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Saturday of Praise 54. I thank You, Lord, for You have granted me now to perform the early Divine Liturgy without stumbling and to commune Your people with a bold face and to partake myself in the world of spiritual powers and in the healing of soul and body. I partake of the endless spiritual sweetness of the Lord Jesus Christ, but I myself love carnal sweets, I cleave to them with my heart, I worship idols: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also [Matt. 6, 21]. Or: I accept the endless, inexhaustible treasure and source of all blessings - the Lord - into myself through the Divine Mysteries, but I myself love perishable treasures, for example money, cling to them, pity them - and again I worship idols. I am sinning, I am grievously sinning: have mercy on me, Lord! What kind of Christian am I, when I have not yet learned to despise earthly pleasures and earthly treasures, what kind of heavenly citizen am I? Where are my heavenly morals? Where is the Spirit of Christ in me? I am afraid that I will not fall under the condemnation of Judas. God and Baal 55, God and wine, accursed, I serve; God and the golden image, like Nebuchadnezzar 56 and his henchmen. Do not be angry with man, as the image of God, for anything, do not be irritated, especially because of vain things or because of insults, sidelong glances and other things, but endure everything complacently and generously. Love is patient (1 Cor. 13:4), but anger is irritated over trifles. In the Sacrament of Baptism, we were all reborn, renewed, and must live as regenerate and walk in a new life, no longer work for pride, malice, envy, voluptuousness, gluttony, covetousness, stinginess, laziness, carnal impurity and other passions, not repay evil for evil, annoyance for annoyance (1 Pet. 3:9); to the sidelong, proud glance of another, do not respond with heartfelt malice and the same look, but on the contrary, the more we see someone prouder and angrier, the more humble, kinder and more affectionate we will be before him, and we will be diligent in every possible way to every virtue, and by our own example we will teach others every virtue, for the language of example has a clearer and stronger effect on everyone - on everyone - old and small, on the educated and the ignorant, on the noble and the ignorant. ignorant, good and evil. If you love only those who love you, those who are kind to you, who give to you, and not those to whom you give, what reward do you have for that from God? [Matt. 5, 46–47]. Love not according to your own mind, choice, but as God commands. Turn everything into an excuse for love, humility, meekness and long-suffering, just as the devil intensifies to turn everything into an excuse for anger, pride, impatience and irritability. To whom the old man cannot bear to give the gifts of God, to whom he becomes embittered—give to him, and try to love him as a person similar to you; completely hate yourself, that is, your old man, despise, trample, kill. My mother 1) as the image of God and a living member of Christ, 2) as a mother, after God the culprit of my existence, is for me a kind of deity, and I must, in the simplicity of my heart, treat her with great respect, protect and repose her old age in every possible way. You do not see God who created you, but you see the mother through whom He created you. Show her all love and respect and condescension for her weaknesses, and the Lord will accept this as if it were done to Himself, for she is His living instrument, created in His image and likeness, and from her He created you in His image and likeness. If you missed a word or several in prayer unintentionally, against your will, do not be disturbed in spirit: it doesn’t matter if you missed it unintentionally; indignation is a greater sin. Oh, how our hearts become coarse from satiety and sweets! Oh, how reckless we are, subordinating the mistress’s soul to the slave’s body, the image of God to dust! Christians! Let's love fasting. Holy Angels and holy men of God are filled with indescribable light and bliss in the sight of God, but are we dozing here, indulging in earthly pleasures, captivated by passions? Where is the mind? The faithful participate in the sacrifice by serving prosphora, from which particles are taken out for them. An important matter is the removal of particles at Proskomedia. Take it out with faith and diligence. All Christians are members of Christ. And Christ is our life, our love. We must have mercy on everyone, love everyone, be patient with everyone, be forgiving with everyone; to forgive many things, to humble oneself before all, to be meek towards all, to treat all with simplicity and kindness of heart. God took on for us the form of a slave 57, that is, a man. God washed the disciples' feet; God humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross [Phil. 2, 8], - won’t we humble ourselves before poverty, worthy of regret, before coarse, but sometimes in the very coarseness worthy of imitation, lack of education, that is, uneducated people, under a rough shell wearing simple, humble hearts, unspoiled by the arrogant worldly wisdom of the heart? For where is pride, arrogance, free-thinking, hard-heartedness, stinginess, if not in educated people? Often educated people who have gone through all the sciences do not know the alphabet, which the simple person firmly knows, they do not know how to humble themselves and be sincerely friendly to everyone, they do not know how to believe, hope and love as the simple people believe, hope and love. Actually, like me, am I not crazy, am I not crazy? Crazy, crazy. Leave, it is said, madness and you will live [Prov. 9, 6]. From the heart come blasphemy, madness, pride, the evil eye, and so on, says the Savior of men [Matt. 15, 19 ]; and my madness, madness, lies more in this: I am at enmity against my neighbor because of my attachment to sweets, whereas I should despise sweets out of love for my neighbor; I consider as a loss that which constitutes a gain, and I consider as a gain that which is a loss; I consider feeding the poor, who often comes to me, a loss; not feeding him is a gain, because, I think, there is what is left at home that has not been given, although at home, who knows where it goes, perhaps it turns into satiety and to the detriment of my soul and body. I don’t know how long I will consider the saturation of my flesh as gain, and deeds of alms as loss, how long will I go mad? How long will the wisdom of the flesh remain in me? How long will I be irritated, indignant at those who take my mine, and not thank them for it, not with a cheerful face give them my material goods, in the confidence that as I am deprived of them, I will be filled with the grace-filled spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, His power, strength? How long will I have this material hope, and not the hope of God? How long will there be enmity instead of love? How long will madness replace Christian wisdom? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil had to be set as a means of testing and exercising and strengthening human freedom. Example. You have been given the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself, and so that you have the opportunity, the means to fulfill this commandment, so that you have the opportunity to exercise and strengthen your will in loving your neighbor, many different beggars, the poor, the sick, the ignorant are left and pointed out to you, on whom you can, for your own good and to prove your love and appreciation and gratitude to the Creator, provide them with various benefits, exercise, to exalt, testify and affirm one’s love and thus achieve eternal unity with God, Who is love (1 John 4:8, 16), for he who does not love cannot be with God and enjoy eternal bliss. Flesh and blood - carnal people - cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). When your old man is angry with your neighbor for something, for example, for visiting him often, turn this anger immediately against the devil and against your flesh and say: you, the devil, and you, the flesh, I despise, against you, the devil, and against you, the flesh, I am embittered - and immediately pride and anger against your neighbor will disappear. Experience. Who eats and drinks the most? I, damned one, am greedy. Who is smaller? My guests and my family. What makes me cold towards God and neighbor, what makes me hard-hearted and uncompassionate? Sweets and satiety with food and drink. What makes someone shortsighted, one-sided, unable to see anything beyond their own nose, or beyond earthly goods? Addiction to food and drink. What makes me proud, impatient, irritable? Addiction to food and drink. The soul, after the Lord, is the source of life and renewal for my body (dream): it must be protected, kept free from passions, and everything will be fine. Food without a soul or without peace of mind and dispassion is rubbish, a dead weight. What has always been the core of my heart? Food, drink, sweets, money, clothes, worldly things in general. What has always most severely hindered my cleaving to God, what has most powerfully slowed down the correction of my heart, hindered my moral perfection? Again food, drink, money, that is, addiction to them. Hence the duty of a Christian is to despise everything earthly and be diligent about the soul, things more immortal. After all, you are a human being, not an unreasonable animal! Why do you live primarily an animal life, and often worse than an unreasonable animal? Why do you get fed up, get drunk, wear clothes that exceed your bodily needs in both form and value? Why do you indulge in immoderation and excess in everything? I glorify the Lord with words, but with carnal deeds I blaspheme the Lord. Woe to me, a sinner! How can I become angry with my neighbor because of anything, for example, because of an offense taken from my property? I must always love and leave vengeance for offenses to the Lord. He knows how to do this, as wise, righteous and all-good, but I don’t know how: I’m short-sighted, darkened by meaning 59, angry; Instead of correcting, I will do greater evil, as I do. This is arbitrariness, self-conceit, when I become embittered at my neighbor for something in my soul. Everything must be left to the omniscient God. ...He handed it over to the Righteous Judge (1 Pet. 2:23). Do not eat fish on the eve of the liturgy, and in general eat as lightly and moderately as possible, otherwise it will be a disaster. Because of sweets and because of illnesses and sorrows - because of everything we turn away from God, ungrateful ones. Do not eat greedily: whoever eats greedily and a lot weakens the strength of the soul and body; wants to get strength, but instead gets weakness. Do not yield one iota of prayer to the enemy - say everything: everything was delivered by the Holy Spirit through the apostles and holy fathers, and all these words of prayer are life for our souls if we perceive them with our hearts. Lord, teach me to humble myself in heart before everyone, to consider myself the footstool of everyone, the servant of everyone, the most sinful and the last of all. God! Let me not be one iota like the proud Dennitsa with my pride, the evil Dennitsa with my malice, the all-evil Dennitsa with my wickedness, the unclean one with my uncleanness. Separate the sinful flesh in man from his immortal spirit, which exists in the image and likeness of God, and because of the passions of the flesh, do not despise the spirit, do not despise the image of God. Remember that your neighbor, for example your family, or the beggars, or your neighbor in general, has the same infirmities as you. And you, despite so many grace-filled, extraordinary means, are still left with the same weaknesses and passions; How can a neighbor, who does not have all the same means or uses them very rarely, quickly correct himself from his sins, passions, and habits? Be patient, be forgiving. When you say the royal family, remember that you are from a low class, from the simple, uneducated, and then all the sovereigns - and pronounce their names with reverence. Look at every person as the image of God, respect, love him, serve him in whatever way, when and how you can, honor him for great things; Do not offend anyone in any way, do not get excited, do not become embittered, do not despise, do not envy, do not spare him anything - for him, for whom the Lord did not spare Himself. Due to the corruption of his nature, man is constantly disposed to anger and various passions; He needs constant admonition: punishment, sorrow, illness, misfortune, adversity. Therefore, the Heavenly Father constantly punishes those who love Him. How should educators raise children and young people? Punishments. He gave ecu property (Himself) to those who fear You, O Lord 61. The Lord has given Himself as an asset, a property to those who fear Him. What a gift! Do you drink hot tea, sweet tea, sweet foods - are your souls warm towards God? Do you feel the sweetness of love for God in your hearts? After all, everything is sweet from God. God is not ashamed to call us, sinners, poor, damned, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers: you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Cor. 6:18); He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brethren [Heb. 2, 11–12], - are we ashamed to call the uneducated, the poor, people subject to various passions and weaknesses brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers? - Never. Having become educated, I must value even more the gift of God - the gift of life and its mediators - father and mother, honor and love them even more, for I know, understand, understand more, I use greater gifts and blessings of life compared to the uneducated. How can one disdain any creation of God (everything is good, it says [Gen. 1:31]), not only a simple person, uneducated, sick or [drunk], especially no one [...], for every creation of God is good (1 Tim. 4:4). You just have to abhor sin and the devil. The devil fell with pride, Adam and Eve too; hence the Son of God, restoring us who had fallen, healing our infirmities, humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant... humbled Himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross [Phil. 2, 7–8]. Hence the need in Christianity for everyone to have humility, then abstinence, for intemperance leads to pride and contempt for the words of God, the commandments of God, the Church, and one’s neighbor. You smoke tobacco - you smoke faith, love, ardor for God and neighbor, but you smoke the devil, who enters the heart through carnal lusts: you laugh at it, but it’s true. You will see: just as through drunkenness, satiety, addiction to clothing, covetousness, love of earth, you drive faith and hope in God and love for God and neighbor out of your heart and allow the devil to come to you. Look at beggar boys and all beggars, at every person - educated and uneducated - as equal to you by nature, honored with the same dignity from God - the image and likeness of God - and do not allow yourself to despise him or insult him for anything [think]. Love everyone as you do yourself: you love and respect yourself, despite the multitude of your sins, love and respect every neighbor, although he bears the wounds of sins in his soul. Wake up! Give alms meekly, with a calm spirit, with the confidence that everything is God’s and everything is God’s. I thank you, Lord, for you have saved me several times now from the fierce violence of the enemy, from the violence of my all-evil, all-evil enemy. Why, how can those born in a low place, from poor, ignorant, uneducated parents, despise them, abhor them, spit, so to speak, at the source from which they themselves came? Is it not themselves that they despise, is it not themselves that they abhor? Shouldn't they respect and elevate their rank and status, for all ranks are honorable, just as all members of the body are honorable and we give great honor to the most ignoble? And we are all the body of Christ, and individually members (1 Cor. 12:27). O proud, satiated belly! You are the root of evil. Be patient and do not have an evil zeal to speak on the contrary when they say some untruth or unpleasant truth about you; be meek and gentle; Maintain yourself in love and peace towards all your neighbors. Try to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord [Heb. 12, 14]. Oh, the misfortune of not seeing the Lord because of enmity with one’s neighbors, because of selfish and evil zeal to defend oneself righteously or unrighteously! Who is visiting me? Mother. How should she please? Believe everything for her: all her possessions, peace of mind, her life. Remember constantly that God looks at your heart every minute, and be undisturbed in your heart: do not feel sorry for anyone, especially your mother, do not despise anyone, do not be angry with anyone, do not envy anyone, do not judge anyone (I condemned my mother today over tea)... Think about heavenly, spiritual things, despise earthly things as perishable. and transitory and separating from God through addiction to him. I am the first pagan: a sensualist, not a lover of God: I have sinned, I have sinned - have mercy on me, Lord! Sweets destroy the entire work of spiritual advancement 62 and plunge you into all passions! Oh, Christians in name, not in deeds! Oh, pagans and Christians who are bitter to the pagans! They completely despised the commandments of Christ! During Lent there are various entertainments - skating rinks, burning barrels, flying lights, music! Demon's fun! Have fun, have fun until the time, until death and eternal tears and gnashing of teeth! Where now would one lament and cry about sins and repent - and here there is frantic joy, the most zealous pleasing of the flesh! Here's to Lent! But what will happen in the end?.. Shepherds! Isn't it your business to cry out against this? But you yourself have no time for that! You need money! We need sweets! Enjoy yourself, all of you, while the Judge is patient with you! But brace yourself when the judge comes! The unbelief of people of the present time is strongly reflected in unbridled morals, in a disorderly, dissolute life, completely alien to the statutes of the Church! There is nothing sacred: no sacred times - holidays, fasts, no sacred things. What is this sin called: considering the nobles of this world, pranksters in God’s world, proud, hard-hearted people as something great, bending before them, bowing down, [being shy] in front of them in the church before the face of God, and considering the poor and ignorant of this age as nothing, abhorring them as uncleanness, despising them? “Personality and contemplation is a very grave sin, a great insult to the Lord God, who created us all equally in His image and likeness. In church during worship, one must behave as if only the Lord God was there with all the Heavenly Powers, with the Most Pure Mother of God and all the saints and you; You shouldn’t look at any face in the church with partiality: the rich and the poor, the noble and the ignorant - all are equal! They offend you, but you don’t offend: the Lord will intercede for you. Whether there are sweets or not, despise them: they are the dream of the soul, the soul does not know how to use them due to its corruption. Look at the death of a person: what is the purpose of all the sweets then? Oh, if only we could be impartial to everything earthly! Everything is lovely. A guest, or a guest, or guests have come to you, although often, do not be upset in your heart, but with a kind look and with kind words, accept them and with what God has sent you to treat them. By this you will fulfill the commandment of the Savior: love your neighbor as yourself [Matt. 22, 39]. God is the inexhaustible source of life for all; He is our most blessed life; We should place all our hope in Him, and not in money, food, drink, sweets, people, etc. Once I was filled with shame and distress due to the malice of the enemy, but I did not despair, and the Lord took away the shame and distress and saved me, according to His great mercy. Be filled with the Spirit, it is said, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord [Eph. 5, 18–19]. This means that the servant of God Grigory Blinov, singing in church (or singing along), is filled with the Holy Spirit - we must rejoice; and he sings quietly, harmoniously, pleasantly. Everyone should really be singing and singing along in church, but here one zealous singer of the glory of God sings, the servant of God Gregory; thank him, save him, Lord! All passions: pride, malice, envy, covetousness, stinginess, fornication, desire for someone else’s, pity for one’s own, laziness, despondency, disobedience and others - consider it a stench coming from the hellish abyss; diligently love, meekness and humility, do not worry about earthly things, for everything, like a dream, passes away and will not be. About the eternal and imperishable for the sake of: about the soul, about eternal life. What was earthly was or is - and will not be: so with our body, so with all its blessings; This means that the earthly is the same as nothing, but the heavenly is, was, will be and will never end: here it is - real existence, abiding, true. And this earthly thing is a dream, a dream, although often pleasant. A brother has come to you, a sister, that is, a neighbor - it is the earthly god who has come to you: treat him with all honor, treat him with love, spare him nothing: everything is nothing before him, all the blessings of the world. In general, regretting earthly goods that are essential to one’s neighbor is stupidity: the Lord will reward what one takes from one’s neighbor. What a great grace it is to sing to the Lord, to serve the Lord in general, and to eat little of food and drink! Easy, peaceful, joyful at heart! How good it is to read the word of God, to pray according to the Canon or in church according to the liturgical books! Oh, what sweetness! If the Lord makes me an archpriest, I need to give up the gymnasium and start composing sermons and various works: explain all the Sacraments in detail, all the holidays, all the services, all the prayers, canons and akathists. Compile Old Testament history. Just as evil spirits are always close to us and very quickly and conveniently act on us, so close to us, and incomparably closer to us are the Lord God, the Most Pure Mother of God, the holy Angels and holy men of God, and even faster and more conveniently they can act on us, for evil spirits act on us only by God’s permission, and the Lord God independently, with the highest freedom and as everywhere and fulfilling everything, and the Most Pure One The Mother of God, the holy Angels and men are as one with Him, by His grace. Our sins and passions, like bones, butt us and force us to repent, but we do not want to understand this, or we do understand, but we do not want to repent and correct ourselves, but we go further and further into the depths of evil - for this reason we will be condemned to the most severe torment after death, because all our lives we have resisted the action of the grace of God, calling us to repentance. When you pray to the Lord God, the Most Pure Mother of God, the holy Angels and saints, then remember that by your nature you are inherent and close to the Lord God, as created in His image, as well as to the Mother of God, to the Angels and saints, for they too are in the image of God. With all your being, highly value this image of God in yourself and raise it to primitive perfection with the help of God’s grace, fasting, repentance, prayer, reading the word of God, the Holy Sacraments and good deeds. And despise the working instrument of the spirit—the sinful, multi-passionate flesh. He hid these things (the secrets of God) from the wise and prudent (of this age) and revealed them to babes (the simple people of this age) [Matt. 11, 25]. Why? For the wisdom of this world, violence - madness - is with God (1 Cor. 3:19), but in simple hearts God rests. About confession. A student, in order to learn a lesson and tell it thoroughly to the teacher, usually teaches it, thinks about it, its content, notices the main thoughts and private thoughts in it, even its expressions; So, whoever wants to sincerely repent and confess before a priest must study himself from all sides, think about himself, his state of mind, find out all his sinful dispositions and passions, major, or mortal, grave sins, and not major, secondary, non-mortal, for example, idle talk, godhood and others, and the smallest, with all the details. To thoroughly study a lesson, you need work, perseverance, and constant attention when studying; In order to thoroughly repent and confess before your spiritual father, you also need work, constant tension of attention regarding your soul. The teacher, asking the students to answer the lesson, now sees who worked on studying and who did not, and the confessor too: whoever bothered to learn the lesson, he tells it firmly and in detail, whoever was lazy - he sluggishly, unfoundedly; so are those who confess. Thursday of the Sixth Week of Lent. I thank You, Lord, for Your powers, which were revealed to me for my salvation at Matins, when I was in the snares of the enemy: I constantly repeated the prayer to You in my heart: Be the Protector of my soul, O God, as I walk in the midst of many snares, 63 and so on, until You drove out the hordes of demons from my entrails. I also praise You, O Mother of God, all-merciful and swift Intercessor! The expression of the Holy Church about the holy fathers is significant: it calls them reverend and God-bearing fathers, because they became like God, restored His fallen image in themselves and forever carry God within themselves. Therefore they are venerable. My mother is a baby in Christ: simple, humble, gentle, knowing little; She is also a sufferer, for her soul was pierced by weapons at the sight of my father’s suffering, she was all tempted by the fire of troubles, - therefore she is venerable to me. Do not condemn your eating wife, mother, father, or brother, or sister: let the demands of nature be satisfied - this is natural, and you do the same. I thank You, Lord, for You have vouchsafed me to perform the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts without stumbling. March 18, 1866 Friday of the Sixth Week. Everything earthly, to which I hoped, relied, to which I clung with my heart, or relied, clung [heart], turned out and turns out to be constantly so brittle, fickle, transient, so prickly, goring the soul, deadly, that soon after clinging to my heart I bitterly repented of my folly, for instead of clinging to the one God, the source of life and all earthly and heavenly good, I clung, foolishly, to the creatures. What grace, what lightness, what health to have once a day and work for the glory of God and the salvation of human souls! Why are you, enemy, embarrassing me with money donated in my favor by spiritual children-confessors? Is it great that I reap the physical while sowing the spiritual? Why are you oppressing me, chaining my heart to money, telling me that no one should steal it? Why are you fooling me? Why are you tearing my heart away from the work of God? Or do you find me a lover of earth, a lover of money, and not a lover of God? God! Correct my heart and cleave it to You and to human souls, of which there is nothing dearer in the world, for which You shed Your blood. If you want the gifts of God to be always pleasant to you, so that in your heart there is always faith, fear of God, hope in God and love for God and neighbor, a living [feeling of] gratitude to God, the Giver of all good things, - never be satiated with gifts, always use them moderately, for the glory of God, share with the poor; otherwise, they, these gifts of God, will punish you and turn into the greatest harm for you. Let us now put aside every earthly concern 64, because we are not only earthly, but also heavenly, redeemed from earth for heaven and must remember and appreciate our heavenly nobility, our heavenly destiny, despise earthly sweets, as having to enjoy the spiritual, purest sweetness of the sight of God, as well as all earthly treasures, in order to contain the spiritual, priceless, life-giving inexhaustible treasure - Christ God. Do not be upset that the poor ask you for alms every day, and do not tire of giving to them in your strength, remembering that you yourself are a true beggar and every day you repeatedly ask God for much greater mercy: forgiveness of sins, enlightenment, peace, freedom, boldness, affirmation - and you receive it many times in proportion to the faith and sincerity of your prayer; and in addition, you receive from Him daily physical mercy - material gifts: food, drink in abundance, clothing, housing, for every piece of bread, sweets, every sip of drink, every robe, every shirt, every thread in it, boots, a clean and spacious home is the daily, unceasing mercy of God towards you, for which you must diligently, with ardent love, thank the Lord; Consider it happiness to serve the Lord daily in the person of the poor, for the Lord serves you daily, every minute in many different ways. Don’t say: the poor, out of idleness, out of reluctance and lack of habit of working, go to beg for alms or whatever they have, but still ask; do not condemn: your judgment, as a person corrupted by sin, is for the most part false, as it is said: every man is a lie [Ps. 115, 2], and it is not your place to judge: God is the judge; rather, agree that the poor out of need go begging, just as you, out of need, ask the Lord daily, like a poor spirit, and if the Lord had not given you the grace - the light to deeply recognize your extreme poverty and weakness and misfortune, then you would not have asked the Lord daily and would have become proud and relied on yourself, or on wealth, or on other people. Humble yourself when you see the beggars and remember that you yourself are the worst beggar, completely covered with the rags of sinful passions, having no good deeds, weak, unable to do anything good without the grace of God, even to think good, to wish good. Oh, what terrible poverty! Remember that without God's grace you are filled with pride, conceit, arrogance, waywardness, stubbornness, malice, zeal, envy, disobedience, disrespect, condemnation, hypocrisy, love of money and covetousness, greed, gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, stinginess, enmity, theft, deception, lies, perjury, laziness, partiality, people-pleasing, injustice and other sins. Leave all love and addiction to money and earthly pleasures, because our soul is the image of God and must cleave to God, the source of life; It is unnatural for her to cling to things, and also because, clinging to materiality, she certainly turns away from God, grows cold towards Him, does not love Him and despises, hates her neighbor; So, absolute coldness and disdain - for the sake of God and the fulfillment of His commandments - must be towards all material things with which people are captivated in this world: money, sweets, expensive clothes and all sorts of others; to use everything as something foreign to us, not touching the essence of our spirit, temporary, ephemeral, momentary, which exists today and is not there tomorrow; with all our hearts to cleave to God - our eternal life and to the souls of our neighbors, eternal co-heirs of future bliss in God, and to provide all possible help to our neighbors. Be, Lord! We pray and burn incense before the holy icons of the Savior, the Mother of God, Angels and saints, bowing to the faces depicted on them as if they were alive, firmly believing that the church is like heaven and that we are before the face of God, in the company of the saints: the Most Pure Mother of God, the holy Archangels and Angels and all the saints who, constituting one Church with us, the one house of God, the society of the faithful children of God, participate with us in the praise of the Almighty, who brought everyone and everything from non-existence into existence according to the multitude of His mercy. The Most Pure Mother of God, the holy Angels and holy men who make up the Church of God, to which we also belong, inspire us with their faces so that we too should be holy members of the Church of God and imitate their faith and life. God! You daily and repeatedly perform miracles of omnipotence and mercy on me, reviving my soul, killed by sins, - for this glory to You. The Universe is the home of the wise Architect, the book of the wise Writer. Since we are extremely exalted by the Lord through Him taking upon Himself our nature, the devil, in contrast to this, intensifies to occupy and paralyze our minds and hearts and bodies with empty things - money, sweets, fornication, clothes - or teaches us to despise and hate each other! This is his spirit, his intention! The Lord commanded us to love each other, but the devil incites us to hate each other, to be at enmity against each other. And let us, as children of God, understand the evil intent of the devil against us, and let us despise everything earthly, casting all sorrow on the Lord, and let us cleave to the Lord with all our hearts, and let us be wise on heavenly things. What is the Church? The threshold, the pre-betrothal of the sky. Everything about her is heavenly. The faces in it are all heavenly. The Lord is the Heavenly King, and the heavenly citizens are the Mother of God, Angels, saints; heavenly words, heavenly singing. God! I brought repentance before my spiritual father to You, the Knower of the Heart: give me the grace of complete forgiveness of sins and create a sign for good, so that it will be known that you have forgiven me all my sins! God! Grant me the grace to change my heart, grant me to be meek, humble, kind, patient, not a lover of money, not envious, not voluptuous, not a glutton, not greedy, not stingy, not earthly, not lazy, not wayward, not stubborn, but non-covetous, benevolent, temperate, indifferent to food and drink, generous, wise, hardworking. Disregard human judgment about you, which is sinful and often malicious: there is God’s judgment, righteous. Do not shrink from the reproaches of the world, for blessed are you, it is said, when they reproach you [Matt. 5, 11]. They call you a hypocrite, a hypocrite - do not be embarrassed: there is a true Appreciator of human hearts and actions - We will give an account to Him [Heb. 4, 13]. Remember that every man is a lie [Ps. 115, 2]. However, when they tell you the truth, do not be offended, but get to know yourself and correct yourself. Pay attention not to the words of a simple and uneducated mother or an uneducated father, brother, sister, but to the thought, to the heart, that is, to the inner, not the outer: the outer is unimportant, but the inner contains all the importance. If, because of the simple, ungrammatical words of your mother, father or other uneducated person, you despise them, then you will hurt your soul, as if you have sinned before God. In the simplicity of your heart, respect every person as the image of God, although weak, and as a member of Christ, even if sick or poor, destitute. Remember that you yourself suffer from the greatest disease, the greatest rudeness, lack of education of the heart - pride, arrogance, malice, contemplation, partiality, envy, stinginess, laziness, despondency, love of money, covetousness, love of earth and other passions; you are worse than everyone else, more uneducated, more disgusting, you are pus, a sinful stench; you need to behave meekly and humbly, as one who is most guilty before God and people, as one who continually transgresses God’s commandments. Wise and reasonable ages of this (the so-called educated), borrow from ordinary people their simplicity of heart, simplicity of faith, love, simplicity of communication with their neighbors, their childish humility, lack of arrogance. (My mother and fellow countryman, peasant Ivan Ivanovich Shikov.) Educated people are very often arrogant, arrogant, proud before their equals, people similar to themselves, created, like them, in the image and likeness of God, like them, children of God, members of Christ. Hate every sin of the heart, for example, a feeling of malice, pride, with all your soul, as a fiend of the devil, as the devil himself, and heartily honor and love every person, for all people came from one God, from one person, and therefore everyone should live among themselves as brothers, as members of one body, loving each other as themselves: everyone tends to love himself and everyone loves himself diligently. The being, the core, the life of a person is love, long-suffering, merciful, not arrogant, not proud, not envious, not thinking evil... Simple, uneducated people are babes in Christ, pleasing to God: for this purpose the Lord chose the apostles from ordinary people. We must honor the simple and not at all shun them. Learned people - the wise of this world - are proud, crafty, whose wisdom the Lord has long called stupidity 65; not to be servile, not to be servile to them, but to denounce them mercilessly. The learned and rich and noble of this world crucified the Lord of glory. Don't look at faces - look at the person. My mother is an old baby, a child, simplicity. This is honorable. Educated people have a lot of cunning and passions. Is it possible for a priest to be embarrassed? Is it possible for a servant of the Good, a servant of the God of love to become embittered, or a servant of the Long-Suffering One to become irritated? Should the Servant of the Meek and Humble be proud? Generous - stingy? Is it for the upcoming throne of the heavenly God to think about earthly things more than about heavenly things, to cleave to things below? Should one who partake of the inexhaustible Treasures cleave to extraneous earthly treasures? Everything precious and priceless, all the blessings of earth and heaven: the grace of the Holy Spirit, the most pure Body and the most pure Blood of the Lord - for you, man, was given by God, because you are priceless to God. How do you value all this, man? How do you appreciate God's love for you? How do you value yourself? “You sell for food and drink, for silver, for temporary, momentary pleasures.” Cut off your will by obedience to the manifold will of your superior. Humility of acquisition. Man is the image of God, therefore obey your superior man as the Lord; honor your father and mother as the Lord and for His sake; Serve every neighbor in different ways as the Lord. Sin is the devil's vomit, for example, anger, pride, arrogance, resistance, disobedience. Honor your father and your mother [Exod. 20:12], the Lord commanded - and He Himself showed us an example of reverence for His Mother in the flesh, for He magnified Her above the Cherubim and Seraphim and for the sake of Her prayers He has mercy on cities, peoples, and kingdoms. If the God-Man so revered His Mother-man, then how should we, humans, honor our parents, who are of the same nature as us? So what are we doing? Let's get an education, the all-good Lord will raise us to a high level in society - and let us be proud before the poor, uneducated and ignorant of our parents and relatives. This happens often. How should we fulfill the commandments of Christ? - Use as an occasion and reason to do good to your neighbor or to show obedience to the well-known commandment of Christ. For example, a fellow countryman, or a relative, or a neighbor or an acquaintance came to visit - receive him affectionately, like a brother, talk to him, feed him and send him away in peace; if he is a simple peasant, do not disdain him; if he is a city dweller and smokes tobacco, be patient with him; if a relative comes to you often and takes your favorite sweets, do not feel sorry for them, do not be angry at him in your heart, do not become embittered, but willingly allow him to taste them at will, and you will fulfill the commandment of Christ; beggars ask you for alms, for example, money: some for boots, some for a shirt, some for an apartment, some for a passport - do not be upset, do not be irritated, do not be angry, but calmly listen and discuss all requests and, to the extent possible, willingly satisfy them, and you will fulfill the commandment of Christ: if you want to be perfect, go, sell your property and give it to the poor [Matt. 19, 21], or: Sell your possessions and give alms [Lk. 12, 33]... If one of the poor asks you to perform a service, for example, to give a prayer to a mother in labor, to administer communion, to administer unction, to serve a requiem mass, do not hesitate and go willingly, without even considering whether or not they will give it to you for the demand, but for the sake of Christ; if you have the opportunity, chance, passion, habit of reading secular books and you do not have the disposition to read books of spiritual content and, firstly, the book of books - the Holy Bible and the Gospel, secondly, the writings of the holy fathers and, thirdly, the writings of clergy on spiritual subjects of faith, hope and love or secular persons on spiritual subjects - try to overcome, leave your habit, at least for a certain time, and force yourself to read the Gospel daily, although in small sections, reflecting on what you read, and try to apply what you read to your heart, to your deeds, and do this always - and you will fulfill the commandment of Christ: blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it [Lk. 11, 28 ]; if vain worries about outfits, about shiny clothes (even sacred ones), about ostentation often creep into your heart - reject this concern from your heart and take care of your soul, about clothing it in the virtues of Christ: meekness, humility, patience, non-covetousness, obedience and devotion to the will of God, care for heavenly things; as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ [Gal. Zg 27]; Do not worry, it is said, about your body, what to wear. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? [Matt. 6, 25 ]; if you have the habit of eating and drinking excessively every day, burdening your heart with food and drink, tea-coffee or beer, wine, honey, again try to overcome and leave your bad habit and always eat and drink in moderation, only to satisfy the natural needs of the body, and you will fulfill the commandment of Christ: Take care that your hearts are not burdened with gluttony and drunkenness and worries worldly [Lk. 21, 34]. Don't we almost constantly burden our hearts with gluttony and drunkenness? Let us be zealous for abstinence if we are truly Christians, that is, Christ’s disciples and followers. And we will do this in everything, in all the details of everyday life. For our obedience to the Gospel is tested in everyday details, just as Adam and Eve’s obedience to God was tested through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (spiritual gymnastics). Or here’s another example: your boss does not allow you to do what you would like, even if it was unimportant - do not be upset with him, do not resist his desire, but willingly submit to him, and you will fulfill the commandment of God: Honor your father [Ex. 20, 12], or: Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God; the existing authorities have been established by God. Therefore, he who resists authority resists God's institution [Rom. 13, 1 – 2]. And that our love for God and neighbor is practiced in such everyday details, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself testifies to this, confirms this, inspires this, for He does not demand from us anything great, but very ordinary: teaching meekness and gentleness when we are offended by our neighbors, He says: whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also [Matt. 5, 39], or: from the one who took what you have, do not demand it back [Lk. 6, 30 ]; teaching alms, he says: Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you [Matt. 5, 42 ]; teaching helpfulness, he says: whoever forces you to go one mile with him, go with him two miles [Matt. 5, 41 ] and so on. So we must all study with memory, mind and heart all the commandments of Christ and daily apply them to action - and we will be blessed in life, in death and after death. If God were constantly in the heart, everything in life would be added. And what sweetness, what space in the heart when God is in it! What bitterness, crampedness, fire when the heart is attached to money, or sweets, or clothes! Life is not life. We are all one, we are all love. Christ! May we be perfect as one, may we love each other. When you humble yourself in your heart and fulfill the commandments of God from your soul, then an opponent will rise up against you and will treacherously over you in various ways, confusing you, irritating you, darkening you - but you endure everything and know that you do the will of God. Remember that your heart is darkness, evil: do not follow it, crucify it. Acquire the heart of Christ, constantly have Christ in your heart. Whoever does not hate his own soul cannot be My disciple, says the Lord [Lk. 14, 26]. Grant me, Lord, that you hate yourself sincerely, always. Bring us into Your eternal Kingdom, Lord. Everything here is short-lived, impermanent, perverse. Desire with all your heart to acquire eternal life, an eternal Kingdom with eternal blessings. If our hearts were true, if our minds were bright, then there would be no need to give us revelation about God and His works, and about ourselves, and about the origin of all things in the world. There was a crying need to give revelation to people about God and His holy will through holy men, and then through the Only Begotten Son of God Himself. The Nativity of Jesus Christ illuminated the world with the light of reason. People sat in darkness and the shadow of death - the forerunner of real, terrible eternal death. Don’t trust, people, your mind and your heart: they are covered with sinful darkness, they lead not to light, but to death. Sweets are positively harmful, or, better yet, greed for them, immoderation in their use separates you from love for God and neighbor, makes you arrogant, teaches you to despise the poor and uneducated, the simple; It’s a strange thing: the simpler our food, drink, and clothing, the better for us and in relation to the soul: we are more humble, simpler ourselves, we do not despise ordinary people; and the more refined our food, drink, clothing, morals, customs are, the more we sympathize with people who also consume refined food, drink, clothing, etc., and we turn away from people who consume simple, coarse food, simple drink, simple clothes. These are the consequences of lust! Sweets also lead to fornication, teach the heart partiality, disrespect for the poor and lowly, unofficial, and kindness towards the rich and noble. So, let your food be simple, let your clothing be simple, and let not your heart turn away from simple people, let them not disdain them. Do not envy the rich and noble and learned: many, many of them are blessed, apparently, but there, in that century, they will suffer; Consider the blessings here as a dream, as a dream. Simple, uneducated, poor people living here in labor, cramped conditions, and insults will be blessed there. Many will be the last (common people) first, and the first (noble, rich, learned) last [Matt. 19, 30]. God's judgment is not the same as human judgment: man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:7). We are parasites: we use the light of the sun for free, we breathe air, we drink water. Why not give money, bread, clothes to the poor for free when we have surpluses? If we take a good look at ourselves, our lives, even our occupations or deeds, we will find that we receive everything freely from God: food, clothing, housing, money, and everything so that we do not value these things too highly and do not regret giving freely to the poor what we ourselves have received for free. Freely have you received, freely give [Matt. 10, 8]. An addiction to sweets and to earthly things in general is a disease of the soul, and we must pray to the Doctor of our souls to heal it. Addiction to earthly sweets is demonic possession: it establishes enmity against God and neighbor in the heart. To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne [Rev. 3, 21]. He who conquers his passions and sinful habits and now sits on the throne with the King of Glory, triumphs with Him over the enemies of salvation and his passions. Do not be embittered at a brother who sins or offends, but meekly notice to him his sins and instruct him with love how to do things - and he will get better, and you will both be at peace and right before God; Don’t chase after the insults caused to you, don’t seek them out, don’t take revenge for them, but hand them over to the One who judges righteously. We are all students in this life, and we all make mistakes, we all need forgiveness, teaching. Down on earth, the devil reigns; in heaven, mountain - the Lord, the Mother of God, Angels, saints. Do not consider the purpose of life to be the enjoyment of the blessings of this life: food, drink, clothes, distinctions, wealth (this is contrary to the Gospel) - but the enjoyment of the future incorruptible blessings of eternal life. Live in love - and eat everything in moderation, for the glory of God, sharing with those in need and with relatives. If you accept it, don’t be sorry to give it: all are God’s gifts. Either to love God and our neighbors, or to love all of the multifarious materiality - one thing; but to love materiality and not love God and neighbor is absurd, contrary to common sense. We are not a piece of earth, but in the image of God. Despise all earthly pleasures, just like your flesh. Look, priest, you are heavenly: you stand with the Angels, Archangels, Cherubim, Seraphim when you perform the Liturgy. Understand your high position and do not occupy yourself with the lower ones. You must absolutely be heavenly in your thoughts, feelings, intentions, words, deeds... Why are the Archangels depicted on the gates of the altar? What pride there is sometimes in a person: not only worldly goods, but also [spiritual] ones, he would seize everything for himself: one would sing in church, and others would not, while others, perhaps, are morally much higher than him, and he himself is the stench of sin. Oh, pride! We ourselves chase after rich people in order to get something from them, and when the beggars chase us, we don’t like them, we despise them. The Lord gave us existence and with it all the blessings - mind, heart, will, light, air, food, clothing, housing, good parents, relatives, bosses, friends, benefactors, acquaintances, and for all this we only need a living consciousness that we have all this from God, and a feeling of gratitude and love for the Creator and obedience to His commandments, for our own good and bliss. The enemy teaches us to notice small shortcomings or errors in others (sometimes only imaginary) and to become embittered at them, so that we do not penetrate within ourselves, see our sins and correct ourselves; arms against one, and then, embittered by him, he feels dislike and embitterment towards everyone, for the poison of malice instantly infects his heart; if this person is a priest who is angry with someone, then his anger will not allow him to sincerely pray for everyone in church prayer. So the priest and every Christian need unchanging love, meekness and humility, patience, long-suffering and forbearance. Whoever eats and drinks greedily and beyond need, although with appetite, eats and drinks not strength, but weakness for the body and soul, for overeating relaxes. Do everything: listen, read, speak, work - with a reflective heart. When the enemy overwhelms you with doubt and fear before and after communion or at other times, for example, when reading prayers, remember that this is done by a blasphemer of the greatness and holiness of God, and despise his machinations, calming down in your heart, and don’t even think about losing heart. It is better not to eat fish, as a nutritious food that coarsens and whitens the heart, but eat plant foods or be content with tea and a bun. Remember that both the abundance of bread and the abundance of wine brought Sodom and Gomorrah 66 to the greatest wickedness and oblivion of God. I am more uneducated, more ignorant than anyone else, because I have an uneducated, ignorant heart, prone to pride, arrogance, false shame, anger, envy, stinginess, and greed. Many simple, uneducated peasants are much better than me in this regard (Ivan Shikov). Read the prayer behind the pulpit to console all your feelings. Do not regret that you are losing income or payment for a well-known task that, due to a combination of circumstances, you cannot complete. This is greed, which is ready to take everything into its own hands, to take everything, if it were possible. Don't be sorry; The work that you do, do it with an undivided, whole heart. I thank Thee, my Lord, for Thou hast twice saved my soul from the violence of the enemy. (Saturday of Praise of the Mother of God. Akathist.) Our enemy the devil painfully does not want me to express the vile sins of Sodom, but we must boldly bring them out [to shame], express them. The wisdom of this world is wild with God: they know a lot, but they do not know and do not fulfill God’s commandments. My mother is higher and dearer and more honest to me than anyone in this world (if she fears God), because she is my mother. Have I not yet recognized my insignificance, my abomination, my powerlessness for all that is good, the abyss of evil nesting in me (Walling in the abyss of sin 67); Don’t I still cry and weep for the corruption of my heart, don’t I still humble myself and consider myself worse than everyone else, the last of all, as having surpassed everyone in errors, for I have sinned wisely and wisely and do not stop sinning - and then, [as] I constantly serve God, perform the Divine Liturgy and often partake of the Divine Mysteries! Oh, the deification of our nature! Oh, holy simplicity! The mother has her own language, her own dialect, rural, simple, rude, ungrammatical, which should not be despised, but given due respect, as a verbal organ. The devil tries to use everything as a reason for anger and contempt; try to use everything as a reason for kindness, kindness, and humility. You speak with correct, educated speech - thank God, who gave you education, but remember that educated speech without an educated heart (if, for example, the heart is evil, arrogant, rude, stubborn, envious, stingy) means nothing, an empty ringing of metal; on the contrary, uneducated speech with simplicity of heart, meekness, gentleness, affection, and humility has a great price. Oh, how partial, superficial, and false we are! So, respect the dialect of each place and do not despise a person because of a harsh dialect, as because of rough clothing. Remember that you yourself once spoke in the same dialect. Simple, uneducated people are children: everything about them is artless, simple: dialect, clothing, food, drink. The enemy does not allow certain words to be spoken during worship. Tell him: give a reason why not reprimand them? And he, the absurd one, will not provide a reason, because there is none. All the words of prayers, according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, are given to us for study and prayer. Great Monday. I thank you, Lord, for you pleased me to perform the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts and, due to some stumbling block at the prayer behind the pulpit, you did not allow the evil spirit of despondency to take possession of me, but through the communion of the Divine Mysteries you drove it away and made me peaceful. I thank You, for You saved me several times during the Hours and the Liturgy. Take courage when the spirit of despondency comes. Fill those who hunger with good things and those who are rich let go of their goods [Lk. 1, 53]. You need to hunger so that the Lord fills your soul with good things. Woe to the saturated. A priest should always burn with love for God and his neighbors: otherwise how will he sincerely pray to God for them using such beautiful prayers? Let the essence of your heart be unchanging love for every person. Hate every kind of enmity; so and so, you say, has an arrogant look, a pouty face, I don’t love him - no, love him: this look, this face is his illness, his ulcer, and we all bear the ulcers of sins. So-and-so, you say, a ragamuffin, [somehow] sings along to the sexton, standing behind the choir, and says: I hate him in my heart, I am furious with him - you are in captivity of the devil, you are proud, arrogant: how dare you condemn and scold your brother, even in your heart, despise him for singing to the Lord? After all, he, like you, is in the image of God and glorifies his Prototype, his Hypostasis Life, his Father and Provider. I thank You, Lord, for through my prayer you have taken away the iniquities of my heart and great confusion, darkness, sorrow, oppression, fire, humiliation of the heart and face, transforming it into peace, light, joy, space, coolness, lightness, greatness and boldness, and instead of sin you give something holy! But establish me on the rock of Your desires, most peaceful Lord! Oh, how voluptuousness opposes the commandments of God; a voluptuous and full of sweets heart despises rude, uneducated, simple people, abhors them, and regards them as nothing. This is the kind of pride that comes from voluptuousness! This land is a land of captivity of souls, delusion, darkness, sorrows, troubles and illnesses. In the church, people - children of the Heavenly Father - talk with the Heavenly Father, and this conversation is sweet for the souls of the pious. When we, proud, angry, wayward, begin to humble ourselves and begin to try to be humble, kind, submissive from the heart, then this change is at first very painful, and pride and anger then turn out to be very painful wounds of the heart, some kind of wild meat - a growth that must be burned out. This cauterization constitutes sorrow. Therefore, sorrows are necessary for a sinner, although they are very painful. But if the sinless Lord grieved for our sake (My soul grieves unto death [Matthew 26:38]), if the Most Holy Virgin Mother of God grieved to a great extent, then should we, sinners, renounce our sorrows? Through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God [Acts. 14, 22]. Why? Because we have many sinful wounds and because our fighter the devil, our tempter, is angry, constantly seeking to wound and devour us. By whom you judge, you will be judged [Matt. 7, 2] - will turn to mental and physical benefit or to mental and physical harm to yourself, for we are one body. Seas and rivers communicate their waters in the form of vapor to the air, the air returns to the earth, and the earth again returns to the seas and rivers. Man extracts food from the earth and then returns it to the earth again, and the earth returns to man. Such a wise circuit! So it is in the moral world. Every good thing we do to our neighbor will return to us, and a hundredfold. Here is the constant miracle of God’s goodness, omnipotence and wisdom: He recreates me daily and repeatedly, cleanses me, renews me, pacifies me! Glory to Thee, Lord! Everything is vanity: the beauty of a face, a pleasant manner, a correct, skillful word in appearance, the beauty of clothing, even external education - all the significance of truth and abiding has a believing heart, simple, humble, and kind. I thank You, Lord, for today (March 22, Holy Tuesday) You have delivered me from the flattery of anger towards Brother Grigory Blinov, who sang along in church at Matins. I myself sing discordantly - nothing, my brother sings a little discordantly - it’s a disaster. And all because of what? Because Blinov is poor and ragged. What's more reprehensible? Discord with your lips or your heart? Is it good to sing differently or to hate your brother for singing differently? Wanting to sing in our own tone, and not someone else’s, for example, not the sexton, not the singers (although the sexton’s voice is not bad, or the voice of the singers), we show our pride in this, wanting us to always be at the top, so that, as they say, ours takes, and the brother is always below, and we put the brother and his voice in nothing, but we show partiality towards ourselves and everything that is ours, and because of this addiction to our own, grief often occurs in our lives. neighbor, embitterment when he does not do things our way, indignation, loss of the spirit of love and the inability to sincerely pray to God for people, to glorify Him - and the priest must always burn with love for God and neighbor. A learned man who neglects the study of the Gospel and the Law of God. Your instrument (soul, its abilities, heart, mind, will) is dull, an unclean vessel into which all your knowledge is stored. And what will all the knowledge serve without a pure heart or with an unclean, vicious heart, without love for God and neighbor, without meekness, humility, kindness, obedience? “To greater condemnation and torment and to greater hardship in this life, to greater anxiety: whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow,” said one of the ancients [Eccl. 1, 18]. So, first of all, study yourself, and then study external [sciences], so that their knowledge leads to the improvement of your heart, your morals. Throughout the entire space of life the devil tempts - throughout the entire space of life the Savior is ready to save and saves, that is, he is ready to save every minute. Know the poverty of your spirit and love the poor, so that you may be rich. Separate the sinful flesh in man from his immortal spirit, created in the image and likeness of God, and because of passionate, rough, dark, inert flesh, do not despise the spirit, do not despise the image of God; or do not have carnal love and excessive respect for the beautiful flesh, again despising the image of God - the soul. Is it not the soul that imparts beauty to the body? Also remember that your neighbor, for example a beggar or even your brother, has the same infirmities that you have. And you, despite so many grace-filled means, are still left with the same weaknesses! How can a neighbor be perfect without using such means to recognize and overcome his sins, passions, and habits? When we want to insist that a brother will certainly be like this and not another, although in a good way, then this is violence, arbitrariness: every person has freedom, which even God does not force. We don’t change ourselves, but we want to change our brother for the better soon. I sinned before God by waywardness and stubbornness, not wanting Blinov to sing. How I want to sing in church when the Holy Spirit moves my heart and lips! But I also want to sing to others: both their hearts and lips are moved by the Holy Spirit. If something is somewhat inharmonious, it’s okay: but in their soul, perhaps, they have harmony of spirit, peace, order. Let us unite our lips and unite our hearts 68... This is the malice of the devil. Tested. Despise her. If you say: For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, why do you not obey God, why does not God reign in you? Great Wednesday. By the grace of God, he performed mass without stumbling and received communion into the world of spiritual powers. Before the confession of the schoolchildren, the vile spirit stung with blasphemy against the Most Pure One. I won through prayer. He confessed to the high school students well, peacefully, and judiciously. In the cathedral I confessed peacefully at first, but then soon the enemy crept into my heart through my fear that those gathered around the vessel with tickets and candles would steal the money - and with this he greatly hurt and tormented me throughout the confession with stinging silver. Oh Lord! I sinned before You: having You, my belly and guardian, in myself, I was jealous of silver, of this rubbish! What is silver for? Let us depend on his pleasures, let us satisfy our many-passionate, adulterous, corruptible flesh. Oh, how still my soul is low and unsteady in piety! But remember the silver pieces of Judah, that zeal for the collection of silver pieces is the work of Satan. Have one God, the all-perfect life, in your heart; He suffices for you for everything: your heart is one. Remember that just as the enemy’s blasphemy against the shrine of God’s saints is a dream, a lie, the absurdity of the enemy, so the thirst and pity for silver is also a dream. When I was heartily convinced of this, I felt peace in my heart, and when I was overcome by nasty thoughts, then I felt fire and tightness and darkness. Maundy Thursday. I thank You, Master, for You have granted me the grace to perform the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great with an unfaltering heart and lips, and to successfully partake of the Holy Mysteries, and to commune Your people, and then to consume the Holy Gifts for the peace of my spiritual strength and for the renewal of soul and body. About the miracle of Your Divine Mysteries! Glory to You! Oh, what a humble mother I am! How she even humbles herself before me! And how I need to humble myself before her! Because she is an example for me. If she behaved before me with importance, like a mother, then I would have to humble myself before her like a son, like one born and nurtured by her. But she behaves very meekly and humbly before me! Moreover, the honor shown to father and mother goes back to God, who created us through them. Moreover, you need to read them! My mother, a simple woman, has a simple heart that I, a scientist and a priest, do not have. She says to me sincerely: hello, child, goodbye, child, thank you, child, but I cannot say to myself without violence: hello, mother, goodbye, mother, thank you, mother; I am possessed by the deceit of pride. God! Give me simplicity! Oh, how the Lord shames and stumbles the wise of this world, and how He makes the simple wise and how spacious their hearts are! Child in Christ my mother. But it is amazing that the crafty, proud people of this age are at enmity against the simple-hearted, they become embittered towards them, they are arrogant before them, when they should humble themselves before the humble and gentle, respect them, be amazed at them, how they, in their ignorance, are so much wiser than us scientists in life! For simplicity of heart is the greatest wisdom. I didn’t kiss my mother’s hand one day when she was going to bed and saying goodbye to me; Why, I thought, should I kiss her often, being burdened by it - and so what? My heart was hurt and confused from disrespect for my mother, and until then I was embarrassed and cramped until I went up to her, already lying on the sofa, and kissed her hands, saying goodbye to her. After that, I soon calmed down, my heart calmed down. My mother, after God, is an earthly deity, for from her, after God, I received my being; the honor given to her is given to God and returns to myself, for she and I are one. She is, moreover, in the image of God and a member of Christ, a person similar to me in everything. And man is a lofty being: show her all possible respect, do not despise her for any reason and do not be angry with her. I thank you, Lord, for you have given me the grace to perform the Divine Liturgy and partake of the Holy Mysteries without stumbling with my heart and lips, and you have pacified me and made me glad. But after the liturgy, the sin that came to me at home after dinner for the violation by the hand of my mother, forgive me, Lord! Again I betrayed my simplicity. Serve your mother as you serve the Lord: she was your living ark, in which your being, your soul and body were formed; she took care of you like the apple of her eye, nourished you, raised you, sowed good seeds in you, clothed you, cared for you, pitied you like no one did, rejoiced about you, about your health and success. Respect your mother’s language as natural and speak in her language, that is, in her colloquial manner. Love. Do not disdain, do not disdain her language, just as you do not disdain the Samoyed, Zyryan, Tatar language. Willingly endure your mother’s weaknesses, as she willingly and lovingly endured yours. God! Give me the grace not to be offended by anything, not to be offended by anything; Just as my mother is kind, so grant me to be kind. Let the unkind or rude appearance of your neighbor or a rude word be met condescendingly, complacently, patiently; let everyone forgive and tolerate everyone. When consuming food and drink, every adult is his own master, for it is said about every person: he has subdued everything under his nose [Ps. 8, 7]. Let him who is not poisonous condemn him who eats [Rom. 14, 3], that he eats a lot or eats sweets. I thank You, Lord, who solemnly and graciously delivered me twice during the Liturgy from my addiction and from the malice of the ancient scolder and granted me to perform the Liturgy without stumbling, loudly. But in the director’s apartment, the enemy again attacked me with a desire for money, but faith triumphed in the name of the Lord, and again I was at peace, and again my face took on a bright look. At home after dinner, the enemy again stumbled through his addiction to white bread, but again, Lord, have mercy on me and cleanse and pacify me. Do not covet money or coveted bread and do not regret it - lust for the Lord alone at every moment, burn with love for Him. God! I thank Thee, for by Thy all-good and all-powerful grace Thou hast conquered my enemies, who were treacherous over me, and Thou hast cleansed my sins, and Thou hast granted to perform the Easter Matins together with the Liturgy, as they asked of Thee before, for Thy glory, loudly, with an open, expansive heart and lips. At the beginning of mass, the singers sang poorly - this worried me, but after that I calmed down, for all the power lies in the grace of the priesthood. God! Behold, all the days of my life, conquer my enemies and thus, and grant You even better and better service. But what You asked for before Matins, and what You asked for during the Liturgy, I fulfilled. Six o'clock in the morning. Eating and drinking a lot is just greed of the flesh; The desire for many and shiny clothes is also one greed of the flesh. Do not go into the difference between foodstuffs and drinks, do not make a lot of clothes, especially expensive ones, rely on the poor for your wealth, for the whole earth is for people, all the gifts of God, but not for one or a few only, so that some are rich, while others are poor and do not have daily needs. Printing game. Printing, such a useful art, an organ of truth, has now turned for the most part into a toy, into amusement, into a conductor of all sorts of vanity. This is a great and vast sea, in which there are vermin, innumerable [Ps. 103, 25]. Therefore, not everything that is printed must be read, but one must wisely select from the printed books and sheets those that are useful, efficient, and well-intentioned, and that lead to truth and goodness. And not everything needs to be printed, but only what is useful, true and good, because for every idle word, as we were taught by the Savior, people will have to give an answer on the day of Judgment [Matt. 12, 36]. Emperor, Synod, archbishops, bishops, archimandrites, abbesses, honorable presbytery, deaconry in Christ, the entire priestly and monastic order, synclite 69, military leaders, mayors, the army, all civil and military ranks, merchants, philistines, peasants - conduct all your affairs so that you will not be disgraced face could appear before the All-Seeing Judge at this terrible and righteous test. Remember everything that is the constant Spectator of your thoughts, intentions, words and deeds - the Judge of the universe, righteous, formidable, majestic, Whose greatness has no limit. The Kingdom of God will not come in a noticeable way... For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you [Lk. 17, 20 – 21]. And the kingdom of Satan also comes secretly, stealthily, suddenly, unnoticed. Here you are sitting talking with your neighbor, but suddenly a person enters your company, whom you do not favor either for his simplicity and lack of education, for his face or clothes, or for some kind of offense, real or imaginary, and suddenly you are overcome by a false shame that is murderous, embarrassing, derogatory for yourself, because you look at the face and humiliate your neighbor, who, like you, is created in the image God and redeemed by the Blood of the Savior and is a member of Christ, just like you. So, I say, you are overcome by false shame, pride, contempt, or anger, irritation. Who is it that is active in you, who wants to reign in you, who are you serving here if you allow false shame in your neighbor or anger towards him? It is the devil who works in you, it is he who seeks to reign in you, the all-evil one. Or a person comes to you, a relative or a stranger, who often visits you and eats and drinks yours - suddenly a feeling of bitterness and contempt for him and stinginess appears in you when he sits at your table. Whose business is it? Again the enemy is also yours, because if you do not resist with all your heart the feelings of malice, contempt and stinginess, you become, by your own will, one spirit with Satan. Or your friend didn’t say hello to you, and you got angry with him. Whose business is it? Yours and together Satan, who in every possible way teaches us to be angry with each other, to hate, to despise each other. Or your neighbor looks at you gloomily and, apparently, evilly, and your heart is taken over by anger and contempt for him - whose business is this? Satan and yours together: Satan teaches - you obey to carry out his machinations; you are called to a well-known task by your position, a task that does not bring you personal benefit - you become irritated with the inviter: again, whose business is this? Again Satan and yours. According to God, you must willingly serve your neighbor, bear his burdens, even, when necessary, lay down your soul for him, but you do not want to willingly undertake even a small amount of labor for him. Or you - let’s say that you are a priest - confess your spiritual children, and they give you money for your labors; suddenly a thought comes to you and a fearful apprehension: the spiritual children standing nearby might steal your money. This fear burns you, oppresses you, darkens you, relaxes you - whose business is it? Again the work of Satan, who seeks in every possible way to paralyze us while we fulfill our spiritual needs. But there is also your business here, your sin, because this fear for money shows your addiction to it and frivolity in spiritual things, failure to prepare for it with prayer, meditation and abstinence. Or you are serving Matins, Mass, or Vespers, or performing some kind of Sacrament, or a prayer service, or a memorial service, or something else—doubt creeps into your heart regarding the Sacrament, regarding the hearing and acceptance of your prayer by God or the saints: this hurts you, torments you, embarrasses you, darkens you, irritates you; or nasty, blasphemous, evil thoughts come to you - whose business is this? An evil, unclean, blasphemous spirit of malice - but there is a share of your sin here too, if at the same time you are faint-hearted, hesitant, embarrassed and do not consider these machinations of the evil one as nothing. Or are you angry with those who serve you for some fault, real or imaginary, whose business is it? - Our common enemy and yours, if you become embittered, and do not condescend to your neighbor, do not meekly notice him. Or do you suddenly feel that, as a result of thoughts about money or about a tasty dish, your heart suddenly becomes vaguely, painfully addicted to them, it burns, it oppresses, it plunges you into darkness - whose business is this? The work of the enemy: the enemy begs us, especially during sacred rites, with an addiction to earthly things, and at the same time your sin: it shows your greed for money, food, and drinks. Or you looked at some face and were stung by an unclean thought - whose business is it? The enemy and again yours, because this unclean thought speaks of the impurity of your heart, of the addiction to beautiful faces, of the vicissitudes of your heartfelt view of the most sacred reproductive organs, from which life spreads in the world, which serve as an instrument for fulfilling the words of the Creator: grow and multiply, and fill the earth [Gen. 1, 28]. Or do you hear good things about some comrade, your neighbor, about his successes, his beneficial activities, and you are stung by envy, thinking: what am I not like? Whose business is it? The envious devil and yours, because here you are showing your self-love and pride, you want to be alone above everyone, although you yourself, perhaps, are a very weak person and can do little of anything truly practical. [In this] and similar way, the enemy is deceitful in us! Blessed is the one who understands his machinations and does not follow them and is not faint-hearted when he finds them, but stands firmly with his heart on the stone of Christ’s commandments and lifts up the prayerful mental eyes of his heart to Christ, the Savior of our souls. Understand the grace of God bestowed upon you, that you need very little food: eat once a day or twice, but as little as possible. The proudest Satan, acting in us, gradually, imperceptibly, diligently tries in us to violate our reverence for God and His saints, instilling in us coldness and negligence towards prayer in church and at home, teaching us to pray frivolously, not from the depths of the heart, without reflection, superficially, without weighing the inner importance and power of the words of prayer, not allowing us sometimes, in our carnality, to pronounce any words of prayer that may perhaps they especially beat him, hurt his pride, inducing him not to reverently and heartily pronounce the names of the saints, God Himself and His Most Pure Mother. In this way, Satan strengthens daily to shake our faith in God, hope in Him and love for Him; He especially zealously works in the hearts of Christians and all people to violate His active commandments, that is, those requiring our activity, the fulfillment of His commandments, mainly about love for God and neighbor. Here, in place of the life-giving commandments of God, he tries to put his own disastrous laws, rules, customs, methods, and tries to completely eradicate the commandments of God from the heart: for example, he teaches the poor and ordinary people to despise, and to respect the rich and learned, to servile them; Respect bodily beauty, despise ugly people; to be irritated, to be proud, to despise, to envy, to lie, to love money, to overeat, to get drunk, to commit fornication, to steal, to indulge in various carnal merriments; to be stubborn, not to obey elders, to think freely, to blaspheme sacred things, to be lazy, and so on. Therefore, a servant faithful to Christ must constantly carry Christ’s commandments in his heart, for example, the commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart... and your neighbor as yourself [Lk. 10, 27 ]; love one another [Jn. 13, 34], or: Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life [Lk. 21, 34]. Do not sacrifice the dear, venerable, sacred person of your father or mother to your man-pleasing, but let her be always and everywhere and before everyone dear, venerable and sacred; and do not be ashamed of her before anyone for her rudeness and lack of education, considering gentleness, education, eloquence to be a matter of secondary importance, and the main thing is that she, like all people, in the image and likeness of God, has the same mind as everyone else, the same heart, and maybe much more pure than others, the same will, the same respectable appearance of a person, the same most respectable title 70 of a Christian, and remembering that you yourself, venerable in rank and rank, and perhaps not at all venerable in his heart, morals, actions, descended from her and in her image. This means that when you honor your father or mother, you honor God, who created them in His image and likeness, and you also honor yourself, who came from them. Do not listen to the enemy who whispers in the heart and constantly incites us to pride, contempt, envy, malice, stinginess, covetousness, disobedience and other sins. Walk unceasingly in simplicity and goodness, gentleness of heart, remembering that God is everything in everyone (1 Cor. 15:28) and that infants, that is, simple people, are in everything dearer to God than the wise and reasonable people of this age, for example, even yourself, [filled with] all unrighteousness, all passion. With them, everything is done simply, and they sin simply, because afterwards they sincerely repent and willingly bear spiritual punishment, even ask for it, which the wise and reasonable centuries do not say. How long will you worship the idol of light and his decency? How long can we consider secular education, which is exuberance with God, secular eloquence and much verbiage (the Lord loves prudent silence), a beautifully dressed face with a headdress in the latest fashion, beautiful clothes in urban taste, and the like, as something great? How long will you be such a petty, false-minded person? Does everything that I have calculated above constitute a person and a Christian? Is it not a believer, a meek and humble heart, that makes up a person, especially a Christian? Isn't it fear of God? Isn't it silence? Isn't your heart simple, kind, and kind? Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Have faith in Jesus Christ our Lord of glory, regardless of personalities [Jas. 2, 1]. Constantly pay attention to how you treat every neighbor with whom you have to deal: with meekness and humility, lovingly, respectfully; if your neighbor has sinned against God or against you and at the same time against himself (for example, if he is somewhat drunk) - do you treat him condescendingly, enduring him with love, covering his sin (remembering that you yourself are not sinless, not dispassionate), or harshly, impatiently, maliciously, contemptuously - if this is the latter, then you yourself sin more than your brother, because there is no sin worse than pride and malice. Oh, how carefully and wisely one must treat every person who is the image of God, although he bears the wounds of sins! God! I thank You, for You have had mercy on me, who sinned against my brother through contempt, bitterness, and stinginess, when I cried out to You for mercy through the prayer of the psalmist. March 29, 1866 God! Grant me to see my sins and not condemn my brother 71. Strange thing! We are blind in order to see our sins, all the ugliness of our heartfelt passions, and very sharp-sighted in order to see with malice the sins of others, to viciously turn away our neighbor because of them, not to deign to speak to him or to speak contemptuously, rudely, instead of meekly, lovingly talking to him and admonishing him with a word of love to leave a certain sin, a certain passion and, if he does not leave, not to be angry, but pity him, for everyone is created free, and God Himself does not force anyone to become virtuous. We see a somewhat drunk acquaintance or relative - and we condemn him, we do not deign to give him a meek and kind word, but we turn away from him like the plague, forgetting our greatest weaknesses; We see someone smoking in our house - and we turn away from him, we become embittered at him, we despise him, forgetting that the stench, the smoke of our anger and pride, upsets the Lord of our belly much more than tobacco smoke does us. Why do we condemn our neighbor? So, we think, he eats and drinks incorrectly, for example, he eats and drinks incorrectly, sings incorrectly, speaks incorrectly, walks incorrectly, sits incorrectly, looks incorrectly, greets incorrectly, dresses incorrectly - and, in a word, in another neighbor everything seems to us not as it should be, although in ourselves, perhaps, there really is a lot that is not good, not as it is, and yet we do not notice it. And this is why we don’t correct our hearts, our morals, sinful habits, passions: because we notice everything about others, but don’t want to see anything about ourselves, or we want to correct others, when we should first correct ourselves. The Lord is rich because of our poverty, so that through His poverty we may become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). If the Lord became poor for our sake, then we should not be afraid to become poor for the sake of our poor brethren, so that we may receive from Him both material and spiritual benefits, for we measure according to the measure, and it will be measured to us [Matt. 7, 2]. If for our sake the Lord hungered, then for our own sake we must hunger and fast, for this hungering is necessary so that the soul may be satisfied. Standing in church before the throne of God, often mentally ask yourself: where are you standing, O priest? For what? From whom was it delivered? Do you have love for God and your neighbor in order to stand worthily in this place, so as not to be a hypocrite, so as to truly say all your prayers, to be imbued with the spirit of love for God and humanity? Our accursed flesh, that is, our old man, despises everything spiritual, as if it does not notice, does not see, but stops at everything carnal, external, outwardly attractive and cleaves to everything that is better or exciting, that tickles it. So, she - oh, horror to think, not only to say - despises the Lord God, and the Lady, and all the heavenly ranks, and the saints of God, and shows this by deeds, not often wanting to know the commandments of the Lord, often despising them, violating them at almost every step; does not honor the Lady of the world according to her heritage, sometimes inwardly blasphemes Her, the Immaculate One, consigns to oblivion the angelic ranks that make up the one Church in Christ with us, as well as the holy people of God, our zealous prayer books to the Lord, and even in earthly people the spiritual needs of spirit, disposition, sympathy are valued at nothing. What should be done against this direction of the flesh? We must value everything invisible as much as possible, and despise what is visible: this as true and abiding, this as charming and temporary. In every person, value his invisible soul, heart, despise his corruptible body, his beauty, elegance, external gloss, external, worldly education, valuing the education of the heart, faith, piety, fear of God, spiritual reasoning about Divine and worldly objects. According to the world, a person sometimes took everything: in height, and portliness, and intelligence, and education - but according to God he has nothing and, therefore, in the thing itself an empty person is only tinsel, only external shine, temporarily induced. Do not despise simple, uneducated people, because where the world does not suggest anything good, there the Lord sees His chosen vessels. So He chose the apostles not from the noble and rich and educated of this world, but from simple, uneducated villagers - fishermen, and the first Christians were mostly simple people: not many noble ones; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong things; And God chose the base things of the world and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh should boast before God (1 Cor. 1:26-29). The world believes life in eating, drinking, dressing, smoking, games, entertainment, amusements - to despise all this as unimportant and sinful: food, drinking, dressing, smoking, games, and frequent entertainment, especially at the wrong time, and to consume only what is the urgent need of the body and soul, and not the whims of the flesh. Take care of repentance and frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries, the Body and Blood of Christ, spiritual vestment in Christ, in His meekness, humility, gentleness, holiness, patience, etc. Whoever is baptized into Christ puts on Christ [Gal. 3, 27 ]; he does not care about renewal, but about renewing his spirit in Christ and putting off the old man, old deeds, the sackcloth of passions; not about dressing in gold, silk and velvet, but about acquiring a golden, soft and gentle soul; not about filling oneself with smoke, but about being filled with the Holy Spirit, not about carnal games, but about the game of the soul rejoicing in the Spirit of Light. We must always see the invisible God before us as visible, and constantly treat Him as the All-Seeing Creator, Father, Provider, Judge; look at earthly authorities and parents only as instruments of His goodness, providence and judgment for us. I thank You, Lord, for You have delivered and cleansed me from nasty, absurd thoughts and from absurd carnal lust ([...]). I thank You, for You saved me from evil contempt and malice, which seemed incurable; I said: Lord! Heal, cleanse: everything is possible for You, although for me it seems impossible - and You had mercy on me, delivered me from cramped conditions, from hellish shame and humiliation of face. But let me not become attached, Master, with my heart to any thing, and let not my heart, because of any thing, depart from You, O God of my heart, and my part, O God, forever [Ps. 72, 26]. According to the arrangement of the all-good and wise Providence of God, we experience daily the consolation and peace of God, now sorrow, oppression, humiliation, now light, now darkness; first, when we abide in God’s commandments, we walk according to the will of God; the second is when we violate His holy will and fall away from Him in heart, clinging temporarily to some thing or violating love for our neighbor through pride, arrogance, irritability, bitterness, envy, ill will and malice, stinginess, fornication, internal or deed, and so on. The wisdom of the flesh: I despise someone who is rude, uneducated, speaks rough, rural speech, and is roughly dressed; I respect someone who is delicate, has dexterous manners, is educated, speaks correct, grammatical speech, and is well dressed; I despise the poor who beg for alms; I respect the rich or wealthy who live in his own home or receive a decent salary; the one who has become familiar due to frequent meetings, the unspoken, slow-witted one I despise - the rarely encountered, eloquent, lively one I respect; I am cowardly and timid about the tall, dignified gentleman - I despise the little one or am impudent with him. This is how disgusting our flesh is - our old man! But we urgently need to despise him, our old man, [our] old heart, and respect every person, love without distinction, unfeignedly, not in vain, and to show even greater love or greater attention to the weak, uneducated, poor, rude, as the weakest (give us strength, Lord), unfeigned respect, as worthy in their simplicity, humility, kindness, patience with all sorts of vicissitudes of the world, insults, poverty and other things. However, to feel and show unfeigned respect and love for everyone, remembering that there is one body of many (1 Cor. 10:17) and that this body has one Head - Christ, who has headed everything in Himself. When the flesh acts, wisely, speaks in us and hurts us, then our spirit, the new man, should not remain silent in us, but immediately resist the wisdom of the flesh in ourselves, in the heart and thoughts, or in oral or written speech, and not remain silent, so that the crafty, dreamy, all-evil cunning of Belial does not overcome us. Crucify all your senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, hate them, despise them as an instrument of the devil, and even your very mind, and your heart, and memory, and the ability to imagine or imagine, since they are the instrument of the devil. Whoever does not hate his own life, says the Lord, cannot be My disciple [Lk. 14, 26], [...] because our entire soul is opposition to God, without the grace of God, it has all become Satan: one spirit with Satan. Reckon everything external in a person as zero, as nothing, so that you honor his soul—the image of God—as it should. I am now the same nothingness that I was in infancy, still the same weak, ignorant at heart as before; everything that I have now that inspires respect for me, I have from God, not from myself; This means that now I must not philosophize, not be proud, not boast, not despise people who are rude, uneducated or subject to weaknesses, passions, but humble myself before everyone, like an insignificant, weak, rude myself, and in every possible way tame the proud, contemptuous impulses of my damned heart. Just look at the simplicity; do not despise ordinary people for their simple words, strange, dissonant: a person is not in his words, but in his strength, or in his heart, for in the heart is all the strength of a person, his soul, his being. I thank You, Lord, for You have punished the one who ascended to His mother with my heart with distress and You have had mercy on the humble one. Do not be ashamed in front of the educated people of this world of your uneducated, rude mother, for the wisdom of this world is in the sight of God (1 Cor. 3:19), and the wise, educated people of this age are in the sight of God, and the simple, uneducated are often wise in the sight of God, in His brightest eyes. My mother is a baby, a child, simplicity, and the devil hates this and my old man, accustomed to pride and contempt. Trample the dreams of the old man mercilessly, despise eloquence that serves idle talk, good looks of face, external education, beauty of clothes, nobility of blood, etc. Always penetrate into the inner - into the heart, into simplicity, humility, kindness, and so on. As the youngest, but the strongest, you adapt to your mother, and not she to you, for she is uneducated and simple, and you are educated: cover all her shortcomings with love, do not notice them. Take care of this priceless animated ark (your mother), in which your being was born, nourished, grew, and kept, from which you came into this world by education. Take care of your mother, who bore you, took care of you, pitied you like the apple of her eye, did not spare for you her peace of mind, her health, her strength, her money, nothing. How can you adequately thank her? Nothing, because all the benefits you showed her are insignificant in comparison with those that she did to you, and, firstly, you cannot give her existence, you cannot give birth to her, 2) you cannot give her the milk of your breast - she does not need it, 3) you cannot show her that tender love in those tenderest expressions in which she showed it to you. God! Teach me to reciprocate my parent. Teach her to love her, to indulge her! When meeting the poor and giving them alms, remember the words of the Apostle: God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7) - and give with good will, without irritation and malice. Don’t say: they often ask, they often ask because they have nothing and constantly need everything; Meanwhile, the share you give is very small to satisfy the needs of the poor. Therefore, we must always have mercy on the poor and give to everyone who asks, according to the word of the Lord [Matt. 5, 42]. Fasting, they say, is not beneficial, because fasting makes you irritable, while in a short time you become calm. Let's say. But to prove the falsity of this idea, let's present an example. When they don’t ask me for alms, I am calm; when beggars persistently ask me, I get irritated, wishing for money. Does it follow that for my peace of mind I should not give alms, that giving alms is useless for the soul? It should not, but only follows that I must calm down the irritability of my heart and, with the good will of my heart, give and give alms within my power, and if I am unable to give, or if a beggar, according to reliable inquiry, is deceiving or abusing, then without anger, without my heart, refuse him. So during fasting, when the flesh, deprived of pleasant foods, becomes irritated, I must tame it, and not leave the fast and not start eating modest or tasty food. Otherwise, how will we recognize our mental illness, our addictions, how will we treat them when we do not endure the pains of the flesh, when we do not tame our irritability? To cure a disease, it is necessary for it to be fully revealed, it is necessary to undergo an operation, cauterization or cutting off its root; Without detecting a disease, it cannot be cured. You notice that the flesh does not tolerate fasting, is irritated, or violently breaks into fornication, or is envious, is stingy, loves money, is proud, is exalted - then crucify yourself, then endure, then recognize that these are pernicious diseases of your soul, reject them, hate them and cleave entirely to God, the only source of life and the doctor of souls and bodies. ours. We, many, are one body (1 Cor. 10:17). Mutual love is contempt for the flesh and everything carnal and material. Renounce materiality in your heart and cleave to God and your neighbor. Try to constantly be dispassionate, that is, indifferent to any evil noticed in people and affecting you personally; keep peace of mind, which is more valuable than anything in the world. I owe all the blessings of life, after God and His Most Pure Mother, to my mother, for she gave me, by the will of God, existence, fed me, raised me until adolescence, during my extreme weakness. She kept me, after the Lord God, healthy and unharmed and made me capable of studying science and taking the place of a priest, for if I had been lame from my mother’s indiscretion in my infancy, I would not have been a priest. However, You, Lord, arranged everything, my all-merciful Father and Provider! Mother is only an instrument in Your hands, a living instrument, animated, in Your image. Kissing hands is something parents do with their children. Thus, priests, as spiritual fathers, are kissed by their spiritual children. And this is characteristic of spiritual fathers and their children. This honor goes back to God Himself, the common Father of all, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named [Eph. 3, 15]. Why are we ashamed to kiss the hand of simple, uneducated parents? From pride and pride. We think it demeans us, when in fact it elevates us. As great as ecu, only humble yourself [Sir. 3, 18]. We ourselves love for spiritual children to kiss our hands, and we are offended when they don’t kiss us, but we ourselves don’t want to kiss the hands of ordinary parents, and by this we prove that we insincerely love and respect them, and we don’t even love them from the heart, we don’t respect them from the heart, we humiliate them. What absurd pride! But it is said: Honor your father and your mother [Exod. 20, 12]. How to honor? Among other things, kissing the hand, bowing, pleasing. How will one who does not please his parents please God? You must crucify yourself completely, humble yourself. How did the Son of God humble himself? God is from the sight of a slave, until death on the cross [Phil. 2, 7–8]. Let us all humble ourselves. The Lord looks upon the humility of His servants. Before the poor, the sick, let us humble ourselves, before the unfortunate, those killed by grief, need - so that the Lord will exalt us. What benefit do I have from my education, my learning, my omniscience, when I have an uneducated heart, when I am proud, arrogant, contemptuous of simplicity, lack of education, angry, irritable, money-loving, greedy for food and drink, voluptuous, stingy, envious, willful, rebellious? - None: greater condemnation for me, greater burden. Form your heart, learn faith, hope, love, meekness, humility, kindness, courtesy, patience, forbearance (especially towards simple, uneducated people), contempt for money and material things in general, abstinence in food and drink, chastity, contempt for carnal pleasures, generosity, sincere goodwill to every person, propriety, rejection of one’s own will and subordination of it to the will of the superior or will seniors Then you will be truly enlightened, and your education will not be in vain. Contemplating the different faces of the saints - forefathers, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, reverend fathers and wives, unmercenaries - and remembering their many different deeds for God, weigh your faith, your hope and your love and see how far you are from their perfection, how perfect they are and worthy of all glorification and imitation. What did they leave for God? What are you leaving behind? They despised the world, flesh, silver, gold and all the red of the world, so that they might gain Christ [Phil. 3, 8]. What do you despise? You don’t want to despise the belly, but you work hard on it, although you know that it is the enemy of the Lord and the servant of the devil, for because of it there is so much sin in the world! So much passion! Our old man not only does not want to imitate the meekness, humility and gentleness of ordinary people, but he also arms himself and rages against them with his heart: why, he says, are they unrequited, why are they lethargic, indifferent, deathly? But be eloquent, very agile, cheeky, know how to stand up for yourself - again trouble. Hence our duty to despise ourselves, to hate ourselves, to fight against ourselves, and not against our neighbors, whom we respect and love in every possible way. Deny ourselves, Satan, who nests in us, and all his works and unceasingly be with Christ. We have, in scientific language, both positive and negative, so to speak, electricity: positive is good, negative is evil: this must certainly be denied, then we must constantly put it into ourselves, into our hearts. One is living and life-giving electricity, the other is dead and deadening. The sin-loving flesh, infected with this negative electricity of passions and evil, must be crucified, according to the Gospel: those who are Christ’s crucified the flesh with passions and lusts [Gal. 5, 24]. Everything is a dream of the heart, except love. Love unceasingly; do not dream, that is, do not think evil for a moment. Think about yourself this way (and in order to reason like this, you need humility): everything that is in me and from me is bad, and what is in another and from another is good in comparison with me; everything good in me comes from the grace of God. Love does not notice and does not want to see evil in another to make him angry and condemn him, except for admonition and correction in the spirit of meekness, but sharpens his gaze only at himself and sees in himself an abyss of evil in order to humiliate, reproach, hate, despise himself, and elevate his neighbor, caress, love, be patient and condescend to him, seeing a common illness, a common weakness sinful; the healing of evil in one’s neighbor is left to the One who guides the hearts of all and judges all righteously and corrects all wisely and with great power, but at the same time with meekness and long-suffering. We all eat and drink everything freely from the Lord, we are clothed, we have shelter, we are illuminated, we are enlightened, we are sanctified, we are revived, we are breathing. Hence, we must all be united by the spirit of unity and love - as children of the one Father, as one who receives everything from Him and receives everything - to give to the poor what they require without irritation and bitterness and contempt, for everything is common and for the common benefit. Against whom was I, damned, absurd, insane, not embittered? Against father, mother, wife, sister-in-law, brothers-in-law, against beggars, against the ignorant and rude, against bosses, against brothers, against acquaintances. And all due to willfulness, madness, dreams, satiety of the heart with the blessings of life. Long ago I should have learned to despise and hate myself, the bastard, and not my neighbor and to love with all my heart the will of God, good and perfect, and His law, but I still follow my absurd heart: it carries away the rubbish quickly and with force, it forces the abomination, it conquers the evil spirits. Oh, poor people! Oh, I, the most pitiful of all, the most vile of all, surpassing everyone in all passions - malice, pride, arrogance, contempt, envy, stinginess, gluttony, gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, nasty, crafty and blasphemous and doubtful thoughts, covetousness, love, love of money, disobedience, brotherly hatred, rancor, stubbornness, disobedience, condemnation, ridicule, despondency, lack of faith, lack of hope in God, coldness towards God, ingratitude, laziness towards prayer and work in general, hypocrisy, contemplation, slander, lies, false oaths, desire for someone else’s, theft, temptation, hard-heartedness, rudeness, grumbling, impatience, irritability and anger not only towards people, but also towards soulless things, man-pleasing, human-reliance, negligence in the cause of God and so on. Never eat without the urge to eat and, therefore, without a bodily need, and in general avoid polyeating and frequent eating, from which the heart becomes coarser and the whole person becomes fleshy. Polyeating and frequent eating relaxes the soul and body. As much as you are great ecu, only as much as you humble yourself [Sir. 3:18], and goodness will be in the end. Be ready to kiss your mother’s not only hand, but also foot, for she is worthy of it 1) as the culprit after God of your existence, your nurse and guardian and providence, 2) as created in the image and likeness of God and 3) as an animated member of Christ. We are all nothing: all the honor given to a person for the sake of the Lord is given to the Lord Himself - therefore, unfeignedly, with all our hearts, willingly, we must honor our parents and every neighbor. How do we express respect, love, reverence for the Virgin - Matter and Queen? By kissing Her most pure right hand and most pure feet. And to the spiritual fathers? Kissing your hand. We must destroy ourselves, impute nothing, and absolutely humble ourselves before our parents. In your parent or mother, see and honor the image of the Creator of your existence, God; in him or her, honor the All-Creator God, Him, the Father and Provider and Nourisher. If your parents are rude and uneducated, and you are educated, still do not be proud, for education is the greatest gift of God, for which you should be grateful to God with God-loving humility, but remember that with education you have the same heart that you had before education, and even worse, because a lot of moral corruption, pride, anger, impurity and other things have entered into it. When educated, consider yourself inferior, worse than uneducated parents, for while they are uneducated, they have simplicity of heart, kindness, meekness, humility, and unfeigned compassion. Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent. On this day, the Orthodox Church performs Praise of the Most Holy Theotokos (the so-called Akathist Saturday). Baal is one of the main deities worshiped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians; serving him was accompanied by immoral orgies and human sacrifices. The ancient Jews, neighboring these peoples, adopted from them the service of Baal, falling away from the true God, and this was their main sin. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar (VI century BC), having conquered Judea, under pain of death, ordered all Jews to worship a golden image (Dan. 3). Osten (Church Slavic) – sting, sharp thorn, tip, sharp tip of a cane. Meaning (church glory) – reason, understanding; soul, heart. Dennitsa - lit.: morning star or dawn; Lucifer, the chief of the fallen angels, so named for his brilliant perfections with which he was gifted by God, was overthrown for pride and exaltation before God. Great Prokeimenon, tone 8. Wed. Ps. 60, 6. Prosperity (church glory) – improvement. Prayer from following the dream of the future. Wed: the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God (1 Cor. 3:19). Sodom and Gomorrah are ancient cities in the Jordan Valley, which was very fertile in those days. For the iniquity of their inhabitants they were destroyed by heavenly fire; on the site of these cities the Dead Sea was formed. Irmos of the sixth song of the Sunday canon at Matins, tone 2. The exclamation of the priest at the liturgy at the end of the Eucharistic canon: And grant us with one mouth and one heart to glorify and glorify Your most honorable and magnificent name, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. The Synclite is the supreme civil government. Titlo (Church Slavic) – title (title, rank). Prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian. You might be interested in: