Отдел четвертый. О Боге, как Судии и Мздовоздаятеле

The Creator of heaven and earth, the visible and invisible world, indicated various goals to his creatures: his goals to the world in general, his goals to man, subordinate and united in the final highest goal of all created existence. This last goal is the glory of God, inseparably united with the perfection and blessedness of creatures. The time must come when God's decrees regarding the whole world and the human race will be finally fulfilled. When and how is this done? The human mind has at all times tried (in natural religions and philosophy) to penetrate the mysterious veil that separates the present state of the world and man from their future. But no one knows God’s message, only the Spirit of God. We can have knowledge about the future destinies of the world and man to the extent that God Himself reveals this to us. Therefore, only the revealed Christian religion contains a positive and reliable teaching about the final destinies of the world and man. It is also obvious that it is prophetic in nature. According to its content, this entire teaching, usually called eschatology (from έσαχατος - the last, most distant and λόγος), is divided into I) the doctrine of God as a Judge and Giver for each person in particular, and II) the doctrine of God as a Judge and Giver for the entire human race. I. About God as a Judge and Rewarder for each person in particular God fulfills His goals in relation to each individual person by subjecting him to bodily death, granting immortality to the human soul, performing a judgment, called private, over each of the dead immediately after death, at which he determines the temporary state of both the righteous and sinners, until the final determination of their fate, which is to follow at the general judgment, upon the reunification of the soul with the body. § 174. Death of the body and immortality of the soul Personal immortality of the soul, preservation of its being, preservation of its spiritual properties. – Physical death is the liberation of the soul from the body. The life of every person necessarily ends in bodily death: in Adam you die. According to the goals and intentions of the Creator, the death of the body is not the final destruction of man, but leads for some time to the existence of the soul without the body, otherwise it is connected with the immortality of the soul. By immortality, souls often mean and recognize immortality only in the sense that with the death of the body the spiritual principle (substance) in a person is not destroyed, that it continues to live, but personal (individual) immortality is not allowed. This kind of immortality, the immortality of a simply spiritual essence, is usually spoken of in systems of pantheistic philosophy. But such immortality, in essence, is a denial of that immortality in which all people believed and believe and which they expect, is the destruction of man as an individual. By immortality in the true and proper sense we must understand the immortality of not just the spiritual essence, but also its entire spiritual content acquired during connection with the body, the immortality of this individual soul that thought, loved, acted, suffered during a more or less long earthly life. Revelation teaches that the immortality bestowed by God on the human soul is not immortality only in its essence (substance), but precisely personal immortality. The truth about personal immortality and the personal afterlife of the soul in revelation is associated with an entire creed. It is presupposed by the doctrine of man as the image of God. God belongs to eternal and endless existence, and God created man for incorruption and made him the image of His eternal existence (Prem Sol 2:23). Death is an accidental, temporary phenomenon, extending only to the body, but not to the soul; the soul could not be the image of God if it did not have an immortal purpose. The same truth is presupposed and required by the doctrine of atonement: all our faith would be vain, we would be the most miserable creatures in the world, if there were no immortality, if we only hoped in Christ in this life (1 Cor. 15:14-19). And in general, the actions of God's providence for man can only be understood if one is convinced of the personal immortality of the soul. But in revelation and in direct and clear expressions the immortality of the human soul is affirmed. Already the very designations of bodily death, as soon as the release of the soul from prison (Ps. 102:8), its release from the bonds of the body (Philip 1:23), exodus (Luke 9:31; 2 Pet 1:15; Heb. 13:17), departure (2 Tim 4:6) from the present temporary world to another, eternal (2 Cor. 5:1), return of the soul to God ( Eccl.12:7), indicate its immortality, at least in the sense of indestructibility and independence of being (against materialism). According to the Savior, the soul cannot be deprived of life: do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul (Matthew 10:28; cf. Luke 12:4–5). It, therefore, continues to exist after the death of the body. To the Sadducees, who denied the immortality of man, He said: Do you not honor what was spoken to you by God, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; There is no God, the God of the dead, but the God of the living. Everything is to Him (Him) (Luke 20:38). The Gospel narratives about the appearance during the transfiguration of the Lord, not only taken alive into heaven, etc. Elijah, but also Moses, who died, like others, who talked with Him about His exodus, which stood before Him in Jerusalem (Luke 9:30–31; Matt. 17:3–4), also clearly confirm the reality of the afterlife after the death of the body. I. Christ Himself, similar to us in everything except sin, before His death exclaimed: Father! I commend My Spirit into Your hand. And these rivers came forth (Luke 23:46). After the death of the body, the soul retains all the powers and abilities given to it by the Creator, and continues to live a full inner life, with remembrance of the life spent on earth. This is especially clear from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). The gospel rich man, being in hell, remembers his brothers, talks about Moses, clearly imagines his earthly life and realizes what brought him to this place of torment. Ap. Peter, speaking about the descent of I. Christ into hell, when His body lay in the tomb, pointed out that the Lord continues to live in the spirit, that is, His human soul remained alive, with which He descended to those in spiritual prison to preach (1 Pet 3:18-20), but the preaching of Christ to those in spiritual prison and the acceptance of it by these souls presupposes the consciousness of their afterlife. So, human existence does not end with earthly existence; the soul, even after leaving the body, will continue to live a personal conscious life and, therefore, in addition to the present life, there is also a future life, an afterlife. It goes without saying that the immortality of the soul in its final basis is a gift of God’s mercy and grace. There is only one God who has immortality (1 Tim 6:16). The human soul, if not original, is subject to the commands of its Creator. “It is possible for the creator to destroy even the immortal,” says St. Epiphanius (Er. LXIV, 27). However, in the very nature of the soul - simple and immaterial - there is nothing to die and be destroyed. The created spirit cannot cease or interrupt its existence on its own, otherwise it will kill itself. Only the action of an external, creative force could terminate the existence of a soul created without the inclinations for its own decomposition (that is, with natural immortality). But the Creator’s destruction of His creation is morally impossible. The immortality of the human soul, affirmed by revelation, is also a requirement of sound thinking. Evidence of this is the evidence existing in theology and philosophy of the immortality of the soul. The truth of the immortality of the soul in them is derived from the properties of God (the so-called theological evidence), from observation of the natural properties and high purpose of man (teleological), from the idea of ​​truth inherent in man (moral) and the universality of beliefs in the afterlife (ontological). The concept of a private court. - Tales of ordeals. – Good and evil angels participate in private court. With bodily death, the time of exploits ends for a person and the time of retribution begins. Following death, God carries out His righteous judgment, called, in contrast to the final and general judgment, private judgment, in which he assigns an afterlife fate to the souls of the dead. The reality of this judgment is presupposed by the teaching of Scripture about the difference in the fate of the righteous and sinners until the time of the general resurrection of the dead. But there are also direct indications of this judgment in Scripture. Thus, the son of Sirach says: it is convenient before God on the day of death to reward a person according to his deeds... (for) at the death of a person the revelation of his deeds (Sir.11:26-27). I. Christ testified to the reality of private judgment in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). The blissful state of the soul of Lazarus after the death and the painful state of the soul of the rich man presuppose the action of God, which decides the fate of each person who died, according to his moral state. Ap. Paul says: man lies alone to die, then comes judgment (Heb. 9:27), obviously immediately following the death of man. How does private court work? Scripture doesn't say this. It is possible to understand this somewhat by considering the idea of ​​judgment as applied to God. The court has two sides: examining the rightness or guilt of the person being tried and pronouncing a sentence on him. But when judgment is carried out by the omniscient God, for whom the moral state of man is always open, then the first side of the judgment must be understood in the sense of bringing the soul to consciousness of its moral state. This state is revealed to a person’s own consciousness through the medium of conscience. Conscience judges a person’s actions in real life. After death, after taking off the clothes of the body, before the eye of the all-seeing God, without a doubt, the voice of conscience will become even clearer and more incorruptible, judging the entire path of life traveled. Through it, at a private trial, the soul can be brought by God to the consciousness of its moral state. In the same way, the pronouncing of a sentence by an Almighty Being cannot be understood in the sense of announcing a judicial decision to the soul. The will of God is both the action of His will, and therefore the decision of the omnipotent Judge is both the bliss of the soul or its rejection from the kingdom of eternal life. It is difficult for a person to imagine such a judgment of God over souls, detached from all the formalities of human legal proceedings, directly after the death of the body. Therefore, for a long time there has been a desire among Christians for a figurative representation of the method of carrying out private judgment. This was expressed in legends about ordeals. The essence of these legends is that the soul, upon separation from the body, must go through several ordeals (τελώνια) or judicial testing departments (outposts) in the air spaces on the way to the heavenly kingdom, guarded by evil spirits - tax collectors. Here the fallen spirits convict the soul of various sins and do not proceed further until the angels accompanying the soul prove the purity of the soul from the named sins, or, on their part, exhibit the deeds of goodness accomplished by the soul to atone for them. During the ordeal, every sin, every passion will have its own publicans or torturers. Good souls, justified at all ordeals, by the verdict of the invisible Judge, are ascended by angels directly to the heavenly abodes, and sinful souls, detained at one or another ordeal, accused of wickedness, are drawn by demons to their dark abodes 74. This image of representing a private trial, i.e., as the soul going through ordeals, is not depicted directly in such terms anywhere in Scripture. And the ancient teachers, citing tales of ordeals, saw in it only “a weak image of heavenly things” (St. Macarius of Egypt) and rejected the literal, sensual understanding of these legends. However, they pointed out evidence in Scripture that could lead to the acceptance of some particular provisions contained in the legend of the ordeal. Thus, these legends indicate that good and evil angels surround the soul after it is separated from the body and the former are ready to escort it to heaven, and the latter to a place of death and torment. And in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus it is said that when Lazarus died, he was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and about the rich man it was said: O fool, this night your soul will be snatched away from You (Luke 12:20) - most likely, evil and unmerciful spirits will snatch it away. In the legends about the ordeals it is further stated that the soul travels its way to heaven and God through the air spaces, where it meets evil spirits. And revelation calls the devil the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2), and the spirits subordinate to him as spirits of wickedness in high places (6:2). The idea of ​​the legends that the soul leaving the world is given help and assistance by God in the matter of moral self-awareness and self-condemnation through the spiritual forces of light and darkness, as instruments of His justice, also deserves deep attention. In the message of St. Jude mentions the dispute between the Archangel Michael and the devil regarding the body of Moses; not daring to pronounce a reproachful judgment against Moses, the archangel says to the devil: may the Lord forbid you (verse 9), that is, to utter blasphemies and accusations against Moses. In the same way, about the human soul, after its departure from the body, a dispute is possible between the spirits of light and darkness - whether it should be condemned to torment in the community of evil spirits, or be justified to participate in bliss in the community of St. angels. In addition, Scripture represents the entire earthly life of a person as passing under one or another influence of disembodied spirits. It is all the more natural for them to discover this or that participation upon the liberation of the soul from the body, when the time of judgment and retribution comes for the soul. When a soul enters the afterlife, the participation of spiritual forces in its destiny and their guidance may even seem necessary. “If we, moving from city to city,” argues St. Chrysostom, - we need leaders, then all the more will the soul, expelled from the body and presented to the future life, need guides” (Bes. about Lazarus II, 2). § 176. Remuneration after a private trial. The State of the Righteous and the Sinful Different moral states of human souls. – The blissful state of the souls of saints in the afterlife, their unity with the Lord. – The concept of the kingdom of heaven. – The fate of the souls of sinners, their place of residence. I. Just as the moral state of souls who have departed from this life is different, so their afterlife fate, determined by the truth of God in a private court, is also different. As far as it is revealed to us in the word of God about the afterlife state of those who died before the general judgment, it is a state of feeling by the souls of bliss or torment, although not complete bliss and not complete torment, for everyone will receive complete bliss or complete torment after the general resurrection (Ecclesiastes v. 18: Cat. 9 ch.). Being not in the same, but not in an indefinite state, souls “are not sent to the same place” (Right. Spanish 61); they are either in heaven or hell. The Orthodox Church does not recognize a middle place or state between bliss and torment - purgatory. II. God, as a righteous Judge, grants blissful immortality to the souls of the righteous after their departure from this life, placing them in abodes that bring joy and bliss. Thus, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the Savior shows that righteous Lazarus, immediately after death, was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom, where he, having received evil in earthly life, is now comforted. Before His suffering on the cross, I. Christ said to His disciples: I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that where I am, you also may be (John 14:3). On the cross, the Lord said to the repentant thief: today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). The seer John actually saw the saints of God in glory before the last terrible judgment of God was revealed on the entire universe (Rev. 4:4; 6, 9–11; 7, 9). The blissful state before the general judgment of the saints and all those counted by God's mercy among their host in revelation is depicted in the following terms. It is a state of peace or tranquility from work. Yes, app. John says: Blessed are those who die in the Lord. To her, says the Spirit, let them rest from their labors (Rev. 14:13). Ap. Paul compares this rest with the rest that came for the Creator at the end of the days of creation: for he who entered into His rest, rested from his works, as God did from His (Heb. 4:9-10). Foreseeing with a prophetic glance the time of his departure, he says: I have fought the good fight, I have fought the end of the race... so that I may be kept the crown of righteousness (2 Tim 4:7-8). In all these places, a person’s earthly life, as opposed to the future, is depicted as a time of tireless labor and exploits; therefore, by the peace of the future life we ​​must understand not only the absence of all external circumstances that burden a person in the present life with labors, worries, doubts and fears, but also the inner peace of the soul, consisting in the complete absence of passions, contentment with one’s condition, complete confidence in one’s belonging to Christ and in a bright fate in the future, when the fullness of reward will follow. It goes without saying that this peace is not an indifferent state of mere idle waiting and inactivity, reminiscent of deep sleep, just as the peace of God at the end of the works of creation is not a state of inaction. The souls of the saints in the afterlife, further, will be in close unity with the Lord I. Christ, and will be rewarded with a special approach to God and contemplation of His glory. I. Christ Himself said to His disciples: I will take you to Himself, so that where I am, you also will be, and He prayed for them to His Father: Father, you have given them to Me, I will, so that where I am, I, too, may be with Me, that they may see My glory (John 17:24). In agreement with this promise of St. Paul expresses his living confidence that for the righteous, separation from the body forms a step towards a closer unity with Christ: for me, whether I live, Christ, or die, I have gain... But I am assured of both: the desire of them to be resolved and to be with Christ (Philip 1, 21, 23; cf. 2 Cor. 5: 6-8). Unity with the Lord Jesus will also be united with the approach of the righteous to the Trinitarian Divinity: blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matt. 5:8; cf. 1 Cor. 13:12). Approaching the Divine, of course, will help the souls of the righteous to grow more and more in goodness (love) and bliss. They will, without a doubt, be rewarded with higher revelations, and through this they will grow in the knowledge of the truth. Union with the Lord will be accompanied for the souls of the dead in Christ by their communication with angels and among themselves. According to the Savior, those who believe will recline and, therefore, will be in close communion with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Matthew 8:11, Luke 8:28–29). Lazarus was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. Ap. Paul teaches that all those who have fallen asleep in Christ with a host of angels form the Heavenly Church, the heavenly Zion, the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22–24). Without a doubt, the deceased will recognize each other in the next world. Without this, their very bliss would not have been complete until the reunification of souls with bodies. The gospel rich man, while in hell, saw and recognized Lazarus, who was in Abraham’s womb, inaccessible to him. Prophetic images of the descent into hell of the kings of Babylon (Is. 14:9–10), Egyptian (Ezek 32:21) and Assyrian (31:16–17) show that those in Sheol recognized each other, which, of course, applies to the state of the righteous. Ancient teachers said with complete confidence that after death we will see those close to us. “Those who have not seen each other here,” says St. Ephraim the Syrian, - they will see each other there, - the mother will know that this is her son, and the son will know that this is his mother” (On the Fear of God and the Last Judgment). “We are here temporarily,” says St. Cyprian (in the treatise “On Mortality”). Let us bless the day that... having taken each of us from the earth and freed us from worldly bonds, returns us to paradise and the kingdom of heaven... A great multitude of those dear to us awaits us there, a large host of parents, brothers, children awaits us, who, no longer fearing for their safety, still care about our salvation. To see them, to hug them, oh, what a joy it is for them and together for us!” The place where the souls of the departed righteous will reside until the general resurrection is called in Scripture paradise (Luke 23 and 2 Cor. 12:4), the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11; 5, 3, 10), the kingdom of God (Luke 13:28–29; Matt. 6:33; 1 Cor. 15:50), the house of the Heavenly Father (John 14:2), Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb.12:22), the highest Jerusalem (Gal.4:26), the heavens (Lk.12:33–34; Heb.10:34). All these names of the habitats of the souls of the departed righteous indicate only the idea of ​​​​the closeness of righteous souls to God and their blissful unity with Him; the thought is distracted from the sensory ideas of this place. Therefore, guesswork is arbitrary and efforts to geographically describe the resting place of the deceased and search for it in air or planetary spaces are fruitless. The kingdom of heaven, where the departed move, is called heavenly because there is no visible container for it on earth - then a completely different world, different from ours, “Where Christ is, there is heaven,” says St. Zlatoust. It is more useful and necessary for us to know that there is heaven than to know where this place is. III. The state of the souls of sinners is completely opposite to the bliss of the righteous. Condemnation, sadness and sorrow await them beyond the grave. The Savior says to all His followers: do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and then are unable to do anything else. I will tell you whom you should fear. Fear him who has power, after killing him he will be thrown into the wilds of fire (Luke 12:4–5). In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the soul of the rich sinner is represented immediately after death as entering hell and undergoing torture there. In a conversation with the Jews, the Savior says that they will not ascend to heaven (John 8:21), because, not believing in Him, they will die sinners (23–24 vv.); a sinner, a slave of sin, cannot be an heir in the house of the Heavenly Father (35 vv.). The very torments of sinners in Scripture are depicted in more negative than positive ways. They will be removed from God, the Source of joy and bliss of all creatures. This removal or alienation of the soul from its Creator and at the same time the premonition of the eternity of its rejection from Him is the first and greatest of the afterlife sufferings of sinners: go away from Me, cursed (Matthew 25:4), says the Lord Himself, expressing that the basis of the torment of sinners lies in their removal from Him. Depart from Me, you who do iniquity (7:23). Removal from God - the curse of God is the deprivation of all benefits that are determined by unity with God, is the death of the soul, destined for eternal life with God and yet unable to live a true life and in unity with God. The souls of the condemned, further, will not and cannot have that blissful peace that distinguishes the afterlife state of the souls of the righteous. Since the incorruptible voice of conscience in the afterlife will awaken with all its strength, consciousness and memory will be preserved by the souls of the condemned, they must necessarily experience constant remorse for their sins, which will torment incessantly, like an undying worm (Mark 9:44). In earthly life, the sinner could still drown out the voice of his conscience, finding temporary oblivion and peace in the satisfaction of various lusts and passions. But in this way it is impossible to drown out the voice of conscience in the future life, for there is nothing there that can satisfy the sinner’s previous needs. There they neither marry nor encroach (Matthew 17:30), there are no other carnal needs or objects to satisfy them (Luke 12:20; Rev. 18:10–14). The absence of blissful peace in the soul, filling it with inexpressible torment, should be strengthened, on the one hand, by the knowledge of the blissful state of the souls of the righteous (Luke 13:28; 16, 23), on the other, by the consciousness that it was destined by the Lord for the same bliss, but was deprived of it through its own fault. Finally, the souls of the condemned will be in community with other, like them, unfortunate souls and especially with evil spirits (1 Pet 3:18). The mutual communication of sinners both with each other and with the spirits of darkness, given the impossibility of approaching the throne of God, for the great abyss has become established (Luke 16:26), should further clarify for them the great degree of their moral fall and thereby strengthen their general painful feeling. The habitat of the souls of dead sinners in the Old Testament is called Sheol. In Sheol, according to the Old Testament teaching, were the souls of all the dead, both the righteous and the wicked (Ps. 88:49; Job 30:23). Those of those in Sheol who believed the preaching of the Lord, who with His soul descended into hell, were led into the bright abodes of the Heavenly Father (1 Pet 3:18-20). But the New Testament definitely teaches that the souls of the dead, rejected from the blessed union with Christ, are not where the righteous are, not in heavenly abodes, but in those that correspond to their moral state. Thus, it is said about Judas who hanged himself that he went to his place (Acts 1:25). The place of residence of the souls of sinners is usually called hell in the New Testament - αδης (from είδω, είδος and ά), i.e. a place devoid of light, dark (Luke 16:23; Acts 2:51; cf. Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15), also the underworld of the earth ( Eph.4:9), the grave (Phil.2:10), the outer darkness (Matthew 22:13; 25, 30, 46), the prison of spirits (1 Pet 3:18). There is no need to understand by hell only the post-mortem painful state of the souls of sinners without indicating space, since the human soul is not omnipresent. In the immeasurable space of the world, not all areas of existence are qualitatively the same, and the souls of sinners live not where the righteous are, but in worse places - “in places of condemnation and the wrath of God” (Right. Confession 68). § 177. Prayers of the Church for the dead Possibility of changing the fate of convicts. – Charities and prayers for the departed. – The beneficial influence of a bloodless sacrifice or the celebration of the liturgy. – Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is like an unforgivable sin. – Preservation by the Christian Church of the custom of praying for the dead. – Objections to opponents of prayers for the dead. – Canonical rules of prayers for the dead. - The afterlife of babies. Retribution after a private trial is not decisive and final, but is only a foretaste by the souls of complete bliss or torment. For the souls of imperfect Christians who died in communion with the church, with faith and repentance, although they did not have time to bear fruits worthy of faith and repentance, according to the good dispensation of God, liberation from the bonds of hell is still possible. The Orthodox Church believes that the divine liturgy, prayers and alms, which are offered alive for the dead who are in hell, “snatch their souls from the bonds of hell” (Rev. Spanish 64), “help them achieve the blessed resurrection” (Cat. 11 ch.), i.e., help them to be cleansed of sins, receive forgiveness from God and move to a better state. I. Prayers for the departed are the fruit of never-falling love. Revelation teaches that those who died with faith in Christ and repentance, although they did not receive heavenly rewards, together with us continue to belong to the same body of Christ (Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:18) and render worship to I. Christ (Philip 2:10-11). As those who have passed into another life with the seeds of faith and piety, and not hardened in evil, the souls of such imperfect Christians imprisoned in hell, of course, can deeply repent of the sins of earthly life and strive for good, to which they were sometimes indifferent on earth. But by their own efforts they cannot free themselves from the bonds of hell. The path to liberation from the bonds of hell was opened and paved by His cross, the Destroyer of Hell, who brought from there with Him souls who believed His sermons. And now He has the keys of hell (Rev. 1:18), that is, the power to open the gates of hell and close them, to bring down to hell and raise from it (1 Samuel 2:6) those prisoners who become worthy of His mercy. Consequently, in order to save the departed from the bonds of hell, there is only one thing left for the members of the Earthly Church to do - to pray to the Lord of the living and the dead for mercy and, not relying on their own petitions alone, to ask for the same intercession before Him from the most perfect members of the Heavenly Church - the saints of God. Such an approach with prayers for the departed is so expedient and natural that it arises naturally and is necessary in every true believer and good soul. Prayers for the departed and the beneficial nature of these prayers for them are also presupposed by the instructions of revelation on prayer in general. Christians, motivated by love, should help each other to achieve salvation. The main means of this help and, at the same time, the manifestation of love for others is prayer for each other. The Lord I. Christ, who Himself prayed for all people, commanded to pray even for enemies (Matthew 5:44). The apostles exhort to pray for all people, without indicating the place where they are, the time and circumstances that they are experiencing (1 Tim. 2, 1; Eph. 6:18–19; James 5:16). Who needs it. in prayer, this is what we should pray for. And all people need it, both those living on earth and those who have died, for the dead, like the living, live equally for God. And can fervent prayer remain fruitless for the deceased, when the Lord Himself gave the believers a promise: whatever you ask of My Father in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13)? Whatever you ask in prayer as a believer, you will receive (Matthew 21:22). Ap. John in particular teaches: if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, let him ask, and (God) will give him life - those who sin do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death: I say the wrong thing, but let him pray (1 John 5:16). By “sin leading to death” the apostle means the same sin as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, about which the Savior said that it would not be forgiven either in this age or in the next (Matthew 12:32). But all those who have died with true repentance for sins and faith in Christ are free from mortal sin for the sole reason that they repented, even if they had previously fallen into grave sins, and, therefore, it is possible and necessary to pray for them, and prayer can be beneficial for them. Deeds of charity, performed according to the will of the deceased or in their memory, enhance the effectiveness of prayers for the deceased, helping to improve their afterlife state and salvation. This is understandable. Deeds of charity, like deeds of love for neighbors, cannot but be pleasing to God. Through the lips of the wise God Himself testifies: he has mercy on the poor, he gives back to God (Prov. 19:17; fn. Sir.7:10). I. Christ taught that alms given to neighbors is a gift to Himself: since you have created one and the least of these brothers of mine, you have created together with me (Matthew 25:40). If God is ready to accept deeds of love for neighbors as a gift to Himself, then, of course, we can also pray to Him so that good deeds to neighbors on behalf or in the name of a neighbor, performed in the name of Christ, would be appropriated by Him to the deceased, since the deceased himself does not have the opportunity in the afterlife to justify his repentance directly by the deeds of love and mercy he himself performs. Prayer through living faith has the power to make them his property. Deeds of love and mercy towards others can contribute to the blessed resurrection of the deceased by increasing the number of people offering prayer for the salvation of the deceased. But especially and predominantly, the offering of a bloodless sacrifice or the performance of a liturgy for their salvation has a beneficial effect on the fate of the deceased. At the liturgy, through the immersion of particles of bread in the mysterious blood of Christ, the sins of those remembered, living and dead, are washed away, and Christ Himself is both “offered and offered,” the High Priest forever, who is always alive to intercede for them (Heb. 7:25). And can one not expect forgiveness and joy for a sinner when the Son of Kings Himself intercedes for the forgiveness of his sins? There is positive evidence in Scripture that it is possible in the future life for the Lord to forgive some sins, and, consequently, a corresponding relief of the lot of deceased sinners. The Savior said: all sin and blasphemy will be forgiven by man, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven by man. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; and whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the next (Matthew 12:31-32). The words, neither in this age nor in the future, clearly show that the remission of certain sins is possible and happens not only in this life, but also in the future life, that only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable. Finally, Scripture presents examples of prayerful remembrance of the dead and charity in their memory with the aim of asking them for forgiveness of sins. Thus, in the Old Testament Church there was at all times the custom of breaking bread over the dead (Deut. 26:14; Jer. 16:17) and distributing them to the poor at the graves (Tov. 4:17), as well as on the occasion of the death of neighbors, imposing a fast on oneself (1 Sam. 31, 13; 2 Sam. 1, 12; 3, 15), which, of course, it was also combined with the corresponding prayers. St. Baruch also has a sample prayer for the dead: Lord Almighty, God of Israel! - he cries, - hear the prayer of the dead of Israel and their sons, who sinned before You, who did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God... Do not remember the iniquities of our fathers (Bar 3, 4-5). Faith in the power of prayer for the dead prompted the strict guardian of the law and traditions of the fathers, Judas Maccabee, to make a prayer for his comrades who fell in battle, so that the sin they (the fallen soldiers) committed (the theft of things dedicated to the idols of Iampia) would be completely blotted out and to send up to two thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem, so that a propitiatory sacrifice would be made for sin, that they may be forgiven from sin (2Mac 12:42-45). The New Testament indicates that I. Christ, praying before His death on the cross for His disciples, also prayed for blessings for them in the afterlife, i.e., about what is the subject of our prayers for the dead: Father, I will, that where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may see My glory (John 17:24). They prayed for the blessings of the future life and reward beyond the grave and St. Apostles: Lord willing, writes the apostle. Paul, - mercy to the house of Onesiphorus because he gave me rest many times, and was not ashamed of my bonds, but being in Rome, he looked for me with great diligence and found me. May the Lord grant him to find favor with the Lord on that day (2 Tim 1:16). If the apostle expressly wishes and asks the Lord to show mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, then it follows that Onesiphorus himself was then already dead. The apostle asks for himself: may the Lord grant him to find mercy on that day, that is, on the day of judgment. If this is really the case, then we have here the apostolic prayer for the deceased. II. In the Christian church, the custom of making prayers and offerings for the dead has existed since the days of the apostles. Of the ancient liturgies, there is not a single one in which there is no prayer for the dead: such prayer is also found in the currently used rites of the liturgies of St. I. Chrysostom and Basil V. This custom was also preserved in heretical societies that separated from the church in ancient times, as can be seen from the liturgies of the Jacobites, Armenians, Syrians, Nestorians, etc. III. The church's belief in the saving power of the church's prayers for the dead and charity in their memory had opponents in ancient times (Aerius and his followers, in the 4th century), and still has them today (in mystical-rationalistic sectarianism). The Reformation of the 16th century also rejected the custom of praying for the dead. True, Luther himself did not deny the relevance and beneficialness of prayers for the dead and works of mercy for them. One of the symbolic books of Lutheranism also says: “we know that the ancients speak of prayer for the dead, which we do not prohibit” (Apol. conf. art. XXIV. De Missa). But such prayer was not encouraged or supported by the Reformation, and at present there is no custom in Protestantism to perform public prayer for the dead. Only private prayer for the dead is allowed and used. There is no law or custom for public prayer for the dead in the Anglo-American Church either; Only private prayer is not prohibited. Opponents of the doctrine of prayers for the dead say that in St. In Scripture there is neither a direct commandment about the need for prayerful remembrance of the departed, nor a promise about the forgiveness of sins of the deceased through prayers for them. True, there is no special commandment about prayers for the dead in Scripture, but there is a general commandment about prayers for each other, which can also be applied to the deceased members of the ever-living body of the church. And the examples of commemoration of the dead indicated in Scripture and the apostolic origin in the church of the custom of praying for the dead can replace a direct commandment. As for the fact that Scripture does not express a direct promise of the forgiveness of dead sinners through the prayers of the living, this was done “by the all-discerning wisdom of God, perhaps so that, in the hope of help (prayers and acts of charity), those living before bodily death would not become lazy in working out their salvation with fear” (M. Philaret). Prayers for the dead are further objected, as if they do not agree and even contradict the testimony of Scripture, which says that there is no deliverance from hell and from there they do not go to heaven, why the Evangelical rich man, who was tormented in hell, no matter how much he asked Abraham to ease his suffering, was refused,” on the other hand, Scripture testifies: it lies for man to die alone, then judgment, and that at judgment God rewards everyone according to their deeds (Rom. 2:6 ), why prayers for the dead cannot change their condition. But that for those in hell, deliverance from the bonds of hell is possible, this is evident from the fact that the Savior descended after death with His soul into hell, like God, and brought from there the souls of those who believed His preaching, as well as from cases of the resurrection of the dead. From the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, it is only clear that those in hell themselves cannot ask God for deliverance from hell and that it is impossible for those like the rich man in the gospel, but it does not follow from this that it is impossible for everyone. For a proper understanding of the expression of the parable about sinners, that they do not pass from the place of torment into the bosom of Abraham, it is also necessary to keep in mind that just as in heaven there are many abodes (John 14:2), so, without a doubt, in hell there are different abodes (2 Samuel 4, 32; 35, 41), according to the different moral state of the deceased, and while from the same abodes where both Evangelical rich man, there is no transition to heaven, in others, where the Old Testament righteous were located until the coming of Christ to them, where the souls of those who died with faith and repentance may be, such a transition is possible. As for the evidence given in Scripture about the judgment of a person by death and retribution, then it is necessary to distinguish between the private judgment that occurs after the death of each person, and the general and final judgment, which is to take place at the second coming of Christ, as well as the reward after the private judgment and the reward after the general judgment. At the last judgment the fate of all people will be determined finally and forever. After this judgment there will no longer be room for any outside help and any prayer for others will be invalid. But retribution after a private trial is not yet final and decisive. It is not clear, they say, how the effect of the prayers of the church can extend so far - to the inhabitants of the afterlife? This, of course, is true, but it does not follow from this that the prayer of the church cannot change the state of the deceased. For us, the effect of the prayer of a living person on another living person is also incomprehensible, especially if the prayer is offered for an absent person. However, the appropriateness and beneficialness of such prayers is recognized by all believers. Likewise, the departed, for whom the church prays, despite the apparent distance from us, belong to the same body of Christ, in which sympathy and mutual influence cannot but remain between the members. Sometimes they express such bewilderment against prayers for the dead: if the church prays for all those who have died with repentance and its prayers are strong and effective, then everyone for whom it prays will be saved and no one will be deprived of bliss? Let us answer this bewilderment with the words of St. I. Damaskina. “So be it, and oh, if only this would come true! - says St. father (in “The Song of the Dead”). For this is what he thirsts for, and desires, and desires; for this, the good Lord rejoices and rejoices, so that no one will be deprived of His divine gifts.” IV. When discussing prayer for the dead, another question is often raised: can and should one pray for all the dead with the hope of the power of prayers, or not for all? The general answer to the question about the salvific nature of prayers offered for the departed can be one: it is in the will of God whether to accept or not accept a prayer for one or another of the departed. You just need to remember that with the Lord there is mercy and with Him there is much deliverance (Ps. 3:29, 6). As for whether one can and should pray for all the departed, the church, as a certain society of believers, which has its own strictly defined boundaries, its own special charter and rules (discipline), its own goals, can offer public or national prayer only for those of the deceased who during their lifetime were and died in communion with the church. On this basis, since ancient times, church and public prayer has been offered only “for those who died in the faith, forefathers, fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, preachers, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, abstinents, and for every righteous soul who died in the faith.” But the church does not and cannot perform funeral public prayer either for those who never belonged to the church and did not have faith in the Redeemer - for dead pagans, Jews and Mohammedans (Mark 16:16), nor for those who during their lifetime clearly and consciously fell away from the church and died outside of communion with it in faith and sacraments, such as; apostates from Christianity, obvious blasphemers of God, His church and sacraments (Heb. 10:26–29; sn. 6, 4–6), various kinds of heretics, schismatics and sectarians, and in general all those to whom the words of the Savior refer: if anyone disobeys the church, you will be like a pagan and a publican (Matthew 18:17). Finally, the church does not pray for free suicides, for the kingdom of God is taken by force, and those who use force take it away (Matthew 11:12). But the church does not refuse its prayer to those suicides who take their own lives in mental disorder and madness, but not in the sin of despair (Timoth. Al. Kan. answer. 14). In particular, the question is often raised: is church-public prayer according to the rites of the Orthodox Church for deceased non-Orthodox Christians, such as, for example, Catholics and Protestants, permissible? In our Russian Church, in accordance with the practice of the Greek Church and on the basis of the canonical decrees of the Ancient Ecumenical Church related here (for example, Apostles 10, 45 and 46; Laod. 6, 9 and 33; Ant. 2, etc.), the current orders of the Holy Synod allow Orthodox priests when there are no non-Christian priests (priests and pastors) nearby, escort the bodies of the dead of non-Orthodox Christian denominations (R. Catholics and Protestants) in church vestments and lower them into the ground while singing the verse “Holy God,” but “the Orthodox clergy does not have the right to perform funeral services for them according to the rites of the Orthodox Church; the body of a deceased non-religious person of the Christian confession cannot be brought into the Orthodox Church before burial; the regimental Orthodox clergy according to such ranks (military) cannot perform house memorial services and include them in church commemoration” (Definition of St. Sin. 1847; Wed def. 1904). The prohibition of church-public prayer for deceased Christians of other faiths seems to many to stem from a lack of religious tolerance and love for neighbors, evidence of the indifference to grief of those Orthodox who would like to find Christian consolation for themselves in Orthodox prayer for a deceased person of other faiths. But “it shouldn’t,” says St. Gregory V., - to make peace to the detriment of the teaching of truth, conceding something for the sake of glory to be called lenient” (Sl. 42). The church fulfills the commandment to love one’s neighbors: it prays for all people, no matter who they are—whether they are of other faiths, completely unenlightened by the light of Christ’s faith, or those who are in schism and heresy—prays “so that they turn to the Orthodox faith before the end of their lives” (Prov. 9; fn. Carth. 66). But as soon as those souls that do not belong to the true church of Christ depart into the unearthly world, the church completely leaves them to the economy of the justice and mercy of God, for, according to the word of the apostle. Paul, God judges those who are external (1 Cor. 5:18). By not performing a nationwide prayer for them, the church thus does not condemn them to eternal condemnation and destruction. Its prohibition of church-public prayer for a Christian of a different faith does not arise from a lack of love for one’s neighbors, but because not a single church can allow the communication of persons belonging to it with followers of other faiths in sacraments and religious rites without denying itself. To allow indifference in church communication between people of different confessions on the part of the church would mean to admit by itself that for salvation it makes no difference to which church, to whichever religion a Christian belongs. Preaching about such complete indifference in matters of faith (religious indifferentism) would obviously not be an expression of love for one’s neighbors, but coldly indifferent connivance, only hiding behind the name of Christian love. Finally, the content of the funeral service with the rituals established by the Orthodox Church shows that it would be a lie to perform church-wide funeral services for people of other faiths. The very rite of burial, like all our funeral prayers, was compiled on the basis of the dogma that the church prays for a faithful servant of God, for a member of God’s church. The afterlife of babies. – The Orthodox Church professes the blessed fate of those infants kidnapped by death who were washed with water and the Spirit in baptism and received the Holy Spirit in Chrismation (Posl. v. 16). These especially include the words of the Savior about children: of such is the kingdom of God. In the prayers and chants of the rite of burial of infants, they, as washed by water and the Spirit, are presented as participants in heavenly blessings. As for the degree of their bliss, then, of course, it is in accordance with the degree of capacity of heavenly blessings for those who died in infancy and childhood, which can rise as their natural powers are revealed. It would be extreme to identify their degree of bliss with the degree of bliss of virtuous adults (see Gregory Nys. On infants abducted by death). But what is the afterlife fate of those dying babies who were not baptized, of course, through no fault of their own, and who, therefore, are guilty only of the fact that they were born children of the wrath of God by nature (Eph. 2:3), i.e. with hereditary sin? This question can only be answered tentatively, bearing in mind that just as God’s justice is incomprehensible and limitless, so His mercy is incomprehensible and limitless. A soul that bears only the sin of its ancestors, of course, will not be compared with God with a soul that, through willful sins, makes itself worthy of condemnation. It is also natural to think that if condemnation is an inherent property of original sin, then unbaptized infants cannot from the very beginning participate in the bliss of regenerated infants. Nothing unclean can enter the kingdom of God, and natural uncleanness remains in those who die without baptism. Whether the future life of an infant will remain at this initial stage, or whether the souls of infants, gradually improving, can reach the full measure of bliss, this is a deep mystery for us. Of the ancient teachers, St. Gregory of Nyssa answered this question in the affirmative, and Blessed. Augustine, on the contrary, wrote: “let no eternal salvation apart from the baptism of Christ be promised to infants: it is not promised to them and to St. Scripture"; hereditary lust, as sin in the proper sense, “makes unbaptized infants guilty and, like children of wrath, even if the infants are dead, leads to condemnation.” (De res. merit. et. rem.). On the same issue, St. Gregory V. The following view was expressed: “children then begin to be held accountable for life when their minds come to maturity and they understand the sacrament (because they are not punished for sins of ignorance, due to their age).” Consequently, children do not bear personal responsibility, similar to the responsibility of adults. But “not everyone who is unworthy of punishment is worthy of honor; just as not everyone unworthy of honor is worthy of punishment.” Therefore, “it is better to be sanctified unconsciously than to die unsealed”... “There is no small danger” to die “having been born to corruption only and not having put on incorruption” (Sk. 40). § 178. R.-Catholic teaching on purgatory The origin and essence of this teaching. - Indulgences. The Roman Catholic Church introduced the doctrine of purgatory (purgatorium) into its beliefs about the posthumous fate of man as an obligatory member of the faith (dogma). Purgatory in the afterlife is the middle place between heaven and hell (locus) or the middle state between eternal bliss and eternal torment (status), into which the souls of Christians who die in peace with the church go and remain, that is, who received the resolution of mortal sins in the sacrament of repentance, but did not have time to bring due satisfaction for them (satisfactio) to divine justice (in the form of temporary sorrows of life, penance), as well as those guilty only of light, venial (non-mortal) sins, for which for some reason they did not repent. All who have such a debt, temporarily, on the way to the heavenly fatherland, are delayed in purgatory, where they bring satisfaction for their sins, enduring various torments as temporary punishments, until they pay their debt “to the last half.” After this complete satisfaction, they move to heaven. The duration and severity of purgatory torment correspond to the degree of guilt before God of the deceased. Torment in purgatory can be alleviated and the time spent by souls in this state can be shortened through prayer and the charity of living people, offerings of a bloodless sacrifice, especially on a privileged altar. They may even be completely freed from their punishments through their assimilation of the redemptive merits of the Savior and the supererogatory works of the saints through indulgences (Conc. Trid. Sess. XXV. Decr. de purgat. Sess. XXII, c. 2). The doctrine of purgatory obviously stands in close connection with the doctrine of satisfaction with God on the part of man. With the recognition of the inconsistency of the doctrine of satisfaction, the doctrine of purgatory also falls, which exists solely for this purpose, so that sinners bring satisfaction to God for their sins, suffering punishment for them in purgatory. But the doctrine of purgatory itself contains false provisions. Thus, the assertion that there is a middle place or state between the place and state of joy and bliss and the place of sorrow and torment for the souls of the dead - purgatory - has no basis in revelation. In St. Scripture speaks only about hell and paradise, heaven and hell, where the souls of the dead go (for example, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus). The prudent thief, according to the requirements of the Catholic teaching, should have been subjected to purgatory punishments, but the Lord said to him: today you will be with Me in heaven. Further, to imagine liberation from purgatory and the transition to the monastery of saints as occurring only as a result of punishments suffered in purgatory means to represent the liberation of souls from purgatory as a purely mechanical matter (process), similar, for example, to how a criminal is freed after a certain number of years from imprisonment, exile, etc., simply because he spent the term prescribed by the court in exile or prison, completely regardless of whether he was corrected by prison or exile. But such a purely external, legal measure is not applicable to religious and moral life. Finally, if souls imprisoned in purgatory could be released from their punishments by applying to them a plenary indulgence, then the popes, who supposedly had the right to grant indulgences to those in purgatory, could, if they wanted, abolish purgatory through their plenary indulgences. It turns out, therefore, that purgatory is unnecessary, or, if it exists, it is through the fault of the popes 75. II. About God as Judge and Rewarder for the entire human race The present state of the world and the observed order of things, both in the moral world (the division between spirit and flesh, the confusion of good and evil, truth and lies), and in the material world (phenomena of physical evil), cannot continue indefinitely. This is unacceptable even in the judgment of common sense. Revelation positively confirms that in the future there will indeed be a general change in the present order of things. It teaches that the day will come - the last day (έσχάτη ᾿ημέρα) for the entire human race (John 6:39, 40, 44–54; 11, 24; 12, 48), and together the day of the end of the age and the world (Matthew 13:39), - the day established by God, on which He wants to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). On this great day (Acts 2:20; Jude 6) the Lord I. Christ will come from heaven in His glory and with His coming will follow: the general resurrection of the dead and the change of the living, the end of the visible world, the judgment of God over all rationally free beings with its consequences - the end of the kingdom of grace and the opening of the eternal kingdom of glory for some and eternal punishment for others. Then God’s decrees about the whole world and about the human race will be fulfilled. § 179. The unknown time of the second coming of Christ. Signs of His Coming Teaching about the end of the world and the Last Judgment. - The Coming of Christ into the world. – The unknown time of His coming. – Signs of His coming: the completion of the preaching of the Gospel. – The completeness of the conversion of pagans to Christ. - Israel's appeal to Him. – Strengthening godlessness and anti-Christianity. – The emergence of false Christs and false prophets. - Increase in hatred. - Multiplication of social disasters. I. Revelation connects the final fulfillment of God’s decrees about the human race and the whole world with the day of the second coming of Christ. To the question of when this coming and the end of the world will follow, the Lord answered His disciples: Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, except My Father alone (Matthew 24:36). Afterwards, before ascending to heaven, to the question of the apostles: Lord, will you establish the kingdom of Israel in this summer? He answered them: You cannot understand the times and seasons which the Father has ordained in His power (Acts 1:7). Ap. Paul notes about the time of this coming: about the years and times, brethren, I do not need (there is no need) to write to you: for you yourselves know (reliably) that like the day of the Lord, like a thief in the night, so he will come (1 Sol 5:1-2; cf. 2 Pet 3:10). Due to the unknown for people of the day and hour of the Lord’s second coming to judge the world, the Savior taught: Beware, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come (Matthew 24:42). With an indication of the unknown of the day and hour of His second coming, the Savior combines an indication of the surprise of this coming for most people. At that hour, do not forget, the Son of man will come (Matthew 24:44; cf. Luke 21:36), and again: as it was in the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of man be: just as I was in the days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and committing violence, until the day when Noah went into the ark, and When you led away, the water came and was all taken away: so will the coming of the Son of Man be (Matthew 24:37–40). However, just as the flood came unexpectedly only for careless people, immersed exclusively in everyday worries, but was not such for Noah and his family, so the coming of the Lord will not be unexpected for people who are not infected with vices leading to carelessness. This is because, speaking about the unknown of the day and hour of His coming, the Savior did not leave us in complete ignorance regarding the general time of the onset of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He indicated some signs of the approach and arrival of the time of His second coming and the end of the age, just as the signs of His first coming were indicated. II. In general terms, these signs are indicated in the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:23–30). According to the Savior’s explanation of this parable (verses 36–43), until the very end of the world, wheat and tares, good and evil, will grow together. The end of the world and the glorious coming of Christ connected with it will follow when the good seed sown by the Son of man, meaning the sons of the kingdom, grows to its final fullness, just as the tares sown by the devil and his angels also reach the final fullness of their development. In particular, the revelation points to two main signs of the approach of the last great day: 1) the spread of the gospel throughout the world, so that the full number of pagans will enter the church of Christ and even the Jews, hardened in unbelief, will be grafted onto their olive tree, that is, to Christ, and in general the development of good in the elect, in the sons of the kingdom of God, and 2) the extraordinary strengthening and spread of evil in all areas of human life, even in external nature, and the appearance of the Antichrist. 1. The second coming of Christ and the end of the world will not follow until this Gospel of the kingdom is preached throughout the whole world as a testimony in every tongue, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14). Κηρύσσω (I proclaim, declare, call, proclaim) indicates only the communication of something by one to another, without indicating whether what is being communicated is perceived or not. Therefore, κηρνχθήσεται means: it will be proclaimed, announced, made known, that is, the gospel of the kingdom of God that I. Christ preached. The joyful news of this kingdom of peace and salvation will be carried throughout the entire universe (έν ᾿ολη τή οικουμένη), that is, throughout the entire inhabited earth, it will be proclaimed to all nations (Mark 13:10). But this does not mean that everyone who hears about salvation in Christ will accept the gospel; many of those who hear will even hate the gospel and take up arms against its preachers (Matthew 24:9). But in any case, it will be proclaimed as a testimony to all nations, so that no one can be justified before God in their unbelief in the Gospel by the fact that they have not heard the Gospel preaching. Then he will enter the church, according to the apostle. Paul, the fulfillment of the Gentiles (το πλήρωμα των έθνών), i.e., their full number (Rom. 11:25). When the teaching about the kingdom of God is preached throughout the entire universe, then the end will come - it will come (' ήξει), that is, it will come closer, it is in the near future, but has not come, and how close it is, this is not said; this remains unknown. Before the second coming of Christ, Israel will turn to Christ. The apostle speaks most clearly about the future conversion of Israel to Christ. Paul: I do not want you to be children of this mystery, brethren, so that you will not be wise about yourselves, for there will be blindness on part of Israel until (until) the fulfillment of tongues comes, and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: He who delivers will come from Zion (ό Ρυόμενος - Liberator) and will turn away wickedness from Jacob! And this is my covenant to them, when I take away their sins (Rom. 11:25–27). Blinding or hardening occurred in Israel in part (άπο μέρους). In part, it may mean in the apostle’s speech that the blinding in Israel did not happen forever, but only for a certain time, or that not everyone underwent this blinding, for among them there are also believers (verses 11, 7 and 17), or both together. At the appointed time, the blinding of Israel will end and all Israel (πάς Ί σραήλ) will be saved, that is, will enter the church of Christ. The words, “all Israel shall be saved,” no doubt indicate that Israel will turn to Christ as a whole people, in the majority (fn. Rev. 7:2–4), although, one must think, not all of them, just as during the apostolic sermon, when they said: “all Israel does not believe,” the majority meant. Israel's conversion to Christ will be completed when the full number of pagans enters the church. Consequently, the Jews will be the last to convert and at the last time of the world, shortly before the second coming of Christ. This understanding of the apostolic prediction is confirmed by the words of the apostle: if the putting away (rejection) of them (the Jews) is reconciliation to the world, what is acceptance (acceptance), is there life from the dead (Rom. 11:15)? The idea of ​​this expression is this: if the blindness of Israel served to save the world, or was wealth to the world (verses 11-12), then even greater benefits for the world should be expected after the conversion of Israel. Such a good will be life from the dead (ζωή έκ νεκρών), i.e., the resurrection of the dead, which will occur at the second coming of I. Christ and which will be united with the end of the world. The very conversion of Israel, according to the prediction of St. Malachi (4, 5–6), confirmed by I. Christ (Matthew 17:10–11; fn. Mark 9:12), will be accomplished through the mediation of St. Elijah. According to the general opinion of the ancient teachers, the appearance of St. Elijah (and together Enoch) will follow in the days of the Antichrist, to counter and expose him. It is more likely that the Jews will turn to Christ during the Antichrist, and not before it. One can even believe that the Jews will first accept the Antichrist for the Messiah they expected (based on John 5:43), but soon, seeing his bloodthirsty cruelty, his denial of God and self-deification, they will lose faith in his messianic dignity, and this terrible deception will bring them to their senses, will attract their hearts to the One Whose Antichrist will be the enemy and adversary, i.e. to Christ. But the sermon of St. Elijah will be most effective. 2. With the outward spread of the gospel and the conversion of the Jews to Christ, evil (atheism and anti-Christianity) will increase enormously in recent times and disasters in general will multiply. Apostasy and wickedness in recent times. Paul calls (in 2 Sol 2, 3, 7) the mystery of iniquity (μυςτήριον της ανομίας), as well as apostasy ('η ᾿αποστασία). B. Christ and the apostles represent the apostasy or mystery of iniquity by the following features. In the last times, false Christs and false prophets will appear, who will lead many people away with them. I. Christ says: For many will come in My name, saying: I am Christ, and they will deceive many (Matthew 24:5). And many false prophets will arise and deceive many (v. 11). But the Spirit speaks clearly,” writes the apostle. Paul, “for in the last times some will depart from the faith by listening to flattering spirits and to the teachings of demons (1 Tim 4:1). Ap. Peter and Jude say about the false teachers of the last time, in relation to whom the false teachers of the apostolic age were only forerunners, that they will be scolders (in the Russian translation - arrogant scoffers), walking according to their lusts (2 Pet 3, 3; Jude 18 v.). There will then be many false Christs and false prophets and they will have extreme influence. Ap. Paul says directly: the time will come when they will not listen to sound teaching, but according to their own lusts they will choose for themselves teachers who have itching ears, that is, having itching ears (2 Tim 4:3). In close connection with the increase in insolent scoffers and teachers of atheism in general, the mystery of lawlessness will intensify and will have an impact on the members of the church itself: and for the increase of lawlessness, the love of many will dry up (Matthew 24:12). The exhaustion of love will take on wide dimensions in the future. People of the last times will betray each other and hate each other (Matthew 24:10), - the brother will betray the brother to death, and the father will betray the child; and the children will rise up against their parents and kill them (Mark 13:12; fn. Luke 21:16). A ap. Paul thus depicts the moral state of people in recent times. This is the truth,” he writes to Timothy, “that in the last days times of cruelty will come. People (not just some, but taken in the majority) will be self-lovers, lovers of money, dignified, proud, ill-spoken, opposed to parents, ungrateful (both to earthly patrons and to God), unrighteous (not what they should be by rank, condition, position, place), unloving (alien even to kindred love for their own), uncompromising, slanderous (διάβολοι), unbearable ryers (“both in the tongue, and in the belly, in everything else,” in the words of St. I. Chrysostom), necrotics (harsh and violent, in look, word, movements), unkind (enemies of all good), traitors, insolent, pompous (full of arrogance, arrogance), sensualists (living for their own pleasure), more than lovers of God, having an image of piety, but denying its power (2 Tim 3:1-4 ). The development and widespread spread of evil will entail social disasters. The indicated properties of people of recent times are such that it is impossible to maintain peace, which will inevitably and soon cause discord, rivalry, and enmity between entire nations. Then, in particular, language will rise against language, kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24:7), and the time of wars will continue for quite some time: they will hear wars and hear wars (about rumors of war). Behold, do not be horrified; It is fitting for everyone to be like this. But not then there is death (Matthew 24:6). Other external disasters will also be combined with wars: there will be devastation, destruction, and cowardice in places (Matthew 24:7), great cowards (Luke 21:11), and rebellions (Mark 13:8). Hunger and disease will, of course, be partly the consequences of wars. It is also natural for rebellions to arise within kingdoms, as manifestations of popular grumbling and discontent over social disasters in the form of wars, epidemic diseases, and famine. As for earthquakes, these are obvious punishments from above for wickedness. Just before the coming of Christ, the devil will erect a special weapon - a representative and champion of lies and evil in the person of the Antichrist. With him, the retreat and disasters of the earth-born will reach full force. § 180. Antichrist and the time of his coming The concept of "Antichrist". – The proper meaning of this concept is as a person of lawlessness. – The power of its action in the world. – Antichrist, as a special weapon of the devil’s battle with the Church of Christ. - The time of his coming is unknown. The word "antichrist" is used in St. Scripture in a double meaning: general and personal. In a general sense, this name means anyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 2:22), i.e., the Messiah-Redeemer, who does not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2; cf. 2 John 7), i.e., His God-manhood and sonship with God. In this sense, according to the ap. John, and now there were many Antichrists (2, 18; sn. 4, 3), there are now, there will be many of them in the future. But these Antichrists are only the forerunners of the Antichrist in the proper or strict sense, about which the same St. John says: you have heard that the Antichrist is coming (' ο αντίχριστος έρχεται) (1 John 2:18). This Antichrist is one, he has not yet come, but will appear before the end of the world. Unlike the antichrists in the general sense, who recognize Christ, but only falsely interpret the teaching about His person and His gospel, the antichrist in the proper sense is the final, cruelest adversary and enemy of Christ and His church, who will try in every way to destroy the work of Christ and at the same time fraudulently pretend to be Christ. This is also shown in the Greek name itself 'ο αντίχριστος, which means an adversary or enemy of Christ, deceptively posing as Christ (άντι in addition to another word usually means against, but also means instead). The doctrine of the Antichrist, as a definite, extreme enemy of Christ and His Church, who will appear only in recent times, has had at different times, and still has, many opponents. It is a fairly common opinion that by Antichrist we should not mean any specific “man of lawlessness,” but a hostile spiritual force operating in the world, wickedness found in various heretics and generally wicked people. A similar opinion was expressed already in the times of the blessed. Augustine. During the Reformation of the 16th century, carried away by their hatred of the papacy, the reformers directly declared that the Antichrist should mean the pope, or more precisely, the long line of bishops on the Roman throne, passing through many centuries (starting with the 7th century Pope Boniface VIII). This opinion, expressed by Luther, is included in the symbolic books of Lutheranism (Art. smalc. p. II, art. IV. De papatu). In modern times, this religious understanding has been replaced in Protestantism by an understanding of the Antichrist in a more general sense, in the sense of an evil, hostile principle in general. A similar error in the teaching about the Antichrist is also contained by some of our schismatic Old Believers, namely, the Bespopovites. And they claim that the Antichrist is not one specific person who will appear before the end of the world, but a spirit of unbelief and wickedness, a set of heresies and a whole series of persons imbued with this spirit. The Antichrist in this sense, they claim, has already appeared in the world and “spiritually” reigns everywhere, mainly in our Russian Orthodox Church (since 1666). But all such opinions have no basis in Scripture. Revelation clearly teaches that by Antichrist in the proper sense we must mean a certain person, an extreme “man of lawlessness,” an instrument of Satan, who is about to appear in the last times. The Savior said to the unbelieving Jews: I came in the name of My Father, and you do not accept Me; If anyone comes in his own name, him you will receive (John 5:43). By other in the words of I. Christ we must understand His special, extraordinary opponent, and namely, the Antichrist. The Savior opposes this other to Himself. But since Christ is one person, then, obviously, by the name of that other we must also understand a specific person; for the properties and actions of one person can be directly contrasted with properties and actions that also belong to the person, and not to society. The word in I. Christ uses the singular number and refers the coming of another to the future tense: another will come (άλλος ᾿ελθη). This also indicates the appearance of some special person in the future. Ap. Paul, depicting the lawless one who is about to appear, says: let no one deceive you according to any image (in any way): for unless the falling away comes first, the man of lawlessness will be revealed (ό ανθρωπος της ανομίας), the son of destruction (ό υίός της απωλείας), adversary (ό αντικείμενος) and exalt yourself more than any other god or honor, as if he should sit in the church of God, as if he were a god, showing himself that there is a God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). His coming (παρουσία) will be according to the work of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders (verse 9). That we are talking about the Antichrist here, everyone agrees, and the Antichrist is portrayed as a certain person. The Apostle calls him a man of lawlessness, i.e., an extreme lawless person, the son of perdition, says about him that he will sit in the church, pretend to be God, perform signs and wonders, which cannot be understood in a general, improper (collective) meaning. In addition, before each of the names assigned to the Antichrist, in the Greek original there is a certain member. “Greek members,” notes St. Epiphanius, - give the subject a certain meaning, because where a term is attached, the term, without a doubt, states that we are talking about something specific... The word άνθρωπος means a person in general, and ό άνθρωπος - only one specific person” (Er. IX, 3). Ap. John writes: children, this is the last hour. And as you heard that the Antichrist was coming (ό άντίχριστος έργεται), and now there were many Antichrists (νυν αντίχριστοι γεγόνασιν, – 1 John 2:18). The seer's distinction between the Antichrists in general, who were (in Greek - without a member), from the Antichrist in a special sense (Greek - with a member), who is still to come, shows that by the future Antichrist he means some special, specific person 76. This was the general teaching about the Antichrist of the ancient teachers of the church. St. I. Damascene, expressing their view, says: “you need to know what is about to come to the Antichrist. Although the Antichrist is also anyone who does not confess that the Son of God came in the flesh, that He is perfect God and became perfect man, without ceasing to be God; but in the proper sense and primarily the one who will come at the end of the world is called the Antichrist (Accurate ex. c. IV, 26). Private opinions or only fortune-telling of ancient teachers about the face of the Antichrist, about his origin, relation to the devil, his name, etc., also testify that, according to their common conviction, the Antichrist will be a certain person. About the origin of the Antichrist, their almost general opinion was that he would come from the Jewish people, and precisely from the tribe of Dan (based on Gen. 49:17; Jeremiah 8, 16-17 and especially Rev. 7 ch.), that he, in contrast to the birth of I. Christ from a pure Virgin, although he would also be born from a Judean maiden, but fell into fornication, that he “will be brought up secretly, then suddenly he will rise up, become indignant and reign” (Damascus. Accurate edition. IV, 26). As a person, he will, of course, have his own name, but this name is not open and unknown, “because it,” as St. Irenaeus, - it is unworthy to be proclaimed by the Holy Spirit” (Proverbs V, 30). The Apocalypse indicates only the number of the name of the beast, that is, the Antichrist, which, therefore, is called the number of the beast: its number is six hundred and sixty-six (13, 18). On the relationship of the Antichrist to the devil, St. AND. Damascus says: “The devil himself will not become a man, just as the Lord became man - let it not be! but a man will be born from fornication and will take upon himself all the work of Satan. For God, foreseeing the future corruption of his will, will allow the devil to dwell in him” (Accurate edition IV, 26). If the Antichrist will be a special person - an extraordinary weapon of the devil for warfare against the Church of Christ, then this shows that the Antichrist in the proper sense has not yet been revealed. According to Ap. John, when the Antichrist appears, then from this people will have to understand that this is the last hour (1 John 2:18), and the ap. Paul points out that the Lord Jesus will kill this lawless one with the spirit of His mouth, and will abolish him by the appearance of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8), and, therefore, he will appear immediately before the very end of the world. Not only that, he will appear shortly before the end of the world, for, having ordinary human nature, he cannot exist for entire centuries or millennia. It follows from this that, according to the signs predicting the second coming of Christ, those who are attentive to the predictions of Scripture can in due time foresee the proximity of the time of the appearance of the Antichrist, and when he appears, recognize in him the “man of lawlessness” and take measures for their salvation. In addition, Scripture contains indications of special signs that foretell to people the coming of the Antichrist. The event immediately preceding the coming of the Antichrist will be, according to St. Paul, taking from the environment the one who holds and holds. Don’t you remember,” he writes to the Thessalonians, “how you are still alive, these words told you? And now the restraining (τό κατέχον) knows that it will appear to him in due time. The mystery of lawlessness is already being done, so keep it (ό κατέχων) now, until Wednesday; and then the lawless one will appear (2 Sol 2:5-8). These words indicate that the coming of the Antichrist will take place in due time (cf. John 7:6, 30); therefore, the discovery of the Antichrist will not occur without the will of God. God has in His power the means by which He delays the appearance of the Antichrist. This means for Him is what the apostle means in the word τό κατέχον. Thus, τό κατέχον is a beneficent power that limits the action of the mystery of lawlessness and prevents the Antichrist from appearing ahead of time. She will retreat only when God wants and allows it. In accordance with this meaning, τό κατέχον and ό κατέχων should mean a beneficent person, preventing him from completely opening up with all demonic powers. As soon as the one who holds it is taken from the environment (ό κατέχων), the man of sin will appear, that is, the Antichrist. But what kind of power is this τό κατέχον and what kind of personality is this - ό κατέχων, which the Thessalonians knew about from the oral conversation of the apostle? This is a mystery to us. Some see in this force a religious force, a spiritual force, and in ό κατέχων - some kind of religious figure, while others recognize this force as a political force, and in the one holding it they see a political representative of this force. Both types of interpretations go back to ancient times. § 181. The battle of the Antichrist with the kingdom of Christ and its defeat by the Lord The fight of the Antichrist with the Church of Christ and the demand for divine honors. – The means used by the Antichrist in this struggle. – God’s help to the Church of Christ in the fight against the Antichrist. – The defeat of the Antichrist from the Lord. I. The Antichrist will wage a cruel war against I. Christ, His Church, the teachings and institutions of Christ, and in general against religion and worship of God, and will swear at the objects of religious veneration of people, and especially Christians. in short, he will reject Christianity and other religions. The Savior taught that the Antichrist will be accepted by the Jews as the Messiah: he who comes in his name, him you will receive. But since there cannot be faith in two Christs - those who accepted the true Christ must reject the false one, and those who accepted the false one must renounce the true Messiah, it is clear that the Antichrist will first openly reject the true Christ in order to be accepted as the Messiah himself. Ap. John says directly: who is a liar? This is the Antichrist (ό άντίχριστος), cast aside from the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22). Ap. Paul predicts that the man of lawlessness who is about to appear will be an adversary (ό αντικείμενος) not only of Jesus Christ, but also of God in general. In contrast to the Son of Man, who humiliated Himself, the Antichrist will exalt himself above all (έπι πάντα, i.e. above everyone - whether Christian or even pagan) of the verb God (λεγόμενον θεόν, i.e. called or recognized by God; sn. 1 Cor. 8:4–6) or holy things (' η οέβασμα, i.e., all objects of reverent religious honor; sn. Acts 17:23). In the vision of I. Theologian about the beast that came out of the sea, i.e. the Antichrist, it is said that the beast was given a mouth speaking proudly and blasphemously... and he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme His name and His dwelling place and those living in heaven (Rev. 13:5-6). Having clearly rejected Christ and Christianity, Divinity and God-worship, the Antichrist will also openly appropriate divine dignity to himself, call himself God and Christ and demand divine worship and service for himself. Therefore St. I. Chrysostom calls him άντίθεος, which means both an opponent of God and a substitute for God, that is, putting himself in place of God. Of course, to reject any God and at the same time proclaim oneself for God is a sharp self-contradiction, but this is already an essential property of a lie or untruth - “to lie to oneself,” which is why he is especially a liar (ό ψεύστης). Ap. Paul, calling the Antichrist an adversary and one who exalts himself above everything called God or what is holy, says: how should he sit in the church of God, like God, showing himself that God exists. By church or church of God (ό ναός τού Θεού) we mean a church - a building, one specific church of a known specific God. What church is this? Some of the ancients meant this church, the place where the Antichrist would proclaim himself god, as the temple in Jerusalem, meaning that the Antichrist would be accepted by the Jews as Christ and a church would be built in Jerusalem. But, according to St. I. Chrysostom, the Antichrist “will sit in the church of God, not only in Jerusalem, but also in churches everywhere.” In the main church, says Rev. Theophan, “he (the Antichrist) will sit as a god, and then he will sit in this meaning in any other church that he meets personally. Or, perhaps, he will personally sit in one church, but in others he will witness his sitting in some other way. The Apocalypse speaks of an animal image. But will they put it in churches everywhere?” (On 2Sol 2, 4). It goes without saying that with the replacement of service to God and Christ by service to the Antichrist, there will be no place in Christian churches for images of God, Christ and saints, nor for the relics of saints and, in general, for accessories of external Christian worship. But not only fighting against God will distinguish the Antichrist, although it will be most obvious, but also every sin. According to Ap. Paul, this will be a man of lawlessness, a lawless one (ό άνομος), - pre-lawless, imbued with lawlessness, the essence of which is lawlessness. He will be born lawless, he will live lawlessly and, being lawless himself, he will expand lawlessness everywhere. Acting only on the inspiration of the destroyer of the human race, he will not want to know any laws, neither divine nor human, and will trample and destroy both. “In it, in the words of St. Irenaeus, “whole wickedness”, “diabolical apostasy from God” will be repeated, “all the power of apostasy will unite and concentrate” (Prov. epec. V, 25, 29). They object that the human spirit (in the person of the Antichrist) cannot reach such madness as to consider itself a god and demand divine worship for itself. – But from the Gospel it is clear that Satan demanded from I. Christ divine worship of himself. The Antichrist will be entirely in the power of Satan, and therefore it is not impossible that he, blinded, filled with pride and the spirit of Satan, will begin to blaspheme and demand divine worship from people. Moreover, something similar has already happened in the history of blinded humanity (for example, the self-deification of Nebuchadnezzar, the deification of Roman emperors, some during their lifetime, for example, Nero, Caius Caligula), therefore, it can be repeated at another time. II. The means that the Antichrist will use to achieve his goals will fully correspond to his internal properties. The Antichrist will try to prove his supposed divine dignity with false miracles and signs, just as the God-Man worked miracles. Thus, I. Christ speaks of the servants of the Antichrist, his false prophets, that they will give great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:24). According to Ap. Paul, the coming of the Antichrist will be with all power and signs and lying wonders. The words of the apostle show that the signs and wonders of the Antichrist will be a work of lies, for only God can work miracles, and not true miracles. In essence, they will not exceed the natural, albeit hidden, forces of nature, but in their appearance they will be similar to the true ones, which is why the apostle says that great power will be expressed in them. Satan will give him his power, and his throne, and great authority (Rev. 13:2; cf. Luke 4:8–9). In revelation, indications are given of the very types of miracles of the Antichrist, for example, the sudden healing of one of the heads of the beast, mortally wounded (Rev. 13:3–5), and the lying prophet of the beast will bring down fire from heaven (13, 13–15). With the performance of many miracles, the Antichrist, as an instrument of the devil, who, to deceive people, can take the form of an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14), will resort to flattery, hypocrisy in behavior, deception in words and actions. His coming will be in all the flattery of unrighteousness, says the apostle. Paul. Being inside a wolf and a lion, he, as his ancient teachers portrayed him, will appear as a lamb until he reigns 77. To spread a lie, there is an inevitable need for the violence of power. This is how the Antichrist will act. This will be possible because he will appear not only as a religious, but also as a political force - a king. Upon his accession to the throne, he will institute cruel external persecutions against the church, with the help of which he will try to tear out its weaker members from the bowels of it. I. Christ predicted great sorrow before the end of the world: and if those days had not ceased, all flesh would not have been saved (Matthew 24:21-22). In St. Daniel, the Antichrist is depicted as a powerful, terrible and all-destroying conqueror (his prototype is Antiochus Epiphanes), who will wage war with many kings and defeat them, and at the same time a cruel persecutor of those who disobey him (chap. 7, 8 and 11). In the Apocalypse, the Antichrist and his false prophet are given the name of the beast - θηρίον (13, 1; 17, 8, etc.), which, when applied to a person, denotes his carnivorousness and bestial cruelty, bestial disposition. By God's permission, the Antichrist will seize power over many nations (Rev. 13:7-8) and the people divided into tribes, that is, the Jews, will be the first to be carried away by him. But saints - sincere Christians - will be subjected to severe persecution and various torments: if they do not worship the image of bestial slaughter, they will be killed (13, 15). He will also kill those two witnesses who will be sent during the reign of the Antichrist to testify to the truth (11:7). Violence will reach the point that, without wearing an open sign of submission to the Antichrist, it will be impossible to buy or sell anything, it will be impossible to enjoy any civil rights (13, 16–17). Those who do not accept the mark of the beast, as those who reject the Antichrist, will be beheaded (20:4). The Church, persecuted and persecuted, will have to hide in the desert, in secret places, as the seer depicts it under the image of a woman in birth pain, who is pursued by a dragon and who is hiding from him in the desert (chap. 12). The consequence of the Antichrist’s war against the Church of Christ will be that he will manage to spread his teaching among many who have not accepted the love of the truth, will dominate not only over the minds and hearts of the wicked, but will also form from these latter an external society that will recognize him as its head and will begin to comply with his demands - his external kingdom, opposite the holy city (Rev. 20:7). III. However, no matter how great the power and authority of the Antichrist and cruel the warfare against the Church of Christ, the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of Christ (Matthew 16:18). The Church will remain unshakable until the very end of the world and the second coming of Christ; Christian worship and the most important part of the latter - the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice - will not cease until the end of the age, until the second coming of Christ (1 Cor. 11:26), therefore, throughout the reign of the Antichrist, because Christ the Savior and the Holy Spirit will remain with the church all the days until the end of the age. In those days of great tribulation there will be the elect, and, what is especially important, they will survive this time: for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened (Matthew 24:22; sn. 30-31; Mark 13:27). The destructive actions of the Antichrist will actually extend to those who are perishing, to those who have not accepted the love of the truth, in order for them to be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10). These perishing ones will perish, of course, not by God’s determination, but because they are of one spirit with the Antichrist, that is, they have fallen away from God and the Lord Jesus. In the days of the Antichrist, God’s special help will also be revealed to the faithful. Then, opens the app. John, two witness-prophets will be sent to earth, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, they will be clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and two lampstands standing before God on earth. They will perform great miracles. But the beast coming out of the abyss will fight with them and defeat them, kill them and leave their corpses on the street of the great city, but after three days and a half the spirit of life will enter into them and they will ascend to heaven (Rev. 11: 3–12). They will distract people from the deception of the Antichrist and preach the coming of Christ from heaven. One of these witnesses is clearly stated in Scripture; this is the prophet Elijah (Mal.4:5–4; cf. Matt.17:10–11; Mark 9:11–12; Luke 1:17). The ancient tradition of the church names Enoch as another witness. According to another vision of the ap. John, in defense of those who do not worship the beast, seven angels with seven plagues will pour out the wrath of God on the wickedness of people (Rev. 15 and 16 ch.). The godless and destructive reign of the Antichrist will be short-lived. Among the seers of the Old and New Testaments, the time of his reign in some sayings is directly limited to three and a half years (Dan. 7:25; 12, 17; Rev. 12:14), or forty-two months (Rev. 11:2; 13, 5), as well as 1260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12, 6), while in others a little time is indicated at all ( Rev. 12:12; 10, 3). Since the kingdom of the Antichrist is not only human, but also satanic, then the power to destroy it must be higher than human and satanic. The Lord I. Christ Himself will appear, Who will kill the Antichrist with the spirit of His mouth and abolish it with the appearance of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8), that is, He will destroy the Antichrist with one breath of His, will easily crush his power and destroy him with the glory of His coming. In the revelation of St. John says that the Lord with His army will fight with the beast and his army, the beast and his false prophet will be captured and thrown into the lake of fire, and the rest will be killed by the sword of Him sitting on the horse, coming from His mouth, that is, the weapon of the word (19, 19-21). § 182. Second Coming of Christ Sign of the Son of Man. - The appearance of the Son of God with His angels. – Victory over all forces hostile to Christ. The Church teaches us to believe in the Lord Jesus “and will again judge the living and the dead with glory.” By the re-coming or second coming of Christ (παρουσία, adventus) she always meant and understands the future actual, sensually visible to all, coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh and divine glory assumed by Him, as the Judge of the living and the dead, for the final and complete implementation of the idea of ​​the kingdom of God. This coming will follow on a certain day at the end of time, a unique and exceptional day. The Savior called this day the last day (John 6:39–40, 44. 54; 12, 48), the day of judgment (Matt. 10:15; 11, 22; 12, 36; sn. 2 Pet 2, 9; 3, 7; 1 John 4:17), and the apostles called it the day of the Lord (2 Pet 3, 10; 1 Sol 5, 2; sn. Mic. 3:17; Is. 2:12), the day of our Lord I. Christ (1 Cor. 1:8; 5, 5; 2 Cor. 1:14) and simply the day of Christ (Philip 1, 10; 2, 16; 2 Sol 2, 2). It will be surrounded by extraordinary, namely divine glory and greatness. which is why it is called the revelation of our Lord I. Christ (1 Cor. 1:7, 8; 2 Sol 1, 7). But not only will the revelation of glory (άποκάλυψιε της δόξης) of Christ the Lord follow (1 Pet. 4, 13; cf. Col. 3:4), - the very purpose of this coming relates to revealing to the universe the glory of the Redeemer. The Son of Man will come, He said Himself, in the glory of His Father, that is, in the glory characteristic of Him as the true Son of God (Matthew 16:27), in His glory, and will sit on the throne of His glory (25, 31, sn. 24, 30). This is a significant difference between the second coming of Christ and the first, when He appeared as the humble Son of man. The revelation indicates the following particular features of glory in the circumstances of this coming. The sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven (Matthew 24:30) - a definite sign (τό σημείον), a sign that will show that He is coming who so often called Himself the Son of man, and, finally, one that will appear (φανήσεται), i.e. will be accessible to contemplation with sensual eyes. Such a sign will appear the holy cross, borne and endured by Christ for our sake and our salvation. And since by that time the gospel preaching should embrace the entire universe, then the appearance of the cross in heaven as a sign of the coming of the Son of Man will be clear to everyone. For believers and all true followers of Christ, when they experience the sorrows and calamities of the last time, the clear reflection in this banner of the glory of the coming Christ the Judge will be a joyful confirmation of their liberation, evidence of the fulfillment of their hopes. But the appearance of this sign will be menacing for those who until then did not believe in Its great significance: when they look at this sign, all the tribes of the earth will weep (Matt. 24:30; fn. Rev. 1:7). The Son of Man will appear in that radiant and glorified flesh in which, after His resurrection, He appeared to His disciples and with which He ascended into heaven before their eyes, therefore, in a sensually visible way. He Himself foretold that the earth-born would see (όψονται - with their own eyes, in fact see) the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven (Matt. 24:30; sn. Rev. 1:7), At the Ascension of the Savior, the angels who appeared to the apostles announced: this Jesus, who ascended from you into heaven, He will come in the same way, in the same way you saw Him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). The coming of the Son of Man will follow on the clouds of heaven; They will see Him, He said, coming on the clouds of heaven, coming from the clouds of heaven. There is no reason to understand these expressions only in a figurative sense and to reject the reality corresponding to the image. On the contrary, since the Son of Man ascended on the clouds, this makes it clear that the future appearance of the Son of God will indeed follow on the clouds and, of course, surrounded by much glory (δόξα) (Matthew 24:30), that is, an extraordinary radiance. The Son of man came with His angels (Matthew 16:27), with much power (24, 30), His angels in darkness (Jude 14 v.). The Savior spoke about this attribute of His coming every time he touched on this subject (Matthew 13:41; 24, 31; 25, 31; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26). The companionship of Him, as the one in power, His angels, will most of all testify to the world of His divine glory and greatness. Ap. Paul depicts the appearance and service of angels, which is to follow along with the coming of Christ, in the following image: The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a command, in the voice of the archangels, and with the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16). In command - εν κελευσματί: this word was used to mean a military order or appeal to the soldiers - to gather and get into action. A similar order was given both by voice and trumpet. In the Old Testament, the trumpet was used to convene the people of God, to announce to them the will of God, to announce the coming of the jubilee year, as well as in military campaigns. The whole image used by the apostle means that the coming of the Lord Jesus will take place in the command by which God, worshiped in the Trinity, will pronounce the determination that the time of present order in the existence of the world and humanity has ended, the time has come for the resurrection of the dead. This command will be accepted by the archangel, the leader of the heavenly forces. The command he received will be announced by the voice of the archangel to the other armies of heaven, who, through the trumpets of God, will spread the command of God to all ends (fn. Matt. 24:31), which is why everyone must appear before the Lord coming from heaven. At the last trumpet the Lord Himself will descend from heaven (1 Cor. 15:52). From here one can see how unfounded are the opinions that the teaching of I. Christ and the apostles about the second coming of Christ should be understood not in the sense of a visible, sensory, contemplated, glorious His coming, but in the sense of His invisible spiritual coming to the believers, His invisible visit to His church in certain events of its life (for example, during the destruction of Jerusalem, in the spread of the gospel), or in the sense of only the victory of the kingdom of Christ over all forces hostile to Christ and His cause. § 183. Resurrection of the dead. The reality of it Promises about the resurrection of the dead and belief in it. – The possibility of the resurrection of the dead and its reality. On the last day, on which the glorious coming of Christ will take place, will follow the resurrection of the dead and the change of the living, identical in essence and effect. Under the resurrection (άνάστασις, έγερσίς, i.e., έκ νεκρών also αναοτή ναι, εγείρειν) of the dead on the last day the church teaches to understand “such the action of the power of God, by which all the bodies of dead people, uniting again with their souls, will come to life, and will be spiritual and immortal” (Cati. 11 ch.), and not any spiritual resurrection and not the creation of new bodies. The afterlife existence of the soul without a body cannot be called a perfect life and cannot give complete bliss. What is especially dear to man is complete immortality, an afterlife for the soul and body. That is why some ancient peoples, more developed than others religiously, had a peculiar belief in the life of the body after death (for example, the Egyptians, Iranians). But these vague desires and aspirations of a personal afterlife for the soul and body received their justification and confirmation only in revelation. The resurrection of the dead is the fruit of man's liberation from sin and his reconciliation with God according to the merits of the Redeemer. Therefore, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is presented to us in all detail in the New Testament, that is, when the redemption was completed. However, the idea of ​​the resurrection of man was not completely alien to the Old Testament. In the most ancient books of the Old Testament, the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is secretly expressed, as the Savior explained to the Sadducees, in the names of God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: about the dead, as they rise, - He said, - did they carry in the books of Moses, at the bush, as God spoke to him, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? There is no God of the dead, but a God of the living (Mark 12:26–27; cf. Matt. 22:31–32). The sufferer Job expresses his confession of the resurrection of the dead and at the same time the appearance of the Redeemer in the following words: I know that my Redeemer (Heb. Noel - Defender, Liberator) is alive, and on the last day He will raise this decaying skin from the dust; and I will see God in my flesh. I will see Him myself, my eyes, not the eyes of another, will see Him (Job 19:25-27 v.). The historical books tell of the resurrections performed by St. Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:19; 2 Kings 4:29) and the resurrection of one who died from his touch on the bones of St. Elisha (2 Kings 13:21). Although these resurrections were only a return to earthly life, nevertheless, they clearly expressed the deep truth that death must return the body it has stolen when God directly demands it. The psalmist David expresses his conviction: do not leave my soul in hell, let Thy venerable one see corruption (Ps. 15:10). The belief in the resurrection is more clearly expressed in the books of the prophets. So, in the song of St. Isaiah it says: the dead will rise again and those who are in the tombs will rise (26, 19). Ave. It was revealed to Daniel in a vision: many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to eternal life, others to eternal reproach and shame (12:2). St. Ezekiel also figuratively depicts how the resurrection will take place. The prophet was led by spirit into a valley full of dry bones. To the Lord's question: Son of man! will these bones come to life? the prophet answered: Lord God! You know this, i.e. that this is beyond the limits of human knowledge. Then the Lord commanded him to prophesy over the bones, and when he uttered the prophecy, a noise occurred, a movement began, and they began to come closer bone to bone, then veins appeared on them, flesh grew, skin covered them on top, but there was not enough spirit for a new life. At the new command of the Lord, the prophet uttered a new prophecy about a spirit that came from the four winds, inspired the reborn bodies and they began to live (37, 1-10). The belief in the resurrection of the dead in Old Testament times was the property not only of inspired writers, but also of pious Jews in general. Thus, the Maccabean martyrs went to their deaths with the confidence that the king of the world would resurrect them, who died for His laws for eternal life (2 Maccabees 7, 9; sn. 11. 14, 36 v.). It is related about Judas Maccabee that he sent silver to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for sin (the dead), and acted very well and piously, thinking about the resurrection (2 Mac 12:43-44). At the time of the Savior, belief in the resurrection of the dead was common among the Jews. The remark of the evangelists about the Sadducees, who said that there is no resurrection (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27), suggests that the rest of the majority of Jews believed in the resurrection (cf. Acts 23:6-8; 24, 15). Martha, the sister of Lazarus, spoke of her dead brother: We know that he will rise again in the resurrection, on the last day (John 11:24). New Testament Scripture proclaims the future reality of the bodily resurrection of the dead as the fundamental truth of Christianity, as the precious fruit of the redemptive merits of the God-man. And. Christ said: the hour is coming, in which those who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they will come out, having done good to the resurrection of life, and having done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28-29). This is the will of him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (6:40). I am the resurrection and the belly; Believe in Me, even if you die you will live (11:25). He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood will have an eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (6:54). Of the apostles, the apostle revealed with particular detail the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Paul, regarding the fact that netii appeared in Corinth, saying that there is no resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15). That the resurrection of the dead will really happen, according to the apostle, the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ should convince believers. If Christ is preached as having risen from the dead (and He, being God, was also a man, and as a man, died and was buried), how do they say in you that there is no resurrection of the dead? And if there is no resurrection of the dead (that is, if it is impossible), then Christ will not rise. If Christ does not rise, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. But, says the apostle, Christ is raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who die are quick (v. 20), and therefore, just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live (v. 22). Then, eliminating the bewilderment of how the dead will rise, he explains: crazy, you will not live unless you die, and the hedgehog is not the body of the future, but a naked grain... God gives him a body... In the same way the resurrection of the dead will take place, i.e. from every dead body a new body will arise by the power of God (verses 35–38, 42). He wrote to the Thessalonica Christians that it was not appropriate for them to grieve for the dead, as those who have no hope, because just as Jesus died and rose again, so God will bring those who have died in Jesus with Him; dead in Christ will be resurrected (1 Sol 4:13–14, 16; cf. Acts 24:15). Finally, he calls those who say that the resurrection has already taken place, that is, moral, and who, obviously, did not allow the resurrection of the body, are corrupters and traitors to the truth (2 Tim 2:18). In the Christian Church, faith in the resurrection of the dead according to the flesh has been the most essential member of the faith since the times of the Apostles. The confession of faith in the resurrection of the dead was included in the symbols of the most ancient churches (Jerusalem, Rome and Cyprus) and in the beliefs of St. Irenaeus and Tertullian, and later in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol. This faith was professed by martyrs going to their free death, defended by apologists of Christianity against pagans and false teachers, and revealed by pastors and teachers, often even in special works. The possibility of the resurrection of the dead, in view of the perplexities and objections expressed against this belief of Christians, the ancient teachers tried to justify and bring closer to understanding by pointing to the omnipotence of God and to various similarities in visible nature and human life. “It is common for those people not to believe in the resurrection,” says St. Chrysostom - who does not have a perfect understanding of the invincible and completely sufficient power of God for everything. After all, if He created what exists from what does not exist, then how much more can He resurrect what was destroyed” (On 1 Cor. Dem. XL, 3). Here there will be, at least, a ready-made substance, but there was none there. Visible nature explains this possibility with, for example, phenomena such as the emergence of a complete human body from a formless seed, the growth of wheat or other fruit ears from rotten grains in the ground, the spring resurrection after a dead winter of all plants and trees, the freezing for a more or less long time and then the revival of some insects and animals, the falling asleep and awakening from sleep of the person himself. § 184. The universality and simultaneity of the resurrection of the dead. Changing living The teaching of Revelation about the universality of the resurrection of the dead. - Its simultaneity. – Changing the living. The resurrection of the dead will be universal and simultaneous: everyone will rise, both good and evil, believers and unbelievers in Christ, righteous and sinners, and they will all rise at the same time - on the day of Christ’s coming. Then the change of all living will follow. I. In the Old Testament Scripture, while affirming the reality of the resurrection of the dead, a clear and direct answer to the question was not given: will all the dead be resurrected? Even by the time of I. Christ, the Jewish scribes and Pharisees had formed the idea that the resurrection would be limited only to the righteous, and the souls of the wicked (pagans) would be kept in hell for eternal torment. This teaching became part of Jewish rabbinical writing. In Christian antiquity, some argued that those who were not called and incapable of living a blessed life would be completely destroyed. There are many supporters of this view (the theory of so-called conditional or optional immortality) even today (in Protestantism). But this kind of opinion is not based on the positive teaching of revelation, but on various kinds of third-party considerations and conclusions. Revelation affirms the universality of the resurrection without any exceptions or limitations, but not with the same consequences for the righteous and sinners. Yes, I. Christ said that all (πάντες) who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard them they will live, and from them will come forth those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:25, 28-29). The image of the general judgment also presupposes the universality of the resurrection, that is, not only the righteous, but also the wicked and unbelievers. If sinners, as the gospel puts it, rise up for judgment (Matthew 12:41–42; Luke 11:31–32), then, obviously, they will be resurrected. Ap. Paul, in his speech before the ruler Felix, expresses the firm conviction that the resurrection wants to be the dead, the righteous and the sinner (Acts 24:15). The universality of the resurrection, the apostle teaches, has its basis in the fact that the risen Christ is the Redeemer of all mankind: just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will come to life. Recognition of the universality of the resurrection is required by the very concept of Christ's victory over the enemies of human salvation. The completeness of this victory presupposes the abolition of the mortal power (John 12:31; Heb. 2:14), the killing of the last enemy - death itself (1 Cor. 15:26), and, of course, the fact that all sacrifices will be taken away from it. His victory over the enemy of the human race would not have been complete and the reign of death would not have been destroyed if the bodies of those not worthy of admission into the kingdom of heaven remained in its power. II. The resurrection of the dead will not only be universal, but also simultaneous for everyone, both Christ’s and unbelievers and sinners. The opinion that Scripture distinguishes between two separate resurrections of the dead, that first the resurrection of Christ or God’s elect in general will follow, and then after a more or less significant time (for the Chiliasts, after 1000 years), all non-Christians and sinners will be resurrected, is not justified by the evidence of Scripture. Thus, in the words of the Savior: the hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs... the resurrection of the good and the evil seems to be the result of one wave of the Son of God, this is on the one hand, and on the other - what is even more important - it is put in direct connection with judgment, so that the general concept of resurrection is divided into two particular ones - the resurrection of life for some and the resurrection of condemnation for others. Those who affirm the separate time of resurrection of the righteous (first resurrection) and sinners (second resurrection) think to see the basis for such ideas in some of the sayings of the apostle. Paul (especially 1 Cor. 15), and in the revelation of John the Theologian (20). Ap. Paul, having assured in the universality of the resurrection with the words: just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live, adds further: everyone in his rank (έν τώ τάγματι): Christ is the firstfruits, then (' έπειτα) those who believed in Christ, at the coming Him. The same death (είτα then τέλος), when he gives up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he destroys all rule and all power and authority... The last enemy will be destroyed by death (1 Cor. 15:23-26). These words of the apostle seem to contain an indication of the order (τάγμα) in which the resurrection will take place, and the difference in time of resurrection of various classes, and namely: first of all Christ was resurrected, as the firstfruits of the resurrection, then, at His coming, those who can be said to be Christ’s will be quickened (Gal. 5:24, and all the rest will be resurrected when the end comes). True, the expression of the apostle: then Christ’s, at His coming, makes it possible to see in it an indication of the temporal sequence of the resurrection, namely: first Christ rose as the executor of redemption and the Head of humanity, and at His coming Christ’s will rise. But this is where all the indications of the difference in resurrection in time that are contained here are limited. Speaking about those who will be resurrected at the coming of Christ, the apostle directly points to the order of believers. But he points to this only rank because he wrote to believers and meant resurrection to eternal life, and the other rank - the rank of unbelievers - is implied by him, i.e. the meaning of the apostolic expression is this: now Christ has risen, and at His second coming Christ’s will also be resurrected, but not they alone, of course, but with all other people. As for the words: same (later) death, then by death, according to the explanation of the apostle himself, we must understand the end of everything, the end of the world, judgment, the Son’s surrender of His kingdom to God and the Father and the advent of the kingdom of the triune God, and not the last resurrection. In particular, those who separate in time the resurrection of the righteous from the resurrection of sinners, in support of their opinion, point to the vision of John the Theologian, set out in the Apocalypse (chap. 20). The seer saw how an Angel, having the keys of hell, descended from heaven, bound and imprisoned the devil in the abyss for a thousand years (1-3 v.), and how after that the first resurrection took place: the saints and those who were not supporters of the beast came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until they died for a thousand years. Behold the first resurrection. Blessed and holy,” notes the seer, “who will be the first to have a part in the resurrection!” on them the second death will not have domain, but they will be priests to God and Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years (vv. 4-6). After a thousand years, according to the seer, Satan will be released from his prison... for a little while he will come out to deceive the tongues of the four corners of the earth (verses 7 and 8), but soon there will be judgment on all the resurrected dead and eternal recompense for them and the devil: death and hell, and all whose names are not written in the book of beasts are cast into the lake of fire: and behold, there is the second death (verses 8–15). But the Apocalypse is a prophetic and deeply mysterious book, replete with images. A strictly literal interpretation of these images, when it is contrary to other, direct and clear evidence of revelation, is impossible. As far as it is possible to understand the meaning of this vision, in it under the Angel who came down from heaven and has the keys of hell, of course, the Angel of the covenant is the Lord Jesus, who came to earth to abolish by His death the one who had the power of death. By binding and imprisoning the devil we mean the limitation and crushing by the Redeemer of the power of Satan over people and, in general, the power of evil, which especially animated paganism. By the thousand-year reign of Christ we mean the entire indefinite period of time from the founding of the Church of Christ on earth, especially the period of more peaceful development of the Church of Christ after the era of persecution (cf. vv. 3 and 7). The name of the first resurrection means the conversion of man from sin and his reconciliation with God, his justification and rebirth, which really is the rebellion and resurrection of the human spirit from spiritual death. It is the first resurrection in relation to the future resurrection of the dead on the day of the final judgment. The reign with Christ of those who have a part in this spiritual resurrection is the reign in heaven, the blessed life of the soul from the time of receiving bliss to the resurrection of the body. Further, the release of the devil from prison for a short time in order to deceive tongues means the appearance on earth of the Antichrist shortly before the very end of the world. When this force of evil is finally defeated (verses 9–10), the final, universal judgment will come: then the sea, death and hell will give up their dead, i.e. the general bodily resurrection from the dead (second resurrection) will take place - small and great will appear for judgment before God (vv. 12-13). For those who are condemned, the second death will come, which is the final rejection of sinners from the face of God. III. At the time of the second coming of Christ, not everyone will undergo bodily death, but they will remain alive. But since corruption does not inherit incorruption (1 Cor. 15:50), then the bodies of those who remain alive, along with those who have died and risen, will become incorruptible through an instant change. Ap. Paul writes to the Corinthians: Behold, I tell you a mystery: for we will not all sleep, but all will change (άλλαγησόμεθα) soon (έν άτόμώ - in an atom, a point in time), in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet! for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, and we shall be changed; It is fitting (δει) for this corruptible to be clothed with incorruptibility, and for this dead thing to be clothed with immortality (1 Cor. 15:51–53). In another epistle, the apostle says: we who chew, who are left at the coming of the Lord, cannot even precede those who die... The dead in Christ will rise faster in comparison with Christians. survivors; Then we who are left alive and left together with them will be caught up in the clouds at the meeting of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). It was suggested that the essence of the change in the living at the second coming of Christ would consist in their instant death and return to life in an incorruptible body. But this opinion does not agree with the words of the apostle: we will not all die. The words of the apostle about the change of the living must be understood literally, in the precise sense that the change will replace both the effect of death and the effect of resurrection, so that at the last trumpet both the dead will rise incorruptible, and those who remain alive will be different, that is, incorruptible. Just as the resurrection from the dead will be universal, so will everyone who will be alive at the second coming change, that is, not only the righteous and believers, but also sinners and unbelievers, for these too will be at the end of the world. In the expressions of the apostle: we will change, we will all change (meaning “we”) - change is placed regardless of the moral dignity of a person, and although these words refer to believers, among the latter there are always persons who, due to their moral qualities, are unworthy to enter eternal life. § 185. The body of the resurrection and its properties Identity in essence of the resurrection body with the present body. – New properties of the resurrection body: Incorruptibility. – Strength. – Spirituality. - Glory. – The meaning of these terms. The resurrection body will be the same in essence, which the human soul possesses and with which it is united during his earthly life. It will only have new properties that are significantly different from the present ones. I. Essential identity with the present of future bodies is presupposed by the very concept of “resurrection” - άνάστασις, which means the actual uprising (of that which has fallen). I. Christ rose from the tomb in His own body, which was crucified, pierced with a spear and laid in the tomb. In this body He appeared after His resurrection. He also taught about the resurrection of our real body. His words: those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God and will come forth... indicate that the resurrection is the restoration of the body consigned to the earth, that is, the one that the soul possessed during earthly life. Ap. Paul expresses himself about the resurrection: Christ's raising from the dead will give life to your dead bodies (Rom. 8:11). It is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruptibility, and for this dead thing to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). It is fitting for this mortal, this corruptible body, that is, the body which the soul possesses in this life, and not any other, to put on incorruptibility and immortality. This is how the ancient Ecumenical Church also taught about the body of the resurrection, expressing its judgment about this regarding the false teaching of Origen. Origen expressed the opinion that we will be given a body completely different from our current body, but a spiritual body, ethereal, not subject to sight or touch, having no heaviness or weight. Due to the widespread dissemination of this opinion, on the Vth Omni. The Council against the Origenists determined: “Whoever asserts that the body of the Lord, after the resurrection, became ethereal and assumed a spherical form, with which bodies in the resurrection all rational creatures will be clothed, - whoever asserts that just as Christ put off His earthly body, so all rational beings will not have bodies similar to real ones in the resurrection - let him be anathema.” The essentially identical nature of the resurrection bodies with the real ones gives reason to think that even after the resurrection the difference in the sex of the resurrected will not be destroyed, for the sex of a woman is not a defect, but a God-created nature (August. On the City of God. XXII, 17). On the question of whether the difference between ages will remain, in ancient times some spoke in the affirmative sense (in view of Rev. 20:12–13), others believed that all bodies would rise at the age of complete perfection (in view of Eph. 4:13). II. While essentially identical with the previous earthly body, the resurrection body will be very different from the latter in its properties and state. Scripture gives indications of the properties of resurrected bodies in the Gospel depictions of the physicality of the risen Lord Jesus and in the definition of the future qualities of resurrected bodies, in comparison with the present, in the ap. Paul in the words: it is sown into corruption and raised into incorruption; it is not sown in honor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness and raised in strength; the natural body is sown, the spiritual body is raised (1 Cor. 15:42–44). The bodies will be incorruptible. By incorruption, first of all, it is necessary to understand the ability of the body not to turn to dust, decomposing into its basic elements. It will, therefore, by its very nature resist the destructive power of death, i.e., be in a state of impossibility of dying, as the Savior says: having been counted worthy to receive the resurrection from the dead... neither can anyone die, nor are they an angel (Luke 20:35-36). This property of resurrection bodies suggests that they will be completely alien to all kinds of illnesses and gradual dying, which happens to us in old age. The Seer says that on the new earth there will be no more crying, no crying, no sickness (Rev. 21:4), just as in the heavenly life of man. The incorruptibility of the resurrection body also implies that it will not have the need for ordinary food and drink to maintain its strength. Ap. Paul says: the belly is meat and the belly is meat; God will abolish both this and that (1 Cor. 6:13; cf. Rev. 7:16). Likewise, in relation to marriage, those resurrected will be like angels (Matthew 22:30). The resurrection bodies, in contrast to our earthly bodies, the bodies of weakness, will be strong. The weakness of our body is expressed in the fact that it cannot endure prolonged strain on its strength, constantly requiring rest, sleep and nutrition to strengthen its strength, and very often forces the spirit to refuse to carry out its lofty undertakings. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. In contrast to such weakness of the earthly body, the strength of the resurrection body must be placed in the fullness of its vital forces and the tirelessness of their energy. The resurrection body will not know fatigue and, therefore, will feel the need for rest and sleep, food and drink. The inexhaustible fullness of the powers which the resurrection body will possess will ensure that in the kingdom of glory there will be neither helpless old men nor infants needing the care of others. The resurrected bodies will be spiritual, and not spiritual, as the current bodies are. There is a spiritual body, and there is a spiritual body, says the apostle (1 Cor. 15:44). The present body is primarily a spiritual body; lust has become an integral property of the human body and there is a continuous struggle between the spirit and the flesh (Gal.5:17); the body enslaves the soul, forcing it to submit to lower sensual attractions (Rom. 7:23) and constrains and obscures purely spiritual attractions; in short, it is a passionate body. The resurrected body will be spiritual, dispassionate; in it not only will the indicated struggle cease, but the very possibility of the emergence of lust will be destroyed and it will appear as a submissive instrument of the spirit. At the same time, it will become spiritual in the sense of lightness and subtlety and from the physical side. The possibility of such spiritualization of the body should not present anything inconvenient, since in the world of matter there are different degrees of materiality, transitions of matter from one state to another. The appearance of the Lord after the resurrection to His disciples through closed doors gives us some idea of ​​what the spiritualization of the matter of our body will consist of. It will lose its coarseness and plumpness, become subtle and insightful, and as a result, freer from the conditions of space. And ap. Paul says that those who have been resurrected and who remain alive, after receiving the resurrection body, will be caught up into the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. However, calling a body spiritual does not mean that the body will be airy or ethereal. Finally, the bodies of the resurrected will be glorious: the Lord Jesus will transform the body of our humility (humiliation) so that it will be consistent with His glorious body (Philip 3:21), and will rise in glory. The glory of the resurrection bodies must be believed, first of all, in the fact that they will be endowed with all the perfections available to the nature of the body, and at the same time humiliation will be taken away from them, that is, all the shortcomings of our bodily nature, and among them - corruption, weakness, spirituality. But perfection of the body and freedom from all bodily defects will belong to all resurrected people, both righteous and sinners. Therefore, it is not enough to understand the glory of resurrected bodies only in this sense. Without a doubt, the reason for the greater or lesser glory of the body will lie in the moral state of the person himself. But if moral perfection is the basis (subjective) of the future glory of the resurrected body, then the essence of the glory that will belong to the resurrected bodies can be believed to be a reflection of the degree of moral perfection of the spirit on the body. As for how the glory of the resurrection body will be visible to all, Scripture often presents the glory as light (Exod. 34:29; 2 Cor. 3:7; Matt. 17:2; Acts 9:3-8). The Savior made a promise that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt 13:43). In view of such indications of Scripture, the glory of the resurrection body can be understood as their luminosity, the essence of which, however, we cannot imagine. The glory that belongs to resurrected bodies will have different degrees, just as the degrees of moral perfection of each individual person are different: the glory of the sun is different, says the apostle. Paul, - and there is another glory to the moon, and another glory to the stars: for one star differs from another in glory. Likewise the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:41–42). Listing all the indicated properties of resurrection bodies, Apostle. Paul was referring to the righteous, but he does not talk about what the resurrected bodies of sinners will be like. One must, however, think that all the bodies of the resurrected - both the righteous and the wicked - will have the same perfections of their nature. In particular, the bodies of sinners, no doubt, will rise incorruptible and strong in the sense of the ability to withstand death, the destructive influences of the elements, and not need rest, food and drink to maintain life and strength, freedom from disease and old age. There can also be no doubt about the spirituality of the bodies of sinners. An immortal body cannot be the same in composition and properties as our real body. As for the property of the glory of resurrected bodies, glory in the sense of the perfection of the resurrection body cannot be denied to the bodies of sinners, although these perfections, like an expensive bandage on a stinking wound, will bring not glory, but eternal shame to the spirit that possesses them. Without a doubt, the bodies of sinners will also be capable of reflecting the moral state of the spirit, of having an eternal revelation of their moral fall. A frank teaching about the end of the world. – Natural religions and philosophy about the end of the world. With the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living, the end of the age will follow. By the end of an age or a world, in the teachings of revelation and the church, we do not mean its complete destruction and destruction, but only a transformation, a renewal of the world, such a change in the state of the universe that it will appear in a new, better and most perfect form, corresponding to the glorified state of its future abodes. Such a change in the state of the material world is necessarily presupposed and required by the connection between the destinies of the material world and the destinies of man. The world in its present state is full of evil and disorder; It brings a lot of different sorrows and suffering to a person. But evil is accidental in the world; it is a consequence of sin. Therefore, with the destruction of sin and death and the elevation of man to a state of perfection in the body, the harmful consequences caused to the creature by the Fall of man must also be destroyed. The world in its present state cannot be a decent, blissful and eternal dwelling for people who will be resurrected with glorified bodies. The doctrine of the end of the existing world and the emergence of new heavens and earth was proclaimed in the Old Testament. Thus, the psalmist says about the real heaven and earth created by God: they will perish, but you will remain; and they will all promise like a robe, and like a garment of light, and they will be changed (Ps 101:27). St. Isaiah proclaims: for there will be a new heaven and a new earth (in Russian translation - behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth), and they will not remember the former, but will rise in their hearts (65, 17; sn. 13, 9-13; 51, 5; Joel. 2:10, 30-31). But the most specific features of the teaching about the end of the world are revealed in the New Testament. I. Christ, in explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares, said: the harvest is the end of the age (Matthew 13:39–40). Confirming the reality of the end of the world, He also prefigured those terrible and extraordinary shocks that will occur in heaven and on earth before the end of the world: after the sorrow of those days (disasters before His second coming), the sun will darken (σκοτισθήσεται - it will darken itself), and the moon will not give its light ( αυτής - her usual radiance, because, of course, she herself will no longer receive it), and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will move (Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25: and there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars, and the sea will roar and be troubled). The last darkening of the sun and moon will not be a simple lunar and solar eclipse, which phenomena never occur together at the same time, but it will be a complete cessation of the light of the sun, which will necessarily be followed by the darkening of the moon. The fall of stars (in the proper sense of stars, and not meteors) can be understood in the sense that they will gradually, one after another, seem to be torn from the vault of heaven, from those places where for centuries they have been accustomed to see them firmly strengthened and motionless, which will be combined with the complete extinction of their light and disappearance from view in cosmic space. Finally, the heavenly forces will move, that is, those cosmic forces will come into disordered motion, by the action of which world harmony is preserved (for example, the force of gravity) and which maintain the relationship of the heavenly bodies among themselves and in relation to the earth (rules of heaven). The Savior said: heaven and earth, that is, the whole totality of creation, will pass by (change according to the way of their being), but My words will not pass by (Matthew 24:35). In the same sense, the apostles taught about the end of the world. Ap. Peter revealed this teaching in connection with the appearance of insolent scoffers, who said: Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers began to die, from the beginning of creation, everything remains the same (2 Pet 3:3-4). Having pointed out to the scoffers that the primeval world perished in the waves of the flood (v. 6), the apostle warns that the present heavens and earth are hidden by the same Word (contained by the same Word), dished up by fire (τεθησουρισμένοι έισί - preserved, preserved like treasures, a jewel) for the day of judgment and destruction of wicked people (Art. 7) - as long as they have value in the eyes of God. But the day of the Lord will come, like a thief in the night, on which the heavens will blow past with a noise, and the burning elements will be ruined, and the earth and the works on it will be burned up (v. 10). The words of the apostle show that a terrible change in the world will occur on the day of the Lord, the day of judgment and destruction of the wicked, that is, on the day of the decisive determination of the fate of sinners. The subject of change will be: heaven, elements, earth and deeds on it. The expression: the heavens are noisily passing by makes it clear that by heaven we mean bodies placed in the starry sky; elements usually mean the original, simple substances of the world (Prem Sol 7, 17); the earth and the works on it designate our planet and everything that is on it: nature and art, the plant kingdom, minerals, animals, cities and houses (but not people), in general, all the accessories of the earthly inhabited world (cf. Hab. 2:13) - everything will be terribly destroyed. The weapon for the future renewal of the universe will be fire. The action of this fire - the “fiery flood”, or the river of fire” will not consist in the final destruction, not the decisive destruction of the material world, but only in the renewal and purification of the world. The apostle himself compares the future destruction of the world with the flood that befell the ancient world (v. 6) and directly says: the heavens are new and the earth is new, and, according to His promise, truth lives in them (v. 13), that is, we expect a new heaven, and not another heaven, a new earth, and not another earth. The words: truth lives in them, make it possible to see that the only change needed for the present heaven and present earth is such that there is no untruth in them, nothing remains of that disorderly and harmful that was brought into them by the sin of man. Ap. Paul teaches that the whole creation (πάσα ή κτίσις), that is, the whole material world, sighs and sympathizes (with us) even to this day and awaits the revelation of the sons of God, in the hope that it will be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, just as we ourselves sigh within ourselves, the restoration of longing deliverance to the body ours (Rom. 8:21–23), i.e., the resurrection of bodies. The words of the apostle show that the glorification of nature will not consist in the destruction of the world, but in liberation from the slavery of corruption or from vanity, and this will happen, at least not before the glorification of the sons of God. According to the same apostle: the image (σχήμα) of this world passes away (1 Cor. 7:31), but not the world, its essence or nature. The seer writes that he saw heaven and earth fleeing from the face of Him who sat on the throne, and they could not find a place (Rev. 20:10), that is, in their present state, and he saw a new heaven and a new earth! The first heaven and the earth are the first, and there is no sea. The New Jerusalem, which he saw, was prepared like a bride adorned for her husband, and about it it was said to him: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them (21:1-3). So, according to the clear teaching of revelation, the end of the world will indeed follow on the day of the Lord - the elemental heavens and earth, the end not in the sense of complete destruction, but the transformation or renewal of the world through fire. From the old heaven and earth and in their place, a new heaven and a new earth will appear, which will exist forever, without being subject to new upheavals; in them there will be no slavery to corruption, just as the bodies of the resurrected will be incorruptible, and righteousness will dwell. Experiences in resolving the question of the final fate of the world are also found in natural religions and philosophy, and recently natural science has been paying attention to this issue. Both in ancient times and now, the idea of ​​the end of the world seemed and seems quite acceptable for thinking: the world, consisting of complex and destructible substances, once received a beginning, therefore, it can end its existence in its present form. It is all the more natural to think that the world in its present state is all evil. The fate of man would be bleak if all this evil remained for eternity. The end of the world and the appearance of new worlds, new heavens and earth are spoken of in the religious legends of Brahminism (later), in the Persian religion (Zoroastrian), Egyptian, and in the mythology of the Germans. The need for some kind of world revolution (catastrophe) for the beginning of a better order of things was also recognized by some of the ancient philosophers, and the opinion that the real world would be destroyed by fire was readily shared (Heraclitus, the Stoics, Plato, Seneca). The latest natural science is trying to resolve the same question on the basis of data from the so-called. positive science (astronomy, geology, physics, geography). A number of hypotheses have appeared and exist suggesting that the universe must either gradually come to its end, or suddenly perish from the action of one or another natural force, and many of them assume and assume that a new heaven and a new earth may arise in the place of the dead. Natural science in solving this issue. especially in the present state of science, of course, one cannot go beyond guesswork and assumptions, more or less probable. But asserting that the present universe will have an end and in its place a new heaven and a new earth can arise, this science affirms the same truth that was announced by revelation long before the advent of scientific natural knowledge. § 187. General court. Its reality and manner of execution The validity of the universal court. – It differs from a private court. – An image or method of carrying out a universal judgment. Following the resurrection of the dead and the renewal of the world, the Lord I. Christ will execute judgment at His second coming—a universal judgment, open and solemn, just and terrible, decisive and final. Then righteous reward will follow for everyone according to his deeds, and the fates of all people will be determined for eternity. I. The reality of the future world judgment was foreshadowed in the Old Testament revelation (especially Daniel 7:9-14), but is most clearly established in the New Testament. I. Christ taught: to come and receive the Son of man in the glory of His Father with the holy angels, and then He will reward each according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27). In a conversation with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, He depicted the judgment itself, with all its consequences, which would be carried out by Him (Matthew 25:31–46). In many parables, convincing us to do the will of the Heavenly Father, He also pointed to the judgment that was about to take place, for example, in the parables: about wheat and tares, about the net (Matthew 13), about the unfaithful steward, about talents (25). Ap. Paul proclaimed in the Athenian Areopagus: God has appointed there is a day, in which he wants to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31; sn. Jude 14-15 vv.). He calls this great day the day of wrath and revelation of God's righteous judgment (Rom. 2:5). II. Much about the image or method of carrying out the final judgment is revealed to us under the cover of sensory images, the understanding of which is only partially accessible to our understanding. Revelation presents the Lord I. Christ as the executor of judgment. He Himself testified: the Father judges no one, but all judgment (κρίσιν πάσαν) is given to the Sons. The Father has given Him the domain (power) to execute judgment, for He is the Son of man (John 5:22, 27). The work of redemption was intended to be accomplished by the Son of God. Therefore, it was fitting for the Son of God, for He is the Son of man, to carry out, of course, in unity with the will of God the Father, judgment on the human race. Commanded us (the resurrected I. Christ), says the apostle. Peter, - to preach to people that He (I. Christ) is the one named by God as Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). Ap. Paul teaches that God will judge in secret (i.e., affairs) by man... Jesus Christ (δί Ι. Χριοτού - Rom. 2:16; sn. Acts 17:31). When carrying out judgment on the world, the Lord I. Christ, as a king who came to demand an account from His servants (Luke 19:12–15), will sit on the throne of His glory, surrounded by angels (Matthew 25:31), and the throne will be great (Rev. 20:11). The Throne of Glory, without a doubt, is a figurative representation of the royal dignity of I. Christ, which in its full glory will be revealed before the resurrected people who have gathered for judgment (just like the Judgment Seat of Christ mentioned in 2 Cor. 5). Angels will take part in the proceedings of the court, as executors of the will of the king and the Judge of the universe. In the Savior's parable about the wheat and the tares, it seems that at the end of the age the harvesting angels are that the Son of man will fly to His angels, and will gather from His kingdom all temptations and those who practice iniquity (Matthew 13:39-41, 24, 31); angels will come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous (13:49); the angels learn to carry out the divine sentence over the wicked - casting them into the fiery furnace (Matt 8:12; 13, 42, 50, etc.). There are sayings in Scripture in which participation in the trial is attributed to people - the apostles and saints in general. So I. Christ promised the apostles: Amen, I say to you, because you who walked after Me, in the regeneration (έν τή παλιγενεσία), when the Son of man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on the throne of two ten, the judgment of which is still deceived and ten times. nome of Israel (Matthew 19:28; fn. Luke 22:30). Ap. Paul writes: do you not know that the saints of the world have to judge (χρίνουσι, - 1 Cor. 6:2)? But the God-Man Himself, to whom God the Father gave all judgment, will judge the living and the dead. The promise of the apostles sitting on twelve thrones is only a figurative indication that at the general judgment they will be especially exalted above everyone, as the persons closest to the king, the Judge, will primarily share with Him the glory of judgment and the kingdom. As for the judgment and condemnation of the twelve tribes of Israel, their participation in this regard should be limited to the fact that they will condemn, through the good example of their moral life and activity, the generally wicked of all nations and, above all, their contemporaries, especially the disbelieving sons of Israel. But since, in addition to the twelve tribes of Israel, there are still many peoples and tribes that will appear before the world court, not only the apostles, but the saints of the world in general will judge, that is, they will be, as it were, living tablets of the law of Christ, according to which the judgment is carried out, testifying in themselves the possibility for a person to achieve salvation, and they will show sinners that evil will has led them to condemnation. All people will appear as defendants at the general trial - sinners and righteous, Christians and non-Christians, living and dead, and not only people, but also fallen spirits. At the last judgment, says I. Christ, all the nations will be gathered before Him (πάντα τα e έθνη Matt. 25:32), - not only pagans, but all the nations that have existed from the beginning of the world - chosen from the four winds, from the end of the heavens to the end of them (24, 31), as well as all those who create temptations and practice iniquity (13, 41). The angels who disobeyed their superiors and left their home will also appear for judgment. Ap. Paul teaches: Do you not know how imams judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3)? Under the angels in the words of St. It is more correct for Paul to understand the fallen angels, as the ancient teachers understood (for example, Chrysostom, Blessed Theodoret). The subject of the final judgment and, at the same time, the basis for the condemnation of some and the justification of others will be the good or evil deeds of those brought to trial, the thoughts, words and moral dispositions of each, their faith or unbelief. The Lord, the apostle teaches, on this day will reward everyone according to his deeds! for those who seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life, and those who zealously resist (persist) the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and wrath (Rom. 2:6-8). Everyone must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may receive what he did with his body (i.e., according to what he did while living in the body), either good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10; cf. Gal. 6: 7–9; Jude 15). But not only for deeds, but also for his words, everyone will have to give an account: I say to you, the Savior teaches, that every idle word that men speak will be rendered accountable on the day of judgment. You will be justified by your words and condemned by your words (Matthew 12:36-37). Finally, the intentions of the heart will also be the subject of judgment: when the Lord comes, then He will bring into light the secrets of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart, and then praise will come to everyone from God (1 Cor. 4:5; Rom. 2:16; cf. Rev. 2:23). Each will be judged according to his own strengths and talents: to everyone, to whom much will be given, much will be required of him; and having given to him many times (entrusted to another), they will ask (demand) from him many times (Luke 12:48; cf. Matthew 25:14–30 - the parable of the talents). The totality of external conditions, favorable or unfavorable for moral development, under which people lived and acted in one way or another will also be taken into account, especially whether the revelation of God was known or unknown to them, as, for example, to the inhabitants of Tire, Sidon and Nineveh, or Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Matthew 11: 21-23; 12, 41). Ap. Paul makes it clear that people who lived under the revealed law and those who did not have such a law will not be judged in the same way: for there is no consideration of persons, but the sight of God, he says. Those who sin lawlessly will perish lawlessly! and those who sin in the law will receive judgment by the law! (Rom.2:11-12). The impartiality of God at the trial, according to the apostle, will be revealed in the fact that those who sin lawlessly, that is, without a written law, but guided by one natural law, will perish lawlessly, that is, not according to the written law will be condemned to eternal torment, but according to the law written in the heart of everyone. And those who have sinned in the law, that is, having a written law, then according to this law they will be judged and receive judgment, that is, condemnation. Accordingly, the clarification of the moral state of those judged will be followed by the separation of good and evil and the pronouncement of a sentence on both. And the Son of Man will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the evil ones! And He will set the sheep at His right hand, and on the left side of evil. Then the king says to those who are on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world... But to those who are on His left He will say: Depart from Me, you cursed ones, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel... And these shall suffer into everlasting torment, but the righteous into everlasting life ( Matthew 25:32–46). § 188. The end of the gracious kingdom of Christ and the opening of the kingdom of glory. The falsehood of chiliasm The concept of the gracious kingdom of Christ and the concept of the kingdom of glory. – The end of the grace-filled kingdom of Christ, the opening of the kingdom of glory. – The emergence of the doctrine of chiliasm and its essence. - Its falsity. I. With the second coming of Christ and the universal judgment, the end of the gracious kingdom of Christ will follow and the eternal kingdom of glory will open. The gracious kingdom of Christ or the Church Militant is adapted to the temporary dispensation of human salvation, until all reach perfection, according to the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:12). But by the time of the second coming of Christ to judge the world, the Gospel will be preached throughout the entire universe. All those destined for the kingdom of God will enter it, and the enemies of this kingdom and death itself will be defeated. At the general judgment, the tares that hinder the growth of the wheat will be separated. The old world will cease to exist. The economy of salvation, which consists in the application and assimilation of the saving merits of Jesus Christ to people, will be completed. It is clear that with its completion, the existence of the kingdom of grace must also end - the church, which is in a state of constant exploits and struggle with enemies, visible and invisible. The end that the apostle speaks about will come: and then, that is, after the resurrection of the dead, the end will come when he gives up the kingdom to God and the Father, when he abolishes all authority and all authority and power. It is fitting for Him to reign until He puts all enemies under His feet. And the last enemy will be destroyed by death... When (God the Father) puts all things in subjection to Him, then the Son Himself will subject all things to Him, that all things may be in all (1 Cor. 15:24-28). In these words of the apostle, it is understood precisely the kingdom that belongs to I. Christ before His second coming, that is, the temporary, according to the economy, the kingdom of Christ - the church. He will hand over this kingdom to God the Father. Then the determination of the eternal council of the Holy Trinity, about which the Son spoke to the Father, will be fulfilled: Behold, I come to do Your will, O God (Heb. 10:7). But with the betrayal of this kingdom of His to God and the Father, the reign of Christ will not end. Then that kingdom will be revealed in all its power and glory, prepared for the righteous from the foundation of the world, the birth and education of children for which is the task of the church. This kingdom I. Christ called either the kingdom of God (Mark 9:47; 10, 14; Luke 13:28–29), then the kingdom of His Father (Matt. 26:29), then the house of His Father, in which many abodes were prepared for His followers (John 14:2). This kingdom is not only the kingdom of God the Father, or in general the kingdom of the Holy Trinity, but also His own, directly belonging to Him as the Redeemer. Therefore, He called this same kingdom the kingdom of the Son of man (Matthew 16:28; cf. 13:41), His kingdom (in Luke 22:20 - My kingdom). In the same way, the apostles called this kingdom not only the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9; 15, 50; 2 Sol 1, 5), but also the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 1, 11; 2 Tim 4, 18; Rev. 11:15), the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph. 5:5). His Kingdom, which is about to begin with the beginning of eternal life for the righteous in soul and body and in renewed heaven and earth, immediately after the general judgment, will have no end (Luke 1:33; Rev. 11:15). With Him, the Lord Jesus, those who believe in Him will also reign (2 Tim 2:12; cf. Rom. 8:17). II. It is clear from here how one should look at the chiliastic (χιλιασμός - millennium) hopes and expectations of the second coming of Christ for the establishment of an earthly 1000-year kingdom by Him, which arose in the first centuries of Christianity and passes through the entire history of the church. The essence of these aspirations among the ancient chiliasts was as follows. The Lord I. Christ, long before the end of the world, will come to earth again, defeat His enemies, abolish the power of Satan for a thousand years, resurrect the dead righteous (“first resurrection”), establish a kingdom on earth, and will reign with the resurrected and glorified righteous for a thousand years. As a reward for their exploits and sufferings, the righteous will enjoy all the benefits - spiritual and sensual (for the Judaizing Chiliasts - with the restoration of Jerusalem and the Old Testament sacrifices), and they will be given dominion over the rest of humanity. After this time, Satan, bound for a thousand years, will be again untied and, together with the Antichrist, his instrument, and his followers, will enter into a fierce struggle with the kingdom of Christ, but this battle will end in the death of Satan and the Antichrist along with his followers, and then the second, general resurrection, the end of the world, the general will follow. judgment and universal eternal retribution. Obviously, chiliastic aspirations about the coming of Christ 1000 years before the end of the world and about some special kingdom of Christ, different from the kingdom of grace (church) and the kingdom of glory, as well as the double resurrection of the dead, have no basis for themselves. The Church, having condemned at the Second Ecumenical Council all the errors of Apollinaris, who, by the way, shared chiliastic views, also condemned his teaching about the millennium of Christ, and for this purpose at the council the words about Christ were included in the very symbol: His kingdom will have no end. § 189. Blissful state of the righteous. The degrees and eternity of their bliss The constant presence of the righteous with the Lord is their bliss. - The degrees of their bliss. - Their eternity. – The state of the kingdom of nature in the new world. I. Those blessed by the Heavenly Father in the kingdom prepared for them from the creation of the world will have “a life so blissful that we are not able to understand, imagine or depict this bliss” (Katikh. 12 ch.). Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and the heart of man has not sighed, what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). We know a person about Christ, says the apostle. Paul about himself, - who was caught up in the former ... to the third heaven, ... in paradise, and hearing ineffable verbs, which a man should not speak, that is, predict (2 Cor. 12: 2, 4). Scripture depicts the state of the righteous in this kingdom mostly with likenesses and images taken from majestic and beautiful objects. It calls heavenly blessings treasure (Matt. 19:21; 1 Pet 1:4), an incorruptible, pure, unfading inheritance (1 Pet 1:4; cf. Eph. 1:14; 1 Cor. 3:24; Gal. 3:24), etc. As the highest of all the blessings prepared for the righteous, revelation points to their direct contemplation and close communication with the Lord and Savior I. Christ and through Him with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Savior said to His disciples: do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God and believe in Me... I will come again and give you food to Myself. Where I am, you too will be (John 14:1–3). In prayer to the Father, He cried out: Father, these which you have given to Me, I will, that even where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may see (θεωρώσι) My glory, which you have given to Me (17:24). This vision regarding the human nature of Christ the Savior, of course, will be through the very bodily sense of vision. The hope of a blessed vision and communion with Christ the Savior most of all consoled and inspired the apostles. Ap. Paul wants to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23) and promises the believers that in the future life they will always be with the Lord (1 Sol 4:17), and reign with Him (2 Tim 2:11-12). Ap. John says that we will then see Christ the Savior as He is (1 John 3:2). Then the righteous will truly appear as heirs to God, and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). Staying constantly with the Lord Jesus in the kingdom of Christ and God, the righteous, through I. Christ and the Holy Spirit and to God the Father, will be as close as children are close to their own father, living in his house (John 14:2), they will be one with the Father: that they may all be one: as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, that they also may be one in us (John 17:21), - I. Christ prayed to His To the Father about believers. In the revelation of St. John says that the blessed kingdom of glory will be the tabernacle of God with men, where He will dwell with them: and these His people will be, and God Himself (the Trinitarian) will be with them (Rev. 21:3). According to Ap. Paul, then God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28). Of course, even now He is in everyone: in Him we live, we move, and we are. But then it will happen and will be manifested in some special way. As a consequence of the special communication and unity of man with God in the kingdom of glory, St. Scripture points to the satisfaction of all the highest aspirations and needs of the souls of the righteous. According to the revelation of St. John, God will be both a light for the righteous, enlightening them, and an animal tree, feeding them with its fruits, and a source of animal water, giving them drink (Rev. 21:6, 22–23). In particular, then they will find the possible complete satisfaction of the mind, which thirsts for truth and only partially finds satisfaction here. We see now (God), says the apostle. Paul, - like a mirror in fortune-telling (as if through a dark glass, fortune-telling), then face to face! Now I understand in part, but then I knew it, just as I also knew it (1 Cor. 13:12). In these words, the apostle indicates the difference and superiority of the knowledge that will be given in life after the resurrection, in comparison with the present, in two ways: quantitative and qualitative. In the first, the knowledge available to man in the present century regarding the mysteries of the kingdom of God is partial knowledge (έκ μέρους), partial, incomplete, compared to the future. Regarding the depth and perfection of future knowledge, the apostle gives two comparisons: the understanding of a child and a husband (in v. 11), and seeing through a dark glass and face to face. The first comparison makes it clear that in the next century knowledge will be as perfect as the knowledge of a husband compared to the knowledge of a child. The second comparison shows that our present knowledge of God and, in general, knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God, in comparison with the future, is as imperfect as the knowledge of an object that can be viewed or known through a dark glass can be, in comparison with the knowledge of the same object through direct consideration of it. God is revealed here in the word, and man must by faith assimilate the truths revealed to him, without seeing the object itself, for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). In life after the resurrection, faith and hope will be abolished (1 Cor. 13:8-10), since we will see everything that we believed in face to face, and we will experience everything that we hoped for. It goes without saying that God in His essence always remains incomprehensible (1 Cor. 2:11). The will of the blessed inhabitants of the kingdom of glory will be free from all uncleanness and sinfulness, for there will be absolutely no sin there (1 Cor. 15:56–57). The righteous will then be satisfied with the righteousness that they hungered and thirsted for here. Love for God and the inseparable love for neighbors, which no longer falls away, will then be revealed in them in the most perfect way, so that they will be beyond any danger of deviating from the direction towards the one good. All this, as its immediate consequence, will be the satisfaction of all the pure demands of feeling in bliss. When all the highest aspirations of the freely rational nature are satisfied, the cause of such constant and inevitable spiritual suffering and discontent in earthly life, resulting from the dissatisfaction of the needs and aspirations of the godlike human soul, will be eliminated. In His Discourse on the Mount, the Savior teaches that each of the heavenly blessings in its own right can bring bliss to a person. The bliss of a person who will receive the fullness of heavenly blessings and when at the same time the struggle between good and evil in man himself and in the whole world will completely cease and the eternal triumph of good will begin, it is impossible to depict. The blissful state of the righteous in their souls will correspond and partly replenish it with their state in the body and the created environment in which they will turn and live. The body, which is now the source of countless sorrows and illnesses, will then be removed from all shortcomings and needs, the disastrous influence of the elements, illness and death, and will not require those exhausting cares and hard work that it now requires for its preservation, nutrition, and clothing. All this will pass and all external causes of suffering will be destroyed. They (the righteous) will no longer hunger or thirst, and the sun will not scorch them and no heat will strike them: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living springs of water... And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death; There will be no more crying, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 7:16-17; 21, 4). The righteous will be introduced into the beautiful kingdom of nature. In the new heaven and earth there will be none of those evils that now turn the earth into a place of exile and punishment for us, but, on the contrary, there will be all the blessings, just as the ancient paradise, the dwelling of the first people, was filled with them. The dwelling place of those worthy of bliss will be an image of the glory of God (Rev. 21:23). And there will be earthly creatures, but only they will be free from slavery to corruption, will not groan under the heavy yoke of this slavery and will be able to participate in the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:20-21). The composition of the new earth or the abode of the righteous will include only that which is best and most precious in the renewed material world (Rev. 21:10. 27). The righteous will enjoy the same dominion over creation that innocent man enjoyed, since the restoration of man by grace is the restoration of innocent man with his rights and privileges (Rev. 22:1-5). With all this will be connected the close mutual communication of the righteous with each other and with the angels. All who are called and who follow the calling from east and west will come and lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11), all will be one, being bound together by bonds of purest love, as children of one common Father. Thus, every blessed inhabitant of the kingdom of glory will recognize there and enter into communication with those with whom he was connected here by spiritual ties of pure love, kinship and friendship, but what is especially gratifying is that he will see there all the saints of God - the forefathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs and, in general, all the righteous. The saints will have communion there with angels and all the purest spirits. This is what the ap promises. Paul, when he says that all the righteous will not only approach, but will actually join the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and ten thousand angels, the triumph and church of the firstborn in heaven, written (Heb. 12:22-23, cf. Rev. 21:2, 10, 11). Such communication cannot but be a source of bliss for the righteous, especially since nothing there will disturb mutual love, for there will be no ambition, greed, envy and people with such vices, as well as carnal needs. II. Although all the righteous will enjoy bliss, however, their bliss will have its own degrees, according to the work and moral dignity of each. This is presupposed by the very concept of God’s justice and the unequally revealed capacity for bliss in people themselves. The Savior taught: in My Father’s house are many mansions (John 14:2). These words can be understood not only in the sense of indicating a quantitative plurality of monasteries or the vastness of the premises of many equal monasteries, but also their qualitative difference. The Lord also distinguishes the reward of prophets and righteous people: if you accept a prophet in the name of the prophet, he will receive the reward of the prophet. And whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, only in the name of the disciple, Amen, I say to you, he will not lose his reward (Matthew 10:41-42). He promised the apostles that in the rebirth they would occupy an exceptional position in comparison with other believers (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30). Ap. Paul says about works of mercy that if you sow with poverty, you will also reap with poverty! a sow for blessing (generously) for blessing (generously) and you will reap (2 Cor. 9:6). The apostle's words about different degrees of glorification of the body (1 Cor. 15 - different glory to the sun, etc.) also imply different degrees of bliss. III. Just as the glorious kingdom of Christ is an eternal kingdom, which will have no end, so the blessed life of the righteous in this kingdom will have no end, but will be eternal. The eternity of the bliss of the righteous is assumed by the impossibility of them falling at all in the afterlife, especially after the resurrection, when they enter into the enjoyment of eternal life and all its benefits. “I will give them eternal life,” said the Savior, “and they will not perish forever, and no one will take them up or take them away from My hand (John 10:28; sn. 3, 16); no one will take away their joy (16, 22). Justified at the last judgment and called to bliss, the righteous go to the eternal belly (Matthew 25:46). § 190. Condition of convicts. The degrees and eternity of their torment The fate of unrepentant sinners after the Last Judgment. – Habitat of the outcasts. - The degree of their torment. – Objections to those who reject eternity of torment. I. The fate of unrepentant sinners after the general judgment is opposite to the condition of the righteous. The greatest grief awaits them - endless and unimaginable torment. Holy Scripture depicts the torment of those condemned at the last judgment mainly from the negative side, indicating those benefits that sin deprives a person, and often in images in relation to our current understanding. Sinners will be deprived of all those benefits of which the righteous will be heirs. All these benefits are united in one idea of ​​the kingdom of God, into which sinners will not enter. They will be away from God and His kingdom and under the wrath or condemnation of God. Go away from Mene, curse, - they will hear the verdict of the Supreme Judge. Depart from Me, all workers of unrighteousness (Luke 13:27; cf. Matt. 7:21). Whoever does not believe in the Son of God will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36; cf. Rom. 2:5–10). Those unworthy of the son's kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness (Matthew 8:11-12) and, being in torment, they will see Abraham and the righteous in his bosom from afar (Luke 16:23). And such a formidable rejection by God of sinners from the kingdom of God and, moreover, forever, combined with the presence of God’s wrath on them, understandably, will and will produce unimaginably severe internal suffering in their souls. The loss of natural light is difficult for a person, but even more difficult is the removal from the Source of spiritual light and life. Without the radiance of the eternal light, not only is there no enlightenment for the mind, but there is neither peace for the heart, nor goodness for the will. The spiritual state of unrepentant sinners will therefore be a state of painful feeling of emptiness and languor in the heart, no longer entertained by either the world or the flesh. And as a result of this, the inner life of unrepentant sinners will be more like death than life, which is why, in comparison with bodily death, destroyed by the general resurrection, it can be called the second death (Rev. 20:14). How severe the suffering will be for those deprived of the blessings of the kingdom of God is indicated by the words of the Savior about those in the outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 22:13; Luke 13:28). And according to the expression of the apostle, sorrow (spiritual torment) and oppression (physical torment, oppression that torments the body and torments the soul) await every soul of a person who does evil (Rom 2:9). In addition to the torment caused by deprivation of heavenly blessings, Scripture also speaks of the positive torment of sinners. These torments are represented in him under the images of an undying worm and an unquenchable fire. The Lord will say to those condemned at the Last Judgment: Depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man is depicted as suffering in the fire. It’s better to put it into the belly of a lame person,” Christ said, warning against temptations, “even though I have two noses and be cast into Gehenna, into unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:45–46; sn. 44 and 48 vv.). Expressions about fire and worms are figurative expressions. However, these images in relation to the state of the condemned cannot be understood only in the sense of strong sorrow over the deprivation of heavenly blessings, but they make it clear that sinners will undergo more positive torment and indicate the extreme torment of their suffering. It is said about the worm: their worm (αυτών) does not die. Their increase gives reason to think that this punishment is inseparably connected with the condemned and that, therefore, is caused not by external reasons, but by internal ones, and denotes the internal torment of sinners, the same thing that is denoted by crying and gnashing of teeth, as well as the grief and oppression of the one who does evil. It is stated about the fire of Gehenna that it is prepared for the devil and his angels; it seems to be located in the place where the condemned are located, and therefore it is more correct to think that it indicates external torment. The prevailing understanding among the ancient teachers was that under fire there was some positive punishment of God's truth, but, of course, they imagined fire itself to be consistent with the properties of future bodies, special, not similar to the real one. The region or dwelling place of the outcasts appears in Scripture as the complete opposite of the blessed dwelling of the righteous, distant and separate from the kingdom of the righteous. The names assigned to this place in Scripture are figurative in nature and cannot be understood in a literal sense, however, all of them equally show that it is capable of inflicting only severe and burning torment on its inhabitants. These names are: gehenna or gehenna of fire (Mark 9:45, 47; Matt. 5:22, 29; Luke 12, etc.), the cave of fire (Matthew 13:50; sn. 24 and 30 vv.), lake of fire and bogey or burning with sulfur (Rev. 19:20; 21, 8), in which death and hell was cast quickly (20, 14), an abyss terrible even for the demons themselves (Luke 8:31), also pitch darkness (Matt. 8:12; 22, 13; 25, 30) and hell, separated by an abyss from the dwelling of the righteous and at the same time full of burning and tormenting flame (Luke 16:23–26). Staying in such a place, the rejected, instead of God and the heavenly ranks of angels, will see the original culprit of sin and death - the devil with his angels (Matthew 25:41; 2 Pet 2, 4; Jude 6 v.). Evil demons, condemned to the same fate as a sinful person, cannot tell him anything except groans of joyless sorrow, except curses of fierce malice, blasphemy, cursing, and gnashing of teeth. Instead of the chosen saints of God, they will be in communion with only their own kind, tormented by torment and despair, the wicked: outside (the city of heaven) dogs and sorcerers, fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and commits lies (Rev. 22:15). As for where exactly in the new world the place designated for sinners will be, St. I. Chrysostom teaches the following instruction: “Are you asking where and in what place will Gehenna be? But what do you care about that? It is necessary to know only that it exists, and not where and in what place it is hiding... In my (however) opinion, it will be somewhere outside of this whole world; just as royal dungeons and mines are far away, so Gehenna will be somewhere outside this universe” (On Rom. Wes. XXXI, 3). II. The condition of all those deprived of participation in the blessings of the kingdom of God and cast into hell will be unbearable and painful - so painful that in these days people will seek death and will not find it, they will desire to die, and death will flee from them (Rev. 9:6). However, their torment will not be the same for everyone, just as the degrees of bliss of the righteous are different. I. Christ said: a servant who obeys the will of his master, neither having prepared nor done according to his will, will be beaten many times; but the ignorant, having done something worthy of wounds, will suffer few punishments (Luke 12:47–48). Expressing grief to the inhabitants of Chorazin and Bethsaida, who did not repent, he said that it will be more bearable for Tire and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you, and it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomortya on the day of judgment than for that city that does not receive the apostles (Matthew 10:15; 11, 22). About the Pharisees, who eat up the houses of widows and hypocritically pray, he pointed out that these will receive further condemnation (Luke 20:47). III. The fate of sinners after the resurrection and the Last Judgment can no longer change. No matter what degree of torment is determined for a sinner by the truth of God, after the general judgment there will be no possibility or hope for him to ever be freed from the bonds of hell, as such hope remains for some after a private judgment. Those rejected by God go to eternal torment. The doctrine of the eternity of torment is one of those revealed truths against which people rebel with particular tenacity. It seemed and still seems incredible that the Lord would subject Him to eternal torment during his short life. It is not surprising, therefore, that from ancient times to the present day there have been and are opponents of this teaching. Some of them are trying to prove their opinion about the so-called. apokatastasis, others - the opinion of the complete destruction of those not called to a blessed life. The essence of the doctrine of apocatastasis is that sinners and even demons will not endure torment forever, but only until they are cleansed of their sins, for the torment itself is assigned to them by the truth of God not only for punishment, but also for their moral healing. Having been cleansed from evil by the painful action of Gehenna fire, all sinners and all demons will become participants in eternal life. Sooner or later, in this way, the dispensation of all will be accomplished (άποκατάστασις των πάντων, - Acts 3:21), i.e., the restoration of all creation to a state of perfection and bliss. Then the final goal of the economy will be achieved, and God will be all in all (1 Cor 15:28). The most prominent representative of this view in antiquity was Origen; at present it also has many defenders. Other opponents of the doctrine of the eternity of torment argue that those who are not called to a blessed life will be subjected to complete destruction either by external force, that is, by the power of God, or through the internal self-decomposition of the soul, the self-extinction of life in it, as not having a guarantee of immortality (in ancient times Arnovius Afric., in modern times Socinians and many of the Protestant theologians). Ho revelation, affirming the universality of the resurrection. that is, both the righteous and the wicked, teaches with perfect clarity that the torment will be eternal. And. Christ at the last judgment will say to those standing on their feet: depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel... And these go into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life. The revelation of John says that the torment of hell will continue forever and ever: the devil and his tools will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10), that the smoke of their torment (who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark) ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day and night (14, 11; fn. 2 Sol 1, 9–10; Jude 13). The expression forever and ever (superlative degree) does not allow for any other interpretation than in the sense of endless eternity. And about the bliss of the righteous St. John expresses himself in the same way: they will reign forever and ever (Rev. 22:5). Defenders of apokatastasis try to weaken the power of these testimonies of Scripture, arguing that the words: age (αιών), eternal (αιώνιος), forever (είς τουαιώνας), as if applied to future torment mean an indefinitely long time, but not an infinite continuation of time, that in general in Scripture they do not always have their own and literal meaning. This latter is true, and therefore the only means of determining what time is meant by century or eternity in each individual case - finite or infinite - can only be context. But the context does not favor the understanding of the word “eternal” in the sense of a limited time in those passages of Scripture that speak of the duration of hellish torment. In the quoted words of the Savior, as well as in the words of St. John, the eternal torment of the wicked is contrasted with the eternal bliss of the righteous. But if the blessed life of the righteous continues endlessly, and this is not disputed by anyone, then the torment of sinners is eternal in the same sense. “If there is ever an end to eternal torment,” says Vasily V., then eternal life, without a doubt, must have an end. And if we do not dare to think this about life, then what reason do we have to put an end to eternal torment? The same word is used both about torment and about life - eternal. It is said: these go into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life (Right. Answer to question 267). They say that God only threatens people with eternal torment in order to keep them from sins, but in fact, as a merciful Father, he will have mercy on them, just as earthly legislators and rulers often act. But the doctrine of the eternity of torment is expressed in Scripture not as a threat, but as an immutable determination of God. The Savior, when he says: Depart from Me, curse... and these go into eternal torment, does not threaten, but only prophetically depicts what is to follow after the Last Judgment. At the trial, and even more so after the trial, it is inappropriate to make threats in order to ward off misconduct. And in general it is impossible to allow God to threaten man with a false threat. The Church has constantly preached as an immutable truth that the torment of unrepentant sinners, like fallen spirits, will be eternal. Regarding the false teaching of Origen on the Vth Universe. The Council decided: “whoever says or thinks that the torment of demons and wicked people will be temporary and after some time will end, and then will be followed by the restoration of evil spirits and wicked people to their primitive state - let him be anathema” (Anath. 5). The doctrine of the eternity of torment seems unacceptable to many from the point of view of rational thinking. It seems to be in conflict with the teaching about the purpose of creation, the truth and goodness of God, etc. But all the perplexities and objections to this teaching may seem valid only at first glance. It is difficult to imagine that God would condemn to eternal torment beings who, although sinful, repented of their sins, and who only did not manage to justify their repentance by actively turning to goodness, but who were still hungry and thirsty for truth. For sin alone there will never be forgiveness: this is sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit - sin leading to death. Sin or blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is stubborn resistance to the obvious truth of God, complete unbelief and unrepentance, persistent rejection of grace, combined with aversion from everything that is holy and pleasing to God (Heb. 10:26, 29), otherwise sin against the Holy Spirit is unrepentant bitterness in evil, which has lost the acceptability of grace. This is a sin that, for its unrepentance, will be condemned to eternal torment. Can the human spirit remain in such unrepentant bitterness for all eternity? There is no reason to answer this question in the negative. If a rational being can remain in a state of unrepentant malice and irreconcilable enmity with God for all eternity, then, as a being incapable of blissful unity with God, it must be removed from Him, and as an evil being, it must be limited in its evil activity, imprisoned, and, moreover, for all eternity, because the malice of such a being is unrepentant and irreconcilable, which will continue and intensify throughout eternity. eternity. From here, all objections to the doctrine of the eternity of torment are easily resolved. If there is eternal torment, then God, they say, does not achieve the Goal of creation, or does not achieve it completely. True, God destined for man a high goal - likeness to God and eternal blissful communion with Himself, but, having created him free, he made the achievement of this goal dependent on the freedom of creatures. Consequently, the blame does not fall on God's omnipotence if a free creature does not want to go to its intended goal, when at the same time the wisdom of God has given man all the means to salvation and bliss, but rejected by him. It is incongruous, they say, with the truth of God to condemn someone to eternal torment for the sins of a short earthly life. But, as St. I. Chrysostom, “we are not judged according to the time of sins, but according to the nature of the sins.” And minor sins are often committed over a long period of time, and serious sins are committed instantly. Moreover, in eternal torment, not only the temporary sins of earthly life, which deeply damaged and hardened the soul, will be executed, but much more - unrepentant malice and irreconcilable hatred of good. God is goodness and love. How can one reconcile with the goodness of God the eternal torment of creatures called into existence by goodness? Indeed, God Himself testifies that His love for man is stronger than the love of a mother for her baby (Is. 49:15), or the love of a father for his son (Matt. 7:9. 10). God has provided every means for man's salvation. With all this, there will be beings who will reject all these means. Consequently, their destruction does not depend on God: the goodness of God would save them if they only wanted to accept salvation. If they perish, it means they reject salvation. The goodness of God can only leave them an existence that they themselves have filled with the torments of powerless malice and suffering. They say that eternal torment, as a punishment that does not have the goal of correcting those being punished, is aimless cruelty and vengeance, unworthy of God. But what would human justice say if it were presented with the following consideration: in society there are fierce and inveterate criminals; no punishment will correct them: therefore, every punishment imposed on them is pointless cruelty, and therefore such villains should be freed from all punishment and should be given complete freedom of action?... The law of truth and common thinking cannot tolerate such reasoning. If there will be eternal torment for some, then why did God create them? He knew their unfortunate fate. Wouldn't it be better not to give them existence at all, than to condemn them to eternal torment? God, of course, even before the creation of the world knew the number of people who, together with the devil and his angels, would undergo eternal torment; but God also foresaw from eternity that countless people would enjoy eternal blissful life. If the destruction of hardened sinners, foreseen by God, could stop creative goodness, which wanted to create rational creatures, then why could not the bliss of the righteous and saved, also foreseen by God, move Him to creation? Do they really want God to deny existence and all its joys and goodness because of the evil? “In this case,” notes St. I. Damascene, evil would defeat the goodness of God” (Accurate edition. IV, 21). But if bliss should remain inaccessible to other rationally free beings due to their sinfulness throughout all eternity, then isn’t it better for them to cease to exist than to be in eternal torment? In this sense, objections to the eternity of torment by ancient and modern supporters of the opinion about the destruction of the existence of souls incapable of bliss are resolved. But the soul in itself, in its nature, bears the guarantee of immortality; she has no inclinations for her own decay - she cannot kill herself (Rev. 9:6). As having its existence from the Creator, it could cease to exist only by His will, for “It is possible for the Creator to destroy even the immortal.” But it is unacceptable for God to destroy His own creation - the “image” of His perfection. As for the reasoning of supporters of the opinion about the destruction of the souls of the wicked (otherwise, the theory of the so-called optional immortality or conditionalism), as if the doctrine of the endless torment of sinners is vengeance unworthy of God, then reasoning of this kind proceeds from the fact that the eternal torment of sinners is thought of as external punishment, the action of the punitive will of God according to its cruel judgment. In fact, as stated above, eternal torment is prepared by man himself and is the natural fruit of everyone’s moral state. He who has not taken care of clothing must necessarily suffer from the cold in his nakedness. Sinners themselves close the path to bliss and are doomed to torment. It would be unfair to blame God's providence for this. The stories about the ordeals are fully set out in the “Sermon on the Exodus of the Soul” by St. Cyril of Alexandria (usually published in the Followed Psalter) and in the Narrative of Blessed Theodora about the Aerial Ordeals (located and published in the Life of Vasily Novago, under March 26). To substantiate the doctrine of purgatory on St. In the scriptures, Roman Catholics refer mainly to 1 Cor. 3:11–15, where by fire they mean purgatory fire. But such an interpretation is arbitrary, and this very place is one of those in which there is something incomprehensible (2 Pet 3:16). They also point to Matthew 5 (fn. Luke 12:58–59), but there is no reason to see here a discussion of purgatory and punishments in it. In fact, the doctrine of purgatory developed and established itself in the West in the Middle Ages and independently of St. Scriptures. First, ideas about purgatory spread among Western Christians in legends and visions from the afterlife, and then justification and explanation were given to these ideas in the spirit of the doctrine of satisfaction with God on the part of man. Sn. Ave. Dogma. God. IV vol. § 191. In the light of the above clear evidence of the revelation of the Antichrist as a separate person, one can find, as the ancient teachers actually did, indications of him in other, albeit hidden, places of Scripture, namely, in St. Daniel (7, 24–25; 8, 20–25; 11, 31; 12, 11) and in the revelation of I. Theologian (13, 1–12; 17, 8–14; 19, 2). “The all-bad one will come,” says St. Ephraim the Syrian, - like a thief, in such a form as to deceive everyone, a humble, meek, hater, as he will say about himself, of untruth, averse to idols, preferring piety, will come, kind, poor-loving, highly handsome, affectionate to everyone, respecting especially the Jewish people, because the Jews will expect his coming... And with all this, he will take cunning measures for everyone to please so that his people will love him. He will deceive the world until he reigns. And with all this, with great power he will perform signs, wonders and fears... Therefore, when many classes and peoples see his virtues and powers, everyone will suddenly have one thought and with great joy will proclaim him king, saying to each other: “Will there still be a man so good and truthful?” Sl. 38, on the outskirts Christ. and antichrist. You might be interested in: