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Matthew 4:1. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil,” “Jesus Christ, entering into public ministry, was tempted by the devil. And every person, the higher his service, the more strongly he is initially attacked by the devil, because the latter tries at the very beginning to destroy the beneficial trend that a person who takes upon himself to serve society can produce in society over time” [1, 63]. “How did He teach abstinence and fasting? - A forty-day fast (See: Matt. 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13) - before the beginning of the service of our salvation - such that during all these forty days I did not eat anything; Note this, beloved: the Lord did not eat anything for forty days - in order to defeat in His Person our voluptuous flesh, which greedily demands exquisite food and drink and loves to be satiated and drunk - through this all kinds of sins multiply in our hearts. This is why the Lord fasted for forty days, in order to show us in His Person how to tame and subjugate to the spirit our voluptuous, stubborn, rebellious flesh, although His flesh was pure and sinless. - Yes, throughout His entire life He did not care about food and drink; how can we hope for this? For the sake of Jesus Christ we are sinners” [8, 209]. "Lead us not into temptation (Matthew 6:13). Temptation here, of course, comes primarily from the devil, when he shakes our faith, for example, in the omnipresent God, or in some sacrament, or when he kindles in us any passion, for example, fornication, love of money, stinginess, envy, hatred, malice. It can be very difficult to resist enemy temptations, which is why it is said further: deliver us from the evil one (Matthew 6:13) - the tempter. Thus the Savior was led into temptation, fasting for forty days (See: Matthew 4:1-11). His temptation was from the devil, and the devil tempted Him with food (lust), worldly glory (love of glory) and greed (I will give everything to you) (Wed: Matthew 4:9). tempts" [8, 637]. Matthew 4:2. “And having fasted forty days and forty nights, he was finally hungry.” “Many people say: we can’t eat lean food. Why? Because we got out of the habit. Try to get used to it: and believe me, if you want, you will get used to it. How can we not get used to something that is not at all contrary to our nature, but, so to speak, is innate to it? – For fasting is characteristic of man: people who do not consume meat, milk, eggs, but eat plant, flour, and fish foods, are healthier, more cheerful, and lighter than people who eat fast food. How can one not get used to lean food, which is not at all contrary to our nature, when one gets used to smoking tobacco, which is beyond the requirements of nature and is disgusting to it? How do you get used to many things that are not the need of nature? No, brethren, it is a lie that you cannot eat lean food; It is an unpardonable weakness to always eat only modest food. Admit that you do not want to part with the pleasure of a simple table, you do not want to deny your belly pleasant food. It pleases you to make daily sacrifices to your womb-god (Cf. Phil. 3:19) and don’t want to follow the example and commandments of the Savior, who fasted for forty days and nights (See: Matt. 4:2) for our salvation and thereby showed all the need for us to fast? – You do not want to be Christ’s slaves and obedients, although you are falsely called Christians: for they who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with passions and lusts (Gal. 5:24). So, you are slaves of the flesh, not of Christ. – But sow to the flesh, from the flesh he will reap corruption (Gal. 6:8). – [If we live by the Spirit (of God), let us walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25)]. How long will we worship idols under the guise of Christians? How long is the carnal life? How long will we not take care of leading a spiritual life? Brethren! Our God is the Spirit; and whoever bows to Him is worthy to bow in spirit and in truth (John 4:24) - that is, one must lead a life of fasting in order to pray to Him spiritually and with a true heart, for without fasting there is no spiritual prayer. God is our Spirit. This obliges us, as children of God, to become spiritual and strive to nourish ourselves with pleasant and varied food and drink and various other carnal pleasures” [10, 451]. “If you, who have both money and bread, are tempted by concern for food and drink or your greedy belly, then remember the forty-day fast of the Savior in the desert (See: Matt. 4:2), and not in human society; remember how He, being hungry after a forty-day fast, rejected the flattering offer of the devil - to turn stones into bread (See: Matt. 4:3-4), how He little valued the body and bodily needs and placed his trust in God, for He was also a man - and with this disregard for the body, this trust in God, he put to shame our enemy, who for so many years has been deceiving us with poison and encouraging us to place our hope in her rather than in God; how He taught you not to be deceived by any food and to place your hope in God, in His holy word, for He said: man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4; Deut. 8:3). “Remember that you cannot gain spiritual strength without fasting, for extensive nutrition inevitably relaxes the soul, making it carnal and pampered” [10, 318]. Matthew 4:3. “And the tempter came to Him and said: If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” Matthew 4:4. “And he answered and said unto him, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” “Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Know at least now, when you fast physically, that man, a spiritual and immortal being, can live not from bread and various foodstuffs alone, but from the word of God, and much more from the word of God than from bread. Eating material food is the most common way of satiation for all sensual creatures, just as gross as body; it is adapted to our planetary life, subject in all respects to the [laws] of the planet on which we live. But even now our life is not limited only to existence on earth, but will continue after it [the earth] burns up - forever and ever, then it is natural for a person to desire and demand other food than planetary, coarse food, namely, eternal food, adapted to the essence of the immortal, spiritually rational nature of our soul. What kind of food is this? the food by which immortal spirits live - Angels, the food by which all the worlds of the universe are sustained in their entire composition and in all their parts, that is, this is the word of God" [1, 63]. “Keep a meek and peaceful disposition towards your brother even when he insidiously or cunningly, or somehow unintentionally deprives you of your last asset. This is where you show that you love the image of God in your neighbor more than anything earthly and perishable, that your love never falls away [1 Cor. 13:8]. From him who takes yours, do not torture [Lk. 6:30 ]; whoever wants to sue you and take your robe, let him have the swearing as well [Matt. 5:40]. May the enemy not put you to shame by relying on the dust of the earth, such as money and bread, more than on God, but may he himself be put to shame by your strong trust in God and His holy word. For man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God [Matt. 4:4]. Note: about any verb. For every word of the Lord Creator can support your life, just as every word can create and transform thousands of creatures. For He spoke, and it was done; commanded, and it appeared [Ps. 32:9 ] creation. Thus, with a word, He brought from non-existence into existence myriads of heavenly, immortal armies and, sanctifying them with the Holy Spirit, strengthens and supports them in existence. Do not foolishly degrade the dignity of your immortal spirit to the vain hope of the dust of the earth. Say: God is my hope, or: my hope is the Father, my refuge is the Son, my protection is the Holy Spirit - the Holy Trinity. And how many of us get irritated and lose our temper when they are deprived not of their last ruble, but only of some small part of their far from last property! How much indignation, anger, bile, bitter reproaches, grumbling, and sometimes curses! - Oh, righteous God! and this dust, called money, or these food and drinks can create such a storm in our Christian souls! - in us, when we know the word of our Sweetest Savior: do not worry about your soul, what you eat or what you drink, nor about your body, what you put on. Look at the birds of the air, how they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you [Matt. 6:25, 26, 33]. Or: a person’s life does not depend on the abundance of his possessions [Lk. 12:15]. My God! what have we come to! How are we better than the pagans given our way of life? Where is our faith, trust in God, love for our neighbor? Oh, satanic arrogance! Oh, our shame! - Heavenly Father! You, the leader, demand them, and giver before our petition [Cf.: Matt. 6:8 ], have mercy on us, unfaithful, ungrateful and evil-willed! We hear Your merciful word, Master: do not leave the imam from You, leave the imam below to you [Heb. 13:5], but, being seduced daily by earthly blessings, we disobey him and violate Your will” [5, vol. 1, 207]. “Oh, our deeply fallen nature! Oh, most damned Satan, who through poison plunged us and is now plunging us into thousands of evils! O poison, O food and drink, which seduce us so much now! How long will we be enticed by you and place our life in you? Until we deeply imprint on our hearts the words of the Savior: man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God [Matt. 4:4], and we will not implement them into our lives and activities? How long will greed, delicacy, satiety and drunkenness last? How long is vile stinginess? How long is the love of money? How long will there be pride, enmity and anger towards one’s neighbor because of money, because of clothing, housing, food and drink? Thousands of Satan’s deceptions through food, drink, clothing, money are revealed before our heartfelt eyes, and we all continue to be carried away by his charms as something real, useful for us, and we are jealous of nothing more or less than a destructive dream and our own extreme mental and physical harm. Do not believe, brethren, the deception of the enemy even for a moment when it comes to food and drink, no matter how plausible it may seem. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you [Matt. 6:33]. Do not pay attention to the bread, but beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees [Matt. 16:11 ; OK. 12:1], which is hypocrisy in matters of faith and piety. Pay your greatest attention to faith and piety; Do not do the evil that perishes, but do the evil which abides in the eternal life which the Son of man will give you [Jn. 6:27]. Give the latter too, if need requires it, remembering the words of the Savior: whoever wants to sue you and take your robe, let him also have the swearing [Matt. 5:40], that is, give the last of what you have” [5, vol. 1, 209]. “When during prayer the enemy produces in you a strong urge for food, despise this material, nervous irritation, strengthen your heart more strongly in prayer, inflame it with faith and love, and tell the tempter the words of the Savior: man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God [Matt. 4:4]. Prayer is my best food, strengthening and enlightening both soul and body” [5, vol. 1, 160]. “Am I not everything to you, My worm, adorned with My image? What are you clinging to? What else do you hope for? Do not leave Me, the Source of living water (life), I am Life itself. Our life - the Lord - is simple. He is in the heart, and that’s enough. He alone will sustain our life. That is why it is said: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God [Matt. 4:4]" [5, vol. 2, 419]. “Greedy, greedy miser! Did money or bread give you life? Isn't it God? Was it not His word that gave existence and life to you and to all other creatures? Is it not the Son of God who bears all things by His power [Heb. 1:3 ]? Is your life supported by money and bread, water and wine alone? Is it not because of every word that proceeds from the mouth of God that a man lives [Matt. 4:4 ]? Isn't money and bread dust? Isn't it just the least amount of bread we need to support our lives? Everything was created by the word and is maintained. The word is the source of life and its storage” [5, vol. 2, 375]. “On the contrary, I’m more full than I need to be. I would like to be hungry; when the body is hungry, the soul is fuller, freer, grief can rise more easily, but a well-fed body and soul can oppress and enslave, and man will not live on bread alone (Matthew 4:4)” [7, 15]. “Do you still not consider everything on earth to be vanity? – Have you not yet learned to hope in the one Lord, according to the Scripture: according to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, man will live (cf. Matthew 4:4)? Is your heart still clinging to earthly acquisitions and to corruptible poison” [8, 16]. “Remember often the words of the Savior: man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4) - and absorb them into your heart - by faith and meditation, turn them into juices and your blood. - The Word of God is before you: do you know its power and life-giving? You have never lived without bread, but you can live without it for forty days even by human nature, supported by the grace of God. Understand what I say (2 Tim. 2:7)” [8, 41]. “In nothing but God is there true peace and delight for our hearts. Most of all they seek pleasure in food and drink. But food and drink taken in more quantity than is needed to maintain bodily strength burdens us. And our body does not require sweet brushes and various brushes: simple bread and water are most useful for it. So, it is madness to seek pleasure in pleasant foods and wholesome wines. “The verb that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4) is how our inner man lives, this is what gives him peace, joy and life” [8, 202]. “Do not trust your flesh when it relaxes and refuses to serve you, as if due to lack of reinforcement with food. This is a dream. Overcome yourself by praying earnestly - and you will see that the weakness of your body was false, illusory, and not real, and you will see in reality that man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4; Deut. 8:3). Don’t rely on bread” [10, 185]. “How much my soul and body have become and are constantly bored with food and drink, this earth and water, especially delicacies and satiety; How much the spirits of evil (Eph. 6:12) that come out of a person only through prayer and fasting (cf. Matt. 17:21) have bothered me and are bothering me through her! You must despise her, the murderer! The abundance of bread and the abundance of wine (Ezek. 16:49) plunged Sodom and Gomorrah into the abomination of iniquity and became the cause of their terrible destruction! – It was not in vain that the Lord showed us, first of all, the example of fasting and disdain for bread (See: Matt. 4:1–4). – And we must neglect food, food and drink. “So, be afraid to eat enough bread or pies, or meat, or fruits and drink wine” [11, 313]. “Greed for food and drink and pity for their neighbor is also a demonic lie in action: a person cleaves his heart to the sweets of food and drink and places his life in them, while it is not bread alone, not the many different sweets that serve as the source of our life, but the Lord Himself and His holy Word. Therefore, exposing this active lie, the Lord says: man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4; Deut. 8:3)” [11, 339]. Matthew 4:9. “And he says to Him: I will give all this to You if you fall down and worship me.” “The main commandment of the Law of God is love, it must be fulfilled urgently; but the devil, knowing this, opposed and contrasts his unclean carnal love, which from the beginning he taught and still teaches people, the love of this world - adulterous love, the love of the honors of this world: I will give you all the glory if you fall and worship me, the devil said to the Lord (Matthew 4:9)" [6, 99]. Matthew 4:10. “Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve.” “When the evil spirit of doubt whispers inside you and with this doubt presses your heart, tell him: I don’t know you, the stranger, from which side you are, but you are a murderer from time immemorial: you are killing me even now with doubt; Do not let me give faith to you, a murderer, but as a dark and unknown stranger, I despise you and with all my heart I believe in the truest and living words of the Giver of Life and my Savior. We know him, from where we are, - I believe in His spirit-bearing Apostles and in all the holy Orthodox-Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Spirit and always governed invisibly by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Get away from Me, Satan (cf. Matt. 4:10, 16:23; Luke 4:8), fiery serpent” [3, 81]. Matthew 4:11. “Then the devil leaves Him, and behold. The angels came and ministered to Him." Matthew 4:14. “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet Isaiah, who said:” Matthew 4:15. “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, on the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,” Matthew 4:16. “The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light, and to those sitting in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.” "Gentile Galilee, people sitting in darkness saw a great light... (Isa. 9:1-2; Matt. 4:15-16.) This pagan Galilee is us, Christians from the pagans; we have seen and are enlightened by the light of Christ, His holy faith. We must give thanks deeply. Does the light of Christ shine in us? Has it not dimmed? Is it not darkened by the deeds of the flesh? Not suppressed Is our inner man darkened by the flesh? - We must quickly repent: repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is approaching (Matthew 3:2). Christians and not boast of the light that we do not have, not only do we not be subjected to more condemnation than the pagans, darkened by ignorance of God (cf. James 3:1): it is very bad if we, knowing all the will of God, do not fulfill it, if we live no better, even worse than the pagans, ignorant of the true God: a servant who knows the will of the master... and not having prepared... there will be many beatings (Luke 12:47)" [8, 97]. “The world, lying in evil, with the coming to earth of the Source of all good, begins to gradually emerge from the depths of evil. The darkness is passing and the true light is already shining (1 John 2:8); people in joy rush to be enlightened by Him and seek to enjoy His saving fruits. The works of the devil are destroyed; the days of his dark dominion over the world are over; heaven has reconciled with earth; the Kingdom of God has come near for people; instead of children of wrath they are called sons of God. Man has been granted all Divine powers, including life and piety (2 Pet. 1:3), and it depended and now depends solely on his will to be either a member of the Heavenly Kingdom or a prey of hell. These are truly the most salutary and comforting consequences of this heavenly Light, which shone upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death (cf. Matthew 4:16)” [9,20]. “Lift up your drooping head, sinful man, or lower your proud brow, arrogant with earthly wisdom, power, wealth, glory, strength, beauty, and whatever else is worthwhile, disappearing like smoke. You were rejected from God, the source of life, for your sins, for the countless passions to which you enslaved yourself; you bore the seal of God’s curse on yourself, you were in the shadow and canopy of death (cf. Matthew 4:16), and you would have been in the chains of death and the torments of hell for endless centuries. And God, out of one mercy, for the sake of His immeasurable goodness, God Himself came to earth for you, to seek you, the lost, the lost, He Himself became Man, became like you in everything except sin, in order to come closer, more tangibly, more obviously to you, to enlighten you, the dark one, to raise the fallen, to cleanse the defiled, to strengthen the wavering, like a reed shaken by the wind (Cf.: Matthew 11:7; Luke. 7:24), to destroy the insurmountable barrier that sin has placed between God and man, to destroy the curse and to take this curse upon Himself through the terrible Calvary suffering and the most painful death on the Cross - in order to exude the blessing of the Heavenly Father to all believers, in order to destroy hell and bring out of it all whom God’s truth and immeasurable mercy have found worthy of liberation from this prison prepared for the devil and his servants; to defeat death and resurrect all the dead with His glorious Resurrection and raise those worthy to heaven for eternal life and a kingdom with God in light and bliss” [9, 361]. Matthew 4:17. “From that time Jesus began to preach and say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near. When was the Kingdom of Heaven closer to people, if not when the King of this Kingdom Himself approached people in the flesh, when He, having sincerely partaken of the flesh and blood of earthly beings, lived among them for more than thirty-three years” [1, 64]. “In order to accept God into your soul and unite with Him, it is necessary to repent of sins and cleanse them - from God, even if your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and if they are like scarlet, I will make them white (Is. 1:18). For what communication is there between light and darkness? What fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? (2 Cor. 6:14.) - None. Therefore, before the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Forerunner was sent to the people with a sermon on repentance; and he baptized those who repented in the Jordan - into repentance (as a sign of cleansing by repentance); That’s why Jesus Christ Himself preached: repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is drawing near (Matthew 4:17). “It’s just getting closer,” he says; because it comes after sincere repentance of sins. Without cleansing sins through repentance, union with God is impossible. Therefore, at all times, the Church has demanded from those who receive Baptism repentance and faith in Christ, who cleanses our sins. Therefore, before union with Christ in the Sacrament of Communion, heartfelt repentance and a firm desire for correction are required. Therefore, before each celebration of the Liturgy and the reception of the Holy Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ, the clergy must sincerely repent of their sins using ready-made prayers - and they know from experience that the Lord will not unite with them if they fall, willingly or unwillingly, into any sin before Communion, during or before mass and do not repent of it with all their hearts, while it was inherent in their consciousness; or if even with one thought of momentary doubt they offend the Faithful and True Master. So He is holy. That is why it is said: Holy is our God, and rested among the saints. “Now apply this to the Mother of God and to all the saints.” They are one with God, are in close and eternal, unchanging communion with Him. How holy they must be, especially the Lady: for in heaven there are degrees of holiness, although all are holy and not in the least involved in sin. - The Lady, from the essence of the matter itself, is called the Most Holy, and the other saints are called only saints. This is the price at which blissful union with God is achieved - the price of repentance, purification and sanctification. “What kind of reverence and reverence the saints deserve” [10, 423]. Matthew 4:19. “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” “I will make you a fisher of man (Matthew 4:19). Good fishers are the Apostles of Christ. They caught the entire universe in their net. True, this fishing cost the Apostles a lot of work and even their heads, but there was something to work for, there was something to lay down their heads for: they collected the fruit not in this temporary belly, but in the eternal belly, and they themselves, having despised their life in this life, saved it is reaped in the eternal life; he reaps the reward and gathers the fruit into the eternal life (John 4:36) - he who hates his soul in this world will preserve it in the eternal life (Compare: John 12:25), says our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, wonderful fishers! With them the fishers caught their brethren - men, snatching them from the mouth of the mental wolf - the devil, who destroys the careless in his abyss. For that, eternal peace to both of them - But we, brethren, have fallen into the apostolic snare. What will happen to us in the Kingdom of Heaven? doubt. So it must be said that good and pious Christians will be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven, and the evil ones will be cast out - into utter darkness. On what basis am I speaking: on the basis of the words of the Savior Himself, and His word is the same as the deed itself. This is what He says: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, and from every generation it gathered, and when it was full, it brought it out to the edge, and cast out the good into vessels, and cast out the evil.” This is how it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come out and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous, and throw them into the fiery furnace: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:47-50). You see, brethren, what awaits very many of us: they will be thrown out of the apostolic or church net and thrown into the fiery furnace. - So, no one should boast that you are a baptized person, that you contain the Christian Orthodox faith: what if you have a corrupt, nasty heart, filled with all kinds of abomination and you do not care about correcting it; What is it about the fact that you are an Orthodox Christian, when you have no Christian affairs, when you rarely go to church, and even when you come, you stand absent-mindedly, when you sometimes don’t go to confession for several years in a row, when you don’t partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, which would wash away all the impurity of your heart at once, if you confessed properly and partook of them worthily? - Look: your salvation is in great doubt; rather, it is more certain that you will be thrown into the fiery furnace, and this will certainly follow if you do not correct yourself. - Brothers! May God grant that all of us may pass directly from the apostolic net into the Kingdom of Heaven, into eternal life. Amen. (On the 2nd week of All Saints. It is also possible on the day of St. Apostle Andrew the First-Called. – November 30)” [3, 100]. Matthew 4:20. “And they immediately left their nets and followed Him.” "She left the wilderness, and idolized Him [Cf.: Matthew 4:20]. The apostles did not regret leaving their wilderness for the sake of the Lord, perhaps their only property, precious to them, because it fed them; and we must leave for the Lord everything that prevents us from following Him: all the numerous obstacles with which the enemy entangles us in this life. But it is not enough to leave - we must follow Christ, just as The apostles left and went. And whoever wants to follow Christ and come where He came, must deny himself and take up his cross [Mk. 8:34; Luke 9:23], and follow Him, Christ God, not sparing himself for the glory of God and for his salvation. the Gospel story about the abandonment of the land to us, you involuntarily imagine everything earthly, starting from our body to the last thing that occupies us, as a land conveniently torn apart” [5, vol. 2, 584]. “Look: if you love money, you cannot love God; if you love food and drink, that is, enjoying them, you cannot love God. Love God with all your heart; and consider everything worldly as rubbish. I count all the ways of being, so that I may gain Christ (Phil. 3:8), for otherwise I cannot gain it. And Abie left the wilderness to follow His idol (cf. Matthew 4:20). This is impartiality towards earthly things! This is love for God and man! This is simple, childlike obedience! Oh, that we, like the apostles, having heard the call of the Lord, immediately leaving each of our bonds with which we are bound, would follow Him - to proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven and into the Kingdom of Heaven” [11, 304]. You might be interested in: