События в восьмом столетии второго тысячелетия

In this eighth century of the second millennium, we did not find anything that could be conveyed in the historical narrative, for of the many human deeds committed in ancient times before the flood, not all of them were well preserved in the memory of subsequent generations, and few of them are narrated in Holy Scripture. Then, among people who lived according to their own will and did not have such a law as was given later, little useful was done, but more was done in the lawlessness of nasty sins. Therefore, let’s talk a little about how great the evil of sin is, so that we do not leave empty space in this table of calculating years, and also so that we, having the law of God given to us, do not follow the example of those ancient lawless people who angered God. So, let's look briefly at what sin is. Sin is a transgression of God’s commandment, resistance to the will of the Lord, disobedience to God, who commanded not to do evil, but to do good; it is aversion and removal of oneself from God, contempt for God and neglect of one’s own salvation, a spontaneous plunge of oneself from life into death. For a person who commits sin makes his soul dead, alien to eternal life, as Scripture testifies: “The soul that sins will die” (Ezek. 18:4). What follows sin? Following this comes the wrath of God, deprivation of benefits and punishment. Like an earthly king, if one of his slaves becomes an opponent of his commands, he immediately blames this on himself, becomes angry with him, deprives him of his former mercy and puts him to death, so similarly the Heavenly King God is angry with that man whom He created, enriched with His grace, loved like a father to a son and for whom He prepared eternal blessings in heaven, but who, having despised such the great mercy, love and beneficence of his Creator, begins to transgress His commandments and do what is displeasing and disgusting to Him, our Master; and God is not only angry with such a person, but also, to annoy Himself, imputes his dishonor and evil deeds as contrary to His Divine will. First of all, He deprives such a person of His former grace, and then, if he does not repent, in His justice he assigns him to the death penalty awaiting sinners in hell. From this we understand how great the evil is sin, since it can be the cause of such great disasters. Sin is a great evil because it angers God; angers, for a person who sins annoys God and dishonors Him, just as the Apostle says to one: “By transgressing the law of God you are dishonored” (Rom. 2:23). The sinner dishonors his Lord, preferring the creature to the Creator, the temporary sweetness of sin to the endless pleasure in God, repaying God for good with evil, for love with hatred, turning away from Him from Whom he received being and breath, and in Him he lives and moves (Acts 17:28). Isn’t this an annoyance and dishonor to God from a sinner? The sinner dishonors and angers the Heavenly Father, who gave us “the province of being children of God” (John 1:12). It dishonors, because, grievously sinning and not wanting to repent, he rejects the sonship by which he was adopted, does not want to have him as his Father, but is adopted by his adversary the devil, whom he takes as his father. For for unrepentant sinners, the father is the devil, and not God, which can be seen from the words of the holy Apostle Paul spoken to the sorcerer Elimus: “O fulfillment of all flattery and all malice, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness!” (Acts 13:10). Now, for a sinner, the father is not God, but the devil. Is there not annoyance and dishonor to the Heavenly Father from such sons who, leaving Him, strive for the devil and are adopted by him? Truly, “the fire will kindle from His wrath, it will be kindled to the lowest hell” (Deut. 32:22). The sinner dishonors and angers God the Son, a second time (as the Apostle says) crucifying Him within himself and abusing Him with his sinful, and most of all, fornication, for he who is defiled by such sins defiles the blessings of Christ in himself, since our body does not belong to us, but to Christ our Lord, as the Apostle says: “Do you not know how your bodies belong to the blessings of Christ?” (1 Cor. 6:15) - Christ’s, for we have been redeemed with His honest blood, which is why the Apostle further says: “Carry yours, for you bought them at a natural price. Shall I take the seat of Christ and create the seat of a harlot? Let it not be” (1 Cor. 6, 15, 19–20). Does not the one who commits fornication dishonor Christ, the Son of God, by desecrating Him in himself, and does He not anger Him? We are betrothed to our Savior Christ, like a bride to her groom, according to the words of the chosen vessel who says: “I have betrothed you to one husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2), so that we may be one with Him not only in spirit, as it is written: “Be joined to the Lord; one spirit is with the Lord” (1 Cor. 6:17), but also in the flesh: “For We are (according to the Apostle) His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). Saint John Chrysostom says: “As the Son of God participates in our being, so we also participate in His being; and just as He has us in Himself, so we have Him in us” (On the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 5, conversation 20). For we are united with Him, like a bride with a groom, and not only in one spirit, but also in one body. That is why Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: “We are united and hidden (in Holy Communion) with Christ.” So, will Christ not be moved to anger, seeing the one whom he united with Him into one spirit and into one flesh, defiled with sinful impurities, as having turned away from him like an adulterous wife, and will He not rise up for vengeance, according to the words of the Psalmist: “Thou hast required every fornicator from Thee” (Ps. 73:27). The sinner dishonors and angers God the Holy Spirit, driving Him away from himself with bad deeds; for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell there where a nasty sin is committed. Saint Chrysostom likens the Holy Spirit to a bee, which loves to settle in clean and fragrant bee-houses, and flies away from evil places (On the Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 4, article 31, conversation 15). A Christian person, who has received the Holy Spirit in baptism, is like a container for bees, in which, like a bee in its beehouse, the Holy Spirit lives, as the Apostle says: “Do you not know that you are the church of God and the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16). And again: “Don’t you know that your body is a temple to the Holy Spirit living in you, which you have from God?” (1 Cor. 6:19). And just as stinking smoke drives a bee away from its premises, so stinking sin drives the Holy Spirit away from a person. The Holy Spirit in man is like the ruler of a house. Is it not dishonor and annoyance to the ruler of the house if some stranger comes and begins to expel him from his own house, forcibly pushing him out? Such is the annoyance and dishonor to the Holy Spirit that comes from a sinner who drives Him out of His house. This is how great the evil is sin, since it angers God in the One Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Sin is also a great evil because it deprives the sinner of many spiritual benefits that he had previously collected for himself and which were prepared for him by God. For when God is angry, then God’s spiritual gifts are taken away from the sinner. Firstly, the previous merits with which a person earned his salvation by doing good are taken away; for God says in the Ezekiel prophecy: “If the righteous turn away from his right way and create... iniquity... all the righteousness he has done will not be remembered by anyone” (Ezek. 18:24). Let it be known from here that if someone has previously discovered great feats and virtues, or many fasts, or prayers, or various mortifications of the body for the sake of purity, or some hefty labors, or alms, or considerable contributions for the construction and decoration of the Lord's churches, or any other kind of godly sin, if such a person then falls into some mortal sin and does not immediately rise from it with repentance, but in slows down, then all those previous good deeds will crumble, die and be forgotten by God. “And all his righteousnesses,” it is said, “will not be remembered alone for the sake of sin,” if he does not quickly cleanse himself by repentance. How one fiery spark, allowed to flare up, ignites, creates a huge fire, in one hour burns and turns to ashes large houses and everything in them, along with the wealth accumulated over many years; just as an insignificant and neglected well in the bottom of a ship, giving access to water inside the ship, suddenly plunges it, along with its precious acquisitions, into the water and sinks - so one sin, committed and neglected, in one hour destroys spiritual wealth, collected by many labors and over a long time; unless a person truly repents, and then the wealth that was destroyed is collected again. When a sinner repents, his former merits are remembered before God and his former good deeds are revived by God’s mercy, according to the teachings of theologians, based on the following apostolic words: “God is not offended (Chrysostom reads: there is no unrighteousness) God has forgotten your deeds and labors of love, even shown in His name” (Heb. 6:10); A person who does not repent is not revived (Eph. 2:5). When a sinner does not repent, then from those good deeds that he commits while in mortal sins, that power is taken away, thanks to which grace is gained before God when good deeds are done. As long as the sinner remains in his mortal sin and does not cease to seriously anger God, until then all his good deeds are unfavorable to God, and he does not deserve to be saved by them. If any slave, who was at enmity against his master, greatly saddened him, did not reconcile with him, did not ask for forgiveness, but continued to enmity and sadden his master, if such a slave sent the master any gift, would he accept this gift from his enemy slave? No. Likewise, the Lord God is not pleased with the deeds of a sinner, even if the latter has these good deeds; they are not pleasing while the sinner is in enmity, until he is reconciled with Him by true repentance: “For all mortal sin is enmity against God” (James 1:15; Rom. 8:6-7). Isn't fasting and abstinence a good deed? But if someone by fasting embitters his neighbor, if he fasts in litigation and quarrels, such fasting does not find grace from God. For it is written: “If you wear your neck like a sickle, and wear sackcloth and ashes, then it will be called a pleasant fast; for this is not the fast I have chosen, says the Lord” (Isa. 58:5-6). Isn't prayer a good deed? But if it is done in enmity, then it cannot possibly be pleasing to God. The Psalmist says: “Awaken his prayer into sin” (Ps. 108:7). Isn't almsgiving a good deed? But if there is no love for one’s neighbor, and hatred reigns supreme, then alms mean little before the Lord, as the Apostle says: “If I give away all my possessions,... but love is not an imam, for it is of no benefit to me” (1 Cor. 13:3). An example of this is the Pharisee whom the Lord cited in a parable in the Gospel; he had many good deeds: he did not kidnap, did not commit adultery, did not suffer, fasted often, gave tithes of all his property in alms, but all this appeared displeasing before God because of the mortal sins of the Pharisees, which were: pride, dislike for one’s neighbor and condemnation of others. What shall we say about those who constantly wallow like pigs in sewage, in nasty, prodigal, abominable sins, in gluttony and drunkenness, and in gluttony, spending their days eating without abstinence, as if on the day of slaughter? They are full of unlove, enmity, deceit and untruth, and now they have theft and robbery as a righteous gain and not only do not think about repentance, but they hardly consider such evil and so many of their deeds to be a sin. If such people ever do something good (for sometimes sinners do some good deeds), however, these deeds of theirs, as being done in great enmity with God, are displeasing before God, Who is angry with them for their other numerous evil deeds, with which they always sadden Him. God spoke to such people back in the Old Testament in Isaiah’s prophecy (and now speaks to us): “What are the multitude of your sacrifices? If you bring... censer is an abomination to Me... fasting... and My soul hates your holidays. Whenever you lift up your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes away from you; and if you increase your prayer, I will not hear you, for your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:11, 13-15). Let us listen: wasn’t it a good deed in the Old Testament to offer many sacrifices and censers to God? Was it evil to fast, celebrate for the glory of God, raise your hands to God and increase prayer? All this was not only objectionable, but vile before God, since they irritated Him with other great sins and iniquities. From here we see that when a person deepens in nasty and cruel sins and does not want to come to his senses, then the power of pleasing God is taken away from his good deeds. Saint Gregory, Pope of Rome, testifies to this, saying the following: “A depraved man apparently does some good deeds, but they are destroyed by his evil deeds; and since evil deeds are increasingly displeasing to God, the good deeds that evil people do are also displeasing to God. He who is abominable to God in his evil is also obscene in his good.” The sinner who does not repent is also taken away from the eternal ineffable blessings in heaven, which he could have received and which are prepared for those who love God. Thus, sinful evil deprives a person of all spiritual and eternal blessings! But sin repeatedly destroys temporary blessings necessary for the body, for for the sake of sins the sky is copper, so as not to give rain, as in the days of the prophet Elijah, and the earth is iron, so as not to bear fruit, and famine and impoverishment occur. Through the sins of the voluptuous, estates are depleted, and the rich fall into poverty. Through the sins of intemperance, health is damaged, the beauty of the face is ruined, life is diminished, and the wise become foolish, the honest become dishonest, and the good reputation of people is dishonored. Let everyone here judge how great the evil is sin, which deprives the sinner of so many benefits! Sin is also a great evil because of the punishment brought upon a person by God for it, for there is no sin without temporary or eternal punishment. In temporary life, due to sins, various disasters, persecutions, confusions, internecine wars, mortal wounds, vain deaths, invasions of foreigners and extreme devastation not only of cities, but also of entire countries and kingdoms occur, as it is written in the Book of Wisdom: “Lawlessness will devastate the whole earth, and malice (sinful) will transform the thrones of the mighty” (Wisdom 5:24). Let the example of this be for us ancient Jerusalem, devastated by the Chaldeans, by whose hands the three holy youths were taken to Babylon, who said in prayer to God: “By truth and judgment you have brought all this sin upon us for our sakes, for we have sinned and are lawless, departing from You” (Dan. 3:28-29). Such punishments for sins happen here. What will happen in the next century? - an unquenchable fire in hell, unenlightened darkness, an everlasting worm, tartarus, which even Satan himself trembles at: with all these executions, unrepentant sinners will be executed forever. From here you can clearly see how great the evil is sin, which plunges a person into such great temporary and eternal troubles! You might be interested in: