РОСА ИСПРАВЛЕНИЯ ЧЕЛОВЕКОВ

You are the savior of the faithful, Mother of God, and the teacher of the blind, and the correction of those who fall (Damascene, in Octoechos). Vasily Boldakovsky, a Chernigov resident, had a servant named Klim. God allowed him to be tormented by a demon, I think, for the sake of his correction, for He builds everything for our benefit, punishing us with various executions, like a loving father, so that we would become chaste. This demon-possessed Klim was brought to the monastery and tied to a pillar in the cave of St. Anthony, located right next to the church. The monk himself once lived there, as is narrated in the Pechersk Patericon. The enemy urged Izyaslav with his anger to expel the Monk Anthony from the borders of Kyiv, which he achieved for some time. The Chernigov prince Svyatoslav, having been informed that his brother Izyaslav was angry with the saint, sent for the saint at night and took him to Chernigov. The same one fell in love with a place near the city, in Mount Boldin, and, having dug a cave for himself, lived in it. Afterwards a monastery was created here. In that very cave, the tied Klim was freed from the demon by miraculous grace poured out from above onto this place through the prayers of the Virgin Mary and St. Anthony. Anyone who wants to correct his evil life, let him cry out with David: “Oh, that my ways would be directed to keep Your commandments!” (Ps. 119:5). But who will guide them? “Man’s feet are guided by the Lord,” “without Him we can do nothing” (Ps. 36:23; John 15:5). And in order for the Lord to correct our feet, let us pray to the Mother of God to intercede for us, for with Her prayers She asks many from God for correction. About the prudent robber they wonder: how did he get salvation? Some believe - by faith, as we said above, in the third moral teaching. Others - by repentance, as Damascene writes: “The repentance of the robbers opened paradise.” Others attribute the reason for his salvation to his contrite heart in prayer - that with complete contrition for his sins he prayed: “Remember me, Lord.” “Heart,” he said, “God will not despise the contrite and humble” (Ps. 50:19). Some say that the reason for his salvation was confession, that he confessed, saying: “We have received what is worthy of our deeds” (Luke 23:41), and for this confession he was saved. He confessed his iniquities to the Lord, and He forgave him “the wickedness of the heart” (Ps. 31:5 ). However, I ask: where did the thief come from such a quick correction that he believed, and repented, and with a contrite heart, prayed, and confessed? Why wasn’t that correction in him when he was condemned to death, when he followed Christ to the crucifixion, when he was nailed to the cross? But only when, having been lifted up from the earth with the cross, did he stand on one side of the Cross of Christ? I find the answer from some wise men who say that at that time the Mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, stood between the Cross of Christ and the cross of the thief. This is the reason for the sudden change and correction of the thief - the Mother of God! She, standing between the Lord and the thief, secretly petitioned God for grace effective for the correction of the sinner. When the Mother stood at the Cross, then the robber turned to Christ, who had not turned before until Mary stood between them! And what is surprising is that people are corrected by Her in the new grace, when in the Old Testament, it was already a shadow and a prediction. God wanted to correct the corrupted Israel and gave them the law on the tablets. Why did God deign to write His commands not on a charter, not on skin, but on tablets of stone? In order to covertly portray the Virgin Mary and show that she wants to save and correct the world. As it is sung in dogmatics: “And Christ saved the world through the Mother of God, having great mercy.” For the tablets signified the Mother of God, on whom the Lawgiver Himself deigned to write. That is why the Church calls Her: “The Law of the new Ark we call Thee and the God-written Tablet, in It the Word of God was written” (Mineaion, June 20). Saint Ephraim also calls Her: “The Tablet that brings the inscribed law to men.” And this New Tablet secretly brought correction to Israel in the old tablets, but now, in the new grace, it actually corrects the fallen, when it frees from passions, turns away from error, cleanses from sins through prayers, delivers from troubles, protects from demonic slander, and guides those who despair of their salvation on the path of salvation and for the good of those who hope creates. This is what Saint Damascus says: “Having given birth to God and the Savior of all, Mary, You became a desperate correction, a renewal for sinners and an unreliable hope.” Wanting to correct a person, the Lord inflicts many executions on him. And among others, no less, when he allows someone tormented to be a devil, like that demoniac Klim. You should know that the devil has no power over a person until it is given from above. Only when God commands him does power take over and torment him. It is written about Job that the Lord handed him over to the devil to suffer: “The Lord said to Satan: Behold, he is in your hand; just save his soul” (Job 2:6). The Lord betrays a person to such torment for two reasons: either by tempting him, like the righteous Job, so that he might receive a greater crown for patience, or by executing him for sins and leading to correction. This is how the one whom the apostle remembers was punished: “Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved” (1 Cor. 5:5). For whoever is punished physically receives correction and health of the soul. The Apostle Paul learned this from experience, for he says: “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10). That is why, in Saint John Climacus, the prisoners described in prison prayed to God to allow the devil to torment their bodies; they even prayed to be possessed by demons, wishing through this torment of their flesh to come to the correction and salvation of their soul. “Lord! Your admonition has taught me. Do not rebuke me in Your wrath, and do not punish me in Your anger” (Ps. 17:36, 6:2). Although you can avoid eternal wounds, know that mercy is a temporary punishment. The brother was sitting in the Manaid monastery, and this was his constant prayer: “Lord, I am not afraid of You, but send me either an evil illness, or an attack, or an illness, so that my accursed soul will come into fear.” So diligently praying to God, he said: “I know that it is impossible to forgive me my sin, I have sinned a lot before You, Master, a lot and evil. But if possible, for the sake of Your compassions, remove me from sin. If it is impossible, then torment me here, and there ease my torment at least partially, just begin from now on to execute me not with Your wrath, O Lord, but with your love for mankind.” So he remained for a whole year, praying to God in contrition of heart, with much fasting and humility. I had a thought in myself: what does the word spoken by the Lord mean: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4)? And one day, when he was sitting on the ground, crying as usual, and dozing off from sadness, Christ appeared to him with a humble face and said in a quiet voice: “What is the matter with you, man, and why are you crying so much?” He says: “I have fallen, Lord.” And the One who appeared said to him: “Rise up.” The lying one answered: “I can’t if you don’t extend your hand to me.” And the Lord extended his hand to him and lifted him up. And again the One who appeared quietly said to him: “Why are you crying, man, and why are you grieving?” The brother answered: “Don’t you, Lord, want me to cry and grieve, having offended You so much?” Then He who appeared stretched out His hand and laid it on the brother’s heart, and anointed him, and said to him: “Do not be distressed, God will help you. Since you have offended yourself, I will not offend you. For your sake I gave My Blood, how much more will I give My love for mankind to every repentant soul.” And, having come to his senses from the vision, the brother found his heart filled with all joy and accepted the notification that God had shown him mercy, and lived the rest of the years in much humility, praising God, and in that confession he went to Him. You might be interested in: