Грех

Sidor and Karp live in Kolomna, but sin and misfortune never happen to anyone (1, part 2, p. 45). Why do people sin?.. Or because they don’t know what they should do and what to avoid, or if they know, they forget, but if they don’t forget, they become lazy and despondent. On the contrary, since people are very lazy in matters of piety, they very often forget about their main duty - to serve God, and from laziness and forgetfulness they reach extreme foolishness or ignorance. These are three giants - despondency, or laziness, oblivion and ignorance, from which the entire human race is bound by insoluble bonds. And then comes negligence with all its host of evil passions. That is why we pray to the Queen of Heaven: “My Most Holy Lady Theotokos, with Your holy and all-powerful prayers, drive away from me Your humble and accursed servant despondency, oblivion, foolishness, negligence and all the nasty, evil and blasphemous thoughts...” (1, part 1, p. 105). ...You write that the enemy attacks you with thoughts of despair, imagining that at the ordeal the enemies will steal your soul and lead you into darkness, so that because of these thoughts you cannot pray with tenderness, and you began to imagine that your repentance is small in comparison with your sins, that you still need to bear “satisfaction” for them, in accordance with your sins, and only then will you receive forgiveness. In response to all this, I will tell you that the word “satisfaction” has passed from the Catholic Church to the Orthodox Church, and the purely Orthodox belief is that if a Christian has sinned, then according to the righteous judgment of God, in order to avoid eternal punishment, he must, upon repentance, suffer some temporary punishment, but small in comparison with his sins, or illness, or some misfortune, or dishonor. The rest is filled by the mercy of God. The prudent robber robbed for thirty years, but suffered only three hours of punishment, hanging on a cross with his legs broken. It is true that the punishment is heavy, but can it serve as satisfaction for thirty years of robbery? Judge for yourself. In the book of Isaac the Syrian in Word 71... it is said that one is sent illness during the continuation of life, and another before death, but the illness is very serious, but still it cannot, especially in the latter case, serve as complete satisfaction for sins, but only as a small punishment. And from this place it is clear that the works of repentance and all suffering can only serve as a means of storing and reflecting or pacifying passions, and not as “satisfaction.” You and I will suffer the sent illness as a small punishment, believing and hoping to receive forgiveness of our sins by the mercy of God, by the merits of Christ the Savior, who came to call sinners to repentance (2, part 3, pp. 111–112). You write that you are afraid whether the Lord will forgive your sins. Believe without a doubt that he who came into the world to save sinners will forgive and will be crucified for sinners (2, part 3, p. 111). May the Lord forgive you your cowardice and other things. When the patient recovers completely from his illness, then he cannot remember his illness with unpleasantness. Likewise, a sinner, having received forgiveness of sins and inherited the Kingdom of Heaven, can no longer remember his sins with unpleasantness, but, on the contrary, with gratitude to God’s mercy (2, part 3, p. 83). Every sin, no matter how small, must be written down as soon as you remember it, and then repented. This is why some people don’t die for a long time because some unrepentant sin is holding them back, but as soon as they repent, they are relieved. In our barnyard (in Optina) there was a cowgirl in consumption, whose three sins had been forgotten, and she imagined that cats were scratching her, or that the girl was crushing her, and when she repented, she died. There was also a sick monk in the skete; It seemed to him as if someone was lying behind him, and he could not remember the sin. During the week he remembered his sin and, as he repented, died. You definitely need to write down your sins as soon as you remember, otherwise we put everything off: sometimes the sin is small, sometimes it’s a shame to say it, or I’ll say it later, but when we come to repent, there’s nothing to say (3, p. 216). Some bodies...remained uncorrupted. ...The reason for this is thought to be this: God forgives sins against God through the prayers of others, especially through church prayers and for commemoration at the Bloodless Sacrifice or for alms given for these dead; and God does not forgive sins against one’s neighbor—offense and untruth—if the one who offended and committed the untruth does not satisfy the offended person in time or does not reconcile by asking for forgiveness. In the forties or earlier, the Turks carried out plunder in Bessarabia. The Russian government demanded satisfaction from the Turkish government, and those who were robbed were ordered to show their grievances. Those who showed injustice and doubled or tripled their loss, their bodies after death turned out to be uncorrupted and dark. There are also sinful bodies that are incorruptible. In one monastery, the body of a hierodeacon was accidentally discovered, uncorrupted and dark. The local bishop was traveling around the diocese at that time. The Bishop was asked to read a prayer of permission over this body. But even after the prayer of permission, the body remained in the same position. The Bishop asked: “Who was he and what is the reason for this situation?” In response, he received that he was the only son of a poor widow and against his mother’s will he went to a monastery, and his mother always grumbled at him because of poverty, and someone said that his mother was still alive. The Lord ordered to find his mother. They brought in a ninety-year old woman, bent over. The Bishop, pointing out the situation of her son, told her to forgive him. But the old woman, turning away, did not agree, repeating: “I endured so much grief through him!” The Bishop continued to convince the old woman and finally said: “If you don’t forgive, then you yourself will be tied up.” The convinced old woman seemed reluctant to say: “Well, God will forgive him!” The dark body immediately crumbled into dust (2, part 1, pp. 72–73). ...We need to be punished for our sins here on earth... Many people say: why punishment? The Lord is merciful, and forgave the repentant thief, and immediately brought him into paradise with Him. The saints interpret it differently: the robber had already suffered punishment before, hanging on the cross, and then his legs were broken. This means that death was painful. So he suffered punishment for his sins. So, as a punishment, I impose a penance of twelve bows a day for a whole year for your entire past life, so that there, in the future life, you will not be punished again (1, part 2, p. 9). You might be interested in: