Нравоучительная часть (Гал.5, 13–6, 10)

Starting to interpret (Gal. 5:13), Saint Chrysostom says: “here the Apostle moves on to the moral part of the Epistle. However, in the Epistle to the Galatians something special is noted that is not found in any of his other Epistles. He usually divides all other Epistles into two parts, of which in the first he discusses dogmas, and in the other he sets out rules for life. But in this Epistle, having moved on to moral teaching, he then again adds dogmatic teaching to it; for the moral again has a need for the dogmatic.” Blessed Theodoret also understands the Apostle’s turn of thought here: “The Apostle now moves on to moral advice and commands us to take care of active virtue.” In the very presentation of moral lessons, it is easy to notice three sections. The first indicates the general beginning of Christian activity throughout life (Gal. 5: 13 – 25); in the second, the proper character of the most perfect leading persons in Christian society is determined in their relation to the less perfect, with a brief indication of the attitude of these latter towards them (Gal. 5, 26 - 6, 6); the third signifies the strongest motivation for spiritual life and all good deeds (Gal. 6:7-10). 1) General beginning of Christian life (Gal. 5: 13–25) From the words of the Apostle in this place, this beginning can be expressed this way: remain in active mutual love and spend your spiritual life in the struggle with passions and lusts. The previous discussion about freedom from the law led to such a general rule. The Apostle says as if in Christ Jesus you were freed from the yoke of the law, but not to walk in the wills of your carnal heart; here its yoke is placed on you - the yoke of love - good. You have been freed from slavery to the law because you have received the Spirit, who writes his spiritual laws in your heart: live in the spirit and do not commit carnal lusts. Gal.5:13. You are quickly called to freedom, brethren: let your freedom not be the guilt of the flesh, but work for one another through love. The law determined every step of the Jew. The Jew walked according to the usual rules, like cells. When these cells are broken, it is not surprising that questions could arise, how to act now? Freedom after constraint leads to debauchery; one feels a strong urge to taste more and wider pleasures of all kinds. As sensual pleasures are closer and more known, then freedom is given to them. But here a new captivity begins - a destructive one. To prevent this from happening, the Apostle warns: be careful that your freedom is not the fault of the flesh, that is, does not serve as a reason for indulgence in sensuality. “It is not for this, he says, that you have been freed from slavery to the law, so that you can sin without fear” (Blessed Theodoret). “But work with love for one another.” Here is a decent occupation for you - to work for each other: to help each other, to assist each other in his affairs, to admonish and console each other. This will be the best use of freedom and will bring you untold comfort yourself more than others, just take care to act this way out of love. Be filled with love for each other. Then this love will not give you peace, forcing you to constantly do something for others, both within your strength and beyond your strength. “He who sincerely loves does not refuse to serve his beloved” (Blessed Theodoret). And not only does he not refuse, but he himself seeks out how to serve someone, and gets bored when he fails to do anything for others. Saint Chrysostom says: “Christ, says the Apostle, freed us from the yoke of slavery and gave us freedom to do what we want; only so that we use this freedom not for evil, but as a means to obtain a greater reward, ascending to the most perfect wisdom, and since the Apostle above and below calls the law a yoke of slavery and mentioned liberation from the legal oath, then, lest anyone think that he is urging to leave the law in order to live lawlessly, he warns such a thought, saying: Christ freed us from the law not in order for us to live lawlessly, but in order to acquire wisdom higher than the law: because The bonds of the law are released; and I say this not in order for us to humiliate ourselves even more, but in order to exalt ourselves more. For both the fornicator and the virgin both transgress the limits of the law, but not in the same way one fell into the worst, and the other rose to the better; one broke the law, and the other exceeded the law. So, Saint Paul says: Christ took the yoke from you, not so that you would jump and run wild like horses, but so that, freed from your burden, you would flow in a more comfortable manner. Further, the Apostle shows an easy way to achieve this - what is it? “With love,” he says, “work for one another.” So that, having freed themselves from the yoke of the law, they do not become disorderly, he imposes on them another yoke - love, which, although larger and stronger than the first, is much lighter and more pleasant." Gal.5:14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the hedgehog: love your neighbor as yourself. “Having examined the law from all sides, he says: if you want to fulfill the law, then do not be circumcised; for it is fulfilled not in circumcision, but in love” (St. Chrysostom). The Apostle says, as it were: this is how it comes out in the spirit of new life in Christ Jesus, that you should work for one another in love; but the essence of the law itself is no different. If you are a zealot for the law, then love your neighbor as yourself, and you will fulfill the whole law. For the whole law is fulfilled by love. Every prescription of the law in relation to the brethren indicated a work of love. Whoever fulfilled it showed love. But only at that time did he appear. But he who has kindled love in his heart constantly carries in his heart a readiness for all deeds of love. Private acts of love do not exhaust the entire source from which they come. He is both stronger and more abundant than them. The zealous lawyer showed intermittent acts of love, having an empty heart at all times, as if it were not occupied with the work of love. Not so in Christ Jesus. Here love does not dry up, but is constantly there. It does not only arise and appear when a legitimate opportunity presents itself; but she constantly acts in the heart and does not wait for a certain case by law, but seeks it out herself and, when she does it, she does not do it according to the measure of the law, but according to her breadth, which has no measure. There is a great difference, and especially in the fact that then deeds of love came from external instructions, but now they come according to instructions and attraction from the heart, with self-initiation. Now a Christian is both completely free and an executor of the law, most perfect and complete. For the love of God is poured out into his heart through the Holy Spirit given to us. Blessed Jerome writes: “What we previously did out of legal necessity, having become free from the law, we must do out of love. Love is such a great good that the whole law is combined in it.” Blessed Augustine asks: “Why does the Apostle speak about love only for neighbors, when the whole law and the Prophets hang not on this love alone, but especially on the love of God?” And he solves this question this way: “love for God and love for neighbors are inseparable. He who loves God with all his heart certainly loves his neighbor, because there is a clear commandment to do so from the One Whom he loves with all his heart. There is actually only one love: it loves God and for the sake of God its neighbor. since this is the whole essence of the saving mood, it was necessary to indicate the surest sign for an unmistakable determination of whether someone has such love or not. Everyone knows very clearly what love for one’s neighbors is; therefore he can tactually determine whether he has it or not. Love for God, however, may be mistakenly assumed by others in oneself, when one does not have it. That is why the Apostle exhibits only love for his neighbors: for whoever has it also has love for God. On the negative side, this is even more true: whoever does not have love for his neighbors can absolutely no longer boast of love for God” (quoted not word for word). And the Savior Himself set love for each other as a sure sign of His disciples. His beloved disciple and teacher of love says: “If anyone says: I love God, but hates his brother, it is a lie: for if you do not love your brother, who you have seen, God, who you have not seen, how can you love? And this commandment of the imams is from Him, that he who loves God also loves his brother” (1 John 4:20-21). And the purpose that the Apostle has here forced him to do so. The dissent that crept among the Galatians led them to the point of discord and discord among them. Obviously, love began to dry up. The Apostle, by pointing out the great importance of love in the matter of pleasing God, wants to bring them to the realization that they took a crooked direction when, due to false teachings, they allowed the bonds of love to weaken within themselves. It is for this purpose that he speaks further. Gal.5:15. If you bite and devour each other, take heed, lest you be destroyed from each other. Although it can be assumed, putting these words in direct connection with verse 13, that Saint Paul wanted to present in them an incentive to mutual active love and from the harmful consequences that mutual dislike usually produces; but one cannot help but see that through this concepts are introduced for which no reason has been given before, nor has anything similar to them been said since. In order for these words to fit harmoniously with verse 13, it is necessary to introduce the following thought into it - work for each other with love, and through this increase your prosperity. Then it will follow directly: if there is dislike between you and you do evil to each other, then be careful that you do not destroy each other. Thus this verse will be in connection not directly with verse 13, but with the intended consequence of the way of life it establishes. But is it fair to do this? Thus, it is not at all superfluous to ask: why did St. Paul say this, or give such a turn of phrase? Saint Chrysostom understands these words in such a way that they do not express a general thought, but covertly denounce the unkind state of the Galatians in order to bring them to their senses and, by indicating its source in the heresy that has come, thereby presenting it itself in an unfavorable form. Even under the 13th verse, in response to the words: “Work for one another by love,” he said: “The Apostle makes it clear that the cause of their error was strife, disagreement, covetousness and pride, for the mother of heresies is the passion of covetousness. And with the words: “work for each other” - he showed that evil came precisely from this vanity and pride. Why does it represent medicine accordingly? since, he says, you were divided among yourself, wanting to rule one over the other, then serve each other, and you will be united again. However, he does not clearly name their sin, but clearly only proposes a method of correction, so that from here they would recognize their sin, just as if someone, without directly telling a dissolute person that he is dissolute, would only persuade him to chastity.” Saint Chrysostom leads the same thought under the 15th verse: “he did not express his thought here directly, so as not to upset them, although he knew that this was what was happening between them; but he says the same thing, only with an air of some doubt. For he did not say: since you “bite each other”, he also did not directly say further: “you will be destroyed from each other.” The kind of speech that is characteristic of one who intimidates only and who advises, and not one who condemns. He used the most striking and harsh words. For he did not just say: “you bite,” which is what an irritated person sometimes does, but added: “you are consumed,” which is characteristic of someone stubborn in anger. The one who bites is satisfied only by the passion of anger, and the one who consumes reveals in himself the extreme degree of brutality. However, he does not mean bodily remorse and devouring, but much worse. For he who devours a man’s flesh does not do so much harm as he who gnaws at his soul. For the more precious the soul of the body, the more painful the evil inflicted on it. “You who are guarded, lest you be destroyed from one another.” since deceivers and malefactors come to destroy others, then be careful, he says, so that the matter does not come to you. Divisions and strife corrupt and devour both those who receive and those who sow, and even more than moths, they eat up everything.” Blessed Jerome has a different idea. “It is necessary,” he says, “to interpret this passage so that it does not seem that Saint Paul suddenly moves on to unexpected instructions that are outside of any connection with the content of the Epistle. He wants to tell them: having received freedom from the law, work for each other with love. And this will be the best fulfillment of the law itself. And if you stay with the law, you will have to accept everything, accept “an eye for an eye.” By following this, you will bite and devour each other. Beware! This is where the law will lead you! You will be destroyed from each other" (not word for word) Gal.5:16. I say: walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lust. Let us pass this introductory explanation and return to the main thought of the Apostle: freed from the law, live in active love for one another. Standing in this thought, we cannot help but ask: in what relation to that law of love does the present rule consist - to walk in the spirit and not commit carnal lust? Saint Chrysostom answers: in relation to the means to the end. “Here shows another way that facilitates virtue and contributes to the fulfillment of the above, giving birth to love and being supported by love. For nothing makes us more loving than living according to the Spirit, and nothing convinces the Spirit to dwell in us so much as the power of love.” “I say” is not such a thought: prescribing the law of love to you, I say the same thing: “walk in the Spirit”; and this: to this or at the same time I say to you: walk in the Spirit... In order for you to remain in mutual love, “walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lust.” Why is this so? This is why: carnal lust is the same as sin living in us; in another place it is also called carnal wisdom. This “carnal wisdom does not repent of the law of God, for worse it can” (Rom. 8:7) And love is the fulfillment of the law. It turns out that these are incompatible opposites. Carnal lust is the negation of the law, and love is the negation of all lawlessness. Where love acts in force, there is no place for carnal lust; and where there is carnal lust, do not seek love there. He who obeys the suggestions of love will not obey the temptations of carnal lust. But in order not to obey the temptations of the flesh, one must accept the grace of the Spirit and walk in the Spirit. Thus, it is obvious that St. Paul wanted to say to the Galatians: after you have been freed from the law, you are obligated to walk in love, and in order to walk in love, walk in the Spirit and do not commit carnal lust. What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? We also have our own spirit, a god-like force, breathed into man from God, whose purpose is to introduce man into life in God and keep him in it. The elements of our spirit are consciousness of the Divine with a feeling of all-round dependence on Him, fear of God, consciousness of the obligation to please God, confidence in a blissful eternity. With all these elements, the spirit directed man from himself and from all created things to God as the final goal, turning everything else into a means to it. When man fell, he fell from God, and stopped on himself, and set himself as the main goal of life. The spirit lost power over him, and pride began to soar in him instead. From self-love developed pride, self-interest, voluptuousness, and from these then - a whole horde of passions. All of them, in different shades, have become the rulers of human life. The spirit fell silent, and if it sometimes raised a voice, it was not listened to. The Lord and Savior brought to earth the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, which, together with the preaching of the Gospel, spread across the face of the earth. The Power of Preaching the Gospel of Grace. Together with the word, grace enters the heart through hearing and awakens the spirit of a person. The sermon says: Arise, sleep (Eph. 5:14). When grace affects the spirit, it rises. Together with him, all his elements rise and come to life: the fear of God, the obligation to please God and the aspiration of a better life. Whoever submits to these demands of the spirit, animated by the Spirit of God, renounces himself, tramples on self-love with all the host of passions and begins to work diligently for the Lord in defiance of all earthly forms. From this moment, his life begins in the spirit or by the Spirit, with the trampling of pride and all passions. Life in the spirit or by the Spirit can therefore be described as follows: who, having been aroused by the grace of God and sanctified through the sacraments, enters into himself and, standing before the Lord in his heart, directs all his actions, both internal and external, to please God, through walking steadfastly in His will, expressed in the word of God and accepted into the conscience, in the hope of eternal bliss in God, with the trampling of self-love and oblivion of earthly interests; he lives in the spirit and by the Spirit. From this explanation, the question of what spirit the Apostle means in this place is resolved by itself - ours or the Holy Spirit. Both in combination. Our spirit does not have the power to give us spiritual life on its own. And the Spirit of God will not give it unless it is received by our spirit. When they are combined, then our spirit becomes strong from the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God through our spirit acts on us and on everything that is ours and sanctifies and perfects everything. He who walks in the spirit walks by the Spirit of God, but walks through the elements of the spirit, originally breathed into man. From this same explanation it is also clear that there is carnal lust. This is self-love with all passions. It is called carnal lust because the primary seat of self-love and passions is in the flesh. It so happened that as the norm of human life, according to its first dispensation, is spiritual life - in God, then when man fell, he fell in opposition to the spirit and God, into carnal life with satisfaction with himself as creatures in this life, with oblivion about God and the afterlife. When the spirit is excited and takes strength, then self-love with passions, or this carnal lust, is rejected and the law is accepted - never listen to the suggestions, demands, attractions of this lust: “let sin” not possess us, so that we can listen to it in its lusts” (Rom. 6:14, 12). The fate of this old man has been decided to be crucified, “that the body of sin may be abolished” (Rom. 6:6). That is how it will end. But for the time being, the wisdom of God allowed him to stand against the spirit that is in us, but as alien to us, unfavorable, persecuted and rejected. With consciousness and freedom, man goes over to the side of the spirit and there he carries out all his deeds; and pride with passions, although in him, but as if from outside, attracts and seduces him. The job of a Christian, paying attention to himself and standing in spirit before the Lord, is to notice suitable wrong movements and suggestions of selfishness or carnal lust and reflect them in the name of the Lord. This is exactly what the Apostle expressed in the word: walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lusts. In order to make this lust completely dead, this is the work of God: our task is not to accept any of its movements or suggestions and, no matter how much it bothers us, not to do anything to please it. This is the whole life of a Christian! It is a constant struggle, as the Apostle says after this. Gal.5:17. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: but these things oppose one another, and do what you will. What is this – is the Apostle writing natural psychology or depicting a state of grace? Podgraznoe; for in the natural - fallen - state, although the spirit is not destroyed, it does not have any power over pride and passions. Sometimes the fear of God, sometimes conscience, sometimes the memory of the afterlife say something against them, but this voice is at least heard, because it is impossible not to hear it, but is left inattentive, neglected, trampled upon, sometimes with hostile bitterness against it. That’s why there’s no actual swearing here. War begins when our spirit comes to life and receives strength from the Spirit of God. After this, the spirit stands on one side, and the self with passions and lusts on the other. The latter tries to return the taken booty, and the first tries to keep it for himself. Here comes the abuse. Self-love with passions arouses sinful thoughts, attractions, and sympathies; and the spirit, with the fear of God and zeal to please God, reflects them with the power of the grace of the Holy Spirit. “The flesh lusts after the spirit” can be translated either like this: the flesh, that is, the self with passions, gives rise to desires that are contrary to the spirit, or like this: the flesh rebels hostilely against the spirit; Equally, “the spirit lusts after the flesh” means: either: the spirit gives rise to desires that are contrary to self-indulgence, or: the spirit is hostile to them. In relation to the last thought, the rule of the holy ascetics is remarkable: when temptation from selfishness and passions approaches, hasten to arouse hostility and anger against it, and it will run away in the blink of an eye. “But these things oppose one another, so do them whatever you will.” The apostle says, as it were: this is what happens inside you if you stand as you should in the spirit! The battle is taking place. When self-indulgence conceives something contrary to God, the spirit does not allow you to fulfill its suggestion and desire; when the spirit demands something in defiance of the self, the latter binds your hands and feet so that you do not do what the spirit demands. Neither side wants to allow you to do anything contrary to it, to please the opposite side. This is the purpose of the war, the purpose of each of the warring parties. But what next? And stand in the middle, neither here nor there! The Apostle does not say what to do for the one standing in the middle, drawn here and there; because it is self-evident; and besides, this has already been stated above: “Walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lust.” Here, having pointed out the ongoing struggle inside, he does not say which way to lean; but obviously he wants to be listened to not to the flesh, but to the spirit. He seems to suggest: and you yourself see where you should lean. If you must walk in the spirit and not commit carnal lust, then it is obvious that you must always go against selfhood to please the demands and desires of the spirit, without stopping at any sacrifices of self-denial. Our interpreters, all of them, understand the words: “Do whatever you want” - they understand this as a suggestion, so that believers do not fulfill the desires of lust and strictly resist them. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle pointed out here the struggle between evil and good thoughts. But to want and not to want is a matter of the soul. That is why he says: “These are opposed to each other,” so that you do not allow your soul to walk in its evil desires. He said this as a mentor and teacher, arousing fear.” Blessed Theodoret writes: “The Apostle calls the flesh the inclination of the will towards the worse; in spirit - indwelling grace; because it guides the soul for the better. How is it possible to overcome carnal passions? “Do whatever you want, do it.” Do not follow inappropriate thoughts, that is, overcome them, having the cooperating grace of the Spirit.” Gal.5:18. If you are led by the Spirit, you are under the law. If in your inner struggle you always take the side of the spirit and act to please it, contrary to the suggestions of the self, then you will be led by the Spirit. If you are led by the Spirit, then you are not under the law. Again the Apostle has an unexpected combination of concepts. This gave rise to many speculations. But it seems that the most direct way is to assume the Apostle’s intention - and to connect the moral teaching with the doctrine. How is it that, starting to prove the uselessness of the law for Christians, the Apostle began with the question of receiving the Spirit and from the fact that they received Him apart from the law, he deduced: what use is the law to you? (The strength of the proof is that the law was needed to curb the passions; the Spirit of God, having come, scorches the passions: what do you need the law when you already have more than the law can give?) So here, having put up a struggle with the passions and showing that they overcome them when led by the Spirit, he concludes: you are no longer under the law. The law curbed passions from the outside, but you have cast them out of your heart and are pursuing them, which means that the law has already fallen away from you, just as a shell falls away when a chick hatches, or the stage falls when a house is built. Saint Chrysostom says: “What is the sequence between concepts? The most strict and obvious. For whoever has the Spirit, with His help, quenches every evil desire in himself. And whoever has freed himself from evil desires no longer needs the help of the law, having become much above its teachings. Who is not angry, why should he hear: “Thou shalt not kill”? He who does not look with lustful eyes has no need for instruction - “not to commit fornication.” And who will talk about the actions of evil to someone who has plucked out the very root of evil in himself? And the root of murder is anger, fornication is an inquisitive and lustful gaze. That is why he says: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are under the law.” If the law, before the coming of the Spirit, replaced as much of the Spirit as it could, then there is therefore no need now to remain under the guardianship. Then we were rightly under the law, so that, prompted by fear, we should withhold our desires until the Spirit appeared; and now, when we have been given grace, which not only commands us to abstain from them, but also dries them up and raises a person to the most perfect life, what need is there for the law? Whoever does more on his own has no need to be a nurturer? A philosopher has no need for a grammar teacher. So, why are you humiliating yourself like this? Initially you expressed your readiness to serve the Spirit, but now you are listening to the law again.” Gal. 5:19 – 21 . The essence of the deeds of the flesh has been revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, adultery, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, zeal, envy, rage, incitement, strife, temptations, heresies, envy, murder, drunkenness, disorderly cries, and the like: which I will tell you as I also foretold, for those who create the Kingdom of God will not inherit. The Apostle inspired that, in our inner battle, we must resist selfishness and self-indulgence and always follow the demands and attractions of the spirit. Now he shows the space and arena of spiritual warfare, what we should lag behind and what we should resist. When listing the acts of self-indulgence, the Apostle does not bring everything to light, and in what he exposes, he does not indicate subtle nuances, but names only the most outstanding acts of self-indulgence and in their most coarse, repulsive form. This is because the pagan carnal life was revealed in such most deeds, as everyone saw and knew, and because when an aversion to disapproving deeds is aroused, a rejection of both thoughts and their desires is formed, and it is impossible to succeed in the first without having the second. “The essence of the matter of the flesh is revealed.” “Revealed”, φανερα, - obvious, known to everyone, by the general moral feeling and voice of conscience. Or they are obvious to you, as Christians: even an honest citizen will not approve of them, and not just a Christian reborn by grace. Or obvious: before your eyes is this shame of a rational creature; Look how the pagans and all unrepentant sinners live, in oblivion of God and their future fate. - “Deeds of the flesh” are the essence of the matter of selfishness, self-indulgence, that principle that governs a person’s life, which was grafted onto him as a result of the fall and forces him, instead of God, to please himself, instead of the spirit, to follow the desires of the flesh, instead of the eternal ones, to love only temporary things and taste blessings. The holy Apostle lists eighteen types of sinful deeds; but obviously they are divided into two halves: into deeds of desirable power and into deeds of irritable power. I borrow these names from the writings of the ascetic Fathers, from whom all the unkind movements of the soul are brought under these two forces, which they sometimes call in short - lust and anger. They contrast the mind, the same thing that we call spirit; and the entire internal struggle is reduced to the struggle of the mind-spirit with lust and anger, or with the movements of the desired and irritable power of the soul. It is evident that their instructions are in complete agreement with those of St. Paul. And everyone can notice for himself that he constantly moves between these two, moving from lust to irritation and from irritation to lust, when he does not have a better goal - what the spirit indicates. First, the Apostle lists the evil deeds of willful power or lust, when she does not listen to the suggestions of the mind or spirit. Shows the most shameful things. “Adultery” – carnal sins, especially in a marriage union, “and fornication” – carnal sins – outside this union; “Uncleanness and filthiness” are carnal sins that are unnatural. By uncleanness, however, perhaps we also mean the desecration of the soul by shameful thoughts with pleasure and desire for action; and under the act of studding - the overflow of lust to the point of shamelessness and mania, when people are not even put to shame. “Idolatry” refers to that side in which lust was the most active. The pagans had deities, with whom the service was performed to satisfy this passion. “And enchantments” are mentioned here because part of them was charged as an aid to carnal sins, such as compositions of potions and herbs and various incantations, with the goal of producing mutual charm, or, as we say, a love spell. In the lives of Cyprian and Justina one can see how this was done (see Cheti-Minea, October 2). Cases of irritable force or anger are indicated as follows: “enmity” - when one person with another, or family with family, or clan with clan is in enmity - they do not see each other, do not meet, do not speak, and if they do not plot evil, then they want it to befall the other side, and are glad when this happens; “zeal”, ερεις, - litigation, abuse, curses, disputes, when they do not want to give in to anything to another and even by a hair, they always want to stand on their own; “envy” - not that envy, but: ζηλοι - when they fight with all their might so as not to allow another to get ahead of themselves in something, in honor, in wealth, in things, in positions, in anything, and hostility is assumed towards the one who excels, with the desire to trip him up: this is a competition perverted by egoism; “rage”, θυμοι, – anger, anger, when someone is like gunpowder, for every little thing there is an outburst of anger, abuse and even a fight; “incitement”, εριθειαι, - when they anger others, sow discord, incite one against the other, incite all kinds of disorder in society, families and between individuals; “strife”, διχοστασια, - division or disintegration into two, when someone is not at peace with anyone, not a peace-lover, a discordant, or when someone starts parties, the non-peaceful spirit of parties, “temptations” - there are no in Greek - scandals or making scenes, as they say: so-and-so or so-and-so made a scene for me; “heresies” - perhaps this is not a division in objects of belief: for the Apostle paints a picture from pagan life, and there were no divisions of this kind; rather, it is a division in general, of any kind, only with a hostile, hostile spirit, demanding expulsion or death to opponents; “envy”, φθονοι, - when they envy the happiness of another and are angry with everyone, why does he feel good, with a deadly, however, hostility towards him, from which hatred breathes murder; “murder”, (φονοι, – it was decided after more than one consonance: φθονοι, – but in essence this happens: φθονος is completely satisfied in φονος;. This is the height of hostility towards another. The example is Cain. The last two: “drunkenness and disorderly cries” are carried out not in the sense that the Apostle wanted to complement lustful deeds with them, but in the fact that in these two lust and rage both find satisfaction. It's like the houses they live in. A drunk person is ready to do shameful things and is ready to cause discord. At feasts, both lust and anger are played out widely. The cries are outrageous, they are feasts, started only to have fun and have noisy fun. “And similar to this” in both parts of sinful deeds, both lustful and irritable. Following the example of what has been said, anyone can add to this list on their own. “I will speak beforehand” - regarding them I speak in advance, that is, before the judgment comes; “as I predicted,” - as I already said, also in advance, probably when I personally taught them instructions about the Christian way of life. “For those who do such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” They will definitely not inherit the Kingdom of God, which will be revealed at the second coming, indescribably blessed and eternal. It is as if the judgment against them has already been pronounced and sealed. But when the Apostle says: “they who do such things,” he makes it clear that this judgment on them is in force as long as they engage in such matters. Get them out of that circle, and judgment will not fall on them. This blissful change awaits them until their very last breath. Until then, the promise is to lift this sentence from them. But when death opens the door to another life and closes the door from here, then everything will end. Blessed Augustine writes: “those who create the Kingdom of God will not inherit.” These things are also done by those who, bowing to carnal desires, lust after their deeds, although they do not have the opportunity to carry them out. And those who, feeling the attack of carnal movements, remain adamant towards them and not only do not present the members of their body as instruments for committing sin, but also do not even signify their consent to it, these do not create such and, therefore, will inherit the Kingdom of God. For, obviously, sin no longer reigns in their dead body in such a way as to obey it in its lusts, although it still dwells in it. It is another thing to sin, and another to have sin. In whom sin does not reign, that is, whoever does not obey his lusts, does not sin; but if there were no sinful desires in him, he would not only not sin, but would not have sin at all. This, however, can only be achieved to a certain extent in this life, but will appear in perfection after the resurrection.” Gal. 5:22 – 23 . The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control: against such there is no law. Having once and forever refused, in accepting the faith and in baptism, and then constantly refusing, in life, from the suggestions and attractions of the self with passions, a zealous Christian, always faithful to his calling, under the influence of the grace of the Holy Spirit, develops in himself and increases, in contrast to passions and lusts, good and godly dispositions and aspirations, which, having become the structure of his heart, constitute in him that secret in the heart a man who is destined to be a man of blissful eternity. Lusts and passions, carnal deeds, came into us and multiplied from selfhood, this evil seed sown by the tempter; and good dispositions are akin to us: they are integral qualities of a godly spirit. When grace, having descended within us, revives our spirit, all dispositions and aspirations akin to it begin to move. However, they do not suddenly come into force. They are brought back by the labors of action according to the attraction of the spirit. For the rejected self with a horde of its passions stands here opposite, face to face, and prevents them from flowing freely. Every good disposition has its own passion. As passion is killed, good disposition arises. The same thing happens here: when a person frees himself from a quagmire or from the tenacious grasses that cling to him, he frees one hand, then the other, then one leg, then the other. So, a Christian has passions. Through struggle with himself, through the labors of asceticism, he cleanses from passions one good disposition after another, until he cleanses everything, and they appear in their characteristic fullness, strength and beauty. You will not achieve this without work and achievement. But neither labor nor sweat produces anything solid and durable. Desire, search and labor are ours, and the Spirit of God secretly produces fruit in the heart, under the cover of our labor, which is fruitless in itself. For example, an angry person struggles with himself and seeks meekness; but meekness itself is increased and strengthened in the heart by the grace of the Holy Spirit. That is why St. Paul titles this list of good dispositions: “there is spiritual fruit.” Spiritual - in Greek: πνευματος, - Spirit, that is, the fruit of the Spirit. Saint Chrysostom says: “evil deeds come from us alone, which is why the Apostle calls them deeds of the flesh; and good (dispositions) require not only our efforts, but also God’s love for mankind (that is, the grace of the Spirit).” “For with the assistance of the Spirit the soul prospers in each of these matters” (Blessed Theodoret). So are all our interpreters. While listing the very good qualities with which the Spirit adorns the heart of a faithful Christian, the Apostle does not put them in direct correspondence with the passions and lusts listed above. But here there are two kinds of them, just as there. The Apostle puts several good intentions against irritation with his offspring; and against all works of lust there is one abstinence. Our interpreters do not enter into a detailed consideration of these virtues. Only Blessed Jerome makes several comments on each of them. "Loves". Like all passions from pride, which pulls everything towards itself; So all good dispositions come from love, which has trampled upon selfhood and is ready to sacrifice everything for the good of others, without thinking about itself. “And which of the virtues is proper to hold primacy among the fruits of the Spirit, if not love, without which other virtues are not considered virtues and from which all good things are born? Both in the law and in the Gospel she is given primacy: “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength: and thy neighbor as thyself” (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37, 39)” (Blessed Jerome). St. Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians, having said that without love everything is worthless, then describes the deeds of love as follows: “he is patient with love, he is merciful; he does not envy love; he is not conceited in love, is not proud, does not act outrageously, does not seek his own, is not irritated, does not think evil. He does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth: he covers everything, he has faith in everything, he trusts in everything, he endures everything. Love no longer exists” (1 Cor. 13:4-8). All subsequent virtues indicate only different aspects of love. "Joy" . Joy, of course, is about the Holy Spirit, in the order of spiritual life: for “the wicked cannot rejoice” (Is. 57:21). Ordinary joy comes from receiving earthly goods. Spiritual joy comes from a feeling of well-being in the spirit. Just as a sense of health is inseparable from being healthy; So spiritual joy comes from one who lives in the spirit and does not commit carnal lusts. This is the joy of the saved, who sees clearly that he has passed through destruction. It cannot be inflated; she herself is born and stands. The Apostle’s commandment: “always rejoice” (1 Thessalonians 5:16) is perhaps an even more sign that if you do not rejoice, then you are not standing in the real rank. According to Palladius of Elenopolis in Lavsaik, in the monastery of Abba Apollos there were up to 500 brethren, and they all always rejoiced, despite the great desert hardships, and rejoiced with such joy that no one here on earth can indicate such joy and bodily joy. There was no one boring or sad among them, and Abba Apollos used to say: “Those who are to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven should not grieve on the path of salvation; let the pagans groan, let the Jews cry, let sinners mourn, but those who walk the right path should rejoice” (Lavsaik. 47). "World" . He who has trampled passions has a peaceful disposition of the heart, an unperturbed by anything, a bright state of spirit, standing in the heart with consciousness before God, rejecting all wrongs and walking in the right alone. This internal peaceful dispensation also translates into external peace with everyone and the spread of peace around. There are such grace-filled personalities who, as soon as they appear in any circle, immediately establish peace and harmony. “These are the blessed peacemakers, whom the Lord distinguished by calling them sons of God. They are also peaceful with those who hate the world (Ps. 119:6). That is why God dwells in them: “for His place is in the world” (Ps. 75:2)” (Blessed Jerome not word for word). "Longsuffering". It, like an indestructible wall, protects peace, joy and love, receiving from them both a hardened strength and an indissoluble cement. The world lies in evil. Living in it, one cannot get rid of the stings of evil. Sorrows and hardships do not sting so much as lies and attacks from evil people. For the enemy they are the most powerful weapons, to the indignation of those living in the spirit. He usually approaches them with this weapon when he sees that they no longer succumb to the wishes of lust. Seeing that it is impossible to take them this way, he sends evil people against them, so that if someone has left from lust, he can detain him with anger and hatred towards the offenders and thereby take away from him the salvation he has achieved: for being angry with your brother is guilty of Gehenna (Matthew 5:22). Against these snares, the grace of God erects an insurmountable wall in the heart - long-suffering, which repels all the arrows of the evil one. Long-suffering is based on the conviction that lies and attacks from others are not their business, but the business of the enemy; Therefore, it does not rebel against people with anger, but against the enemy it arms itself with hostility, maintaining a good disposition towards people. This is how long-suffering outwits the enemy. Why does the Wise One say about him: “A man who is long-suffering is wise in understanding; but a man who is faint-hearted is greatly foolish” (Proverbs 14:29). “Goodness”, χρηστοτης, is “pleasantness, a manner conducive to the community, sweet speech, attractive techniques” (Blessed Jerome). Those who live in the spirit bear a special mark on themselves. How harmonious everything is with them, everything is in time, place and persons, both in word and in deeds! And this is not determined by the mind, but comes straight from the heart. Everyone likes them, for everyone they are like oil for wounds. And this is always almost without any external advantages: neither the nobility of the family, nor education, nor wealth have a part in this quality. It comes from the richness of the spirit, covered by deep humility. “Mercy”, αγαθωσυνη, is compassion and compassion, with the willingness to do everything for the benefit of another. Just as a mother grieves for her children, so does mercy grieve for all Christians. Their good is his good not to remember himself. It is ready to undress itself in order to clothe another, to leave itself hungry in order to feed another, to give its healthy body to the sick, and to take the sick body for itself. It will be praised more than all virtues at the trial. “Faith” is not the content of dogmas, but confidence in God that He will never give up on anything, that He holds and leads in the best way and will lead to a good end, that everything is from Him and everything is for good, no matter how unpleasant it may be, that no one can say or do anything that God would not deign to do, that in everything His will is holy, why one lives peacefully in devotion to the will of God. This faith gave birth to martyrs, and after them arbitrary sufferers, desert ascetics. She inspires piety and life in the spirit everywhere. “Meekness” is “the opposite of anger and all irritability. For her, God's servant Moses was awarded the following testimony: “Moses is more meek than all the people who live on earth” (Num. 12:3). And about David it is said: “Remember, O Lord, David and all his meekness” (Ps. 131:1), which was especially manifested in him in his relations with Saul, Absalom and Shimei” (Blessed Jerome). This is not insensibility of the heart, but by the Spirit, the deeds of the flesh are mortified, a disposition formed in the heart, for which the Lord promised the inheritance of the land of the good: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:4). And in Himself the Lord indicated especially humble meekness for imitation: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). “Abstinence” - not only as the beginning of chastity, but also as curbing desires regarding food, drink and any other lust (Blessed Jerome). There is initial abstinence, when, having loved this virtue, they seek it. Here thoughts and wishes are aroused and often generate sympathy and attraction, but are rejected by willpower, strengthened by the spirit. The abstinence of the perfect is a deep-rooted virtue, when regenerating thoughts no longer waver. Strict life in everything then becomes the permanent norm. The subject of abstinence is training the body and adapting it to spiritual life, through the skill of satisfying its necessary needs at the least cost. Ascetics say: train your body, and it will be your kindest spiritual helper in life. Any sweetness - from satisfying the body with sleep, food, clothing and housing - only then loses its attractiveness when spiritual consolations are revived and increase. “There is no law against such.” Κατα τοιουτων - against such, that is, against these virtues or against those who have these virtues. The thought remains the same. The Law appears to be the persecutor of all sin and the preserver of people from it. Whoever possesses the demonstrated fruits of the Spirit, not only has every sin expelled from his circle of deeds, but also every passion from his heart. Consequently, such a person has nothing to persecute the law, and there is nothing to protect him. It is not for such people. Saint Chrysostom says: “Who can teach someone who has everything within himself, and the most perfect teacher of wisdom is love? Just as gentle horses, who do everything on their own, have no need for a scourge, so the soul, which does good by the action of the Spirit, has no need for the precepts of the law. So, here too, with amazing wisdom, the Apostle rejects the law, not because it is bad, but because it is lower than the wisdom given by the Spirit.” And here - as before, where he said: “If you are led by the Spirit, you are under the law.” He said that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law; Now, having counted the fruits of the Spirit, that is, having shown who those who are led by the Spirit are or in what this leadership is revealed, he had to say: these are those who are not under the law. But he says in different words, in the same thought: there is no law against such people. The law does not concern such people, it does not mean them. In general, where we talk about the laws of virtues, although it is said that such laws are unnecessary, it is not at all because virtues are not obligatory for Christians, but because they already carry them in their hearts; these laws were written in their hearts in a new way, as promised and through the Prophets Gal.5:24. And those who are like Christ have crucified their flesh with passions and lusts. Who are Christ's? Those who believed in Him and clung to Him in love and whom He accepted into fellowship for this reason. Yours or recognized as Yours. Such people crucify their flesh in the very act of approaching the Lord: without this it is impossible to approach Him. Flesh - here, of course, as above, sin living in us or pride and self-indulgence, from which all passions and lusts. And whoever approaches the Lord, his first step is defined as follows: “let him deny himself and take up his cross” (Matthew 16:24). Denial of oneself is the trampling of the self, or the crucifixion of the flesh. This kind of action, as a covenant, is concluded with the Lord in baptism, when the baptized person denies Satan and all his works and is united with the Lord. This moral act is then sealed by grace in baptism, and the one baptized for its sake is given the power to no longer work against sin, but to reject, hate and persecute it. This means that the baptized person dies to sin and comes to life for a new, grace-filled life in the Lord. Otherwise, the Apostle calls the same thing the crucifixion of the old man and the abolition of the body of sin, that is, the entire body of sin - the self with passions. This is how a Christian, at the very time he becomes Christ’s, crucifies his flesh with passions and lusts. Why does the Apostle mention this here? All in the form of a complete understanding of the subject we are talking about, that is, life in the spirit. Life in the spirit, as it was understood, is to become conscious in the heart before the Lord and direct all one’s deeds, both internal and external, to please God, for the glory of the Lord, rejecting, trampling and persecuting all wrong movements in thoughts and desires. This rejection of wrongs within is the crucifixion of the self, from which everything is wrong. Thus, the crucification of the self, the flesh, is an integral part of spiritual life. Saint Chrysostom says: “so that they don’t ask: who are they (that is, those for whom there is no law)? - he points them out from their deeds: those who crucified the flesh. For although passions annoy them, they rise up against them in vain and without success.” When it is said: “crucified” - once forever, then this means that moral turn in which one who approaches the Lord vows not to succumb to sin, to the point of his stomach; for which the power is given in baptism. The self is trampled upon, rejected, crucified. Afterwards, although he starts, he gets nothing. Every time he is trampled under contempt and crucified. The whole life of a Christian is a crucification of the flesh of sin; but this is the fruit and implementation of that first act, by which the self is ejected from consciousness and freedom and is deprived of any right to determine the power of affairs. Without this, the first and subsequent ones cannot exist: they are connected like a root and a trunk with branches. That’s why the Apostle says: crucified—one time, but there is so much power here that it will last a lifetime. That this crucifixion is not mechanical, but moral, is well depicted by Blessed Augustine. He derives the power of crucifixion from the fear of God reborn in the spirit, which initiates conversion and then maintains the good life of the convert. “With what did we crucify, if not with the pure fear of God, which endures forever and ever (Ps 18:10), in which we are afraid to offend Him Who we love with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind? The Prophet also wants to be crucified by this fear when he says: nail my fear to Thy fear (Ps. 119:120). Fear crucifies on that cross about which the Lord says: “Take up your cross and follow Me” (cf: Mt 16:24). Gal.5:25. If we live in the spirit, let us walk in the spirit. This is a conclusion from everything previous. The Apostle says, as it were, if we live in the spirit, that is, if we have abandoned spontaneous pleasing to God, overthrown the yoke of the law, received freedom from it, in order to please God with moral dispositions emanating from the spirit; then we must walk in spirit, that is, to conform our way of thoughts, feelings, dispositions, words, deeds, and all behavior to its demands. “Let us walk,” στοιχωμεν, - which means: let us be conformed, let us agree with him. He depicted the demands of the spirit under the guise of its fruits. And it is clear what it means to walk in the Spirit: it means to discover in your life those qualities that are the fruit of the Spirit, so strictly that nothing that is the work of the flesh - the self - enters into it. This cannot be accomplished without struggling with oneself. Therefore, right there lies the law regarding this warfare, the starting point and effective force of which is indicated in the previous verse. Spiritual life is an inexhaustible source of consolation; but they don’t come for nothing. Someone put it: give blood and receive the Spirit. 2) The worthy character of the most perfect and leading persons in Christian society, with a brief indication of the attitude towards them of those led (Gal. 5, 26–6, 6) Although the holy Apostle does not speak directly, his manner of speech suggests that he is addressing the primates of the Churches here. For he says - you who are spiritual, correct those who sin, bear one another’s burdens... In the last verse (see Gal. 6:6) he defines the relationship of the student to the teacher. Correcting, teaching and bearing the burdens of others is not appropriate for everyone. There must be special persons for this; Otherwise, disorder in society is inevitable. In the Church this is the duty of the primates. The Apostle Paul, wherever he founded churches, installed both shepherds and teachers. Of course, they were also installed by him in the Galatian Churches. He is now speaking to them. Why didn't you name them directly? It is true that they were guilty of that which the Apostle speaks against. So, to soften the reproof, he speaks generally. Or maybe, along with the primates, other people who stood out from the ranks also turned out to be faulty. Saint Paul brings them all under a common view; and yet the very instructions are of such a kind that in some ways they could go to all Christians in general. The Apostle says to the most perfect and leading: do not be conceited (Gal. 5:26); be attentive to the needs of the fallen and weak (Gal.6, 1 – 2); and do not sound a trumpet to yourselves, considering yourself to be something (Gal.6:3-5). Gal.5:26. We do not have vanity, irritate each other, envy each other. They seek glory in vain when they think to be famous for something that cannot give true glory, or they try to catch glory and praise from those whose praise and praise are insignificant, like all people in general. Those suffering from this weakness are usually people-pleasing and reluctant to deliberately irritate anyone. But their very desire to achieve a trumpet about them, especially when there is success in this, against their will, causes envy in others and irritates them against them. Equally, they themselves, when someone gets ahead of them in this empty matter, envy him and redouble their efforts. This competition, both in word and deed, creates unpeace between the competitors, which spreads from them to the persons in contact with them. The fraternal union is dissolved and society is threatened with disintegration. “The cause of many evils is hidden in vanity,” says Saint Chrysostom, “for from it envy is born, and from envy countless types of evil arise.” This is the general idea of ​​the text; but if we take into account the circumstances of the writing of the Epistle, then it will receive a special shade, which some of our interpreters give it. Blessed Theodoret writes: “perhaps those who were firm in the faith, constantly condemning those who wavered, aroused controversy. It is they who the Apostle exhorts to give a hand to those who bowed to the law.” Blessed Augustine understands this passage in a similar way: “after teaching them how to resist those who deceitfully wanted to subject them to the slavery of the law, he warns them so that, having become knowledgeable and already having the strength to properly respond to the censures of carnal people, they do not fall into useless argumentation, out of vanity alone, and, having freed themselves from the yoke of the law, do not become slaves of glory-loving desires.” You dwell on these thoughts all the more willingly because the word: irritatingly - in Greek: προκαλουμενοι - means: “defiantly” - which Blessed Theophylact explains this way: “by challenging each other to disputes and competitions, as happens, for example, when someone says to his opponent: come on, let’s measure ourselves, if you have so much strength.” Perhaps such a mistake had already been made when differences of opinion arose in Christian society. Those who had the responsibility of guarding the faith of the believers looked down on those who were carried away and in defending the truth were guided not by love for it and for the seduced brethren, but by envy of the false teachers who allegedly admired their glory and dignity. That is why, perhaps, they worked in the struggle, but did not bear fruit, but on the contrary, they only fueled irritation and increased discord. There was something similar. The Holy Apostle had to remember this and remembers it. But, fearing that touching this wound might be too sensitive, he places himself among those being taught, as if he himself needed such a lesson. We don’t “be”, he says, “vanity” and so on. Gal.6:1. Brothers, even if a person falls into some sin, you spiritually correct such a person with a spirit of meekness, guarding yourself, lest you too be tempted. It’s like this: this is how you should have acted; but now that it has passed, make it a rule in advance to correct those who are falling in the spirit of meekness. “Since the Galatians (I think - the largest, leading ones), under the pretext of reproof, took revenge on others for their passions and deluded themselves that they were doing this for the sin of others, but in fact only wanting to confirm their lust, the Apostle tells them so” (St. Chrysostom). To whom are we speaking? To the spiritual: “you are spiritual.” Who are these spiritual ones? По Апостолу, из предыдущей речи, все христиане духовны; for they have received the Spirit of grace and serve God in spirit and in truth, in contrast to the spontaneous ministry of Jews and pagans. Therefore, the Apostle wants everyone to correct everyone? But this does not happen in any society. Невозможно ожидать, чтоб из уст апостола Павла изошло такое правило. Let's take another turn: Christians have all received the Spirit and must be truly spiritual; but how the manifestation of the Spirit in power does not suddenly appear, but requires a certain amount of work, and therefore time; it is natural that among Christians not all were those whose spirituality was obvious and in force and who should actually be called spiritual. So, is it not these most perfect ones that the Apostle means? Everyone put himself in this place and decide: would anyone dare to take upon himself the task of correcting others when this was not entrusted? Presumably not. So, it is more likely that St. Paul by spiritual here means those persons to whom he entrusted to look after others and to guard among the believers both the faith and the life of faith. They, of course, were the most perfect among all; but the duty to correct those who fell lay on them not for the sake of their perfection, but for the sake of the Apostolic election to this work, which was usually accompanied by St. Paul’s ordination. Of the many matters that lie on such persons, the Apostle dwells on one: how they should treat those who fall. This was required by the circumstances of the Galatian Churches and, perhaps, by the mistakes of these individuals themselves. With what tenderness does St. Paul treat those who fall? Severe falls are also possible; but he already predisposes to leniency towards them, calling all falls accidental slips, not coming from an evil intention, but from the passion and violence of an outsider; that is, either sin living in us, or the enemy of our salvation. For he says: “if he falls,” προληφθη - he will be caught, carried away accidentally, before he understands the matter as it should. “He did not say: he will commit some sin, but: προληφθη, - that is, he will be drawn into some sin” (St. Chrysostom). In the same spirit, he named the sin itself: παραπτωμα - a passing, accidental fall, slip. With such eyes the Apostle teaches us to look at the sins of others, so that unmerciful, unreasonable jealousy does not preempt the arousal, but, on the contrary, meets and embraces the fallen spirit of condescension, compassion and love. When this is there, then it is easy to fulfill the commandment of the Apostle: “correct such a one with the spirit of meekness.” He doesn’t say: don’t pay attention, as if he didn’t do anything. “He did not say again: punish or condemn, but: “correct.” However, he did not stop there either, but, wanting to show that they should be extremely lenient towards those who sin, he adds: “with the spirit of meekness” (St. Chrysostom). In the spirit of meekness there is humility, compassion, prudence, and zeal for salvation. Blessed Jerome writes: “The Apostle commands the spiritual man, when correcting a sinner, to use the spirit of meekness, so that he does not turn to him with severity, not with anger and grief, but calls on him with love, indicating salvation and promising forgiveness in the words of Christ the Lord Himself, Who calls all those burdened with sins under His good yoke and His light burden, so that they may learn that he is meek and lowly. heart, and their souls will find peace (Matthew 11:29). We can present as an objection to us what is written to the Corinthians: “What do you want? Will I come to you with a club, or with love and a spirit of meekness?” (1 Cor. 4:21). If he says there that he comes to sinners not in a spirit of meekness, but with a club, then how here does he order those who are about to commit some sin to be approached not with a club, but with a spirit of meekness? But there we are talking about those who, after committing a sin, without feeling their guilt, did not want to submit to their greatness and correct themselves through repentance. And where a sinner, aware of his wound, surrenders himself to a doctor for healing, it is not a club that is needed, but a spirit of meekness. One can also propose the following question: if one must correct another in the spirit of meekness out of fear of being tempted oneself, then a righteous person, confident in his firmness, knowing that he may not fall, as if he should no longer correct another in the spirit of meekness? To this we say that the righteous man, even if he recognized himself as a winner, will show even greater condescension towards the sinner, knowing with what difficulty he himself overcomes passions. And for this reason the Savior was tempted in everything like us, except for sin, so that he could suffer and be relieved of our infirmities, knowing from experience what labors mortals in the flesh endure. (The same here.) Whoever remained a virgin until old age will no doubt show indulgence to someone who is sometimes carried away by the heat of youth, knowing under what difficulties he himself passed through age.” This speech can be continued by the words of Blessed Augustine in our place: “nothing proves someone’s spirituality (the perfection of spiritual life) more than the way he interprets the sins of another, precisely when, in this case, he plots how to quickly free him from sin, and not attack him, how to help, and not shower him with reproaches, and not only plots, but immediately gets down to business - as much as he has the strength. Having said: “correct with the spirit of meekness,” the Apostle inspired that no one should think that he is correcting as he should, when he mercilessly tortures a sinner, mocks him, proudly turns away from him, as if he were incorrigible. That’s why he added: “If you take care of yourself, lest you too be tempted.” For nothing is more conducive to mercy than seeing one’s own danger (if mercy is not shown). However, the Apostle does not want that no correction should be made to the brethren, but that discord should not spread through this. Let peace and love be kept in the heart, in recognition of the same danger of sin for everyone; and the image of the corrective conversation, that is, when to speak more strictly, when to speak more kindly, must be consistent with how the salvation of the person being corrected requires it. In another place the Apostle says: “It is not fitting for the servant of the Lord to become arrogant, but to be quiet toward everyone, a teacher, gentle, and with meekness punishing those who oppose them” (2 Tim. 2:24-25). By which he showed that one should not refuse to correct the mistakes of another and should do it with meekness. And how will you correct with meekness, if not dissolving, in the corrective word, the bitterness of healing with heartfelt compassion and tenderness? And we should never take on the task of healing a sinner unless we first examine our conscience with strict questioning, as before God, and make sure that we are approaching this in the spirit of love. Therefore, when your soul is upset by something from the person being corrected, and you still hope to somehow heal him, do not say anything to him until you yourself are healed first, so that otherwise a bitter word does not break out in the form of vengeance and your tongue does not turn out to be an instrument of unrighteousness for sin (Rom. 6:13). Whatever you say in the spirit of the distressed will be the attack of the punisher, and not the love of the corrector. Love and say what you want." “Be careful, lest you too be tempted.” “You are a man, your nature is changeable, sympathize with the one who is possessed by an illness” (Blessed Theodoret). “So that the one who corrects another does not become proud, he also frightens him with the danger of a similar fall. Just as the rich give alms to the poor so that if they themselves have to fall into poverty, they can receive the same from others, so we should do the same. And he protects the sinner, firstly, with the words: if he falls (προληφθη - he will be carried away), which indicates the great weakness of the soul; secondly, with the words: “may you not be tempted”, blaming demonic temptation rather than the negligence of the soul” (St. Chrysostom). “The temptation to be defeated or to win is in our power; but for someone to be tempted, it depends on the will of the tempter. If the Savior was tempted, who can be sure that the sea of ​​this life will sail without temptation?” (Blessed Jerome). But in the words: “Lest thou also be tempted,” it seems that the Apostle presents the danger of a fall similar to the fall of one being corrected. It is not only the attack of sin that he foretells: for there is no point in talking about this, when everyone already knows that he is not free from it, but the fall into sin itself. Whoever is unmerciful to someone who sins, grace leaves him, and for this he falls. Experiences of this are everywhere. If anyone is standing, let him not forget that this is God’s mercy. What is more fitting for the beloved than to show mercy to another? And how sooner will he lose mercy, if not by being unmerciful towards others? “In the lives of the Desert Fathers, we often see that those of them who punished their disciples too harshly for mistakes were themselves exposed to the danger of falling, from which they got rid of it only out of awareness of their wrongness and repentance for it” (Filaret of Chernigov). This is what the Apostle says to the spiritual, to those in whom the effectiveness (energy) of the spirit has already begun to manifest itself in strength. Just as he does not define the measure of spirituality in which this is possible, but speaks generally about spiritual things, one must see here proof that, no matter how blessed someone is, it is possible for him not only to be tempted, but also to fall from temptation. There is a legend about how an enemy pursued one saint and tried to arouse conceit in him, even on the path of ordeal, shouting after him: you defeated me; but the saint did not answer him anything. Already when he had passed all the ordeals and entered the bright Realm of God, he said: now I see that I have won, but still not I, but the grace of God in me. Gal.6:2. Bear each other's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. The Apostle took the first incentive to show mercy to those who sinned from the danger of his own fall, and the other from the general law; “bearing each other’s burdens” - which follows directly from the law of love and serves as its closest manifestation. The apostle speaks as if to the greatest: if everyone has the duty to bear one another’s burdens, how much more so does it fall on you, who were chosen for this purpose, to be servants of all, and this means: not only to bear burdens, but also to fulfill the desire to fulfill them. But if you do not want to show such perfection in your relations with your brothers, stick to at least the extreme limit in this regard - bear the burdens of others along with everyone else. Our interpreters mainly explain this general law. Theodoret writes: “You have one flaw, but you do not have another. He, on the contrary, does not have the deficiency that you have, but has another. You bear his shortcomings, and let him bear yours. In this way the law of love is fulfilled. For the Apostle called love the law of Christ. These are the words of Christ: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another” (John 13:34).” Here are the words of Saint Chrysostom: “since it is impossible, as a human being, to live without a spot, the Apostle urges us not to be strict judges of the faults of others, but to patiently endure the shortcomings of our neighbors, so that others themselves can bear their shortcomings. He is hot-tempered, and you are drowsy and lethargic: put up with his hot temper, so that he can put up with your lethargy and drowsiness. Thus, giving each other a helping hand when the danger of falling threatens, fulfill the law with common strength, each making up for the shortcomings of his neighbor with his patience. If you do not do this, and everyone only begins to judge the affairs of his neighbor, then you will never achieve what you should achieve (active mutual love).” Blessed Jerome also applies his interpretation to the then state of the Galatian Christians. “Troubles are sins, as the Psalmist testifies: “Like a heavy burden weighs heavily on me” (Ps 37:5). The Savior bore this burden for us, teaching us by His example how we should act. He bears our untruths and suffers for us (Isa. 53) and calls those burdened with sins under the light burden of virtue (Matthew 11:30). So, whoever, without despairing of his brother’s salvation, gives him the hand of necessary help and, as much as he can, weeps with the weeping, faints with the weak and considers the sins of others to be his own, through such love he fulfills the law of Christ. He who does not have mercy and is not convicted in the womb of generosity and compassion, even if he is spiritual, does not fulfill the law of Christ. But we need to compare this place with the previous one. In this regard, the Apostle says, as it were: if anyone is weak in the faith and is still fed on infant milk and cannot so quickly move from the lawful life to the spiritual sacraments, you, the strongest, bear his burden, so that otherwise through your knowledge the brother for whom Christ died would not perish.” Gal.6:3. If anyone imagines that he is worthless, he flatters himself with his mind. In this and the next two verses, the Apostle heals the conceit of spiritual leaders, which is usually born when, thinking about themselves, they compare themselves not with the standard to which they should approach, but with the infirmities of others. Blessed Theodoret writes: “he thus brought down the arrogance of those who were puffed up by any small successes.” Anyone who thinks that he means something, has any kind of perfection, weight and dignity, sins by the very fact that he thinks so. For whatever he has, it is not his. And the natural gifts of God are, much less grace-filled. So give glory to God. You yourself are nothing, both in being and in perfection. What you are, you are by the grace of God. Why dream? “With his mind,” he says, “he flatters himself.” He deceives himself, incorrectly directing and interpreting the evidence about himself of his own consciousness. If there is something in someone, it cannot be hidden from consciousness; but if you begin to analyze how it is and whether it is to the extent it should be, then you will find in this not a subject of self-aggrandizement, but an incentive to self-condemnation, like a wicked slave and unfaithful in the least. If we add to this consciousness of what we have, the consciousness of what is missing, and even more so the consciousness of that in ourselves, which should not be at all; then where can the web of self-conceit resist the fire of self-accusation that ignites from this? If you establish such a view of yourself, then there will never be room for conceit. And it will not show itself, and if it does show itself, it will immediately run away, driven away by conscientious self-condemnation. If in this way it happens that another imagines himself to be something, it is because he has not taken the trouble to well determine how insignificant he is in himself, and falls into this sin through the flattery of the mind, which is usually boasted of. “The Apostle presents such frivolity as the first evidence of the insignificance of such a person” (St. Chrysostom). Gal.6:4. Let everyone test his own work, and then he will praise himself in himself, and not in anything else. “If you want to boast, then consider your life, and if you find it worthy of praise, boast about yourself, if only you must do so” (Blessed Theodoret). “Here the Apostle shows that we must be judges of our own lives, examining what we have done, and not lightly, but with care. So, if you have done good, see if you did it out of vanity, or out of need, or out of hypocrisy, or some other human reason? For just as gold, although it appears shiny even before it is put into the fire, is fully recognized by the fire, by the separation of all impurities from the pure gold; so our deeds will only be revealed in their present form when we carefully test them; then we will see that we ourselves are guilty of condemnation for many things” (St. Chrysostom). Here we can understand not only every matter in particular, but in general the matter of one’s whole life. The work of life is the work of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that we believe in the Lord, that by faith we receive grace in the sacraments, to help us live by faith or to fulfill the commandments of the Lord, this is done once and for all, according to the economy of salvation, and constitutes the beginning of the work of achieving salvation. And we are in this business if we realize that we have zeal for it and work hard at it. Of course, this too needs to be investigated, whether everything here is as it should be, whether our moral and religious system is as it should be in a Christian. But the entire study cannot be limited to this alone. This is only equipping oneself for the work of salvation; but to what extent this work itself has been done, you will not know from this. It is necessary, as was mentioned, to have in mind the standard of perfection of Christian life and compare your own with it. The builder of the church has a plan for the church, and according to it he builds the church, and sees whether the building is going well and how well it has fulfilled the plan. Likewise, the Christian life has its own comprehensive blueprint. Recognize it, apply it to your life, and you will see how far the matter of your own salvation has advanced. Someone will say: but this is too general a rule, and therefore uncertain. It can be reduced to something very specific and tangible. Let us remember that man, according to creation, is a very good creature—god-like. But egoism came with passions and spoiled, broke and upset everything in him. Cast all this out, and you will become as you were created, and you will be saved. Everyone knows what selfhood and what passions are. So look, to the extent that your pride and passions have diminished, so has your work of salvation advanced. Here we cannot refuse the vagueness of the indication: matters of the passions are tangible. But there are so many of them, so as not to get confused, the Apostle, as they saw, brings them all under two main ones - lust and irritability. If you are angry, if you lust for something, if you are attached to something created so that others cannot touch it, then you have a passionate heart, and the cause of your salvation is in doubt. This kind of indication can be found every minute. In this case, it is also necessary to distinguish between passionate external actions, passionate internal movements and, most importantly, the attitude of freedom and will towards them, and even more so - the heart. You can not do passionate things, but be internally agitated by passions. This is almost the same thing if there is also pleasure in passions. Inside, in relation to passions, there is thought, sympathy, attraction, inclination. The path of passion begins with inclination. Attraction, sympathy, and thoughts can be involuntary. Free will may not allow itself to bend; but inclinations will continue to show themselves, and sympathies will break out, and thoughts will push through. When rationally free will holds the rule - not to be inclined in any way to the suggestions of passions, and does not really bend, maintaining one’s post through internal struggle; then this is a decisive sign that a person so determined has entered the path of salvation and is walking along it. But if at the same time he feels inside not only passionate thoughts, but also escaping sympathy and attractions for them; then he must realize and be aware that his mind or spirit has become and is not in its place and that his soul and heart are still unclean, inclinations or deposits of passions still remain in them. It's like when a city is locked down and fighting off enemies, but within it there are traitors. Consequently, the matter has only just begun, and it is not clear whether it has moved forward. These are the signs of his movement forward - through constancy and decisive intransigence in the internal battle, it is first achieved that the desires begin to diminish, and then completely end: this is the first stage. Then sympathy diminishes and stops altogether: this is the second stage. And when disgust, hostility and anger begin to appear in the heart against the very thoughts of passion; then this will be the third stage, the final one. This is a sign that the ore has melted and thrown out everything alien to it. Based on these signs, one can very accurately determine each person’s own work of salvation, whether it is going on, how it is going, and how far it has been done. It is not very difficult to notice how, when looking at an object of passion or when thinking about it, sympathy for it bursts out of the heart. So, when you notice this, know that passion lives in the heart; if passion lives in the heart, then the heart is unclean; if it is unclean, then where is its place in another life? Consider all this, and then boast in yourself if your tongue turns. “And then have praise in yourself, and not in anything else.” What thought? If so: boast in yourself to yourself, and not to others, then this will contradict what was said above: “if anyone imagines himself to be something, he is worthless, and flatters himself with his mind.” For to praise oneself before oneself is to consider oneself to be something. With such a thought, the Apostle would favor self-conceit, while he is arming himself against it in this place. More directly: take your praise not from comparing yourself with the infirmities of your weak brother, but from comparing yourself to the standard of Christian perfection. If, after strict examination, you find that you meet that standard, then have your praise in this compliance, and not in the fact that another is in any way weaker than you. This is what the Apostle said, covering his intention. We all want to brag. The Apostle does not seem to cancel this, but only indicates the way how one can achieve fair and faithful praise in oneself. The method he proposed was such that if you begin to define yourself by it, you will never have to boast, but rather, through it you will keep yourself in constant self-reproach. For if the Apostle said about himself that he had not yet achieved, but was only striving to achieve; then who dares to say about himself that he has already achieved? And if he doesn’t dare, what can he boast about? Saint Chrysostom “in another” means: “before another” - and the Apostle’s thought is expressed this way: do not boast before others, but in yourself. The Apostle’s intention, he says, is to first wean off boasting before others, and when someone gets out of the habit of this, he will stop boasting before himself. “With these words the Apostle does not prescribe a rule, but only expresses condescension, as if saying: it is not good to boast; and if you want to boast, then not to your neighbor, like the Pharisee. For whoever learns not to boast before his neighbor will soon stop boasting in himself. That’s why he gives them this indulgence, so that little by little he can finally destroy the evil in them. For one who is accustomed to boasting only in himself, and not in others, will soon correct this shortcoming. Because whoever does not consider himself better than others (this is what the words mean: “not otherwise”), but boasts only of himself, considering himself alone: ​​he will finally stop doing this too. And that the Apostle had exactly this goal in mind, you can see from the way he humbles such a one with fear, having said in advance: “Let every one test his work,” and after this adding: “Everyone will bear his own burden.” Pretends to give a commandment prohibiting boasting in others; and meanwhile, at the same time, he corrects the boaster so that he does not think much about himself, bringing him to the consciousness of his own sins and striking his conscience with the names of “burden and burden.” Gal.6:5. Each one will bear his burden. “Don’t be curious about other people’s affairs. For each of us will give an account of our own sins” (Blessed Theodoret). “Why do you boast against your neighbor? Both you and he (equally) will bear your burdens (to judgment), and then everyone’s cause will be tested. So, since you also have a burden, and a heavy one, do not boast either against another, or trumpet within yourself about your good deeds” (Blessed Theophylact). “Apparently this is contrary to what was said above: “bear each other’s burdens”: for if everyone bears his own burden, then it is no longer possible to bear each other’s burdens. But it is prescribed there that we sinners in this life should bear with each other and help each other; and here it is said about the judgment of the Lord over us, that not by the sins of another and not by comparing us with the worst, but by our own deed (the work of our whole life) He recognizes us as sinners or saints: for this deed, everyone will receive reward” (Blessed Jerome). By saying this, the Apostle brings everyone’s attention to the face of God’s judgment. Occupy your mind with this, you will forget to rise above others, you will forget to trumpet yourself about yourself. For God's judgment is not the same as human judgment. He can decide completely contrary to our judgment and consciousness: for he sees us deeper than we ourselves. The decision of God's court is such that you cannot expect a reversal. It will put a stamp on your fate, which will remain unchanged forever. So, if this is the decision, we ourselves cannot make a correct predecision in our favor; then it is better not to predetermine, but having this fear of a decision unfavorable for us at the trial, we will be more and more zealous about doing things and the mood of the heart - those for which, according to the untrue word of the Lord, condemnation is not predicted - forgetting what is behind, but stretching to what is before (Phil. 3:13). The memory of judgment is the most powerful remedy not only against conceit and exaltation, but also against every other passion and against every passionate thought. All the holy ascetics taught about this and in their lessons they put the lesson of remembering judgment first, along with remembering God, the omnipresent and omniscient. Gal.6:6. Let him communicate and learn the words of those who teach in all good things. Hitherto, from (Gal.5:26) to (Gal.6:5), the Apostle gave instructions to the most perfect, spiritual, leading You might be interested in: