К монаху Иоанну

All who come to God and wish to be worthy of eternal life must primarily immaculately observe the Orthodox faith; and neither for the sake of successfully obtaining ranks, nor out of flattery before the powerful, or out of fear of them, do not become traitors to the priceless treasure of faith. If, when dying, especially when dying for piety, we came under another authority, then it would be right for us to be horrified by death. But one and the same Lord of the living and the dead. Therefore, why be afraid of death? The Apostle says: No one lives like us and no one dies like us. If we live, we live by the Lord; if we die, we die by the Lord. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this reason Christ died and rose again and is alive, and possesses both the dead and the living (Rom. 14:7-9). If we do not lay down our bodies for the sake of virtue, then we will undergo this of necessity when death comes. So, we need to strive with zeal for the right confession of our Lord Jesus Christ. When faith is strong and prosperous, then not all the faithful become apparent: some, seeking praise, hypocritically adhere to the right teaching of the faith, and some, fearing censure, stand in faith. But as soon as persecution comes or danger threatens for the sake of the Word, they immediately reveal the passionate state of their souls. Many people often died this way. Before the onset of persecution, the pious proclaimed others to adhere to the right teaching and even defenders of piety, but as soon as persecution came, these, who had previously adorned themselves with the name of the faithful, retreated and turned out to be champions of wickedness and cruel persecutors, seared in their conscience (1 Tim. 4:2). In them, the love for the corruptible and earthly prevailed over the love for the incorruptible and heavenly, and the fear of man prevailed over the fear of God, therefore, instead of good glory, they suffered shame. So, we should all not pay attention to labor for the right confession of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this case, our active life, having become firm, will be favorable to God, according to the word of the apostle: Without faith it is not possible to please God (Heb. 11: 6). We are writing to you about this, so as not to lose your support, being carried away by the delusion of the wicked, and not to come into agreement with those whom the apostle excommunicates, saying: Many people walk, who many times told you, now even in tears I say, the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose belly is God, and whose glory is in their cold, they are wise. Because our life is in heaven, from there we wait for our Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:18–20); Therefore, we boldly cry: let us not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal.6:14). So, avoid communication with schismatics and heretics, especially avoid the heresies of those who divide our only Lord Jesus Christ in two. They believe what is alien to the beliefs of the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers at Nicaea. For the Council of Nicea confessed the begotten Only Begotten Son of God, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, who suffered in the Flesh for us men, and for the sake of our salvation, who descended, became incarnate and became man, suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven and is coming to judge the living and the dead. But those who separate the one Lord after His ineffable union believe not in the Holy Trinity of One Essence, but in the quaternary, that is, in God, the Son of God, man and the Holy Spirit, and therefore no longer submit to the holy Council of Nicaea. So, it is necessary for us to confess that the Holy Ever-Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God, so as not to fall into their blasphemy. For those who deny that the Holy Virgin really is the Mother of God are no longer the faithful, but disciples of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Filled with their leaven, they blinded the eyes of their minds, blaspheming the Lord and saying: We will not lay stones against You for a good work, but for blasphemy, because You are this man, make for yourself God (John 10:33). And let those who confess that the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God not deny God Crucified for us. For He who was born of the Holy Virgin was crucified by the Jews. If you confess that He was crucified for us as a man, and not as God in reality, then the Mother of God, according to your teaching, is no longer the Mother of God, but the Mother of Man. So, do not reject the grace of God, for the Jews crucified the One born of the Holy Mother of God. And we confess that before the ages, He who was ineffably begotten of the Father, God of God, at the end of time was pleased to be incarnated by the Holy Spirit. And from the Holy Virgin, having borrowed the Flesh and in it the verbal soul that received life of the same essence and similar to our soul, he suffered for us in the Flesh. Therefore, we fall down and worship the Honorable Cross, for this is the Cross not of an ordinary person, but of God. The apostle also teaches us, saying: But we speak wisdom in those who are perfect: but wisdom is not of this world, nor of the princes of this world that pass away: but we speak the wisdom of God in the mystery of God, even though God first ordained the world for our glory, which no one knew from the princes of this age: if they knew Him, they did not crucify the Lord of glory ( 1 Corinthians 2:6–8). But a simple man is not the Lord of glory - we worship God crucified for us, for it is said: Know that the Lord is our God: He made us, and not we: we are His people and the sheep of His pasture (Ps. 99: 3). Trusting in Him, we await the resurrection from the dead, as He Himself said: I am the resurrection and the life: believe in Me, even if you die, you will live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die (John 11:25–26). That is why we partake of His Holy Body and Blood, expecting the resurrection from the dead, as He said: He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:54). He is the hope of all the ends of the earth and of those who are far off in the sea, but a mere man cannot be the hope of the world. Why is it written: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and sets the flesh of his arm upon him, and his heart departs from the Lord. And it will be like a wonder of the world in the desert and will not see it when the good ones come, and it will dwell in dryness and in the desert, in the lands of the desert and uninhabited. And blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord will be his hope, and he will be like a tree planted by the waters, and he will root in the moisture; he will not fear when the heat comes, and the stem will be green on him, and in times of dryness he will not be afraid, and will not cease to produce fruit (Jer. 17:5-8). Therefore, those who wish to avoid the oath (curse) and be worthy of blessing, let them not deny God who was crucified for us, lest they be deprived of the glory of the righteous when the Lord Himself comes to reward good things to those who believe in His name. For He Himself said: Whoever... confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven (Matthew 10:32). For the Holy Virgin gave birth not to an ordinary man, but to the Word of God incarnate. And the Evangelist cries: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. This has never been with God. Everything came into existence by Him, and without Him nothing came into being (John 1:1–3). And again: The Word became flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14). For the real God became man for us, unchangeably and unmerged; became what he was not, having remained what he was, while His nature remained immutable and unchangeable, because everything is possible with God, and nothing is impossible for Him. So, the One who became incarnate of the Holy Spirit, born of the Holy Virgin in Bethlehem and wrapped in swaddling clothes, Whom the Magi worshiped, Who was baptized by John in the Jordan, about Whom the Father testified: This is My beloved Son (Matthew 3:17), - He was crucified by the lawless Jews. And may the apostle convince you, saying: This... let him be wise in you, even in Christ Jesus, Who, in the form of God, was not equal to God by admiration, but wasted away from Himself, and took on the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of mankind, and being found in the likeness of man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross (Phil. 2:5-8). The Forerunner also preaches about Him, the Crucified One, saying: He who comes after me is mighty for me, and He is not worthy to bear boots: He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire: Who has the spade in His hand, and will cut off His threshing floor, and will gather His wheat into His barn, and will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire ( Matthew 3:11–12). Those who were crucified before the crucifixion asked the Crucified One: without offending us... are you the Christ? The crucified Lord of glory answered them: You have already been cut off, and you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of My Father testify about Me. But you do not believe: for I am not born of My sheep... My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they come after Me. And I will give them... eternal life... and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them from My hand (John 10:24-28). And the bishop said to Him: I adjure Thee by the living God, that Thou mayst say to us, Are Thou the Christ the Son of God? The Lord says to him: you have spoken... From here you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:63–64). When he talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, she answered Him: We know that the Messiah will come, the spoken Christ: when He comes, He will tell us everything, - then the Lord says to her: I am, I will speak with you (John 4:25-26). The Crucified Himself also did not hide from His disciples an explanation about the tares, saying: He who sows good seed is the Son of Man: and the village is the world: but good seed, these are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of hostility: and their all-manifest enemy is the devil: and the harvest is the end of the age: and the inhabitants are angels. Just as they gather up the tares and burn them with fire, so it will be at the end of the age... The Son of Man will come after His angels, and they will gather from His Kingdom all temptations and the workers of iniquity, and they will cast them into the furnace of fire: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the glory of their Father. Have ears to hear and let him hear (Matthew 13:37–43). The Crucified One Himself also taught, saying: When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him: and He will separate them from each other, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep at His right hand, and the goats at His left (Matthew 25:31–33). He is the King. There will be no end to His kingdom. Those evil lips blasphemed against Him. However, they all have no root in themselves, because they rejected the unshakable foundation of truth, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah would have rightly told them: they trust in vain and speak in vain, as they conceive labor and give birth to iniquity. You break the eggs of the aspid and set up a spider weave, and even if you eat from their eggs, breaking the snag (it), you will find a basilisk in it. Their posture will not be on a robe, and they will not be clothed with their deeds (Is. 59:4-6). For they are not ashamed to mock the suffering of our Savior God, by Whom all verbal nature was saved. On the contrary, with their idle talk they seduce the faith of some, despite the wrath of the Lord Himself, who clearly expresses this in parables, saying: Woe... to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut up the Kingdom of God from men: for you do not enter, nor leave those who want to come in (Matthew 23:13). The Prophet, although he was great, was nevertheless a man, and therefore he said: Otherwise, God will deliver my soul from the hand of hell, when He accepts me (Ps. 48: 16). The Only Begotten Son of God, showing the authority of His Divinity, said: For this sake the Father loves Me, because I lay down My soul, that I may again receive it. No one will take it from Me, but I set it for Myself. The region the imam will put down and the region the imam will accept again (John 10: 17–18). For having taken upon Himself a body consubstantial with ours, He grants victory to men. We do not say that the Flesh of the Word came down from heaven, that our salvation is accomplished in a ghost and dream. Let this not happen! But we affirm that the Word is genuine, in fact incarnate from the seed of David, in accordance with the Scriptures, just as the Archangel Gabriel preached the gospel to the Holy Virgin and Mother of God Mary, saying: Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you... She... was troubled about the word... and thought about what this kiss would be like. And the Angel said to Her: Do not be afraid, Mariam: for you have found grace from God. And behold, you conceived in your womb and gave birth to a Son, and you called His name Jesus. This one will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David: and he will reign in the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:28-33). The Archangel spoke thus, giving them to understand that for the salvation of men, our Lord will become the son of David according to the flesh, for the Scripture says: The prince of Judah will not fail, nor the leader from his feet, but the hope of the tongues will come to the end of what was set aside for him (Gen. 49:10). And the prophet Isaiah says: behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel (Is. 7:14). And again: For unto us was born a Son, and was given unto us, whose principality was upon His frame: and His name is called the Great Council Angel... For I will bring peace to the princes, peace and health to them... His great principality, and His peace has no end, on the throne of David and on His kingdom, correct it and intercede in judgment and righteousness from now on and forever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts this will do (Isa.9:6-7). About the suffering of the Lord he also says: This is our sins that bears and suffers for us, and we are imputed to Him for being in labor and in ulcers... and in embitterment. The same plague was for our sins and tormented for our iniquities, the punishment of our peace will be on Him, by His plague we are all healed (Is. 53:4-5). And to the ungrateful, who reject His good deeds, the Lord says through the prophet: He has put evil on Me for good, and hatred for My love (Ps. 109:5). And the prophecy about Him was also fulfilled, which says: Woe, the departed children, this says the Lord: make counsel not by Me, and covenants not by My Spirit, add sins to sins (Is. 30:1). Но мы песнословим и благодарим искупившего нас Бога, и поклоняемся Ему, потому что умилосердился к роду человеческому, погубленному диаволом, и не оставил нас, чтобы вконец возобладал нами враг, но, по великой милости Своей, избавил нас от лести идольской. For before His coming to us, the whole earth was blackened with idolatry. Но как скоро благоволил принять на Себя наше естество, изнемогли идолы, просияло же Богочестие. Where are the bloody sacrifices and prophecies now? Where are the dreams of the Magi and other demonic seductions? When did it stop and wear out? Was it not when the Cross of our Savior appeared? When did the knowledge of God shine so brightly, or when did death become so neglected? Is it not from the time the Cross appeared? And no one doubts this, seeing how the holy martyrs for our Savior Christ despise death, according to what is written: Having devoured death, the Lord took away... every tear from every face (Is. 25:8), because with the coming of life, death was put to death, as He Himself said: I came, that they may have life, and have more (John 10:10). With the shining light, the darkness disappeared, as He Himself again said: I am the light of the world; whoever walks in Me must not walk in darkness, but have living light (John 8:12). That is why the prophet commands us, saying: praise the Lord, sing praises to His name, proclaim His glory among the nations, remember how His name is exalted. Praise the name of the Lord, for you have done great things: proclaim this throughout all the earth. Rejoice and rejoice, ye who dwell in Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is exalted in your midst (Isa. 12:4-6). К Самому вознесенному на кресте приступали апостолы, говоря: что есть знамение Твоего пришествия и кончины века сего? And Jesus answered and said to them: Take heed lest anyone deceive you. Мнози бо приидут во имя Мое, глаголюще: аз есмь Христос: и многи прельстят ( Мф.24: 3–4 ). И в продолжение речи говорит: Аще... рекут... се, в пустыни есть, не изыдите: се, в сокровищах, не имите веры. Якоже бо молния исходит от восток и является до запад, тако будет и пришествие Сына Человеческаго ( Мф.24:26–27 ). For He, the inseparable God, for the sake of our salvation, deigned dispassionately to give in to death in order to give us dispassion through His suffering. And in order for you to know that He suffered as a man, He Himself, the foreknowing God, said to His disciples in private: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed by the bishop and the scribe: and they will condemn Him to death, and will deliver Him up with the tongue to be mocked and beaten and crucified: and on the third day He will rise again (Matthew 20:18-19). And so that any of the unbelievers does not find an excuse to say: “The Lord does not say this about Himself, but someone else will suffer like this,” he asks His disciples: Who do men say I am, the Son of Man? They decided: first John the Baptist, and another Elijah, and another Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Then he says to them: Who do you say Me to be? In response to Simon Peter's answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, - Jesus said to him: Blessed are you, Simon, var Jonah, for flesh and blood have not been revealed to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to you, because you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven: and if you bind it on earth, it will be bound in heaven; and if you loose it on earth, it will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:13-19). But these gifts are not human, but of the Living and True God. For one Deity and one essence are glorified in three Persons. That is why we, believers, when we confess, cry out: One Holy Father, One Holy Son, One Holy Spirit. Amen! May we not be horrified by the sorrows that surround the faithful, for the Lord of glory foretold them in the Gospels: “You will be betrayed in sorrow,” he says, “and you will be killed: and you will be hated by all tongues for My name’s sake.” And then many will be tempted, and will betray each other, and will hate each other. And many false prophets will arise and deceive many. And because iniquity increases, the love of many will dry out (Matthew 24:9-12). To encourage those who believed in Him, He also said: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: fear rather than He who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna (Matthew 10:28). And he also said: you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice: you will be sad, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow, because her year has come; but when a child gives birth, who does not remember the sorrow for the joy that a man was born into the world. And now you have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you (John 16:20-22). Therefore, the apostle says: If... we die with Christ... and we will live with Him (Rom. 6:8). Аще отвержемся, и Той отвержется нас: аще не веруем, Он верен пребывает: отрещися бо Себе не может ( 2Тим.2:12–13 ). Непщую бо, яко недостойны страсти нынешняго времене к хотящей славе явитися в нас ( Рим.8:18 ). And one more thing: everyone who wants to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. Лукавии же человецы и чародеи преуспеют на горшее, прельщающе и прельщаеми ( 2Тим.3:12–13 ). So, man, do not be deceived by contradicting the truth. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hand of the living God (Heb. 10:31). Listen to what our Savior says: What... is it good for a man, if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Or what will a man give for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward everyone according to his deed (Matthew 16:26-27). That is why the apostle says: We must always give thanks to God for you, brethren, as it is worthy to eat, for your faith exceeds, and the love of the one of you all for each other multiplies: for we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God, about your patience and faith in all your persecutions and sorrows, which you accept, the testimony of the righteous judgment of God... for the sake of and suffer. If it is righteous for God to repay sorrow to those who insult you, and to you who are insulted, joy is with us, in the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with the angels of His power, in the fiery fires of giving vengeance to those who do not know God and do not listen to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: whoever will receive torment, everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He comes to be glorified among the saints His own and wonderful to be among all who believed (2 Thess. 1:3-10). You see, the one who voluntarily endured the cross is the same one. Who will send His angels with a trumpet voice to gather His chosen ones from the four winds, from the end of the heavens to the end of them? (Matthew 24:31). Do you see that the one who voluntarily endured the Cross is the One who will come with great glory and power on the clouds of heaven to judge the universe in righteousness? So, no one is deceiving you to deviate from the right confession of the Holy, Most Pure and Consubstantial Trinity. Do not tolerate your pious thoughts being corrupted by people who are corrupt in mind and unskilled in the faith, enslaved by prejudices and afraid of the rumors of men. For the saying of the prophet is fulfilled on them, which says: They have not known to understand, but their eyes are darkened, so that they can see and understand with their hearts (Is. 44:18). And they did not think in their souls about what was said by the apostle: The grace of God to save all man appeared, punishing us, so that, having rejected ungodliness and worldly lusts, we might live chastely and righteously and piously in this present age: waiting for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself food for us and may deliver us from all iniquity and will purify for himself a chosen people, zealous for good deeds (Titus 2:11-14). So, be attentive to yourself and carefully guard your soul; let there be no secret word or unrighteous deed in your heart. For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating even to the division of soul and spirit, members and brains, and is judgmental by the thoughts and thoughts of the heart. And there is no creation that is not manifest before Him, but all naked and declared before His eyes, a word to us that is unmanly (Heb. 4:12-13). And another says: Hell is naked before Him, and there is no covering for destruction (Job.26:6). God is strong, and He will not allow us to be completely swallowed up by the storm of unbelief, but He will draw you to Himself, affirming you in true faith, so that with boldness and shamelessness you can say along with the apostle: You have fought a good fight, you have died, you have kept the faith. Otherwise, the crown of righteousness will be kept for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will reward me with on the day: not only to me, but also to all who love His appearing (2 Tim. 4:7-8). For He Himself said: Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me (Matthew 11:6). Please accept this from me as advice, for although I am a sinner, by the grace of God I have not reached such madness that, hearing how they blaspheme the Lord of glory, I cannot give a response to this, to the best of my ability. You might be interested in: