НЕДЕЛЯ 10-Я ПО ПЯТИДЕСЯТНИЦЕ

The next day (after the Savior’s ascension to Tabor and the Transfiguration), when Jesus Christ with Peter, James and John descended from the mountain and came to the other disciples, the Lord saw many people around them and scribes arguing with them (Mark 9:14). At that very moment everyone noticed Jesus. His appearance, His unusual greatness, His radiant gaze filled the hearts of those around him with a reverent feeling, and all the people were amazed, and, running up, they greeted Him (Mark 9:15). What are you arguing with them about? (Mark 9:16) - He asked the scribes calmly. The scribes were ashamed to admit their questions, but the disciples of Jesus were aware of their lack of faith, failure and inability to dare to answer. Then one man from the crowd approached Jesus and, kneeling before Him, exclaimed: “Lord! have mercy on my son; I beg You to look at him; he is the only one I have; On new moons he goes berserk and suffers greatly, often throwing himself into fire and water. The spirit seizes him, throws him to the ground, and he suddenly screams, emits foam, grinds his teeth, and becomes numb, and the spirit forcibly retreats, tormenting him. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him (see: Matt. 17:15–16; Luke 9:38; Mark 9:17–18). That man brought the unfortunate sufferer to his disciples to drive out an evil spirit, and their failure only caused ridicule from the scribes. O faithless and corrupt generation! Jesus answered and said. How long will I be with you? How long will I tolerate you? Bring him here to Me, the Savior continued (Matthew 17:17). And they brought him to Him. While he was still walking, and as soon as the demoniac saw Him, the spirit shook him and began to beat him; he fell to the ground and lay there, emitting foam (cf. Mark 9:20; Luke 9:42). Rejecting the accusation from the disciples, Christ with the words: oh, an unfaithful and corrupt generation accuses the petitioner himself; but, in order not to embarrass him, he turns not to him, but to all the Jews, many of whom were tempted and began to think badly about the disciples. Not content with the accusations, the Lord said: bring him here to Me, thereby arousing the father’s hope and confidence that his son will be delivered from the demon. If the Lord delays healing and allows the patient to suffer, then he does this not for show, but for the sake of the father, in order to arouse in him and confirm his wavering faith. How long ago did this happen to him? (Mark 9:21) - Jesus asked his father. From childhood, the father answered, and many times the spirit threw him into fire and water to destroy him; but, if you can, take pity on us and help us. If you can believe a little, Jesus answered him, as if returning his words, all things are possible to him who believes (cf. Mark 9:22–23). “I have so much power,” Christ says in these words, “that I can make others miracle workers; and therefore, when you believe as you should, you yourself can heal this one and many others.” Then the hopeless father exclaimed with tears, as many who have no faith and are wavering with doubt exclaim: I believe, Lord! help my unbelief (Mark 9:24). During this short conversation, the number of people around the Savior grew larger and larger. Jesus, seeing that the people were running, rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him: The spirit is dumb and deaf! I command you, get out of it and do not enter it again (cf. Mark 9:25). This word was followed by a wild cry, and the demon, shaking him violently, came out of him; and he (the possessed one) became as if dead, so that many said that he had died. But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and healed the boy, and gave him to his father. And everyone was amazed at the greatness of God (cf. Mark 9:25–27). The Lord gave the power to cast out demons to His disciples first of all, and His name was successfully used for this even by those who were not among those called. Therefore, it is natural that as soon as Jesus entered the house, the disciples began to ask Him in private: why can’t we cast him out (the demon)? Fearing that they had lost the grace given to them. Jesus said to them: Because of your unbelief; For truly I tell you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you; this same generation is driven out only by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:20–21). About the wiles of the devil and about prayer work In the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, under Abbot Nikon, there was one young ascetic named Nikita. He asked the abbot for permission to go into seclusion. The abbot did not allow him and said: “Child! you are young, there is no benefit for you to sit idle; It is better for you to work together with your brothers, and you will not lose your reward; You yourself saw our brother Isaac the cave dweller, how he was seduced in seclusion from demons, only the great grace of God saved him.” Nikita answered: “I will never be tempted by such a thing, but I strongly desire to stand against the wiles of demons and ask God to give me the gift of working miracles, like Isaac the Recluse, who still works miracles.” The abbot again told him: “Your desire is higher than your strength; Beware, child, lest, having ascended, you fall; I command you to serve the brethren, and for your obedience you will be crowned by God.” But Nikita did not listen to the advice and warnings of the abbot and, shutting himself in his cell, tightly blocked the doors and lived alone, being in prayer, not going anywhere. However, after a short time, the recluse Nikita did not escape the snares of the devil-tempter. One day, during his prayer, he heard another voice praying with him, felt an extraordinary fragrance and, seduced by this, said: “If he had not been an Angel, he would not have prayed with me,” and began to pray to the Lord that He Himself would appear to him visibly. Then a voice came to him: “I will not appear to you because you are young, so that you, having ascended, do not fall.” The recluse said with tears: “I will never be tempted, Lord, and I will do everything that You command me.” Then the soul-destroying serpent, having assumed power over him, says: “It is impossible for a person living in the flesh to see me, but I am sending my angel, he will be with you, and you do his will.” And suddenly a demon appeared before him in the form of an angel; Nikita bowed to him like an angel. And the demon says to him: “Now you don’t pray anymore, but read books and in this way you will talk with God, and you will give useful words to everyone who comes to you, and I will always pray for your salvation.” Believing what was said and being deceived, the recluse stopped praying and read books; He always saw the demon praying for him and rejoiced, thinking that the angel was praying for him. Nikita became perspicacious and teacher. And what he spoke or prophesied came true. Princes and boyars began to come to him to listen to his instructions. But everything he said was revealed to him by the demon. No one could compare with Nikita in knowledge of the books of the Old Testament; he knew them by heart. But he not only did not read the Gospels and the books of the apostles, but did not even want to see or hear about them. And it became clear to everyone that Nikita was deceived by the devil. Then the reverend fathers of the monastery, shining with virtues, came to the seduced man and with their prayers cast out the demon from him. They brought him out of seclusion and asked him to tell them something from the books of the Old Testament. But he swore that he had never read those books; It even turned out that now he could not read a single word. The reverend fathers barely taught him to read and write. Then, brought to full consciousness by the prayers of the reverend fathers, he confessed his sin and wept bitterly about it, devoted himself to strict fasting and obedience, and began to live such a pure and humble life that he surpassed others in virtues. For his great virtues, the Lord elevated him to the rank of Bishop of Novgorod. Being a bishop, Saint Nikita, during the former lack of rain, with his prayer brought down rain from the sky, extinguished the fire in the city, and performed many other miracles. For thirteen years he was Bishop of Novgorod, and on January 31, 1108, he departed to the Lord, into Eternal Life. The Lord glorified his body with incorruptibility and miracles. Now let’s think about how much is instructive for us here. The devil-tempter ordered the recluse Nikita to read books and give up prayer. From this it is clear that the devil does not tolerate Christian prayer. Why doesn't he tolerate it? Because prayer—I mean, true prayer, which the ascetics of Christ pray and which we should all pray—is an important matter. The Monk Macarius of Egypt teaches: “The head of all virtue and the crown of good deeds is always remaining in prayer.” And indeed, whoever prays true prayer always tries to have in his soul a firm faith in God and the fear of God, crosses himself and worships with a tender heart, has a meek and humble soul, always reads the prayer with reverence, with full awareness of his unworthiness before God. He who prays true prayer repents of his sins sincerely and sincerely, with a contrite heart and, asking God for forgiveness of his sins, forgives all offenses to his enemies and offenders, loves everyone, is not attached to anything earthly, thinks about God alone and always tries to live according to the will of the Lord. Such a pilgrim is a faithful and good servant of the Lord, worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Such pilgrims are not harmed by demons, and they run away from them. Their cross and prayer, their faith and humility overcome and drive away all demonic power. Would you like to see this with examples? Here are some examples. One sorcerer sent demons to torment the Monk Theodore Sikeot, but they could not approach him, because the prayer was on his lips - they waited for the night, but even at night, during sleep, fire came from the mouth of the monk and drove away the demons. The Monk Niphon once saw a certain monk walking and reading a prayer, a fiery flame emanated from his mouth and reached the heavens; His angel also walked with him, having a fiery spear in his hands, with which he drove away demons from that monk. That is why the devil-tempter forbade Saint Nikita to pray to God - so as not only not to be afraid of Nikita, but to seduce him from faith in Christ God and from other virtues that come from prayer, and thereby remove him from God and the Kingdom of Christ. Humility is a weapon against the devil St. Augustine says: “The enemy of our salvation is cunning and crafty: now he appears as a lamb, now as a wolf, now as light, now as darkness.” Thus, he appears in the image of not only an Angel, but even Christ Himself. Here's an example. There was a wonderful ascetic - Isaac of Pechersk. For seven years he labored in solitary retreat and remained in unceasing prayer. His food every day was one prosphora and a little water. This wondrous ascetic never went to bed, but rested while sitting. One day, when, at nightfall, having become tired from singing the psalter, he put out the candle and was sitting in his place, he saw an extraordinary light in the cave, and two demons appeared to him in the form of young men. They said: “We are angels, and behold Christ Himself is coming to you.” The monk, not supposing any deceit on the part of the imaginary angels, accepted everything as reality. He fell to his knees and worshiped Satan in the form of Christ. As soon as this happened, the demons joyfully exclaimed: “Our Isaac!” And immediately, surrounding the monk with timbrels, pipes and harp, they grabbed him, began to jump with him and tormented him so much that in the morning he was found unconscious and remained for several years in mental and physical relaxation. This is how dangerous it is to give in to the enemy! But how to reflect it? Church history testifies that great Christian ascetics defeated the devil, who appeared to them in the form of an angel and tempted them with proud and dreamy thoughts and humility. So, the devil appeared to one desert man in the form of a bright angel and said to him: “I am Gabriel, sent to you from God.” The hermit objected to this: “See if you were sent to someone else; I am not worthy to see angels as a sinner.” The devil immediately disappeared. Humility is a weapon not only against the devil, but also against all his evil deeds. The devil is defeated in the name of Jesus Christ and the sign of the cross Of great importance to us are the most holy name of our Savior and the instrument of our salvation - the Life-giving Cross of Christ. Our primordial and vigilant enemy, the devil, constantly prowls like a lion, looking for someone to destroy, but the Lord has also given us powerful weapons against all the machinations of the enemy: this is the prayerful invocation of the most holy name of our Savior, about the power of which the Lord Himself told the believers: in my name the demons will be given birth (Mark 16:17), - and the Cross of our Savior and the sign of this cross. According to the testimony of the Holy Church, the devil, at the sight of the Cross of Christ, trembles and shakes, unable to bear to look at its power. Believers have always defended themselves from the devil with these holy and divine weapons. The Jesus Prayer did not stop in the heart and did not leave the lips of Christian ascetics, and they also constantly depicted the sign of the cross to drive away the enemy. Of the many examples of this, I will point out a few. The life of the Monk Abraham relates: one day at midnight, when the saint was standing in prayer, a light stronger than the sun suddenly illuminated him, and he heard a voice that said: “Blessed are you, Father Abraham, truly blessed, because there is no one equal to you in merit.” Realizing that this was nothing more than the flattery of the evil one, the blessed one said to him: “Let your darkness perish with you! I see your flattery and deception: I am a sinful man, the grace of my God and trust in the Lord my Savior Jesus Christ is with me, I am not afraid of you, in His name I conjure you, unclean and evil one!” As soon as the blessed one said this, at that very moment Satan disappeared. A few days later, Satan again, during the blessed one’s prayer at night, began to destroy his cell with an ax and, having cut through it, shouted: “Hurry, my friends, hurry, let’s go in and strangle him!” Hearing this exclamation, the blessed one said: All the nations have gone after me, and in the name of the Lord I resisted them (Ps. 118:10), and the enemy disappeared, but the cell remained unharmed. Several more days passed; at midnight, when the saint stood on the matting and sang psalms, the matting suddenly caught fire with a strong flame, but he was not embarrassed, knowing well that this was an obsession of the devil, and, trampling the fire, said: I will step on the asp and the basilisk and trample the lion, and the serpent, and all the power of the enemy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who helps me (Ps. 90:13), and the devil suddenly screamed took flight. One day, to the cave of St. Peter, who was asceticizing on Mount Athos, the devil gathered all the beasts and reptiles and he himself and his minions turned into various beasts and reptiles. The spectacle was truly terrible: some were crawling at the feet of the ascetic, others were whistling in a terrible voice, others were already opening their mouths, intending to devour him alive, and were rushing at him. But the ascetic already knew that these were the machinations of the enemy, and therefore as soon as he protected himself with the sign of the cross and called on the name of the Lord, the evil one ran far away from him. Wanting to tempt the great ascetic Simeon the Stylite, the devil took on the appearance of a bright angel, one day appeared to Simeon with a fiery chariot and the same horses, as if he had descended from heaven, and said: “Listen, Simeon, the God of heaven and earth sent me to you so that I would take you, like Elijah, to heaven, for you are worthy of it for your life, and the hour has come for you to receive a crown for your labors are from the Lord. Go immediately and worship the Lord your God; and let the prophets, apostles, angels and martyrs, who all want to see you, see you.” Not recognizing that this was the enemy of the human race tempting him, Saint Simeon exclaimed: “Lord! Did You really want to take me to Your villages? - and, having protected himself with the sign of the cross, he raised his right leg in order to sit in the chariot, but at that moment the devil, frightened by the sign of the cross, disappeared with the fiery horses and chariot. That is why pious Christians constantly bear in their hearts and on their lips the most holy name of our Savior. That is why the Holy Life-Giving Cross of Christ adorns our churches; That is why he is on the holy throne, and on the royal throne, and in our houses, and on our chests; He, like a faithful guardian, protects our mortal remains in the graves until the General Resurrection and the Judgment of God. And we, sinners, how rarely and without proper reverence pronounce the most holy name of our Savior. But almost every hour on our lips is the name of the enemy of our salvation! How irreverently we kiss the Holy Cross of Christ and carelessly protect ourselves with the sign of the cross! How often in our homes, at the sight of our Savior crucified on the Cross, do we allow ourselves disorder, obscene speech, and unworthy actions! Such an attitude towards the Holy Cross is detrimental to our souls. Therefore, I, as your shepherd, with your salvation, I beg you always, at every time and in every place, whether in church, in the house, on the road, everywhere to revere the Holy Cross, to overshadow yourself with it as often as possible with faith, to guide them in every undertaking, every step in life, to teach your children the same, firmly remembering that in the Cross is our bright paradise, just as without the Cross it is for us eternal hell. Godly fasting reconciles us with God, attracts God's favor to us, and delivers us from God's righteous wrath and punishment. The Ninevites angered God with their untruths and iniquities. The Lord condemned them to destruction for this. The holy prophet Jonah announces to the wicked people that in three days Nineveh will be destroyed. And so the king and all the inhabitants of Nineveh impose a strict fast on themselves: no one eats or drinks anything; they forsake all their iniquities; turn to God with a heartfelt prayer for mercy. And the Merciful Lord has mercy on Nineveh (see: Jonah 3:1–10). The Most Holy Theotokos herself admonishes us that by fasting we are delivered not only from God’s punishment in this life, but also from eternal hellish torment. The Monk Dosifei was raised by his relatives. They were noble people; They dressed and kept their pet luxuriously, but he never heard the word of God from them. It happened that their acquaintances in the presence of young Dositheus were talking about Jerusalem. He liked this conversation. He asked his teachers to leave to visit holy places. He was released to worship holy places with one good person. They come to Jerusalem and to Getheimania. Here the monk saw an image of the Last Judgment of God, and it struck him. He examines with horror the picture of hellish torment. Suddenly the Monk Dosifei sees next to him a Bright Woman dressed in a scarlet robe. She explains to him the torment of each of the convicts, teaches him and instructs him for a long time. Previously, he had not heard anything about the Last Judgment. Hearing the words of Holy Scripture from the Holy Woman, his soul is touched and horrified; Finally, the monk asks this Wonderful Woman: “What needs to be done to get rid of this torment?” She tells him: “Fast, don’t eat meat, pray often and you will get rid of torment.” Having taught the monk this way, the Wonderful Woman became invisible. This Wonderful Woman was the Most Pure and Most Holy Theotokos. From that time on, the Monk Dositheos holyly observed this commandment and was saved. In trouble, call on God and pray to the Holy Saints Deacon John, who often nourished the Monk Simeon, Christ for the sake of the holy fool, fell into unexpected misfortune: unknown villains killed one man and threw his corpse into the deacon’s courtyard. In the morning the murdered man was found, and Deacon John was accused of murdering this man. The judge sentenced him to hang from a tree, and he was led to the place of execution. Going to his death, Deacon John mentally prayed: “God of the holy fool, help me; God of Simeonov, appear to me at this hour!” The Monk Simeon was playing the fool somewhere at that time. One old man came to him and said: “You fool! your friend and benefactor John the deacon is condemned to death; if he dies, then you will die of hunger: no one cares about you as much as he does.” Saint Simeon immediately hurried to a secluded place where he usually prayed secretly from everyone. There, kneeling down, he began to earnestly pray to God for the deacon’s deliverance from mortal misfortune. His prayer was heard: suddenly the murderers were found, and the judge at the place of execution immediately sent horsemen to free the innocent man, and they barely found the deacon alive. The liberated John did not rush home, but went straight to the place where Saint Simeon was praying, and found him not yet finished with his prayer. When Simeon finished his prayer and the deacon approached him, the monk greeted him with the words: “Brother John, you almost drank the cup of death! Go, pray and thank the Savior - God. This test happened to you because you did not give anything to two beggars who came to you, although you had something to give, and you sent them away empty-handed. Is it really yours that you give, or do you not believe the One who said: “He who gives to the poor for God’s sake will receive a hundredfold in this present age, and in the future he will receive Eternal Life. If you believe, give; If you don’t give, then obviously you don’t believe the Lord.” The Power of Faith of a True Christian I. A certain pious priest was invited to a certain house (in Laodicea) to baptize a child who had been born. The child was too weak and close to death, and before the priest came to the house, having prepared everything necessary for baptism, he actually died. But, without any hesitation, the priest began his work. Approaching baptism, he cried out: “Angel of God, who took the soul of the child before baptism! return her to the body so that I can baptize the child, and then you will take her again.” A great miracle happened: the child came to life, received baptism and again fell asleep in eternal sleep. II. When one day great disputes and discord arose between Orthodox Christians and heretics (i.e., those who had fallen away from the Orthodox faith), the Orthodox turned to a certain blessed Macarius for help. Then Macarius, having gathered the Orthodox and heretics, went with them to the cemetery and called to the first grave he encountered, whose true faith is Orthodox or heretical? So what? The deceased gave an answer, calling the Orthodox one the true faith. Thus, the heretics were put to shame, and the Orthodox triumphed. The situation of a soul captured by sin is difficult and deplorable. Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34), said Christ the Savior. It seems that slavery to sin is something impossible in itself. After all, sin is self-will, following one’s will contrary to the will of God. The sinner is his own master, who does not want to constrain himself by the demands of God’s law. He does not recognize any other law over himself than self-love and self-indulgence. Like the prodigal son depicted in the Gospel parable, he wants to live according to his own will and therefore does not tolerate the power of the moral law over him. The concept of slavery to sin is incompatible with this property of sin. Nevertheless, the words of Christ: everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin - constitute an immutable truth. True, in sin there is a kind of freedom, that is, willful deviation from the law of the Lord. But what a pitiful freedom this is! If someone who willfully deviates from the path of righteousness to the path of sin thinks that he is free, and if he rejoices in his freedom, he is only deceiving himself. By overthrowing the power of the law, he only exchanges it for another power, for the power of sin, the most humiliating and shameful, therefore, he becomes a slave of sin, for, let’s say in the words of the Apostle, whoever is defeated by someone is his slave (2 Pet. 2:19). In this regard, there is not a single person in the world who would not be in the strict sense a captive or slave of sin. Each of us bears the yoke of sinful slavery from the moment of birth, for no one is free from original sin inherited from Adam. Everyone is born with an invincible tendency to sin, which prompts him, even against his will, to do something that his conscience does not approve of. Slavery to sin is increased by personal or voluntary sins. Even the great righteous are subject to sinful temptations. However, although they fall, each time they rush to rise from their falls. But there are slaves of sin whom he keeps in constant captivity. There are sins that have turned into passion, habit. Such sins are truly the most terrible masters, whose service is more painful than Egyptian work, harder than Babylonian captivity. Such, for example, is the habit of foul language. She takes possession of someone so much that he cannot say two or three words without adding an obscene word. This is also the habit of drunkenness. He who is accustomed to it is truly a miserable slave of this vice. Having sobered up, he condemns himself, curses his habit, vows to give it up, even enters into a sobriety society, commits himself not to touch wine; but at the first temptation he encounters, he gives in to drunkenness even more than before. The passion of greed enslaves a person to such an extent that he ceases to think about repentance and the salvation of his soul. They say about one selfish man that he never fasted and finally fell dangerously ill. Everyone saw that he would not survive this disease; he alone did not recognize the danger. The illness took such a turn that it was necessary to think about preparing for death. Well-meaning people somehow persuaded him to send for a priest to give him the Holy Gifts. The priest appeared, but at the same moment a telegram arrived; it was reported to the patient. Some urgent orders regarding trade matters were required. The sick man removed the priest, busied himself with trading orders, and suddenly gave his soul to God. The slave of greed was unable to fight the slavish habit even at the moment of death and died without repentance. The passion for fashionable clothes enslaves some frivolous women to such an extent that she is ready to spend the whole day at the toilet and not care about anything else except dressing in the latest fashion. The latest fashionable picture is an idol for her, to which she sacrifices common sense, duties to the family, even to the church, because, being busy with dressing and hairstyle for too much time, she does not have time for the church service. A lover of strong sensations experienced during moments of gambling at cards is truly an unfortunate slave of addiction to it. He has brought himself to such a state that he is ready to gamble away his entire fortune, deprive himself and his family of a piece of daily bread, in order to satisfy his insane passion. Angry people in fits of anger are like an enraged animal and to such an extent they feel their powerlessness to control themselves and not bring themselves to the extreme in an angry state that sometimes they themselves warn people not to come close to them at the moment of their irritation: they do not vouch for themselves and can commit a crime at these moments. So, truly, everyone who commits sin, and especially those who turn sin into an invincible habit, is a slave of sin. You might be interested in: