to each of us. Each of us, in our different moral states, may be, and is, in relation to the seed of the word, sometimes on the road, sometimes on rocky soil, sometimes on earth overgrown with thorns and thistles. In relation to the seed of the word of God, we are on a multi-passage road, which everyone tramples and does not allow anything to be sown or germinate on it, when we do not restrain our imagination and give it the will to carry through our heads dense rows of different images, from which one flows after the other and one displaces and obscures the other, as in hasty performances of games for the amusement of children. Having looked at these pictures, we either do not pay attention at all to what is read, sung and acted here in the church, or we pay attention with interruptions - frequent or rare, large or small. That’s why sometimes we can’t remember which Gospel and the Apostle were read in church, like the hymn of cherubs, “We sing to you” or “Our Father”; sometimes we don’t even remember whether we were in church, as if someone had come and robbed us. This is not necessary, brothers. It is necessary to leave all the variety of thoughts behind the threshold of the church, to enter here with a thought abolished from everything, and with attention, undistracted and simple, to listen to everything from beginning to end. It's all seed here, just take it. Thus, thought after thought - one more holy than the other, truth after truth - one more comforting than the other - will enter the soul for the first time or be renewed in it from previously received ones. And we will leave here, like a bird gathering grain by grain, fed and full. In relation to the seed of the word, we are also on rocky ground, when we do not bring the truths we have heard to the senses and do not include them in the series of our desires, intentions and dispositions. It is not enough to hear and understand. This is the interest of knowledge - lifeless, cold and haughty. I heard, heeded and understood: perceive what is understandable with your heart or, better yet, with your whole being, bring it into yourself and be imbued with it. How to do this? The same way, for example, we warm the body in the sun. Keep your body open to the sun. The rays of the sun, striking it, penetrate it and heat it. The truths of God are the rays of the Divine intelligent sun. Keep your heart underneath them. They themselves, with their own strength, will penetrate it and warm it. Having heeded the truth, do not take your attention away from it, and soon it will do its work. I'll use another comparison. To perceive the truth with the heart is the same as to taste it. How do we get to the taste of food?! Grinding and softening it in the mouth. So, in the mouth of your mind, with the chisel of reverent reflection, soften the truth of God within yourself, and you will come to taste it with your heart. And when you taste the truth, you will not lag behind it, but with the Apostle you will cry out: “Who will separate us?” (Rom.8:39). After this, we will no longer fall into the ranks of those whom the Lord reproaches for the fact that they “believe in time and fall away in time of adversity” (Luke 8:13). And we are thorny ground in relation to the seed of the word. When is this? When, at the request of the perceived truth, we do not fight with ourselves and do not want to eradicate delusions, bad habits and evil passions in ourselves. God's truth is pure. She will not enter the “evil soul” (Wis. 1:4) - and when she enters, she demands the eruption of all uncleanness from there. We must heed this requirement and act on it. Just as a smart owner clears a field of all debris so that the sown seed does not go to waste, so we should do the same for the sake of the truth of God. This cannot be done without struggle. In order to establish truth within oneself, one must drive away lies and delusion. In order to educate yourself according to the good dispositions of the Gospel, you must overcome passions. Do you want to introduce meekness into yourself? Suppress your anger. Do you want to introduce humility? Swallow your pride. Do you want to introduce simplicity? Suppress selfishness. This is how all truth is introduced. And only then does it become ours when it enters us and becomes a feature of our life and our heart. Truth is not instilled until it is fulfilled by deeds. See: how are fruit trees grafted? They cut a living body and put the best branch inside, wrap it and tie it. Having been grafted, she fights off the previous bad juices and communicates her own: the bitter becomes sweet. So we need the determination to cut into that part of the heart where the passion is, for which we have living sympathy. In opposition to this passion, put the Heavenly branch of truth into the wound, tie it with patience, give movement to its juices by deeds according to its inspiration. It will take root, fight off the passionate movement, and instead of it you will soon find a holy disposition within yourself. And here are all the laws and requirements of prudent, saving hearing. Receive the seeds of the word with attention, lead them to the point of heartfelt sympathy for them and introduce them into internal and external life. By acting in this way, you will reveal yourself to be a good land, greedily accepting the seed of Heaven. If you make it a law to act in this way in relation to every truth and every word, then you will accept truth after truth, as if seed by seed, to grow in the field of your heart into fruitful trees - and you will soon turn it into a paradise of sweetness, full of Heavenly vegetation, in which you will begin to bliss, even here anticipating eternal ineffable bliss in communication with God, worshiped in the Trinity, convinced both in word and deed that He will come to such and create a “abode” with them (John 14:23). To Him be glory for this good and its promise forever. Amen. on the 21st Sunday after Pentecost 33. The principles of faith in Christian life must be kept motionless Finally, our higher educational institution accepts its final structure. Let us glorify the Lord, who has so favored us! Let us bless the generosity of those who donated! Let us thank those who took up the labors in intercession for the beginning and in their efforts to bring what was begun to a good end - and let us pray earnestly that the Lord may bless this first step of your new life and may He never turn His face away from this abode of wisdom and mercy throughout its existence. Let only a part of you, the pupils, enter from now on into a new position, but this position is such that it will not remain without influence on the rest of the pupils, and from all the pupils it cannot but pass on to your bosses and mentors, so this day should rightly be called the beginning of a new life for this institution. I wish you all the best in this new turn, although your life is already ordinary, your usual works and activities, I wish this to everyone, both you, bosses and mentors, and you, pets. But on your part I also expect one good desire, a strong desire - to correspond to the views and intentions of our Church, which cares about you. You are children of the Church. Show yourself to be churchmen not only in name, but more importantly in spirit and mood of mind, heart, character. What is the church? “A pillar and a stronghold” (1 Tim. 3:15), in the words of the Apostle. Its distinctive feature is firmness and immutability in the principles of knowledge and in the rules of life and sanctification. Take great care to imprint these traits in yourself, without fear of the reproach of immobility from those who are troubled in a whirlwind of thoughts and “blow... with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14), attributing to your dignity the shameful mobility of opinions and the reproachable inconstancy of life, let small changes in your outer life like the present one not irritate in you the urge for changes in your inner spirit and mood. How big the waves at sea are sometimes! But, they say, these vibrations occur only on the surface, without touching the body of water itself, the lower layers of which remain motionless. So your movements and changes are inevitable: changes in the premises, as now, changes, at other times, in bosses and mentors, changes in methods and subjects of teaching, and so on, but let all this pass, as it were, past you, on top of you, without touching or shaking the depth of the mood and spirit that is obligatory for you. Finding a reason to speak in your current event, I consider it necessary to remind you especially of this because, as you see, everything around us has begun to move and everything is striving for renewal. Who would not have thought that in these impulses towards novelty there are no longer and should not be any restrictions or exceptions. No. There is an area that is no longer subject to renewal, precisely because, having been renewed once, it remains invariably new and all-renewing. Look what an area this is! The true renewal of humanity has already been accomplished once and no other is promised. “The ancient mimoidosha,” the Apostle assured, “behold, it was all new” (2 Cor. 5:17). And then what? “The hope... of the creature is longing for the revelation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8:19). “We,” he says, “suffer, and all creation groans with us” (Rom. 8:22). About what? About liberation “from the work of corruption” (Rom. 8:21). When? In the future, the reconstruction of all kinds. So, you see, after the renewal of humanity in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, a renewal that continues to this day in the Holy Church of God, we blessedly desire and await with sighing only one renewal - the renewal of all creation, which is to follow at the end of the world. Until that time, we must remain unchanged and motionless in the entire saving dispensation, which the Lord has given to the Holy Church for safekeeping and application. Stagnation, do you think? No. It is precisely in this that the true, life-giving, ever-moving spirit is hidden. The very structure of Christianity, for sure, is motionless, but everyone who enters into it and passes through it, having partaken of renewal from the first minute, constantly grows stronger in it until he is completely clothed “in the new man, created according to God in righteousness and... the excellence of the truth” (Eph. 4:24). This is the mystery, hidden “from the wise and prudent” and revealed only to “babies” (Luke 10:21) in the spirit of faith. Force yourself, too, to enter into possession of this mystery through infantile faith and try to become familiar with this initial principle of life in Christ Jesus our Lord. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). For the Christian, true renewal is already complete. All other reformative techniques should not touch him deeply, touch him from the side in which he is a Christian. This part is finally determined and must remain inviolable. The preservation of this immobility of the Christian spirit in Christians is entrusted to the shepherding of the Lord Himself through the holy Apostles. You are preparing for the same work of service. Keep this calling in your thoughts and from now on learn to be firm and unyielding. Let everything around us move and change, do not get carried away by it and do not touch it, because in all this there may be a lot that goes against Christ’s truth and Christian conviction. Pay attention. Behold, the forms of the human word are constantly changing and being renewed. And so be it. But if in all his verbose works you rarely encounter him or do not encounter at all what expresses the essence of Christianity, such as: “the word became flesh and dwelt in us” (John 1:14), the Lord “took our sins... in His body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24), “by one man sin came into the world and death by sin” (Rom.5:12) and so on, then know that it has taken a wrong direction, and do not imitate it. Well, science is moving forward quickly. And so be it. But if they allow conclusions that are contrary to revealed truths, such as the following: that everything came into being because God “spoke and was ... commanded and was created” (Ps. 32:9), or that when the body returns to the earth from which it was taken, the spirit goes “to God, Who and gave him” (Eccl. 12:7), then know that they have turned aside to the crossroads of lies and not follow them. Behold, the comforts of life are multiplying everywhere. And so be it. But know in advance that this cannot in any way change the truth that “the narrow gate and the strait path” lead “to the stomach” (Matthew 7:14), and whoever preached the opposite of this would preach a lie. Don't listen to him. Here, the forms of mutual relations (humanity, civilization) are becoming more refined. And so be it. But let no one deceive you with flattery, as if, for the sake of this, the truth can give the hand to lies, the spirit to the flesh, Christ to Belial (the devil) (2 Cor. 6:15). Whoever would claim this, there is no truth in him. Have no part with him. So, everything is being invented to strengthen prosperity on earth. And so be it. But it is certain that this will never reach the point where there is no longer a need for “new heavens and new earths according to the promise of God” (2 Pet. 3:13). And whoever would insist on this would go against the truth, deviate from this. So it is in everything! Confirm in yourself the consciousness of the spirit of faith and Christian life and, keeping it unshakable, tear away everything that disagrees with it. Let this consciousness be in your spirit, like a rock among the waves of the sea. We live in the world. It is impossible not to encounter the unrest occurring in it. But in the fact that we meet them, there is no need to be carried away by them along with everyone else. On the contrary, here is a call to those who have realized the truth to stand for the truth, denouncing lies. Look around. In our Fatherland or in the members of our Church, the spiritual (proper) title is entrusted by the Providence of God - to keep the pledge of the holy faith pure and intact, as it was handed over to us by the Universal Church. If this pledge contains the foundation of present and future promises, then it means that the hopes of the Church and the Fatherland rest on us. This is so, and know that until the Providence of God itself removes this assignment from us, no thought, no matter how solid it may seem, can dismiss us from fulfilling it and free us from responsibility, not to mention for evading the truth, but for mere negligence and carelessness in preserving and protecting it. The spiritual rank in the work that is entrusted to him is higher than other ranks in the religious and moral order of life. It pleases the Providence of God. We ourselves are nothing here. I say this not to make you proud, but to irritate your jealousy, “your calling and election... is known” (2 Pet. 1:10). The purpose of the title is high, but everyone who belongs to the title only becomes high himself when he enters into the views of God’s Providence and begins to walk worthy of the title to which he is called. Put this in your conscience and take up “all weapons” (Eph. 6:13) to defend the cause of God. See how quickly the spirit of lies takes possession of a rank that stands directly above us in the civil order. We stand behind him. The Father of Lies has already begun making attacks and attacks on us. We need to become breastfeeding and never allow ourselves to let lies through us into the rest of the body of the Church and the Fatherland. This is currently primarily our calling and the feat expected of us. Rise into consciousness of this and take care to tune in accordingly. If we are already overcome by lies, what should we expect? “If this happens in the harsh tree, what will happen in the tree?” (Luke 23:31). Lies will prevail. But this can only be for a while. The time will come, and the Lord will be justified “in all His words” and will be victorious, “he will never judge” (Rom. 3:4). A lie is nothing, a ghost. The entire weight of judgment and condemnation will fall on the instrument of lies and on everyone who allows themselves to be its conductor. “Woe... when temptation comes” (Matthew 18:7). Contrary to the spirit of the times, I considered it necessary to remind you of all this, taking advantage of this opportunity. Although I am sure that you teach and study no differently, I still think it’s not superfluous to give you a voice of approval: yes, that’s the way it should be, and it shouldn’t be any other way. Amen. on the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, in the Seminary Church, on the day of the consecration of the new seminary building You might be interested in: