Discourses on the Beatitudes of the Gospel

Conversation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Beloved brothers and children in Christ, incline your ear (not only the outer, but especially the inner, about which our Lord Jesus Christ said: having ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9; Luke 8:8); incline, I say, your ear to listening to the commandments of the Lord in order to achieve bliss. Man was created by God in the beginning blessed and for bliss, moreover eternal; but sin, which entered the world, that is, into all people, as one person, destroyed the bliss of people and subjected them to curses, various sorrows, misfortunes, illnesses and, finally, temporary and eternal death. Only the infinite love of the Creator God for His fallen creation, revered in the image and likeness of God, could again find a means to restore it and open the return path to the lost bliss. This means for the restoration of fallen man is the incarnation, life among men, Divine teaching and miracles, suffering, death on the cross and the resurrection from the dead of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; and the return path to bliss is following His teaching, life, participation in His sacraments and obedience to the lawful shepherds and teachers of the Church. There is no other way to bliss, as He Himself says: I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one will come to the Father except by Me. I am the door: By me whoever enters will be saved (John 14:6, 10:9). How each of us longs for bliss! How everyone fears and runs away from sorrows and illnesses! Only, unfortunately, we thirst and seek bliss on earth, where it does not exist, and not in heaven, where it abides forever; We are afraid and run away from sorrows and illnesses, but for the most part they are, if not necessary, then useful for us, because they heal the immortal soul, which is suffering from many different passions. Indeed, what bliss is there in exile, in exile, in prison? For we are all expelled from paradise into this world for our sins, as if into prison. What is the bliss of those condemned to death? You will say: there are many innocent pleasures on earth that God Himself does not forbid the use of, for example, God Himself gave wine, which gladdens the heart of man, or revealed to people the art of playing the psaltery, harp, organ, tympanum and many other musical instruments; He himself taught how to compose choirs and rejoicings; He himself surrounded us with singing birds, as if calling us to joy and bliss; He himself spread before our eyes a majestic spectacle of nature, in which everywhere we see the joy and happiness of creatures, as if calling us to rejoice. Thus, by the goodness of God, there are some innocent consolations in this world, left to us, wounded by the sting of death, to ease our pilgrimage, our sorrows and sorrows; but these consolations must be used very moderately and not at all cling to them, but strive for the promised bliss especially through labor, vigil, prayer, abstinence, purity and all virtues, in which it is impossible to succeed without great sorrows and temptations. Our true, complete and eternal bliss, brothers, is in heaven, where the All-Blessed God lives in the unapproachable light, where the faces of the forefathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, the venerable and righteous and all saints are installed; where the Queen of heaven and earth, the Most Holy Theotokos, reigns together with Her Son and God. But the bliss here is earthly, carnal, illusory, fleeting, like a dream, often rude and unclean. Only true virtue anticipates heavenly bliss here on earth. So, where can we find the true path to bliss? With guidance and fulfillment of what commandments can we achieve bliss? Under the guidance of the Lord’s nine commandments of beatitude, which He pronounced on the mountain aloud to His disciples and people, and which, for constant teaching and reminder to us, are sung or read daily at the liturgy, at the small entrance, when the royal doors are opened for the first time. They read like this (Matthew 5:3–12): 1) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven. 2) Blessed are those who cry: for they will be comforted. 3) Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. 4) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be satisfied. 5) Blessedness of mercy: for there will be mercy. 6) Blessed are those who are pure in heart: for they will see God. 7) Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God. 8) Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of: for those are the Kingdom of Heaven. 9) Blessed are you when people revile you, and despise you, and say all sorts of evil things about you lying, for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is many in heaven. This is the path to true bliss! Next Sunday we will talk about why these blessed ones are sung or read at the small entrance, with the royal doors open, and we will show the meaning of the small entrance, the altar and the royal gates; for this serves to clarify and somewhat interpret the said beatitudes! And now I ask you to put on your heart the truth that we were created by God for eternal life and eternal bliss, that through sin we lost this bliss and were expelled from paradise, subjected to the curse of God, doomed to work, sorrow, illness and death, that now we are wandering in exile, looking for the fatherland from which we were expelled, the lost bliss, that this fatherland and bliss are returning to us again Heavenly Father through the intercession and merits of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, under the condition of faith in Him and fulfillment of His commandments. Amen. Having begun last Sunday, with God's help, conversations about the paths to bliss shown to us by the Lord, and having said that these paths are the well-known nine sayings of the Savior about bliss, spoken by Him on the mountain, we promised to talk on the next Sunday about why these Divine sayings of the Lord Jesus Christ are read or sung at the beginning of the liturgy, at the small entrance with the royal doors open, and why before they sing the verse: remember us, O Lord, when you come into Your Kingdom; also - about the meaning of the small entrance, the altar and the royal doors. Why are the blessed ones sung or read at the small entrance, at the beginning of the liturgy? Here's why: the liturgy is the remembrance of the earthly life of Jesus Christ from His shrouds to the tomb, from the resurrection to the ascension into heaven. Altar means the Kingdom of Heaven, or paradise; the royal gates are the doors of heaven, or the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven: the opening and closing of these gates during the service means the opening and closing of the Kingdom of Heaven or paradise. The beginning of the liturgy means the beginning of the redemptive ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ to the human race, and the small entrance with the Gospel means His procession to preach the Gospel and His first Sermon on the Mount, in which He pleases those who fulfill His commandments and promises various rewards in heaven to those who struggle in this world for His sake. Seeing the open royal gates, like the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, and looking with the eyes of our hearts at the Lord, mysteriously coming in the small entrance, it is natural for us, earthly wanderers, exiles from paradise, to pray to the Lord, like a prudent thief: remember us, Lord, when you come in Your Kingdom. Singing or reading the beatitudes of Christ at this time reminds us both of the appearance of Jesus Christ to preach to the world and of His first sermon on the mountain, and of what virtues each of us must have in order to be worthy of entering into the open heaven, into the paradise opened by the cross of the Lord. The Church tells us with this sacred rite something like this: you were expelled from paradise in Adam for your sins and lost the bliss for which you were created; Paradise was closed for you for many thousands of years, but now it has been opened again by the Son of God; force yourself to enter into it, for the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and strong seekers obtain it (Matthew 11:12); and in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, opened by the cross of the Lord, the following qualities and virtues are required of you: poverty of spirit, crying for sins, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, etc.; acquire them and you will be in heaven. This is the meaning of the small entrance with the Gospel and singing the beatitudes of the Gospel! Let us now begin to explain the first beatitude. “Blessed,” says the Lord, “are the poor in spirit: for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Let us mentally transport ourselves to the Mount of Beatitudes, on which the Lord taught those gathered. Before Him stand His disciples and the common people, thirsty for His word. Because he feels his spiritual poverty, poverty, damnation, and with the richness of the mind and heart of Christ he wants to fill the poverty of his mind and heart; from the riches of His mercy receive the riches of forgiveness of sins and rest for your souls; enlighten your souls with His light; from the ever-flowing source of life and His grace, draw by faith the life-giving streams of His grace for your souls. These are the poor in spirit whom the Knower of the Heart pleases, who assimilate the Kingdom of Heaven; These are the humble ones to whom the Lord gives His grace! But why are there no scribes and Pharisees here, along with the people, these scholars and teachers of the Jewish people? Why are there no priests, elders, princes? Because they are not aware of their spiritual poverty, their wretchedness, their blindness and spiritual nakedness; they consider themselves righteous, who supposedly do not need to learn the word of truth from the meek and humble-hearted Teacher of Nazareth; they think that with their imaginary righteousness they have already pleased God and dream of taking first place in the kingdom of the Messiah. These are the proud ones, brothers, from whom true bliss and the Kingdom of Heaven are far away; pathetic, they do not realize that all their truth is unclean before God and is not worthy of the name of truth, because it is imbued with pride and vanity; - that they are the birth of vipers (Matthew 3:7), children of the wrath of God. I draw attention to you, brothers. Who are you who are coming here in St. church and humbly listening to the weak word of an ignorant preacher? Are there many among you who are wise according to the flesh, how many are strong, how many are noble? Are they not the buoys of the world, are they not, for the most part, weak and ill-born, my listeners? But take comfort in the speech of our Divine Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ: blessed are you, poor in spirit, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven; for, conscious of your spiritual ignorance, your sinfulness, your infirmities and the blessings of God poured out on you, you have come now and always come to this church in order to be spiritually enriched in some way from the rich God: whether to receive forgiveness of sins, sanctification, peace and freedom of the soul, light and purity of thoughts, help on the further path of life, on Christian and everyday affairs; spiritual armor against invisible enemies, relief or healing of illness and mental sorrow, or to thank God for His blessings. Where are the nobles, the learned, the rich? There are very few of them. Why? Because many of them say to themselves: we are rich, we have become rich and we don’t demand anything. We are learned, from whom and what else can we learn; We have a lot of all sorts of blessings, we don’t know what we need to ask God for; We owe everything to ourselves, our minds, our works, our position in the world, our place; What and who should I thank for? We are sinners, they say, it’s true, but who doesn’t sin? This is how man was already created, they say, what is his fault? Although he was not created this way at all, but arbitrarily, through abuse of his will, he became and remains this way. This is how they think, how they judge, how the proud of this world speak, those who are fat, fat and fat (Deut. 32:15). The Kingdom of God is far from them. Woe to you who are filled now, says the Lord, for you will hunger; Woe to you who are rich, because you receive your consolation (Luke 6:24–25). Blessed are the poor in spirit: for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven. What is poverty of spirit? You have all seen and see the poor physically; therefore, in order to paint an image of spiritual poverty, let us first depict bodily poverty in order to explain the like to similar things. A beggar, as the word itself shows, is one who has nothing of his own, who expects everything only from the mercy of others: he does not have his own piece of bread to quench his hunger, and the usual drink for most to quench his thirst; has no shelter where to lay his head if they don’t give him money to stay for the night; does not have clothes, unless a compassionate person takes pity and buys them for him, or, although he has clothes, they are old, dirty, full of holes, worthless, which you don’t even want to touch; He is disdained by everyone, reproached by everyone; he is like rubbish, like some kind of dung, although another beggar in the eyes of God, perhaps, is like gold refined in a furnace. An example is the gospel Lazarus. Now let us apply these traits of a beggar physically to a beggar spiritually. A poor person in spirit is a person who sincerely recognizes himself as a spiritual poor man who has nothing of his own; who expects everything from the mercy of God, who is convinced that he can neither think nor desire anything good if God does not give good thoughts and good desires, that he cannot do a single truly good deed without the grace of Jesus Christ; who considers himself more sinful, worse, lower than everyone else, who always reproaches himself and does not condemn anyone; who recognizes the clothing of his soul as foul, dark, fetid, worthless, and does not cease to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to enlighten the clothing of his soul, to clothe him in the imperishable robe of righteousness; who constantly runs under the roof of God, having no security anywhere in the world except the Lord; who considers all his wealth to be a gift from God and for everything diligently thanks the Giver of all blessings and willingly gives a portion of his wealth to those who demand it. This one is poor in spirit, and such and such a poor spirit is blessed, according to the word of the Lord; because where there is humility, the consciousness of one’s poverty, one’s poverty, wretchedness, there is God, and where God is, there is cleansing of sins, there is peace, light, freedom, contentment and bliss. It was to such a poor spirit that the Lord came to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, as it is said: to preach My messenger to the poor (Luke 4:18), to the poor in spirit, and not to those who are rich; for their pride repels the grace of God from them, and they remain an empty and stinking church. Don’t people also willingly extend a hand of help and mercy to those who are truly poor and are in dire need of the most necessary things; isn’t God even more merciful about spiritual poverty, fatherly condescending to her call and filling it with His spiritual treasures? Fill those who hunger with good things, it is said (Luke 1:53). Are not the valleys abundantly irrigated with moisture; Aren't the valleys blooming and fragrant? Is it not on the mountains that there is snow and ice and lifelessness? High mountains are an image of proud people; valleys are an image of the humble: every wilderness will be filled, every mountain and hill will be humbled (Luke 3:5). The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). So, blessed are the poor in spirit, that is, those who consider themselves to be nothing, for those are the Kingdom of Heaven. Initially, the Kingdom of God, Heavenly, was within people, in their hearts, as the Lord said: The Kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21); but then, as a result of the disobedience of the will of God by our ancestors, who listened to the tempter - the devil, it withdrew from the human heart, and sin with its culprit began to reign in the hearts of people, turning them from heavenly to earthly and enslaving them to earthly vanity; from the simple - evil, from the good - evil, from the humble - proud, from the pure - unclean, from the strong for everything holy, true, good - powerless for everything good and eager for all evil, so that, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture, man began to diligently attach the thought to evil from his earliest youth (Gen. 8:21). Only poverty of spirit or humility brings back into the heart of man the Kingdom of God, which was removed as a result of his conceit and pride, and all the saints of God were distinguished in this life by deep spiritual poverty. The Apostle Paul himself, caught up to the third heaven, called himself the first of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). The Holy Apostle James also places himself among sinners, saying: we all sin many times (James 3:2). St. Apostle John writes: if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8), placing ourselves among those who sin. But who were the apostles? Living abodes of the Holy Trinity, verbal organs of the Holy Spirit, friends of Christ, holy men par excellence. If they thought so humbly about themselves, then what should we think about ourselves? Shouldn't we say about ourselves in the true truth that we are the stench of sin, stinking churches of passions, alien to all true virtue, wretched, poor, blind, naked, and unceasingly pray to the Lord that He Himself would cleanse our souls and bodies with the Holy Spirit from the stench of passions and fill them with the fragrance of virtues and the shrine of the Divine Spirit? For without Him we cannot do anything good (John 15:5). Whoever wants to acquire true and deep humility must enter into himself as often and deeply as possible, bring to mind and impartially examine with his inner eyes all his sinful thoughts, desires, intentions, deeds from his earliest youth to the present; then we will see that we are drowning in the abyss of sins. Those who are literate can be advised to read more often, in addition to morning and evening prayers, which perfectly depict the poverty of our spirit, the great canon of St. Andrew of Crete, canons and akathists to the Savior and the Mother of God, the canon to the Guardian Angel and canons for every day of the week; Of course, there is no need to abandon the Gospel and the Psalter, which are the best school of humility. Can rich people be poor in spirit? Of course, they can, if they do not consider themselves great people just because they have perishable wealth and with the help of it they can do whatever they want. How can they be poor in spirit? When they sincerely realize that their wealth, and the wealth of the whole world, means nothing in comparison with an immortal soul, that it is a gift from God not only to us, but also to our neighbors: for the excess is given to us to help the poor; when they realize that with material treasures they are extremely poor and poor in spirit and will not be arrogant about themselves and trust in perishing wealth, but live in God, who gives us everything abundantly for enjoyment; They will do good, ... be rich in good deeds, they will be generous and social, laying up treasures for themselves, a good foundation for the future, in order to achieve eternal life (1 Tim. 6:17-19). Such was the rich Abraham; such was Job and many, both in the Old and New Testaments. However, since wealth presents many temptations to sin, those who desired Christian perfection, deep poverty of spirit and immutability on the path of salvation usually sold their property and gave it to the poor, while they themselves withdrew into silence to work for God completely and without entertainment day and night. Therefore, the Lord said to one rich man: if you want to be perfect, go, sell your property and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me (Matthew 19:21). So, blessed are the poor in spirit: for these are the Kingdom of Heaven; It is not said: of them will be the Kingdom of Heaven, but there is; because already here - on earth - in humble hearts God rests and reigns, and in the future life He will reign in them forever and glorify them with imperishable glory. So, brethren, lay up here the riches of humility, so that you may receive the riches of glory there in heaven. Amen. Conversation 3 (on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son) On the rivers of Babylon, there is a gray horse and a mourner (Ps. 137:1). Blessed are those who cry: for they will be comforted. Now the Church offers us, her prodigal sons, the parable of the Savior about the prodigal son and to remind us that we are all captives and miserable slaves of sin, at the morning service she sang at the morning service the lamentable song of the captive sons of Zion: on the rivers of Babylon, there weeping and weeping, we will never remember Zion. Captured by the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the Jews portray us, brethren, as captives of the spiritual Nebuchadnezzar, the devil; the rivers of Babylon mean the rapid striving and entrainment of sin or the rivers of passions flowing from the mouth of the spiritual dragon, i.e. Satan, and dragging us into the abyss of hell; The bitter cry of the sons of Israel depicts the cry of spiritual slavery to the sin of the sons of the new Israel - true Christians. Since the days of fasting and repentance will come in a short time, the Church, wanting to gradually lead us into this feat, reminds us of our captivity and removal from our Heavenly Fatherland and of the need for all of us of bitter tears of repentance for our sins. Please accept with gratitude this reminder from your St. Mothers and begin, with God’s help, the work of internal repentance. On the rivers of Babylon, there weeping and lamenting, we will never remember Zion. The Israelites wept for earthly Zion, where there was their church to the true God and in it the ark of the covenant with the tablets of God, the stupa containing manna, and with the miraculously vegetated rod of Aaron. We must weep for our heavenly Zion - for the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, the true fatherland of Christians, from which we have been removed by our sins; about negligence in fulfilling the commandments of God, about our indifference to heavenly manna - the Body and Blood of the Lord and to what was done for us on the cross. And whose soul does not cry when this lamentable song is sung? Whose soul will not awaken from the sleep of sin? Whose soul does not feel that it is in captivity of the devil, every day in the vicinity of this fierce enemy and daily burdened by him with spiritual bonds of sins, sinful habits and passions, hurt by him, enduring various slander, misfortunes, torment? And so, feeling and experiencing all this, our soul sends to the Lord deep sighs of repentance for sins and cries with deep, bitter tears. O rivers of Babylon! O captivating passions! Where are you taking us? On the rivers of Babylon, there is a gray horse and a mourner. What should we do, brother sinners? What to do but cry, in the consciousness and at the sight of your misfortune, your sinfulness, your abomination, your extreme powerlessness to get rid of sin and misfortune? A weak, unreasonable and reckless child, having offended his parents or having fallen into trouble and misfortune, cries bitterly in front of them, and this evokes their compassion and help. So we, weak, foolish, prodigal children of the Heavenly Father, falling through weakness, ignorance and evil inclinations into sins and being subjected to various slander and misfortunes from the devil, must shed tears of repentance for the sins we have committed, tears of weakness, humbly asking for mercy, forgiveness and help. Passions and temptations are like rivers, as the Savior said: the rivers came and polled the church (Matthew 7:27), i.e. attacked a person, or as David says: save me, O God, as water came down to my soul (Ps. 68:2), and since these rivers flow inside us, we need to let out rivers of tears from our eyes, and then sins will not carry us away; for, together with tears, they, so to speak, will flow out of our soul and instead of them, rivers of living water will enter into it, that is, the grace of God, cleansing, sanctifying, enlightening, strengthening, consoling the tearful soul. However, in one hour we cannot cry out all our sins, because there are an abyss of them; we must cry a lot and for a long time, and not expect salvation from tears, but from the love of God, from the grace of Jesus Christ, who Himself wept with our tears for us, and promised to those who weep to grant freedom from sin and consolation in time and in eternity. Blessed are those who cry: for they will be comforted. “Blessed are those who weep,” says the Savior. But what does the world say? What do some of you say in your hearts? Blessed are those who laugh and have fun! No: woe to you who laugh now; For you will weep and weep (Luke 6:25), says again the Lord, Whom during his earthly life was never seen laughing, but was seen crying. How? To laugh and have fun when we are under the wrath of God, when we are going through a desperate struggle for life or death, when there is trouble everywhere, when all-destructive and seductive sin with such impudence and ferocity destroys everywhere the souls of men, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God; when this fiend of hell hourly threatens to plunge us into fiery Gehenna, ready to open? Is it time to laugh and have fun when temptations, vices, and falls are everywhere? or when some of our brothers are wasting away from illness, from hunger, all kinds of shortcomings, various misfortunes, or suffer from oppression, insults and hard-heartedness of their brothers, while others are insanely voluptuous, covetous, drowning in luxury and various vices? Yes, poor sinners! In such gloomy circumstances, spiritual and physical, fun and laughter are out of place, and the time for fun and laughter has not yet come for you: it will come after tears and sobs about sins in this life and after victory over sin. Blessed are you who weep now: for you will laugh, says the Savior (Luke 6:21). And truly, blessed are those who cry. If any of you has the gift of tears for sins, he knows from experience what a blessing it is to cry for the sins of one’s own or others; bliss is inseparable from the weeping of the Gospel, so that the one who weeps naturally receives consolation as a reward. However, there is worldly crying, the sadness of this world: powerless anger cries; humiliated pride cries; unsatisfied vanity cries; offended pride cries... and who knows how many vain tears there are? How many unsatisfied passions, how many cowardly ones - so many empty tears, but these are sinful tears, useless tears, tears extremely harmful for those who cry, for they cause the death of soul and body. The sorrow of this world makes death (2 Cor. 7:10). But what exactly should we cry about? First, weep for what you have desecrated and are constantly desecrating the image of God within yourself with your sins. Think, man: God has depicted Himself in you, just as the sun is depicted in a drop of water, you have been made, as it were, some kind of god on earth, as it is said, “You are naturally gods, and you are all sons of the Most High” (Ps. 81:6), and you daily throw into the dirt, stain this image with worldly passions, addiction to the world, unbelief, pride, hatred, envy, intemperance and drunkenness and other passions, and through this you extremely anger your Creator and irritate His patience. It is worthy and righteous to cry about this day and night. Cry! Secondly, cry because you only bear the name of a Christian, but do not fulfill the vows and obligations of a Christian given at baptism and live like a pagan, clinging to the earth and do not think about Heaven and about life there, which has no end, that, having been a Christian for such a long time, you still do not have the spirit of Christ, you are not conformed to Him in the least, you do not imitate His life; that Christ has not yet dwelt in you by faith and was not imagined in you, that you have not yet become a new creation, have not put on Christ, according to the Scripture: if you were baptized into Christ, you put on Christ (Gal. 3:27). Thirdly, cry because your heart is constantly trying to do everything contrary to the Lord; crying about his evil inclination, unrepentance, and lack of correction. We pray so much, repent, read, sing, so much we partake of the Holy Life-giving Mysteries, which can transform a heart of stone and make it soft as wax, and we do not change for the better through negligence. Oh, damnation! Oh, malice! O corruption of the heart! Oh, pride! Oh, earthly passions! Oh, the flattery of voluptuousness and love of money! - So, cry because, although you repent and pray, you do not bring to God fruits worthy of repentance, the fruits of faith and love, the fruit of meekness and gentleness, the fruit of abstinence, purity and chastity, the fruit of alms, etc. Cry internally when you feel a rush of unclean thoughts to your heart; cry when you are carried away by pride, anger, envy, greed, stinginess; cry and pray when you feel enmity and not love towards your enemy, for it is said: love your enemies... and do good to those who hate you (Matthew 5:44); cry before God with the inner cry of your heart, when you are carried away by the passion of drunkenness, love of money and covetousness, when resistance and disobedience to your parents or to your superiors and elders will confuse and carry you away; cry at the feeling of poverty and wretchedness of our nature, at the thought of the countless benefits of the Creator to us and about our ingratitude towards Him. May your tears be a weapon against all sin, and the Lord, seeing your humility, recognition of your weakness, your strong desire to keep yourself clean from all sin, will extend a helping hand and send you the Comforter Spirit, who will stop the violence of sin, extinguish the fire of passions and bring down the dew of grace into your heart. Cry for your sins, cry for people’s too; cry over the fact that many peoples have not yet come to know the true God and the Lord Jesus Christ and are in the darkness of paganism, worshiping creatures instead of the Creator; cry that the Christian faith is persecuted in infidel countries, and many of your brethren suffer under their yoke; weep for the unrighteousness that prevails on earth, from which all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus suffer (2 Tim. 3:12); cry about the violence and oppression of the rich and powerful, about the poverty and helplessness of the poor; cry that Christian love has dried up for many and in its place pride, lust and carnality in all forms have reigned; that many Christians fall from the heights of redemption and respect neither the Church, nor the Sacraments, nor its teachings. You will say: what is the use of my tears? - By this you will fulfill the commandment of the Apostle - to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15): in general you will fulfill the commandment to love your neighbor, and in love is the whole law. And the benefit is that as a reward for your tears you will receive consolation from God and forgiveness of sins. Blessed are the weeping. What else should we cry about? We must also cry about our unpreparedness for the terrible and righteous test at the World Judgment. Many holy saints of God cried all their lives, day and night, at the thought of the Last Judgment and the subsequent eternal torment of the wicked; and we, as if we are some righteous people, are indifferent to this final terrible decision of our fate, or others still dare to reject the truth of the future judgment and Gehenna. Everything, brothers, has its time; a time to weep and a time to laugh (Eccl. 3:1,4). Now is the time to cry. And so, we will cry about our sins. Amen. Conversation 4 (on the Sunday of Orthodoxy) Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. Before I speak to you, my brothers, about meekness and the blessedness of the meek, I must say a few words about this Sunday. It is called the week of Orthodoxy because today the triumph of the Orthodox Church is remembered and celebrated regarding the overthrow of the iconoclastic heresy, which dominated the Greek Empire for one hundred and twenty years, and was finally publicly rejected and condemned first at the 7th Ecumenical Council of Nicea, and then at the private Constantinople Council, in 842 A.D., under the pious Empress of Greece Theodora, under whom the current holiday of Orthodoxy was established. What the defenders of the veneration of St. did not experience. icons during the iconoclastic heresy: exile, and prison, and deprivation of property, and torture, and cruel executions! At St. John of Damascus had his right hand cut off, which, after his prayer before the image of the Mother of God and after the sleep that followed the flow of blood, miraculously grew back. Admired by the mercy of the Lady, he sang the song: In You, O Gracious One, every creature rejoices, which you just heard, and that miraculous image, before which this miracle took place, was called the Three-Handed One. But the two brothers Theodore and Theophanes, nicknamed the inscribed ones, suffered especially and unusually from the iconoclasts. The Patriarch of Jerusalem sent them to Constantinople to maintain Orthodoxy, and they courageously fulfilled this assignment, enduring many torments for their piety: they were sent into captivity three times, having previously been subjected to torture, and three times they were returned for new torture. Emperor Theophilus, an iconoclast, ordered that a shameful inscription be drawn with needles on the faces of the confessors and sent to Jerusalem. For a whole day the sufferers were tormented by the faces that were drawing on them; blood flowed in streams; Finally the inscription was finished. Departing, St. The sufferers said to the tormentors: “Know, all who hear, that the Cherubim, guarding paradise, when he sees this mark on our faces, will retreat before us, and the flaming weapon will give way, giving us free entry into paradise. For since ages there has not been such a new torment. And these inscriptions will be found on our faces even on the day of judgment, and you will be commanded to read them, according to what was said: Since you have made one of these least of my brethren, you have made me (Matthew 25:40).” This is the kind of suffering the saints endured for Orthodoxy. our fathers, who left us an example of how we should stand up for our right faith! Behold the divine meekness of the sufferers! Blessed are these meek ones: for the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, Whom they imitated in their meekness and patience, took away all their sins, giving them eternal peace and bliss; for they suffered for His name. Stand, brethren, courageously for your right, saving faith; honor St. with proper veneration. icons and turn away from those who consider them on a par with paintings and do not give them due respect; remember that on the icon the face depicted on it is graciously present and, during the veneration of St. icons, always raise your mind to the prototype, that is, to the face depicted on it. Now is the time to talk about meekness. Blessed are the meek, says the Lord, for they will inherit the earth. Previously, the Lord called those who weep for sins blessed, but here the meek. Why are the meek blessed immediately after those who weep? Because meekness is the fruit and consequence of contrition and mourning for our sins and weaknesses; grief over sins makes a person meek and gentle, like a lamb; and where there is meekness and kindness, there is always peace and bliss, for what is more precious and blessed than peace of mind? On the contrary, no one is more unfortunate than one who does not have peace and tranquility and is in constant confusion and fear; for then neither wealth, nor fame, nor any earthly good has a price, and with peace of mind, both in low life and in poverty, a person is content and happy. Blessed are the meek. But what is meekness, what does it consist of and what are its properties? In order for us to more accurately depict her, let us turn to the Gospel: there we will see a shining, beautiful and majestic image of her. This is how the Lord teaches meekness and depicts it: I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him; and whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer garment too... Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who offend you and persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:39-45). Learn from Me: for I am meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). From these words of our Divine Mentor you see, brethren, that meekness is a quiet mood of the soul, established in Jesus Christ by faith and love, calmly enduring all evil caused to us by people or the cunning of demons, not indignant or irritated by various oppositions and obstacles to our intentions, willingly forgiving human insults and in every possible way benevolent to our enemies, out of respect for their human and Christian humanity. dignity. A meek person never repays evil for evil, insult for insult; does not get angry, does not raise his voice in anger at those who sin and offend; he will not contradict, he will not cry, and no one will hear his voice (Matthew 12:19); the meek, being reproached, does not reproach, enduring suffering and misfortune from others, does not threaten with vengeance, but leaves it to Him who judges righteously to take revenge (1 Pet. 2:23). Here is a majestic image of meekness! This is her being! And how can we act differently, brothers, how can we be irritated, angry, take revenge? God, our common Father, before whom we sin without number, always deals with us in His meekness, does not destroy us, is long-suffering to us, and unceasingly benefits us. And we must be meek, forgiving and long-suffering towards our brothers. If you forgive man their sins, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you,” says Jesus Christ. “If you do not forgive man their sins, your Father will also forgive you your sins (Matthew 6:14-15). In addition, we, as Christians, are all members of one body, and the members take care of each other in every possible way; Moreover, we are called sheep of the verbal flock of Christ - why is that? Because the sheep is meek, gentle, patient; so should we be. Only those of us belong to the flock of Christ who are meek and gentle, like lambs, and those who do not have the spirit of Christ, His meekness and gentleness, are not His. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (Rom. 8:9). At the Last Judgment, only sheep will stand on the right side of the Judge, and the goats will be on the left, and the sheep will be brought into heaven, and the goats will be sent to Gehenna. And how absurd and unnatural is anger and rage! How, on the contrary, is meekness akin to our nature! Look at the face of the meek: how beautiful, clear, calm, imperturbable, attractive it is! What a spiritual fragrance a meek man diffuses in the souls; Looking at him, an angry person learns to be meek. But look at an angry, angry man: his face is restless, gloomy, ugly; one look at him sometimes irritates many (infecting the hearts of those looking at him as if with poison); the gaze involuntarily turns away from him - in order to calm down on someone else. Why does rage and anger occur? From our sinful pride, from pride, ambition and vanity, satiety, drunkenness, misogyny, love of money. Almost every one of you sees and knows that drunkards, proud, ambitious, money-loving, etc., lose their temper and get angry most of all: because of drunkenness, because of dissolute women, because of one offensive word, because of money - how many troubles and quarrels do there happen? If nothing else, then at least the harmful consequences of irritation and anger, and the beneficial consequences of meekness, force us to be meek, for meekness brings with it peace of mind and joy, as the Lord says: Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:29). You see, as soon as we learn from the Lord to be meek and humble, then calm will immediately reign in our hearts, and with calm, joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17). In addition, when the soul is in a meek mood, it is easy to do any task, but, on the contrary, when there is annoyance and anger, it is very difficult; and prayer, with anger at one’s neighbor, turns into sin and condemnation. Meekness brings us love, respect and favor from people; meekness makes prayer pleasing to God, appeases God towards us and brings forgiveness of our sins; anger, malice and intransigence humiliate the dignity of man and a Christian, deprive them of peace, love and respect for their neighbors and the favor of God and bring about various troubles and misfortunes. The examples of the apostles and all ancient Christians, especially St., encourage us to be meek. martyrs. Despite the unheard-of cruelty and oppression of the pagans, they never thought of taking up arms to defend themselves; for three centuries they suffered from them like lambs, following the example of His Divine Teacher, Who, being slandered, did not slander each other; while suffering, did not threaten, but handed it over to the Just Judge (1 Pet. 2:23). Let us take as an example the meekness of the saints today. Today the Church commemorates and celebrates the memory of 40 martyrs who died for Christ in Lake Sebaste. They were officers and simple warriors, undaunted on the battlefield, pious and knowledgeable in the Divine Scripture. When they refused to turn to the gods, at the suggestion of Prince Lysias, he ordered them to be stoned. This is not enough. Accusing the beating ministers of impotence and negligence, he himself grabbed a stone and threw it at one of the martyrs and then ordered them to be placed in a lake among the ice, pressing in from everywhere, where they froze 2 . They did not take up arms, did not resist and defend themselves, even though they could, but they endured everything with meekness for Christ, like lambs. An example especially for the military. Most of all, we should more often present the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, being meek and lowly in heart, most commanded us kindness and long-suffering, and Himself endured the cross and death for us. To avoid anger and irritability, you should not look at the sins of others, but at yourself, to know more about your heart, your mistakes and shortcomings; then we will learn that most of the strife and disagreement comes from ourselves, from our pride, pride, irritability, imprudence, self-will, distrust of others, and we will learn to be lenient towards others, forgive their weaknesses and shortcomings and be meek and patient with everyone. You must be able to control your heart at the moment of insult, suppress anger and displeasure in yourself at the very beginning, make it a law for yourself when insulted by others, not immediately speak and act, but allow yourself to calm down. “Let us stop evil at its first beginning,” says St. Basil the Great - destroying anger in souls by all means. In this case, we will be able, together with this passion, to cut off, as if at the root and at the beginning, most of the bad. Who reproached you? - And you bless; beat? - And you be patient. Does he despise you and respect you for nothing? “And bring to your mind the thought that you were made of earth and will be resolved into earth again.” Whoever protects himself with such reasoning will find that any dishonor is less than reality. Through this, you will make it impossible for the enemy to take revenge, showing that reproaches do not hurt you, and you will prepare for yourself a great crown of patience, when you turn the rage of another into a reason for your own wisdom. When the temptation to say a reproachful word confuses you, imagine that you must decide for yourself whether to approach God through patience, or through anger to surrender to the side of the enemy. Give your thoughts time to choose the good part” 3. But most of all, we must turn to God with sincere prayer, so that He will give us a spirit of meekness and patience and with His grace strengthen our heart in meekness and gentleness. For these virtues are gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are sent down from God to people worthy and capable of accepting them. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. What does it mean: they will inherit the earth? - This means that the meek will enjoy longevity and many other blessings in this life, like the meek and long-suffering Job, David, or the meek patriarch Jacob, like many saints who shone with meekness in the New Testament, and most importantly, that they receive the blessings promised from God to those who love Him on the land of the living, that is, in Heaven. May the most merciful Lord grant us all these blessings through His grace, generosity and love for mankind. Amen. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be satisfied. During the days of fasting and fasting, repentance and communion of St. For the Mysteries of Christ, the word about those who hunger and thirst for truth is especially timely. Who among you is righteous and who is not languishing in spiritual hunger? Who, therefore, does not seem to hunger and thirst for righteousness, that is, justification through faith in Jesus Christ, who does not thirst for righteousness, correction, spiritual renewal? However, despite our countless untruths, despite the deliberate time of fasting and repentance and communion of the Holy, Immortal, Life-giving, Terrible Mysteries of Christ the Savior, the real greed and thirst for truth is not noticeable in many, as can be judged by the cold and formal, without warmth, confession of many confessors, and by the failure of many to fulfill this Christian duty every year. Or shouldn’t we conclude from this that among us there are more righteous people than sinners? Hasn’t the Kingdom of God already come to us, hasn’t all connection with sins been terminated for us, aren’t we a chosen race, aren’t we people of renewal, not only in name, but also in deed? - Oh, if only it were so! Oh, if only they were all holy, as befits Christians who are called children of the Heavenly Father! But no. God forbid that I should deceive both you and myself. Among us there are few who hunger and thirst for truth precisely because among us there are many sinners sleeping in the sleep of sin, many spiritual dead, dead to truth, and, unfortunately, alive to sin; there are many sleeping consciences that need to be shaken and awakened; finally, there are many who do not know what the truth of God is, and what it means to be hungry and thirsty for the truth. So, fellow sinners, among whom I am the first, listen to the word about those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Oh, if this word would arouse in any of those present a hunger and thirst for righteousness, by the grace of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for truth. Have you seen those who hunger and thirst physically, or have you yourself experienced hunger and thirst? Why does this greed and thirst occur? Why do some people, for example, sick people, not feel the need for food and drink? I proposed these questions in order to better explain spiritual greed through physical greed. To a greater or lesser extent, we have all experienced hunger and thirst. Tormented by hunger or thirst, a person almost only thinks about how and where he can satisfy them as quickly as possible: and when he finds, or when they offer him food and drink, he satisfies his bodily needs with great desire and pleasure, and upon satisfaction he feels a pleasant joy that comes from replenishing the deficiency that was in certain parts of the body, and he feels strengthened bodily strength and vigor. If, for some reason, he cannot satisfy his hunger and thirst for a long time, he suffers greatly from this, and if he cannot satisfy him at all, he begins to swell and dies in terrible suffering. Such greed and thirst comes from bodily needs and from the lack in the body of those elements that it needs for life; Hunger and thirst are greatest in a healthy state of the body. On the contrary, a prolonged lack of hunger and thirst in a person shows his ill health and dangerous situation, as happens with seriously ill people: it comes from a disorder of the internal bodily organs. Now let's see what greed and spiritual thirst are - the greed of truth; Why does it happen, and why do many people not have hunger and thirst for truth, and is this a good sign or not? To explain spiritual greed and thirst, let us go back to the beginning of man, to his creation by God, and recall the history of his fall; because in the image of the creation of man and in his fall lies the reason for his greed and thirst for truth. How was man created? In the image and likeness of God, or, as St. Apostle, in righteousness and in the holiness of truth (Eph. 4:24), that is, man was created righteous, sinless, holy, and in him flowed a fountain of living water, since he was in union with God. Spiritual food and drink for man then was truth, or the ever-flowing Source of truth - the Lord God. Here is the element of the soul, here is its food and drink! In union with God, man did not know what it meant to hunger and thirst for righteousness, because he was abundantly satisfied with it. Thus, those who live in complete abundance have no idea about hunger and thirst. Man recognized hunger and thirst when, through sin, he lost righteousness and fell away from the Source of righteousness - God, in Whom he could find eternal satiation; when he turned from simplicity into wickedness, from goodness into malice, from humility into pride, from meekness into anger, from holiness into impurity, from the love of God into the love of this world and into self-love, from spiritual, heavenly love into carnal and earthly passions. The soul, having lost through sin its own element, truth, began to feel deprivation, hunger and thirst, sorrow and cramped conditions from the lack of food that was native to itself. Thus, having taken into himself, through carelessness or thoughtlessness, poison, and tormented by an internal fire, he hungers and thirsts for saving medicine or an antidote; So a traveler in a sultry desert, tired of travel and scorched by the sun's rays, thirsts for a cool drink. Oh, what a terrible poison - sin for the immortal soul, created in the image of the righteous and all-blessed God! What bliss and frenzy it sometimes brings a person into, with what scorching, crushing power it spreads throughout all the entrails and bodily components! Meanwhile, what? Many play with this fire, fan it, not suspecting that they are thereby accelerating their destruction. Brethren! Should I play with deadly poison? Should we play with fire? But if it is certain that all the descendants of Adam are born into the world with this sinful poison, if this poison has a disastrous effect on the soul and body of a person, if every person is given the inner voice of conscience, denouncing sin, then why do many not feel their sins and do not feel the greed and thirst for justification? This happens because a person, with his carnal (so-called liberal) wisdom and his constantly sinful, voluptuous, riotous selfish life, rapes and finally drowns out his conscience. This insensitive state of the soul is the sinful death of a person, which can go from temporary to eternal. It takes a strong shock to awaken the sleeping conscience; in order to awaken a sinner sleeping through a sinful death, it is necessary to open his blinded eyes of the heart, which do not see the whole multitude of sins and all the severity of God’s truth, which will judge him after death. Oh, give us, Lord, the hunger and thirst for truth here, so that through sincere repentance we can reject all untruth and prevent Your terrible and righteous judgment! For blessings, therefore, are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Brethren! Let us open the book of conscience and impartially read in it all our sinful thoughts, desires, intentions, words, actions that we had, said and did; Let us imagine at the same time that we are standing at the terrible judgment of Jesus Christ, who knows to an iota not only words and deeds, but also our innermost thoughts, and who will judge us not only for our deeds, but also for every idle word; Who will reveal everything hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the heart (1 Cor. 4:5), and with the strictest justice will reward everyone according to their deeds. Tell me, in all honesty, whether there is much pure good in us that would be worthy of the most holy and most luminous eyes of God; will there be much truth? How many pure thoughts, desires, intentions, speeches, and actions are there that come from living faith in God, from heartfelt love for Him, from reverence for Him, from gratitude to Him and from pure love for one’s neighbor? Will there be a thousand times more untruths? And for any deliberate, persistent untruth, not erased by repentance, the truth of God punishes with eternal torment. Therefore, having vividly imagined the multitude of our sins and the terrible judgment of God, for which the throne of the Judge is already ready - ourselves, standing before this court in the presence of all the heavenly ranks of angels and the entire human race - will we still remain indifferent to our sins, will we not desire with all our souls to spend the rest of our lives in repentance and virtue, for God and for eternity? Let us hasten without mercy to expose ourselves to the sins we have committed, we will feel their abomination, we will stop enjoying them, loving them and doing them. Let us remember the suffering of Christ the Savior and His death on the cross. What betrayed Jesus Christ to such suffering and such a painful, shameful death, which, however, He accepted voluntarily? God's truth. For whom and for what? For us and for our sins. And if the truth of God did this to a green tree, such as Jesus Christ was, then what will happen to dry trees, like us sinners? What will be our torment if we do not turn and repent? What, are you afraid, after this, my brother, of judgment and Gehenna? Will you after this hunger and thirst for God’s justification, so that God’s unwashed truth does not condemn you to eternal torment? Let us arise from the sleep of sin and correct ourselves. Oh, that all who are scorched and oppressed by the passions of life, as if tormented by intense hunger and thirst, would with all the strength of their souls desire God’s justification, the correction of their hearts and their entire lives, as the Gospel demands, as God wants, who constantly calls us to turn from the path of destruction to the path of salvation! Oh, if only those sick with the disease of schism who are in our city would hunger and thirst for the truth of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, unity with it, sanctification through its worship, sacraments and teachings in the word of God! Are they really not yet tormented by the saving hunger and thirst for the motherly, life-giving milk of the Church? They left the source of living water and dug for themselves broken treasures that could not hold water. How long is the division, how long is the persistence of superstition? How long will the mental wolf plunder and scatter the flock of Christ? The faithful sons of the Church enjoy here, in the church, from the ever-flowing Source of living water, and they, alas! They are constantly thirsty for the grace of God and will never be satisfied if they do not turn to the Mother who once gave birth to them, from whom they fell away due to ignorance, delusion and stubbornness. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they shall be satisfied. How are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness satisfied? Just as those who hunger and thirst are satisfied physically. One who is physically satiated no longer feels hunger or thirst and feels the body reinforced by the food and drink he has taken; saturation of the soul consists in peace and tranquility of spiritual strength, as a result of heartfelt repentance of sins and cleansing them with grace, and in acquiring the power to do good, which we did not previously have when we worked for sin, and which Jesus Christ gives us - our Peace, our Truth and our Strength. Oh, if only everyone would come to know the incorruptible beauty and sweetness of virtue, and in tearful repentance for sins would be filled with the truth of God, deeply and irrevocably love it, hating the sinful path with all their souls. May the grace of God do this! Amen. Blessedness of mercy: for there will be mercy. I haven’t talked to you for a long time, my brothers! Five weeks have passed since I spoke here about the blessedness of those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God, or the justification of Christ. I think that in the worries and bustles of life, you forgot about what was said in that conversation, and not only in that one, but also in the previous ones. My duty is to remind you briefly of what was said before, so that you can thus lay down the divine commandments in your heart and remember them to do (Ps. 102:18), according to the word of the Psalmist. They spoke about the four commandments of the Lord for blessedness, of which in the first the Lord commands His followers spiritual poverty and humility. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for to them is the Kingdom of Heaven. According to this commandment, we must always think of ourselves humbly, considering ourselves filled with countless sins and infirmities, and incapable of any direct, pure good, without the help of God’s grace; to consider everything that we have not as ours, but as the gift of God; to thank God, the Giver of every good, for everything, and to resort to His mercy in everything. In the second commandment, the Lord calls blessed people who heartily lament and cry over their sins, voluntary and involuntary, promising them grace-filled consolation, consisting in the forgiveness of sins and peace of conscience. Blessed are those who cry, he says, for they will be comforted. This commandment of the Lord obliges us to always have before our eyes our sins, their vileness, our absent-mindedness and inattention to the commandments of the Lord, the great responsibility for sins before God, the Last Judgment and eternal fire prepared for unrepentant sinners, and inspires us to live in constant repentance. In the third commandment, the Lord pleases the meek, promising them the inheritance of the earth. This commandment of the Lord teaches us to always be meek and gentle, following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was like a gentle lamb - he who was reproached did not rebuke, when he suffered he did not abhor, but committed everything to God who judges righteousness (1 Peter 2:23); teaches never to be irritated by anything and not to irritate or offend anyone, restraining outbursts of anger in every possible way; treat everyone kindly, patiently, condescendingly; overcome evil with good, correct the faulty with patience and admonition. As a reward for meekness and patience, the Lord promises the inheritance of the earth, that is, firstly, long life and prosperity here on earth: for meekness and restraint, or the destruction of outbursts of anger, constant complacency and tranquility greatly contribute to the health and longevity of a person, and secondly, a blessed and eternal life in the Heavenly Fatherland. In the fourth commandment, the Lord pleases those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, i.e. those people who, feeling themselves to be the greatest sinners and sincerely repenting, accept a firm and decisive intention to improve, voluntarily languish with greed and thirst for truth and holiness, or with the justifying and soul-satisfying grace of Jesus Christ, just as the hungry hunger for bodily food, and the thirsty for drink. Here is a summary of the previous conversations! Put everything that has been said in your heart and do as the Lord commanded, so that you will be blessed in your deed and receive the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for those who do God’s commandments. Now let's talk about the next one, that is, the fifth commandment of the Lord for blessedness. The Lord says: Blessed are the mercy: for these will be mercy. What does a sinner need most? God's mercy, non-penalty for our sins, continuation of God's long-suffering towards us, the granting of more time for repentance, the very awakening of the soul to repentance, forgiveness of sins, and in the end - pardon at the Last Judgment of God. That is why the Church, on our behalf, often says: Lord, have mercy! So, fellow sinner, if you have already recognized yourself as the greatest sinner, worthy of all condemnation and torment, if you have known the abomination and absurdity of sins, the immeasurable insult through them of the Lord God and the greatest responsibility for them; If you are hungry and thirsty for justification and mercy from God, then try to show the mercy that is possible for you towards your neighbors: Blessed are the mercy, says the Lord, for there will be mercy for you. For mercy to the brethren, you yourself will receive mercy from God; for temporary mercy - eternal mercy, for small mercy - infinitely great mercy: for you will not only receive mercy from eternal condemnation for sins at the judgment of God, but you will also receive eternal bliss. Anyone can conveniently show mercy to their neighbor, because mercy can be different, just as a person’s needs are different - spiritual and physical, how different is the position of people in society, their condition and title. The boss can show mercy through condescension, meekness towards those who sin, patience, attention to the merits of his subordinates and rewarding them; subordinate - constant service, obedience, diligence; a scientist can show mercy to his neighbors by enlightening the ignorant, imparting to society correct judgments about faith, about life, about the purpose of human existence on earth, about earthly goods, about death, about the truth of God, about eternal judgment, or by exposing social vices; a rich person can show mercy to his neighbor by donating from his property to the needs of the Church and its ministers, to charitable institutions, or by giving generous alms to the poor; the poor - by his gratitude and zeal in serving the rich, by his prayer for benefactors; the pastor - with sincere and unceasing concern for the salvation of human souls, with their unceasing teaching in the word of God, with constant readiness to fulfill parish needs, to give advice, instructions, and consolation; and the flock - with respect, obedience and gratitude to the shepherds, condescension towards their shortcomings and fervent prayer for them. The main works of bodily mercy, common to all, are the following: 1) to feed the hungry, 2) to give to the thirsty, 3) to clothe the naked, or those who lack necessary and decent clothing, 4) to visit the one in prison, 5) to visit the sick, serve him and help his recovery, or Christian preparation for death, i.e., call a priest for confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries. Christ's, 6) to accept the stranger into the house and calm him down, and 7) to bury the dead in poverty at his own expense, or with collected alms. All of these acts of mercy, except the last one, are mentioned by the Lord Himself when depicting His last Last Judgment. These are His words: When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all nations will be gathered before Him; and will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you accepted Me; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me (Matthew 25:31–36). From these words of the Lord, you see, brethren, how necessary and important—infinitely important—Christian charity is for us. It is necessary because without works of mercy it is impossible to inherit the Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world for those blessed by the Heavenly Father, and judgment without mercy will be for those who have not shown mercy (James 2:13); it is infinitely important because the mercy shown to one’s neighbor is shown personally to Jesus Christ Himself, according to the testimony of Himself: For since you have been created alone for these least of my brothers, you have been created together with Me (Matthew 25:40); for all people, especially Christians, are His lesser brethren, and Christians are also His members. The works of spiritual mercy are as follows: 1) to convert a sinner from error through exhortation, for example, an unbeliever, or a non-believer, a schismatic, or a drunkard, a fornicator, a spendthrift, etc.; 2) teach an ignorant person truth and goodness, for example, teach someone who does not know how to pray to God to pray, teach someone who does not know God’s commandments, teach them the commandments and how to fulfill them; 3) give good advice to your neighbor in a timely manner, for example, in a difficulty or in danger that he does not notice, in illness, in the event of someone’s malicious intent on whose life or well-being; 4) pray to God for everyone: pray for one another so that you may be healed (James 5:16); 5) comfort the sad: comfort the faint-hearted (1 Sol. 5:14); 6) not to repay or take revenge for the evil that people have done to us, and not to repay any evil for evil (Rom. 12:17); or annoyance for annoyance (1 Pet. 3:9) or do not take revenge on yourself, love, but give place to anger (Rom. 12:19), i.e. God's 7) forgive offenses from the heart, knowing and remembering that he who offends another, first of all offends himself, incurring the great wrath of God; that he offends at the instigation of the enemy; that we deserve to be offended by our sins, and finally, that God himself forgives us our sins and insults caused to His Majesty. This time we will dwell on this and finish our conversation by reminding you of one more thing, so that you remember these commandments of the Lord and try to fulfill them unfailingly: for a servant who knows the will of his master, and having neither prepared nor done according to his will, will suffer many stripes (Luke 12:47). Next time we will talk about the motives for mercy and how one should show mercy and give alms, and with what disposition of spirit. Amen. This time, my brethren, let us talk about the motives for mercy and about to whom and how and with what spirit mercy should be shown. Nothing is more characteristic of a true Christian than mercy or mercy towards one’s neighbor. - Why? - Because the Christian faith and the Church constantly proclaim to us about the infinite mercy of the Lord God towards people, which, constantly appearing throughout the world, was revealed especially in the sending down to earth by God the Father of His only begotten Son to save the world from eternal destruction - and in the foundation on earth of the Church of Christ or the society of the saved, which is most constant in the Christian race and especially in the seven Holy Sacraments, for example, in baptism, through which we all became children of God, or in communion, in which we so often become partakers of the very Body and very Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and in Him eternal life. Each of us daily feels God’s great, immeasurable, manifold mercy upon himself. But if the Lord our God is so merciful to all people in general, and to us Christians in particular, then we should also be merciful to each other. The Lord Himself convinces us to be merciful to our neighbors, namely, by God’s mercy towards us. Be merciful, He says, as your Father in Heaven is merciful (Luke 6:36). The entire New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ primarily bequeaths to us mutual love and mercy; He teaches us this with various parables, for example, the parable of the merciful Samaritan (Luke 10:30–37), the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), the parable of the unmerciful debtor with ten talents (Matthew 18:24–35) and many times directly teaches us mercy: as you go, you will learn what is: Mercy want, not sacrifice? (Matthew 9:13, 12:7); be merciful (Luke 6:36); sell your possessions and give alms (Luke 12:33); be blazi, merciful, etc.; He especially teaches us mercy through all the acts of the Savior between people, for all these acts were nothing other than acts of His mercy towards people. Above all this, mercy should especially be characteristic of a Christian because he is and is called a member of the Church of Christ, the members of which are His co-members, or members of one body with Him, and since in this body there are many weak members, or those undergoing various hardships and needs, then there is nothing more natural and fair than to sympathize, sympathize with a weak or needy member and help him, than which of the fellow members can, depending on the need of the member, according to the status and rank of the one who cares, shows mercy for the needy member. Just as the body is one, but has many members, says St. Apostle Paul, - so all the members of one body, although there are many of them, constitute one body, - so does Christ. For we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we have all been given one drink of one Spirit. The body is not made of one member, but of many... If one member suffers, all members suffer with it; if one member is glorified, all members rejoice with it. And you are the body of Christ, and individually members (1 Cor. 12:12-27). This is what should motivate each of us to the unforgiving and feasible fulfillment of the commandment of mercy, that is, firstly, God’s endless mercy towards the human race in general, towards Christians in particular and towards each of us in particular; secondly, the direct commandment of the Gospel, thirdly, the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and fourthly, our very name as Christians, that is, members of Christ, members of His body. Add to this the feeling of mercy inherent in each of us, implanted in our nature by God Himself, which even prompts a savage to compassion for the suffering, and which should even more so be present in a Christian; and the very multitude of people like us, suffering various painful needs, the multitude of the poor, unfortunate, hungry, naked, sick, should not awaken in us a natural feeling of mercy? If we wish for ourselves compassion and help from others when we suffer illness, misfortune and need, then shouldn’t others, in all fairness, expect this compassion from us as well? As you want people to do to you, says the Lord, do so to them (Matthew 7:12). And the talents given to each of us by God for the common good, and not to please only our own pride, do not they motivate us to serve our fellow men in their need? Do you see how many incentives there are for mercy? Lord Jesus Christ and St. the men of the Old and New Testaments do not encourage anything so strongly as charity. The Lord says: do good, and give in return, without asking for anything: and your reward will be many, and you will be sons of the Most High: for He is good to the graceless and evil (Luke 6:35). “Look how divinely inspired men constantly instill mercy and how close it is to their hearts,” writes St. Gregory the Theologian. “They don’t proclaim it in such a way that they say something about the poor once or twice and then retreat; It is not that some mention mercy and others do not, or that some talk about it more and others less, as if it were not an important and extremely necessary subject. No - they all, and each one in particular, considering this commandment to be the main one or one of the main ones, zealously encourage us to fulfill it, sometimes with admonitions, sometimes with threats, sometimes with reproaches, and sometimes with merciful praise; and all this in order to strengthen its effect in our hearts by constant reminders of this commandment. No service is more pleasing to God than mercy, because it is most akin to God, to whom mercy and truth come, and to whom mercy must be given as a gift before judgment; - and the righteous Rewarder does not reward for anything with His love for mankind as much as for love for mankind” 4 . Pointing to the sameness of nature in us and in the poor, and with this mutual affinity of ours encouraging us to mercy, he says: “They received the same nature as us; The clay is made of the same thing that we are made of; or better - if we must mention the most important thing - they, like us, are gifted with the image of God and preserve it, perhaps better than us, although they have decayed in body - they are clothed with Christ alone according to the inner man; they have accepted the same pledge of the Spirit for preservation, they participate in the same laws, the words of God, covenants, meetings, sacraments, and hopes; Christ died for them equally, taking upon Himself the sin of the whole world; they are the heirs of heavenly life, although they are very much alienated from earthly life; they are buried in Christ and rise with Him; they suffer with Him, that they may also be glorified with Him. So, do not despise your brother, do not run past him, do not disdain him as uncleanness, as an infection, as something disgusting and rejected. This is your penis, although it has been twisted by misfortune. The beggar is left to you to eat (Ps. 9:35), as to God Himself, although you pass by him too arrogantly. You are offered an opportunity to prove your philanthropy, although the enemy turns you away from your own happiness. Learn from other people's troubles. Give even the smallest thing to the poor, and it will not be a small thing for the one who needs everything - and for God Himself, if the alms are within your power. Instead of a great gift, bring zeal. Have nothing? Comfort with a tear. Great healing for the ill-fated, when someone sincerely regrets him, the misfortune is greatly alleviated by sincere condolences... This is what reason, and the law, and our own experience, and the fairest of people teach us. The first Christians, that is, those who lived under the apostles and after them, had everything in common: the rich and wealthy voluntarily donated their property and money, and what they collected was kept by the primates of the Church, who used it to support the poor, widows, orphans, the sick, the strange, those imprisoned and other needy people. “We have a kind of treasury,” writes one church teacher, “everyone every month, or whenever he wishes, contributes to it as much as he can and as much as he wants. These alms are used for the food and burial of the poor; for the maintenance of children who have lost their parents, for the elderly who no longer leave home and are unable to work, to alleviate the lot of the unfortunate who have been shipwrecked... Having one heart and one soul among ourselves, can we renounce the community of property?” 6 Finally, this should serve as an important incentive to charity, that it is very useful for the benefactors themselves; for it strengthens in them a sense of love for mankind, brings the purest joys to their hearts, attracts the love and affection of their neighbors to them and, most importantly, acquires for them the love and favor of God, comforting them with the hope of mercy at the Last Judgment of God and the hope of eternal bliss. “By showing the fruit of charity, you will gather it for yourself,” writes St. Basil the Great, - because the benefits of good deeds return to those who give. Have you given to the hungry? And what you give becomes your property, returning to you with an increase. Just as a grain of grain, falling into the ground, turns into profit for the one who threw it, so the bread thrown down to the hungry one subsequently brings a hundredfold benefit. God will accept you; Angels will praise you, all people will please you, no matter how many there have been since the creation of the world. Eternal glory, the crown of righteousness, the Kingdom of Heaven will be your reward for the good management of this perishable property” 7 . St. Gregory the Theologian writes: “those are prudent who, not trusting present blessings, accumulate treasures for themselves in the future, and, seeing the inconstancy and changeability of human well-being, love charity, which will never change” 8. To whom and how should alms be given? Jesus Christ says: give to everyone who asks you (Matthew 5:42), which means that we must help and do good to everyone, without making any distinction about persons, status, origin, or religion. Everyone who is truly in need should be shown mercy. St. Gregory the Theologian says: “We must open the womb of mercy to all the poor and those who suffer for any reason; We must, as humans, bring tribute to charity to people, no matter what their need forces them to seek help, whether widowhood or orphanhood, or expulsion from the fatherland, or the cruelty of rulers, or the insolence of those in charge, or the inhumanity of tax collectors, or the greed of enemies, or the inventory of property, or shipwreck. For they all have the same right to regret, and they also look at our hands, just as we look at the hands of God, when we ask for anything, and it is much better to extend our hand to the unworthy, rather than, out of fear of meeting the unworthy, to deprive the worthy of a good deed” 9 . One must help not out of vanity and pride, not out of a desire for gratitude and reward, but disinterestedly, to please God and out of love for one’s neighbor. “Alms, infected with the disease of vanity, are no longer a work of mercy,” writes St. John Chrysostom - but boasting and hardness of heart: for by this you publicly ridicule your brother. Almsgiving does not consist in giving money, but in giving with a Christian sense of mercy” 10. One must do charity and help voluntarily, willingly, sincerely, cordially, with respect and unfeigned love for the poor, without any indignation, annoyance or contempt. Give each one according to the disposition of his heart, says St. Apostle Paul - not with grief and not with compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). Break your bread for the hungry and bring the bloodless poor into your house (Is. 58:7), and do all this cordially, says St. Gregory the Theologian; have mercy, it is said, with good will (Rom. 12:8); thus, your readiness will increase the price of your good deed. For what is done with sorrow or out of need cannot be pleasant; when providing benefits, one should rejoice and not complain” 11. “Giving alms does not just mean giving,” says St. John Chrysostom - but with zeal and joy and with a feeling of gratitude to the recipient. So, if someone does not give with such a disposition, it is better not to give. For this is not alms, but a waste... After all, that’s alms when you give it with joy and think that you yourself receive more than you give” 12. Further, we must do good from our own property, and not from someone else’s, to which we have no legal right, and from property acquired by honest labor, and not by theft, deception and untruth; and in order to give sufficient alms, you need to limit your expenses, for example, not buy unnecessary and expensive things that you can easily do without; for this is the theft of the property of the poor, since our surplus belongs to them. We must do good and help constantly, without weakening in our zeal from the difficulties and obstacles encountered in the performance of this duty. St. Chrysostom says: “Alms, it is said, and faith, do not fail in you. It is not said: do a good deed once, twice, three times, ten, a hundred times, but at all times: let it not leave you, it is said” 13. When giving alms, one must distinguish the truly poor from the poor only by appearance; you need to help according to your strengths and means; prefer the poorer to the less poor; the most worthy to the less worthy; their closest and relatives - to strangers. For this purpose, some of the Church Fathers advise that the giving of alms should be entrusted to experienced people. But we should not be too inquisitive and picky about the poor, so as not to deprive those who are truly in need of our help. “For there is no example,” says St. Chrysostom - so that those who are too picky in such cases would ever accept a saint. But most often he falls for deceivers. Therefore, I beg you, let us do everything in simplicity” 14. Finally, one should not think much about one’s good deeds, but consider oneself only as a dispenser of God’s gifts. “You will never be more generous than God,” says St. Gregory the Theologian, - even if you sacrificed everything you have, even if you gave yourself along with your property; for the very thing in order to give oneself to God is what a person receives from Him. No matter how much you pay to Him, even more will remain on you, and you will not give anything of your own, since everything is from God” 15. And so we will say at the end of our conversation: the blessings of mercy: for there will be mercy. Oh, what a great reward for mercy towards one’s neighbor - to be shown mercy by God in a universal and terrible trial before the whole world and to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven prepared from the foundation of the world. Amen. Blessed are those who are pure in heart: for they will see God. In this commandment, the Lord, pleasing the pure in heart, inspires in all of us to strive to acquire a purity of heart, which is the container of life, as Scripture says: Guard your heart with all care: from these comes life (Prov. 4:23), and on which depend our joys and sorrows, contentment and discontent. Are there any who live on earth who are pure in heart? In the New Testament, in the Kingdom of grace, of course, there are pure-hearted people, known to the Lord, as it is said: the Lord knows Him who is (2 Tim. 2:19), and sometimes appear to people, such as the holy saints of God, glorified by God during their lifetime with the gifts of insight and miracles, and all are gentle and humble in heart. If the Lord pleases the pure in heart, then without a doubt there really are such; but purity of heart in people is very, very rare, like pure gold is rare, like precious stones are rare; are rare now, but they were even rarer in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel lived under the law, and not under grace, and when the majority of people were mired in idolatry. All people are conceived and born in lawlessness; only the grace of God takes away these iniquities and makes some worthy ones his chosen vessels, purifying their hearts and souls. Behold, I will touch this to your lips, and he will take away your iniquities and cleanse your sins (Is. 6:7), - said the fiery Seraphim to Isaiah, the chosen prophet, touching his lips with a burning coal, - and through this touch the sinful impurity of the man of God was taken away. Oh, that the pure would come from the unclean, - exclaims Job the Long-Suffering, and continues: not one (Job.14:4)! Where does this general sinful impurity in people come from, when they are created in the image and likeness of God, and God is Most Pure and Most Holy? From the devil, my brethren, from the devil, who is most often called in Scripture an unclean spirit, and in church prayers, precisely when exorcising an evil spirit, an alien, foul and disgusting spirit. It was he, this unclean spirit, having become, after his fall from God, an unclean vessel of all the uncleanness of sin, from the beginning with his unclean breath the hearts of the first people were defiled, and deeply infecting their entire being, soul and body, with the uncleanness of sin, transmits this uncleanness, like hereditary corruption, to all their descendants, even before us, and will defile, especially the careless and unbelievers, until the end of the world, as said St. Angel St. to the Apostle John in the Apocalypse: the time is near. Let the unrighteous still do injustice; let the unclean one still become unclean; let the righteous still do righteousness, and let the holy one still be sanctified. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his deeds (Rev. 22:10–12). So, uncleanness of the heart comes from the devil, or from the first fall of man, after which all people became, as it were, his captives and slaves. And this sinful impurity is so great, so deeply ingrained in human hearts, so difficult to get rid of it that even the holy saints of God, who all their lives were vigilant over all the movements and thoughts of their hearts, at times felt within themselves a kind of influx or storm of evil, nasty and blasphemous thoughts and prayed to the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God to tame these fierce and unclean waves, to quench this demonic storm; - so great that some men, who had already ascended to the heights of purity and holiness, quickly fell into the sin of impurity; - so great that despite our frequent prayers, the grace of the Sacraments and our teaching in the word of God and all the punishments with which God visits us for our sinful impurity, it still remains in us and will live with us until the grave, and in others, to the shame of mankind, it is revealed before the very grave with particular impudence and shamelessness. To the unclean, everything often appears unclean, because his mind and conscience are defiled. The Lord, the Knower of Hearts, says that from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, extortion, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, the envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness - all this evil comes from within and defiles a person (Mark 7:21-23). This is what impurity of heart consists of! This is a thorny thorn that gores a person internally, giving him no rest; obstacles, against which it is cruel for a person to go, and yet he often goes against them willingly; this is a dark cloud and darkness in the soul, hiding from a person the true and saving path of God, along which a person must go to his destined goal; These, finally, are sinful scabs that cover and corrode our heart. To cleanse the heart, great labors and sorrows, frequent tears, and unceasing inner prayer are needed; abstinence, reading the word of God, the scriptures and lives of the holy saints of God, but most importantly, frequent repentance and communion of the Most Pure Mysteries and daily self-examination; reflection on how pure man was created in the beginning, and how the filth of sin entered the world; about the likeness and image of God in us, and about our duty to become like the Prototype - the Most Pure God; about our redemption by the priceless blood of the Son of God, about our sonship in Christ Jesus, about the commandment for us to be holy in all our lives (1 Pet. 1:15); thinking about death, judgment and fiery hell. Great tribulations are needed, we say, because they heal the disease of sin and burn away the thorns of passions. Through many sorrows we must enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), says St. the Apostle Paul, and all the saints endured great sorrows to acquire purity of heart, and no one was crowned without sorrows: some endured many different torments from persecutors; others voluntarily tormented and depressed themselves with fasting, vigil, physical labor, lying on the bare ground; They were constantly vigilant in prayer, and with its fragrance they repelled every nasty attack of sin; often received communion from St. The Mysteries, as the most powerful means for cleansing, sanctification and renewal of soul and body; They constantly studied the word of God and occupied themselves with the thoughts of God. For others, despite all this, tears constantly flowed from their eyes, such as St. Ephraim the Syrian. We especially need sincere, deep tears, for they cleanse the filthiness of the heart. Give me tears, O Christ, drops that cleanse the filth of my heart, the saints of God pray to the Lord 16. From the eyes of the tears flowing incessantly, give me endless currents, washing me all over, from top to foot, - we pray in the canon to the Guardian Angel, - as if he clothed a robe whiter than snow with repentance in the palace of God below 17 . Tear drops, please give me grace, pray to the Lord, St. Angel, as if by those, my heart will be cleansed and will see God 18. And everyone who has cried over their sins knows from experience that tears greatly contribute to the purification, peace and bliss of the heart, for with them, so to speak, sin flows out of our souls; after them there comes silence and tranquility of conscience and some kind of spiritual fragrance and joy: a person with intelligent eyes sees God in himself, cleansing all his iniquities and unspeakably merciful to him. Then a person will experience experimentally how blessed, calm and contented the pure in heart are, for they are not tormented by their conscience, they are not tormented by the sins that were forgiven them by the infinite mercy of God, and they feel internally that they rest in God, the Source of bliss, and God rests in them. Blessed are the pure in heart. So, a pure heart is an abundant source of peace and everlasting joy; when looking at everything good, at every creation of God, the pure in heart rejoices and rejoices internally, because in all creatures he sees the imprint of the goodness, wisdom and omnipotence of the Creator; - he is blessed in himself, for both the purity of his heart and, in general, the felt real mercy of God rejoices him, and he is even more comforted by the future promised blessings, which no eye has seen and no ear has heard (1 Cor. 2:9), and the pledge of which he has in his heart. On the contrary, those who have an unclean heart are pitiful: for them it is a source of constant sorrow, although apparently they are having fun; a source of misfortune and fear, because sins and passions, like worms, suck at their hearts, their conscience denounces them, giving them no peace, and the secret premonition of God’s Judgment frightens them. Blessed are those who are pure in heart: for they will see God; blessed, a hundred times blessed are the pure in heart, especially because they will see God face to face in the age to come; for it is characteristic of the pure to see the Pure, just as it is characteristic of the pure eye to see the light. If we still feel very blessed in this life, when, having left everything earthly, we devote ourselves completely to prayer and talk with God, like children with their father, although we do not see Him with our eyes, but only, as in a mirror, fortune-telling - if in this still life we often seem to melt spiritually with tenderness, due to the living sensation of the presence of God - then what can we say about the righteous or the pure in heart when they see God in that age face to face? face, when will they see the One who is the Source of eternal light and bliss for all orders of angels, for all forefathers, prophets, apostles, hierarchs, martyrs, saints and all saints, in whom every creature in heaven and on earth lives and rejoices? Oh, truly it will be unspeakable bliss, endless sweetness - where (in heaven) those celebrating there will be an unceasing voice, and endless sweetness of those who behold Your face, the ineffable kindness 19 . So, my brethren, let us all strive to acquire a pure heart - through tears of repentance, vigil, prayer, abstinence, frequent teaching in the word of God, and let us hasten to reject the blindness of passions from our hearts - so that we may see Christ God, the Savior of our souls. “Christ, the true Light, enlighten and sanctify every person coming into the world, may the light of Your face be marked upon us, may we see in it the unapproachable light, and straighten our steps to do Your commandments, through the prayers of Your Most Pure Mother and all Your saints” 20. Amen. Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God. The Lord, pleasing the peacemakers, inspires us all to seek peace and adhere to it; for without peace, according to the Apostle, no one will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14), Who is our Peace, as it is said: For He is our peace, having made both one (Eph. 2:14), and Who for this purpose came down to earth to restore peace on it, and established in His Church the word of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:19). So, those who want to receive eternal bliss must be peacemakers. How to fulfill this commandment? Firstly, each of us, brethren, must not allow passions to disturb ourselves, but reflect at the very beginning the motives of passions and in every possible way observe ourselves in a peaceful disposition, as the Apostle commands: be at peace within yourself (1 Thessalonians 5:13); and the God of love and peace will be with you (2 Cor. 13:11). What causes quarrels, discord, and disagreements between us? Because we have not learned to restrain the impulses of passions in our hearts, eradicating them at the very bud; have not learned to be peaceful within ourselves, in the depths of our souls. Why is each of us obliged to acquire a peaceful spirit, that is, to bring ourselves into such a state that our spirit is not disturbed by anything. One must be like a dead person or completely deaf and blind in the face of all the sorrows, slander, reproaches, and deprivations that inevitably happen to everyone who wants to follow the saving paths of Christ. And who will not say that people who have acquired such a mood of spirit are truly blessed, because they have acquired divine grace, the source of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17), and are not indignant at anything contrary? St. Theophylact of Bulgaria says: “peace, like unto man, and in the soul from passions, the mother is of divine grace, and gives birth to this in us; But an indignant soul, and making war with other people, and with itself, I do not think, should be worthy of divine grace” 21. Many of us know this truth from our own experience. So, let us, my brethren, take every effort to acquire a peaceful mood of spirit; let us gain peace from passions, and we will acquire divine grace, which will make us blessed and children of God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God. By pacifying ourselves, we must, secondly, be peacemakers regarding our neighbors; we must act friendly to everyone, not give reasons for disagreement and prevent it by all means, if it happens because of something, for example, because of an insult, someone’s injustice, or because of someone’s encroachment on our property or rights - by all means try to stop this disagreement, even if it would be necessary to sacrifice something that belongs to us, for example, our property, our honor, or primacy, unless it is contrary to our duty, service, and is not harmful to anyone; We should try to reconcile others who are at war with each other, if we can; and if we cannot, then pray to God for their reconciliation, for what we are not able to do, then God is able to do, Who can make even a brutal heart into a lamb. He who has learned the full importance of peace in a person’s life - church, civil and family, natural and grace-filled, and the extreme harm of disagreement and discord, from which everything comes into disorder, will try by all means to act in harmony with everyone, and will help preserve peace and harmony between people: for the Lord has called us into peace (1 Cor. 7:15). A special responsibility to be reconcilers lies with the pastors of the Church, who, by the way, are appointed to reconcile everyone with God and with each other. They must extinguish family disagreements, disagreements between husband and wife, parents and children, and all kinds of titles and conditions of people, and they especially have a great reward - the name sons of God, if they diligently try to establish peace and harmony between people. They have the duty to reconcile with the Church those who suffer from the disease of schism and those who unrighteously enmity against her, and in general all those infected with the satanic spirit of enmity against this heavenly and immaculate Mother, and who are moving away from her, and through that from God Himself. They must firmly instill in such people that we are all brothers, children of the one Heavenly Father, redeemed by the blood of the one Lord Jesus Christ and called to inherit the one Kingdom of Heaven, and therefore must live in mutual love and harmony, and adhere to the one house of God - the Church of God, which gave birth to us in one font and nourishes us from one Chalice. Behold, what is good, or what is red? But let the brethren live together... For there (where there is agreement) the commandment of the Lord is blessing and life forever (Ps. 132). Truly, peace and harmony are a great blessing for us: they bring us closer to God and bring His blessing down to us and give us the love and respect of people. Without peace and harmony with others, it is impossible for a person to have peace and harmony within himself, for disagreement and discord with others suppress noble and meek feelings in us, and little by little make us cold, insensitive, cruel, wild, ferocious, not human and not Christians, depriving us of inner peace, happiness and all well-being. St. Gregory of Nyssa, praising the peace and harmony of people, says: “Of all that people strive to enjoy in life, is there anything sweeter than a peaceful life? Whatever you call pleasant in life is pleasant only when it is connected with the world. Let there be everything that is valued in life: wealth, health, wife, children, home, relatives, friends; let there be beautiful gardens, places of cheerful feasts, and all the inventions of pleasures... let all this be, but there will be no peace - what good is that?... So, peace is not only pleasant in itself for those who enjoy the world, but also delights all the blessings of life. Even if some misfortune happens to us, as usually happens to people, during times of peace, and it is more tolerable, because in this case evil is tempered by good... Judge for yourself, what kind of life are those who are at enmity with each other and suspect each other? They meet gloomily and abhor everything in each other; their lips are silent, their eyes are averted, and the ears of one are closed to the words of the other. Everything that is pleasant for one of them is hateful for the other, and on the contrary, what is hateful and hostile to one is liked by the other. Therefore, the Lord wants you to multiply the grace of the world in such abundance, so that not only you yourself can enjoy it, but so that your life serves as a cure against the illness of others... He who prevents others from this shameful vice shows the greatest benefit, and can rightly be called blessed, he does the work of God’s power, destroying evil in human nature, and instead introducing the communion of good things. The Lord calls the peacemaker the son of God because he who brings such peace to human society becomes an imitator of the true God. The Giver and Lord of goodness completely destroys and destroys everything unnatural and alien to goodness. He commands similar activity to you; and you must extinguish hatred, stop enmity and revenge, destroy quarrels, drive out hypocrisy, extinguish the smoldering memory of malice in the heart and introduce everything opposite in its place... love, joy, peace, goodness, generosity, in a word, the whole collection of good things. So, isn’t he blessed who gives away divine gifts, who imitates God in his gifts, whose benefits are likened to the great gifts of God” 22? However, there are cases when disagreement is better than peace, and it is necessary to neglect the world itself: such is the world of lawless people, about which David speaks: being jealous of the wicked, the peace of sinners is in vain (Ps. 72:3), when everything goes according to their desire, when they become rich in property and unrighteousness of all kinds, when they receive awards and distinctions, flourish in health, etc. “Let them not think,” writes St. Gregory the Theologian, - as if I were saying that every world should be treasured. For I know that there is wonderful disagreement, and the most destructive unanimity, but we must love a good world that has a good goal and unites with God. But when it comes to obvious wickedness, then one should rather go to fire and sword, rather than partake of the evil kvass and share with the infected” 23. “Then peace is especially established,” writes St. John Chrysostom - when what is infected with disease is cut off, when what is hostile is separated. For through this only it is possible for heaven to unite with earth. For the doctor will then save parts of the body when he cuts off an incurable member from them, and the military leader will restore calm when malicious like-minded people are brought into discord. This is what happened during the Babylonian pandemonium: the evil world was destroyed by good disagreement, and peace was restored... Unity of mind is not always good: even robbers are in agreement” 24 . So, blessed are the peacemakers, that is, firstly, those who pacify themselves from passions and suppress them in themselves, and try in every possible way to maintain good peace with their neighbors; secondly, those who always try to reconcile the warring parties by all means in their power. They will be called the sons of God, that is, they will be honored with the greatest honor in the face of all Angels, all men, for there is no higher honor than for a mortal man to be called the son of the immortal and blessed God and to become immortal and blessed himself, and to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, becoming an heir of God and a joint heir of Christ. The very bliss of the peacemakers will be inexpressible and especially great, since they themselves established in people the greatest good of the world, and contributed to both the temporary well-being and eternal bliss of people. Let us, my brethren, all be peaceful and peace-loving, and let us not, on occasion, give up reconciling those at war, diligently resisting the machinations of the spirit of enmity, which is intensifying to spread it everywhere. In the name of the Lord I ask each and every one of you for this. And for this, be grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Blessed is the expulsion of truth for the sake of: for those are the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you, and ridicule you, and say all sorts of evil things about you lying to Me for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven. Until now, our Lord and Hero of God Jesus Christ has blessed those who fulfill His commandments, namely: those who are humble about themselves, weeping over sins, zealous for meekness and gentleness, hungry and thirsty for the righteousness of Christ, diligently doing works of mercy, tirelessly plucking from their hearts the thorns of passions and establishing peace in themselves and in the people around them; in His last two sayings about beatitude, in the eighth and ninth, He pleases His followers for the persecutions to which they have been subjected before, and will continue to be subjected for the sake of their faith and virtue, and comforts them with the sweetest promise of eternal bliss and great reward in heaven, which has an infinite abundance to reward them for all reproaches, sorrows, misfortunes, the hardships and torments that they endured and will endure for His name. Blessed, - he says, - drive away the truth for the sake of: for those are the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they revile you, and condemn you, and say all sorts of evil things against you who lie to Me for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven. Blessedly expel the truth for the sake of it. By truth here we generally mean the Christian faith and life according to the commandments of Christ; This means that blessed are those who are persecuted for faith and piety, for their good deeds, for constancy and steadfastness in faith. But why does the world persecute true faith, piety, truth, which are so beneficial for people, bringing unity, mutual love, good morals, peace, silence, order into scattered human societies? Because the whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19), people have loved evil more than goodness (Ps. 51:5), and the prince of this world, the devil, who works in the sons of disobedience, hates the truth with hellish hatred and persecutes it, since it serves as a reproof of unrighteousness, pricks its eyes, oppresses it. Evil, depraved people have always hated and persecuted the righteous, and will continue to hate and persecute. Cain hated his righteous brother Abel, persecuted him for his piety and finally killed him; The beastly Esau hated his meek brother Jacob and persecuted him, threatening to kill him; The unrighteous children of the patriarch Jacob hated their righteous brother Joseph and sold him secretly to Egypt so that he would not be a thorn in their side; The wicked Saul hated the meek David and persecuted him until his death, encroaching on his life; The Jews hated the prophets of God, who denounced their lawless life, and beat some of them, killed others, stoned others, and finally persecuted and killed the greatest Righteous One, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, the Sun of righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul, listing different types of persecution for the sake of righteousness in the Old Testament, and partly in the New, says: others (i.e. the righteous) were tortured without accepting liberation in order to receive a better resurrection; others experienced insults and beatings, as well as chains and prison, were stoned, sawn apart, tortured, died by the sword, wandered in mantles and goatskins, suffering disadvantages, sorrows, and bitterness. Those of whom the whole world was not worthy wandered through deserts and mountains, through caves and defiles of the earth (Heb. 11:35–38). So the righteous were persecuted in the Old Testament before the incarnation of the Son of God and with His incarnation - St. Forerunner and Archdeacon Stephen; and after His resurrection and ascension to heaven, the Faith of Christ met terrible persecution in the world from Jews and idolaters: Christians were beaten into stocks and thrown into prison, crucified on crosses, given over to be torn to pieces by wild beasts; they were cut with a sword, drowned in rivers, tormented with iron claws, wheeled; they cut off their hands, or gradually all the members of their bodies; pierced with spears, doused with boiling tin or oil, or dipped into boiling cauldrons, burned in hot frying pans, or in red-hot copper oxen; not to mention the curses, ridicule, beatings, and slaps in the face to which confessors of the name of Christ were subjected. This is the kind of persecution that was inflicted on Christians in the world! The followers of Christ crucified had to fight not only with people, with their wickedness, ignorance and malice, but with the whole hell, with Satan and his hasty power, for the countless persecutions were raised against the Church of Christ by Satan himself, using wicked people as his tools. Blessing the martyrs, the Church sings: you are the gates of hell, which opened against the church and closed 25. If it were not for the gospel word of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which not one iota would perish, strengthen the martyrs, if not for His word: blessed are they to cast out righteousness for the sake of, and do not fear from them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul (Matthew 10:28), blessed are those who always reproach you, etc., if His grace had not strengthened them, then who among them could have endured such terrible things? persecution, such inhuman torment! That is why the Lord comforted all His faithful followers in advance, with His blessing and promise of the greatest reward in heaven, the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, and He Himself endured the most severe torment and death in advance, leaving us all an example of courage and patience in the persecution for the truth. Blessed is the expulsion of righteousness for the sake of: for these are the Kingdom of Heaven... Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven. He said something like this: do not be discouraged and do not despair, My faithful followers, who proclaim My truth to people in word and deed and with irresistible firmness, who stand for My truth, for My commandments, to the point of exile and death; I will be your support, your strength, your consolation, your inner bliss in all your sufferings, misfortunes and sorrows, in all tortures and torments for My name. Just as the suffering of Christ in us abounds, so our consolation abounds in Christ (2 Cor. 1:5), because in all sorrows, exiles, torments, I myself will be within you, my kingdom will be, the kingdom of peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whether they expel you from the fatherland, but to whom God Himself has become a Father through Me, the fatherland is heaven, as the Apostle says: our life is in heaven (Phil. 3:20), or as it says in My prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, for where the Father is, there is the fatherland; in heaven is the Father, there is the Fatherland, there all His children will gather. Whether your property will be taken away from you, but the one who follows My footsteps has a better property, eternal, in heaven, and not a transitory property on earth, like a dream; - they will deprive you of your honorable name, ranks, distinctions, but they will not deprive you of the name of a Christian, the name of the children of God, the title of heir of God and joint heir of Christ, the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, and these names and distinctions are more honorable than all worldly names and distinctions; whether they will deprive you of life itself, but do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; Fear ye rather than him that is mighty, to destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). And the word of the Lord came true exactly: the exiles and martyrs for the name of Christ, even in earthly life, with all the persecutions, sorrows, deprivations, torments, triumphed over their persecutors, rejoiced and had fun, going to fierce torment, as if they were going to take the kingdom, had a royal spirit, royal greatness, invincible patience, and with their faith and their patience they put all their tormentors to shame - kings and hegemons, - and after death they inherited the Kingdom of Heaven by deed and now reign with Christ, according to His word: to the one who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also conquered and sat with My Father on His throne (Rev. 3:21). This is how the word of the immortal King Christ, His all-effective grace, strengthened them; This is how strikingly the power of Christ was manifested in these weak vessels! This is how miraculously the holy heavenly faith of Christ is planted on an earth filled with polytheism and wickedness! Oh, truly our faith is an everlasting, wondrous miracle, a miracle of the power of God, accomplished in weakness, for now it performs great miracles in all true believers, renewing their dilapidated and corrupted by sin nature - soul and body, helping to endure with courage and gratitude great sorrows and misfortunes, which, without faith in Christ, could suppress the spirit and crush the body; helping to tame inner turmoil and passions that could sink the fragile boat of the body and extinguish the spirit. Where is the impudent unbelief that rejects the miracles of faith and explains them by the natural laws of nature? Oh, who is the great God like our God? You are God, you work miracles: you said Your power among people (Ps. 76:14-15). God is marvelous in His saints (Ps. 67:36)! Love everything, my brothers, righteousness, and hate unrighteousness or sin of every kind; express the holy truth directly and boldly, and rebuke unrighteousness with meekness and patience, so that righteousness may reign as it should, and unrighteousness may be put to shame and eradicated, and not raise its head high with insolence—let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness (2 Tim. 2:19). People will be offended by your truthful speech; will they not love and favor? So what? You will be unpleasant to people (like an eyesore), but you will be the mouth of God, the apple of God’s eye; however, even here all honest and truthful people will respect you, and in heaven the Angels and all the saints will bless you, and will joyfully accept your soul into the heavenly settlements when it is separated from this mortal body, for the inhabitants of heaven do not look without sympathy at our local deeds of virtue and at our struggle with sin and untruth, but with great participation and sympathy, as members of the one body of Christ, like the Lord testified, saying that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7), or, as the Apostle says, if one soul is glorified, all people rejoice with him (1 Cor. 12:26). And how calm the conscience is, how pleased a person is when he expresses the holy truth, and how tormented his conscience is when he is ashamed or afraid to express it when necessary! But why, for the most part, does untruth multiply and boldly raise its head, if not because they give it free rein, as they say, and do not expose it! However, prudence does not always require telling the truth to everyone: 1) there is no need to declare one’s truth when the matter does not concern us, when there are people for this purpose called by their position to tell the truth; 2) when we foresee that the word of truth will plunge us into obvious danger, and absolutely no benefit will come from our word. Then it is better to secretly pray to God, so that He Himself will enlighten the unrighteous and guide them on the path of righteousness, or send powerful and capable people to expose untruth! And virtue requires moderation and prudence, so that without prudence, virtue is no longer virtue, or loses much of its value. Blessed are you when they revile you, and ridicule you, and say all sorts of evil things, against you lying, for my sake. Are there even now reproaches and persecutions for the truth, for the faith of Christ? There are and will be until the end of the world; because the Kingdom of God has not yet come in all its power for many, and for the majority it has not yet come at all; there is still a lot of wickedness and untruth in Christian societies themselves; Satan is not yet bound and freely goes around the earth and passes through the heavenly places, and now, it seems, he is most savage against those who hold the right faith, knowing that there is little time to have (Rev. 12:12). Only now he persecutes not with torture, not with executions, but with unbelief, imaginary progress (movement forward), liberalism, simply - freethinking, indiscriminateness to faith and daring denial of faith; slander, ridicule, blasphemy, slander, or proud inattention and contempt. Pious people are now called names of bigots, routinists, backward people, with narrow views; the Christian faith is called the faith of the mob; Christian compassion - weakness and nervous irritability; alms - stupid extravagance; external prayer - hypocrisy; delight and joy in prayer - idiocy (almost madness); on the contrary, the wide unbridledness of the flesh or licentiousness, the gratification of all its countless lusts - modern progress; alienation from home and public prayer, rejection of all rituals in faith, a life that is not similar to Christian, or Jewish, or Tatar, or pagan, but some kind of animal, alien to any obligations of faith, is considered a well-known tone, a sign of a modern person (and a cosmopolitan, for whom the fatherland is the whole world, but no faith). Agree that it is very unpleasant for any believer to live among such people, and happy is the one who does not live among them; and whoever lives, endure persecution, ridicule, barbs, however, do not be silent, but know how to give an answer about your faith, about your hope, so that wickedness will be put to shame, answer the fool according to his madness, so that the wise will not appear in himself (Prov. 26:5). How else does untruth, the wickedness of the present time, persecute truth and piety? Inattention to the works and merits of the pious and truth-loving, depriving them of fair, due honor and reward, while the ingratiating and bribery untruth too generously ascribes to itself the glory, honor, and wealth of this world. And it’s not surprising. Whoever seeks what gets it. The truly pious and righteous do not seek glory from men, seeking glory from the one God, although they do not shy away from it for the glory of God and for the joy of those who fear God, when it reaches them; but the people of this world, whose treasure is on earth, covet it and acquire it. Those who willingly give away their own to those in need, and therefore are not rich, but these people constantly try to increase their wealth, rightly and unjustly, and therefore they become richer. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is abundant in heaven. As the righteous endure reproach, persecution, and deprivation on earth for their righteousness, their reward in heaven increases; here they are often deprived of everything, there they will receive everything in abundance: incorruptible glory, an incorruptible crown, an unfailing treasure, unceasing joy, an endless Kingdom, which may the Lord give us all to receive through the grace and generosity and love of His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Letters about St. Mount Athos., letter 17 Taught. Thank you Frequently III, p. 64. You. Vel. in Russian trans., vol. 4 pp. 168–169. Creation Grieg. God. in Russian lane Word 14 is about love for the poor. Grieg. God. about love for the poor. You. V. demon. to the words: I will destroy the granaries; in Russian lane Part 4 pp. 88–89. Grieg. Theologian about love for the poor. Grieg. God. in Russian lane h, 2 p. 6. Grieg. God. in Russian lane part 2 page 44 Zlat. on the last, in Philip. Demon. 1, 25 Zlat. on the last K. Philip. Grieg. God. in Russian lane part 2 p. 44; demon, 1, p. 25 Last to St. communion song 3, art. 1 Kan. Eng. storage song 8, v. 4 Prayer at the end of Matins before Vzbran. Voivode. Feof. Bolgar, prev. to Ev. from John Grieg. Nis. word about blessedness in Christ. Thurs. 1842 May pp.164–165, 169–170, 177–178; Grieg. Theologian sl. about the world, in Russian lane vol. 1, p. 237 Kan. Eng. and everyone. holy poem. Ch. 6; You might be interested in: