11. Слово на восшествие на престол его величества государя императора Александра Николаевича (Не считайте совершенствованием и преуспеянием (прогрессом) того, что охлаждает к вере и отчуждает от Церкви, что может довести не только до нарушения уставов веры и Церкви, но и до желания и требования пере

With the triumph of the accession to the throne of the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Alexander Nikolaevich, His first word, addressed to us for the first time from the height of this throne, comes to mind. Then all of Russia listened to him, took him to heart and decided to steadily follow the instructions of the Sovereign wisdom. But it is not useless for us to keep it in our thoughts at all times, because it gives us very important instruction. Remember this Sovereign word! After well-wishing the Fatherland for truth, peace, prosperity, the spread of education, the expansion of useful activities, He adds: “finally, and this is our first living desire, the light of saving faith, illuminating minds, strengthening hearts, may it preserve and improve more and more public morality - this surest guarantee of order and happiness.” What is the purpose of this so intense reminder? Is there really doubt in our devotion to faith?! No, rather, it is a wise prediction of the dangers to which our faith may be exposed, and calling us to attention and caution. In fact, brothers, we are improving, moving forward, inventing and adopting many new things. The Most Pious Sovereign Emperor Himself contributes in every possible way to this. As for His own orders and instructions, they will undoubtedly be beneficial; but much, moreover, is left to our own choice, to our voluntary enterprise - much that His will does not touch and which His eye will not see. And in this how many unhelpful and even harmful things can slip through, to which, however, we can become attached through carelessness or passion? Then we will repeat the Savior’s parable about the sower who sowed good seed in his village, where the enemy later came and sowed tares. Wishing to protect His beloved Russia from such a misfortune, the All-Merciful Monarch points us to faith as a faithful guardian against all that is harmful and a faithful guide to all that is beneficial. He seems to be telling us this: “As for Me, only truly beneficial institutions will come from Me; but even without Me you can undertake a lot, invent, adopt. Look, choose strictly. Let faith be your guide in everything. I wish you all the best and useful things, every improvement and success; but do not consider as good and useful, do not consider as improvement and success anything that is inconsistent with the spirit of faith in its entire structure, that can lead to admission and change in it or to betrayal of it, that can completely darken its bright face in your mind and heart.” This is the instruction that is so needed at this time! Yes, brothers, we really need such instruction. Our forces are excited, we strive for improvements, we move forward, as they say, and develop. But not every movement forward, not every development is a sign of true improvement and improvement. Thorns and thistles grow and develop in the same way as wheat; but the wheat is gathered into the granary, and the thorns and thistles are destined to be burned. Let's move forward, but let's not forget that there is a path that leads to the bottom of hell! The same can happen with our improvements, with our so-called improvements, with our - let's use the accepted word - progress. And here's why! We can develop and improve only what is in ourselves, as in a seed. But there are two principles at work in us, according to our dual origin - from the first Adam, the earthy one, and from the second Adam, who is “the Lord from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:47). We are born into the world in the image of the earthy Adam and are at first the same as the earthly ion; but then, in the font of holy baptism, we are graciously grafted into the new Adam - heavenly and we receive the power and obligation to be like Him - heavenly. Here we are reborn, receive new life in our Lord Jesus Christ; but the elements of the old man also remain in us, act and captivate us. From these two springs flow all the streams of our deeds! Look around the entire field of human affairs and you will see that they are all divided into two halves: some are imprinted with a heavenly character, others - with an earthly one; some are the fruit of the old, others of the new; some satisfy the flesh, others satisfy the spirit. True perfection belongs only to new life. Living according to the elements of the old man is the source of all imperfections, the distortion of our nature, the decline and suppression of our spiritual powers. The only way to true perfection and improvement is to “put aside” for us, “after the first life, the old man, which is corrupting in the lusts of deceitful desires... and put on the new man, created according to God - in righteousness and in the excellence of the truth” (Eph. 4, 22-24). Now bring under this division and under this assessment new methods for improving and ennobling us, and you will agree that in this way of thinking, and in these conditions of mutual relations, in this spirit and direction of enlightenment, in this way of spending time with taste, which are considered a sign and fruit of the highest development and perfection, if not all, then there may be so many things that feed in us only earthly, carnal, sinful things, and, therefore, not improves, but upsets, suppresses, destroys. Therefore, we cannot indiscriminately grab onto everything, adopt and assimilate it simply because others do it and consider it good. We, who have pledged ourselves in holy baptism to work for the Lord Jesus Christ and to mortify our flesh with passions and lusts, must choose from everything only that which is in accordance with His spirit, and do this not somehow, but with fear and every apprehension, lest we make a mistake and creep into something inconsistent with the seal with which we are sealed in holy baptism, and don't hurt yourself. The question is, how can we avoid such a mistake when we are surrounded by such attractive, such brilliant and so much praised forms of life?! – These are the simplest rules that are accessible to everyone! Firstly, do not consider as improvement and success (progress) that which cools you to faith and alienates you from the Church. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Restorer and Perfecter, for the education of true life in us, established His Holy Church on earth - he outlined a wise confession, pointed out the path of holy life, bestowed sanctifying sacraments and the entire order of church prayers. This is the only true school of education, combining all the elements to stimulate, develop and strengthen the spiritual life inherent in us. The seeker of perfection must live with mind and heart in this divine institution. And only those who wholeheartedly submit to this guidance can achieve the desired height. Therefore, as soon as they offer you new ways to improve and ennoble you and captivate you with the seeming fruits of it, and you do not want to fall into error and run the risk of harming yourself, test everything according to the rule given by the Apostle Paul: “the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are opposed to each other” (Gal. 5:17), that is, what one wants, the other turns away - and vice versa. So, if, having touched something like this (progressive), you feel a cooling of the faith and alienation from the Church, know that it is not a beneficent spirit that is at work in it, but a destructive delusion. Whether you are studying some science in a new direction, or are exposed to the influence of new enlightenment and all writing, and you see that they arouse doubts in your faith, do not consider success in this as true movement forward. No, this is a return back, from light to darkness, from which the Lord called us into His wonderful light. If you come across new customs that are considered the fruit of higher education, and you see that they alienate you from the Church and force you to violate its rules without fear, do not consider adopting them as an improvement and ennoblement. No, this is a return from the realm of God to the realm of Satan, a descent from true nobility into wild carnality, albeit tinted and refined. Are you forced to submit to new conditions of mutual relations - a new tone, and find that they bind you in such a way that you are unable to live according to the demands of the spirit of the Gospel - do not consider entering into such an order of life an acquisition, a liberation from the bonds of ignorance. No, this is the loss of freedom of the children of God and the willful binding of oneself by the bonds of vanity and opinion, which are worse than extreme ignorance. So judge everything that is even slightly contrary to the spirit of faith and the Church - and you will not be mistaken! Just don’t get carried away by no matter how many people from your own circle follow this. It is not others who will be responsible for us. Let them boast of higher education. There will be a day when all deeds will be tested by fire. Then it will turn out who has gold and who has dry courage. The Lord is true in His promise: “believe in Me to have eternal life” (John 6:47). Secondly, do not consider as improvement and success that which can lead you not only to violating the statutes of faith and the Church, but also to the desire and demand for changes and abolitions in them. We are developing. The property of development is such that, leaving behind the old, it forces us to accept the new: the old frames are insufficient for new, developed forms of life. This happens in everything earthly and in all human affairs, but not so in faith, which, being of unearthly origin, cannot be subject to the fate of earthly changes. Nothing in it can be canceled or changed: neither in confession, nor in the rules of life, nor in the manner of performing the sacraments, nor in the order and structure of the church. Our holy faith in all its composition is our physician, containing all kinds of healing for all our infirmities. But just as material medicines are only strong when they contain all the ingredients required by the prescription, so our holy faith is only healing for us when we keep it in its entirety, without any cancellations or changes. Take away any compound from a medicine or replace it with another, and it will lose all its healing power. Take away something from the composition of faith and the Church, or add, or change and transform, - it will no longer be healing and saving for you. Without its integrity we have no salvation. Therefore, the Lord Himself protects her like the apple of his eye. Let everything in the world move and change, but our holy faith abides and will remain unchanged. It is the same among these changes as a calm strip among the agitated sea. Imagine a sea raised by the wind: the waves rush in different directions, one after another and one against the other, and represent the amazing struggle of the water element - this is an image of earthly changes! Then imagine, in the midst of these disturbances, one stripe of calmly flowing water, calmly cutting through all the waves - this is an image of faith! She flows calmly from the beginning of her foundation and will be like this until the end of the world, giving peace to everyone who takes refuge in her bosom from the worldly cycle. The enemy of our salvation knows that all the power and healing of faith depends on its immutability, or this decisive immobility, and therefore he tries in every possible way to introduce it into the stream of human changes: he stirs up heresies, irritates superstition, lifts the sword, scatters seductive charm - he uses everything in order to introduce some changes in its Divine structure and thereby destroy its power. In other countries, under the deceptive pretext of civilization, humanity, common humanity, he has already managed to persuade people to change their faith. In the forms of imaginary improvement, some things were canceled, others were added, and thereby ruined the healing power of faith. The enemy rejoices in success and reaps the fruits of unbelief, depravity, disturbances and all kinds of disorder. Judge by this what kind of spirit is at work in that development (progress), for the sake of which it is possible to change something in our faith, as if it is time for us to abandon one or another of its institutions and replace them with new ones in accordance with new education and taste. This is a spirit hostile to the truth and harmful to us. Therefore, do not consider as beneficial the improvement and ennoblement that results in such demands, do not adopt them and do not internalize them. Those who, carried away by the spirit of the new education, have reached the point where they are embarrassed by fasting, are ashamed to confess sins, go to other places instead of the Church of God, consider it indecent to conduct a spiritual conversation in society and are afraid to remember the worshiped name of God, avoid sacred prayers, place the sanctity of marriage and family relationships at nothing, and so on and so forth, and all this allows themselves not out of weakness, but out of the spirit of superstition, with with a wayward desire and demand to improve, as it seems to him, the composition of the faith and the Church, that is, to forge it to suit his corrupt taste and subordinate it to his desires and pleasures, let him not boast and lie about the truth! “This wisdom is not from above, but is earthly, spiritual, and demonic” (James 3:15). Thirdly, do not consider as improvement and success that which can completely darken the bright face of faith in your mind and displaces from memory any thought about our end and destiny. Reproduce, brethren, in your mind the outline of the image of our faith, see how bright, joyful, and life-giving it is! “God, worshiped in the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who created everything and provides for everything, saves us - the fallen and perishing - in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit given through the Holy Sacraments in the Church, under the condition of faith and unquestioning submission to the Divine economy, with the promise of eternal bliss in heaven." Here is a brief image of the entire order of the Divine world government and all the destinies of humanity! This face of truth inherent in consciousness illuminates the entire path of our life. By its light we clearly see what we are, why we are here on earth, and how our course will end, we see our entrance into this world, and our departure from it, and what the middle should be filled with, separating these extremes. He who has entered with his mind and heart into this Divine invisible arrangement of everything flows his way as best he can, without taking his eyes off that last door through which everyone must inevitably pass - and this mental contemplation kindles in him the zeal of the procession, eliminates excesses, protects him from unnecessary stops and keeps him in constant sobriety and wakefulness. Our enemy knows the power of this thought, he knows that whoever lives in this invisible world with his mind and heart will find little on earth that could occupy and hold his attention. Therefore, he tries in every possible way to dispel, bring into oblivion, and overshadow this face of Divine truth with other images, scattering attractive earthly delights before his eyes. The one caught in his net forgets all this, rushes into the outside, worries in the bustle and dies. So, when, under the seductive title of higher education, you encounter such a way of thinking and life, which, leading those devoted to it, as it were, into some dark region, makes them forget the heavenly structure of things, forget what they are, why they are here on earth, and what awaits them, keeps them, as it were, intoxicated, spins them in a whirlwind of worries and vanity, tyrannizes them under the inexorable dominion of some demands and conditions of life, without allowing them to come to their senses and come to your senses - judge for yourself what kind of spirit invented and introduced such an order of things, and do not be seduced by it, do not adopt it and do not assimilate it for yourself. This is not the bright realm of perfection, but the dark depths of Satan. We are not children! We know well that today or tomorrow we must die, appear before the judgment of God and give an account. So what? Is it better to awaken from oblivion at that hour without any benefit or opportunity to improve the matter, or to remember this in advance? Let us not forget that no matter how momentary our life is, an entire eternity depends on it! Therefore, there is reason to take care not to waste it in vain. Or do they want to turn the earth into paradise?! But the verdict of God's court is unchanged. The earth has been and will be a vale of tears. Our life on it is a constant penance. No matter how you sweeten it, you cannot destroy its bitterness. No one would think that, speaking in this way, we are rebelling against any improvement and any change for the better. Oh no! May God bless every good improvement, and bless the efforts of those who devote themselves to this. We only want to say that the true measure of the beneficialness of improvements should be their conformity with the spirit of faith, and that everything that cools one’s faith and alienates one from the Church, everything that forces one to violate its statutes and demand changes in them, everything that leads to oblivion of the Divine order of things, should not be considered a sign and fruit of true improvement and prosperity (progress), but a return back (regression), decline and destructive. Judge for yourself, brothers! The Lord came to earth and planted saving faith in it precisely in order to heal our infirmities and lead us to primitive perfection; For this reason he gave us the holy confession - this is a reduction of all truths, he spoke the commandments - this is the outline of the most perfect life, he established the Holy Church and the Holy Sacraments - sources of revival and sanctification. Do you want perfection (true progress), believe and, having received the powers of grace through the Holy Sacraments, live according to the demands of faith, there is no other way. It is impossible to achieve perfection in knowledge without holding a holy confession, it is impossible to achieve perfection of life without fulfilling the commandments, it is impossible to heal one’s infirmities without the assistance of the Holy Sacraments and submission to the entire rite of sanctifying prayers of the Church. It’s not that we want to say that there is only this one thing, and nothing else, but that this is the main thing, inaccurate, guiding, so that if this is not there, everything else is worthless. Work to expand your circle of knowledge; but not otherwise than under the guidance of confession and according to its instructions, and not in opposition to it; otherwise all your wisdom will be nothing more than the dream of a dream. Improve the order of mutual relations, but without violating the Gospel instructions, otherwise all your civilization and humanity will be nothing more than the beauty of a watered (painted) coffin. Improve the external conditions of life and well-being, but without forgetting the eternal order of God, otherwise all your splendor and all the pomp will be nothing more than a deceptive ghost. Will there be any meaning in our action if we, leaving this Divine institution, undoubtedly beneficial and, moreover, obligatory for us, turn exclusively to our own methods - arbitrary, always dubious and unreliable! Then the reproach spoken through the Prophet will righteously fall on us: “You have forsaken the source of living waters, and dug up for yourself broken treasures that cannot contain water” (Jer. 2:13). Brothers, experience is the test of everything! But look, has this vaunted progress brought anyone to the promised perfection, has it given them peace, has it made anyone happy? - Nobody! And of those who unswervingly follow the path of God’s faith, you have a whole cloud of witnesses - a host of saints of God who have truly improved and shown by deeds that this and not another path leads to perfection. These are examples of true progress! And all who imitate them, strengthened by Divine grace, go from strength to strength, until they reach “the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). I think, brethren, that always, especially now, when lifting up prayers to God for the Most Pious Sovereign Emperor, everyone accompanies this prayer with a sincere desire to do everything pleasing to Him, no matter what sacrifices it may require, and even more so if someone had to hear or recognize His direct will. But out loud He long ago declared his first and most living desire - that the light of saving faith may illuminate our minds and confirm our hearts. Shall we step back from the demands and vows of the heart?! “I do not demand much from you and nothing new,” as our most pious Monarch says to us, “keep the true faith of our fathers, as I myself keep it, and do not deviate from the saving and sanctifying institutions of the Church. I believe this to be the cornerstone of your prosperity and the safe firmness of the State. Do you want to serve Me faithfully and make yourself happy? “Be true sons of the Church, do not be carried away by the ghostly shine of new things coming to us from somewhere, and do not thereby disturb the good mood of your souls and the good order of your pious life.” - Well, shall we say to this: amen? Let's say, brothers and fathers! Let us say with readiness and do so, for it is not words that are needed, but deeds. Amen. You might be interested in: