Литературные дела о. Иоанна Кронштадтского

NOW we will introduce readers to the literary activities of the Kronstadt shepherd, using in this case the excellent work of Zybin. “We will continue in prayer and the ministry of the word,” the venerable shepherd quotes from the Acts of the Apostles. And with these few words, which are the epigraph in each book of his teachings, he best acquaints each reader with the scope and nature of his activities in this regard. We, for our part, believe that the best characteristic of each person in general can be the beliefs expressed by him. And therefore, in order to illuminate the personality of Father John from this side in the eyes of readers, we will present some excerpts from his conversations and teachings. “I am aware of the height of the rank and the responsibilities associated with it,” he addresses the parishioners on the first day of his service of the liturgy in St. Andrew’s Kronstadt Cathedral; I feel my weakness and unworthiness, but I trust in the grace and mercy of God, which heals the weak and replenishes the poor. I know what can make me more or less worthy of this rank and capable of passing this title. This is love for Christ and for you, my beloved brothers. Love is a great power, he continues, it makes the weak strong and the small great. May the Lord, who loves everyone, give me a spark of this love and ignite it in me with His Holy Spirit. I ask for your prayers for this.” From the first days of his priesthood, on every Sunday and holiday, first of all, he begins to expound and explain to his flock the main dogmatic teaching of the Orthodox Church “About the Most Holy Trinity”, “About God as the Creator of the world”, etc. “With God’s help,” he says at the beginning of his first conversation, we will expound to you, brethren, the most important teaching in our faith - the dogma of the Holy Trinity. Although there are among us who know this teaching well, who do not demand, but who teaches them; but there are very few of them; incomparably more than those who know what is wrong, and the minister of the holy altar must teach everyone the teaching of the faith clear and distinct. And for those who know it well, it is not superfluous to repeat in memory the teachings of faith familiar to them, just as it is not superfluous to constantly see light with their eyes or inhale and exhale air.” “The doctrine of the Holy Trinity,” he repeats, is so important that in the Christian faith there is no more important and lofty teaching than this.” Then, expounding his faith about the mystery of the Trinity of Persons, Father John says: “Where are there no mysteries? A person is a mystery to himself - both in his soul and in his body. There are countless secrets in the nature that surrounds us: man knows so little in comparison with what he does not yet know - despite the successes of modern natural sciences - that each of us must humbly confess, together with one of the ancient sages, that we only know that we know nothing. Not to know, as one should, the Divine Trinity on the part of a Christian would be insane insolence and ingratitude. So, brethren, he ends his introductory conversation about the greatest dogma of the Christian faith, let us remember that our destiny depends on the correct knowledge of the Tri-radiant Deity. Behold, this is the eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him you have sent. Christ (John 17:3).” Starting a conversation about the appearance of God in the flesh, he enthusiastically exclaims: “Oh, miracle of miracles! God, who contains the entire universe by His word, became man in order to lift man to the first bliss. Horrified at this, heaven and earth were amazed at the ends, the Church of Christ sings, as if God appeared as a man in the flesh.” In his other conversations, Fr. John touches on the main foundations of Christian morality, namely, the doctrine of the beatitudes of the Gospel. Both in previous and in subsequent teachings, the independent development of his thought is noticeable everywhere, which always has a particularly strong effect on those around him because everything he said was felt in the depths of his heart and was strictly applied and is still applied by him in everyday life. So, in the introductory conversation about the foundations of Christian morality, about the beatitudes of the Gospel, he addresses the listeners with the following words: “Who are you, standing here in the holy church and humbly listening to the weak word of an ignorant preacher? Are they not the buoys of the world, are they not, for the most part, weak and weak-born listeners? Blessed are you, poor in spirit, for yours is the kingdom of heaven: for realizing your spiritual ignorance, your sinfulness, you came here! But where are the nobles, the learned and the rich?” he continues. “There are very few of them. Why? Because many of them tell themselves: we are rich, we have become rich and we don’t demand anything. We are scientists, from whom and what else should we learn? We are sinners, they say, it’s true, but who doesn’t sin? This is how man was already created, they say, what is his fault? Although he was not created this way at all, he became this way without permission and happens to be so. This is how they think, how they judge, how the proud of this world speak! So, blessed are the poor in spirit, that is, those who consider themselves to be nothing, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Remembering how the Savior pleases those who mourn, he says: “Is it time to laugh and have fun when temptations, vices, and falls are everywhere; When some of our brothers are languishing from illness, hunger, all kinds of shortcomings and oppression, while others are insanely voluptuous, covetous, drowning in luxury and other vices, is it not time for us to cry? So, weep because, although you repent and pray, you do not bring to God fruits worthy of repentance, the fruits of faith and love, the fruit of meekness and gentleness, the fruit of abstinence, purity and chastity, the fruit of alms, etc.” Being himself naturally humble and meek, Father John persistently instills these virtues in his flock: “You must be able to control your heart at the moment of insult, suppress anger and discontent in yourself at the very beginning. Someone reproached you, and you bless. Bill, be patient. He despises you and regards you as nothing, but bring yourself to the thought that you were made of earth and will be resolved into earth again. Whoever protects himself with such reasoning will find that any dishonor is less than reality.” Putting mercy at the basis of his moral life, he examines with special care this commandment of the beatitudes of the Gospel (the beatitudes of mercy, that they will receive mercy). “Talents,” he says, given to each of us by God for the common good, and not to please only our own pride, do not they prompt us to serve our fellow men in their need? A beggar has been left for you, although you pass by him too arrogantly. Learn from other people's troubles. Give even the smallest thing to the poor, and it will not be a small thing for the one who needs it, and for God Himself, if the alms are within your power.” Many modern people have developed unique, highly inhumane concepts of almsgiving. Quite often one hears rumors that alms breed parasites, vicious, harmful people, that one should do charity with discernment, so as not to fall into deception and, instead of doing good, do evil. But the venerable merciful shepherd breaks such a view by repeating the short but significant saying of the Chief Shepherd and Perfecter of love, the Lord Jesus Christ: give to everyone who asks. “This means,” he explains in his conversation, one must help and do good to everyone, without making distinctions about persons, status, origin, or religion. Everyone who is truly in need should be shown mercy. But at the same time, he notes, one should help not out of vanity and pride, not out of a desire for gratitude and reward, but disinterestedly, out of pleasing God and out of love for one’s neighbor. Almsgiving is infected with the disease of vanity, he repeats the words of St. John Chrysostom, is no longer a matter of mercy. So, if anyone does not give with a disposition of zeal, it is better not to give.” In one of his other teachings, he says this: “In our age, they despise the poor, call them vagabonds, parasites, and would rather spend money on various whims, on useless luxury, than to give, even if only a little, to the poor. Where is the brotherly love between Christians, which is merciful, is not arrogant, is not proud, does not think evil and is not irritated? (1 Cor. 13:4,5). Where is this love, which cares for its neighbor as for itself, desiring happiness and contentment for its neighbors, as well as for itself? Where is the faith in the words of Christ: since you alone have created these least of my brothers, have you created for me? (Matthew 25:40) Or the words of another Scripture: He has mercy on the poor, he gives in return to God, and according to his giving he will be rewarded? (Proverbs 19:17).” In our age of profit, there are, unfortunately, all too frequent examples of how some people, who have acquired a fortune dishonestly, indulge in widespread charity, that is, they donate huge sums to charitable institutions, they themselves undertake the establishment of such institutions, give to the poor, etc. But here is how Father John looks at the charity of these people: “You must do good from your property, acquired by honest labor, and not by theft, deceit and untruth, and in order to give sufficient alms, it is necessary to limit your expenses, for example, not to buy unnecessary expensive luxury items, which you can easily do without, for this is the theft of the property of the poor, since our surpluses belong to them.” “Practicing doctors who receive a lot of money from their patients should give generous alms for their souls if they believe that they have an immortal soul; rich priests, receiving generous rewards for their prayerful labors, should also give rich alms, so that they will not be condemned with Judas the traitor, who sold the Lord of glory for pieces of silver; merchants who receive large profits must certainly practice almsgiving and decorating and supplying the churches of God; officials who receive large salaries should also not consider generous remuneration for their feasible labors their exclusive asset, and also remember their poor brethren, may they receive a reward from the Lord and may they purify their souls. Everyone must stock up on the oil of alms and good deeds, lest they appear naked before the Judge on the day of the terrible trial, lest they appear naked at that worldwide disgrace.” “The Lord our God, for persistently asking Him for His mercies, approves of us, seeing in our persistence our faith and hope in Him; and we are sinners, embittered at those poor who daily and persistently ask us for alms - even at children, whose trust in people is especially great, faith in the kindness of others has no limits, because they themselves are still simple and kind, not malicious. Being money-loving, voluptuous, proud, we often look at them with contempt, we raise a cry at them - gentle sheep - and lose our temper, not wanting to understand that they are forced to persistently ask us for alms by hunger, lack of clothes, shoes, the urgent demand of the landlady or the owner of money for the corner they borrow from them. Are they not the ones who cry out to the Lord in the prophet David: we are gradually filled with humiliation; Most of all, our souls will be filled with the reproach of the goblins and the humiliation of the proud! ( Ps. 122:3, 4 ). And, of course, sooner or later their plaintive cry will reach the sky." These are the general purely Christian views of the venerable shepherd on works of mercy; views and beliefs every minute, hourly applied by himself in the environment. Further, in his teachings on the Beatitudes, he looks at purity of heart, proving that only the pure in heart can be satisfied with what is given to them. “A pure heart,” says Father John, is an abundant source of peace and everlasting joy: when looking at all that is good, at every creation of God, a pure heart rejoices and rejoices internally, because in all creatures he sees the imprint of the goodness, wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator; he is blessed in himself, for the purity of his heart and, in general, the felt real mercy of God rejoices him, and he is even more comforted by the future promised blessings, which the eye cannot see and the ear cannot hear. Blessed are the peacemakers, said Christ. And the good shepherd, in the best possible way, encourages his neighbors to fulfill this commandment. He himself did a lot of good; He himself experienced a lot in his difficult pastoral work, pacifying all kinds of discord and misunderstandings, and he teaches others to do this good: “What we are not able to do, God is able to do, Who can make even a brutal heart a lamb. He who has learned the full importance of peace in a person’s life - church, civil, family, natural and grace-filled, and the extreme harm of disagreement and discord, from which everything comes into disarray, will try by all means to act in harmony with everyone, and will contribute to the preservation of peace and harmony between people: for the Lord has called us into peace (1 Cor. 7:15).” We are going through a difficult time of unbelief and materialism. In all levels of society there are a lot of people infected with the modern, so-called liberal view of religion and spiritual virtues. In rare cases you will not come across opponents of all that is holy and persecutors of the truth. Seeing all the harm of such a moral social decline, Father John asks: “Are there even now reproaches and persecutions for the truth, for the faith of Christ? There are and will be until the end of the world, he answers, because the kingdom of God has not yet come with all its power for many, and for the majority it has not yet come at all. There is still a lot of wickedness and untruth in Christian societies themselves; Satan is not yet bound and walks freely around the earth; Now, it seems, it is most rampant against those who hold the right faith. Only now he persecutes not with torture, not with executions, but with unbelief, imaginary progress, liberalism, etc.” “Pious people,” he continues sadly, are now called names of bigots, routinists, backward people, with narrow views; the Christian faith is called the faith of the mob; Christian compassion - weakness and nervous irritability; alms - stupid extravagance; external prayer - hypocrisy; the delight and joy of prayer is idiocy, almost madness. On the contrary, the wide unbridledness of the flesh and the gratification of all its countless lusts is modern progress.” Concerned with the education of youth, mainly in the Christian spirit, Fr. John gives the following admonition to teachers: “The lamp for the body, it is said, is the eye. The teacher is a lamp for the students. So, if his eye, his view of his subject, his method of teaching is simple, then all his students, understanding him well, will be enlightened by his teaching: everything will be bright in their minds; if his eye, his view of the subject, his method of teaching are unclear and dark, alien to simplicity and clarity, then his whole body, that is, all his disciples will wander with their minds in the darkness, groping for the truth obscured by words, phrases, turns of phrase. So, if the light itself, that is, the teacher himself, will be dark, then what will be the darkness, that is, the students, this darkness that we must enlighten? The answer is obvious. So, g.g., teaching should be as simple as possible. But if it is simple, then, of course, it is not polysyllabic. To those who love complexity, at least in teaching, the Lord says: do not say too much, that is, do not say too much; or: you care and fuss about a lot, but you only need one thing; or: a person’s life does not depend on the abundance of his opinion, that is, by the way, on the abundance of diverse knowledge. The strength lies not in teaching a lot, but in teaching a little, but essential for a student in his position. The field of knowledge is limitless, but the field of useful and essential knowledge is limited. From the variety, it is enough to choose the most necessary, and put it into a harmonious system, consistent with the number of other subjects that students will have to study - and with the amount of teaching. Otherwise, we will destroy each other's works... ... What do we want to make of our young men? – Members useful to society? - Fine; but this is not enough; truly useful members of Christian society can only be those brought up in Christian concepts, rules, customs - Christians, or good sons of the Orthodox Church; This means that we need to educate not only learned people and useful members of society, but also, what is most important and most necessary, good, God-fearing Christians. This is what we are trying to do. At the head of the sciences is the Law of God; children, according to their strength, during educational activities, perform Christian duties: prayers, reading the Gospel in small sections; on Sundays and holidays they visit the church of God and listen to divine services; in classes they listen and study the Law of God (God grant that it be from the heart); the greatest part of the time, of course, is given to earthly learning, which is also necessary. May God grant that from all knowledge, from all sciences, that harmonious agreement will be formed in the souls of children, that solid Christian system of knowledge, rules and skills, which constitutes a true Christian education, and in which our pupils will always be for the glory of God, and for the strengthening and adornment of the Church, and for the benefit of society. But if our pupils, suppressed by the many lessons of secular science itself, will snatch hours from the Divine service to prepare them (which often happens with those who live in apartments) or, while standing in church, will be preoccupied with their lessons, so that the Divine service will not provide spiritual help to their mind and heart, enlighten, purify, strengthen their souls, if they are bored in church, then the work of pedagogy will suffer very strong damage: for the best pedagogical education, completely in accordance with the will of God, is provided by the Church with its wonderful, heavenly Divine service, penetrating to the bones and brains, if only someone knows how to stand wisely, with faith, attention and with the fear of God while performing it.” Entirely imbued with fatherly love for the younger generation, full of ardent concern for their well-being, he says, among other things, to his disciples: “You, children, are learning languages - Russian, French, German, Latin: it’s a good thing; but look, most of all learn the language of love, the most living, expressive, powerful language. Without it, knowledge of languages ​​will not bring any significant benefit; If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, then I am a ringing brass or a clanging cymbal. What does love look like? - But this is this: love is long-suffering, it is merciful, love does not envy, love does not exalt itself, is not proud, does not act rudely, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in untruth, but rejoices with the truth. He covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything. Love never fails. So, dear children, with external sciences, try to make the most of this inner, heartfelt science - in the science of love, faith, prayer, meekness, humility, courtesy and affection, patience, obedience, warmth and chastity, mercy and compassion for people, goodwill and helpfulness, restraint in everything, selflessness and self-sacrifice, in the science of cleansing the heart from all kinds of unclean, crafty and evil thoughts - in condescension towards human weakness, in patiently enduring everything. If you succeed in this internal spiritual science, then, truly, you will be the wheat of God, and the Lord will gather you into the granary of His heavenly kingdom, and you will be prosperous in external sciences, for to the one who seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, everything else will be added from the great-gifted God. In conclusion, I will tell you the saying of a Latin proverb: “qui proficit in litteris, sed deficit in vita, plus defcit, quam proficit,” that is, whoever succeeds in science and does not succeed in life or lives poorly, is more unsuccessful than successful; he goes backwards rather than forwards. Please take this into account." The venerable shepherd addresses more than one teacher with words of conviction in the sincere and reasonable upbringing of children; He also teaches parents, as the most important leaders of youth, to sacredly fulfill the duties assigned to them from above, pursuing his irrefutably correct view of the primary educational significance of the Church. “Through this holy holiday,” he says in his teaching on the day of the Entry into the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, “St. The Church, first of all, teaches parents a lesson to bring their children to church more often and, in general, to raise them in the Christian spirit. Why? – Firstly, because children are the property of God, children of God, reborn and sanctified by the Holy Spirit in the Holy Spirit. font, and must be brought up in the spirit of St. Church, in piety and holiness, and God will require parents to account for their upbringing, like their Father and like their God; and secondly, because nowhere can children learn sincere piety, sincere love, praise and thanksgiving to God and love for their neighbors so well, so graciously and successfully, as in church, where the Holy Spirit, the true educator, especially rests and teaches them through everything... Having become accustomed from their earliest youth to the house of God, to the house of shrines, prayer and praise of God, and often resounding with the praises of God, they themselves will little by little be infused with the spirit of holiness and piety, will receive an aversion to sin and the temptations of the world, their soul will be tempered, to put it simply, strengthened in a holy disposition: and now the child will come out of a good Christian or Christian woman, and a family man, and an honest citizen... Christian education of the mind, heart and will should be the main concern of parents and educators. This is an undeniable truth. A Christianly raised child will not sadden his parents with ingratitude, disobedience, self-will, debauchery, extravagance and wild life; will not encroach on his life because of failures in the pursuit of pleasure and self-interest; will not mock the shrine; will not reject the eternal truths of faith and morality; He will not, with his thoughts and actions, shake the foundations of family, religious and social life, as unfortunately happens now with some young men and old people. All disorders and crimes in the family and society arise from the lack of faith in God in criminals, which is the root of all good and order, and due to their alienation from religion and from the Church. He who moves away from the Church moves away from the light, moves away from God and falls into the impenetrable darkness of human passions." “Educated and uneducated youth rarely go to church; in general, they do not conduct their spiritual education, considering it as unnecessary and giving themselves up to the vanity of life. We need to pay attention to this. This is the fruit of pride and spiritual underdevelopment. They consider visiting the church and Divine services a public matter for the common people and women, forgetting that Angels serve with fear in the church along with people, and consider this to themselves the greatest bliss.” “Isn’t it because the coldness towards public worship occurs because some do not understand it, while others, although they taught the science of worship, taught it dryly, without examples, to the mind alone, while worship, being a high contemplation of the mind, is at the same time, and predominantly, peace, sweetness and bliss for the heart.” Treating the fast established by the canonical rules of the Church with extraordinary rigor, Father John convinces his flock not to neglect fasting, which has a tremendous impact on moral purity. “What good do you benefit from delicious food and drinks,” he says, “aren’t you ashamed to burden yourself with them? Why do you give yourself up to the power of sensuality? Or do you enjoy it? Look: the imaginary sweetness of your pleasures is a dangerous lure of the flesh. Beware of this bait, if you want to be with God, if you want to be eternally prosperous, then you must agree that you need to fast with your soul, collect your mind, correct your thoughts, cleanse your thoughts, instead of the sackcloth of unrighteous deeds, adorn yourself with the precious clothing of good deeds. Physical fasting was established to make it easier for the soul to fast.” In modern society, extremely sad and peculiar concepts have developed about confession, which many look at as a simple rite, as a forced civil duty, necessary, supposedly, in order to receive a certificate of confession, necessary in various cases of life, etc. But Father John, seeing such a shameful attitude towards the sacrament of repentance and realizing the full height of this sacrament, first meekly reproaches his flock, and then convinces: “Very many come to the spirit with complete indifference and, if they had not been asked anything, they would not have said anything, or they would have only said in general that, yes, the spiritual father is a sinner, in all sins. And if they had said this with a heartfelt awareness of their guilt, no, then woe, without awareness of their sins, and so - in order to end the matter as quickly as possible. Beloved! Let us not turn God’s work of extreme mercy towards us sinners into a reason for God’s wrath. How insensitive we are! Don't we have anything to grieve about in confession? We don’t have enough sins: if we began to cry all our lives about our sins, then we wouldn’t do anything unnecessary, but only what should be done.” Of the many teachings on the sign of the cross, we cannot help but cite a few words indicating the importance Father John attaches to the sign of the cross. "ABOUT! Who will give me the zeal of God and the power of the word, he exclaims, to arouse in Christians of the present time a living faith and due reverence for the cross and Him crucified on it! I know that many are inattentive to the cross and the sign of the cross. Sometimes inattention and disrespect for the cross extends to the point that they do not accept a servant of Christ coming into the house with a cross and in the name of the cross; others do not want, as they should, to depict the sign of the cross on their sinful body or neglect the priestly blessing; sometimes this is done out of inattention, and sometimes, oh horror, out of false, damned shame. Should we be ashamed of the cross, beloved, which is our praise and glory? From the same teachings, we will cite a few more characteristic words that indicate the meaning that the venerable shepherd attaches to the sign of the cross, what power he attributes to it, having experienced and constantly experiences it on himself. “Many times, humble and sinful,” he says, “I have driven away invisible evildoers (i.e., passion, the spirit of malice) from myself. If any passion reaches my heart, I will immediately turn my mental gaze to Christ and with living faith I will depict on myself the sign of the cross: the passion will immediately disappear, and the inner fire, the inseparable companion of every passion, will also disappear. But even then, alas! Passions carry me away for some time, and only their torment, internally endured, makes me sincerely turn to Christ and His life-giving cross. So the cross, beloved, is my victory over invisible enemies. Where I cannot penetrate to drive them away, my Christ penetrates there in the image of His cross and accomplishes the desired victory for me. Marvelous is the Lord in me, marvelous is His life-giving cross! The power of God is made perfect in my weakness.” At the present time, when rationalistic sects, such as the Shtunda, Pashkovites, etc., are spreading with amazing speed in our fatherland and sowing poisonous tares among the wheat (I’m talking about the Orthodox Church), condemning the veneration of icons, denying the relics of saints, who are wonderfully glorified by the Lord, etc., Father John in one of his words reminds believers that in memory the righteous will be eternal, speaking of the revered Saint Nicholas, whose relics are revered by Orthodox Christians. “St. Nicholas lived one thousand four hundred years ago, and we remember him as if he only lived and died yesterday,” he says, so vividly do we imagine his holy, godly life, his benefactions to people. Why does he live in the eternal memory of people? Because virtue is immortal, because even after death he is alive and, living in heaven, looks at us living on earth, and has a beneficial effect on those who call on him for help with faith and love. Thus, it is not without reason that the righteous man is eternally glorified by the Church: this glory is, so to speak, an echo of his immortal, great deeds, his constant response from heaven to our calls in spiritual and physical needs... Saints of God are alive even after death, and not only are they alive themselves, but by the grace of God they revive others spiritually and physically.” In conclusion, the excerpts we have cited from numerous works by Fr. John, we cannot help but introduce the reader to the venerable preacher’s view of the moral life of modern society in general. “We see that modern man has fallen extremely deeply, has completely immersed himself in sensuality, has bound himself entirely to worldly passions and sensual pleasures, has perverted the order of life indicated by the Creator, and thus not only does not follow the Divine plan for our salvation, but, as far as this plan concerns him, destroys it. Look carefully at the life of modern man,” he continues, “how unnatural it is, how unchristianly it is lived. Look how he perverted the most sensual pleasures? For the sense of smell and taste, and partly for breathing itself, he invented and burns a pungent odorous smoke, bringing this, like a constant censer, to the demon living in the flesh; contaminates the air of his home and the outside air with this smoke. The womb has become an idol: many do not keep fasts at all, considering them burdensome; feasting and drunkenness became constant phenomena; money has become a positively modern idol, and in order to easily acquire it people do not neglect any means, no matter how ignoble or dishonest they may be; all thoughts, worries, fun, including games, in a word, pleasures, seeking intentions, enterprises, even teaching, are directed towards the earth; There is no mention of heaven, of the heavenly title, of heavenly teaching and life in many homes. Christian man, where are you? How deep you have fallen! What darkness have you entered into voluntarily!” May the readers forgive us for the somewhat lengthy excerpts from the writings of Father John, which we decided to make in view of a more complete and general acquaintance with the numerous sermons of the venerable shepherd, with his moral convictions and views. His works, as we have already mentioned, were originally published in 13 issues; The complete collection of his works, not yet completed, is currently being printed. The fourth and fifth volumes contain the thoughts of Fr. John under the title: “My life in Christ or moments of spiritual sobriety and contemplation, reverent feelings, spiritual correction and peace in God” (extract from the diary). For every holiday, for every event, Father John has several teachings; in a word, all his works, published for sale, contain words, conversations, teachings, and speeches for the whole church year and for all outstanding events and various occasions. Now we will present several reviews from some competent persons about the diary of Fr. John. “Theological Bulletin”, published at the Moscow Theological Academy, in one of the issues of this year in the article “Impressions of the reader of the diary of Fr. John of Kronstadt" says this: “The book My Life in Christ can cause a strong revolution in the hearts of readers. There are many people in whom the desire to find the truth has not completely faded. The search for truth, even weak and misdirected, even suppressed and muffled by perverse concepts and false teachings, can attract grace and its saving guidance. For those seeking truth, “Diary” by Fr. John will serve as a guiding thread, with the help of which it will be possible to take the straight path leading from the deep darkness of ignorance and error to the bright and joyful knowledge of the truth. The peculiarity that distinguishes this wonderful diary is that reading it lifts and evokes our spirit with a lively and powerful revelation of the high and moral significance of man as the image of God; by revealing the goal to which every rational being must strive, and which is likeness to the eternal, highest Ideal of perfection; revealing the obstacles placed on this path by the enemies of salvation; revealing the duty of compassion and condescension to every person who is in error and carried away by passions - sometimes a voluntary, and sometimes an involuntary victim of opposing invisible forces. Great examples of asceticism were caused, in their time, by the Christian faith, but now a different kind of asceticism is required, not asceticism, not retiring into the desert for solitary feats of prayer and contemplation, but people are needed who, living among people like themselves, would shine for them with their life, with their living grace-filled word, saving them from false directions, extracting them from the darkness of delusions and immersion in sensuality, converting them to the light of truth, goodness, peace, love, spiritual prosperity, directing everyone to the kingdom of eternal love, peace and bliss. Diary of Fr. John can be well understood and assimilated by the soul only by those who are akin in spirit to the faith of Christ, and not by those who will read it out of curiosity, as news, for personal entertainment, without the participation of the heart, without sufficient acquaintance with spiritual language and without distinguishing it from ordinary human speech. When you read the diary, you feel that the person who wrote it was in a state of special inspiration, which you will not find in many other works of spiritual literature and to such an extent will hardly be found in even one of the works of modern press. Inspirational word from Fr. John can produce a miraculous effect on people who are able to penetrate it and assimilate all its spiritual beauty; it can truly open up the world to those who will warmly embrace it. But how many such people are there? Will not the majority of readers treat this word indifferently, casually, or with a misunderstanding, or, even worse, with a wrong view and false, preconceived notions, and will even consider themselves to have the right to judge a book that is so little accessible to them? Oh, that the true Source of living water would abundantly water thirsty souls with His word and the word of His faithful servants! It’s gratifying to believe that this will happen if we open our hearts.” Priest S. Strakhov writes to Moscow. Church Vedomosti: “The nature of the diary is well defined by the very title that was given to it in the printed edition by the author himself. Diary of Fr. John is an image of those “minutes of spiritual sobriety and contemplation, reverent feeling, spiritual correction and peace in God,” which he was awarded and which constitute his “life in Christ.” Thus, it is a diary of the actual spiritual life of Fr. John, a record of the gracious thoughts and feelings that were born in him as a result of that gracious illumination of the soul, which he, in his own words, “received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God in moments of deep attention and self-examination, especially during prayer.” These thoughts and feelings are addressed either to the Lord God Himself (in the form of prayers) and to one’s self (in the form of conversations with oneself), or to other persons (in the form of instructions, as if excerpts from preaching works). They relate to various subjects of faith and moral teaching and have important theoretical significance (deep thoughts are expressed by Fr. John about the providence of God, about the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, about the relationship between members of churches, heavenly and earthly, about the prayers of saints, etc.). But this is not enough. Diary of Fr. John is of great importance; this is a school of spiritual life. This is because the author speaks about the phenomena of spiritual life not only as a person to whom “through education by the sciences” the Lord “revealed all the riches of faith and nature and the human mind, abundantly revealed His truth and His righteousness” (p. 1), but moreover, as a person who had rich spiritual experience. From here, for example, the thought of prayer or the grace-filled gifts of communion of the body and blood of Christ, etc., receive special meaning (in presenting them, Father John often points to his own experience and exclaims: “truly from experience!”). In the reader of these thoughts, should not a desire be kindled, albeit partially, to achieve that spiritual life that is depicted by Fr. John from experience, to enjoy the joy and peace of the Holy Spirit, to experience the sweetness of Holy Communion. Mysteries, etc., and for this, work on your own soul, using proven Fr. John's remedies (deep attention to oneself, self-examination and prayer)? And we think that the venerable shepherd himself, mainly for the sake of arousing a thirst for spiritual life in others, allowed his intimate diary to be published. Confessing the grace of God, by which he was awarded “minutes of spiritual sobriety and contemplation,” he confessed this so that God, the source of spiritual life, would be known by other people. He concludes his thanksgiving to God for the experimental knowledge of life in Him given to him with these prayerful words: Be known by Your other people as You appeared to me, O Lover of Mankind!” Birsky priest Fr. G. Speransky writes to the editors of “Russian Pilgrim” about the diary being published: “Please accept my gratitude and gratitude for the excerpts from the diary of Archpriest John Ilyich Sergiev published in the journal “Russian Pilgrim” you publish. “These brief, but at the same time, deeply edifying, pure and lofty truths instill living faith, bright hopes and joyful consolations in the restless soul of the great Christian sinner. How light it becomes in your soul when you read and feel these golden and short lines from the diary of a respected luminary of the Church of Christ! And how vividly and completely do they answer all the questions of your inquisitive mind, which sometimes longs to comprehend truths that are already clear, with even greater obviousness, so to speak, “with jealousy beyond reason?!” I couldn’t find more precise answers than these...” About writing a diary Fr. John in his autobiography says this: “From the very first days of my high ministry, I set myself a rule: to treat my work of shepherding and priesthood as sincerely as possible, to strictly monitor myself, my inner life. To this end, I, first of all, began to read the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, extracting from them what was edifying for myself, as a person, a priest and a member of society. Then I began to keep a diary in which I recorded my struggle with thoughts and passions, my repentant feelings, my secret prayers to the Lord and my grateful feelings for deliverance from temptations, sorrows and misfortunes.” Then, in one place in the diary, he says this: “And I was not left helpless in the saving battle with an invisible enemy: I raised my eyes, full of tears, to heaven, from where help always came to me, although often not suddenly and not soon, due to my former inexperience in temptations in prayer. With constant internal temptations, I had to constantly turn my spiritual eye inward in order to see the attacks of invisible enemies and, thus, accustomed myself to almost unceasing spiritual contemplation and secret prayer, and constant gratitude to the Lord for the help sent to me in spiritual war, for with the help of God I always, in the end, emerged victorious from it, although at the beginning of my service I was often defeated by the cunning and cunning of the ethereal enemies. Given this nature of my inner life, the Lord often granted me wonderful, inner insights and bright thoughts regarding prayer in general and various subjects of faith and Christian life; I tried not to let them pass without special attention and wrote them down in my diary. Thus, over the course of thirty-five years, I have compiled many handwritten notes on these subjects, which I dare to offer in extracts to the attention of the respectable public. These are the most cursory flying notes, written in every place, either in pencil or ink. I ask you not to punish me for what was written for myself, and not for showing to anyone.” In the preface to his edition of the diary, he states this way: “Everything contained in it, that is, in the diary, is nothing more than the grace-filled illumination of the soul, which I received from the all-enlightening Spirit of God in moments of deep attention to myself and self-examination, especially during prayer. Whenever I could, I wrote down blessed thoughts and feelings, and from these notes over many years a book has now been compiled.” Now I will offer the reader excerpts from the extensive diary of Fr. John. “You have abundantly revealed to me, O Lord, Your truth and Your righteousness. Through educating me through the sciences, You revealed to me all the riches of faith and nature and human reason. I have known Your word - the word of love, which comes to the division of our soul and spirit (Heb. 4:12); studied the laws of the human mind and its philosophy, structure and beauty of speech; penetrated partly into the secrets of nature, into its laws, into the abyss of the universe and the laws of circulation; I know the population of the globe, I know about individual peoples, about famous persons, about their deeds that have taken their course in the world; I partially learned the great science of self-knowledge and approaching You; in a word - I learned a lot, a lot - so that the essence of the human mind is shown by me (Sir. 3:23); and I still learn a lot. I have a lot of books with varied contents, I read and re-read them; but still not satisfied. My spirit still thirsts for knowledge; my whole heart is not satisfied, not full, and from all the knowledge acquired by the mind, it cannot receive complete bliss. When will it be satisfied? He will be satisfied when Thy glory appears (Ps. 16:15). Until then I won't get enough. He who drinks from the water of sowing (from worldly knowledge) will thirst again; but he who drinks from the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will be in him a fountain of water flowing into an eternal belly (John 4:13, 14), said the Savior. Wherever I look with the eyes of my heart—whether inside myself, at myself, or outside myself—everywhere I see a strong reason for thanksgiving and glorification of the Lord. Especially when I look only inside myself, then I see the strongest reason for petition, thanksgiving and praise. All the strength of my heart, all the light in the eyes of my heart is from God, all bodily strength, everything that serves to support bodily life is from God. Everywhere I see glory, the sole glory of my God, and I see nothing in myself that I could boast about as if it were my own. Glory to him who gives me strength! Glory to him who works by me and in me! Since I have nothing of my own, but have everything from God, down to the slightest good movement of the heart, to a holy and bright thought, and without God I am nothingness, worse - all evil, then I have a strong reason to resort to asking God for everyone. I especially have a strong reason to thank my God for His most pure and life-giving Mysteries - Body and Blood - they are everything to me. If I, being a weak person, when I want to do something that is within the limits of my ability, then I will do it; for example, I want to write an essay - and I will write it, I want to cure a disease - and I will, I want to do a thing - and I will do it, for example. build a house, a church, and I will build it; or for example, I’ll say to one: come and he will come, go away and he will go away, do this and he will do it; then will not God, the Almighty, do everything he pleases? Our God has created everything in heaven and on earth as He pleases (Ps. 113:11). If a person sometimes only says two words: so that this and that happens, and it happens, although not suddenly, but after a while; then will not everything suddenly be done that is called by the word of the Creator? Is it not from His one word that everything He desires will suddenly be done? He spoke and was born, He commanded and was created (Ps. 149:5). “We are not the creators of people, but they, according to our word, do so much; We are not the creators of things, but things, according to our desire and action, take on thousands of forms and serve countless needs and pleasures. We are not creators of things, but we create great and small objects from matter. Will not the Creator Himself, who is everywhere and fulfills everything, by whose word everything came from non-existence into being, by whose thought, will and word all the infinite variety of things were created and exist, create whatever He pleases? If a human doctor sometimes revives a half-dead person because of his knowledge of his work and skillful, precise influence on the cause of the disease, then does not the Creator of doctors and healing heal every disease with one will and a word? Will not the Creator raise up the dead with one word? Let us give glory to Him, we of little faith, and tell Him from our hearts: everything is possible for You, Master, but nothing is impossible for You. Amen. Who am I? – On the one hand, sin, the abyss of sin, all opposition to God, the All-Creator and All-Knower, worthy of all condemnation and torment; on the other hand, complete poverty of every virtue and weakness for every virtue. So I fell deeply, became corrupted, and became exhausted. I cannot do anything without my Savior, according to His word and according to my countless experiences. He created my soul and body, He grew me, He formed my abilities, He creates everything good in me, if I do something good, but mine is only evil. But, my Creator and my Deliverer! You created me, I am Your creation, Your slave. You control me, You do Your will through me, give me the grace to completely subdue my will to Your will, for I cannot do this without Your grace. You, my Shepherd, feed me. You, my Savior, save me. You, my Light, enlighten me. You, my Strength, strengthen me. How damaged I am by sin! Something bad, evil, unclean is immediately thought and felt in the heart, but good, good, pure, holy is often only thought and said, and not felt. Alas for me! Evil is even closer to my heart than good. God! Behold, I am Your vessel: fill me with the gifts of Your Holy Spirit, without You I am empty of all good, or even more so, full of all sin. God! Behold, Thy ship I am: fill me with a load of good deeds. God! Behold Your ark: fill it not with the charms of the love of money and sweets, but with love for You and for Your animated image - man. God! Grant me to extend to You prayers for the whole world and for all the fulfillment of the Church, always with all-encompassing love, unfeignedly, for I, by Thy grace, am a prayer book for everyone and for my sins. Grant me, O Lord God the Father, to contemplate Your ineffable love for the world, which has given us Your beloved, only-begotten Son; grant me, God, Son of God, to contemplate Your exhaustion in the world and on our cross for the sake of salvation; grant me, God, Holy Spirit, to contemplate Your grace, which has been and is being poured out in abundance upon the world for the sake of the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, which so often fulfills my accursed heart; Holy Trinity, grant me to glorify You unceasingly with my heart and lips, and even more so with my deeds. I thank the Lord, strong in goodness and good in His strength, for the speedy and great mercy, for the healing of deep heart wounds caused by sin. What prolonged prayer at home could not do, one touch on the life-giving, glorious and terrible throne of God in the church of the holy chief apostles Peter and Paul did: the ulcer of the heart, confusion, sorrow and tightness suddenly disappeared, as if a great mountain had fallen from my heart, and I became peaceful, there was lightness, spaciousness and boldness in my heart. Wonderful are Your works, O Lord! Marvelous are You, who sits on the throne of Your glory in Christian churches, O Lord, the most righteous Judge and the most merciful Savior and Almighty! Glory to Your invincible goodness, glory to Your innumerable power, King of the ages. God! You came to save us by faith, even in You, behold, I believe that You are my Savior, save me! You have come to renew my nature, corrupted by sin; renew me, who has corrupted myself with passions and lusts, renew me mentally and physically, so that I may be pure in heart and strong in body for the glory of Your name. You have come to deliver us from the work of the enemy - deliver me from the work of the all-evil, unclean, nasty and disgusting enemy, who is at war in my members and inclining me, drawing me by violence to sin. You have come to enlighten us, enlighten my heart darkened by passions. You have come to gather up what has been squandered; gather up my thoughts, squandered by the enemy. You came to strengthen us in our weakness and said: My power is made perfect in weakness, and Your apostle says: Sweetly, I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor. 12:9); Behold, I am extremely weak and cannot do anything good without You; Without You I can neither think, nor feel good, nor desire good, nor speak, nor do; I am decidedly weak for any good without You; Give me grace, give me light and strength to think and feel good and comfortably do it, say and do what pleases You. Behold, I commend my whole life to you, Christ God, my Savior, my Renewer; cleanse, sanctify and save me. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in my womb! (Ps. 50:12). Help me: without You my destruction is near and swift at every hour. I am nothing, but by the grace of the priesthood, through the teaching of the divine Body and Blood, I become a secondary or tertiary culprit in the healing of diseases; through me, the grace of the Spirit revives infants and adults into existence, celebrates the body and blood of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, unites the faithful with the Divine; through me he solves and binds human sins, closes and opens heaven, gives soul-saving advice, rules, etc. Oh, how we honor the priesthood! Brethren, do you see how many good deeds the Creator and Savior pours out on you through the priests. How impartial a priest must be to earthly things, so that, while performing such services and such lofty heavenly sacraments, he can be elusive from the enemy and always burn with pure love for God and for fellow humans who perish from sins and are saved by the grace of Christ in the Holy Spirit! But how great is our habit of sin! How strong are our earthly passions! And while performing the sacraments, we sometimes do not completely put aside everyday cares and addictions out of habituation to them, and therefore the enemy confuses, darkens and transforms our mind, binds our heart and takes us into his heavy captivity. And rightly so! Don't dream. A priest must be an angel in terms of loftiness of thoughts, purity of soul and body, ardor for God the All-Creator and Savior and for people, his brothers. The priest, as a doctor of souls, must himself be free from mental illnesses, that is, from passions, in order to heal others; as a shepherd, he must himself be shepherded in green pastures, evangelical and patristic, in order to know where to feed the verbal sheep; he himself must be skilled in fighting mental wolves in order to be able to drive them away from the flock of Christ; must be skilled and strong in prayer and abstinence; should not be bound by worldly lusts and pleasures, especially covetousness, love of fame, pride; in a word, he must himself be light in order to enlighten others, spiritual salt in order to protect others from spiritual corruption, and he himself must be free from the corruption of passions. Otherwise, every spiritually sick person can say to him: doctor, heal yourself (Luke 4:23) first, and then I will let you heal yourself. O hypocrite, first remove the thorn from your hair, and then see to it that you remove the stubble from your hair (Matthew 7:5). The priest must try in every possible way to maintain courage, courage, audacity in himself, in spite of the ethereal enemy, who constantly instills in him his dreamy fear, his absurd fear; otherwise he cannot be an exposer of human vices, nor a true minister of the sacraments. Boldness is a great gift from God and a great treasure of the soul! In earthly warfare or war, courage or bravery means a lot, for it simply works miracles; and even more so in spiritual warfare. You are the representative of the faith and the Church, oh priest, you are the representative of Christ the Lord Himself; you must be an example of meekness, purity, courage, firmness, patience, and sublime spirit. You are doing God’s work, and you should not lose heart before anyone, you should not flatter or servile anyone, and you should not consider your work above all human affairs. Pay attention to yourself constantly so that your spiritual life and spiritual wisdom do not dry out. Think often about everything you read and sing or listen to in church or sometimes at home. Live the life of the saints, prayer, their wisdom, their virtues: meekness, humility, kindness, mercilessness and denial of yourself, your peace, contentment and pleasure for the sake of love for God and neighbor. The true shepherd and father of his flock will live in grateful memory of them even after his death; they will glorify him, and the less he cares about his glorification here on earth, with his diligent labors for their salvation, the more his glory will shine after death: he and the dead will force them to talk about himself. Such is the glory of those who work for the common good. My endless sweetness. Lord Jesus Christ, what sweets did You not give me to taste in my temporary existence! Thank you, my mercy, my sweetness! But if earthly sweets are so numerous, varied, and pleasant, then what are heavenly, spiritual sweets: they are truly endless, countless, unimaginably pleasant. Do not deprive me, O Most Merciful, Most Generous Lord, of Your heavenly sweets, which You have prepared for those who love You. Do not deprive them and your other people! Let them all know You, Lord, our Sweetness. After all, You, our Sweetness, are everywhere and on earth, that is, Your work is all sweetness. However, Lord, grant me to graciously endure the sorrows of life: they are needed for my many-passionate flesh, for my old man. More humane! Teach them and your other people to bear with kindness and let them know their need. Tribulation endures (Rom. 12:12). You will be in a world of sorrow (John 16:33). God is love, and I am the image of God, which means I must be all love. God is the simplest good, alien to any shadow of evil. I am the image of God: this means that I must also be completely good, without any shadow of even evil. - If the enemy bothers you with food or drink, tell him: here is my food and drink - the Body and Blood of my Lord, they are inalienable from me; As long as I am a priest, I can receive them every week, and for the most part several times a week. Moreover, if I seek within myself the kingdom of God by trusting in Him, my Lord, then all earthly things that I need will be added, according to the Scripture: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness: and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). My God is faithful. Everything is God for me. These words were deeply ingrained by reflection. Don’t be embittered by anything, conquer everything with love, all sorts of insults, whims, all kinds of family troubles. – Know nothing but love. Always blame yourself sincerely, admitting that you are the culprit of the troubles. Say: I am guilty, I am a sinner. Remember that just as you are weak, so is your neighbor, and weakness for weakness is destroyed, and there is nothing to blame for the weak and sinners if they admit their weakness. The devil, strong in evil, must be blamed. The Heavenly Father cares so much about me, about my life, about my salvation, that He did not spare His only begotten Son for me and sent Him into the world to suffer and die, and feeds me with His flesh and blood; Could it be that He did not take care of me in less important matters, or deprived me and my companions of sufficient food? – This has not happened before, and it will not happen. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you... And the main powers have been read to you. Fear not (Matthew 10:30,31). My life is the Infinite Lord, the Almighty; I'm completely immersed in this life. Who is above all, and in all, and through us all (Eph. 4:6). I am always before the face of God, I am always in God and He is in me. Will I rely on food and drink, on money, on a person? Will I be blind then? Truly God is my hope. He's everything to me. We must remember more often the words of Spasov: Unless you humble yourself and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3), and the Apostle: like newborn babies, you will love the verbal and unflattering milk, so that through it (them) you will grow into salvation (1 Pet. 2:2), (unflattering - not deceptive, unfeigned, true). Be especially meek and patient in illness and in various unfavorable circumstances: for then we are especially prone to irritability, pampered by contentment, health, happiness and peace. The happy ones among us are those who have nothing, or have little, because they are not bound by stinginess. Fear malice like fire; Do not allow it to reach your heart for any plausible pretext, especially because of something unpleasant to you: malice is always malice, always a fiend of the devil. Malice sometimes comes into the heart under the pretext of zeal for the glory of God, or for the good of others; Do not believe your jealousy in this case: it is a lie or jealousy is not according to reason: be jealous that there is no malice in you. God is glorified in nothing so much as through love that endures everything, and in nothing is he dishonored and insulted so much as through malice, no matter how it is covered up by appearances. Under the guise of caring for the poor, Judas, hiding his anger at his Lord, betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver. Remember that the enemy is vigilantly seeking your destruction and attacks you when you least expect him. His anger is endless. Do not be bound by pride and lust, lest they conveniently captivate you. God is inexhaustible for people in his gifts. For 7370 years now 54 He has abundantly nourished all creatures. Contentment and joy are visible everywhere, only the greedy rich people grab too much into their hands and hold back in their treasures the gifts of God, which could abundantly feed hundreds and thousands of poor people. - Human! Believe firmly in God’s inexhaustibility of His gifts and willingly crush your bread to those who are hungry; The more you give, the more God will send you. This is God’s law: if you measure according to the measure, it will be measured to you. Learn to remember and pronounce the name of God always with great faith, reverence, love and a grateful heart. Never say it lightly. Speak and do all the truth without doubt, boldly, firmly, decisively. Avoid doubt, timidity, lethargy and indecisiveness. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love. Our Lord is the Lord of hosts. Breathe with faith (certainty in God’s truth), trust in God and love for God and neighbor. How can this be helped? Disbelief in the strength of everything earthly; lack of trust in earthly goods - food, drink, money, wealth, earthly connections; dislike, indifference to everything earthly and perishable. Do not cling to anything with your heart, do not have attachment to anything. Be wise above, not on earth ( Col. 3:2 ). May the infinite love and mercy of the Master triumph, as a result of our sincere recognition and confession of sins, and may the sinful flattery of the devil, who teaches us to hide our sins and not confess to them, be put to shame in the end; May all the networks and connections of the devil, like a cobweb, be dissolved through repentance. The devil wants us to hide our sins and to indulge in them more conveniently and more in darkness; and we will destroy his machinations here too, we will proclaim them, so that we and everyone else can see what abomination we are indulging in or have indulged in, and so that the more conveniently, based on the awareness of the abomination, we will correct ourselves in it. Verbs, it is said, are your iniquities, and do not remain silent about them, so that you may be justified. Say: I have nothing of my own, everything is God’s. Ours is an expression of our sinful flesh. Everything is common - these are the words of a renewed man! – Byahu is all common to them, and not a single verb says that it is its own (Acts 4:32). - God! Yours is dati mi this. Brethren! Get ready to unite with God: give up earthly vanity. Engage in the great work of self-purification and self-improvement. Love the progress of faith and virtue, and not the progress of this age. We are preparing on earth to see the Artist of every creature, visible and invisible, the Beauty of everything. For the pupils. “You are my children, for I gave birth and am giving birth to you with the gospel of Christ Jesus; my spiritual blood - my instructions flow in your veins; I have given you to drink and drink, as if from a mother’s breasts, with the milk of words. You are my children, because I always have you in my heart and pray for you. You are my children because you are my spiritual children. You are my children, because I am truly like a priest, a father, and you call me father. Children! This word is very, very disliked by the devil, the culprit of dislike, malice and hypocrisy, but I, who help God, will not obey him for a minute, and I will call you nothing other than children, for you are truly children, both by the very essence of nature, and by the instructions and paternal guidance received from me. You can say sincerely to strangers’ children: children, only with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and love. Do not worry about money: if necessary, God will pour it out to you like manna, or bring it to you like quails. For the earth and its fullness are the Lord's, the world and all who live on it (Ps. 23:1). Seek first the kingdom of God, the salvation of people, their confirmation in the faith, the correction of their morals; affirm your faith, purify your heart, conscientiously fulfill your rank, carefully correct all your duties and everything - money, food, clothing, etc. will be added to you. Do not be discouraged and do not weaken in spirit, seeing within yourself the constant struggle between evil and good, but, as a good and courageous warrior of Jesus Christ, the Master of Heroes, courageously fight against evil, looking at the crown prepared by the Master for all those who overcome evil in this world and in their flesh: to the one who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne (Rev. 3:21). How many times, O Master Lord Jesus, have You renewed my nature, frivolously corrupted by my sins! There is no limit to this! How many times have You taken me out of the cave that was burning inside me, from the cave of many different passions, from the abyss of despondency and despair! How many times by Your name alone, called upon by me with faith, have You renewed the corruption of my heart! How many times have I done this through the life-giving Mysteries? O Master! Your mercies towards me, a sinner, truly have no number or measure. What will I bring to You, or what will I repay You for Your immeasurable benefits to me, Jesus, my life and my lightness! May I be prudent in my ways according to Your grace, for You are pleased with all those who are prudent on the way, as You, by Your Spirit through the mouth of our father, David, said if (Ps. 119:2, 17:21, etc.); I will try to be faithful to You, humble, meek, not irritable, kind, long-suffering, hardworking, merciful, generous, non-covetous, obedient. Do good to the poor willingly, without suspiciousness, doubt and petty inquisitiveness, remembering that you, in the person of the poor, do good to Christ Himself, according to what is written: Since you have created one of these least of my brothers, you have created for Me (Matthew 25:40). Know that your alms are always insignificant in comparison with man, this child of God; know that your alms are earth and dust; know that with material mercy, spiritual mercy must certainly go hand in hand: affectionate, brotherly, with sincere love, treatment of your neighbor; Don’t let him notice that you’re favoring him, don’t show him a proud look. Give, it is said, in simplicity, show mercy with good intentions (Rom. 12:8). Be careful not to deprive your material alms of value by not giving spiritual ones. Know that the Lord will test good deeds at judgment. Almsgiving is good and saving when it is combined with the correction of the heart from pride, malice, envy, idleness, laziness, gluttony, fornication, lies and deception and other sins. And if a person does not care about correcting his heart, relying on his alms, then he will receive little benefit from it, for what he creates with one hand, he destroys with the other. Man, you see for yourself, does not die in his word: he is immortal in it and speaks after death. I will die, but even after death I will speak. There is so much of this immortal word among people, which was left behind by those who died a long time ago and which sometimes lives on the lips of an entire people! How tenacious is even the human word! Moreover, the Word of God: it survives all centuries and will always be alive and active. You want to comprehend the incomprehensible; But can you understand how internal sorrows befall you, killing your soul, and find means - outside the Lord - how to drive them away? Find out with your heart how to free yourself from sorrows, how to make your heart calm, and then, if necessary, philosophize about the incomprehensible. Even if you can do the least bit, why do you care about others? (Luke 12:26). If you truly want to be humble, then thirst for all sorts of insults and oppression, like a hungry person hungers for food: for by the truth of God you are worthy of it. If you want to be truly humble, then consider yourself lower than everyone, trampling on everyone: for every day, every hour you trample on the law of the Lord and, therefore, the Lord Himself. Keep a close watch on the manifestations of pride: it manifests itself unnoticed, especially in being upset and irritable with others for the most unimportant reasons. The writings of the Word of God speak more truly and clearly about the world than the world itself or the arrangement of the layers of the earth: the writings of nature within it, like dead and voiceless, do not express anything definite. Where were you, O man, when you founded the earth? ( Job 38:4 ). Were you with God when He created the universe? Who understands the mind of the Lord, or who is His adviser? (Isa.40:13). And you, geologists, boast that you have understood the mind of the Lord in the construction of the layers of the earth, and you assert this in defiance of the sacred description of life! You believe more in the dead letters of the layers of the earth, in the soulless earth, than in the divinely inspired words of the great prophet and God-seer Moses. The greatest luminary is reflected in the infinitely small bodies of the earth, in an infinite number of them, and the image of a person is reflected in the infinitely small pupils of the eyes: - thus the mental Sun - Christ is depicted in infinitely small creatures - people in an infinite multitude of them, also in infinitely small particles of His body and blood, because the first eternal Life is simple and singular. The sun, reflected in many small and great bodies, illuminates the weight of the world, covering it all: so does the Lord. The wind is one and the same, but in countless places it produces power: so the Spirit of God is one and the same, but in countless councils of angels, it reveals His power and strength, in all holy men, breathing wherever He wants, and you hear His voice (John 3:8). If you greedily eat and drink a lot, you will be flesh, and if you fast and pray, you will be spirit. Do not get drunk with wine, but rather be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18). Fast and pray, and you will accomplish great things. A well-fed person is not capable of great things. Have simplicity of faith and you will do great things: for all things are possible to him who believes. Have diligence and diligence, and you will accomplish great things. Every word of the prayer Have mercy on me, O God, the Lord hears and fulfills every word (experience), if only they say it from the heart: so are all the words of other prayers, even our own, sincere prayers. Oh, benevolent Master! Glory to You! Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, press and it will be opened to you. Whatever you ask is accepted (Matthew 7:7, 8). Only in simplicity of heart, pray without doubt. Endure with obedience to the will of God all sorrow, all illness and infirmity, all labor, all insult and trouble, saying: Thy will be done, and knowing that the goodness of God leads everything to the best for you, and that the Lord can conveniently transform any trouble into happiness and joy. When confessing, do not feel sorry for yourself, do not rush, do not get excited, do not be angry with the children who come. Tell yourself: it is my pleasure to confess in detail my spiritual children, the sheep of my Lord. By this I make a most pleasant sacrifice to my Lord, who laid down His soul for us, and I bring great benefit to the spiritual children themselves, and to myself, because I voluntarily perform my important work and have a calm conscience. And time flows without stopping, and during my lifetime my body is still constantly changing and passing, and the whole world, as can be seen from its movement, also passes, and seems to be rushing towards its supposed end, like a wound-up car. Where is the constant? What is constant is that it all moves and directs towards its goals; the constant is the first cause of everything complex and created, which itself is uncomplicated and therefore not transitory, eternal; The spirits of Angels and men, created in the image of the first guilt, are still constant. Everything else is a soap bubble. I do not humiliate creation with these words, but I say this about it in comparison with the Creator and with the blessed spirits. Lady Theotokos! You, whose love for Christians surpasses the love of every earthly mother, every wife, listen to us in our prayers and save us! May we always remember You! May we always pray to You fervently! May we always resort to Your shelter without laziness and without doubt. Just as in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily, so also in the life-giving Mysteries of His body and blood. In the small human body there is all the fullness of the infinite, incontainable Divinity, and in the small Lamb, or bread, in every smallest particle of it - all the divine fullness. Glory to Thy omnipotence and goodness, Lord! My neighbor is a being of equal rights to me, the same person as me, the same image of God; and since he is the same as me, then I need to love him, as I love myself. Love your sincere one as you do yourself - you must observe him as your own flesh and blood: treat him with love, meekly, kindly, forgiving his mistakes, as I readily forgive myself, as I myself thirst for forgiveness or indulgence from others for my weaknesses, that is, so that they do not notice them, as if they were not there, or notice them affectionately, meekly, kindly, benevolently. It is a strange and wild phenomenon in our nature, damaged by sin, to hate those who benefit and repay them with dislike for our good deeds! Oh, how tight, how poor is our heart with love and mercy! How proud it is! The enemy laughs hard at us; he wants to destroy the fruits of our good deeds. But you love the more the more you do good to whom, knowing that the one who receives mercy from you will also serve as a guarantee of your mercy from God. A dead person is a living being: God is not dead, but living; for to Him live all things (Luke 20:38). His soul hovers invisibly near his body and in the places where he loved to stay. If she died in sins, she cannot help herself to get rid of their bonds and is in great need of the prayers of living people, especially the Church - the Most Holy Bride of Christ. So, let us pray for the dead sincerely. This is a great benefit to them, more than a benefit to the living. The Lord Jesus Christ did not have anywhere to lay His head during His earthly life, but had within Himself His life and the life of all; rich people build magnificent palaces for themselves, live in them, but alas, in such a brilliant environment they do not have true life in their hearts, they cannot enjoy their vanity: they are bored and stuffy in their magnificent palaces, so that many rich people and important dignitaries would exchange their palaces for the hut of a poor man, just to get peace of mind. The alms of the person who gives it grudgingly is insignificant, because material alms are not his, but God’s gift, and only his heart’s disposition belongs to him. Therefore, many alms will turn out to be almost vain because they were given grudgingly, with regret, with disrespect for the person of one’s neighbor. Like hosts, many will turn out to be vain, as a result of their hypocritical, vain treatment of their guests. With heartfelt affection, let us offer our sacrifices on the altar of love for our neighbor. God loves a willing giver (2 Cor. 9:7). Do not quench the Spirit, says the word of God. Remember this for every Christian, especially a priest and a teacher of children. Especially we need to always be burning in spirit in our high service to God and humanity. How much we would do for God, for people and for ourselves, if we were to do our work with faith and love, with zeal, ardor and energy, and how little, dry, fruitless our work will be when we begin to do it sluggishly, lazily, with coldness, without any zeal and energy! We will be greatly responsible before God both for ourselves and for those entrusted to our care. God! How I will praise You, how I will glorify You for Your powers, for the miracles of healing from St. Your Mysteries, revealed to me and to many of Your people, to whom I, unworthy, taught after the sacrament of repentance these holy, heavenly, life-giving Mysteries of Yours! Here they confess before me Your power, Your goodness, they say publicly that You stretched out Your miraculous hand on them and raised them from their sick bed, from their death bed, when no one expected that they would live - and now, after communion of Your body and blood, O Life-Giver, they soon came to life, were healed, and at the same hour and day they felt the life-giving Hand on them Yours. But I, Lord, an eyewitness of Your deeds, have not yet glorified You publicly, to confirm the faith of Your people, and I do not know how and when to glorify You, for every day I am busy with some kind of deeds. Create a name for yourself, O Lord, just as you created it; You yourself glorify Your name, Your Mysteries. What will I bring to You, Lord, for all Your goodness, with which You constantly reward me? - My only faith, for I have not done any deeds that will justify me, for I have done nothing good before You. But my faith is also Your gift; Otherwise, what is offered to You is Yours, accept what is offered to You. For everything is Yours, and we are all Yours. You are our most perfect prototype, we are images of Your ineffable glory, even if we bear the wounds of sins, have mercy on Your creation, Master, and cleanse us with Your compassion and grant us the longed-for fatherland, creating paradise again for us as inhabitants (from the tropes, we sing, on the immaculate on Saturday); Take away from us the passions of the flesh, so that all carnal lusts may pass through our spiritual life, all to please You both in thought and in action (morning mol. 9, which the priest recites during the Six Psalms). What kind of high figure is this priest? He constantly has a conversation with the Lord, and the Lord constantly answers his speech; whatever is required, whatever prayer, speak with the Lord; Whatever is required, whatever the prayer, the Lord’s answer to it. When finding passions, how can a priest not remember that passions are low and unclean, especially for him to allow them into his heart, which must always be filled entirely by the one Jesus Christ. The priest is an angel, not a man; he must leave everything of everyday life far behind him. Lord Jesus! May your priests be clothed in truth, may they always remember the height of their calling and may they not become entangled in the snares of the world and the devil, may the sadness of this age, the flattery of wealth and other lusts entering their hearts flee from their hearts (Mark 4:19). From the constant miracle of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the true body and blood of Christ, united with His Divinity and soul, I see the miracle of the constant revitalization of man by the Divine breath and his creation into a living soul. And it came to pass, it is said, that man liveth unto the soul (Gen. 2:7), and on St. At the table, bread and wine, after transubstantiation, become not only a living soul, but also a life-giving spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). And this is all before my eyes; and I experience it with my soul and body, I feel it vividly. My God! What terrible sacraments You create! What unspoken Mysteries You have made me a spectator and a participant. Glory to Thee, my Creator! Glory to You, Creator of the body and blood of Christ! The Lord, in His goodness, gave us, undeservedly on our part, to see and enjoy the sun and the light of the sun; He will also give us to enjoy His unapproachable light. Let the light of the sun be your guarantee of this, but especially the quiet light of the holy glory of the Heavenly Father - His only begotten Son, given to us, and the Spirit of love, given into our hearts. Notice yourself - your passions, especially in your home life, where they are freely visible, like moles in a safe place; Outside the home, our passions are usually hidden behind other more plausible passions, and there is no way to drive out these black moles that undermine the integrity of our soul. When you are slandered, and because of this you are embarrassed and sick at heart, it means that you have pride, and it is this that must be wounded and driven out of your heart by external dishonor. So, do not be irritated by ridicule and do not hate those who hate and slander, but love them as your doctors, whom God sent you to admonish you and teach you humbly, and pray to God for them. “Bless you who slander (Matthew 5:44), say: they do not slander me, but my passion, they do not beat me, but this snake that nests in my heart and affects it painfully when slander is applied; I console myself with the thought that, perhaps, good people will knock it out of there with their barbs, and then it won’t hurt. Thank God for external dishonor: he who suffers dishonor here will not be subjected to it in that age. Accept your own sins (Is. 40:2). Give us your peace, for you have given us everything (Is. 26:12). When you see shortcomings and passions in your neighbor, pray for him; pray for everyone, even your enemy. If you see a proud and obstinate brother speaking proudly to you or to others, pray for him, so that God will enlighten his mind and warm his heart with the fire of His grace, say: Lord, teach Your servant, who has fallen into the pride of the devil, meekness and humility and remove from his heart the darkness and burden of satanic pride! - If you see an evil one, pray: Lord, do good to this servant of Yours through Your grace! - If he is money-loving and greedy, say: Our treasure is incorruptible and our wealth is inexhaustible! Grant to this Thy servant, created in Thy image and likeness, to know the flattery of wealth, and like all earthly vanity, shadow and sleep. The days of every man are like grass, or like a spider, and like You alone are our wealth, peace and joy! - When you see an envious person, pray: Lord, enlighten the mind and heart of this Thy servant to the knowledge of Thy great, countless and unsearchable gifts, which they have received from Thy innumerable bounties, for in the blindness of their passion they have forgotten Thy rich gifts, and are impoverished to be imputed to themselves, rich in Thy blessings, and for this reason beholds the charm of not good things. Thy servants, in the image, O most unspeakable Grace, dost thou injure all, in every way against his power and according to the intention of Thy will. Take away, O All-Good Master, the veil of the devil from the sight of the heart of Thy servant and grant him heartfelt contrition and tears of repentance and gratitude, so that the enemy does not rejoice over him, captured alive from him into his will, and may he not tear him away from Thy hand. When you see a drunken person, say with your heart: Lord, look mercifully on Your servant, seduced by the flattery of the belly and carnal joy, grant him to know the sweetness of abstinence and fasting and the fruits of the spirit flowing from it. eternal! Cleanse this Thy servant from the filth of gluttony, all created flesh and the alien Thy Spirit, and grant him to know the sweetness of Thy life-giving spiritual food, which is Thy Flesh and Blood and Thy holy, living and effective word. – Pray in this or similar way for all those who sin and do not dare to despise anyone for his sin, or to take revenge on him, for this would only increase the ulcers of those who sin; correct with advice, threats and punishments that would serve as a means to stop or keep evil within the boundaries of moderation. Parents and educators! Protect your children with all care from the whims before you, otherwise the children will soon forget the value of your love, infect their hearts with malice, early lose the holy, sincere, ardent love of their hearts, and upon reaching adulthood they will bitterly complain that in their youth they were cherished too much and indulged in the whims of their hearts. Caprice is the germ of heart corruption, the rust of the heart, the moth of love, the seed of malice, an abomination to the Lord. When you see the painful destruction of the body, do not murmur against the Lord, but say: The Lord is given, the Lord is taken away... blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). You are accustomed to looking at your body as an inalienable property, but this is extremely unfair, because your body is God’s building. Or do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are inexperienced by nature? (2 Cor. 13:5). Truly Christ lives in me. Meanwhile, I was still inexperienced: I did not think and did not know for sure that the Lord was in me. It is He, the All-Holy One, who is so sensitive in me to the slightest impurity of heart: it is He who prompts me to drive out the very germ of sin in my heart from my soul. But, alas! And Satan immediately, ready to devour me at every step, disputes me with the Lord. All my troubles occur in my invisible thoughts and in my invisible heart, therefore I need an invisible Savior, who guides our hearts. O my strength, Jesus, Son of God! Oh the light of my mind! Peace, joy, breadth of my heart - glory to You! Glory to Thee, the Deliverer from my invisible enemies, who attack my mind and heart and kill me at the very source of my life, in my most sensitive place. The Lord is life in my death, strength in my weakness, light in my darkness, joy in my sorrow, boldness in my cowardice, calm in my confusion, goodness in my prayer, glory in my dishonor and deliverance from my dishonor. Wonderfully, powerfully, quickly He intercedes and saves me in my troubles and difficulties, in my hobbies. When I cry out to Him for my salvation, invisible enemies flee from me after their dirty tricks within me, and I tangibly recognize the saving right hand of my God, my Savior, above me. Glory, thanksgiving to the Shepherd and Visitor of my soul! Why did the Lord allow you to be poor? - because, by the way, why, according to your desire, it does not suddenly make you righteous. God could make everyone sufficient, even rich, but then a great oblivion of God would occur, pride, envy, etc. would increase. And how would you dream about yourself if the Lord soon made you righteous. But just as sin humbles you, showing you your great weakness, abomination and incessant need for God and His grace, so the beggar is humbled by poverty and the need for other people. Enrich the poor: many, many of them will forget both God and their benefactors, and will destroy their souls in the luxury of this world. So destructive is wealth and so blinds the eyes of the heart! It makes the heart rude and ungrateful!