Слово о покаянии, суде и разлучении души с телом

What benefit do we, beloved, find in the vanity of this life? Alas for me! Blessed is he who has found boldness in the hour of separation, when the soul is separated from its body. For Angels come to take the soul from the body and present it before the terrible throne and the trembling Judgment Seat. Great, brethren, is fear in the hour of death, when the soul is separated from the body with fear and torment. For in this hour of separation, the soul is presented with its deeds, good and bad, which it did day and night. The angels hastily strive to tear her out of her body; the soul, seeing its deeds, is afraid to go out. The soul of the sinner is separated from the body in fear and goes with trepidation to appear before the Immortal King. And being forced to leave the body, looking at her deeds, she tells them with fear: “Give me one hour of time to leave!” Actions answer her: “You made us, with you we go to God.” Let us hate, brethren, this vain life and love the one and only Holy Christ. We do not know, brethren, at what hour our departure will be: none of us knows the hour and day of our separation. But suddenly, when we walk carelessly on earth and have fun, the command to take the soul from the body will overtake us - and it departs, a sinner, “in the day it never dreamed of,” being full of sins, lacking boldness. Therefore, I beg you, brothers, let us become free, lay aside the work of this vain life, give wings to our souls, so that we can soar daily to God from snares and temptations. The evil one constantly lays hidden nets for our soul in order to seduce it and ensnare it into eternal torment. We, beloved, walk among temptations and snares, and we must pray so as not to fall into them. Mortal nets are full of sweetness; Let the sweetness of mortal snares not deceive us with its pleasantness, I mean concern for earthly things, about possessions, about evil thoughts and deeds. Do not, brother, delight in the mortal snare, do not relax and do not fade away, occupied with evil thoughts. If an unclean thought finds entry into your soul, it seems sweet to it and occupies it with itself in order to kill it, and the evil thought becomes like a net in the soul, unless it is driven away by prayer, tears, abstinence and vigil. Always be free from all earthly troubles, so that you can get rid of snares, from evil thoughts and deeds; Do not relax even for one moment, occupied with an evil thought, so that it does not remain in your soul for a long time, brother. Always resort to God in prayer, fasting and tears, so that you can get rid of all snares, temptations and passions. Don’t think, brother, that you will live on earth for a long time; suddenly the command of the Lord will come and find you remaining in sin, no longer having time to repent, as well as to receive forgiveness. And what do you say, brother, in the hour of separation? It may happen that this command will not give you even a minute of time on earth. Many people think to live for a long time, but death suddenly comes and finds the sinner and the rich man expecting to live on earth for many years in peace, holding in his hands an account of his wealth, calculating how much it will increase and mentally laying out the multitude of his wealth for a long time. Death comes suddenly and destroys everything at once: the account, the wealth, and the care of vain thoughts. But death also comes and finds a righteous and holy man who gathers heavenly wealth through fasting and prayer. Always have death before your eyes, my brother, and do not be afraid of separation from your body; always, every day, as a meaningful and spiritual person, wait for death and presentation to the throne of the Lord; prepare your lamp every day, like a wise man, diligently examining it hourly in tears and prayers. All the time in which you, brother, do not see danger for yourself, remain, however, on your guard, for a time is coming that is filled with fear, fear and confusion, and due to its vagueness does not allow you to even think about the best. Notice, my beloved, how all evil is intensifying, how evil is daily prospering, and evil is advancing. All this makes us expect future confusion and great sorrow that will come to all earthly borders. Because of our sins, because of our relaxation, the evil one prospers. Let us be vigilant every day, God-loving warriors; We will be victorious in the battle with the enemy, lovers of Christ; Let's study the laws of this warfare; it is carried out invisibly, and the law of this battle is the constant removal of earthly troubles from oneself. If you have death before your eyes every day, you will not sin. If you are distracted from earthly troubles, you will not take flight in battle. If you hate earthly things, neglecting the temporary, then you will be able, like a valiant warrior, to receive a victorious reward, for earthly things attract you to yourself, down, and passions during battle darken the eyes of the heart; That is why the evil one fights with us and defeats us, filled with earthly things and enslaved by addiction to earthly concerns. All of us, brothers, love earthly things, and, due to our relaxation, our minds on earth have become impoverished. The day has fallen, and our time is already towards evening, and we, O others, out of our unbelief, think that it is still morning. The Kingdom of Heaven is already at the door and ready to shine, but we don’t want to hear about it. Sometimes there are signs and wonders that the Lord spoke about, famines and plagues, earthquakes and insurance, and movements of nations, but it seems to us that all this is a dream, retold one to another; Neither the rumors about this nor the vision itself frightens us. The elect are taken from us before the tribulation, so that they will not see the confusion and great tribulation that will come to the unrighteous world. The field is already close to harvest, and this age is coming to an end. The angels hold ready sickles and wait for the beckon. Let us be afraid, beloved: it is already the tenth hour of the day, and the distance of the journey is still great; Let's try to reach the monastery; Let us be awake, let us shake off sleep, like those who never sleep. We do not know at what hour the Lord will be pleased to come; Let us relieve ourselves from the burden of earthly worries. “Don’t worry about anything,” said the Lord (Matthew 6:25–34). God commands us to love everyone, but we drove out love, and it fled from the earth. You will not find perfect love according to God on earth. Love is banished by everyone, love is hated by everyone. But on the contrary, envy reigns, quarrels and confusion are multiplying on earth, everyone is covered by untruths; everyone desires the temporary, and no one loves the future. Do you want to become heavenly? Do not seek what is on earth, but despise it and strive as if you are perfect, and as if you are perfect, love the Kingdom of Heaven. Do not reason by saying this: “The time of asceticism is long and hard, but I am cowardly and weak, and am unable to strive.” Take heed of the words of excellent and good advice; understand what I tell you, Christ-loving brother. If you intend to go to another distant country, then you will not be able to cross the entire path in one hour, but you will go, daily calculating the remaining length of the path, and over time, after much labor, you will reach the country to which you are going or hope to come. Such is the Kingdom of Heaven and the joys of heaven: everyone reaches there by fasting, abstinence, vigil and love; these are the paths leading to heaven, to God. Do not be afraid to begin a good path leading into life; just wish to follow that path - and if you find yourself ready, the path will immediately improve before you, and, walking joyfully, you will give yourself rest and spend it with pleasure, because the feet of your soul will be strengthened after each rest. In order not to encounter difficulties on the path leading to life, the Lord Himself, for your sake, became the path of life for those who wish to go in joy to the Father of lights. Be for me, Christ, the path of life leading to Your Father; This one path is joy, and its end is the Kingdom of Heaven. Be for me, Master, Son of God, a path of life and enlightenment. Filled with desire, I also drew from the source of gifts, and grace became light and joy in the heart of Thy servant, and it is sweeter than honey and honeycomb in the mouth of Thy servant; grace became a treasure in the soul of Your servant, enriched my poverty, drove away squalor and rottenness. Thy grace became for Thy servant refuge, strength, praise, protection, exaltation and food of life. Thy servant, O Master, will not be silent from the great sweetness of Thy love and grace. You have opened the mouth of me unworthy; After this, how can my tongue restrain itself from singing songs and glorifying the Giver of good things every day? After this, how can I dare to block the waves of grace flowing into my sinner’s heart? Fill it with sweetness in the multitude of Your gifts, so that, by singing, I may glorify the Creator of heaven, who has given heavenly gifts to His servant. For the multitude of gifts I magnify Your grace, O Christ the Savior. In church I magnify You, in church my tongue will not cease to confess Your grace, Master. My harp will not be silent, emitting spiritual sweet songs. Your love draws me to You, the Savior, the praise of my life; Your grace makes it sweet for my mind to be drawn after You. May my heart be a good land for You, receiving good seed into itself, and may Your grace water it with the dew of eternal life; May Your grace reap on the earth of my heart a beautiful handle (handle - everything that can be grasped by hand) - contrition, worship, sanctification, constant doing what is pleasing to You! Turn my soul into the sheepfold of paradise of sweetness along with the found sheep; may my soul be found in the light! You carried that found sheep on your shoulders (Luke 15:4–7); attract this unworthy soul of mine by Thy grace, and bring both to Thy Most Pure and Immortal Father, before the Angels and Archangels, so that in heavenly joy he may say to me with all the saints: “Glory to the Immortal Father, and the Immortal Son, and the Immortal Holy Spirit, the invisible Father, the Son made visible in the flesh, the Holy Spirit who spoke in the prophets.” and the apostles! Glory to the Most Holy and Consubstantial Trinity, worshiped and glorified by all heavenly Powers, by all earthly and underworld things; because she gave heavenly gifts to her servant, so that he too will bring the hilt of glory to the King of the ages and the God of all, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: