События в первом столетии второго тысячелетия

The tribe of Seth, called the sons of God, lived virtuously and godly throughout all the days of Adam’s life, serving the Lord in truth and reverence for almost a thousand years, walking according to the traditions and commandments of their righteous forefathers Adam and Seth, living their lives in the fear of God and not mingling with the God-hating tribe of Cain, who lived lawlessly. After the death of Adam, it began to gradually weaken and become corrupted, and after the death of Sifova, final corruption occurred. The reason for the corruption of the sons of God was no other than the commonwealth with the displeasing Cain tribe, as it will later become clear. For communication and cohabitation with evildoers will not corrupt anyone? It is well said in the psalms: “With the venerable you will be reverent..., with the obstinate you will be corrupted” (Ps. 17:26-27). And Jesus Sirach likens the harmful friendship with the evil to tar, saying: “If you touch the tar, you will be blackened by it, and if you turn to a proud person, it will be like him” (Sir. 13:1). This is how we should think in general regarding all lawlessness, and most of all regarding the impurity of carnal sin, for anyone who makes friends with a lawless person learns from him his iniquity and defiles his life, just as anyone who touches tar is denigrated. And indeed, the evil life of evil people, as well as friendly communication with them, is like tar: just as tar is black and sticky, easily sticking to any thing, and when it is lit by fire, it emits stinking smoke from itself, and its flame can hardly be extinguished, in the same way the bad deeds of the wicked are black, unseemly before God and people, but darkened like a murine. God speaks to such people in the prophecy of Amoz: “Shall you not be as the sons of the Moors to me, the sons of Israel?” (Am. 9, 7). When, he says, you become corrupt, will you not be like the dark-looking Ethiopian murines in my eyes? For everyone who does evil is a black mug, because he hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his deeds are not exposed, since they are evil (John 3:20). It is impossible for one who deals with such dark and blackened murins, blackened by the resin of bad deeds, not to become blackened himself, for evil is clinging, easily clinging to a person who by nature is inclined more to evil than to good, according to what is written: “A man’s mind is set on evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). When a person associates with the evil, he begins to be corrupted and, like tar, is burned with sinful fire, and immediately, like evil smoke, he begins to be smoldered with temptations, slander, and dishonor; the rumor of his evil deed will spread everywhere like smoke, and everyone will begin to abhor him, considering him worthy of ridicule and reproach for his evil deeds. When a corrupted person gets used to bad deeds, it is already difficult for him to correct himself, just as the flame of burning tar cannot be extinguished soon. That is why God exhorts: “Come out from among them and separate yourself... and do not touch their uncleanness, and I will receive you and be your Father” (2 Cor. 6:17-18). And the holy Apostle Peter prays, saying: “Save yourself from this obstinate generation” (Acts 2:40), - save yourself, he says, as if from some kind of destruction. Truly, it is worthy of wonder if anyone, living among the obstinate and the depraved, does not perish. We are amazed at the righteous men Noah, Abraham, Lot, Job and Tobiah, who were saved among the lawless nations, and we glorify them as miracles that happened in the world. Well and one of the Greek philosophers, being asked: what is a miracle in life? - answered: a good husband among the evil ones. If, he says, you find one good husband among many evil ones, marvel at this as some kind of miracle, since one is not often found; not often, for the Psalmist says: “Everything has turned aside, together with the indecency of the Bysh; do not do goodness, not to one” (Ps. 52:4). What is the reason for such corruption in people? The one that seduces and harms each other by the example of their evil lives. One, seeing the evil life of another, comes into temptation and begins to do the same evil, and thus evil people multiply, and virtuous people diminish. Therefore, the Lord says in the Gospel: “Woe to the world because of temptation!” (Matthew 18:7). Woe! For the world is filled with temptations, as well as sins. It is a temptation to see, because they see such great iniquities happening in the world! Temptation of hearing, since deceitful, blasphemous, deceitful, nasty and stingy words are heard in the world. And who can avoid these temptations? Therefore, woe to the world from them! Many, wanting to save themselves from them, fled to the desert, to the mountains, to caves, so as not to see or hear these worldly temptations, since it is difficult for those who are between these temptations to be saved. For if many passions arise among those who do not see the world and those who live in the deserts, and some place an obstacle to salvation, then much more do they overcome, conquer and destroy those who dwell among the obstinate and corrupt generation. One elder, who lived in a monastery located in the Egyptian desert, once went to Alexandria to sell his handicrafts; Seeing a young monk there entering the inn, he was greatly saddened and waited for him on the street. When he came out, he took him alone and said to him privately: don’t you, brother, know how numerous the devil’s snares are, and don’t you understand that we are damaged through sight, and through hearing, and through examples in the city? You, being young, go to an inn and there you see and hear things that you would not want to hear or see. I beg you, my child, run into the desert, where you can be saved with God’s help. - The young monk answered him: go away, venerable old man, God is not looking for anything, but only one thing - a pure heart. -Then the elder, raising his hands to the sky, said: Glory to You, God, so I lived in a deserted monastery for 55 years, but I did not acquire a pure heart! - Having said this, the elder marveled and did not believe that anyone, living like this among worldly temptations, could acquire a pure heart. Most of all, the reason for the confusion of the human heart with thoughts is frequent conversations with the female sex and the daring sight of a woman’s face, and if not at the very time in which someone is talking and looking, then subsequently the image seen is drawn by the mind in the heart, and unpleasing thoughts are born; then the soul becomes defiled, although the body is pure. Saint Isidore Pelusiot gives good advice to a certain person, saying: “Avoid women’s conversations, good husband! But you will say: although I talk a lot with them, I do not receive any harm from this. - Let it be so, but I want it to be reliable for everyone that the stone is erased by water, thinned, and broken through by raindrops, constantly dripping on it. Think about what I'm talking about: what is harder than stone? What is softer than water, is it better than a drop of water? However, constant diligence and nature overcomes. If the nature of the stone, barely mobile, suffers and diminishes from that thing which is nothingness (i.e. drops of water), then how can the human will, by its nature easily yielding, remain intact, undefeated and untransformed by long habit? An example of what is being said here was in early times in the sons of Seth, who were called the sons of God, who, seeing the beauty of the daughters of Cain, boldly began to talk with them and as a result of this died. You might be interested in: