Отдел II. О Боге, как Освятителе и как Судии и Мздовоздаятеле

Chapter I. About God as Sanctifier § 106. Connection with the previous; the concept of the sanctification of man and the participation of all Persons of the Holy Trinity in the work of this sanctification I. The Lord Jesus, as Prophet, High Priest, and King, accomplished salvation for all people. But in order for every person to become a partaker of this salvation, to truly be saved in Christ Jesus, the sanctification of man is necessary. II. Under the name of sanctification (ἁγιασμός, δικαιοσύνη, sanctificatio, justificatio) we mean the actual assimilation by each of us of the merits of Christ, or such a thing in which the all-holy God, under certain conditions on our part, actually cleanses us from sins, justifies us and makes us sanctified and holy (1 Cor. 1:2; 2 Cor. 1:1). And these slaughters came quicker,” wrote St. The Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Christians, having enumerated the different types of sinners, you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11). III. All the Persons of the Most Holy One participate in the work of our sanctification. Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father, to whom the Son prayed even during the days of His ministry on earth for those who believe in Him: Holy Father, sanctify them in Thy truth (John 17:11, 17), and about whom the Apostle later wrote to Christians: May the God of peace Himself sanctify you, perfect in all things (1 Thess. 5:23). The Son, who for this purpose gave Himself for the Church, may he sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water in the verb, so that he may present to himself a glorious Church: having no filthiness or vice, or anything of such, but may she be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:26, 27) - and indeed, there may be for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification (1 Cor. 1:30). The Holy Spirit, who is called holy in the primary sense (1 Cor. 12:3, etc.), because he sanctifies everything; is also called the Spirit of Holiness (Rom. 1:4), who perfects holiness in us (1 Pet. 1:2). In particular - 1. The Father appears to be the source of our sanctification. From Him the Savior initially sent down the Holy Spirit to earth; “And I will pray the Father,” Christ said to the disciples before His ascension into heaven, “and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever (John 14:16). From Negozhe, the Father, first of all, the Apostles wished for the believers grace-filled gifts, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3). 2. The Holy Spirit appears to be the accomplisher of our sanctification. Appearing on earth, shortly after the Savior’s ascension to heaven, in order to assimilate to us the work of salvation, the Holy Spirit has since remained in the Church (John 14:16), regenerates sinners in the sacrament of baptism (John 3:5), and is communicated to believers in grace-filled gifts as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God (Is. 11:2, 3 ), dwells in us as in his churches (1 Cor. 6:19), helps us in our weaknesses (Rom. 8:26), produces spiritual fruits in us: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22) and all others, so that no one can speak of the Lord Jesus except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). 3. The Son is presented as the author of our sanctification. He earned for us all the grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit by His death on the cross. Therefore, if the Spirit was sent down from the Father to earth: it is not otherwise than through the intercession of the Son (John 14:16), in the name of the Son (-26); therefore, the grace of the Spirit is usually called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:24; 1 Cor. 16:23), the grace of Christ (Gal. 1:6), the grace given in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:4), and the Holy Spirit Himself - the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of the Son (Gal. 4:6). That is why it is said that it was Christ who baptized us with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11), that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us is the indwelling of Christ Himself (Rom. 8:9, 10), and that it is He who sanctifies us with the Holy Spirit, and we are sanctified (Heb. 2:11; 10:29; 13:12). § 107. The teaching of the Church about God as the Sanctifier, and parts of this teaching The main features of the church teaching about God as the Sanctifier are contained in the following words of the Symbol: “(I believe) and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the life-giving...; into one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church; I confess one baptism for the remission of sins.” It says here: a) about the Holy Spirit, by whose grace God accomplishes our sanctification; b) about the Church, which serves as God’s instrument for our sanctification; c) about baptism, and together about other sacraments, as the means through which the Church teaches us the grace of God, which sanctifies us. Member I. On the Grace of God § 108. The concept of the grace of God, its types and composition of the member I. By the name of the grace of God we mean the saving power of God (Space. Chr. Catech. on part 9), communicated to us for the sake of the merits of our Redeemer, and accomplishing our sanctification, that is, on the one hand, cleansing us from sins, renewing and justifying us before God, and on the other, confirming and returning us to virtue for eternal life. This concept of grace contains three particular elements: 1. Grace is the saving power of God. This is clear from the words of the Lord Himself to the Apostle Paul: My grace is sufficient for you: for My power is made perfect in weakness, and then from the words of St. Paul: sweetly, I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me (2 Cor. 12:9), and in another place: in Him I labor and strive according to His work, which works in me with power (Col. 1:29). 2. Grace is given to us for the sake of the merits of Jesus Christ, as the same Apostle teaches: I thank my God always for you, for the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:4). Follow the gospel of Christ according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His good pleasure, and the grace given to us in Christ Jesus before the years of eternity (2 Tim. 1:8, 9). 3. Grace is given to us for our sanctification, i.e. for our purification and justification, for our progress in godliness and for our salvation. This is confirmed by the following passages of Scripture: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord: For all His divine powers are given to us for life and godliness by the mind of Him who called us for glory and virtue (2 Pet. 1:3). Where sin abounds, grace abounds: And as sin reigns in death, so also grace reigns in righteousness into eternal life, Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 5:20, 21). That having been justified by His grace, we may be heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Tit. 3:7). By the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we can be saved (Acts 15:11). II. This sanctifying grace, for greater clarity in the teaching about it, is further divided into more specific types. It is called external because it acts on a person from the outside, through external means, such as: the Word of God, preaching the Gospel, miracles, etc.; and internal, since it acts directly in the person himself, destroying sins in him, enlightening the mind, stimulating and directing his will to good. It is called transitory when it makes private impressions on a person’s soul and assists him in private good deeds; and constant, when it constantly dwells in a person’s soul and makes him righteous and acceptable before God. It is called preceding or preceding, because it precedes every good deed, calls and encourages a person to it; and accompanying or promoting, since it accompanies every good deed. It is called sufficient because it always teaches a person sufficient strength and convenience to act towards his salvation, even if it is not accompanied by the action itself on the part of the person; and effective when it is accompanied by the very action of a person and brings saving fruits in it. III. In the teaching of the Orthodox Church on grace, the following three parts are distinguished: the first is about the necessity of grace for the sanctification of man; the second is about the universality of grace and its relationship to human freedom; the third is about the essence and conditions of the sanctification of man by the grace of God. The actual teaching of the Church will be presented at the beginning of each of these parts. I. On the necessity of God's grace for the sanctification of man § 109. The teaching of the Church and parts of this teaching Having condemned back in the 5th century the errors of the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, of which the former generally rejected the need for grace for man, as, according to their teaching, original sin was not involved, and the latter said that grace is necessary only for establishing a person in faith and good deeds after converting him to faith, and the beginning of faith or a person’s conversion to faith and his stay in faith, after conversion, until the end of his life depend on the person himself without the assistance of grace, - The Orthodox Church teaches us the following teaching: “Whoever says that the grace of God, by which one is justified in Jesus Christ our Lord, is valid only for the remission of sins already committed, and does not give help beyond that, so that no other sins are committed: let him be anathema. For the grace of God not only gives knowledge of what is appropriate to do, but also breathes love into us, so that we may be able to do what we know.” (Carthage Council. Laws. 125). “If anyone says that the same grace of God, even about Jesus Christ our Lord, will help us only so as not to sin, since through it the knowledge of sins is revealed and revealed to us, so that we know what we should seek and what to avoid, but that it does not give us love and strength to do what we have known we must do: let him be anathema. For... both are the gift of God, and knowledge of what is appropriate to do, and love for the good that is appropriate to do.” (- Rule 126), “If anyone says that the grace of justification was given to us for the sake of this, so that we could more conveniently fulfill what is possible by free will through grace, since even if we did not receive the grace of God, we, although with inconvenience, could nevertheless fulfill the Divine commandments without it: let him be anathema. For the Lord did not say about the fruits of the commandments: Without Me you can do nothing, but He said: Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). (Right. 127). The same teaching is set forth in the epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox faith, where we read: “(St. Scripture) teaches that believers are saved by faith and their works, and at the same time presents God as the only author of our salvation: since, that is, He first gives enlightening grace, which brings to man the knowledge of Divine truth and teaches him to conform to it (if he does not resist), and to do good that is pleasing to God, in order to obtain salvation, not destroying man’s free will, but allowing it to obey or disobey its action” (Part 3). And again: “so that, having been reborn, a person can do spiritual good (for works of faith, being the cause of salvation and accomplished by supernatural grace, are usually called spiritual), for this it is necessary that grace precede and precede, as is said about the predestined, so that he cannot of himself do works worthy of life in Christ, but can only desire or not desire to act in accordance with grace.” (Part 14). In this teaching, the Orthodox Church expresses that 1) that grace, as the supernatural power and direct help of God, is generally necessary for the sanctification and salvation of a sinner (against the Pelagians); 2) is necessary, in particular, for his faith and the very beginning of faith, i.e. for the very conversion of the sinner to the faith of Christ (against the Semi-Pelagians); 3) necessary for his virtue, by conversion (against the Pelagians); 4) necessary for his persistence in Christian faith and virtue until the end of his life (against the Semi-Pelagians). § 110. The necessity of grace for the sanctification of man in general The grace of God is necessary for the sanctification of sinner man in general, i.e. so that the sinner could come out of his sinful state, become a true Christian and, thus, assimilate the merits of the Redeemer, otherwise he could be converted, cleansed, justified, renewed and then strive in piety and achieve eternal salvation. This truth - 1. Christ the Savior Himself declared with all clarity when He said: a) about the Father: no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him (John 6:44), b) about the Holy Spirit: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5); and c) about Himself: just as the rod cannot produce fruit for itself unless it is on the vine, so are you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the birth, and whoever is in Me, and I who is in him, will produce much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:4, 5). From the first words it is clear that without the direct assistance of God the Father, a person’s very conversion to Christianity is impossible; from the second, that without immediate rebirth by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is impossible for a converting person to enter the Kingdom of God or the Church of Christ; finally, from the third, that even after a person enters the Church of Christ, he cannot bear any Christian fruits, cannot do anything, if he does not abide on the vine - Jesus Christ, and will not be nourished, strengthened and grow by His immediate life-giving power (carried out John 6:53). 2. St. preached with all clarity. Apostles. So St. Ap. Paul, speaking about the effects of the gospel preaching in people and the fruits it brings, writes, for example, to the Corinthians: who is Paul? Who is Apollos, but rather a servant of the same faith and to whom, as the Lord gave? Az planted, Apollos gave water, God will grow. Moreover, neither plant nor drink, but God gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:5-7). Here the Apostle tangibly distinguishes the external grace of God, i.e. The teaching of the Gospel, from internal grace, or the direct action of God in people, and represents this latter as absolutely necessary for the success of the gospel (fn. 1 Thessalonians 1:5). In other places he utters such instructions or good wishes to those who have already accepted the gospel preaching and become Christians: work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to do what you will and to do good pleasure (Phil. 2:12, 13). And the God of peace, who raised from the dead a shepherd to the sheep of the great blood of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, may you accomplish His will in every work, doing in you that which is pleasing in His sight, Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20, 21). And next. testifies that, without the internal supernatural assistance of God, we can neither desire nor do anything good. § 111. The necessity of grace for faith and for the very beginning of faith, or for the very conversion of a person to Christianity The grace of God, which is necessary in general for the sanctification and salvation of man, is necessary in particular for his faith and the very beginning of faith in the Lord Jesus. 1. This is what Christ the Savior taught. When the Jews, listening to His conversation about the fact that He is the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:40, 41), began to murmur and say: Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does this one say that he came down from heaven (6:42)? and therefore they did not believe either His Divine origin or His preaching - He remarked to them: do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me will draw him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets: and they will all be taught by God; everyone who has heard and learned from the Father will come to Me (6:43–45). When, after that, continuing His conversation, He heard that many even from His disciples decided: this word is cruel, and they began to murmur and be offended (- 60, 61), - He also remarked to them: there are none of you who do not believe ... but for this sake I rebuked you, for no one can come to Me unless it is given to him from My Father (- 64, 65). When, finally, one of His closest disciples, Peter, on behalf of all twelve, confessed to Him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16), - Jesus answered and said to him: blessed is Simone var Jonah, for flesh and blood have not been revealed to you, but My Father who is in heaven (- 17). If, in order to come to Jesus and believe in Him, it is not enough to hear His teaching alone, but an internal, direct attraction to Him from the Father is also necessary; if the living faith and Confession of the Apostle Peter himself, who constantly listened to the teachings of his Lord, is called a consequence of internal enlightenment from the Father, it means that without the grace of God we can neither begin nor continue our faith in our Redeemer. 2. This is what the Apostles taught. St. Paul expresses this in his various epistles. He gave instructions to the Romans: do not philosophize any more than it is appropriate to philosophize, but philosophize in chastity, which is the measure of faith as God has divided each one (12:3). He wrote to the Corinthians: no one can speak of the Lord Jesus, except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). He testified to the Philippisees: you have been given a gift in Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him (1:29). In the book of the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke tells about a certain wife Lydia, a porphyry seller, that the Lord opened her heart, listening to the words of Paul, as a result of which she accepted the preaching of the Apostle, believed in Christ and was baptized (Acts 16:15). Track. in addition to the external preaching of the Gospel, without which it is impossible to believe in the Lord Jesus, God’s internal assistance is also necessary, which would first open the heart of the unbeliever to accept and understand the preaching; and thus would serve to the very beginning and emergence of faith in him. § 112. The necessity of grace for a person’s virtue upon his conversion to Christianity Being necessary for the very conversion of a person to Christianity, for his faith and the beginning of faith, the grace of God remains necessary for a person even after conversion, so that he can fulfill the law of the Gospel, do deeds worthy of life in Christ. In Holy Scripture this truth is revealed in full detail. Let us remember, firstly, three sayings, equally addressed to the regenerated, which we have already cited: a) the saying of the Savior: I am the vine, and you are the offspring, and whoever is in Me, and I who is in him, will produce much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5); b) the saying of the Apostle to Philippiseys: God is the one who works in you, both to will and to do good will (2:13); and c) the saying of the same Apostle to the Hebrews: The God of peace... may you accomplish His will in every work, doing in you that which is pleasing in His sight by Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:21). On the other hand, let's take into account - 1. That in those who are converted to Christianity, regenerated and justified, the Spirit of God dwells, according to the testimony of Scripture; they are led by Him; He will help them. Do you not know that you are the church of God, says the Apostle, and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; Rom. 8:9)? For the little ones are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God (Rom. 8:14); And the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses (Rom. 8:26). 2. That the virtues of the regenerate in Scripture are called the fruits of the Spirit: spiritual fruit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22). In particular, the Spirit produces: a) Christian hope: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in faith, making your hope abound in the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13); b) love: the love of God was poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us (5:5); c) prayer itself: for what let us pray, as we should, we do not know, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered (8:26). Note However, when we say that a person who has turned to Christianity cannot do good deeds on his own without the help of God’s grace, we mean spiritual good itself, which is commanded by the law of the Gospel, makes a person spiritual and serves for his eternal salvation - we mean deeds of the Christian faith, worthy of life in Christ. But we do not deny that a person, both before conversion and after conversion to the law of the Gospel, can himself, to some extent, fulfill the requirements of the natural law, which has not been erased from his conscience, and so on. to do natural good (Rom. 2:14, 15), using the remnant of one’s mental and moral powers, damaged by the fall, but not destroyed - to do good, which, no matter how weak and insignificant it is, in no case should be called evil, and so on. although he is not able to serve for our salvation, he cannot serve for our condemnation. These thoughts, contrary to the misconceptions of Protestants, are detailed by the High Hierarchs of the East in the 14th paragraph of their message on the Orthodox faith: “We believe,” they say, “that man, who fell through a crime, became like dumb animals, i.e. darkened and lost perfection and dispassion, but did not lose that nature and power that he received from the most good God. For otherwise, he would have become unreasonable, and so on. not by man: but he has the nature with which he was created, and natural strength, free, living, active, so that by nature he can choose and do good, run away and turn away from evil. And that man by nature can do good, the Lord also indicates this when he says that the pagans love those who love them; and Ap teaches very clearly. Paul (Rom. 1:19), and in other places where he says that the pagans, not having the law, create the lawful nature (Rom. 2:14). From this it is obvious that good done by man cannot be sin: for good cannot be evil. Being natural, it makes a person only spiritual, and not spiritual, and without faith alone does not contribute to salvation, however, it does not serve either to condemnation: for good, as good, cannot be the cause of evil. In those regenerated by grace, it, being strengthened by grace, becomes perfect and makes a person worthy of salvation. Although a person, before regeneration, may by nature be inclined to good, choose and do moral good: but in order for him to be reborn, he can do spiritual good (for works of faith, being the cause of salvation and accomplished by supernatural grace, are usually called spiritual), for this it is necessary that grace precedes and precedes so that he cannot on his own do deeds worthy of life in Christ, but can only desire or not desire to act in accordance with grace.” § 113. The necessity of grace for a person to remain in Christian faith and virtue until the end of life If without the grace of God a person cannot believe or believe in Christ, or do deeds worthy of life in Christ, then it naturally follows that a person cannot, without the assistance of the grace of God, remain in Christian faith and piety until the end of his life. That's why - 1. The Lord Jesus prayed to the Heavenly Father for His very Apostles: Holy Father, keep them in Your name (John 17:11), sanctify them in Your truth (- 17), and, in particular, prayed for Peter: I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail (Luke 22:32), and He taught us all to pray: Our Father... lead us not astray into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (Luke 11:2–4; taken down. Matthew 26:41). 2. The Holy Apostles - a) testified that even the reborn can fall and even often sin, without the grace of God: if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8); We all sin many times (James 3:2). And therefore - b) very often they expressed their benevolence, so that God himself would preserve and confirm the believers in faith and piety to the end. For example: Now the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, having suffered little, may He complete you, establish you, strengthen you, and ground you (1 Pet. 5:10), may He bring you to perfection in every work to do His will, working in you that which is pleasing in His sight (Heb. 13:21). Or: may God grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man (Eph. 3:16). Finally, the Apostles - c) and directly taught that Christians, if they are and can be observed in piety until the end of their lives, then it is precisely by the power of God. Yes, St. Peter wrote to believers: We are kept by the power of God through faith, ready for salvation to appear at the last time (1 Pet. 1:5); St. Judas: To him who is able to keep you without sin and without defilement, and to present before your glory the blameless with joy, to the only wise God and our Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory and majesty, dominion and authority, before all the ages, and now and to all ages (24, 25); St. Paul: (God) has begun a good work in you, He will complete it, even to the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6), and in another place: The testimony of Christ will be made known in you: that you will not lack even one gift of the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ to those who wait, who will also establish you even to the end innocent in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:6-8). II. On the universality of grace and its relation to human freedom Contrary to the misconceptions of the Calvinists and Jansenists, that God bestows His grace only on certain people whom He unconditionally predestined to righteousness and eternal bliss, and therefore bestows irresistible grace, the Orthodox Church expressed its voice at the Council of Jerusalem in 1672 in a confession that later became known among us as the Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith. It says here: “We believe that the all-good God predestined to glory those whom He chose from eternity; and whom He rejected He condemned, not because He wanted to justify some in this way, and to abandon and condemn others without cause: for this is not characteristic of God, the common and impartial Father of all, Who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4); but since He foresaw that some would use their free will well, and others poorly, therefore He predestined some to glory, and condemned others. We reason about the use of freedom in the following way: since the goodness of God has bestowed Divine and enlightening grace, which we also call anticipatory, which, like a light illuminating those who walk in darkness, guides everyone: then those who wish to freely submit to it (for it helps those who seek it, and not those who resist it) and fulfill its commands, which are necessary for salvation, therefore receive a special grace, which, promoting, strengthening and constantly perfecting them in the love of God, i.e. in those good works that God requires of us (and which prevenient grace also required), he justifies them and makes them predestined. Those, on the contrary, who do not want to obey and follow grace, and therefore do not keep the commandments of God, but, following the suggestions of Satan, abuse their freedom given to them by God so that they arbitrarily do good, are given over to eternal condemnation. But what the blasphemous heretics say, that God predetermines or condemns, without regard in the least to the deeds of those predetermined or condemned, we consider this to be madness and impiety” (Part 3). That is, according to the teachings of the Church - a) the grace of God extends to all people, and not only to those predestined to righteousness and eternal bliss: b) God's predestination of some to eternal bliss, others to eternal damnation, is not unconditional, but conditional, and is based on the foreknowledge of whether they will or will not take advantage of grace; c) the grace of God does not constrain the freedom of man, does not act irresistibly on it, and d) on the contrary, man actively participates in what the grace of God accomplishes in him and through him. § 115. The grace of God extends to all people, and not only to those predestined to righteousness and eternal bliss 1. From those places of Holy Scripture where it is said that God is equally the Father of all people, Jews and Gentiles (Matt. 6:9, Rom. 3:29, 30), that He is good to everyone (Ps. 145:9) and wants to save all people, and to come into the understanding of truth (1 Tim. 2:4). 2. From the passages of Scripture that claim that Christ the Savior gave His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51), gave Himself redemption for all (1 Tim. 2:6), died for all (2 Cor. 5:15), and there is cleansing for our sins, not for ours specifically, but also for the whole world (1 John 2:2). If Christ died for all people, then, undoubtedly, for all of them He acquired saving grace by His death. If He is the cleanser for the sins of the whole world, then He really gives saving grace to the whole world, without which the cleansing of the sinner is impossible. 3. From the testimony of Scripture that the Lord, having founded His grace-filled kingdom on earth for all people, commanded that all tongues be taught, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), and at the same time He inwardly calls every person to Himself: Behold, I stand at the door and speak: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and I dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne (Ap. 3:20, 21). § 116. God's predestination of some to eternal bliss, others to eternal damnation, is conditional, and is based on foreknowledge of whether they will or will not take advantage of grace If the word of God says that God has predestined some to eternal glory (Rom. 8:29), others to eternal damnation (Jude 4): this does not mean that He does not want to save all people, does not grant His grace to everyone, and has predestined both without any reason, according to His unconditional will. This only means that God, who wants everyone to be saved and gives grace to everyone, since from eternity he foresaw who would and who would not want to take advantage of His grace, then in accordance with this he predestined some to salvation, others to destruction. Because - 1. The very word of God very often preaches that the eternal destiny of each of us after death, eternal glory or eternal torment, will be the reward for our deeds in this life, that it is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may accept what he has done with his body, either good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10; demolished 1 Cor. 3:8), that God will reward everyone. according to his deeds: to those who seek after endurance good deeds, glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life; and those who zealously resist the truth, but obey untruth, rage and anger (Rom. 2:6-8), that those who believe in Christ will be saved (John 3:36; 6:47), will become partakers of His grace in the sacraments (John 3:5; 6:54) and, with its help, will do the will of the Father who is in heaven (Matt. 7:21); and those who do not have faith in the Son will be condemned (Mark 16:16); Whoever is not reborn by water and spirit and does not do the will of the Heavenly Father will not enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5; Matt. 7:21). How can we reconcile all these places of St. Scriptures with his teaching about the eternal predestination of God, if we do not agree that God predestined some to eternal bliss, others to condemnation, not according to his unconditional will, but under the condition of their own deeds, good or evil, which He, the omniscient, undoubtedly foresaw from eternity? 2. There are other places of Scripture in which it is directly expressed that God’s predestination is conditional. Thus, the Savior Himself depicts His future judgment at the world court in the following way: then the King says to those on His right hand: Come to the blessing of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Become hungry, and give me food: you are thirsty, and give me drink... (Matthew 25:34–36). Then He says to those who are on His side: Depart from Me, cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel. For you are hungry, and you will not give Me food: you are thirsty, and you will not give Me a drink.... (- 25:41–43). From this it is clear that if God prepared the kingdom for some from the foundation of the world, and eternal fire for others, it is not because he loved some and hated others without any reason, but because some turned out to be worthy of the kingdom, and others - eternal fire, according to their own deeds, which God saw and knew from the foundation of the world as already accomplished, not being limited by time. 3. St. Apostle Paul clearly says that God’s predestination is based on foreknowledge, testifying: whom God foreknew, them also he predestined, conformed to the image of his Son... And those he predestined, them he also called: and them he called, these also he righteous: and those he also predestined, these he also glorified (Rom. 8:29, 30). He did not just provide, says the Apostle, but he provided because he foresaw, whose merits he foresaw, those he predestined. § 117. The grace of God does not constrain human freedom, does not act irresistibly on it Although God is active in us, and who wills and acts for good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), and without His grace we can neither undertake nor accomplish anything truly good: however, this power of God, acting in us, and through us, does not in the least constrain our freedom, does not irresistibly attract it to good. That's why - 1. People are commanded in Holy Scripture to open their hearts to receive grace and not harden them against its actions. “Behold,” says the Savior, “I stand at the door and understand: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me (Ap. 3:20). Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, the saints repeated. Writers in the Old and New Testaments (Ps. 94:7, 8; Isa. 55:3; Heb. 3:7; 4:7). 2. The Word of God, indeed, testifies that people can resist grace, and resist stubbornly, despite all its measures. God Himself spoke in the Old Testament about the Jews: they called, and did not listen to Me: they spoke, and disobeyed, and did evil before Me, and chose what they did not want (Is. 66:4). “Stiff-necked, uncircumcised hearts and ears,” St. exclaimed in the New Testament about the Jews. Martyr Stephen, - you always resist the Holy Spirit, just like your fathers, so do you (Acts 7:51). Let us sweat, St. convinces Christians. The Apostle Paul, pointing out this pitiful example of the Jews, “bring into the rest (of God), so that no one will fall into the same parable of disobedience (Heb. 4:11). 3. In general, the sacred books, as everyone knows, contain countless admonitions, promises, and threats to incite a person to virtue. What is the purpose of all these admonitions, promises and threats, if grace acts on a person irresistibly, so that he cannot help but do virtue when he is drawn to it by the power of God? § 118. Man actively participates in what the grace of God accomplishes in him and through him 1. In Holy Scripture it is very clearly depicted that the entire work of man’s sanctification from beginning to end is a work of the grace of God and, at the same time, of man himself. This is what it says: a) about the conversion of a person: convert me, and I will be converted (Jer. 31:18), and on the other hand: turn to Me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you (Zech. 1:3); b) about following Christ: no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him (John 6:44), and on the other hand: whoever does not accept his cross and comes after Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:38); c) about rebirth: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5), and together: repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38); d) about renewal: and I will give them a new heart, and I will give them a new Spirit (Ezek. 11:19, 20), and together: and create for yourself a new heart, and a new Spirit, and do all My commandments (Ezek. 18:31). 2. The same truth is expressed by Holy Scripture when it testifies that it depends on a person’s freedom: a) to be good or evil: If you are willing, you will listen to Me, and you will destroy the good of the earth; if you are not willing, you will listen to Me; b) follow Christ: if anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me (Matthew 16:24); c) strive for the highest perfection: if you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor: and have treasure in heaven: and come after Me (Matthew 19:21). 3. Finally, the same truth is expressed in places of Scripture where a person’s good deeds: a) are called his own: so let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good deeds (Matthew 5:16); be firm, untroubled, always abundant in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not empty before the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58); b) are credited to him as a merit: take heed to yourself, so that you do not destroy what you have done well, but so that you may receive a full reward (2 John 8); each one will receive his reward according to his labor (1 Cor. 3:8). III. On the essence and conditions of the very sanctification of man by the grace of God Rejecting the error of Protestants, who, under the name of justification or sanctification of a person by grace, mean only the forgiveness of a person’s sins, although in fact they remain in him, and only the external imputation of the righteousness of Christ to him, although in fact he is not made righteous, and recognize only faith on the part of a person as a condition for justification and sanctification, the Orthodox Church teaches: “It cannot be said that baptism does not remove all previous sins, but that although they remain, however they no longer have power. To teach in this way is extreme wickedness; it is a refutation of the faith, and not a confession of it. On the contrary, every sin that exists or existed before baptism is destroyed and is considered as if it did not exist, or never existed. For all the images under which baptism is presented show its cleansing power, and the sayings of Holy Scripture regarding baptism make it clear that through it complete cleansing is achieved, as can be seen from the very names of baptism. If it is the baptism of the Spirit and fire, then it is clear that it brings complete cleansing, for the Spirit cleanses completely. If it is light, then all darkness is driven away by it. If it is a rebirth, then everything old passes by: and this old thing is nothing more than sins. If the person being baptized puts off the old man, then he also puts off sin. If he puts on Christ, he actually becomes sinless through baptism.” (Episode of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 16). And again: “We believe that a person is justified not simply by faith alone, but by faith promoted by love, i.e. through faith and works. We recognize as completely impious the idea that faith, replacing works, acquires justification in Christ: for faith in this sense could befit everyone, and there would not be a single one who is not saved, which is obviously false. On the contrary, we believe that it is not the ghost of faith alone, but the faith that is in us through works that justifies us in Christ. We honor works not only as evidence confirming our calling, but also as fruits that make our faith active, and can, according to the divine promise, deliver to everyone a well-deserved reward, good or bad, depending on what he has done with his body.” (Last eastern patrol about the right faith, part 13; demolished part 9). This means, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church: a) the sanctification of a person consists in the fact that he is truly cleansed from sins by the grace of God and, with its help, is made righteous and holy; b) faith is only the first condition on the part of a person for his sanctification, and so on. salvation, and c) in addition to faith, good deeds are required from a person for this. § 120. The sanctification of a person consists in the fact that he is actually cleansed from sins by the grace of God and made righteous and holy The justice of this thought, and at the same time the injustice of the idea that, during the justification and sanctification of a person, his sins are only forgiven and only externally the righteousness of Christ is imputed, while in fact he remains in sins, the Holy Scripture presents very separately - 1. When he speaks - a) about the purpose of the suffering of Christ the Savior: Christ loved the Church, and gave it to Himself for her sake: let him sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water in the verb, so that he may present it to Himself as a glorious Church: having no filth or blemish, or anything from such, but let her be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:25-27); b) about the fruits of His death on the cross: the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), and that cleansing is for our sins: not for ours, but also for the whole world (2:2); c) about pre-election in Christ: just as God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). 2. When it is expressed about Christians who have truly assimilated the redemption accomplished by the Savior, that they: a) were cleansed from sins through repentance and conversion to Christ: repent therefore and turn, that you may be cleansed from your sins (Acts 3:19); b) were born again and constitute a new creation in Christ: having willed, give birth to us by the word of truth, so that we may be a firstfruits by His creation (James 1:18), if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17); c) washed, sanctified, justified: and these (i.e., great sinners) are not without evil: but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11); d) became sons of God, not involved in sin: everyone born of God does not commit sin, for his seed abides in him: and cannot sin, for he is born of God (1 John 3:9). 3. When, finally, he testifies that in people who have been reborn, cleansed from sins, dwells - a) God the Father: of this we understand that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit to eat (1 John 4:13; 3:24); b) God the Son: I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:20); c) God the Holy Spirit: don’t you know that you are the church of God, and the Spirit of God lives in you (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19). It is impossible for the Most Holy of Holies to dwell in people in whom sins remain intact, although they have been forgiven: what communion of righteousness with iniquity? or some communication between light and darkness (2 Cor. 6:14)? § 121. Faith is the first condition on the part of man for his sanctification, and so on. salvation The grace of God, which accomplishes our sanctification, although it extends to all people, does not act on them against their will - and in fact sanctifies the sinner, and after that saves him, only under conditions known on his part. The first of these conditions is faith. 1. By the name of faith in general here we mean the free acceptance and assimilation by man of those truths that God was pleased to reveal to us in Christ for our sanctification and salvation. This acceptance and assimilation is called faith because revealed truths, for the most part, are incomprehensible to our minds and inaccessible to knowledge, and can only be assimilated by faith. This concept of faith follows: a) from the words of the Savior, who, sending His disciples to preach worldwide, said to them: go into the whole world, preach the Gospel to every creature, and directly added: whoever has faith (that is, whoever accepts and assimilates everything that will be preached) and is baptized will be saved: but whoever does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:15, 16 ); b) from the words of St. The Apostles, who call the very Revelation of God or the entire Christian teaching faith (Gal. 1:23; Acts 6:7), the law of faith (Rom. 3:27); and the followers of this teaching are faithful (Eph. 1:1), believers (Rom. 3:22). And since revelation, according to the three main powers of the human soul: mind, will and feeling, by which Revelation must be accepted and assimilated, contains three kinds of truths: dogmatic, moral and promises, then the faith of a Christian manifests itself in three particular forms: a) as faith in the closest sense, by which dogmatic truths are accepted and assimilated; b) as love, by which moral truths are accepted and assimilated, and c) as hope, by which promises are accepted and assimilated. That's why St. The Apostle, defining the essence of faith that guides Christians in their earthly pilgrimage, expressed: now abides faith, hope, love, these three (1 Cor. 13:13). 2. Faith, understood in a general sense, is essential for our sanctification and salvation, according to the testimony of the Word of God. It is the first condition on the part of man. a) For his entry into the kingdom of Christ’s grace: whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved; and whoever does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16). b) For a person to receive the Holy Spirit: this... I want to see from you: did you receive the Spirit from the works of the law, or from the hearing of faith (Gal. 3:2)? Give you therefore the spirit, and cause power to work in you, whether by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Like Abraham, faith was in God, and imputed to him as righteousness. For this reason, understand that these are the sons of Abraham who are of faith (Gal. 3:5–7). c) For the justification and cleansing of a person from sins by the grace of the Holy Spirit: there is one God who will justify circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision by faith (Rom. 3:30). Let us be justified by His grace, the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus, which God hath ordained cleansing through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:24, 25). d) For abiding and progressing in spiritual life and piety: the truth of God appears in him (in the believer) from faith to faith, just as it is written: the righteous will live by faith (Rom. 1:17). You were broken off by unbelief, but you stand by faith (Rom. 11:20). e) To please God: without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Everything that is not from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23). f) To achieve eternal salvation: from early childhood you knew the Holy Scriptures, which is able to make you wise for salvation through the faith that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). 3. In the same way, the word of God teaches that for the sanctification and salvation of a sinner, the following are necessary in particular: a) Faith in the closest sense, by which we assimilate the dogmatic truths of Revelation, such as the truth about the existence of God, about His unity in essence and trinity in Persons, about Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, and others. Without faith, it is impossible to please God: faith is fitting for one who comes to God, as He is, and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6). This is the eternal life, that they may know Thee the one true God, and whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). Go and teach all languages, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19); He who has faith and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16). Believe in the Son, you will have eternal life: but whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life (John 3:36). b) Love, by which we assimilate the moral truths of Revelation. Even if an imam leaves all faith, as if he were to leave behind mountains, but he is not an imam of love, I am nothing (1 Cor. 13:2). In Christ Jesus there is neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision, but faith hastening through love (Gal. 5:6). c) Hope by which we assimilate Divine promises. For through hope we are saved (Rom. 8:24). Christ is like a Son in His house: whose house we are, if we hold the boldness and praise of hope even to the end (Heb. 3:6). § 122. In addition to faith, for the sanctification and salvation of a person, good deeds are also required from him However, although faith is the very first condition for a person to assimilate the merits of Christ, it alone is not sufficient for the goal. By faith alone a person can be justified and cleansed of sins in the sacrament of baptism, when he has just entered the kingdom of Christ’s grace; can then receive gifts of grace through other sacraments of the Church. But so that he can, upon entering the kingdom of grace, preserve the righteousness and purity he acquired in baptism, so that he can take advantage of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which he will receive through other sacraments, so that he can strengthen himself in the Christian life and constantly rise in Christian holiness, and can, finally, after completing his earthly career, appear justified and sanctified at the terrible judgment of Christ - for this, in addition to faith, good deeds are also required, i.e. such deeds in which the faith, hope and love that dwell in the soul of a Christian would be expressed externally, as in their fruits, and which would serve as the exact fulfillment of the will of God, taught to us in the law of the Gospel. The word of God clearly preaches - a) That faith alone without works is not sufficient for the salvation of a person: not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven: but do the will of My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21); a person is justified by works, and not by faith alone (James 2:24); It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law; these will be justified (Rom. 2:13). b) That a Christian is obliged to show his faith, hope and love in good deeds: faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself... show me your faith by your works... just as a body without a spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2:17, 18, 26). Everyone who has hope (in the Lord Jesus) cleanses himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). If you have My commandments and keep them, then you love Me (John 14:21). c) That for this reason people are called into the kingdom of Christ’s grace, to do works: For this we are creatures, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God first prepared, that we might walk in them (Eph. 2:10). d) That, finally, the Lord will reward people not by faith only, but by deeds in the future life: for the Son of man should come in the glory of His Father, with His angels: and then He will reward everyone according to His deeds (Matthew 16:27; 25:34–36). If anyone does good, he will receive it from the Lord (Eph. 6:8). § 123. Different meanings of the word: Church and the meaning in which the teaching about it will be presented The name of the Church of Christ is used in different, more or less extensive, meanings. 1. The most extensive of them is the one by which the Church of Christ is called the society of all rationally free beings, i.e. both angels and people who believe in Christ the Savior and are united in Him as their single head. In this sense, the word “St. Church” is understood. The Apostle, when he says that God, in view of the fulfillment of times, has appointed to preside over all things in Christ, both in heaven and on earth in Him: having seated Him at His right hand in those in heaven, above all principality and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. And put all things under His nose: and He gave Him the head above all the church, which is His body, fulfilling all things in all (Eph. 1:10, 20-23). 2. In a less extensive, but more commonly used sense, the Church of Christ embraces the actual people who believed and believe in Christ, every single one, whenever they lived, and wherever they are now. In this regard, the Church is divided: a) into the Old Testament Church (Acts 7:38), to which those who believed in Christ before His coming to earth belonged, and the New Testament Church, to which all those who believe in Christ after His coming belong; b) to the militant or wandering church and to the triumphant one. The first name is called the earthly Church, which, not having an abiding city here (Heb. 13:14), and guiding in this country the arrival of its spiritual children in the highland, wages continuous warfare with the enemies of their salvation (1 Pet. 5:8, 9). The last name is adopted by the heavenly Church, which includes those Christians who have already completed their earthly course, finished their battle with the enemies of salvation, and now triumph over them together with Christ, the conqueror of death and hell and with St. Angels (2 Tim. 4:7; Heb. 12:22, 23). (Space. Chron. Catech. about part. 9). 3. Finally, in an even closer sense, but the most commonly used, the Church of Christ actually means only the New Testament and militant Church or the grace-filled Kingdom of Christ. “We believe, as we were taught to believe,” say the high priests of the East in their epistle on the Orthodox faith, “in the so-called one, and in the thing itself, that is, the one, holy, universal, Apostolic Church, which embraces everyone everywhere, no matter who they are, believers in Christ, who are now on an earthly pilgrimage and have not yet settled in the heavenly fatherland” (ch. 10). In this sense, we too will accept the Church when presenting the teaching about it. § 124. Foundation of the Church by the Lord Jesus Christ Having come to earth to save people, and bringing with Him a saving teaching for them, the Lord Jesus wanted people, having accepted the new faith, to maintain it not separately from each other, but for this purpose to form a certain community of believers; He himself directly laid the foundation for this society, and then, through His disciples, spread and established it throughout all the borders of the earth. 1. The Savior expressed the desire to found a single society from His followers more than once, for example: a) after the Apostle Peter, on behalf of all the Apostles, confessed Him as the Son of God: on this rock (i.e., confession), our Lord then said, “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18); b) in the parable of the good shepherd - with the words: I am the good shepherd, and I know Mine, and they know Me... And other sheep are imams that are not of this fold: you too must be brought to Me, and they will hear My voice: and there will be one flock and one Shepherd (John 10:14, 16). 2. But what Christ desired, he did. He Himself laid the beginning and foundation for His Church when He chose His first twelve disciples, who, believing in Him and being under His authority, formed a single society under a single Head (John 17:23), and formed His first Church; when, on the other hand, He Himself established everything that was necessary for the formation of His followers into a specific society. Namely: a) established an order of teachers who would spread His faith among the nations (Eph. 4:11, 12); b) established the sacrament of baptism for the admission into this society of all those who believe in Him (Matthew 28:19); c) the sacrament of the Eucharist for the closest connection of the members of society with each other and with Him as the Head (Matthew 26:26–28; Mark 14:22–24); d) the sacrament of repentance for reconciliation and a new union with Him and the Church of those members who violate His laws and statutes (Matthew 18:15–18). Therefore, even during the days of His public ministry, the Lord spoke of His Church as if it already existed (Matthew 18:17). But Christ actually founded or established His Church only on the cross, where He acquired it, as the Apostle puts it, with His blood (Acts. 20:28). For only on the cross did the Lord actually redeem us and reunite us with God, only after suffering on the cross did He enter into His glory (Luke 24:26), and could send down the Holy Spirit to His disciples (John 7:39). 3. Endowed with power from on high (Luke 24:49), St. The apostles, as a result of the Divine embassy, ​​went out preaching everywhere, hastening the Lord, and confirming the word with subsequent signs (Mark 16:20). And - a) from believers in different places they tried to form societies that were called churches (1 Cor. 1:2; 16:19); b) commanded these believers to have meetings to hear the word of God and offer corporate prayers (Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7); c) exhorted them to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, representing to them that they all form one body of the Lord Jesus, of whom they are only different members, have one Lord, one faith, one baptism (Eph. 4:3, 4; 1 Cor. 12:27), and partake of one bread (1 Cor. 10:17), i.e. have everything for both internal and external unity; d) finally, they commanded them not to leave their congregation under fear of excommunication and eternal destruction (Heb. 10:24, 25). § 125. Members of the Church of Christ: who belongs and who does not belong to it I. However, although Christ founded His Church for all people and all people are called to be members of the Church of Christ; but not all are actually its members. “Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit,” said the Savior, “he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, i.e. to the Church (John 3:5). Track. Only those who, according to the word of the Apostle, have already been baptized with one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, truly belong to the Church of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). On the contrary, the following do not belong to it: a) neither Jews, nor Mohammedans, nor pagans who have not yet accepted the gospel and the baptism of Christ. Even b) those who, having already been announced by the gospel and having accepted it, have not yet been worthy of baptism, do not belong. II. Regarding those who have already entered the Church through the door of baptism, we “believe that the members of the Catholic Church are all who undoubtedly profess the pure faith of Christ the Savior, even if some of them were subject to various sins. For if those who were faithful but sinned were not members of the Church, they would not be subject to her judgment. But she judges them, calls them to repentance and leads them on the path of saving commandments; and therefore, despite the fact that they are subject to sins, they remain and are recognized as members of the Catholic Church, as long as they do not become apostates and adhere to the Catholic and Orthodox Faith.” (Last Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part II). That is: 1. All Orthodox believers belong to the Church of Christ, not only the righteous, but also sinners. For the Savior Himself likened His Church to a field in which, by the will of the householder, wheat and tares grow together until the harvest (Matthew 13:24, 30), and to a flock in which there are sheep and goats (Matthew 25:33). St. taught the same thing. Apostles. In the great house, writes St. Paul, - not exactly the vessels are of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay (2 Tim. 2:20). If we say that we are not imams of sin,” another Apostle testifies before the entire Christian Church, “we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). In particular, it is known that even an incestuous man belonged to the Church of Corinth until the Apostle ordered his excommunication. He belonged - this is clear from the Apostle’s rebuke to the Corinthians: there is no sense of fornication in you... and you are proud, and no more than a poster, so that the one who committed this deed may be removed from among you (1 Cor. 5:1, 2). This is also necessarily presupposed by the command to excommunicate him (1 Cor. 5:4, 5). 2. But there is a limit that if sinners transgress, then either “by the visible action of church authority, or by the invisible action of the judgment of God, like dead members, they are cut off from the body of the Church” (Space of Christ. Catech. on Part IX). Thus, they no longer belong to the Church of Christ— a) Apostates from the Christian faith, who, having completely rejected it, again became pagans or Gentiles in general, and, in the words of the Apostle, trampled on the Son of God, considered the blood of the covenant filthy, by which they were sanctified, and reproached the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). b) Heretics, who, although they have not completely renounced the Christian faith, reject and subvert it in its main dogmas. “If we, or an angel from heaven,” says the Apostle to the Galatians about those who pervert the gospel of Christ, “if anyone preaches the gospel more than the one who preached the gospel to you, let him be anathema (1:8, 9). A human heretic, - the same Apostle commands his disciple, Bishop Titus, - deny the first and second punishment, knowing that he has become corrupted, and sins, and is self-condemned (Titus 3:10, 11). c) Renegades or schismatics who, although they do not distort the dogmas of faith, do not submit to church authority, and through this they willfully separate from the Church. The justice of this thought is evident from the words of the Savior: if (anyone) disobeys the Church, you will be like a pagan and a tax collector (Matthew 18:17); from the rules of the first Ecumenical Council, which commanded that Kafars or Novatians returning to its bowels be accepted into the Church, and the Kafars were only schismatics. d) And in general, all those whom the Church, according to the power given to it by the Lord to bind and decide, finds it necessary to excommunicate from the society of believers (Matthew 18:17, 18), as it has hitherto done in the week of Orthodoxy. § 126. The purpose of the Church of Christ and the means given to it for the purpose I. The purpose for which the Lord founded His Church is the sanctification of sinners, and then their reunification with God. This goal was clearly indicated by St. Paul, when he spoke about the Savior: He gave to him the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, for the perfection of the saints... for the building up of the body of Christ: until we reach the union of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ (Eph. 4:11-13). II. To achieve this goal, the Lord Jesus - 1. He gave His Church the Divine teaching and established in it the order of shepherds and teachers who would enlighten people with the light of saving faith and instruct them to guard everything that He commanded (Matthew 28:19, 20; Eph. 4:11). 2. He established St. in His Church. sacraments (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19; John 20:22, etc.) and in general sacred rites, through which she would communicate His saving grace to people, sanctify them, and build them into a habitation of God by the spirit (Eph. 2:22), and at the same time she established the order of priests or builders of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1), giving them power and power (Luke 22:19; John 20:22) to perform the sacraments (Matthew 28:19; John 20:22) and other sacred rites (Matthew 9:38; 24:20; demolished James 5:14). 3. Finally, he established in His Church, for the guidance of people to eternal life, spiritual administration and stewards, which were, in the beginning, St. The Apostles, invested by Him with the power to shepherd the Church (John 21:15–17), and as a result, knit and loosen (Matt. 16:19; 18:18), and then became the successors of the Apostles, receiving from them the same God-given power to shepherd the Church (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2, 3), and govern it (1 Tim. 5:19, 20, 22; Tit. 1:5; Note If, therefore, in order to achieve the highest goal of the Church, Jesus Christ gave it three essential and necessary means: then from here its immediate goal itself is revealed, which consists precisely in the observance and proper use of all these means. Those. The Church is destined and therefore obligated to: a) preserve the precious deposit of the saving teaching of faith (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:12–14), and spread this teaching among the nations; b) preserve and use the Divine sacraments and sacred rites in general for the benefit of people; c) preserve the governance established by God in it, and use it in accordance with the intention of the Lord. § 127. Composition of the Church; flock and God-established hierarchy, their mutual relationship I. The Church of Christ is divided into two parts: the flock and the hierarchy. The flock consists of all those who believe in the Lord Jesus, while the hierarchy or hierarchy is a special God-established class of people whom the Lord has authorized alone to manage the means that He has given to the Church for its purpose; those. authorized to be teachers, clergy and spiritual leaders in it, and therefore all other Christians who make up the flock must obey in matters of faith (Orthodox Confession, part 1, answer to question 109). The divine establishment of the hierarchy is visible: 1. From the actions of the Savior. a) He Himself directly and from all His disciples chose exactly twelve, whom He called His Apostles. When the day was fast, says St. Luke, Jesus called (Jesus) his disciples: and from them he chose twelve, whom he also called apostles (Luke 6:13). b) To them alone He gave the commandment and the power to teach all nations, to perform holy things for them. sacraments, and guide believers to salvation (Matt. 28:19; Luke 22:19; Matt. 18:18). c) He wanted this power, given directly to the Apostles, to pass on to their successors, and from these latter, passing from generation to generation, to remain in the world until the very end of the world. For He, having said to the Apostles: go into the whole world, preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), directly added: and behold, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Trace. in the person of the Apostles, He sent for the same work, and encouraged with His presence all their future successors, and in the exact sense He Himself gave the Church not only Apostles, prophets and evangelists, but also shepherds and teachers (Eph. 4:11). d) Having thus clothed His saints. The Apostles and their successors by Divine authority, He, on the other hand, very clearly and with threats obliged all people and future Christians to accept from the Apostles and successors their teachings and sacraments, and to obey their voice: listen to you, He listens to Me: and discard you, Me is discarded: Discard Me, you are discarded who sent Me (Luke 10:16). Go into the whole world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who has faith and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:15, 16). 2. From the actions of St. The apostles, led by the Spirit of God. a) The Holy Apostles themselves constantly retained that right and fulfilled those duties that the Lord actually bequeathed to them (Acts 5:42; 6:1–5), despite any obstacles from enemies who tried to take away this Divine right from them (Acts 4:19; 5:28, 29). b) Spreading the gospel and founding numerous churches in different places, the Apostles ordained elders to all these churches, and where they found it necessary, bishops (Acts 14:23; 20:28). And to these specially chosen persons, as their governors and successors (Tit. 1:5), through the sacramental ordination they transferred that Divine power that they themselves received from Jesus Christ, certifying them that they were installed in the Church by the Holy Spirit Himself (Acts 20:28). In particular, these only sanctified persons were given their own right and responsibility to teach Christians (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:16), to officiate (1 Cor. 2:12, 16; 1 Tim. 2:1, 2), and to shepherd the flock of Christ (Acts 20:28; 1 ​​Pet. 5:1, 2). c) The Holy Apostles commanded the bishops directly elected and ordained by them to transfer, through sacramental ordination, their Divine power to other people, specially chosen and prepared (2 Tim. 2:2; Titus 1:5); described in detail those special properties with which these people, called to such a high service, should be distinguished (1 Tim. 3:1-10; Titus 1:6 et seq.), decreed special rules for the trial of them (1 Tim. 5:19), and commanded to reward those who turned out to be good at their position (1 Tim. 5:17-22; 6:17; Titus. 1:5). d) The Apostles strictly forbade people who were not vested with the legal authority to perform sacred functions to admire this authority for themselves. How can they preach if there are no messages? - asks the great Teacher of Languages ​​(Rom. 10:15); food for all the apostles, food for all the prophets, food for all the teachers (1 Cor. 12:29)? And he answers in another epistle: no one accepts honor for himself, but he who is called from God, so does Aaron, so that even Christ did not glorify Himself (he did not appropriate the glory to Himself) to be a high priest, but he who said to him: My son, you are, I begot you today (Heb. 5:4-5). e) And all believers in general were obliged and exhorted: obey your teachers and repent: for they are watching over your souls (Heb. 13:17); We pray, brothers, know (respect) those who labor among you, and those who are your superiors in the Lord, and those who punish you, and have them in abundance in love for their work (1 Thessalonians 5:12, 13). II. After this, it is already obvious what the mutual relationship of the constituent parts of the Church of Christ should be. Shepherds are obligated to teach their flock (1 Tim. 6:2; Tit. 2:1, 15); perform sacred rites for them (1 Cor. 2:12, 16; Tim. 2:1, 2); spiritually control the verbal flock (Acts 20:28; 1 ​​Pet. 5:1, 2). The flock are obliged to obey the teachings of their shepherds (Luke 10:16; 1 Thess. 5:12, 13); enjoy their sacred rites (Mark 16:15, 16), and obey their spiritual authority (Heb. 13:17). Therefore, although in the Word of God the Church is sometimes called the flock itself, distinguished from the shepherds to whom it is entrusted with overseeing (Acts 20:28; 1 ​​Tim. 3:5), and sometimes this name is attributed to the shepherds alone (Matthew 18:15-19): however, in the strict sense, the Church of Christ is formed only from the union of both of these churches, of which the first is called subordinate, and the latter sacred; and where there is one flock or believers in general, but there is no God-established hierarchy, and it is rejected, there is no Church (Episode of the Eastern Patriarchy on the Right Faith, Part 10). For just as the Lord Himself wanted those who believed in Him to form the Church, so the Lord Himself established a hierarchy in His Church, and, according to His will, to teach people the faith, to sanctify them with the Holy Spirit. Only shepherds have the right to administer the sacraments and lead them to salvation. Track. Without legitimate shepherds, Christians are without sanctification. Ancient teachers tried to instill this thought with special force in believers, for example: a) St. Ignatius the God-Bearer: “without them (i.e. the bishop, presbyters and deacons) the Church is not called, - which, as I am convinced, and you agree”; b) St. Cyprian: “The Church is a people united to a priest, and a flock submissive to its shepherd; therefore, you must know that the bishop is in the Church and the Church is in the bishop, and thus whoever is not in unity with the bishop is not in the Church.” § 128. The three God-established degrees of the church hierarchy and their differences among themselves These three degrees of the Divinely established hierarchy are: the first and highest - the degree of bishop; second and subordinate - the degree of presbyter or priest; the third and even lower is the degree of deacon (Space. Chron. Catech. on the priesthood). I. The divine establishment in the Church of the episcopal degree and its superiority not only over the deaconate, but also over the presbyterate, is discernible: 1. From Holy Scripture. Although there is no doubt that the names of presbyter and bishop are consistent with the literal meaning of these words, the Apostles sometimes used them indifferently, at times assigning both to bishops and elders (Acts 20:17; Titus 1:5–7) and even to themselves (1 Pet. 5:1; 2 John 1; 3 John 1); however, to some of these persons they granted a special advantage and power to ordain other elders (Titus 1:5; Tim. 5:22), to judge them (1 Tim. 5:19), to reward them (5:17), an advantage and power that clearly elevated those to whom they were given by the Apostles above ordinary priests. 2. The apostolic men do not leave us with the slightest doubt regarding the institution of God and the high importance of the episcopal office. For example, St. Ignatius the God-Bearer says - a) in his letter to the Ephesians: “bishops have been appointed in all the ends of the earth according to the will of Jesus Christ”; b) in the letter to the Smyrneans: “all of you follow the bishop, as Jesus Christ the Father, and the elders, as the Apostles, and honor the deacons as the commandment of God (ὡς Θεοῦ ἐντολὴν)”; c) in the letter to the Magnesians: “I pray you, do everything in the peace of God, under the presidency of the bishop, instead of God Himself, the presbyters, instead of the council of the Apostles, and the deacons, most dear to me, to whom the ministry (διακονία) of Jesus Christ is entrusted.” 3. We constantly find the same teaching not only among private pastors of all subsequent centuries, but also in the definitions of entire Councils, for example, the Nicene, the first ecumenical (see rights 18) and the Laodicean (rights 56, 57), so that when Aerius appeared in the fourth century and began to teach that a bishop has no advantage over a presbyter: then, according to the testimony of Epiphanius and Augustine, it was recognized by the whole Church for a heretic. II. The divine establishment of presbyteral power in the Church is evident from the fact that the Apostles themselves ordained elders for the entire church (Acts 14:23), and commanded the bishops to establish elders throughout the city (Titus 1:5). We have already seen the difference between the priestly rank and the episcopal rank from evidence showing the superiority of the latter over the former. We can also add to them: a) Apostolic Canon 39: “Presbyters and deacons do nothing without the will of the bishop; for the people of the Lord have been entrusted to him, and he will give account for their souls”; b) also the rule of the Council of Laodicea 57: “presbyters should do nothing without the will of the bishop” (removed by double rights 13 and 14). III. The divine institution of the rank of deacon in the Church is clearly assumed in the epistles of St. Apostle Paul. Greeting the Philippian Church, together with its ministers, he writes: To all the saints of Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with bishops and deacons: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:1, 2), etc. includes bishops and deacons as ministers of the Church. Also in the first letter to Timothy, depicting the qualities of persons entering the church ranks, he speaks of the bishop and deacons (3:2, 8). In the same way, the idea that the degree of deacon is different from the episcopal and presbytery, and is the lowest between them, is visible, firstly, from the words of St. The Apostle Paul, who clearly distinguishes deacons from bishops in his epistles, and names deacons after bishops (1 Tim. 3:2, 8; Phil. 1:1, 2). Secondly, it is confirmed by the testimony of the apostolic men and the entire ancient Church. For example, St. Ignatius says that “the deacon is subject to the bishop and elders by the grace and law of Jesus Christ.” Canon 18 of the First Ecumenical Council clearly states that “deacons are servants of the bishop and lower presbyters” and that “deacons are allowed to sit lower among the presbyters.” § 129. The relationship of the degrees of the church hierarchy to each other and to the flock The relationship of these ranks of hierarchy among themselves and to the flock is that the bishop in his private church or diocese is the locum tenens of Christ (Orthodox Confession, part 1, answer to question 85), and so on. the chief superior both over the entire hierarchy subordinate to him and over the flock (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarch. on the Orthodox faith, part 10). In particular: 1. The bishop is the main teacher in his Church, both for ordinary believers and for the shepherds themselves. This is shown by the letters of St. Apostle Paul to Bishop Timothy, to whom the Apostle commanded with special force: pay attention to yourself and to the teaching (1 Tim. 4:16; cf. 6:12); preach the word, be persistent in time and without time, reprove, rebuke, entreat, with all longsuffering and teaching (2 Tim. 4:2–5); commanded together that he prepare and teach the faith to future teachers (2 Tim. 2:2); so that he observes the elders as they carry out their teaching ministry, and with zeal for those who strive in the word, he grants special honor (1 Tim. 5:17). – The presbyters, receiving all their power from the bishop through the sacramental ordination, also receive from the bishop the power of teaching in relation to their flock, which they undertake to use with all care and diligence (1 Tim. 5:17; Right St. Apostle 58). However, even after this, as the same words of St. The Apostle (1 Tim. 5:17) and the 39th Apostolic Canon, elders, both in everything and in the teaching of doctrine, are constantly subject to the supervision and judgment of their archpastor. – And deacons can, by the will of the bishop, be allowed to preach, as they were allowed in the primal Church, following the example of St. chief deacons Stephen (Acts 6:8), and Philip (Acts 8:35), especially for teaching the catechumens. However, this duty, just as it was not considered an essential and permanent duty of deacons then, is not considered now. 2. The bishop is the first celebrant and celebrant of the Holy Spirit. sacraments in his private church. Some sacred rites, both in ancient times and now, are exclusively left to him. Thus, he alone has the right to ordain priests and other church ranks, on the basis of the word of God (Tit. 1:5; 1 Tim. 5:22), ruled St. Apostles (Prav. 2) and St. Soborov (Antokh. 9). He alone has the right to consecrate the myrrh and the altar or antimension, which is also evident from the canons of the cathedrals (Carth. Laws. 6), and in general the teachings of the Orthodox Church (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 105). – The priest has the power to perform the sacraments and generally sacred rites, except those exclusively belonging to the bishop (James 5:14; demolished by the apostles. 31, 47, 49; personal Nicene 18); but receives this power from his archpastor at his ordination. Then, in carrying out this duty, they are subject to the constant supervision, authority and judgment of their archpastor (Apostolic Rights 39, etc.). In particular, during the very performance of some sacraments, it completely depends on him; cannot, for example, perform the sacraments of confirmation without St. the world, which is consecrated only by the bishop; the Eucharist cannot be celebrated without an altar or antimension, which is also consecrated only by the bishop. – The deacon is not given the right to perform the holy service. sacraments and sacred rites in general. Track. and here his service, in the words of Dionysius the Areopagite, is only auxiliary, and not accomplished by the deed itself. Deacons are only assistants and co-servants of presbyters and bishops. 3. The bishop is the main ruler in his private church (Acts 20:28; taken down by the Eastern Patriarch on the evangelical faith, ch. 10). First of all, he has power over the hierarchy and clergy subordinate to him. All clergy and church officials are obliged to obey his regulations, and not to do anything in the church without his permission; subject to his supervision and judgment (1 Tim. 5:19). In addition to the clergy, the entire flock entrusted to him is subject to the spiritual authority of the bishop. He “especially and predominantly has the power to knit and decide” (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 10), according to the rules of St. Apostles (-31) and St. Soborov (Kare. 6). – Elders have the authority to decide and knit, and generally shepherd the flock of God entrusted to them (1 Pet. 5:1, 2); but they receive this power from their archpastor through the sacramental ordination. And some chosen ones are allowed, by the will of the bishop, to generally bear with him the burden of church government; They even form a permanent cathedral under him for this purpose. - The deacons did not receive from the Lord the right to knit and decide, and so on. themselves do not have any spiritual power over believers. But deacons can be the eye and ear of bishops and presbyters, with their consent, to carry out church affairs. § 130. Center of ecclesiastical power If the focus of spiritual power over each private Church lies in the bishop, from whom its teaching, sacred rites, and administration flow: then it follows that - 1. Several private churches may only be subject to the orders of all their bishops collectively or to a local council. For this purpose, St. The apostles legitimized: “let there be a council of bishops twice a year, and let them reason with each other about the dogmas of piety, and resolve the church controversy that occurs” (St. Apostle 37). 2. The Church of Christ in general, which embraces all particulars, as the universal Church, is entrusted to all bishops in general, as St. John of Damascus in his fourth letter to the Africans (see the last Eastern Patriarch on the Orthodox faith, part 10). And therefore the focus of spiritual power for the universal Church is in the Ecumenical Councils (Space. Chron. Catech. on Part VIII). This truth was clearly expressed by the saints themselves. The apostles, when, on the occasion of the confusion that occurred between the new Christians regarding circumcision and certain rites, wanting to establish rules for the entire Church of Christ that was at that time, decided the matter at a council (Acts 15:28). From then on, as soon as the opportunity opened up to convene ecumenical councils, all matters concerning the entire Church were finally decided at them, as the history of these councils testifies; Above the authority of the Ecumenical Councils, no other authority was recognized in matters of faith, and unconditionally submitting to the decisions and legalizations of the Ecumenical Councils was considered an indispensable duty both for all believers and for the shepherds themselves. Note As a result of this structure of the universal Church of Christ, its perfect unity naturally occurs, when all the private flocks, submitting to their shepherds, so to speak, are each concentrated in their own bishop; and bishops unconditionally submit to the same legalizations of the Ecumenical Councils, both in their teaching, and in their sacred rites, and in their administration. § 131. The Head of the Church is the Lord Jesus Having entrusted the visible management of His Church to the bishops, who, with the authority granted to them, bind all believers into a single external union, the Lord Jesus Himself invisibly holds the helm of the rule of the Church, as its true Head, and reviving it with the same saving grace of the Holy Spirit, unites all members of the Church with an internal union (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 85; last Eastern Patriarch. about right faith part 10). Because - 1. Transferring His Divine power in the Church to St. before His ascension. To the apostles, and in their person and to all their future successors, the Lord promised to remain with them all the days until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20) - to remain, without a doubt, in order to guide them in their high field, to assist them, to manage them. And next. He chose them only as visible instruments of His gracious action on believers. 2. The Holy Apostle speaks with all clarity about the Savior: and He (God) gave Him the Head above all the Church, which is His body, fulfilling all things in all (Eph. 1:22–23); and further: truly in love, let us grow into Him all things, of which Christ is the Head; From the worthless, the whole body is composed and put together decently, with every touch of alms, according to the action in the world of a single part, the return of the body creates into the creation of itself through love (4:15, 16). 3. The same truth is affirmed in the Savior’s promise to send down to earth the All-Holy Spirit, who would abide in the Church forever (John 14:16, 17), a promise that was actually fulfilled in due time (Acts 2:2). Since then, this All-Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, descends a) on all Christian shepherds in the sacrament of the priesthood, and invests them with the power and authority that constantly dwells in them (2 Tim. 1:14), to teach, officiate and shepherd the spiritual flock. Descends b) on all believers in the sacrament of baptism, where it revives them and makes them living members of the mystical body of Christ; - in the sacrament of anointing, where it imparts strength to them for strengthening and gradual growth in spiritual life, and then in all other sacraments. Descends c) on all believers, shepherds and flocks, or more justly, constantly rests on them (as long as they remain worthy) with His spiritual gifts, like the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God (Isa. 11:2, 3); constantly brings to them (if they do not resist) His spiritual fruits - love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, self-control (Gal. 5:22, 23) and all other virtues. 4. Most clearly and most palpably we see the union of Christ with the Church and with all its members in the sacrament of the Eucharist: here every Christian most sincerely partakes of the flesh and blood of Christ, and with them receives the whole Christ into himself, and everyone after that can say, following the example of the Apostle: I live not for anyone, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). From this comes the perfect unity of believers, both with Christ - the Head of the Church, from which the whole body is fallen and taken away, and the return of God grows (Col. 2:19), and among themselves: for they are all quickened by the same Spirit (1 Cor. 12:10), live by the same Christ, and the many that exist, truly, are one body (1 Cor. 12:10). 12:12). § 132. The essence and essential properties of the Church I. Based on the hitherto stated teaching about the Church, the concept of its essence can be expressed as follows: the Church is a society of Orthodox believers and those baptized into Jesus Christ, founded by Himself directly and through St. The Apostles, revived by Himself and led to eternal life, visibly through spiritual shepherds: through teaching, sacred rites and administration, and at the same time invisibly through the all-pervading grace of the All-Holy Spirit. II. The essential properties of the Church are enumerated in the Niceno-Tsaregrad Symbol, where it is called: one, holy, catholic and apostolic. a) By its origin and basis. The Lord Jesus wanted to create only one church (Matthew 16:18), and, depicting it in parables, spoke of only one flock, one sheepfold (John 10:16), and one kingdom of heaven on earth (Matthew 13:24, 47). And He Himself, according to the apostolic teaching, became the only foundation of the Church (1 Cor. 3:11) and the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20). b) According to its structure, external and internal. External, as a result of which believers are divided into shepherds and flocks. The former are obliged to teach the same Divine teaching, perform the same Divine sacraments, adhere to the administration of the same Divine laws; the latter are obliged to accept teaching from their shepherds, to benefit from sanctification from them, to submit to their spiritual management: from here the unity of hope and love must inevitably flow both between the shepherds and among all the flock (Eph. 4:3, 4). Internal, through which the Lord Jesus, penetrating and life-giving with one and the same grace to each and every one who believes in Him, unites them in Himself, as the true Head of the Church (Eph. 5:23) - so that believers, with this dual connection, are indeed one body and one Spirit (Eph. 4:4). But if, due to the weakness and abuse of some members of the Church, we do not see in experience such a perfect unity of it, which should have come from its very structure: then it still remains one - c) According to its purpose. This goal was expressed by Christ the Savior in his prayer to the Heavenly Father: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us. I am in them, and You are in Me, that they may be perfect in one (John 17:21, 23). And accordingly, he gave the Church shepherds and teachers for the building up of the body of Christ, until we reach the union of faith (Eph. 4:12, 13). To this goal, to this complete unity of believers, both among themselves and with the Lord Jesus, the Church leads all its members. Note They unfairly think of dividing the one Church of Christ into two halves, into the visible and invisible Church, when this Church, by its very essence, is both visible and invisible, is body and Spirit (Space Chr. Catech. on Part IX). 1. The Church is visible: for – a) consists of visible human members, and includes not only the righteous, who are unknown to us, but also sinners; b) has a visible hierarchy with its visible structure; c) tangible to external senses, preaches and confesses the faith of Christ, performs sacred rites and guides believers to piety and salvation. 2. The Church is invisible: for – a) has an invisible Head – the Lord Jesus Himself; b) invisibly quickens and sanctifies everyone with the grace of the Holy Spirit; c) has St. in its depths. God's people, whom the Lord alone sees and knows as His own (2 Tim. 2:19). a) According to its origin and foundation: to whom are strangers and strangers,” St. wrote to the Ephesians. Apostle, - but fellow saints and dreamers of God, who was created on the foundation of the Apostle and Prophet, who is the chief cornerstone of Jesus Christ Himself: in Him every creation grows into a holy Church in the Lord (Eph. 2:19-21). b) For its intended purpose. Having appeared on earth to found the Church, Jesus Christ gave Himself for His sake: that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it with the washing of water in the verb, that He might present it to Himself as a glorious church: having no filth or blemish, or any of these, but let it be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:25–27); or, as it is said elsewhere: He gave Himself food for us, that He might deliver us from all iniquity, and purify Himself a chosen people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14), that He might present us holy and blameless and blameless before Him (Col. 1:22). c) According to its structure. Its head is the All-Holy Lord Jesus (Heb. 7:26); the All-Holy Spirit abides in it with all the grace-filled gifts that sanctify us (Rom. 8:14–17); it has a hierarchy sanctified by the Lord - shepherds and teachers who received from Him power to perfect the saints (Eph. 4:12); teaches the holy and sanctifying word of God (John 17:17–19); performs holy and sanctifying sacraments (Eph. 5:26, etc.); guides us to holiness and godliness by his stewardship (Gal. 1:6–9; 1 Cor. 11:20–22); consists of members who have been washed by the washing of water and sanctified (1 Cor. 6:11; Heb. 10:10; Acts 20:32), of which, moreover, some are holy in life and serve as a permanent temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19), while others, although subject to sin and lead a vicious life, are also called and obligated to be saints ( Rom. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:15, 16), are constantly called to this by the shepherds, and truly find sanctification for themselves in the sacrament of repentance and then in the sacrament of the Eucharist. 3. The Church is conciliar, otherwise catholic or universal. a) By space. It is intended to embrace all people, no matter where they live on earth. Christ the Savior commanded St. The Apostles preached His gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), taught the saving faith to all languages ​​(Matthew 28:19), and spread it even to the last of the earth (Acts 1:8). Track. To call the Church universal in this regard does not require that it really embrace the whole world and every single person. It could spread only gradually, and now it is spreading more and more throughout the 19th centuries; could also and can sometimes, on the occasion of heresies and oppression from enemies, be reduced in its limits: but, for all that, it has always been and will be the Universal Church, according to its purpose. That is why the Church was called catholic even in the time of the Apostles and in general in the first three centuries, although then it was not as extensive as it appeared in the 4th, 5th and subsequent centuries, when St. the fathers, calling it catholic, already pointed to its ubiquity. So, it is called Catholic by St. Ignatius the God-Bearer: “Where Christ Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church.” b) By time. The Church is intended to bring all people to faith in Christ and to exist until the end of time. This follows from the fact that the Lord, sending the Apostles and their successors to preach the gospel to all creation, promised to remain with them for this until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), and also promised to send them the Holy Spirit, who will be with them forever (John 14:16); also - from the words of St. Paul that the sacrament of the Eucharist is to be celebrated in the Church until the Lord returns to earth (1 Cor. 11:26). In this sense, the Church is usually called incomparable, based on the words of the Savior: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). c) According to its structure. The teachings of the Church can be accepted by all people, educated and uneducated, wherever and whenever they live, without being connected, like the pagan faiths and even the Jewish faith itself, with any civil system (John 18:36), etc. not with any specific place or time. The divine services of the Church can also be performed, according to the Lord’s prediction, not only in Jerusalem, but everywhere (John 4:21), and be intelligible and edifying for everyone. Hierarchical power in it is by no means acquired, as it was in the Jewish Church, to one specific tribe of a specific people, but can be communicated from one private church to another, from one hierarch to another, from generation to generation until the end of time. The saving grace of the Holy Spirit, communicated by the Church to people, is powerful to sanctify and save all the most inveterate sinners. Note The most important advantage of the conciliar or catholic Church is its infallibility in matters of faith. But this infallibility is discussed in detail “in Basic Theology,” in the treatise on the Church as the guardian and interpreter of Divine Revelation. 4. The Church is apostolic: a) At its beginning. The apostles were the first to accept the authority to spread the Christian faith, and, preaching it everywhere (Mark 16:20), founded many private churches: Jerusalem (Acts 2:22; 4:4), Antioch (Acts 28:16), Corinth (18:1) and others, which later became the mothers for all subsequent private churches that still exist today. Therefore, according to the expression of the word of God, although the cornerstone of the Church is the Lord Himself; but it was built on the foundation of the Apostles (Eph. 2:20), and the wall of this mysterious city of God has twelve foundations, on which are inscribed the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb (Ap. 21:14). b) According to its structure. The hierarchy of the Church originates from the Apostles themselves through the continuous succession of bishops, the true successors of the apostles; She borrows her teaching from the scriptures and traditions of the apostles, which she preserves in all its integrity and inviolability; performs Divine services, following in all these same writings and apostolic traditions; rules the believers, according to the rules of St. The Apostles and their other traditions preserved in it. § 133. Outside the Church of Christ there is no salvation The necessary consequence arising from the entire teaching about the Church of Christ is that outside this Church there is no salvation for man. For for the sanctification and salvation of a person, on his part, it is required: 1. Faith in Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to God: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which it is fitting that we should be saved (Acts 4:12). But the true teaching of Christ and about Christ, without any damage, is preserved and preached only in His true, Orthodox-Catholic Church, and without such teaching our faith cannot be true or Orthodox (Rom. 10:17). 2. Participation in St. sacraments, through which all Divine powers are given to us, including life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). For it is said: unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3); Unless you have borne the flesh of the Son of Man, nor His blood, you will not have life in yourself (John 6:53) and so on. But the divinely instituted sacraments and their proper performance by the shepherds of the Church exist only in the true Church of Christ. 3. Finally, a good, pious life, as can be seen from the words of the Savior: not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven: but do the will of My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21); If you want to take it into your belly, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17). But for success in a godly life, a weak person needs reliable spiritual guidance, and even more often needs to cleanse himself of the sins he commits and reconcile himself with God. And such reliable leadership, together with the Divine right to forgive people’s sins, also exists only in the Church of Christ. That is why the Savior said: if anyone disobeys the Church, let him be as a pagan and a tax collector (Matthew 18:17). And St. The apostles call heretics lying teachers, who bring heresies of destruction..., bringing quick destruction to themselves (2 Pet. 2:1), deceivers, for whom the darkness of darkness is reserved forever (Jude 13), people self-condemned (Titus 3:11). St. taught the same thing. fathers, for example - a) St. Irenaeus: “in it (in the Church) one path to salvation is shown for the whole world; for she has been entrusted with the light of God and God’s wisdom, through which she saves all people”; b) St. Kuprian: “He who does not have a Mother Church cannot have God as his Father. If anyone from those outside Noah's ark had escaped; then one who is outside the Church could also be saved. The Lord says for our teaching: whatever is not with Me is on Me, and whatever gathers with Me is scattered (Matthew 12:30). Member III. About the sacraments of the church § 134. The concept of the sacraments and their number, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church 1. “A sacrament is a sacred action, which, in a visible way, communicates to the soul of the believer the invisible grace of God, having been established by our Lord, through whom every believer receives Divine grace” (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 99). Track. The essence of the sacraments, the Church believes, is that these are the essence of sacred rites, which truly communicate the grace of God to the believer, that they “are not only signs of the promises of God, but are the essence of instruments that necessarily act with grace on those who approach them” (Last Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 15). And he considers the essential accessories of each of the sacraments: a) the Divine establishment of the sacrament; b) any visible or sensory image, and c) the communication of invisible grace to the soul of the believer by the sacrament. 2. “There are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, communion, repentance, priesthood, marriage, consecration of oil. In baptism a person is mysteriously born into spiritual life; in anointing he receives restoring and strengthening grace; in communion he is nourished spiritually; in repentance he is healed from spiritual illnesses, that is, from sins; in the priesthood he receives the grace to spiritually regenerate and educate others through teaching and sacraments; in marriage he receives grace that sanctifies marriage and the natural birth and upbringing of children; in the consecration of oil, one is healed from bodily diseases, through healing from spiritual ones” (Space. Chron. Catech. about part 10). “We have neither less nor more than this number of sacraments in the Church” (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 15). § 135. The place of the sacrament of baptism among other sacraments and the concept of it 1. Baptism occupies first place among the seven sacraments of the Orthodox Church, because it serves for people as a door into the Church itself, according to the word of the Savior: unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, i.e. into the kingdom of grace, and then into the kingdom of glory (John 3:5), and so on. serves together as a door to all other sacraments, which are preserved and legally performed only in the Church. 2. By the name of baptism is meant a sacrament in which a sinner, born with damage inherited from his forefathers, is reborn by water and spirit (John 3:5); or more separately - such a sacrament in which a sinner, announced by the faith of Christ, by immersing him three times in water, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, is cleansed by the grace of God from all sin and made a new person, justified and sanctified (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 102). § 136. Divine institution of the sacrament of baptism The divine institution of the sacrament of baptism is undeniable. The Lord established this sacrament after His resurrection, when, having redeemed us with His priceless blood and having acquired with it the right to distribute to believers the gifts of the Holy Spirit (John 7:39; 2 Pet. 1:3; 1 Cor. 1:4), he solemnly said to His disciples: all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. So go and teach all tongues, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and to observe them all, according to all the commandments given to you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:18–20); He who has faith and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16; taken down by the Last East Patr. about the common faith, ch. 15). From now on, St. The apostles, as soon as they themselves were clothed with power from above (Luke 24:49), began to constantly perform the sacrament of baptism and cleanse and regenerate believers in it with the grace of the Holy Spirit: repent, said St. The Apostle Peter on the same day to the Jews who listened to his preaching - and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). And indeed, at that time about three thousand were baptized and added to the Church of Christ (2:41). Soon St. Philip baptized a eunuch (Acts 8:38), St. Peter - Cornelius the centurion with his family and others (10:47, 48), St. Paul - Lydia (16:15), the prison guard with his household (16:33), Crispus with all his household and many of the Corinthians (18:8), certain disciples in Ephesus who were previously baptized with the baptism of John (19:1-5), etc. From St. The Apostles received the sacrament of baptism of St. The Church, which since that time has invariably performed and continues to perform this sacrament for everyone who wishes to become her child and in her achieve eternal salvation. § 137. The visible side of the sacrament of baptism The visible side of the actual sacrament of baptism (which is depicted with all the circumstances in the order of this sacrament) is the threefold immersion of the person being baptized in water, with the words pronounced: “the servant of God is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Exp. Chr. Catech. on baptism). Here, in particular, they distinguish: a) the substance of the sacrament - water, b) the action during the sacrament itself - immersing the baptized person in water three times, and c) the words spoken during this action. 1. The substance for the sacrament of baptism must be pure, natural water (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 103). For the Savior Himself pointed out this substance for baptism with the words: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). St. was baptized in water. Apostles: as I walk the way, the book of the Acts of the Apostles testifies about St. Philip and the cazhenik came to some water; and the kazhenik said: behold the water; What forbids me to be baptized?.. And he commanded the chariot, and both of them went down to the water, Philip and the steward: and baptize him (8:36, 38). 2. Baptism must be performed by immersing the baptized person in water three times. Through threefold: in the name of the three Persons of the Most Holy. Trinity (Matthew 28:19); according to the rule of St. Apostles (right 50) and St. Ecumenical Councils (II Ecumenical Law 7). – Through immersion: because – a) through immersion Christ Himself was baptized by John (Matthew 3:16; taken down. Mark 1:5; John 3:23); b) through immersion they baptized St. Apostles (Acts 8:37, 38); c) baptism is presented in Scripture as an exact likeness of the global flood, its imagination (ἀντίτυπον), according to St. Peter, now baptism also saves us (1 Pet. 3:19–21); the washing of water, in which the Lord cleanses us (Eph. 5:26; Titus 3:5), and, as it were, a tomb, in which we are buried in Christ’s death (Rom. 6:4; demolished Col. 2:12) - all such names to which only then will this sacrament correspond when it is performed through immersion. As for sprinkling and dousing, how baptism is usually performed today in the Western Church: in ancient times this way of performing the sacrament was allowed only as an exception to the rule, in extreme cases, mainly for seriously ill patients reclining on a bed (for the so-called clinics from κλίνη, bed), who could not be baptized by immersion. And therefore, the Orthodox Church to this day, although it also allows pouring or sprinkling during baptism, as a sacrament that does not destroy the powers, but allows it only in extreme cases - as an exception to the general rule. 3. Baptism must be performed in the name of the Most Holy. Trinity, with the words pronounced: “the servant of God is baptized... in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” For in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Lord Savior Himself commanded to baptize all languages ​​(Matthew 28:19). And as a result of such a clear and definite commandment, this way and not otherwise, St. The Church has performed baptism from its very beginning. The apostolic rules testify to this: “Whoever, bishop or presbyter, baptizes not according to the Lord’s institution, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, let him be cast out” (Rule 49). § 138. The invisible actions of the sacrament of baptism and its uniqueness I. But at the very time when the catechumen St. by faith we are visibly immersed in the waters of baptism, with the utterance of the words: “the servant of God is baptized... in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” the grace of God invisibly acts on the entire being of the baptized, and - 1. Revives it, or recreates it, as Christ the Savior Himself testified in a conversation with Nicodemus: Jesus answered and said to him: Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him: How can a man be born old? Can food be carried into its mother’s womb for a second time and be born? Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is the Spirit (John 3:3–6). Why and St. Paul calls baptism the washing of rebirth - παλιγγενεσίας (Titus 3:5). 2. Cleanses from all sin, justifies and sanctifies. This can be seen - a) from the same conversation of the Savior with Nicodemus, where it is clearly expressed that, just as before baptism, we are flesh, being born of the flesh, i.e. We have from our parents themselves hereditary sinful impurity, which prevents us from entering the Kingdom of God: just so, in the sacrament of baptism, having been born of the Spirit, we become a spirit, and, therefore, pure from our ancestral sin, as a result of which we enter the Kingdom of God. It can be seen - b) from the words of St. Apostle Peter: repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38); c) finally, from the testimony of St. Apostle Paul: And by these (sinners) are not things: but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11). Thus, baptism destroys all sins: in infants the original, and in adults both the original and voluntary, and returns to a person the righteousness that he had in a state of innocence and sinlessness (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 103; demolished. Post. Eastern Pat. about the right. faith, part 16). 3. Makes you a child of God and a member of the body of Christ - the Church. “All of you,” says St. Apostle to Christians, you are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus: For as many as you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ... for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26, 27, 28). And in another place: for we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jews, Greeks, slaves, or free: and we have all drunk on one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). 4. Saves you from eternal punishment for sins and makes you heirs of eternal life. “He who has faith,” said the Savior, “and is baptized, will be saved; but he who does not have faith will be condemned (Mark 16:16). All these actions of grace in the sacrament of baptism are inseparable from each other. By reviving a person, she thereby cleanses him from all sin, justifies and sanctifies him. Cleansing from sins, thereby saving from eternal punishment for sins. And by justifying before God and sanctifying, he thereby makes one a child of God, a member of the body of Christ and an heir of eternal life. II. As a result of such actions carried out by the sacrament of baptism in the souls of believers, the Orthodox Church, following the Word of God (Eph. 4:6), teaches us to confess “one baptism,” one in the sense that baptism is given to each person only once, and if done correctly, cannot be repeated for anyone (Long Chron. Catech. on baptism). For this sacrament in its own sense gives birth to spiritual life (John 3:5). But just as each person can be born only once for natural life, so too for spiritual life; just as at natural birth each of us receives from nature a certain appearance, an image that remains with us forever, so in the same way at our spiritual birth, the sacrament of baptism places an indelible stamp on everyone, which always remains on the baptized person, even if after baptism he commits a thousand sins or even rejects the faith itself (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 16). Therefore, everyone, even those baptized by heretics, if only they were baptized correctly in the name of the Holy One. Trinity, according to ancient church rules (I ecum. Sob. rights. 8; II ecum. 7; VI ecum. 95), were not rebaptized again when they came to the Orthodox Church, and are not rebaptized now, but were and are joined to it through the laying on of hands, or through the sacrament of anointing (Carthage rights. 68; Laod. 7). Baptism was taught again and is taught only to those who were previously baptized incorrectly, not in the name of the Holy One. Trinity, not according to the Lord's institution, and which follows. were not at all worthy of the grace of this sacrament (Laod. 8; II ecumenical rights. 7; IV ecumenical rights. 95). § 139. The necessity of baptism for all; infant baptism; baptism of blood I. The need for the sacrament of baptism for everyone - 1. Christ the Savior Himself testified when he said: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). He who has faith and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not have faith. will be condemned (Mark 16:16). 2. Testified by St. Apostles. St. Peter, after many of those who heard his first sermon were touched in their hearts and asked him and the other Apostles: what shall we do, men and women? answered: Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37, 38). And in general, he considered baptism so necessary for everyone that he taught it even to those who were worthy to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit before baptism (Acts 10:45–48). II. If, therefore, baptism is necessary for all people, as the only door to the Kingdom of God: then this sacrament should be taught not only to adults, but also to infants, contrary to the false teaching of some sectarians (Anabaptists and others.) For - 1. And infants are capable of the Kingdom of God, of sanctification from the Holy Spirit. Leave the children,” the Savior said to His disciples, “and do not forbid them to come to Me: for such is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 19:14). There were cases when God sanctified and filled infants with the Holy Spirit from the womb, for example, Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5), John the Baptist (Luke 1:15, 41). 2. And infants are not strangers to ancestral sin, and can only be cleansed from it and enter the Kingdom of God except through baptism. The Savior’s saying is well known: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh (John 3:5; Rom. 5:12, 18). 3. In the Old Testament, circumcision, through which the Israelites entered into a covenant with God, was performed, at His command, on infants (Gen. 17:12). But Old Testament circumcision was a prototype of the sacrament of baptism, through which we enter into a covenant with God in the New Testament (Col. 2:11, 12; Gal. 3:26–29). Track. if in the Old Testament God Himself recognized infants as capable of entering into a covenant with Him: then why deprive them of this benefit in the New Testament? 4. The Holy Apostles sometimes baptized entire families, for example, the house of Lydia (Acts 16:14, 15), the house of Stephen (1 Cor. 1:16), and the entire house of a certain guard (Acts 16:30–39). But no one can prove that in these families there were only adults, and there were no infants at all, nor that children, if there were any, were left without baptism. III. However, no matter how necessary the sacrament of baptism is for all people, infants and adults, there are special cases when, according to the belief of the Orthodox Church, it can be replaced by another, extraordinary baptism - baptism of blood or martyrdom 5. This is when someone, having not yet had time to be baptized with water and the Spirit, is persecuted for the faith of Christ, sheds his blood for it and tastes death itself (Matthew 20:22, 23). To understand the power and effectiveness of this extraordinary method of baptism, let us remember - a) the words of the Savior: everyone who confessed Me before men, let us also confess him before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32); b) other words: whoever wants to save his soul will destroy it: and whoever destroys his soul for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will save it (Mark 8:35); blessedness was expelled for the sake of righteousness: for these are the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10); c) finally, the third words: her many sinful wives are forgiven, for she loved much (Luke 7:47); If you love Me, you will be loved by My Father (John 14:21); No one has greater sowing love, but whoever lays down his life for his friends. You are naturally my friends; if you do, I command you (15:13, 14). And, during the baptism of blood, the martyrs actually confess Christ before men, destroy their soul or life for the sake of Him and the gospel, endure persecution for the sake of righteousness, and testify to the fullest and greatest love for Him - love to the point of death. § 140. Who can perform baptism, and what is required of those being baptized? I. The power to perform the sacrament of baptism, given at the beginning by the Savior to St. To the Apostles (Matthew 28:19), has been learned since ancient times and is learned in the Church only by the successors of the Apostles - bishops, and through them, by presbyters. This can be seen from the apostolic canons, in which, wherever the performers of the sacrament of baptism are mentioned, only the bishop and presbyter are named everywhere, for example: “if anyone, a bishop or presbyter, baptizes not according to the Lord’s institution ... let him be deposed” (right 49), or: “if anyone, a bishop or presbyter, performs more than three immersions ... let him be deposed” (right 50). Deacons were sometimes allowed to baptize, following the example of St. Philip the deacon (Acts 6:5; 8:12, 13, 38); but it was allowed only in cases of extreme need, in the absence of a bishop and presbyter. But the deacons themselves never had the right to baptize: “A deacon does not perform baptism,” says the Apostolic Constitutions (book 8, chapter 28). Likewise, in cases of extreme need, it was allowed to baptize the laity, as it is now allowed (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 102; Post. Eastern Pat. on the Right. Faith, part. 16), not only men, but also women. However, if an infant, baptized out of need, by a layman, through immersion in the name of the Most Holy. Trinity, will remain alive, the rules of the Church require that the Priest perform the rest of the rite of baptism on this baby, except for what has already been performed (see Eucholog. or Trebnik, ed. Kiev. 1651, p. 40). II. From those who begin the sacrament of baptism, if they are adults, are required: 1. Faith. This can be seen from the very commandment of the Savior to the Apostles: go and teach all tongues, baptizing them (Matthew 28:19); Going into the whole world, preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever has faith and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). Therefore, the Apostles first of all tried to teach people everywhere the faith, and then they taught baptism only to those who believed. So, after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, St. Peter first offered teaching to the assembled people, and those who kindly accepted his word were baptized (Acts 2:41). So it is with the conversion of the cazhenik, St. Philip first opened his mouth and told him the good news of Jesus, and then said: If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptized with power, and, upon the confession of faith, he actually baptized him (8:35–38). 2. Repentance. Repent, said St. The Apostle Peter to those who heard his sermon, “and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins: and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). As for infants who themselves are not yet able to have or testify to their faith and repentance before baptism: they are baptized according to the faith of their parents and adoptees, who on their behalf pronounce both a confession of faith and a renunciation of the devil and all his works, pledging together before the Church to raise the baptized children in faith and piety when they come of age (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to the question. 103; Space Chr. about baptism). This custom of the Church of St. Dionysius the Areopagite writes directly from the Apostles: “Our divine teachers,” he says, “deigned (ἔδοξεν) to admit infants to baptism under the sacred condition that the natural parents of the child entrust it to one of the believers, who would instruct him well in Divine subjects, and then take care of the child, like a father indicated from above (θεῶς), and as the guardian of his eternal salvation. This person, when he makes a promise to guide the youth in a pious life, is forced by the hierarch to pronounce renunciations and sacred. confession" (about Church hierarch. VII, 3, § 11). II. About the Sacrament of Confirmation § 141. Connection with the previous one, the place of the sacrament of confirmation among others and the concept of this sacrament 1. Through baptism we are born into spiritual life, and clean from all sin, justified and sanctified, we enter the gracious Kingdom of Christ. But just as in natural life, as soon as a person is born into the world, he already needs air, light and other external aids and forces, to maintain his being, to gradually strengthen himself and grow: so in spiritual life, suddenly after a person is born from above, he needs the grace-filled powers of the Holy Spirit, which would serve for him as spiritual air and light, and with the help of which he could not only maintain his new life, but also gradually strengthen in it and grow. These Divine powers, even for life and piety (2 Pet. 1:3), are given to everyone reborn in baptism through another sacrament of the Church, through the sacrament of confirmation. Why has the Orthodox Church since ancient times observed the custom of teaching this sacrament immediately after baptism and even in connection with it, so that confirmation takes second place among other Church sacraments, in the order in which they are performed. 2. Confirmation is such a sacrament through which the Holy Spirit is taught to the baptized person, or, more fully and separately, is communicated to the Christian, when parts of his body are anointed with consecrated myrrh, with the words pronounced: “The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit,” the grace-filled powers necessary for his strengthening and growth in spiritual life. § 142. Divine establishment of the sacrament of confirmation, its separation from baptism and independence Although confirmation has been performed since ancient times in the Orthodox Church in connection with baptism, immediately after it: nevertheless, confirmation is a special Divinely established sacrament, separate from baptism. We are convinced of this both from Holy Scripture and from St. Legends. 1. Gospel History testifies that Christ the Savior had the intention and promised to give those who believe in Him the Holy Spirit. On the last day of the great holiday, says St. John the Theologian, Jesus stood and called, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Believe in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living waters will flow out of his belly. This is what is said about Dus, whom believers want to receive in His name: He did not have the Holy Spirit, for Jesus was not glorified (John 7:37-39). Here, obviously, we are talking about such gifts of the Holy Spirit that are offered, and so on. necessary in general to believers in the Lord Jesus, and not about extraordinary gifts, which are communicated only to some of the believers for special purposes (1 Cor. 12:29ff.), although it is not mentioned through what visible medium the necessary gifts of the Holy Spirit will be taught to all believers. 2. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles tells that the Apostles, after Jesus Christ was already glorified, actually taught the Holy Spirit to those who believed in Him, and taught precisely through the laying on of hands. Such, for example, was the following case: when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. Those who came down prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. I didn’t even come to a single one of them, except to baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then he laid his hand on him and received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14–17). From here it is absolutely clear: a) that the Apostles taught the Holy Spirit to believers not through baptism (in which believers are only reborn or recreated by the Spirit), but through the laying on of hands on those who were baptized; b) that through this conferment the Apostles taught believers the gifts of the Holy Spirit, necessary for all who have been baptized, and not extraordinary gifts imparted only to some; c) that this is the laying on of hands, combined with a prayer to God for the sending of St. Spirit, was a special sacrament, separate from baptism; d) finally, that this sacrament, separate from baptism, has a Divine institution: because the Apostles in all their words and actions during the dissemination of the Gospel teaching were inspired by the Holy Spirit, who guided them into all truth and remembered to them everything that the Lord Jesus commanded them (John 14:26; 16:13). 3. Finally, the saints themselves. The Apostles in their epistles, which appeared after the book of their Acts, reminding believers of their acceptance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, instructing them in the truths of faith and confirming them in piety, express that they accepted these gifts precisely through anointing. And you receive the anointing from the Holy One, and you know everything,” wrote St. The Apostle John, - and you, the anointing that comes from Him, abides in you, and does not demand, but who teaches you: but because the anointing itself teaches you in all things, both true and not false: and whatever you have taught, abide in it (1 John 2:20, 27). Likewise, St. Paul says: proclaim (βεβαιῶν, confirming) us with you in Christ, and anointing (χρίσας) us, God who sealed (σφραγισάμενος) us, and gave the betrothal of the Spirit into our hearts (2 Cor. 1:21, 22). It cannot be denied that the Apostles speak here primarily about the internal action of the sacrament through which the Holy Spirit is taught; but on the other hand, it is natural to think that to express this internal action, wanting to be understandable to Christians, they used words borrowed from the well-known external action, which served as a visible sign of the first; and one cannot help but notice that the Apostles even directly point to this external action: and you also received the anointing... God who anointed us... Who also sealed it... If so; then one of two things must be concluded: either St. The Apostles, teaching the believers the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, at the same time inseparably used another visible sign - anointing, which is only silent about in the book of the Acts of the Apostles; or, what is much more likely, initially performing the sacrament through the laying on of hands, the saints themselves. The apostles soon replaced this visible sign, according to the instructions of the Spirit of truth, with another visible sacred rite - the anointing of those baptized. But in both cases it follows that the use of the world in this sacrament is of Divine origin. 4. The Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church do not leave the slightest doubt about the reality and Divine origin of the sacrament in question. These are – St. Dionysius the Areopagite: Having outlined the sacred rite of the sacrament of the Eucharist, he clearly says: “there is another sacred rite equivalent to this (i.e., the Eucharist), which our mentors (i.e., the Apostles) call the sacrament of the world"; then he reveals in detail how the sanctification of the world itself is accomplished, how anointing is taught to those who are baptized, what actions it has in them, and notes: “this perfect anointing with myrrh teaches to those who have been worthy the most holy sacrament of rebirth - the outpouring of the Divine Spirit” (about the Church. Hierarch. Chapter IV, 1. 11). St. Cyprian: In one of his letters he says: “he who has been baptized must still be anointed in order to accept Christ, i.e. anointing, he could be God’s anointed and have the grace of Christ in him.” In another letter, proving that it is not enough to just lay hands on heretics who are turning into the bowels of the Church, but it is necessary to baptize them, he writes: “for then only they can be completely sanctified and become sons of God if they are reborn by one and the other sacrament (si utroque sacramento nascantur) - i.e. not only separates the laying on of hands or confirmation from baptism, but equally calls both a sacrament. § 143. The visible side of the sacrament of confirmation The visible side of the sacrament of anointing is that those who are baptized, after praying to God for the sending of the Holy Spirit upon them, are anointed with a cross in different parts of the body with consecrated myrrh, pronouncing the words: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. So here, in particular, they differ: 1. Prayer to God for the sending down of the Holy Spirit on those who are baptized, preceding the anointing itself. This prayer is still pronounced in the Church, following the example of St. The Apostles Peter and John, who, having been sent to Samaria to bring down the Holy Spirit on those who were baptized, just before performing the mystery, prayed for them that they would receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:15). 2. The substance used to perform this sacrament is consecrated myrrh. The use of myrrh during the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation undoubtedly originates from the Apostles themselves. For - a) there are clear hints of this in Holy Scripture, which we have already discussed (1 John 2:20; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22); b) the successors of the Apostles, who received from them such strict bequests to keep both their oral and written traditions (1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Thess. 2:15), would not have dared to arbitrarily allow a change in such an important matter as the performance of the sacrament, and instead of the laying on of hands, choose a new visible sign for bringing down the gifts of the Holy Spirit to believers. Finally c) St. Dionysius the Areopagite, as we have seen, says that the saints themselves. The apostles called this sacrament the sacrament of peace, and so on. themselves introduced the use of peace. Note Why did the Apostles, or, more precisely, the Holy Spirit, want to replace the laying on of hands, which they initially used, with the action of anointing? About this - since nothing is revealed to us, we can only make fortunes. From the book of the Acts of the Apostles it is clear that only the Apostles could bring down the Holy Spirit on those who were baptized (Acts 8:12–18): this was convenient for them at the very beginning of Christianity, when there were not so many baptized people. But soon, with the extraordinary spread of St. faith, when they began to turn to it in all countries of the world, neither the Apostles themselves, nor their immediate successors - the bishops could appear everywhere and suddenly, after baptism, bring down the Holy Spirit on all those who were baptized, through the laying on of hands. And therefore, perhaps, the Holy Spirit, who dwelt in the Apostles, deigned to replace the laying on of the apostolic hands on those baptized with another, more convenient, action of anointing - so that the consecration of the world would be performed by the Apostles themselves and after them by their successors - the bishops, and the anointing of the baptized with the consecrated world would be provided to all the elders. It was myrrh, and not another substance, that could be chosen in this case because in the Old Testament, anointing with myrrh was used as a visible means of bringing down the gifts of the Holy Spirit to people (Ex. 28:41; 1 Kings 16:13; 1 Kings 1:39; 19:16). 3. The very effect of the sacrament is the cruciform anointing of certain parts of the body with the consecrated chrism. This is how this action was performed from ancient times. About the custom of anointing St. the world of the cross clearly mentions St. Ambrose and Blessed Augustine. About the anointing of St. the world of the forehead, ears, nostrils and perseus speaks in detail to St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The second and sixth Ecumenical Councils testify to the anointing of the forehead, eyes, ears, nostrils and lips. St. speaks about the anointing of the senses and members of the body in general. Ephraim the Syrian. This is how St. the world, all the most important parts of the human body, like the organs of all the powers and abilities of his soul, and both parts of his composition are jointly strengthened by the forces of grace. It is remarkable that in the ancient non-Orthodox societies existing in the east, such as the Jacobites, Copts and Armenians, anointing is performed not only on the forehead, as the Roman Church now does, but also on other parts of the human body. 4. Words spoken during the anointing of St. world-known parts of the body: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit. These words are apparently borrowed from the famous saying of St. Apostle (2 Cor. 1:21, 22) and have been used in the Church during the celebration of the sacrament of confirmation since ancient times. In the seventh rule of the Second Ecumenical Council we read: “those who join Orthodoxy and part of those saved from heretics are acceptable according to the following rites and customs... We are acceptable by sealing, that is, by anointing with St. with the world, first the forehead, then the eyes, and the nostrils, and the mouth, and the ears, and sealing them, we say: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The Fathers do not say: we define or command the words to be pronounced during anointing: the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, but only cite them as well-known and have long been used in the celebration of this sacrament, according to rites and custom. § 144. The invisible actions of the sacrament of confirmation and its uniqueness I. The main invisible effect of the sacrament of confirmation is that it imparts to believers the Holy Spirit. In baptism we are only cleansed of sins and reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit: through anointing we are given the Holy Spirit with all His grace-filled gifts necessary for spiritual life (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 105). This is absolutely clear from the story of St. Luke: When the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. Those who came down prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. I didn’t even come to a single one of them, except to baptize them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then he laid his hand on him and received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14–17; 19:6). But since the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in which He is communicated to believers through the sacrament of anointing, according to the calculation of the prophet Isaiah, are seven: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and piety and, finally, the Spirit of the fear of God (Isa. 11: 2, 3), of which three primarily relate to the enlightenment of the mind, and four to the instruction and strengthening of the will in good (Right. Confess. Part. 1. answer to question 73–80): then, in particular, it is said that the sacrament of confirmation is 1. Communicates to us the grace of the Spirit, enlightening and admonishing us in the truths of faith. And you receive the anointing from the Holy One, and you know everything,” St. wrote to Christians. Apostle John. “And you have received the anointing from Him, it abides in you, and you do not demand, but who teaches you: but because the anointing itself teaches you about all things, both true and not false: and whatever you have taught, continue in it (1 John 2:22, 27). 2. Communicates to us the grace of the Spirit, confirming and returning us to piety. This is indicated by St. The Apostle Paul, saying: proclaim (βεβαιῶν, confirming) us with you in Christ, and God, who anointed us, sealed us, and gave the betrothal of the Spirit into our hearts (2 Cor. 1:21, 22; Eph. 4:30). II. Since the sacrament of anointing marks or seals us with the “seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor. 1:22), and since God, who informs (affirms) and anoints us, seals us, and through this sacrament gives the betrothal of the Spirit into our hearts (2 Cor. 1:22), he remains faithful: he cannot deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13); That sacrament of confirmation, like the sacrament of baptism, has always been and is now considered unique (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 105). The only difference is that baptism, if done correctly, is not repeated for anyone, even if someone even denied the name of Christ and then turned again to the Orthodox Church; and anointing for those who have renounced the name of Christ is repeated if they convert to Orthodoxy (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 105). Note As for the sacred rite, when the Orthodox Church anoints St. the world of the most pious Sovereigns when crowning them to the kingdom, in accordance with how the kings were anointed with holy oil in the Old Testament Church, according to the command of God Himself (Ps. 88:21; 1 Sam. 10: 1; 15: 1; 16: 13), - from which they were called His Christs or anointed (1 Sam. 12: 3, 5; 24: 7, etc.): then this is not a repetition of anointing in the sense of the sacrament, through which grace-filled powers are communicated to all believers, which are, in fact, necessary in spiritual life. But there is only a special sacred rite of this sacrament for the communication of special gifts of the Holy Spirit, required for a special, extremely important, indicated by God Himself (Dan. 4: 22, 29), royal ministry (Ps. 89: 22–26). And Samuel received the horn of oil, it is narrated about the anointing of King David for the kingdom, and the anointing of him in the midst of his brotherhood, and the Spirit of the Lord was carried upon David from that day and thereafter (1 Sam. 16:13). It is known that the sacrament of the priesthood is not repeated, but it has its own degrees, and the ordination again and again performs clergy for the highest ministries: so the anointing of kings for the kingdom is only a special degree or a special sacred rite of the sacrament, bringing down the special Spirit on the anointed of God for their highest service. The very prayers read at this great sacred rite indicate the special gifts that the Orthodox Church requests for God's chosen Monarch. “For the anointing of the all-holy myrrh to be received from heaven,” proclaims, among other things, the protodeacon, “for rule and justice, strength and wisdom, let us pray to the Lord.” And the high priest, performing the sacrament, then cries out: “Lord our God, King of kings and Lord of lords, who through Samuel the prophet chose Your servant David and anointed him king over Your people Israel! You yourself, even now, hear the prayer of us unworthy... and of your faithful servant, your great Sovereign... anoint him with the oil of joy, clothe him with power from on high..., seat him on the throne of righteousness, protect him with the whole armor of Your Holy Spirit, strengthen his arm..., show him the famous guardian of Your holy Catholic Church dogmas "... (see Order of the Holy Crowns. Sovereign.) § 145. Who has the right to perform the sacrament of confirmation, over whom and when it should be performed I. According to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, the power to perform the sacrament of confirmation belongs not only to bishops, but also to presbyters, with the only difference that the former have the right to consecrate the chrism itself for the sacrament, and the latter can only anoint with chrism consecrated by the bishop (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 105). This has been the case since ancient times. 1. Since ancient times, the right to consecrate the chrism for the sacrament belonged to the bishops alone. This can be seen from the rules of the Council of Carthage (318), where we read: “let not the presbyter do the perfection of the world” (Proverbs 6). 2. Likewise, from ancient times, the power to perform the sacrament of confirmation itself was acquired both by bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, who directly performed this sacrament (Acts 8:14-17; 19:6), and by presbyters, as those who received it, through ordination from the bishop, together with the power in general to perform all the sacraments, except for the priesthood alone. For example: in the Apostolic Decrees it is said: “about baptism, bishop or presbyter, we have already said before and now we will say - first you anoint with holy oil, then you baptize with water, finally you seal with chrism” (Book VII. Chapter 22)... In addition, it is known that in all Christian societies - non-Orthodox, existing since ancient times in the East, anointing is taught both by bishops and elders. II. The Orthodox Church performs the sacrament of confirmation over all those who are baptized in the name of the Holy One. Trinity, and, moreover, immediately after their baptism (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 105). And this is completely in accordance with the example of St. Apostles. Yes, St. Paul, having baptized some in Ephesus, immediately taught them the Holy Spirit through the mysterious laying on of hands on them (Acts 19:5, 6), and in his letter to the Ephesians commands them not to offend the Holy Spirit, by which they were marked on the day of deliverance, i.e. on the very day of baptism (Eph. 4:30). Likewise, the other Apostles, as soon as they heard that St. Deacon Philip baptized the Samaritans, to whom, due to his rank, he could not teach the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, they immediately sent Peter and John to Samaria to perform this sacrament over those who were baptized (Acts 8:14–17). III. About the sacrament of the Eucharist or communion § 146. Connection with the previous one, the concept of the sacrament of the Eucharist and its superiority I. Through the sacrament of baptism we enter the grace-filled kingdom of Christ pure, justified, reborn for spiritual life. In the sacrament of anointing we receive into ourselves the grace-filled forces necessary for our strengthening and growth in spiritual life. Finally, in the sacrament of the Eucharist we are honored for the same high purpose to partake of saving food and drink - the most pure flesh and blood of our Lord Jesus, and sincerely unite with the Source of life itself (Ps. 35:10). Since ancient times, the Orthodox Church has had the custom, following baptism and confirmation, to teach its new children the sacrament of the Eucharist, so that, at their very entry into the kingdom of grace, it would impart to them the fullness of the grace-filled gifts necessary for a new life, without ceasing, however, in all subsequent times, to call believers to this saving sacrament. II. The Eucharist is a sacrament in which a Christian, under the guise of bread and wine, partakes of the true body and true blood of his Savior. This sacrament surpasses all others, as stated in the Orthodox Confession (Part 1, answer to question 106). 1. An excess of mystery and incomprehensibility. In other sacraments, what is incomprehensible, in fact, is that under a certain visible image, the grace of God invisibly acts on a person, and the very substance of the sacraments, for example, water in baptism, St. myrrh remains unchanged. Here, on the contrary, the very substance of the sacrament changes: the bread and wine, retaining one form, are miraculously transformed into the true body and blood of our Lord, and then, having been accepted by the believers, invisibly produce their grace-filled effects in them. 2. The abundance of the Lord’s love for us and the extraordinary greatness of the gift taught in this sacrament. In other sacraments, the Lord Jesus communicates to those who believe in Him certain particular gifts of saving grace, in accordance with the essence of each sacrament - gifts that He acquired for people by His death on the cross. Here He offers Himself as food to the faithful - His own body and His own blood, and the believers, uniting here directly with their Lord and Savior, are thus united with the very Source of saving grace. 3. Finally, by the fact that all other sacraments are only sacraments that have a saving effect on a person; and the Eucharist is not only the most incomprehensible and saving of the sacraments, but at the same time it is also a sacrifice to God - a sacrifice that is offered to Him for all living and dead and propitiates Him (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107; Post. Eastern Patr. on the Orthodox Faith, part 17). § 147. The Divine promise of the sacrament of the Eucharist and its very establishment Wanting to prepare people for the reception of such a great and terrible sacrament as the Eucharist, Christ the Savior, long before its establishment, deigned to solemnly pronounce a promise about it, to show its essence, power, necessity; and then, when the time came, he actually established this saving sacrament. 1. The Lord deigned to express the promise of the sacrament of the Eucharist in the following words to the Jews: I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the desert and died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, and whoever eats from it will not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give, which I will eat, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:47–51). And when the Jews began to argue among themselves and said: How can this one give us his flesh to eat (- 52)? “Jesus repeated to them again with perfect clarity: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in you.” He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood will have eternal life: and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly meat, and My blood is truly beer. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him (- 53–56). 2. It pleased the Lord to establish the sacrament of the Eucharist in the midst of the most important circumstances. The Jewish Passover was approaching - the greatest of the Old Testament holidays, which prefigured the atoning Lamb, slain in the predestination of God from the foundation of the world (Ap. 13:8). At the same time, the hour was finally approaching when He, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), really had to be slain on the altar of the cross. At this time, the day before the Jews were going to celebrate Passover, the Lord sent two of His disciples to Jerusalem to prepare the place and everything necessary for the celebration of Passover. And on the very night, when he was betrayed (1 Cor. 11:23), he comes with all his clothes to the Jerusalem upper room, prepared in accordance with His will. Here, reclining with His disciples, He first of all celebrates the Old Testament Passover (Luke 22:15); then he washes the feet of the disciples, teaching them humility and mutual love (John 13:3–15), again predicts to them about His approaching suffering, indicates the traitor himself (Matthew 26:21–25; Luke 22:16–27) and finally establishes the sacrament of the Eucharist. To those who eat them, says St. Evangelist Matthew, - Jesus received the bread, and blessed it, and gave it to the disciples, and said: “Please, eat: this is My body.” And take the cup, and give praise to them, saying: drink of it, all of you: for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins (26:26–28; narrated by Mark 14:22–24). Or, as St. writes. Apostle to the Corinthians: For I received from the Lord, and gave it unto you, even as the Lord Jesus was betrayed in the night, and having given thanks, broke the bread, and said, “Please, eat, this is My body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise the cup, after supper, saying: This cup is the new covenant in My blood: do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of Me (1 Cor. 11:23–25; taken down Luke 22:19, 20). § 148. The visible side of the sacrament of the Eucharist Paying attention to the visible or sensory side of the sacrament of the Eucharist, we distinguish: 1) the substance used for the sacrament: bread and wine; 2) the sacred act, during which the sacrament is performed, and 3) especially that most important part of the sacred act, those words during which the very transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ takes place. I. The substance for the sacrament of the Eucharist is bread and wine. The bread must be wheat, clean, leavened, and the wine must be grape, pure, dissolved in water during the offering (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107). 1. The bread must be wheat, such as was usually used by the Jews in the days of Jesus Christ, who established the sacrament of the Eucharist, and which the Church has always used for this sacrament. It must be pure both in the substance from which it is prepared and in the method of preparation: this is required by the very greatness and holiness of the sacrament. Finally, it must be leavened, and not unleavened, which is what the Latins usually use for the sacrament of the Eucharist. Because - a) Christ the Savior himself initially performed the sacrament of communion on leavened bread, and not on unleavened bread. It is undeniable that He established this sacrament before the Passover holiday (John 13:1); because the next day he was judged (John 18:28), put to death (19:14) and even taken down from the cross (John 19:31), when the Jews were just preparing to celebrate the Passover. Track. established at a time when in the houses of the Jews leavened bread was still used, and not unleavened bread. Namely, Christ established the sacrament of Communion on the 13th day of the month of Nissan in the evening; and the law ordered the Jews to begin celebrating Passover and then eating unleavened bread only from the evening of the 14th of Nissan (Ex. 12:6–8. Num. 9:11); so the first of the seven days of unleavened bread, which began after Passover, from which the Jews had to remove all leaven from their houses and eat only unleavened bread, was already the 15th day of Nisan. That the Lord established the mystery of the new covenant (Mk. 14:24) on a new substance, on leavened bread - the Evangelists convince us of this when they testify that He received precisely bread - ἄρτον, and blessed, broke and gave to the disciples, and said: take, eat: this is My body (Matthew 26:26), i.e. bread that has risen, leavened (ἄρτος from αἴρω, I raise), as this word was understood, in accordance with general usage, by the Apostles themselves and the Savior (Matthew 16:6–11), and not unleavened bread, which, unlike leavened bread, was usually called only unleavened bread, ἄζυμον, or if sometimes bread ἄρτος, then certainly unleavened bread - ἄζυμος (Numbers 6:19; Judges 6:20). b) The Eucharist was celebrated on leavened bread in the days of the Apostles. For - aa) this bread is constantly called ἄρτος, and not unleavened bread (Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:26); bb) all the Jews who had converted to Christ then also participated in the Eucharist (Acts 2:22, 41, 42, 46); and the Jews, whom the law prescribed to eat unleavened bread only seven days a year and never again, would not agree to receive the sacrament on unleavened bread all the days (Acts 2:42, 46), until the Apostles decided how Christians should look at the ritual law of Moses (Acts ch. 15); c) the use of unleavened bread was prescribed by God in the Law of Moses, but the Apostles, having determined at the Jerusalem Council what exactly from that law should remain obligatory for Christians, and what should lose force, did not command Christians to use unleavened bread (Acts 15:23–30); track. their use was not accepted for the Church of Christ, and must pass away like a legal shadow. c) The Eucharist was constantly celebrated on leavened bread in the Church of Christ and in all subsequent times. For the substance for the sacrament, as is known, was usually borrowed from the offerings of the people, who, no doubt, brought ordinary leavened bread to the churches from their homes; since it was intended both for the supper of love and for helping the poor (1 Cor. 11:21, 22). 2. The other substance for the sacrament of the Eucharist, along with wheat and leavened bread, should be wine, and grape wine. For Christ the Savior Himself performed the sacrament of the Eucharist on grape wine. Having given the cup to His disciples and said to them: drink from it, for this is My blood of the new covenant, He immediately added: I say to you, that the Imam will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink with you new in the kingdom of My Father (Matthew 26:27-29). And since in Palestine ordinary red grape wine was used (Gen. 49:11; Deut. 32:14), and on such wine, of course, the Lord Jesus performed the sacrament: then the Church has been using red grape wine for the Eucharist since ancient times, especially since its very appearance depicts the blood of Christ for the sensual eyes. This wine intended for the Eucharist, like bread, must be as pure as possible: the greatness and holiness of the sacrament demands this. It must be soluble in water: because - a) and Christ, as tradition testifies (Lent. Apost. VIII, 12), at the institution of the Eucharist, he consumed wine dissolved in water, which was actually used in Judea; b) and St. The Church, following the example of the Savior, always drank the same wine, remembering together that, during the Lord’s suffering on the cross, blood and water flowed from His pierced rib (John 19:34; Sob. Carthage. rights. 46; Trull. rights. 32). II. The sacred act during which the sacrament of the Eucharist is performed, and without which it cannot be performed, is the Liturgy. It has three parts: the first is proskomedia or offering, when the substance for the sacrament is prepared, so named from the custom of ancient Christians to bring bread and wine to the church for the Eucharist; the second is the Liturgy of the Catechumens, during which Christians prepare for the sacrament and the catechumens are allowed to be present; the third is the Liturgy of the Faithful, during which the sacrament is celebrated and only the faithful can be present. The place and manner of celebrating the Liturgy in all its parts are defined in detail in the rules and rites of the Church. III. The most important action in the last part of the Liturgy consists of: a) pronouncing the words spoken by the Savior at the establishment of the sacrament: take, eat: this is My body...; drink of it, all of you: for this is My blood of the new testament... (Matthew 26:26–28), and then b) invoking the Holy Spirit, or praying to God the Father for the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Holy Spirit. Gifts and their blessing (Space. Christ. Catech. About the Euchar.). From the rites of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom can be seen - a) that the words of the Savior: take, eat..., drink all of it..., pronounced by the celebrant, with an indication of St. Gifts, then invocation to St. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and their blessing itself constitute one continuous and inseparable action; b) that the said words of Christ are remembered in prayer addressed to God, and are remembered as the Savior’s commandment to His followers (1 Cor. 11:23-25), and - c) on the basis of this commandment (remembering this saving commandment), the clergyman dares, on behalf of all believers, to turn with prayer to God the Father for the sending down on St. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and His transfusion of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. Thus, attributing to the words of the Lord, spoken by Him at the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist, all the importance as a saving commandment, according to which the altar servers dare and without which they would never have dared to begin the sacred rite of such a great and terrible sacrament, the Orthodox Catholic Church at the same time “believes and is wise to be accomplished in the Divine Liturgy in the transubstantiation of the body and blood of Christ through the influx and action of St. the Spirit through the invocation of the bishop or priest in the words of prayer to God the Father: make this bread the honorable body of Thy Christ, and put the honorable blood of Thy Christ into this cup, translating it by Thy Holy Spirit” (Rite of the Oath of the Apx.; Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 107). This is how the Church of Christ has always believed, according to the tradition of the saints themselves. Apostles. This is evidenced by its ancient Liturgies, such as: Liturgy of St. Apostle James, Brother of the Lord, the Liturgy set forth in the Apostolic Constitutions, and the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great. In all of them, as in the Liturgy of Chrysostom, the words of the Savior spoken at the establishment of the Eucharist are remembered in prayer addressed to God, and, moreover, with the clear addition of the commandment of Christ: do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19), and immediately followed by the invocation of the Holy Spirit on the gifts that are presented for their sanctification and transformation. § 149. The invisible essence of the sacrament of the Eucharist: a) the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in this sacrament We believe that at the very time when the clergyman, who, according to the commandment of the Savior, performs the sacrament of the Eucharist, invoking the Holy Spirit on the offered Gifts, blesses them with a prayer to God the Father: make this bread the honorable body of Thy Christ, and put the honorable blood of Thy Christ into this cup, translating by Thy Holy Spirit, the bread and wine are truly transformed into the body and blood of Christ by the influx of the Holy Spirit - so that, although after this we see bread and wine on St. meal, but in the very essence, invisible to sensory eyes, this is the true body and true blood of the Lord Jesus, only under the guise of bread and wine (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 17). The teaching of the Orthodox Church about the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist has unshakable foundations both in Holy Scripture and in Holy Tradition. – These include: I. The words of Christ’s promise about the sacrament of the Eucharist (John 6:27–68), which must be understood in a literal and not in any figurative sense. Because - 1. The Jews themselves, to whom the Savior’s conversation was addressed, understood them literally. When they heard from Him: I am the living bread that came down from heaven: if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give, my flesh is, which I will give for the life of the world (- 51), then they began to argue among themselves, perplexed about the possibility of such a miracle: I hid among myself the Jew, saying: how can this give your flesh food (- 52)? What would this mean for the Jews if they did not understand the Savior’s words literally? 2. Christ the Savior not only did not show in any way to the Jews that they understood His saying incorrectly, as He did in other cases (John 3:3–5; 4:32; 8:21, 32, 39–40; 11:11; 16:19, 22; Matt. 16:6; 19:24); on the contrary, with even greater force and separateness he continued His speech in the same sense: Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, nor drunk His blood, have no life in you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood will have eternal life: and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly meat, and My blood is truly beer (John 6:53–55). 3. This is exactly how the disciples of Jesus who were between the Ideas understood these words, as a result of which many of them, amazed at the thought of eating the flesh and blood of their Teacher, said with a murmur: this word is cruel: who can listen to it (60)? And the Lord, in order to convince them of the possibility of such a wonderful experience, pointed to another miracle, to His future ascension, which He pointed to only on rare occasions, as the strongest proof of His Divine power in the matter of teaching and the truth of His preaching (John 1:50, 51; Matt. 26:13, 64). Knowing Jesus in Himself, as His disciples grumbled about this, He said to them: Are you blaspheming this? And if ye see the Son of Man ascending, where he was before (John 6:61, 62)? The expression “is flesh,” when used in a figurative sense, in the language of Holy Scripture always and everywhere means: “to cause great harm to another, to inflict a cruel offense, especially to slander and slander” (Ps. 27:2; Job 19:22; Mic. 3:3; Gal. 5:15), and has no other meaning. Track. if the words of Christ’s promise about the sacrament of the Eucharist are taken in a figurative sense, then they will mean the following: poisoning My flesh, i.e. who causes Me the greatest evil, have an eternal life! And vice versa: unless you take away the flesh of the Son of Man, i.e. If you do not inflict cruel insults on Him, slander and blaspheme Him, do not have a stomach in yourself! Who would not be disgusted by such a combination of thoughts? II. The narrative of the three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke about the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist. All of them testify that the Lord Jesus at the last supper, taking bread, blessed, broke and, distributing it to the disciples, said: Take, eat: this is My body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me, - and taking the cup of wine, and having given praise to God in front of it, gave it to the disciples, saying: drink of it, for this is My blood of the new testament, even for Much is poured out for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19). There is not the slightest reason to deviate here from the literal meaning of the Savior’s words, in which He so clearly testifies that under the forms of bread and wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist, His true body and His true blood are taught; on the contrary, everything forces us to take them in the literal sense. AND - 1. The dignity of the Savior Himself. To admit that the Lord, saying to His disciples: this is My body and this is My blood..., actually wanted to express the thought: “this is a symbol or sign of My body, and this is a symbol of My blood,” means to admit at the same time that He, by the inaccuracy of His expression, misled both the Apostles and, through them, the entire Church. 2. The circumstances in the midst of which Christ spoke these words. He pronounced them before some of His chosen disciples, who were worthy to hear from Him: you are friends of Me (John 15:14, 15); He spoke at a time when, according to the consciousness of the disciples themselves, He no longer talked about anything in parables, but spoke directly, without hesitation (John 16:29); uttered in the last hours before His suffering and death. 3. The relationship of these words of the Savior to those spoken by Moses when confirming the Old Testament. Establishing the great sacrament as a sign and confirmation of the New Covenant between God and the new Israel, the Lord Jesus, teaching the cup to His disciples, said: This is My blood of the new covenant, just as Moses, in confirming the Old Covenant between God and the people of Israel, took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying: This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded to you (Heb. 9:20); Ex. 24:8). But Moses undoubtedly shed the actual blood of a calf (Ex. 24:5), which prefigured the atoning blood of the Lamb slain for the sins of the world on the altar of the cross. The trace, and Jesus Christ gave His true, actual blood to the disciples in the cup of the covenant. III. The doctrine of the sacrament of the Eucharist of all ecumenical councils. Thus, at the first Ecumenical Council, the fathers present confessed: “at the Divine Table we should not simply see the bread and cup offered, but, elevating our minds, we should understand by faith that at the Holy Place. The Lamb of God lies at the table, taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29), sacrificed by the priests, and, truly receiving His honorable body and blood, we must believe that these are signs of our resurrection.” The Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, in denouncing heretics, testified: “no one from the trumpets of the Spirit, i.e. St. The Apostles and our illustrious fathers, our bloodless sacrifice, performed in remembrance of the suffering of our God and His entire economy, was not called the image (εἰκόνα) of His body. For they did not accept the Lord to speak and proclaim in this way, but heard Him preaching: If you have not suffered the flesh of the Son of Man, nor have you drunk His blood, you will not have life in you; also, he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I am in him, and also: take, eat, this is My body..., and Christ did not say: take, eat the image of My body... So it is clear that neither the Lord, nor the Apostles, nor the fathers ever called the bloodless sacrifice offered by the priests an image, but the body itself and the blood itself (ἀλλὰ αὐτὸ σῶμα καὶ αὐτὸ αἶμα). And although before the consecration takes place, some of the saints. It seemed pious to the fathers to call these things in place of images (ἀντίτυπα), but after sanctification they are the body and blood of Christ, and so they are believed.” § 150. b) The image and consequences of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist Based on the hitherto stated teaching about the reality of the presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, the very image and consequences of His presence are determined. AND - I. If this presence, as we have seen, consists in the fact that after the consecration of St. Gifts, in the Eucharist, it is no longer bread and wine that are found and given to believers, but the true body and true blood of the Lord: this means that He is present in this sacrament not as if He only penetrates (according to the false teaching of the Lutherans) the bread and wine that remain intact, and only coexists with it, in them, under them (in, cum, sub pane) with His body and blood, but in such a way that the bread and wine are changed, transubstantiated, are transformed into His very body and very blood (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 56; Post. Eastern Patr. about the right. faith, part 17). For otherwise bread and wine cannot become the true body and true blood of Christ, except through the transformation and transformation of the very essence of bread and wine into the essence of the body and blood of Christ, i.e. through transubstantiation. 1. This truth is confirmed by the same passages of Holy Scripture that we have just examined. Speaking of the promise of the Eucharist, the Lord, among other things, said: I am the bread of life, which came down from heaven: if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give, my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51). At the establishment of the Eucharist, having accepted the bread, he said: This is My body, and, having received the cup of wine, he said: This is My blood. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians: cup of blessing, now we bless, is there not fellowship in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread that we break the fellowship of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16)? Likewise, if anyone eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (11:27). In all these places the bread itself is clearly and directly called the body of Christ, and the wine itself is the blood of Christ, but it is not at all expressed that the body of the Lord resides with the bread, or in the bread, or under the bread. Christ did not say, “In the bread that I will give is My flesh,” but He said, “The bread that I will give is My flesh.” I did not say: in this, or together with this or under this, is My body; in this is my blood, and he said: this is my body, this is my blood. But bread and wine, we repeat, can only become the body and blood of the Lord through transformation, transformation, transubstantiation. 2. In all ancient Liturgies, starting with the Liturgy of St. Apostle James, and used not only in the Orthodox Church, but also in non-Orthodox societies, such as: among the Nestorians, Eutychians, Armenians, Syriac-Jacobites and in the Roman Church, there is a prayer to God the Father before the consecration of St. Gifts, so that He would change, change, transform by the Holy Spirit the bread into the honest body of Jesus Christ, and the wine into His honest blood. 3. The Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church also expressed that in the sacrament of the Eucharist bread and wine are broken, changed, transformed, transformed into the body and blood of Christ, or made, become, become the body and blood of Christ. Note However, we must remember that “the word transubstantiation does not explain the image by which bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of the Lord: for this cannot be comprehended by anyone except God Himself, and the efforts of those who want to comprehend this can only be the result of madness and wickedness; but it is only shown that bread and wine, after consecration, are transformed into the body and blood of the Lord, not figuratively, not symbolically, not by an excess of grace, not by communication, or by the influx of the one Divinity of the Only Begotten, and it is not an accidental attribute of bread and wine that is transformed into an accidental attribute of the body and blood of Christ, by any change or mixture, but, as said above, truly, truly and essentially, bread is the truest body of the Lord, and the wine is the very blood of the Lord” (Posl. eastern patr. about the right. faith, part 17). II. Although bread and wine in the sacrament of the Eucharist are actually transformed into the body and blood of the Lord; but He is present in this sacrament not with His body and blood alone, but with His whole being, i.e. and His soul, which is inseparably united with His body, and His very Divinity, which is Hypostasis and inseparably united with His humanity. That is why the Savior said: He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats Me, will also live for My sake (John 6:56, 57). III. Although the body and blood of the Lord are crushed and separated in the sacrament of Communion; but actually this only happens with types of bread and wine, in which the body and blood of Christ can be both visible and tangible, and in themselves they are completely whole and inseparable. For Christ is always one and inseparable: in him the Divinity is inseparably united with humanity; the human soul and body are inseparably united in Him; His body remains inseparable and always whole, together with the blood, as a living body, which has risen from the dead and no longer dies (Rom. 6:9), a glorified body (1 Cor. 15:43), spiritual (-44), immortal. Therefore, we believe that in each part - down to the smallest particle - of the offered bread and wine there is not any separate part of the body and blood of the Lord, but the body of Christ is always whole and in all parts one, and in each part - down to the smallest particle - the whole Christ is present in His essence, i.e. with soul and Divinity, or perfect God and perfect man (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 17). Since ancient times, the universal Church has expressed this faith and expresses it in the rites of the Liturgy when it says: “the Lamb of God is fragmented and divided, fragmented and not divided, always eaten and consumed in no way, but sanctifying those who partake.” IV. In the same way, although the sacrament of the Eucharist has been and is being celebrated in countless places in the universe; but the body of Christ is always and everywhere the same, and the blood of Christ is always and everywhere the same, and everywhere in this sacrament the same Christ, perfect God and perfect man, is entirely present. The high priests of the Orthodox East clearly confess this truth in the following words: “although at the same time there are many sacred rites throughout the universe, there are not many bodies of Christ, but one and the same Christ is truly and truly present, His one body and one blood in all the individual churches of the faithful. And this is not because the body of the Lord, which is in heaven, descends on the altars, but because the showbread, prepared separately in all churches, and transmuted and transubstantiated after consecration, is made one and the same with the body that is in heaven. For the Lord always has one body, and not many in many places: therefore this sacrament, according to the general opinion, is the most wonderful, comprehended by faith alone, and not by the speculations of human wisdom” (Epistle on the Right Faith, Part 17). V. If bread and wine through the sacramental consecration are transformed into the true body and blood of Christ the Savior: then it means that from the time of the consecration of St. Gifts He is constantly present in this sacrament, i.e. is present not only during the very use and acceptance of the sacrament by believers, as the Lutherans claim, but also before use and after use: for bread and wine, having transformed into the body and blood of Christ, are no longer transformed into their former nature, and remain the body and blood of the Lord forever, regardless of whether or not they are consumed by believers (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 17). Therefore, the Savior Himself, at the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist, giving the disciples the mystical bread, said: this is My body - before the disciples tasted of it, and giving the mystical cup, said: this is My blood - before the disciples drank from it. Therefore, on the other hand, the Orthodox Church - a) from ancient times has had the custom of celebrating the Liturgy on certain days with the presanctified Gifts in the unshakable confidence that these Gifts, and after the use of those that were consecrated along with them at the previous Liturgy, remain the true body and blood of Christ; b) since ancient times it has also been the custom to preserve the consecrated Gifts in consecrated vessels for the admonition of these Gifts to the dying, as the true body and blood of Christ. VI. If bread and wine in St. and the life-giving Mysteries are the true body and true blood of the Lord Jesus: then these Mysteries should be given the same honor and divine worship that we owe to the Lord Jesus Himself (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 56. 107). For human nature is completely accepted by Him into the unity of His Divine Hypostasis, inseparably united with His Divine nature, and is the own humanity of God the Word - so that in the person of the God-man, both His natures, humanity and Divinity, are due a single, inseparable Divine worship (see § 86). § 151. Who can celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist; who should partake of this sacrament and what should be the preparation for it? 1. The power to celebrate the sacrament of the Eucharist, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, belongs only to bishops, as the successors of the Apostles, and through bishops is communicated to the presbyters (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107; Post. Eastern Patr. on the Orthodox Faith, part 17). For - a) only to the Apostles and, therefore, only to their successors, Christ gave this power when, having established the most holy sacrament, he commanded them: do this in remembrance of Me (Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24, 25); and b) only bishops and elders from the days of the Apostles themselves have constantly used this power in the Church. Witnesses of this are not only private teachers, but also entire Councils: Nicene 1 (Rule 18), Ancyra (Rule 1), Neo-Caesarean (Rule 9), Gangra (Rule 4) and Laodicean (Rule 58). 2. All Orthodox Christians can approach the Lord’s Table and partake of the body and blood of Christ, and only they alone, like persons who have already entered the Church through the door of baptism, have become and remain her children, and so on. heirs of all the benefits offered by the Lord in the Church. One bread, one body we are many, wrote St. Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Christians, “for we all partake of one bread (1 Cor. 10:17; 11:20, 33). Therefore, they have never been and are not allowed to the sacrament of the Eucharist - a) all those persons who have not yet entered the Church through the door of baptism and have not become its children, namely: pagans, Jews, Mohammedans and catechumens; b) persons who, although they entered the Church through baptism, fell away from it through renunciation of the faith, through heresy and schism, or for some other grave sins were subject to church prohibition. In addition to numerous cathedral and patristic rules, proof of this idea is the very composition of the Liturgy, during which the sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. It is known that all ancient liturgies, after proskomedia, consist of two parts: from the liturgy of the catechumens, at which not only catechumens and penitents who were under prohibition or penance, but also schismatics, heretics, and even infidels were allowed to attend to listen to church readings and teachings; and from the Liturgy of the Faithful, at which only Orthodox Christians could be present, and at which the sacrament of the Eucharist is actually performed and taught. As for the faithful themselves: according to the rule of the Church, not only adults, but also “little babies of faith, for the sake of those who bring them, should be made worthy of the holy mysteries, for the sanctification of their souls and bodies, and for the reception of the grace of the Lord” (Izv. teacher about the sub. and acceptance. Divine mysteries, at the end of the Service Book). And this rule, observed to this day by the Orthodox Church, has been observed since ancient times throughout the Catholic Church, according to the testimony of the book of the Apostolic Constitutions (book 8, chapter 13) and the teachers of the Church: Dionysius the Areopagite, Cyprian, Augustine, Pope Innocent 1. 3. However, calling all his faithful children to the table of Christ, St. The Church admits them to the most holy sacrament in no other way than after their preliminary preparation, following the commandment of the Apostle: let a man tempt himself, and let him eat of the bread, and let him drink of the cup. He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment without discerning the body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:28, 29). This preparation consists of sincere testing by believers and cleansing their conscience from sins through the sacrament of repentance, and together - in fasting and prayers, in accordance with the rites of the Church. § 152. The necessity of communion of the Eucharist, and precisely under both types, and the fruits of the sacrament I. To partake of the body and blood of the Lord is an essential and necessary duty of every Christian. This is visible: 1. From the words of the Savior, which He spoke even at the promise of the sacrament of the Eucharist: Amen, amen, I say to you: unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of Man, nor have you drunk His blood, you have not life in you. If you eat My flesh and drink My blood, you will have eternal life (John 6:53, 54). And although everyone who was reborn by water and the Spirit, but did not have time, due to a quick and sudden death, to partake of the body and blood of the Lord, may, due to his purity and innocence, be worthy of the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:14) - however, the one who, after his baptism, remains alive among the members of the earthly Church of Christ, and whether through negligence or stubbornness, neglects to eat this saving food, without a doubt, will not inherit eternal life (John 6:53). 2. From the clear commandment of the Savior, the Eucharist was established. St. Apostle Paul tells about it this way: The Lord Jesus at night, when he was betrayed, received bread and broke it, giving thanks, and said: take, eat, this is My body, which was broken for you: do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise the cup, after supper, saying: This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink, in remembrance of Me (1 Cor. 11:23-25). And then he directly adds: as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, the Dondezh will come (- 26). And thus it testifies that the Lord’s command to partake of His body and blood applies not to the Apostles alone, but to all believers. 3. From the example of St. The Apostles and leading Christians, who, holyly observing this commandment of the Savior, endured with one accord all their days in the Church..., in fellowship and in the breaking of bread (Acts 2:42, 46; 1 Cor. 10:17; 11:20). 4. From the teachings and actions of the Orthodox Church, which inspires its children to begin the Lord's Table as often as possible, and commands everyone four times, in the known four fasts of the year, or at least once a year, to certainly cleanse their conscience in confession and partake of St. Secrets (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 90). II. “Both spiritual and secular people must partake of this Sacrament under both types of bread and wine” (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107), contrary to the false teaching of the Roman Church, which forbade the laity to partake of the cup of the Lord. Because - 1. Christ the Savior established the sacrament of the Eucharist under both types inseparably - under the guise of bread and under the guise of wine, and just as, teaching His disciples bread, he commanded: take, eat: this is My body, in the same way, teaching the cup, he commanded: drink of it, all of you: for this is My blood (Matthew 26:27, 28). Track. if all Christians, clergy and laity, must partake of the sacrament of the Eucharist (which the Roman Church also teaches), and the essence of the Eucharist, according to the establishment of the Lord, includes both Eucharistic types equally, and if Christ Himself commanded to partake of this Sacrament under both types together: then to deprive the laity of the cup of the Lord means to honor them with not quite the greatest sacrament and to violate the commandment of God. 2. The Apostles, guided by the Holy Spirit, taught the sacrament of the Eucharist to all Christians under both types, and commanded everyone to partake under both types. Let man tempt himself, says St. The Apostle Paul, who gave us about the Eucharist exactly what he received from the Lord, let a man tempt himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and let him drink of the cup. He who eats and drinks unworthyly judges himself by eating and drinking without judging the body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:28, 29, 24–27). And even before that, urging those same Christians to avoid eating things sacrificed to idols, he wrote: As I say to the wise: You judge what I say. The cup of blessing, now we bless, is there not fellowship in the blood of Christ? the bread we break, is it not fellowship of the body of Christ?.. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; You cannot partake of the Lord's table, and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:15, 16, 21). III. The saving fruits or actions of the sacrament of the Eucharist, if only we partake of it worthily, are the following: 1. It sincerely unites us with the Lord: he who eats My flesh, - He Himself testified, - and drinks My blood, abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56). 2. It nourishes our body and soul, and contributes to our strengthening, elevation, and progress in spiritual life: for My flesh, said the Savior, is truly meat, and My blood is truly beer; further: just as the living Father sent Me, and I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats Me, and he will live for My sake (John 6:55, 57). 3. Finally, this sacrament, which we receive with dignity, serves in us as a guarantee of our future resurrection and eternally blessed life. Eat My flesh, - said the Savior, - and drink My blood, you will have eternal life: and I will raise him up on the last day...; This poisonous bread will live forever (John 6:54, 58). We must, however, remember that all of the aforementioned saving fruits are brought by the Holy Eucharist only for those Christians who approach it with proper preparation and partake of it with dignity. And for those who dare to approach without proper preparation and partake unworthily, this unworthy partaking of the body and blood of the Lord will only serve to greater condemnation. This is what St. teaches. The Apostle testifies: if anyone eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. He who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment without discerning the body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:27, 29). St. teaches the same. The Orthodox Church, and therefore always takes care to first prepare her children for the worthy communion of the body and blood of Christ, and does not allow unworthy people known to her to participate in this sacrament (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Righteous Faith, Part 17). § 153. The Eucharist as a sacrifice: a) the truth or reality of this sacrifice Believing and confessing that the most holy Eucharist is a true sacrament, the Orthodox Church also believes and confesses, despite the errors of Protestants, that the Eucharist is at the same time a true, actual sacrifice, i.e. that in the Eucharist the body and blood of our Savior, on the one hand, are offered as food to people, and, on the other, are sacrificed for people to God (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 107). 1. This truth was taught by Christ the Savior Himself. Even in His prophetic conversation about the establishment of the Eucharist, speaking about it as a sacrament and saving food for people: if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, the Lord directly added: and the bread that I will give, my flesh is, which I will give for the life of the world (John 6:51), and thus clearly expressed that this sacrament will together have the meaning of a propitiatory sacrifice to God. In the same way, at the actual establishment of the Eucharist, having said to His disciples, when he offered them the blessed bread: take, eat: this is My body, he added: which is broken for you, and when he said, when he offered the blessed cup: drink from it, for this is My blood of the new testament, he added: which is poured out for you and for many for the remission sins. In addition, by the very separation of His blood from His flesh in the sacrament of the Eucharist, pointing to His suffering on the cross in the flesh and the shedding of blood that flowed from His ribs, He made it clear that this sacrament, performed in remembrance of the atoning sacrifice on Calvary, is itself a sacrifice. 2. This truth is also evident from the teachings of St. Apostles. St. Paul, in warning the Corinthian Christians against participating in pagan sacrifices to idols, wrote: Do you see Israel according to the flesh: are not the eating sacrifices of the community of the altar? What the hell am I saying? What does an idol eat? or something sacrificed to idols? But even if the pagans devour you, they devour you with a demon, and not with God: I don’t want you to be a demon with you. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons (1 Cor. 10:18–21). By contrasting here the Christian meal or altar with the pagan meal or altar, on which sacrifices were actually made by the pagans, although unclean and ungodly, the teacher of languages ​​obviously assumes that at the Christian meal, in the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord, a true, real sacrifice is made to God. In another epistle, rejecting believers in Christ from Jewish sacrifices, which lost their meaning and power with the coming of the Messiah, the same Apostle wrote: the imams of the altar (θυσιαςτήριον - altar), from worthlessness the servants of the canopy have no power to eat (Heb. 13:10, demolished 1 Cor. 10:18), and with this name and the contrast of the altar or altar of the New Testament with the Old Testament, on which the Jews actually offered their sacrifices and from which they then ate, again testified that on the Christian altar a true sacrifice is offered to God, given as food only to the faithful. 3. This is how St. always looked at the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord. the Catholic Church, according to tradition from the self-seers and ministers of the Word. This is evident, firstly, from all her liturgies, where, while celebrating the Eucharist, she solemnly confesses before God what she brings to Him for St. on the altar, a verbal and bloodless sacrifice for everyone and everything. Secondly, from the testimonies of the Ecumenical Councils, such as: a) Nicene I: “on the holy. the Lamb of God lies at the table, taking away the sins of the world (John 1:29), sacrificed by the priests as a bloodless sacrifice”; b) Trullo: “We have recently learned that in various churches, according to a certain growing custom, grapes are brought to the altar, and the clergy, combining it with a bloodless sacrifice, thus share both together with the people: for this reason we recognize it as necessary, but none of the clergy will do this in the future, but let them give the people one offering for each revival and remission of sins." § 154. b) The relationship of this sacrifice to the sacrifice of the godmother and its properties I. The sacrifice offered to God in the sacrament of the Eucharist is, in essence, exactly the same as the sacrifice of the cross. For even now on the altars of the Church the same Lamb of God is offered that was offered for the sins of the world on the cross - the same most pure flesh that suffered on the cross, the same most pure blood that was poured out then. And now this mysterious sacrifice is invisibly performed by the same eternal High Priest who also performed the sacrifice of the cross. As then, so now, one and the same offerer, and the one offered, and the sacrifice, and the Bishop, one and the same Redeemer of the World - Christ. (Cathedral of Trull. rights. 3) II. But, in the manner and circumstances of the sacrifice, the Eucharistic sacrifice differs from the sacrifice of the cross. On the cross, the Lord Jesus apparently offered His most pure body and His most pure blood as a sacrifice to God: in the Eucharist He offers them under the guise of bread and wine. There He directly Himself, as the High Priest, performed the atoning sacrifice: here, although He also invisibly performs it Himself, but apparently through the shepherds of the Church. There the sacrifice was brought through the actual slaughter of the Lamb, a bloody sacrifice - for the Lord Jesus really suffered, shed His blood and tasted death according to the flesh: now that He, having risen from the dead, to whomever dies no longer: death belongs to Him (Rom. 6:9), now the sacrifice is offered in the Eucharist through the sacramental transmutation or transubstantiation by the Holy Spirit of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ (Lk. 22:19, 20), - without suffering, without shedding blood, without death, and therefore is called bloodless and passionless, although it is brought in memory of the suffering and death of the Divine Lamb. The sacrifice of the cross made atonement for all mankind, and the truth of God was satisfied for the sins of the whole world: and the bloodless sacrifice propitiates God only for the sins of those people for whom it is offered, and actually assimilates the fruits of the Calvary sacrifice to people who are able to accept and assimilate them. Finally, the sacrifice of the cross was made for the human race only once at Golgotha: and the bloodless sacrifice, since its establishment, has been, is being, and will be performed for the salvation of people until the second coming of the Lord (1 Cor. 11:25, 26), throughout all countries of the world, on countless altars. In general, comparing the sacrifice of the cross with the bloodless sacrifice, we can say that the first serves as a seed or root, and the latter, as a tree that grew from this seed, is entirely established on this root, feeds from it with life-giving juices, and thus grows the saving fruits of life - so that both sacrifices are inseparable from each other, constitute actually one sacrifice and together differ from each other. This is one and the same gracious tree of life, planted by God on Calvary, but filling the entire Church of God with its mysterious branches and feeding with its saving fruits all who seek eternal life. III. Being, in its essence, a true sacrifice to God, the most holy Eucharist, in its properties, is not only a sacrifice of praise and gratitude, but also a propitiatory one, offered for all, living and dead (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Right Faith, Part 17). 1. She is a sacrifice of praise and gratitude. These properties of the bloodless sacrifice were clearly indicated by the Savior Himself when establishing it, when, having received the bread, first of all giving praise and thanks, broke it, and then taught it to His disciples, saying: This is My body... (Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Cor. 11:23, 24). So it is precisely to this day in the Orthodox Church that the bloodless sacrifice is celebrated, according to the rite of the Liturgy of St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom, before the consecration of the Gifts on the altar, remembering in his secret prayer the great works of God - the creation of man from nothingness, the manifold care for him after the fall and the dispensation of his salvation through Jesus Christ, glorifies and thanks God the Father, His only begotten Son, the Savior of the world, and the All-Holy Spirit. In the same way, all Christians present in the church, when on St. At the table a bloodless sacrifice is offered to God, they cry out to Him: We sing to You, we bless You, we thank You, Lord... 2. The Eucharist is both a propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the dead. For, as we have seen, in its essence, it is completely identical and inseparable with the sacrifice of the cross; and the sacrifice of the cross, without any doubt, was offered to propitiate God for the sins of all people. In addition, this property of a bloodless sacrifice was clearly indicated by the Savior Himself when establishing it. Teaching His body to the disciples, He specifically said: which was broken for you, and teaching His blood, He added: which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. Therefore, from the beginning of Christianity, a bloodless sacrifice was made by the Church for the salvation of everyone, living and dead. This is evident from the order of all liturgies, starting with the liturgy of St. Apostle James, in which this sacrifice is often directly called a sacrifice of propitiation, or a propitiatory sacrifice. § 155. Connection with the previous one and the concept of the sacrament of repentance 1. In the three saving sacraments of the Church, which we have considered so far, a person is taught the entire abundance of spiritual gifts necessary so that he can become a Christian and, having become so, succeed in Christian piety and achieve eternal bliss. Baptism cleanses the sinner from all his sins, original and voluntary, and introduces him into the kingdom of Christ’s grace. Confirmation imparts to him Divine powers for his strengthening and growth in a life of grace. The Eucharist nourishes him with Divine food and connects him with the very source of life and grace. But since, having been completely cleansed of all sins in the font of baptism, a person is not freed from the consequences of ancestral sin and hereditary corruption, such as inclination to evil in the soul, and illness and death in the body (§ 65); since even after baptism, being already a Christian, he can sin again, even very often (1 John. 1:8, 10), may be subject to illnesses, sometimes very serious, bringing them closer to the grave: then the all-good Lord was pleased to establish two more sacraments in His Church, as two saving medicines for its weak members - the sacrament of repentance, healing our spiritual infirmities, and the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing, extending its saving effects to our bodily infirmities. Let's talk first about the first of these sacraments, and then about the last. 2. Repentance, understood in the sense of a sacrament, is such a sacred act in which the Shepherd of the Church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, absolves the repentant and confessing Christian from all the sins he committed after baptism, so that the Christian again becomes innocent and sanctified as he came out of the waters of baptism. § 156. Divine institution and validity of the sacrament of repentance 1. The Lord established the sacrament of repentance after His resurrection, when, appearing to His disciples, gathered together, except for Thomas alone, he solemnly said to them: peace be with you; and these things he said, breathed, and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. The sins of whom you forgive, they will be forgiven them: and whose sins you hold, they hold fast (John 20:21–23). From these words it is clear that a) the Lord Himself taught the Apostles, and the following. and to their successors, His Divine power to forgive or not forgive the sins of people; b) to let go or not to let go precisely by the Holy Spirit, i.e. His invisible power and action, and, c) without a doubt, express this power in a visible way in some action. This means that repentance is a real sacrament with all the properties of true sacraments (§ 134). 2. Since the time of St. For the Apostles, the sacrament of repentance constantly existed in the Church, and its shepherds always used the God-given right to knit and solve. Thus, the Apostolic Canons say: “If anyone, a bishop or a presbyter, does not accept someone who is converted from sin, but rejects him, let him be deposed from the priesthood. For Christ is saddened, saying: there is joy in heaven for one sinner who repents” (pr. 52). In the Apostolic Constitutions, on the one hand, the primates of the Church are very clearly reminded that they have been given the power from God to bind and decide, and numerous instructions are offered on how to judge various types of sins, how to deal with repentants; and, on the other hand, believers are commanded to honor their spiritual fathers: “because they have received from God the power of life and death, the power to judge sinners and condemn them to death by eternal fire, and to absolve those who repent from their sins and return them to life” (Book 11, Chapter 33). § 157. Who can perform the sacrament of repentance and who can begin it 1. From the presented evidence of Holy Scripture it is already clear that the power to perform the sacrament of repentance was first communicated by the Lord to the Apostles alone (Matt. 18:18; John 20:21; 1 Cor. 12:28; 2 Cor. 5:18, 20), and from the Apostles passed on to their successors in the Church, bishops and elders (Tit. 1:7; Right. Apostle 52), so that the clergy are only visible instruments in the performance of the sacrament, which God Himself invisibly performs through them. For it is said: the tree that you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and the tree that you loose on earth will be loose in heaven (Matthew 18:18). 2. Only Christians can begin the sacrament of repentance, who, after having been cleansed of all sins in the sacrament of baptism, sin again and need a new means to cleanse their conscience. But non-Christians cannot approach this sacrament: they must first take advantage of the first Christian sacrament, in which all human sins are resolved, and through it, as through a door, enter the Church of Christ in order to have the right to use the other sacraments. § 158. What is required of those approaching the sacrament of repentance But in order for one who approaches the sacrament of repentance to truly receive remission of sins, the following conditions are required of him, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church (Right. Confession, Part 1, answer to questions 112 and 113; Long Catech. on repentance): 1. Contrition for sins. This is necessary by the very essence of repentance; where there is no true contrition for sins, there is no true repentance, but only external one. Therefore, even in the Old Testament, God Himself, calling people to repentance, demanded from them, as an essential condition for this, contrition for sins: turn to Me with all your heart, in fasting and in mourning and in mourning, and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God (Joel 2:12, 13). Likewise, in the New Testament, Christ the Savior, wanting to show an example of true repentance in the parables of the Prodigal Son and the Publican, depicts with what deep self-condemnation and contrition for his sins the former returned to his father and cried out: Father, those who have sinned in heaven and before you, and your son is no longer worthy to be called: make me as one of your hired servants ( Luke 15:18, 19), - and with what a humble and contrite heart the last one (i.e., the publican) was present in the church of God, standing afar off, not wanting to raise his eyes to heaven, but with his own heart, saying: God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13). 2. A firm intention to improve your life in the future. In the word of God, this desire and determination is certainly required of the repentant. The preacher of repentance, John the Baptist, seeing many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, said to them: the birth of vipers, who told you to flee from the future wrath? Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:7, 8). The Holy Apostle Peter in his speech to the Jews said: repent and turn, that you may be cleansed from your sins (Acts 3:19). In the Apocalypse, the Angel of the Church of Ephesus was commanded: remember where you slept from, and repent, and do the first thing; Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and will remove your lamp from its place, unless you repent (2:5). 3. Faith in Jesus Christ and hope in His mercy. For all the prophets testify to this, the remission of sins is received by everyone who believes in His name (Acts 10:43), and there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which it is fitting for us to be saved (4:12). He alone reconciled us to God by His death on the cross (Rom. 5:1, 2; 8:24, 25), He alone is our eternal High Priest, and He is also able to save to the end those who come to God through Him, He who is always alive, by interceding for them (Heb. 7:25). 4. Oral confession of sins before a priest. The need for this confession is self-evident from the fact that the priest must resolve sins in the sacrament of repentance, and in order to resolve or not resolve any sins, one must know them in advance. And since the Lord Himself gave the shepherds of the Church the Divine power to knit and decide (John 20:22, 23), and, without a doubt, not with the purpose that they knit and decide according to unaccountable arbitrariness, but so that, on the contrary, they would forgive the sins of those who can be forgiven, judging by the nature of their repentance and the degree of their sins, and not forgive those who would turn out to be unworthy of forgiveness due to their own unrepentance or the gravity of their crimes: then the confession of sins before the shepherds of the Church in the sacrament of repentance, which is necessarily assumed by the God-given power to bind and decide, should rightly be considered a Divine institution. This institution always existed and was observed in the Church. Thus, the second rule of the Laodicean Council reads: “those who fall into various sins, and remain in prayer, confession and repentance, and are completely converted from evil deeds, after the time of repentance has been given to them as they have sinned, for the sake of God’s mercy and goodness, be brought into fellowship.” In Canon 102 of the Council of Trullo we read: “those who have received from God the power to decide and bind must consider the quality of the sin and the readiness of the sinner for conversion, and thus use appropriate healing for the illness, so that, without observing measures in both, they do not lose the salvation of the ill person.” § 159. The visible side of the sacrament of repentance, its invisible actions and their scope When, therefore, a repentant Christian, with sincere contrition for his sins, with a firm intention to correct his life in the future, with living faith in Christ the Savior and hope in Him, comes to the shepherd of the Church and confesses his iniquities before him: the servant of God heeds the confession, and in the name of the Lord Jesus allows, forgives, forgives all the sins of the truly repentant. Hence: 1. The visible side of the sacrament of repentance includes significant actions: a) confession of sins, which is pronounced by a repentant Christian before a clergyman, and b) absolution from sins, pronounced by a clergyman, after hearing the confession. This permission, according to the order of the Orthodox Church, is expressed by the clergyman in the following words: “Our Lord and God Jesus Christ, by the grace and generosity of His love for mankind, forgive you, child, all your sins, and I am an unworthy priest, by His power given to me, I forgive and absolve you from all your sins, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen". 2. The invisible, grace-filled actions of the sacrament of repentance are a) immediate - remission of sins and justification (John 20:23; taken down by Luke 18:13, 14), and after that b) reconciliation with God (Luke 15, 17-24), c) liberation from eternal punishment for sins and hope for eternal salvation (Luke 19:7-9; 23:42, 43). 3. One must know that the invisible actions of grace in the sacrament of repentance, in their vastness and power, extend to all human iniquities, and there is no sin that cannot be forgiven to people if only they sincerely repent of it and confess it with living faith in the Lord Jesus and hope in His merits. For it was not for us to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13; 18:11); to bear the will before your heavenly Father, that one may perish from the little ones... (18:14), - said the Savior, - and, no matter how great the Fall of Apostle was. Peter, forgave him too when he truly repented. The Lord is patient with us, St. also taught. Apostles - not even though some will perish, but let all come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). And it is known that St. Peter called to repentance even those Jews who crucified the true Messiah (Acts 2:23, 37, 38), and then called Simon the Magus, the ancestor of all heretics (Acts 8:22), - and St. Paul also permitted the repentant incestuous man, having first subjected him to only temporary excommunication (2 Cor. 2:7). If the word of God mentions blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will not be forgiven by man (Matthew 12:31), and mortal sin, for the forgiveness of which it is not even commanded to pray (1 John 5:16): then we must remember that by the name of the first we mean stubborn resistance to the obvious truth of God, complete unbelief and unrepentance, and by the name of the latter there is also a stiff-necked rebellion against piety and the truth, and stubborn persistence in uncorrection (V Ecumenical Council, right 5), next. in both cases, only the moral impossibility of remission of sins is assumed, on the part of the sinners themselves, and not on the part of grace. But as soon as sinners sincerely repent of these sins, they will receive forgiveness from God. § 160. Penances, their origin in the Church and meaning I. The name penance (ἐπιτιμία) refers to prohibitions or punishments (2 Cor. 2:6), which, according to church rules, the clergyman, as a spiritual doctor, determines to some of the repentant Christians to heal their moral illnesses (Ecumenical Council. VI rights. 102). These are, for example, the most well-known types of penance: special fasting beyond what is required for everyone, daily going to church for all church services, home prayer combined with a certain number of bows, giving alms, traveling to St. places, excommunication from the communion of St. Mysteries for a longer or shorter time (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 113). II. The Church received the power to impose penances on some penitents and, as it were, to bind them for a time with its prohibitions from the Lord Himself, at the same time as it received from Him the power to forgive sins. For the Lord said to St. Apostles, and next. and to their successors, not only: if you loose on earth, they will be loosed in heaven, but also: if you bind on earth, they will be bound in heaven (Matthew 18:18), not only: whose sins you forgive will be forgiven them, but together: and whose sins you hold, they will hold (John 20:23). The Holy Apostles, indeed, used this power. Yes, St. Paul, having heard about an incestuous man who had appeared among the Corinthian Christians, and wanting to heal him, subjected the lawless man to the strictest penance, ordered him to be excommunicated from the Church, handing him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit would be saved (1 Cor. 5:1-5), - and then, when the penance had a saving effect and the guilty one repented, he forgave him and commanded the Corinthians to accept again repentant into church fellowship (2 Cor. 2:6–8). III. Penances, although, in essence, are punishments, but, in meaning, punishments are only corrective, medical, paternal (παιδεῖα), exactly the same as those the Apostle speaks of: he who loves the Lord punishes (παιδεύει) (Heb. 12:6), and in another place: we are punished by the Lord (παιδευόμεθα), lest we be condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11:32). And not punishment in the proper sense (τιμορία), as the Roman Church teaches, which a repentant sinner supposedly must temporarily suffer in order to satisfy the offended truth of God for his sins. Otherwise: penances are cures for sins, and not rewards, not satisfaction for sins with eternal truth. This is confirmed by: 1. St. Apostle Paul. He, as we have seen, imposed a grave punishment on the Corinthian incest, which he himself called penance - he ordered that he be excommunicated from the Church, handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh... for what purpose? May the spirit be saved (1 Cor. 5:1–5). And then, as soon as he noticed that the penance produced sorrow and repentance in the sinner, he immediately removed it (2 Cor. 2:7). Track. The apostle punished not in order to actually punish, and through punishment to satisfy the truth of God, but to correct, and when the medicine had a beneficial effect, he took it away, precisely because its further use, as already unnecessary, instead of benefit, would only cause harm to the sick person, and not how much (excessive) sorrow would he suffer (2 Cor. 2: 7). 2. Rules of St. Councils, ecumenical and local, and St. fathers. From these rules it is clear with indisputable clarity: a) that the ancient teachers of the Church, if they considered penances to be punishments, then they were only corrective punishments, and directly called them spiritual healings; b) that, when imposing penances on sinners, they were not concerned about just punishing one more, another less, according to the crimes of each, in order to properly satisfy the justice of God for sins, but precisely to adapt penances, as a cure, to the nature and degree of spiritual illnesses; c) that the only purpose of penance before God and before the Church was not considered to be any satisfaction with God’s truth for sins, but only to heal sinners, to protect them from sins for the future; d) because they did not necessarily wait until the sinner suffered the full punishment determined for him, and thus satisfied the truth of God, but, on the contrary, if they noticed the beneficial effect of these punishments on the sinner, they reduced them, shortened the time of penances, or even removed them completely; e) that, finally, penances were not imposed for all sins, but only for some of the most important ones, and so on. Everyone did not consider penance for satisfying the truth of God: otherwise such satisfaction, although to varying degrees, would have to be demanded for every sin, great or small (VI Ecumenical Sob. Laws. 102; Ankyra. Laws. 5; Carthage. Laws. 52; Basil the Great Laws. 3; Gregory of Nyssa Laws. 1, 4, 5, 8). Note To understand how penances can serve as cures against spiritual illnesses and produce saving effects, one must take into account the following: 1. Penances, as church punishments, naturally humble the sinner’s pride, teach him to become more deeply aware of his guilt before God and before the Church, arouse in him hatred of sins and a desire to correct himself. And next. penances indicate to repentant Christians a certain field for further exercise and greater strengthening of all those good feelings and intentions that the repentant have during their repentance and which should serve as the beginning in the matter of their correction. 2. Penances, for the most part, consist of some kind of pious exercises that are directly directed against the known passions and vices of the sinner, and therefore directly contribute to their eradication. Thus, abstinence and fasting are prescribed as penance for an intemperate and voluptuous person; to the stingy or predator - giving alms; absent-minded and chasing after worldly pleasures - frequent going to Church, reading Holy Scripture, home prayer, etc. It is obvious that the more each of these sinners fulfills the penance assigned to him with good disposition, the more he will wean himself from his previous weaknesses and inclinations, and acquire the opposite skill. 3. Penances, as church punishments, striking some sinners, admonish and frighten others, and thereby protect them from similar sins, contribute to the correction of morals between members of the Church, and at the same time to the protection of its canons and decrees against the willfulness and disobedience of erring children. V. About the Sacrament of Anointing § 161. Connection with the previous one, the concept of the consecration of oil and its name 1. The sacrament of repentance, as a grace-filled healing, is intended for all Christians, but only for the healing of their spiritual illnesses. The sacrament of consecration of oil is another saving medicine intended for Christians who are sick in the body itself, and has the goal of healing not only their spiritual illnesses, but also their physical ones. 2. This concept of the consecration of oil is given to us by the Orthodox Church when it says: “the consecration of oil is a sacrament in which, when anointing the body with oil, the grace of God is invoked on the sick person, healing mental and physical infirmities” (Space Chr. Catech. part 1, part 10). § 162. Divine establishment of the sacrament of anointing, its validity and use in the Church St. The Apostle James, when instructing Christians: is anyone suffering in you? Yes, he prays: is anyone in good spirits? yes he sings, directly continues: does anyone hurt in you? let him call the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up: and even if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him (James 5:13–15). From these words both the Divine institution of the consecration of oil and its reality as a sacrament are equally revealed. 1. Divine institution. For, on the one hand, it is obvious from the connection of the speech that the Apostle does not speak of anointing as something new, which Christians did not know before, but only points them to this medical remedy, as one that already existed and was well known among them, which he commands to use in case of illness. On the other hand, there is no doubt that St. The apostles did not preach anything on their own (Gal. 1:11, 12), but taught only what the Lord Jesus commanded them (Matthew 28:20) and what the Spirit of God inspired (John 16:13); it is known that they called themselves servants of Christ and only builders, and not establishers of the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4:1). Track. and the blessing of oil, commanded here by St. The Apostle James commanded Christians as a mysterious healing for illnesses of body and soul, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and the Spirit of God. We do not find it in Scripture when exactly the Lord established this sacrament: since much of what He taught and accomplished on earth has not been given to writing (John 21:25). But it is most natural to think that this sacrament, like the other two (baptism and repentance), through which remission of sins is granted, the Lord established after His resurrection, when all power in heaven and on earth was given to Him (Matthew 28:18), and when He appeared to the Apostles for fourty days and spoke to them about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3) i.e. about the structure of His holy Church, the most essential part of which are the sacraments. 2. Reality as sacraments. For, in addition to the Divine institution - the first necessary feature of any Christian sacrament, the consecration of oil is assimilated in the words of the Apostle presented and two other features: a sensory sign - anointing the sick with oil with prayer, and the supersensory action of grace connected with this sensory sign - the remission of sins and the healing of illnesses. 3. There should not be the slightest doubt that from the days of the apostles the sacrament of anointing has been performed in the Church; for the Church could not forget, much less violate, the commandment so clearly taught by the Apostle and so saving for believers. But some testimonies of ancient teachers have also been preserved about this, for example, Caesar, a writer of the 5th century, instructs Christians in one word: “Whenever any illness befalls, let the sick person accept the body and blood of Christ and anoint his body, so that the words of Scripture may be fulfilled on him: is anyone sick... You see, brethren, whoever in illness resorts to the Church is worthy to receive both the health of the body and the remission of sins.” In the same way, Innocent I, Pope of Rome (5th century), answering the question: how to understand the words of the Apostle James: does anyone hurt in you... and so on, says: “they, without a doubt, should be understood about sick believers who can be anointed by the Holy One. the oil of chrisma or anointing.” And after that, deciding another question, whether a bishop can perform this anointing, he continues: “there is no reason to doubt the possibility for a bishop of what a presbyter can undoubtedly perform. The Apostle speaks about elders because bishops, being restrained by their studies, cannot go to all the sick... Those undergoing (church) repentance cannot be given this anointing: because it is a sacrament. For to whom are the other sacraments prohibited? How can only one be permitted? It should be added that the sacrament of anointing is contained among other sacraments not only by the Latins, who separated from the Orthodox Church since the ninth century, but also by the Nestorians and Monophysites, who were excommunicated from it by the third and fourth ecumenical councils in the fifth century. § 163. To whom and by whom can the sacrament of anointing be taught? In the same words with which St. The Apostle James testified to the Divine institution of the sacrament of anointing, together with its reality, he clearly indicated both the persons to whom this sacrament can be taught and the performers of the sacrament themselves. 1. About persons of the first kind St. James put it: is anyone in you sick (ἀσθενεῖ) ... and further: the prayer of faith will save the sick (κάμνοντα). Track. The sacrament of the consecration of oil is intended for Christians only for the sick, and the seriously ill, suffering, and exhausted, as the words used by the Apostle show. But on the other hand, it would be extreme to understand here only dying people or such patients who are already at their very death; for the words presented by the Apostle, both according to their general use in Greek, and according to their use in Holy Scripture (Matthew 10:8; 25:36–39, Luke 4:40; 7:10; 9:2; John 4:46; 5:3; 11:1, etc.), mean not only the dying, but in general the seriously ill, trace. and those who have hope for recovery. 2. The Apostle directly calls the elders the performers of the sacrament of the Blessing of Anointing: let him call the elders of the church... This, without a doubt, does not mean that the bishops, the immediate successors of the Apostles, and primarily the dispensers of the gifts of grace, do not have the power to perform the Blessing of Anointing; but St. James mentions only presbyters because, as Pope Innocent I noted, “bishops, being held back by other occupations, cannot go to all the infirm.” The number of presbyters for performing the anointing of oil, according to the ancient rite of the Orthodox Church, is usually assigned to a septenary number. But since this number is not defined by the Apostle and does not relate to the essence of the sacrament, sometimes, depending on the circumstances, the sacrament was performed by a larger number of priests and a smaller number - up to three and up to one. § 164. The visible side of the sacrament of anointing and its invisible, grace-filled actions I. The visible side of the sacrament of the Blessing of St. The apostle means with the words: let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. Those. this includes - 1. Anointing the sick person with oil or wood oil. This oil is first consecrated by the clergy just before the sacrament is performed. And then they anoint the sick person seven times, one after another, in the form of a cross on the forehead, nostrils, cheeks, lips, chest and hands on both sides. 2. Prayer of faith, pronounced by the clergy, at the very anointing of the patient. It, according to the order of the Orthodox Church, reads like this: “Holy Father, physician of souls and bodies, having sent Your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who heals every ailment and delivers from death, heal also Your servant (name) from the bodily infirmities that beset him and revive him through the grace of Your Christ,” and so on. II. The invisible, grace-filled actions of the consecration of oil are - 1. Healing of bodily infirmities. The sacrament of anointing is actually intended for those who are sick in body; Therefore, the healing of bodily illnesses constitutes the very first blessed fruit of this sacrament, as the Apostle says: Is anyone hurting in you? let him call..., and then: and the prayer of faith will save (σώσει) the sick one and the Lord will raise him up (ἐγερεῖ) (James 5:14, 15). True, this action does not always occur from the blessing of oil. But - a) sometimes it really happens, and little by little the patient recovers completely and rises from the bed of illness. Even more often - b) a dangerously ill person receives at least temporary relief from the illness or reinforcement and is encouraged to endure it - and this is also the purpose of the sacrament of anointing; because the verb - (ἐγείρο) means not only - I erect, but also excite, animate, reinforce. Sometimes - c) those who receive the sacrament of consecration of oil do not receive healing of illnesses from it, perhaps for the same reason why those who receive the sacrament of the Eucharist, instead of the saving fruits from it, only eat and drink judgment for themselves (1 Cor. 11:29), - i.e. because of his unworthiness, because of the lack of living faith in the Lord Jesus, because of hardness of heart. Finally - d) to wish or demand that every time a person is worthy of the consecration of oil, he is healed of his illnesses, would mean to demand that he does not die at all: and this is contrary to the very plan of our restoration, according to which we need to lay aside this sinful, dead body, so that over time, on the other side of the tomb, we will be clothed with the immortal. Therefore, when approaching the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil, everyone who is sick must completely surrender to the will of the Lord, who knows better than us who is more useful to send healing from an illness and continue life, and who it is timely to end it (Wis. 4:10, 11). 2. Healing of spiritual infirmities. Having spoken about the first, direct effect of the consecration of oil on the sick - the healing of his bodily illnesses, St. Jacob adds: And if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. With this conditional expression: if he has committed sins, the Apostle obviously assumes that the sick person, before the consecration of oil, had already used another cleansing remedy for sins - the sacrament of repentance, otherwise the Apostle could not imagine the sick person sinless (1 John 1: 8, 10). And to this day in the Orthodox Church, everyone who approaches the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil first cleanses himself of sins through confessing them before the spiritual father. But since during a serious illness, when they usually turn to the sacrament of consecration of oil, a person is not always able, exhausted in body and soul, to bring true, complete repentance for sins and generally fulfill those conditions that are required of the repentant to receive permission from sins; since, due to weakness, he may not fully confess some sins, while others may not be confessed at all due to oblivion; since some especially serious sins, even after confession, can greatly disturb the conscience of the sick person: then the merciful Lord, in fact, for this kind of sick people, also granted special medicine for the healing of their spiritual infirmities in the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil. Here, for the exhausted patient, a whole council of His servants appears before the Lord, and with the prayer of faith, on behalf of the entire Church, begs Him, the most merciful, to grant the weak person remission of sins and cleanse his conscience from all filth. Thus, the remission of sins through the sacrament of the Blessing of Oil, which is designated specifically for the seriously ill, is nothing more than the replenishment of the remission of sins in the sacrament of repentance - replenishment not due to the insufficiency of repentance itself to resolve all sins, but due to the weakness of the sick to take advantage of this saving medicine in all its fullness and salvific value. § 165. Connection with previous ones; marriage as an institution of God and its purpose; the concept of marriage as a sacrament I. The three sacraments of the Orthodox Church: baptism, confirmation, communion - are intended for all people, so that everyone can become a Christian and then succeed in Christian piety and achieve eternal salvation. The other two sacraments - repentance and consecration of oil - are intended for all Christians, as two saving medicines, one for mental illnesses, and the other for physical and mental illnesses. But there are two more sacraments established by the Lord, which, if not intended and not obligatory for all people, if not necessary for each of the members of the Church directly, are nevertheless necessary for the whole Church in general, for its existence and prosperity. This is - a) the sacrament of marriage, which imparts to famous persons the grace for the natural birth of children, future children of the Church; and b) the sacrament of the priesthood, which also imparts to special persons the grace for the supernatural birth of the children of the Church and their upbringing for eternal life. II. Marriage can be viewed from two sides: as a law of nature or an institution of God, and as a sacrament of the New Testament Church, which now, after the fall of man, sanctifies this law. Before presenting the doctrine of marriage in the latter sense, it is necessary, for the separation of concepts, to say a few words about marriage as an institution of God and its purpose. 1. Marriage is undoubtedly an institution of God, it is a law laid down by the Creator in the very structure of man, and then confirmed and revealed in supernatural revelation. Priest The writer of everyday life, outlining the history of the origin of the first people, testifies: and God created man... husband and wife, created them. And God bless them, saying: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:27, 28). Speaking further about the origin, in particular, of the first wife and about her bringing to Adam, he says: And Adam spoke, enlightened by the Spirit of God (Matthew 19:4-6); Behold now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called woman, for she was taken from her husband. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife: and the two will become one flesh (Gen. 2:23–24). All this happened at the very beginning of the world in the days of man's innocence. After the flood, although the human race was already in a state of decline, God nevertheless again established the law of marriage with His blessing in the same way as in the beginning: and God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 9:1). In the law given through Moses we find strict regulations protecting the inviolability of the marriage union, as established and blessed by God (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 7:14; 22:22; 28:11). In the New Testament, this truth was confirmed by Christ the Savior Himself, when, when asked by the Pharisees whether it is possible to divorce a wife for any fault, he answered: Do you bear, as He who created from time immemorial, the male sex and the female created I? And he said: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother: and he will cleave to his wife, and both will become one flesh. Just as there are two, but the flesh is one: since God has united, let not man separate (Matthew 19:4–6). And even before that, when he honored the wedding celebration in Cana of Galilee with His presence and even performed His first miracle here (John 2:1 et al.). 2. The purpose of the Divine institution of marriage is twofold. Firstly, the multiplication and preservation of the human race, as can be seen from the words of God Himself, who blessed the primordial couple: make them husband and wife, says Moses, and God bless them, saying: grow and multiply, and fill the earth (Gen. 1:27, 28). This purpose of marriage is also to give birth and multiply children for the Church of God, into which all people or the entire human race are called from the beginning (Matthew 28:19; John 10:14, 16). Secondly, the mutual assistance of spouses in the passage of this life: and the Lord God said: it is not good for man to be alone: ​​let us make him a helper according to him (Gen. 2:18). And God created the first wife, Eve, from Adam’s rib, so that, with such unity of nature, they would feel mutual love all the more strongly and try to live a non-separate life (Genesis 2:22–24). To these two purposes of marriage, after the fall of man, a third was added, namely, to serve as a curb on the sinful lusts that arose in human nature and as a cure against the disordered attractions of sensuality. It is good for a man, says the Apostle, not to touch his wife: but for the sake of fornication let each man marry his own wife (1 Cor. 7:1, 2). And further: I say to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain as I did. If they don’t hold back, they will encroach: it is better to get married than to become limp (8:9). 3. In order to sanctify, exalt and strengthen the law of marriage, which in itself is holy and pure in its origin from God and in its purposes, but due to the disorder of human nature was subjected to the harmful influence of sin and numerous distortions on the part of people given over to sensuality, the Lord Jesus deigned to establish His special sacrament in the Church - the sacrament of marriage. Under the name of this sacrament is meant such a sacred act in which the persons getting married, after they have declared a vow of marital fidelity before the Church, are taught from above through the blessing of the clergyman Divine grace, sanctifying their marriage union, elevating it into the image of the spiritual union of Christ with the Church and then assisting them in the blessed achievement of all the goals of marriage. § 166. Divine establishment of the sacrament of marriage and its validity When and how did the Lord establish the sacrament of marriage - whether it was when he was present at the marriage in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-11); or when, regarding the well-known question of the Pharisees, he revealed the true concept of marriage and said: God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:3-12), or already after His resurrection, when for forty days He appeared to His disciples, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, i.e. about what related to the establishment of His Church (Acts 1:3), the Gospels do not mention: since many other things that Jesus did were not written in these books (John 20:30; 21:25). But partly from the Apostolic Scriptures, and even more from the Holy Scriptures. Tradition, we are undoubtedly convinced that the sacrament of marriage existed in the Church from its very origins, and so on. originates from Jesus Christ Himself. I. In the Apostolic Writings we find clear hints about the existence of the sacrament of marriage in the Apostolic Church. So - 1. In the letter to Ephesians, St. The Apostle Paul, outlining the duties of a Christian wife, says: wives, submit to your husbands, as to the Lord: the husband is the head of the wives, just as Christ is the head of the Church... just as the Church submits to Christ, so also the wives are to their husbands in everything (5:22–24). Then, outlining the duties of a Christian spouse, he continues: husband, love your wife, just as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for her (-25). Finally, wanting to explain the very basis of these marital duties, he points to the essence of the marital union and the meaning that it received in Christianity: for this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and will cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great: I speak into Christ, and into the church (5: 31, 32). Those. St. The Apostle commands that Christian wives obey their husbands in exactly the same way and to the same extent as the Church obeys Christ, and husbands love their wives to the same extent as Christ loved the Church - precisely because their marital union marks the union of Christ with the Church, and in this regard there is a mystery and a great mystery. But if the marriage union of two persons in Christianity is really, by its very essence, a mysterious image of the union of Christ with the Church; and the union of Christ with the Church, without any doubt, is full of grace and holiness (John 1:14; Eph. 5:25); then it is necessary to assume that the marriage union in Christianity is sanctified and fulfilled by the grace of Christ through some kind of secret action. 2. In another of his letters, St. The Apostle Paul, discussing the state of virginity and the state of marriage, among other things says: a woman is bound by the law, as long as her husband lives: but if her husband dies, she is free to eat, for what she wants to do, to encroach: exactly in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39). The expression: specifically about the Lord - naturally leads to the idea that Christian marriage even under the Apostles, unlike other marriage unions, was concluded about the Lord, or in the name of the Lord, i.e. was a matter of faith and the Church, and so on. consecrated or imprinted by them through some visible sacred act. II. The Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church, guardians of the Apostolic Tradition, leave no doubt about this truth. For example, St. Ignatius the God-Bearer writes: “It is fitting for those who marry and those who are to be married that their union should be accomplished with the blessing of the bishop - let the marriage be in the Lord, and not according to lust.” St. John Chrysostom, rebelling against the shameful songs and celebrations that usually occur during marriages, says: “Why dishonor the publicly honest sacrament of marriage? All this must be rejected and the daughter must be taught modesty from the very beginning, and the priests must be called, and through prayers and blessings, a marriage must be concluded, so that the love of the groom will increase and the chastity of the bride will be preserved, and most of all, so that the deeds of virtue will enter that house, and all the deceits of the devil will be driven out of it, and so that they (the spouses), united by the grace of God, will lead a pleasant life.” St. Zeno of Veronia: “married love unites two people into one flesh through the venerable sacrament.” III. Let us add that in addition to the Orthodox Church, marriage is considered among the sacraments not only by Roman Christians, but also by those who deviated from Orthodoxy from ancient times, such as the Copts, Armenians, Maronites, Abyssinians, Nestorians, and this clearly testifies that in the ancient universal Church faith in the sacrament of marriage was universal, ubiquitous. § 167. The visible side of the sacrament of marriage and invisible actions I. The visible side of the sacrament of marriage includes two significant actions. This, firstly, is the solemn testimony of the bride and groom in the face of the Church that they are entering into a marriage union by voluntary mutual consent and will remain marital fidelity until the end of their lives. And secondly, the solemn blessing of their marriage union by the priest, when he, laying a crown on the head of the groom, proclaims: “the servant of God is married... the servant of God... in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”; then, placing the crown on the head of the bride, he repeats: “The servant of God is crowned... the servant of God... in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” and finally, saying a short prayer to God: “Lord our God, crown me with glory and honor,” blesses them both together three times. II. The invisible effects of grace communicated through the sacrament of marriage to the spouses generally consist in the fact that it makes, in the words of the Apostle, their very union a great mystery, since it makes it an image of the mysterious union of Christ with the Church: this mystery is great, says the Apostle, and I speak into Christ and into the Church (Eph. 5:32). And therefore it is that this grace in particular - 1. Sanctifies and, so to speak, spiritualizes the marriage union of two persons: for the union of Christ with the Church is holy and spiritual. Therefore, the Apostle speaks about Christian marriage: marriage is honorable in everyone, and the bed is undefiled (Heb. 13:4), and commands Christian spouses: this is the will of God, your holiness, keep yourself from fornication, and lead everyone from you to acquire their vessel in holiness and honor (1 Thess. 4:3, 4). 2. Strengthens the marriage union of two persons with indissoluble bonds; for the union of Christ with the Church is indissoluble and eternal (Matthew 28:20). And about Christian marriage we must understand primarily: God unites, let no man separate (Matthew 19:6), - combination not only by the law of marriage, which (the law) He gave to people at the beginning and confirmed in the Old Testament revelation, but mainly by His grace, which He communicates to those getting married through a special New Testament sacrament. 3. Finally, it encourages Christian spouses to sacredly fulfill their mutual duties to each other throughout their lives, according to the high example of the most holy union of Christ with the Church. At the same time, the commandments of St. only become understandable and easy to fulfill. The Apostle, so that husbands love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her (Eph. 5:25), and wives obey their husbands in everything, just as the Church obeys Christ (-24). It would be beyond the power of man to imitate such a lofty example if he were not supported by the special grace of God. By assisting Christian spouses in the fulfillment of mutual duties throughout their entire lives, this grace thereby assists them in achieving all the goals of the marriage union, i.e. to the blessed birth of children - future children of the Church, to mutual assistance in all good things and to protecting oneself from illegal or unblessed connections. § 168. Who can perform the sacrament of marriage, and what is required of those approaching this sacrament I. The power to perform the sacrament of marriage, like all other sacraments, from the very beginning of Christianity belonged to the pastors of the Church, bishops and elders. St. also speaks about this. Ignatius the God-Bearer, and then they testify: St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. John Chrysostom and others. II. Persons proceeding to the sacrament of marriage, according to the rules of the Orthodox Church - 1. Both must be Christians. For without faith in Christ, a person cannot accept the grace of God communicated through the sacraments, and in general, only those who have already entered this kingdom through the door of baptism can use the spiritual gifts that are offered in the kingdom of Christ’s grace (John 3:5). Therefore, marriage with infidels (non-Christians) is prohibited for Christians (IV Ecumenical Council, rights 14; VI Ecumenical Council, 72). 2. Must be of the Orthodox faith, if not both, then at least one, i.e. bride or groom. Otherwise, how can God’s blessing from a servant of the Orthodox Church be accepted with sincere faith when there is no faith in the Church itself, the dispenser of gifts of grace? But if at least one person from the couple is Orthodox, then for the sake of this one the blessing of God is brought down on the union of the couple, since both of them, according to the word of God, then become one flesh (Matthew 19:5). However, it is brought down under the condition that a non-Orthodox person in no way touches the faith of an Orthodox person in the future, and that the children who come from them are raised in the Orthodox faith (Collected Laws 10, 31; IV Ecumenical Rights 14; VI Ecumenical Rights 72). 3. Must be outside the known degrees of carnal and spiritual kinship, determined by the rules of the Church (VI Ecumenical Laws. 53, 54; Neocesar. 2; Basil. Vel. 23, 78, 87; Timothy. 11). 4. Must have mutual voluntary consent to marry. This follows from the very essence of the marriage union: a man, said the Lord, will leave his father and mother, and both will become one flesh (Matthew 19:5). Such a union of two persons is possible only through the power of free will, driven by love, and not by force. Therefore, the Church always solemnly asks the bride and groom before their wedding whether they are entering into marriage by good and spontaneous will. And, only having received an affirmative answer, he blesses their union. § 169. Properties of Christian marriage, sanctified by the sacrament The properties of a Christian marriage, sanctified by the sacrament, are: a) singularity, i.e. Christian marriage is the union of only one husband and one wife, and b) indissolubility. 1. Christianity prohibits polygamy (πολυγαμία) and sanctifies with the sacrament only the union of two persons, one husband and one wife (μονογαμία). For this is the original law of marriage, laid down by the Creator in the very nature of man, and then expressed by the forefather of the human race, by inspiration from above. And God created man,” says the priest. writer of everyday life, create them husband and wife (Gen. 1:27). And further: and the Lord God created a rib, taking it from Adam, for a wife, and brought it to Adam. And Adam said: Behold now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: this shall be called woman, for this life was taken from her husband. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife: and the two will become one flesh (2:22–24; Matthew 19:4–6). This law was confirmed and explained by Christ the Savior Himself when He said: Having created from time immemorial, I created male and female, and says: for this sake a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and both shall become one flesh. Just as someone is two, but his flesh is one (Matthew 19:4, 5). This same law was clearly pointed out to Christians and St. The Apostle Paul, saying: let each one have his own wife... the wife does not own her body, but the husband: in the same way, the husband does not own his body, but the wife (1 Cor. 7:2, 4), and instilling in Christian spouses that their union mysteriously forms the union of Christ with the Church (Eph. 5:23 et seq.). 2. The second property of Christian marriage - indissolubility is also determined from the original law of marriage, laid down by the Creator in the very nature of man and explained by Christ the Savior. When the Pharisees asked him: is it worthy for a man to let his wife go for any reason? - He answered: Do you not believe that He who created from time immemorial created the male and female sexes? And he said: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother: and he will cleave to his wife, and both will become one flesh. Just as there are two, but the flesh is one: since God has united, let not man separate. When they objected to Him that Moses commanded to let his wife go and give her a book of profligacy, the Lord said: Moses, out of the hardness of your hearts, commanded you to nycmumu your wives: from the beginning it was not so (Matthew 19:3-8). When His disciples subsequently asked Him about the same thing, He remarked: “Whoever lets his wife go and marries another woman commits adultery against her.” And if a wife lets her husband go, and commits violence for another, she commits adultery (Mark 10:11, 12). The Lord's teaching on the indissolubility of marriage was also preached by St. Apostles: To those who are married, writes the Apostle Paul, I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife not separate from her husband. Even if she is separated, let her remain single, or let her reconcile herself with her husband: neither let the husband let his wife go (1 Cor. 7:10, 11). The Savior indicated only one case when divorce is allowed. This is infidelity, betrayal of the marital union of one of the spouses: whoever lets his wife go, unless he is an adulterer, and marries another, commits adultery (Matthew 19:9): whoever puts away his wife, unless he is an adulterer, commits adultery (5:32). VII. About the sacrament of the priesthood § 170. Connection with the previous; priesthood, as a special God-established ministry in the Church (hierarchy), and its three degrees; the concept of the priesthood as a sacrament 1. Having hitherto expounded the doctrine of the sacraments, we noted about each of them that it can be performed and taught to believers only by the shepherds of the Church, bishops and elders. But in order for people to be able to become shepherds of Christ’s Church and receive the power to perform the sacraments, the Lord instituted another special sacrament - the sacrament of the priesthood. 2. The priesthood is understood in a double sense: as a special class of people, a special service in the Church, known under the name of hierarchy (hierarchy), and as a special sacred act through which people are dedicated and placed in this service. In the first sense, we have already examined the priesthood and seen that the Lord Himself established a hierarchy, or the rank of pastors, that in this hierarchy there are three God-established degrees: the degree of bishop, the degree of presbyter and the degree of deacon, etc. (§§ 127–129). Now let's talk about the priesthood as a sacrament. 3. Under the name of the priesthood, as a sacrament, is meant such a sacred act in which, through the prayerful laying on of the hands of the bishops on the head of the chosen person, Divine grace is brought down to this person, sanctifying and placing him on a certain level of the church hierarchy, and then assisting him in the passage of hierarchical duties. § 171. Divine institution and validity of the sacrament of the priesthood 1. The divine establishment of the sacrament of the priesthood is evident from the actions of St. The apostles, who themselves, under the instruction of the Holy Spirit, who remembered to them everything that the Lord Jesus commanded (John 14:26), performed this sacrament, and through the laying on of hands elevated them to all three degrees of the hierarchy. Thus, St. mentions the ordination to the rank of bishop. The Apostle Paul, commanding his disciple Timothy, Bishop of Ephesus: do not neglect your gift that lives in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the priesthood (1 Tim. 4:14), and in another letter: I remind you to kindle the gift of God that lives in you by the laying on of my hand (2 Tim. 1:6). We read about ordination to the priesthood in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which tells us that the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, when they passed through the Asia Minor cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch preaching, they ordained them elders for the whole church (Acts 14:23). We read about ordination to the rank of deacon in the same sacred text. book, which speaks of the first seven deacons: they placed them before the Apostles, and after praying they laid their hands on them (6:6). That's why St. The Apostle Paul testifies that the Lord Himself gave His Church not only apostles, prophets, evangelists, but also shepherds and teachers for the perfection of the saints, for the work of service (Eph. 4:11, 12), and bidding farewell to the shepherds of the Ephesian Church, he said: take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in whom the Holy Spirit has appointed bishops for you, to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God (Acts 20:28). 2. From all these passages taken together, the truth is revealed that the priesthood is a real sacrament. For it has not only Divine origin, but also a special sensory sign - the laying on of hands, and through this sign brings down to the elect a special gift, a special gift of God, so that they are placed in their rank by the Holy Spirit himself; track. has all the essential features of a sacrament. It is also worthy of note that all Christian sects that exist in the East and have deviated from Orthodoxy since ancient times unanimously recognize the priesthood as one of the sacraments of the Church. § 172. The visible side of the sacrament of the priesthood, its invisible actions and uniqueness I. The visible side of the sacrament of the priesthood is the laying on of hands, combined with prayer. 1. Ordination. St. testifies to this. Scripture, which says that through ordination, from the very beginning, consecration was made to the rank of bishop (1 Tim. 4:14; 2 Tim. 1:6), and to the rank of presbyter (1 Tim. 5:22; Titus 1:5), and to the rank of deacon (Acts 6:6). The rules of St. Apostle (pr. 68), as well as ecumenical and local Councils: Nicene I (pr. 4 and 19), Ancyra (pr. 13), Antioch (pr. 10), Chalcedonian (pr. 6), Carthaginian (pr. 36, 59, 100). 2. Connected with prayer. This is what the saints themselves did. The apostles: having prayed, they ordained the first seven deacons (Acts 6:6); Having prayed, they ordained elders for the whole church (14:23). This prayer is used in the Orthodox Church to this day, and reads like this: “Divine grace, always weak in its healing and impoverished in its replenishment, will ordain such and such a most reverent subdeacon as a deacon (or deacon as a presbyter): let us therefore pray for him, that the grace of the All-Holy Spirit may come upon him.” II. The invisible effect of the sacrament of the priesthood is that through it, through prayer, the Divine grace corresponding to his future service, the grace of the priesthood, is actually communicated to the one being ordained. About it, as we have already seen, a) St. clearly speaks. Apostle Paul to Bishop Timothy of Ephesus: Do not neglect your gift that lives in you, which has been given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the priesthood (1 Tim. 4:14), I remember you to kindle the gift of God that lives in you by the laying on of my hand (2 Tim. 1:6); b) they speak of grace as not for sale - the fathers of the Council of Chalcedon (pr. 2). It should be noted that although the grace of the priesthood is one, it is communicated through the sacrament to varying degrees: to a lesser extent to the deacon, to a greater extent to the presbyter, and even more to the bishop, according to their very service in the Church, so that, according to the strength of the gifts received through ordination, the bishop is both the main teacher, and the first clergyman, and the main ruler or archpastor in his private church; the presbyter, receiving all power through ordination from the bishop, has the power to teach, officiate and spiritually govern only in his parish and depending on the bishop; and deacons are only assistants and co-servants of bishops and presbyters in their service to the Church, but in themselves they have no power to teach, officiate, or govern (see § 129). III. The grace of the priesthood, communicated through ordination, although in varying degrees, to deacons, presbyters and bishops, and investing them with a certain measure of spiritual power, dwells in the soul of each of them invariably: why neither a bishop, nor a presbyter, nor a deacon is ordained to the same dignity another time, and the sacrament of the priesthood is considered unique. The first thought is indicated by St. The Apostle Paul, when he twice reminds Bishop Timothy of his gift living in him (1 Tim. 4:14), of the gift of God living in him (2 Tim. 1:6). The last thought is revealed in the 68th rule of St. Apostles: “if anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, receives a second ordination from anyone, let both he and the one who ordained be deposed from the sacred rank”; also in rules 36 and 59 of the Council of Carthage. § 173. Who can perform the sacrament of the priesthood, and what is required of those approaching it I. According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, the power to ordain priests. degree belongs only to the immediate successors of the Apostles, bishops (Posl. Eastern Patriarch. on the Right. Faith, Part 10). And this teaching is 1. Based on the Holy. Scripture. Priest the books represent that the Apostles themselves only ordained in the degree of hierarchy, and left this to the bishops. They ordained themselves to the rank of bishop (2 Tim. 1:6), to the rank of presbyter (Acts 14:22, 23), to the rank of deacon (6:6). They left this to the bishops: St. Paul wrote to the Bishop of Crete Titus: for this reason I left you in Crete, so that you could correct the unfinished state, and establish elders throughout the city, as I commanded you (Titus 1:5), and commanded the Bishop of Ephesus Timothy: do not quickly lay your hands on anyone, but share in the sin of others (1 Tim. 5:22). 2. Confirmed by the rules of St. Apostles and St. cathedrals The first and second rules of St. The apostles are commanded: “Let two or three bishops appoint bishops. Let the presbyter and the deacon and other clergy be appointed by one bishop” (demolished by the Council of Carthage, right. 60; 1st Ecumenical ed. 19; Antioch. ed. 9; Chalcidian ed. 2). II. Persons approaching the sacrament of priesthood - 1. There must be Christians and Orthodox Christians: since they are destined to be shepherds of the Orthodox Church (I ecumenical own rights. 1). 2. There must be people proven in the word of faith and in a life consistent with the right word (Laodice. 12): like God's builders (Titus 1:7), who are called to teach others the faith by word and life (1 Tim. 3:2; 4:12). Therefore, in the statutes of the Church it is decreed: a) a seeker of priestly dignity must know Holy Scripture and church rules in order to fulfill them himself and instruct the entrusted flock in them (VII Ecumenical Soc. Ave. 2); b) from the pagan life of a newly arrived person and in general a convert (1 Tim. 3:6), or from the vicious way of life of a convert, he should not hastily be promoted to a bishop or presbyter, but after proper testing (Apostolic Law 80; Ecumenical Council pr. 2, 9; Laodicean Council pr. 3); c) a layman or monk must ascend to the height of episcopacy only after being tested in the lower ecclesiastical ranks (Duc. 17; Sard. 10). 3. If they are elected to the rank of bishop, they must be free from the bonds of marriage (cathedral trul. pr. 12), but if they are elected to the rank of presbyter or deacon, then they can, if desired, be in a married state (apostolic rights. 26; neoces. pr. 1; I ecum. sob. pr. 3; VI ecum. 3, 6, 18). Chapter II. About God as a Judge and Rewarder § 174. Connection with the previous one, the concept of God as a Judge and Giver, and the composition of church teaching about this 1. God does the great work of sanctifying people or assimilating the merits of Christ to them only with the free participation of the people themselves, under the conditions of their faith and good deeds (§§ 121, 122). For the completion of this work, God has appointed a limit: for private individuals it continues until the end of their earthly life, and for the entire human race it will continue until the very end of the world. At the end of both periods, God appears and has to appear as the Judge and Rewarder for each person and for all mankind. He demands and will demand from people an account of how they used the means given for their sanctification and salvation, and He will reward and reward everyone according to their deserts. 2. How all the persons of the Most Rev. participated in the work of our redemption. Trinity, although, in fact, our immediate Redeemer was the Son of God, who took upon Himself our nature and tasted death for us (§ 74); how all the Persons of the Most Holy One also participate in the work of our sanctification. Trinity, although, in fact, God the Holy Spirit directly accomplishes our sanctification with His grace (§ 106); so in the same way, in the matter of judgment over us, in the matter of retribution to us, the whole Most Holy One participates. Trinity. This idea - a) follows, as a consequence, from the dogma that the Persons of the Most Holy. The Trinity is of the same essence, has one Divinity, one will, and, differing only in personal properties, are inseparable in everything, which is why it is impossible for one of them to act only on its own, without any participation of the other two; b) is confirmed by Holy Scripture, which says, for example, about God in general: without faith it is not possible to please God: but faith is fitting for one who comes to God as He is, and the Rewarder is to those who seek Him (Heb. 11:6; 12:23). But actually and directly, named by God, the judge of the living and the dead is the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 10:42): to whom the Father has given the domain to execute judgment (John 5:27); He, the Son of Man, must be in the glory of His Father with His Angels; and then he will reward each one according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27; 19:28). 3. Expounding the doctrine of God as the Judge and the Giver of Retribution, the Orthodox Church distinguishes between the twofold judgment of God, the twofold retribution: firstly, the private judgment that the Lord performs over each person separately suddenly after his death, and the retribution that follows is not yet complete, not final, and secondly, the general judgment, which the Lord will solemnly execute over the entire human race at the end of the world. and who will conclude with retribution already complete, decisive, eternal (Right. Confession of Faith, part 1, answer to questions 58–61). Thus this teaching is divided into two halves, each of which is divided into two parts. Member 1. About God as a Judge and Rewarder for each person separately § 175. Circumstances preceding a private trial: death of a person Private judgment, as the Orthodox Church teaches, occurs for a person suddenly after his death, which, thus, is an essential circumstance preceding this judgment (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 61). The doctrine of death itself, which we have already outlined in parts before (§§ 62, 64, 67), here it is enough to present in the following main features: 1. The death of a person is the separation of his soul from the body, and is called in Holy Scripture by different names, such as: exodus (Luke 9:31), end (Matthew 10:22), bringing the soul out of its prison (Ps. 142:8), release from the bonds of the body (Phil. 1:23), departure (2 Tim. 4:6), dormition (Acts 13:36 ) and under. With this separation of the two component parts of a person, his body, like dust, returns to the earth as it was, and the Spirit returns to God, Who gave him (Ecc. 12:7) and remains always alive and immortal (§ 58). 2. The cause of a person’s death is his fall (Gen. 2:17; 3:19). For God created man into incorruption (Wis. 2:23), and, for the constant refreshment of his bodily strength, to maintain his life forever, gave him at the beginning the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). 3. Being the consequence and due of the sin of our first parents, which spread from them to all their descendants, death necessarily became the common lot of the entire human race: for one man sin came into the world, and death was death by sin, and so death came to all men, in whom all sinned (Rom. 5:12). 4. Death is the limit by which the time of exploits ends for a person and the time of retribution begins, so that, after death, neither repentance nor correction of life is possible for us. This truth was expressed by Christ the Savior with His parable about the rich man and Lazarus, from which it is clear that both immediately received reward after death, and the rich man, no matter how much he suffered in hell, could not, through repentance, free himself from his suffering (Luke 16:26). St. later expressed The Apostle Paul, when he wrote about himself: I have fought the good fight, I have passed my end, I have kept the faith: and so the crown of righteousness is kept for me (2 Tim. 4:8) and when he instructed Christians: Behold, now is the time acceptable, behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2); Moreover, now is the time for imams, let us do good to everyone (Gal. 6:10). § 176. Validity of a private court The doctrine that, after the death of a person, there is a judgment for him, called private in contrast to the universal, which is to take place at the end of the world - 1. It was known even in the Old Testament church. The wise son of Sirach says in one place: it is convenient to eat before God, on the day of death to reward a person according to his deeds. Bitterness at the time of forgetfulness creates sweets, and at the end of a person the revelation of his deeds (Sir. 11:26, 27). 2. St. expressed with all clarity in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul, when he said: man lies to die alone, but after this comes judgment (Heb. 9:27). The Apostle obviously does not posit any interval between death and judgment, and so on. does not mean a universal court, but a private one. 3. St. preached clearly. fathers and teachers of the Church. For example, St. John Chrysostom inspired his listeners: “No one living on earth, having received remission of sins, upon transition to the future life, can avoid being tortured for them. But just as here criminals from prison are brought to trial in chains, so, after departing from this life, all souls will be brought to the Last Judgment, burdened with various bonds of sins.” “Upon our departure from this life, we will appear at the Last Judgment, we will give an account of all our deeds; and - if we remained in sins, then we will be subjected to torture and execution; and if we decide to pay even little attention to ourselves, then we will be rewarded with crowns and unspeakable blessings.” Note. How private court occurs is not stated in Holy Scripture. But the figurative representation of this court, based primarily on St. tradition and in agreement with Holy Scripture, we find in the doctrine of ordeals (τελώντα), which has existed since ancient times in the Orthodox Church (Right. Confession, part 11, answer to question 25). 1. The essence of the doctrine of ordeals, which is set out in detail in the word of St. Cyril of Alexandria about the outcome of the soul can be expressed as follows: a) ordeals represent the inevitable path by which all human souls, both evil and good, make their transition from temporary life to an eternal lot; b) at the ordeals, during this transition, each soul, in the presence of angels and demons, without a doubt before the eye of the all-seeing Judge, is gradually and in detail tortured in all its deeds, evil and good; c) as a result of these tortures, this detailed report of each soul in its previous life, good souls, justified in all ordeals, are ascended by angels directly to the heavenly abodes, and sinful souls, detained at one or another ordeal, accused of wickedness, are dragged, by the sentence of the invisible Judge, by demons to their dark abodes. And therefore, ordeals are nothing more than a private judgment that the Lord Jesus Himself invisibly executes on human souls through angels, allowing the slanderers of our brethren to do so (Ap. 12:10), evil spirits, is a judgment at which all its deeds are recalled to the soul and impartially evaluated before it, and after which its known fate is determined. 2. The doctrine of ordeals is in accordance with Holy Scripture. This teaching presents: a) that angels of God and tormenting spirits appear to people who are dying, when their soul is separated from their body. And the Savior Himself remarked: the beggar was soon to die, and the angels were carried into the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:22); and God said to another man: You fool, this night they will take your soul from You (12:20); b) that, upon separation from the body, the human soul, making its way to the higher world through the air spaces, constantly meets fallen spirits here and the word of God testifies that the air is filled, as it were, with the spirits of evil in high places (Eph. 6:12) - of course, it is filled not physically, but spiritually, that their prince is the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2); c) that God does not directly execute private judgment on a person’s soul after separating it from the body, but allows the spirits of evil to torture it, as if they were instruments of his formidable justice, and at the same time uses good angels as instruments of his goodness. But it is known from Scripture that, even at the end of the world, the Lord will not directly carry out everything related to judgment, but His Angels will follow, who will collect all temptations from His kingdom, and those who create lawlessness, will separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous, and cast them into the fiery furnace (Matthew 13:41, 49), and that God allows fallen spirits to generally act against man (Job. 1:12; 1 Pet. 5:9), and sometimes uses them on earth as instruments of His righteous wrath against sinners, like fierce angels (Ps. 77:49; 1 Cor. 5:5). II. About bribery after a private trial § 177. The teaching of the Orthodox Church and the composition of this teaching The Orthodox Church teaches about retribution to people, which is a consequence of private judgment over them: “although before the last judgment, neither the righteous nor the sinners receive perfect reward for their deeds; but despite all this, not all souls are in the same state, and are not sent to the same place” (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 61). “We believe that the souls of the dead are blissful or tormented, depending on their deeds. Having been separated from their bodies, they immediately move either to joy, or to sadness and sorrow: however, they do not feel either complete bliss or complete torment. For everyone will receive perfect bliss or perfect torment after the general resurrection, when the soul is united with the body in which it lived virtuously or viciously” (Episode of the Eastern Patriarch on the Right Faith, Part 18). Thus, the Orthodox Church distinguishes between two rewards after a private judgment: one for the righteous, the other for sinners, although both are still imperfect and incomplete. § 178. Reward to the righteous: a) glorification of them in heaven - in the triumphant Church Retribution to the righteous, according to the will of the heavenly Judge, also has two types: a) their glorification, although still imperfect, in heaven - in the triumphant Church, and b) their glorification on earth - in the militant Church. I. The reality of reward for the righteous in heaven (not yet complete), suddenly after the end of the private trial of them and before the last general judgment (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 67), is undoubted from Holy Scripture. It presents us with: 1. The Lord's clear promise concerning this truth. Christ the Savior, Who through His cross was the opening for people to enter the kingdom of heaven, said as a consolation to the Apostles before His departure to the Father: in My Father’s house there are many abodes: or else, I would say to you: I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also will be (John 14:2, 3). At the same time, He prayed to the Father: 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 My glory, which you have given to Me (17:24). And, hanging on the tree of the cross, he said to the repentant thief: Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). 2. The living confidence of St. Apostles in the fulfillment of this promise. So, the Apostle Paul says about himself: I am determined by both my desire to be resolved and to be with Christ, it is better for me: but to remain in the flesh, it is most necessary to eat for your sake (Phil. 1:23, 24). And in another place: we know that even if our earthly church of the body is destroyed, a creation from God, imams, a church not made with hands, eternal in heaven... We dare and are more than willing to depart from the body and come to the Lord (2 Cor. 5: 1, 8). Those. The Apostle expresses that, suddenly, after the destruction of the earthly church of the body, a church not made by hands awaits the righteous in heaven; suddenly, after their permission and departure from the body, they can come to the Lord and be with Christ. 3. Finally, the actual fulfillment of this promise. The holy seer John the Theologian saw around the throne of God in heaven twenty and four thrones and on them elders dressed in white clothes and having golden crowns on their heads (Ap. 4:4); I saw under the heavenly altar the souls of those beaten for the word of God and for the testimony they had (6:9); And again I saw many people... from every tongue and tribe and people and nations, standing before the throne and before the lamb and crying: salvation to our God and to the lamb who sits on the throne (7:9, 10). II. The place where the souls of the righteous go after a private judgment, and their very state there and bliss are depicted differently. 1. This place in Holy Scripture is called paradise (Luke 23:43), the bosom of Abraham (Luke 16:22), the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10), the kingdom of God (Luke 13:28, 29), the house of the heavenly Father (John 14:2), the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22; Gal. 4:26). And, according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church, no matter what name anyone from among those mentioned calls this place, he will not sin: if only he knows that the souls of the deceased righteous abid in the grace of God, and, as church songs say, in heaven (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 67). 2. The state of the souls of the righteous in heaven and their bliss, although, without a doubt, unequal, according to the merits of each (1 Cor. 3:8), is supposed: a) in peace or tranquility from labor (Heb. 4:3, 11; Ap. 14:13); b) not involved in any sorrows and suffering (Ap. 7:16, 17); c) reclining, and so on. in close communication with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and other saints (Matthew 8:11; Luke 16:22); d) in mutual communication with thousands of angels (Heb. 12:22, 23; Luke 16:22); e) in standing before the throne of the Lamb, in glorifying Him and serving Him (Ap. 7:9–17); f) in cohabitation (John 14:3; Phil. 1:26) and fellowship with Christ (2 Tim. 2:11, 12); g) in the sight of God (1 Cor. 13:12; 2 Cor. 5:8). III. However, although the souls of the righteous, after a private judgment, go to heaven and are rewarded with bliss; but this bliss of theirs is not yet complete and perfect, but only the beginning of eternal bliss. For, according to the teaching of the word of God, every person will receive complete bliss after the general judgment, when he again appears as a complete man in his resurrected body: for it is fitting for us all to appear, said St. The Apostle to Christians - before the judgment seat of Christ, let everyone receive either good or evil for what he has done with his body (2 Cor. 5:10); “otherwise,” he wrote about himself, “the crown of righteousness is kept for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will reward me in the day, not only to me, but also to all those who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:8). Likewise, St. the Fathers of the Church taught that the blessed state of the righteous in heaven, suddenly after their death, is not yet complete. For example: St. Gregory the Theologian, after expressing his strong benevolence to his deceased brother Kecapius - to ascend into heaven, rest in the bosom of Abraham, rejoice in the face of angels and blessed souls and stand before the King of heaven, - continues: “for me, the words of the wise are convincing that every good and God-loving soul, as soon as it is released from the body associated with it, will be freed henceforth, she comes into a state of feeling and contemplating the good that awaits her; and after cleansing, or putting aside (or else, I don’t know how to express) that which darkened it, it enjoys some wonderful pleasure, rejoices and joyfully marches to its Lord; because she escaped this life as an unbearable prison, and threw off the shackles that lay on her, with which the wings of her mind were drawn down. Then, in a vision, she seems to already be reaping the bliss prepared for her. And then the flesh that was born with itself, with which it practiced wisdom here, from the earth that gave it and then preserved it, having received it in a way incomprehensible to us and known only to God, who united and separated them, - together with it it enters into the inheritance of the coming glory.” § 179. b) Glorification of the righteous on earth - in the Church militant: aa) veneration and invocation of the Saints The glorification of the righteous, after their death, on earth - in the militant Church is expressed by the fact that the earthly Church: a) honors them as saints and friends of God, and calls them in prayers as representatives before God; b) honors their very relics and other remains, as well as their sacred ones. images or icons. I. The Church of Christ honors the righteous, not as any gods, but as faithful servants, saints and friends of God; praises their exploits and deeds accomplished by them with the help of the grace of God for the glory of God, so that all the honor given to the Saints relates to the majesty of God, whom they pleased on earth with their lives; honors the Saints with annual remembrances of them, national celebrations, the creation of churches in their name, etc. (Right confession, part III, answer to question 52; Last eastern patrol about the right faith, answer to question 3). In this sense, the veneration of saints - 1. Completely in accordance with Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture, while prohibiting the rendering of Divine worship and service (λατρεία) to anyone other than the one true God (Deut. 6:13; Is. 42:8; Matt. 4:10; 1 Tim. 1:17), does not, however, prohibit giving due, of course, lower respect (δουλεία) to faithful servants Him, saints and friends, and, moreover, in such a way that all honor is attributed to Him alone, as marvelous in His saints (Ps. 67:36). On the contrary, in the Old Testament, in which the law was given: Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and thou shalt serve him only (Deut. 6:13), the God-inspired Psalmist cried: I was greatly honored by Thy friends, O God (Ps. 139:17), and the sons of the prophets solemnly bowed to the ground to the faithful servant and friend of God - Elisha (2 Kings 2:15). Likewise, in the New Testament, Christ the Savior Himself, Who confirmed the law: Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve him alone (Matthew 4:10), said to His faithful disciples: Ye are my friends, and if ye do, I command you (John 15:14), and testified before them: Whoever accepts you, will accept Me: and whoever accepts Me, accepts Me who sent (Matt. 10:40), showing that the honor given to His faithful servants and friends refers to Himself. And the same St. The apostle, who said: to God alone be honor and glory (1 Tim. 1:17), said in another place: glory and honor to everyone who does good (Rom. 2:10). 2. Has an undoubted basis in the sacred. legends. Proof of this is: a) Celebrations that from the very beginning the Church of Christ has been accustomed to celebrate in honor of the saints of God. The Book of the Apostolic Decrees, listing the days when slaves should be free from work, says: “Let them not work in the days of the Apostles: for they were your mentors in Christ and gave you the Holy Spirit, let them celebrate on the day of the first martyr Stephen and on the days of other saints. martyrs who chose Christ over their lives.” Then St. testifies to the Church’s custom of annually celebrating the days of the death of martyrs. fathers and entire councils (Laodice. rights. 51; Carth. 56, 94), and condemn those who did not want to participate in such celebrations: “if anyone, having come to an arrogant disposition, disdains, condemns meetings in honor of the martyrs and the services performed in them and their memory: let him be under an oath,” say the fathers of the Gangra Council in their 20th canon. b) Celebration of the liturgy on the days of memory of St. martyrs, sacred vigils in their honor, words of praise. c) Churches of God, which from ancient times were built in the name of the Saints and especially the martyrs, at the places of their suffering and burial, and were called martyriums (from μάρτυρ - martyr). d) Confessions of ancient Christians and especially the pastors of the Church. For example, here's what they say: Fathers of the Second Council of Nicea, VII Ecumenical: “We keep the words of the Lord, apostolic and prophetic, through which we have learned to honor and magnify (τιμᾷν καὶ μεγαλύνειν), firstly, actually and truly the Mother of God - and St. angelic powers, Apostles, Prophets and glorious martyrs, holy and God-bearing teachers, and all holy men, and ask for their intercession: because they can make us acceptable to the King of all - God.” II. Honoring the Saints as faithful servants, saints and friends of God, St. At the same time, the Church calls them in prayers, not as any gods who can help us with their own power, but as our representatives before God, the only Source and Distributor of all gifts and mercies to creatures (James 1:17), - as our representatives and intercessors, having the power of intercession from Christ, Who alone is in the proper sense and independent Intercessor of God and men, giving Himself deliverance for all ( 1Tim. 5; Confession of faith, part 52; Holy Scripture teaches us this dogma when – a) it teaches us to turn to the prayers of the Saints as strong before God; when - b) at the same time it shows that the Saints, even after departing to heaven, can hear our calling to them and - c) finally, it testifies that they do not cease to pray for their brothers remaining on earth and help them. 1. There are quite a few places of the first kind in the sacred. books. So in the Old Testament we read that - a) God Himself commanded Abimelech to ask Abraham for prayers for himself, saying: there is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live (Gen. 20:7); b) then commanded Job’s friends who had sinned to ask for the prayers of this righteous man: go to My servant Job. But My servant will pray for you, until I receive his face: if not for his sake, I would have destroyed you (Job 42:8), and - c) that the Jews, convinced by such clear commands of the Lord in the power and reality of the prayers of the righteous, asked for prayers from Samuel, who answered them: do not wake me up, omcmynumu from the Lord my God, and do not cry out for you with prayer (1 Sam. 7:8; demolished. 12:23), and indeed cry to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord listened to him (- 9). In the New Testament the same truth was commanded by St. The Apostle Paul set his own example when, with all his holiness, he repeatedly asked for prayers from his pious disciples: I pray you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the spirit, assist me in praying for me to God (Rom. 15:30); or: brothers, pray for us (1 Thess. 5:25), vigilant in all patience and prayer for all the saints, and for me (Eph. 6:18, 19; Col. 4:3; 2 Cor. 1:10, 11). And St. The Apostle James, instructing Christians in general to pray for each other, and so on. asking each other for prayers, notes in particular: for much can the prayer of the righteous avail (James 5:16). If the word of God commands to turn to the prayers of the Saints while they are still on earth, and calls these prayers strong before God and saving for us; if, therefore, such a calling on the Saints who are still living with us does not in the least offend the goodness of the Heavenly Father and does not degrade the dignity of our Savior, the only Intercessor of God and men: should we not all the more turn to the prayers of the Saints when they move to heaven and come into close communion with the Lord? Couldn't their intercession for us before the throne of the Almighty then be all the stronger, like the intercession of His saints, already glorified? Isn't it all the less offensive to both the goodness of the heavenly Father and the dignity of our Redeemer to call upon the Saints who have already become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17)? 2. To explain the fact that the Saints, even after their departure to heaven, despite the distance separating them from us, can hear our prayers and know our needs, Holy Scripture presents many striking examples. Thus, it testifies that the saints of God, whom we call in prayers, while still in the body, often had the gift of seeing into the depths of the human heart, like St. Peter saw clearly in the heart of Ananias (Acts 5:3), and knew the events that were taking place in the distance, as Elisha learned about the act of Gehazi (2 Kings 4:19, 25, 26), and, what is even more surprising, revealed to the king of Israel all the secret intentions of the Syrian court (2 Kings 6:12). It testifies that the Saints, while still on earth, penetrated in spirit into the heavenly world, and some saw hosts of Angels, like Jacob (Gen. 32:1) and Elisha (2 Kings 6:17), others were honored to contemplate God Himself, like Isaiah (6:1-5) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:1-8), others admired heaven to the third, and they heard there ineffable verbs, like St. Paul (2 Cor. 12:2–6). Finally, it testifies that the Saints in heaven are equal to an angel (Lk. 20:36), who really know the inner state and appeal of sinners to God: for there is joy before the angels of God over the only sinner who repents (Luke 15:10) - that Abraham, being in heaven, could hear the cry of the rich man suffering in hell, despite the great abyss separating them, and that this forefather said to the rich man among other things: your brothers have Moses and the prophets, yes listen to them, - which clearly expressed that being in heaven, the righteous have the opportunity to know what is happening on earth after their death: for Moses and the Prophets lived after Abraham (Luke ch. 16). 3. Finally, from St. books, we make sure that the Saints who have gone to heaven, having the opportunity to know our needs and hear our prayers, really intercede for us before the throne of the Almighty. God Himself once said to Jeremiah: if Moses and Samuel stand before Me, My soul will not be with this people... Who will have mercy on you, Jerusalem: and who will grieve for you, or who will go to pray for peace for you (Jer. 15: 1, 5)? With these words, the Lord showed that Moses and Samuel, who had long since died, could intercede with Him on behalf of the Jews. Judas Maccabee saw in a vision Onias, the deceased high priest, who himself prayed for all the people of Judah, and, pointing to another man who was with him, he said to Judas: This is a brotherly lover, who prays much for the people and for the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God (2 Mac. 15:12, 14). From this we must conclude that in the Jewish Church there undoubtedly existed a belief in the intercession of the Saints who died for the living. In the New Testament, St. The Apostle Peter quite clearly promises the disciples not to stop caring for them before God even after his death, saying: I strive and always have you, after my departure, to make a memorial of these things (2 Pet. 1:15). And St. John the Theologian was honored to see in a revelation in heaven how the twenty and four elders fell before the lamb, each having harps and vials of gold full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Ap. 5:8), and then, as the tribute was given to the Angel with much incense, let him give the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne, and how incense smoke went out through the prayers of the saints from the hand of an Angel before God (Ap. 8:3, 4). § 180. bb) Veneration of St. relics and other remains of saints of God and veneration of St. icons I. Giving due veneration to the saints of God, who moved with their souls to heaven, especially because God Himself rested and rests in them, the only Holy One who rests in the Saints, St. The Church, naturally, at the same time honors the relics or bodies of saints remaining on earth, who were also honored to be temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19; demolished 3:16, 17), and other remains of the Saints who received consecration from them or through them, such as the robe and belt of the Mother of God, the chains of St. Apostle Peter and others. (Space. Christ. Catech. on Part IX). This, so natural, is a celebration of St. relics and other remains of God's saints finds a solid basis for itself in the fact that God Himself deigned to honor and glorify both with countless signs and wonders. So - 1. In Holy Scripture we read: a) that the body of one dead man, as soon as it touched the bones of the prophet Elisha in his tomb, immediately came to life, and the dead rose (2 Kings 13:21; demolished. Sirach. 48:14, 15); b) that the very mantle of Elijah, which he left for Elisha, opened with its touch the waters of the Jordan for the passage of the last prophet (2 Kings 2:14; demolished 8); c) that even scarves and towels are St. The Apostle Paul, who, in his absence, relied on the sick and demon-possessed, healed illnesses and drove away unclean spirits (Acts 19:12). 2. In the history of the Church we find countless similar miracles that the Lord performed through the relics and other remains of the Saints for all who came to them with faith. The ancient saints testified to this with complete conviction. fathers and teachers of the Church before their contemporaries, often calling them themselves as witnesses of the truth. For example: St. Gregory the Theologian - in the word of St. Martyr Cyprian: “You yourself must remember everything else, such as: casting out demons, healing diseases, foreseeing the future. All this, with the help of faith, can even be given by the ashes of the Cyprians, as those who have experienced this know, from whom the memory of the miracle has been passed on to us, and will be passed on to future times.” And in another word: “they (the holy martyrs) are glorified with great honors and holidays, they drive away demons, heal illnesses, appear, prophesy; their very bodies, when they are touched and honored, act as much as their holy souls; even drops of blood and everything that bears traces of their suffering are as valid as their bodies.” 3. A particularly striking miracle with which the Lord glorifies the bodies of many of His saints is their incorruption, when they are fulfilled in practice - and the prediction of the prophet king: do not (Lord) allow your venerable one to see corruption (Ps. 15:10), which was fulfilled first of all on the firstborn from the dead, Jesus Christ (Acts 2:27), - and the benevolence of the ancient sage of Israel to the righteous: their bones will flourish from their place (Sir. 46:14; demolished 49:12; Isa. 58:11). This is the incorruption of St. relics, this removal of them by the miraculous power of God from the universal law of corruption, as if as a living lesson to us about the future resurrection of bodies and as a powerful awakening for us - to honor the very bodies of the righteous glorified by God and imitate their faith, is not subject to the slightest doubt. In Kyiv and Novgorod, Moscow and Vologda, and in many other places of our God-protected fatherland, many incorruptible remains of St. saints, and with incessant miracles for those who flow to them with faith, they loudly testify to the truth of their incorruptibility. II. Honoring the Saints who moved to heaven and honoring their sacred remains on earth, the Orthodox Church reverently uses and honors St. images of God's saints, along with images of the Lord God Himself and angels. The dogma on icons is clearly stated by the Seventh Ecumenical Council as follows: “following the Divine teaching of St. Our Father and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this is the Holy Spirit living in her), with all certainty and careful consideration we determine: like the image of the honest and life-giving cross, place in the holy churches of God, on consecrated vessels and clothes, on walls and on boards, in houses and on paths, honest and holy icons, painted with paints and from fractional stones, and from other capable substances, like icons of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and our immaculate Lady, the Holy Mother of God, as well as honest angels, and all saints and reverend men. Since they are often visible through the image on icons, those who look at them remember and love those who are prototypes of them, and honor them with kisses and reverent worship, not true, according to our faith, worship of God, which befits the only Divine nature, but veneration in that image, like the image of the honorable and life-giving Cross and Honor is given to the Holy Gospel, and other shrines, with incense and the lighting of candles, as was the pious custom of the ancients. For the honor given to the image passes to the prototype, and he who worships the icon worships the being depicted on it. Thus is confirmed the teaching of the holy Fathers of ours, this is the tradition of the Catholic Church, who has received the Gospel from end to end of the earth.” (Book of rules, pp. 5, 6). From these words it is clear that St. The Church commands: a) not only to use St. icons in churches, in houses and other places so that they excite us to remember God and His Saints and to imitate them, but b) and to honor or honor the saints. images - to honor not with worship or service (λατρεία), which befits the one Divinity, but only with reverent worship (τιμητικῇ προσκυνήσει), and together express this honor by censing before the Holy. with icons of incense, placing candles, etc., - to honor not the icons themselves, not the wood and paints, but so that the honor given to the image passes to the original, and the one who worships the icon worships the being depicted on it (for more details, see Right. Confess. Part III, answer to question 55; Post. Eastern Patr. about the Right Faith, answer to question 3). Track. The Orthodox Church equally condemns: a) the ancient iconoclasts, who rejected the veneration of St. icons, so their very use; b) and new ones, that is, Protestants, who, although they allow the use of St. icons to decorate churches or to remind of God, but do not accept their veneration; c) and, finally, all those who honor icons regardless, worship them as idols or idols, or idolize them. 1. The teaching of the Orthodox Church about icons has solid foundations in Holy Scripture. a) The Church uses St. icons (images) in the church and other places for the reverent remembrance of the Lord and His Saints. And, according to the testimony of Scripture, God Himself commanded Moses to build the ark of the covenant and place it in the most important part of the first Old Testament church - in the Holy of Holies (Ex. 25:10 et seq.; 26:33; Deut. 10:1–5). And the ark of the covenant was nothing more than a visible image of the presence of the invisible God - an image that always reminded the Jews of Jehovah and raised their thoughts to the prototype: and it happened, it is said about Moses, when he erected the ark, and Moses said: Arise, Lord (Num. 10:34). I will dance before the Lord..., I will play and dance before the Lord,” said David in response to the reproach of Saul’s daughter Michal for dancing before the ark of the covenant (2 Sam. 6:21). God Himself commanded Moses to make two carved images of cherubim and place them in the Holy of Holies on two sides of the atonement, which covered the ark and served as the throne of Jehovah (Ex. 25:19–22); He also commanded that carved images of cherubim be made on the church curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the sanctuary (Exod. 26:31–33), just as today the iconostasis separates the altar from the church itself; and together make the same images of cherubim on those fine linen blankets that covered not only the top, but also the sides of the tabernacle and served for it instead of walls (Ex. 26:1, 37). It is also known that God Himself commanded Moses to raise up a copper serpent in the desert (Numbers 21:8); and this serpent was actually the image of our Savior, who ascended to the cross (John 3:14, 15). Having built another permanent church to God, Solomon, in the image of the tabernacle, placed in it, in the very middle of the Holy of Holies, two images of cherubs made of cypress and gilded, which with some of their wings touched each other, with the others reaching the opposite sides of the church (1 Kings 6:27; 2 Chronicles 3:10–13), sculpted and painted cherubs on all walls of the church (1 Kings 6:29; 2 Chronicles 3:7), wove the same images of cherubim on the church veil (2 Chronicles 3:14). And God not only did not condemn Solomon for this, but also expressed His special favor both to the builder of the church, and to the church itself: having heard the voice of your prayer, - the Lord said to Solomon, - and your prayer, which you prayed before Me: I did according to all your prayer: and I sanctified this church, which I created, and set My name there forever: and My eyes will be there, and my heart all the days (1 Kings 9:3). b) The Church venerates St. icons, and expresses this veneration in various images. Thus, according to the command of God Himself, the Old Testament Church also revered the priests who were in it. images. And exactly: We bow to St. icons or images: and the Jews worshiped the ark of the covenant, which served as an image of the presence of God. Lift up the Lord your God, and worship at His footstool, for it is holy, said the Inspired Prophet David (Ps. 93:5), and by the footstool of God he meant the ark of the covenant of the Lord (1 Chronicles 28:2). The Jews in general worshiped the church of the Lord, the image and canopy of heaven (Heb. 8:5; Exod. 33:10), in which on the curtain and on all the walls there were images of cherubim: the king of Israel has risen from the earth, - it is said about St. David, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his garments, and went into the house of God and worshiped him (2 Sam. 12:20). I will go into Your house, - David himself cries, - I will worship Your holy church, in Your passion (Ps. 5:8). We honor St. icons by burning incense before them. And from the Holy Scriptures it is known that God Himself commanded to burn incense over the ark: let Aaron burn incense over it early and early..., everlasting incense before the Lord throughout their generations (Ex. 30:7, 8; demolished 40:5); He also commanded that incense be burned over the incense altar, which was located opposite the curtain, on which, as already said, were the priests. images of cherubim (Ex. 40:26, 29; demolished 2 Chron. 26:16–19; Luke 1:9). We honor St. icons by lighting candles in front of them. And in the same commandment by which the Lord commanded the high priest of Judah to burn incense over the ark, it speaks of lighting lamps before it: when he arranges the lights, let him burn incense over it: and when Aaron burns the lights in the evening, let him burn incense over him (Ex. 30:7, 8). In addition, the Lord commanded Moses to place a lamp with seven lights in front of the veil on the southern side of it, which the Jewish priests lit continuously from evening to morning (Ex. 27:21; Lev. 24:2–4). c) The Church, however, using and honoring St. icons, gives honor not to the icons themselves regardless, not to the wood and paints, but by relating it to the prototypes depicted on the icons, and at the same time condemns those who honor icons regardless, worship them as idols, idolize them. And in this case, the Church acts completely according to Scripture. For, although God Himself commanded Moses to place the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle, to burn incense before it, to light lamps, even to bow before it, He also commanded to make likenesses or images of cherubim, to decorate with them all the walls of the church and the curtain, before which the lamp of the seven lights constantly burned and the incense was burned, and to erect a copper serpent in the desert; but at the same time God commanded Moses: let you not be gods other than Me. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol, or any likeness, such as the tree in heaven, and the tree below on the earth, and the tree in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I am the Lord thy God (Ex. 20:2-5). This means that the Israelites should not only not revere any other, pagan gods, not only not create for themselves idols or the likeness of any objects of heaven, earth or the underworld, in order to worship and serve them, but they should also honor those likenesses or images that God Himself commanded them, not without regard, not take them for gods, for idols - and so that all honor, given, for example, to the ark of the covenant, went back to Jehovah Himself, for whom the ark serves only as a footstool. And that is why, when, over time, the Jews began to worship the copper serpent in the desert as an idol and idolize it, King Hezekiah, despite the fact that he was erected by Moses at the command of God Himself, crushed this serpent, and earned approval for that (2 Kings 18:4; Right. Confess. Part III, answer to the question. 56). 2. Having such clear foundations in the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, the dogma of St. icons has even clearer and more immediate foundations in the Holy Scriptures. traditions of the New Testament. One of the ecumenical teachers of faith, Basil the Great, says this in his confession: “I accept St. Apostles, Prophets and Martyrs, and I call on them to intercede before God, and through them, i.e. Through their intercession, God, the lover of mankind, will be merciful to me and grant me forgiveness of sins. Why do I honor the inscriptions of their icons and bow before them, especially because they were dedicated to St. The Apostles are not prohibited, but are depicted in all our churches.” The evidence for this legend is: a) Two ancient legends. The first is that our Lord I. Christ Himself deigned to miraculously depict His face on a cloth and send this image not made by hands to Abgar, the owner of Edessa - a legend that the fathers of the VII Ecumenical Council did not doubt to recognize as true. Another is that one of the four evangelists, Luke, who knew the art of painting, wrote and left behind icons of the Mother of God, which were and are passed on with reverence from generation to generation in the Orthodox Church. b) Written evidence of the ancients about the use and veneration of St. icons in the first three centuries. Thus, Tertullian mentions images of the Savior on church chalices in the form of a good shepherd. c) Material monuments of the actual use and veneration of St. icons in the first three centuries. We mean the saint. images found in catacombs, caves, tombs of martyrs, where leading Christians retired to pray during the days of persecution - made on walls, tombs, vessels, lamps, paintings, etc. § 181. Retribution for sinners: a) their punishment in hell Just as the righteous, suddenly after the death of the body and a private judgment over them, ascend with their souls to heaven and are rewarded with bliss, sinners depart with their souls to hell - a place of sadness and sorrow, although just as the former do not yet feel complete bliss, so the latter do not endure complete torment until the general judgment. I. Sinners depart, suddenly after death and private judgment, with their souls to a place of sadness and sorrow. This truth was proclaimed by Christ the Savior Himself, firstly, when He said: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and then are unable to do anything more. I will tell you whom you will fear: fear him who has power, after he has killed you, he will be thrown into the wilds of fire (Luke 12:4, 5). And secondly, and even more clearly, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: the beggar died, and the angels carried him into the bosom of Abraham: but the rich man also died, and buried him. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, he was in torment, and saw Abraham from afar and Lazarus in his bosom: and he cried out, saying: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue: for I have suffered in this flame. Abraham said: child, remember that you received your good in your belly, and Lazarus was also evil: now here you are comforted, but you suffer (Luke 16:22-25). II. Very little is known about the place where the souls of sinners go after a private trial, as well as about their very suffering there. 1. This place in Holy Scripture is called: hell (Luke 16:23), outer darkness (Matt. 22:13), prison of spirits (1 Pet. 3:18), the abyss (Luke 8:31), the underworld (Phil. 2:11), hell (Matt. 5:22), the cave of fire (Matt. 13:50) and other names, which, however, all express one idea, that the place for souls who have departed from here in sins is a place of condemnation and the wrath of God (Orthodox Confession, part 1, answer to question 68). 2. The torment of sinners in hell consists in the fact that they are: a) removed from the light of the face of God (Matthew 7:23) and imprisoned in the prison of spirits (1 Pet. 3:19); b) deprived of participation in the kingdom of heaven, in the bliss of the righteous, and are cast into total darkness (Matthew 22:13); c) they feel remorse for their sins, which torments them incessantly, like a worm that never dies (Mark 9:44); d) are in a community of evil, rejected spirits; e) finally endure various positive torments (Luke 16:23; Matt. 22:13, etc.). However, we must remember that the torment of sinners in hell, without a doubt, is not the same, but according to the righteous (albeit private) judgment of God, it is proportionate to the crimes of each (Luke 12:47, 48). And according to this, one can think that hell has its own private abodes, gates and repositories of souls (3 Ezra 4:32, 35, 41), its own special sections, of which one is called hell itself, another Gehenna, the third Tartarus, the fourth Lake of Fire, etc. At least there is a place in the Apocalypse where hell and the lake of fire are distinguished (20:13, 14). III. These unequal torments of sinners in hell after a private trial are not, moreover, complete and complete torments, but only initial ones. For, as the word of God teaches, complete and decisive reward for sinners will already be at the end of this age, when the Son of Man sends His angels and gathers from His kingdom all temptations and those who commit iniquity. And they will be thrown into the furnace of fire (Matthew 13:41, 42). And the teachers of the Church also said: a) St. Iycmun - “the souls of the pious are in a better place, and the wicked and evil are in a worse place, awaiting the day of judgment”; b) St. Ambrose - “while the fulfillment of time is awaited, the souls (of the dead) await their due reward. Some will be punished, others will be rewarded, and yet neither of them remain without suffering, nor these without pleasure.” § 182. b) The opportunity for some sinners to receive relief and even liberation from the punishments of hell, through the prayers of the Church However, teaching the doctrine that all sinners, after their death and private judgment over them, equally go to hell - a place of sadness and sorrow, the Orthodox Church at the same time confesses that for those of them who repented before separation from real life, but did not manage to bear fruits worthy of repentance (such as: prayer, contrition, consolation of the poor and expression in actions of love for God and neighbors) there is still the opportunity to receive relief from suffering and even complete liberation from the bonds of hell. Sinners can receive such relief and liberation not by their own merits or through repentance (for after death and private judgment there is no room for either repentance or merit), but only, by the infinite goodness of God, through the prayers of the Church and charity performed by the living for the dead, and especially by the power of the bloodless Sacrifice, which in particular can be made by a clergyman at the request of every Christian for his relatives, in general, for everyone, on a daily basis, the Catholic and Apostolic Church (Right. Confession, part 1, answer to question 64. 65; Last eastern. patriarch. o right. faith member 18). I. This teaching of the Church has its basis in Holy Scripture. There - 1. We are commanded in general to pray for each other (James 5:16), to pray for all people (1 Tim. 2:1; cf. Eph. 6:18, 19), without specifying place, time and other circumstances. Track. we must pray for our neighbors both when they are with us and when they are absent; both when they still live on earth, and then when through death they move to another world: for whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Rom. 14:8), and those who have died, like those who live, live equally for God (Luke 20:38). 2. In particular, to protect us from prayer for our neighbors, which is displeasing to God and fruitless for them, another commandment is given: if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, let him ask and give him life for those who sin not leading to death; there is a sin leading to death: I speak not about this, but pray (1 John 5:16). But all who died with true repentance are free from mortal sin for the sole reason that they repented: “for there is sin leading to death,” say the fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, “when some, having sinned, remain uncorrected, and stiff-neckedly rebel against piety and truth..., in such there is no Lord God, unless they humble themselves and are sobered from their fall” (right. 5). Track. all those who died with true repentance, even if they were previously in mortal sins, and even more so if they were not, belong to the number of our neighbors for whom we are commanded to pray. Some who died in mortal sins, in unrepentance and outside communion with the Church, are not worthy of her prayers, according to this Apostolic commandment. 3. It is said that our prayers for our neighbors can be generally beneficial for them, even in a moral sense (2 Thess. 1:11, 12; Eph. 6:18, 19), that prayer for our neighbors can especially benefit the righteous (James 5:16), and that, in particular, our prayers for brothers who are not in mortal sin can give them life ( 1 John 5:16). Next, although we do not understand how our prayers act on our neighbors while they are still in this life, nevertheless, prayers are effective and saving for them. In the same way, without comprehending how our prayers can act on our deceased brothers with true repentance, we have no right to doubt the effectiveness and saving power of these prayers for them. 4. It is said that all our prayers are to God, trace. and prayer for neighbors, both living and dead, can be strong and effective only when it is offered in the name of the Lord Jesus (John 14:14), Who alone is the Intercessor of God and men (1 Tim. 2:5); that, in particular, He reconciled us to God and redeemed us from all sin when He offered Himself on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice of Himself - His own body and His own blood (Heb. 9:14, 26; 10:10), and that in the sacrament of the Eucharist the same propitiatory sacrifice is still offered to God, the same honorable body of our Redeemer is broken for the life of the world (John 6:51 ), and His same honest blood is shed for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26–28; Luke 22:19, 20). Track. If at any time our prayer, both for the living and for our dead brothers, can be pleasing to God and beneficial for them, then mainly at the time when it is combined with the offering of a bloodless propitiatory sacrifice for them. 5. It is said: whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the next (Matthew 12:32) - from which it is natural to conclude that the remission of sins of sinners is possible even after their death. Likewise, it is said that the Lord Jesus now holds the keys of hell and death (Ap. 1:18), - next. can open the gates of hell with them and free prisoners from there. But since, after death, there is no room left for the sinners themselves either for repentance or for merit; then there is no other way to explain this possibility of remission of sins to sinners and freeing them from the bonds of hell except that the Lord does this through the prayers of the Church and by virtue of the bloodless, propitiatory sacrifice made for the dead. The Church does not pray for those who died in blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, or, what is the same thing, in mortal sin, and unrepentant - and that is why, as the Savior said, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven to man either in this age or in the future. 6. It is said that even in the Old Testament Church there was a custom of praying for the dead. So, in the days of the pious leader of the Jews, Judas Maccabee, when, upon viewing those who had fallen on the battlefield, spoils from idols' gifts were found in their clothes (for which they actually fell), all Jews, having blessed the just judgment of the Lord... turned to prayer, praying that the sin that had been committed would be greatly blotted out (2 Mac. 12:39-42). And Judas Maccabeus himself, at the same time collecting gifts to the true God, sent to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for sin (the dead), doing good and pious things, thinking about the resurrection..., then make a prayer for the dead, so that they will be cleansed from sin (- 43-46). II. In the New Testament Church, the commemoration of the dead, as an Apostolic tradition, has existed from its very beginning. Proof of this is: 1. All ancient liturgies, like those that were or are used in the Eastern Orthodox Church, known under the names: St. James, brother of the Lord, St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Grigory Dvoeslov; as well as the liturgy of the Western Church and various non-Orthodox sects that have existed in the East since ancient times. Of all these liturgies, no matter how numerous and varied they are, there is not a single one that does not contain prayers for the dead. 2. Testimony of St. fathers and teachers of the Church. For example – St. Athanasius the Great: “The God-speaking Apostles, sanctified teachers and spiritual fathers, according to their dignity, being filled with the Divine Spirit and, to the extent of their capacity, having received His power, which filled them with delight, with God-inspired lips they instituted liturgies, prayers and psalmody, and annual remembrances of the departed, which is the custom. the grace of the man-loving God even to this day intensifies and spreads from the east of the sun to the west, in the north and south, to the honor and glory of the Lord of lords and the King of kings.” St. John Chrysostom: “It was not in vain that the Apostles legitimized the remembrance of the departed before the terrible Mysteries: they knew that this would bring great benefit to the departed, a great deed.” “Offerings for the dead are not in vain, prayers are not in vain, alms are not in vain: the Holy Spirit established all this, wanting us to benefit through each other.” Member II. About God as a judge and rewarder for the entire human race § 183. Connection with the previous one, the day of general judgment, the unknown of this day and the signs of its approach, especially the appearance of the Antichrist I. The private judgment to which every person is subjected upon his death is not a full and final judgment, and therefore naturally makes one expect another judgment, complete and decisive. In a private court, only the soul of a person receives compensation without any participation of the body, although the body shared with it its deeds, good and evil. After a private trial, both for the righteous in heaven and for sinners in hell, only the beginning of the bliss or torment that they deserve is revealed. Finally, after a private trial, some sinners still have the opportunity to ease their lot and even be freed from the bonds of hell, if not through their own merits, then through the prayers of the Church. II. But the day will come, the last day for the entire human race (John 6:39, 40), just as the last day happens for each person separately, the day of the end of the age and the world (Matthew 13:39), just as the day of a person’s death comes—the day will come, ordained by God, the way He wants to judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), i.e. carry out a general and decisive judgment. This day, therefore, is called in Scripture the day of judgment (Matthew 11:22, 24), the day of judgment (2 Pet. 3:7), the day of wrath and revelation, the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5). It is also called the day of the Son of Man (Luke 17:22, 24, 26), the Lord's (2 Pet. 3:10), Christ's (2 Thess. 2:2), the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 1:14), because He will then appear on earth in His glory to judge the living and the dead; a great day (Acts 2:20; Jude 6) - according to the great events that will take place then. III. When this great, predetermined day would come, the Lord was not pleased to reveal to us, for our own moral benefit. No one knows about that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, except My Father alone (Matthew 24:36), - Christ said to His disciples who asked Him about this. And he added: Beware, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come (Matthew 24:42). However, for the encouragement of the righteous and the admonition of sinners, the Infinitely Good and Wise One, both Himself directly and through the Apostles, deigned to foretell some signs of His second coming and the end of the age, some signs of the approach of the great day of judgment. The most important of these signs will be: 1. On the one hand, the extraordinary success of good on earth, the spread of the Gospel of Christ throughout the world. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony with every tongue, and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14), - said the Savior Himself. 2. On the other hand, the extraordinary successes of evil and the appearance on earth of the Antichrist. In the last days, says St. Apostle Paul, times of cruelty will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, majestic, proud, blasphemers... lovers of voluptuousness rather than lovers of God, having an image of godliness, but denying its power (2 Tim. 3:1-5), so that the Son of Man, when he comes, will find faith on earth (Luke 18:8). Dissatisfied with his ordinary means, the devil will then erect, by God’s permission (2 Thess. 2:11), an extraordinary weapon for himself in the person of the Antichrist, in order to wage war through him against the kingdom of Christ. IV. The name of Antichrist is used in Holy Scripture in a double sense: a) in a general sense, and means every opponent of Christ (ἀντί-χριστος), opposing the successes of the Gospel and subverting or rejecting His dogmas (1 John 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 7); b) in a special sense and means the actual opponent of Christ, who will appear before the end of the world to counteract Christianity (2 Thessalonians 2:3–12). From the clear teaching about the Antichrist, set forth mainly in the second letter to Thessalonians (chapter 2), it is clear that he is a) There will be a certain person and precisely a person, but only a lawless person under the special influence of Satan. It will open, says St. Paul, is a man of lawlessness, the son of destruction..., the lawless one... who is coming according to the work of Satan (2 Thess. 2:3, 8, 9). b) He will, by his nature, be distinguished by extraordinary pride and pretend to be God: he will oppose and exalt himself more than any spoken god or veneration, as if he should sit in the church of God, like God, showing himself that God exists (2 Thess. 2:4). c) To achieve his goal, he will preach a false teaching, contrary to the saving faith of Christ, a deceptive teaching, with which he will entice many, weak and unworthy: his coming ... in all the flattery of unrighteousness, in those who are perishing: for the sake of love, they have not received the truth, so that they can be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them the power of flattery, because they believed lies: so that all who did not believe the truth, but were pleased with unrighteousness, may receive judgment (2:10-12). d) In confirmation of his teaching and to further deceive people, he will perform false signs and wonders: his coming after the work of Satan in all power and signs and lying wonders (- 9). e) Finally, he will perish from the action of Christ the Savior when He comes to judge the living and the dead: the lawless one will appear, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of His mouth, and will abolish by the appearance of His coming (- 8). § 184. Events scheduled to take place on the day of the general judgment and their schedule 1. The actions of the Antichrist on earth will continue until the day of judgment. On this same great day, the following great events will take place: the Lord will come from heaven - the Judge - of the living and the dead (Luke 17:24; 1 Cor. 1:8), Who will abolish the Antichrist by the appearance of His coming (2 Thess. 2:8); at the voice of the Lord the dead will rise for judgment (John 5:25; 6:54), and the living will be changed (1 Cor. 15:51, 52); the very judgment will take place over souls and others and in general over the whole world (John 12:48; Rom. 2:5, 6); the end of the world will follow (Matt. 13:39), and the gracious kingdom of Christ (1 Cor. 15:24). 2. These great events will take place one after another so quickly, or even so jointly, that it is almost impossible to separate them from each other and strictly show their continuity. However, for a convenient consideration of each of them, it would not be unfair to arrange them, in relation to our main thought about the general judgment, in the following order: 1) the preliminary circumstances of the general judgment: a) the coming of the Lord - the Judge of the living and the dead, b) the resurrection of the dead for judgment, according to the voice of the Lord (John 5:25), and the change of the living; 2) the court itself, its reality, image and properties; 3) finally, the accompanying circumstances of the general judgment: a) the end of the world and its transformation through fire - for it is impossible to imagine that this would happen before the judgment, before the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living, who, otherwise, should have been burned along with the earth (2 Pet. 3:10) and could not have remained alive until the coming of the Lord (1 Cor. 15:51), going about their ordinary affairs (Matt. 24:37–41); b) the end of the gracious kingdom of Christ and the beginning of the kingdom of glory. § 185. Preliminary circumstances of the general judgment: a) the coming of the Lord - Judge of the living and the dead The coming of the Lord to earth, as the Judge of the living and the dead, is the first great event that will take place on the last day of the world. 1. The reality of this future, second coming of the Lord to earth is clearly attested in Holy Scripture. The Lord Himself said: come and receive the Son of Man in the glory of His Father, with His angels: and then He will reward everyone according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27). The angels who appeared to the Apostles during the Lord’s ascension into heaven told them: this Jesus, who ascended from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him going into heaven (Acts 1:11). The Apostle Jude cites in his epistle the prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam: Behold, the Lord will come in the shadows of His holy angels, to execute judgment on all, and to expose all the wicked of all the deeds of their wickedness, in the image of wickedness, and of all their cruel words, even the words of the sinners of wickedness (Jude 14:15). 2. The Lord depicted the image of His second coming with the following features: a) It will be fast and sudden. Just as lightning comes from the east and appears to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:27). b) First of all, as if the forerunner of the heavenly Judge, His cross will appear in heaven: and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven: and then all the tribes of the earth will weep (- 30). c) After this, the earth-born will see the Judge Himself coming on the clouds of heaven, surrounded by countless hosts of Angels: and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory (- 30), with the holy angels (Mark 8:38). 3. By its nature and purpose, the second coming of the Lord to earth will be completely different from the first. Then He came into humiliation, humbled Himself, and became obedient even to the point of death, death on the cross (Phil. 2:8). Now He will come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, and will sit on the throne of His glory (Matthew 25:31); Now all earthly beings will clearly see how God has exalted Him and given Him a name above every other name (Phil. 2:9). Then He came, not to let them serve Him, but to serve, and to give His soul redemption for many (Matthew 20:28), not to let them judge the world, but to let the world be saved by Him (John 12:47). Now he will come - to judge the universe in righteousness (Acts 17:31) and demand an account from all earthly beings, how they took advantage of His merits, how they appropriated the salvation purchased by His blood, and will reward each according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27). § 186. b) Resurrection of the dead and change of the living On the same last day (John 6:40, 44) and at the same time, as the glorious coming from heaven to earth of the Lord, surrounded by the inhabitants of heaven, will take place, He will send His angels before Him with a great trumpet voice (Matthew 24:31), and the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25): as the Lord Himself in command, in the voice Archangels, and with the trumpet of God he will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first: then we who are alive and remain... will be changed (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; 1 Cor. 15:52). I. That there really will be a resurrection of the dead, - 1. This truth was already known in the Old Testament Church (Acts 23:6; 24:15). In the midst of severe suffering, the righteous Job consoled himself with the thought: I know that I am eternally able to redeem me, and to resurrect on earth my suffering skin (Job 19:25). Martha, the sister of Lazarus, when the Lord Jesus said to her: Your brother will rise again, she answered: We know that he will rise again at the resurrection, on the last day (John 11: 23, 24). 2. This truth was clearly confirmed by Christ the Savior when he said: the hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:25, 28, 29). 3. This truth was preached by St. Apostles. The Apostle Paul testified about himself that he has hope in God, for the resurrection he wants to be dead, a righteous man and a sinner (Acts 24:15). In another place, the same Apostle says: if Christ is preached, as if He rose from the dead, as some say in you, that there is no resurrection of the dead: and if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen... If the dead are not raised, then Christ is not risen: if Christ is not risen, your faith is in vain (1 Cor. 15:12-17). II. The possibility of the resurrection of the dead should also not be in doubt. 1. Christ the Savior pointed out this possibility in both word and deed. In a word, when, explaining the fruits of the sacrament of the Eucharist, he testified: he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood will have eternal life: and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly meat, and My blood is truly beer. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me, and I live for the Father’s sake: and he who eats Me, will also live for My sake (John 6:54–57). In fact, when He actually raised the dead during the days of His ministry on earth (Luke 7:14; 8:49; John 11:44), He resurrected the bodies of many Saints in Jerusalem at the moments of His death, by invisible power (Matthew 27:52, 53), and finally resurrected Himself (1 Cor. 15:20, etc.). 2. The apostles, in explaining the same possibility of the resurrection of the dead, pointed: a) to the omnipotence of God the Father: God raised up the Lord, and He will raise us up by His power (1 Cor. 6:14); b) on the attitude of the Son of God towards us: Christ has risen from the dead: the first fruits of those who died were... Just as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live (15:20, 22); c) on the attitude of the life-giving Holy Spirit towards us: if the Spirit of Jesus who raised Him from the dead lives in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your dead body, through His living spirit in you (Rom. 8:11); d) on symbols of resurrection in nature: someone says: how will the dead rise? in what body will they come? You are foolish, you see the hedgehog, it will not come to life unless it dies: and the hedgehog sits, not the future body of the seed, but a bare grain, if it happens, of wheat, or something else from the others. God gives him a body as he pleases, and to every seed his own body (1 Cor. 15:35-38). III. The resurrection of the dead will be universal and simultaneous. Those. – a) all people will be resurrected: just as in Adam everyone died, so in Christ everyone will come to life (1 Cor. 15:22); b) - not only the righteous, but also sinners: the resurrection wants to be dead, but the righteous and the sinner (Acts 24:15); c) everyone will rise together, both the righteous and the sinners: the hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who have done good will come out to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will come out to the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28, 29). IV. According to their qualities, the resurrected bodies are 1. They will be essentially the same as those who were connected with known souls during the present life. This is clear: a) from the very concept of resurrection, which means the restoration and revival of the same thing that died, and not the formation or creation of something new; b) from the example of Christ the Savior, who rose from the grave in His own body (John 20:25–27); c) from clear passages of Scripture, which say that it is those who are in the tombs who will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (John 5:28); that it is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this dead thing to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). 2. But, on the other hand, they will also be different from real bodies: because they will rise in the form of a transfiguration in the likeness of the resurrected body of Christ the Savior, Who, as the Apostle says, will transform the body of our humility, as if to be conformed to the body of His glory (Phil. 3:21). In particular, this is the difference between our future, resurrected bodies and the present saints. Paul depicts it in the following words: it is sown into corruption, it is raised in incorruption: it is sown not in honor, it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: it is sown in a natural body, it is raised in a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:42–44). Those. resurrected bodies will be: a) Imperishable and immortal, as the Savior also said: those who have been counted worthy to receive the resurrection from the dead will neither marry, commit violence, nor die, for they can die (Luke 20:35, 36). b) Glorious or luminous, like the body of Christ the Savior when He was transfigured on Tabor (Phil. 3:21), and according to His Divine promise: then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). c) Strong and strong, as if they are not involved either in exhaustion or in general in the weaknesses of real life. d) Duchovny, i.e. in contrast to the present spiritual, earthy or gross material body, they will appear very subtle, light, heavenly (1 Cor. 15:48, 49), will have no need for food or drink (1 Cor. 6:13), will become uninvolved in other bodily needs, like disembodied spirits - Angels (Luke 20:36; Matt. 22:30). 3. However, it is necessary to note: a) That all of the indicated properties will undoubtedly belong to the bodies of the resurrected righteous, destined for eternal bliss, but not all to the bodies of resurrected sinners. At the very least, it is impossible to say that the last bodies will rise in glory and be enlightened, when this property is clearly attributed by the Savior Himself only to the righteous (Matthew 13:43), and it would be completely inconsistent with either the merits of resurrected sinners or their destination for hellish torment. Only one thing can be stated with certainty, that the bodies of sinners will rise incorruptible and immortal; because the Apostle assimilates this property in general to resurrected bodies when he speaks of all the dead: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:52, 53). b) That the bodies of the righteous themselves will not all have the indicated properties to the same extent, not all will be equally enlightened, but according to the merits of each righteous person. For St. The Apostle clearly says: another is the glory of the sun, and another is the glory of the moon, and another is the glory of the stars: for a star differs from a star in glory. Likewise the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:41, 42). V. Having revealed, as much as is necessary and useful for us, the mystery of the future resurrection of the dead, St. The Apostle Paul also revealed another secret regarding those who will remain alive until the day of the second coming of Christ. “Behold the mystery,” he wrote to his Corinthian disciples, to whom he had just expounded the doctrine of the resurrection, “behold the mystery I tell you: for we will not sleep, but we will be changed: soon, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible, and we will be changed.” It is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this dead thing to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-53). From these words the following three truths are evident: 1. The change of the living at the last day will be accomplished as quickly as the resurrection of the dead: soon, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. 2. The change of the living will follow from the same reason, from the same omnipotent voice of Christ, from which the dead will also rise at the same time, and not before: for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise incorruptible and we will be changed (1 Cor. 15:52; demolished 1 Thess. 4:15). 3. The change of the living will consist in the same thing as the resurrection of the dead, namely: our present bodies, corruptible and dead, will be transformed into incorruptible and immortal: for it is fitting for this corruptible to put on incorruption, and for this dead to put on immortality (1 Cor. 15:53). § 187. The universal court itself: its reality, image and properties After the Judge of the living and the dead appears on earth in His glory, and at His voice the dead are raised and the living are changed, the very judgment upon them will begin—the universal judgment. I. The validity of universal judgment is incontestably attested in Scripture. So - a) Christ the Savior clearly taught: the Son of Man should come in the glory of His Father, with His angels: and then He will reward each according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27); b) St. The apostles preached with no less clarity: behold, the Lord will come in the darkness of his holy angels, to execute judgment on everyone, and to expose all the wicked of all their deeds of wickedness (Jude 14:15). For it is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may receive either good or evil for what they have done with the body (2 Cor. 5:10). II. The image of universal judgment, outlined in the word of God, presents to us - 1. The judge sitting on the throne of glory: when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him: then He will sit on the throne of His glory (Matthew 25:31). 2. Executors of His will and, as it were, accomplices in judgment. The executors of His will will be the Angels: and His Angels will send forth with a great trumpet voice, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from the end of the heavens to the end of them (Matthew 24:31), and they will gather from His kingdom all temptations, and those who do iniquity (13:41), and they will separate the wicked from among the righteous (-49). The accomplices in the judgment will be the Saints, at least the most perfect of the Saints, such as St. Apostles: Amen, I say to you, - Christ said to His disciples, - because you who walked after Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on the double throne, judging the deceived tribe of Israel (Matthew 19:28). “Don’t you know,” asked St. Paul of Corinth, - how do the saints of the world judge (1 Cor. 6:2)? 3. The defendants. They will appear in judgment - a) all people, living and dead: and all the nations will be gathered before Him (Matthew 25:32), for He is the one who is called by God Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42); b) righteous and evil: for it is fitting for us all to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that everyone may receive what they have done with the body, either good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10); c) not only all people, but also fallen spirits, whom, according to the testimony of the Apostle, God did not spare, but bound them captives of darkness and delivered them up to the tormented judgment (2 Pet. 2:4). 4. Subject of the trial. The subject of judgment will be - a) not only human deeds: since the Lord will reward everyone according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6); b) but also words: I say to you: for every idle word that men speak will be given back on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36); c) and the most secret thoughts: for the Lord will come, Who will bring into light the secrets of darkness, and will reveal the counsels of the heart: and then everyone will have praise from God (1 Cor. 4:5). 5. Separation of the righteous from the sinners. And he will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep at His right hand, and the goats at His left (Matthew 25:32, 33). 6. The Judge pronounces a sentence on both. Then the king says to those who are on His right hand: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34) ... Then he also says to those who are on His left hand: Depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (-41). III. Based on the presented image of the court that is about to take place at the end of the world, one can also conclude about the properties of this court. He will obviously - 1. Universal: because it will extend to all people, living and dead, good and evil, even to the fallen angels: then the Lord will have to judge the universe (Acts 17:31). 2. Solemn and open: because the Judge will appear in all His glory with all the holy Angels, and will carry out judgment in the face of the whole world, heavenly, earthly and underworld. 3. Strict and terrible: because it will be accomplished according to all the righteousness of God, and only one righteousness, it will be the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rom. 2:5). 4. Decisive and last: because he will invariably determine for all eternity the fate of each of the defendants (Matthew 25:46). § 188. Associated circumstances of the universal judgment: a) the end of the world On the same last day, on which the last judgment of God will take place over the whole world, the end of the world will follow. The Holy Scripture clearly shows: a) the reality or reliability of this future event, b) its essence and image, and c) its close connection with the universal judgment. 1. Reality. That the existing world will have an end, this is - a) predicted by the Psalmist in the Old Testament, crying out to God: in the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth, and the works of Your hand are the heavens. They will perish, but You remain: and all like a robe they promise, and like a garment I wear (Ps. 101:26, 27); b) Christ the Savior Himself testified in the New Testament when He said: heaven and earth will pass by (Matthew 24:35), and gave a promise to His disciples: Behold, I am with you all the days, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). That the end of the world will follow precisely on the day on which the general judgment will take place is evident - a) from the words of the Savior in the parable of the seed: the harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as they gather up tares and burn them with fire: so it will be at the end of this age... Angels will come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous (Matthew 13:39, 40, 49); b) from the words of St. Apostle Peter: the present heavens and earth are hidden by the same word, reserved for fire for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Pet. 3:7). 2. Essence and image. The end of the world will not consist in the fact that it is completely destroyed and destroyed, but in the fact that it will only change and be renewed through fire. They will perish, said the Psalmist about the present heaven and earth; but further explained his thought: for the robe will be promised and changed (Ps. 101:26, 27). And St. Peter, having said that the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire for the day of judgment, continues: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night; the heavens will pass by with a noise, and those who are burned will be destroyed, and the earth and the works on it will be burned up, and again: for his sake the heavens will be destroyed, and the riches will melt away with scorching (2 Pet. 3:10, 12); but immediately after this he adds: the heavens are new and the earths are new according to His promise, in which truth lives (- 13). St. John the Theologian, indeed, saw in revelation a new heaven and a new earth: the first heaven and the earth passed away (Ap. 21:1). 3. Close connection with the general court. This connection is indicated by St. The Apostle Paul said: the desire of creation is for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation obeys vanity, not by will, but because of him who obeyed in hope: for the creation itself will be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:19-21). As a result of the fall of man, all creation involuntarily submitted to the work of decay, and sighs and suffers with us (- 22). When the work of restoring man is completed, then, according to the same law, creation must also be freed from its work and, in general, from the disastrous consequences of sin. But the work of human restoration will end in a general judgment, which will be followed by the revelation of the sons of God. Track. at the same time, creation itself must be freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, the entire material world must be cleansed of the disastrous consequences of human sin and renewed. This renewal of the world will be accomplished on the last day through fire, so that in the new heaven and new earth nothing sinful will remain, but only righteousness will live (2 Pet. 3:13). §189. 6) The end of the gracious kingdom of Christ and the beginning of the kingdom of glory Together with the demise of the material world and its transformation into a new, better world, the demise of the gracious kingdom of Christ will follow and the eternal kingdom of God, the kingdom of glory, will open. I. The thought of the death of the grace-filled kingdom of Christ at that time was clearly expressed by St. The Apostle Paul, when speaking about the future resurrection of the dead at the second coming of the Savior, wrote to the Corinthians: the same end, when he gives up the kingdom to God and the Father: when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. It is fitting for Him to reign; Dondezhe will put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy will be destroyed by death (1 Cor. 15:24–26). And this last enemy will be destroyed precisely when all people are not only resurrected and become incorruptible (-52), but creation itself is freed from the work of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21); and when the word is written: death was sacrificed in victory. Where is mu, death, the sting? where is mu, hell, victory (1 Cor. 15:54, 55)? II. In confirmation of the idea that, following the end of the kingdom of grace, a new kingdom of God will open, the kingdom of glory, in which the Lord, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, will reign forever, they serve: 1. On the one hand - a) the words of the Savior: then (i.e. immediately after the general judgment and subsequent demise of the kingdom of grace) the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43); b) testimony of St. Apostle Paul that, after the resurrection of the dead, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50), the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9). 2. On the other hand, the words: a) The angel-angel of the Most Holy. To the Virgin about Christ the Savior: His kingdom will have no end (Luke 1:33); b) Apostle Peter: entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly granted to you (2 Pet. 1:11); c) Apostle Paul: the word is true: if we die with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:11, 12); d) finally, the Savior Himself in the Apocalypse of John the Theologian: to the one who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne (3:21). II. About bribery after the general judgment § 190. Connection with the previous one and the properties of this bribe At the conclusion of the general judgment, the righteous Judge will pronounce His final sentence on both the righteous and sinners - he will say first: come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34); He will say to the last: Depart from Me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angel (- 41). And immediately these go into eternal torment: but the righteous into eternal life (- 46). This retribution after the general judgment will be complete, perfect, decisive. Full: i.e. not for the soul of a person alone, as after a private trial, but for the soul together and for the body - for the complete person. Perfect: because it will not consist in the predestination of only bliss for the righteous and torment for sinners, as after a private judgment, but in complete bliss and torment, according to the merits of each. Decisive: because for everyone it will remain unchanged forever, and for none of the sinners there will be any possibility of ever being freed from hell, as it remains for some after a private trial (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to questions 60, 68). § 191. Retribution for sinners: a) what will their torment consist of? The Word of God depicts the torment to which sinners will be condemned by the righteous judgment of God with different features and from different sides. It mentions: 1. About the removal of sinners from God and their damnation. Depart from Me, curse (Matthew 25:41), - the terrible Judge will tell them, - we do not know you..., depart from Me and do wrong (Luke 13:27). And this removal from God and curse will be in itself the greatest punishment for the unfortunate. Then the second death will come for them (Ap. 20:14), the cruelest death in eternal distance from the Source of life. 2. That sinners will be deprived of all the benefits of the kingdom of heaven, which the righteous will receive. The Savior Himself testified that then, as many from the east and west will come and lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, the unworthy sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness (Matthew 8:11, 12), being in torment, they will see Abraham from afar and the righteous in his bosom (Luke 16:23 ). 3. About the place where sinners will be removed, and about their community. This place is called either the abyss, terrible even for the demons themselves (Luke 8:31), then hell (Luke 16:22), or the land of eternal darkness, where there is no light (Job 10:22), then fiery hell (Matthew 5:22, 28), a cave of fire (13:50), a lake of fire and bogey ( Ap. 19:20). And in such and such a place, sinners, for all eternity, will not see anyone around them except the rejected spirits of evil, who were the main cause of their destruction (Matthew 25:41). 4. About the internal torment of sinners in hell. Then the word of the Apostle will be fulfilled on them in all its breadth: tribulation and distress upon every soul of man who does evil (Rom. 2:9). The memory of their past life, which they so recklessly ruined for vicious deeds, the incessant reproaches of conscience for everything they have ever done, the iniquities, the later regret that they did not take advantage of the God-given means of salvation, the painful consciousness that there is no longer an opportunity to repent, correct themselves and be saved - everything will torment the unfortunate ones incessantly. 5. About the external torment of sinners in hell. These torments are presented in Holy Scripture under the image of an undying worm, and much more often - an unquenchable fire. Christ the Savior, protecting us from temptations, said among other things: if your foot causes you to stumble, fathers, it is better for you to enter into the belly of a lame person, even though I had two noses and was cast into Gehenna, into unquenchable fire: although their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:45, 46; demolished. 44:48); in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, he noticed that the rich man, who is in hell after his death, suffers in the flames (Luke 16:24), and at the general judgment he will say to sinners: Depart from Me, cursed into eternal fire (Matthew 25:41). St. Apostle Paul also testifies that the future Judge of the living and the dead will give vengeance in fiery fire to those who do not know God, and to those who disobey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1:8). 6. About the consequences of all these torments, internal and external, which are: crying and gnashing of teeth, despair, eternal destruction. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, the Savior repeated more than once about Gehenna (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 25:30). Between us and you,” said righteous Abraham to the rich man in hell, “a great abyss has established itself, for those who want to pass from here to you will not be able to, nor those from there will pass to us (Luke 16:26). Those who will suffer torment, the Apostle testified about sinners, will suffer eternal destruction (2 Thess. 1:9). § 192. b) Degrees of hellish torment However, although all sinners will be subjected to hellish torment, not all to the same extent: some will be punished more, others less, each in proportion to their sins. This truth is clearly proclaimed by Holy Scripture. Christ the Savior said that a servant who knows the will of his master, and having neither prepared nor done according to his will, will receive many beatings. But the ignorant, having created something worthy of wounds, will be beaten little (Luke 12:47, 48); that the Pharisees, who devour the houses of widows, and pray far away with wine: these will receive more condemnation (Luke 20:47); that it will be more pleasant for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city in which the Apostles will not be received (Matthew 10:15), and for Tire and Sidon it will be more pleasant than for Chorazin and Bethsaida (11:21, 22). The Holy Apostle taught that the righteous Judge at the general judgment will reward everyone according to his deeds (Rom. 2:6). § 193. c) Eternity of hellish torment But while differing in degree, the torment of sinners in hell will not differ in the least in terms of duration: because for everyone they will be equally eternal and endless. I. Holy Scripture, indeed, depicts these torments of sinners - 1. Eternal. The Savior Himself testified that after the general judgment He will say to sinners: Depart from Me, cursed, into everlasting fire..., and these shall go into eternal torment (Matthew 25:41, 46). In the epistle of the Apostle Jude we read: Sodom and Gomorrah, and their surrounding cities, having committed adultery in a similar manner and following other flesh, are presented as a sign of the everlasting fire of judgment (- 7). The Apostle Paul expresses that sinners will suffer eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord (2 Thess. 1:9). The Apocalypse says that the smoke of the torment of sinners ascends forever and ever: and they have no rest day and night (14:11), and that the devil and his slander, along with whom sinners will go to hell, will be tormented day and night forever and ever (20:10). 2. Never-ending. This endless torment of sinners - a) was predicted by the prophet Isaiah: their worm will not die, and their fire will not go out (Is. 66:24); b) then – St. John the Baptist, testifying of Christ the Savior: The spade is in His hand, and He will cut off His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; He will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12); c) finally, the Savior Himself in the following strong speech: if your hand makes you weak, fathers, it is kinder for you to bring the poor (without a hand) into the belly, than to carry both hands into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire: where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43-48). II. The Orthodox Church has always believed that the torment of hell will be eternal. She expressed her faith - a) solemnly at the fifth ecumenical Council, when she condemned the false teaching of Origen, that demons and wicked people will suffer in hell only until a certain time, and then will again be restored to their primitive, innocent state; b) also in the Afanasyev symbol, where we read: “those who do good will go into eternal life; the evil one into eternal fire." § 194. Reward to the righteous: a) what will be their blessedness How much, on the one hand, the word of God depicts with gloomy features the fate of sinners after the general judgment: just as much, on the other hand, the fate of the righteous is bright and joyful. 1. They will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34), a kingdom which is also called the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3, 10), the kingdom of God (Mark 9:47), the kingdom of the Father (Matthew 13:43), the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11); is also called the city of the living God (Heb. 12:22), the house of the Father (John 14:2). 2. In this kingdom, city, house of God, the first source of bliss for the righteous will be their constant presence, cohabitation with God Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ, and constant participation in Divine glory, as much as is possible for creation. I am coming,” the Savior said to His disciples before His departure from the world, “to prepare a place for you.” And if I prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself: yea, where I am, you also will be (John 14:1-3). And then - in prayer to the Father: Father, you have given them to Me, because I want them, so that where I am, they too may be with Me: that they may see My glory, which You have given to Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). Finally, in the Apocalypse I testified: to the one who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne (3:21). St. Apostle Paul wrote to Christians: the word is true: if we die with Him, we will live with Him; if we suffer, we will also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:11, 12), and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17). Then the righteous will truly appear as heirs to God, and heirs to Christ (Rom. 8:17). 3. Being constantly with the Lord in the kingdom of heaven, the righteous will be worthy to see the Trinitarian face to face: blessed are those who are pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). And in this contemplation of the All-Perfect they will continually find - a) Complete satisfaction for our mind, thirsting for truth: we see now (God), says St. The apostle, like a mirror in fortune-telling, then face to face: now I understand in part, but then I know, even as I was known (1 Cor. 13:12). Then, in part, it will be abolished (- 10), faith will be abolished, and one direct vision will come (2 Cor. 5:7). b) Complete satisfaction for your will, thirsting for good: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). As the righteous more and more contemplate and comprehend with their minds the perfections of the All-Perfect, they will be more and more inflamed with love for Him, which, according to the word of the Apostle, never falls away (1 Cor. 13:8), more and more perfected in unconditional obedience to His most holy will and in moral likeness to Him: beloved, - said the saint. John the Theologian, - now we are children of God, and not having appeared, that we will be: but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2, 3). c) Complete satisfaction for your heart, thirsting for bliss. For through their very love they will be worthy of closest communication and unity with God, the source of bliss: God is loving, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4:16). Then the words of the Savior will be fulfilled on them in all their power: that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us... I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfect in one (John 17:21, 23). 4. The blessed state of the righteous in their souls will correspond in the kingdom of heaven to their state in body. Besides the fact that their bodies, as we have already seen, will rise for the future life incorruptible, glorious or luminous, strong, spiritual (§ 184), they will be removed from all the needs of this life. “No one will hunger,” says the seer about the Saints in heaven, “they will thirst, the sun will not fall on them, and all heat will not fall on them (Ap. 7:16). And God will take away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no death for anyone: neither will there be crying, nor crying, nor pain (21:4). 5. To all this will be added the closest, most blissful relationship of the righteous with each other and with the Angels. For everyone will not only approach, but actually join in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and the hosts of angels, the triumph and the Church of the firstborn, written in heaven (Heb. 12:22, 23); all will lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11); all will be one (John 17:21), being bound together by bonds of the purest mutual love, as children of one common Father, who will be all things in all (1 Cor. 15:28). 6. In general, the blissful state of the righteous in heaven will be such that now we cannot imagine or depict it: eye has not seen it, nor has ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9; 1 John 3:2). § 195. b) Degrees of bliss of the righteous The bliss of the righteous in heaven, common to all of them, will, however, have its own degrees, according to the moral dignity of each. This truth, arising from the very concept of God’s infinite justice, the difference in the merits of the righteous and the unequally revealed ability in them to enjoy bliss, is clearly attested in Holy Scripture. The Lord Jesus expressed it when he said: in the house of My Father are many mansions (John 14:2), and again: come and receive the Son of Man in the glory of His Father, with His angels: and then He will reward each according to his deeds (Matthew 16:27); if he receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, he will receive the reward of a prophet; and if he receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous person, he will receive the reward of a righteous one: and whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, except in the name of the disciple, Amen I say to you, he will not lose his reward (Matthew 10:41, 42). The words of St. Apostle Paul: everyone will receive their wages according to their labor (1 Cor. 3:8); sow with poverty, and with poverty you will also reap; and if you sow with blessing, you will also reap with blessing (2 Cor. 9:6). § 196. b) Eternity of bliss of the righteous If the torment of sinners in hell seems terrible especially because it will never have an end, then, on the other hand, the bliss of the righteous in heaven becomes even more desirable because it will also be endless forever. In Holy Scripture this is bliss - 1. Directly called eternal. And precisely - a) with an eternal life: I will give them an eternal life, and they will not perish forever (John 10:28); and this is the promise that He Himself promised us, eternal life (1 John 2:25); and... the righteous women go into the eternal life (Matthew 25:46); b) the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ: for this will richly grant you entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 1:11); c) eternal salvation: even if there was a Son, then even from these things, even if he suffered, he became accustomed to obedience. And having been accomplished, all who listened to Him were made guilty of eternal salvation (Heb. 5:8, 9); d) eternal inheritance: for this reason there is an Intercessor for the new covenant, so that the death of the former, in atonement for the crimes of those who were in the first covenant, the promise of an eternal inheritance will be received by the title (9:15); e) eternal glory, as opposed to temporary suffering and sorrow: The God of all grace, having called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, although you have suffered a little, may He complete you, establish you, strengthen you, and ground you (1 Pet. 5:10). 2. It is presented under such images that show that it will never have an end. It appears: a) as an unfailing treasure in heaven: create for yourself a treasure that does not grow old, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches, no moth corrupts (Luke 12:33); b) as an abiding, permanent possession in heaven: you have suffered with my bonds, and have accepted the plunder of your possessions with joy, knowing that you may have an abiding and better possession in heaven (Heb. 10:34); c) as an incorruptible and unfading inheritance: blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His many mercy begat us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for your sake (1 Pet. 1:3, 4); d) as an unfading crown of glory: I will appear to the chief shepherd, and you will receive an unfading crown of glory (5:4); e) as always being with Christ: and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17). This belief of the Church can be seen from the fact that it honors on December 29, as saints, fourteen thousand infants who were killed by Herod in Bethlehem for Christ. You might be interested in: