Глава VI. Литературные труды. Сочинения нравоучительные

“The best use of the gift of writing and speaking is to use it to admonish and awaken sinners from slumber.” General overview of moralizing essays Number of printed works by Rev. Theophanes is very large, and their complete collection constitutes a fairly significant library. According to their content, they fall into three main sections, of which two are independent - moralizing and interpretative, and the third is translational on various issues of faith and Christian life. The subjects are varied and the content of the saint’s writings is extremely diverse. He seems to have decisively embraced everything in them. Not a single detail of spiritual life escaped deep, careful observation. But among this diversity, one thought, as we said above, undoubtedly dominates and runs throughout the whole, namely, the thought of the one thing that is needed, the most important subject of human life - Christian salvation. This question is mainly developed in all moralizing works; the saint does not lose sight of it for a minute when interpreting the Word of God, and with the aim of clarifying the same subject, all the ancient patristic works were translated. It is most clearly expressed in the essay “The Path to Salvation” and the author himself writes about the significance of the latter in a number of his works to one person: “We have read “The Path to Salvation.” Good! And read it again sometime. Here everything that I wrote is being written and will be written” 93. The most important moralizing works are as follows: 1) “Letters on Christian life”, 2) “Outline of Christian moral teaching”, 3) “The path to salvation”, 4) “Letters on spiritual life”, 5) “What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it”, 6) “Wake up to sleep”, 7) “Patristic instructions on prayer and sobriety”. The majority of sermons, as well as the majority of letters, should be classified in the department of moralizing works. Deep knowledge and observation of the most intimate phenomena of spiritual life, combined with extensive information in all areas of human science, especially in connection with the exceptional insightful understanding and explanation of the Word of God and patristic creations, deep edification combined with heartfelt sincerity and some special sincerity on the part of the content, remarkable simplicity, often reaching the level of folk dialect and at the same time rising to true artistry in relation to external presentation - these are the general, characteristic features of the moralizing works of the saint. Their main task is to reveal the highest meaning and purpose of human life, reminding and inciting people to sincere repentance and a living turn to God. The main idea of ​​the entire moral teaching is the idea of ​​communion with God. The Christian life must be entirely devoted to God. Do everything for the glory of God, through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ in the hope of endless life - this is the main goal of a Christian’s life. “Your whole life, in all its particulars and divisions, should be dedicated to God. The general law is this: whatever you do, do it in accordance with the will of God, and to please God, for the glory of His most holy name. So it is necessary to examine every work that presents itself, whether it is in accordance with the will of God, and do it no other way than making sure that it is exactly in accordance with it, and do it in the way that pleases God for it to be done. Whoever always acts with such prudence and with such a clear consciousness of the deeds he does being pleasing to God, at the same time cannot help but realize that his life is going correctly - that although his deeds are not brilliant and imperfect, nothing was deliberately allowed in them that would offend God and would not be pleasing to Him. This consciousness fills his heart with quiet peace from a calm conscience, and with that spiritual joy that is born from the feeling that he is not a stranger to God, and that although he is not great, not famous and not visible, he is His servant, trying in every possible way to please Him and directing all his efforts towards this, and believing that God Himself sees him as such” 94 . “As for other goals, although they may be allowed, they should never be made the main ones: from them it should always ascend to God. The goals of the deeds themselves are especially important here. Each deed can have its own goal: for example, the goal of almsgiving is to help the poor, the goal of reading is to enlighten the mind. But it shouldn’t stop there; for otherwise the matter will be outside the main meaning of a Christian. In general, if we allow ourselves to dwell on such goals, then infinite variety will enter into the life of a Christian, whereas it should all have one tone. This tone is communicated to her by the unity of purpose, according to which she is a complete sacrifice to God." In his moralizing works, Rev. Theophan depicted the ideal of true Christian life and the paths leading to it with such depth and breadth as none of our spiritual writers. He is truly a great teacher of Christian morality and his writings are undoubtedly the best, indispensable guide in this regard. Having become thoroughly acquainted with the moralizing works of the writer, we will find that according to their content they are divided into two large sections. Some set out the general foundations and norms of Christian life, while others indicate ways and means of applying these norms to the guidance of real life. The first are smaller in number and at their head are “Letters on Christian Life” with “Outline of Christian Moral Teaching.” There are a significant majority of works of the second type, and among them the most important is “The Path to Salvation.” There are also works in which both of these elements are combined. Such, for example, is the wonderful essay “What is the Christian life and how to tune in to it”? The doctrine of the structure of human nature Moral Theology Rev. Theophana, as already noted, is based on Christian psychology. And indeed, he deduces the laws of the moral order from the structure of human nature, and with particular insistence he notes the idea that these laws are fully consistent and lie in its essence, and are not something extraneous and imposed from the outside. The infinite superiority of Christianity over all religions and human teachings lies precisely in the fact that it fully corresponds to the fundamental and deepest aspirations of human nature, that “the soul of man is Christian by nature.” Whoever wants to live in accordance with his high purpose has no other true guidance other than the requirements and rules of Christian morality. “I have the intention,” writes the saint, “when starting to present the main provisions of moral teaching, to derive everything worthwhile from the structure of human nature. We need to live the way God created us. How else could a person live if not the way he was designed? Having established sound understanding of how a person works, we will receive the surest indication of how he should live. It seems to me that many do not live as they should because they think that the rules about this worthy life are imposed from the outside, and do not come from the very nature of man and are not required by them” 95. Reviewing the psychological foundations of Christian morality, Rev. Feofan divides all the phenomena of complex human life into three sections - bodily, mental and spiritual. The first includes all the needs of our physical nature, the second includes the abilities of the mind, heart, will and lower feelings, and the most important and more tangible manifestations of the spirit are: fear of God, conscience, dissatisfaction with anything created, etc. The saint finds the basis for such a division in the teaching of the apostle. Paul, some St. fathers, as well as the ancient Greek philosophers - Plato and Aristotle; His own spiritual experience teaches the same. Explaining the text of the ap. Paul: “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you, who are perfect (in everything); and may your spirit and soul and body remain perfect at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:23) - the exegete writes: “Spirit and soul and body are a divinely revealed indication of the composition of human nature. As a small world, man combines within himself all types of life that appeared in his predecessors on the ladder of creation. It contains both plant-animal life and animal-spiritual life, together with the spiritual-human one; and spiritual, exclusively belonging to him and characterizing him. These are what the words mean: body, soul and spirit. The body is your animal-vegetative organism, with all its functions and needs; the soul is the beginning of those conscious phenomena within us that begin with sensory perceptions, drives and sensations and end with scientific constructions, vast undertakings and enterprises and works of taste; spirit is an organ of communication with God, a God-conscious, God-seeking and God-living force. Its essential features are consciousness and freedom; its driving principles are faith in God, a feeling of complete dependence on Him and confidence in Him. The manifestation of his life is: the fear of God, the action of conscience and the thirst for communion with God, expressed (from the outside) by dissatisfaction with anything created. This is the breath of godlike life that God breathed into the primordial during creation. Having combined in man with the animal soul, it transformed it into the human soul, which therefore, in its actions, shows a thorough affinity with both animals and spirit” 96. In a detailed analysis of the phenomena of each of the designated genera, Rev. Feofan everywhere persistently strives to note and separate in them the natural and natural from the foreign, acquired and unnatural. Consideration leads to the conviction that in man, created in the image and likeness of God, the highest spiritual abilities should naturally dominate, and the lower needs of the soul and body should be subordinated to the former. This is how it was during the period of the intact, paradisiacal state. But sin appeared and order was completely perverted. The lower abilities not only freed themselves from the power of the higher ones, but also completely enslaved the latter. However, the spirit does not always reconcile itself with its subordinate position and often expresses a strong protest against it. Hence the constant internal struggle in a person between ideal aspirations and lower needs, from which very few emerge victorious. If the great apostle of languages, strong in spirit, suffered a lot from the fact that he saw another law in his deeds, which were at war with the law of his mind, then what can we say about his modern, morally weak followers? The vast majority cannot stand them and fall in an impossible struggle. But one who is zealous for a good Christian life should not be embarrassed, lose heart and fall into despair, for there is no doubt that real moral disorder, although it is innate to us and we are born with it, is not natural and did not exist in the beginning. And this conviction is very important and gratifying for spiritual life. If disorder does not lie in the essence of our nature, but is a superficial and alien phenomenon, then a fight against it is possible, there is hope for its destruction and the restoration of normal order. In vain do people who deny human freedom assert the opposite. They are completely wrong. They are exposed by the entire history of the Christian Church in the person of a whole host of righteous people, especially in the person of those of them who, by the Providence of God, were destined to endure a difficult moral struggle with sin, to fall in it and rise, struggling to the best of their ability, until they came to “a perfect man, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ.” If a person, by his free will, first fell into sin and fell away from God, then, guided by the same freedom, he is powerful and can actually rise again and reunite with God. These general moral and psychological views of Rev. Theophan substantiates and confirms with a private review of all the most important forces and phenomena of human nature, both in their original, natural state, and in the present, damaged by sin. Thus, having examined the manifestation of the physical needs of nutrition, movement, sensitivity and the activity of their organs - the stomach, muscles and nerves, he concludes that their natural task is to maintain the life and strength of the body, appointed to serve as an instrument of our spirit. Meanwhile, in reality, quite the opposite phenomenon is often observed. Bodily needs turn from service means into the main goal of life; instead of a subordinate position, they dominate and sometimes enslave the human spirit. The latter, carried away by love of life and love of the body, develops a few simple initial physical needs into many artificially acquired habits and takes their satisfaction to extreme limits. Apparently, what could be simpler than giving the body healthy food and the necessary clothing? But look to what whimsical, often perverted tastes man has reached in his diet and luxury in clothing! There are many people who spend their entire lives satisfying such artificial needs, who force a whole host of other people to work for them, and yet cannot receive satisfaction. They are so absorbed in their worries that they do not have time to think about other, higher interests, and their spirit is of necessity starving. Consideration of the phenomena of the physical nature of man in other respects also undoubtedly leads to the conviction that our body in its present damaged state, instead of its intended fruitful service to higher goals, as a necessary organ for the activity of the spirit, often harms spiritual life, and sometimes completely enslaves the spirit, becoming an idol and tyrant of a morally weak being. Reviewing further the exercise of mental and spiritual abilities, Rev. Feofan penetrates deeply into the inner world of man. This consideration is distinguished at the same time by the remarkable strength and breadth of introspection. The observer, as it were, descends into the most secret corners, illuminates the most intimate movements of the spirit and, despite the difficulty of observation, manages to make out and note in them very subtle manifestations of the moral principle. Consciousness and self-awareness, conscience, reason with its ideas, reason with its concepts, judgments and conclusions, memory, imagination, will with its desires and inclinations, heart with feelings - all these various forces and the manifestation of the human spirit are examined in detail from the side of the morally good and the morally evil. The saint defines in detail the natural purpose and sphere of activity of each of them in the circle of our inner life and indicates the abnormal and often ugly manifestations that they take in reality. The doctrine of conscience, this supreme guide of our moral life, is especially important. An entire chapter is devoted to it, with a detailed and comprehensive presentation of the subject in the present sinful state of man, and in the pure, restored one from the fall. Consideration of the activity of a conscience damaged by sin gives a clear understanding that all its most important and essential functions, as a legislator, judge and giver of bribes, are performed abnormally and incorrectly. Conscience, as a legislator, often itself incorrectly shows the laws by which a person is morally obliged to live and act as a rationally free being. This happens all the more often under the influence and when her demands collide with our pride. Thus, conscience often finds it difficult even to determine the basic question of morality - what should be considered the main, guiding principle of life. The tormenting question of the ardent evangelical youth, what, having created an eternal life, will I inherit? there is a question for all humanity. In solving it one can encounter a wide variety of, even contradictory, views and interpretations. Some, rare ones, consider service to God above all else, others - social activity, others - the office studies of a scientist, etc. Of course, there are even more of these points of view when clarifying the private objects and phenomena of Christian life. When conscience has to meet with our egoism, then its legal demands are either deliberately misinterpreted or completely distorted and even replaced by other, perverse principles. Thus, under the pretext of preserving health, we withdraw from fasting, under the guise of supporting the family, we refuse charity, etc. And often we go much further, directly introducing perverse and deliberately false rules into life: thus we consider stinginess as frugality, wastefulness as generosity, etc. The duty of conscience is no better served as a judge. Essentially, it is obliged to carefully and unswervingly monitor not only our affairs, but also all internal movements and, at the slightest malfunction, judge strictly and unhypocritically. But we usually don’t see this, especially when passions are mixed. Conscience in a fallen state is a broken mirror, falsely and falsely representing both ourselves and our deeds and activities. Most often, we see that a person strictly judges others, but strives to justify himself, either by reference to his ignorance and weakness, or to circumstances and temptations, etc. Often one can encounter a conscious and persistent denial of one’s obvious guilt, which already indicates a deep damage to conscience. Given the falsity and incorrectness of the first two functions of conscience, the third manifestation of it as a bribe-giver is naturally carried out incorrectly. Of course, there are cases when a morally fallen person experiences severe torment of conscience. But for the most part, the consciousness of one’s guilt remains only in thought, without disturbing the heart, and the person is a cold spectator of his own, even important sins. This indifference and slumbering of conscience occurs naturally, of course, from the frequent repetition of sins. But often we do it intentionally, for example, by choosing a lenient confessor for ourselves, we allow false confession, etc. There are even worse cases when, for example, a person tries to convince himself that torment of conscience is only the fruit of the superstitious fear of an undeveloped person, etc. This is not the case with conscience in an intact state or restored from sin. Her activities are quite efficient in all the most important functions, as a legislator, a judge and a bribe-giver. Then our entire spiritual life is clearly and clearly reflected in our conscience, like a clear mirror. Its just demands are recognized and fulfilled as an immutable and binding law. Our conscientious judgment turns exclusively to ourselves, and is carried out without any concealment or false condescension, with all thoroughness and completeness, touching not only visible deeds, but also secret thoughts and intentions; condemning others is considered a great sin. Not only is there no place for self-justification and stubborn unconsciousness, but on the contrary, all life passes in self-condemnation and repentance. The conscience also becomes correct in retribution. The former petrified insensibility disappears, and in its place there appears extraordinary spiritual sensitivity, even to the slightest internal movements and changes, expressed either in deep contrition of the spirit or in joyful tranquility. But this contrition and even the torment of conscience that sometimes occurs here have a completely different character than in the previous sinful state. They are joyfully touching, do not embitter, do not burn. Many ascetics spent their entire lives in tears, others were dry from the constant presentation of the fire of hell. But such states, on the one hand, brought them cheerfulness and refreshment, and on the other, filled them with the sweetness of peace, inexplicable joy and bliss. “Just as reason is appointed to open to man another, spiritual, most perfect world and to let him know about its structure and properties, so conscience is appointed to form a person into a citizen of the world where he must subsequently move. For this purpose, she announces to him the laws there, obliges him to fulfill them, judges him according to them, rewards or punishes him. Conscience is called practical consciousness. In this regard, we can say that it is the power of the spirit, which, conscious of law and freedom, determines their mutual relationship. By occupation or action, conscience is seen as a legislator, a witness or a judge and a rewarder. In all these aspects of her, great differences are visible in her in a good Christian and in a sinner who has fallen away from God.” “Because the sinner himself has separated from God, he must expect that his conscience cannot be correct; for, if it exists, then the voice of God in the soul (legislator), then His eye (witness), then the vicegerent of His justice (judge and repayer); then when we fall away from Him, all these Divine, so to speak, influxes upon us through the spirit must weaken and decrease in number and strength. Moreover, conscience does not act alone, separately, but takes other forces as intermediaries and instruments: reason, will, and the power of feeling. If these are upset in their ways, then one cannot expect right activity from conscience.” “There are involuntary, unintentional, so to speak, deviations of conscience from the paths of truth, as if delusions, and there are intentional distortions or damage to conscience from opposing it, in favor of vices and passions. These two sides are now represented in all three acts of conscience. So the job of conscience, as a legislator, is to show the laws according to which a rationally free being should act, and to incline his will to this by the power of his obligation.” “How little power conscience has to induce the will to fulfill its instructions, even clearly conscious ones, there is nothing to say about that. She can still do this somehow if she does not encounter any passion or inclination; but as soon as there is such a collision, her voice is not heard, and by the power of it alone a person cannot overcome himself. Therefore, a person often sins due to the impotence of his conscience, he knows many virtues only by ear, he only enjoys many of them, just as he does not like other vices in words and - until the time and the occasion.” “Legislation itself, it seems, is the easiest thing to do, but the conscience is sending it wrong. The dictates of conscience are recognized in the form of demands. Since other needs, natural or instilled later, also make their demands; It is not surprising that a person, in the confusion that reigns in him after his fall, sometimes cannot make out what to obey. Thus, regarding the main principle in moral activity, or where all attention should be directed and all thoughts directed, conscience for the most part is almost completely silent; That is why a person must sometimes ask: what have I done, will I inherit eternal life? and when he is approached with such a question, he becomes embarrassed and is forced to admit ignorance, and if sometimes he offers something in response, he offers perverse principles, composed by a perverted mind in conspiracy with inclinations, like those of the Pharisees, Sadducees, Stoics, etc. But when the main principle is unknown, then not only is the thread of mutual subordination and correlation of particular laws lost, and some rise above others without reasonable grounds, due to random circumstances, but also much is included in the law that should not be law. So, for example, one places civil service above all else, another puts divine services above all else, another places the office studies of a scientist. Regarding particular cases, when, that is, conscience must immediately determine how someone should act in a certain case, there is even more uncertainty, short-sightedness and confusion. Here, for the most part, she either leaves the person to himself, which is why he often ignores the good; but he does bad things out of ignorance of evil; or hesitates between yes and no, leaves a person indecisive as to whether what he is doing is good; or calls bitter sweet, and sweet bitter, and this is even among the legislators who dealt with this, people experienced in life. In general, conscience leaves a person to act at random, according to circumstances, without inner confidence and approval. It is clear from everything that this legislator has been removed from his post, deprived of dominance and has become so weakened that he does not assert his rights; on the contrary, some other force seems to be acting – for conscience.” “The legislative conscience is subjected to even greater damage and distortion if it encounters egoism and submits to it. Here, at first, its laws are reinterpreted, then distorted and, finally, replaced by completely different ones, arbitrary and even contrary to the true laws. We willingly believe what we love, and strongly desire that the truth be on the side of our loved one. Therefore, if we happen to hear the voice of conscience with a commandment that is contrary to our inclination, then it has less conviction for us than the demand of the heart. In such circumstances, confusion immediately arises regarding the true meaning of the commandment; we ask with doubt: is this how it should be understood? Is this what the law requires? does it apply to everyone? does it suit me and my situation? During this reflection, matters are mostly put aside and left in doubt until another time; but soon thoughts are presented to please the heart, the law is reinterpreted, and we remove ourselves from fulfilling it under various pretexts. Thus, under the pretext of maintaining health, they withdraw from fasting and abstinence, and under the pretext of maintaining family well-being and needs, they refuse to do charity; in the form of righteous retribution they take growth; defending honor, they go out to duel, and so on. All this, however, is only half as harmful if it goes too far and concerns individual cases and, moreover, one person; but long-term activity of one kind, with a reinterpretation of the meaning of the law, leads to the fact that it is completely distorted in the conscience, and a wrong rule is put in its place. That is why stinginess is considered frugality, extravagance - generosity, anger - a feeling of noble indignation, indulgence - condescension, cruelty - jealousy of the truth, flattery - flexibility of character, cunning - prudence, pride - a sense of dignity. If someone happens to be in a circle where the above-mentioned opinions are accepted and are contained as rules that determine the external behavior of a person in all his provisions, what is surprising if he accepts these rules as decisive legislation of conscience, and begins to consider satisfaction with them as the first thing and a virtue, just as, on the contrary, he begins to condemn life or actions not according to them not only with his tongue, but also with his sense of conscience.” “Conscience, as a witness and judge, is aware of how a person treated the law prescribed by it, and, subsuming the action under it with all the circumstances, both internal and external, determines whether the person is right or wrong. The court of a conscientious court, as they say, is incorruptible. This happens, but not always. One can expect infidelity in a court of conscience in all those cases where the legislation of conscience is incorrect, for then there is no beginning for the court. Moreover, for the justice of the court, it is necessary to notice the action in all parts, especially the internal dispositions during it; in a sinner, with constant plundering of the mind, much can be omitted from attention. Therefore, he has no conscience to apply judgment to. Finally, not the least important thing in this regard is jealousy for what is right, in order to relentlessly pursue everything criminal, for without this much of what is noticed can be ignored; This is also the basis for the sinner’s conscience to be unfaithful, for he is a sinner because he has no zeal for the truth. From this it follows that conscience should act like this: being zealous for the truth, carefully monitoring a person’s affairs, and if there is any malfunction, immediately bring him to trial and judge him without being a hypocrite. But such actions are not in the conscience of a sinner. How can one expect faithful judgment from such a conscience”! “Its unreliability is already evident from the fact that it makes every person seem better to himself than he actually is. Except in decisive cases and important sins, everyone is ready to say: what have I done? Therefore, God-fearing judges say to themselves: cleanse me from my secrets. Conscience in a fallen state is a broken mirror. Like a broken mirror, she now does not represent our affairs and us as she should.” “Such is conscience, as a witness and judge, if passion is not mixed with it; in this case, its scales are tilted even more to the wrong side, and the court is distorted. When conscience itself judges particular cases, then its judgment is still not incorrect at times; but since one must judge one’s passionate deeds, the judgment of conscience is always crooked. Such is the judgment of an ambitious person for ambition, of a miser for stinginess, etc., while in other matters the same conscience is not dormant. A significant sign of distortion of conscience is the evasion of judgment from oneself to others. Conscience was given to us in order to judge ourselves; If she judges others, it must be said that she did not do her job. This condemnation of others can now be looked at as an indication of what our judgment should be on ourselves, and as a denunciation of the constant infidelity of this latter. Thus, in judging others, judgment is usually quick, instantaneous, while on oneself it is slow, delayed, and should be the other way around; judgment about others can be inexorably strict, while judgment about oneself is always covered with condescension, but it should be the other way around. This trial almost always ends: I am not like other people... Just as a merchant strictly judges the affairs of a lawyer, a secular person judges spiritual matters, and so on. While others are constantly being condemned from the heart, we love to cover ourselves with justification. Self-justification is almost a common sin. They expose weakness, ignorance, circumstances, temptations, examples. If, finally, we do not succeed, we will stubbornly stand up for ourselves. Persistent unconsciousness is the fruit of great damage to conscience and, at the same time, strong egoism. The person inside says in spite of himself: not guilty, - empty, - nothing! and at the same time, various twists and turns are used, mainly regarding the judged act, trying to bring it under cases in which such acts are excusable.” “Conscience is like a bribe-giver. As soon as judgment is pronounced and a person realizes in himself that he is guilty, grief, pain, annoyance with himself, reproaches, torment or torment of conscience begin. Such feelings are the essence of retribution for sins from conscience, just as, on the contrary, the joyful feelings of conscience-based justification are the essence of retribution for truth. What this is and how strong it can be is shown by the persecution to which great criminals are subjected from their conscience, when it frightens them both internally with torment and externally with ghosts, both in reality and in their dreams. But again, how much injustice she has on this side too! there is only one basis for them - in the infidelity of the first two actions, legislation and court, for why should an innocent person be tormented? the other is in the state of the heart: the heart is hardened and indifferent, no matter how you blame it. As a result, the consciousness of one’s guilt mostly remains in the mind, without disturbing the heart, and a person often says: guilty, but what is it? - and remains a cold spectator of his sins, often considerable. In this case, the circumstances of time and place are of considerable importance. So, the recent crime is still quite disturbing, but away from it we are at peace. Fearfulness (scrupulousness) often attacks the conscience, according to which, considering almost every deed to be a sin, it worries and eats a person for everything. The state of one who is subjected to such a judgment is painful and therefore a painful, unnatural state.” “But all this happens by itself, without our malicious participation. Where intent enters, we either distort conscientious retribution or force it to remain silent. This is done in different ways to lull the conscience. Sleeping, this comes naturally from the increasing frequency of falls, for it is known that the second fall torments less, the third even less, and so on less and less, and finally, the conscience becomes completely numb: do what you want. Out of fear that a lulled conscience might somehow awaken again, they resort to various tricks. These are: choosing a lenient confessor for yourself, false confession, false reassurance of self-resolution, limiting further correction to appearance alone, or external acts of piety alone, and excessive hope in the Lord’s mercy; or, even worse, convincing oneself that torment of conscience is superstitious fears passed down from inexperienced childhood; deliberate removal of oneself from persons and places, even from objects of reflection, that may disturb the conscience; deliberate entertainment or abandonment of oneself to vain, stupefying, strong impressions and, finally, the end of it all - boasting of one’s sins. In these ways, little by little, we manage to completely drown out our conscience, and it remains silent for a time.” “So, conscience in a sinful state, according to legislation, according to judgment and retribution, is either itself incorrect, or is deliberately distorted for the sake of passions. Because of this, some freely indulge in all the overflow of passions and sinful life, for when the conscience is reconciled with the passions, who will bring them to reason? Others live in cold carelessness, neither good nor bad. For both of them, obviously, their activity is perverted, and it will remain so until conscience awakens. The measure of corruption determines what happens to a person, for others, although after a strong and painful turning point, return to true life; others, on the contrary, with the awakening of conscience, give in to despair and finish the bitter cup of iniquity, so that later they can drink to the bottom the cup of God’s wrath.” “For a person who has turned to God and restored grace-filled communion with Him, the erring conscience is corrected, the distorted conscience is corrected in all three of its functions. The first ray of grace falls on the conscience and with its Divine fire purifies it, like gold in a furnace. When conversion is accomplished and communion with God is restored, then all the original strength returns to the conscience. Then what will prevent the voice of God - the law of conscience - from penetrating to the depths of the soul? What will prevent a ray from the eye of God - the judgment of conscience - from falling on a person’s deeds and intentions and illuminating them? Or why couldn’t the soul be warmed by the warmth of God’s anticipated favor or shuddered by the fear of God’s wrath? Between God and conscience, the mediastinum has been destroyed, the instrumental forces for conscience have been restored, therefore, conscience has all the means for proper action.” “This is how it is made operational in legislation. It is the consciousness of the Divine laws that awakens the sinner from sleep, but it subsequently does not diminish, but rises. This is facilitated by grace itself, which, like the anointing, teaches everyone how to act (1 John 2:27), and guides him on all paths of life, secretly and openly. This is facilitated by a thirst for the word of God, from which the converted sinner does not lag behind, but seeks to either hear or read it, drinks it in, feeds on it and transforms everything drawn from it in the depths of his heart into rules and principles and thereby illuminates his conscience. Life itself contributes to this. Feeling determined to be in the will of God, he carefully examines the will of God for himself and in all cases concerning him and always in relation to sin he says to himself: how I will commit an evil verb and sin before God - and for good: my heart is ready, ready! In this way, he gets used to living a legal life in his circle and no longer has the need to consult the book of laws, but knows them directly, like an experienced lawyer. As for attacks from the depraved will, although they are felt, their voice is suppressed at the same time; even if it were still heard, legal activity is not abandoned in defiance of them, for it is determined to walk according to the will of God without regret, with all kinds of donations, in the midst of all kinds of bitterness, both internal and external.” “She is correct in legal proceedings. A vigilant and sober eye, fixed on itself, notices all the shades of internal and external affairs. When, at the same time, on the other side there is a clear mirror of conscience, what prevents the matter from being reflected in this mirror in its true form, and therefore the judgment of conscience from being true? A judgment is the application of a general principle to a particular case. If both exist, then they cannot fail to happen, and if both are true, then the judgment cannot fail to be true. The perfection of this action of conscience is further promoted by what is considered the greatest sin - to condemn another, and when this happens accidentally, it is cleansed by strong repentance. But when the judgment is entirely directed towards oneself, then here it is carried out without concealment, without false condescension, with all detail and completeness, touching not only deeds and words, but also intentions and thoughts. To warn against errors in this matter, a third-party judge is elected (a spiritual father or an experienced elder to whom everything is revealed), who decides the matter and whose decision is accepted as God’s decision. Here you will not encounter crude self-justification and lack of consciousness, for almost all of life is spent in self-condemnation and feelings of repentance; one’s deeds are not considered perfect and complete, and one’s face is not considered worthy of favors. How fruitful are such arrangements! They first bring peace to the soul, not disturbed by any external troubles, for the guilty person feels worthy of all executions; then purity into life, for the more cases or parties in cases are condemned, the more perfect they should become, if such a review is carried out with the goal of achieving perfection.” “She is also good in retribution. The petrified insensibility was driven away when God's grace melted the whole being of man; There is also a constant prayer for deliverance from him in the end. Therefore, just as in a barometer a slight fluctuation in the atmosphere is immediately reflected, so in the one who turns, either the sting of a conscience-stricken accusation immediately leaves a wound of painful contrition, or the oil of justification anoints the soul with the anointing of peace and fills it with a pleasing fragrance of joy. At the same time, it should be noted that the torment of conscience here has a completely different shade than what it has for an unconverted person. They are joyfully tender, do not become bitter, do not tear away, do not burn. Perhaps this is because after conversion, with zeal for pleasing God, only a few, accidental, unintentional sins occur. True, past deeds are not ignored and, when necessary, they are actively reproduced, explained with all the circumstances, with all the consequences, and are submitted to internal judgment, as if the hour of death, the judgment of God and the final sentence has arrived, and in the heart thus opened, everything done contrary to the will of God is washed with tears; but again this does not suppress their spirit with hopelessness. There is a breakdown in the spirit from comparing the past with the future, but it always ends in joyful peace in God: sinner, but Your creation, I turn to You, Thy will be done! – And in this burning of conscience they save themselves from the fire of the future. The peace of conscience of the saints did not exclude such a collapse of the spirit, but on the contrary, many spent all their time in tears, others were dry because, as they said, they constantly remembered the fire of Gehenna, which scorched them incessantly (Macarius Vel.). This state of conscience, on the one hand, brought them sobriety, refreshing and encouraging, on the other hand, in relation to God and the entire character of their life, it filled them with sweet peace, inexplicable joy, all-encompassing Bliss. The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, overshadowed them (Phil. 4:7). In this state, they received irresistible inspiration for deeds pleasing to God. The Apostle Paul valued the testimony of his conscience most dearly and for its sake went to all troubles. Others felt the same (Job 27:6). This is joyful manna, strengthening heavenly food, brought by angels from heaven. This is the joy of the Holy Spirit, or the power by which one can, following the Apostle, rejoice unceasingly.” “The fruits of such a state of conscience are: first of all, boldness before God, by which they unabashedly and undoubtedly turn to God, like innocent children to their father; then, living, strong and quick activity, for a clear conscience attracts the Divine power, which, filling the whole soul, imparts to it tirelessness, incessant work, insurmountability to obstacles, which, in fact, is the freedom of the spirit inherent in man; finally, the will merges with conscience and all rebellion within ceases: a person enters into a state where the law does not lie to him, because he himself is completely filled with the law” 97 . The philosophical worldview of the saint as the basis of his moral teaching The given views of Rev. Theophan’s views on the structure of human nature are in close internal connection and are determined by his general moral and philosophical worldview, and therefore, for the possible complete clarification and justification of the first, it is necessary to indicate the second. The saint expressed his views on the world and man in a letter to a learned natural scientist and chemist who was looking for a true, Christian life. The content of the letter represents a rare experience in spiritual literature of reconciling the conclusions of secular science with the principles of Christian theology in the doctrine of the nature and origin of its most important phenomena. It, by the way, undoubtedly testifies to the enormous and multifaceted erudition that the late Bishop possessed. Along with extensive information about theological truths, he had access to deep and thorough knowledge in the field of natural science and its philosophical explanation. The essential content of the letter is expressed in the following provisions. The basis of the world is made up of atoms. By themselves they are dead and receive life only from certain immaterial forces inherent in them. The latter have different degrees of vital activity, corresponding to the three main kingdoms of nature. The lower forces are characteristic of inanimate, so-called inorganic nature, and produce such phenomena as chemical combination, crystallization, etc. The next step consists of the forces operating in the plant kingdom. Finally, the highest ones are found in the animal world. The container of the elements and forces of nature is the Soul of the world, created by God even before the creation of all the present multitude and diversity of objects and phenomena. It was exactly the chaos described on the first page of the Bible. Entire kingdoms and individual objects of visible nature gradually emerged from the Soul of the world over the course of six days according to the creative word of God. The crown of creation - man received some aspects of his being from the Soul of the world, for example, body and soul, and others, namely the highest abilities of the spirit, directly from God, Who Himself deigned to breathe His breath into him. That's how it was in the beginning. This is how it is now. The child receives body and soul from his parents, and the spirit is breathed into him by God, who is everywhere. With his lower mental and sensory abilities and powers, man lives and acts within the limits and according to the laws of nature, but the spirit significantly raises him above nature and transfers him to another, higher world, completely detached from it. True, with real moral damage to a person, the latter phenomenon is not always noticeable and clearly observed, but its original purpose and state was precisely that. “That’s what I think about the world. The basis of the material world is atoms. But atoms are not all the same - they cannot have mutual motion or mutual connection. Everything produces forces acting in them. What are these forces? I admit a ladder of immaterial forces of a spiritual nature. Mutual attraction, chemical affinity, crystallization, plants, animals are produced by corresponding immaterial forces that proceed, rising gradually. The substrate of all these forces is the Soul of the world. God, having created this immaterial Soul, put into it the ideas of all creatures, and it instinctively, as they say, produces them, at the beck and excitement of God.” “The soul was created together with the word: let there be light! This light is ether, it is the shell of the Soul. In the words: let it be - something new was happening... On the second day - the firmament. When God said: let the earth destroy..., then the Soul of the world listened to him and fulfilled what was commanded. She separated from herself all kinds of plant souls, which gave rise to diverse plants and then began to reproduce them according to their kind. The same, according to the word of God: may the earth bring forth every living soul. The soul singled out the souls of animals, which produced different kinds of animals. When it was necessary to create man, the command was not given to the earth: let him bring forth, but in the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity it was said: “Let us create.” When God created man, he first formed a body from dust. What was this body? It was a living body, it was an animal in the form of a man, with an animal soul. Then God breathed His spirit into him, and from an animal he became a man - an angel in the form of a man. As it was then, so people are now. Souls are reflected from their parents, or are invested through natural birth, and the spirit is inhaled by God, who is everywhere. This spirit, uniting with the animal soul, raised it above the animal soul by a whole stage, and we see in man that, to a certain extent, everything goes with him, like with animals... up to intelligence, and then a series of forces begins, although of a spiritual nature, but above the soul..., reason, will, taste. Even further: fear of God, conscience, dissatisfaction with created things, desire for God. These are spiritual manifestations completely detached from the soul. You can also place soul-spirituality between soul and spirit: an idealizing mind, a will that rebuilds everything anew, and creativity (in the arts). This is genius, from the mental, practical and artistic side. Spirit in the soul, or soul in the spirit. These are all natural manifestations. They do not appear in their present form in experience, due to the breakdown of strength in the fall. Graceful actions reveal spirit and spirituality in their true form.” “The lower souls of spirit and man are immersed in the Soul of the world. But a person’s soul cannot plunge there, but the spirit is carried away by grief—this is after death. So this is where your chemistry comes from. In some chemical Soul. In this Soul there is an instinctively felt image of what needs to be made from the elements. She takes them and builds her own. In the world or its composition, it is necessary to distinguish, in addition to the elements, a system of forces arranged in a ladder - going from lower to higher. The lower force is the one that acts in dead nature, and whose higher products are the phenomenon of chemical combinations and crystallization - (for example, snowflakes - stains on windows in winter, etc.). Above this stands the power of vegetation, which holds in its power both the crystallizing force and the force of chemical combinations. Above the plant force stands the animal, which in its power holds both the plant force and the crystallizing force and the force of chemical combinations. - Higher than animal-spiritual power - the power of human nature, which contains all the forces lower than it in its power, and acts by them. Or this: the soul of animals, being able to act like an animal, is also able to produce that which is characteristic of the plant and chemical soul. The equally vegetative soul, knowing how to do its own thing, also knows how to do chemical things. - There is unity of nature here. I remember that Schubert’s history of the soul reveals these points in detail. Both the fall and the redemption are conveniently reconciled with this.” “What you say is true: we know less about the material world than about the spiritual. And God does not give and will not give, because it is not necessary for us. We will always remain on the surface in this regard... Mastery of the elements and forces operating on earth will expand; but this is not knowledge, but only the ability to use what is revealed by itself. The essence of the matter is forever hidden from us." 98 These are the psychological foundations of the Christian life. The teaching on this subject makes it possible for Rev. Theophan should affirm and develop the main idea of ​​his entire moral teaching that the real abnormal life of humanity damaged by sin is nothing more than a vast arena of struggle between the ideal aspirations of the spirit and the lower needs of the soul and body. The result of this struggle determines the value of the personality and activity of each person. In terms of the degrees of their moral perfection, people only differ from each other in the strength of development and the measure of vital activity of their spiritual principles. This thought invariably passes through, uniting and generalizing all the numerous moralizing works of His Grace Theophan. He repeatedly repeats, develops and proves it both in general fundamental principles and in many particulars and details. Finally, he considers it necessary to establish and test it historically. Historical research, by the way, gives the writer the necessary material and basis to indicate and clarify those ways and means, guided by which, it would be possible to restore the normal order of our spiritual life, disrupted by the Fall. “God created man for bliss and precisely in Him, through living communication with Him. For this purpose, He breathed into his face the breath of His life, which is spirit... Man is given consciousness and freedom in the spirit, but not so that he becomes arrogant and self-willed, but then, so that, realizing that he has everything from God and in order to live in God, he freely and consciously directs everything towards this single goal. When he is so disposed, he abides in God and God abides in him. God, who dwells in man, gives his spirit the power to rule over soul and body, and further over everything that is outside of him. This was the original state of man. God appeared to the first parents and confirmed all this with His Divine word, commanding them to know His One, to serve Him alone, to walk in the will of His One. So that they would not get confused about how to do all this, He gave them a small commandment - not to eat the fruits of one tree, which He called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is how our forefathers began to live and were blissful in paradise. The spirit that had previously fallen through pride envied them and led them astray, inciting them to break the small commandment given to them by seductively imagining that by eating the forbidden fruit they would taste such a good that they could not even imagine without it - they would become like gods. They believed and tasted. The matter of eating may not be great, but it is bad that they believed without knowing whom. Perhaps this would not have been so important if it were not for those terribly criminal thoughts and feelings towards God that, like poison, the evil spirit poured into them. He told them that God forbade them to eat from the tree so that they too would not become gods. They believed it. But having believed this, they could not help but accept thoughts blasphemous about God, as if He envied them and treated them unkindly, and having accepted such thoughts, they could not avoid some unkind feelings towards Him and self-willed decisions: so we ourselves will take what You do not want to allow us to do. We will set ourselves up in opposition to Him. These thoughts and feelings were terribly criminal! They mean a clear apostasy from God and a hostile rebellion against Him. The same thing happened inside them, which is attributed to the evil spirit: I will set my throne above the clouds and I will be like the Most High - and this is not as a fleeting thought, but as a hostile decision.” “So consciousness became arrogant and freedom became self-willed, taking upon itself the arrangement of its fate. The falling away from God was complete with a kind of disgust and hostile rebellion against Him. For this, God retreated from such criminals, and the living union was interrupted. God is everywhere and contains everything, but He enters into free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but while preserving and containing them, He does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they had repented sooner, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted and, despite obvious accusations, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty. A trial followed and punishment by expulsion from paradise. Then they came to their senses, but it was already too late. It was necessary to bear the imposed punishment, and for them, our entire family.” “The spirit had power over the soul and body, because it was in living communication with God and received Divine power from Him. When living communication with God was cut off, the influx of divine power was cut off. The spirit, left to itself, could no longer be the ruler of soul and body, but was carried away and itself captured by them. Soulfulness prevailed over man, and through soulfulness, physicality, and he became soulful and carnal. The spirit is right there, but without power. He declares his existence either by the fear of God, or by the anxieties of conscience, or by dissatisfaction with anything created, but his presentations are not taken into account, but are taken only into account, turning all his concern to the organization of his life here, to which the soul is assigned - and a life that is more material, because life here is mediated by the body and that everything corporeal is more tangible and seems more necessary.” “When such a perversion of the order in the relationships between the parts of our nature occurred, a person could no longer see things in their present form, could not keep his needs, desires and feelings in proper order. They became confused, and disorder became their characteristic feature. But this unkind state, of course, would still be tolerable if it weren’t for passions, otherwise passions surpass and tyranny over a person. See how anger hits the angry one like a fever? How did the envious one become so overcome with envy that he turned blue, poor thing? How the saddened one was dried up by grief, that he was bones and skin. - Such are all passions. They entered along with the self. As soon as it was said inside the forefather: so - I myself... so selfhood took root in him - this poison and this seed of Satan. From it then a whole horde of passions developed. Having multiplied inside, they further disturb the already disturbed state there without them.” “So this is the disease. The spirit became arrogant and self-willed. For this: he lost power and fell under the dominion of soul and body and everything external. Hence the confusion of mental and physical needs and desires, and especially their immensity. This immensity is communicated to them by the spirit they have enslaved. In themselves, these needs are measured and not violent. The fact that they have no measure and seethe is because the spirit is raging within them; for by nature his energy is limitless. Hence gluttony, drunkenness, hoarding of money... and many other things for which a person does not think to give measures.” “So what is needed in order for everything in us to be restored to its former – original order”? “Just as we slid down the mountain, we have to go back and climb the mountain again. Once the disease has set in, by acting in the opposite direction, you can drive it out. Having fallen away from God, we need to reunite with Him. Having fallen away, having doubted the word of God, we must restore full faith in this word. Having lost faith in God and in God, we made a disastrous decision: so I myself, - we must destroy this - myself. When this destructive thing was formed, I myself, our spirit, lost its inherent power to rule over soul and body, and on the contrary, I myself fell under the yoke of slavery to it; it is necessary to restore this power of the spirit. When the power of the spirit was cut short, the needs of the soul and body scattered in different directions and confusion occurred in our desires; it is necessary to bring all these needs back to unity and establish mutual subordination in their order. Along with the destructive: - I myself, have been squeezed into the circle of our life by a flock of passions, like wild animals tormenting us; we must drive out these passions” 99. The concept of true Christian life The last words clearly outline a program of life and activity, brief in form, but immensely extensive in content, which is morally obligatory for every true Christian. Most of the moralizing works of Rev. Feofan. We have already become acquainted in detail with one of these methods, and the most important and perfect one, in the essay “The Path to Salvation.” The author himself classifies the last work as ascetic, and it really is. Although the path of moral perfection depicted in the book was traversed by its writer in life, one cannot help but see that such a feat is not within the capabilities of everyone. It can only be successfully completed by God’s perfect, special elect, under the extraordinary guidance of saving grace. The saint recognizes the path of monasticism as the best environment and most convenient means for realizing the moral Christian ideal. But being among society in itself cannot serve as a significant obstacle to salvation. Rev. Feofan was far from being a dry and cold rigorist, denying all worldly life and its joys. On the contrary, recognizing family and citizenship as God-established institutions, he repeatedly and persistently testifies that even among the ordinary conditions of human society it is possible to lead a godly life and that a contrary thought should be considered a delusion. According to the teachings of the saint, as we have already seen, withdrawing from the world does not mean running away from family and society, but leaving everything that is dangerous for our morality - vicious customs, habits and demands. His thoughts and observations about the possibility and means of salvation in a worldly environment, Rev. Theophan expounded in words and conversations, especially during his episcopal service in Tambov and Vladimir, as well as in letters to persons who sought his spiritual guidance. Here he had to put into practice the religious and moral ideals he had developed. Wanting to give guiding rules for his flock regarding spiritual life, the archpastor sometimes gave them a whole systematic series of teachings about the path to salvation, and most often touched on this subject in parts, in relation to practical needs and cases. Having examined the content of moralizing conversations, we find, as has already been noted, that in some of them the preacher establishes concepts about true Christian life, in others he indicates the means and paths to it, and in others, finally, he depicted in detail the steps of ascent along this path. The saint attached great importance to revealing the concept of the essence of Christian life, and more than once raised and thoroughly clarified the question. According to his teaching, this concept invariably includes three elements - external good deeds, internal feelings and moods that serve as the basis of deeds, and, finally, the dedication of both to God, as a necessary condition for their moral value. A truly godly life, says the saint, is made up of the following parts: “From good deeds, apparently done for everyone by the body, in its own time and in its place. This is what it is: if anyone asks for alms, give it to him. Whoever caused offense, forgive him. The enemy has come, kill him. Sit down at the table, eat food according to the rules and abstain. It is time to pray, pray reverently and as commanded... You go to a position, work hard, and so on and so forth. Every moment and every place has its own good deeds, which everyone who enters into them must certainly perform. In this regard, a person’s entire life should be a continuous chain of good deeds, from the minute he comes to consciousness in this world until the moment he leaves it... Just as those who embroider pictures with beads, row after row attach beads to their places and it is these, and not other beads, to this or that place, and only then, as they observe all this, do not confuse the beads and do not allow breaks and omissions, the picture receives a decent appearance and its name; So in relation to us, only then will the Lord consider someone virtuous when he develops the whole picture of his life in such a way that he does not miss a single place or a single moment of time without doing something obligatory for him at that time.” “The other part consists of good feelings and dispositions hidden under apparently performed deeds. These are love, peace, patience, meekness, mercy, self-control, humility, reverence, detachment from everything, etc., etc. Good deeds, apparently performed in order to be truly good and serve for salvation, must certainly be an expression of some of the internal good feelings; so, if at their core there is no good feeling with which they should be inspired, then they are worthless and ungodly. So, for example, a reverent turn of mind and heart towards God is a good, godly inner mood. When it is in the soul, it demands urgently and appropriate deeds, which happen, namely: home prayer, long bows, going to the church of God for services, visiting holy places, honoring icons, lighting lamps and incense, and so on. There is a similar sum of visible actions for the expression of each inner feeling; for example, to express mercy there are seven acts of physical and seven acts of spiritual mercy. But we must always remember that the latter, that is, visible deeds, only have value when they serve as an expression of the former, that is, internal feelings. Thus, all visible deeds of piety: bowing, praying, going to church, etc., will only be truly good deeds when they serve as an expression of inner piety, or a reverent turn to God of our mind and heart, and without this latter they are nothing. The same should be said about all works of mercy, that they are only truly good when they serve as an expression of sincere brotherly love for all for the glory of God, and not some kind of adaptation to others, a desire to show off, or, as they often say now, a desire to discover humanity; This is paganism in Christian clothing. The same must be said about all other external affairs - that their true value is determined by the internal disposition... For otherwise, you can, for example, be in the church with your body, but in a fornication with your soul, condescendingly apologizing with your tongue, but condemning in your heart, showing respect with the position of your body, but harboring contempt inside, with your eyes not looking at faces, but in your soul inflamed with lust, and so on, and so on. Outwardly, all these deeds are good, but their value before God is destroyed by the feelings that are nourished when they are performed in the soul.” “The third part is a zeal for the glory of God, strong as death, inspired by fiery love for God and inspiring all the good feelings of the heart and all visible good deeds.” “When there are good dispositions in the heart, it seems that one can calm down about one’s fate. But take this into account! We were created by God, created in the image and likeness of God, created so that we would glorify the name of God in the universe, or so that we would completely devote ourselves to God... And yet, this is what can happen! Some people are compassionate and show their compassion through their actions, but they don’t even think about God, despite all the deeds and feelings of those who are compassionate. Such kindness will not be remembered before God, for it was not accepted from Him as a commandment, and is not dedicated to Him as service and sacrifice. Others are meek and without anger and demonstrate this disposition by deeds, not allowing themselves to be carried away by feelings of discord and revenge; but at the same time he follows some kind of instinctive disposition towards compliance, formed by the consciousness of powerlessness and timidity, and not the commandment of the Lord, Who says: “Forgive me! Vengeance is mine - I will repay!” This kind of meekness has no price before God. Another is abstinent and extremely abstinent: he sleeps little, hardly eats or drinks, they rarely see him outside, he is always at home and at work - but he does not devote his labors to God, but either to self-interest or to the empty glory of man. The Lord does not recognize such abstinence and hard work as worthy of reward. Same with everything else! It is not enough to have good feelings and dispositions (which can be natural - innate), they must also be headed by one fundamental disposition - zeal for the glory of God, be imbued with it and serve as its expression. If this does not exist, or does not exist in the proper degree and measure, all our kindness will be counted as nothing in the face of the Lord, who will one day say: get away from Me, we do not know you!.. We do not know you because in the idleness of your life you did not let Me know about yourself by devoting your good feelings and deeds to Me” 100. The motivation to strive for it. The present content of a person’s inner world in its present, damaged state Having outlined the ideal of a true Christian life, Rev. Theophan had all the means at his disposal and excited his flock to achieve it, so that the flock would not remain a cold spectator, but so that each member, according to the measure and degree of his strength, would strive for spiritual perfection. To do this, the preacher chooses two paths - negative by pointing out the real shortcomings of a person and the inconsistency of his life with the moral law, and positive - by reminding him of some of the virtues and advantages inherent in every believer by his very Christian title. According to the deep conviction of the saint, most of our vices are sins of our spiritual underdevelopment and ignorance. We live badly because we are not clearly aware of the extent of vice and all the harm it can do to our morality, we do not see it in others, and we ourselves have never thought about better forms of life. But if a person, on the one hand, truly understood and assimilated the Christian ideal, imbued with it not only the mind, but also the feelings of the heart, and on the other hand, accurately determined the level of his current spiritual state and set the first as a mirror for the second, then he probably would not remain an indifferent viewer of the picture. He would then clearly understand the complete unsatisfactoriness and complete inconsistency of his life with the gospel law. Then he would undoubtedly have felt the dire need for a new, better order. But when presenting one’s shortcomings, another may go to extremes, may feel completely powerless in achieving the goal and fall into despair. Such a person must be encouraged and supported, leading to the conviction that, along with his shortcomings, he, as a Christian, has some important advantages, for example, the grace of God inherent in him from the moment of spiritual birth in the sacrament of baptism, which, under favorable conditions, can become the support of his new life. In order to truly appreciate your current moral state and together feel the serious need for a new, better life, the most reliable way to do this is the path of self-deepening - to go inside yourself and carefully consider the presence of your spiritual content. Inside himself, a person will find a multitude of very diverse objects and phenomena, one might say, everything except what must be one and the same, except the thought of salvation. What strikes the attentive observer first of all is the complete chaos in the structure of the spiritual world, the complete plunder of the mind and the lack of concentration on anything specific. Further, what stands out in its strength is a person’s multi-care and addiction to material interests, binding him with the yoke of everyday worries, like a captive; finally, in the depths of everything lies the heart, full of one or more passions that dominate and give the tone and coloring of each personality. The saint strongly recommends this path of self-deepening as the best way to get to know yourself, feel your moral failure and desire a better life. “Close your outer senses, turn your attention inward and see what’s there.” “At first you will not see anything there, not because there is nothing there, but because there is too much of everything there - and everything is knocked down and wandering around in disorderly confusion. You will experience the same thing that you experience in thick fog. Just as in this case, fog, like a wall, blocks all objects from us and hides them within itself: so whoever turns inside himself for the first time sees that everything inside is covered as if by a dark veil. You can verify this now.” “But do not stop the work of self-deepening. Be patient in this work, and you will soon begin to discern little by little what is happening inside you, just as someone who enters a dimly lit room from the outside, after standing for a while, begins to discern the objects in it one by one.” “Intensify your attention and look: the object that occupied you has moved away, and another has taken its place; this one is immediately replaced by a third; Before this one had time to appear, he was pressed by a fourth, driven, in turn, by a fifth, etc. One thought is hastily replaced by another - and this is so fast that it is always almost impossible to give ourselves an account of what has passed through our head. This mobility of thoughts does not leave us not only in between classes, for example, when moving from one place to another, but also during them, no matter how important they are: - and during prayer here, in church or at home, - and during reading and even in-depth reflection, etc. This is usually called thinking, but in essence it is theft of the mind, or absent-mindedness and lack of concentrated attention, which is so necessary in managing oneself. Let this be the first feature of our inner man. Its similarity is the confusion of snowflakes falling in the wind, or the jostling of insects in the air on summer evenings. The opposite state of the saints is the attention of the mind, according to which nothing enters the head of its own accord - and does not leave it; everything is subordinated to freedom and consciousness, in which usually only God and the face contemplating dwell. “Look even more closely, and you will discern in yourself, under this confusion of thoughts in the mind, in the will, a constant concern for the organization of one’s life, which constantly wears away the soul, like a worm, drives the working person from one task to another, directing him ever forward, out of dissatisfaction with anything he possesses, and in the production of one, always presenting hundreds of other tasks, as if inevitable. From our first awakening from sleep, care besieges our soul and does not allow us to sit still, or talk to someone as we should, or even eat in peace, until the tired ones fall into the dead of night to rest, in turn, outraged by caring dreams. This disease is called over-concern, which eats away at the soul like rusting iron. Make it the second feature of what happens inside us. The opposite property of the saints is carelessness, which is not carelessness, but humble labor - correct - in surrendering oneself and one’s destiny to the all-providential care of God.” Look even deeper, and you should see inside a captive, bound hand and foot, dragged hither and thither against his will, in self-delusion, yet dreaming of himself that he enjoys complete freedom. The bonds of this captive constitute an addiction to various persons and things surrounding him, from which it is painful for us to fall behind ourselves and painful to part with when others take them away from us. Like a fish caught in a fishing rod, it still swims, but no further than the thread to which the fishing rod is attached allows; or like a bird in a cage flies and walks, but never goes further than the boundaries of the cage: so addiction still leaves the soul the freedom to act as it wants, as long as it does not touch their objects. If you touch these objects, the soul will not be able to control itself. And the more addictions, the smaller the circle of freedom. And it also happens that another is completely bound, and is unable to make a movement in one direction without causing himself pain in the other. Just as someone walking somewhere in the forest and getting tangled with his hands, feet, and clothes in the sticky grass, no matter what member he moves, feels bound: this is exactly how someone addicted to many created things feels. Put this as the third feature of our internal state - partiality. The opposite property of saints is detachment from everything, freedom of heart, inner independence.” “Theft of the mind, over-concern and partiality are not our whole lot. Although they have quality inside, they still hover, as it were, on the surface of the heart. Let us pay deeper attention to this heart and listen to what is there. Let me preempt your thoughts with a comparison. A traveler in the mountains sees a cave, the entrance to which is covered with overgrown grass, there is darkness inside. Putting his ear to it, he hears the hissing of snakes, the growling and gnashing of teeth of wild animals: this is the image of our heart. Have you ever observed his movements? Try doing this, albeit for a short time, and see what you can see there. We got into trouble and got angry; met failure - they were sad; the enemy was caught - they burned with revenge; If you saw someone equal to you who took the highest place, you begin to envy. They thought about their perfections and became sick with pride and contempt. And then there is man-pleasing, vanity, lust, voluptuousness, laziness, hatred, and so on. – one after another strikes the heart. And this sometimes lasts for several minutes. All this comes from the heart and returns to the heart. Rightly, one of the ascetics, attentive to himself, contemplated the human heart full of poisonous serpents, which are passions. When any passion ignites, it is as if a serpent comes out of the heart and, turning towards it, stings it with its sting. And when the serpent emerges, it hurts, and when it stings, it hurts... By stinging, it feeds on the blood of the heart and becomes fat; becoming fatter, he becomes more poisonous and evil, and even more tyrannizes the heart in which he lives. This happens not with just one passion, but with all, and they never live alone, but always all together, overshadowing one another, but not destroying” 101. Carefully observing the life and movement of passions, we will undoubtedly notice that the most powerful and evil of them are those that are based on self-love and feed on it. They lie in the very depths of the heart and from there they powerfully determine and direct our moral life and characterize our personality. From a Christian point of view, self-love, which encloses human life in a narrow circle of pursuit of personal interests, should be considered more unnatural than others, for man was created to serve God and his neighbor. In our external behavior it is reflected and revealed in three main forms - self-aggrandizement, self-interest and love of pleasure or sensuality. Self-aggrandizement is a bright and more noticeable manifestation of pride than others. It belongs to all ages and all moral states. Not only people who have real merits, but also those who do not have them, are ready to show themselves at the first opportunity. The enemy of the human race knew this universal weakness and without difficulty seduced the first people precisely by instilling the tempting thought that they would be like gods. Apparently, there is nothing reprehensible in the fact that a person has the weakness to admire himself. But this is only apparently, for many other vices grow from exaltation, as from their roots. The one who exalts himself is always self-willed, because he undertakes and conducts business according to his own personal, most often random and fleeting, discretion, even sometimes on a whim, and not according to the voice of reason and conscience or on the advice of other people, more knowledgeable and experienced. He is overly arrogant, because he expects success in his undertaking only from himself and his personal strengths. Occupying a prominent position in society, he demands that his will be unquestioningly carried out by others, and therefore is prone to lust for power. If his desires are not fulfilled, he becomes vindictive, etc., etc. Self-interest especially reveals the essence of self-love. The selfish person lives exclusively by his own personal interests. Personal benefit, profit is the main spring and the highest measure of his activity. Where they exist, he is ready for anything, not excluding the most difficult labors and hardships. When they are absent, he won’t lift a finger. This vice is especially unattractive and reprehensible when it takes the form of extreme stinginess. Our sensuality is expressed mainly in serving the body. He is only sensual and busy with his physical pleasures; he only believes in satisfying them and finds the purpose of life. He has no time to think about spiritual things and questions, and they do not interest him. From sensuality, like a seed, many vices grow, serving to reveal it and often distorting healthy human nature. Thus, the need for nutrition drives a sensual person to overeating and drunkenness; a variety of colors - to panache; natural inclination to procreation - to voluptuousness and debauchery, etc. Human nature is so vicious, yet our conscience for the most part is calm and even we are inclined to think that everything is going fine with us and there is nothing particularly bad or reprehensible. What is the main, root cause here? On the one hand, in our spiritual underdevelopment and ignorance, and on the other, in carelessness. We clearly do not see the danger to moral life, and therefore we do not feel the weight of sin. Constant attention and internal control over our mental states are completely unusual for us. The feat of vigil over oneself is one of the most difficult and unpleasant. Carelessness brings even greater fruits. Frequent violations of the moral law and falls gradually dull our initially acute sense of the difference between good and evil; finally, we become “shamefully” indifferent to both. “The seed of all moral evil is self-love. It lies at the very bottom of the heart. According to his destiny, a person should forget himself in his life and activities - he should live only for God and people. Sanctifying his activity by offering it as a grateful sacrifice to God the Savior, he should extend all of it to the benefit of his neighbors and pour out on them everything that he received from the Generous Giver - God. One cannot exist here without the other: one cannot love God without loving one’s neighbors, and one cannot love one’s neighbors without loving God, just as when loving God and one’s neighbors one cannot help but sacrifice oneself to the glory of God and the good of one’s neighbors. But when a person turns away from God in thought, heart and desire, and as a result from his neighbors; then he naturally stops at himself alone - he places himself as the focus to which he directs everything, sparing neither the Divine statutes nor the good of his neighbors.” “This is the root of sin! This is the seed of all moral evil! It lies deep within the heart. But growing and moving closer to the surface of the heart, this seed comes out of it in three forms, as if in three trunks, imbued with its strength, filled with its life: in self-exaltation, self-interest and love of pleasure. The first makes a person say in his heart: who is like me; second: I want to take possession of everything; third: I want to live for my own pleasure.” "Who like me! - What soul has not felt such a movement within itself? Not only those who are naturally gifted with high perfections, or who through their labors have managed to do something important and generally useful, can mentally rise above others. Self-exaltation passes through all ages, ranks and conditions; it follows a person through all mental and moral degrees of improvement; it is not subject to any external relationships, and even if a person lives alone, in obscurity and away from everyone, he is always and everywhere not free from the temptation of exaltation. From the moment he took to his heart the first flattery of the serpent: you will be like a god, from then on he began to elevate himself above everyone, like God, - he began to place himself above the line on which he was placed by nature and society - it seems that it is dangerous to admire the thought that I am above this, that, the third - And meanwhile, look how much evil and how many dark ones? generation stems from this insignificant, in our opinion, thought. He who exalts himself above everyone in thought and heart, if he undertakes anything, does not do it according to the voice of reason and conscience, not according to the advice of the wise and the inspiration of the word of God, but according to his own considerations, he does it because he wants it: he is self-willed; - if he carries out what he has undertaken, he expects everything from himself alone: ​​he is self-confident, arrogant; when he fulfills it, he takes everything to himself, and therefore becomes arrogant, proud, pretentious, and ungrateful; - placing himself in relation to others, he wants his will to be fulfilled everywhere and in everything, so that everything moves according to his command: he is power-hungry and prone to violence; putting others in relation to himself, he cannot tolerate their influence, no matter how modest it appears: he is contemptuous and rebellious; when faced with a violation of his will, he loses his temper; the offended is inflamed with revenge; he craves honor and glory when he has a strong character; hypocritical and vain when weak in soul; impudent, self-willed, arrogant, prone to gossip when low. These are the forms in which self-exaltation appears, this is how many sinful movements are lent to it by their origin! “Hardly anyone can help but expose themselves to one thing or another.” “I want everything to be mine, the selfish man plans - and here is the second branch of fundamental moral evil. The spirit of pride is most noticeably revealed in it. It, as if personally, acts here: the selfish man will not say a word, will not take a step or move without some benefit flowing from this for him. So everything is calculated for him, everything is so ordered, everything is given such a course that time and place, and things, and face - everything that his hand and thought touches brings to his treasury a tribute akin to himself. Personal benefit, interest is the fundamental spring that everywhere and always sets his whole being in rapid motion, and when it is excited, he is ready to turn everything into a means for his goals: he will seek the highest degrees of dignity and honor, if it is profitable; benefit. He is either selfish, or covetous, or stingy, and only under the strong influence of vanity can he love splendor and pomp. His property is dearer to him than himself, dearer than people and Divine decrees. His soul seems to be absorbed by things and lives not even by itself, but by them. This is the power and area of ​​the second branch of the evil seed - self-love! And who doesn’t have some things that are as painful to part with as to lose your very heart—to part with happiness?” “I want to live for my own pleasure,” says one enslaved to the flesh, “and he lives for his own pleasure. His soul is mired in his body and feelings. He does not think about heaven, about spiritual needs, about the demands of conscience and duty, he does not want to and cannot even think about (Rom. 8:7). He has only known different kinds of pleasures; he only knows how to deal with them, talk about them and reason about them. How many blessings are there on earth, how many needs are there in his body, there are so many areas full of pleasures for a devotee of sensuality, and for each of them a special inclination is formed in him. Hence - delicacy, excess, effeminacy, laziness, debauchery - inclinations, the strength of which is equal to the force of the law of nature, which constrains freedom. Will he become voluptuous; the play of colors teaches him panache, the variety of sounds - verbosity; polyeating; the need for self-preservation - to laziness; other needs - to debauchery. Being in a living connection with nature through the body, spiritually devoted to the body, he drinks from it pleasures through as many channels as there are functions in the body, and along with pleasures, he drinks into himself the fundamental spirit of nature - the spirit of mechanical, involuntary action. Therefore, the more pleasures someone has, the tighter the circle of his freedom; he who is devoted to all pleasures is, one might say, completely bound by the bonds of the flesh.” “This is how evil grows in us from a small, almost imperceptible seed. At the bottom of the heart, as we have noticed, lies the seed of evil - self-love; from him come three branches of evil, full of his power - three of its modifications; self-exaltation, self-interest, sensuality, and these three already give rise to countless passions and vicious inclinations; just as in a tree the main trunks send out many branches and shoots, so a whole tree of evil is formed in us, which, taking root in the heart, then spreads throughout our entire being, goes out and covers everything that surrounds us. One can say that everyone whose heart loves sin to some extent has a similar tree, with the only difference being that one side of it is more fully revealed, and the other has another side of it.” “What is the reason that for the most part we do not notice it in ourselves and often keep it in our thoughts and ears, without shame, we say: what have I done? Or why am I thin? The reason for this is very natural, and it is a new generation of sin living in us. We don’t notice because we can’t. Sin does not allow us to do this: it is very cunning and prudent. The uncovered tree of evil, depicted by us, could appear before the mind's eye from the first time and push everyone away; therefore he hastens to clothe it with leaves, to cover its ugliness, and covers it so that not only the roots and trunks, even the branches cannot be discerned by the soul in which this tree grows. This cover is made up of ignorance, insensibility and carelessness. We don’t know our danger, that’s why we don’t feel it; We don’t feel it, and that’s why we indulge in carelessness. Such is the heart of a person who works against sin, no matter who he is. Opposite to this, the heart of saints is free from passions, or adorned with dispassion” 102. The presence and manifestation of God's grace in his life Rev. Theophan excites a person to enter the path of a virtuous life not only from the negative side, as noted above, but also from the positive side - a reminder of some of the spiritual gifts that belong to him. A Christian, even in his present, damaged and sinful state, should not despair of salvation, for by the very essence of the Christian calling he is inherent in certain spiritual advantages, which, under favorable conditions, can serve as the basis and facilitate his moral revival. First of all, he has such a gift in grace, which lives in him from the moment of spiritual birth in the sacrament of baptism. Many Christians, immersed in a sinful life, do not notice this gift in themselves, and are even amazed when it is pointed out to them. This most often occurs because people do not have a clear understanding of the actions and manifestations of God’s grace. Many people mean by the latter some special, almost miraculous signs. Meanwhile, the manifestation of grace is our more or less strengthened and heightened moral and religious moods. Thus, when a person in his mind especially vividly imagines any theoretical dogma of Christianity - the Providence of God, redemption, etc., he will be deeply immersed in thought and imbued with it to the point of oblivion of everything around him; when some practical truth, for example, the thought of a future afterlife, is so strongly imprinted on the feelings of the heart that the believer actually experiences the manifestation of it - experiences the torment of conscience, the bliss of the righteous; when, finally, someone else has to experience a particularly enthusiastic spiritual and moral mood, and the person, having renounced the surrounding reality, clearly feels his complete internal dissatisfaction and dissatisfaction with the established order of life; when all the ordinary interests of life seem extremely petty and vain to him and he considers himself capable and ready for feats of virtue - love, selfless service to his neighbor - all these are undoubted manifestations of the grace of God. There is no person who has not experienced such states and, therefore, everyone has experienced the effect of grace. The only difference between people in this regard lies in how often such phenomena occur in their lives. In some people they are found in rare, exceptional cases, in others they occur more often, and there are also those in whom they express constant moral sentiments. So the precious gift of St. grace is undoubtedly inherent in every believer, although in the present order it is mostly in a hidden state. Under the best moral conditions, it can clearly reveal itself and become the source and support of a new spiritual life. “In amazement, another will ask: I am a Christian, and I am a believer, is it really possible that the grace of St. is in me? Spirit?! This is true. And let no one sweep aside the grace of God. We are amazed: is there really grace in us? And the Apostle is amazed at our ignorance of this. “Or you don’t know,” he says, “how you are the church of God and the Spirit of God lives in you.” The grace of the Holy Spirit is undoubtedly poured out on us in the Holy Spirit. sacraments and remains in us from the time we are baptized and anointed with myrrh; but it manifests itself differently, judging by our different attitude towards this grace. In others it remains hidden, unmanifested; in others it reveals itself in its characteristic effects on us, but it does not reveal itself continuously, but intermittently; for others, finally, it completely overshadows and relentlessly reveals its action - both for them and for others.” “Whoever has received the sacraments already has grace, although it does not yet manifest its presence through human actions. So a seed thrown into the ground, but not yet vegetated and not sprouted from the ground - although it is there, it is not visible. In another place there is a vein of pure and healing water, but it is hidden underground. People walk around that place and often drink bad water, but clean water is right there, but hidden. In another field some treasure lies underground; the owner works, cultivates the land and sometimes earns little through labor... but the treasure is right there, but not visible. – In the same way, grace is hidden in our hearts, like a treasure, like a spring, like a seed; but in others it is not visible, does not show fruit, does not exude water, does not enrich. It is there, but does not reveal its actions. In the parable of the Savior, who received one talent and hid it in the ground, had the talent, but neither used it himself, nor did anyone else see it. So it is here. The baptized and anointed have already received the grace of rebirth and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Spirit and has it, but by turning his concerns to other objects, he can bury this treasure in the soil of his heart so that neither he nor others can see it. He may languish with spiritual thirst or drink the rotten water of earthly pleasures; and the source of grace that can quench his thirst is right there in him, and is filled up. He may be hungry and spiritually poor; and the all-enriching spiritual treasure and the seed of the fruitful and all-satisfying tree are right there in it, cluttered with the rubbish of earthly affairs and worries. Dig into the ground and perhaps you will discover a treasure, or a spring of clean water. Moisture and warmth will pass to the seed, and it will germinate and bear fruit. So it is here—give room for grace to act, and it will act and show its power in you and on you.” “Feats of self-sacrifice, works of good deeds and piety give room for the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit in us, and it, the hidden one, then comes into reality and shows its effect - both to the one who bears the grace and to others.” “But even having come in person, or having already acted in the heart, grace does not suddenly reveal all its power, or the fullness of its actions, but gradually, in parts, intermittently. Now it acts on one side of our nature, now on the other, now on one force, now on the other - now it will enlighten the thought, now it will delight the heart, now it will strengthen the strength. And there is not a single one who is not given over to some sinful passion, and there is not a single one who does not sometimes feel the action of grace in himself. When you imagine any St. truth, for example: creation, providence, redemption, etc., or what gospel event - crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, etc. - is imagined so strongly that it captivates all the attention of the mind, and it is so clear that he contemplates all the details and is convinced and nourished by it - then this is the fruit of the grace of God. When the heart is struck by the fear of judgment, or is filled with the hope of eternal blessings, or feels sweetness, tenderness, contrition, detachment from everything with such strength that it seems to be transferred to a completely different area - from what surrounds us, then this is an action of grace. When the soul rejoices, is in good spirits, is ready for every good thing, for every labor, for every deprivation and even death, endures everything, does not fear any obstacles in pleasing God - all these and similar states are manifestations of the Spirit of God working in us.” “And it is not without reason that when someone is in any of these states, he calls it a state of grace. It gives man a taste of what nothing earthly can give. Everyone experiences these states, but not everyone has them permanently; but they come and go, are given and taken away, just as in the visible world it is sometimes light, sometimes cloudy, sometimes windy, sometimes warm, sometimes cold. This is how saving grace judged for our good, so as not to bind our freedom, so as to gradually educate us to a life of grace and teach us to appreciate the good that is not given suddenly, but after many experiences of giving with a hand, as if shortened. Grace, says St. Diadochos, - sometimes with some inexplicable sensation he reveals his presence to the heart, and then hides again, waiting for the soul to seek the Lord even more zealously, having tasted the benefits of striving for Him. Of those who have tasted this, who would not wish for these states to become more frequent and, having come, not to go away quickly, but to last longer and allow themselves to be felt longer? - Work and search! But know that whether to aggravate or diminish, prolong or shorten, depends on the Lord, who arranges our salvation so that everything works out for our good. “This is not said so that anyone would give up, but to intensify the work, which, as we know, by the grace of God, overcomes everything. Work and seek" 103 . Teaching about the means and paths to a true Christian life Anyone who decides to set out on a journey must first know the correct direction, the obstacles encountered, and stock up on all the necessary means to successfully complete it. Such necessary conditions on the path of salvation are the following aids: 1) knowledge and content of Orthodox teaching about the main Christian truths to illuminate the direction of the path, 2) acceptance of the grace-filled sacraments of the Church to acquire spiritual forces needed during the movement, 3) participation in all Christian worship and works of good deeds, as the best exercises for strengthening and warming these forces, and 4) finally, the need to entrust oneself to the guidance of spiritual shepherds in order to receive instructions for overcoming obstacles and clarification doubts and bewilderments that you may encounter along the way. For every Christian, especially for one embarking on the path of a good life, it is essential to know the main truths of faith - about God, the world and man; it is especially necessary to understand and establish for a person his true relationship and responsibilities to the Supreme Being and his neighbor. Christianity gives complete, definite and indisputably authoritative answers to this, not allowing any doubts or hesitations. God-revealed truths are accessible to everyone and can be learned everywhere: in the church of God - in everything that is read, sung and acted here; in the word of God or Holy Scripture, in the works of the ancient fathers and teachers of the Church and, finally, in the multitude of religious, edifying books and periodical publications now being published. But not all people are spiritually nourished from this blessed source. Some prefer to engage in some kind of secular science, and the vast majority lives and is content with so-called light reading in the form of a whole mass of stories, novels and periodicals now published. Since there is little truth in this area, and where it does exist, it is usually abundantly decorated and obscured by the products of fantasy, therefore the human soul, which always strives in its essence to possess the truth, necessarily feels dissatisfied and is truly hungry. Our soul cannot live and requires healthy spiritual food, but in return it is given a stone. That’s why our time is rightly called nervous, that’s why there are so many of us who are so disappointed and morally broken, relaxed, that at the first failure in life they are ready to commit suicide and actually commit suicide. For a successful and worthy passage along the path of virtue, a believer needs spiritual strength, and he receives them in the sacraments of the Orthodox Church, which accompany a Christian from cradle to grave, abundantly giving and communicating to him their grace-filled gifts for all the most important moments of life. Especially necessary is the holy sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, where believers receive true spiritual food and drink. From the lives of the holy saints of God, we see that the great Christian ascetics were morally nourished and strengthened by it incessantly, ascending to continuous, daily communion. But the powers of grace given in the sacraments for their development and proper action require appropriate favorable conditions in the life of the believer. Such a true atmosphere for a Christian is, on the one hand, churchliness, and on the other, works of pious deeds. Constant and unrelenting participation in all church services significantly develops and strengthens a person’s spiritual strength and creates around him, as it were, an insurmountable fence to repel all kinds of sinful temptations and attacks, and practical exercises in the works of virtue transform spiritual principles into the flesh and blood of our moral life, consolidating and making them a lasting, inalienable property of our inner world. “Whoever is about to set out on a journey, in order to successfully complete his journey, needs to know this path, know its direction and longitude, as well as everything that can be encountered along its length, and during the procession itself one must see both it and what it is surrounded by. Likewise, a Christian who wants to achieve the eternal life needs to know the path leading to it, and everything in contact with it, everything that is above him, and around him, and in front of him, he needs to illuminate the mental atmosphere with a collection of sound concepts about everything that exists and happens - he needs to know: what God is, what this world is, how it stands and where it is going, what we are, why we are here, and what awaits us beyond the grave, how we should behave in relation to everything around us - to the Supreme Being - God, to our brothers - humans and to the invisible world - angels and saints. He who knows all this walks in the light; but he who does not know this sits in darkness, and if he were to try to walk, he would stumble, because the darkness blinds his eyes. And only Christianity disperses this darkness, giving correct answers to all this in its teaching. It teaches that God is worshiped in Trinity - Father, Son and Holy. The Spirit, having created everything with His one word, contains everything with the verb of His power, and everything leads to His destiny, and moreover, it watches over man and prenaturally restores the fallen in Christ the Savior, admonishing him with revelations and guiding him with the commandments that define all his obligatory relationships and constitute the actual path along which he should follow. The totality of all these concepts is the light that shows us the path and illuminates it. So, learn the Orthodox Christian teaching and hold it with all your heart, and you will see the path to the kingdom, and everything surrounding this path, and everything that can be encountered along the way. “This is the first.” “Where can anyone easily find and learn the truth of God? It is offered abundantly in the Church of God to everyone who wants to listen; is offered in the reading of the word of God, and in sermons, and in church songs, and in the entire structure and rites of the Church, and in the writings of the fathers, and in many, many soul-saving books. Those who wish here abundantly draw the light of God's truth and rejoice under its radiance. But not everyone does this, and not everyone who, in appearance, seems to be a container of God’s truth, actually contains it. There are people who sit day and night studying some science - mathematics, physics, astronomy, history, etc., thinking that they are feeding their soul with truth, but their soul withers and languishes. Why? Because there is no truth in the places where they want to find it. I do not say this because the sciences cannot contain the truth... but because it is often expelled from there and replaced - either by dreams or assumptions that are contrary to the truth. But you cannot deceive a soul, just as you cannot deceive a hungry man by giving him a stone instead of bread. Here she is languishing! But this seems to be another useful activity - scholarship. What can we say about those who greedily read our periodical writing? Look at the effort with which a young, and sometimes an elderly person, strives to quickly receive the usual monthly issue; with what uncontrollability does it rush to devour, as they say, the obtained prey? Here there is no food on the mind, and there is little sleep... And what fruit? Two or three successful phrases, two or three flattering fantasies, two or three deceptive assumptions - and that’s it... everything else is worthless. And the soul is dissatisfied. Another, third book is taken... still the same... My soul hurts! - Mutual conversations are started... everything is the same, because both the subjects of the conversations and the way of interpreting them are taken from the same books... Add to this the pettiness of everyday activities and relationships, and you will understand that if you opened the ear that hears the speech of the soul, you would hear a bitter cry in it: take me out of this prison... I feel sick here. - Let me look at God's light! That's how it is. - But who will listen? You see, it’s not the tone here to feed the soul with the truth of God!.., and it is tormented. And it would be good to go far for this truth... No, she’s right there; but they do not want to open their eyes to receive its light. Enter the church, listen to what is sung, read and acted here, and you will see the light of God’s truth. Open the Gospel or at least hold this Divine book in your hands, and it will be more joyful for your soul. Don’t we now have enough paternal writings in a translation accessible to everyone? And how many other spiritual books and periodical spiritual publications are there?! but we do not know all these treasuries of God’s truth, we have not even heard their names.” “But even if someone knows the way, and this path is illuminated: what is the use of this knowledge if there is no strength to walk along it? Sick, weakened, legless, lying along the path along which it is necessary to go, and it is so necessary that if he does not go, he will die, he will only be more distressed by the fact that he knows and sees this path. We would have been in this situation if the Lord, having enlightened us with the light of knowledge, had not given us the strength to walk according to the instructions of this light: for we cannot walk on our own, we have no strength, we are weakened, broken. But don't be embarrassed! All Divine powers, including life and piety, have already been prepared for us by the Lord, who has called us into His wonderful light (2 Pet. 1:3), and they are given to every believer in the holy sacraments of the Church, given unenviously, in such abundance as anyone wishes and can contain. Baptism regenerates, anointing strengthens, St. Communion most sincerely unites us with the Lord Jesus Christ, St. repentance raises up the fallen, who falls again after baptism, etc. Every sacrament gives a special divine power that a person needs on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven... So, knowing the sacraments contained in the Church, be a communicant of them as often as possible, with faith and according to the entire rite established in the Holy Order. Church of God - and the Divine powers needed to complete the path to the Kingdom of Heaven will never become scarce in you. “This is the second one.” “But along the way, your strength may weaken and deplete, you may encounter temptations and hobbies. From the first the procession must stop; from the second - take the wrong direction; the end of both is destruction. How can this be? We need to renew our strength and weed out temptations and hobbies. What do you need for this? One thing: to unswervingly fulfill all the decrees of the Church and all its rites - sacred, prayerful and sanctifying. And here's why! In St. In the sacraments we accept the grace of the Holy Spirit, like a Divine spark falling into our nature. Just as in order for a spark falling into a substance to turn into a flame, air and the movement of this air are necessary; so a kind of atmosphere and movement of this atmosphere is necessary in order for the spark of Divine grace, received by us in the sacraments, to penetrate our nature and turn into a flame. This atmosphere is what constitutes our churchliness - all the rites of sacred rites, prayers and observances of the Church that surround a person in all positions; and the movement of this atmosphere is the unceasing succession of the Church’s sacred rites one after another and the continuous participation of man in one or the other. Here we mean daily services: Vespers, Matins, liturgy, church holidays, processions of the cross, prayers for various occasions - in homes and churches, travel to holy places, and most of all St. fasts with fasting and communion of the Holy Mysteries. The more diligently one participates in all these rites, the stronger and stronger the spark of grace will flare up in him until it turns into a flame that consumes his entire composition - mental and physical. Whoever acts this way will never run out of strength, he will never lose courage on the path and will not fall into carelessness. This same method is given to us in order to weed away from ourselves the lures and entertainments of the world. He who lives according to the rules of the Church, as if hidden behind a fence, is not afraid of its temptations. Churchliness is, as it were, a funeral service and a chastisement from the darkness produced by the breath of the worldly spirit. If this infection touches anyone, run to church, and everything will go away, or be unswervingly faithful to the instructions of the Church, and the world will not find a chance to infect you; for everything that is in the world is also in our church, only in its purest, most Divine form... There are festivities there - we have St. holidays: there are balls, we have church services; there are theaters, we have Divine ceremonies. Compare every one which is better, and do not be carried away by the empty bait and do not abandon it for the sake of what is essential, fruitful and nutritious. So, live according to the church, and you will live as if in a spiritual atmosphere and fence - and your strength will never weaken in you to continue your journey, and no bait will draw you to the crossroads. “This is the third.” True heartfelt churchliness cannot remain just the internal mood of the ascetic, but will inevitably affect itself outwardly and will undoubtedly be revealed in the works and deeds of good deeds or fulfillment of God’s commandments. “Just as a plant needs moisture - juices that it drinks with its roots, and, passing into the trunk, forms itself as a reworked sediment of them, so a kind of reworking and sedimentation of spiritual juices is necessary for the soul. This is accomplished by everyday good deeds, or the fulfillment of commandments, which are the cases in the ordinary course of our life. Just as the juices in a plant or food in our body, remaining unprocessed, only burden and burden without bringing benefit: so all the spiritual elements that the soul receives - the truth of God, the sacraments and sacred rites, etc., will only burden it - here and forever - with the judgment of conscience and God, if it does not transform all this into its spiritual blood through good deeds. This is why the souls of people are sick, sorrowful and sad, immersed in only everyday worries, or only official matters, and even worse in passionate matters; but they don’t even think about doing any good. They do not let a single particle of nutrition into the soul, and it dries and dries. I don’t say this because the affairs of the service and the affairs of everyday life - family worries, bargaining, various turnovers and various enterprises - were detrimental to the soul... No. They are not harmful in themselves, but what is harmful is if they are only engaged in them, without caring about virtue, and if, when doing them, they do it not for the glory of God, but for some selfish purposes. Just as the juices in our body turn into living blood by combining them with the oxygen of the air, so all matters, both official and everyday, can turn into an element nourishing for the soul if we dedicate them all to God! And when this is not there, and there are no good deeds, then what should the soul feed on? So she languishes then, and complains to a person, and clearly says to him: transplant me from this dry or rotten soil - to the field of God, the field of good deeds required by the commandments of Christ.” “I’ll tell you the fourth thing briefly. There may be obstacles along the way that you can’t figure out how to overcome: nets may be placed that we won’t be able to avoid; There may be a combination of paths in which you cannot figure out where to go; a cloud may come that will completely hide the path and frighten you with thunder and lightning: who then should you turn to? What should I do? Who will help in all such cases? Angels from heaven? But they appear only in emergency circumstances, leaving the usual course of affairs to our existing order. So who will help? Shepherds are spiritual fathers, who were given to the Church, according to the Apostle, in order to prevent Christians from being perplexed, and to lead everyone steadily along the path to the eternal life, teaching everyone to come to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:11-15). So, be submissive to the leadership of the spiritual fathers, and you will avoid crossroads and stumbling blocks on the way to the Kingdom of Heaven, and you will soon and safely flow to the gates of heaven” 104. The steps to climb it One who has entered the path of a godly life does not immediately make significant progress, but moves very slowly and gradually ascends to perfection. At the first stage, he turns from sin to virtue and focuses all his attention on performing external good deeds. In the second period, he moves from external phenomena to his inner world and is primarily occupied with cleansing the heart through the fight against passions and lusts. At the third stage, he turns from himself to God and stands in his heart before His face. Only the perfect have the highest virtue, and the first two degrees are available to everyone. Although the latter serve only as preparatory paths to a higher level, they are also necessary and have great moral value. Whoever strives at whatever level will not lose his reward, just let him not stand in one place, for this is dangerous, but strive forward to the best of his ability, according to the commandment of the Apostle, “forgetting what is behind and reaching out to what is before.” “There are degrees of mental ascent to God. There are many of them. I'll tell you the most important ones: The first step is the conversion from sin to virtue. A sinner does not remember God and does not care about the salvation of his soul, but lives as he lives, satisfying his passions and inclinations without any restrictions, as long as this does not upset his mutual relations with others. It is obvious where such a path will lead a person! But the sinner, in carelessness and negligence, does not see this. The Lord is watching over him. And it happens that either a guardian angel in the heart, or the word of God - through hearing - opens to his eyes the abyss into which he goes, with his eyes closed. When a sinner perceives the danger of his situation and desires to get rid of the destruction that is ready for him, then he puts in his heart the firm intention to lag behind his previous bad deeds and customs and begin life according to the commandments of God. This change in life for the better, or, as I said, turning from sin to virtue, is the first step in ascent to God. You see the one who has entered this stage, occupied with the exertion of his strength in this one act of goodness. He is not present either at festivities, or at the theater, or at balls - nowhere where passions are amused, and through these they serve Satan. He is always at work - either in office, or in family work, or in deeds of piety and charity. He goes to churches for God’s services as soon as possible and observes all the rules of the Church, helps those in need in every possible way, conducts his work conscientiously, endures when it is necessary to endure - both for himself and for others, maintains peace and makes peace, is distinguished by constancy and sedateness, does not chat in vain, does not swear, sleeps little, eats little, etc. This is the first step! “The second stage is the conversion from external good deeds to the arousal and observation of good feelings and dispositions. External affairs are valued most of all by the feelings and dispositions with which they are performed. These feelings are not always in good order, although they seem to be in good order, and therefore destroy most of our good deeds. For example, in church there is a work pleasing to God... but vanity can be grafted into this work and make it unpleasing. You can stand in church with pleasure, but in order to stare at this or that, or scratch your ears, as the apostle condemns. And this destroys the goodness of being in church. The same can happen with any good deed. We can give alms and fast, so that we will be visible; you can work a lot for others - out of people-pleasing; you can retire and endure - out of contempt; You can be intensely active - out of envy - stay in the service and serve regularly out of self-interest and unjust gains, so that if you trace the entire sum of our good deeds, and strictly discuss the feelings with which they were performed, it may turn out that they are all nothing, destroyed by the unkindness of the feelings hidden under them. - But this is a pity! So we need to strictly watch that no bad feelings or dispositions defile our good deeds. At first, when a person just turns from sin to doing good, he, one might say, still has no time to take care of his inner self... All his concern is directed toward getting out of the habit of bad deeds and getting used to good ones. For example, he did not go to church, but spent this time in some kind of pleasure; we need to get out of the habit of this bad custom and get used to the church. He didn’t give alms and spent the money on other things, squandered it, played truant: you need to get out of the habit of partying and get used to alms - alms; I did not observe fasts, but ate a lot, sweetly and sparingly; Here, too, we need to get out of the habit of one thing and get used to the other. So it is in everything! So I say, at first, when someone who has turned from sin is just weaning himself from sinful deeds and customs and getting used to doing good, he has no time to monitor his feelings, although this is not impossible or unusual. Here his struggle with himself gives a high price to all his work, even if an unkind feeling ever sneaks through. But then, when he becomes accustomed to doing good and is established in the order of a virtuous and pious life, he must certainly go inside his heart and strictly watch his feelings. Previously, the enemy tried to distract him from good deeds, when sinful habits were still strong. Now, when he has become unaccustomed to these latter things and has established himself in goodness, the enemy will begin to destroy the goodness of deeds with wrong feelings. So you need to turn inside and look at your feelings. This is the time when a good worker, having come to the realization of the misfortune, danger or uselessness of work, if good deeds do not result in good feelings, sets a firm intention to go inside himself, strictly look after his heart and not allow in any case unkind feelings and dispositions, or this turn and turn from external good deeds to the fertilization of internal feelings and dispositions is the second step in the ascent to God. This is called inward abiding, mindful attention, sobriety, discernment of thoughts, or purification of the heart. This whole thing is to drive away bad feelings and attract, excite and strengthen good ones... From the very morning, says St. Diadochos, stand at the entrance of the heart and cut off the heads of evil thoughts emanating from there. For no matter what work we have to do, an evil thought immediately creeps out of our hearts to defile it. Our duty is to drive away a bad thought, and to reproduce a good one in its place and with this good thought to complete the deed. For example, you are going to church; and thoughts will come: dress up better so that they will look at you, or go, go, there you will see this or that... or else: - go; If you go, they will say that you are pious and under. All this must be driven away, and in its place, reproduce in the heart the feeling of obligation to be in church for the glory of God, and with this feeling go to church. As in this, the same must be done in other matters. The more vigilantly one watches the heart and the more ruthlessly one cuts off unkind thoughts and feelings arising from it, the sooner these passionate thoughts will weaken, subdue and destroy. They will appear less and less, and finally, they will calm down completely and stop disturbing, and good and holy feelings will take root in their place. Then peace and undisturbed calm will settle in the heart. It's like holding a glass of cloudy water so that it doesn't shake. The impurity will continue to settle down; the more it subsides, the purer the water becomes, and finally, it becomes completely clear. The sky, sun, moon and stars will be visible in it! This is the second stage - purification and purity of the heart through the struggle with thoughts and passions! “The third step is turning from oneself to God, which consists of standing with the mind in the heart before the face of God, which, in fact, is entering into the inner - behind the veil - in a new and living way. The first two steps are only preparation for this, but such that it cannot exist without them. How, on the contrary, those two without this latter do not lead to the goal. The beginning of this is to establish yourself in the thought of the presence of God. Wherever you are, whatever you do, realize that the all-seeing eye of God is established over your heart and everything penetrates it. Just as the sun shines in the sky and illuminates the entire universe, and all creatures move and act under its illumination: so let us do all our spiritual affairs, having the intelligent Sun, the all-seeing God, established on our mental firmament. This mood naturally comes within us after the pacification of thoughts at the second degree - and the cleansing of the heart from passions. For this is what the Lord says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. But the being of this degree, as if standing coldly before God, is not in sight alone. This is just the threshold. The point is to strive with your heart towards God, forgetting everything - both in yourself and around yourself, to disappear in God, or to admire Him. The Holy Fathers call it ecstasy, that is, a departure from the ordinary order of life and immersion in God, in Greek ekstasis. To make this clearer for you, I’ll tell you one or two examples: they said about one old man that he remembered himself only before the first glory, that is, for three psalms, and then he plunged into contemplation of God and so intelligently, without words, prayed to the Lord, standing motionless. They said about another old man that in the evening he stood in prayer, turning his face to the east, raised his hands, was caught up in God, and so remained invariably until the sun, having risen, brought him down from the most blissful heights with the blows of its rays. This is admiration, or the very entry into the innermost - before the face of God. This is his highest state. But the usual manifestation of this degree - in the beginnings - is the burning of the heart, or the excitement of feelings during reading, prayer, good deeds, at home and in church, at work and on the way. The fruit of this is prayer. The feeling in the heart subsides, the person enters with consciousness inside; and wants to have nothing in thought except God. If in this state he prays, then he does not know satiety, bowing and sighing to God. The burning of his heart pleases him, and he would always like to be in this state, as Macarius of Egypt assures, if it were possible. So, whoever began to come to such states entered the third stage, that is, he began to ascend from himself to God! This is the limit of ascents, but one that has no end, for God is infinite” 105! Now the believer experiences such a moral state when the kingdom of God is revealed in his inner life, when the moment of fulfillment of the word of the Gospel comes - the kingdom of God is within you. Saint Theophan, who undoubtedly personally experienced such an unearthly state, clearly depicts its entire course with the following features. “The distinctive feature of the state when the kingdom of God is revealed inward is inward abiding. Consciousness is all concentrated in the heart and stands before the face of the Lord, pouring out its feelings before Him, most of all painfully falling to Him in humble feelings of repentance, with an inherent readiness to devote one’s entire belly to serving Him alone. This system is established every day, from the moment of awakening from sleep, lasts all day, with all work and activities, and does not go away until sleep closes the eyes. Along with the formation of such a system, all the moods that existed within up to this moment cease, during the period of searching, into this transitional state of languor. The uncontrollable fermentation of thoughts stops; the atmosphere of the soul becomes pure and cloudless: there is only one thought and memory of the Lord. Hence the lightness in everything internal. Everything is so clear; every movement is noticed and worthily assessed, with the intelligent light emanating from the face of the Lord being contemplated. As a result of this, every unkind thought and unkind feeling that attacks the heart meets resistance at the very beginning and is driven away. Here what Philotheus of Sinai advises is fulfilled: “in the morning, stand at the entrance of the heart and in the name of Jesus defeat the approaching enemies.” This driving away of evil can be instantaneous, but it can last hours, days, months and years; Meanwhile, the essence of the matter is always the same, namely, that nothing unkind is allowed into the heart, but meets with a decisive rebuff from the moment of awareness of its unkindness, and its persecution does not stop until the heart is completely abolished from it. Following this, whatever is thought, whatever is felt, whatever is desired, whatever is said or done, is thought, felt, desired, said and done, with the exact consciousness that all this does not offend the relentlessly contemplated Lord, it is pleasing to Him and in accordance with His will. If, against the will, something contrary slips in, one immediately humbly confesses to the Lord and is cleansed by internal repentance or external confession, so that the conscience is always kept clear before the Lord. The reward for all such internal work is boldness to God in prayer, which incessantly warms in the heart. The warmth of unceasing prayer is the spirit of this life, so that with the cessation of this warmth, the movement of spiritual life also ceases, just as with the cessation of breathing, bodily life ceases” 106 . Private instruction on how a Christian should arrange his day His Grace Theophan sought to give not only general guidance and establish the basic structure of the spiritual life of those entrusted and entrusted to his leadership, but in relation to the actual needs of the latter, he often satisfied private needs, entered into personal interests, one might say, improved their every day and every step. Here he had to apply in practice the principles he had developed and stated above. Thus, to one correspondent who was looking for advice and guidance regarding the order of her daily life, the saint writes: “Your time is only when you are in your room. Try to distribute it so that it all belongs to the Lord - especially the morning hours... from waking up to 12 o'clock. Place your morning prayer here. As soon as you wake up, get up. Don't spare your body. If it wants to please, get angry and drive yourself out of bed. It would be good if you could go to prayer now, so that everyone would think that you are still sleeping. You already know that bows are touching. Yes, bowing is a very important thing. We need to start with them - three, five, ten... until the heart warms up; for when you wake up it is always sluggish and cold. Then read the morning prayers slowly, with attention, with the Lord before you, accompany the reading with bows from the waist or to the ground, depending on the movement of the heart; but the more often, the better... Conclude the reading again with bows, praying to the Lord for what you feel you need, until your heart is satisfied. Determine the number of bows, if necessary, for yourself, otherwise, as much as your heart desires... at least a hundred. After completing the prayer, it is good to spend some time in contemplation of God, or in the creation of the Jesus Prayer. Sit down, or standing and walking say: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me... say this prayer more times... at least a hundred. Then, throughout the day, as often as possible, say this prayer. And it’s good to approach the icon more often during the day and bow down fervently, five, ten, or more, with the prayer: Lord have mercy, God be merciful... that’s all. And before going to bed, the same order, i.e., several bows at the beginning, prayers for those coming to bed, several bows again, and at least a hundred Jesus prayers. How good it is to go to church to cultivate the spirit of prayer! Arrange yourself to go to church more often for mass, or vespers, or as much as you can. If you could go to church every day and during all services, then the source of heartfelt prayer would sooner open... Attend at least if possible. To this prayerful work one must add the reading of the Word of God and St. fathers. It is good to read the daily Gospel and the daily Apostle every day. And do this in the morning, after the Jesus Prayer. But read with reflection, delving into the power of words and, as much as possible, bringing them to the heart. It’s good when some place takes your whole soul. You can walk with it all day, keeping it in your memory. From St. fathers: St. Isaac the Syrian, Ephraim, Macarius of Egypt, Memorable Legends, Ladder, Barsanuphius and John and friend. Read some of them every day. You don’t need to read a lot... After reading something, chew it until it reaches your heart. And that's enough. This is a sign of useful reading! When a place is so occupied that all thoughts and attention are concentrated in it, this is good. Any other reading is idle.” “In the evening, or after dinner, it is good to read the lives of the saints of the day. To do this, have the Chet-Minea on hand. Do you have any handicrafts? If not, invent one. It's bad without handicrafts. Reading and praying (I mean prayer also expressed externally) cannot be done incessantly. And if you sit idly, your thoughts will begin to wander; So you need to invent handicrafts to help yourself. Sell ​​your handicrafts and give them away in alms, asking the Lord for help in the science of praying to Him. You yourself know best how to distribute prayer, reading, and handicrafts. Just distribute it in such a way that there is not a minute of idle time” 107. Teaching on how to make a person worthy of a peaceful, Christian death Having given the guiding rules of moral life, Rev. Theophan considered it necessary to explain to his flock the question of how a person could be granted a peaceful Christian death. According to the teachings of the saint, the obstacles to establishing the correct concept of death and the transition to the afterlife are the following reasons: excessive predilection for earthly things, an insufficiently clear idea of ​​the power and importance of the benefits of the future life, and, finally, fear of future judgment. Anyone who wants to die in a Christian manner and enter the new world with dignity must remove all these obstacles during his earthly life. Being himself a great ascetic, Rev. Theophanes, at the same time, was far from inclined to force other people’s beliefs and does not at all demand from every Christian a complete renunciation of the world and its inevitable accessories. On the contrary, he directly says that we cannot do without many material things; only insists that we have the correct concept and establish the proper attitude towards them, as having no moral value in themselves, but serving only as a means for maintaining the life of our spirit and a necessary environment for its activity. You should so position your heart towards material objects that you can part with them at any time as easily as, for example, throwing off unnecessary clothes. Of course, this cannot be done right away; but it is possible to achieve a similar state through careful, unremitting observation of one’s inner world, through a slow and persistent struggle with oneself and through practicing good deeds, gradually cutting off one addiction after another, starting with the smaller and weaker ones. Simultaneously with the desire to renounce excessive attachment to everything material, we must arouse and cultivate in ourselves a taste and love for the spiritual benefits of the afterlife, kindle the desire for it in the image and example of the Apostle, whose desire was resolved to be with Christ. One of the best means to this is to think about the poverty and insignificance of earthly goods, about the height and greatness of heavenly goods, and the most accurate way to do this is to feel the bitterness of everything earthly and taste the sweetness of heaven, which is given only through prolonged and intense feats of faith and piety... Every person at the end of his life is embarrassed by the fear of appearing before a terrible judge. Since the basis of this fear is our sins, the most natural and reliable way to get rid of it, of course, would be to not do them. But a person is not only born and lives, but is also conceived in sins, and therefore he must concentrate all his moral activity on the adoption and use of spiritual measures and methods to weaken and destroy them, which measures there is no need to invent and search for, for they are abundantly offered by the Church long ago ready - and the best of them are repentance for the past and a firm intention not to sin in the future. One who has repented and decided to leave his former sinful life can boldly appear in court, even if he has not yet managed to accomplish important feats of virtue, since he has for himself a great intercessor before the Father-Judge - His Only Begotten Son, who shed His most pure and priceless blood for the provision of means and opportunities for the salvation of fallen humanity. If a criminal on earth is confident that the heir to the throne will intercede for him, then without fear he will go to the king, no matter what crime he commits. The same thing happens in heaven. “Death is not destruction, but a transition from this earthly home to another. But when - let's take an example from ordinary life - when do they move from one place to another not only with a calm and peaceful soul, but also joyfully? Then, when they are not attached to anything in the place from which they leave, they not only do not fear the place they are moving to, but also desire in every possible way, for the sake of the consolations and pleasantries they expect in it. Let us take a similar position regarding death - and we will meet it not only without sorrow and fear, but also with joyful desire... Namely - 1) Let us extinguish in ourselves all attachment to the body and everything corporeal, to the earth and everything earthly. For when nothing binds on earth, where will there be sorrow when leaving it? How freely and easily one thing is separated from another when they are not connected or glued, but only attached to each other: so easy will the separation of the soul from the body be when there is no attachment to the body and when it, while in the body, does not live in the body. A wanderer going to his destination calmly and willingly leaves the places where he stops. Why? Because he doesn’t have time to become attached to them, because they are strangers to him. So when our heart considers everything earthly alien to itself, it will not be difficult for us to move on to another life.” “Of course, we cannot be without some things, or even many things. But we can so position our hearts towards them that it will be as easy to part with them as to take off the clothes we don’t need. We'll take care of this. Is this a bit difficult? Yes... but you can do this not suddenly, but little by little. How does the enemy entangle the soul with earthly addictions? - By imposing them one after another, just as a spider entangles insects caught in its net, throwing cobweb after cobweb on them. On the contrary, whoever wants to get out of these networks should manage to do the opposite - cut off one addiction after another, starting with the smaller ones and reaching the larger ones. Just as someone stuck in the mud pulls out member by member until he is completely free: so let us cut off addiction after addiction until we become completely free. If we use such labor, then by the hour of death we can be completely renounced from everything and are ready to leave the earth and everything earthly without sorrow, waiting only for the beck of God.” 2) “But it is not only earthly addictions that can disturb the peace of the soul at the hour of death. No less troubling is the fear of how to appear in the other world, where one must stand before the face of God - the righteous Judge, whose eyes are brighter than the sun - they penetrate everything and see everything, but we have many sins. Just like someone who knows what lies ahead, it’s scary to go to the boss, and even more so to the king: it’s so scary for sinners to appear before God - so scary that, according to the word of God, they are forced to shout: mountains, fall on us! The reason for this is sins that offend God. Therefore, if anyone wants to face death without fear and peacefully pass on to the next world, let him take care to be sinless, or if he has already sinned, let him do so that these sins do not serve as condemnation for him. How to do this? With sincere repentance and determination to no longer violate the commandments of the Lord. If you have sinned, do not sin again, but repent of your previous sins. Repentance and contrition for sins with confession and a promise not to sin again erase sins from everywhere where they are imprinted - from our being, from everything around us - and even from the memory of God and make the repentant sinner innocent before the face of the righteous God, clothing him with the garment of justification, borrowed from the robe of the Lord, who suffered for us... The priestly permission tears up the handwriting of sins, and the torn handwriting loses all its power, according to the will of the Judge himself, who said: the trees that are allowed on earth will be allowed in heaven (Matthew 18:18). Confidence in this fills the sinner’s heart with trust, and although he knows that he has sinned, he goes before the Judge without trepidation, knowing that his arrival there was already preceded by justification, or that there is an Intercessor with the Judge, ready to intercede for him... For if anyone sins, the Imams will intercede with the Father of Jesus Christ the Righteous (1 John 2:1). If any criminal were sure that the heir to the throne, whose voice is strong with the king, would intercede for him, then he would go to the king without fear, no matter what crime he committed. So, without fear and embarrassment, a sinner who has repented can appear before the Judge of God: for there the only begotten Son of God will intercede for him, taking our sins upon Himself and carrying them on the tree, and saying: Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened with sins, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). So, whoever wants to die in peace, repent and sin no more.” 3) “If we add to these two dispositions, i.e., renunciation from everything earthly and repentance, the desire for future blessings, then we will face death not only without sorrow and fear, but also with pleasure. Others willingly leave a house when it is damp, or the stoves are smoking, or the roof is bad... Others, although they do not encounter any troubles in the house, willingly move to another house for the sake of what they expect to find in it more conveniences and benefits of everyday life. So, when we comprehend with our minds and feel in our hearts, on the one hand, the scarcity and insignificance of the blessings here, on the other, the height and immensity of the blessings awaiting us in another world, then not only with pleasure, but with strong aspiration we will desire the transition from this world to another, like Ap. Paul, who said about himself that he strongly wanted to be allowed to be with Christ, and to the Most Pure Lady, who every morning went to the Mount of Olives (where Her body was then laid for a short time), and prayed to His Divine Son to quickly take Her from here and give the opportunity to see the beauty of His face... in the villages of heaven. The soul, having comprehended what life here and life in another world means, will sigh for this latter, as a captive sighs for his fatherland, a wanderer for his native home, and someone sitting in prison for freedom... and with no small desire to call upon death for itself as a deliverer, benefactor and comforter. Ask, how to raise the soul to such a mood? – You can think about the insignificance of earthly blessings and the greatness of heavenly blessings, or, most likely, by feeling the bitterness of everything earthly and tasting the sweetness of heaven. For then it will happen that having tasted the sweet, they will not want the bitter - they will turn away from the latter and desire the former. Or even better: then the soul will flee from this life to another, just as one runs from a stuffy room into the fresh air.” “That’s all we need to die peacefully. – Do not have an attachment to the local things, having cleared your conscience – live virtuously – cultivate in yourself a strong desire for eternal blessings. The first and last will come by themselves when the main thing is there, that is, a clear conscience and good deeds” 108. "Collected Letters", vol. 1, p. 222. "What is spiritual life." Page 149. "What is spiritual life." Page 16. "Interpretation of 1 Epistle to Thessalonians." Page 383–384. "The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching." Page 259–271. "Collection of Letters". Vol. II, pp. 107–110. “What is spiritual life”? Page 76–82. Ep. Feofan. Letters on the Christian Life, Book 2, p. 165. Ep. Feofan. “Words to the Tambov flock.” Book 1, page 201. Letters on the Christian Life, vol. 1, pp. 137–146. "Words to the Vladimir flock." Page 323–327. “Words to the Tambov flock.” Book 1, pp. 63–65. “Words to the Tambov flock,” book 1, pp. 289–294. Rev. Feofan. "Letters on Spiritual Life." Page 80–83. Rev. Feofan, Letters on Christian Life. Vol. 1 and 2, pp. 34–36. “Words to the Tambov flock.” Book 1, page 28.