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In the cell one should have only the most necessary accessories, as simple as possible: an attachment to superfluous and beautiful things immediately appears in the heart, and the mind, regarding them, receives a tendency towards daydreaming and absent-mindedness, which is very harmful. 2.351 ...He (St. John the Prophet) commanded the abbot to build cells, not giving them unnecessary convenience, but according to the demands of need, and then with some oppression, as if meaning relocation, because the buildings of this century in relation to eternity are nothing more than tents. 1.490 (See Simplicity, Mshelomystvo, Prayer of the Jesus Icon). The omniscient, all-seeing and omnipresent God says: “When I come down, I will see.” When I come down, I will see whether those great iniquities about which rumors have come to Me are actually being committed in Sodom and Gomorrah. In these words lies the thought: “I don’t believe the rumor; I intend to verify with my own research, my own discretion.” These words contain an instruction to us, so that we do not quickly believe the words of those who slander and slander someone, that we do not rush to condemn our neighbor, punish and execute, so that we do not rush to the duties of severity and cruelty, to the craft and dignity of executioners, before we ourselves see and know with certainty what our neighbor is accused of. It is characteristic of feeble-mindedness, frivolity, characteristic of a weak, unexalted soul to hastily entrust itself to the words of slanderers, to be angry at the slandered person, to rush at him with vengeance and executions, without knowing about the slander, whether it is fair or not. Often the malice of the wicked is the beginning of an evil rumor, and the gullibility of the frivolous is the reason for the spread of this rumor. The malice of the wicked invents slander and passes it on to the frivolous and feeble-minded for sowing in human society, and sometimes an insignificant error, an insignificant sin turns into the greatest by adding untruth to truth, decorating the story with caustic ridicule and malicious assumptions. Thus, virtue is presented to society as a human sin, and a deficiency, like a twig, as a crime, like a log. Evil acts most of all in this way in order to cover itself: it casts a black cloak over the activity of its neighbor, is hypocritically seduced by this activity, hypocritically condemns it in order to present its own activity as bright. We need sobriety, we need caution, we need God-ordained judgment, so that a lie is not accepted as truth, so that the unexistent is not given existence, so that the insignificant is not turned into the enormous and the forgivable into the unforgivable. An evil rumor must be verified by one’s own judgement. By teaching us this, God presents His divine action as a model. The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah, He says, will increase towards Me, and their sins will be great. When I come down, I will see if, according to their cry that comes to Me, they are accomplished. As the All-Seer, He knew exactly the sins of the Sodomites and Gomorrites, but He imposes on Himself the action characteristic of limited beings, so that we act in accordance with our limitations, without delighting ourselves with the action corresponding to an unlimited being, whose hearing and sight cannot be mistaken, which is not subject to deception and deception. Having heard the cry of Sodom, God does not immediately stretch out his hands to execute, but precedes the execution with the most precise study of the case, although the case was known to Him in the most precise way even without the study. Abandonment of justice, the only basis for correct and truly good actions, was the cause of great atrocities. People devoted to vanity, who have not dedicated their lives to piety, the benefit of humanity, and pleasing God, constantly fall into this error. They do not know about the falsity of this principle, because they do not know and do not want to know the law of God. They do lies - as if they were true, they commit atrocities, thinking that they are doing great, good deeds, or at least deeds of justice. “Rule the way of fools before them,” says Scripture (Proverbs 12:15). 4. 199–201 In this whole circumstance, the only thing that is not good is that in a fit of ardor you gave your word before the Cross. Why not give this word with the fear of God and humility, as the holy Apostle James commands to do in such cases; he commands to speak like this: “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). Don't you think that a promise from an oath and an impulse turns out to be firm? No! It is from them that it becomes frail. The holy Apostle Peter gave at the Last Supper a sworn promise to die with Christ, and what was the consequence of this oath?... The Lord forbade sworn promises - he said that they were out of hostility. Exactly, “they are out of hostility”! They contain arrogance, the elimination of God, the revival of selfhood, carnal wisdom! In them, as St. notes. Apostle James, pride, praise, i.e. self-praise! May our words gain strength from the mighty Lord! May they be firm, as if they were founded on the rock of the Gospel Commandments! 6. 310–311 The holy books compiled by the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church are in our time the only path along which one can get to the true light - Christ. 6.657 “It is necessary to have Christian books,” said Saint Epiphanius of Cyprus, “one look at these books turns away from sin and encourages virtue.” Sacred books must be kept honestly, giving honor to the Holy Spirit living in them. Among the elders, known for their special piety and spiritual success, the New Testament is placed with the holy icons. 5. 18 (See Reading, Image and Likeness, Heretical Writings, Heresy). Your cross and the cross of Christ The Lord said to His disciples: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me” (Matthew 16:24). What does your cross mean? Why is this cross your own, i.e. separate from each person, together is called the Cross of Christ? Your own cross: the sorrows and suffering of earthly life, which are unique to each person. Your cross: fasting, vigil and other pious deeds by which the flesh is humbled and the spirit is subdued. These feats must be in accordance with the strengths of each, and each has their own. Your own cross: sinful ailments, or passions, which each person has their own! We are born with some of them, others we become infected with on the path of earthly life. The Cross of Christ is the teaching of Christ. Your cross is vanity and fruitless, no matter how heavy it may be, if through following Christ it is not transformed into the Cross of Christ. His cross is made for the disciple of Christ by the Cross of Christ, because the disciple of Christ is firmly convinced that Christ is vigilantly watching over him, that Christ allows him sorrows as a necessary and inevitable condition of Christianity, that no sorrow would come close to him if it were not allowed by Christ, that through sorrows a Christian is assimilated to Christ, made a partaker of His fate on earth, and therefore in heaven. His cross is made for the disciple of Christ by the Cross of Christ, because a true disciple of Christ considers the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ to be the only goal of his life. These all-holy commandments are made for him by the cross, on which he constantly crucifies his old man with his passions and lusts (Gal. 5:24). The cross is still painful as long as he remains with his cross. When he is transformed into the Cross of Christ, he receives extraordinary lightness: “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,” said the Lord (Matthew 11:30). A disciple of Christ then bears his cross correctly when he recognizes that it is the sorrows sent down to him, and not others, that are necessary for his education in Christ and salvation. Patient bearing of one's cross is true vision and consciousness of one's sin. There is no self-delusion in this consciousness. But he who recognizes himself as a sinner, and at the same time murmurs and cries out from his cross, proves that with a superficial consciousness of sin he is only flattering himself, deceiving himself. Patient bearing of one's cross is true repentance. From your cross, praise the Lord, rejecting from yourself every thought of complaint and murmuring, rejecting it as a crime and blasphemy. From your cross, thank the Lord for your priceless gift, for your godmother, for your precious destiny, for your destiny to imitate Christ through your suffering. Do theology from the cross, because the cross is the true and only school, repository and throne of true Theology. Outside the cross there is no living knowledge of Christ. Do not look for Christian perfection in human virtues. It is not there - it is hidden in the Cross of Christ. His cross changes into the Cross of Christ when a disciple of Christ carries it with an active consciousness of his sinfulness, which requires execution, when he carries it with thanksgiving to Christ, with the glorification of Christ. From doxology and thanksgiving, spiritual consolation comes to the sufferer; thanksgiving and doxology become the most abundant source of incomprehensible, imperishable joy, which bubbling with grace in the heart, pouring out into the soul, pouring out into the body itself. The Cross of Christ, only in appearance, for carnal eyes, is a cruel field. For a disciple and follower of Christ, it is a field of highest spiritual pleasure. So great is this pleasure that sorrow is completely drowned out by pleasure, and the follower of Christ, in the midst of the most severe languor, feels only pleasure. The cross is deadly for those who have not transformed their cross into the Cross of Christ, who from their cross murmur against Divine Providence, blaspheme it, give in to hopelessness and despair, unconfessed and unrepentant sinners on their cross die an eternal death, deprived of the impatience of true life, life in God. They are removed from their cross only in order for their souls to descend into the eternal grave, into the dungeons of hell. The Cross of Christ lifts up from the ground the disciple of Christ crucified on it. The disciple of Christ, crucified on his cross, philosophizes on high, lives in heaven with his mind and heart and contemplates the mysteries of the Spirit in Christ Jesus our Lord. 1. 353–356 Not crucified is not Christ's. 6.151 Whoever follows Christ, like the supreme Peter and the first-called Andrew, is destined for the cross. Whoever turns to Christ like a thief, his destiny is again the cross. In the first case, the cross is made into a crown, in the second it becomes a ladder. But whatever our circumstances, whatever model we fit into, it is impossible to be Christ’s without the cross. 6.173 The cross is a sign of God’s election, the seal of Christ. With this seal Christ seals His own! This sign is depicted on the beloved of God by the Angels of God Almighty! “If you see someone,” said the Monk Mark the Ascetic, “living a sorrowless life, in constant prosperity, know: an unmerciful judgment awaits him after death.” All the saints recognized it as an immutable truth that those who lead a sorrowless life are forgotten by God. Do not look, says one of them, for Christian perfection in human virtues: it is not here; it is mysteriously kept in the Cross of Christ] Whatever virtues were performed by the saints, they considered them incomplete and insufficient if they were not crowned by the Cross of Christ, not sealed, not witnessed by the seal of Christ. Those who will only walk the path, guarded by the cherubim, will have with them manuscripts sealed with the seal of Christ. 6.397 He who does not maintain the acquisitions granted by holy Baptism, by living according to the commandments, loses what he has acquired. “The indescribable and terrible glory,” says St. John Chrysostom, “delivered by Baptism, remains in us for one or two days; then we extinguish it, bringing upon it a storm of worldly cares and covering the rays with thick clouds.” Having come to life again through Baptism, we again kill ourselves by life according to the flesh, life for sin, for earthly pleasures and acquisitions. The Holy Apostle Paul said: “We are not of the flesh, but should live according to the flesh. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Wisdom for the flesh is death” (Rom. 8:12, 8, 6). The grace of Baptism remains without effect, like a bright sun hidden by clouds, like a precious talent buried in the ground. Sin begins to act in us with all its force, or even stronger than before receiving Baptism, depending on the degree to which we indulge in sinfulness. But the spiritual treasure given to us is not completely taken away from us until death, and we can reveal it again in all its power and glory through repentance. 2.56 Human nature is renewed through the Redemption. The God-man renewed it with Himself and in Himself. Such human nature renewed by the Lord is grafted, so to speak, onto fallen nature through Baptism. Baptism, without destroying nature, destroys its state of fall; Without making nature different, it changes its state, introducing human nature to the nature of God (2 Pet. 1:4). Baptism is both death and quickening - together burial and birth. The sinful damage of the fallen nature is immersed in the font of Baptism, the sinful damage of the fallen nature is buried and dies, and a renewed nature rises from the font; The son of the old Adam plunges into the font; the son of the New Adam emerges from the font. This is attested to by the Lord, who said: “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. He who is born of the flesh is flesh, and of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6). From these words it is obvious that the Holy Spirit, having accepted into the font of Baptism a carnal man, as man became after the fall, removes from the font the same man, but now spiritual, killing the sinful carnal state in him and giving birth to the spiritual. At Baptism, a person is forgiven his original sin, borrowed from his forefathers, and his own sins committed before Baptism. At Baptism, a person is given spiritual freedom: he is no longer raped by sin, but can choose good or evil at will. At Baptism, Satan, who resides in every person of fallen nature, is expelled from man; It is left to the will of a baptized person to either remain the church of God and be free from Satan, or remove God from himself and again become the dwelling place of Satan (Matthew 12:43-45). “By Baptism, the unclean spirit is cast out and bypasses waterless and faithless souls, but it does not find peace in them: for rest for the demon consists in disturbing the baptized with evil deeds - the unbaptized belong to him from conception - and he returns to the baptized with seven spirits. Just as there are seven gifts of the Spirit, so there are seven crafty evil spirits. When the devil returns to the baptized person and finds him idle, i.e. because of laziness, those who do not have the activity that resists the adversaries, then, having ascended into it, they commit evil more fiercely than before. For someone who has been cleansed by Baptism and then become defiled, there is no hope for a second Baptism: is there any hope for laborious repentance? (Explanation by Blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria of the given Gospel text). ...At Baptism, all people receive equality, because the dignity of every Christian is the same: it is Christ. ...A baptized person, doing good that belongs to a renewed nature, develops in himself the grace of the All-Holy Spirit received at Baptism, which, being unchangeable in itself, shines brighter in a person as he does Christ's good: just as a ray of sunshine, unchangeable in itself, shines brighter the clearer the sky is from clouds. On the contrary, by doing evil after Baptism, bringing activity to fallen nature, reviving it, a person loses more or less spiritual freedom: sin again gains violent power over a person; the devil again enters man and becomes his ruler and leader. Delivered from the sorrowful and difficult captivity by the almighty right hand of God, he again appears in chains, in captivity, in prison, in hell - of his own free will. A person is exposed to such a disaster, to a greater or lesser extent, according to the sins that he allows himself, and according to the skill that he has acquired for a sinful life. Sin that lives inside a person and rapes him is called passion. Passion is not always expressed clearly: it can live secretly in a person and destroy him. Spiritual freedom is completely lost if a baptized person allows himself to live according to the mind and will of the fallen nature: because the baptized person has renounced his nature and has committed himself in all actions, words, thoughts and sensations to manifest one nature renewed by the God-man, i.e. to live solely according to the will and mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, otherwise - according to the Gospel Commandments and teachings. Following one’s fallen nature, following one’s mind and will is an active rejection of Christ and the renewal He gave at Baptism. ...The Holy Apostle Paul said: “As many as you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). This means: those who were baptized into Christ received at Baptism, in Baptism itself, a gift from the Holy Spirit that acted on them: a living sensation of Christ, a sensation of His properties. But the freedom to arbitrarily choose the old or the new was not taken away from the baptized, just as the freedom to keep the commandment of God or to break it was not taken away from Adam in paradise. The Apostle says to those who believed and were baptized: “The night has passed away, and the day has come. Let us put aside dark deeds and put on the weapons of light. As in the days let us walk in good manners: not in slander and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sexual immorality, not in zeal and envy: but put on our Lord Jesus Christ, and do not indulge in carnal knowledge through lust” (Rom. 13:12-14). Having the freedom of choice, the baptized is invited by the Holy Spirit to maintain unity with the Redeemer, to maintain a renewed nature within himself, to maintain the spiritual state bestowed by Baptism, to abstain from gratifying the desires of the flesh, i.e. from evading the desires of carnal, spiritual wisdom. The words of the apostle have the same meaning: “The first man is from the earth with a ring: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Like the earthly one, so are the rings: and like the one who is heavenly, so are those who are heavenly: and as we have put on the image of the earthly one - for we are all born in original sin and with all the infirmities that were acquired into our nature as a result of the fall, which were revealed in Adam after his fall - let us also be clothed in the image of the heavenly one through Baptism, which gives us this image, and careful observance of the Gospel Commandments, which preserve in us the whole image, in its perfection and grace of the Divine” (1 Cor. 15, 47-49). To put on the image of the Heavenly Man, to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, to always carry in the body the deadness of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:10) means nothing more than to constantly mortify the carnal state within oneself by constantly remaining in the Gospel Commandments. Thus the holy Apostle Paul clothed himself and remained clothed in the God-man; for this reason, he could boldly say about himself: “I live not for anyone, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). He demands the same from all believers. “Or do you not know,” he says, “that Jesus Christ is in you? Are you really unskillful” (according to the Russian translation: “unless you are what you should be”)? (2 Cor. 13:5). A fair demand and a fair reproof! By Holy Baptism, the fallen nature in every baptized person is cut off, and a nature renewed by the God-Man is grafted into man. For this reason, Baptism is called in the Holy Scriptures the washing of regeneration, and life after Baptism is called regeneration (Tim. 3:5; Matt. 19:27). Every baptized person is obliged to reveal and develop a renewed nature in himself: this is to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ within himself as living, speaking and acting. A Christian who has not done this is not what he should be. 2. 376–386 Careful preparation is necessary before receiving holy Baptism. Careful preparation is an essential condition for the great sacrament to bear its fruit abundantly, so that it serves for salvation and not for greater condemnation. This is said to explain the sacrament and, in particular, for those who approach it not in infancy, at which, according to the circumstances of the present time, almost all of us receive Baptism. Preparation for holy Baptism is true repentance. True repentance is an essential condition for holy Baptism to be accepted in a worthy manner, for the salvation of the soul. Such repentance consists in recognizing one’s sins as sins, in regretting them, in confessing them, in leaving a sinful life. Otherwise: repentance is the consciousness of the fall, the consciousness of the need for a Redeemer; repentance is condemnation of one’s fallen nature and renunciation of it for a renewed nature. It is necessary that our vessel - I call the vessel the human mind, heart and body in relation to Divine grace - be pre-purified for the acceptance and preservation of the Spiritual Gift given by holy Baptism. It is necessary that this vessel not only be cleaned, but also inspected diligently; it is necessary that the damage existing in it, especially the wells, be carefully corrected; if they remain uncorrected, then the living water (John 7:38), poured into the vessel by holy Baptism, will not be retained in the vessel: it will pour out of it, to its greatest disaster. I call sinful skills wells. It is necessary that our Jerusalem be surrounded from everywhere, as if by walls, with good morals and customs: only then can our fallen nature be sacrificed and burnt offerings in the font of Baptism, and our renewed nature, delivered by Baptism, become an altar suitable for offering sacrifices and burnt offerings pleasing to God (Ps. 50:20-21). Without such preparation, what benefit can there be from Baptism? What benefit can there be from Baptism when we, accepting it at an age, do not understand its meaning at all? What benefit can there be from Baptism when we, having received it in infancy, subsequently remain completely unaware of what we have received? Meanwhile, we accepted an unappreciated Gift, took upon ourselves a terrible obligation; the responsibility for this obligation is as immeasurable and infinite as the Gift is immeasurable and infinite. What benefit can there be from Baptism when we do not understand our fall, do not even recognize that our nature is in a state of the most woeful fall? When do we consider the obscene good of fallen nature to be an elegant and pleasing good? When do we persistently strive to do this good, not noticing the fact that it only feeds and grows our pride in us, only removes us more and more from God, only strengthens and seals our fall and falling away? What benefit can there be from Baptism when we do not consider even mortal sins, for example, adultery with all its branches, to be sins, but call them the enjoyment of life? When do we not know that our nature has been renewed by Baptism? When do we completely neglect activities according to the laws of the renewed nature, and shower them with blasphemy and ridicule? 2. 390–393 Modern pastors have a sacred, indispensable duty to deliver an accurate and detailed concept of holy Baptism to those who received the sacrament in infancy and therefore have no experienced knowledge of the sacrament. They have received the Gift: a report on the use of the Gift is inevitable. Advance preparation for the report is necessary, extremely necessary! Careless and ignorant use of the Gift entails the most disastrous consequences. Whoever does not use the Gift according to the desire and command of the Giver, who does not develop the grace of Baptism in himself by acting according to the Gospel Commandments, but hides the talent entrusted to him in the ground - i.e. If he buries, buries the grace of Baptism, destroys all its effects in himself, completely abandoning himself to earthly cares and pleasures, the grace of Baptism will be taken away from him at the judgment of Christ. Its unworthy owner will be thrown into utter darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30)... Baptism is a unique Sacrament. I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins, proclaims the Orthodox Creed. Just as birth into being can take place once, so birth into re-being - Baptism - can take place once. Just as various ailments that befall a person at birth, slandering, shocking, destroying his being, are treated with various medicines that find their support in the vital force communicated with being, so various sins committed after Baptism, slandering and upsetting the spiritual life of a person, are healed by repentance, the reality of which is based on the grace of the Holy Spirit, planted in a person by holy Baptism, and consists in the development of this grace suppressed and muffled by sins. 2. 393–394 The state of the soul in which anger, hatred, resentment and condemnation are eliminated from it is a new bliss; it is called meekness. 1.519 You might be interested in: