Слова и речи произнесенныя в 1841–1868 г.

Word for St. Week father, said in the Baptist Church of the Bishop's House on May 4, 1858. “Behold, this is the eternal life, that they may know the one true God, and whom Jesus Christ hath sent” (John 17:3). So little, apparently, is required of us to achieve the eternal life: to know and maintain only two dogmas - one about the true God, the other about Jesus Christ. But if we take a closer look at what it means to know the one true God and Jesus Christ sent by Him, we will be convinced that what is required of us in order to achieve the eternal life is to know and contain not two, but all the dogmas of Christianity and contain them exactly as they are contained and taught by St. Orthodox Catholic Church. The true teaching about God and Jesus Christ is, without a doubt, that which lies in Divine revelation. Therefore, he who accepts and professes this very teaching knows God and Jesus Christ. How does revelation teach about the true God? It teaches that God is the purest, most perfect Spirit, the original Spirit, omnipresent, eternal; The Spirit is omniscient and wise, all-free, all-holy, all-righteous, all-good, all-powerful. It teaches that this highest Spirit is one in essence, but threefold in persons, which, differing only in personal properties, are completely equal and consubstantial. He teaches that this one Trinitarian God created everything that exists, the visible and invisible world, angels and men, and provides for all his creatures in a fatherly manner; that, after the fall of man, He did not leave him to eternal destruction, but gave him the promise of a future Savior, gave him the law and the prophets, and finally really sent the promised Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ. How does revelation teach about Christ? He teaches that He is perfect God and perfect man, according to Divinity before the age, born from the Father, and according to humanity in time, born from the Most Holy Virgin - the Mother of God; that in Him there are two natures, Divine and human, but one person; that, having appeared in the world, He proclaimed to us the truths of salvation, offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for us, founded His holy place on earth. The Church with its saving sacraments; that, upon his ascension into heaven, he sent down the Holy Spirit from there, intercedes there for us before the Heavenly Father, is a judge and rewarder for every dying person, and that, at the end of time, He will come again to earth to judge the living and the dead and reward everyone according to their deserts. Don't you see that the teaching about the true God and the teaching about Jesus Christ embrace all the dogmas of Christianity, the entire composition of the Orthodox symbol, that these two teachings constitute, as it were, the foundation and focus of the entire Christian doctrine, and other dogmas serve only as their most detailed disclosure and explanation? Anyone who does not accept any of the dogmas of the faith of Christ no longer contains all the teachings about God and Jesus Christ, and does not know as much of them as should be known by Divine revelation - therefore, not enough to achieve the eternal life. For this purpose, it is necessary to know and contain everything that God Himself deigned to tell us about Himself and about Christ Jesus in His Divine revelation. But, brothers, we are not the only ones who use revelation: schismatics and heretics use it. The revelation was also used by the wicked Arius, who was anathematized by St. the fathers of the first ecumenical council, in whose honor St. Church. It is not enough to know the revealed truths about God and Jesus Christ, but we must also understand them correctly: a false understanding, of course, will not contribute to our salvation. When can we understand these truths correctly, without the danger of being mistaken? Not when, reading the Word of God, we each interpret it in our own way, but when we understand it the way the saint understands and explains it. Church. The most enlightened and well-intentioned human minds, due to their limitations alone, can be mistaken in this, as in any matter, if they act without reliable guidance, and even more so - less enlightened and well-intentioned minds: this is where all heresies and schisms originated. Therefore, the Lord God, communicating His revelation to people, entrusted it for safekeeping not to private individuals, but to His saint. the catholic or universal Church, which he appointed to be our mentor in matters of faith and which cannot sin in this case, being, in the words of the Apostle, “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Why cannot the universal Church sin in matters of faith? Because the Head of the Church, always present in it, is the Lord Jesus himself, who guides it and protects it from all error (Eph. 1:22-23); because the Holy Spirit himself dwells in the Church, the Spirit of truth, who guides her into all truth (John 14:16.26). The instruments through which Christ’s Church teaches people its infallible teaching are shepherds and teachers, who were appointed for this purpose by Jesus Christ, “lest we be infants, tossed about and tossed about by every wind of teaching, in the lies of men, in the deceit of the wiles of flattery” (Eph. 4:14). As a result of this structure of the Church, at all times, as soon as any heresy arose, the eyes of all believers turned to the shepherds and teachers of the Church; the primates of the Church - the bishops, when they found it necessary, gathered at ecumenical councils, with a common voice denounced heresies and determined how Christians should believe. And the definitions of the Ecumenical Councils were considered the voice of truth itself, Jesus Christ himself and the Holy Spirit. These definitions still remain the unchangeable basis and guide for the entire teaching of St. Orthodox Church. Let us, brothers, firmly and unswervingly adhere to the teachings of our spiritual Mother - St. Orthodox Church; Let us accept with living faith with our hearts and confess with our lips everything that she teaches us, on the basis of revelation, about the true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent, so that we may achieve the eternal life. In cases of any perplexity about the objects of faith, let us turn to the legally appointed pastors and teachers of the Church, and let us forever turn our ears away from self-proclaimed teachers and shepherds, who, having deviated from the Orthodox Church into heresies or schisms, allow themselves to interpret the Word of God according to their own will, and, being themselves blind, drag other unfortunate blind people to eternal destruction. Amen. You might be interested in: