The connection between asceticism and general eschatology in the work of St. Feofan "The Path to Salvation"

Annotation. In this article, the author examines and analyzes the work of St. Theophan the Recluse “The Path to Salvation” in order to find in it a connection between asceticism and general eschatology. In his theological works, Saint Vyshensky carried out large-scale and extensive work on analyzing and systematizing all the ascetic works he had previously written. One of the results of such work was the book of St. Theophan the Recluse “The Path to Salvation.” In this work, Saint Vyshensky offers the reader three stages in the development of Christian life in a person. Examining in detail each of the stages, he shows readers the path of spiritual growth of a person, where the beginning is an appeal to God, and the end is sanctification itself. The connection between asceticism and general eschatology in the work of St. Theophan the Recluse... 10 of man and his soul, in which the ascetic himself acquires readiness for the transition to eternal life and meeting with God. Summarizing all the above stages, Saint Theophan speaks of their close connection with the eschatological positions of Christianity, namely, the final fate of both the individual and the whole world. Abstract. In this article, the author examines and analyzes the work of St. Theophan the Recluse “The Way to Salvation” in order to find in it the connection of asceticism and general eschatology. In his theological writings, the Vyshensky saint conducted a large-scale and extensive work on the analysis and systematization of all ascetic works previously written by him. One of the results of such work was the book of St. Theophan the Recluse "The Way to Salvation". In this work, the Vyshensky saint offers the reader three stages of the development of Christian life in man. Considering each of the stages in detail, he points out to readers the path of spiritual growth of a person, where the beginning is an appeal to God, and the end is the sanctification of a person and his soul itself, in which the ascetic himself becomes ready for the transition to eternal life and a meeting with God. Summarizing all these stages, St. Theophan speaks of their close connection with the eschatological provisions of Christianity, namely, the ultimate fate of both an individual and the whole world. The merit of St. Theophan the Recluse, of course, is that he carried out extensive work on systematizing all previously written ascetic patristic works and presented them in a convenient, simple form, understandable not only for his contemporaries, but also for people of the 20th and 21st centuries. The quintessence of this teaching is set forth, as is known, in the books “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching,” “The Path to Salvation,” “What is Spiritual Life and How to Tune in to It.” This report will examine the stages of human spiritual growth and how the memory of the final destinies of the world contributes to this. St. Theophan identifies three stages of development of Christian life in a person: initial, that is, turning to God, then purification, improvement and finally sanctification, achieving perfection [4, p. 13]. In the first two stages, some steps can also be distinguished: in the first, first awakening from a sinful state, then confirmation in the determination to leave sin, devoting oneself to pleasing God, and this stage ends with the perception of God’s grace in the church sacraments of Repentance and the Eucharist [4, p. 141]. At the stage of purification and perfection, the action of grace also occurs progressively, as it is said in the Book of Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach: for first she will go with him along tortuous paths, bring fear and fear to him and will torment him with her guidance until she is confident in his soul and tempts him with her statutes; but then she will come out to him on the straight path and will make him glad, and will reveal her secrets to him (Sir.4:18-21). Here, too, three stages can be distinguished: the initial action of grace, felt by a person, then the period of its implicit, hidden action, which ends with the obvious, tangible for a person, perception of the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit [4, p. 324]. Thus, we see that the spiritual life of a person is a constant movement, ascent to his Creator, the desire to achieve the Unattainable. On this path, according to St. Feofan, constant “warming” is necessary [4, p. 408] spiritual life, for which there are many aids that the ascetic himself should use. One of them is remembering the eschatological perspective of our existence. Let us consider in order the steps of each stage of spiritual life. So, the first step in the initial stage of a lost person turning to God is his awakening from a sinful sleep [4, p. 142]. This occurs due to the influence of God’s grace on the darkened consciousness of man, the consequence of which is the overthrow of all the basic concepts of his former sinful life, based on multi-care [4, p. 133] in the vain world [4, p. 135] and the adoption of new value guidelines based on revealed truths. As a consequence of this acceptance, a new, divine order of the universe appears before a person’s mental gaze: God, who created the world, saves us in Christ Jesus by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Holy Church, and the ultimate goal of man’s earthly existence is “eternal, endless bliss in the future life” [4, p. 149]. However, we are prevented from following this saving path by various thoughts brought from the evil one, which must be driven away by the thought of future retribution. So, for example, the thought that you are not the only such sinner, but there are many others, and even worse, St. Theophanes advises contrasting the following argument: “and in hell, torment will not be easier because there will be many tormented there; on the contrary, won’t everyone’s suffering also increase there?” [4, p. 201]. Let us now consider the next step - affirmation in the determination to leave sin and devote oneself to God. One of the obstacles that arises here, according to the saint, is people-pleasing, which is expressed in the fact that a person is afraid to change previously established relationships with others, which, however, must be done because of the radically changed structure of his entire life. To overcome this fear of people, St. Theophan advises to confirm in your mind thoughts about God the Judge, citing the words of the Holy Scripture: whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, and the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels (Mark 8:38) [4, p. 252]. The feeling of standing before God in anticipation of the final verdict leads a person to a vow to completely devote himself to his Creator [4, p. 273, 276–277]. The stage of turning to God ends with a person’s participation in the sacraments of Repentance and the Eucharist. Next, we move on to the next stage of human spiritual growth - purification and improvement. At the first stage here, the grace of God first appears in the consciousness of the sinner only as a kind of “spark, seed” [4, p. 327], since all other powers of the soul are under the power of sin, but the one who decides to correct his life will have to work hard in this matter, but at the same time he will always be inspired by the thought of receiving the coveted reward - the Kingdom of God (Matthew 11:12). The initial action of God’s grace is manifested to a greater extent in the mind of a person; a new, unknown spiritual world unexpectedly appears before his mind’s eye, with completely different values, “the most important subjects here are: the omnipotence of God, the economy of salvation and the last four - death, judgment, heaven and hell. These are precisely the objects that Saint Tikhon of Christ commands all Christians to constantly remember from infancy to the grave” [4, p. 371]. Although initially this vision of the divine world order is given easily, at the next stage, when the grace of God acts in a person in secret, the ascetic already needs to take root in his consciousness the true idea of ​​​​the spiritual world and his place in it. Regarding these last four objects, which must be constantly remembered and which a person will encounter when finishing his earthly career, the following can be said. Firstly, St. Theophan here combines both courts in one concept “court”: private and general, and secondly, does not mention the general resurrection. Probably, the saint believed that these four concepts would be enough to have an edifying effect on the soul of the ascetic. It can also be noted that in his other works and letters he mentioned this work: “... remember the last - death, inevitable, but unknownly delightful; unhypocritical court The connection between asceticism and general eschatology in the work of St. Theophan the Recluse... 14 for every word, deed and thought; hell and eternal torment, without measure or end; The Kingdom of Heaven with unspeakable joys" [3, p. 117–118]. According to St. Theophan, the passage of this stage takes a long time, since here the main struggle with passions takes place, ending, according to God’s providence, with a tempting test, which can be called in the words of Holy Scripture “passing through fire and water” (Ps. 65:12). “Sorrows are fire, tears are water. This is baptism by water and fire" [4, p. 520], which St. Isaac the Syrian called it “tasting Gehenna” [2, p. 434]. In this state, a person already feels beyond the bounds of earthly existence: “there is darkness in the mind, a joyless longing in the heart, from above there is the aspiration of anger, from below there is a ready-made hell; a person sees himself perishing, hanging over the abyss” [4, p. 520–521]. In this way, a transition is made from the stage of purification to the stage of sanctification, at which the ascetic constantly feels the brevity of his life and is every minute ready to appear before his Lord and Judge. In conclusion, I would like to note that, according to St. Theophan the Recluse, remembering the final fate of both an individual person and the whole world is a necessary condition for a Christian at all stages of his spiritual life. 1. Bible. Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. M., 1995. 2. Isaac the Syrian, St. Word 79. Words of spiritual asceticism. Holy Vvedenskaya Optina Hermitage. Kozelsk, 2004. 3. Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian moral teaching. M., 2010. 4. Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. M., 1998.