ГОСУДАРСТВО

The state or any society is a body. Just as in the body all members together and each individually are placed in their place by God, so in the social body each member is placed in his place by God, and each one’s own deeds are the cause of this or that place (6). Man was created for good deeds, that is, for deeds of holiness, fidelity, truth, love and mercy, for deeds of self-sacrifice and courage, abstinence, multilateral and varied teaching, to serve the diverse needs of the Church and the Fatherland. Man was created not for himself alone, but to serve society, just as society, in turn, serves him. Each of us is a member, on the one hand, of the Church, or the grace-filled Kingdom of God on earth, whose members must continually advance in faith, truth and piety, and on the other hand, a member of civil society, or the great political body called the state. Each of us is obliged to faithfully serve this and that society, ecclesiastical and civil, and obey its authorities in everything within the limits of truth and law, to prefer the public good to our private one and, in case of need, not to spare for it our health, strength, peace of mind, property, even life itself (8). The state, together with the Church, has been structured in such a way since ancient times that in it, as a living organic body, there is a place for every member - great and small, strong and weak, there is a place for every talent, every activity, extensive and small, high and low, although not humiliating in essence, both spiritual and material. Just as the needs of the people who make up the state and the Church or societies large and small are infinitely varied, so are the services and works for the common or private good. And in every place, an honest and conscientious working citizen or son of the Church, as a reward from God, receives self-satisfaction and peace of conscience, not to mention the respect for him from other members of society or the Church. But, on the contrary, a lazy and idle person himself is restless, because the idle person is overwhelmed by all sorts of passions and reproaches his conscience, and is despised by people as a useless member of society (8). The foundation of the lasting well-being of the state is piety. “The holy seed will be the root of it” (of the earth) (Isaiah 6:13), said the prophet of God Isaiah about the kingdom of Judah. What is said about one kingdom, one can say about the whole world, about each separate kingdom, about each separate city, even about each separate family. The world has stood and remains in its order until there are pious, holy people in it. The state, the city, the family stand and remain in order until then. flourish as long as they have a sufficient number of righteous people for the mercy and truth of God, who, living in the fear of God, serve Him with the holiness and integrity of their morals. There is no doubt that the piety of the people is a solid foundation for the well-being of a state or city... Why is it that righteous, pious people serve as supports for the world, for the state? Because this world, and in particular every kingdom on earth, has the goal of multiplying sons for the Kingdom of Glory, or the Kingdom of Heaven, returning people to Heaven. And pious people are future members of the Kingdom of Glory, laboring on earth for faith and virtue. Therefore, if the people who make up the state adhere to piety, if they do not forget God and serve Him with a good life, cutting off corruption, not abandoning judgment, mercy and faith, then the Lord will surely bless His people with peace (Ps. 28:11) and the most lasting prosperity. This is the order of the moral world with the Lord, and piety, according to the testimony of the Apostle, is useful for everything, having the promise of present and future life (1 Tim. 4:8). On the contrary, if the morality of the people falls, people forget about their indispensable duty of pleasing God, about their future purpose and think only about earthly things, without raising their minds and hearts to grief, if love for their neighbors does not find a place in the depraved hearts of people, if truth and mercy leave the courts, then at the same time the state will certainly be shaken in its most important foundations, and in the political world it will certainly settle down as if in a body. disorder when there is disorder in human morality, which is the soul of society. Then the floods of popular lawlessness threaten to drown the throne itself. Then people punish themselves with their wickedness as creatures who live in the world of God without purpose, in vain, who bring their disorder, their corruption, their corruption into the beautiful, harmonious world of God. Who does not know from civil history what horrors of anarchy and various disorders occur in that state where daring impiety asserts, so to speak, its foot, its throne, where, to the shame of all mankind, they dare to say: “What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? and what is the use of resorting to Him?” (Job 21:15). Therefore such wicked people are like “waterless clouds carried by the wind” (Jude 1:12), or “like straw before the wind, and like chaff carried away by a whirlwind” (Job 21:18). They quickly pass away and the memory of them often perishes with noise (8). The more zealous a society or state is in Christian adherence to the Gospel, the firmer it is in Christian love, the stronger and more prosperous it will be, the more successfully it will develop and improve in all respects. Truth exalts a people, says the Wise One, but tribes are humbled by their sins (see Proverbs 14:34). Trace the history of any nation, and you will now see that it was then especially great, rich, strong, and invincible, when it was pious under the leadership of its king, and never fell so low, did not reach such poverty and political impotence, did not fall into the depths of all kinds of evils, as when it forgot God and fell into the abyss of unbelief and vices. So it was, so it is, and it should always be so, for the Christian faith, the holy, heavenly, life-giving faith, introduces the principles of wisdom into the life of civil societies. He makes wise the principles of all order and strength, all virtue, strengthens, recreates and renews them, perfecting them in all respects (8). You might be interested in: