Слово о спасении и о христианском совершенстве

Many talk about salvation, many want to be saved; but if you ask them what salvation consists of, the answer becomes very difficult for them. It wouldn’t matter if the matter ended with one difficulty in the answer! No: the harmful consequences resulting from this are very significant. Ignorance of what salvation consists of imparts uncertainty and irregularity to our actions in the field of virtue. Apparently we do a lot of good deeds; but, in essence, we do very little to save. Why is this? The answer is very simple: because we do not know what our salvation consists of. To know what our salvation consists of, we must know in advance what our destruction consists of, because salvation is needed only for the lost. He who seeks salvation, thereby necessarily recognizes himself as lost: otherwise why would he seek salvation? Our destruction was accomplished through the destruction of our communication with God and through entering into communication with fallen and rejected spirits. Our salvation lies in breaking off fellowship with Satan and restoring fellowship with God 338. The entire human race is in perdition, in decline. We have lost communication with God at our very root and source: in our forefathers, through their arbitrary sin. They were created blameless, not involved in sin and corruption: from their very creation they became partakers of the Holy Spirit; Having received natural being according to humanity, they also received supernatural being from union with the Divine Nature. Having arbitrarily rejected submission to God, arbitrarily entering into submission to the devil, they lost communion with God, their freedom and dignity, and surrendered themselves into submission and slavery to the fallen spirit. They arbitrarily rejected life, invited death into themselves, they arbitrarily violated the integrity of the good given to them during the creation, and poisoned themselves with sin 339. As the beginning of the human race, they communicated and do not cease to communicate their infection, their destruction, their death to all humanity. Adam, created in the all-holy Image and Likeness of God, who was supposed to produce the corresponding offspring, desecrated the Image, destroyed the Likeness, and produced offspring corresponding to the defiled image, the destroyed likeness. The Holy Scripture, which testified that man was created in the Image of God (Gen. 1:27), already deprives the children of Adam of this testimony. Scripture says about them that they were born in the image of Adam (Gen. 5:3), i.e., such as Adam became after the fall. Due to the loss of likeness, the image became obscene 340. On behalf of every person entering into the existence of fall, Scripture brings a sorrowful confession: “I was conceived in iniquity, and in sins did my mother give birth to me” (Ps. 50:7). Men became enemies of God, their Creator (Rom. 5:10). God, in His ineffable mercy, called the human race again into communion with Himself. He did this through the most wonderful, incomprehensible way. As one of His three Persons, the All-Holy Word, He accepted humanity, being conceived in the womb of the Most Holy Virgin by the action of the All-Holy Spirit, eliminating from Himself ordinary human conception from male seed; conception, which imparted the sinful infection to all people. Thus, the immaculate Man appeared in the human race as the forefather was created. This immaculate Man was a partaker of the Divine Nature, like the primordial one, but to an incomparably greater degree: the primordial Man was a holy man by grace, and God who became man became the God-man. He took upon Himself all human sins. He could do this because, being a man, he was also an all-powerful, all-perfect God. Having taken all human sins upon Himself, He offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice to the justice of God for sinned humanity; He made atonement, for He could do it. Unlimitedly and infinitely, the Saint atoned with His suffering and death for numerous, but limited, human sins - and the Holy Scriptures testify to Him with all justice: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The God-Man replaces with Himself before God both the whole world and every person. Virtues, both public and private, flowing from fallen human nature, lost their meaning after the incarnation of God: they were replaced by the great work of God - “faith in Him, whose ambassador God is” (John 6:29). In this great work of God lies salvation, as the Savior Himself testified: “Behold, this is eternal life (salvation), that they may know Thee, the only true God,” and “Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ” (John 17:3). The virtues of a Christian must flow from Christ, from the human nature renewed by Him, and not from the fallen nature. Since our fall does not consist in the destruction of good from our nature - this is a distinctive sign of the fall of the rejected angels - but in the mixing of our natural good with evil that is unnatural for us, then our fallen nature has good deeds and virtues characteristic of it. They are committed by pagans, Mohammedans and everyone alien to Christ. These good deeds and virtues, as defiled by an admixture of evil, are unworthy of God, interfere with communication with Him, and oppose our salvation. Let us reject this imaginary good, or, more correctly, this greatest evil! Let us reject the activities of the fallen nature! Let us indulge in the activities commanded to us by Faith in Christ! Let's stop living according to the instructions of our fallen mind, according to the desire of our fallen heart! Let us begin to live according to the instructions of the Gospel commandments, according to the requirements of the will of God. By living this way, we will be saved. Those who give the good deeds of fallen nature a high price that they do not deserve fall into the greatest soul-harming error. They fall, without realizing it, into humiliation and rejection of Christ. The question is often heard from them: “Why can’t pagans, Mohammedans, Lutherans and all the like, open and hidden enemies of Christianity, be saved? There are many of the most virtuous people among them.” It is obvious that the questions and objections arise from complete ignorance of what lies in the destruction and salvation of men. It is obvious that with such a question and objection Christ is humiliated, the idea is expressed that the Atonement and the Redeemer were not a necessity for people, that people can satisfy their salvation through their own means. In short, Christianity is rejected by this question and objection. The virtues of fallen human nature had their price, like the decrees of the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, they brought a person into a state capable of accepting the Savior. “The Light has come into the world,” the God-man said about his coming to people, “and men loved darkness more than Light: for they were evil because of their deeds. Everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds be exposed, for they are evil: but he who does the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be revealed, for they are done in God” (John 3:19–21). It is common for those who have loved sin to reject Christ, because Christ commands the abandonment of the beloved by sinners. It is common for lovers of virtue to flow and cleave to Christ, because the fulfillment (fullness) of the good they love is Christ. “God does not look at personalities, but fear Him in every nation and do what is right, He is acceptable” (Acts 10:34-35). These words were spoken by the holy Apostle Peter regarding the pagan centurion Cornelius, called by God to the Faith. The desire for true virtue prepared and made Cornelius capable of accepting salvation. This is how the word “pleasant” should be understood, according to the explanation of the great teacher of the Church, Saint John 3latoust 341; This is how this word is explained by the very narrative set out in the Acts of the Apostles by the Holy Evangelist Luke. Cornelius, although he was a pagan, abandoned idols, prayed diligently to the one true God, and gave abundant alms. One day, during prayer, an Angel of God appeared to him and said: “Cornelius! Your prayers and your alms are raised as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call Simon, who is called Peter (Apostle): to him he speaks to you verbs, in which you and your whole house will be saved” (Acts 10: 3-6). Cornelius's prayers and alms were so strong that the merciful Lord looked upon them; but they, of themselves, did not bring salvation to Cornelius. They made him able to believe in Christ, and faith in Christ brought him salvation. This is an accurate assessment of the goodness of fallen nature! Then this good has value when it leads to Christ. When, satisfied with itself, it separates from Christ, then it becomes the greatest evil, it takes away from us the salvation given by Christ, a salvation that it, of course, cannot give in any way. Similar to the action of natural good is the action of the Old Testament. Deviation from it before the coming of Christ was a departure from God; the desire to remain with him, after the coming of Christ, became a departure from God (Gal. 5:4). The Old Testament was the minister of salvation, preparing people for Faith in Christ, which is given salvation; but for the Jews, who wanted to remain forever under the Old Testament, he became an intercessor, an instrument of destruction. The soul-destroying error of the Jews lies in the fact that, through pride and conceit, they gave the Testament given to them by God a different meaning than that given to it by God, and for the sake of the Old Testament, which was a picturesque shadow of the Truth - the New Testament, they rejected the New Testament, for the sake of the shadow they rejected what the shadow represented; for the sake of a temporary guide to salvation, they rejected salvation itself, rejected the Atonement and the Redeemer. Just as soul-destroying is the mistake of those who, blinded by pride and self-conceit, give their good deeds, the deeds of fallen nature, a price not inherent to them. “A robber and a predator is one,” says the Monk Macarius the Great, “who “does not enter by the door, but crawls through elsewhere” (John 10:1): such is he who, without Christ who justifies, justifies himself 342. All the saints, leaving their own truth, sought the truth of God and in it found (holy) love, hidden from nature” 343, corrupted by the fall. Nature, being corrupted by the fall, also has corrupted truth. “We have all gone astray,” says the Prophet, “and have become like unclean spirits, like all our righteousness is an unclean port” (Is. 64:6). “From foot to head there is not in him”, in fallen man, “wholeness” (Is. 1:6). The evil that struck us, according to the Fathers’ explanation of the words of the Prophet, was not private, but in the whole body, embraced the entire soul, took possession of all its powers” ​​344. There is not a particle left in our nature that is not damaged, not infected by sin: no action of ours can do without an admixture of evil. When water is mixed with wine or vinegar, then every drop of it contains an admixture, and so our nature, being infected with evil, contains an admixture of evil in every manifestation of its activity. All our wealth and dignity are in the Redeemer 345. “A man will be justified only by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16) 346. In order to be assimilated to the Redeemer by living faith, a complete rejection of one’s soul is required (Luke 14:26), that is, not only sinfulness, but also the righteousness of fallen nature. The desire to retain the truth of fallen nature defiled by sin is an active rejection of the Redeemer. “You have been made void of Christ” (you have been alienated from Christ) “by the law” of Moses, or by the natural “you will be justified: you have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4), says the Apostle. “If the law were right, then Christ would die” (Gal. 2:21). This means: in a way of thinking (sophistication) that assumes the dignity of one’s own human truth before God after the appearance of Christianity, there certainly exists a blasphemous concept that permeates this whole way of thinking, the concept of the non-necessity of Christ for salvation, a concept that is equivalent to the rejection of Christ. The Lord said to the Pharisees, who were trying to hold on to their truth: “Ye say, as we see, your sin abideth” (John 9:41). “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). This means: those who do not recognize their sins as sins, and their truth as obscene sackcloth, defiled and tormented through communication with sin and Satan, are alienated from the Redeemer, confessing Him, perhaps with their lips, activity and in their spirit rejecting Him. The Holy Apostle Paul, who was blameless and righteous according to the Mosaic and natural laws, counted his righteousness “as loss for the surpassing knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord.” He renounced his righteousness, counting it “for waste” (for rubbish), “that I may gain Christ,” says the great Paul, “not having my righteousness which is from the law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God in faith” (Phil. 3:4-9). “Seeking to be justified in Christ, the sinners themselves were found” (Gal. 2:17): because there is no way to approach Christ and become assimilated to Him without admitting from the sincerity of your heart that you are a sinner, a lost sinner, who has no justification of your own, no dignity of your own. “By the works of the law all flesh will not be justified before God. Now, in addition to the law, the truth of God has appeared, and the prophet also bears witness from the law. The truth of God through the faith of Jesus Christ is in all and on all who believe: there is no difference. For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God: we will be justified through His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:20–24). According to the immutable law of asceticism, the abundant consciousness and feeling of one’s sinfulness, bestowed by Divine grace, precedes all other grace-filled gifts. It prepares the soul to receive these gifts. The soul is unable to accept them unless it first comes to a state of blissful poverty of spirit. “When the mind sees its sins, the amount of which is like the sand of the sea, then this serves as a sign of the beginning of enlightenment of the soul, a sign of its health” 347. Having come to this state, Saint Tikhon of Voronezh said: “We recognize our sins: this is the beginning of repentance 348. Let us repent and admit that we are unworthy of anything. The more unworthy they (the saints of God) admit to themselves: the more God, because he is good and merciful, honors them 349. What is our own? Weakness, corruption, darkness, anger, sins" 350. Let us beware of deadly delusion! Let us fear the renunciation of Christ that is associated with error! Let us fear the certain loss of salvation for assimilating false thoughts hostile to the Faith! Caution is all the more necessary in our time because now the sermon about the heights of the virtues and successes of fallen humanity is being spread with special effort, with the open goal of attracting everyone to the field of these virtues and this success. Mocking the all-holy goodness of Christianity, this sermon tries to instill contempt and hatred towards it. The works of salvation are the works of Faith, the works of the New Testament. These deeds fulfill not human understanding, not human will, but the will of the All-Holy God, revealed to us in the commandments of the Gospel. A Christian who wants to inherit salvation must do the following: 1) Believe in God as God commands to believe in Him, i.e. accept the teaching about God revealed by God, accept Christianity, preserved in all its purity and completeness in the depths of the Orthodox Church, planted by the God-man in the East, spreading from the East throughout the universe, hitherto remaining intact only in the East and containing the God-given Christian Teaching uncorrupted, without change and without admixture with human and demonic teachings 351. “It is fitting for one to believe,” says the Apostle, “for he who comes to God, as He is, and is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). Christian teaching was proclaimed to the universe by preaching and accepted by faith. Being a Divine teaching, a God-revealed teaching that surpasses human reason, it cannot be accepted otherwise than with heartfelt sympathy and faith. Faith, by its natural property, is capable of accepting and assimilating to the mind and heart that which is incomprehensible to the mind and cannot be accepted by ordinary judgment. “Whoever has faith and is baptized,” said the Lord, “will be saved; but whoever does not have faith will be condemned” (Mk. 16, 16). 2) The believer must repent of his previous arbitrarily sinful life, and firmly decide to lead a life pleasing to God. “According to him who called you holy,” the holy Apostle Peter bequeaths to Christians, “and be holy in all your life, as children of obedience, not being the first to be transformed by ignorance of your desires” (1 Pet. 1:14–15). It is impossible to become assimilated to God or remain in assimilation to God, remaining and remaining arbitrarily in a sinful life. The New Testament proclaims repentance as the first condition of access to God to all who approach God. The preacher who began preaching the New Testament, the great John, the Forerunner of the Lord, began his sermon with an invitation to repentance. “Repent,” he said to rejected people who were again called into communion with God, “for the Kingdom of Heaven is drawing near” (Matthew 3:2). The God-Man Himself began His preaching with these words: “Then Jesus began to preach and say: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is drawing near” (Matthew 4:17). With these words, God’s Word commanded His holy Apostles to begin their preaching, sending them initially “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” who were frozen in destruction, despite the pre-depiction of communion with God given to them. “As you walk,” the Word of God commanded the apostles, “preach, saying: Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:6–7). The call to faith and repentance is Divine. Obedience to this calling is necessary for salvation: it is the fulfillment of God’s all-holy will. 3) Those who believe in God, rejecting a sinful life in order to enter into communion with God, enter into this communion through the initial Christian sacrament - holy Baptism: Baptism is birth into Divine life. It is impossible to enter into natural existence without being born according to the law of nature, it is impossible to enter into communion with God, which is our true life or our salvation, without entering Christianity through holy Baptism. This is the Divine decree. Through baptism we enter into rebirth (Titus 3:5), that is, into that holy existence that was given to Adam at his creation, lost by him during his fall, and returned to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. “Unless someone is born again,” said the Lord, “he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3,5). Being born according to the flesh, we constitute the descendants of our forefather according to the flesh, Adam, who gives us existence along with eternal death; through holy Baptism we pass into the spiritual offspring of the God-man, who, according to the testimony of the Prophet, “is the Mighty God, the Sovereign, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the age to come” (Isa. 9:6), who, by giving birth to us spiritually, destroys in us the principle of death, implanted by birth according to the flesh, and gives us eternal life, salvation, and bliss in God. Saint John the Theologian proclaims about those who believed in God and were reborn through holy Baptism: “And the little ones received Him, and gave them the realm to become children of God, who believe in His name, who were not born of blood, nor of fleshly lust, but of God” (John 1:12–13). Holy Baptism, having made us children of God, restores our freedom, given to us at creation, lost by us during the fall, restores willpower, grants to our power either to remain children of God, or to reject adoption 352. So in paradise it was left to the autocracy of the forefathers to either remain eternally in bliss or lose it. “For this reason it is fitting for us to pay extra attention,” that is, to watch ourselves with special care, “lest we fall away” (Heb. 2:1). Holy Baptism is sealed by another sacrament immediately following it, holy Confirmation. This sacrament is rightly called a seal, since holy Baptism can rightly be called a condition, a covenant between God and man. The seal with which this condition is sealed is holy Confirmation. 4) Remaining in adoption to God, delivered through holy Baptism, is supported by life according to the Gospel commandments. Staying in adoption is lost by deviating from living according to the Gospel commandments. The Lord Himself testified to both: “If you keep My commandments,” He said, “you will remain in My love. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod and dry up: and they gather it up, and put it in the fire, and it is burned up” (John 15:10:6). For salvation it is necessary that those baptized into Christ live according to the legislation of Christ. 5) The God-man, having given birth to us for salvation through holy Baptism, brings us into the closest communion with Himself with another great, incomprehensible sacrament, the sacrament of the Eucharist, through which we unite and mix 353 our body and blood with the body and blood of the God-man. “He who eats My flesh,” said the Lord, “and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Eat My flesh and drink My blood, and have an eternal life. Unless you have eaten the flesh of the Son of man or drunk His blood, you have not life within you” (John 6:56, 54, 53). Through this sacrament, the God-Man completely tore us away from our kinship with the old Adam and brought us into the closest kinship, into unity with Himself. How can those who are one with the God-Man not be saved? “Where the body is, there the eagles will gather” (Luke 17:37), feeding on this body, testifies to the Holy Gospel. By worthy and frequent (frequent - Ed.) partaking of the spiritual food that came down from Heaven and gives life to the world, we will become spiritual eagles, we will rise from the lowlands of the carnal state to the heights of the spiritual state, we will fly to where the God-Man, who from time immemorial was in God the Father according to His Divinity, exalted human nature and His body, who sat down at the right hand of the Father by human nature after the completion of redemption people. 6) To maintain our weakness, to heal the sinful ulcers we receive after Baptism, to maintain the shrine with which we are sealed by holy Baptism intact, God gave us the sacrament of confession. By this sacrament the state brought about by holy Baptism 354 is renewed and restored. The sacrament of Confession should be resorted to as often as possible: the soul of that person who has the custom of frequently confessing his sins is restrained from sinning by the memory of the upcoming confession; on the contrary, unconfessed sins are conveniently repeated, as if committed in the dark or at night 355. The Gospel mentions two blessed states: the state of salvation and the state of Christian perfection. A certain rich and noble Jewish youth fell at the feet of the God-Man and asked him to tell him what he should do in order to inherit eternal life, salvation? To the Jew, that is, to the correct believer in God, the Lord answered: “If you want to be brought into the belly, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17). In response to the young man’s question, what kind of commandments were there, the Lord pointed to only the commandments that determine the God-pleasing relationship of every believer to his neighbor, without mentioning the commandments that determine a person’s relationship to God, as known to the Jew and accurately preserved by him, at least in appearance. The moral and religious illness of the Jews had changed by the time of the coming to earth of God incarnate. The illness has changed in its visible form, remaining essentially the same as it was before - the desire for apostasy. The Jews did not express that irresistible inclination towards idolatry, which slandered and destroyed both their spiritual and civil well-being for a whole millennium, from their exodus from Egypt to their migration to Babylon. Satan did not attract them to apostasy from God and to worship themselves through the worship of idols: he invented and prepared another intrigue, more effective, another destructive abyss, incomparably deeper and darker, for them. Satan left the Jews to be servants of the true God in appearance. Not only that, he drew them into an increased, incorrect respect for ritual decrees and old age traditions, at the same time he stole respect for the commandments of God, he drew them into the most detailed and refined study of the Law of God by the letter, at the same time he stole from them the study of the Law of God by life; He used knowledge of the Law of God literally as a means of engaging in the most terrible pride, in the most terrible conceit, in which they, calling themselves and presenting themselves to others as children of God, were in fact enemies of God and children of the devil (John 8:44). Under the pretext of remaining faithful to God, they rejected God; under the pretext of maintaining communication with God, they rejected communication with God, became infected with satanic hatred of God, and imprinted this hatred with Deicide 356. All this happened from leaving a life pleasing to God! All this happened from the abandonment of the relationship to one's neighbor commanded by God, and the relationship to God, preserved in appearance, becomes dead. For this reason, the Savior elevates the Jew, who asked how he can be saved, into the relationship with his neighbors commanded by God. Likewise, every Orthodox Christian, if he wants to move from a careless life to an attentive life, if he wants to take care of his salvation, must first pay attention to his relationships with his neighbors. In these relations, he must correct what is subject to correction, bring sincere repentance before God for what is no longer subject to correction, and prescribe for himself an activity pleasing to God. “Behold, the half of my property,” the publican Zacchaeus said to the Lord when he converted, “I will give to the poor, and whoever I have offended, I will repay in fourfold.” He heard the most joyful definition of the all-good and all-powerful Lord, who remains today just as good and just as all-powerful: “Now the salvation of this house has come, and now this son Abraham is, for the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:8-10). The descendant of Abraham according to the flesh was recognized by God as a descendant at the time he decided to live a life pleasing to God: it follows from this that until that time he was not recognized, despite the right according to the flesh. And a Christian, as long as he leads an arbitrary sinful life, contrary to the Gospel commandments, is not recognized as a Christian, although he has the right to this name, having joined the holy Christian tribe through Baptism. What is the use of confessing with words while denying with deeds? “Let us confess to them,” who neglect to fulfill the gospel commandments, the Lord promised, “for I have never known you. Depart from Me, you who practice iniquity!” (Matthew 7:23) For salvation it is necessary to fulfill all the decrees of the Gospel, preserved in due integrity by the one Holy Orthodox Church. The young man mentioned above, having heard the Lord’s answer that salvation requires living according to the commandments of God, said: “I have kept all this from my youth: what am I not finished yet? Jesus said to him: If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor: and have treasure in heaven: and come after Me, let us take up the cross” (Matthew 19:20–21; Mark 10:21). Salvation is possible by preserving property, in life in the middle of the world; in order to achieve perfection, a preliminary renunciation from the world is required. Salvation is necessary for everyone - the attainment of perfection is left to those who will. We see an example of Christian perfection in the holy Apostles, as the holy Apostle Paul testified about himself and about them, saying: “As men are perfect, let us be wise in this” (Phil. 3:15), that Christian perfection, being a residence in God, is an endless field of prosperity, just as God is infinite (Phil. 3:20, 12). “This perfect, imperfect perfection of the perfect, as someone who tasted it told me,” says Saint John Climacus, “so much illuminates the mind and rejects it from everything material that, upon entering this heavenly refuge, for the most part it lifts it from life according to the flesh, leading to a state of frenzy, to heaven to vision (and contains there). This is spoken of nowhere by someone who knew, perhaps from experience, “that the powers of God on earth have been greatly exalted” (Ps. 46:10) 357. The one who was caught up to the third heaven and remained to live there with his heartfelt feelings and thoughts spoke about this: “our life is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Perfection consists in the obvious communion of the Holy Spirit, which, having entered into a Christian, transfers all his desires and all his thoughts into eternity. Saint David confessed this state of his soul, testifying about himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is in me, and His word is in my tongue” (2 Sam. 23:2). From the action of the Holy Spirit, David could say: “Since your village is beloved, the Lord of hosts, my soul desires and ends in the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God” (Ps. 84:2-3). “In the same way the tree longs for the springs of water: my soul longs for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for the mighty, living God: when I come and appear before the face of God” (Ps. 42:2-3). “Woe is me, for my coming will continue” (Ps. 119:5). It is unnatural for a person in his ordinary state to have such a fiery desire to move into eternity: it is characteristic only of a Spirit-bearing man, just as the Spirit-bearing Paul said about himself: “I must live, Christ; and even if you die, there is gain. I have a desire to be resolved and to be with Christ” (Phil. 1, 21, 23). “A merchant,” says Saint Isaac the Syrian, “when his undertaking is fulfilled and the next part of his gain is obtained, he hastens to return to his home. And the monk, until the field of his work is completed, does not want to be separated from the body. When he feels in his soul that he has completed the race and has received a pledge, then he begins to desire the future age... A mind that has acquired the wisdom of the Spirit is like a man who has found a ship at sea. When he is placed in this ship, he immediately sails away in it from the sea of ​​the transitory world and sails to an island that belongs to the future century. The feeling of the future century in this world is like a small island on the sea: whoever lands on this island will no longer toil in the waves of dreams of this century” 358. The Monk Macarius the Great describes Christian perfection with the following features: “A person must, so to speak, go through twelve steps and then achieve perfection. If anyone has reached this degree, then he has come to perfection. Again, when grace begins to act weaker, he leaves one step and stands on the eleventh. Another, rich and abounding in grace, always, day and night, stands at the level of perfection, being free and pure from everything, always carried away and caught up in the things above. If this supernatural state, now revealed to man, known to him through his own experience, had always existed with him, then he could neither accept the service of the Word, nor endure any labor, nor hear anything, nor, in necessary cases, take care of himself or the coming day, but would sit in one corner enraptured and, as it were, intoxicated. For this reason, the full measure of perfection is not given to man, so that he can take care of the brethren and exercise himself in the ministry of the Word. But the wall has already been destroyed and death has been defeated. This should be understood this way: just as in any place, with a candle lit and shining in it, there can be some dark force, and thick air can darken it, so in the spiritual light there is a certain veil. For this reason, a person who is in this light confesses that he is not yet completely perfect and free from sin. The separating wall collapsed, so to speak, and was ruined, but only partially, and not completely and forever, because grace sometimes instructs and strengthens a person more strongly, and sometimes it seems to weaken and decrease, in accordance with the benefit of a person. Who has reached the perfect stage in this life and by experience has known the future age? I have not yet seen a single person who had completely achieved Christian perfection, who was completely free from all vice. Although someone rests in grace, comprehends mysteries and revelations, tastes the indescribable sweetness of grace, nevertheless, with all this, sin dwells in him... I have not yet seen anyone completely free: for I, too, once partially ascended to this degree and learned that there is not a single person (completely) perfect” 359. For this reason, as we have seen, Saint John Climacus, and like him many Holy Fathers, called human perfection in Christianity imperfect perfection, just as St. The apostle Paul said: “I have not already attained or have already been completed: but I persecute, even if I comprehend, the same which was comprehended from Christ Jesus. Brothers! I do not think that I have achieved it: but forgetting what is behind, but reaching out to what is before, I strive with zeal for the honor of the highest calling of God”—Christian perfection—“in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14). Christian perfection is a gift of God, and not the fruit of human labor and feat; feat proves only the reality and sincerity of the desire to receive a gift: by feat, which curbs and tames passions, human nature is made capable and prepared to accept the gift. It is up to man to cleanse and decorate, and then with the help of God, the abode in himself for God, the coming of God into this abode depends solely on God’s favor (John 14:23). Non-acquisitiveness and renunciation of the world are a necessary condition for achieving perfection. The mind and heart must be completely directed towards God, all obstacles, all reasons for entertainment must be eliminated, “anyone of you,” said the Lord, “who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). Trust in perishable property must be replaced by trust in God, and the property itself must be replaced by the promise of God, who said: “Do not worry about the words: What pits, or what do we drink, or what do we wear? The pagans are looking for all of these: for your heavenly Father knows that you require all of these. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33). In the midst of all the hardships, in the midst of the difficult situation into which the Christian seems to bring himself, having renounced his possessions and all the advantages afforded by the world, he, by the co-operating grace of God, is placed in the most satisfactory position which the world can never give to its servants. This position is depicted by the holy Apostle Paul as follows: “In everything I imagine myself as God’s servant, in patience, in sorrow, in troubles, in distress, in wounds, in prisons, in disorder, in labor, in vigils, in fasting, in purification, in understanding, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, in the word of truth, in the power of God, weapons of righteousness with the right hand and with the neck, with glory and dishonor, with evil and with praise: as we are ignorant, and we are known: as we are ignorant, and yet we are alive: as we are punished, and not put to death: as we mourn, but we rejoice ever: as we are poor, and rich with many things: for having nothing, but containing all things” (2 Cor. 6:4-10). In this position were all the holy Apostles, who left everything and followed the Lord (Matthew 19:27). They had no material property, but they delivered invaluable spiritual wealth to the whole world, which was drowning in destruction—the knowledge of God and salvation. They did not have material property, but the universe belonged to them: in every city, in every village, wherever they came, the Providence of God prepared for them both housing and maintenance, and “elits” from those who believed in Christ “the Lord of the village or house, selling the price of what was sold and laying it at the feet of the Apostle” (Acts 4, 34-35). The holy martyrs were in this position. Before starting the feat, they usually gave freedom to slaves, and distributed property to the poor 360. Having severed all ties with the world, they took off their very clothes - the body - conceived in iniquities, put on the clothes of the Holy Spirit, in our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, transforming their clothes - the body - from carnal to spiritual, from corruptible to incorruptible, from sinful to holy, from earthly to heavenly. The suffering of the holy martyrs had a special character: they did not suffer as children of the old Adam, but as members of Christ. The holy martyr Felicity was pregnant at the time when, for her firm confession of the Faith, she was imprisoned in a dark and stuffy prison. It was resolved in prison. During the birth, which was difficult, Felicity could not stop herself from screaming. On this occasion, one of the prison guards said to her: “You are shouting so much now: what will happen to you when you are handed over to the beasts to be devoured?” She answered: “Now I suffer, but then the Other in me will suffer for me, because I suffer for Him” 361. Martyrdom was by no means a human invention or the consequence of one human will: it was a gift from God to humanity and therefore was supernatural, just as the holy Apostle Paul said: “You have been given the gift of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29). Like martyrdom, monasticism is a gift of God. Monasticism is a supernatural feat. It is also martyrdom in its essence, only to a superficial ignorant glance appearing as something else, indefinite. Like martyrdom, monasticism requires that it be preceded by renunciation of the world. Just as the feat of martyrdom begins with various torments of the body, and is accomplished by its death, so the feat of monasticism begins with cutting off one’s will and one’s understanding, renunciation of carnal pleasure, and is accomplished by killing the soul and body for sin, reviving them for God. Having stood up against sin to the point of death, having purchased victory over it by not sparing the body in intensified, supernatural feats, many monks with the greatest convenience moved from the monastic feat to the martyrdom due to the similarity between these two feats, which consist in renouncing the world and oneself. Just as the feat of martyrdom is incomprehensible to the proud, serving the decay of the world, it seems to him a riot, so the feat of monasticism is incomprehensible and strange to him. As the martyrs accomplished their feat, they began to reveal an abundance of grace-filled Gifts, just as in the monks, the grace of God revealed its effect by killing them for sin, and intensified this effect as their holy deadness intensified in the monks. The feat of every monk is supernatural: it must certainly be associated with the victory of the bestial quality of the body, which, after the fall, became the property of every person. The feat of some holy monks seems more incomprehensible in its supernaturalness than even the feat of martyrs. You can be convinced of this by reading the lives of the Venerable Mark of France, Onuphrius the Great, Mary of Egypt and others. Why do martyrdom and monasticism seem extravagant and absurd to the slaves of sin and the world? Obviously because they recognize as good only the good of fallen nature, but do not know or understand Christianity. To achieve perfection, following the depletion (distribution - Ed.) of property to the poor, it is necessary to take up your cross (Mark 8:34). Abandonment of property must be followed by rejection of oneself, which is what the acceptance of the cross consists of, or voluntary and constant submission to sorrows of two kinds, of which the cross is made up, as if from two trees connected to each other and cutting off each other. Some of these sorrows are allowed by God's providence for our spiritual creation, while others we must voluntarily impose on ourselves in order to curb and mortify our passions, to mortify our fallen nature within ourselves. The holy Apostle Paul speaks about the sorrows allowed to us by God’s providence: “The Lord loves him and punishes him: he beats every son who accepts him. If you endure punishment, as if God were found to you as a son, who then is a son, who is not punished by his father? If you are without punishment, then all were partakers” (true servants of God): “For you are naturally adulterers, and not sons. For this, our fathers had punishments for our flesh, and we were put to shame: shall we not much more obey the Father in the Spirit, and live?” (Heb. 12:6–9). The Holy Apostle Peter brings sorrows to a spiritual understanding and consoles those subjected to them in the following way: “Beloved! Do not shy away from the fiery temptation sent to you to test it as something strange to you. But since you participate in Christ’s sufferings, rejoice, and at the revelation of His glory you will rejoice and triumph. If you are slandered for the name of Christ, then you are blessed. For the Spirit of glory and power, the Spirit of God, rests upon you. By those he is blasphemed, but by you he is glorified. Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a villain, or as a rebel. And if you are a Christian, then do not be ashamed, but glorify God for such a fate. For it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God. If it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God? If the righteous can barely escape, where will the wicked and sinful appear? Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him, as a faithful Creator, doing good” (1 Pet. 4:12–19) 362. According to the instructions of the Apostle Paul, the sorrows allowed by Providence must be accepted with the greatest submission to God, just as the Apostle accepted the temptations allowed to him: “I am pleased,” he said, “in weaknesses, in annoyances, in troubles, in exiles, in hardships according to Christ” (2 Cor. 12:10). According to the instructions of the Holy Apostle Peter, during the onslaught of sorrows one must surrender to the all-holy will of God and, with special sobriety, firmly adhere to the Commandments of God, from which the enemy tries to tear away during times of sorrow with thoughts of sadness, hopelessness, murmuring, anger, and blasphemy. “Let us cast all our sorrow on God, for He cares for us” (1 Pet. 5:7). It is fitting for us to “have all joy,” that is, the greatest joy, “when we fall into various temptations” (James 1:2): temptations are a sign of our calling by God, a sign of election, a sign of adoption. From among them we will lift up praise to God, as the righteous, long-suffering Job did from the midst of various disasters that surrounded him everywhere (Job 1:21, 2:10). From among them we will bring thanksgiving to God, filling the heart of the one giving thanks with spiritual consolation and the strength of patience, thanksgiving commanded by God Himself. “Give thanks in everything,” the Apostle bequeaths, “for this is the will of God for Christ Jesus in you” (1 Thess. 5:18). Saint Peter of Damascus says: “Just as child-loving parents, prompted by love, turn with threats to the prudent behavior of their children who have allowed themselves to behave recklessly, so God allows temptations, like a rod that turns the worthy from the devil’s slander. “He who spares his rod hates his son: but he who loves diligently punishes” (Proverbs 13:25). It is better for those who find patience (tolerate temptations) to resort to God, than for fear of disasters to fall away, fall into the hands of the devil, and incur eternal falling away and torment with him. One of two things is certainly presented to us: either we must endure the first, temporary, or undergo the second, eternal. The righteous are not touched by either one or another disaster: because, loving events that seem to us to be misfortunes, they rejoice in them, kissing temptations as finds and time for acquiring spiritual self-interest, and remain unhurt. The one who is hit by an arrow but does not hit him does not die; the one to whom it inflicts a mortal wound dies. Did the attack hurt Job? On the contrary, didn’t she crown him? Did the torment terrify the apostles and martyrs? They rejoiced, says Scripture, “because for the name of the Lord Jesus they were deemed worthy to receive dishonor” (Acts 5:41). The more the winner fights, the greater the crowns he is awarded, the greater the joy he feels from this. When he hears the voice of the trumpet, he does not come into fear, as if from a voice announcing slaughter; on the contrary, he rejoices, as if foretelling a crown and reward. Nothing delivers victory so effortlessly as courage with informed faith! Nothing brings victory with such ease as pride and fear, born from unbelief” 363. The Lord promised sorrow to His followers for the entire duration of their earthly journey, promised an earthly life similar to His own, spent in hardships and persecution, but at the same time commanded them courage and trustworthiness. “Even if the world hates you,” He said to them, “know that it hated Me before you. If you were quicker from the world, the world would love its own: for you are not from the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you” (John 15:18-19). “You will be in a world of sorrow, but be bold, for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33): no sorrow, no temptation will be able to overcome or crush you if you believe in Me and abide in Me by fulfilling My commandments.” “God is faithful,” said the Apostle, “He will not leave you to be tempted more than you can, but will create with temptation an abundance, so that you are able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13). Also in another place of Scripture, the Holy Spirit testifies: “Many are the tribulations of the righteous, and I the Lord will deliver from them all. The Lord guards all their bones, and not one of them will be broken” (Ps. 34:20-21). Let us believe the promise of God, let us not be afraid of the troubled sea of ​​sorrows, and let us cross it safely, held by the invisible but omnipotent right hand of God. The other part of the cross is made up of voluntary spiritual exploits, established and commanded by God, by which the sinful desires of the body, and therefore the soul, are curbed. About them, the holy Apostle Paul said: “I mortify my body and enslave it, so that if I preach to others, I myself will not be enslaved” (1 Cor. 9:27), and the holy Apostle Peter: “To Christ, who suffered for us in the flesh, and you also arm yourself with the same thought: having previously suffered in the flesh, you are no more from sin” (1 Pet. 4:1). “They who are Christ's are flesh crucified with passions and lusts” (Gal. 5:24): the flesh, not crucified, but fattened and comforted by abundant nutrition, pleasure and repose, cannot but sympathize with sin, cannot but enjoy it, cannot but be incapable of receiving the Holy Spirit, cannot but be alien and hostile to Christ. “She is truly a widow and solitary,” that is, one who has truly renounced the world, died to it, separated from everyone and everything to serve God, “trusts in God and continues in prayers and supplications day and night: but she who feeds generously,” despite leaving the world in appearance and distributing her property to the poor, “died alive” (1 Tim. 5:5-6), because “Whoever sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but he who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (Gal. 6:8). The crucifixion of the flesh is necessary, necessary for the ascetic of Christ! It is necessary to submit to the good yoke of asceticism in order to curb the bestial aspirations of the flesh, and not to deprive it of the health and strength necessary for asceticism itself. “We have learned to be killers of passions, not bodies,” says Pimen the Great 364. Even for those who are weak in body and sick, violation of abstinence is very harmful, it increases illness, does not support, but frustrates the weak and sick. Prudent moderation is especially capable of maintaining and preserving bodily strength and health, both in people of strong build and in people of weak, sickly build. After distributing property to the poor and severing ties with the world, the first thing for the ascetic of Christ should be to remove himself from the midst of temptations into a secluded monastic monastery. Such removal erases previously received sinful impressions and averts the possibility of becoming infected with new impressions. The Holy Spirit himself invites the true servants of God to such removal: “Come out from among them and separate yourself, says the Lord, and do not touch uncleanness, and I will receive you: and I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Cor. 6:17-18). And in the most holy monastery it is necessary to be protected from making acquaintances, from visiting the brethren’s cells and from receiving them to oneself, so that the soul becomes capable of sowing the Word of God on it and bears spiritual fruit in due time. And the material field is prepared for an abundant harvest of grain by loosening it with iron tools and eliminating all other growths from it. The Reverend Simeon the Reverent commanded his disciple, the Reverend Simeon, the New Theologian, upon his entry into the monastery: “Look, child, if you want to be saved, then do not talk in any way at church meetings and do not walk from cell to cell. Do not have free circulation. Guard your mind so that it does not wander here and there, but so that it looks steadily at your sins and eternal torment” 365. In the cell one should have only the most necessary accessories, as simple as possible: an attachment to unnecessary and beautiful things immediately appears in the heart, and the mind, regarding them, receives a tendency towards daydreaming and absent-mindedness, which is very harmful. The second feat is moderate fasting. Fasting for beginners is determined by the monastic meal. During the meal one must eat food without allowing oneself to become satiated, but only enough so that the body is capable of obedience; Eating food outside the meal is prohibited by paternal tradition and monastic regulations. Those monks whom God has led to a silent life and to constant exercise in prayer and contemplation of God must eat food once a day, 366 without being satiated and eating all kinds of dishes permitted to monasticism, depending on what is sent by God. With such freedom, one must strictly observe that it does not give rise to pleasure or excess. True pleasure awaits us in the next century, but here, on the way to it, let us forbid ourselves pleasure, satisfying the only natural need, and not a passionate whim. Solitude and fasting are such essential accessories of monastic life that monks received their name from them in ancient times: monk (monacos, solitarius, from the Greek words monos, Latin solus - one) means solitary; the monks were also called fasters. The third feat is vigils. The novice monk then satisfactorily exercises himself in this feat when he is always present at all church functions. For those who lead a silent life, the feat of vigil is especially important. The monk is elevated to this feat by living remembrance, as if a foretaste of death and the subsequent impartial judgment of God. The monk strives to prevent the terrible standing at this trial by reverently and tremulously standing in prayer, as if before the face and eyes of God Himself. He hopes to ask and receive forgiveness of sins here, so that, after the departure of the soul from the body, he can make the journey from earth to heaven without any fear, and therefore he relentlessly stands at the doors of God’s mercy during his cell solitary prayer, knocks on these doors with tears, knocks with heavy sighs, humble words emanating from the depths of his heart, which is painful for sinfulness. As the spiritual feeling of the Fear of God intensifies, the feat of vigilance intensifies. But first you must force yourself to this feat, without which it is impossible to achieve the final and complete victory over the passions. We must come to the state commanded by the Lord: “Let your loins be girded, and your lamps burning: and you are like a man who waits for his Lord when he returns from marriage, so that when he comes and pushes, the door will be opened to Him. Blessed are the servants, for whom the Lord will come and find them vigilant. Amen, I tell you, he will gird himself and make them sit down, and he will serve them. And if he comes in the second watch, he will come in the third watch, and he will find them like this, blessed slaves. Behold, if the Lord of the church had known at what time the thief would come, he would have been vigilant and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. And you will therefore be ready, for at that very hour, remember not, the Son of Man will come” (Luke 12:35–40). This state is brought about by the feeling of the Fear of God. Those who come to it begin to live on earth, like travelers in a hotel, waiting hourly to leave it. The time of earthly life is shortening before their eyes, when an immense, majestic eternity opens before them. The idea that they can be called unexpectedly by the Lord keeps them in constant vigil, on constant guard against sin, which constantly attacks. They spend their nights like days, accepting sleep only when necessary, without allowing themselves to be deeply immersed in it and to be pampered by it. They lie down on their hard beds, clothed and girded, so that they can immediately rise up when need arises. The feat of vigil must correspond to a person’s bodily strength. It, like solitude and fasting, intensifies with the gradual transition of the ascetic from a carnal and mental state to a spiritual or grace-filled one. A spiritual man, even if he was weak in body, endures an incomparably greater feat than a carnal and spiritual man is capable of. The first is excited to the feat by Divine grace and encounters fewer obstacles from his body, which usually puts aside a significant part of its plumpness when entering such a state. To create a visible cross, you need two beams in a transverse connection with each other; so in order to compose the invisible cross, voluntary sorrows are also necessary - feats that contain the body in the crucifixion, and external sorrows that curb and humble the human spirit, which is constantly disposed to pride due to damage by a fall. From the totality of these sorrows, the cross is made up, which we are commanded to take upon ourselves and follow Christ, without which following Christ is impossible. Those who have not crucified their flesh, who have not curbed sinful lusts and aspirations in it, who are carried away by voluptuous sensations and thoughts, cannot be in communion with Christ, being in communion with Satan through pleasure and infatuation with sin. “Those who are in the flesh,” said the holy Apostle Paul, that is, those who lead a carnal life, living in their body, abundantly nourishing it, resting it, tenderly, “cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8). “They that are according to the flesh, the things of the flesh make wisdom” (Rom. 8:5), that is, those who lead a carnal life certainly have a carnal way of thinking, do not remember and do not care about eternity, have a false will to earthly life, recognizing it as endless and acting solely for it, highly value earthly transitory positions and advantages, cannot assimilate the New Testament, cannot reject the fallen nature, develop it, respect its dignity and prosperity. “The wisdom of the flesh is death, the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God: for the law of God is not repented, but below it can” submit (Rom. 8:6-7). This holy obedience is unusual and impossible for him. Leaving property and the world, retiring to a monastery, will not bring us any benefit if we please the whimsical desires of our flesh, if we do not put it on the cross, depriving it of excesses and pleasures, providing only one thing necessary for existence. The original commandment given by God to humanity was the commandment to fast. It is given in Paradise, confirmed in the Gospel. If it was violated, Holy Paradise could not protect us from destruction; if it was violated, the redemption given to us by the God-man cannot protect us from destruction. “There are many who walk,” says the Apostle Paul, that is, they spend their earthly life, “of whom I have spoken to you many times, even now even while weeping I say, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose belly is God, and whose glory is in their cold, who are wise on earth” (Phil. 3:18-19). The Apostle, saying this to Christians, begged them to imitate his life (Phil. 3:17), which he performed “in labor and struggle, in watching in abundance, in hunger and thirst, in fasting in abundance, in winter and nakedness” (2 Cor. 11:27). Fasting is the basis of all monastic deeds; without it it is impossible to maintain solitude, nor to curb the tongue, nor to lead a sober, attentive life, nor to succeed in prayer and vigil, nor to acquire memories of death, nor to see the multitude of one’s sins and infirmities. A monk who neglects to fast shakes the entire edifice of his virtues; This building will not stand if the creator does not come to his senses and takes care in time to strengthen the foundation. Saint John Climacus says: “The chief of demons is the fallen star, and the beginning of the passions is gluttony 367. Don't be deceived! You will not be freed from Pharaoh and will not see the Passover on high if you do not constantly eat bitter medicine and unleavened bread. The bitter potion is a compulsion to fast and work, and the unleavened bread is unpompous wisdom. May the word of the one who said: “And when I was always cold,” the demons, “clothed themselves in sackcloth, and humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer deepened into my bosom,” deepened (Ps. 34:13) 368. If you have vowed to Christ to walk the strait and narrow path, then oppress your belly. By resting and expanding it, you break this vow. Be attentive and hear the speaker: wide and “broad is the way” of gluttony, “lead into destruction” fornication, “and many are those who enter into them. Like the narrow gate and narrow path” of fasting, “introduce into the belly” purity, “and there are few of them who enter in” 369. What does it mean to follow Christ (Matthew 19:21), by distributing one's possessions and taking on the cross? To follow Christ means to spend earthly life solely for heaven, just as the God-man spent his earthly life. Those who live piously in the midst of the world according to the Gospel commandments are already likened by good morals and spiritual disposition to the Son of God, but those who have renounced the world, crucified their flesh through asceticism, and attracted the grace of the Holy Spirit to themselves because of the mortification of the flesh for sin (Rom. 8:10), acquire a special resemblance to the God-man. They are “led by the Spirit of God, and are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14), by grace, having formed themselves in the image of the Heavenly Man, the second Man, the God-man (1 Cor. 15:47–49). It is not the letter, not the superficial knowledge of the letter, which has no meaning before God, that testifies to them that they are children of God; this is testified by the All-Holy Spirit of God Himself, having indwelled them tangibly for them and united with their spirit (Rom. 8:16). “As children, then also heirs: heirs to God, but heirs to Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Where could such glory come from for a poor, fallen creature - humans? From living faith in Christ, God, our Creator and Savior, from living faith, which taught the elect of God not only to recognize the Redeemer with their hearts, but to confess it through life itself, renunciation of the world, acceptance of the extreme cross, made up of voluntary and involuntary sorrows, and the most precise fulfillment of “the will of God, good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). “As long as we suffer with Him,” says the Apostle to the whole face of Christ’s ascetics, “that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). Comparing the eternal, heavenly glory prepared for those who suffer about Christ, experienced by the Apostle, with the short-term sorrows by which it is acquired, Saint Paul says: “It is impossible for us to understand that the passions of this present time are unworthy of the glory that would appear in us” (Rom. 8:18). These sorrows mean nothing! Our Almighty and All-Good Hero of God put such spiritual consolation into the very sorrows that sorrows for the sake of Christ already constitute a source of joy. “This bodily torment,” said the Great Martyr Eustratius about the supernatural suffering he endured in his dying prayer to God 370, “is the essence of joy for Your servants.” Monastic sorrows contain exactly the same property: in their depths flows and boils a source of spiritual sweetness and joy, the firstfruits of bliss in eternity. The cross is a weapon of victory, a sign of honor for a Christian: “but for me,” says the Apostle, “let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom peace has been crucified to me, and to the world” (Gal. 6:14). The connection between the human body and spirit is worthy of deep consideration and wonder. A person’s way of thinking, his heartfelt feelings depend a lot on the state in which his body is. “When the belly is oppressed,” noted St. John Climacus, “the heart is humbled; when the belly is satisfied, then the thoughts become infected with exaltation” 371. “The soul cannot come to humility otherwise,” said Pimen the Great, “than by diminishing food for the body.” The rector of a certain hostel asked the Great: “Why don’t I feel the fear of God in myself?” “How can you feel the fear of God,” answered the Great One, “when your belly is stuffed with pies and cheeses?” 372 When the body is saturated, our heart cannot help but generate fornication sensations, and the mind - fornication thoughts and dreams, which, with their strength and fascination, are capable of changing the most decisive good will, inclining it to the pleasure of sin; That’s why Saint John Climacus said: “He who pleases his own belly and together wants to defeat the spirit of prodigalness is like one who extinguishes a fire with oil” 373. Saint Isaac the Syrian says: “Love wretched clothing in order to disgrace the thoughts that vegetate in you: arrogance, I say, of the heart. Loving splendor cannot acquire humble thoughts, because “the heart inside is imprinted according to the external image” 374. The Holy Apostle Paul, counting the deeds of the flesh, named among them “enmities, zeal, envy, rage, strife, temptations, heresies” (Gal. 5:20) - shortcomings of the human spirit itself. For what reason? Because these types of sins expose a person’s carnal wisdom, and carnal wisdom exposes living according to the flesh and rejecting the Cross of Christ 375. From church history we see that all heresiarchs were like this. I, the great sinner Ignatius, wrote this wretched Word to excite myself, as an exhortation to ascetic life. I noticed that those subjects of spiritual teaching that I will present in writing are especially explained for myself, and sometimes they are not useful for my beloved brethren in terms of modern presentation. If anyone reads this Word, may he forgive me the shortcomings of my knowledge and the word! If anyone reads this Word and finds in it something useful for his soul, I beg him to pay attention to this wretched Word and carefully consider himself with the concepts it conveys. It is necessary, it is necessary for all Christians in general to fulfill with accuracy the testaments of the Savior, Who said: “Whoever wants to save his soul will destroy it; and whoever destroys his soul, for the sake of Me and the Gospel, he will save it” (Mark 8:35). “He who loves his life will destroy it; and he who hates his soul in this world will preserve it for eternity” (John 12:25). What does it mean to love your soul? This is to love your fallen nature, its properties defiled by the fall, its false mind, its desires and desires, its truth. What does it mean to save your soul in this world? This is to develop the properties of fallen nature, to follow one’s understanding and one’s will, to create one’s own righteousness from the imaginary good deeds of fallen nature. What does it mean to destroy your soul for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, what does it mean to hate your soul? This is to recognize and recognize the fall and disorder of nature as sin, this is to hate the state produced in us by the fall, and to mortify it by rejecting behavior according to our own understandings, according to our own will, according to our own inclinations, this is to forcibly instill into our nature the mind and will of the nature renewed by Christ, and to direct our behavior according to the all-holy teaching of God and according to the all-holy will God, revealed to us by God Himself in the Gospel. Our fallen nature is hostile to God: following the understandings and inclinations of a fallen nature is a desire for certain and eternal destruction. For this reason, the holy desert Fathers, teachers of monasticism and all Christianity, uttered so many terrible sayings against following their will and their understandings. The Venerable Pimen the Great used to say: “The will of man is a copper wall between God and man, a stone striking against the will of God. If a person leaves it, then he too can say: “By my God I will cross the wall. My God, His way is blameless” (Ps. 17:30–31). If justification is combined with will, then man becomes corrupted and perishes” 376. By the word justification we must understand our recognition of our actions of our own will as fair or righteous: this serves as a sure sign of mental disorder and deviation from the path of salvation. The Monk Abba Dorotheos says: “I don’t know any other reason for the fall of a monk other than following the will and desires of his heart. They say: from one thing or another a person falls, but, as I said, I don’t know any other reason for the fall than this. Have you seen anyone fallen? know that he followed himself.” Further, the Monk Dorotheos narrates that while he was in the hostel of Abba Serida, he was guided in everything by the instructions of the Spirit-bearing Elder John, completely rejecting his own understanding and heartfelt desires. When the learned and intelligent Dorotheus presented any of his own thoughts about a spiritual subject, then he said to himself: “Anathema to you and your reasoning, and your reason, and your knowledge” 377. Here is an example of blessed hatred for one’s soul, hatred commanded by the Savior of our souls and bodies! Here is an example of the blessed destruction of the soul for the sake of Christ and the Gospel for the salvation of the soul! Here is an example of the attitude of the Saints towards the fallen nature! Let us follow, brothers, the teachings of Christ! Let us follow the lifestyle, behavior, and way of thinking of the holy saints of God! For our salvation, let us not stop renouncing our fallen nature! For true self-love, let’s reject deceptive self-love, our self-love! For saving activity according to the commandments of the Gospel, let us reject from ourselves activity according to the laws of the fallen nature, beloved for the world, hostile to God! Let us hate imaginary good deeds that arise from the false mind, from the movements of the blood, from the feelings of the heart, no matter how sublime, immaculate, and holy our feelings and thoughts may seem to us. These things are only capable of developing in us harmful conceit, pride, and self-delusion. They do not enlighten the eyes of the soul, as the commandment of the Lord enlightens them (Ps. 18:9), on the contrary, they strengthen the blindness of the soul, making this blindness incurable. Those who create them will go into eternal torment, as those who create the good of a fallen nature, good, always mixed with evil, desecrated good, from which the Lord, as from satanic abomination, turns away His all-holy gaze. To perform the good deeds of fallen nature, you do not need to be a Christian: they belong to all fallen humanity. Where the good deeds of the fallen nature are performed, with the thunder of praise from the world, the Savior of the world is excluded and rejected. Works of faith, works of salvation, or, what is the same, fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, belong to Christians alone. “Good,” said St. Mark the Ascetic about true good, “cannot be believed or acted upon, except in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit” 378. Fulfillment of the Gospel commandments introduces a person into true knowledge of God and self-knowledge, into true love for oneself, for one’s neighbor, for God, into communication with God, which develops the more abundantly the more diligently and accurately the Gospel commandments are fulfilled. Communication with God, granted to a Christian even during his earthly wanderings, is a guarantee of heavenly and eternal bliss. This pledge itself testifies to its fidelity, testifies so clearly and strongly that many, in order to preserve it, decided to submit to the greatest sorrows and preferred it to temporary life. Pathetic, sad is the blindness with which the proud world contemptuously looks at the affairs of the Christian Faith, with which it pronounces an insane judgment about them and a sentence that is deadly for the world. How insignificant the works of faith seem to the world in comparison with the loud and picturesque works of the world! What kind of good deed apparently is the consciousness of one’s sinfulness, for which the mercy of God was poured out on the publican?” (Luke 18:10–14). What kind of good work, apparently, is repentance, through which the greatest sinners were reconciled with God and inherited eternal bliss? What kind of good deed is the confession of Christ, a confession expressed in a few, simplest words? And expressed by whom? Expressed by an executed robber. These few simple words brought the thief into heaven, accomplished what all the brilliant virtues of all mankind could not and cannot accomplish. “The word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,” and activity according to the Gospel seems just as meaningless to them. “To us who are being saved” and the Word of the Cross and activity according to the Gospel “the power of God is” (1 Cor. 1:18), healing and saving our souls (Luke 6:19). The Holy Fathers of all times constantly expressed their attitude towards God's revealed teaching with the word: I believe. In modern society, which calls itself predominantly educated and Christian, the expression of a heartfelt attitude, a guarantee of Divine Revelation in the word: I think, is constantly heard. Where did this pledge and word come from? From ignorance of Christianity. It is a sad sight when a son of the Eastern Church talks about the Christian Faith outside the teachings of his Church, is contrary to its Divine teachings, talks willfully, ignorantly, and blasphemously. Isn’t such reasoning a renunciation of the Church, of Christianity? Let us fear our ignorance, which leads us to eternal destruction; Let's study Christianity; Let us love obedience to the Holy Church, beloved for all who have knowledge of the Christian Faith. Let us become careful executors of the Gospel commandments, let us fulfill them like unbreakable servants (Luke 17:10), who must fulfill their duty, constantly sinning in fulfilling it or doing it very insufficiently. Let the Gospel lead us to good deeds, and not the movement of blood and nerves. Let us learn to perform virtues with humility, and not with ardor, which is certainly accompanied and promoted by vanity and arrogance or pride. When the Lord pours into us the holy cold of humility and its action stops the waves of heartfelt feelings: then we will understand that the ardor that performs sublime and loud human virtues is flesh and blood, unable to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven (1 Cor. 15:50). Save yourself, beloved brethren, save yourself! “Save yourself from this corrupt generation” (Acts 2:40), said the holy Apostle Peter to those contemporary Jews who, from among a people hostile to Christianity, were inclined to accept Christianity. “Save, you will save your soul,” the great ancient monks said about the true Christians of recent times 379. This means: salvation for them will be very difficult due to the special increase in sinful temptations and due to the general deviation of people towards sin. Salvation will require special efforts, special care, special caution and self-preservation, special prudence, special patience. But our almighty Leader and Mentor, our Life, our Strength, our Salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, who foretold to us that “we will be in a world of sorrow,” together and encourages us: “Be of good cheer,” He says, “for I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen" (Matthew 28:20). Breviary. Consequence of Holy Baptism. Epistle of Saint Gregory Palamas to the nun Xenia. On the difference between the image and likeness of God in man, see the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov, Chronicle, volume 4, page 15. 1840 Discourse 23 on the Acts of the Apostles. Venerable Abba Dorotheos, Teaching 1, on the rejection of the world. St. Mark the Ascetic. On the Spiritual Law, ch. 4. All Evangelists confirm this requirement. Saint Peter of Damascus. Book 1, article 2. Philokalia, part 3. Cell letters, volume 15, letter 73. Cell letters, volume 15, letter 70. Cell letters, volume 15, letter 11. Breviary, following confession. St. Abba Dorotheos, Teaching 1. “Mix Thyself with us, and knead Thy body in us.” These words of St. Saints Xanthopoulos cite John Chrysostom in chapter 92 of their work on silence and prayer. Dobrot., part 2. Ladder, word 4, ch. 53. The pages of the Gospel are filled with the Lord’s denunciations of the wickedness of the Jews, especially the 23rd chapter of Matthew and the 8th chapter of John. Ladders Word 29, ch. 5. The life of the Great Martyr Demetrius of Thessalonica, St. George the Victorious, etc. Histoire du Christianisme par Fleury, Livre V, chap. XVII. Based on the Russian translation of the 1822 edition. Philokalia, part 3, book 1, articles entitled “For without humility it is impossible to be saved.” Life of St. Simeon, the New Theologian. Manuscript. This life was published by Optina Pustyn. On the advice of St. Peter of Damascus. See the article entitled: “The necessary and fair indication of the seven bodily works.” Dobrot., Book 1, part 3. Ladder, word 14, ch. 52. See his life. Chet'i-Minei, December 13. The Monk Simeon, a fool for Christ's sake, pointed out in the rejection of the Cross of Christ the reason for the error and death of Origen. Chetyi Menaia, July 21. A lesson about not making up your own mind. Philokalia, part 1, about the Spiritual law, ch. 2. Saying of the Monk Pamva. Patericon Alphabetical. You might be interested in: