Golden words

Contents Word one. The word of the great righteous man and miracle worker Fr. John of Kronstadt, regarding the departure of some persons from the bosom of the Orthodox Church Second Word. O. John of Kronstadt on the Lutheran and Anglican faith. Third Word. O. John of Kronstadt about the Lutheran and Anglican faith. The fourth word. O. John of Kronstadt on the Orthodox priesthood Fifth Word. O. John of Kronstadt about the sacrament of Holy Communion and about himself. Word six. The kingdoms of the earth waver and fall from unbelief and lawlessness. Seventh Word. On the day of remembrance and celebration of the sacred anointing and crowning of the most pious sovereign, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich of All Russia, the eighth word. On the day of the accession to the ancestral all-Russian throne of His Majesty the Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, the ninth word. On the day of the transfer of honest and multi-healing relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg, St. Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky in 1724 Word tenth. Fraternal appeal to our valiant troops on the fields of distant Manchuria The eleventh word. On the day of the glorious Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Twelfth Homily. On the day of repose of St. The Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian's Thirteenth Word. On the day of holy memory of our venerable father John of Rylsky, the fourteenth word. On the day of remembrance of the holy, glorious and all-praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called, Homily Fifteenth. For the New Year 1906 First word. The word of the great righteous man and miracle worker Fr. John of Kronstadt, regarding the departure of some persons from the bosom of the Orthodox Church Do persons who were by birth, baptism and upbringing in the Orthodox Church and are leaving, or have gone, into Catholicism or some other non-Orthodox religion, or into Stunda, Pashkovism and Tolstoyism - do they realize everything that they leave and what they accept, and to what extreme and to what deprivation they reach? Let us establish a certain point of view on the Orthodox Church and on other faiths and sects. So what? Is the Church and the Orthodox faith really just a name without historical significance and without the full power of truth and vitality - or is it a solid and unshakable building of the Heavenly, Eternal, All-Wise and Almighty Architect-God, like a great and wonderful mountain, on which and in which the Lord Himself and the Head of the Church - Jesus Christ - lives and acts ceaselessly for the salvation of all the faithful? Is there only one name - the Orthodox Church, without real Orthodoxy and without the greatest, indescribable power, invincible by any forces of hell? Isn’t it inherent in constant triumph over all the machinations of visible and invisible enemies and over human tricks and absurd fables? Does the Orthodox Church stand alone in the world, without glorious and loud witnesses of its truth and Orthodoxy, its wonderful life-giving and saving power, even to our time? Isn’t it not the All-True and Almighty, All-Saving Head of the Church – Christ, who constantly stands for us, filling it with glory and salvation and His invincible power? Isn’t the Most Holy Lady Theotokos always with us, constantly exuding miracles of mercy to Orthodox believers and those who fervently pray? Are not all the Apostles and Prophets with us and with us with their divinely inspired writings, the pure meaning of which we have not violated one iota? Are not all the Martyrs with us and for us, those who preserved the good faith and completed their feats and were crowned by the Hero of Christ with crowns of glory and incorruptibility? Are not the great universal teachers and saints for us and not with us - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory the Wonderworker, Gregory of Nyssa and John Chrysostom? Isn’t it with us and not for us - the adamants of Orthodoxy - the reverend fathers: Anthony the Great, Athanasius of Athos, Paul of Thebes, Isaac of Dalmatia, the golden stream of Orthodox writings and honey-flowing songs, John of Damascus, and our Russian reverend fathers: Anthony and Theodosius of Pechersk, Sergius of Radonezh, Zosima and Savvatiy Solovetsky, Varlaam Khutynsky and all our other wonderful reverend fathers? Do those who renounce Orthodoxy, and those of our intellectuals who consider any faith, even Mohammedan and Buddhist, to be indifferent - do they know what the pillars of Orthodoxy were, all our faithful holy princes: Equal-to-the-Apostles Vladimir, who chose the Orthodox from all Christian faiths, especially St. blessed prince Alexander Nevsky, denouncer of Latinism, Daniel and Roman of Galicia, St. Mikhail of Chernigov and Mikhail, the blessed prince of Tverskoy? Is the recent glorification of the newly-minted saint and wonderworker of Chernigov Theodosius an empty spectacle? Aren’t the all-Russian saints, who are incorruptible and resting incorruptible, not still glorious among God and people: Peter, Alexy, Jonah and Philip, the Moscow miracle workers, and the whole multitude of Russian saints and saints glorified by God: Nikita, John, Moses and Euthymius of Novgorod, Demetrius of Rostov, Mitrofan and Tikhon of Voronezh and others? And Seraphim of Sarov, glorified by God during his lifetime with the appearances of the Lord and the Mother of God, standing in line for open glorification - is he not a witness to the truth and salvific nature of our faith and church? Finally, I will say: isn’t the whole history of the Church for us from the beginning to the present? What other faith can boast of so many witnesses to the truth? But whoever renounces Orthodoxy renounces communion with all the saints, who, by the way, are called saints because they have preserved the holy dogmas of the faith and demonstrated it in practice; he who renounces the Orthodox faith, for this very reason, also renounces communion with the Head of the Church Himself - Christ. I also ask each and every one who hesitates in St. Orthodox faith: are we abandoned by the miraculous and saving power of God? Are we not constantly saved in our St. faith and the Church? And which of us Orthodox, reasonable and enlightened, who have learned from experience the saving power of our faith and its satisfaction to our entire being, will leave our Orthodoxy and move to some other faith? There is only one true and all-saving faith in the world - the Orthodox faith: it is such in history, in its truth, in its very essence, full of light and vitality - which cannot be said about other faiths, for in them the truth is mixed with false human wisdom, institutions and rules, contrary to Revelation and greatly complicating the salvation of souls. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35), says the Lord. Meanwhile, in heterodox faiths, many of the Lord’s words are distorted (about the Holy Spirit, about both types of communion, about the primacy of the Church). Let us firmly hold on to St. Church and their Orthodox faith. Only the Orthodox Church is the pillar and affirmation of the truth, for the spirit of truth rests eternally in it, constantly and loudly testifying to the whole world about its truth. The second word about. John of Kronstadt about the Lutheran and Anglican faith “The devil and the entire fallen council of evil spirits are increasingly, unanimously, cunningly, evilly, subtly striving to pervert, transform, destroy the wise, all-good, eternal intentions of God regarding the purpose, perfection and eternal bliss of the human race; to pervert and corrupt the soul and body of man, to defile, corrupt, cool and alienate people from God and from each other; they try to give every thought, every feeling, every movement of the will a sinful, unclean, insane, absurd, disastrous direction; They constantly try to blaspheme and humiliate God and His saints, everything holy and great. Even the very Word of God the devil tries by all means to corrupt through the false wisdom of men and through this to deprive people of light, the truth of God and the salvation of the soul, as he did and does through various heresies of the first centuries and subsequent ones - regarding the person of Jesus Christ and the union in Him of two natures - divine and human, and about the relationship of the persons of the Most Holy Trinity; regarding the veneration of St. icons, relics and other things. Thus he corrupts and distorts the Word of God and human souls with the false wisdom of Catholics, Lutherans, and Anglicans. Lutherans and Anglicans do not fully believe the Gospel, although they are called evangelicals, not believing in the transubstantiation of bread and wine in the Holy Spirit. Eucharist." The third word about. John of Kronstadt about the Lutheran and Anglican faith “Lutherans and Anglicans have no church: for they do not venerate the saints and do not pray for the dead, who are also members of the church. They also do not have the Head of the church - Christ, for He is the Head of the whole body, and not a dissected one, as is the case with the Lutherans and Anglicans. They also do not have a helmsman for the ship - the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell where the body of the church is arbitrarily and boldly dismembered and deprived of life. In Scripture, in St. Paul, in his letter to Philip, chapter 2. 10 and 11 art. It is said: Every knee will worship Him (the Son of God), of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Where are the tribes of the Lutherans and Anglicans, heavenly and underworld, and even earthly? For even the tribe of the earth - the Lutherans and Anglicans living on earth - does not have the legal priesthood and the legal, sanctifying, affirming, idolizing Sacraments - Repentance, Communion, Confirmation, Priesthood, Marriage and Blessing of Anointing. Where is the veneration of angels among Lutherans and Anglicans? And they are members of the Church: for by Christ God the one Church of Angels and men was formed and headed by Him.” The fourth word about. John of Kronstadt on the Orthodox priesthood The priesthood of the Orthodox Church, according to the commandment of the Lord, does a work of infinite importance, immeasurable goodness, a work of supernatural power, God: it enlightens, purifies and renews people through the performance of the Sacraments and spiritual administration. Only God alone can renew a person corrupted by sin, or those of the people to whom God Himself gives grace and power, and His power can themselves be renewed and enlightened, and strengthened in a new life, and renew, sanctify, and lead others with the power of God, with spiritual power. A fallen, corrupted man can only rise and be renewed through deep repentance and the resolution of sins by spiritual authority and the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ - certainly also the Blood - under a special form of wine, as the Lord established, and not without Blood - must receive the resolution of sins from an Orthodox priest who has legal ordination and God-given authority - Body and Blood from a legitimate Orthodox priest, and not from a papist or Lutherans who do not give the Blood of Christ! Oh, human superstition! Oh, deceit, the intricacy of lies! The papists deprived the laity of the Blood of Christ, shed for the cleansing of sins. Oh, headless supremacy, acting contrary to the true head - Christ God! Oh, Lutherans, who have lost the grace and truth of the sacraments! How can you give grace to others without the spirit of Christ, the truth and the righteousness of Christ? Protestants and reformers, pastors and archpastors, tell me, how can you renew the people and lead them to a holy life, when you yourself do not have the grace and authority of power and strength from the Holy Spirit, which you cannot receive anywhere except the holy Orthodox Church? Tell me, how can you accomplish the work of renewing humanity, which can only be done by God and the one to whom He gave His grace and authority through the ordination of bishops? You have no priesthood; How dare you take on such a task that is beyond your strength? You yourself are not renewed and you are not renewing the people, you are not sanctifying, and you are not purifying. The fifth word about. John of Kronstadt about the sacrament of Holy Communion and about himself Everywhere Your Name has glorified me, Lord: both at the throne of kings, and among all the important and powerful of this world, and among rich and poor, educated and simple people: everywhere It has brought and constantly brings joy, peace, deliverance, salvation, healing, health, consolation, relief, victory over the wiles of the enemy. So wonderful is Your Name, Lord! How wonderfully, sovereignly, imperiously, powerfully everyone is attracted to me, the poor one, by Your grace, which lives and abides in me through frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries of Your most pure Body and Blood. God! I thank You for the miracles of the Holy Mysteries that occur in me and in the Russian people every day; You draw me and him to You with wonderful, omnipotent, invincible power; All Orthodox Russia is drawn to You! Attract, attract, attract. The Word of God, our Creator. Our Savior, our Savior, draw everyone and everything to You! Word six. The kingdoms of the earth waver and fall from unbelief and lawlessness Russia and the Church solemnly celebrate today the birth of the Tsar crowned by God for the All-Russian Kingdom and pray to the King of Tsars for a prosperous state, victory, i.e. long life, peace, health, salvation of Him, our earthly King, and that the Lord would prosper and help Him in everything and subdue every enemy and adversary under His feet. I appeal to all of you, as a member of the human family, with the question of what these two words mean: the word and commandment of the Creator to the first people, and the false word, tempting the murderer - the devil. Notice the consequences for people of both words. What are they essentially? One word is living, creative, cheerful; the other is flattering, dreamy, darkening, deadening. What was and still is the consequence of people’s obedience to the word of the enemy or the following of a sinner to all the ethereal suggestions of enemies and all passions? Isn’t there all sorts of turmoil in the world - unbelief, godlessness, lack of authority, self-will, envy, sedition, murder, theft, theft, drunkenness, foul practices, all kinds of violence, mutual hostility of nations, idolatry, countless disagreements in faith and the most absurd delusions? And what are the consequences of obedience to a person who believes the word of God, the commandments of God, the Gospel and the holy God-established Church of Christ? Faith, all truth, all social order, meekness, obedience, self-control, wisdom, courage, goodness, mercy. Obedience to the word of God leads to silence, peace, all order in the world, family, political and economic; to obedience to spiritual and civil authorities. We all still obey these two words - the word of God and the word of the disembodied enemy; We listen to one or the other. Having obeyed the murderous enemy at the beginning and still obeying him, the human race fell into endless madness, it exchanged life for death, light for darkness, beauty for ugliness, wisdom for madness, incorruption for corruption. We live not in peaceful, but in restless and seditious times, a time of anarchy and godlessness, a time of daring violation of the laws of Divine and human; during the senseless reeling of minds that have tasted a little earthly wisdom and dreamed about themselves beyond measure; for knowledge boasts according to the word of God, but love edifies (1 Cor. 8:1). It is obvious to everyone that the Russian kingdom is wavering, teetering, and close to collapse. Why is it that the Russian kingdom, so great, which was so strong, powerful and glorious before, is now so weakened, weakened, destroyed, shaken? Because it has departed from the solid and unshakable foundation of the true faith and, in the majority of the intelligentsia, has fallen away from God, Who alone is the eternal and unshakable power. By whom heaven and earth have firmly held on to the wondrous harmony for so many centuries. This is why our kingdom is wavering: is the Russian kingdom alone, occupying a sixth of the earth, wavering from godlessness and anarchy? No, all the kingdoms of the earth waver and shake, having abandoned the true faith; and some kingdoms and cities that existed before Christ and after Christ have completely fallen from the disgrace of the world for unbelief and lawlessness. And the longer the adulterous and sinful world exists and succeeds in iniquity, the more and more it weakens, decrepit and wavers, so that by the end of the world it will completely become a corpse and a smoking brand, which will completely decay from the last terrible, universal fire: for the earth and all the works on it will burn up, according to the apostle, and we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth, according to the promise of God, on which he lives truth (2 Pet. 3:10, 13). We, Russian Orthodox believers, as children of the Christian Church, upon receiving the sacrament of Baptism, approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and ten thousand angels, the triumphant council and church of the firstborn written in heaven, and God the Judge of all, and the spirits of the righteous who have reached perfection, and the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus, and the sprinkling blood (Christ’s blood), speaking better than Aveleva. - See, says the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that you do not turn away from the Speaker. If (the ancient Jews who were with Moses) who did not listen to him who spoke on earth did not escape punishment, then much less will we escape if we turn away from God who spoke from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth and who has now given such a promise; Once again I will shake not only the earth, but also the sky. The words: “once again” mean a change in the shaken as in the created, so that the unshakable may remain. So, we, having received the kingdom of heaven, will keep grace, with which we will serve God pleasingly with reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:22–29). I cited these words of Paul from the Epistle to the Hebrews because they also apply to us, the Russian people, who have departed from God and from the New Zion, the Church of Christ, founded on the indestructible Stone-Christ, on whom whoever falls will be broken, and on whomever He falls, he will be crushed (Matthew 21:44). There is no doubt that all Russians who have fallen away from the faith and the Church will be broken like clay pots (meaningful vessels, Ps. 2:9) if they do not turn and repent. And the Church will remain unshakable until the end of the century, and the Monarch of Russia, if he remains faithful to the Orthodox Church, will establish himself on the throne of Russia until the end of the century. Hold fast, Russia, firmly to your faith and the Church and the Orthodox Tsar, if you want to be unshakable by people of unbelief and anarchy and do not want to lose the kingdom and the Orthodox Tsar. And if you fall away from your faith, as many intellectuals have already fallen away from it, then you will no longer be Russia or Holy Russia, but a rabble of all sorts of infidels seeking to destroy each other. Remember the words of Christ to the unfaithful Jews: “the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a tongue (people) that produces its fruits” (Matthew 21:43). The seventh word. On the day of remembrance and celebration of the sacred anointing and crowning of the most pious sovereign, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich of All Russia We remember and celebrate the day of the sacred anointing and crowning of our Most Pious Sovereign. These two or three years of his reign were vague and full of internal sedition, and the very royal crown with purple was almost stained with blood recently. Lethal weapons are already ready. Unsleeping Providence preserved the life of the King. On this occasion, I allow myself to be transported mentally to the ancient sacred history of the Jews and tell about one event that is suitable and similar to our sad state, which happened during the time of the judges of Israel. Among the judges of the Jewish people was, among others, Gideon, raised by God to govern and protect them from foreigners, famous for his faith, courage and love for his fatherland, who was engaged in agriculture. With God's help, he saved the Jews from the warlike Midianites, who wanted to subjugate the Jews to their pagan, godless yoke. When he died in old age, he left behind 70 sons, since he was a polygamist; In addition, he had a son by his maidservant, Abimelech. - After the death of his father, Abimelech came to one city of his land and begged his maternal relatives to try to win over its inhabitants in his favor, making it clear to them that it would be unprofitable for them to obey the seventy sons of Gideon, but rather to recognize the authority of one over themselves, moreover, the one who was close to them in kinship. And the inhabitants of that city (Shechem), the Jews, had already introduced the service of the pagan deity Baal, and managed to build a temple for the Phoenician deity, called Baal-verith, i.e. guardian of alliances and oaths. Among these people, apostates, Abimelech found adherents. They called him their brother and gave him money from the church of their god. For a small sum, he hired idle and homeless people, came with them to the house of his deceased father and beat the brothers on one stone, with the exception of one younger brother Jotham, who managed to hide. After that, all the inhabitants of the city gathered in one place and there, near an oak tree, they installed Abimelech as king. At this very time, on a nearby mountain, Garizin suddenly appeared to Jotham and shouted in a loud voice: “Listen to me, people of Shechem, and God will listen to you.” When there was silence, he continued: “Once upon a time the trees decided to anoint a King over them. And they said to the olive tree: Be our King. - Olive answered: will I part with my fatness, which is used to honor gods and people, and will I begin to tremble over the trees? The trees said to the fig tree: come and reign over us. - The fig tree answered: Will I part with my sweetness and my beautiful fruit, and will I begin to tremble over the trees? The trees said to the vine: Come and reign over us. - And the vine answered: Will I part with my juice, which makes glad the gods and people, and will I begin to shake over the trees? Finally, all the trees said to the thorn tree: come and reign over us. - The thorn tree said: if you truly anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge under my shadow (and what kind of shadow is the thorn bush); if not, then beware lest fire come out of the thorn bush and consume the very cedars of Lebanon. “So, think about it, did you act justly when you made Abimelech king, and did you reward Gideon and his house as they should?” (now we have the Romanov house). Why did my father endanger his life for you, and delivered you from your enemies, and you killed seventy of his sons, and made Abimelech, the son of a slave, king! Let fire come out from Abimelech and burn you.” Having said this, Jotham ran away and hid from his brother. Abimelech actually burned the inhabitants in the city tower who were hiding from his threat for disobedience, and Abimelech himself was killed by a woman who threw a piece of a millstone at him. Thus, the curse of Jotham befell both the Shechemites for wickedness and Abimelech for fratricide! (Judges 9) The sons of Russia celebrating the royal anointing. Will not the righteous punishment of God also befall our traitors who attempted to kill our Tsar, anointed by God to the kingdom, whose ancestors, once anointed by God to the kingdom of Russia, exalted him and elevated him to the level of the foremost power in the world? And what would we become, Russians, without the Tsar? Our enemies would soon try to destroy the very name of Russia - since the Bearer and Guardian of Russia, after God, is the Sovereign of Russia, the Autocratic Tsar, and without him Russia is not Russia. May God protect Russia and the Tsar of Russia, if not for the sake of the Russians, who have become unworthy due to their great sins, then for the sake of the Orthodox Church, for the sake of all the saints and for the sake of all the miracles that were revealed in Russia in previous centuries, through the intercession and intercession of the Mother of God and the holy Russian wonderworkers, of whom the Russian Church and the Russian land are not scarce. Word eight. On the day of the accession to the ancestral all-Russian throne of His Majesty the Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Russia and the Church are now celebrating the triumph of the accession to the All-Russian ancestral throne of our Most Pious Sovereign, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich. The holy king and prophet David, contemplating with his prophetic gaze the infinite greatness of the beginningless God, the Father, the Almighty, the Creator and King of heaven and earth, of everything visible and invisible, His eternal goodness, truth and wisdom, says in one of the psalms: Thy kingdom, O God, is the kingdom of all ages, and Thy dominion throughout all generations (Ps. 144:13). God, naturally, by His very Being, is the King, as the Creator, Lawgiver and Provider of the visible and invisible world He created, and creatures fulfill His laws exactly: rational creatures - Angels and pious people - freely and voluntarily, and not rational and complacent, according to the necessity of nature and the exact will of the Creator. Only God can authorize a chosen person to rule and entrust him with autocratic power, investing him with glory, greatness and power. The Most High owns the kingdom of men, says the prophet, and gives it to whomever He wants (Dan. 4:29). Therefore, kings ascend to the throne, are crowned, anointed and reign on earth by divine right. So it was in the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, the eternal King, and so in the New, after His coming to earth, during His life and teaching on earth: and He Himself, the King of heaven and earth and every creature, obeyed the royal power according to humanity, and commanded to give it due respect and obedience. His answer to the scribes and Pharisees is known: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and the things that are God's to the Gods (Matthew 22:21). Multi-managerial and multi-member government of the people has never been a permanent and generally recognized government in the world. “Obey yourselves to the king, as he is superior, or to the prince, as he was sent from him, for vengeance as an evildoer, but for praise as a doer of good (1 Pet. 2:13-14), says the apostle. The King is the image of the King of Heaven; There is One God - and there is One King. Our mind, in its cognition, generalizes all the countless things and phenomena in the world and brings them to unity. The world, with its infinite variety of things, phenomena and actions, is one common harmonious whole, united by the One Creator and Provider and one common goal - to serve the glory of the Creator and the goodness and bliss of rational and irrational creatures, to demonstrate His infinite wisdom, beauty and goodness. His power is almighty. His truth is eternal. Its unity and trinity. God is the only King of heaven and earth, as long as they stand and are not destroyed. For the time will come when they too will be destroyed (2 Pet. 3:10), according to the word of God. And so God alone clothes and girds the kings with His power, splendor and beauty and places a royal crown on their head. And in vain the enemies of the autocracy want and are intensifying to undermine the royal throne. The Lord Himself establishes him by His power on the throne. God! King Prophet David exclaims, “The king rejoices in your power, and rejoices immensely over your salvation.” You gave him what his heart desired, and you did not reject the request of his lips. For You greeted him with the blessings of goodness, You placed a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked You for life; You gave him longevity for ever and ever. Great is his glory in Thy salvation. You have placed upon him honor and greatness. You have placed a blessing on him forever, you have made him glad with the joy of Your countenance. For the king trusts in the Lord, and because of the goodness of the Most High he will not be shaken. Your hand will find all your enemies, your right hand will find (all) those who hate you. In the time of Your wrath You will make them like a fiery furnace; in His wrath the Lord will destroy them, and the fire will consume them. You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their seed from among the sons of men. For they undertook evil against You, they formed plans, but they could not carry them out. You will target them; from Your bows You will shoot arrows at their faces. Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength: we will sing and glorify Your power (Ps. 20:2–14). May autocracy remain forever in Russia, the guarantee of its power and glory, may the King of kings confirm the scepter and orb in the hand of the Tsar, and may His glorious sword be used to defeat the enemies of the kingdom and Orthodoxy. The ninth word. On the day of the transfer of honest and multi-healing relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg, St. Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky in 1724 The Russian Russian Church, and especially the capital of Petrov, is now celebrating the glorious day of the transfer of the venerable relics of St. The Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky, the former invincible Knight of the Russian Land, who at one time won a glorious victory on the banks of the Neva over the border Swedes, and was therefore named Nevsky. For better decoration of the capital, as well as to glorify the works and exploits of St. The prince, who had fought gloriously with the Swedes several hundred years earlier, Peter the Great wished to move St. his miraculous relics from the city of Vladimir to his new capital, St. Petersburg, having first ordered a magnificent shrine to be arranged for them at his royal expense. For our consolation in the sorrowful time we are experiencing, when a bloody war of extermination is raging in the Far East with a frantic and crafty pagan people, whose symbol is the dragon, I want to compare two signs revealed to John the Theologian in revelation, and having applications to us, to our Orthodox Church and to the dragon land - Japan. I mentioned these signs at the beginning of the word. They point us to the future victory of our church over the dragon, the ancient serpent and over pagan Japan. First sign. This is the woman clothed with the sun; under her feet is the moon, illuminated by the sun of truth - Christ, the earthly church and on her head a crown of twelve stars. The woman clothed in the sun - Christ, is the Mother of God and at the same time St. the church of Christ, clothed in Christ, who is its head. The twelve stars are the twelve apostles who planted and established the Church on earth; it is now represented, among other things, by our Orthodox, Eastern, Ecumenical Church. The wife was pregnant and screamed from the pain and pangs of birth - this is Russia, which has within itself the children of its Orthodox Christians, who are now being born and baptized in the rivers of their blood into eternal life. Another sign in the sky. Here is a large red dragon with seven heads (commanders). This dragon stood before his wife - Orthodox Russia and the Church - to devour her baby. And she gave birth to a male child, Christ - here we mean Christians, in whom Christ was imagined, Who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God (the ascension of Christ) and His throne. This also includes all those who fought the good fight and moved to heaven. And the wife fled into the desert, where a place had been prepared for her by God, so that she could be fed there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (three and a half years). This signifies the last difficult times for the church. And there was a war in heaven (for the church). Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought against them. But they did not resist, and there was no longer a place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, called the devil and Satan (now active in the Japanese), who deceives the entire universe, was cast out to the earth, and his angels (demons) were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice speaking in heaven; Now has come salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ; because the slanderer of our brethren, who slandered them before our God day and night, has been cast down. They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and did not love their souls even to death (Apoc. 12:10–11). May the Lord grant us, after the victorious end of the real war between Christ and the dragon, to hear the victorious voice: now has come salvation and power, and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ. Now is the time to bring to mind the following difficult circumstance from the glorious military life of St. Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky. At the time when his father Yaroslav reigned in Vladimir, and he reigned in the great Novgorod, the peoples who then lived (in the 13th century) around the Baltic Sea - the Varangians, now called the Swedes, led by their king with many warships - came to our borders with the intention of taking possession of Izhora, Ladoga, Novgorod and captivating the entire Russian land. They approached the Neva River and stopped at its mouth at the confluence with the Gulf of Finland; the king, proud of his army, sent his ambassadors to Novgorod to Grand Duke Alexander to say: if you want, submit to me; and if not, then know that I am already in your land and will soon take it captive. Alexander, not having a sufficient army ready and not being able to notify his father Prince Yaroslav of Vladimir about his difficult situation due to an unexpected attack by enemies, alone, placing his trust in the one glorified God in the Trinity and praying for help to the Most Holy Theotokos, and calling for help the relatives of his holy passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, without an army, with one small squad came out against numerous army of his opponents. Arriving at the Neva River, he took up arms not far from the Swedes. And when he was with one of the governors of the Izhora region, a God-fearing man named Philip, who was entrusted with the night watch so that he would secretly find out how much strength the enemies had. Seeing a large enemy army and being in fear and bewilderment, he returned to report to the Prince about what he had seen; and when he walked near the sea, at sunrise, he saw a ship near the shore and in the middle of it two splendid young men in scarlet robes, putting their hands on each other’s shoulders; the rowers sat as if covered in fog. He hears a voice! brother Gleb! Let's go quickly - let's help our relative Grand Duke Alexander against the adversary. And the other answered: good, brother Boris! The scout, having heard this, with fear and joy hurries to tell the holy Prince Alexander about it - and he heard about it, glorified God, the Most Pure Mother of God and the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb. Having fought with the enemies, Alexander’s small squad defeated the enemy hordes, and the Prince himself struck the king himself in the face, who, with the small remnant of his army, fled. Thus, with the help of God and the Mother of God and St. martyrs Boris and Gleb, St. Alexander won a glorious victory and delivered his country from foreign slavery, and from this glorious victory at the Neva he was named Nevsky. And more than once he liberated Novgorod from these enemies. After this glorious victory, the Swedes attacked Pskov, killing many people, and installed their governors in it. St. Alexander with his brother Andrei and a hastily assembled army, surrounding all the roads of Pskov, defeated many enemies and returned the city of Pskov to their power. The name of Alexander Nevsky became terrible among the Swedes. This is how strong faith and piety are in the Christian army, especially in its leaders. God grant that our current leaders will be imbued with faith and hope for help from above, and not rely only on their own minds and on the strength and large numbers of the army. – And in the ancient Old Testament wars, the Jews defeated their enemies not by strength and numbers, but by the faith and piety of their leaders and army. We believe and hope that our glorious leaders and our Christ-loving army, not only through strength, skill and courage, but especially through their faith in the almighty help of God, will soon overcome our enemies. Word tenth. Fraternal appeal to our valiant troops on the fields of distant Manchuria My dear brothers, Christ-loving warriors, of every rank - from the highest to the lowest, standing face to face with an insidious and cunning enemy! My short heartfelt word to you in the name of the Lord. Russia, our dear fatherland, is now going through difficult days, such as have never happened in all the times of its existence. But do not forget for a moment, beloved, that the disasters we are experiencing, inside and outside, were sent to us from a righteous and all-good Providence because the Russians have forgotten their God, their Savior, in a way that has never happened before; They boldly trampled all His commandments, and everyone began to fulfill the evil will of his heart, turning his whole life inside out, especially our so-called unfortunate, distraught intelligentsia. The blows sent to us from the Lord God are severe, extremely painful, but these are fatherly blows and punishments, temporary, for admonition and punishment. After God and the Mother of God, and all the saints, all of Russia turns its gaze to you, dear brothers, places its hopes, expecting a complete victory in the name of the Lord over the enemies who have taken up arms against us on all sides. Be bold, stand firm and see salvation from the Lord (Exodus 14:13), says the inspired prophet on behalf of God. He also says: when you go out to war against your enemy, and you see horses and chariots and more people than yours, then do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you. When you begin the battle, then let the priest come and speak to the army, and say to them: listen, today you enter into battle with your enemies, let not your heart fail, do not be afraid, do not be embarrassed, and do not be dismayed at them; for the Lord your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deut. 20:1–4). But do not forget to fulfill the commandments of your God; observe and fulfill them with all your heart and all your soul, and you will be blessed when you enter and when you go out. The Lord will defeat your enemies who rise up against you before you; They will come against you one way, and they will flee from you seven ways (Deut. 28 ch.). Remember, dear brothers, courageously fighting on the battlefield for the faith, the king and the fatherland, that the Lord is with you, and He Himself will fight with you, if you firmly place your hope in Him; For the Lord will not save with a multitude of hosts (Ps. 33:16), not with deadly weapons, but with His almighty power. Remember the solar appearance of the cross in the sky to Tsar Constantine and his army with the inscription in stars around the cross: by this you will win, i.e. cross, that’s where the strength of the Christian army is in the cross, for Christ by the cross defeated and will defeat our enemies, visible and invisible. Believe firmly that the Lord is with you: behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), He says. Remember our elected Voivode, the Mother of God, who saved Russia countless times in battles with enemies. May God grant that even now, after the glorious victory, we all sing with one heart and one mouth: To the chosen Voivode, victorious... I fraternally advise all of you, before every battle, to speak or sing the church dogma: world glory has vegetated from man (produced - from the word growth) and the Lord who has given birth, the heavenly door, let us sing to the Virgin Mary, the disembodied song and the faithful fertilizer (praise), this for heaven and the church of the Divine have appeared; Having destroyed this barrier of enmity, peace was introduced and the kingdom was opened. This is because it is a statement of faith. The champion of the imam of the born Lord. Dare, dare, people of God: for He will conquer his enemies, for He is omnipotent. (Learn this song by heart). With this sacred song, go out into battle and win. Word eleven. On the day of the glorious Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary What a holy, divine, joyful sight God once revealed to the eyes of two righteous men, once enlightened by the holiness of life, - and with the lips of two or three witnesses every testimony was firm - who saw in the vaults of the majestic Blachernae Church, like the sun, the shining Mother of God, the Queen of heaven and earth with the Archangel multitude and with the faces of all the saints, praying to God and extending Her shining omophorion over the multitude of praying people! What joy, hope and joy this vision instilled in the hearts of everyone who was in the church, when this joyful news flew around them with the speed of lightning! What deep truth and real help was revealed soon after the miraculous phenomenon! For the city of Constantine the Great, besieged by the Saracens, was delivered from enemies, not by sword and spear, but by Divine power, and the enemies fled, frightened by heavenly power, leaving their entire camp besieged. This is the wondrous, saving cover of the Mother of God the church now celebrates! But, apparently, people then were worthy of this heavenly protection and cover. I say they are worthy - because, according to the testimony of church history, then the prayer was universal, unanimous, fervent, in the presence of the king and queen, the synclite, the people and two great righteous people - Andrew and his disciple. We were now in no less difficult military circumstances, but we did not receive heavenly all-powerful help for our grave sins, which surpassed all measure, all description. And we were defeated everywhere or we ourselves voluntarily surrendered into captivity with our ships, people and supplies at sea and on land (the fortress of Port Arthur), because we did not have enough faith, courage, fidelity to duty, but we had enough confidence in impunity and justification at trial! Some of the commanders at sea were guided by the accepted conviction of the famous writer Leo Tolstoy of non-resistance to evil. These traitors betrayed the faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland, and if only our fate were in their hands, we would all be betrayed with all our dear property. Thank God that there were still loyal troops in reserve with their leaders who remained faithful to duty. What kind of heavenly help could have been given given our lack of faith, unpreparedness, cowardice, neglect of state property, given the moral and disciplinary laxity that existed in some military people, proven in practice! We beat ourselves, and only the fervent prayer of the church gave us peace, not entirely shameful. To deserve heavenly help in the difficult circumstances of the fatherland, you need a strong faith in divine help - and most importantly, repentance for the sins that caused God's wrath against Russia - correction of morals, and not strengthening of vices during the height of the war. A righteous heaven cannot be in communion with human untruths. What kind of communication can there be between light and darkness, righteousness with lawlessness, Christ with Satan? (2 Cor. 6:15). What kind of evil have not the Russian people, even those living in Russia, done? What sins have you not yet corrupted yourself with? They have done and will do everything that provokes the righteous wrath of God upon us: obvious unbelief and blasphemy, rejection of all true principles of faith, debauchery, drunkenness, all kinds of amusements instead of putting on the mourning of public repentance and sorrow for sins that anger God - disobedience to the authorities. Incomprehensible autonomy, providing everyone with complete unbridledness and disobedience to superiors; a willful strike, harmful to everyone, complete anarchy. We have retreated from God, and God has retreated from us. We have rejected the will of God, we live according to our own will - and soon we will see where it will lead or has already led. If you bite and devour one another, says the word of God, then beware lest you destroy one another (Gal. 5:15). What kind of heavenly protection can we expect when we ourselves have turned away from God? If we do not repent and correct ourselves, we will be abandoned by God. Behold, your house is left empty (Matthew 23:38), says the Lord. But let it not be. There are still faithful and chosen righteous people in Russia, as there once were in the reigning city of St. Andrey with Epiphanius and others. Word twelfth. On the day of repose of St. Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian The holy repose of Christ’s beloved disciple is a lesson in resurrection and immortality. Today, the Church of Christ celebrates the glorious memory of the repose of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian from temporary life to eternal life, from corruptible to incorruptible, from laborious and sorrowful to eternal peace and joy, from labor to royal life, for he, along with the other Apostles, was promised by the Truth itself - Christ the royal seat and judgment over the twelve tribes of Israel. The death of Christ's beloved disciple and confidant was supernatural: three days after the burial, his body was not found in the ground in which he was buried; he was transferred with his body to the heavenly villages, to the throne of God, having at the same time received a lot - to remain on earth at will, until the second terrible coming of Christ, in fulfillment of the words of the Lord spoken to the Apostle Peter: if I want him to remain (in the body) until I come, what is that to you? (John 21:23) Thus, human nature was exalted, immortalized and deified in the person of the Apostle John, such a loud, wise, divine Theologian and teacher of the true faith was given to humanity in the person of the beloved Apostle John. His divine, wonderful Gospel, filled with divine simplicity and greatness, has penetrated to all ends of the world; taught and teaches all nations who have accepted the faith of Christ, true, soul-nourishing and soul-saving Theology. Let us pay special attention to the words spoken by the Lord, the Author of our life, to the Apostle Peter regarding his martyrdom on the cross and regarding John’s stay until the second coming of the Lord: if I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? What do these sovereign words of the Creator and Lord of creatures mean? They mean that John will not die for several thousand years, and will experience death for a few days only before His second, glorious coming to earth. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, learn about our resurrection and immortality from the wondrous death of Christ’s Apostle John, and we will continually prepare for relocation to another, eternal world. The Apostle reposed, but did not die, but lives in body, and does not retreat from the earth, as the church says, and awaits the second terrible coming of the Lord to judge the whole world (Stichera on Little Eternity, glory). Our so-called intellectuals do not believe in the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the human soul, in righteous retribution for all, in the eternal bliss of the righteous and in the eternal torment of unrepentant sinners - and therefore they have completely lost their way from the vital, rational, Divine basis and have become not intellectuals (reasonable), but insane, doing completely insane things; imbued with hatred of faith, of Christian piety, of truth and righteousness, of everything holy, honest and praiseworthy; they proclaimed wild freedom to their senseless passions, declared war on the authorities and all social order, indulged in disobedience, all manner of outrage, murder in broad daylight, all lies and slander against those they hated; They proclaimed in word and deed the so-called terror and keep the authorities themselves in fear, while they themselves should be afraid of the authorities: for it is said: there is no authority except from God; The existing powers were created by God. Do you want to not be afraid of power? Do good, and you will receive praise from it; If you do evil, be afraid, lest a fool carries a sword (Rom. 13:1, 4). And here’s what’s surprising: the authorities are afraid to use the sword against those who raise their swords or throw murderous missiles, while seditious people use murderous weapons against the authorities with impunity; power does not wield the sword given to it by God. But the faithful servants of the fatherland are falling like sheaves and there is no one to protect them. And when I say this, I think that these notorious enemies of all truth, the enemies of the Church of Christ, are raising their swords against me. But may the Eternal and Vigorous One, who dwells in heaven, preserve those who fight against unrighteousness. Behold, the guardian of Israel will not sleep; he who guards Israel will fall asleep (Ps. 120:4). We see phenomena that have never happened before: youths and youths, who have just entered life and do not understand it, its goals, want to dominate men of experience and science, over people who have served their fatherland with benefit, honor and glory, over powerful people invested with royal trust. In truth, boys rule over elders, according to the prophet Isaiah. – When will this end? When will power wield the sword wisely? When will he receive the power bestowed from God and instill fear in those who want to dominate the authorities with fear? Oh, how the Russian people, and especially the so-called liberals, have become unworthy of their Christian calling, unworthy of the Gospel, because they oppose it in everything - unworthy of Christ, the Lamb of God, who redeemed us with His blood from the righteous wrath of God, from the hereditary corruption of sin, from curse and death. Apostle, beloved of Christ God, hasten to deliver the unrequited people; acceptable, you falling, like those who fell on your face, accepted. Pray to Him, O Theologian, to disperse the prevailing darkness of the Russian intellectuals, asking us for peace and great mercy (Troparion of the holiday). Word thirteen. On the day of holy memory of our venerable father John of Rila For the glory of God, in honor and memory of St. John and for our spiritual benefit, let us discuss what is meant by the flesh, which is spoken of in the short verse just given, and what is meant by the immortal soul; how to despise the flesh given to us by God to serve the soul, and how to be diligent about the immortal soul. From a lack of understanding of both, i.e. flesh and soul, and from negligence about the soul there is a lot of unrest in our lives and many people perish temporarily and eternally. In the short church song just cited, flesh and soul mean two opposite things or principles: the evil principle and the good principle; By flesh we mean sin or all passions that fight the human race and destroy the soul and body of a person: extremely perverted pride, pride, deceit, stubborn unbelief, doubt in revealed or known truths, freethinking, heresy, sects, schisms; intemperance, luxury, lust, carnality, drunkenness, fornication, greed, envy, laziness towards piety and prayer, towards repentance, alienation from God, love-loving, carnal life, hard-heartedness towards neighbors, and especially towards the poor and needy - self-will, lack of churchliness, disobedience to parents and authorities, madness, blasphemy against God and all that is holy, in general under flesh should mean every sin, and by soul - the immortal principle in man, our soul, created in the image and likeness of God, the image of God distorted in us by sin and the lost likeness of God and the likeness to the enemy of God, the devil, the apostate from God, who has introduced into his angelic nature wickedness, anger, pride, envy, disobedience to God, which has reigned in the souls through various passions, unrepentance; all madness, blindness of mind and all corruption - endless death and eternal torment, and subjected to it the entire human race that works for him. The meaning is this: St. John, like everyone else who belongs to the ranks of the saints, taught with his righteous life to despise and repel from oneself - every sin, all human passions, to fight them, not to follow or obey them, to firmly adhere to faith and virtue, godly simplicity, love for God and neighbor, and, thus, to constantly become like God, to achieve Christian perfection and eternal bliss, as it is said: you be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). This is the meaning of the church song and what it teaches all Christians. After the first people, created in the image and likeness of God, did not preserve their invaluable treasure - holiness, righteousness, freedom from sin, agreement with the will of God and blissful balance, harmony in soul and body - the flesh began to resist the spirit in everything and incline it to every sin; man split into two, became a slave of sin, was darkened by hellish darkness, fell into the most pitiful ignorance of God, into absurd idolatry and in it he deified himself, his senseless and destructive passions - he became a slave of evil demons, and not a servant of God, and perished, unable to do anything truly good without God and upon death descending into hell, a prison of darkness and death. Only Christ our God, who took upon Himself our flesh and soul, and fulfilled all righteousness for us, taught us to despise the flesh and all its passions and to be diligent about the immortal soul, about its salvation and freedom from sin, and gave us all the strength for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). He alone returned to human nature the holiness and integrity bestowed upon it in the beginning through the mysterious rebirth of water and spirit. He taught: unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God, for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e. a person born of parents corrupted by sin is also sinful, unclean and unworthy of God and His life, His kingdom, and that which is born of the Spirit (the Holy One) is spirit (John 3:5–6), i.e. a reborn person, cleansed from the filth of sin in baptism, is a saint, with the gift of re-being (secondary being). This rebirth or mystical rebirth, which we received by God's grace in baptism, is what we must keep within ourselves with all diligence and no longer be defiled by any passions, being dead to sin but alive to God (Rom. 6:11), resisting with all your might the attacks or attacks of all passions, preserving the image of God within yourself and achieving the likeness of God. All the apostles, in their letters to Christians, begged them to live worthy of their Christian calling and to be conformed to Christ. I pray that you walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called (Eph. 4:1). In all their lives and deeds, the saints tried to imitate Christ in holy simplicity, in unceasing prayer, meekness, humility, kindness, abstinence, non-covetousness, patience, perfect devotion to God, obedience to authorities, in unceasing labors, in serving others. Their life on earth was an angelic, heavenly life. Living on earth with their bodies, they lived with their hearts in heaven, constantly contemplating with spiritual eyes the unimaginable beauty of the Face of the Lord, His infinite goodness, boundless greatness, wisdom, ever-present, omnipotence, bliss. They did not prefer anything on earth to God, they did not attach their hearts to anything, having in their hearts one invaluable Treasure - God. Who is in my heaven? and with You I want nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart faint: God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever (Ps. 72:25–26), they said to David. Living with God, they had heaven in their hearts, because God lived and walked in them according to the Scripture: I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God (2 Cor. 6:16). Whoever loves Me will keep My word, and we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23), says the Lord. Thus, the saints, with all their lives, with all their thoughts, with all their feelings, with all the powers of soul and body, pleased God, their Prototype, the Law-Giver and the Giver of the Law, they lived in God and by God and we, each in his rank, are taught to strive for a holy life and for the destined eternal bliss in God. But let us go back to the beginning of sin. Since the fall of the first people, the love of this world began, this enmity against God of verbal, sensory creatures, i.e. of the human race, life according to the flesh, according to the prince of the powers of the air (Eph. 2:2), and not according to the spirit, and streams of lawlessness poured into the world below in an endless wave. The fallen spirits founded on earth their evil, full of all evil and deceit - the demonic kingdom in order to constantly seduce people into all evil, with the permission of God, to test them - and entered into a desperate struggle with God and the human race, especially with the seed of saints and chosen people - and in world life thus two clearly opposite currents were revealed, on the one hand - good and evil, flesh and spirit, the world lying in evil, and on the other hand, the Spirit of God abiding in the godly: the community of believers, the elect and righteous, and the world - the adulterous and sinful, lying in evil (1 John. 5:19); a war has opened between evil and piety, sin and righteousness, faith and unbelief; most people have forgotten God and deified creatures and their passions: the image of God in man has become distorted and darkened; instead of striving for his prototype, God, man deviated towards the enemy, became like the evil principle or the teacher of all evil - the devil; the original purpose for which man was created - eternal life - fell into oblivion, no one thought about it; people became, as it were, soulless flesh, and the Lord said about them before the flood: My Spirit will not forever be despised by men: for they are flesh (Gen. 6:3), i.e. they are full of all lawlessness, all that is holy, all truth, all virtue is reduced to nothing; only a small society of the elect: patriarchs, prophets and righteous people, like Job, knew God and honored Him. Man, a speck of dust on the earth, has entered into a struggle with the immeasurable greatness of God; a limited mind blinded by sin - with an infinite mind and with eternal wisdom; lies - with eternal, unshakable truth, anger - with immeasurable goodness, brutal rage (persecution of believers) - with eternal, unchanging calmness and goodness. And throughout the entire continuation of this visible world, this insane struggle between the creature and the Creator takes place; what happened in the ancient pagan world has been repeated now, in the Christian world and here in Russia. But the time will come - this struggle will end with the complete defeat of evil and the victory of good over evil: for He must reign until He makes His enemies His footstool. The last enemy will be destroyed by death (1 Cor. 15:25–26). In the real Japanese War, the original enemy of God and man, the devil, rebelled against God, against the Church of Christ, and will be defeated by Christ. The war is caused by the godlessness and immorality of the Russian all-class world, and the war gives it a bitter lesson. Our current intellectuals have reduced to zero, to nothing, all the good and wise Economy of God for the salvation of the human race; reduced to zero in their godless writings of St. a church founded unshakably on earth by God; they despised the Cross of Christ the Redeemer; sacred revelation or the word of God, the grace of the priesthood, divine laws, in place of which they introduce their own carnal laws that corrupt morals; they elevated the satisfaction of their carnal passions to a cult; They put their minds in the place of the mind of God, they elevated illegal divorces from wives into law, and they interpret the word of God perversely, and thereby confuse people of faith and piety. May the real cruelest war sober us up, and may all the lost sons and daughters of Russia turn to God and to His Church. Lord, You correct our corrupt morals, and teach us all to glorify You, our heavenly Father, with a righteous life. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, as it is in heaven and on earth (Matthew 6:9–13). Word fourteen. On the day of remembrance of the holy, glorious and all-praised Apostle Andrew the First-Called Such an extraordinary calling by the Savior of two Jewish fishermen Peter and Andrew to the high apostolic work, for which He Himself came from heaven to earth! Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matthew 4:19). From like he calls to like: from catching fish to catching men. And why does the Lord call preaching the Gospel about repentance and the kingdom of heaven and the Messiah the Savior a trap? In these tributary words of the Lord, as in all His parables, lies Divine wisdom, truth and goodness. The divine gaze of Christ clearly saw the sad spectacle of the world, namely, how the ethereal hunter-devil with his countless army of evil spirits is catching the human race throughout the entire earth, or, more correctly, has already caught it in his destructive nets and covered it with the shadow of death; His all-seeing eye clearly saw all of humanity immersed in the destruction of idolatry, all of its corruption by countless vices; He saw His verbal creatures perishing from the mental wolf - diving into the depths of destruction - and He came to seek them out, to extract them from the enemy’s nets, like a precious catch, to bring them to the Heavenly Father - enlightened, purified, reborn by the bath of baptism and repentance, sanctified, and honored by the gift of deification and eternal life. For this greatest work, the Lord, the knower of the heart, chose simple, uneducated fishermen, unsubtle, kind-hearted and completely devoted to Him, people whom He Himself taught in the great work of fishing. He himself managed to accomplish this great deed. He Himself revived them, making them out of old skins into new skins, and out of old clothes into new ones, as He Himself said in the parable: Matt. 9:16; Mk. 2:21; OK. 5:36–38. He Himself gave them the gift of speech and reason and made them capable of carrying the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven to all ends of the world, so that such a great thing as the salvation of the human race would not be attributed to the art or power of people, but, as in the truth, to the power of God, and so that no flesh would boast before God (1 Cor. 1:29). Now the words of heavenly wisdom are clear: follow Me - and I will make you fishers of men, i.e. you will be like Me, dispassionate for the world, uncovetous, leave, for My sake, your home, family, earthly craft, as I left for the salvation of people - heaven and the throne of My heavenly Father and came to you on earth, full of the stench of sin, in this mortal vale, to humanity alienated from Me by sin, for I came to My own, to My people, created by Me and brought up and My I was not accepted (by the Jews). (John 1:11). Follow Me, be strangers and strangers on earth, just as I became a Stranger for your sake, seek heaven, this ancient fatherland lost by sin and draw everyone to it, catch people from the depths of destruction to the land of the eternally living. To a Christian man, knowledgeable in St. Scripture and church history, it is well known with what marvelous success the Lord blessed the apostolic preaching, attracting people - from idolatry to the knowledge of God - how they changed the morals of people and brought Christ God a great catch of the saved, turning them from the realm of Satan to God. At the same time, the following thought occurred to me, as it were, bewilderment. Why is it that the beginningless, omnipotent God, infinitely wise and righteous, who could in an instant deliver to eternal torment the proud, most crafty and evil apostate Satan, deprive him of all power to harm people, and thus deliver from his destructive snares the human race, seduced by him and deceived incessantly - why does he still allow him to tempt and deceive people, and destroy them and produce in the world there are countless disasters with the universal death of the human race, and sometimes bring nature itself into confusion? And, what is most amazing, this beginningless and omnipotent Creator Himself, instead of completely punishing the villain, deigned to save man from the snares of the enemy, to utterly humiliate himself, to take the form of a slave and to be a man, being God, to suffer and die the most blasphemous, painful death according to human nature, in order to redeem us with His sufferings for us from sin, from the devil, curse and death! What an immense ransom price! And so why did the Lord allow the enemy to have freedom - to tempt and destroy people; Why is he not completely bound, and continues to do great harm to the human race, and by the end of the visible world he will receive such power and strength that almost the entire earth will serve Satan in the person of the Antichrist, so that when Christ comes, will He find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8). In allowing the enemy to act temptingly in the world until the second coming of Christ lies wisdom, long-suffering - the truth and mercy of God. Satan and his kingdom are not connected, but act in the world to a certain extent so that people, believers and faithful, struggling with sin and with enemies and being in the crucible of temptations and troubles, are thereby cleansed and strengthened in faith, patience, hope and love and complete devotion to God and are worthy of His shrine and receive the greater bliss in the future life, the more they were tempted and suffered here, and strengthened in love for God; it is known that a person who has not been tested in the crucible of troubles and misfortunes is weak in faith and love, not trustworthy and fickle, but who has gone through this crucible is hard as an anvil. On the other hand, evil spirits are allowed to tempt people who are unbelievers, proud, money-loving, voluptuous, lazy, and entice them into various vices so that these people receive righteous retribution for their wickedness, unbelief, for their pride, addiction to vanity, greed and laziness, and for neglect of their souls and God’s care for their salvation. Let the unrighteous still commit unrighteousness, and let the filthy one still become defiled. And he who does the truth, let him do the truth again, and let the saint be sanctified again. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward everyone according to his deeds (Rev. 22:11–12), says the Lord. To this we must also add the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ, through His incarnation, teaching, miracles, suffering and death for the human race, having reconciled us with the Heavenly Father, and having removed the burdensome curse from us, interceded for us a blessing and gave human nature all the grace-filled strength for life and piety, and made it capable through faith and zeal of all virtue and Christian perfection and of complete victory over the devil and to his shame - and therefore expects from all of us the corresponding fruits of virtue and perfection of life, in order to reward us with the greatest possible bliss, and so that we can learn by experience how good it is to cleave to God and live according to his commandments. Therefore, let Christians always know and remember that the devil is allowed to tempt us either for our good, so that we do not doze off, but stay awake and work for our salvation, or for our punishment for laziness and negligence about our salvation and for our worldly addictions: for the devil himself, all his dirty tricks will serve to an unimaginable increase in his eternal torment. It is known that today the morals of Christians have become extremely weakened and corrupted, so that for many there is nothing sacred. Our intelligentsia and partly the common people were led to this state of morals by the unbridled press, especially the underground press. For a long time she sought complete freedom, and finally she got through. And before it was often dissolute, but now it is more so - and how quickly it spreads and in what abundance! It crowds out the word of God and takes possession of minds and hearts, inciting the Russian people to all sorts of dissipation. Where is the spirit of Christ, the apostolic spirit, the spirit of obedience to authorities? Where are the Christian virtues? Where is the desire for a mountainous fatherland? The Lord looks down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if they understand or seek God. All of them have turned away together, no one does goodness, not even one (Ps. 13:2-3). На Дальнем Востоке острый серп Божий пожинает бесчисленные разумные колосья, т.е. our dear warrior brothers. One way or another, this sickle will reap us too. And then where will this stubble go? – Праведный Судия определил поступать с нами по правде и милости прежде сложения мира. Страшный Суд ждет человечество: грядет судити вселенной в правду и людем правостию ( Пс. 97:9 ). Word fifteen. For the New Year 1906 We begin, by God's grace, the new year of 1906. Тысяча девятьсот пятый, злополучный, прошел, и дай Бог, чтобы никакие беды, бывшие в прошлом году, – в наступающем году не повторялись, так как они означились безчисленными потерями всякого рода, смертию многих верных сынов России, безмерными скорбями, стонами и рыданиями братий и сестер наших. Да будет же начавшийся год новым, полным Божией милости к нам, – временем покаяния и исправления, годом обновления нравственного; Let's try to be worthy of it. I address to myself and to you the advice and command of the Apostle - to put off your former way of life, the old man, which is corrupted by the deceitful lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on the new man, created according to God (in the image of God) in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:22-24). The New Year for us is so far only in number, and not in essence, because we all remain old, with the old leaven of passions, inclinations, habits, and have not put on the new person. Renewed, incorruptible holy humanity, who lived and labored before and died, resides in a new incorruptible world, in heaven, where there is no longer sin, and where truth and peace and joy reign eternally in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). We must imitate him. And so in the New Year it is proper to talk about the renewal of the human race. And when we talk about renewal, it is assumed that it has become extremely dilapidated, corrupted, stinking of all kinds of sins and is not worthy of communion with God: for what communion is there between light and darkness? (2 Cor. 6:14). The prophet depicts this sinful corruption of humanity before the coming of the Son of God in the flesh into the world as follows: there is none righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; no one seeks God, everyone has turned aside from the path, one and all are worthless; there is none who does good, no, not one (Ps. 13:1-3). Their larynx is an open tomb; they deceive with their tongue; the poison of asps is in their teeth (Ps. 5:10, 139:3); their lips are full of slander and bitterness (Ps. 9:28); Their feet are quick to shed blood; destruction and destruction are in their ways; they do not know the way of peace (Prov. 1:16). There is no fear of God before their eyes (Ps. 36:2; Rom. 3:10–18). Here is a gloomy picture of the corruption of humanity before the coming of Christ the Savior into the world. There is no bright place on it where the gaze of an impartial, pious observer could rest calmly and with inner satisfaction - only black colors. The majority of modern people are no better than the ancient world, despite the renewal principles laid in them by the Gospel and the Church; humanity has become a decaying or already decomposed corpse, about which the Lord said: where the corpse is, there the eagles will gather (Luke 17:37), thereby pointing to His glorious, terrible second coming with all the holy Angels, witnesses of all human life. This means that before the second coming of the Lord to judgment, the nations will be so corrupted and so corrupted in their morals that God’s long-suffering will come to an end; and the world's shovel will begin its work - it will cleanse the world's threshing floor from the countless sinful tares, and the Lord will gather the wheat into the heavenly granary, and burn the tares with unquenchable fire forever and ever. Then the true word of Christ God will be fulfilled in all its power, breadth and length: Behold, I am making all things new (Apoc. 21:5). All filthiness of sin will be forever removed from the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of one righteousness will come: nothing unclean will enter it, and no one devoted to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Apoc. 21:27). And so, happy new year! A Christian needs daily renewal through secret repentance, because everyone is corrupted by sin, which deceives us with its countless mirages and charms: whoever is in Christ is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). You might be interested in: