The concepts of “Communion with God” and “Knowledge of God” in the soteriology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova)

Whoever knows that the human race is in decline, that the earth is the place of our exile, our prison, where, having stayed for a short time, we emerge to receive either eternal bliss or eternal punishment, he, of course, also knew that the only treasure of man on earth is Christ, the Savior of the lost. Consequently, the only and invaluable acquisition of a person on earth is the knowledge of Christ and assimilation to Christ. St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) 1. Communion with God is a fundamental need of man as a created being and the main motive of his religious activity. Not only the ultimate goal, but also the very essence of Orthodox Christianity as the correct image and adequate mode of human existence lies in ontologically real and experientially experienced communication with God 2 . When the goal of Christian life is formulated as knowledge of God, we are talking about the same thing, because knowledge in its original, biblical 3 and patristic sense means a complete connection with the “object” of knowledge, an experiential and holistic experience, and not an autonomous composition of an abstract-rational representation as a cognitive “model” of external reality (with the achievement of the greatest possible isomorphism of the model of reality of reality itself). In this sense, living and integral communication with God means knowledge of Him, and vice versa: knowledge of God is communication with Him. After the Fall, the knowledge of God becomes a matter of salvation, and therefore is already related to soteriology and asceticism and constitutes the subject of search for any believer: This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3) 4. Salvation is understood as the fullness of restored communion with God 5 . What has been said means that in genuine theology there are no “modules”: dogmatics and asceticism, mysticism and ethics 6 are not only interconnected, but also mutually deducible, interdependent 7 . Any real dogmatic system has its “application” to the practice of spiritual life - the practice of knowledge of God and communication with God - just like any ascetic teaching is based (often implicitly) on dogmatic premises and is nothing more than a guide for translating them (or the supernatural experience of their experience) into concrete actual life 8. On the other hand, ascetic practice always leads to one or another system of dogmatic views, which are a reflection of the mystical experience acquired along the paths of this practice. All these provisions, to one degree or another, are revealed in Orthodox hesychast, mystical-ascetic literature; they are also reflected in the liturgical texts offered to the “ordinary” believer 9, which form the personal spiritual experience of a Christian as an actualization of the conciliar experience of the Church. One of the key figures in the revival of the hesychast 10 tradition in Russia is St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) (1807–1867) – ascetic, ascetic writer, thinker. In his ministry of reviving the spiritual tradition, St. Ignatius was introduced not only by the practical study of patristic literature, but also by direct succession from the disciples of St. Paisiy Nyametsky (Velichkovsky). This was also a logical conclusion, the crowning of the future saint’s own spiritual quest—the search for true knowledge of God and communion with God—in the midst of human society, which had forgotten both about this goal and the right paths to it. Relevance of the study. The literary heritage of St. Ignatius is large and varied. However, despite intensive research into it in recent decades, it still still needs deep understanding and assimilation. First of all, we must admit that the vast majority of works on St. Ignatius concerns purely his ascetic instructions (which, without a doubt, is extremely important) and, moreover, does not go beyond the scope of description and practical-applied systematization, even at a high scientific level. There is very little actual theological, dogmatic and mystical research, and the generalization and systematization of the saint’s ideas about Communion with God in a soteriological context has not been sufficiently done at all. It is easy to notice that the sheer number of publications on the theological interpretation of the works of St. Ignatius is incomparably small in comparison, for example, with the volume of dogmatic works on St. Theophan the Recluse, who wrote at approximately the same historical time and on the same spiritual topics. Of course, St. Theophan, being also primarily a practitioner, plunges into purely “theoretical”, theological and philosophical questions much more often than St. Ignatius. In fact, St. Ignatius is all about practice, about real spiritual life with its difficulties and dangers. However, unlike the “Alexander’s” mystics 11, he builds his ascetic system on solid, completely consistent foundations, and these dogmatic foundations, being, in fact, those principles that in the asceticism of the saint only find practical expression and application, can well be reconstructed on the basis of an analysis of the ascetic teaching derived from them. Therefore St. Ignatius is no less a “dogmatist” 12 than St. Theophanes, although formal dogmatic “calculations” are given less often and more “in context”, as explanations and justifications for certain mystical-ascetic positions. Often they really need to be reconstructed on the basis of the practical instructions of the saint, where they are hidden, as it were, between the lines, or even generally derived from poetic, contemplative digressions. It is obvious that a certain role in the significant neglect of the legacy of St. Ignatius by systematic theologians, dogmatists and researchers of mysticism was also played by the fact that the teachings of the saint are sometimes perceived in an undeservedly simplified, reductionist way, viewed as purely ascetic, even as if giving rise to epistemological pessimism, denying all theological daring and almost the very possibility of Orthodox mysticism. We hope that the injustice of this interpretation will become evident as a result of this study. The dogmatic potential of the legacy of the Caucasian saint in relation to issues of soteriology and problems of knowledge of God and communication with God, true and false mysticism is naturally determined by the paramount importance of these topics for real spiritual life, i.e. for asceticism and Christian axiology, to which at first glance the works of the saint are devoted alone. The practical significance of the work lies, first of all, in the attempt to fill the indicated theological gap, in the fact that new material on the problems of dogmatic interpretation of mysticism and asceticism is introduced into scientific circulation. The direct connection between Christian theory and practice, unfortunately, is far from obvious to many practicing Christians, even to some theologians. However, it is the mystical component of the Orthodox faith and life that forms this connection, being correlated with the dogmatic teaching of the Church. So, for example, the question of the ontological possibility of Communion with God, as it was posed in the context of the Palamite disputes, only seems to be a scholastic abstraction that has no relation to everyday church life. In fact, a correct concept of Communion with God is essential for a Christian to correctly work out his salvation (cf. Phil. 2:12), which is very clearly shown by St. Ignatius. Unfortunately, it must be stated that, as in the time of St. Ignatius, and today, among many Orthodox people, spirituality either degenerates into ritual formalism and/or moralism, or deviates into delusion, often even with an open syncretistic “enrichment” of the Christian worldview and practice from false mystical doctrines. One of the significant reasons for all this should be recognized as a deficiency or distortion of ideas about the dogmatic foundations of ascticism and mysticism and about the direct, and mutual, relationship between the confession of faith and the experience of life. As noted by Metropolitan. Ambrose (Ermakov), a modern, ““Cartesian” and “Kantian” man” has lost the ability to “live in the open world.” Having become unable, unlike the man of the Middle Ages, “to go beyond his own limits, in the sphere of the knowledge of God he is limited only to the minimum of experience that his own reason provides him,” damaged by the fall 13. It seems that the study of the theological foundations of the mystical-ascetic teaching developed by St. Ignatius, can not only refute the unfair criticism of this teaching as supposedly some kind of decadent obscurantism, but also indicate the right guidelines for all those seeking the realization of the true meaning of their Christian existence 14. The revelation of the ontological and existential essence of Communion with God and the theological meaning of ascetic phenomena should not only have theoretical significance for theological science, but also revive and direct Christian life, become a response to the urgent needs of both the seeking mind and the believing spirit, and, we hope, help many to emerge from the crisis of spiritual “burnout” and “emasculation,” as St. martyr Mikhail Novoselov 15. In general, “any Orthodox theological research takes on meaning when it is directly related to our spiritual life. Only then can it bring real benefit to both the heart and mind of a believer” 16. In addition, this research should be of practical value in the sense that its results can be used in interfaith discussions (disclosing the specifics of the Orthodox worldview), in programs for the study, prevention and fight against mystical sectarianism, as well as in courses on “Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture”, religious studies and Russian religious philosophy. The object of this study is the texts of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov): articles, sermons, letters. The subject of the study is the ideas of St. Ignatius on the knowledge of God and communication with Him - in the general context of the soteriological and mystical-ascetic views of the saint. We can say that the area of ​​interest to us is the area of ​​intersection of theological epistemology 17 and soteriology, or soteriological epistemology. The purpose of the study is to present, as far as possible, the reconstruction of the holistic, systemic teaching of St. Ignatius about communication with God and knowledge of God, about communication with God as an epistemological phenomenon, about knowledge of God as a soteriological reality. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks determined by the goal: 1. First of all, to identify the meaning of the very concepts of “Knowledge of God” and “Communion of God” in the patristic epistemological tradition, and then the relationship with this tradition of the ideas of St. Ignatius. 2. Understand the theological and historical context in which the teaching of St. was created and developed. Ignatius, i.e. the sources of his ideas and methodology, as well as those currents of religious and philosophical thought and practice, in polemics with which his ideas and methods took shape and the criticism of which largely determined the specifics of his creations. 3. Analyze the anthropological foundations of the soteriology of St. Ignatius, defining the soteriological significance and features of the disclosure of the idea of ​​​​Communion with God in his system. 4. To reveal the internal, mystical content of salvation as a process of knowledge of God: changes in the state of man in his relationship with God (mysticism par excellence). 5. Explore the concept of Communion with God in its ascetic and ethical-axiological dimension, the current state of fallen human nature and the role of Divine grace in the spiritual growth of the ascetic. 6. In this regard, it will also be necessary to consider the issue of the epistemological dimension of suffering in the system of St. Ignatius. 7. It will also be necessary to comprehend the tension between the mystical boldness of the saint in relation to Christian hope and, on the other hand, the utmost caution of the practical methodology he proposes, which does not lead to the heights of contemplation, but exclusively to penitential action and the depth of humble self-contemplation. 8. Finally, to fully understand the teachings of the saint, it is necessary to touch upon some parallel ideas of his younger contemporary, also a representative of Russian hesychasm - St. Theophan the Recluse, because, revealing the same objects from different sides, both fathers complement and explain what was left unsaid by each other. The research methodology, as one would expect, is complex. For direct reconstruction, based on St.’s own texts. Ignatius, his epistemological-soteriological system uses systemic-analytical and immanent-textual (contextual) approaches, methods of the hermeneutic circle, mental modeling and systematization. They are combined with historical and comparative-synthetic approaches, designed, on the one hand, to understand the concept of the saint through contrasting it with the religious and philosophical “climate” of the era, on the other hand, to trace the connections and continuity of the saint’s teaching with the patristic, hesychast tradition, and also to better understand some of his ideas by comparing them with similar, but differently presented ideas of other authors, in particular St. Macarius of Egypt and Simeon the New Theologian and – separately – St. Theophan the Recluse. When interpreting and comparing the ideas of different fathers, we tried, on the one hand, to adhere to the maxim “The father does not contradict the fathers,” and on the other hand, not to close our eyes to some real differences in the expression of ideas and the construction of systems, while understanding that external and even systemic differences do not in the least refute the deep, essential unity of experience, which is revealed by a careful and unbiased comparison. Methods of induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis were used as auxiliary methodological equipment. Brief review of the literature. As already noted, the theological side of the teachings of St. Ignatius has so far attracted relatively little attention from researchers. It is enough to note that even in such a major work on asceticism as the work of S. Zarin (1907) 18, St. Ignatius, unlike other 19th-century authors, is not mentioned at all. The situation is even worse with the specifically dogmatic side (see below), in particular with questions of the knowledge of God. One of the first, and a very large, study about St. Ignatius - master's thesis by L. A. Sokolov, defended in 1915 in Kyiv and subsequently published as a separate book. As the title shows, 19 this is a fundamental work on the great saint, dedicated to his life and personality no less than to his teaching. The author strives to systematically present the latter in all possible completeness in the second part of his work, abundantly drawing on primary sources. In fact, this entire part is devoted to soteriology: the author rightly notes that it was spiritual salvation that was the focus of St. Ignatius. The author also very correctly grasps the meaning of Communion with God for the soteriological system of the saint, 20 who understood salvation precisely as the return of the fullness of Communion with God. In general, the work contains both enormous factual material and an encyclopedic overview of the personality, works and teachings of the Caucasian saint, who appears before the reader in all the greatness of the spiritual and moral beauty of his appearance, as a great ascetic and teacher. A slightly different assessment is offered by Rev. Georgy Florovsky in his “Ways of Russian Theology” (1937), where, as is known, of all Russian theologians, only St. Filaret of Moscow (Drozdov). Starting with the commendable, downright admiring performance of Bishop. Ignatius to his reader, Fr. George then quickly begins to exaggerate, attributing to the saint either “almost agnosticism,” or a shade of “disappointment, almost breakdown,” distrust and alienation; in the saint’s teaching on the materiality of spirits, the author sees “the influence of idealistic philosophy”, “romantic natural philosophy”, believing that the counter-arguments of St. Theophan the Recluse exhausts the question. St. himself Feofana O. George almost openly contrasts St. Ignatius as “the faithful and typical successor of the paternal tradition in asceticism and theology,” which St. He obviously does not recognize Ignatius 21. The two examples given partly outline two lines of reception of the heritage of St. Ignatius. While some consider him the greatest light and authority in matters of spiritual life and theology, others, on the contrary, criticize him, fearing his “impartiality” in relation to fallen human nature, not accepting the uncompromisingness of his teaching on repentance, and often exaggerating some psychological characteristics that are indeed inherent in Vladika Ignatius, but not at all to the extent and not in the form in which They are trying to present them, presenting him as almost a gloomy and evil obscurantist, a pessimist, an obscurantist, even holding him responsible for the troubles of modern Russian Orthodoxy. A good analysis and refutation of criticism from two modern authors - abbot. Peter Meshcherinov and priest. Philip Parfenov - can be found in the article by A. S. Prudnikov “The newest criticism of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov): The experience of apology” 22. We, however, will be interested primarily in the dogmatic views of the saint, so we will not indulge in an analysis of this controversy. Let us mention only one more critical study, since it directly concerns the issues of Communion with God and hesychasm. We are talking about the dissertation of Juris Doveiko “Ontological transformation of man in the theology of Ignatius Brianchaninov: critical understanding” 23. Written at a fairly high scientific level, this work, unfortunately, suffers from incorrigible bias and confessionalism. The author himself admits that his intention is to “deconstruct”, and not only the teachings of St. Ignatius, but the entire “hesychast type of spirituality,” which, according to the author, is a product of the destructive influence of Hellenism with its pantheistic mysticism on a certain primordial Judeo-Christianity and is now being imposed “on the entire Christian world as the only legitimate expression of the spirituality of universal Orthodoxy,” and “in the ideological interests of (Byzantine-Russian) Orthodox imperialism with the goal manipulate the minds of believers, supporting the Orthodox consciousness in the charms of messianism, isolationism and spiritual exclusivism”, and in general – “Greek-Russian national-imperialism, theocratic ambitions and ecclesiological terror” 24 (sic!). Mentioning works on St. Ignatius Sokolov, abbot. Mark (Lozinsky), prot. V. Dukhanina, prof. A. Osipova, the author proclaims that “they do not set themselves the goals of academically independent and critical research” 25. About the quality of the author's assessments of St. himself. Ignatius says at least the fact that the author draws “expert” judgments on Orthodox spirituality from Berdyaev, and the teachings of St. Ignatius even tries to psychoanalytically deduce from the psychological traumas he received in childhood, as well as the unfavorable spiritual climate of the era. Fortunately, a brilliant critical analysis of this criticism has already been given, in turn, by Rev. Pavel Khondzinsky 26. The only drawback of his article is its brevity, which, however, in no way diminishes the dignity of the content of the article and the accuracy of the characteristics. The author also manages to note the fact that “Russian theology of the 19th century was not spoiled by the attention of ... researchers. Perhaps, Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) was especially “unlucky” in this regard. It seems that to this day we have not written a single work about his theology that would contain not only description, but also analytics” 27 . These words were spoken in 2013. Returning to the “positive” studies of St. Ignatius, it is necessary to mention the abbot’s dissertation. Mark (Lozinsky) “The spiritual life of a layman and a monk according to the works and letters of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” (defended in 1969) 28, dedicated, however, to the ascetic, and not the dogmatic teaching of the saint. At the conclusion of the work, the author calls St. Ignatius “the glorious forerunner of original Russian ascetic writers and theologians: Bishop. Theophan the Recluse, schema-monk Ambrose and other Optina elders. Later Russian Christian writers in matters of spiritual life often refer to the works of Bishop Ignatius as an indisputable authority” 29. Let us add that great merit in popularizing the heritage and teachings of St. Ignatius in recent decades belongs, without a doubt, to Prof. MDA A.I. Osipov, who introduced many of our contemporaries to the great mentor of correct spiritual life (which is the path of practical knowledge of God). Dogmatic problems are necessarily raised in studies devoted to understanding St. Ignatius of artistic creativity, since here the questions about the state of fallen human nature, about the attitude towards it, about the quality of its inspiration, about the nature and very meaning of creativity in human life, about knowledge come to the fore, and all these questions are resolved only on a solid doctrinal and ideological foundation. This is the case with the work of A. M. Lyubomudrov (1996) “St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and the problem of creativity” 30. In 2000, he defended his dissertation “The Patristic Tradition of Smart Doing in the Spiritual Experience of St. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus” by Fr. Valery Dukhanin 31. In this work, although it is devoted to more spiritual-ascetic practice, the idea of ​​communion with God as the goal of spiritual achievement in the teachings of St. is very clearly conveyed. Ignatius and the manner of its achievement. In the article by A. Pomogov, “Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the significance of the Eucharist in the salvation of man” (2007) 32, the saint’s views on the greatest Christian sacrament are analyzed as a real opportunity to unite with Christ, to acquire the properties of Christ. R. Chistyakov’s thesis “The dogmatic views of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) in his preaching activities” (2008) 33 should also be of significant interest. Unfortunately, it remained inaccessible to us. It is impossible not to mention the article about St. Ignatius in the “Orthodox Encyclopedia” (Vol. 21, 2009). This contains a lengthy presentation of the saint's teaching, including the dogmatic foundations of this teaching. It is also noted that “in ascetic literature I saw not only a guide to achieving spiritual perfection, but also an important source for solving dogmatic issues, since he believed that only ascetic life, in particular monasticism, gives “active, living knowledge of man and God, as far as this knowledge is accessible to man”” 34. About patristic epistemology in general and, in particular, about some provisions of St. Ignatius is found in the article by A. G. Shustrov “Tasks of knowledge in Eastern Christian doctrine” (2011) 35, beginning with an important thesis: “In Eastern Christian anthropology, culture and knowledge coincide, since they correspond to the common goal of bringing man and all creation to God.” The author emphasizes that “for the Orthodox theory of knowledge, the problem of subject-object relations is posed differently than in secular science. The most important place is given to the subject himself and his qualitative state” 36. Elsewhere it is noted that “the modern reader, enlightened only by scientific works and the corresponding language, is practically unfamiliar with the extensive patristic literature in which these issues are dealt with and from which modern science is largely based. These provisions ... reflect the essence of the entire Christian Tradition in the relationship between God, man and nature” 37. Brief article by prot. Dmitry Sazonov “The Contribution of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) to Russian Domatic Theology” (2012) gives an overview of the dogmatic issues raised in the legacy of St. Ignatius, and ends with the words: “...we see that the works of St. Ignatius reveal to us the beauty of patristic theology. They raise the reader's gaze to grief, show the incomprehensibility of the almighty God, and, at the same time, His quiet presence in every human soul, His constant care and concern for each of us. His works revealed a “loving Creator” to many, and this love forced them to change their lives” 38. In the same year, A.P. Glazkov’s work ““The First Resurrection” in the historical and ascetic understanding of eschatological historiosophy: Vladimir Solovyov and Ignatius Brianchaninov” 39 was published, where the author examines the eschotological ideas of the famous philosopher in comparison with the teachings of the Caucasian saint. The following year, 2013, K. A. Vishnyakov published two short articles about St. Ignatius as a philosopher 40. The author notes, in particular, characteristic of St. Ignatius, as a representative of the “anthropological tradition of hesychasm,” the theme of man as a “microtheos,” as well as the theme of death, which brings the saint closer “to such thinkers as Lev Shestov and Valentin Sventsitsky” 41. In a rather voluminous article by novice Georgy Vinogradov, ““Mysticism of the mind” and “mysticism of the heart” in the light of patristic anthropology” (2013) 42, important issues of Orthodox mysticism are examined. The article contains several references to St. Ignatius in connection with his teaching about the deification of man, about communion with God and the universe of God. At the Feofanov Readings in 2013, a report was made by Hierarch. Mikhail Legeev “St. Theophan the Recluse and St. Ignatius Brianchaninov: emphasis on two approaches to the issue of restoring human nature" 43. It revealed from a comparative perspective the teaching of two saints about the natural-hypostatic existence of man in his (soteriological) relationship with God, and St. Ignatius, according to the author, is more consistent. It is also shown how the well-known contradiction between the saints on the issue of spiritual nature 44 is derived from the different emphasis on this issue. In the article by Hierom. Paisiya (Buya) “The Anthropological Aspect of Prayer in the Works of Saints Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov” (2016) 45 examines the issue of the action of the mind and heart in prayer, which also has dogmatic significance. "Soteriology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” is the name of the work of A. S. Mikhalenko 46 published in 2017, in which, perhaps for the first time, a theological, dogmatic systematization of the teachings of St. Ignatius on salvation. Having outlined the objective, or general, soteriology, the author moves on to the subjective, concerning personal salvation and expressed in the heritage of St. Ignatius in the form of his detailed ascetic teachings. Analyzing it, the author identifies two sides in spiritual salvation: negative, i.e. “dissolution of communion with the beginning of sin,” and positive, i.e. “restoration of communication with God” - between which there is a close connection. The negative side of salvation, i.e. self-denial leads to the positive, to communion with God, “as it were, prepares it. Salvation consists in communion with God, but whoever wants to achieve this must renounce himself” 47. This is a very important note. In the same year, the work of S. S. Konyaev “Comparative characteristics of the anthropological concepts of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and St. Theophan the Recluse” 48, in which epistemological issues are raised to a certain extent. In general, 2017 turned out to be rich in theological studies of the legacy of the Caucasian saint. It was this year that A. S. Prudnikov’s brilliant work “Knowledge and Salvation in the Works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” was released, very deep and original, decorated with interesting and original theological reasoning, parallels and conclusions. The author explores the epistemological potential of the theological and ascetic concepts and ideas of the saint, revealing completely unexpected meanings and levels of comprehension. The author very correctly notes that “the mournful and somewhat pessimistic nature of the teaching of St. Ignatius about the place of man in the universe, apparently, is not a pastoral preaching device, but an ontological truth.” The teaching of sobriety, struggle and repentance, “as the voluntary deprivation of earthly consolations, serves as a method for liberation from the many different lies that shield this ontological truth from a person” 49. The author understands that "personal Pentecost... is the main guideline in the theology of Bishop Ignatius,” “an experience both primary for the beginning of spiritual life,” acquired in Baptism, “and final (tangible assimilation by a person of the grace of the Holy Spirit),” and that Orthodox “epistemology ... is often identified with ontology, since knowledge in the hesychast context is aimed at the essential communion with Divine energies” 50. Here, however, the author admits that “this aspect of the problem of knowledge and salvation is not included in the scope of the dissertation research” 51. In general, he examines many topics related or similar to ours, but more in the light of knowledge in general, i.e. as an adequate understanding of reality, truth, and not from the perspective of the knowledge of God and entering into communication with God. The article by N. E. Titkova “The theme of repentance in the “Ascetic Sermon” of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” (2018) 52 is devoted to “the implementation of the theme of repentance at different levels of Brianchaninov’s artistic system” 53. In a report (2019) by Rev. Seraphim (Lopukhova) “The role of the Jesus Prayer in the process of Christian self-knowledge according to the teachings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” raises the issue of mystical self-knowledge that occurs in communion with God through invoking the name of the Savior. In this way, man is revealed to have his sinful nature and communication, its dependence on fallen spirits, which was a consequence of the Fall (which itself, according to St. Ignatius, was caused by incorrect, “godless” self-knowledge, human narcissism) 54 . A similar issue is raised in a short article by Olenich and Garazhi “The Role of the Jesus Prayer in Comprehension of the Mystical Experience of Knowledge of God and Self-Knowledge according to the Teachings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” (2020) 55 . In his article of the same year, ““The Champion of Orthodoxy”: on the legacy of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” 56 E. Ivanov suggests that the saint’s infrequent appeal to dogmatic issues is due to the absence of such a need in the church life of the saint today. At the same time, “holy dogmas constitute, as it were, the background of the thoughts of St. Ignatius; and, characteristically, he speaks about them from an ascetic point of view,” warning that an arbitrary sinful life inevitably leads to damage to the purity of dogmatic faith. The author also notes the importance for St. Ignatius of ecclesiological problematics, i.e. dogma about the Church. Finally, again in the same 2020, which, like 2017, turned out to be fruitful in terms of research on St. Ignatius, defended his master’s thesis by E. V. Mankevich “Specificities of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” 57. A very valuable and interesting monograph reconstructs and examines the mystical experience of the saint from a religious studies point of view and compares its “characteristic features with a number of basic concepts of religious experience in the psychology of religion” 58 . True, it should be noted that the author, apparently, overly absolutizes the approach of secular religious studies, which leads, for example, to the strange conclusion that the “nature of religious feeling” in St. Ignatia is “little characterized”, little differentiated “from the feeling experienced in an altered state of consciousness” 59. Therefore, the author characterizes the concept of the saint “in this aspect as inconsistent and not fully developed,” in particular due to the “doubling” of human mental movements - the opposition of “pure, spiritual experiences” and “blood experiences”, and the author of the study “is unclear whether they are coexisting or represent two degrees of a single experience” 60. Let us also mention the newest article by Hierarch. Paisiya (Buya) “The phenomenon of human suffering in the ascetic heritage of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov” (2021) 61, which, however, examines from the spiritual and practical side this important problem, which in this work we intend to consider from theological epistemology. This short historiographical review clearly shows that the dogmatic problems of St. Ignatius, and even more so his mystical and epistemological views to this day have attracted almost no attention from dogmatic researchers and the degree of development of the topic in Russian theology is critically low. In essence, only the works of Prudnikov and Mankiewicz, to one degree or another, seriously deal with topics that intersect with the topic of our research. Needless to say, this topic is discussed even less in foreign literature. “The legacy of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) remains practically unknown to Western researchers to this day,” notes E. Mankevich 62 . The few articles and books we found in Western European languages ​​are mainly aimed at presenting St. Ignatius and his teachings to the Western reader, who has recently become increasingly interested in hesychasm and the practice of unceasing prayer. Therefore, they give general concepts about the personality and life of the saint, about his significance as an “elder”, as one of the renewers of the hesychast tradition, and to one degree or another represent or expound some aspects of his teaching 63 . Let us mention here the works of E. Behr-Sigel 64 , I. K. Smolitsch 65 , E. Simonod 66 , H. M. Knechten 67 , I. Paert 68 , ep. Kallistos Ware 69, R. Čemus 70, S. Bolshakoff 71. In all these and similar works the teaching of St. Ignatius is considered from the ascetic and mystical side, often in a broad patristic context, but the dogmatic interpretation, which is the subject of our study, is not carried out in them. As supporting literature, on which the author of this study relied, we mention, in particular, the works of V.N. Lossky, prot. John Meyendorff, bishop. Afanasy (Evtich), also works on mysticism by P. M. Minin, prot. N. Karaseva and martyr. Mikhail Novoselov 72, articles by V. I. Kotsyuba and D. V. Smirnov. Our working hypothesis was that the entire ascetic-soteriological system of St. Ignatius, his entire practical teaching about correct spiritual life is built on a solid dogmatic foundation - on a harmonious, detailed concept of communication with God and knowledge of God, which determines the specifics of the saint’s mysticism and asceticism and which can be reconstructed from his works. The structure of the work is determined by the above-mentioned tasks and the very logic of the research. It consists of an introduction, three chapters devoted to solving these problems, a conclusion and a list of references. The first chapter gives a theoretical excursion into Orthodox, patristic epistemology (in relation to its main issue - the knowledge of God), then outlines the outline of the teachings of St. Ignatius on the knowledge of God and communication with God, the correspondence of this teaching to the patristic tradition is determined and its polemical orientation is analyzed (tasks 1 and 2). The second chapter is devoted to an analysis of the anthropological concept of the saint as the basis of his soteriology and theological epistemology, as well as an analysis of his mysticism, i.e. his understanding of the inner side of the process of restoring Communion with God as an experience of prayerful and spiritual life in the perspective of union with God and knowledge of Him; We study, in particular, those described by St. Ignatius, the phenomena of holistic prayer and the apophatic state (tasks 3 and 4). The third chapter reveals issues related to the methodology of entering into Communion with God, namely, comprehensive self-denial. Firstly, the significance of Communion with God itself for the possibility of a spiritual-ascetic life and success in it is explored, as well as the related question of the state of fallen human nature and its capabilities (task 5). Secondly, the question of the epistemological function of suffering in the system of St. Ignatius and about the meaning of his concentration on negative (repentant, self-denial, even nature-denial) feat - while insisting on the infinite height of man’s mystical-ontological calling (tasks 6 and 7). These questions are dealt with using the relevant provisions and reasoning of St. Theophan the Recluse (task 8). In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the scientific supervisor of the work, Abbot Adrian (Pashin), for his help and support, for consultations and valuable comments. Chapter 1. Knowledge of God and its mystical-ascetic dimension 1.1. Prolegomena: Possibility of Knowledge of God and Communication with God If the philosophical search begins with the question of how it is possible to know anything, then theology often begins with the question of how it is possible to know something about God. But on the other hand, as Lossky writes, “if the pinnacle of philosophy is a question, then theology must answer it with evidence that the transcendent has been revealed in the immanence of the incarnation” 73 . St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), as we will see, authentically accepted and applied in practice and applied the patristic tradition of theological epistemology to ascetic life. Therefore, it seems appropriate to begin our study with a brief summary of the main provisions of this tradition itself. 1.1.1. Grace and Mystical Theology Divine Revelation affirms as a given the antinomy of absolute transcendence and at the same time the immanence of God, His ultimate otherness in relation to creation and at the same time the fact of real personal contact, communication with Him. The first part of the antinomy presupposes the natural inaccessibility of God to the cognitive efforts of the creature, as well as the impossibility of any ontological relationship between them 74 . The second proposition asserts the possibility of both to a certain extent. The dialectic of the knowledge of God in the Orthodox Tradition is based on this paradoxically dual fact, which, as V. Lossky rightly notes, does not make a particularly “sharp distinction between theology and mysticism” 75, for God reveals Himself in personal communication, establishing Himself, however, even “in the immanence of Revelation ... transcendental to creation,” infinitely surpassing any experience of limited creatures and any concept, which “by defining, limits” 76. But this is exactly how real communication occurs: “true connection is possible only with a Person, and not with concepts, and only through Revelation on the part of God” 77. As is known, the antinomy is resolved (if only one can speak of resolution here) by the teaching that although inaccessibility is a property of the Divine essence, or nature, God Himself is greater than His incomprehensible essence. God enters into unity with creatures by His grace, or uncreated energy, which, due to its uncreatedness, is God, but at the same time is not His essence - divine actions, rays of the Divine, inseparable from the essence 78. By bestowing grace on creatures, God makes them partakers of Himself, for “grace in general means all the riches of the Divine nature as communicated to people; she is the Divine, acting outside of Her essence and giving Herself: the Divine nature, Which we partake of in its energies” 79. All the properties and powers of God do not constitute His essence, for “He Himself is the essence of everything that is with Him” 80. But at the same time, He is “wholly present in each of His abilities (powers),” which means that no matter how conditional our knowledge of God may be on the basis of His manifestations available to us, it is still not a subjective construct of our consciousness, but has an objective justification in God Himself and is sufficient for us to communicate with God and salvation 81 . Our knowledge of God is imperfect, imprecise, but not incorrect. “This teaching explains how the Holy Trinity can dwell in Its incommunicable essence and at the same time can, according to the promise of Christ Himself, “make an abode in us” (John 4:23).” While different from the Divine essence, the adoring energies are also different from the Divine omnipresence. Accepting them makes us “the abode of the Most Holy Trinity, inseparable from His natural energies, present in them differently, but as really as in His nature” 82 . Because of this, communion with divine grace becomes deification for a person. The considered provisions open the first of two complementary approaches to the question of knowledge of God and communication with God. This is mystical theology, apophaticism as a container of ineffable meeting and experiential knowledge, comprehension of God in super-mental union with Him 83, cataphatically supplemented by the theology of Divine names, correlated with energies accessible to our perception 84, the actions of God 85. At the same time, although both apophatic and cataphatic are deeply rooted in the biblical experience of God and the patristic tradition 86, apophatic concepts are recognized as superior and more perfect, the knowledge of God “not in what He is... but in what He is not” 87. Paradoxical as it may be, Communion with God would be impossible in principle if the Creator were not by nature infinitely “removed” from His creation. In pantheism, which does not know the fundamental difference between God and the world, it is impossible to talk about communication with the Divine. Thus, apophase ultimately represents the affirmation of the ultimate reality of the Other, and therefore the condition for the Meeting, for a true meeting is possible only between two different realities that are irreducible to each other. Let us remember that it was in the darkness of Mount Sinai that Moses came face to face with God 88 . Apophase requires the recognition of all one’s abilities of knowledge as insufficient, not only experimental, but also rational-speculative - however, this is precisely what eliminates the temptation to study God as an object, forces one to recognize Him always only as the subject of relationships. This leaves a unique imprint on all Orthodox asceticism and mysticism, giving them a completely exceptional character. “Thought must surpass itself in order to approach Him without naming Him: He must be known through ignorance. This is the only theology natural for a Christian,” writes Lossky 89. Without apophatic ignorance, positive (revealed) knowledge itself is impossible 90. This is the true specificity of Christian apophatism and its fundamental difference from the outwardly similar “mysticism of immersion” characteristic of Neoplatonism, as well as from the theory and practices of Eastern religions. “It is not knowledge, absorption or ecstasy, but His Revelation that unites us with Him. This “unity,” as Dionysius understands it, is possible only if God approaches man, speaking from His “unknowability.” This can only be discussed if God is not an abstract It or “One,” but a Personality. For philosophical thinking with its impersonal idea of ​​God, a problem arises here: How can a person enter into dialogue with “It”? A Christian, on the contrary, faces his God in prayer. For philosophy there is no personal Interlocutor in transcendence. With whom (?) or what is it possible to meet? With yourself? Aren’t all concepts products of human thought?” 91. 1.1.2. Christological basis of the knowledge of God We examined the first approach to revealing the problem of the knowledge of God, which consists in the dialectic of the apophatic and cataphatic paths and the doctrine of essence and energies. On the other hand, the fullness of God’s knowledge and God’s communication, accessible to creatures, becomes possible only through the fact of the Incarnation, in which man is given real access to the Divine through a supernatural Mediator - the God-Man, who in an incomprehensible way unites in Himself one “distant nature” - the Creator and the creation. “In Christ the incomprehensible is revealed and gives us the opportunity to speak about God, that is, to “theologize.” This connection... completes and confirms revelation as meeting and communion” 92. Unlike philosophy, which is based on ideas, “theology comes from a fact - from revelation: God (...) in these last days spoke to us in the Son” (Heb. 1:2), and therefore the beginning and end of theology is Christ 93. So, the second approach, concretizing the first, is a Christological confession - revealing the mystery of the Holy Trinity, introducing it into soteriology, projecting into sacramentology. True knowledge of God and union with Him is accomplished through knowledge of Christ and assimilation to Him in the experience and sacraments of the Church. Let us repeat: the second approach does not reject the first, but clarifies and elevates it, making it a reality from potentiality. Although the Incarnation, without a doubt, is related to the action of God outside, to Revelation - it, in fact, is Revelation par excellence - but it would be wrong to associate it exclusively with cataphatics. After all, apophatic knowledge is impossible without revelation; it presupposes the movement—descent—of God towards man (and not just man’s efforts at self-purification); but it is precisely in the Incarnation that this condescension appears to its utmost extent. In addition, the concepts delivered by the living knowledge of Christ can be both cataphatic and apophatic in nature, often even combining both of these aspects 94 . “Even the God of positive theology who descended from heaven in His Revelation remains inaccessible to any human touch. The only possible approach to Him is worship, this is the Liturgy, in which He embraces us, like the prophet Isaiah in a church filled with incense” 95. It is not for nothing that hymnography is a treasury of theology in Orthodoxy 96 . Therefore, the theology sub specie of the Incarnation cannot be considered as a kind of third path of knowledge of God, additional to apophase and cataphase, nor can it be considered a kind of cataphatic path. Above, we conventionally called it the second approach - but precisely in a methodological, almost didactic sense. In fact, outside of Christ and Christianity there is not only true cataphatics, but also true apophatics, for there is no real meeting with God. Theology “from the Incarnation” is, therefore, the only possible theology, and only in it do both paths of knowledge receive their meaning and their fulfillment. True theology, both positive conceptual and negative experiential, becomes truly possible only due to the fact that the Word became flesh and dwelt in us, and we saw His glory (John 1:14). 1.1.3. Cognition and communication. Pneumatological aspect Thus, the knowledge of God is realized along the paths of spiritual experience, ascetic and mystical, the door to which is Christ. The ontological nature of the knowledge of God 97 allows us to speak of it as communication with God, to correlate what the Church Fathers said about one and the other 98 . However, although these two concepts coincide in their facticity, in an intentional sense they should, in a certain sense, be distinguished. The goal of cognition is knowledge (albeit experimental), while connection is thought of “instrumentally”, only as an inevitable condition and mode of cognition. On the other hand, the desire for a personal meeting, for ontological communication, for communion naturally presupposes comprehension - but rather either as a means or as a consequence of connection and conceivable secondary to existential intention 99 . Communion with God, which a Christian seeks, is participation in Divine life, or, in the words of S. M. Zarin, an “organic community of life” with Christ 100. This communication turns out to be “higher-conscious”, because in addition to the conscious, it also includes “the pre-conscious, root, basic, natural sphere of human life” 101. Gnosis itself, even Christian gnosis, cannot be the ultimate goal of existence 102. And yet, the ontological nature of Christian knowledge of God still allows us to speak of it as a synonym for participation and, in this sense, as the final goal of the soteriological path. In this case, knowledge is understood as the total participation of a person in Divine life. Only taking this into account can one correctly understand, for example, the eschatological vision of St. Gregory the Theologian, who describes eating together with Christ in the Kingdom as a kind of epistemological apotheosis, consisting “for us to learn, and for Him to teach” 103, so that the Bridegroom will, “as I think, converse with the souls who entered the feast, teaching the most perfect, pure knowledge” 104. So, cognition through communication and communication as cognition. As already mentioned, the theology of the Orthodox Church must certainly be consistent with its liturgy (for the liturgical texts themselves are theology expressed in the language of poetry and mystical inspiration). As a question rather than a final statement, we dare to express the idea that the mystical-dogmatic significance of worship, which has already been discussed above, is determined not only by the doctrinal content of liturgical texts, but also by their purpose, and often by origin. In fact, these texts are intended for prayerful use, i.e. are a means, an “instrument” of Communion with God, in a sense – its substrate (for, in turn, their content determines the nature of the mystical experience, while, on the contrary, dogmatically dubious prayers risk leading the mind and heart to a false, delusional experience). Also, the very appearance of liturgical texts is often due not only to intellectual creative work, but also to real spiritual experience, the mystical experiences of their authors. Texts born from the experience of prayer, the experience of Communion with God, in turn, convey this experience and guide those who use these texts to it. In general, the entire liturgical life of the Church is the environment for the formation of mystical experience and mystical consciousness: “Through the Church, a person is formed as a mystic. Every Christian, starting from the baptismal font, is in mystical unity with God. This is the beginning of the path of knowledge of God - the path of spiritual perfection commanded by Christ (Matthew 5:31)” 105. Theological knowledge - even the highest, triadology - turns out to be the fruit of Communion with God, given by the influx of the Holy Spirit, cf. in the canon of Pentecost: “Thou hast poured out Thy Spirit upon all flesh, as thou hast spoken, richly, and being filled with all Thy knowledge, O Lord, for from the Father the Son was born incorruptibly, and the indivisible Spirit came forth.”106 About the Holy Spirit it is said there that He “knowledge... of the Word born... fire-inspired” states 107. This affirms the pneumatological 108 mode of Orthodox knowledge of God. Questions about the Holy Spirit and grace, which from the middle of the 9th century. begin to occupy a central place in theology, making the connection between theology and spiritual life especially obvious, and theology itself is here conceptualized as “the theology of mystical experience” 109, the theology of deification 110. But this means that the initiative in the theological search, as in Communion with God, ultimately belongs to God 111. With all the necessity of intellectual work for the recognition, comprehension and assimilation of dogmatic truths, this requires no less the internal experience of dogma through the experience of the mind and heart 112, cleansed of passions and healed of damage, becoming - or, better, made - capable of such perception 113. Without this, dogma will forever remain for the human mind as a kind of necessity imposed from outside 114. Prot. Oleg Davydenkov notes that at the highest level of a person’s assimilation of dogmatic truths, dogmas become for him a means of direct communication with God, like St. icons 115. Therefore, the struggle of St. fathers for the purity of faith has always been a defense of the truth of our salvation and deification, which constituted the personal experience of the defenders of Orthodoxy themselves 116. In his time, St. Petersburg especially insistently taught about the experience of soteriological doctrinal truths in personal spiritual experience. Simeon the New Theologian 117. Thus, through mysticism, theology becomes inextricably linked with asceticism 118. The following should also be noted. Orthodox mysticism is always soteriological 119: it not only crowns the process of salvation, but is also its manifestation, even its integral part 120. According to the thought of St. Simeon the New Theologian, salvation, understood as the restoration of communion with God, must be tangibly experienced in mystical experience: “There is only one confirmation of the effectiveness of salvation - this is the spiritual feeling of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, bestowed from God for the sake of faith on the spiritual power of the mind” 121. The mysterious contemplation of God as light is for St. Simeon is one 122 of the criteria for the correctness of spiritual achievement 123 and the reality of the achieved or being achieved Communion with God, the only possible mode of knowledge of God 124 . On the other hand, the criterion of soteriology makes it possible to understand why, for example, it is impossible to talk about genuine communication with God in the case of Cain after his crime or in the even more “programmatic” case with Adam after the Fall - despite the fact that in these cases some kind of communication (contact, dialogue) with God took place. Not every contact with God can be recognized as communication with God: although God’s call to repentance already contains the entire possibility of salvation, communication with God, but for its transition from potential to reality, a response movement on the part of man is necessary 125. There is no such answer in the cases mentioned, or rather, it is negative. The soteriology of Communion with God means its dynamism, for it presupposes development, an ascent “from strength to strength,” a process, not a state. We have examined (as an outline of the conceptual field and methodological inventory) the main epistemological provisions of Orthodox theology. It is always based not on theory, but on fact, real experience, but experience that obviously exceeds natural human capabilities. This determines the difference between the knowledge of God in the Church and any epistemological constructions outside it. The antinomy of transcendence and immanence of the Christian God, the apophatic mode of knowing Him and communicating with Him cannot be thought of outside the Christological moment, in which alone they acquire both meaning and the very possibility of their fulfillment 126. On the other hand, the very method of communion with the treasure of communication with God revealed in Christ again presupposes Divine participation in the human search, a beneficial effect on human cognitive abilities, i.e. the synergistic connection of man with the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is given in the sacraments and in general in the liturgical life of the Church, and develops in the mystical-ascetic life of each individual person. 1.2. The place of knowledge of God and communication with God in the system of St. Ignatius 1.2.1. General concept of knowledge of God and communication with God St. Ignatius is known primarily as a “practical” theologian, “a doer of repentance and prayer, and a considerable teacher” 127. He did not seek to create a dogmatic system, but his mystical-ascetic judgments and instructions make it possible to reconstruct clear doctrinal principles that underlie all of them and constitute a coherent, developed system of dogmatics, in particular soteriology 128. The idea of ​​knowledge of God and communication with God occupies a central place in this soteriology, giving it the character of theological epistemology. “The greatest, the only good for man is the knowledge of God. It is a sure guarantee of eternal bliss,” 129 states the saint. The importance for him of knowing the truth is evident from his conviction that “sin keeps a person in enslavement only through ... false concepts,” which consist in recognizing evil as good and vice versa 130. The saint calls the fallen archangel the father of false concepts - the cause of the eternal destruction of the soul; The concept of “demonic delusion” means precisely the acceptance of lies as truth 131. In general, fallen man is always in a state of greater or lesser self-delusion and deception 132. In the conceptual field of the knowledge of God in the discourse of St. Ignatius also includes the concepts of knowledge of God's will, knowledge of the cross 133 - all this is directly related to the comprehension of God and communication with Him. Another group of this field is made up of the terms Worship and Worship, which refer to human activities performed in the spirit and in the types of Communion with God 134. We are not talking about the cult side (it is a special case), but about the action of all forces and parts of a person in general - body, mind, feelings, spiritual movements - aimed at pleasing God by fulfilling His holy will and at assimilating Him - another concept that St. Ignatius soteriological content 135. What is striking is the synonymous use by the saint of the concepts of knowledge/assimilation to God and knowledge/assimilation to Christ, which already speaks of the Christological mode of his theological epistemology. It cannot be otherwise, since Christ Himself is the Divine Truth 136 and at the same time the only means of entering into communion with God: “Outside of true Christianity there is neither knowledge of God nor worship of God. It is impossible to approach God, it is impossible to enter into any kind of communication with God except through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator and intercessor, the only means of communication between God and people!” 137. But in Christ it is not theoretical knowledge about truth and grace that is given, but grace and truth themselves - they are presented not as an idea, but as a real communion with God 138 . Therefore, affirming the patristic principle: true knowledge of God and worship of God is only Orthodoxy, in which alone salvation is possible 139 - St. Ignatius also emphasizes the pneumatological point: the phenomenon of Orthodoxy for him is not limited to man’s relationship to God, but also includes the action of God on His faithful servant, the action of the Holy Spirit in man, which qualitatively changes the man himself. “Orthodoxy,” writes the saint, “is God’s glorification of man... by bestowing on him the grace of the All-Holy Spirit” 140. This action has both a soteriological and eschatological mode, moreover, experienced in the direct experience of the ascetic: “Eternal life consists in the diverse action of grace in the soul, which is felt as it is cleansed from passions” 141. The pneumatological experience consists in the transformation of a person into a dwelling of God by the Holy Spirit, who depicts and indwells Christ in him, imparting to him the properties of Christ and tangibly testifying to his union with God and his adoption to God, 142 which is identical to salvation. This is how super-rational knowledge of God and communication with God appear in the teachings of St. Ignatius as the joint action in man of the Persons of the Holy Trinity. The presence of Truth (i.e. the Son) is evidenced by the tangible co-presence of the Holy Spirit of Truth, who is consubstantial with Her and co-operating with Her (See: John 16:13), capturing Her action and guiding man to all truth (cf. John 16:13) 143. Saying that the incarnate Son of God revealed, explained, confessed God 144 and His will in the fullness possible for human comprehension, the saint stipulates that this comprehension becomes possible, a person becomes capable of it not by his nature, but by the action of grace, 145, in other words - supernaturally. It is obvious that this knowledge must be communion, communion, the experience of transcendence, and be of a super-rational, apophatic nature. Therefore, referring to the comment of the blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria to John. 17:6, 27 146, the saint writes almost in the spirit of the Areopagite: “The manifestation of the name of Him who is above every name is the most perfect knowledge of Him Who is above all knowledge. The highest knowledge, which appears from the sanctification of man by the Divine will, introduces into Divine love, into the union of man with God” 147. Thus, for the very knowledge of God, a preliminary influence from God is necessary; for ascending to unity with God, one must first receive some initial communion with God; in order to grow in communion with God, a person must already be in some kind of communion with God. This suggests not only that the initiative always belongs to God, but also much more: namely, that without a preliminary supernatural grant of grace to the fallen, i.e. for a person deprived of grace, his return to God by any of his own efforts is impossible - in other words: without the Church and its sacraments, salvation remains a dream, an illusion 148. We said that the knowledge of God, which St. teaches about. Ignatius, apophatic. In general, all of his ascetic sainthood is permeated with apophaticism. Prayer itself turns out to be a haven of apophatics. This is clear from the fact that communication with God does not come down to the mind, to communicative communication. Borrowing from St. fathers 149, as well as from my own spiritual experiences 150, teaching on holistic prayer, St. Ignatius states that ideally prayer is performed by the entire human being, including the body 151. Between theological apophatism and ascetic apophatism there is a real affinity, not just a connection or similarity; in fact, we are talking about the same experience, for theological apophatism consists not so much in the formal recognition of the insufficiency of human concepts for the knowledge of God, but in real super-intelligent communication, exceeding concepts and natural experience and occurring in a state of mystical ecstasy. On the other hand, the saint never tires of insisting on the spiritual and moral conditions of both knowledge of God and communion with God - on the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, which give a person a foretaste of eternal bliss already in earthly life 152. So, knowledge of God and communication with God play a fundamental role in the theological system of St. Ignatius. The saving essence of Orthodoxy is conceived by him precisely as the possibility of entering and remaining in communion with the Holy Trinity - the action in man of the Holy Trinity Itself. This communication, which changes a person, is also the knowledge of God, which is experiential, ontological in nature, and is by no means reducible to the rational sphere. 1.2.2. Sources of the teachings of St. Ignatius on the knowledge of God and communication with God There is no doubt that the teaching of St. Ignatius, outlined above in the most general terms, is rooted in Holy Scripture and St. fathers, mainly ascetic ones, in whose spirit he interprets Scripture, often interpreting it allegorically, in application to the inner life of the ascetic. In the first place for the saint is monastic literature: the fathers of the Philokalia, the creators of “smart work” right up to the hesychasts, such as St. Григорий Палама , прп. Gregory of Sinaite, Patriarch Callistus II and Ignatius of Xanthopoulos, Nikephoros the Solitary" 153. And Vladyka Ignatius himself was an organic successor of the hesychast tradition, which he adopted from the disciples of Elder Paisius (Velichkovsky). Patericon and hagiographic literature also constitute an important source of the saint's theological ideas 154. His spiritual and moral ideal was ancient Egyptian monasticism 155. The ascetic experience of Orthodox ascetics was of utmost importance for him when resolving dogmatic issues - as evidence of a living knowledge of God and man 156 (this also applies to the ascetic heritage of St. Ignatius, as we hope to show). Perhaps most often the saint refers to St. Macarius of Egypt 157, Climacus, Isaac the Syrian, Simeon the New Theologian; from Russian fathers - to St. Nil of Sorsky, Paisius (Velichkovsky), Seraphim of Sarov and others. The principle source for the saint was the divine service - that liturgical, hymnographic material that contains, in his apt expression, “a complete course of dogmatic and moral Theology” 158. He considered it necessary to create a theological system that was in full agreement with the truths proclaimed by the Church in worship 159. A special place is occupied by the spiritual experience of the living mentors of the future saint, in particular St. Elder Leonid (Nagolkin), written and oral “testimonies of persons who have experienced religious experiences” 160 (including wonderful ones), as well as the saint’s own experience, which he often refers to in his works. This experience helps him interpret both Scripture and the sublime sayings of the fathers. A significant, although controversial role in the formation of the ideas of St. Ignatius was helped by the secular education he received, which instilled in him respect for the exact sciences, especially mathematics, in which he finds criteria for making philosophical judgments about the nature of being, about God and His relationship with the world 161. As for philosophy itself, St.’s sharply negative attitude towards it. Ignatius is well known. However, it is precisely the philosophical systems of his time that are criticized by him, along with the foundations on which they are based. The very idea of ​​philosophical knowledge is not only not alien to the saint, but he even wants to see the creation of true philosophy based on positive sciences and genuine Christianity 162. In the data of mathematics, Bishop Ignatius finds consonance with the Gospel. Thus, in the conclusions of the theory of the infinite, he sees an explanation of Christian apophatism: the infinite difference between the infinite and every finite number, no matter how great the latter may be, illustrates, even confirms the transcendence of the Divine in relation to all created beings and His inaccessibility to comprehension of both the sensory and the rational (corresponds to John 1:18 163), the incomparability of the content of the predicate “existence” in application to God and to creation 164, and at the same time - the causality of God in relation to everything that exists (corresponds to John 1:3 165). The changeability of finite numbers indicates that in created nature there are no true beings, only phenomena, and only the infinite - i.e. God remains unchanging and is in the proper sense a being; whence it necessarily follows that God created the world out of nothing 166. “The Infinite, embracing all impressions, remains above every impression, otherwise it would undergo changes” 167 - let us remember this conclusion. We will see how this is realized in mystical experience, when a person, according to St. Ignatius, is above thoughts, above desires 168. It should be noted that in reality St. Ignatius does not at all base his teaching on natural scientific facts, but only uses the data of the sciences and philosophical conclusions from them to confirm his positions, to illustrate and apologetically “strengthen” the teachings of the Bible and Patrism. 1.2.3. Theological context of the teachings of St. Ignatius To understand the teachings of St. Ignatius on the knowledge of God and communication with God, it is necessary to keep in mind the historical context of his works, namely, those currents of religious and philosophical thought and practice with which the saint had to conduct constant polemics. In general, two opposite directions can be distinguished; let’s call them conventionally autonomism and (false) mysticism. The first direction is characterized by the reduction of religious activity to an external form and/or natural morality and in relation to the knowledge of God - akin to rationalism or deism: it does not seek a real, living connection with the transcendent 169. Polemicizing with this trend, St. Ignatius, one might say, continues the line of St. Simeon the New Theologian, who pronounces many admonitions and accusatory words against those who not only did not keep the commandments, did not acquire virtues and did not experimentally acquire grace, but also, for his own justification, teaches that this is impossible for man - at least in post-apostolic times. Such St. the father considers them heretics, superior to all ancient heretics, calls them atheists and antichrists, overthrowing the entire saving work of Christ 170. The second direction, on the contrary, is characterized by a arrogant and self-made entry into the world of the mystical, with a rejection of the authority of the Church. These are the ideas of “inner Christianity,” individual visionary thinking, and in essence, attempts to force God into contact with the human person. The latter can also take place in the church environment in the form of spiritual delusion, which in its essence is no different from the mysticism of Freemasonry and similar movements. Both directions, with all their opposition, converge in their anthropocentrism and explicit or hidden non-recognition of fallenness, the corruption of human nature, and therefore are fundamentally opposite to the hesychast, or philocalic, path to which St. calls. Ignatius. Many works of St. are devoted to criticism of anthropocentric mysticism. Ignatius, directed against extra-church or para-church “seekers of God,” more precisely, seekers of mystical experience, with whom St. also polemicized at that time. Theophan the Recluse 171. Although explicitly St. Ignatius mentions only Thomas a Kempis 172 and also Ignatius of Loyola 173 (and once in passing Klopstock and Milton 174), but in essence the subject of his polemic is generally the mysticism of the “Alexander” era, in the spirit of Fenelon, also K. Eckartshausen, J. Jung-Stilling, J. Boehme, etc., as well as N.I. Novikov, A.F. Labzin, etc. popularized them. 175. Characteristic features of this direction: 1) individualism, opposition of personal experience to the historical tradition of the Church, preference for “internal” religion with complete trust in any one’s own revelations and experiences 176; 2) eclecticism noted by Kotsyuba 177, meaning adogmatism 178 and syncretistic omnivorousness; finally, 3) mystical anthropocentrism, which actually recognizes man himself as the main initiator of mystical unity with God 179 and, on the other hand, actually attributes incomplete, even insignificant, damage to human nature. The fall and damage to nature can be declaratively recognized, but in practice a certain ability is seen in a person, independently, with the correct use of certain methods, to achieve high spiritual states, to unite with God - i.e. force Him to communicate. At the same time, Christ and the work of Redemption performed by Him turns out to be essentially unnecessary, or at least incomprehensible. Asceticism also turns out to be unnecessary as “the doctrine of the “active” period of human perfection, which must necessarily precede the period of spiritual contemplation” 180. The falsity of both the practice of (extra-church) mysticism and the “knowledge” delivered by this practice becomes obvious when compared with the teachings of St. fathers 181. In contrast to this trend, St. Ignatius insists that God’s entry into communication with man depends entirely on God, and that it is impossible to achieve it by any effort, let alone technology 182 . The only thing a person can and should do is to prepare himself through purification, again with the help of God, through repentance. In contrast to false mystics, the saint points to the Gospel 183 and the church sacraments as the basis of true knowledge of God, as the place of the promised presence of Christ until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), and to the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments as a means of achieving false mystical experience 184. Adoption to God in baptism, supported by repentance, and the closest unity with Him in the most frequent communion, nourished by life according to the Gospel - this is the true path to the vision of God, contrasted by the saint with religious dreaminess, the game of conceit and self-delusion, the premature and willful search for high spiritual states while continuing a sinful life. The latter path, associated by the saint with the daring invasion of the marriage of the Son of God “in the old, stinking rags” of passions, inevitably leads to a state of deep delusion and rejection from God, to the betrayal of the proud dreamer to the power of fallen spirits, to the deprivation of “the ability to live a life pleasing to God” (cf. Matt. 22:11-13). A necessary condition for communion with God is, according to the saint, purity, achieved by repentance, and humility. He who fulfills the commandments of Christ will see Him “in himself, in his properties,” without which a Christian, according to Apostle. Paul 185, cannot be considered to have reached the state appropriate for Christians 186. We are talking here not only about moral unity with Christ, similarity with Him in moral qualities; The saint himself reminds us that Christ, through His Economy, delivered to us His Divinity 187. Contrasting the dreamy, carnal, ecstatic “love” for God of false mystics (including Catholic ascetics) with the love that comes from doing the commandments, St. Ignatius agrees that its perfection is union with God, that success in it is “associated with inexplicable spiritual consolation, pleasure and enlightenment,” but adds that in the beginning it is necessary to “endure a fierce struggle” with one’s fallen nature 188 . The saint resolutely warns against any broadcasting of the truth within a person, etc. self-inflicted mystical revelations “before the manifest coming of the Holy Spirit - the destiny of the saints of God”, before the final preparation of the human “vessel” to receive the “wine of the Spirit”, from which the old wineskins burst (see: Matt. 9:17). The saint identifies the voice that the mystic dreamers hear with the voice of the tempter: you will be like gods (Gen. 3:5), and he recognizes the dreamers themselves as guided by vanity and sensuality, pride and insolence, and recognizes them as victims of self-delusion and frenzy. Only true humility protects against this, which manifests itself, among other things, in obedience to the Church, in the search for truth in the Gospel and in St. fathers (and not in one’s own fantasies), which itself grants a person a certain measure of communion “with the Holy Spirit living in the Gospel and the Holy Fathers” 189 . The saint insists on the indispensable guidance of St. fathers, without which the study of the Gospel ends in error for a person 190. 1.2.4. Controversy about the method. Practical apophaticism The main dispute was, as we see, precisely about the methods of knowledge of God and communication with God, and the extensive teaching of St. Ignatius on delusion was a criticism of the wrong method, the practical embodiment of apophatism, the application of a dogmatic principle to the practice of human spiritual life. In this regard, we do not agree with Rev. G. Florovsky, accusing St. Ignatius is almost in agnosticism 191. Even further goes Yu. Doveyko, who manages to find St. Ignatius “epistemological pessimism”, obscurantism and gnoseomachy 192, substitution of the New Testament “spiritual knowledge” and joy of the nearness of God - allegedly with “an abundance of fear” and “real alienation of believers from God” and, finally, completely unfairly attributes to him the actual division of people into “pneumatics” (“elite Christianity” in Doweiko’s terminology) and “Christian people”, only potentially capable “of spirituality, i.e. to climb the ontological ladder and reach the pneumatic level" 193. Indeed, the saint pays colossal, perhaps the greatest, attention in his creations to penitential self-purification, coupled with extreme mystical caution, critical sobriety - this negative side of spiritual work. However, the negation here is precisely apophatic, it consists not in the refusal of the experience of transcendence, but in the reshaping of the transcendent according to the patterns of the accessible, immanent, and, moreover, damaged, which has not even retained its original authenticity. This is not at all a refusal to know God, but prudence, which protects against counterfeits and is necessary precisely in order to one day achieve real experience 194. Two factors justify and determine the apophatic dominant in the mysticism of St. Ignatius – creatureliness and fallenness. The first of these factors is natural. So, for example, the saint constantly exhorts not to imagine during prayer and not even to accept images spontaneously drawn in the imagination - Christ, angels or saints - but to keep the mind “formless”. Expounding this classic 195 “philocalic” principle, the saint gives a justification completely in the spirit of St. Gregory of Nyssa: “The mind in prayer stands before the invisible God, Who cannot be represented in any material way. Images, if the mind allows them in prayer, will become an impenetrable curtain, a wall between the mind and God” 196. Wed. from the Nyssa saint: “Every concept, in accordance with some intelligible idea, compiled according to some natural understanding and assumption, creates an idol of God, and does not proclaim about God Himself” 197. Thus, the very natural status of man in the face of the infinite God requires, according to St. Ignatius, an apophatic approach to the prayerful search for Communion with God. But the limitations of the creature are aggravated in this search by the unnatural state of the fallen creature. Hence the second factor determining the apophaticism of St. Ignatius is the current state of human nature, its sinful corruption. And this, again, is directly reflected in the nature of ascetic practice: “Filled with reckless pride, the desire and desire to see spiritual visions with a mind that is not cleansed of passions, not renewed and not recreated by the right hand of the Holy Spirit, the unclean mind, wanting to see Divine visions and not being able to see them, composes visions for itself from itself, deceives itself with them and deceives itself” 198. Both factors interact, which, if ascetic apophatism is neglected, leads to delusion, to non-communication instead of Communion with God: “It is obvious that everything created by the dreaminess of our fallen nature, perverted by the fall of nature, does not really exist - there is a fiction and a lie, so characteristic, so beloved of the fallen angel. The dreamer, from the first step on the path of prayer, starts from the realm of truth, enters the realm of lies, the realm of Satan, and arbitrarily submits to the influence of Satan” 199. Absolutely the same principles are applied by St. Ignatius and to action in the prayer of the heart: desiring ahead of time to enjoy Divine sensations, spiritual sweetness and not yet having the ability to do so, it is forced to compose them “out of itself, with them it flatters itself ... deceives, destroys itself, entering the realm of lies, into communication with demons, submitting to their influence” 200. The mistake lies not only in the fact that genuine spiritual feelings come by themselves - after cleansing by repentance, but also in the fact that, belonging to the realm of the transcendent, they are fundamentally different from everything that a carnal and spiritual person can imagine on the basis of the sensations known to him and experienced by him 201 . In the fallen state of man, the only sensation acceptable in the invisible Divine Service 202 is repentant crying. “This sacrifice,” explains St. Ignatius, “a negative sacrifice,” the offering of a sacrifice of repentance eliminates all other sensations (with which a person thought to please God). The saint puts this reasoning into the form of an allegorical exegesis of the last verses of the 50th Psalm, saying that neither the sacrifices of individual feelings, defiled by the fall, nor the burnt offering of their totality are acceptable to God - only a contrite heart is acceptable 203. It is interesting that St. Ignatius does not make a significant distinction between the experience of delusion among Orthodox ascetics, the false mysticism of Catholic ascetics 204 and “non-confessional” mysticism of the Masonic type. In all these “alternative paths of spirituality” 205 he sees common characteristic features, one root: the absence of a repentantly humble worldview and mood, false goal setting, from the point of view of theological epistemology - a lack of apophatic sobriety; It is precisely from a state of delusion, says St. Ignatius, heresies arose 206. This explains the “undifferentiated”, sharply negative attitude “towards everything Western” that irritates some of the saint’s critics. In general, it should be noted that Vladyka Ignatius tends, so to speak, to look at the root, i.e. look for the causes of phenomena. Therefore, in his system there is no strict distinction between dogmatic, mystical and moral errors: between heresy, delusion, denial of the need to fulfill the Gospel commandments 208; He also includes here many phenomena in culture and art 209 - all these are the essence of phenomena of the same, ultimately, order. A man represents for St. Ignatius’ integrity, all aspects of his life are interconnected and influence each other. Critics see here some rigorism, even “religious intolerance” 210, but in essence we are talking about soteriological realism: if something in a person is damaged by sin, it must be cleansed and corrected. There is no point in cultivating something that represents illness and ultimately separates you from God. But the connection between heresy in the mind and moral and ascetic life is not exhausted by a simple analogy. The source of heresy is carnal wisdom, it itself belongs to the works of the flesh (see: Gal. 5:20); at the same time, it is a sin of the mind and is the fruit of pride, its essence is blasphemy and covert rejection of Christianity, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Its consequences are alienation from God, likeness to demons, submission to them; hence the darkness of the mind, the hardening of the heart, and heresy spills its poison even onto the body itself. A person loses the ability to have spiritual thoughts and sensations 211. In the area of ​​their “spiritual” life (and, accordingly, in their writings), heretics bring their refined voluptuousness, vanity, dreaminess, arrogance, which evoke sympathy precisely in people devoted to these same passions, and for those who do not understand the matter seem to be genuine spirituality 212. It is not surprising, therefore, that the morality preached by heretical writers does not exceed the morality of the old Adam, pagan morality, since the concept of Christian morality is inaccessible to their mind and heart 213. It is clear that in essence heresy and delusion are one. For someone rich in earthly learning, in order not to fall into heresy when studying Christianity, it is not enough to acquire theoretical knowledge about Christianity alone. He needs to “move from the state of the flesh and soul to the spiritual,” “put off the old Adam” and “put on the New,” receive an active, living knowledge of Christianity, a living, grace-filled knowledge of God. This is accomplished by fulfilling the Gospel commandments, fighting the passions and partaking of Divine grace 214. However, even from a “natural” point of view, it is clear that false concepts determine false activity: after all, as Vladyka Ignatius notes, all the powers of the soul and body, the whole life of a person is controlled by the mind - “the ruler, the king, the priest, the prince in the small world - in man” 215. The set of basic attitudes - true or false - constitutes the mentality of not only an individual, but also a society, and ultimately determines one or another civilizational paradigm. All human activity is the result, the product of his thoughts and heartfelt attitude. Thus, false activity leads to an epistemological error, just as it itself is a consequence of it. That is why for a Christian there cannot be neutral areas of life, at least spiritual and mental life; everything here has its own meaning, each phenomenon can either bring you closer to God or move you away from Him. According to this meaning, each type of mental activity must be verified according to those spiritual laws that are comprehended by correct Orthodox asceticism. It is not surprising that St. Ignatius calls for a careful and careful approach to works of art, as well as to the creative process itself, to test the sources of your inspiration, to monitor the purity and truth of both the form and content of the works. Culture and art, therefore, can very well be wrong, sinful, harmful, charming, demonic, and external, aesthetic beauty and talent in execution in this case only contribute to evil - the artist’s talent not only does not protect against this danger, but also works for seduction. The saint pays special attention to the conditions necessary for correct and beneficial artistic creativity, directed, as it should be, ultimately towards a spiritual goal. In this regard, artistic creativity comes closer to religious, spiritual activity, i.e. requires, like her, moral ascetic preparation, purification of the heart and grace-filled experience. It is impossible to portray goodness otherwise than by first acquiring it within oneself. Here we again notice the same apophatic principle: it is impossible to form an idea of ​​the unknown on the basis of known concepts. In this case, the amartological motivation of apophatism is especially manifested: a fallen, carnal, spiritual, sinful person is not able to imagine the image of being spiritual and holy. But since a person’s spirituality is ultimately determined and conditioned precisely by being in communion with God, produced by the participation of Divine grace, and this experience is precisely an experience of grace, supernatural, transcendental, then it is obvious that the basis of the principle of “creative apophase” is not reduced only to sinfulness, to the actual subnatural state of man, but also has a truly natural character. Man, precisely by nature, cannot comprehend the true, Divine good, for this good is above his nature - although, on the other hand (and this already constitutes the Orthodox anthropological paradox 216), man, precisely by nature, is destined for a supernatural being, for transcendental experience, the ability for which was implanted in his nature at creation. Continuing the thoughts of St. Ignatius, we have to draw the historiosophical conclusion 217 that entire civilizations may well be false - if the true meaning of human civilization is believed to be in an organized search for God and a return to communication with Him. Alas, most human civilizations did not meet this goal, and one can, together with Lossky, admit that in fact civilization is “a huge attempt to make up for the absence of God.” After all, the first to create it (cities, technology, art) are precisely the damned Cainites, who strive to forget God in their technical development and the power based on it (like Tubalcain - Gen. 4:22) or “replace Him with a festival of art, the languid consolation of music” (example of Jubal - Gen. 4:21). Here culture arises as the opposite of cult, “prayer that reaches nowhere because it is not addressed to God. The beauty generated by art closes in on itself and with its magic rivets a person to itself.” Such a culture is “a cult of some abstraction in which there is no One Present to Whom every cult should be addressed” 218. So, from the fact that St. Ignatius never tires of warning against the illusions of the experience of Communion with God; one cannot in any way conclude that he rejects the very possibility of such an experience. On the contrary, he demands it from a Christian, recognizes salvation without it as untrue, insists that the presence of grace in a person must be felt: “You must develop, feel, see salvation in yourself, without which faith in Christ is dead, and Christianity is a word and a name without its implementation!” 219. Here the parallel with the most sublime calls of St. Simeon the New Theologian. In this chapter we first presented an overview of the fundamental principles of Orthodox theological epistemology, identifying, among other things, its Christological and pneumatological aspects and outlining the key importance for it of apophaticism and mystical experience. The main point of tension here is the antinomy of the absolute, irresistible transcendence of God and, at the same time, the fact of the possibility of communication with Him. The doctrine of energies brings the mind somewhat closer to accepting this antinomy. But still, the main “breakthrough” into transcendence is the Revelation of God in the Incarnation (Christological aspect). It is the basis of any genuine religious experience, and the mode of this experience is the action of the Holy Spirit in man (the pneumatological aspect). The acquired knowledge is apophatic in nature, presupposes ascetic preparation and a mystical experience of internal transformation, and turns out to be identical to Christian salvation. Having then examined the beginnings of the theological epistemology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), reconstructed from his texts, we found their compliance with the specified principles. The ideas of knowledge of God and communication with God occupy a central place in the theological-ascetic system of the saint, in his teaching based on all aspects of Church Tradition, fixed and living 220. He also turns to the natural scientific knowledge of his time, interpreting it in a philosophical and theological vein. On the other hand, the teaching of St. Ignatius is formed in constant polemics with false epistemological attitudes - extra-church mysticism, spiritual delusions of seduced “God-seekers” - which helps the saint to develop a deep teaching about the false paths of spiritual activity, to take a critical look at secular culture itself, at the basic principles of life of 221 societies and peoples. The main errors against which St. rebels. Ignatius - human autonomism and frivolous, optimistic, arbitrary mysticism are two extremes, so paradoxically converging in their anti-Christian denominator. The saint contrasts this anthropocentric epistemological maximalism with his epistemological maximalism 223 - theocentric - with the real possibility of Communion with God, exceeding the wildest hopes of the fallen creature, but based on completely different premises, namely on humility, asceticism and participation in the sacramental life of the Church. At the heart of all the reasoning and conclusions of the saint is the idea of ​​​​a return to genuine, and not illusory, communication with God, recognition of the actual damage of human nature, which has lost the ability to communicate with God, and the confession of Christ as the only Mediator. What is expressed in the spiritual-ascetic sphere as humility, recognition of the lack of independence and limitations of man and the maxim of penitential deeds is projected onto the dogmatic plane as practical 224 apophatism - ontologically conditioned by both the creatureliness and the fallenness of man - which animates the entire mystical system of St. Ignatius. Having understood these starting points, we can now move on to the “positive” teaching of the saint about communion with God. Chapter 2. Return to the Creator: Soteriological dimension of the knowledge of God “Communion with God, granted to a Christian even during his earthly journey, is a guarantee of heavenly and eternal bliss,” writes St. Ignatius. “This pledge itself testifies to its fidelity, testifies so clearly and strongly that many, in order to preserve it, decided to submit to the greatest sorrows, preferring it to temporary life” 225. The saint understands salvation as entry into supernatural communication with God. But at the same time, this is also a return - although, of course, at a much higher level - to the original norm of existence, violated by the Fall. Thus, it was precisely the nakedness of the soul, its abandonment by the Holy Spirit, that was expressed, according to the saint, in the feeling of the nakedness of the body, which appeared in the first parents after eating the forbidden fruit 226. This is the relationship between the anthropological paradigm of St. Ignatius and his soteriological model, which reveals the soteriological significance of Communion with God and Knowledge of God, we will try to reveal in this chapter. To do this, we will consider the anthropological foundations of the saint’s theological epistemology and show how his soteriological system is built on them; then, expanding the perspective into the inner, existential-mystical depth, we will explore how all this is realized in the experience of an ascetic, in the experience of a mystical, prayerful state. 2.1. Anthropological foundations. Salvation as God's participation The significance of the knowledge of God and communication with God for the soteriology of St. Ignatius is determined by his anthropological ideas. Archim. Isaiah (Belov) sees their source in the teaching of St. Ap. Paul about man as a church 227. But this idea of ​​St. Ignatius develops, relying most, perhaps, on St. Macarius of Egypt 228. Precisely Rev. Macarius consistently pursues the antithesis - fundamental for Bishop Ignatius - of the presence of God and demons in man, of the communion of our very nature either with the Holy Spirit and Angels, or with demons 229. According to St. Macarius, after the Fall, on the throne of the Divine - our mind - as well as in the heart and body, the forces of darkness 230 sat and “the evil prince - the kingdom of darkness ... surrounded and clothed the soul with the power of darkness,” like a robe 231. 2.1.1. Communion with God as an anthropological norm Based on biblical 232 and patristic 233 evidence and his own spiritual experiences, St. Ignatius consistently 234 develops the idea that man is not an independent being, but a vessel, or “the God-created church of the Divine in soul and body” 235. Mystic-ascetic introspection 236 turns out to be an important source of such knowledge. From contemplating the presence of God in oneself, “the viewer and the visible merge into one”; but this does not lead at all to pantheistic dissolution; on the contrary, “man, who previously seemed to himself to be an independent being, learns that he is a creature ... a completely suffering being, that he is a vessel, a church for another True Being” 237. It is characteristic that this purpose concerns the whole person, including the body 238 (continuation of the tradition of St. Macarius 239), which, as the saint often reminds, is initially capable and even intended precisely for spiritual activity and enjoyment 240, for rejoicing in the Living God 241, for nourishment and enjoyment of Him 242. In this sense, the already mentioned teaching about holistic prayer acquires ontological and even eschatological 243 significance: in the prayer experience of Master Ignatius, the union of the mind with the heart draws the body into a new, theoretically incomprehensible, spiritual state 244, into the communion of grace, which is an experimentally experienced proof of the future resurrection of the flesh 245. In general, in Christianity, says the saint, it is precisely the return of those great goals, purposes and dignity of man that were given to him at creation and lost in the fall. Subject to change and not having in his own nature the source of his life (not only for his body, but also for his soul), a person cannot in the true sense be called a being; but it is difficult for him to recognize himself as a mere phenomenon 247 . The answer to the bewilderment of St. Ignatius finds at St. John of Damascus: “Man is a reflection of a being, and borrows from this Being the character of a being” 248. The Godlikeness of man appears in this definition from an unusual point of view - as an indication of the relative, conditional autonomy of the human being, whose existence is both independent and dependent on God, and it is only this dependence that determines the possibility of (certain) independence. “God, the only One,” continues the saint, “is reflected in human life,” like the sun in a raindrop, in which it, however, is only contemplated, being itself outside it 249, transcendental to it. Developing the doctrine of man as the image and likeness of God the Trinity 250, the saint never tires of resorting to apophatic antinomies: God Himself inscribed His likeness on man - being, at the same time, “above all likeness and comparison” 251. The perfection of the primordial, the completeness of its similarity with the Creator 252 were, in the understanding of St. Ignatius, an ontologically necessary condition for the possibility of satisfying the purpose of being the church of God. This happens if a person, with the three powers of his spirit, unites with the Most Holy Trinity and belongs to Her, namely: the mind of a person must become the mind of God, the word - the Word of God, the spirit 253 - be in unity with the Spirit of God. Then, through the indwelling of God, the created one becomes a partaker of the Divine nature (cf. 2 Peter 1:4), a god by grace 254, as Adam also appeared after creation 255. The image and likeness, upset by the fall, are healed in the Redemption, again through the restoration of threefold communion with God the Trinity: Truth (the Son) corrects thought, the spirit is given the ability to communicate with the Holy Spirit, who revives it from eternal death, and, as a result, “the mind enters into the knowledge and vision of the Father” 256 (N.B.: Knowledge of God as the fulfillment of soteriology). “The gift of creation becomes the gift of redemption” 257. Redemption grants the opportunity to perfect God's likeness so much that it becomes a union with the Prototype 258. This is confirmed by the appearance of obvious Divine actions in holy people 259. To explain the presence of God in the communicants of St. The Mysteries - in which the Lord is present with His Flesh and Blood and the Divinity united with them - the saint turns to the same image of the sun reflected in drops of dew. However, here he no longer reminds that the sun is only reflected in the drops, being actually outside them; on the contrary, it emphasizes that Christ, Light and Life, gives light and life to His participants, who themselves begin to radiate light 260. Thus, this poetic sketch shows the superiority of the redeemed state (actual union) over the primitive state (Godlikeness, potentiality). A philosophically thoughtful person can see confirmation of his destiny for communion with God in himself. “For complete satisfaction, and therefore bliss,” argues St. Ignatius, “it is necessary for the mind to be without thought, that is, above all thought, and the heart without desire, that is, above all desire” (the absence of complete bliss means that “desire is still active in the heart,” and this, in turn, means the absence of satisfaction). But neither contemplation of nature nor oneself can bring a person into such a state; only God can satisfy such aspiration and demand of the spirit. This amazing observation of Lord Ignatius that the experience of true bliss is associated with a certain absence (not destruction, but transcendence) of thoughts and desires - i.e., in fact, with a certain apophatic knowledge - is strikingly consonant with his mentioned indication of the Infinite being above all impressions (but embracing them) and with his descriptions of prayerful states, which we will see later. So, St. Ignatius insists that the normal and original existence of man is supernatural. Let’s call this the paradox of man: by his nature he is not just a potential abode for God, but by nature he also presupposes the actual dwelling of God in himself, without which man’s existence is incomplete, inferior, flawed - unnatural: “Man cannot help but be what he was created: he cannot but be a home, not be a dwelling... It is not given to him to be alone with himself, outside of communication: this is unnatural for him. He can be with himself only through the mediation of Divine grace 262, in its presence, under its action: without it he becomes alien to himself” 263. Therefore, immediately at creation, people received not only natural, but also supernatural existence through union with God, through the communion of the Holy Spirit 264 - Who is for the whole person what the soul is for the body: separation from Him is spiritual death, just as His return is spiritual resurrection for man 265. “The life of the body comes from the presence of the soul in it; the life of the soul comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in it” 266. The Savior's breath on the Apostles after the Resurrection 267, preparing for the reception of the Holy Spirit, testifies, according to the thought of Vladika Ignatius, that the first breath of God on the primordial 268 was also accompanied by the descent of the Holy Spirit on him 269. After the fall and deprivation - let's put it this way - of their natural primordial supernatural state, people passed on to their descendants their new state, already fallen 270. This means that, based on our current state and situation, it is impossible to draw any conclusions about the soul and body of the primordial ones, about the circumstances of their existence 271 . These dogmatic ideas have a direct practical application, an ascetic dimension. We are commanded, the saint teaches, tenderness, i.e. a feeling of mercy, compassion for oneself, for one’s state of destruction 272. But this state is experienced by those who feel it as a state of widowhood, loneliness, alienation from God, deadness in relation to Him due to communion with Him broken through sin; Without this consciousness, success in prayer and repentance is impossible, by which a person is strengthened to renew communion with God, 273 which is his direct purpose, the only normal mode of his being. Let us note that St. Ignatius likes to repeat: repentant crying for lost bliss is a reflection of this eternal bliss, evidence of the existence of bliss (for this crying cannot be consoled by anything else), finally, it is also a means of returning lost bliss, and therefore it itself is also bliss (cf. Matt. 5:4) 274. This is how theoretical principles explain spiritual practice, the correctness of which St. insists. Ignatius, and themselves are explained by it. 2.1.2. Antithesis of Communion with God and communication with fallen spirits As has been shown, man, according to St. Ignatius, is not capable of autonomous existence - communication with grace makes him himself. But man is endowed with freedom, and it is in his power to reject this divine destiny. However, in this case, he also does not remain within the framework of his own nature alone (this, as we have seen, is precisely by his nature impossible), but, of necessity, enters into involuntary communication with fallen spirits, becomes “the house and vessel of sin and Satan,” which leads to eternal destruction 275. The saint recalls the parable of the swept house 276. “The terrible fruit of the fall,” he states, “was the enslavement of man to the devil and inevitable confusion with him” 277. Having obeyed the enemy instead of God, the ancestors not only entered into communication with him, but also subordinated to him both themselves and the part of the universe entrusted to them by God 278 . The death of the soul that followed the Fall, St. Ignatius explains how the deprivation of the Holy Spirit, as it were, the soul of the entire human being, and abandonment to one’s own fallen nature, “entered into communication with the nature of demons,” which was followed by disunity and disorder of the constituent parts of man 279 . The saint associates this disorder precisely with the violent influence of the devil through thoughts and dreams, and through them through sensations, heated blood and arousal of passions 280 . In addition to thoughts arising from one’s own fallen nature, thoughts and dreams brought by demons 281 invade a person’s consciousness both in the waking state and in sleep, and if “in the thoughts and sensations of a fallen nature good is mixed with evil,” then “in demonic evil is often covered with good”; however, both are interconnected (by connection and communication between fallen spirits and fallen human nature), producing arrogance and absent-mindedness in prayer 282 . The mental fulfillment of passionate aspirations and the enjoyment of them supports in a person communication with dark forces and submission to them 283. According to the teachings of the saint, a long-term careless and sinful life produces in a person the death of the spirit, a complete loss of spiritual sensations - the so-called. insensibility. But here, too, we are not talking about just internal damage: having reached its development, insensibility is sealed with a seal consisting “in the communication of the human spirit with fallen spirits, in the assimilation ... of the impressions” produced by them, “in subordination to the violent influence and predominance” of them 284. However, sensory contact with demons is for the most part impossible for a person during earthly life. It is precisely to protect man from such their direct influence after the fall that God beneficially permitted a change in the body, putting on leather garments (see: Gen. 3:21) - coarse materiality, “whiteness.” Serving as a barrier between man and the world of spirits, this coarse materiality of the body prevents sensual communication with the spirits of darkness, which would quickly corrupt the human race completely, as already being enslaved by it and as having already acquired an attraction to evil in the Fall, and would reduce people to the state of demons themselves, with the loss of the possibility of repentance 285. So, having rejected communication with God and the Angels, man found himself in communication with demons, in the same category of beings rejected by God, participating in their fall 286. Delivering a person from them is a side of salvation, so significant that, according to St. Ignatius, “if there are no fallen spirits, then the incarnation of God has neither reason nor purpose” 287. The Savior grants “the grace-filled power to break free from the ranks of fallen spirits, to overthrow their yoke,” a sincere desire for which we must demonstrate and prove through spiritual struggle, or ascetic feat, which is “active acceptance of salvation” 288. The significance of fallen spirits is especially noticeable for the ascetic of prayer, seeking the restoration of communion with God: contrary to the rosy mystical expectations of ignorance 289, he, having withdrawn from the society of people, “will hear the hellish talk of demons” 290. Asceticism is an entry into the world of spirits, and the ascetic encounters in it primarily with fallen spirits 291, discovering not only the corruption of human nature, but also its captivity by spirits who stubbornly oppose the Christian’s attempts to free himself 292. Those beings to whose influence a person submitted in the life that preceded turning to God do not move away from him after he has abandoned gross sinful activities; they still stand around him, hindering his prayer in every possible way. This is the position of the ascetic St. Ignatius represents the image of the blind man of Jericho: having left the city, the blind man still cannot go far from it and from its noise - he is not able to get rid of acquired impressions, from sinful thoughts and feelings, to dissolve the internal connection with sin; the demons surrounding him forbid him to cry out to God - they interfere with prayer, fearing that it will free him from their power 293. In general, the anthropological and soteriological significance of Communion with God for man, as well as the significance for him (of course, negative) of fallen angels, as well as the relationship of these two factors, the Caucasian saint expresses as follows: “Our destruction was accomplished through the destruction of our communication with God and through entering into communication with fallen ... spirits. Our salvation lies in breaking off communion with Satan and restoring communion with God” 294. St. Ignatius pays enormous attention to this aspect of soteriology 295: in essence, communication with God is always opposed to communication with the spirits of evil. Without a doubt, such close attention was facilitated not only by personal experience of spiritual warfare, but also by the need to resist false mysticism, 296 which is precisely non-communication, and not just self-deception. 2.1.3. Communion with God and Salvation As already noted, St. Ignatius, in his understanding of salvation as communion with God, continues the line going back to St. Macarius the Great 297. This St. the father taught that salvation is achieved only through a person’s acceptance of “a good that is extraordinary for his own nature, that is, the power of the Holy Spirit” 298, while those who remain with their own nature cannot be reborn 299. As in the body, he said, “life does not come from itself, but from what is outside it, that is, from the earth; and without something existing outside of itself it is impossible for it to live, so the soul must borrow life - spiritual food, drink and clothing - not from its own nature, but from the Divine. Just as a body, left to its nature, collapses and dies, so “woe to the soul if it stops at its nature and trusts only in its own deeds, without having communion with the Divine Spirit, because it dies without being granted eternal Divine life.” Just as loved ones despair of a sick person when his body is no longer able to take food, so God recognizes a soul that does not eat the “heavenly food of the Spirit” as worthy of tears. This passage is also quoted by St. Ignatius 301. One can completely agree with L. A. Sokolov that salvation is portrayed on the positive side by St. Ignatius “as Communion with God: life in God, seeing God through the eyes of faith, feeling eternal life” 302. The negative work of combating passions prepares for the achievement of this positive goal; Salvation can, therefore, be understood both as a process of “struggle against sin and assimilation to the Redeemer”, and as a goal - “eternal bliss of Communion with God” 303. Salvation as entry into grace-filled union with God is for St. Ignatius is a state of bliss, the greatest spiritual satisfaction, “the highest ... and desired good” 304, the experience of which produces a complete revaluation of sinful and worldly values, devalues ​​in the eyes of a person all the benefits, all the interests of temporary life, together gives this life true meaning, creates a blessed eternity 305. The result of the Economy of Christ, the fruit of the blessing brought by Him, was, the saint writes, “the assimilation of the nature of God to human nature through the assimilation of human nature to the nature of God” 306, reconciliation, the adoption of people to God - and therefore, “the eternal bliss of people, exceeding comprehension, exceeding any desire”: instead of eternal torment in hell, they “ascend to heaven, to paradise, surround the Throne of God together with the cherubim and seraphim” 307. “Thou hast made Thy Father also our Father!” confesses St. Ignatius to Christ 308. This is the limit of general soteriology, and all this is a consequence of the fact that the Savior destroyed “on the cross the mediastinum between us and God” 309. But the same goal stands before private soteriology: the fruit of correct spiritual achievement should be “the renewal of the ascetic by Divine grace” and the infusion of the Most Holy Trinity into him 310. This is what leads to the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, without which neither union with God nor the vision of Christ 311 is possible 312. This is the meaning of asceticism: it removes obstacles to the action of quickening grace in us, for “Christ, the true Life, dwells only in those who have been crucified” 313 . Since humanity at its very root, in the forefather, was infected with sin and constantly partook of the poison from this root, it was necessary during the Redemption to replace this root with a new one, imparting life and holiness. The new Forefather of mankind - the Lord from heaven (1 Cor. 15:47) - became the Firstborn in the resurrection and ascension to heaven, the Father of the future century 314, "The ancestor of the holy tribe of the chosen." Our transition from the offspring of the old Adam, from being in his image 315, to the offspring of the New, into adoption by Him, is accomplished through a new birth in Baptism 316. He who returns after union with Christ to sin, through this, brings down into corruption, into defilement of Christ Himself, living in him 317. The sign of adoption is the acceptance of the Spirit of sonhood (Rom. 8:15 318), and if we really live according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, then the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16), i.e. grants a tangible mystical experience. This sign of St. Ignatius offers as a practical criterion for considering and assessing one’s condition, noting that such self-examination plunged the desert fathers “into the abyss of repentance and lamentation” 319, revealing the actual inadequacy of a person to his calling. The same is evidenced by testing oneself according to the commandments of the Gospel, failure to fulfill which deprives one of belonging to Christ and proves one’s lack of adoption as sons of God 320. These two criteria - mystical experience and life according to the Gospel - can guide a person to self-knowledge, to assess the authenticity of his communion with God 321. St. Ignatius consistently distinguishes between two concepts: a) salvation, necessary for everyone, and b) perfection, accessible to those who will 322. Assimilation of oneself to the Redeemer, communion with Him as Life and the Source of life is salvation, delivering eternal life and bliss 323. The saint defines Christian perfection as “tangible and obvious renewal” by the Holy Spirit of a Christian who died “for sin and peace on the Cross of Christ,” as a result of which a person “becomes a God-bearer ... the church of God and a Priest who officiates in this Church” 324. Both, as we see, presuppose communion with God, differing in its degree. 2.1.4. Theocentrism of the soteriological system of St. Ignatius Although spiritual life leads to perfection, perfection cannot be sought in itself, “as a special purpose of existence, separate from God,” for this is an affirmation of one’s “I”, opposed to God. The desire for God must be selfless - theocentric, therefore, instead of expecting grace and high spiritual states, one must seek the sight of one’s sins. “The essence of smart work is to seek living communication with God... to surrender all of oneself into the hands of God. ... That’s why we start doing smart work because it pleases God so much that we have moved away from Him, and our whole life is in Him,” summarizes Archpriest. Valery Dukhanin 325. Incorrectly directed work can, therefore, miss the goal, lead not to God, but to oneself (and demons), to delusion, and instead of salvation, bring destruction. The true goal and value of a person should not be bliss in God, but God Himself. The thought of St. has already been mentioned. Ignatius, that fallen man is widowed in relation to God and dead to Him. But in order for a dead soul to be able to “come alive for God and blissful eternity,” to feel revived by God, it is necessary to first die to the vain world. This primarily concerns the monk - the saint directly calls him a widow 326, for whom the world should be dead 327. This dialectic of life and death is very important for St. Ignatius: he often remembers the death of the human spirit in relation to the spiritual world “with the full development of life in relation to material objects” 328, as well as the fact that resurrection requires the destruction of one’s soul 329 - which, however, does not consist in the cessation of existence, but “in the destruction of self-love 330, which has become, as it were, our life” 331. The destruction of self-love is accomplished by self-denial: the mind must reject all its own understandings, plunge into poverty of spirit, wash itself with tears, soften with meekness, purity and mercy 332 - for the sake of accepting the mind of the Gospel; the soul must reject its own will and the desires of its heart in order to fulfill the will of Christ, no matter how difficult and unpleasant it may be for fallen man. Such death is the voluntary destruction of “death that lives in us violently.” Such death is a condition for receiving “the resurrection and life flowing from the Lord Jesus” 333. To reject dead life in order to be resurrected by a life-giving death - this patristic 334 oxymoronic antithesis best conveys the tone of the asceticism of St. Ignatius. But what is all this if not practical, active, vital apophaticism? It is not surprising that the leitmotif of the mystical-ascetic teaching of St. Ignatius is repentance. Let us see, what is its goal, what is the limit towards which this seemingly negative work is directed, for focusing on which some authors criticize the saint so much 335? It turns out that the saint attaches a positive, even epistemological meaning to repentance, the meaning and direct goal of which he sees not simply in the forgiveness of sins, but in returning access to God, in assimilating Him 336. Repentance for St. Ignatius is not self-criticism, not a denial of the joy of Communion with God, but, on the contrary, the cry of a soul that has lost Communion with God, separated from its heavenly Bridegroom, and not wanting to find (deceptive) consolation in anything else; but this is also a burning desire to return what was lost, a desire for this return. It is for this reason that all seductive counterfeits must be abandoned, everything that prevents the return. If through faith the knowledge of God that is possible for a person is granted, the mind is given knowledge that exceeds it, then “repentance introduces into the heart feelings of grace, alien to the fallen nature, teaches the mind and heart true worship”, the making of the only sacrifice acceptable by God from the fallen nature - contrition and humility of the spirit (Ps. 50:19). In this state, the human spirit “enters into communion with the Spirit of God, which is the renewal and salvation of man” 337. Thus, through faith and repentance, a person is awarded supernatural gifts, the knowledge of which is transcendental for the mind and heart 338. An attitude towards these gifts is possible only in the spirit of apophatism: they can be experienced experimentally, mysteriously contemplated, but this experience and this contemplation are incomprehensible to the mind, inexpressible in words, inexplicable in the categories of natural experience. In general, it should be noted that all states of grace, even only the initial ones, are described by the saint in an apophatic vein, often with a direct reference to Divine transcendence (which directly or indirectly indicates a direct connection, the unity of the processes of spiritual and moral growth and growth in the knowledge of God). Thus, he defines humility as “an evangelical virtue that unites a person’s strengths together with the peace of Christ, exceeding human comprehension,” the existence of which is accepted by faith, and it is comprehended only “experimentally as it is acquired. But even after acquisition,” the saint adds, “it remains incomprehensible” 339 - because it represents the property and action of Christ, which, being divine, are inaccessible to comprehension. Humility is acquired directly from Christ Himself, from His presence and action in man, which the saint confirms with the commentary of Climacus on Matthew 11:29 340 . Especially the actions and experiences of an already renewed human nature, born from living Communion with God and manifesting it, cannot in any way be reproduced by an unrenewed person - not only the “son of the world,” but even a pious Christian who has not yet received liberation from passions and power over his own heart. “The song of the Lord cannot be sung in foreign lands” (Ps. 137:4) 341. So, we are convinced that the central soteriological idea of ​​St. Ignatius is the entry of a man fallen and upset by sin, in the power of demons, whose nature, however, initially presupposes participation in the Divine life, into a new unity with God. This unity bestows the fullness of blessings, but it is itself the highest good, it itself is more important than all of them. However, on the other hand, these benefits - life, immortality, bliss - are not some external consequence of unity with God; they consist in it, reveal and manifest it, in other words: it is their content. The crucified Christ “has become fruit for us, bestowing eternal life on His partakers. This fruit and this tree are more excellent than those of paradise; those communicated immortality, and these communicated immortality and Divinity” 342. As for St. Macarius and Simeon 343, and for St. Ignatius, the ontological restoration of man and his union with God are not two different principles or stages, but different names for the same phenomenon. A return to the primitive paradise state without the return of God's participation is not only useless, not even simply insufficient, but it is ontologically impossible, because it consists in God's participation. Therefore, when the saint reminds that our Redemption was accomplished not by some higher, but created and limited being, but by the infinite God Himself 344, he does not want to say that the reason for this was only the difficulty of the matter and that only some kind of mechanical restoration of man was required; on the contrary, the context of these words shows that we are talking specifically about reunification with God Himself, about the replenishment of human nature with the nature of God, without which human existence is extremely flawed. Therefore, the only means of salvation is Christ, a means that not only produces salvation, but also contains it within itself. This anthropological concept, Rev. I. Meyendorff calls the idea of ​​“man as an “open being”” 345, “the “open upward” image of God” 346, characteristic of the Byzantine tradition of thought 347: man is theocentric by nature 348, “oriented towards ... growth in God.” For the theory of knowledge of God, such a dynamic concept of man means the unacceptability of the Western scholastic autonomy of human reason and the apodictic method in theology. The knowledge of God is accomplished by man ontologically, through transcending himself and “participating” in God 349. However, this is precisely the salvation to which a person rushes, having felt his widowhood, his alienation from God: “Whoever truly felt the poverty of Adam’s nature, who knew that it was in a sad fall and destruction: he, of course, at the same time understood and was convinced that for salvation a person needs to join Christ. Such knowledge is a sign of a true widow. She is allowed to enter into silence in order to remain in prayers and supplications day and night, so that Christ can be tangibly imagined in her,” 350, teaches St. Ignatius. 2.2. Restoring supernatural being in prayer experience “Cleave ... to the Lord by unceasing prayer, there is one spirit with the Lord,” 351 writes Vladyka Ignatius, adding that the Lord delivers those who have achieved unceasing prayer from enslavement to sin and the devil and becomes such, according to the word of St. Isaac the Syrian 352, the dwelling of the Holy Spirit 353. Indeed, prayer plays a key role in communication with God and knowledge of Him: “Union with God,” writes Lossky, “cannot be achieved apart from prayer, because prayer is a person’s personal relationship with God. The connection ... must be personal, that is, conscious and voluntary. ...In prayer a person meets God personally, he knows Him and loves Him. In the asceticism of the Eastern Church, knowledge (gnosis) and love are closely related to each other” 354. “Mystical experience, inseparable from the path of union with God, can only be acquired through prayer and prayer” 355. 2.2.1. The importance of prayer in the matter of knowledge of God It is unceasing prayer that St. teaches. Ignatius, makes a Christian capable of receiving the Holy Spirit, which is clearly seen in the example of the Apostles, who remained in prayer and supplication in anticipation of Pentecost (Acts 1:14). But on the other hand, the saint writes that the descending Spirit Himself made the Apostles - as He makes every person in whom He dwells - churches of God and churches of unceasing prayer. The saint justifies this with an allegorical reference to the prophet. Isaiah 356 and together with St. Isaac explains by saying that the Spirit Himself constantly prays 357. From these reasonings St. Ignatius, it becomes clear that prayer for him is both a means of entering into communion with God, and the very state of communion with God, which reveals itself precisely as a state of prayer (holistic, of course), and the source of such prayer is not so much the person himself, but God who has moved into him: prayer “is the action in man of the Holy Spirit” 358. When we call prayer a means, we, of course, mean this in an ascetic sense: as already said, the only true means of entering into communion with God is for St. Ignatius Christ Himself. However, prayer, in the understanding of the saint, is based on Christ. If the motivation for prayer is that man, as a fallen being, strives to regain lost bliss, then its possibility 359 is based on the propitiatory sacrifice of the Son of God, on His merciful recovery of sinners 360 . The essence of prayer is the sinner’s seeking the Savior 361. Prayer, therefore, constitutes a person’s response to the saving work of Divine love, the acceptance of this love. The teaching of St. We will analyze Ignatius on prayer not so much from an ascetic, but from a dogmatic point of view - as a teaching about the knowledge of God, about a living connection with God, or about seeking such a connection. Of course, one can distinguish between many degrees of prayer, but even at the initial stages, prayer is already communication with God 362, contact, otherwise it would have neither meaning nor effectiveness 363. So, we will attempt a dogmatic understanding of the “ascetic experiences” of the 364 great teacher of prayer. Let us note that doctrinal authenticity, correctness, churchly worldview, and evasion of false teachings are considered by the saint as the first and indispensable condition for the truth of prayer, the very possibility of communication with God; Thus, outside of fidelity to the dogmatic Tradition of the Church there cannot even be real prayer, for he who disobeys the Church becomes an enemy of God 365. First of all, it is important to understand that prayerful communication with God is not only “communicative” communication. The constant remembrance of Christ leads in some way to the acquisition of Christ within oneself, to union with Him, and through this, inaccessible secrets are revealed to man, the treasures of Divine wisdom hidden in Christ 366. It is obvious that, appearing only as a kind of “communication at a distance,” real prayer turns out to be an ontological connection 367, a channel that opens the influence of God on man (cf. the thought of St. Gregory the Theologian that man, through the desire for God, achieves deification 368). St. Ignatius calls prayer the highest occupation for the mind, moreover, introducing it not only into the highest natural, but also into a supernatural state of admiration for God 369. In his "Fatherland" St. Ignatius gives stories about Abba John Kolov, who was very successful in mental prayer, how he went into his cell several times in a row to take out baskets - and each time he lost himself in the admiration of his mind for God and spiritual vision 370. The saint picturesquely depicts how the human spirit, lightened by fasting, appears to the Sun of Truth and, immersed in the immeasurable contemplation of It, is enlightened and changed, just as material objects receive the light of the visible sun and then themselves begin to emit it. To such a spirit, hitherto unknown mysteries begin to be revealed; in creation, he begins to contemplate the omnipotence and mercy of the Creator, and in his feeling he tastes that the Lord is good 371. These instructions of the saint reveal, as we see, not only the ontological effect of prayer, but also the fundamental significance of bodily feat for the possibility of knowledge of God. Since the womb (the body in general) and the mind (and heart) are interconnected 372, then a person without fasting becomes carnal, i.e. incapable of worshiping God, “for spiritual thoughts and sensations,” loses “the ability to know God and serve Him.” The saint therefore insists that bodily fasting is a law not so much for the body as for the mind, and reminds: it was this commandment that preserved the primordial man, giving him the ability to “constantly stand before God in thought and heart” 373. 2.2.2. Invisible Worship Speaking about spiritual life and communion with God, St. Ignatius often uses the concept of invisible worship, performed in the “not made with hands, created by God, verbal church of God - man” 374. This is more than an allegory of prayer and the idea of ​​“open being”: for the saint himself, such divine service, in its perfection, stands even higher than church worship 375. Internal worship, having developed, acquires an eschatological connotation: already during earthly life, the coming city 376, “mysterious Jerusalem,” is revealed in the heart - and only in this case can a person confidently expect access to heavenly Jerusalem even after death 377. The invisible church not made by hands was created by God “for invisible, most sublime worship”; it is also a city “appointed as a monastery for grace-filled thoughts and feelings” 378. In the invisible church - man, in the sanctuary - his heart - invisible sacrifices are made to the God of heartfelt sensations 379. The idea of ​​sacrifice obviously presupposes not a one-sided conversion of a person, but also a reciprocal action of God, His acceptance of a person into favor, assimilation to Himself. It has already been mentioned that the only sacrifice accepted by God from fallen nature, the saint calls the “negative” sacrifice of contrition and humility, repentant crying; all other sensations are defiled and, before purification by repentance, before renewal by the Holy Spirit, are unworthy of God 380 - which neither humanists nor seduced mystics are able to understand. They try, as it were, to force God, who desires mercy, and not sacrifice (Matthew 9:13), offering Him sacrifices that He does not accept 381. The saint also uses the following image: just as the Law of Moses allowed for sacrifices to be made in one single place, so Christians are assigned only one place for prayer and other spiritual sacrifices - humility 382. In general, according to the teachings of St. Ignatius, prayer and humility mutually give rise to each other 383, for the gracious 384 action of humility and the gracious action of prayer are, in essence, one and the same action, manifested in two persons - “in Christ-like humility and in Divine love, which is the highest action of prayer,” the action in the person of Christ Himself 385. Genuine inner sacred action must be performed with the mind in the heart, but to achieve this, not only a long and correct ascetic feat is necessary, it is necessary to overshadow the ascetic with Divine grace. The mind, sealed with the seal of sin, entertained by the acquired ill-fated habit of thinking about earthly things, departs from the doors of the heart, not allowed to “present the King of kings in the sanctuary of the inner cage.” Only the Holy Spirit can restore the unity of mind, heart and body destroyed by the fall, and thus give the ability to holistic prayer; but He does this only in those who turn to God in weeping and consciousness of sinfulness. He who cries out in a prayer of repentance to the One who is able to have mercy naturally professes practical apophatism 386, feels himself blind, “not seeing the true, unfading Light,” deaf to spiritual reality, dumb, i.e. incapable of true communication with God. In this humbly ascetic mood, a person “expects healing from the Savior, Whom he does not see, Whom he does not hear, to Whom he cries out—except through his own distress alone” 387 . It has already been mentioned that such prayer, such a state are associated with St. Ignatius 388 with the initial prayer cry of the blind man of Jericho 389: the novice in the feat of prayer still prays with a prayer that is heavy, material, defiled, does not yet have, in his carnal state, “satisfactory knowledge of God” 390, “he does not know His name, he calls the Son of God the son of David: flesh and blood cannot honor God, as God" 391 . Premature receipt of gifts of grace, i.e. true and tangible communication with God and knowledge of God is not useful to a person, and it is impossible to reveal them in oneself through one’s own efforts 392 . Entry into the heart for perfect prayer “is granted exclusively to the mystical bishop, consecrated legally by Divine grace”; attempts to prematurely, arbitrarily connect the mind with the heart are not only fruitless, but also harmful, 393 and are doomed not only to failure, but are fraught with falling into delusion. St. Ignatius reminds, quoting St. Isaac, that seeking with expectation of gifts of grace is not at all a sign of love for God, but an illness of the soul; this starting point itself is false and already potentially contains the entire edifice of future charm 394. In general, the desire to enter into communion with God without pre-purification by repentance, which is characteristic of heretical mystics, is inspired by arrogance, vanity and refined voluptuousness and is regarded by St. Ignatius as spiritual fornication, characteristic of demons, and fornication not even only in the allegorical sense: a heart devoted to carnal voluptuousness tries to make God the object of it 395. Having rejected the necessary experience of widowhood, but having no opportunity to ascend to a genuine mystical marriage, the seduced mystic replaces it with poorly sublimated libido. Just as the church of God - man - can become a dwelling place for fallen spirits, so sublime worship in it can be replaced by serving an idol - the idol of the “I” 396, covered with the guise of serving God. There is both an open and hidden struggle for the church, for the sanctuary, and if a person commits treason, succumbing to temptations, then foreigners break into this church, desecrate and destroy it 397: having received power over the person and free access to him, they torment him, abuse him, drag him through the abysses of sin 398. In order for the mysterious manifestation of God to take place in the heart, life according to the Gospel commandments is necessary, it is necessary that the Gospel concepts, these disciples of the Savior, gather in the heart, and the doors of the heart are locked from the Jews - thoughts hostile to Christ and rejecting His teaching 399. “The soul of prayer is attention,” teaches the saint 400, “without it prayer is dead, it becomes idle talk, pronouncing the name of God in vain. The ascetic must try with all his might to pay attention, then in due time grace-filled attention will be given to him, which is the original grace-filled one, i.e. supernatural, gift. Only attentive prayer generates tenderness; both are gifts of the Holy Spirit, who alone “can stop the waves of the mind that scatter everywhere.” Bishop Ignatius quotes St. Seraphim of Sarov: “When tenderness is with us, then God is with us.” Attention demonstrates success in prayer, and the combination of attention and tenderness makes a person “a church of prayer, a church of God” 401. So, the attention of the mind during prayer, its complete turning to God is a part of Communion with God, it is a normal, correct state of mind - which, of course, is natural if a person is destined to be entirely the dwelling place of God. Thus, anthropology is again refracted into asceticism and mysticism. It turns out that even such a purely ascetic principle as attentive prayer 402 is based on the dogmatic idea of ​​Communion with God and serves as its practical expression. Another important obstacle to prayerful union with God and true knowledge of Him is (mystical) daydreaming, so characteristic of the seduced, so cultivated by Western mystics. The mind for prayer must be in a true state, standing before the invisible, unimaginable God, while any dream, any image is a product of the mind, a play of the imagination, therefore, by definition, it is self-deception, unacceptable in the search for God, overshadowing Him with itself, making the mind as if material. Moreover, the images that appear during prayer are of demonic origin 403. This logically follows from the fact that a person not renewed by the Holy Spirit is still alienated from God and the Angels, is in the power of demons - is able to see only them 404. “Those who do not see anything in their prayers see God,” quotes the saint, St. Meletia of the Confessor 405. The humility necessary for invisible worship concerns not only the nature of the ascetic’s self-view, but also his emotions 406. Heated blood and nervous exaltation are called St. Ignatius with unclean fire, which angers God - it is forbidden to bring it before God. Only one who has become a “mysterious priest of prayer” can fill his prayer censer with the sacred fire from the tabernacle of God - the holy love bestowed by the Holy Spirit 407. The saint repeats again and again that the blessings that God wants to give us exceed our cognitive capabilities; in a fallen state it is impossible to even imagine them. The entire vessel of a person, both soul and body, must accept them - but only those cleansed of passions. The saint represents this cleansing of the inner church from idols and the sacrificed to idols by images: the destruction of the priests of Baal by the prophet Elijah in the stream of Kisso - repentant lamentation; triple washing of the altar - from spiritual impurity with copious tears; the construction of the altar itself was solely based on the sensations of the Gospel, not from the sensations of the old man. On such an altar God sends down the all-holy fire, and the heart becomes a “church of grace-filled prayer” 408. 2.2.3. Holistic Prayer Genuine mystical experience is a return to the anthropological norm of existence, and this is the experience of a supernatural state of prayer 409. At St. Ignatius, it is characterized by two already mentioned phenomena - holism and apophatism - and in their mutual conditionality. In fact: holism means that prayer is performed by the whole being of a person, in other words, the whole person participates in the experience of Communion with God, and not just his mind; apophaticism, on the other hand, manifests itself in a participation beyond the mind and comprehension of a supernatural reality that invisibly fills - and at the same time silences - both the mind and feelings, embracing the whole person. The connection and interdependence of holism and apophatism in the experience of God’s participation also follows from the nature of the anthropological norm, which we above called the paradox of man, precisely from its ontological “openness.” The fact is that the unity and harmony of the human composition are both a natural norm for man and a supernatural state, for they are derived from the presence of Divine grace 410 in him, a state; the experience of grace is, by definition, antinomic and apophatic 411. However, the opposite is also true: the very movement towards God and union with Him become possible for a person only after his reunification with himself, after the healing of the ontological fragmentation of his composition, which occurred from the Fall. It is obvious that the integrity of man and the participation of grace mutually determine each other. “Learn to pray with all your thoughts, with all your soul, with all your strength,” St. commands. Ignatius immediately warns: it is impossible to find out what it is except through “blessed experience” 412, delivered by attentive prayer 413. Obviously, we are talking about the experience of holistic prayer (“mental, heartfelt and spiritual”), which, according to the word of the saint, is commanded to man in Scripture - for with it alone it is possible to fulfill the commandment of love for God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, with all the strength 414. “When prayer is overshadowed by Divine grace, then... the whole soul will be drawn to God by incomprehensible spiritual power, taking the body with it. The prayer of those who succeed in it is pronounced from the whole being. The whole person is made, as it were, through the mouth alone. Not only the heart of a renewed person, not only the soul, but also the flesh is filled with spiritual consolation and delight, joy in the living God... All the bones of a true prayer book say: Lord, Lord, who is like You? » 415. Holistic prayer embraces not only a person’s entire being, but also his entire spiritual activity, replacing it with itself: it embraces and combines “in itself all individual activities. Being an extensive work, it absorbs and combines in itself the entire life of the ascetic. Pure prayer is coming before the face of God. He who comes before God asks for insight and receives the grace-filled enlightenment of his mind and heart. He enters into true knowledge of God and worship” 416. So, the restoration of the unity of man - mind, soul and body, dissected by sin - is a return to the norm of his existence and a condition for his union with God 417, but the very union of man with himself is already a gift of God - the first of the spiritual gifts. To name it, the saint introduces the biblical 418 and patristic 419 term peace of Christ. A person changes in this state. He acquires pure prayer; Unbeknownst to him, his whole life turns into prayer. From union with the Holy Spirit he himself becomes spiritual and the secrets of Christianity are revealed to him. The Peace of Christ sovereignly, divinely controls all the thoughts and feelings of a person, makes him impregnable to demons, enlightens the mind, nourishes the heart, brings silence to the mind, “great silence” to the soul 420. Trying to explain the union of mind, soul and body produced by the peace of Christ, St. Ignatius insists that it is completely real, concrete and tangible 421 - and contrasts it with the state of fragmentation in which the nature of fallen man constantly resides, whose mind, heart and body act discordantly, often hostile to each other, producing internal struggle and torment, often unbearable. On the contrary, united by the peace of Christ, they are all enveloped in prayer, even the bodily senses are inactive, so that the body itself, “the very hands... legs and fingers, unspeakably, but quite clearly and tangibly, participate in prayer and are filled with power inexplicable in words” 422. This amazing action of God in man - his re-creation, reunification - is fundamentally different from delusion, i.e. the action of demons, which never unites “into one the parts and strengths of a person cut by sin,” does not liberate from enslavement to sin, does not immerse “into a state of peace sacred to the Lord” 423. On this criterion, St. Ignatius stops repeatedly. Unlike delusion, which always first tempts, the action of grace is always autocratic - like the action of the Creator and the indisputable Ruler of men. As the Creator, He supernaturally recreates intact nature, which was scattered due to the Fall, like an earthen vessel 424. The saint describes how, from the inexplicable touch of an invisible hand, he suddenly felt his reconstruction, revival, and experienced new, hitherto unknown sensations and spiritual movements; how passions, sinful thoughts, carnal and spiritual movements were removed, and the mind and heart became evangelical, Christlike; how “the mind, heart and body connected with each other, made up something whole, one; then they immersed themselves in God” 425. 2.2.4. Apophatic state Apophatic experience manifests itself, or rather, is described by Master Ignatius, as the antinomy of the absence and presence of actions new to man. These actions are immaterial, clearly transcendental in relation to sensory experience, and are not perceived by it. But at the same time, in a paradoxical way, inexplicable to the mind, they are tangibly experienced 426. Therefore, human language is forced to convey them by resorting to the same concepts that were just denied to them. Describing the effect of the real presence of God in his mystical experience, St. Ignatius emphasizes: “Divine action is immaterial: not seen, not heard, not expected, unimaginable, inexplicable by any comparison borrowed from this century; comes, acts mysteriously" 427. The saint is perplexed as to what to call the wonderful Guest who visited him, whose very coming he is unable to explain. As it should be, he wants to name the Wanderer according to His properties, according to the actions He performs in man; but these actions are paradoxical. There is an action of light, but there is no sensory perception of light: “I do not see light, but it enlightens my mind and heart above any word, above any earthly teaching, without words... in some strange way - this is how I will express the inexpressible - by touching the mind, or by an action within the mind itself” 428 ; there are no words, but there is a certain mysterious speech: “He does not utter any word... and together he speaks, teaches, sings wonderfully, mysteriously, with indescribable quietness, subtlety, changing, renewing the mind and heart” 429. He “has both a voice and an unusual word, speaking without words or sound and being heard mysteriously,” the saint testifies, associating this action with that described in John. 3:8 430 . “Shall I call Him fire? - St. reflects. Ignatius. – But He does not burn, on the contrary, He waters pleasantly and cools 431. He is a certain voice of thin cold 432; but every passion, every sinful thought flees from Him as from fire” 433. Vladyka Ignatius more than once emphasizes this paradoxical effect of the Divine fire descending into the human heart, which differs from the effect of delusion and material heating of the nerves. Divine fire “does not disturb the silence of the heart,” “does not scorch, does not heat the heart, on the contrary, it irrigates, cools it, reconciles a person with all people and with all circumstances, draws the heart into ineffable love for God and for neighbors” 434. In the experience of Communion with God, true knowledge of God is taught - “a new and at the same time ancient teaching, a Divine teaching, and not a human one” 435. “To learn the Kingdom of God means to acquire the Kingdom of God within oneself,” teaches St. Ignatius 436. It is obvious that the knowledge communicated is of an apophatic nature, as the saint himself writes in another place about the fruits of attentive prayer: “Then the mind sees without form, and completely satisfies itself with invisibility, which exceeds all vision,” and he himself explains the reason for “blissful invisibility”: “the infinite subtlety and incomprehensibility of the Object to which vision is directed” 437 . However, not only knowledge is apophatic, the very state into which a person is brought through the action of prayerful communication with God is apophatic. The saint often mentions a kind of reverent prayerful silence that comes to the mind during attentive, concentrated prayer, with a living feeling of the presence and immense greatness of God, giving rise to fear and wonder 438, with the appearance of “new, spiritual concepts, inexpressible in words of this world and age” 439 to the mind. This is more than a simple self-deepening of the mind, it is the immersion of the whole person, reunited with himself, in God. “What feeling surrounds me there? My whole being is enveloped in deep, mysterious silence, beyond any thought, beyond any dreaming, beyond any spiritual movement produced by the blood; my whole being is sabbathed and acts together under the control of the Holy Spirit. This management is inexplicable in words,” writes St. Ignatius 440. He theologizes about this mystical Saturday 441 and in his instructions on attentive and tender prayer, he sees in it the fruit of prayer, the result of gaining spiritual freedom from passions - blissful dispassion 442 . So, in the described state, not only the knowledge revealed to a person exceeds his mind and cannot be expressed; His own actions become inexpressible and incomprehensible to the person himself 443. His prayer itself is often performed “not with words, but with a prayerful silence that exceeds words” 444. With an obvious mystical experience, a person enters a completely supernatural mode of being, as the saint writes about this: “I remain as if intoxicated, I forget everything, I feed on unknown, incorruptible food, I am outside of everything sensible, in the region of the immaterial, in a region that is above not only matter, above every thought, every concept: I do not feel my body itself. My eyes look and do not look, see and do not see, my ears hear and do not hear; all my members are intoxicated - and I stagger on my feet, holding on to something with my hands so as not to fall, or I lie prostrate on a bed, as if in a painless illness and in relaxation resulting from an overabundance of strength.” As we see, Vladyka Ignatius never tires of resorting to antinomian expressions - obviously, because it is impossible to adequately convey and explain the ecstatic experience in the language of people. “The cup of the Lord, the cup of the Spirit, intoxicates with power,” he tries to convey the indescribable in the words of Psalm 445 under the image of intoxication. “This is how I spend days, weeks!.. And the time is shortened!.. A wondrous silence, enveloping the mind, heart, soul, rushing with all their strength towards God and lost - so to speak - in an endless movement towards the infinite, this silence is at the same time a conversation, but - without words, without any variety, without thoughts, above thoughts" 446. Let us pay attention to the last detail: the person himself (not only the comprehensions given to him from the outside) remains “without thoughts, above thoughts.” This incomprehensible inner silence is, obviously, precisely the state that, as we remember, the saint himself points to as a necessary condition for perfect contentment, bliss: a certain apophatic absence in the mind of thoughts and in the heart of desires, a certain transcendence of this very, seemingly completely natural 447 activity of the mind and heart. We also mentioned that this apophatic state of man is clearly consonant, clearly corresponds to the property of the Infinite, cited by the saint, to embrace all impressions and at the same time to remain above all of them 448. The saint considers the state of “thoughtlessness” and mysterious silence to be the most suitable for the perception of spiritual “secret visions” 449. In the apophatic state, a person ascends “to the height of Theology, at which ... it is like nothing, without thought, without desire, completely immersed in a wonderful silence,” which “is the exhaustion of all the forces of the human being, rushing towards God, and, so to speak, disappearing before the infinite greatness of God” 450. It is clear that holistic prayer and the apophatic state mutually determine each other as two sides of one phenomenon. In order to make, as complete as possible, a picture of the mystical state, as St. describes and explains it. Ignatius, let us briefly mention two more characteristic signs that, according to the teachings of the saint, distinguish the true experience of prayer and communion with God from the false one. Firstly, this is a spiritual and moral transformation of a person (next to and together with ontological transformation, i.e. the return of integrity). Suddenly appearing in the mind and heart “with unspeakable calmness,” Divine fire “gradually spreads throughout the entire soul, into the entire body, takes possession of them, removes everything sinful from them, stops the action of flesh and blood” 451. In general, the fruits of true prayer, the fruits of grace, are peace, quiet joy, wonderful calm, the absence of daydreaming and heated impulses, faith, courage, meekness, mercy, love for neighbors, not dividing them into good and evil, and the love for God that shines from it. All these gifts of God serve as an undoubted confirmation that prayer is accepted by God, and they provide “the beginning of the revival of the soul for God and blessed eternity” 452. On the contrary, the emptiness and dryness produced by absent-mindedness, followed by despondency, coldness, etc., are signs that such prayer is not accepted by God 453 . But, perhaps, the main, decisive sign, from the point of view of St. Ignatius, is a repentant and humble mood of the soul, produced by correct prayer and true communion of grace - which, however, is a necessary condition for achieving all this. If, as already mentioned, “prayer sacrifices are accepted by God” only from the altar of humility 454, then pride and conceit, expressed in the expectation of grace and spiritual pleasures 455, certainly give rise to delusion, i.e. a false mystical experience, which is not limited to self-delusion alone, but is quickly complemented and strengthened by the action of demons based on a person’s conceit 456. So, charm is rooted in pride - and it produces “abundant pride” 457. In contrast to this, the action of the grace of the Holy Spirit, attracted to a person by the consciousness of sinfulness and crying about it, produces in a person, in turn, even more abundant humility, diminishes the ascetic in front of himself, instructs him to repentance, to self-condemnation, allows a person to constantly mature his sin, opens to him the “terrible, dark, deep abyss of destruction” in which the entire human race lies from the moment of the Fall - with all this it prepares the fallen for re-creation 458. He who has achieved mental, heartfelt, spiritual prayer enters into a new life and new work, but this work, which combines all others, is “blessed, unceasing repentance,” manifested either in the form of deep crying of the spirit, or in “a feeling of the fear of God, reverence and tenderness,” and in those who are perfect, turning into love 459. So, repentance is the most essential criterion for the true experience of communion with God and knowledge of God at any level of perfection, 460 sharply contrasting it with any false mysticism. “Among the properties that distinguish holy men, it is noticeable that they always have their sin before their eyes, although it has been forgiven by God, they mourn it, as if it had just been committed and has not yet been worthy of forgiveness” 461. It is interesting that at high degrees of perfection, repentance already appears as a gracious, supernatural action of the Holy Spirit of God - Who, having settled in a person and becoming, as it were, his soul 462, “prays and weeps for him,” intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings (Rom. 8:26) 463. Communion with God is supernatural, supernatural, for the nature of the Creator is infinitely removed from the nature of the creature. But at the same time, it is also natural - in the sense that it is conditioned by the nature of man, and it is conditioned in two senses: man by nature is capable of communication with God and by nature he needs communication with God. Both are expressed by the idea of ​​man as a vessel, a church for the Divine. But if the first is relatively acceptable logically, then the second is an unambiguous antinomy, or, as we called it, the “paradox of man.” This paradox lies in the fact that a person is complete by nature only when his being exceeds his own nature; he can be himself only in union with God. Despite his own nature, he is in a state that is unnatural and unnatural for himself; at the same time, instead of God, demons settle in it and possess it. The salvation of fallen man lies, therefore, in the expulsion of demons and the restoration of communication with God. In such a state that is supernatural for himself, a person will exist in accordance with his nature, satisfy the purpose of his existence. This salvation is accomplished through Christ and in Christ, and is realized in a state of grace-filled prayer. In prayer, a person is reunited both with himself and with God, and both are mutually conditioned. It is characteristic that the body has been destined for spirituality and participation in God from time immemorial. Therefore, it also participates in prayerful communication with God, and the action of grace extends to it 464. Being holistic, such an experience of Communion with God can naturally only be apophatic; all the more so because of the transcendence of Him with whom man enters into union and communion. The very state of mind and heart then turns out to be apophatic - in the sense in which the prot. G. Florovsky speaks of the “ecstasy of thoughtlessness” in St. Gregory of Nyssa 465. The mind and heart are immersed in a mysterious silence that exceeds thoughts, feelings and desires, together they remain as if intoxicated by the excess of an incomprehensible and inexpressible connection and communication. The criterion for the truth of an experience, which sharply distinguishes it from demonic delusion, is - in addition to the Church-Orthodox worldview, in addition to the ontological reconciliation of a person with himself and the moral transformation of the soul - deep repentance, self-abasement, crying before God 466. These are not only the conditions for the possibility of correct experience, but also a characteristic consequence and manifestation of it, the action not so much of the person himself, but the action in him and with him of God Himself. Likewise, prayer itself, beginning as a person’s desire for God, reveals itself and blossoms as the action of God present in man, who has become from a potential person an actual church of God. Correlating with the idea of ​​man as a church is the idea of ​​internal worship. The mind becomes the bishop of the heart, which was the life goal and spiritual ideal of Vladyka Ignatius himself 467. So, prayer and repentance from St. Ignatius - concepts are as epistemological as they are soteriological, their end is the entrance “to the kingdom of God, which is within us. Entry into the kingdom of heaven, which is planted in the heart of every Christian through holy baptism, is the development of this kingdom through the action of the Holy Spirit” 468. Prayer is both a means of Communion with God, and a consequence and manifestation of it, the nature of the state of Communion with God. In eternity, prayer “will be transformed into an unceasing sacrifice of praise,” which “will be offered ... by God’s incessantly chosen ones from the incessant feeling of bliss in eternity, vegetated here on earth and in time, from the seeds of repentance sown by attentive and diligent prayer. Amen" 469. Chapter 3. Self-denial as the basic principle of entering into Communion with God In the previous chapter, focusing on the unity of knowledge of God and soteriology in the theology of St. Ignatius, we analyzed their main mystical-ontological content. Now it is necessary to consider the properties of the very path of knowledge of God (which at the same time turns out to be the path of salvation), as the Caucasian saint sees it. 3.1. Ascetic and ethical-axiological significance of Communion with God 3.1.1. Communion with God and the possibility of spiritual-ascetic life It was noted that for St. Ignatius is largely characterized by such an understanding of the Atonement, which is usually identified with the so-called. legal theory 470. It should, however, be noted that in the teaching of the saint himself, such (relatively speaking) legal interpretation of the act of Atonement does not conflict with a completely organic, ontological interpretation of salvation as such 471. Thus, the saint speaks of “the renewal of human nature by the God-man” 472, and concludes salvation and renewal in the entry of the human spirit into communion with the Spirit of God 473. The entire mystical-ascetic system of St. Ignatius clearly cries out for his “realistic”, non-formalist understanding of both salvation in general and the redemptive work of Christ, as well as the process of personal salvation, the spiritual growth of man. It should be noted, however, that knowledge of God is for St. Ignatius is not only a positive goal and result (“product”) of salvation, but also its driving force; therefore, it also has an ascetic meaning, or an ethical-axiological dimension. This reveals another paradox, which we have already partly demonstrated in previous chapters, although without special thematization: ultimately, entry into communion with God occurs through... communion with God! This, of course, does not deny the certain significance behind the personal efforts of a Christian; we are only talking about the fact that everything that essentially makes up the process of personal salvation: changes in human nature, healing and moral transformation of it - and what, in the final perspective, opens up the possibility of entering into communication with God and knowledge of Him - all this, it turns out, can be based only on communication with God, everything is produced by the communion of grace, by the experienced knowledge of God. Thus, explaining the meaning of the petitions “have mercy” and “be merciful,” the saint cites the words of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky), who defines this saving grace of God that we seek as “the grace of the All-Holy Spirit,” the return of which must be sought through prayer 474. The phenomenon of “pardon” is most often thought of by us as something legal; however, the saint, as we see, understands precisely this “legal” phenomenon also ontologically - as God’s acceptance of man into mysterious, energetic communion with Himself. The saint more than once reminds us that all human sacrifices to God, i.e. all virtues are “gifts of God in man, debts of man, unnecessary to God, necessary, saving for man, when man tries to bring, aggravate, pay them” 475. But how, with this formulation of the problem, can we avoid quietism, fatalism, and anthropological minimalism? It turns out that the ascetic’s own consistent ascetic efforts are still necessary, but precisely as evidence of the sincerity of the desire to acquire virtue; the very qualitative changes in a person’s spiritual state, as St. describes them. Ignatius, are produced exclusively by the direct influence, the touch of the Spirit of God - a touch given to the one who actively seeks them through deed and prayer. So, for example, the desire for victory over carnal passion must certainly be evidenced by one’s own exploits - but the victory itself belongs only to God, who can change a person’s natural attraction: “Then the Spirit of God touches the human spirit, which, having felt the touch of the Spirit of God, all, with all thoughts and sensations” - and with the spirit and body - “rushes towards God, having lost sympathy for the objects of carnal desire” 476 . In a similar supernatural way, with the obligatory tension of a person’s own, natural powers, victory over memory malice is accomplished 477. The saint affirms the same with regard to attentive prayer, which has already been partly discussed. “It is impossible for a person to bind his spirit, carried away by thoughts and dreams, through his own efforts,” especially since absent-mindedness comes not only from fallen nature, but also from opposition to the prayer of demons. Therefore, “the state of deep constant attention during prayer comes from the touch of Divine grace on our spirit,” when by constant prayer work we prove a sincere desire to have attentive prayer 478. Patience in sorrows, according to St. Ignatius, is also a gift of Christ, which is requested by “humble and constant prayer”, with proof of a sincere desire to receive the gift “by coercion and painful violence of an unwilling heart to endure all the encountered ... sorrows and temptations” 479. Repentance itself, which we must seek with all our might, comes only from the spiritual treasuries of God 480. In general, the protection of the soul from an opponent - the body - and from adversaries - spirits (cf. Lk. 18:7–8) - is accomplished by “the gift of the Holy Spirit to an ascetic, exhausted ... by feat” 481. Naturally, a person’s love for God is not something of its own, natural for fallen nature, but “a gift of the Holy Spirit sent by God alone into vessels purified by repentance” 482 . Let us recall in this regard the very consonant teaching of St. Theophan the Recluse that communion with God is not only the limit, not only the content of spiritual life, but also its very source, cf.: “Spiritual life is a consequence of communion with the Lord; outside of Him and without Him we have no true life” 483. This means that its initial stage is impossible without the corresponding communion with God, or it primarily constitutes this initial stage. This follows for the Vyshensky Recluse already from the very nature of spiritual life as grace-filled, i.e. unnatural, supernatural, feeding on communication with the Lord 484. 3.1.2. The Good of Fallen Nature Position of St. Ignatius that salvation occurs only in direct interaction with supernatural grace is connected with his entire anthropological and especially amartological paradigm, confirming it practically and substantiating it theoretically. But it also leads to far-reaching epistemological, ascetic and ecclesiological conclusions. In fallen human nature, the saint teaches, natural good was preserved (unlike the nature of fallen angels), which, however, was defiled by mixing with unnatural evil. Therefore, this natural good, paradoxically, prevents communication with God, which means that for salvation it is necessary to abandon it - it is necessary to reject natural virtues, which St. Ignatius never tires of repeating. He constantly emphasizes: it is false and harmful to recognize any merit in the natural good deeds of a fallen nature. These matters are quite accessible to pagans and Mohammedans, i.e. people who are alien to Christ 485 do not require the transformation of man by Divine grace, given only in the Church. The saint recognizes the very assumption of the possibility of saving “virtuous” people outside of Christianity as a rejection of Christianity, a humiliation of Christ, because here the very necessity of a Redeemer is rejected, the possibility of self-salvation is assumed 486. The acceptance of this false idea, so popular in the days of St. Ignatius and even more seductive and popular 487 in our days, is already a renunciation of Christ and leads to the loss of salvation 488. It is worth noting that, so to speak, the psychological motive of this seductiveness is approximately the same in the 19th and 21st centuries 489. The ideological motive - the prejudices of the humanistic worldview - has undergone since the time of St. Ignatius certain changes: in addition to crude anthropocentrism, the secularization and ecumenization 490 of Christian theology itself (mainly Western) automatically pushes towards recognizing the value of natural human good 491 . It seems that the basis of such misconceptions is often also a logical error: from the (quite correct) recognition of the insufficiency for salvation of mere formal membership in the Church, even formal participation in its sacraments - without an internal direction towards good - a conclusion is drawn (already unfounded either logically or theologically) that for salvation the desire for good alone can be sufficient - without belonging to the visible Church, without participation in its grace-filled life. However, in addition to the logical inconsistency, the following is also overlooked: is it, in principle, possible for anything pleasing to God, “sufficient” for salvation – i.e. Union with God is good in the soul of a person who has not been renewed by the grace of the sacraments? Natural goodness can be the basis (motivation) for accepting Baptism, but can it itself produce in a person those supernatural changes that Baptism itself produces? After all, it is necessary precisely for the renewal of the inner man with all his spiritual movements. Human decency, even conscientiousness, are undoubtedly commendable qualities; But are they “sufficient”—are they “good enough”—in fallen man to open him the entrance to the sanctuary of Communion with God? Can they make a person able to partake of the fruits of Christ’s saving sacrifice without the help of the sacraments established for this by Christ Himself? Is it really, in the end, that this very natural striving for good and obedience to conscience is so pure, so truly theocentric 492 that one can recognize such a person as sincerely wanting to be with God, to be in Christ, but simply “unaware” of this? Don’t countless historical examples prove the opposite: it is the ethically elevated, noble, and sometimes impeccable pagan people who most often find themselves unable to accept Christianity when they encounter it; on the contrary, they reject and persecute it? At St. Ignatius we find exactly this understanding of the issue; he constantly polemicizes with anthropocentric autonomism. Thus, the saint compares the virtues of fallen nature with the Old Testament Law: these virtues had value before the coming of Christ, namely, “they brought a person into a state capable of receiving the Savior,” as can be seen in the example of Cornelius the centurion (see: Acts 10: 2–6, 35). But by themselves they do not provide salvation, which is why satisfaction with them alone, without Christ, turns them into evil, just as happened with the Old Testament Law, absolutized by the Jews 493. St. Petersburg talks about this subject in the same way. Seraphim of Sarov in his famous conversation with N.A. Motovilov, citing the same example of St. Cornelia 494. In the understanding of St. Ignatius, genuine Christian virtues can flow only “from Christ, from human nature renewed by Him” 495; their internal source is communion with God 496. The deeds of fallen nature are all displeasing to God, unworthy of Him; The Old Testament righteous themselves hoped to receive salvation in Messianic times only through their faith in the promised Redeemer 497. Even after Baptism, a Christian loses all benefit from this sacrament if he strives to do the good of fallen nature 498. “There is not a single particle left in our nature undamaged, uninfected by sin: no action of ours can do without an admixture of evil,” insists the saint 499. “All our wealth and dignity are in the Redeemer,” and in order to assimilate the Redeemer, “we are required to completely renounce our soul 500, that is, not only sinfulness, but also the righteousness of fallen nature” 501. We have already mentioned this dialectic of the destruction and revival of the soul. So, for salvation, i.e. assimilation to Christ 502, it is necessary to abandon not only sinfulness, but also one’s righteousness, which is “the stinking rags of a harlot-soul” 503. Only the one who has rejected his fallen righteousness is accepted, “he redeems, replacing with Himself, saving, uniting with Himself,” Christ 504. Vladyka Ignatius connects the very inner ability to accept Christ with preliminary knowledge and confession of the terrible fall of man. This is how he interprets the Savior’s advice to the Pharisees: Go, learn what it means: “I want mercy, not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13). The Savior seems to be saying: “You cannot make sacrifices: all your thoughts, feelings, actions are sealed, saturated with sin... unworthy... of God, cannot be favorable to Him. Obtain mercy... Have mercy on yourself... Hate your sins... This is not enough: admit that your very nature is perverted by sin, that the truths born in it... correspond to the disfigured... nature” 505. It is interesting that in the martyrdom of St. Ignatius sees precisely the manifestation of complete selflessness for the sake of union with God: “Having severed all ties with the world, they took off their very clothing - the body ... put on the clothing of the Holy Spirit, in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, transforming” their body from carnal to spiritual; but on the other hand - however, precisely as a result of what has been said - the feat of martyrdom itself is a supernatural gift of God to man, and not a consequence of human will alone. “They suffered not as the children of the old Adam, but as members of Christ,” says the saint, citing the example of St. mts. Felicity, who spoke about the feat ahead of her: “Another in me will suffer for me, because I suffer for Him.” Monasticism is similar to martyrdom, which first renounces the world and then begins with “cutting off one’s will and one’s understanding,” and is accomplished by “mortifying the soul and body for sin, reviving them for God” 506. Thus, in terms of private soteriology, a person is required to “cleanse and decorate, and then with the help of God, the abode within himself for God,” whose coming is accomplished solely by His good pleasure 507 and who alone produces the saving transformation of human nature. This transformation begins in Baptism, and it is baptismal grace that is the basis for the possibility of repentance upon subsequent falling into sins, just as the recovery of a patient is based not on drugs, but on the vital force inherent in the body, which drugs only help fight the disease. The action of repentance is based on baptismal grace, being the development of this grace, “the renewal ... of the state produced by Baptism” - the gift of the Spirit again “begins to reveal its presence” in a person. Baptism is the restoration of communion with God, the return of the Holy Spirit, lost in the fall, without Whom human nature is dead. At the same time, man is reborn not even in the immaculate state of the primordial Adam, but in an incomparably higher state - he is clothed not in the image of the primordial, but in the image of the God-man. Repentant renewal provides those who do not know with an “experiential understanding of the change” once effected in them by Baptism 508 . The saint recalls the words of St. Mark of the Ascetic: whatever we bring to Christ after Baptism, everything was already planted by Him in Baptism 509. This resolves the second possible perplexity generated by the doctrine of entering into communion with God with the help of communion with God itself: the apparent circular argument is resolved, ultimately, into the question of the original deposit of grace, into the question of the sacraments. The process of ascent to the closest union with God is carried out on the basis of the already granted initial Communion with God, it certainly requires the preliminary receipt of a certain “deposit”, a “deposit” of Communion with God, and without it cannot take place, cannot even begin. And this once again refutes hopes for the possibility of salvation outside the visible boundaries of the Church. 3.1.3. The meaning of St. Communion in the work of knowledge of God If Baptism marks the beginning of the restored communion with God as a new, theanthropic life, then this life is nourished and developed by the communion of the Holy Mysteries. Explaining the meaning of the Holy Mysteries, St. Ignatius says that Christ delivered to us what the servants of Job desired - a prototype of Christ - expressing great love for their master with the desire to be satisfied with his flesh 510. This immediately gives an indication of the closest unity - not just the ability to see, but also to touch and taste 511. One of the main thoughts that occupies the attention of Master Ignatius when considering the Redemption is the replacement of 512 fallen man by the God-man, the forefather by the new Ancestor, the damaged flesh and blood inherited from Adam in our nature - by the flesh and blood of the God-man. In relation to the way of being of Christians, this means that being born again, from God, they receive rebirth (Matthew 19:28), “second being,” the return of being lost by the fall; this new state is given food corresponding to it - the Lord who sacrificed Himself. People are invited to partake of the blood of this Sacrifice for the same reason that in the Old Testament the use of blood was prohibited 513: “In the blood of Christ is His soul.” Touching and connecting with the soul of Christ is clearly felt by the soul of the participant in experiencing within himself the sensations emanating from the soul of Christ and from the Holy Spirit. This is “alien to the fallen nature... tranquility, meekness, humility, love for everyone, coldness towards the corruptible... sympathy for the future age,” deliverance from the painful influence of demons. “A wonderful peace descends on the mind and heart; the members of the body are clothed with calm... thoughts and feelings are connected by sacred, spiritual ties.” The properties of the soul of Christ are communicated to the human soul, i.e. human properties freed from sinful damage and deified through union with the Divine; they feed the soul of the communicant, as it were, “with a sovereign, royal cup, sovereignly intoxicating the soul with sensations emanating from the Holy Spirit, emanating from Christ” 514 . On the contrary, moving away from communion, a person finds himself left to his fallen nature, stricken by eternal death, for only the omnipotent Christ God is capable of destroying eternal death within him, in his mind and heart. The saint calls upon frequent communion to renew the properties of the God-man in oneself, to renew oneself with them, for “renewal, constantly supported and nourished, is assimilated,” destroying the decay acquired by the fall and introducing life—Christ—in man, fulfilling man’s destiny to be a vessel of the Divine 515. The state of a true participant in its greatness surpasses any comprehension, both his own and that of anyone else 516; it is completely apophatic. Naturally, worthy communion “is possible only with a constantly pious life or after decisive repentance” and abandonment of a sinful life” 517. A constantly diligent ascetic life is crowned with the overshadowing of grace - and then the communion of the body and blood of Christ, which hitherto contributed to the feat and cleansed a person from defilement, revives him, bestows new, spiritual understandings and sensations, hitherto completely unknown to him, “reveals the Divine sacraments, fulfills the actions of the Holy Spirit,” brings supernatural humility, producing a wonderful calm, makes a person spiritual, “and ... fall away from him, like a scab from a healed wound, with bestial-like properties” - the consequences of the fall. So, fulfilling the commandments and contrite prayer “bring us into union with the Lord: this union is completed by Divine grace and the communion of the all-holy Divine body and blood of Christ” 518. So, the process of salvation - which is also the process of knowledge of God - which begins supernaturally, with the bestowal of a pledge of grace in a sacrament, is completed supernaturally, nourished by the grace of another sacrament. Fallen nature is left with no merit, no contribution, nothing of which it could boast. The question remains open about the “origin” of that grace, which, according to St. Ignatius, the spiritually successful ascetic and his work are “crowned” or “overshadowed.” At first glance, we are talking about the giving of some “new” grace. On the other hand, the saint himself claims that the basis of everything is baptismal grace - it alone determines even the possibility of repentance, which is the restoration of the state produced by Baptism (and after Baptism is always, as it were, potentially inherent in a person). St. Theophan the Recluse expresses himself in this regard, perhaps even more radically, insisting that the communication of grace does not occur outside of the sacraments, that spiritual feat is a preparation for receiving grace precisely in the sacraments, and not in any other way, and upon approaching the sacraments, spiritual life consists in giving the received grace the opportunity to penetrate the entire makeup of a person, in other words: in being completely saturated with grace, i.e. By God 519. Perhaps, to resolve the issue, it is necessary to abandon the subconscious idea of ​​grace as a certain “amount of substance”, and remember that this concept means, first of all, our communion with God, or His action in us. In this case, the contradiction between “developing the accepted” and “giving the new” is largely removed. Of course, the acquisition of grace in the process of spiritual achievement gives a person something new. But should this “new” be understood only as the development of a gift of grace, which from the moment of Baptism already lies in the depths of the human being, as if hidden, or, although in general this is true, in certain cases there is also some truly new message of grace on the basis of what is already inherent, i.e. given to man through the sacraments 520 ? Despite the fact that the last version of the explanation seems to us more complete and adequate, the question remains open. 3.2. The meaning of suffering as a means of knowledge of God and communication with God The topic of the state of human nature after the fall is very extensive and, without a doubt, requires a separate, special theological patristic study. One of the consequences of patristic amartology, consistently adopted by St. Ignatius, is his ultimate epistemological and soteriological Christocentrism. The words of the saint have already been quoted that “it is impossible to enter into any kind of communion with God except” through Christ 521. But to participate in the fruits of Christ’s sacrifice, a person is also required to make a sacrifice - that same negative sacrifice of repentance and humility, the only one acceptable to God from a fallen nature, which Vladyka Ignatius, as we remember, associates with Ps. 50:19. However, the scope of this sacrifice is not limited only to the inner mood; this mood should give rise to an activity corresponding to itself, which is, as the saint would say, an active expression of this mood - a practical rejection of fallen nature (and not just a theoretical rejection of hope in it). Such a practical rejection of this nature is its crucifixion, which has also already been partly discussed. The basis of the saint’s teaching about the cross that a Christian must bear is precisely this kind of practical apophatism, reaching to the point of blood, and not just the ethical idea of ​​resigned patience with suffering. Cross for St. Ignatius is a confession of the fall, true repentance, as well as a source of knowledge of God and theology. 3.2.1. The mystery of suffering. The teaching of St. Ignatius on the Cross The biblical basis for the teachings of Bishop Ignatius about the cross are the words of the Lord: if anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me (Mark 8:34; cf. Matthew 16:24). To take up your cross 523, the saint teaches, you must first of all deny yourself, destroy your soul (cf. Matt. 16:25), i.e. to reject sin and eternal death, which have become, as it were, natural to us, so assimilated into our nature that renunciation of them means renunciation of one’s soul, of one’s nature, i.e. from myself 524 . This is accomplished by renouncing bodily pleasures, recognizing one’s mind as madness, one’s righteousness as unrighteousness before God, and, finally, renouncing one’s will 525 . Following Christ is expressed by studying and following the Gospel, assimilating it to the mind and heart, so that the way of thinking, and feelings, and all activities serve as an accurate expression of the Gospel 526. We are thus talking about the most complete self-denial and complete surrender of oneself to God. Indeed, this is comparable only to voluntary crucifixion, to complete self-giving - in response to the complete and completely incomprehensible self-giving of God to man in Christ. The personal cross of a Christian, no matter how heavy it may be, in itself remains fruitless if it is not transformed into the cross of Christ. Cross of Christ St. Ignatius first defines it as the teaching of Christ, but then it becomes clear that we are talking about a whole way of life - about life solely for heaven, about the attitude towards fulfilling the Gospel commandments as the only goal of life, about the crucifixion of “his old man with his passions and lusts 527” on the cross of the commandments 528 - about the attitude towards suffering with the consciousness of their justice, with thanksgiving and glorification of God, with the conviction that they are allowed by Christ “as a necessary and inevitable condition of Christianity”, regarding the attitude towards them as a means of assimilation to Christ. The saint looks at suffering from this Christological perspective and even from the perspective of the knowledge of God: they are an opportunity to be a partaker of the fate of Christ, first on earth, then in heaven 529. Cross for St. Ignatius is a whole world of meanings. Patient bearing of the cross means both an active, unhypocritical consciousness and confession of one’s fall and sinfulness, and true repentance, bringing forgiveness 530. But the cross is also the source of true knowledge of God, “the true and only school, repository and throne of true Theology. Outside the cross there is no living knowledge of Christ" 531. The one who, like a prudent thief, from his cross justifies God and reproaches himself, will have his heart’s eyes opened for “an active and living knowledge of the Redeemer,” crucified next to a man crucified for his atrocities for relief and spiritual consolation. Then “the thief becomes a Theologian,” denouncing the wise men and righteous of the world who mock God who became man. Thus, humility and self-reproach are introduced into the knowledge of God, and through it they are introduced into heaven 532. St. Ignatius generally invites his readers not to imitate Christ, but rather to “follow” Him 533; however, in relation to suffering and bearing the cross, he finds it possible to talk about “imitation”, for the possibility of which 534 he calls to thank God as for a priceless gift 535. For the easiest and most convenient enduring of sorrows, Vladyka Ignatius advises to always be ready to die for Christ, to desire this, in Him alone to enclose all your desires, hopes, wealth, your entire existence 536. So, suffering, both physical and mental, and moral-ascetic, is for a true Christian a participation in the suffering of Christ - and therefore, communication with Christ and knowledge of Him. “The Cross of Christ lifts up from the earth the man crucified on it”, who “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” 537 . The ontological reality of such knowledge of God through suffering is evidenced by the supernatural gifts that a person who has truly taken up his cross receives. St. Ignatius reveals that only his cross is burdensome, but having been transformed into the cross of Christ, it “acquires extraordinary lightness,” “from doxology and thanksgiving, spiritual consolation appears in 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.” For a true Christian, the cross is “the arena of the highest spiritual pleasure,” so that “sorrow is completely drowned out by pleasure” and the Christian “in the midst of the most severe languor feels only pleasure” 538. “With the mysterious knowledge of Christ and His looking,” under the action of grace-filled consolation, a Christian not only becomes inflamed with pure love for all people without distinction, having neither condemnation nor anger, but begins to desire crucifixion, hearing with spiritual hearing the words of Christ: He who does not take up his cross and follows Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:38). “He considers the cup of sorrows to be the cup of salvation, evidence of election, a gift of God” 539, and does not seek truth outside the cross 540. This mood is promoted by the (dogmatic) consciousness “that since the coming of Christ, it is Christ, and not natural virtues, that constitutes the dignity, value, praise and salvation of man” 541. So, complete self-sacrifice, comparable to crucifixion, constitutes, in the understanding of St. Ignatius, a necessary condition for the knowledge of God 542. For someone who is not ready to resolutely renounce love for the world and belong entirely to Christ, who does not fight the death that lives within himself by crucifixion, such supernatural knowledge of God is impossible 543: in order to receive holy prayer from God - the action of the Holy Spirit in man - it is necessary to renounce everything and on the cross of self-denial to surrender one’s spirit, soul and body to God 544. So, suffering and temptation, as St. understands them. Ignatius, - not so much obstacles that need to be overcome on the path of salvation, but, on the contrary, necessary means of salvation, means of communication with God, approaching and uniting with Him, knowing Him. In the language of both sacramentology and mysticism, something that connects us with a transcendent reality is usually called a sacrament. Everything that has been said gives full right to name suffering, in the system of St. Ignatius, the sacrament - the sacrament of the cross. The saint himself uses this expression, reminding us that the comprehension of this sacrament is a revelation from above, and not natural human knowledge, and it bestows “gracious, enlightening consolation” on the silent 545. 3.2.2. Comparison with the teachings of St. Feofan. Denial of oneself as a condition for Communion with God Close to the ideas of the Caucasian saint are the thoughts of his younger contemporary, St. Theophan the Recluse, which we will briefly consider for a better understanding of the teachings of St. Ignatius. In his characteristic personalistic perspective, 546 Vyshensky the Recluse considers self-awareness and personal freedom 547 (fundamental properties of a person as a “person”) as the basis for the possibility of ascent to the goal of existence – communication with God. The paradox of man in its formulation sounds like this: the meaning of the freedom of a creature is precisely to have the ability and opportunity to freely refuse this freedom, to freely use it, in the ability to give it to God 548, and with it all of oneself, thereby opening the door to the Universe. The ability to self-determination is given precisely for the free renunciation of autonomy, for the sake of the possibility of free communication with God, i.e. mutual existence of God and man 549. In essence, this is an existential-psychological projection of the provisions about man as an “open being” and about the cross as a means of communication with God, characteristic of St. Ignatius. The problem, however, is that the autocracy given to creatures is precisely a barrier that can, as it were, limit the omnipresence of God - not to let Him inside an autarkically closed being 550; It is precisely this that makes possible resistance to God, severance of communion, carrying within itself a potential denial of Divine omnipotence. The restoration of communication is accomplished (on the part of man) by the same “tool” - freedom, with which this communication was destroyed and in which, potentially, is the main obstacle to its restoration. Therefore, self-sacrifice must extend not only to the moral choice between good and evil, but also to the very foundations of spiritual activity, to the very powers of the soul, to their control, which must be completely transferred to God. For the perfect infusion and enthronement of God in oneself, a person needs to renounce his very self-activity, in short, from himself as a free being 551: at the level of self-consciousness - in a feeling of complete dependence on God, at the level of self-determination - in the determination to always walk in the will of God 552. Personal independence must ultimately fall before God in the petition: “You, Lord, do in me what you want, but I am both blind and weak” 553. Already in the first conversion of a person from sin, self-surrender to God takes place, associated with a turning point, a redirection of the will. However, for the final Universe of God, self-denial must be accomplished at a qualitatively different level 554. The very fulfillment of the commandments is already experienced by a person as nothing other than self-crucifixion 555 (which St. Ignatius also talks about); but one day an internal act of “transition from jealousy to zealous devotion to God” must take place: for asceticism itself, being performed from oneself and from oneself, as if arbitrarily, becomes a kind of affirmation of human selfhood 556, which must be renounced. “I chose, I wanted, I worked, and God helped,” these are the words of St. Feofan illustrates the first state, amateur jealousy; “Lord Himself, who weighs destinies, arrange my salvation. As a bound man, I will go wherever you command,” this is an image of the state of devotion to God 557. Those who have reached such a state, “as having ascended to heaven, are already ... heavenly, are taken up by the Divine Spirit and are carried by it, like the wheels in the vision of Ezekiel. God is in them and act. Their condition is incomprehensible to thought" 558. This is the teaching of St. Theophan is strikingly in tune with the teachings of St. Ignatius about the cross and sorrows, although the two saints approach the issue from different angles. The Vyshensky Recluse is more concerned with the existential self-perception of a person and tries to outline a pattern of transitions from one type of self-perception to another, while the Caucasian Lord seeks to show the ontological reality of the changes occurring in a person and the correct relationship between asceticism and mysticism. These are not just different perspectives, there is a completely different approach, a different formulation of the question, a different research method. And yet, both fathers have one common thought: complete self-surrender to God, with renunciation of oneself, at all levels of existence - this is a necessary condition for full communion with God. Naturally, this self-giving for a person (let us add: fallen and passionate) is most required and realized in borderline states characterized by suffering, tension, pain and fear. It is also natural, and vice versa, that this is exactly how a damaged person will experience everything connected with renouncing sin. Due to the perversion of our nature, fusion with evil and sinful egocentrism, “renunciation of the world and sin ... is conceived by us as a renunciation of ourselves, and in its implementation is endured by a sinful person as painfully as the deprivation of life. In this sense, the Most Reverend Ignatius understands the words of Christ the Savior about the destruction and salvation of the soul”: what is required is the rejection not of being, but of fallen nature, “the sinful principle of selfhood, expressed in sin and visible good” 559. St. Theophan expresses the internal, existential experience of the highest point of such self-denial as a person’s awareness and feeling that he is nothing, and everything is God 560. As we see, the ideas of the two great Russian teachers complement and explain each other. The need for a “cross” follows from the subnatural state of man that has become, as it were, natural. But the secret of the cross - as an epistemological, and not just an ascetic reality - lies in the fact that the crucifixion does not lead to the destruction of ontological man, but to his transfigured resurrection, and death turns out to be the path to a genuine, no longer illusory being, to a being that exceeds nature, but at the same time corresponds to nature. Although, in the proper sense, it is not the very existence and essence of man that is subject to death here, but only his fallen state, however, due to the identification of this state with nature itself, and subjectively with the very “I” of man, this death is experienced by him as his own. And yet, the consequence of death is resurrection, in which there is a reflection of the Resurrection of Christ, just as in the cross of a person the shadow of the Life-Giving Cross is visible 561. The mystery of the life-giving death of Christ partly explains - inexplicably explains - the mystery of suffering as a means of knowledge of God and communication with God. 3.3. The limitless limit of unity and the asceticism of apophatic ascent St. Theophan the Recluse offers a clear ascetic-soteriological scheme of ascent to the fullness of Communion with God, or the Inhabitation of God, distinguishing three types of Communion with God 562: (1) “mental, occurring during the period of conversion,” and (2) two "real": (2a) hidden both from the person himself and from others, and The three types correspond to three steps that structure the entire spiritual life, which represents an increase in communication with God, or “the transition from mental communication with God to the real, living, felt, manifested” 563. If mental communion with God (1) is formed on the part of man from the seeking, striving of the mind and heart towards God in the thought of God, and on the part of God - from benevolence and assistance 564 and is external communication, without real interpenetration, “communication at a distance”, in fact still only the seeking of true communication, a means and preparation for it 565 - then living communion with God (2) is the true acceptance of God 566, Who acts in man both to will and to do (Phil. 2:13) and man no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him (cf. Gal. 2:20) 567. This begins through the sacrament of Baptism (or Repentance) with a tangible taste of the sweetness of the Divine 568, but then it is accomplished secretly for the person himself, really, but mostly intangibly (2a) 569. At the third stage, communion with God becomes tangible, a person “becomes a church ... of the Trinitarian Deity” 570. Unlike his brother, St. Ignatius does not develop such an explicit and unambiguous formal scheme, but, of course, he also describes the path and stages of ascent, which we have largely shown in this study. And yet, in this matter, the main pathos of the Caucasian Lord is aimed at two main thoughts: a) ontological reality, tangibility, incomprehensible completeness and bliss of the Communion with God, bestowed by true Christianity, and b) gradualism, the sequence of ascent 571, emphasis on repentant cleansing, preparation, with the provision of everything else to God. It is easy to see that these two positions correspond to the two extreme points of the path - the limit of perfection and the beginning of spiritual life. This is no coincidence, because these are the two points that concern the misconceptions with which the saint had to fight - anthropological autonomism and anthropocentric mysticism. The first denies the high goal and blessed fruits of Christianity, reducing it to ethics and rationalistic scholasticism, 572 while the second leads to delusion and lack of communication, and through this often to madness and suicide. The words of St. Ignatius, that it is necessary to develop and feel salvation within oneself, without which only the name 573 remains of Christianity. And yet, it is obvious that it is precisely the defense of the second position - gradualism and concentration on repentance - that the saint pays the greatest attention to. This is understandable - after all, in his works he mainly means “the need of beginners, the need of the majority” 574. “The desire to renew themselves in the Lord is not forbidden to them either; but a correct desire is bequeathed: let them try to correct their morals according to the morals of Christ, depicted in the Gospel,” the saint instructs. Only one who has been cleansed and healed can ascend the mountain to see the Transfiguration; however, this too only if it is the will of God 575. Referring to Rev. Macarius, St. Ignatius confesses: “Those who claim that it is now impossible for a Christian to become a partaker of the Holy Spirit contradict Holy Scripture and cause the greatest harm to their souls” 576. But “undoubtedly believing in the existence of grace-filled action,” the priest calls to equally undoubtedly believe in “the unworthiness and inability of man, in his passionate state, to accept God’s grace.” From this double conviction, the only conclusion for the saint follows: “let us immerse ourselves entirely, disinterestedly, in the work of repentance, betraying and surrendering ourselves completely to the will and goodness of God.” Although the goal 577 is renewal by the Holy Spirit, one must go towards it with repentance and humility, striving to gain lamentation for oneself and a vision of one’s complete sinfulness, which is in need of God’s mercy. Referring these thoughts to St. To Isaac the Syrian, the saint also quotes his following words: “God's... comes by itself, while we do not even think about it. She does! but if the place is clean and not defiled” 578. So, the beginning of the path of knowledge of God and communication with God is to see one’s hopeless alienation from God. The main thing to do on this path is, without getting ahead of yourself, to stick exclusively to repentance, firmly believing that everything else will come on its own, when it is possible and pleasing to God. Such practical apophatism, which combines the recognition of a supernatural goal and at the same time the procession towards it through negative action 579, is the fundamental principle of the theological epistemology of St. Ignatius. Thus, in the very permission and gift to turn to God as Father - which is the priceless “gift of the Redeemer to the redeemed, the Savior to the saved” - the saint sees a direct indication of God-manhood with its fruits: through it, people became brothers of the Son of God, sons of the Heavenly Father 580. But it is precisely from the fact that sinners are called to turn to God with filial boldness 581 that the saint derives the corresponding interpretation of the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer. It “contains consciousness of sinfulness, of fall,” of alienation from God, a petition for the cleansing of the inner church from filth that prevents us from seeing God (cf. Matt. 5:8), “for the granting of sincere repentance” and true, sanctifying knowledge of God: “Hallowed be Thy name in my spiritual church! I ask this because I don’t find it in myself” 582. Already “after asking for the gift of perfect knowledge of God, the Lord teaches a person adopted by God to ask for the Kingdom of God to descend into his soul,” which is within us (cf. Luke 17:21) 583. The sequence of petitions depicts "consistency, gradualism, a sublime and holy system of spiritual advancement." Only one in whom this Kingdom has already tangibly revealed itself can desire the coming of the visible Kingdom of God on earth; the one who does not yet see God dwelling in his spiritual church asks for more time to repent 584. But “he who has felt the Kingdom of God within himself learns not to be satisfied with this,” but “to strive for the most abundant development in himself of the dominion” of God. He must ask that the only will of God act in his entire being, healing the human will and uniting into one desire the spirit, soul and body that are separated in their private will. “The complete union of the human will with the will of God” is the highest perfection accessible to a rational creature. The Lord commands us earthly beings, the saint writes, to “seek perfection, still incomprehensible to us,” characteristic of the Angels, who do not have a will separate from the will of God. In such a complete merging of the will of the creature with the will of the Creator, the saint sees the fulfillment of what the Savior asked for His followers (John 17:20–23) 585. The sublimity of petitions is explained by the gift of Redemption - the gift of Sonship of God. “A son can ask his father for everything that the father has. And we, in the Lord’s Prayer, ask God to give Himself to us as our inalienable property, so that He may live in us, establish His kingdom in us, so that through this we may mutually live in Him—reign through Him over everything.”586 Of course, these words speak of the limitless limit of ascent, of the perfection of communication with God and knowledge of God 587 . The saint himself notes: “Smart prayer is the dwelling of the heavenly King: in this palace there are no number of palaces; magnificent and extensive palaces are followed by other, more magnificent and extensive palaces” 588. But in order to enter, as a son, into the actual enjoyment of the rights of sonship, the medicine of repentance is necessary; first of all, it is necessary to realize that we are unworthy either of the Father’s love or the name of sons and daughters. This is St. Ignatius illustrates it with the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:18–19) and, complementing this image, gives the thought of St. Isaac: just as the sick son of a king does not ask his father for a kingdom, but takes care of his healing, after which “the father’s kingdom itself becomes his kingdom: so the repentant sinner,” when his soul recovers, “enters with the Father into the land of pure nature and reigns in the glory of his Father” 589. Therefore, the saint stops telling beginners about high spiritual states, referring those who have already succeeded to the “Philokalia”, offering himself and his readers lament and wanting the “blessed experience” to teach both him and others about the future 590. Warning against the illusions of spiritual experiences, the saint exhorts the novice to be content with feelings of repentance - i.e. those generated by prayer are relief of conscience, inner peace, reconciliation towards people and circumstances, mercy towards neighbors, coldness towards the world, submission to God. As we see, these feelings (if we translate them into a dogmatic plane) do not convey positive knowledge about God, but rather - being feelings of repentance and humility, of our own unworthiness - they reveal our infinite distance from God: in relation to Him they are apophatic. However, on the other hand, in these very experiences the saint sees “tasting the hope of salvation” 591 (remember that salvation is the fullness of communion with God). This means that they testify to the effectiveness of prayer, to its acceptance by God. So, the ignorance that is revealed here is the beginning of knowledge, and the experience of distance and alienation turns out to be the beginning of reunification. We see that St. Ignatius reveals himself to be a true representative of hesychast theology, in particular hesychast epistemology, as described, for example, by Bishop. Afanasy (Evtich). In it, humility paradoxically turns out to be precisely an epistemological factor: “the acquisition of the “mind of Christ”” stands “in connection with humility and repentance = μετά-vοια (= second understanding), which primarily means a positive change and transformation of the human mind before the Divine Mystery” 592. This specifically Christian principle of knowledge 593 can also be summarized in words reflecting the experience of another great ascetic: “Divine contemplations are given to a person not when he seeks them, but when the soul descends into the hell of repentance and truly feels worse than every creature” 594. Thus, ascetic humility and repentance turn out to be epistemological factors. 3.3.1. Conclusions on Chapter 3 We examined the features of the path of ascent to communion with God in the system of St. Ignatius, illustrating and explaining some provisions by comparison with similar teachings of St. Theophan the Recluse. First of all, we saw that the very beginning of the path of knowledge of God requires a certain guarantee, a certain initial grace, i.e. the primary, starting communication with God - which is served in the sacrament of Baptism. Baptism restores the connection Adam lost with God, and not at the original level, but at an incomparably higher, divine-human level; the possibility of further spiritual life and the possibility of healing through repentance after sinful stumblings are based on this primary gift. All steps along the path are the consequences of the influence of grace, the touch of the Holy Spirit. A person can and should force himself to ascetic deed, but it is not the feat, but the action of God in response to the feat and humble prayer that produces all the good changes in fallen human nature, all ascetic and spiritual “successes” and victories. The good of fallen nature, defiled by an admixture of evil, not only does not contribute, but also interferes with prosperity and counteracts it. For salvation, for unity with God, this good, this fallen truth must be rejected as decisively as obvious sin. Recognition of the value of fallen goods is tantamount for St. Ignatius's denial of Christ. This good can lead a person to Christ before meeting Christ, but then it becomes an obstacle, like the Old Testament Law for the Jews who remained with it. Everything that has been said decisively testifies to the impossibility of salvation, communion with God and knowledge of God beyond the visible borders of the Orthodox Church. The greatest, closest and most tangible unity with God in Christ is given in the sacrament of St. Communion, by which the properties of the God-man are communicated and renewed in man. However, the full effectiveness of this sacrament is possible only with a constantly diligent life, which, although it cannot bestow on its own, nevertheless prepares a person to accept the communion and knowledge of God given by God in the sacrament of Communion. Renunciation of obvious and hidden evil, renunciation of the fallen nature with its sin and its righteousness - renunciation of oneself - is accomplished and manifested in the bearing of the cross, in the Christian endurance of suffering, both external and internal, and especially produced by resistance to one’s fallen desires, will, and mind. For St. Ignatius here is hidden a certain sacrament, the sacrament of the cross, which has an epistemological dimension: by this sacrament a person is granted to be an imitator of Christ in His suffering life on earth, and through this in heaven, the knowledge of Christ is given and assimilation to Him, access to the supernatural knowledge of God and supernatural gifts of grace is opened. This same idea is refracted in the teaching of St. Theophan the Recluse into the idea of ​​Communion with God through extreme self-sacrifice, through the free refusal to use one’s freedom (for the sake of the possibility of such a refusal, this freedom was given to the creature), through the renunciation of autonomous existence. In fact, St. Theophan expresses the same principles as St. Ignatius, revealing them, however, from a more existential perspective. Unlike St. Theophan, who draws a clear diagram of the path of growth in communion with God, St. Ignatius, although he talks about all this, is more focused on the very possibility of achieving union with God and the grace-filled, supernatural transformation and perfection of man (against autonomism), and on the other hand, on the need to ascend to the goal gradually (against anthropocentric mysticism), and therefore, first of all, to seek repentance and vision of one’s complete sinfulness (both personal and universal). Purification by repentance, and above all - in general the very acquisition of true repentance - should be the subject of primary search 595, then the supernatural knowledge of God will be given by God itself at the right time. This is a principle corresponding to the idea of ​​practical apophatism. In order to achieve the goal we set in the introduction, we conducted a study and systematization of the teachings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the knowledge of God and communication with God as the “intersection point” of epistemology and soteriology. Summing up the results of the work, we can draw the following conclusions. 1) Mystic-ascetic teaching of St. Ignatius is based on the solid stone of patristic theology. Although the saint himself did not strive for a special formulation of his dogmatic views, the body of his works makes it possible to reconstruct a harmonious system of these views. The reconstruction clearly shows that the practical teaching of St. Ignatius is an expression of fundamental dogmatic premises - one might say: derived from these premises - and these premises correspond to the general epistemological tradition, which after the 14th century. usually called hesychast. In particular, apophaticism - theoretical and practical - constitutes an invariable parameter of the entire teaching of St. Ignatius: both about the knowledge of God and about ascetic work. The special closeness of the theology of St. was latently revealed. Ignatius to the theology of St. Macarius the Great and Simeon the New Theologian, despite the (apparent) opposition of their mystical intentions and practical advice. 2) For the entire system St. Ignatius - anthropological, soteriological, mystical-ascetic - the central concept is communication with God and experimental knowledge of God. For him, these concepts, as was said, are in principle synonymous. As has been shown, Orthodox, patristic theological epistemology is ontological in nature, the knowledge of God in it presupposes connection, real communication with Him, which, with the absolute transcendence (non-participation) of the Divine being, is carried out through His sacramental energies, or grace, introducing the creature into a super-mental, apophatic experience. On the other hand, the peak and completeness of the knowledge of God (both cataphatic and apophatic) is made possible in the Incarnation (the Christological basis of epistemology), and is realized in the mystical life of the Church (the pneumatological mode of epistemology), one of the manifestations of which is worship. Our research revealed complete fidelity to the theology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) of this patristic tradition. The teaching of St. Ignatius, no doubt, is colored by his personal experience, but is believed by Tradition and the experience of the Church. Theological epistemology and soteriology coincide in this experience, and the immutability of the Christological and pneumatological factors requires an uncompromising recognition of the possibility of salvation only in the bosom of the Orthodox Church. 3) A significant place in the heritage of St. Ignatius is occupied with polemics against the false paths of knowledge of God. The saint is forced to confront two main types of error - two anthropocentric directions: autonomism and false mysticism. This leaves a significant imprint on his own teaching, in which, for these reasons, two opposing, but antinomically interconnected positions appear with particular clarity: epistemological “optimism”, or extreme maximalism, on the one hand, and a kind of anthropological minimalism, or practical apophatism, on the other. If the first concerns the infinite possibilities of real transcendental experience, i.e. union with God and assimilation to Him, immersion in Him - the latter speaks of the impossibility of genuine, unfalse knowledge of God by the forces of fallen human nature, as well as the need for constant refusal, protecting oneself from created counterfeits of genuine mystical (i.e. uncreated) experience, counterfeits both anthropogenic and demonogenic. In general, this direction can be characterized as theocentric maximalism in anthropology, soteriology and epistemology. However (perhaps precisely because of the unity of the last two areas) this theocentric maximalism of St. Ignatius is protected from degeneration into quietism: the fact that a person himself cannot in any way “provoke” a true (i.e., unattractive) religious experience, in the saint’s system leads not to the complete passivity of a person in the matter of his salvation, but, on the contrary, to the need to actively interact with the God who saves him, only this interaction is of necessity (primarily) negative in nature, aimed at renouncing oneself, or, in the words of the Apostle, for putting off the old man (cf. Col. 3:9). 4) The soteriological significance of Communion with God is determined by its anthropological significance. Man, according to St. Ignatius, there is a church for God; Communion with God is both supernatural and normal for him. This idea, which we called the paradox of man, is that human nature itself presupposes a supernatural being; in other words, being corresponding to nature consists for a person in transcending this nature through actual communication with God, without which - i.e. Left on its own, human nature is flawed. St. Ignatius continues the line of Sts. Macarius and Simeon. For him, communion with God is not just a need of human nature, but also its original fundamental property by the very fact of creation, both as a given and as a given. This anthropology is also characterized by integrity, for Communion with God is considered here as an anthropological dominant - as a fundamental need and natural orientation - for the whole person, not excluding the body, which is initially capable and intended for activity and enjoyment of the spiritual. The fall of man ontologically consisted precisely in the rupture of communication with God, the consequence of which was not only damage to human nature, but also his inevitable communication with fallen spirits, even submission to their violent influence and power. The saving work of Christ St. Ignatius understands, from the content side, as the destruction of the barrier between man and God, as the liberation of man from the power of demons and the return of real, ontological (and not just “communicative”, or – in the terminology of St. Theophan the Recluse – “mental”) communication with God. 5) Experience – restored or being restored – of the Communion of God with St. Ignatius describes, in the best traditions of St. Simeon the New Theologian, as a mystical experience, and necessarily tangible and conscious. It is this aspect of the teaching of St. Ignatius helps to destroy the stereotypes of critics who reproach the saint for denying positive spiritual experience and the joy of the Christian gospel, attributing to him suspicion and epistemomachy. Indeed, St. Ignatius constantly calls for the greatest mystical caution, but his entire teaching about delusion is, in fact, nothing more than practical apophaticism - not a denial, but only a fencing and defense of genuine experience. The tangible action of Divine grace is immaterial, powerful, supernatural and irreducible to any known, created-immanent experience. At the same time, the saint consistently pursues precisely the idea of ​​the obligatory reality, tangibility, concreteness of salvation, i.e. Communication with God, thus placing the latter in a certain dependence on the person’s perception of it. True salvation must be obvious, move from the realm of abstract concepts into the reality of experience, it “must be developed, felt, seen in oneself... without which faith in Christ is dead, and Christianity is a word and a name without its implementation!” 596. 6) True mystical experience in St. Ignatius is the experience of grace-filled prayer - a special state to denote which we used the term “holistic prayer.” In this experience, the reunification of the component parts of man, dissected by sin, takes place - and is actually, clearly experienced, which is both a condition for the union of man with God, and the fruit of this union, i.e. a return to the pre-sin, heavenly state. This is manifested in prayer by the fact that the whole person begins to take part in it: not only the mind, but also the heart - and even the body itself, which, as was said, is natural for the latter. It is in this mystical state that the ontological integrity of man, his primitive healthy being, is restored. 7) In relation to the described axiological and soteriological ideal, realized in mystical experience, practical apophatism (as one of the most important parameters of the asceticism of St. Ignatius) also manifests itself as a special “apophatic state” corresponding to holistic prayer. It is characterized not just by a transcendental experience that surpasses the natural cognitive, analytical and expressive abilities of the mind, but also by a certain change, transcendence, stopping the natural activity of the mind and heart, the “ecstasy of thoughtlessness” in the words of Archpriest. G. Florovsky. At the same time, the saint himself describes this state not as passivity or darkness, not as a narrowing of consciousness, but as a complete aspiration, the endless movement of man towards the infinite, as the antinomy of simultaneous silence and mysterious conversation, as the indescribable, inexpressible, incomprehensible action of God in man 597. At its highest levels, a person’s prayer no longer becomes so much his own doing, but rather the action and manifestation of God living in him. Thus, the state of revealed Communion with God is an apophatic state of holistic prayer, embracing the entire being and all human activity. Prayer, which was previously predominantly intentional, acquires an ontological character and begins to merge with the Universe of God. 8) Entry into communion with God is accomplished through communion with God. Practical apophaticism of St. Ignatius, which we above also called a kind of anthropological minimalism, manifests itself in relation to fallen human nature in the recognition of its radical damage - so radical that in itself it is incapable of any positive participation in the process of its own salvation, except for the active manifestation by man of his will to be saved. This applies both to the achievement of the final goal and to the particular tasks of the soteriological process. The real driving force behind the process of salvation and transforming a person is grace, given in response to active will (here the principle of theocentric maximalism comes into force: the cause of all saving changes in a person is God, the touch of the Holy Spirit). From here again the impossibility of salvation necessarily follows, i.e. true knowledge of God and communion with God, outside the (visible) boundaries of the Orthodox Church, outside its mystical, grace-filled life, for only from the present communion with God can true Christian virtues be born, while fallen nature is incapable of any pure good that can bring salvation. 9) St. Ignatius with particular force reveals the significance of suffering as a factor in the knowledge of God and communication with God. In the method of salvation proposed by the Caucasian saint, i.e. knowledge of God and union with Him, the key role is played by the sacrament of the cross, the meaning of which, on the one hand, is explained by the saint’s described views on fallen human nature (the correct attitude towards which can only be denial - renunciation), on the other hand, it is associated with the fundamental principle, the prototype of every cross - the Cross of Christ. In addition to its well-known moral and ascetic meaning, correctly accepted suffering is revealed as a necessary means of knowledge of God: only through a personal cross, transformed into the Cross of Christ, is communion with God and the assimilation of true Theology possible. 10) The apparent contradiction in the teaching of St. Ignatius between the recognition of the limitless possibilities and even the soteriological necessity of mystical experience for man, on the one hand, and the uncompromising demand for penitential-ascetic “renunciation” of the direct search for this experience is resolved by dividing these provisions as dogma and method, respectively. The saint’s idea of ​​the natural incomprehensibility of God, coupled with his concept of fallen human nature, naturally requires in the mystical-ascetic search (i.e. in practical spiritual life) an “apophatic” approach - as a way of denying any precocious and creaturely-immanent experience - in the name of hope for a meeting with real Transcendence, i.e. for the sake of protecting the very possibility of such a meeting. Repentant renunciation of oneself, of one’s fallen nature, even of daring to communicate with God, appears in St. Ignatius is precisely the means to achieve communion with God. The persistent desire to see and know the veil of sin, lies and self-deception lying before the eyes of one’s mind and heart is the only way and a necessary condition for this veil to be one day removed by Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 3:14-16). In general, seeking Communion with God requires such a degree of self-sacrifice that even the very experience of Communion with God does not become an end in itself for the ascetic, in other words: so that the desire for an unfailingly tangible blessing is replaced by a repentant and submissive surrender of oneself to the will of God. But, moreover, the very reality of the experience of Communion with God is precisely evidenced, in addition to the ontological return of human integrity, also morally - by the deepest humility, repentant crying, and the extinction of passionate movements. All this fundamentally distinguishes genuine mystical experience from delusion. The work also showed the fundamental agreement and complementarity of St. Ignatius and St. Theophan the Recluse on the issues of a) self-denial as a condition for entering into the knowledge of God and communication with God and b) the gradualness of epistemological growth, which presupposes qualitative changes in the ontological relations of God and the person saved by Him 598. Thus, in our study, all the tasks outlined in the introduction to reconstruct the soteriological-epistemological teaching of St. were completed. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the knowledge of God and communication with God: determination of the nature of the teaching and its sources, polemical orientation and relationship with tradition; clarification of the anthropological foundations, soteriological significance, mystical content and ascetic-axiological functions of the knowledge of God and communication with God; study of the epistemological significance of suffering, comprehension of the antinomy of mystical daring and practical apophatism, clarification of some of the latter provisions by comparing them with the parallel teaching of St. Feofan. So, based on a study of the works of St. Ignatius, a harmonious, detailed, original and together verified within the framework of the patristic tradition system of theological epistemology was identified and recreated, standing behind the practical, ascetic-soteriological teaching of the saint, which is the dogmatic foundation and internal content of this teaching and determines its specificity. Thus, the working hypothesis was fully confirmed. Further research could, firstly, go deeper into certain particular aspects and, perhaps, reveal additional details of the teachings of St. Ignatius on Communion with God and Knowledge of God. It seems, for example, that a comparative analysis of the saint’s teaching on the state of fallen human nature and the teaching of other saints on this subject is extremely interesting and promising. fathers, especially the first centuries. The question of fallen nature is also a question of the consequences of the Fall, of the sinful distortion of man, of the quality of his spiritual movements; this, in essence, is a question about the entire culture, activity and civilization of mankind, especially about the quality of the “good deeds” of fallen nature and about the possibility of salvation outside the Church; in the end, it is a question about what Christ did for us and how we participate in the fruits of this. In direct connection with this question is the question of human nature as perceived by Christ. It would be no less interesting to specifically study the issue of the epistemological dimension of suffering, also, if possible, from a broad, paradigmatic-comparative perspective. An important direction could be research in comparison with the St. system. Ignatius, epistemological and soteriological concepts of other confessions and religions, primarily modern Western confessions, which over the past decades have come a long way from distortions of Christianity to religious syncretism of a specific, secular-gnostic type. In the Western “Christian” world, a paradoxical but natural phenomenon is observed: on the one hand, Communion with God is often frivolously recognized as absolutely accessible to anyone who wants it, and any experience presented or presented as an experience of Communion with God is completely uncritically accepted as such; on the other hand, there is a strong tendency to belittle the soteriological, ascetic, and simply “creative” significance of Communion with God in favor of the “human factor.” In addition to the banal “tolerance,” anthropocentrism and humanism, characteristic of the secular spirit that permeates Western Christianity, clearly appears here. In fact, these two opposing trends - pseudo-mysticism and autonomism, already known to us - are manifestations of the same general tendency, two sides of the same coin. Both there and here, communion with God is not conceived as completely supernatural, beyond the scope of human capabilities, and fallen human nature itself is not considered incurably damaged; on the contrary, it is recognized as having the ability for autonomous development - be it in the “horizontal” plane of human relations and interaction with the material world or in the “vertical” plane, i.e. in terms of establishing a connection with God. Of course, one cannot help but see in this peculiar (semi-)Pelagianism the bitter fruits of “Barlaamism.” Finally, St. himself shows us another direction of research. Ignatius - who called Orthodox church services a complete course of dogmatic and moral theology. So, it would be very fruitful to analyze in detail this rich hymnographic (and euchological) material from the point of view of dogmatics and mysticism in order to reveal the teaching contained in it, so generously taught by the Church and there little absorbed and even noticed today not only by ordinary believers, but - alas! - and scientists and theologians. Divine services should become for theological science a kind of “collective holy father,” a body (or even a collection of bodies) of the most sublime and mysterious teaching, subject to study, comprehension, systematization and comparison with “properly patristic” sources. Unfortunately, this has not yet been done, and theological works on liturgical texts mostly concern only their external aspects - poetics, imagery, symbolism, etc. 599. Meanwhile, liturgical texts are a special source of theological knowledge and theological experience, for worship itself is the means and medium of Communion with God, 600, or “the path of entry into the life of Christ the Savior,” our “ascension to heaven through the medium of the Son of God incarnate for us”; in it we become familiar with the mystery of eternity “through its manifestation in time” 601. It is “not only our service to God, but also the service to us of the God-man Jesus... Who in the sacrament of worship descends again to us,” and we ascend “to the Divine life” 602. Not only the Divine Liturgy, but through it “the entire divine service in general... is... not only a memory of the once former revelation of eternity, but also each time a new revelation of it” 603. “The same mystery of Divine love and Economy,” which we experience in the Liturgy, is also revealed in the annual cycle of services 604. In general, “everything external, earthly, visible, that is given to us in worship, serves for us as steps to true and Divine life,” 605 so that each holiday is called upon to become a new event in the personal spiritual life of a Christian, the beginning of “his hidden life with Christ,” the manifestation within a person of that “what is objectively revealed to us through the divine service taking place in the church.” In this case, “the whole life becomes a divine service, and the divine service itself is only the most striking manifestation and pinnacle of ... internal work. This ascetic side of the liturgical experience was widely and deeply reflected in the content of the service” 606. For this reason, the study of the teaching of liturgical texts about communion with God and knowledge of God can significantly enrich theological science, and through it the spiritual life of believers. “One lesson,” instructs St. Ignatius, - can be considered a truly useful activity during a short earthly life... the knowledge of Christ, Who is both the giver of eternal blessed life and the path to this life” 607. “Knowledge of the Truth,” adds Bishop. Afanasy (Evtich), - identical with life in Truth, for true knowledge is inseparable from living and personal communal life in Truth" 608. List of used literature 1. Bible: Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchies, 1983. 1371 p. Works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova) 2. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About magicians and sorcerers, ancient and new. SPb.: Type. V.V. Komarova, 1887. 18 p. 3. 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(Le Soleil dans le cœur; 8). 104. Smolitsch, I. K. Russisches Mönchtum: Entstehung, Entwicklung und Wesen. 988–1917. Würzburg: Augustinus-Verlag, 1953. 559 S. 105. Ware Kallistos, Bishop. Foreword // Ignatius Brianchaninov, St. On the Prayer of Jesus: The Classic Guide to the Practice of Unceasing Prayer as Found in The Way of a Pilgrim / trans. by Father Lazarus. Boston; London: New Seeds, 2005. S. VII–XXXIII. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 144–145. Compare: “Christianity is not a philosophical school that speculates on abstract concepts, but above all communion with the living God” (Lossky V.N. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church // Theological Works. M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1972. No. 8. P. 26). Compare: The Son of God came and gave us light and understanding, so that we might know the true God and may we be in His true Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). Compare: “In the mystical process, both the knowledge of God and the inheritance of eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven as a real place of deification of the whole person intersect” (Nikolai Karasev, Archpriest. The meaning of mysticism in the relationship between dogmatics and ethics in Orthodox theology. Part I. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://andreyblag.ru/images/articles/duhovenstvo/2/staty/znachenie_mistiki.docx (date of access: October 6, 2021)). Also, to a certain extent, liturgics, in particular hymnography. Yes, St. Afanasy (Sakharov) speaks of the essence of worship as “the internal communication of the creature with the Creator, a deep intimate conversation of a god-like soul with God Himself in that ineffable language that the celestial Paul heard in the third heaven. Worship is the purest contemplation, it is, as it were, the dissolution of the soul in God,” consoling it with “the greatest joy for it in communion with God, in contemplation of God.” This is what all church hymns and prayers serve, be they of dogmatic or ascetic-psychological content; their goal is “to elevate to the level of contemplation and communion with God.” A church or even a cell sincere reading of liturgical chants for the sake of saving the soul will certainly place believers “at least on the first step of that ladder of communion with God and contemplation, at the top of which stood the inspired hymns,” the saint asserts. At the same time, he complains that “somehow little attention is paid to the content of liturgical books... our theological literature" (Athanasius (Sakharov), confessor, Bishop of Kovrov. The mood of the believing soul according to the Lenten Triodion. Preface. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Afanasij_Saharov/nastroenie-verujushhej-dushi-po-triodi-postnoj/#0_1 (date of access: 09.16.2020)). Wed. the thoughts of the same Lossky: “There is no Christian mysticism without theology and, what is more significant, there is no theology without mysticism”; “Christian theory has a highly practical significance, and the more mystical this theory is, the more directly it strives towards its highest goal - unity with God - the more “practical” it is.” (Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 10). Wed. at prot. N. Karaseva: “Ethics, dogmatics and mysticism constitute a single integral Orthodox theology. And when dogmatics turns into a theoretical system of theology - scholasticism, ethics - into empty moralism, and mysticism - into magic and superstition, harmony is disrupted and religious doctrine is distorted. Outside of Christian dogma, ethics turns into philosophical categories that can be talked about, but cannot be lived by. Such ethics has no force, and then the vector of moralism receives the opposite direction: evil turns into good, good into evil, or, as occultism teaches, good and evil become “one whole”” (Nikolai Karasev, Archpriest. The meaning of mysticism in the relationship between dogmatics and ethics in Orthodox theology. Part I. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://andreyblag.ru/images/articles/duhovenstvo/2/staty/znachenie_mistiki.docx (date of access: October 6, 2021)). Including for private use, cf.: “We ask for great things in this daily prayer to the Holy Spirit. We ask Him to “come and dwell in us.” In other words, we ask Him to happen to us... something similar to what once happened on the now celebrated day with St. apostles. And when He “comes” and “settles” in any person, He brings into his soul everything that He Himself has, He communicates to the person from these treasures of His being” (Skaballanovich M. N. Pentecost. Kyiv: Preaching leaflet, 1916. (Christian holidays; book 5). pp. 42, 44.). – And in other liturgical texts, both public and private, one can find a fairly clear teaching about the restoration of Communion with God. As they also say: philocalic, meaning compliance with the teachings of the ascetic collection “Philokalia” (in Russian translation: “Philokalia”). See about them in § 1.2 of this work. This is what we, in particular, will show in this study. Ambrose (Ermakov), Metropolitan. Teaching about the Jesus Prayer according to the works of St. Theophan the Recluse. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Feofan_Zatvornik/uchenie-ob-iisusovoj-molitve-potrudam-svjatitelja-feofana-zatvornika (date of access: 07/8/2020). Wed. thoughts of L. A. Sokolov: “These provisions, undoubtedly well known to Orthodox Christian theologians, in the works and life of St. Ignatius are revived and spiritualized and from the objects and questions of theoretical knowledge they become the truths of life: knowledge and expression in certain concepts of the foundations, ways and means of spiritual salvation merges with the inner life of the theological ascetic and becomes the psychology of spiritual salvation, which is the work and true life of his, thus thereby evoking corresponding moods in the soul of the studying reader" (Sokolov L.A. Mental salvation as the greatest good and joy of life. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Leonid_Sokolov/dushevnoe-spasenie-kak-elichajsheeblago-i-radost-zhizni (access date: 10/19/2021). Compare: “The possibility of restoring the true path of theology (knowledge of God) stands, of course, depending on the existence in our church society of one or another number of truly spiritual persons, not according to academic degrees and not according to external vestments, but along the ladder of spiritual achievement and according to the inner garment of the soul - persons who have perceived the truth of Christ within themselves, as a kind of mysterious (but very real) feeling of that world, which the living yearns to know the human soul" (Mikhail Novoselov, martyr. Dogma, ethics and mysticism as part of the Christian doctrine. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Mihail_Novoselov/dogmat-ehtika-i-mistika-v-sostave-khristianskogoverouchenija/#0_11 (date of access: 22.10.2021). Dukhanin Valery, priest. The patristic tradition of smart doing in the spiritual experience of St. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus. Ch. I: Smart doing in the understanding of St. Ignatius [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Valerij_Duhanin/svjatootecheskaja-traditsija-umnogo-delanija-v-dukhovnom-opytesvjatitelja-ignatija/1 (access date: 03/25/2021). Let us make a reservation that the term “epistemology” will generally be used in this work in the narrow sense of theological epistemology, i.e. teachings specifically and primarily about the knowledge of God. Zarin S. M. Asceticism according to Orthodox Christian teaching. T. 1: Fundamental. Book 2: Experience of systematically revealing the issue. SPb.: Publishing house. V. F. Kirshbaum, 1907. Sokolov, L. A. Saint Ignatius: His life, personality and moral and ascetic views: At 3 o'clock. Moscow: Sretensky Monastery, 2003. Wed. only one such phrase: “The essence of good and evil is defined by Ignatius Brianchaninov from the point of view of Communion with God, as the greatest human good” (Sokolov, L. A. St. Ignatius. Part 2: Moral and ascetic views of St. Ignatius. P. 181). And this despite the fact that about St. He himself notes to Theophanes that he “willingly used new Western commentaries,” and “combines paternal asceticism ... with romantic psychology and natural philosophy,” developing “very interesting thoughts about the universal animation of the world.” In general, St. Feonfan Fr. George devotes about 6 pages, whereas for St. Ignatius does not even find the full two. – See: Florovsky Georgy, prot. Paths of Russian theology. Ch. VII: Historical school. Paris: YMCA, 1981. pp. 393–400. Prudnikov A. S. The latest criticism of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov): Experience of apology // The Gospel in the context of modern culture: materials of the V international. scientific-practical Conf., Belgorod, May 18, 2017 / pod. ed. T. I. Lipich, S. M. Dergaleva. Belgorod: Belgorod: National Research University "BelGU", 2017. pp. 45–49. – The same author concludes that criticism from the two named opponents “can hardly be considered justified. She finds no basis in the works of St. Ignatius, nor in the cause-and-effect relationship between the popularization of his works and the problems of modern church life that they allegedly caused.” Moreover, “making a general assessment of the criticism of St. Ignatius, it should be noted that it is distinctive; it was all written in the same spirit. This spirit is expressed in the authors’ undeclared intention to search for the minimum requirements for salvation. Almost all intellectualized, “graceless” theology suffers from this. At St. Ignatius’s intention is different, it is an intention for achievement. All his writings “breathe” with the question: what else can be done for the sake of Christ? For the bishop’s critics, this question sounds different: what else could I find that would not interfere with my salvation? Hence the reductionist tendency toward sola scriptura, which manifests itself in constant reproaches for the inconsistency of the saint’s thoughts with Holy Scripture. Hence there is more optimism" (Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov): Graduate Courses in Theology, majoring in Theology. Belgorod: National Research University "BelSU", 2017. P. 48, 46. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nauchkor.ru/pubs/poznanie-i-spasenie-v-trudah-svyatitelya-ignatiyabryanchaninova-5b88846c7966e1073081b7f0 (date of access: 08.26.2021)). Doveiko Yu. Ontological transformation of man in the theology of Ignatius Brianchaninov: critical understanding: dis. ... Doctor of Theology. Riga: Latvijas Universitate, 2009. See: Ibid. pp. 24–26, 167–168. Khondzinsky Pavel, Rev. About the book by Juris Doveiko “Ontological transformation of man in the theology of Ignatius Brianchaninov: critical understanding” (University of Latvia, 2011) // Filaretovsky almanac. M: PSTGU, 2013. No. 9. P. 200–203. Mark (Lozinsky), abbot. The spiritual life of a layman and a monk according to the works and letters of Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov). M.: Kazak, 1997. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Mark_Lozinskij/duhovnaja-zhizn-mirjanina-i-monaha-po-tvorenijam-i-pismam-episkopaignatija-brjanchaninova (access date: 10.20.2021). Right there. Conclusion. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Mark_Lozinskij/duhovnajazhizn-mirjanina-i-monaha-po-tvorenijam-i-pismam-episkopa-ignatija-brjanchaninova/3 (access date: 10.20.2021). Lyubomudrov A.M. Sviagitel Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and the problem of creativity // Christianity and Russian literature. Sat. 2. St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1996, pp. 24–31. Dukhanin Valery, priest. The patristic tradition of smart doing in the spiritual experience of St. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Valerij_Duhanin/svjatootecheskaja-traditsija-umnogo-delanija-v-dukhovnom-opytesvjatitelja-ignatija (date of access: 03/25/2021). Pomogov A. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the significance of the Eucharist in the salvation of man. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ignatij_Brjanchaninov/o-znachenii-evkharistii-v-spasenii-cheloveka/ (access date: 10/20/2021). Chistyakov R. Dogmatic views of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) in his preaching activities: diploma. Job. Kostroma: KoDS, 2008. Khondzinsky Pavel, prot., Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html (access date: 10/7/2021). Shustrov A. G. Problems of knowledge in the Eastern Christian doctrine // Bulletin of the Russian Chemical Academy. SPb.: RKhGA, 2011. T. 12. Issue. 2. pp. 80–87. Sazonov Dmitry, prot. The contribution of Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) to Russian pre-matic theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://sazonow.ru/stati/200–2012–12–25–21–02–06 (access date: 10/20/2021). – Wed. with the estimates of the above-mentioned Yu. Doveyko, abbot. P. Meshcherinova and priest. F. Parfyonov, and even Rev. G. Florovsky. Glazkov A.P. “The First Resurrection” in the historical and ascetic understanding of eschatological historiosophy: Vladimir Solovyov and Ignatius Brianchaninov // Solovyov studies. Ivanovo: ISEU, 2012. No. 1 (33). pp. 152–162. Vishnyakov K. A. Subject field in the study of the philosophy of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov // Theory and practice of social development. Krasnodar: Publishing house. house HORS, 2013. No. 12. [b. pag.]. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/predmetnoe-pole-v-issledovanii-filosofii-episkopa-ignatiyabryanchaninova/viewer (access date: 10/20/2021); The doctrine of man in the philosophy of Ignatius Brianchaninov // Science and school. M.: MPGU, 2013. No. 4. P. 168–170. Vishnyakov K. A. Subject field in the study of the philosophy of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov. [b. pag.]. Vinogradov Georgy, last. “Mysticism of the mind” and “mysticism of the heart” in the light of patristic anthropology. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://bogoslov.ru/article/3415902#_ednref13 (access date: 10/20/2021). Legeev Mikhail, priest. St. Theophan the Recluse and St. Ignatius Brianchaninov: emphasis on two approaches to the issue of restoring human nature // Materials of the VII Feofanov Readings, September 25–27, 2013 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://svtheofan.ru/item/1746-mihail-legeev.html (access date: 10/21/2021). This very interesting dispute between the two saints, which continues, one might say, to this day, is beyond the scope of our study. Paisiy (Bui), Hierom. “The anthropological aspect of prayer in the works of Saints Theophan the Recluse and Ignatius Brianchaninov” // Theological collection of the Tambov Theological Seminary. Tambov: TPS LLC, 2016. Vol. 3. pp. 40–47. Mikhailenko A. S. Soteriology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova) // Proceedings of the Belgorod Theological Seminary. Belgorod: Belgorod Theological Seminary, 2017. No. 6. pp. 163–170. Konyaev S.S. Comparative characteristics of the anthropological concepts of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and St. Theophan the Recluse: Graduate Course in Theology, majoring in Theology. M.: PSTGU, 2017 Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). pp. 96–97. The author says this about the works of S. S. Khoruzhy on hesychast anthropology, but the remark is definitely true in relation to both the entire patristic tradition and St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova). Titkova N. E. The theme of repentance in the “Ascetic Sermon” of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Philological Sciences. Questions of theory and practice. Tambov: Certificate, 2018. No. 12 (90). Part 3. pp. 462–466. See: Seraphim (Lopukhov), Hierom. The role of the Jesus Prayer in the process of Christian self-knowledge according to the teachings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Scientific materials. conf. "Jesus Prayer. Once again about the main thing (school of spiritual life)” (“Zosimov Readings – 2019”, Trinity-Odigitrievsky Stavropegic Convent of Zosima Monastery), December 7, 2019 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://monasterium.ru/doklady/iisusova-molitva-eshche-raz-o-glavnom-shkola-dukhovnoy-zhizni/rol-iisusovoymolitvy-v-protsesse-khristianskogo-samopoznaniya-po-ucheniyu-svyatitelya-ignatiya-bryanchaninova (access date: 20.10.2021). Olenich T. S., Garazha V. N. “The role of the Jesus Prayer in comprehending the mystical experience of God and self-knowledge according to the teachings of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)” // Young researcher of the Don. Rostov-on-Don: DSTU. 2020. No. 6 (27). pp. 70–73. Ivanov E. “Champion of Orthodoxy”: about the legacy of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). [Electronic resource]. URL: https://ruskline.ru/opp/2020/05/19/pravoslaviya_poborniche_o_nasledii_svyatitelya_ignatiya_bryanchaninova (access date: 10/20/2021). Mankevich E.V. Specificity of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov): dis. ...Master of Philosophy. M.: Moscow State University named after. Lomonosov, 2020. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nauchkor.ru/pubs/spetsifika-religioznogo-opyta-v-kontseptsii-ignatiya-bryanchaninova60d8e3ece4dde5000108cf88 (access date: 08/13/2021). But what about, for example, the experience of holistic prayer, which clearly distinguishes a spiritual state from delusion (one of the varieties of an “altered state of consciousness”)? See about this in Ch. 2 of this work. Mankevich E. V. Specificity of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 90. Paisiy (Bui), Hierom. The phenomenon of human suffering in the ascetic heritage of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov // Theological collection of the Tambov Theological Seminary. Tambov: TPS LLC, 2021. No. 1 (14). pp. 46–54. Mankevich E. V. Specificity of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 7. Compare, for example: Heiliger Bischof Ignatij, der Erleuchter / übers. von A. Achziger. Wachtendonk: Hagia Sophia, 2011. (Glaubensweisheit und Spiritualität der russischen Starzen; Bd. 2). Eg: Behr-Sigel, E . La prière de Jésus: Le mystère de la spiritualité orthodoxe. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.pagesorthodoxes.net/coeur/mystere.htm (access date: 12/1/2021). Smolitsch, I. K. Russisches Mönchtum: Entstehung, Entwicklung und Wesen. 988–1917. Würzburg: Augustinus Verlag, 1953. Simonod, E. La Prière de Jésus selon l'évêque Ignace Briantclianinoff (1807–1867). Sisteron: Présence, 1976. (Le Soleil dans le cœur; 8). Knechten, H. M. Freude bringende Trauer: Väter-Rezeption bei Ignatij Brjančaninov. Waltrop: Spenner, 2003. Paert, I. ‘The Unmercenary Bishop’: St Ignatii (Brianchaninov) (1807–1867) and the Making of Modern Russian Orthodoxy // Slavonica. 2003. Vol. 9, No. 2. P. 99–112. Ware Kallistos, Bishop. Foreword // Ignatius Brianchaninov, St. On the Prayer of Jesus: The Classic Guide to the Practice of Unceasing Prayer as Found in The Way of a Pilgrim / trans. by Father Lazarus. Boston; London: New Seeds, 2005. S. VII-XXXIII. Eg: Čemus, R. Sulle tracce della Filocalia: Pagine sulla preghiera esicasta. Milano: Paoline, 2006. (Letture cristiane del secondo millenio; 38). Bolshakoff, S. Russian Mystics. Piscataway: Georgien Press, 2009. (Monastic Studies Series; vol. 3). The last two authors very consistently deal with the question of the organic connection - even unity - of dogma, ethics and mysticism in genuine, church Christianity, which question is raised in our work. Lossky V.N. Faith and Theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-i-bogoslovie (access date: 08/5/2021). So much so that creation itself must be recognized as “accidental” in relation to the existence of God, and not at all necessary. Only there can one assert the absolute independence of the Creator from creation - by recognizing that God might not have created. The world is not a “consequence” of God as a “prime cause” - in the sense that the creation of the world was not conditioned by anything, but was an act of pure freedom (see: Ibid.). Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 9. Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology // Theological works. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchies, 1972. No. 8. pp. 133–134. Nothaas J. R., Erzpriester. Dionysios Areopagita – ein Neuplatoniker? // Dionysios Areopagita. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://orthpedia.de/index.php/Dionysios_Areopagita (access date: 06/3/2021). – My translation, reader MG. The doctrine of the difference in God's essence and energies was formulated and developed by St. The Cappadocian Fathers in the 4th century and St. Gregory Palamas in the 14th century, opposing the attempts of heretics to replace Christianity as a religion with abstract philosophical theorizing and defending the living experience of Communion with God - the first in the fight against the epistemological rationalism of Eunomius, the latter in polemics with the ultra-apophatism of Barlaam. See for example: Gregory Palamas, St. About Divine energies and their communion // Treatises / trans. from Greek and approx. archim. Nektary (Yashunsky). Krasnodar: Text, 2007. (Patristics: texts and studies). pp. 39–89. Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 86. – Wed: “With His uncreated energies, the Holy God enters ... the life of every person. The energies of God are divine. They are God Himself, although not His essence. They are also God - and only for this reason can they deify a person. Thanks to the divine uncreated energies with which God connects with us, we can communicate with Him and connect with His Grace - without identifying with Him, moral perfection is not enough for man! His ultimate goal is union with the Holy God. In it is our joy, our happiness, our fulfillment. This is not external communication, but the mysterious unity of a person with God in the Holy Spirit" (George (Kapsanis), archimandrite. Deification as the meaning of human life. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Georgij_Kapsanis/obozhenie-kak-smysl-chelovecheskoj-zhizni/#0_4 (date of access: 5.08.2020)). Gregory Palamas, St. Triads in defense of the Sacred Silent. Triad III, 2:25. M.: RIPOL classic, 2018. P. 367. Davydenkov Oleg, Rev. Dogmatic theology: Textbook. M.: PSTGU, 2014. pp. 113–114. Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. pp. 48–49. Wed: Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology. P. 134. Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 41. Wed: Basil the Great, St. Letter 189 (181): To Eustathius, chief physician 8 // Creations. T. 2. M.: Sibirskaya blagozvonnitsa, 2009. (Complete collection of the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation; vol. 4). P. 716. Their methodological and terminological distinction goes back to the treatise “On Mystical Theology,” which is part of the so-called. Areopagite Corpus (c. III-VI centuries), the author of which is traditionally considered to be (pseudo-) Dionysius the Areopagite. See: Dionysios Areopagita. De mystica theologia // PG 3, 997–1064. Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology. P. 134. One of the favorite means of pointing out the incomprehensibility, the super-essence of God among Orthodox theologians is the image of Divine Darkness, which is also the image of the ineffable presence of God face to face. Apophatic ecstasy is symbolically likened to the ascent of Moses to Mount Sinai to talk with God in the darkness (Dionysios Areopagita. De mystica theologia I: 3 // PG 3, 1000 D – 1001 A). The goal of the apophatic path is “to see and know through ignorance and non-vision the One who surpasses contemplation and knowledge even in ignorance and ignorance” (De mystica theologia II // PG 3, 1025 A). Lossky wrote about their relationship and interconnection: “apophatics is not a special department of theology, but the only path of any theological thought, teaching it to renounce the usual methods of perception and thinking, perceiving the Revealed Truth. It not only “does not exclude Revelation” ... but is the main condition for the possibility for us to perceive the Truth of Revelation, the main condition of any Christian theology, in contrast to pagan gnosis and philosophy” (Lossky V.N. Dispute about Sophia. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/spor-osofii (access date: 9.08.2021)). Lossky V. N. Dogmatic theology. P. 135. Let us remember that in the hymnographic texts the appearance of God to Moses in the darkness is considered as a prototype of the meeting of God with man through the Incarnation. So, for example, the rock, in the cleft of which Moses was hidden from the direct vision of God, but through which he seemed to contemplate the Invisible One, is interpreted as a prototype of the deified flesh in which Christ was clothed and from which the rays of His Divinity shone on Tabor (see: 2nd canon of the Transfiguration, canto 1, 2nd troparion; cf. canto 4th, irmos // Menaion. Month of August. 6th day. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1996. P. 152, 154). Nothaas J. R., Erzpriester. Dionysios Areopagita und Thomas von Aquin // Dionysios Areopagita. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://orthpedia.de/index.php/Dionysios_Areopagita (access date: 06/3/2021). – My translation, reader MG. And this is because “theology must be doxology and turn us to the praise of God.” So, for example, at St. John of Damascus, “theology turns into liturgical doxology, and even the most scholastic expositions evoke poetic impulses” (Lossky V.N. Faith and Theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-ibogoslovie (access date: 08/5/2021)). Wed. epistemological principle of St. Simeon the New Theologian: “there is neither knowledge without vision, nor vision without feeling, that is, first someone sees a thing and, seeing it, knows it, and then feels it. I say this in relation to the spiritual” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 42:1 // Words: in 2 parts / translated from the new book of Bishop Theophan. Part 1. M.: Rule of Faith, 2006. P. 496). Compare: “The pinnacle of knowledge of God is communication: I know as I myself am known,” says Lossky, hinting at 1 Cor. 13:12 (Lossky V.N. Faith and theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-i-bogoslovie (access date: 08/5/2021)). – In another place, he notes that the experience of seeing God among Orthodox mystics is the experience of personal communication with Him, which is “a mutual relationship - we see and we are seen, a vision-communion with the Divine in Divine glory” (Lossky V.N. “The Vision of God” in Byzantine Theology // Theological Works. M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1972. No. 8. P. 188). Compare: “Man is the only one who is not what he should be. Cognition, as Christian Tradition testifies, does not turn out to be human life itself, but serves as a preparatory stage that introduces it into life” (Shustrov A.G. Problems of cognition in Eastern Christian doctrine. P. 81). Zarin S. M. Asceticism. T. 1: Fundamental. Book 2: Experience of systematically revealing the issue. P. 45. – Original italics. Right there. Wed. his own remarks: “For a person to truly participate in the truth and life of Christ, a person’s relationship to Christ must be realized, similar to that in which he is to Adam. ...the very essence of this mystical communication is not commensurate with the usual, natural psychological forms and experiences of our consciously free life” (Ibid. pp. 43–44). – (Italics are original throughout.) – It is interesting that he also calls γνῶσις – “knowledge, understanding” – “the basic, general and most characteristic principle of Orthodox asceticism,” meaning, however, “reasoning,” and at the same time the importance of a personal attitude to the assimilation of the salvation given in Christ (p. 682). Compare: “In contrast to gnosis [i.e. Gnosticism. - reader MG ], where knowledge in itself is the goal of the Gnostic, Christian theology is ultimately always only a means, only a certain body of knowledge that should serve that goal that surpasses all knowledge. This ultimate goal is union with God or deification” (Lossky V.N. Essay on Mystical Theology. P. 10). Gregory the Theologian, St. Word 45: For Holy Easter // Collection of works: in 2 volumes. T. 1. Minsk; M.: Harvest; AST, 2000. P. 822. Gregory the Theologian, St. Word 40: For Holy Baptism // Ibid. P. 697. Karasev Nikolai, prot. On the question of the meaning of mysticism in Orthodox theology // Bulletin of the Russian State University for the Humanities. Ser.: Philosophy. Sociology. Art history. 2014. No. 10 (123). P. 236. 1st canon for the week of Pentecost, 6th hymn, 1st troparion // Pentikostarion, that is, Pentecost (Triodion Tsvetnaya). M.: Rule of Faith, 2007. L. 243 vol. 2nd canon for the week of Pentecost, 6th hymn, 2nd troparion // Ibid. In addition to the Christological aspects discussed above. Compare: Lossky V.N. Palamite synthesis // Theological works. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 1972. No. 8. P. 195. Wed: Minin P. M. Main directions of ancient church mysticism. Sergiev Posad: Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1915. P. 3. Compare: “Thus, theological research presupposes the preliminary coming of the One we seek, the One who has already appeared to us and is present in us” (Lossky V.N. Faith and Theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-i-bogoslovie (access date: 5.08.2021)). Compare: “This path of knowledge differs from the knowledge of any system of human knowledge; it is not a theoretical knowledge of the Christian doctrine (δογμα), but an experimental understanding of the truth. On this path, knowledge as Divine revelation is assimilated through contemplation - mystical insight” (Nikolai Karasev, Archpriest. On the question of the meaning of mysticism. P. 236). St. Simeon the New Theologian asserts: it is impossible for someone who continues to sin to “truly proclaim divine dogmas and theologize.” For how is it possible for a mind that is darkened by a defiled conscience to think right and purely?” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 10:4 // Words. Part 1. P. 130), for true knowledge of God is based not on speculative theology, but on “contemplation of what truly exists” (cf.: Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 63:3 // Words. Part 2. P. 61), which is impossible without purification. Compare: “for true theology, according to the teaching of St. Simeon, a highly moral, virtuous life is necessary in the grace-filled atmosphere of the Church and its sacraments” (Panteleimon (Uspensky), Hierom. Three Theologians: Apostle John the Theologian, Saint Gregory the Theologian and Saint Simeon the New Theologian // Saint Gregory the Theologian: collection of articles. M.: Siberian Blagozvonnitsa, 2011. P. 97). Which he, of course, cannot help but be at first. However, for a believer, trust in the Church and voluntary submission of the mind to its conciliar reason can even then translate the dogma partly into an internal, even moral necessity, based on the intention to be honest with one’s conscience and consistent in one’s ideological and life attitudes. And yet dogma itself - without experience - remains, as it were, alien to the soul. “And finally, the third stage is the highest, blessed state, when dogmatic truths are contemplated. Contemplation is a person’s experience of the content of a dogma that leads a person to direct communication with God and union with Him. At St. fathers, the experience of the content of dogma really raised the mind and soul to direct union with God. Dogma directly elevated, elevated their soul, their mind to the highest, being a kind of verbal icon, from which, as from an image, one can ascend to the Prototype” (Oleg Davydenkov, Archpriest Dogmatic Theology. P. 40). “For the church fathers, “deification” is not an idea, not a theory, not a dogma, but, first of all and most of all, a fact of their inner life. They based themselves on this fact, as on an unshakable foundation, in all those cases when they had to resolve controversial issues of their time. They proceeded from this fact when revealing their soteriological, ethical and eschatological teachings. We, for example, would never fully understand the persistence and conviction with which the Orthodox, led by Athanasius the Great, defended the doctrine of the deity of Christ if we had not taken into account the mystical basis of this teaching. The question of the deity of Christ was for Athanasius not a question of speculative speculation, but a question of life itself, which had deep ethical and soteriological significance. To accept or reject the “iota” for him meant to resolve the issue of human life and death, for the latter’s life is a process of “deification,” and this “deification” is unthinkable without recognition of the divine dignity of Christ. Neither dogmatic teaching, nor ethics, nor worship with its symbolism, nor the main forms of religious life - asceticism, monasticism, can be comprehended without delving into the mystical origins of the spiritual life of the East" (Minin P.M. Main directions of ancient church mysticism. pp. 3-4. - Original italics). Wed: “The Glorious Resurrection of Christ,” says St. Simeon, is our own resurrection, which is mentally accomplished and manifested in us, killed by sin, through the Resurrection of Christ, as the church hymn says...: “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ (in ourselves)..." (Sermon 29:5 // Words. Part 1. P. 364). For the Lord died, rose again and was glorified “for our sake, so that what had come true in His face would later be reproduced in us and thereby save us” (Ibid. p. 365). “The Resurrection and glory of Christ is ... our own resurrection, which happens ... in us through His Resurrection, performed in us by Him” (Homily 42 // Words. Part 1. P. 495). Thus, the historical work of Christ becomes part of the Christian’s own inner life. – Essentially, St. says the same thing. Philaret of Moscow, explaining “that the Church ... not only promises us a vision of the Risen One in the future as possible, but now proclaims it as already real in the words of the Easter stichera: “Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus.” If we saw the resurrection, then we saw the Risen One: because the resurrection is visible only in the Risen One Himself” (quoted from: Oleg Davydenkov, Archpriest Dogmatic Theology. P. 40). Understood in a broad sense as the science of correct spiritual life. In the reality of a fallen world, of course. Wed, for example, heard by St. Simeon in a vision of the words: “I am God, who became a man for you, so that I could make you a god, and, as you see, I have done and will do” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Homily 63:3 // Words. Part 2. P. 66). The experience of personal knowledge of God is declared here to be an element of the soteriological process, a link in the chain the beginning of which was the Incarnation. Particular salvation, described as the deification of a specific person and his introduction to the light of the Divine, appears in the experience of St. Simeon by the continuation and completion of the saving work of Christ. Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 51 // Words. Part 1. P. 665. Another is the spiritual and moral transformation of the soul, “signs” of man’s reconciliation with God, i.e. such grace-filled changes in the soul that are impossible without reconciliation with God (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 45:2, 4 // Words. Part 1. P. 515:525). According to the thought of St. Simeon, the vision of God is unambiguously promised by the Lord Himself for the fulfillment of His commandments: He who has My commandments and keeps them, he who loves Me... and I will love him and will appear to him Myself (John 14:21), - especially the commandments about purifying the heart: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). The promise, by its very meaning, refers not only to the future age, but also to the present life, in which a person must fulfill the commandments and, accordingly, acquire purity of heart - and therefore see and know God (see: Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 63: 1, 3 // Words. Part 2. pp. 56–58, 66). Because of this, “to feel grace and to be enlightened by it in knowledge ... and contemplation is for St. Simeon to such an essential feature of a Christian that one who has not yet received a conscious vision cannot bear this name” (Vasily (Krivoshein), Archbishop. Venerable Simeon the New Theologian (949–1022). Paris: YMCA, 1980. P. 150). – Wed: “For St. Simeon the New Theologian, the experienced perception of light, which is also conscious spiritual life or “gnosis,” is the frank presence of grace acquired by the human person” (Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 113). Compare: “For it is impossible for anyone to know God in any other way except by contemplating the light sent from this very light (that is, God). Light is God, and the contemplation of Him is like light, why through the vision of light there is the first knowledge by which one knows that there is God” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 63:3 // Words. Part 2. P. 63:64). Wed: In Revelation, “the initiative belongs to God, but presupposes a human response, a free response of faith and love... God’s entry into the path of communication with us also causes our entry into communication with Him” (Lossky V.N. Faith and Theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-i-bogoslovie (access date: 5.08.2021)). – Obviously, not every person after (and even before) his fall is able to hear the voice of God so clearly and talk to Him so directly, as described in the stories of Adam and Cain. However, even such an obvious dialogue with God remains outside the category of Communication with God; the most extreme examples: the dialogue of the devil with God in the book of Job and the dialogue of demons with the Savior during the healing of the Gadarene demoniac. It would therefore be useless and hopeless to look for genuine apophatics, as well as genuine cataphatics, in non-Christian religions or mystical-philosophical systems. Outside of the fact of the Incarnation of God - and a fact that allows not only mental contemplation, but also direct experiential touch - there can be neither real two-way communication, nor reliable knowledge of the Reality that exceeds the mind. Troparion, see: Service with akathist to St. Ignatius Brianchaninov. St. Petersburg: Satis, 1999. P. 8. Wed. Mankiewicz’s reasoning on this matter: “The main purpose of his works was the exposition of religious doctrine, the instruction of believers. However, while setting out the doctrine of the Orthodox Church, he reveals it through his religious and philosophical views, including through the concept of religious experience. In addition, a number of his creations ... were conceived by the author not just as theological, but also as artistic works. All this does not mean, however, that in the works of Ignatius (Brianchaninov) it is impossible to identify concepts that could be considered within the framework of philosophy or the science of religion. In Russian philosophy, there are examples of works that are artistic in nature and at the same time considered from a philosophical point of view - for example, “Russian Nights” by V. F. Odoevsky or the dialogues of G. S. Skovoroda. In a similar way, the content of the works of Ignatius (Brianchaninov) can be subjected to philosophical and scientific analysis” (Mankevich E.V. Specificity of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 40). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 58 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. SPb.: Publishing house. I. L. Tuzova, 1886. P. 534. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A weekly lesson about the Samaritan. On worshiping God in Spirit and Truth // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 167–169. Based on In. 8:44. – See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 1 of the week of the publican and the Pharisee. The character of the publican and the Pharisee // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 21. Compare: “We must admit, and this recognition will be completely fair; - we must admit that all of us, humans, are more or less in self-delusion, we are all deceived, we all carry deception within ourselves. This is a consequence of our fall, which took place through accepting lies as truth; This is how we always fall even now. That is why we are so changeable! In the morning I am like this, by noon I am different, in the afternoon I am still different, and so on” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 9 // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 449). § 3.2 will be devoted to the mystery of the cross. Compare: “The only and invaluable acquisition of a person on earth is the knowledge of Christ and the assimilation of Christ” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection, borrowed from the 1st letter of the Holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 145). I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A weekly lesson about the Samaritan. On worshiping God in Spirit and Truth // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 168. Commenting on In. 1:16–18, St. Ignatius notes that “Jesus Christ did not deliver any more or less detailed and clear concept of grace and truth, but grace itself, truth itself was essentially taught to people, implanted in people. We have become partakers of the Divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4)” (Ibid. p. 167). In this case, the saint refers to the Symbol of St. Athanasius the Great in the Following Psalter. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Homily for the 1st week of Lent. About Orthodoxy // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 78. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 139. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A weekly lesson about the Samaritan. On worshiping God in Spirit and Truth // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 167. See: In. 1:18, according to the Slavic text, to which the saint refers. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of the publican and the Pharisee. About prayer and repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. SPb.: Publishing house. I. L. Tuzova, 1886. P. 31; An offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 14. M.: Publishing house. them. St. Ignatius of Stavropol, 2001. P. 107. According to the Slavic text: I have revealed Your name to men and told them Your name, and I will say, Yes, the love with which You loved Me will be in them, and I will be in them. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. An offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 14. pp. 106–107. This will be discussed in § 3.1. For example, he refers to Climacus. See: John Climacus, St. Ladder. Word 28:61. St. Petersburg: Svetoslov, 1996. P. 242. Confirming and explaining the patristic teaching, see, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Proof of the resurrection of human bodies, borrowed from the action of mental prayer // Creations. T. 1. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 305. For this, see paragraphs 2.2.3.–2.2.4. Compare: “Fulfillment of the Gospel commandments introduces a person into true knowledge of God and self-knowledge, into true love for oneself, one’s neighbor, for God, into communication with God, which develops more abundantly the more diligently and accurately the Gospel commandments are fulfilled” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Word on Salvation and Christian Perfection. Part 2 // Creations. Vol. 2. pp. 359–360). Khondzinsky Pavel, Archpriest, Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html (access date: 10/7/2021). Wed: Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 18. Biography of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov, compiled by his closest students in 1881. Ch. I // Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Creations. T. 1. P. 53. See: Khondzinsky Pavel, Archpriest, Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html (access date: 10/7/2021). Prot. Pavel Khondzinsky even calls him “Brianchanin’s beloved father” (See: Khondzinsky Pavel, Archpriest. About the book by Juris Doveiko... P. 202). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 55 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 529. Wed: A Word on Church Prayer // Creations. T. 2. P. 181. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the need for a Council on the current state of the Russian Orthodox Church. Notes of Bishop Ignatius Brianchaninov 1862–1866. // Sokolov, L. A. Saint Ignatius. Part 3: Applications. P. 62. See: Mankevich E.V. Specificity of religious experience in the concept of Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 45. It must be admitted, however, that the attitude of St. Ignatius to scientific knowledge, theological appeal to physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. - all this itself has a certain philosophical basis, it is derived not from the sciences themselves, but from the metascientific paradigm in which these sciences developed and, accordingly, were taught during the time of the saint. Let us also mention the opinion of Rev. George Florovsky that St. Ignatius “remained a completely modern man in his psychology and mental habits”, that in his teaching on the nature of angels and souls “the influence of idealistic philosophy is felt” and that in general it “is much more reminiscent of romantic natural philosophy than of the paternal tradition.” (George Florovsky, Archpriest of The Ways of Russian Theology. Chapter VII: Historical School. P. 394). Since this subject is beyond the scope of our study, we will not delve into the discussion of this statement. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about Death // Creations: in 7 volumes. T. 3. M.: Rule of Faith, 1993. P. 125 (footnote). No one has ever seen God... (John 1:18). Wed. the thought given by Lossky. Augustine: “Creatures do not have existence in reality: “They exist because they received existence from You; they do not exist because they are not what You are”” (see: Lossky V.N. Faith and Theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Vladimir_Losskij/vera-i-bogoslovie (access date: 5.08.2021)). All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that was made (John 1:3). “The creation of the world by God is a mathematical necessity and truth,” asserts the saint. With the above conclusions, he says, the Church’s faith in the grace-filled, and not natural (like God’s) immortality of souls and angels, is also consistent. In general, the saint calls to remember that both the nature and properties of the infinite God are infinitely different from the nature and properties of finite creatures, and warns against making judgments about God based on the experience of created existence. “Without this, you will have to present your nonsense as truth to your own destruction and to the destruction of humanity. The dreamers became atheists, and those who studied mathematics deeply always recognized not only God, but also Christianity” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Word on Death // Creations: in 7 vols. T. 3. pp. 123–124 (footnote)). See paragraph 2.2.4 of this work. Compare: “Those who claim that it is now impossible for a Christian to become a partaker of the Holy Spirit contradict Holy Scripture and cause the greatest harm to their souls, as the Monk Macarius the Great beautifully argues about this. They, not envisioning any particularly high goal in Christianity, not knowing about it, do not try, and do not even think at all about achieving it: being content with the outward fulfillment of some virtues, they deprive themselves of Christian perfection. What’s worst of all is that, being satisfied with their condition and recognizing themselves, because of their outward behavior, as having ascended to the height of spiritual life, they not only cannot have humility, spiritual poverty and heartfelt contrition, but also fall into conceit, into exaltation, into self-delusion, into delusion, and no longer care at all about true prosperity” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer Jesus. Conversation between the elder and the disciple. Section 3: About the exercise of the Jesus Prayer // Creations. 1. pp. 280–281). See: Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 47 // Words. Part 1. pp. 610–612, 616). - They, according to the Rev. Simeon, as if they say: “The Holy Gospel is now proclaimed in vain, the works of our holy fathers are read in vain or even written in vain. For,” explains St. Simeon, - if it is impossible for us to do and keep what God and all the saints say... then why did they labor to write this then? Is it not obvious that those who say this are closing up heaven, which Christ the Lord opened for us by His descent to earth, and are blocking the ascent to heaven, which the same Christ the Lord renewed for us?” (Ibid. pp. 611–612). According to Rev. Simeon, the real reason for the lack of not mystical, but even moral-ascetic experience (Christian virtues) among many Christians lies solely in laziness and negligence, i.e. in the reluctance to make efforts to achieve everything mentioned; That’s why they try to prove the impossibility of all this, and “they believe all their salvation ... in one external and visible Christian orderliness” (Ibid. p. 616). Thus, he wrote: “Mysticism and quietism are the painful products of falsely directed religiosity. They appeared and were possible only in the West, in Christian communities that had fallen away from the Holy Church and mainly during the fermentation of minds caused by Protestantism and the Reformation. They were looking for a good deed - living communication with God - but they were looking in the wrong way; and most importantly, they hoped through their own efforts and, as it were, by right to take possession of what was to be expected from the mercy of God and what was to be accepted as a gift of this mercy. In the tension of this self-confident initiative, the imagination flared up and gave rise to dreamy expectations, which, as ardently desired, soon seemed and were considered fulfilled, and the goal of the work was achieved. All this was painted in the most attractive colors and presented in charming images, in dreamy, transcendental contemplations. The Scriptures attract them, because they talk about subjects dear to their hearts, but they only attract and give nothing. This is a distinctive feature of all of them” (Theophan the Recluse, St. Letters on Spiritual Life. Letter 1 // Letters on prayer and spiritual life: Collection of letters. M.: Rule of Faith, 2008. P. 279). The saint directly calls his “Imitation” written from a state of delusion of “opinion,” citing equally negative reviews from many truly spiritual men and showing the falsity and fictitiousness of the teaching taught by Thomas. Finally, the saint characterizes this teaching in the words of a certain person known to him as “coquetry before God” (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: On delusion // Creations. Vol. 1. pp. 253–257). The very author of St. Ignatius with pity calls him “a voluptuous and arrogant dreamer”, “intoxicated with a vain opinion, composing in himself voices and consolations... deceiving himself and his gullible followers” ​​(Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Vision of one’s sin // Creations. T. 2. P. 124). Having cited a lengthy quotation from “Imitation,” the saint exclaims: “The audacity of this pompous grandeur and idle talk brings horror and deep sadness to the soul brought up by the teachings of the Orthodox Church. Repentance has been eliminated here! Contrition of spirit eliminated! Here is a decisive desire for the closest and closest union with God! This is generally the mood of ascetic Western writers. One of them, expressing his incorrect understanding of the dignity of the Mother of God, concludes his ecstatic grandeur as follows: “So! Let us rush into the arms of the Mother of God!” This mood is opposite to the mood that the holy Eastern Church teaches to her children. The state of self-delusion and demonic delusion is incomprehensible for those who have not been brought up by spiritual feats according to the tradition of the Orthodox Church: they recognize this disastrous state as the most correct, grace-filled state” (Ibid. pp. 124–125 (footnote)). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. P. 244. See, for example: Kotsyuba V.I. “Alexander’s mysticism” and Christian anthropology // Questions of Philosophy. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://vphil.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=404 (access date: 07/28/2021); Smirnov D.V. Quietism // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 32. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/1684047.html (date of access: 07/28/2021). In contrast to “representatives of Russian ascetic thought, classified as Eastern Christian mysticism,” who are characterized by “the desire to verify the correctness of their spiritual development and religious experience by the former patristic tradition, the conciliar experience of the Church” (Kotsyuba V.I. “Alexander’s mysticism” and Christian anthropology // Questions of Philosophy. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://vphil.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=404 (date accessed: 07.28.2021)). – St. Ignatius says that the spirit of the book of Thomas a à Kempis inspires “the freedom to explain the Holy Scriptures at will,” without the obligation “to follow the explanation made by the Holy Fathers and accepted by the Church. This is the dogma of Protestantism” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Seeing one’s sin // Creations. T. 2. P. 125 (footnote)). Kotsyuba V.I. “Alexander’s mysticism” and Christian anthropology // Questions of Philosophy. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://vphil.ru/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=404 (access date: 07/28/2021). Labzin, for example, directly stated that “Christ... did not demand that everyone think right, but that everyone act right. The division into nominations arose later, and only the lower class of Christians can believe that the restoration of the image of God depends on belonging to the Lutheran, Catholic or other confession” (see: Ibid.). Which is paradoxically present even in quietism, cf.: “All directions K are characterized by a deliberate non-distinction between what a person needs to do to purify his own soul (i.e. asceticism) and what is given to a person from God as a gift (i.e. mysticism). If in normative practical theology asceticism is a human work, although carried out together with grace, and mysticism is a divine work, the realization of which a person can only humbly expect, then in K, which does not reject this, at the same time, the mysticism of passive contemplation of God is actually declared to be a human work, and the ascetic purification of the soul is expected from God. Although from the outside K looks like a theological triumph of the doctrine of sanctifying divine grace, to which man is called to completely subjugate himself, by its internal nature it has the opposite tendency and makes divine action directly dependent on the mystical and psychological experiences cultivated by man" (Smirnov D.V. Quietism // Orthodox Encyclopedia. Vol. 32. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/1684047.html (date of access: 07.28.2021)). – In other words, the matter of moral-ascetic purification, even if it is recognized as necessary, is transferred to grace and, from being a condition for Communion with God, becomes only its passive (from the human point of view) consequence. Wed. observation of St. Theophan the Recluse: “Everyone has this struggle, more or less long and painful; it leads to purity of heart, for the sake of which the believing worker is rewarded with both the clearest comprehension of the truths of God and the sweetest sensation - both in such features as are precisely defined in the Gospel and the apostolic writings. This last appears at the end of long labors and many trials, like a crown of reward. The mystics, directly or predominantly, grasp at this highest point of perfection, and they paint it as it is depicted in the dreams of their imagination, always in false colors. The truth can only be told by experience, by experiencing only spiritual blessings in action; and mystics block the real road there for themselves with their very dreams. On the contrary, the patristic writings speak least of all about these higher states, and everything about the works of repentance, struggle with passions, and various cases. This is the “Philokalia”” (Theophan the Recluse, St. Letters on Spiritual Life. Letter 1 // Letters on Prayer and Spiritual Life. P. 280). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Jesus Prayer. Part 2 // Creations. T. 2. P. 272. St. Ignatius refers to the words of St. Peter of Damascus: “Christ is hidden in the Gospel”, etc. (see: Peter of Damascus, St. Creation. M.: Moscow Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2001. P. 90). According to In. 14:21: He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me; but whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will appear to him Myself. – St.’s train of thought Ignatius here is the same as in St. Simeon, as shown above. Most likely, this means 2 Cor. 13:5. It is a rare case when St. Ignatius himself does not indicate the exact biblical reference. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Vision of Christ // Creations. T. 1. pp. 104–106. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the love of God // Creations. T. 1. pp. 130–131. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Truth and spirit // Creations. T. 1. pp. 119–122. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About reading the holy fathers // Creations. T. 1. P. 113. Compare: “And he comes almost to agnosticism” (George Florovsky, Archpriest of the Paths of Russian Theology. Chapter VII: Historical School. P. 393). – In fairness, it should be noted that Fr. George admits a little earlier: “ascetic preparation, humility and self-denial do not obscure the mysterious goal of the entire path: acquiring the peace of Christ, meeting with the heavenly Wanderer and Guest of seeking souls” (Ibid.). See: Doveyko Yu. Ontological transformation of man... P. 225, 227. See: Ibid. pp. 140–143. In fact, the latter is more typical precisely for the saint’s opponents—adherents of (non-church) mysticism. Compare: “It is precisely the height of ... the goal that gives rise to such a harsh, perhaps rigoristic tone in Brianchaninov’s writings” (Prudnikov A.S. The newest criticism of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 46). For example, St. Peter of Damascus speaks of this method of prayer as something well-known, self-evident, cf.: “I will rise up, although I will perform one prayer, with fear and trembling many times, so that I, unworthy, may also be deemed worthy to be Thy servant and, by grace, to have a mind without form, unimaginative, unformable and immaterial, and before You the only God and Creator of all things.” to plunge..." (see: Peter of Damascus, Venerable Creation. M.: Moscow Metochion of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2001. P. 76. - Our italics). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 147. Gregory of Nyssa, St. About the life of Moses the legislator, or about perfection in virtue // Creations. Part 1. M.: Type. V. Gautier, 1861. P. 317. – Prot. G. Florovsky comments on this idea of ​​St. Gregory: “The concepts of the human mind are formed on the basis of contemplation and study of the visible, created world, and they become empty when the mind rises beyond the boundaries of created nature” (Florovsky George, Archpriest Eastern Fathers of the 4th century: From readings at the Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. Chapter VI: Gregory of Nyssa. 3: The path and limit of knowledge of God 5. Paris: [b. ed.], 1931. P. 136). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. P. 245. Right there. P. 234. Further St. Ignatius provides confirmation of his words in lengthy quotations from St. Simeon the New Theologian and Gregory the Sinaite. About this important image of Communion with God in St. Ignatius, see below - point. 2.2.2. Further, the saint says that only after the outpouring of God’s favor on our Zion and after the restoration of the walls of “our destroyed Jerusalem,” i.e. upon renewal of nature, it becomes capable of sacrificing righteous, pure sensations favorable to the Lord, these calves - “newborn sensations of a person renewed by the Holy Spirit” (Ibid. pp. 245–246; cf. Ps. 50:18–20). It is not surprising that the saint does not recognize real Christianity in Catholicism. Expression by Yu. Doveyko, see: Doveyko Yu. Ontological transformation of man... P. 242. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. P. 253 Wed, for example: Doveiko Yu. Ontological transformation of man... P. 60. “The heresies should also include that teaching which, without touching either dogmas or sacraments, rejects living according to the commandments of Christ and allows Christians to live a pagan life. This teaching, which outwardly seems not hostile to Christianity, is in essence completely hostile to it: it is a renunciation of Christ” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Concept of Heresy and Schism // Theological Works. M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1996. No. 32. P. 291). Compare, for example: “Novels, comedies and other works that are clearly sinful, filled with voluptuousness, are also the fruits of heresy; some of these works were written by clergy, such as “Telemachus” written by Fenelon” (Ibid. p. 292). Doveiko's expression (Doveiko Yu. Ontological transformation of man... P. 321). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The concept of heresy and schism. pp. 283, 288, 290, 292; Homily for the 1st week of Lent. About Orthodoxy // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 79–80, 82. – Regarding the effect of heresy on the body, we find St. Ignatius also makes the following interesting remark: “schism and heresy have a strange influence on the human body itself! The hardness of the spirit is communicated to the body. This is not noticeable to everyone during a person’s lifetime, but after death the body of a heretic and schismatic instantly turns to stone and instantly begins to emit an unapproachable stench. And this is done especially to those of them who led the most strictly ascetic life and were famous teachers of their sect and earned the universal respect of the blind world; It is they who emit the most terrible stench after their death; Streams of stinking pus open from their withered bodies; it is difficult to perform their burial and be present at it. Demons are present at their graves and appear with them in different forms, either to intimidate or to seduce” (Ibid. p. 289). See: Ibid. pp. 284, 286. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word 2 of the Flower-Bearing Week // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 114. – Wed: “I want you to understand how important it is to monitor your way of thinking, your mind. A person is certainly led by his way of thinking: this is our light. We must watch with great care over our light, so that it does not become darkness, a false light, showing objects not in their places, not in their form, one instead of another. “Dish, food is light, and there is darkness in you” (Luke XI, 35). It is necessary that our way of thinking be imbued with the Truth. I don’t understand and don’t know any other Truth besides Christ. And are those blind, no matter who they are, who, at the time when Christ stands before them in the terrible greatness of humility, ask: what is Truth? Usually people consider thought to be something of little importance: therefore they are very unscrupulous when accepting thoughts. But from accepted correct thoughts all good things are born, and from accepted false thoughts all evil things are born. A thought is like a ship’s rudder: the direction and, for the most part, the fate of the entire huge machine depends on the small rudder, on this insignificant plank trailing behind the ship. “A reverent thought will keep you” (Prov. II, 11), says Scripture; it teaches that the very “beginning of our words” should be “truth.” What is this “beginning of words” if not a way of thinking” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 52 // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 519). What will be discussed in § 2.1. So contradictory, so unacceptable for modern politically correct discourse. See: Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology. P. 165. – Wed: “So, the main source of genuine Christian creativity is the deepest personal repentance, crying about one’s sins. And the basis of such creativity should not be self-expression, but self-sacrifice. Of course, for a modern intellectual who is little familiar with Orthodox dogma, everything that Bishop Ignatius said about artistic creativity may seem too strict, unacceptable and even shocking. But the word of God for this world has always been “foolishness” (I Cor. 1:21). "What strange words! Who can listen to this?" - they said to the Lord himself after His sermon, and, as the Evangelist John testifies, “from that time on, many of His disciples departed from Him and no longer walked with Him” (John 6:60)” (Lyubomudrov A.M. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) and the problem of creativity. P.30:31). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. My cry // Creations. T. 1. P. 561. How does he manifest “the integrity of the perception of the world and life, characteristic of the ancient Russian tradition, based on the commonality of Scripture, Tradition and liturgical life” (Khondzinsky Pavel, Archpriest, Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Teaching. Teaching about man // Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html#part_5 (access date: 10/28/2021). In modern language - a civilizational code. Of course, we are talking about contrasting them with true Christianity. As already mentioned, Catholicism, Protestantism and other heresies are recognized by the saint as fundamental perversions of Christianity, in fact the complete opposite of it, only covered with a (pseudo)Christian appearance. This is especially true for non-confessional “Christianity.” And not minimalism at all, not epistemological pessimism (agnosticism). Those. not only “abstractly” dogmatic. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 2 // Creations. T. 2. P. 360. Compare: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Eight main passions with their divisions and industries // Creations. T. 1. P. 170. Isaiah (Belov), archimandrite. Preface // Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. M.: St. Vvedensky Monastery of Optina Pustyn, 1997. P. 4. And also Rev. Simeon the New Theologian. Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 27:19 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 2004. P. 19. Whom the Lord, upon incarnation, deposed from these thrones (cf. Luke 1:52). See: Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 6:5 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 68. – All these places from St. Macarius (in his own translation) also cites St. Ignatius (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Word about Man. P. 16). Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 2:1 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 30. For example, Rev. Macarius the Great, St. Mark the Ascetic, St. John Chrysostom, St. Isaac the Syrian. In his various works. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 12. Compare: “A clear concept of good is completely practical; theory shows only the means of how to acquire the concept of good. A clear concept of good is already good itself, because good in essence is thought, is spirit, is God. <...> So, the spiritual concept comes from spiritual sensation” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Holy Christian shepherd and Christian artist // Theological Works. M.: Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1996. No. 32. P. 279). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Christian pastor and Christian artist. P. 278. Compare, for example: Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you, which you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God both in your body and in your soul, which are God's (1 Cor. 6:19-20). St. Ignatius quotes St. Macarius the Great, for example: “As God created heaven and earth for man to inhabit: so He created the body and soul of man in His dwelling, to dwell and rest in his body, as in His house, having as a beautiful bride a beloved soul, created in His image” (Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 49:4 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 265. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word about Man, p. 26). Compare: “Our bodies were created for spiritual pleasure... they descended to sympathy for bestial pleasures due to the fall... they can return to sympathy for spiritual pleasures through true repentance” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Purity // Creations. T. 1. P. 348); “The human body was taken from the earth, but it was not created for the earth. It fell into corruption; it was not created for corruption. Created, beautified by the Creator for eternity and eternal, it, immediately after creation... was raptured from earth into a bright paradise to stay in it, for spiritual activity, for spiritual pleasure; it was incapable of carnal pleasures” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Teaching on the Friday of the 1st week of Great Lent. On the human body // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 73). Wed: Ps. 83:3 in Church Slavonic translation. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 31. In addition to the purely ascetic and apophatic-gnoseological. As already mentioned, St. Ignatius considers this experience as an illustration of the words of the Ladder: “I cried with all my heart (Ps. 119:145), that is, with body and soul and spirit” (John Climacus, St. Ladder. Homily 28:61. P. 242) - i.e. as a manifestation of holistic prayer. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Proof of the resurrection of human bodies, borrowed from the action of mental prayer // Creations. T. 1. P. 305. Wed: In which you also are being built into a habitation of God by the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 11. Because he has a sense of his own existence. We could not find this phrase in the saint’s reference to Chapter III. (“About Angels”) of the second book of “An Accurate Exposition of the Orthodox Faith” (See: John of Damascus, St. An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. Book 2, Chapter III: On Angels. M.: Sibirskaya Blagozvonnitsa, 2015. pp. 83–89). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Destinies of God // Creations. T. 2. pp. 88–89. For the human spirit, being one, is threefold in its powers that manifest its existence (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the image and likeness of God in man // Creations. T. 2. P. 129). Right there. pp. 128–129. Apparently, the transcendentalism expressed here is consonant with the Palamite distinction of the Divine nature and energy, hints of which we will still find in the teachings of St. Ignatius. By the image of God, the saint understands “form,” like facial features in a portrait, that is, ontological, constitutive properties; by likeness, moral similarity with God, consisting of the totality of all virtues, as if the colors and colors of the original (see: Ibid. pp. 131–132; cf.: The Word about Man. p. 22). In a narrow sense - as “the ability of spiritual sensation” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the image and likeness of God in man // Creations. T. 2. P. 130). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 22. This is indirectly indicated by the Savior Himself, calling Adam’s words about his wife the words of God (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4, 5. (See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The Word about Man. P. 23). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the image and likeness of God in man // Creations. T. 2. pp. 133–134. Khondzinsky Pavel, prot., Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Teaching. The doctrine of salvation // Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html#part_6 (access date: 10/7/2021) Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the image and likeness of God in man // Creations. T. 2. pp. 134–135. The saint gives biblical examples of such action of God through sanctified people: “The shadow of Peter the Apostle healed! The one who lied before him fell suddenly dead, just like the one who lied before God! The Ubrists and the headbands of the Apostle Paul performed signs! The bones of Elisha the Prophet raised a dead man..."; Ap. Paul recognized Christ as living within himself (Gal. 2:20), through his voice the dead were raised, demons were cast out, etc. (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the image and likeness of God in man // Creations. T. 2. P. 135:136). It is interesting that the Old Testament example is also mentioned. – See also a lengthy description of examples proving the presence of God in a renewed man: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 243–245). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Rosa // Creations. T. 1. P. 360. – The entire context of this place indicates that the image of reflection is used here by the saint in a different sense: not to illustrate the antinomy of immanence-transcendence, but to “explain” the simultaneous complete presence of Christ on many altars (implied: and in the many communicants). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Christian pastor and Christian artist. P. 279. Which, as we remember, is the action, or energetic presence, of God in man (see § 1.1). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 10. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 329. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about the different states of human nature in relation to good and evil. Ch. 5: On the state after the redemption of man // Creations. T. 2. P. 385. – Wed. with the teachings of St. Simeon the New Theologian, for example: “Just as the death of the body is the separation of the soul from it, so the death of the soul is the separation of the Holy Spirit from it” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Homily 1:2 // Words. Part 1. P. 31); “Just as a dead body, unless it receives a living soul and merges with it in some unfused way, does not exist and is not called alive and cannot live, so the soul cannot live on its own unless it is united by an ineffable union and is not united unfused with God, Who truly is eternal life” (Sermon 29:5 // Words. Part 1, p. 365). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Introduction // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 48. At the creation of the soul, see: Genesis 2:7. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 28. An indication of this by St. Ignatius sees in the remark of Scripture that the children of Adam were born in the image of Adam (cf.: Gen. 5:3), while the creation of Adam himself was said: in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word on the various states of human nature in relation to good and evil. Chapter 5: On the state after the redemption of man // Creations. T. 2. P. 385). – Wed: St. Simeon, speaking about the transmission of original sin, will confess “that mystery of our faith that human nature is sinful from its very conception. Whoever was born in this way, even if he has not yet committed any sin, is already sinful by that ancestral sin” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Homily 37:3 // Words. Part 1. P. 443). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 30. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of the publican and the Pharisee. About prayer and repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 31; Lesson for the Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. About the deadness of the human spirit // Ibid. P. 155. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the thirty-second week. About prayer // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 353. – Wed: Spirit of prayer of the novice 8 // Creations. T. 2. P. 161. See, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The lament of a monk for his brother, who fell into sinful temptation. Introduction // Offering to modern monasticism. P. 375; About tears // Creations. T. 1. P. 193; About the Gospel beatitudes // Ibid. P. 521. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. pp. 10, 12. Matt. 12:43; OK. 11:24. – See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 10. Right there. P. 57. – Wed. in an ascetic context: “Into the church of the heart, abandoned by the Spirit of God, evil spirits enter...” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lamentation of a Monk. Article II // Offering to modern monasticism. P. 423). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about Death // Creations: in 7 volumes. T. 3. P. 134. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 55. Wed, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. An offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 46. ​​pp. 320–321. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 1: About the Jesus Prayer in general // Creations. T. 1. pp. 212–213. – Of course, in a Christian, during his prayer, truly good thoughts and sensations that come from baptismal grace and brought by the Guardian Angel can act, as St. Ignatius also speaks in the quoted place, explaining the difference between them and the thoughts and sensations of fallen nature and demonic ones. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about Death // Creations: in 7 volumes. T. 3. P. 166. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson for the Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. About the deadness of the human spirit // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 152–153, 154. – Wed: “Those who delve into their own condition and into the condition of the entire human race, infected with sin, submitted to the spirits of darkness, can understand the mysterious answer given to the Savior by the father of the demoniac about the time from which his son’s illness began: speech: childish” (Mark 9:21) (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Meditation, borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 143). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about the sensual and spiritual vision of spirits. Ch. 1: On the sensory vision of spirits // Creations: in 7 volumes. T. 3. pp. 11–12. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the thirty-second week. About prayer // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 355. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirty-first week. Explanation of the mysterious meaning of the Gospel story // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 342. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about the sensual and spiritual vision of spirits. Ch. 1: On the sensory vision of spirits // Creations: in 7 vols. T. 3. P. 52. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the thirty-second week. About prayer // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 355. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirty-first week. Explanation of the mysterious meaning of the Gospel story // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 341–342. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about Salvation and Christian Perfection // Creations. T. 2. P. 328. Like St. Macarius the Great and in contrast, for example, from St. Simeon the New Theologian, in whom this aspect is also present, but who is much more preoccupied with the issue of Communion with God itself. We include in this concept not only charm, but also direct spiritualism, etc. Regarding the latter, let us mention the article: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About magicians and sorcerers, ancient and new. SPb.: Type. V. V. Komarova, 1887. And going further, in particular, through St. Simeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamu. The same teaching was preached during the time of St. Ignatius St. Seraphim of Sarov, see his conversation with Motovilov (for example: Veniamin (Fedchenkov), Metropolitan. World Lamp Rev. Seraphim of Sarov. Chapter VIII: Wonderful revelation to the world. M.: Pilgrim, 1996. P. 114), although St. Ignatius could hardly read this manuscript, which disappeared and was discovered only in 1902 (see: Ibid. pp. 112–113 (footnote)). See: Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 24:5 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 165. Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 4:6 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 38. Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 1:10–11 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. pp. 27–28. In a slightly different translation. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Part 1 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 58. Sokolov, L. A. Saint Ignatius. Part 2: Moral and ascetic views of St. Ignatius. P. 295. – (Italics original.) – Compare: Mikhailenko A. S. Soteriology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova). pp. 167–168. See: Sokolov, L. A. Saint Ignatius. Part 2: Moral and ascetic views of St. Ignatius. P. 292. – (Italics are original throughout.) – Compare: P. 295. See: Ibid. P. 298, cf.: P. 325. We are talking about the union of Divinity and humanity accomplished in Christ, otherwise - about the patristic principle (going back to St. Irenaeus of Lyons and Athanasius the Great): God became man so that man could become god. - At Rev. Simeon the New Theologian, this thought is clothed in a kind of theoanthropological symmetry, in the idea of ​​​​the exchange made by Christ with us: the acceptance by Him, God, of humanity and the gift in return of that to us, humans, of the Divinity (see: Simeon the New Theologian, St. Slovo 92 // Words. Part 2. P. 609). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation in week thirteen. About the reason for people’s retreat from God // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 213–214. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. God bless! // Creations. T. 1. P. 394. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson for Meat Week. About the second coming of Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 39. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about man. P. 13. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Gospel commandments // Creations. T. 1. P. 519; Vision of Christ // Ibid. pp. 104, 106. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 141. - Wed: God “demands from us that we crucify our flesh with passions and lusts, demands not because He Himself needs it, but because we need it: only in a body killed for sin can the manifestation of grace-filled life be revealed,” writes St. Ignatius with reference to St. Isaac the Syrian (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Introduction // Works. T. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 48). See: Isa. 9:6 according to Church Slavonic translation. Wed. Above is the exegetical remark of St. Ignatius that the children of Adam come into existence no longer in the image of God, as Adam himself was originally created, but in the image of Adam - fallen man. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Part 1 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 57. “The All-Holy One, impregnable to corruption, is brought down into corruption by Christians clothed in Christ, who have Christ in them, when Christians grovel in the filth of iniquity” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lamentation of a Monk. Article I // Offering to modern monasticism. P. 380). So in Church Slavonic way. In the synodal translation: The Spirit of adoption. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Part 1 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 57–58. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Part 1 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 59–60. Again, a direct application of dogmatic “theory” to ascetic “practice”. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 2 // Creations. T. 2. P. 339, 341; Lesson in the thirtieth week. About salvation and perfection // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 332. Compare: “What does it mean to inherit salvation, to be saved? This means: to assimilate oneself to the Redeemer, to remain in this assimilation throughout one’s earthly life, and after death, due to such assimilation to the Redeemer, to be transferred with one’s soul to the villages of blessed spirits, to enjoy holy pleasure with them in anticipation of the general resurrection of the dead; then, at the resurrection of the dead, to unite with the body, which the Lord will revive and make incorruptible, and with the body to inherit deep, eternal bliss. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Life and the Source of life, we are made partakers of this life...” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Teaching on the Thirtieth Week. On salvation and perfection // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 335). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirtieth week. About salvation and perfection // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 337. Dukhanin Valery, priest. The patristic tradition of smart doing in the spiritual experience of St. Ignatius, Bishop of the Caucasus. Ch. VIII: Signs of correct performance of mental work in the views of St. Ignatius. Point 3: Selflessness of doing [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Valerij_Duhanin/svjatootecheskaja-traditsija-umnogo-delanija-v-dukhovnom-opytesvjatitelja-ignatija/8_3 (access date: 03/25/2021). Keeping in mind 1 Tim. 5:5, 6. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conversation on Monday of the 1st week of Lent. Preparation for the sacrament of confession. Introduction // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 46. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson for the Week of the Myrrh-Bearing Women. About the deadness of the human spirit // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 152–153, 153. He who saves his soul will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it (Matthew 10:39); he who loves his life will destroy it; but he who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life (John 12:25). That is, in modern language: egoism, egocentrism. St. Ignatius defines self-love as “the distorted love of a fallen man for himself,” which is made up of the totality of all sinful passions and manifests itself, in relation to oneself, in the deification of the fallen human (“falsely named”) mind and pleasing “one’s fallen, falsely directed will,” and in relation to one’s neighbors – in hatred or man-pleasing, and in relation to the outside world – in addiction and abuse ( Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Conference of the soul with the mind // Creations. T. 2. pp. 116–117). By “false reason” (see: 1 Tim. 6:20) the saint understands “the way of thoughts and judgments acquired by the mind after the fall of man” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflections borrowed from the 1st letter of St. Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. Vol. 2. P. 146). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Meeting of the soul with the mind // Creations. T. 2. P. 116. In essence, this is an allusion to the virtues indicated by the Beatitudes, cf.: Matt. 5:3–5, 7–8. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Meeting of the soul with the mind // Creations. T. 2. P. 117. Not only the blessed one spoke about “dead life” and “living death”. Augustine; even the usual ascetic designation of dispassion as “life-giving mortification” expresses essentially the same idea, appeals to the same figurative series, for it naturally assumes that the life opposite to this living, life-giving “mortality” is obviously dead. For example, the already mentioned ig. Peter (Meshcherinov), see analysis of his criticism in: Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). pp. 41–42. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of Epiphany. About repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 10, 14. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of Epiphany. About repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 11–12. Especially in their fallen state. An accurate description of the apophatic experience. Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). – “The Lord says: learn not from an Angel, not from a man, not from a book, but from Me, that is, from My indwelling and illumination and action in you, for I am meek and humble in heart and thoughts, and way of thinking” (John the Ladder, St. Ladder. Homily 25:4. P. 169). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The concept of heresy and schism. P. 297. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. God bless! // Creations. T. 1. P. 393. For example, Rev. Simeon says that “for this purpose the Son of God became incarnate ... and became man, so that the souls of those who believe in Him as God and man may receive, as a soul, the grace of the Holy Spirit ... and may they thus be reborn, recreated and renewed through holy Baptism and become what the first man was before the crime, sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the mind, conscience and in all feelings” (Simeon the New Theologian, St. Word 8:3 // Words. Part 1. pp. 112–113). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 28 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 479. Meyendorff John, Rev. Byzantine theology: historical trends and doctrinal themes. Minsk: Rays of Sophia, 2007. P. 201. - The author summarizes this idea as follows: “man is not an autonomous being, but ... his true humanity is realized only when he lives “in God” and possesses divine qualities” (Ibid. P. 200). Elsewhere, Rev. John writes: “A person is truly human only when he participates in the Divine life,” and this participation is “the very essence of human nature,” ensuring the opportunity to remain a true man, maintain freedom and self-control. It is precisely how “ascension in the knowledge of God through the participation of divine life” is understood by the Greek Fathers, according to Archpriest. John, the destiny of man, for “his very life is in God... while sin consists precisely in man’s self-affirmation in his illusory independence.” Contact with God and communion with Him does not destroy man as a man; on the contrary, by revealing the true realization of the image and likeness of God in him, at the same time it affirms his true, not illusory, human existence. This conclusion also has Christological significance, because it excludes both Docetism and Monophysiism, and Nestorianism (See: Meyendorff John, Archpriest Jesus Christ in the Eastern Orthodox Tradition. Introduction. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ioann_Mejendorf/iisus-christos-v-vostochnom-pravoslavnom-predanii/#0_1; Chapter: Spiritual writers: salvation, asceticism and deification [Electronic resource]. https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ioann_Mejendorf/iisus-christos-v-vostochnom-pravoslavnom-predanii/#0_6; Conclusion. https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ioann_Mejendorf/iisus-christos-v-vostochnompravoslavnom-predanii/#0_11 (date of access: 08.25.2020)). Meyendorff John, Rev. Byzantine theology. P. 202 Right there. See also: P. 199. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 141. In the synodal translation: He who is united with the Lord is one spirit with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Teaching or Memory of God // Creations. T. 2. P. 190. See: Isaac the Syrian, St. Sermon 21 // Like our father Abba Isaac the Syrian among the saints Ascetic words. M.: Rule of Faith, 1993. P. 104. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Teaching or Memory of God // Creations. T. 2. P. 190. Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 108. My house will be called a house of prayer... (Isa. 56:7). See: Isaac the Syrian, St. Word 21 // Ascetic words. P. 104. – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Teaching or Memory of God // Creations. T. 2. P. 191. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 40 // Creations. T. 2. P. 168. In the language of St. Ignatius is the “refuge” of prayer: he speaks not only about objective possibility, but also about subjective possibility, which is especially important in penitential ascetic work. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 2–3 // Creations. T. 2. P. 160. Compare: “Show me the path the Savior will take? This path is prayer, as the Prophet said to man on behalf of God and by the Spirit of God: The sacrifice of praise will glorify Me, and there is the path by which I will show him My salvation" (Ps. 49:23 - Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The praying mind seeks connection with the heart // Creations. Vol. 1. P. 302); “The path to God is prayer” (On prayer. Article I // Ibid. P. 140). Compare: “Prayer is the communion of life. Leaving her brings invisible death to the soul. What air is to the life of the body, the Holy Spirit is to the life of the soul. The soul, through prayer, breathes this holy, mysterious air" (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 141). – Here the saint very clearly compares prayer and the already mentioned teaching about man as an “open being”, shows the ontological nature of prayer and its relationship to the original state of man. – Wed. also: “The true teacher of true prayer is God alone, holy teachers - men give only initial concepts about prayer, indicate the correct mood in which the grace-filled teaching about prayer can be communicated by delivering supernatural, spiritual thoughts and sensations. These thoughts and sensations come from the Holy Spirit, are communicated by the Holy Spirit" (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Holy Sermon on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 240). Thus, the practice of prayer is in itself an exercise in the knowledge of God. “Ascetic experiences” is the name given to one of the main works of St. Ignatius. We used this expression here in relation to the entire heritage of the saint, as based on the experience of spiritual life. The saint himself explains the criterion of doctrinal authenticity as follows: “From those who want to approach the King of kings, He requires a way of thinking and a heartfelt mood that is pleasing to Him... Without this way of thinking and a heartfelt mood, access is impossible, attempts and efforts to gain access are in vain. If you want to approach God and become assimilated to Him through constant prayer, look around! Examine carefully your way of thinking: are you infected with any false teaching? Will you follow exactly and without exception the teachings of the Eastern Church, the only true, holy, apostolic one? If anyone disobeys the Church, the Lord said to His disciple, become like a pagan and a tax collector (Matthew 18:17), strangers to God, enemies of God. What meaning can the prayer of one who is in a state of enmity towards God, in a state of alienation from God?” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On prayer. Article II // Creations. T. 1. P. 155). Col. 2:3. – See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Teaching or Memory of God // Creations. T. 2. pp. 189–190. – Wed: Saints who have reached the state of the supernatural receive “most of the Divine revelations... during the exercise of prayer” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 153). Compare: “Prayer assimilates a person to God. With inexpressible envy and hatred, the fallen angels look at its action, having fallen from being adopted by God to a terrible, insane enmity towards Him” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article II // Creations. Vol. 1. P. 158). Gregory the Theologian, St. Word 45: For Holy Easter // Collection of works. P. 808. - In other words, aspiration towards God - which constitutes prayer - leads to a change in a person through his familiarization with Divine existence. First of all, this apparently applies to holistic prayer, in which the whole person, and not just his mind, rushes to God. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 153. – Wed: Spirit of prayer of the novice 35 // Creations. T. 2. P. 167. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Abba John Kolov 42, 43 // Fatherland: stories about the lives of holy ascetics. M.: DAR, 2009. P. 399. Ps. 33:9. – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon for the 2nd week of Lent. The meaning of fasting for a person // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 88. How interconnected they are can be clearly seen from this phrase: “Proud man! you dream so much and so highly about your mind, but it is in complete and continuous dependence on the stomach” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Fasting // Creations. T. 1. P. 133). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon for the 2nd week of Lent. The meaning of fasting for a person // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 86–87; About the post // Creations. T. 1. pp. 133–134. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about Church Prayer // Creations. T. 2. P. 177. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The praying mind seeks connection with the heart // Creations. T. 1. P. 302. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The lament of a monk. Introduction // Offering to modern monasticism. P. 375. Right there. Article I. P. 386. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. pp. 245–246. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 1 of the week of the publican and the Pharisee. The character of the publican and the Pharisee // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 21–22. The saint refers to St. Pimen the Great. – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 141. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About humility (conversation between an elder and his disciple) // Creations. T. 1. P. 319. – The same applies to repentance: “Repentance gives birth to prayer, and is born in great quantity from its daughter” (On prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 149). Which means supernatural. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About humility (conversation between an elder and his disciple) // Creations. T. 1. pp. 306–307, 319. – Let us note here the transfer of Christology to the mystical-ascetic area: humility corresponds, apparently, to the more human nature, and love – to the Divine nature of the Savior. Both manifest themselves in man as the action of Christ, one in His hypostasis. It seems that this is not just an allegory, but a description of ontological reality. Let us note: that apophaticism to which a “speculative” theologian comes through a special “reconfiguration” of his mind - that same apophaticism naturally, naturally, grows in the mind and heart of an active ascetic, even if he has never heard of the Areopagite Corpus and intellectually has no idea about the difference between the apophatic and cataphatic paths... See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The praying mind seeks connection with the heart // Creations. T. 1. pp. 301–302. With references to St. Mark the Ascetic and Simeon the New Theologian. See: Mk. 10:46–52; OK. 8:35–43. At first, the blind man called the Son of God only the Son of David, addressing Him: Son of David! Have mercy on me (Mark 10:47–48). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirty-first week. Explanation of the mysterious meaning of the Gospel story // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 340–341. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. P. 202. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On practicing the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. pp. 272–273. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 202–203. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. pp. 255–256. Compare: “In this soul an idol has been erected. Constant incense is burned to the idol, constant sacrifices are sacrificed. How can service to the all-holy God be combined in this soul with service to an abominable idol? This soul is in terrible desolation, in terrible darkness, in terrible deadness. This is a dark den, inhabited only by fierce beasts or even more fierce robbers. This is a coffin, decorated on the outside for the sensual eyes of men, so easily deceived, inside filled with dead bones, stench, worms, everything unclean, God-hating” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Pharisee (in two parts). Part 1 // Creations. Vol. 1. pp. 417–418.) See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The lament of a monk. Article I // Offering to modern monasticism. P. 386. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The lament of a monk. Article I // Offering to modern monasticism. pp. 397, 385, 387, 382. Allegorical allusion to John. 20:19. – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson for the week of Antipascha. About Christianity // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 142–143. See also: Spirit of Prayer of the Novice 25 // Creations. T. 2. P. 164. Referring to what is attributed to St. Simeon the New Theologian, essay “On Three Types of Prayer.” See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 146, 148–149. The saint teaches to reject during prayer even “apparently good thoughts and apparently bright understandings”: “They leave the realm of the false mind, sit, like riders on horses, on vanity. Their gloomy faces are hidden so that the mind of the person praying cannot recognize them as his enemies. But precisely because they are hostile to prayer, distract the mind from it, lead it into captivity and painful enslavement, expose and devastate the soul, precisely because they are recognized as enemies and from the realm of the ruler of the world” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of Novice Prayer 28 // Creations. Vol. 2. P. 166). This again is nothing more than the application of the principles of apophaticism to the practice of spiritual life. At a minimum, spontaneously arising images; but also the images produced by the mind and imagination gradually turn into demonic images: “Absent-mindedness makes prayer fruitless, and daydreaming causes false fruits: self-delusion and, so-called by the Holy Fathers, demonic delusion. Images of objects of the visible world and images of the invisible world, created by daydreaming, are imprinted and slowed down in the mind, making it seem material, transferring it from the Divine land of Spirit and Truth to the land of matter and lies. In this country, the heart begins to sympathize with the mind not with a spiritual feeling of repentance and humility, but with a carnal feeling, a bloody and nervous feeling, a timeless and disorderly feeling of pleasure, so much not characteristic of sinners, a feeling of wrong and false imaginary love for God. Criminal and abominable love seems unskillful in the spiritual experiences of a saint, but in fact it is only a disordered sensation of a heart not cleansed of passions, enjoying vanity and voluptuousness set in motion by daydreaming. This state is a state of self-delusion. If a person sharpens it, then the images that appear to him acquire extreme vividness and attractiveness. When they appear, the heart begins to heat up and enjoy lawlessly, or, as defined by the Holy Scriptures, to commit adultery (Ps. 72:27). The mind recognizes such a state as grace-filled, divine: then the transition to obvious demonic delusion is close, in which a person loses autocracy and becomes a plaything and a laughing stock of the evil spirit. God turns away with anger from dreamy prayer, which brings a person into this state” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of Novice Prayer 27 // Creations. T. 2. P. 165). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. pp. 147–148. Wed. also: “Do not look for pleasures in prayer: they are by no means characteristic of a sinner. The desire of a sinner to feel pleasure is already self-delusion. Seek for your dead, petrified heart to come to life, so that it opens to the feeling of its sinfulness, its fall, its insignificance, so that it sees them, confesses to them with selflessness. Then the true fruit of prayer will appear in you: true repentance. You will groan before God, and you will cry out to Him in prayer from the disastrous state of your soul, which was suddenly revealed to you; You will cry out as from a prison, as from a tomb, as from hell” (Ibid. p. 149). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 149. – This is not uncommon among St. Ignatius allegorizes an episode of Old Testament history - the bringing of alien fire by Nadab and Abihu before the face of the Lord, for which both died (See: Lev. 10:1–2; Num. 3:4). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 203–204. Wed. from Lossky: “In the most general sense, every presence of a person before the Face of God is prayer” (Lossky V.N. Essay on mystical theology. P. 109). This is how St. Petersburg teaches. Simeon the New Theologian: just as the soul, he says, binds all parts of the body into one, so the Holy Spirit, with whom the soul of the primordial was united, brought all its thoughts and wishes to the single will of God, ensuring the internal integrity of the soul and its spiritual and moral purity (See: Simeon the New Theologian, St. Homily 4:2 // Words. Part 1. pp. 64–65). Compare: “He does not have,” testifies St. Ignatius about the experience of experiencing the presence of God within oneself - there is no image, no form, there is nothing sensual in Him. He is completely insubstantial, invisible, extremely subtle” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 316). One of St.'s favorite expressions. Ignatius, an indication of the same practical apophatism. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 150. Mk. 12:30 . Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 219–220. Ps. 83:3; 34:10. – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On practicing the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. pp. 272–273. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirty-first week. Explanation of the mysterious meaning of the Gospel story // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 345. Wed. also: “What other beginning can there be for the renewal of man than the grace-filled feeling of peace, by which the constituent parts of man, separated by sin, are united again into one! Without this preliminary gift, without this connection with himself, can a person be capable of any spiritual, Divine state created by the all-good Holy Spirit? Can a broken vessel, before it is repaired, be a container for anything?” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. P. 222). Wed: In. 14:27 ; Phil. 4:7. With reference to Rev. Barsanuphius the Great and St. Gregory Palamu. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 220–222. It must, therefore, be distinguished from ordinary, purely psychological calm. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 316, 318–319. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 319–320, 316. – In such a recreation of St. Ignatius sees a parallel with the first creation of Adam, who suddenly felt alive (see: Ibid. pp. 319–320). – The saint also describes the powerful action of God in man this way: “You, the Strong One, enter a house, bind the strong, plunder the vessels of the house, plunder not for destruction but for salvation! Both the house and the vessels were Yours before, You arranged them, arranged them for Yourself, they themselves surrendered into the sad captivity of the predator. And until now they were - my mind, my soul, my body - under the power of a fierce ruler, they acted under his influence. You come: from now on they come at Your disposal, begin to act under Your influence, holy, blessed” (Ibid. pp. 314-315). See: Ibid. pp. 316–317, 319. Compare: “The invisible Sun of truth - God emits rays that are invisible, but cognizable by the clear sensation of the soul” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of Novice Prayer 29 // Creations. T. 2. P. 166). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 319. The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit (John 3:8). – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 317. It is possible that this image of expression - fire does not scorch, but irrigates - was inspired by St. Ignatius in the words of Sedalna from the canon of Pentecost: “For the Gentiles were scattered, we were seen like fire; and these were not fallen, but rather than sprinkled” (Canon on the Sunday of Pentecost, sedalon according to the 3rd song // Pentikostarion. L. 242 vol.). In any case, the reason for the similarity of expressions is the identity of experience. Vladyka Ignatius perceives his personal experience as homogeneous with the experience of the Apostles. – Wed. Prudnikov’s reasoning: “Renewal is a personal Pentecost. It is the main guideline in the theology of Bishop Ignatius. From Scripture we know that until the moment of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, they themselves understood little of the words of the Teacher. For this reason, we can say that the saint’s intention for Pentecost is justified” (Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). pp. 13–14). This refers to the experience of the prophet. Elijah (1 Kings 19:12). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 316. St. Ignatius refers to St. Maxima Kapsokalivi, op. by: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 25 // Creations. T. 2. P. 164. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 315. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The concept of heresy and schism. P. 283. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 29 // Creations. T. 2. P. 166. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 28 // Creations. T. 2. P. 166. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. pp. 151–152. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 317. The allegorical concept of the Sabbath in this sense is first introduced in Heb. 4:9–10. Wed. development of the idea from St. Isaac the Syrian (Isaac the Syrian, St. Sermon 19 // Ascetic Words. pp. 77–78). St. Isaac, however, insists that in earthly life ascetics achieve only an imperfect (“in the parable”) Sabbath, while the real Sabbath, complete repose from struggle and suffering, is the tomb. St. Ignatius, of course, does not contradict the great mentor of monastics (as he himself calls him), for, speaking of the mystical Sabbath, he does not at all insist on the possibility of its absolute perfection within the limits of this life. In particular, he writes: “Do not leave the narrowness of the true prayer path - and you will achieve sacred peace, the mysterious Saturday: on Saturday no earthly work is performed, struggle and feat are eliminated; in blissful dispassion, without distraction, the soul stands before God in pure prayer, and rests in Him through faith in His infinite goodness, devotion to His all-holy will” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 148). How much more can we talk about the “actions” of a person? Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 151. Indeed, the saint himself says that “a person cannot be without thoughts and feelings”, that the constant generation of them by the mind and heart is a sign of life, that “incessant activity is natural to the soul” (See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Offering to modern monasticism. Introduction. P. 37). But this is precisely in the “only natural” state. However, a supernatural state does not make a person insane or insensitive; it is not for nothing that the saint constantly adds: without thoughts - “i.e. above thoughts,” etc. It is thus a question of transcendence, not of ontological annihilation, which would be a defect rather than a perfection. Perhaps this correspondence should be understood to mean that such a state of a person makes him godlike, or that only in such a state is he ready for union with God. In any case, it is clear here how in Communion with God the highest possible good for man is achieved, the attainment of which is the limit of soteriology as “practical theology.” Compare: “There was peace in his heart,” writes St. Ignatius about himself in the 3rd person. “His thought was lost in some kind of infinity - his mind was without thought, as if deliberately prepared, tuned to receive a spiritual impression.” And further: “Sacred mystic vision! sacred vision of the mind! With what unexpected suddenness do you appear in a picturesque, striking picture before a mind prepared for the vision of mysteries by repentance and attentive, solitary prayer! How powerful, clear, and alive the knowledge you convey is! What an undeniable, incomprehensible conviction! (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Rosa // Creations. T. 1. pp. 359–361). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 318. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 29–31 // Creations. T. 2. pp. 166–167. See: Ibid. Paragraph 26. 164–165. Right there. Conclusion. P. 168. And even more so in the arbitrary production of visual images and/or ecstatic sensations. See, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 147; About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Ibid. pp. 232, 244; Spirit of prayer of the novice 27 // Ibid. T. 2. P. 165; Wanderer // Ibid. P. 321. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About beauty // Creations. T. 1. P. 240. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 319–321. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. P. 219. St. Ignatius provides many paternal evidence of this position. Here is just one of them: “Even if someone stands at the very height of virtues, if he does not pray as a sinner, his prayer is rejected by God” (St. Isaac the Syrian, quoted from: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of Prayer of the Novice 11 // Creations. T. 2. P. 162). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of Epiphany. About repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 17. Which, as already mentioned, is the normal, natural state of a person. And then St. Ignatius makes an important conclusion: “If the Holy Spirit, having moved into us, weeps for us: much more should we, before receiving this All-Holy Wanderer, weep for ourselves. If our condition, after our renewal by the Holy Spirit, is worthy of weeping, it is worthy of weeping according to the testimony of the Spirit Himself: much more is it worthy of weeping in its old age, in its fall, left to itself” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article II // Creations. Vol. 1. P. 164). Let us add that in the same way, delusion, having taken possession of a person’s being and activity, poisons his very body (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Holy Prayer of Jesus. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 2: About delusion // Creations. T. 1. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 232). – Desecrates the body and heresy, as already mentioned. In general, all passions, even such as despondency, laziness or love of money, even such subtle ones as vanity, have, according to St. Ignatius, its corresponding effect on human blood. But together with the passions they act on the blood, on the body and evil spirits, they act not only with thoughts, but also with touches (the saint refers to St. John of Carpathia). “Various inflammations of the blood from the action of various demonic thoughts and dreams constitute the fiery weapon that was given during our fall to the fallen cherub, with which he rotates inside us, preventing us from entering God’s mysterious paradise of spiritual thoughts and sensations,” the saint writes with reference to the saint. Macarius and Mark the Ascetic (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about mental, heartfelt and spiritual prayer // Creations. T. 2. pp. 214–216). – It is interesting to note here the idea of ​​the immanent fallen nature of man as an obstacle to entering heaven. Of course, paradise is understood here as a spiritual state, but paradise as a “place” of bliss is directly related to the internal state, and is in many ways a kind of realization of this state, development, revelation of the internal “guarantee”. “The top of the path is a kind of “divine and sober rapture”, “frenzy of the mind”, - ecstasy. And at the same time, the ecstasy of thoughtlessness - contemplation outside of concepts and outside of images - ecstasy without visions" (George Florovsky, Archpriest of the Eastern Fathers of the 4th century. Chapter VI: Gregory of Nyssa. 3: The path and limit of the knowledge of God 4. P. 135). Wed. a completely similar conclusion from the mysticism researcher prot. N. Karaseva: “The main criterion for the truth of mystical unity and real Divine revelation is a change in a person’s way of thinking and way of life and, especially, as the holy fathers teach, the presence of repentance. God is the main character in the mystical process (Nikolai Karasev, Archpriest. The meaning of mysticism in the relationship between dogmatics and ethics in Orthodox theology. Part I. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://andreyblag.ru/images/articles/duhovenstvo/2/staty/znachenie_mistiki.docx (access date: 10/6/2021)). Wed. his own words: “I liked and like monasticism in itself! but I did not at all think about serving the Church in any kind of priesthood. To be the bishop of my heart and to sacrifice to Christ thoughts and feelings, sanctified by the Spirit - this is the height to which my eyes were drawn" (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Speech delivered at the Holy Synod by the rector of the Sergius Hermitage, Archimandrite Ignatius, at the naming of him Bishop of the Caucasus and Black Sea, October 25th 1857 // Creations: in 7 volumes. T. 3. P. 313). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 153–154. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. The spirit of the beginner's prayer. Conclusion // Creations. T. 2. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 168–169. Khondzinsky Pavel, prot., Bezhanidze G.V., Sukhova N.Yu., Yakovlev A.I., Bolshakova S.E. Teaching. The doctrine of salvation // Ignatius (Brianchaninov) // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/293401.html#part_6 (access date: 10/7/2021). What we have already had the opportunity to verify in previous chapters. – Interesting in this regard are the remarks of A. M. Leonov: “In modern Orthodox theological science, there is a tendency to fragment the totality of the patristic teaching on the Economy of Salvation,” up to “a radical separation of the doctrine, in which its individual provisions are not only distinguished from one another, but are also separated.” The author calls the very desire to conclude the essence of the Redemption exclusively in one thing (and then argue on this topic) “theological liberties,” even “theological feuds.” In fact, he argues, “not one of the currently existing theories of salvation ... has complete knowledge in the field of soteriology. And although the Lord revealed a lot to man - in fact, everything that is necessary for salvation - and the Church revealed and significantly developed this teaching, the dogma of the Redemption remains only partially comprehended. Why? Yes, because the Atonement is not just an unprecedented outstanding event, but a Sacrament, and its Performer is the Lord. It is not enough to just think about redemption, you also need to participate in it, you need to constantly save yourself. In other words: it is necessary to theologize about salvation without separating it from salvation.” Referring to St. Athanasius of Alexandria, the author writes: “the possibilities of discoveries in the field of soteriology are not only not exhausted, but also inexhaustible” (See: Leonov A.M. Dogma of Redemption in Orthodox Theology. Conclusion [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Aleksej_Leonov/dogmat-iskuplenija-vpravoslavnom-bogoslovii/2_25 (date of access: October 5, 2021)). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A conversation about monasticism between Orthodox Christians: a layman and a monk // Creations. T. 1. P. 457. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of Epiphany. About repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 12. Quote by: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson 2 of the week of the publican and the Pharisee. About prayer and repentance // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 31. And the saint adds: “God’s saints worked miracles, raised the dead, foretold the future, were intoxicated with spiritual sweetness, and together, they humbled themselves, trembled, seeing with bewilderment, surprise, fear, that God was pleased to spare the dust—the dust, the dirt, entrusted His Holy Spirit. Oh horror! From the sight of these mysteries, silence falls on the beholder's mind; the heart is filled with unspeakable joy; the tongue becomes weary of telling” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflections on Faith // Creations. T. 1. pp. 177–178). – Let us also note here an indication of the apophatic state, namely, as a consequence of true humility, as an impression of the human spirit from the contemplation of the mysterious deeds of God. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About purity // Creations. T. 1. P. 335. - Such an action of the Holy Spirit on the soul, and through it on the body, experimentally confirms the original ability and purpose of the body for spiritual sensations, for spiritual pleasure, and not bestial (Ibid. P. 348). Compare: “Our abandonment of the sins of our neighbors is a sign that the Spirit of God has taken possession of us, reigns in us, controls, guides our will. Until that time, a special personal effort is needed to resist the passion of memory malice. God will secretly help our struggle against this passion, stopping the obvious help, so that our will can be expressed with certainty. By leaving our brethren their debts, we attract the grace of God into ourselves: we keep it within ourselves, constantly leaving debts to our neighbors” (Homily on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 249). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Lesson in the thirty-first week. Explanation of the mysterious meaning of the Gospel story // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 344. St. Ignatius refers to the 37th Word of St. Isaac (Isaac the Syrian, St. Sermon 37 // Ascetic Words. pp. 158–159). – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word of consolation to the grieving monks // Creations. T. 1. P. 354). “We can desire repentance and purity; we can and must use all means within our power to achieve them; but acquiring them does not depend on us. It is a gift from God. We must first of all pray to the heavenly Father, that He would send us from His spiritual treasuries the gift of repentance, that through repentance he would cleanse us from sinful defilement, and adorn us with the blessed purity that beholds God (Matthew 5:8), which alone is capable of receiving true knowledge of God” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Holy Homily on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of prayer of the Lord: Our Father // Works. T. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity, pp. 242–243). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the thirty-second week. About prayer // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 356. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Vision of Christ // Creations. T. 1. P. 106. Theophan the Recluse, St. The Path to Salvation: A Brief Essay on Asceticism. M.: Moscow Patriarchate, 1996. P. 294. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 330. See also, for example: Letters to the laity. Letter 28 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 480–481). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 331. Even in the Orthodox environment. Usually this is a kind of “pity” (of course, earthly, human, characteristic of fallen nature, not spiritual) for the Gentiles and heterodox, pity that claims to be more merciful than God Himself; on the other hand, it is also a reluctance to renounce sin, from imaginary freedom of action and thought. Let us add that such an approach also sins by denying the final reality of human free will, allowing for the possibility of a metahistorical change in the choice made in earthly life - against God - under the influence of “new information”, under the influence of a new, posthumous experience. Such mindsets are, unfortunately, characteristic of some of the modern Orthodox intelligentsia. Let us note in parentheses that such theories involuntarily present posthumous repentance and human change as something forced, and posthumous suffering as a kind of inquisitorial torture designed to extract from a stubborn sinner the consent to even now accept God and be with Him. And finally, from a “methodological” point of view, this approach to solving eschatological issues represents an unacceptable rationalization, an attempt to resolve antinomies within the framework and forces of human logic, fallen human reason, while in this case the thinker is precisely required to have intellectual self-sacrifice and trust in the Tradition of the Church. Not to mention, it is Christ-centered. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. pp. 331–332. See, for example: Veniamin (Fedchenkov), Met. World lamp. Ch. VIII: A wondrous revelation to the world. pp. 114–115. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 330. Sokolov, L. A. Saint Ignatius. Part 2: Moral and ascetic views of St. Ignatius. P. 295. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about the different states of human nature in relation to good and evil. Ch. 4: About the state after the fall of man // Creations. T. 2. P. 367. Right there. Ch. 5: About the state after the redemption of man. P. 391. – This is very consonant with what St. writes. Ap. Paul to the Galatians about circumcision, cf.: Behold, I, Paul, say to you: if you are circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all (Gal. 5:2); and further: You, who justify yourselves by the law, remained without Christ, fell from grace, but we in spirit expect and hope for righteousness from faith (vv. 4-5). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 333. – The saint compares the contamination of nature with evil to an admixture of vinegar in wine, which is why every drop of wine has an admixture in it. In other cases, he gives an image of food poisoned by poison, which from this itself becomes poisonous, itself becomes poison (see, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 7. P. 59. - The said chapter itself is called: “On preserving oneself from the good that belongs to fallen human nature”). Wed: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate... even his own life, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 1 // Creations. T. 2. P. 333. That is for communication with God and knowledge of God. Wed: Is. 64:6 in Church Slavonic translation. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the fourth week. The condition of assimilation to Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 182. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon on Saturday of the fourth week. The condition of assimilation to Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 182–183. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about salvation and Christian perfection. Part 2 // Creations. T. 2. pp. 345–346. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word about the different states of human nature in relation to good and evil. Ch. 5: About the state after the redemption of man; Ch. 6: On the renewal of the redeemed nature, in case of its damage, by repentance // Creations. T. 2. pp. 385–386, 394, 400. Quoted from: Ibid. Ch. 5: On the state after the redemption of man // Creations. T. 2. P. 400. – Speaking about Baptism as the return of communion with the Holy Spirit, St. Ignatius also has in mind Confirmation: Baptism, he himself says, is sealed “through the anointing of the baptized with holy myrrh. Confirmation replaced the laying on of hands by the apostles on the newly baptized. The apostles, by the laying on of hands, sealed Baptism and sent down the Holy Spirit on the newly baptized” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Teaching on the Thirtieth Week. On salvation and perfection // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 335). This is the Church Slavonic version of the text (quoted by the saint): Who would have given us to be satisfied with his flesh? (Job 31:31). Based on the interpretations of St. John Chrysostom. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Homily on Maundy Thursday at the liturgy. About the Holy Mysteries of Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 117. Those. new heading, cf.: Pomogov A. Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) on the significance of the Eucharist in the salvation of man. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Ignatij_Brjanchaninov/o-znacheniievkharistii-v-spasenii-cheloveka/ (access date: 10/20/2021). Because the soul of the body is in the blood... (Lev. 17:11). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Homily on Maundy Thursday at the liturgy. About the Holy Mysteries of Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 117–126, 132. “There are no words, no means to depict the state into which the partakers of the body and blood of the God-Man are elevated. The God-man depicted this state like this: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56). The state depicted and explained by these words remains incomprehensible and inexplicable: these words depict a height of state inaccessible to the human mind. It is known to the only God: no one knows who the Son is, only the Father (Luke 10:22), and who is united with the Son as one, is completely incomprehensible neither to others nor to oneself; satisfactorily comprehended for God alone” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Homily on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord’s Prayer: Our Father // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 247). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Homily on Maundy Thursday at the liturgy. About the Holy Mysteries of Christ // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 127. See: Ibid. pp. 133–134. – N.B.: When St. Ignatius says here that the fulfillment of the commandments and prayer “bring into union with the Lord,” then he, no doubt, means that the process of “entry” has already been preliminarily begun by Baptism, as is clear from the instructions of the saint himself that we have already examined. This is the only way to understand these words without being forced to suspect the saint of contradicting himself. See: Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. pp. 254–255, 256–257, 263–264. Compare: “We support and nourish our assimilation to the Lord, bringing repentance for the sins into which we fall due to our weakness, partaking of His Body and Blood, living according to His all-holy commandments” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Teaching on the Thirtieth Week. On Salvation and Perfection // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic Sermon and Letters to laymen. P. 335). – “We support and nourish” – in these words one can see both the development of what is already present and the acquisition of something new; It is possible, however, that “we nourish” refers exclusively to Communion. Wed: You have not yet fought to the point of blood, struggling against sin (Heb. 12:4). The personal cross of a Christian, explains St. Ignatius, consists of: 1) the many different sorrows of earthly life, 2) persecution from a sin-loving world, 3) ascetic deeds necessary for the taming (crucifixion) of the flesh, 4) invisible martyrdom, a difficult struggle with one’s passions, with the sin living inside, as well as with the spirits of evil. A Christian must take up his own cross (Mark 8:34), i.e. to endure exactly what is sent or allowed to him personally, and not what vanity would like, to fight precisely with his passions and take upon himself feats commensurate with his strengths (see: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His Cross and the Cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 355; Teaching in the 3rd week of Lent. On bearing the cross // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity, pp. 92–95). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 356; Sermon for the 3rd week of Lent. About the bearing of the cross // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 91). – The following reasoning of the saint is also significant: “Eternal death, which struck our soul, turned into life for us. She demands her food - sin, her pleasure - sin; through such food and such pleasure, eternal death maintains and maintains its dominion over man. But fallen man recognizes the maintenance and development in himself of the dominion of death as the development and prosperity of life. Thus, one infected with a fatal illness is dominated by the violent demand of the illness and seeks dishes that intensify the illness, seeks them as the most necessary food, as a necessary, pleasant pleasure” (Teaching for the 3rd week of Lent. On the bearing of the cross // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 91). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 356. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Sermon for the 3rd week of Lent. About the bearing of the cross // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 95. Fulfilling the commandments of the Gospel requires self-sacrifice from a person, resistance to his desires and understandings, in other words, a real crucifixion of himself, of his entire (fallen) nature, which, naturally, is experienced by this nature as pain and suffering. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. pp. 355–356, 357. – Wed. understanding of his martyrdom from the heavenly patron St. Ignatius - St. Ignatius the God-Bearer: “Martyrdom for I[gnatius] the God-Bearer is a true imitation of Christ suffering through boundless Divine love... humble participation in the sacrifice of Christ’s love, participation in “His Cup,” which makes... a true Christ-bearer and God-bearer. However, martyrdom is not only participation in suffering and sacrifice, but at the same time, and moreover, participation in Christ’s resurrection and eternal life, the divine life of immortality and incorruptibility” (Makarov E. E. Theology. Ecclesiology // Ignatius the God-Bearer // Orthodox Encyclopedia. Vol. 21. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://www.pravenc.ru/text/293491.html#part_15 (date of access: 10/8/2021)). In principle, this is the same thing that St. writes about. Ignatius in relation to any sorrows that befall a Christian. For the sake of completeness of the understanding of the meaning of the cross, let us mention what the saint also notes, referring to St. Mark of the Ascetic: “Do not seek Christian perfection in human virtues. It is not there: it is hidden in the Cross of Christ” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His Cross and the Cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 357). This is already an ascetic and axiological meaning, which we will not examine in detail within the framework of this study. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About patience // Creations. T. 2. P. 330–331; Homily on Great Heel at Vespers // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 137–138; cf.: Your cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 357. Wed: Prudnikov A.S. Knowledge and salvation in the works of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). P. 13. That is for his cross, for the sorrows sent or allowed by God, with which a Christian gets the opportunity to imitate Christ (who spent His earthly life in sorrows), if he endures them without grumbling, with humility and gratitude (See, for example: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word of consolation to mourning monks // Creations. Vol. 1. pp. 353–354). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 357. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A word of consolation to the grieving monks // Creations. T. 1. pp. 353–354. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. His cross and the cross of Christ // Creations. T. 2. P. 358. Right there. pp. 356–357. – Wed: “Immeasurable pleasure, born of faith, absorbs the severity of sorrow, so that during suffering only one pleasure is felt”; The saint also remembers the prayer of St. Vmch. Eustratia: “Bodily torment is the joy of Thy servant” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflections on Faith // Creations. T. 1. pp. 177–178). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 140. The following should also be mentioned. The acquisition of grace must be “legal.” Referring to both his own observations and prpp. Macarius, Isaac and others, St. Ignatius notes that sometimes some souls, according to the special vision of God, receive grace and grace-filled prayer even without prior training through sorrows and difficult struggles with temptations; but such people are, as it were, in infancy, in a very unsatisfactory state, “and, so to speak, incapable of the kingdom of heaven.” The saint cites the monastery nickname for such elders - “holy, but unskilled” - and the words of St. Isaac the Syrian that such a person “is not worthy to be called a saint” (See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On the exercise of the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. P. 283–287; A word of consolation to grieving monks // Creations. T. 1. P. 351). – St. Ignatius refers to various places in the 55th word of St. Isaac, also on: Macarius the Great, St. Word 7:14 // Spiritual conversations, messages and words. P. 372. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article II // Creations. T. 1. pp. 162–163. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Spirit of prayer of the novice 40 // Creations. T. 2. MS. 168. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. P. 143. In general, according to Rev. P. Khondzinsky, “St. Theophan the anthropological characteristics of the philosophy of modern times (I, consciousness, self-awareness) presents as internal characteristics of the concept of rational hypostasis (person) described by the holy fathers of antiquity in the language of ancient metaphysics from the outside, thereby synthesizing the foundation for the construction of a unified Christian anthropology” (Khondzinsky Pavel, Archpriest. Anthropology of St. Theophan the Recluse and the emergence of the first personalistic concepts in Russian theology // Bulletin of PSTGU. Ser. I: Philosophy. 2017. Issue 70. P. 20. – Original italics. - Diak. P. Kaleda is also convinced that in his personalistic constructions “St. Theophan managed to overcome the gap with the patristic ascetic tradition" (Kaleda Pavel, Deacon of St. Theophan the Recluse and the anthropology of the Kiev theological school // Bulletin of the EDS. 2019. No. 4 (28). P. 120). Compare: “Achieving a goal must invariably be a matter of human freedom” (Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian Moral Teaching. M.: Rule of Faith, 2010. P. 92. – Original italics). More precisely: to constantly give it away, ontologically and potentially preserving it, but actually rejecting it. Compare: “Man is given consciousness and freedom in the spirit, but not so that he becomes arrogant and self-willed, but then, so that, realizing that he has everything from God and in order to live in God, he freely and consciously directs everything towards this single goal. When he is so tuned in, then he abides in God and God abides in him” (Theophan the Recluse, St. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it. Letter 20. Klin: Christian Life, 2004. P. 75). It is obvious that these thoughts of the saint must be understood not in a Buddhist or Neoplatonic key (i.e., not as the complete destruction of the human personality or its dissolution in the Absolute), but in the sense of constant voluntary consent to the will of God while maintaining the potential (but not the inclination!) to autonomous existence. Man does not become passive, does not lose the formal ability to desire - but now he always desires only that the will of God be done. In his inner sense of self, a person strives to diminish, as if to truly dissolve in the Divine will in the desire to fulfill it and submit to it, to strive, as it were, to disappear before God’s determination - but he always does this voluntarily. He constantly gives his freedom into the hands of God and at the same time is never subjected to violence. Human freedom is not destroyed here, says St. himself. Theophan, “but it exists, because self-devotion is not a final, approved act, but an incessantly repeated one” (see: Theophan the Recluse, St. The Path to Salvation. P. 351:355). Fulfillment of this condition is the path to constant presence in communion with God, to the assimilation of God and man to each other. “Stay in communion with God by actively fulfilling His holy will,” the saint summarizes, deducing the ascetic principle from dogmatic premises (Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian Moral Teaching. P. 68:69). St. Theophan distinguishes between the cross of struggle against passions and the cross of complete devotion to the will of God; the latter is already the cross of perfect Christians (see: Theophan the Recluse, St. On repentance, confession, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ and the correction of life. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 2010. P. 252). Compare: “When you embark on the path of true Christian life and begin to fulfill the commandments of Christ in action, then you will constantly crucify yourself for the sake of the Lord, or be crucified with Christ the Savior in a saving way. Everything mentioned above is only a preparation for this. And how and why this life is co-crucifixion with the Lord, you will understand at first. Feel for yourself how, in the performance of Christian virtues, either hands and feet are nailed, then the heart is struck, then the head is crowned with thorns, then the whole body of our nature is covered with wounds” (Theophan the Recluse, St. On repentance, confession, communion. pp. 337–338). Recognizing God's assistance, man still attaches paramount importance to his own efforts and aspirations. See: Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. pp. 352–354. - A mysterious hint of such a transition from St. Theophan sees in the words of the Lord St. Ap. Petru: When you were young, you girded yourself and went where you wanted; and when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and lead you where you do not want (John 21:18) (see: The Path to Salvation. P. 353). Mikhailenko A. S. Soteriology of St. Ignatius (Brianchaninova). pp. 167, 168. See: Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. P. 354. – And St. Theophan adds: “In Saint Isaac the Syrian this is depicted by the ascension to the cross, or the final crucifixion of the outer man. This moment... is the most tempting, similar to the one that Abraham had when he sacrificed his son: in the mind there is darkness, in the heart there is joyless longing, from above there is the expectation of anger, from below there is a ready-made hell; a person sees himself perishing, hanging over the abyss. From here some come out in triumph, others fall and return to climb this mountain again. Those who have passed this stage, as if they have ascended to heaven, are no longer earthly, but heavenly” (Ibid. pp. 340–341). For the perfect, “crucified to the will of God,” the saint writes in another place, “every... personal movement, and thought, and desire is nailed to it. Or, in the usual sense and form, they don’t have them at all: everything they owned died, being sacrificed by the will of God. What moves them is God’s call.” Such, like St. ap. Paul, they cease to live themselves, but Christ lives in them (cf. Gal. 2:19–20), and they “By Him alone live and act... in the complete absence of any movements”; such perfection is already “the beginning of the future state after the resurrection, when God will be all in all” (Theophan the Recluse, St. On repentance, confession, communion. pp. 253–255). St. Theophan says that in the decision of the repentant to sacrifice everything to God and ruthlessly determine himself even to death for the sake of following Christ, who was crucified for us, “the shadow of death on the cross is visible, which destroyed” the power of the devil - who, therefore, flees from such a person. In such “readiness to die in the fight against sin,” the saint sees “the seed of new life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ibid. pp. 124–125). Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. P. 199. The saint develops this teaching, based on the testimony of Sts. Diadoche of Photiki and Macarius of Egypt. Wed: Ibid. pp. 198–199. On the other hand, mental communication with God is preserved (in a modified form) even at the highest levels of “living” (P. 197:199), constituting an integral part of the true, theanthropic life of the spirit in general. At the stage of conversion, this type of communion with God manifests itself in a person through faith and repentance, which are already the basis of Christian life and which themselves are the result of the influence of grace (prevenient grace) (see: Theophan the Recluse, St. Outline of Christian Moral Teaching. P. 76). It is also obvious that this kind of communication with God constitutes the fundamental principle of prayer, which, according to St. Theophan, and “is the elevation of our mind and heart to God” (Ibid. p. 538), although at higher levels prayer takes on a more ontological character. Without absorbing or destroying a person's personality. Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. P. 198. With this clear and tangible acceptance of the grace of St. Feofan connects the tradition of the newly baptized wearing white clothes for seven days and the corresponding mystical hagiographic testimonies (see: Ibid. pp. 201–202). See: Ibid. P. 200, 202–204, 207. – St. Ignatius also writes that “grace also promotes a person’s own feat, but without revealing itself” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), Holy Homily on Maundy Thursday at the Liturgy. About the Holy Mysteries of Christ // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 134). Theophan the Recluse, St. The path to salvation. P. 199. Compare: “On this ladder, leaps are impossible: one must certainly ascend from step to step,” the saint writes about the ladder of the Gospel beatitudes (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On the Gospel Beatitudes // Creations. T. 1. P. 523). Naturally, in the worst sense of the word. In many ways, this is the view of “traditional” Protestantism, in which private soteriology can be said to be absent or reduced to a minimum. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. My cry // Creations. T. 1. P. 561. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On practicing the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. P. 293. - However, repentance itself is necessary, of course, at all stages of spiritual life, cf.: “A hundred times blessed are those who, having been purified by repentance, because of their purity, were able to assimilate the incomprehensible humility of Christ, to be crucified with Christ, and from the cross, involuntary, or apparently arbitrary, given by Christ, cry out to To Christ: “What is worthy of our sins is acceptable: remember us, Lord, when you come in this kingdom” (Luke 23:42) at the hour of our separation from the body, on the brink of eternity” (Teaching 2 of the week after Epiphany. On repentance // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic sermon and letters to the laity. P. 18). Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Reflection borrowed from the 1st letter of the holy Apostle Paul to Timothy, relating primarily to monastic life // Creations. T. 2. pp. 142–143. – Enough has already been said about the fact that this cannot be achieved through one’s own efforts. These words, of course, are absolutely consonant with what the saint has always insisted on. Simeon the New Theologian. The saint writes: “the goal of monasticism,” but of course, this is the goal of any Christian in general, to one degree or another accessible to him. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On practicing the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. pp. 280–282. It is interesting to note that in a sense, the idea of ​​practical apophatism is taken to the extreme, to the point of perversion in Buddhism, where the final positive goal is in principle denied (at least completely removed from view), leaving only the desire to escape from all being, as false, illusory, into the meonal abyss of nirvana. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 240–242. See the following reasoning of the saint. By indicating the location of the Father - heaven - the praying son is not only drawn to heaven from earth, but he is also reminded of the incomprehensible spiritual benefits prepared for him in heaven. Warning against the bewilderment generated by such sublimity and generosity of Divine gifts, St. Ignatius (referring to St. Barsanuphius the Great) tries to resolve it with another bewilderment, demonstrating the omnipotence and incomprehensibility of God: he reminds that the Lord’s Prayer, revealing to people the rights of sons, was given to them before adoption, given to sinners before the final Redemption, before Baptism, the Last Supper and renewal by the Holy Spirit (see: Ibid. pp. 241–242). Wed: As You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, so may they also be one in Us... I am in them, and You are in Me; that they may be perfected into one (John 17:21, 23). – Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Word on Tuesday of the twenty-third week. Explanation of the Lord's Prayer: Our Father // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. pp. 245–246. And thus they refute all the attacks that St. Ignatius and his teaching as allegedly denying the possibility of spiritual perfection and the wealth of grace proclaimed by the New Testament. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Abba Joseph of Panethos 5 (commentary) // Fatherland. P. 410. – This is an almost word-for-word retelling of the famous words of St. Macarius the Great: “Doors open before him, and he enters into many monasteries; and as he enters, doors open before him again in proportionate numbers, for example, from a hundred monasteries to another hundred monasteries, and he becomes enriched; and to the extent that he is enriched, to the same extent new miracles are shown to him” (Macarius the Great, St. Conversation 8:6 // Spiritual Conversations, Messages and Words. P. 75). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. A Word about the Fear of God and the Love of God // Creations. T. 2. pp. 75–76. – Wed: “Just as sensual eyes, having been healed of blindness, see according to their natural properties, so the mind, having been cleansed of sinful morbidity, naturally begins to see the secrets of Christianity” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Offering to modern monasticism. Ch. 27. P. 155). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple. Section 3: On practicing the Jesus Prayer // Creations. T. 1. P. 293. See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. About prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. P. 150. Afanasy (Evtich), bishop. Prolegomena to hesychast epistemology // Theological works. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 2005. No. 40. P. 105, 106. Compare: “The true beginning of a true Christian life is impossible without the experience and experience of one’s own repentance. For this is the only way to partake of the divine-human light or the enlightenment of a new life and thinking in Christ. Or, as it is said in the Gospel and the Fathers of the Church, only repentance is the beginning of a person’s salvation, that is, his restoration to a healthy and whole state (the word σωτηρία comes from σῶος = healthy, whole, hence the hesychasts understand the expression σωφροσύνη primarily as sanity, in Old Slavonic whole-wisdom, whole-wisdom, and this testifies not only to the ethical, but also to the epistemological meaning of this word). In other words, the Gospel New Testament repentance in the hesychast experience is not only “moral repentance,” but also the real existential beginning of the grace-filled rebirth of the entire human personality, and, consequently, its epistemological abilities. “Meta-noia” (addition = transformation of the mind) is, according to the Apostle Paul, “renewal of the mind” (Rom. 12:2), or “renewal of the spirit of our mind” (Eph. 4, 23), or even more specifically: liberation from the “old man” in us and the internal restoration of the new man, “who is renewed in knowledge (ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν) according to the image of Him who created him” (Col. 3:10), that is, in the image God-man Christ. Consequently, repentance as a free, conscious and all-embracing feat of a being gifted with speech and mind, which is man, transforms and renews a person, renews, first of all, his mental, intellectual, logos (=verbal) capabilities sent down to man by the Creator Logos” (Athanasius (Evtich), bishop. Prolegomena to hesychast epistemology. P.107:108). Sophrony (Sakharov), schiarchim. Elder Silouan. Part 1: The life and teachings of Elder Silouan. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 2002. P. 229. Compare: “The Holy Fathers of the Eastern Church do not lead their reader into the embrace of love, not to the heights of visions, but lead him to consider his sin, his fall, to confess the Redeemer, to cry for himself before the mercy of the Creator” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 44 // Works. Vol. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. P. 508–509). Here is another of the many expressions of the same, essentially, thought: “Salvation comes from God in due time, with an undeniable heartfelt notification of oneself, who prays correctly and constantly” (Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. On Prayer. Article I // Creations. T. 1. M.: Sretensky Monastery, 1998. P. 140). See: Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Wanderer // Creations. T. 2. P. 317. N.B. We did not set ourselves the goal of a complete comparative analysis of the soteriology or theological epistemology of the two Russian saints. Material on St. Theophanu is involved solely for one purpose: to illustrate and make some of the ideas of St. more understandable. Ignatius through their comparison with the parallel ideas of St. Feofan. Due to a slightly different accentuation and a more systematic way of expressing St. Theophan on the question, for example, the structure of the path of ascension can be, as it were, superimposed on the less systematically presented ideas of St. Ignatius as a kind of “coordinate system” in order to see more clearly: St. Ignatius expresses essentially the same thoughts, although he does not build Feofan’s three-part model of ascension, and - which is actually important - concentrates on the extreme points of this model, i.e. this path, which reveals the significance of these very moments in his own system. Such a comparison, such an application of the scheme of one saint to the teaching of another is made possible, we repeat, due to the fact that both saints describe, in essence, the same reality, express the same idea, albeit in different ways. So, comparison with the teaching of St. Feofana in our study is nothing more than a methodological technique applicable specifically to these points, which is why we used it only in this regard. The importance of which we, of course, also do not deny. St. also spoke about this in his time. Afanasy (Sakharov). For him, the essence of worship is in “the inner communication of the creature with the Creator, the deep intimate conversation of the soul ... with God Himself in that ineffable language that the heavenly Paul heard in the third heaven. Worship is the purest contemplation, it is, as it were, the dissolution of the soul in God,” consoling it with “the greatest joy for it in communion with God, in contemplation of God.” This is what all church hymns and prayers serve, be they of dogmatic or ascetic-psychological content; their goal is to “raise them to the level of contemplation and communion with God.” A church or even a cell sincere reading of liturgical chants for the sake of saving the soul will certainly place believers “at least on the first step of that ladder of communion with God and contemplation, at the top of which stood the inspired hymns,” the saint asserts. At the same time, he complains that “our theological literature somehow pays little attention to the content of liturgical books” (Athanasius (Sakharov), St. The mood of the believing soul according to the Lenten Triodion. Preface. [Electronic resource]. URL: https://azbyka.ru/otechnik/Afanasij_Saharov/nastroenie-verujushhejdushi-po-triodi-postnoj/#0_1 (access date: 09.16.2020)). Handbook of a clergyman: in 8 volumes. T. 1. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchies, 1977. P. 481. Right there. P. 483. - Cf.: “The mystical justification of dogma occurs in the Church constantly, in particular in church services and especially in the Liturgy, when a person, not symbolically, but essentially, assimilates dogmas: not only in letter, but in spirit and force. Liturgical texts, if we consider the entire annual cycle of worship, contain all the dogmatic formulations and all the rules of all seven Ecumenical Councils. The symbolic sacred rites of the priest, singing, icons, painting - all this forms a powerful spiritual and mystical background and has a tremendous power of influence on the consciousness and subconscious, on the heart and on the entire nature of man. And if a person participates in the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, he essentially unites with Christ and becomes one flesh, and through this he essentially becomes one Body of Christ together with all those who pray. The daily cycle of worship has formed its own dogmatic system of theology, which is adopted not only by the sage or scientist, but also by anyone who consciously participates in the Liturgy, becomes a theologian. Outside of worship, the dogmatic system turns into a theoretical study of theology, into scholasticism. Dogmatic assimilation requires compulsory practice and experience. This experience is what a person receives in worship” (Nikolai Karasev, Archpriest. The meaning of mysticism in the relationship between dogmatics and ethics in Orthodox theology. [Electronic resource]. URL: http://andreyblag.ru/images/articles/duhovenstvo/2/staty/znachenie_mistiki.docx (access date: 10/6/2021)). Handbook of a clergyman: in 8 volumes. T. 1. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchies, 1977. P. 483. Ignatius (Brianchaninov), St. Letters to the laity. Letter 51 // Works. T. 4: Ascetic preaching and letters to the laity. SPb.: Publishing house. I. L. Tuzova, 1886. P. 518–519. Afanasy (Evtich), bishop. Prolegomena to hesychast epistemology // Theological works. M.: Publishing house. Moscow Patriarchate, 2005. No. 40. P. 101. – Original italics.