Шестая заповедь блаженства «Блажени чистии сердцем, яко тии Бога узрят»

Lesson 1-e. The Sixth Beatitude Explained 1. To achieve eternal bliss, we, brothers, need to maintain purity of heart. The first man, when he had not yet sinned and was in an innocent state, had a right mind and an immaculate heart, talked with God and was in constant communication with Him; God, in His revelations, directly communicated His will to man. But when the first parents transgressed the commandment of God, sin corrupted human nature. In order to achieve primitive purity, perfection and holiness, a person will have to work hard, it is necessary to protect himself from bad thoughts, desires and deeds by fighting the passions and slander of the enemy. The heart is the root of all human desires and activities; Your happiness or unhappiness, bliss or torment depends on the direction of your heart. What a person strives for with his heart is the goal of life: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be” (Matthew 6:21). 2. Purity of heart has several degrees. a) At the lowest level, purity of heart consists of simplicity of heart, when a Christian avoids hypocrisy and deceit; he does not pretend to show those good heart dispositions that he actually does not have in his soul, but he arranges his life in such a way that his good deeds are the fruit of the innermost movements of his heart. A sincere Christian avoids vain human glory, which can damage the sincerity of his motives and arouse in him sinful movements - the spirit of conceit and vanity. b) Being at the highest degree of perfection, the pure in heart constantly remembers God, clings to God with faith and love. Through spiritual sobriety and constant vigil over himself, with the help of divine grace, he killed in himself every lawless desire, unclean thoughts and addiction to earthly and sensual things. It is difficult for us, the weak, to stand at the height of purity of heart. We are often overwhelmed by passions, like raging waves of the sea, and disturb our inner world. A person, overwhelmed by the influx of sinful movements, becomes exhausted and is sometimes led astray from the path of truth and goodness. A person would be pitiful if he were left to his own devices in the fight against sinful habits and unclean movements. A Christian has true help: with sincere contrition he confesses his spiritual weaknesses to God and in the sacrament of repentance receives forgiveness for himself and after that he feels in his heart the sweetness of God’s ineffable condescension: that peace of conscience and innocence of spirit that adorned his soul before the time of hobbies and falls returns to him. Let us more often renew our spirit by the cleansing effect of the saving sacrament of repentance, so that with God’s help we can fearlessly carry out the good course of life; by practicing piety and virtue, maintain purity of heart. “The Lord calls those pure who have acquired complete virtue and are not aware of any guile in themselves,” says Saint Chrysostom. 3. Beloved brethren, we take care to enlighten our minds; many try to enrich themselves with various knowledge. But we should not forget that earthly wisdom, with a depravity of the heart, does not bring true happiness to a person: only a heart enlightened by faith and the fear of God serves as a source of bliss. Do you want, listeners, to see examples of a pure heart? Look to Jesus Christ and His saints. Jesus Christ from toe to head, from cradle to tomb, from deed to thought, all purity, all holiness, all the highest good, and the saints “crucified their flesh,” as the Holy Scripture says, “with passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24); and thus they purified their hearts to the point that they were worthy to be not only sons, but also friends of the Lord Jesus Christ. But for whom these examples are high and distant, for him there are examples of purity of heart that are lower and closer to us. These are children unspoiled by bad upbringing. They have so much that is beautiful and pure in their souls that Jesus Christ said: “Unless you are like children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). “Children have a need in the minds of the elderly, and the elderly have a need in the hearts of children, for their purity” (words of Jacob, Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod.) Let us, brothers, take care of the purity of our hearts. Only the pure in heart will be worthy of the sight of God. Just as with a clean eye it is easy to feel the light of day, so with a pure heart a Christian can easily feel in the soul the presence of heavenly light - the action of divine grace already in this life; in the future, the indescribable sweetness of contemplating the full glory of God, which all the holy angels contemplate, awaits him. Amen. Lesson 2. About the reasons that encourage you to have a pure heart I want to offer you a word about why we Christians must have a pure heart. a) The first reason that prompts us to have a pure heart is the vow we made at holy baptism. We committed ourselves at the font of holy baptism to lead a pure, holy, angelic life. How can our life be pure and immaculate if we do not have a pure heart? According to the teaching of the word of God, the heart is the source of thoughts and desires: “from the heart come thoughts” (Matthew 15:19). And what are our thoughts and desires, such are our deeds, such is life. From thoughts and desires, deeds will be born, like fruits from seeds. Good are the seeds, good are the fruits; bad are the seeds, bad are the fruits. “Every good tree produces good fruit; but an evil tree produces evil fruit. A good tree cannot produce evil fruits, nor an evil tree produce good fruits” (Matthew 7:17-18). Therefore, in order for our life to be pure and holy, as the life of a Christian should be according to the vow of holy baptism, we need to have a pure heart. With a pure heart, our thoughts will be pure, our desires will be holy, our actions will be pleasing to God, in a word: our life will be truly Christian. “If your eye is simple, i.e. it will be clean, your whole body will be bright” (Luke 11:34). b) However, it is not just the vow we made at holy baptism that encourages us to have a pure heart: but also the fact that God invariably demands this from us. “Son! - the Almighty says in His word to every Christian, “guard your heart with all care” (Proverbs 4:23), i.e. look, try to keep your heart free from corruption, from sin, and kept in innocence and purity. The reason for this requirement is obvious. Keeping the heart pure is necessary, firstly, for the peace of our conscience, therefore, for our own happiness, and, secondly, keeping the heart is necessary for our Christian spiritual dignity. We are Christians, sons of God by grace, as Holy Scripture calls us, and the children of the Heavenly Father must be such as their Father is. “Be perfect,” the Gospel tells us, “as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Our Father is holy, therefore we must also be holy, pure, bright in soul, and for this it is necessary to protect our hearts from all evil. And how can we not protect our hearts from evil, when we must be churches of the terrible and great God, our Creator? “You are the living church of God” (2 Cor. 6:16), the Apostle Paul tells us, “the grace of the All-Holy Spirit received at holy baptism wants to live in our souls and bodies. It is not decent and dangerous to keep the house in uncleanness, which is appointed as the dwelling of the king of the earth, much less it is decent and dangerous to keep the heart in which the King of kings, the King of heaven, wants to dwell in uncleanness. It is natural for the king of the earth to be angry with those who keep the house appointed for him in uncleanness, and not to live in such a house. It is natural for the King of Heaven to be angry with people who keep their hearts in uncleanness, and not to dwell in their unclean hearts. And it is not surprising that God moves away from an unclean heart. For an unclean heart for God is a new Calvary, every sinful thought is a new thorn for Christ, every bad desire is a new wound for Him. Oh, Lord, have mercy on us! Give us a pure heart! We need it both in order not to lose Your presence in this life, and in order to be worthy in the future life to see You, the Sweetest, face to face and be established in Your kingdom. And truly, only the pure in heart will see God, and only the pure in heart will be established in His kingdom. The word of God testifies to this: “Blessed are the pure in heart,” says the Gospel, “for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). These are the reasons to have a pure heart! c) But let’s add one more reason to have a pure heart, no less important. We are obliged to love each other. But true, Christian love edifies one’s neighbor both in word and in deed, strengthens him in virtue, strengthens him in grace, and helps him receive the kingdom of heaven. He is a villain to his neighbor who diverts his neighbor from virtue: for he steals from his neighbor his greatest, his main treasure, steals the bliss of the soul, steals the soul. And that is our true benefactor, true friend, true lover, who contributes to the salvation of our soul. But in order to be edifying to our neighbors, we must have a pure heart. In this case, everything about us will be instructive. As is the source, so are the streams; as is the tree, so is the fruit. Everything is pure from a pure heart. “A good man comes from a good treasure, i.e. hearts, good will wear out” (Matthew 12:35). 3. With God’s help, let us try, brother Christians, to have a pure heart for our own benefit and for the benefit of others, for the glory of God and for our own bliss! By doing this we will fulfill our most important duty, support the high dignity of a Christian, and delight Christ, our Savior. Appendix to catechetical teaching Examples of saints who kept their hearts pure 1. The highest and unattainable image of purity of heart for man is represented by the God-man Jesus Christ. The Holy Apostle Peter says about Him that He “committed no sin, lest flattery be found in His mouth” (1 Pet. 2:22; Isa. 53:9). Jesus Christ is the only example on earth of perfect purity of heart. This example is completely unattainable for anyone. Even holy ascetics and saints of God did not achieve perfect purity of heart. 2. Among all earthly beings, one immaculate and most pure Mother of God came closest to true and perfect purity of heart. She is, par excellence, an image and example of purity of heart; She is primarily the patroness of maidens and virgins, a quick helper of pure souls; The Holy Church turns to Her with such a prayer on behalf of the believers: “God’s pure dwelling place was, pure, praying with the disembodied, so that I might complete the path of life pure.” 3. John the Baptist, a wonderful desert dweller and preacher of repentance, a strict virgin, a great fighter and martyr for truth, serves as an example of purity of heart. 4. All holy ascetics of piety strove to achieve purity of heart and, to the best of their strength and ability, achieved it. Thus, they say about the Monk Silouan that he never allowed thoughts into his heart that would anger God. 5. They also say about the Monk Isidore that during the forty years of his exploits, feeling sinful thoughts, he never indulged in either desires or anger. 6. The Monk Isaac the Syrian sets the Monk Sisoes as an example of purity of heart. He completely renounced worldly desires and thoughts, and having returned to his original simplicity, he became like a baby, only without the shortcomings of an infant. The Monk Sisoes even asked his disciple: “Did I eat or not?” But being a baby to the world, he was a perfect soul to God. 7. Saint Andrew, a fool for Christ’s sake, served as a high example of purity of heart and received from God for his moral purity and humility of spirit the gift of clairvoyance. During the life of Saint Andrew, there was a priest (from among the unmarried) in Constantinople, a faster, a solitary man, and a man of prayer. Everyone respected him. But Saint Andrew met him and saw that he was dressed in some kind of dark fog, and around his neck there was a snake entwined with the inscription: “Snake of the love of money.” This is what his soul was like! Meanwhile, no one saw this. The enlightened spiritual eyes of Saint Andrew saw. 8. Saint Anthony, a wonderful ascetic, who cleansed his heart through strict fasting, prayers and godly works, received from God the gift of clairvoyance. One day he was talking with his disciples and saw a streak of light rising to the heavens. Having peered into it and discerned what was there, he said: “This is Saint Ammon ascending to heaven, accompanied by angels.” You might be interested in: