Бог

God is the Lord of all and the King of heaven and earth, possessing all, Who holds the whole world in His hand and is extremely terrible, so that all creatures serve Him with fear and trembling. The angels and all the heavenly Powers of His glory tremble and fulfill His will with all fear. A person, if he does not want to do His will, resists His command and thereby shows himself to be disobedient and disobedient to such a terrible Lord and King, in which all creation and all the holy Angels are indignant at him, jealous of the glory of their Creator and Lord. You ask: “How and where should I look for God?” 1. Do not desire and do not seek anything except God and His holy will, following the prophet, who neither in heaven nor on earth wanted anything except God: what exists in heaven for me? and without You, what do I want on earth (Ps. 72:25)? And you will seek God. 2. Everywhere and in every place the One who is everywhere is sought and found. Wherever you are and where you live, God is near you, look for Him there. Do you live in the city? God is here, look for him here. Do you live in the countryside? God is here, look for Him here. Do you live in a monastery or in the desert? God is with you, God is there, look for Him there. In a word, wherever you are, God is near you. Look for Him near you as you should, and you will find Him. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me (Rev. 3:20). God Himself wants to come to us and present Himself to us for knowledge! He stands at everyone’s door and wants to be known by everyone, but few people hear Him knocking on the door, since everyone’s hearing is drowned out by the lusts of sin and the love of the world. And so, having knocked on the door and having found nothing, he leaves the person with nothing. Calm and comfort your mind and heart from carnal lusts and the noise of worldly lusts. Turn away from all this and listen to Him Alone. Then you will truly know that He stands near you and knocks on the doors of your heart, and you will hear His sweet voice, and you will open the doors to Him. Then he will come into your house and dine with you, and you with Him. Then you will taste and see how good the Lord is (Ps. 33:9). Then you too will cry with love and joy: the Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering, and abounding in mercy, and true (Ex. 34:6)... Seek everywhere the One who is everywhere, and, leaving everything, seek Him alone. And then you will certainly find it. God is the beginning and source from whom all goods, visible and invisible, flow, and whatever good is contained in creatures came from God and exists in God in an excellent way. For no one can give what he himself does not have, as philosophers truly teach. God gives everyone existence, beauty, meaning, reason and other blessings - He Himself has them in an excellent way. God gives light to the sun, moon, stars and fire - and He Himself is the most excellent Light. He gives life to all animals - and He Himself is the most excellent Life. He plants love in the hearts of men - and He Himself, by His superiority, has love in Himself. So in God everything is hidden that is scattered in the smallest parts in creatures; and what is hidden in Him is excellent and incomparably better and greater. Thus, since the air is illuminated by the sun, there is greater and more excellent light in the sun itself. Since fire gives us heat, it has much more heat in itself. Think about other natural things in the same way. So in God there are all the good things that are in creatures. And so, whoever finds God, finds all good things with God and in God in the most excellent way. The works of our God are like His traces, from which we recognize His divine procession and God Himself. When we look at the sky and its beauty, at the sun, moon, stars and their light, at the earth and its fulfillment, we recognize in them the procession of our God and we recognize God Himself, who showed the procession in them. And so we are convinced to glorify His almighty power, for He created all this out of nothing with one word; His wisdom - for He so wondrously arranged and put everything in His order; His goodness: for He created all this for our sake. For He Himself does not require anything of this for His own sake: but as before the ages, so now He is content and blessed in Himself. Creatures are like traces of our God, from which we are convinced to know God Himself, for they, being wondrous, show the glory of God: the heavens preach the glory of God (Ps. 18:2). God, before Whom you are always present, is so great that the whole world is before Him like the smallest dust or one drop of water (see Isa. 40:15); so powerful that he creates everything out of nothing with the Word alone. And He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, before Whom the Angels tremble, revere and worship Him with fear. God is the highest, natural, eternal and infinite Goodness. Our God is an eternal God, beginningless, infinite, living, immortal, and He is of infinite and indescribable greatness, so that before Him the whole world is like nothing, as we see in the Holy Scriptures. If the whole world, heaven and earth and all nations are as nothing before God, how much more are you alone or I, who in relation to the whole world are like a drop in the ocean. God is the essential, beginningless, infinite, incomprehensible, eternal, unchangeable, highest and most lovable Good, from Whom, as from the source, everything good, visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth, comes... As fire is always hot and always warms, as light is always light and shining, as honey is always sweet and delightful - so God is always and unceasingly good and always does good. And just as fire cannot but warm, and light cannot but enlighten, and honey cannot but delight, so God cannot but do good. His nature is such as to do good. From Him alone comes every good that exists and that can be; from Him comes consolation, joy, joy and bliss. Without Him there can be no true bliss, consolation, joy and cheerfulness. The Christian position towards Christ, the Son of God, is connected with the position towards God. For God has commanded us in Christ, His only begotten Son, to believe, to love Him, to honor, to serve and to follow Him: this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; Listen to him (Matthew 17:5). And Christ says: this is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He (the Father) sent (John 6:29). What Christ, the Son of God, teaches us, His Heavenly Father tells us and commands us to listen to Him: Listen to Him! And God in His Son spoke to us, as the apostle wrote: God, who spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets at many times and in various ways, has in these last days spoken to us in the Son (Heb. 1:1-2). He who fulfills an office towards Christ also fulfills his office towards God, and whoever leaves his office towards Christ leaves his office towards God. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (John 5:23). One who does not believe in Christ, the Son of God, cannot believe in God. One who does not love, honor and serve Christ cannot love, honor, or serve God. And so a person who does not have faith in God is godless, although he confesses God with his lips, for a person must have reverence for God in his heart. There must be here and be present an omnipotent force, which can do everything and creates something out of nothing and good out of evil, healthy out of the weak and light out of darkness, living from the dead, and existing from the bearer, and being from non-existence - such, I say, a power to whose will everything obeys and which does whatever it wants, to which nothing is impossible. Such power is our God, who alone does everything he wants. Our God is an eternal God, beginningless, endless, living, immortal, and His greatness is infinite and indescribable, so that before Him the whole world is like nothing, as we see from the Holy Scriptures. If the whole world, heaven and earth and all nations are like nothing before God, then how much more are you alone or I, who are against the whole world, like a single drop against the ocean. But the sinner does not humble himself before His infinite greatness, and so does not pay veneration to His greatness, but, moreover, despises Him - which is terrible devilish pride. He does not humble himself, because he does not listen to Him; He does not listen, because he does not fulfill His holy commandments. All disobedience, and therefore sin, comes from pride. Just as humility is submissive and obedient, so pride is the root of disobedience. Christians have no doubt that God exists and is one in essence, but trinity in Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and He is the supreme ruler, and owns and rules the whole world, heaven and earth, everything visible and invisible, and He is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15), and everything that is, His almighty right hand brought into being out of nothing. For He said, and it became so (Gen. 1:20). And like all things, so He created me and you, about which we speak and sing to Him with the psalmist: Your hands created me and created me (Ps. 119:73). And He, as the Creator and Father, provides for everyone. Everyone expects food from You (Lord), so that You will give them in due time (Ps. 103:27). And further: the eyes of all trust in You, and You give them food in due season: You open Your hand and satisfy all living things according to Your good pleasure (Ps. 145:15-16). And he is the hope of all the ends of the earth and those who are far off in the sea (Ps. 64:6). Scripture teaches us that God is one in nature, but three in Persons - Father and Son and the Holy Spirit, God without beginning, infinite, ever-present, immortal, omnipresent, omniscient, all-good, merciful, righteous, true, immaterial, wise, incomprehensible Spirit, and so on. That's exactly what it is. This is how the Holy Church believes and confesses and honors the Trinitarian Divinity. Our God is incorporeal and immaterial, and therefore He is the purest Spirit. This is how Holy Scripture testifies about Him: the Spirit is God (John 4:24). What Holy Scripture attributes to the body, it does not actually attribute to Him, but out of condescension to the infirmity and weakness of our concept, since we otherwise cannot understand His actions, performed by His power. So the hands attributed to Him signify His omnipotent power, the eyes are His omniscience, the ears are the hearing of everything, since neither a word, nor a deed, nor a thought of our heart is hidden from Him. And like all people, so every person, what he did, said, thought and why he did what he does, says and thinks and for what, and what he will do, say, think and for what - everything is completely clear to Him. He has no hands, but with one will and command he does whatever he wants. He has no eyes, but he observes and sees everything that is done, both in hidden places and in the depths of the heart. He has no ears, but he hears every word, voice, singing, good and bad. A Christian should not doubt that our God is beginningless, infinite, and therefore eternal and ever-present. He alone lives essentially; He cannot but exist; His being and nature are life itself. All created things have a beginning, since from Him they came from non-existence into being and may not even exist if He so pleased, but the Creator, as He always was before the world, is now the same, and will be the same without end, and just as before he could not help but exist, so in the future he cannot help but exist. Therefore, it is not only called eternal, but also eternity, not only living, but also life, not only ever-present, but also ever-present, not only abiding, but also being. The Greeks call Him “yun”, we call Him “existent”, that is, and was, and is, and will be. And in the Holy Scripture He says about Himself: is, and was, and is to come (Rev. 1:8).