Living Ear
Живой Колос
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Contents Introduction About faith and the Orthodox Church. Enemies of faith and the Church Part I Part II Part III Part IV The Fall and its consequences. Part I Part II Part III The earthly path of a Christian to God Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V The responsibility of a Christian person before God Part I Part 2 Part 3 Excerpts from the diary for the biography of Fr. John of Kronstadt Word
This is a collection of prayerful and inspired thoughts from Fr. Ioanna compiles his last diary, written in 1907–1908. Entrusting the editorship of his diary, Fr. John called his new diary “The Living Ear.” It is difficult to describe Father’s sincere joy about his new publication and his delight at the title of the diary that he himself gave. This joy of a zealous worker in God’s field will find a distant resemblance to the joy of a plowman bent over by work, who sees the promising fruit of his continuous labors. His work is a “living ear” because his seed is the “verbs of eternal life,” the word of God; this is a “living ear”, because every grain taken with faith from this “ear” will be the beginning of a new life in God. The pure joy of Father is understandable, as he worked with prayer and tears for 53 years to plant and water the grains of God and was consoled by the knowledge of the eternity of his labors.
Thoughts about God, faith, the Church, life in Christ, eternal life, which form the content of Fr. John, is the atmosphere in which the soul of a Christian believer can and should live. In this edition, the thoughts of Fr. John is grouped into five chapters. The first chapter talks about the faith and the Orthodox Church, about the attitude of modern Christians to faith and the Church, about those who destroy the work of God, among whom the worst enemy of Orthodoxy, Tolstoy, occupies the first place, and about the misconceptions of Catholics. The next three chapters depict the necessary path of a Christian from earth to heaven, the path of liberation from sin and the devil and ascension to God through the fulfillment of the commandments of Christ.
Finally, the last chapter contains thoughts in which Father speaks about his spiritual mood, about the struggle with the enemy of salvation, about the desire for God, wants to quickly “see Him, the desired, all-good, beautiful, all-blessed, immortal Father and Master, to worship Him personally,” glorify and thank God for 79 years of life and for 53 years of priesthood, for sorrows and consolations, for God’s long-suffering and perfect forgiveness in repentance, especially for the most holy sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, in one word - “give thanks to God for everything, for everything!”
This diary is, as it were, a comforting spiritual testament left by dear Father to all sincerely believing people who, by faith in God and the Holy Church, want to save their souls. Father’s penetrating gaze is most focused on deepening our consciousness into the meaning of the fall of man and his redemption by the Son of God; how to join Christ, and in Him to partake of eternal blissful life - this is what Fr. teaches. John, in his last work, teaches, of course, according to the instructions of the Word of God and the Holy Church and according to his own spiritual feat, the goal of which was this most blissful union with Christ. In the following, a brief summary of these views is given, as it is revealed according to the last commandments of Father, published here, which Fr. himself blessed us with. John.
By the deception of the devil, having listened to God’s commandment in paradise, man fell away of his own free will from the love of God and transferred perverted love to himself (selfishness) and to earthly objects. “To exchange God for a creature, love for the Creator for devotion to an evil creature, the most holy inalienable union with the Creator for an unclean, evil, evil and corruptible union with creatures” was a matter of extreme /madness/. “The enemy seduces with carnal beauty and momentary passion, but turns him away from the Source of spiritual and eternal beauty, away from God and considers Him nothing and tears Him to death. This is crazy! The terribly insane fall of man through the necessary consequences of sin. The fall was deep, wide and disastrous. Through sin we have become strangers to God, uncommunicative to Him, having lost the likeness of God, the likeness of His holiness and drawn closer to the devil, the author of sin and evil; sin deprived man of freedom in God and made him a slave to insane vanity and corruption. Having been separated from God, the Source of life, man inherited the enemy’s cunning, his vanity, passion for corruption, anger, pride, envy and death.
Together with man, the whole world, created by God out of nothing, became alien to God.
But sin, this “poison of Satan,” once perceived by man, infected /all/ humanity. Eve was seduced by the forbidden fruit, and so all of humanity fell into worldly delusion and began to be seduced. The fall has become permanent and inevitable: no civil laws can keep a person from falling; sin begins with us in the womb of the mother and in the loins of the father, and with our age it grows and strengthens. Each person himself is aware of his sinfulness, feeling himself in /a state of loss/, a lost person, and secondly, experiencing /a forced desire for evil/, since the evil spirit, from the moment of the fall of man, began to reign powerfully in him, while goodness and its Source - God, who has withdrawn from the heart of man, /does not force, but attracts to himself/ moral beauty, spiritual peace and the promises of eternal life. Sin is tormenting for a person, acting in him “powerfully, insatiably and disastrously,” killing the soul and body forever, but it just as powerfully attracts a person with its “charm”; /torment and charm/ - these are the sharp, but basic properties of sin in general.
“Oh sin, sin! How destructive you are!”
“How many enemies does a fallen man, a captive, have! Our own insidious, multi-passionate /flesh, the devil/, awake and deceitful over our destruction, /world/ adulterous and sinful, with all its evil customs and charms, with all its vanity and inconstancy.” Although people themselves are to blame for their sins, Satan is the cause of the abyss of sins. Warning against the devil and pronouncing a “solemn curse” on him as the first apostate from God, His eternal truth, order, peace and bliss, pointing everyone to him as our enemy, blasphemer and flatterer, Fr. John exposes to us the machinations of the devil and his ugliness. The devil chose the world, the delights of the world, as his instrument of action on man, over which he gained power as the “prince of peace,” when man, having indulged in the enemy’s flattery, lost power over nature (the world) and transferred his authority to the enemy. With his all-nasty, deadly and painful poison, the devil acts like an infection on the weakest sides, i.e. on the passions formed in us after the fall.
Counting on the inattention and frivolity of a person, our enemy acts either by unexpectedly inflicted sorrows, wanting to inspire despair, or by the charm of carnal beauty and momentary sweetness. Since the main commandment of God is love as the main requirement of a blessed life (“if I give away all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good” - (1 Cor. 13:3)), then the devil also set love as the main requirement, but not holy love for God and in the name of God, but the love of this world - love /adulterous/ and /love of the honors of this world/. “The devil is in a hurry, incredibly in a hurry, catching a person in order to destroy him forever.” And how many have already become victims of the devil’s widely spread snares, victims of his wide fiery mouth. With which he consumes the infidels. Anyone who is overcome and defeated by the devil is subject to eternal captivity, shame and torment. “The enemy of our salvation has remained faithful to his evil destructive system for about eight thousand years.”
But the devil hides from man, hiding his ugliness and ridiculous appearance, so that man does not hate and feel disgust and hatred towards him. “Oh, accursed one, get away from me, enemy of the truth and righteousness of God!”
The world, of which man was appointed prince and lord by God, this world, as an instrument of the devil, also became the enemy of man. In order to defeat this enemy, “look at everything as a passing shadow,” says Fr. John.
Finally, man’s own multi-passionate flesh became man’s enemy. Through a thousand lusts, she wants to remove the soul from God, to weaken, defile and kill it. Therefore, throughout their lives, the saints of God tried to mortify the flesh or its powerful and destructive effect on the soul. Fasting and suffering of the flesh (illness) are necessary saving actions to overcome this crafty “domestic” enemy. The sufferings of the flesh that save us are sent to us by God Himself, from Whom all good comes; therefore, it is not grumbling, but patience and gratitude to God that a believing soul should offer even for the most serious illnesses. Having himself suffered a lot in the flesh from the days of his childhood, Father, repeating the words of the Apostle Paul, says: as long as I am with you, “who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:24).
In order to again unite man with God, restore the image of God in him and tear him away from destructive delusion, Christ, the Son of God, appeared on earth. If a person has lost his likeness to God, then God Himself deigned to become like a person in the incarnation; if man fell by proudly obeying the Creator’s commandments, then Christ redeemed us by humble fulfillment of the law; if powerless humanity had to suffer the torments of the devil, then the God-man, saving people from the snares of the enemy, suffered himself and caught our killer the devil. “Christ God, having suffered and died for us and resurrected, drowned with His grace all the crimes of the human race who believe in Him”; therefore, redemption is the granting to people of a secondary, /moral/ existence, or, according to Scripture, /renewing/. The Incarnation of the Son of God, as a great mercy in which the truth, wisdom, goodness and omnipotence of God were manifested, was a supernatural means, because human nature is extraordinary, wondrous, godlike, and invaluable.
This is how the salvation of people was accomplished, in which more grace was given to man than was before the fall. Only those who believe in Christ and the Church established by Him on earth receive salvation; Outside the Church, to which the true teaching of Christ, the saving sacraments and the leadership of shepherds have been entrusted, there is no salvation. “O our Divine faith, Divine Orthodoxy, more shining Orthodoxy than the sun, won for us by the blood of the apostles, hierarchs, martyr, venerable and all-righteous, come to us! O pearl of great price! O treasure hidden in the field (in the heart and in the Church)! Oh update! O incorruption! Oh light! O Divine salt! O bright sun! O eternal life itself! O reconciliation of sinners with the righteous God! O golden chain with the sky! O golden stairway to heaven!
Although redemption is complete, although the terrible Blood of the Son of God, offered at the liturgy, daily intercedes for us before the throne of the Heavenly Father, every person must consciously assimilate salvation for himself, everyone must appropriate himself to Christ with all his thoughts, with all his soul and with all his heart, using for this purpose the grace-filled means and instructions of the Church. “/Know/ Christianity in its entire spirit, God’s plan, in its entire idea, majestic breadth, goodness, wisdom and truth of God, /marvel/ at the greatness of God’s work, the work of salvation of the human race, /humbly and devotedly/ bow before it and /be a doer/ of Christian virtues with the help of the grace of God” - this is a brief but expressively depicted Christian’s direct and only path to God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ demands from every believer a feat that is all the more difficult the more deeply sin has taken root in a person. This feat is as follows: firstly, it is necessary to recognize one’s terrible fall and the need for restoration and correction; be a strict judge of yourself, prompted by the fact that there is a Righteous Judge judging you at every moment, and that your end is near; compare your will, inclined towards sin, with the holy will of God, and you will humble yourself before the perfections of God. “Be ashamed of yourself, mourn your unbelief, negligence, inertia, laziness, vanity, madness and other passions.” Secondly, you need to sincerely repent of your sins, abhorring them not only in words, but even in thoughts. Frequent recollection of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, His atoning death on the cross, resurrection and ascension into Heaven and the second coming to judge the living and the dead will dispose the heart to repentance. “You must always repent sincerely, for the Angel of God suffered for your sins as well.”
“If the Lord Jesus Christ had not voluntarily sacrificed Himself for us, we would not have been given repentance, but for the sake of His sacrifice it is given to all believers, and all those who truly understand diligently use it, are changed by the Divine change, become new people, with new thoughts, desires, intentions, deeds, and are saved, enlightened and appropriated to God.” It is only out of madness that people do not follow the repentant call of the Church. The immeasurable patience of God, calling everyone to repentance, complete and complete forgiveness is sent down to those who have benefited from grace-filled repentance.
The third step to heaven is the fight against impurity within oneself, winning the nobility of spirit and purity of soul and body. Having been born into Christianity and joining the holy Orthodox Church, we must be pure. To get rid of sin and become sons of light, you need fasting, prayer and deeds, you need to crucify carnal passions (especially gluttony) and resist all evil. Through constant struggle, you will reach a state when the soul will feel disgust for sin, when a healthy conscience, like the voice of God, will immediately reflect any touches of sin, and the soul will feel a heartfelt disposition towards virtue.
So, the fourth and final step to heaven, to the Kingdom of Heaven, is unswervingly following the path of virtue, along the path of fulfilling the commandments of God. Only a madman can refuse to fulfill the commandments of God, in which there is holiness and blessedness, life and wisdom. “Our life is a constant test through everyday circumstances and clashes with people - how much we are inclined in soul and heart to faith, hope and love for God, our Creator, and love for our neighbor, and how prone we are to sin and various everyday carnal passions, or to obedience to the devil, acting through the passions of the flesh and the delights of the world.” Testing people like this. God allows the devil to act maliciously, so that long-suffering will be demonstrated more and more into infinity and so that the exploits and valor of people devoted to God will shine brighter; for the unrepentant (like Leo Tolstoy), God’s long-suffering will serve to multiply punishment.
And so, from the lips of a loving shepherd pours out a fiery prayer for all of our contemporary Russia: “Lord, save the Russian people, the Orthodox Church in Russia - which is perishing: debauchery everywhere, unbelief, blasphemy, anarchy everywhere... Lord, everything is in Your hands. You are the Almighty!
The first and main requirement of the law of Christ is /love of God/. One must love God, because in Him there is an abyss of life, holiness and light; all His deeds and all nature constantly glorify the perfections of their Creator - good, wise, infinitely intelligent; The human soul, created in the image and likeness of God, speaks especially loudly about the perfections of the Creator. Love for God is required by the thought of God’s constant thoughts about man – both the fallen and the redeemed. “You, man, every day, hour, minute, the Lord, the Creator of creation, pleases you in every possible way: the sun shines on you, caresses you with the quiet light of the clear month, and with the life-giving air... So God pleases you with everything for your being and well-being, pleasure! Aren’t you also obliged to please Him for your own good - to live according to your conscience and the law of God?” Finally, the commandment to love God is the main commandment of the law, because “the Lord Himself loved us with boundless love, coming down from heaven and becoming a man for us.”
The second main commandment of the law is /love your neighbor/. Fulfilling this commandment is the practical implementation of our love for God. “Love every person who hates you and pray for him.”
Calling to rise to the heights of virtue and be internally transformed, Fr. John points to patience, forgiveness of insults, non-judgment of one's neighbor and other virtues, especially humility and mercy, such rare Christian virtues among us. Modern Christians have lost Christ, and therefore our life has become just a dream, a dream, a gradual dying, and not life. Generally speaking, unbelief, falling away from God, from God’s wise commands, relying on one’s own reason, blindly following one’s passions are the causes of all disasters and falls in the history of the human race. Everyday behavior of a person. John briefly expresses it with the words: “Walk always before God, as before the face of an all-good, all-powerful, quick-to-obey Father, always ready to fulfill the righteous desires and petitions of your heart.” “Think and reason in such a way that all your thoughts, feelings and dispositions of your soul are known in heaven.”
The crown of our moral life and difficult internal struggle with ourselves is the future eternal blissful life, according to the Word of God: “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne” (Apoc. 3:21). Fr. called loudly to this life in communion with the angels and all the saints. John spent all 53 years of his priesthood. “Get ready immediately, time flows and brings you closer to the end of your life, and then you will have to make a settlement with the righteous Householder for your entire life. To her, I say, let us all prepare to acquire the robe of the soul, pure, holy, pleasing to the heavenly Bridegroom!” Those who do not believe, the stubborn and lazy, according to the just and eternal judgment of God, will face eternal destruction.
This is what dear Father thought about and wrote in the last year of his life, as a consolation to everyone who loved him. A month and a half before his death, handing over his work for publication, he hurried to complete the publication without fail before the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, even almost on the eve of his death he asked about the progress of the work - he so wanted to console everyone during his lifetime with his last word, his last fatherly blessing. But, apparently, Father fervently prayed for his blessed death: “I am kindled with a strong desire to see the Artist, Who wisely created me in His image and likeness with reason, feeling, free will and immortality in the soul. When will I see Him, the Desired One?” He died, an ascetic, a contemplator of God, an interlocutor of God, an ardent man of prayer, a doctor of souls and bodies, a kind, merciful, meek, compassionate shepherd! But now the light of this righteous man “burns merrily” (Prov. 13:9), for “those who have understanding will shine like the lights in the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever” (Dan. 12:3).
The one who victoriously passed through all 79 years of his life, shining like a bright light, and went to the throne of the Most High, left “behind him a shining path” (Job 41:24). He who, following the great Sower, scattered seeds with a generous hand in God’s field, left us “living ears of corn”, which not only delight us with their full, graciously mature appearance, but also feed us, who are spiritually hungry; and he himself became a “living ear”, compressed for earthly life, but ready for eternal life. The one who during his life comforted us, the weak, and supported us, the weak, sending grace-filled strength from Christ, to whom he prayed by faith, will pour out deep gracious help on us, seeing the Lord face to face, if we ask for his prayers. “God and the saints,” he said, “hear us in prayer, just as people talking to each other hear each other, or as people who come to church hear a preacher, or as warriors hear the voice of a leader; they hear even incomparably better and more perfectly, because we hear the words of another, but we do not know what is in his heart and thoughts.
God and the saints are not like that: they see what is in our thoughts and hearts - God Himself, by His omniscience, and the saints by the grace of the Holy Spirit, in Whom they eternally abide.” Let this work be a consolation from the one who has now found peace and bliss in God, but we, remembering the deeds, life and death of our dear Father, will “imitate his faith” (Heb. 13:7). In fulfillment of the will of the author, who bequeathed to produce the publication in the most elegant form possible, each book is accompanied by a portrait of Fr. John, signed by him 20 days before his death, and his own epigraph, which contains the texts of the Holy Scriptures given by Fr. John specifically for this publication. In addition, as directed by the author himself, the cover of the book represents an artistic image of a “living ear of corn” that has grown in his spiritual field. Bandaged sheaves, according to Fr. John, show the moment of separation from the earth necessary in order to become a “living ear of grain” in heaven. “Death is birth into eternal life.”
About faith and the Orthodox Church. Enemies of faith and the Church
Get to know Christianity in its entire spirit, God’s plan, in its entire idea, majestic breadth, goodness, wisdom and truth of God, marvel at the greatness of God’s work, the work of saving the human race, humbly and devotedly bow before it and be a performer of Christian virtues, with the help of God’s grace.
The Christian faith is the restoration by God, according to His immeasurable goodness, of the image of God in fallen, defiled, corrupted man, the reconciliation of the Creator with the ungrateful, disobedient, proud creature, permission from the righteous curse and the bestowal of blessing, the opening of heaven for us - “from now on you will see heaven open” (John 1:51), victory over death and its abolition, like the devil, its culprit, introduction into paradise and the granting of eternal life. How many countless blessings have been given by God in the Christian faith to the believing person, obedient to the Gospel and commandments of Christ! What is the matter, Christians? Why are you sleeping? Rise up, stay awake, pray, repent and reform, do good deeds and ascend to heaven!
The Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for me and for everyone - breath and light, life, strength and justification, wisdom, holiness, all wealth, help, healing from all diseases, prayer fire, source of tenderness, preservation, security, all good. Always thanksgiving to You, my Lord. Accept my prayer for all people, especially for Your Church as a collection of sincere believers in You.
Does your heart beat with joy and trembling when you remember and pronounce the most holy Name of the uncreated and all-creating, all-good and all-blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit? O wonderful Name! O most sweet and all-life Name! O beautiful, essential and eternal Trinity, which gave indescribable beauty to the entire created spiritual and material world! Decorate us too in Your image and likeness, who have freely disfigured and corrupted ourselves with all sorts of sins! Right Trinity, our God, glory to Thee!
The only and Only Begotten Son is only the Son of God, and the only life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of God, by whom “every soul is alive and exalted in purity, illuminated by the Trinity unity of sacred mystery” (Antiphon). Glory to Thee, Lord, who revealed to us the mystery of the Holy Trinity, as fittingly as possible. Amen.
Whose words are these: “Take, eat: this is My Body, which was broken for you for the remission of sins, and drink of it, all of you: this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26, 26-28; 1 Cor. 11:24)? Is it not the all-good and all-powerful Creator and the all-generous Savior of the entire human race, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the whole world? Arius the heretic relegated the Creator to the ranks of creatures and did not recognize Him as consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, One with Him and the Holy Spirit. Can a creature transform the essence of things into a completely different nature, for example, wheat bread into the most pure Body of God and red grape wine into the most pure and life-giving Blood of God? Is it not the Almighty Creator who can create and implement this? The Aryans and like-minded people, of whom there were tens of thousands, did not recognize Jesus Christ as the Creator. This was the great misfortune for the Orthodox and heretics: if they trusted Arius, they would have lost communion with the Church and eternal salvation. The heretic Arius wanted to destroy the saving Orthodox faith and introduce a heretical, destructive faith.
Therefore, Orthodox bishops, clergy and Orthodox laymen strongly opposed Arius. The pious Emperor Constantine Equal-to-the-Apostles himself gathered from all over the Orthodox world holy bishops, presbyters and partly deacons, among whom was the holy Archdeacon Athanasius, who was later appointed archbishop of Alexandria in Egypt. They examined, weighed and refuted the wicked teaching of Arius and his associates and condemned them as ungodly, and compiled an exposition of the Orthodox faith, or the Creed, for all times until the end of the age, according to the clear and powerful and wise teaching of the Holy Spirit of God. And to this day we all agree and unanimously believe in this Creed and do not add a single iota to it, so as not to lose our salvation for a false addition, like Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans. To our God, glorified in the Trinity, glory forever and ever! Amen.
“It is better for you that I go to the Father, for if I do not go, the Comforter will not come to you; and if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). The followers of Christ - the apostles, bishops, priests, myrrh-bearers and all other women faithful to Christ, martyrs, martyrs, saints and all saints - were subjected over time to the most acute and severe temptations, and with these temptations they needed an almighty Comforter and the most loving, equal to the Father and the Son, namely the Holy Spirit, equally thirsty for our salvation and desiring all consolation those who are struggling and who produces this consolation - and He, as the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, needed to have equal assistance in the salvation of the faithful, according to the unity of the essence of the three Persons of the Divine. The Holy Spirit needed to take a personal, all-good, all-wise and all-powerful part in the salvation of Christians. That is why the Lord begged the Father to send them another Comforter, after the atonement accomplished by the Son.
The enemy the devil, with his demonic army, had to arm himself against the Church of Christ, by the permission of God and to test all believers with terrible and varied persecutions and torments - the greatest, all-powerful consolation was needed, and from the Person of the Almighty, in order to contrast it with complete success to all the terrible sorrows and troubles of the tormented Christians of the first centuries and subsequent ones. So Jesus Christ, with God the Father, contrasted these terrible sorrows with the almighty and all-good Comforter, the Holy Spirit; and He always consoled them and helped them to endure all their torments courageously and joyfully. Read about the sufferings of the martyrs, about their joyful sufferings, and you will see in them the power of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. Amen.
The Lord God is the beginningless, eternal Being of infinite holiness, truth, goodness and mercy, unimaginable, immeasurable lightness, for there is an ever-present Light, from Whom are all the second countless lights - angelic cathedrals, from Whom is the light of the sun, moon and stars, from Whom are thunders and lightnings and every blade of grass in the world.
God is a Being of infinite, most solid order, unspeakable beauty, eternal peace, unshakable. As He is Holy and created us in the image of His holiness. He demands from us holiness and complete aversion from all sin, which is darkness, confusion, ugliness, lawlessness and withdrawal from life and a fall into damnation and death. Judge for yourselves, sinful, fallen, darkened, mortal people, what should you do urgently? Continuously repent, pray, correct yourself, do good deeds and become like God.
There is a beginningless, infinite, personal, all-wise, all-good and all-righteous Being, whose name is “He” (being), from whom all being is and who cannot not exist. The creatures created by Him are countless, endlessly varied, beautiful, beneficial, vital, all bearing the stamp of reason, wisdom, and indescribable beauty. By them one can name the Artist who conceived and created them, His vitality, goodness, wisdom, beauty, eternity of being, fidelity to all His words spoken in revelation to us, His rational creatures. We thank Him, our Creator and Creator, Redeemer and Savior, who gave us a revelation of Himself in His Word, spoken by the prophets, apostles, and various vows that He fulfilled all in due time, for example, the vow of the resurrection from the dead and the future blessed life with beatitudes so excellent that “the eye of man has not seen them, and the ear has not heard them, and has not entered the heart of anyone” ( 1 Cor. 2:9) Glory and thanksgiving to You for this, our Creator, Savior and Redeemer!
Physical, plant and animal life was divided, or, so to speak, scattered into countless lives in an infinite number of creatures, infinitely small, then smaller, medium and great, from ciliates to elephants, from barely noticeable grass to the greatest cedars and oaks. Every physical life originates and originates from the first and only, personal, wise, all-good, beginningless, omnipotent Life. This means that the first personal, beginningless Life granted temporary life to all physical beings - angels and men, created in the image and likeness of God and restored from the fall by the Hypostatic Word, incarnated and made human and redeeming believers from the fall and curse, sin and death. Glory to Thee, our Belly. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
According to whose statutes and laws is the conception, formation and growth of the human body in the womb, its maturation and the emergence of the complete human body into the world? According to whose rules are food and drink accepted, hunger and thirst quenched, and our body nourished? Who conceived and created such a wondrous variety of countless fruits of the earth, delicious to the tongue and beautiful in appearance, wisely, exquisitely arranged and prepared for our food and pleasure? According to whose regulations is blood produced in our body, without which human life is impossible? Isn’t it the greatest Sage and Artist, the all-perfect, beginningless, omnipotent Lord our God! Fall to the dust, give thanks, revere Him, love Him, but also fear Him, if you do not do His will, you do not obey Him. Amen.
In every world, animal and plant, life flows in an abundant, pure spring that delights the eye and heart: we see constant births in the kingdom of four-legged animals, domestic and wild, in the kingdom of birds, fish, insects, crawling and jumping, in the plant kingdom, we see wonderful, countless, beautiful and nutritious all sorts of vegetation and fruits, in which we marvel at the beauty, and the taste, and the many different aroma. All nature is full of life - earth, water, air. What harmony, order, usefulness, beauty everywhere, how wisely and purposefully all creatures are arranged! The eye can't see enough, the mind can't marvel. Glory to You, Lord, who created everyone and everything for man! However, man and everything are for the glory of God: for the Lord created everything for His own sake, for the manifestation of His goodness, holiness, wisdom and power. Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee!
An endless celebration in the animal world, organic and inanimate - plants, greenery, flowers, shrubs and all kinds of trees and saplings. In the spring and summer, my observation presents endless fun and joy, the endless triumph of all living creatures - reptiles, jumping, flying birds of all kinds and species, insects, fish, various animals and domestic animals, and finally - people, especially children having fun and jumping, fussing or working people, and from here I conclude: The Creator, the Artist and the Source of life and joy of all these creatures is the Lord, one in three Persons, beginningless, all-good, wise, omnipotent, life-giving to everyone and everything; how blessed He is in Himself, if His creatures are so blessed, cheerful, how beautiful He is, if His creatures are so beautiful and so purposefully constructed! How vital they are, what a fragrance they emit, how they delight the eyes of every rational being!
And, finally, how vital, intelligent, beautiful, active people are - and capable of countless artistic and useful works in the community, mental affairs and all sorts of other things! The mind cannot marvel at how good, life-giving and omnipotent is their Creator and Artist, the Lord God! How the desire is kindled to love Him, to kiss His creative hand, to revere Him, to worship Him, to glorify Him, like the three youths in the furnace of Babylon! O my Creator! All creatures, no matter how many there are, all raise my gaze to You as the Author of joy of life. But what a feast, what a triumph of life in heaven, in the angelic world and in the world of righteous people who are worthy of eternal life and standing before the throne of the Lord, the Life of all! Read the last chapters of the Revelation of the holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian and you will see what an eternal feast is and will be in heaven, eternal bliss in the kingdom of glory! Glory to You, Lord, who has created everything and so provides for everything!
Man, gifted with reason and meaning, do you look intelligently at the beautiful world of God, created infinitely intelligently by the Creator, in three One Persons? Do you look intelligently at every individual from the plant kingdom, at every tree and sapling, shrub, grass, flowers of countless species, at fruits, at the animal kingdom of domestic and wild animals, at all the infinitely diverse creation? Don't you look at all this senselessly, stupidly, without reflection and surprise? Oh, how pleasantly I am surprised by the wisdom, expediency, usefulness, beauty of everything created, in every grass, tree and bush! In every animal I see the all-wise, all-good, all-powerful, beautiful God and I kiss His hand, which creates, revives, forms, imparts taste and smell, organization, life and beauty into every plant. I cannot marvel at the innumerable mind of God, speaking with the psalmist David: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and His greatness cannot be found” (Ps.
144, 3), and at the same time I am kindled with a strong desire to see the Artist, Who wisely created me in His image and likeness, with reason, feeling, free will and immortality in the soul. When I see Him, the desired, all-good, beautiful, all-blessed, immortal Creator Master, and I will worship Him and thank Him personally for everything, for everything!
Eating various tree fruits, berries, grain fruits and all sorts of others, you encounter a countless variety of tastes, very pleasant and healthy, completely corresponding to our nature, so that you cannot marvel at the goodness and wisdom of the Creator, who deigned to please us with His fatherly goodness, sweetness, wisdom, and omnipotence. From one land there are so many fruits, countless in shape and taste! I kiss You, I caress You, my Father and Creator and Nourisher, in every fruit, in every berry, in every grain of grain (and how many there are, types!). And as for the countless tastes of various other foods given to us, there is absolutely no limit to my surprise. In the taste of every little thing you can see the Creator’s love for you, the desire to please you, caress you, console you, please you, encourage, nourish, strengthen, revive. Wonderful are You, O Lord, in all things and the works of Your hands.
But what incomparable, countless wealth of spiritual sweetness You have prepared in the next century, sweetness from the pleasure of the ineffable kindness and beauty of Your Face, with which all the faces and councils of angels are innumerably blessed!
There is a personal, beginningless, all-good, all-wise Being Who calls Himself “I Am”: “I am Who Is” (Ex. 3:14) - that’s how He called Himself to Moses, the prophet of God; there is, I say, a beginningless personal Being, marvelous and giving to all created creatures life, contentment, well-being and joy, there is a personal beginningless Life, which, according to His will, gave and gives life to everyone. It is to this Being that people owe goodness, love, thanksgiving, praise and, as criminals by the will of their creatures, repentance and tenderness, sighs, tears, correction, good deeds, the desire for correction and perfection. Lord, help us all in this due and saving task! Grant us to always glorify Your ever-present existence. Your goodness. Your creative and providential strength and power. Your mercy and long-suffering towards us. Amen.
The present visible world is one shadow of the future, spiritual, immortal age, the future “land of the living” (Ps. 26:13). Is it reasonable to become attached to the shadow, and not to the truth itself, to the future truly real age and to the eternal day? The image of this world passes, the seasons change, the atmosphere or the surrounding air constantly changes, a race passes and another race comes, kings pass away and are replaced by one another, great and mediocre people pass away and all their talents, the beauty of man passes away and turns into pus, the images of day and night pass away, the infinitely varied forms of cereals and all kinds of plants - everything passes away and turns into decay. One God never changes and forever remains the same, all-good, all-holy, wise, beautiful, all-blessed, eternal, all-powerful, and the human soul, created in His image, if it has achieved holiness.
Only what God has created and is creating has the property of indestructible firmness and constancy, as evidenced by heaven and earth and the entire expanse of heaven, hitherto visible to us in all the immutability of wondrous beauty. Human affairs and institutions are fickle, shaky, changeable, because man himself is a fallen, weak, changeable being.
The wonderful goodness and wisdom of God and the providence of God for His creatures, rational and unreasonable: all their needs and requirements are provided for and everything was created that should serve for the benefit and pleasure of man, for the joy of his life - all kinds of necessary and useful objects. Everything is provided and created in the required quantities. There is no number for Your works, there is no number for Your wisdom, Your providence! Glory to You for everything, for all the elements and for Your deeds, for the light of the sun, moon, star, for Your winds, for Your countless waters! Amen.
“Are not five small birds sold for two assars? and not one of them is forgotten by God” (Luke 12:6). I was touched when I saw in the grove a bird’s nest of a small bird, with the smallest chicks (gray in color), seeing how jealously and pitifully the male and female squealed, and their children were waiting for a worm or fly from their mother’s beak. Truly, even the little bird is not forgotten by God; He provides for every one, feeds and grows every one, and gives life to every one.
Every earthly fruit has several properties: color, shape, taste, nutritional value, beauty, fragrance. Glory to Thee, Trinity, who conceived and created everything for food and enjoyment for Thy creatures, especially rational people!
Not a single drop of rain will fall without the will of the Creator, and the Lord knows the number of all raindrops. Everything is done according to His command. Glory to Your goodness and wisdom. Your craft.
Lord, how wonderful is the beauty and wisdom, the area of Your structure, Your omnipotence, Your economy for the salvation of the human race (I mean Your Church)! I revere the works of Your hands. Glory to Thee, infinite Mind, Father! Glory to Thee, co-originating Word! Glory to Thee, the Perfecter, the Giver of Life, the Holy Soul!
Everyone praises their faith as right, but it is not the right one who praises himself, but the one whom God praises, according to the word of the Apostle (1 Cor. 4:5). And God Himself constantly glorifies our faith, both in Himself and in His saints. Go to the relics of the saints and see whose faith is right. In what faith does God work such miracles as in the Orthodox faith? In what faith do people receive incorruptibility and the fragrance of bodies after death and perform such great and many miracles? Go to St. Seraphim and St. Sergius; go to Theodosius of Chernigov, etc. Or do you want to listen to today’s intellectuals, dropouts and overeducated ones, as if there are no relics, no miracles? So listen to the simple-hearted, believing eyewitnesses, they will tell you something. How to go against the truth, against the evidence?
“Plant in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God they will flourish” (Verse on the verse of St. Basil). Only in the Orthodox Church of God is there incorruption of relics, but outside the Church - not, i.e. neither among Catholics, nor among Lutherans, much less among Jews and Mohammedans. Hold on to the Orthodox Church with a sincere heart!
Our salvation is in the Church, as in Noah’s ark, and nowhere else. “If he does not listen to the Church, then let him be to you as a pagan and a publican” (Matthew 18:17). The Church is we, the body of Christ, and He is Christ, the Savior of the body; we are “members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones” (Eph. 5:30). The Holy Spirit is the helmsman of the verbal ship, the Church. Only in the Church, as in Noah’s Ark, can one be saved. The pious Cornelius centurion was a pagan who always prayed and gave alms, and was instructed by an angel to call the Apostle Peter and from him hear the word of salvation and receive baptism with the whole house.
The Holy Church gathers us all and, so to speak, concentrates us around one common life-giving and life-giving Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior; We are all one mysterious spiritual body and mutually members of each other. The Holy Forerunner, the apostles and all the saints are all close to each other if we live by faith and piously. The saints pray for us, and we fervently call upon them, and this is how we are all saved. What a majestic, bright, saving, eternal building - the Holy Church! We are happy that we were born and live in it and receive from it countless grace-filled gifts, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the good pleasure of God the Father and the grace of the Holy Spirit. Save yourself, everyone, when salvation is so convenient.
Do not forget, Christian, that by baptism, confirmation and inclusion in the Church, you are a citizen of heaven and the heavenly fatherland, where our Redeemer Christ God, the Mother of God and all the saints, Old Testament and New Testament, entered as the Forerunner. “You are no longer strangers and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2:19).
What a Divine militia surrounds us, members of the Orthodox Church - a council of saints, if only we are truly members, for we are one spiritual body, one Divine army. What kind of help should we look for if not heavenly? To whom should one turn in adversity, illness, and sorrow, if not to the holy members of the Church of God, especially to the Lord Himself, the Mother of God, the Forerunner and other saints?
Thank the Lord that He made you a member of His Church, this Divine society of saints, of which the Mother of God is the Head and first member. She treats all faithful and sincere members of the Church and Her children in a maternal, benevolent, all-benevolent, caring and sympathetic manner.
I am united and united with the heavenly and earthly Church - with the Mother of God, with the orders of angels, with all the holy patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints, righteous, with all the saints, by the grace of God. How should I think, feel, want, speak and act? Here’s how: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if there is any virtue or if there is any praise, think about such things; What you have learned, what you have received, and what you have heard and seen in me, do it, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:8-9), says the apostle.
Your appeal, Orthodox Christian, with warm prayer to the intercession of the Mother of God, the holy Guardian Angel, or in general to the holy angels of the Lord, to the holy saints separately and in general, shows that you are a member of the Church of Christ, or the holy society of the saved or being saved, triumphant in heaven a glorious victory over the world and the ruler of the world; that you are not alone and not alone, but in union with a countless multitude of those who have won or are fighting, that you are in the spiritual army, in the army of Christ the Savior, Who is the almighty Head of the Church, helping all the faithful to overcome the constantly attacking enemies of our salvation, that the saints are our helpers, intercessors and friends, ready to help us at our earnest call. We are not alone in the field, or in this world, warriors, but there are many of us who fight, and in our multitude we are strong, especially with the assistance of the omnipotent Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn diligently to the prayers of the saints and believe in their sympathy and help, in their love and assistance in salvation.
Do not forget the closeness of all members of the heavenly Church to the pious members of the earthly Church, because there is one Body - the heavenly and earthly Church - and pray to the Head and members with faith and love in the simplicity of the heart. Glory to Thee, Lady, Head of mental creation! Glory to You, all-powerful Head of the Church, uniting everyone!
Do you know which herd you are joining? To the holy and chosen flock of Christ, to the society of God's elect. You are joined to the Church of Christ, to the holy Body of Christ, of which He is the Head. Do you think about it? Do you value this? Do you thank the Lord? Do you love Him? Do you ask for His help so that you can become like Him in goodness, truth, meekness and other virtues? Do you desire His eternal kingdom, to which you are called through baptism?
What honor does the Lord bestow upon the soul who believes and loves Him, calling Himself her Bridegroom, and His soul her Bride, if she surrenders herself entirely to Him with her entire being! “Christ loved the church (believers) and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, cleansing her with the washing of water through the word, that he might present her to himself as a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:25-27). What life is required of us, what holiness! Imperishable, eternal blessings await faithful Christians. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). And the enemy flatters us with (imaginary) blessings here and with all sorts of vanity. Man, where are you? Where did you go? The Lord is waiting for you, come to meet him, respond! Here I am, lost, having left You, my Life and the Source of all good things. God! Seek us, draw us. “Do not be like a horse, like a foolish mule, whose jaws must be bridled with bridle and bit, so that they obey you” (Ps. 31:9), when they do not come to You. Glory to You, Lord, who is long-suffering to us!
Be patient with us and draw us to You by the power of Your grace!
In what a high environment is a Christian placed, to what highest holy society is he assigned as a Christian and a member of the Church! “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:19–20). Remember this, Christian, and live worthy of the calling, in all virtue.
Remember in what holy, spiritual, heavenly, Divine union you stand (I mean the heavenly and earthly Church), in a living and closest union (communion of the Holy Mysteries) with God Himself, with the Mother of God, with the holy angels, with all holy people and with the earthly Church - with the entire hierarchy) and faithful Christians. (Composition of the proskomedia and liturgy of the catechumens and the faithful.) Achieve this union and think and feel accordingly. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5).
What a wonderful, holy, captivating mind, heart and will - the idea of the universal Church of Christ, headed by its Founder Himself - Christ God! In the Gospel and in the liturgy, as in a mirror, all the goodness and truth of God is reflected, all the love, all the wisdom of God, all the omnipotence of God, all the wondrous economy of God for the salvation of the human race, all the Divine assessment of fallen humanity, created in the beginning in the image of God, all the wonderful communication of God with regenerated people, all the deification, the raising of human nature into heaven and its landing with God. How wonderfully blessed, with what physical and spiritual labors the saints completed their daily path of preparation, and how they were glorified by God during life and after death! How they were fragrant in spirit and body and appeared alive even after death!
Delve into this idea of the Church, the idea of the liturgy, this preparatory part of it (proskomedia), as well as the liturgy of the catechumens and the liturgy of the faithful, look at the idea of the Church as the Body of Christ, with whom faithful Christians are inseparably united; look at the interaction of the members of one on the other, earthly and heavenly, prophets, patriarchs, apostles, martyrs, saints, saints and all saints; Look at the care of the earthly Church for the underworld, or for the dead.
See what kind of communication the earthly Church has with the inhabitants of heaven, or the perfect members of the Church of Christ, who have received incorruptible, eternal benefits; Look what kind of fellowship we have with all the saints; we glorify them, please them, magnify them, beg them to help us in the matter of victory over our passions and invisible enemies; how we thank God that He glorified them and made them prayer books for us, especially the Most Holy Theotokos, and to top off all our wonder at God’s mercy, we partake (some) daily of the most pure Body and Blood of Christ, sincerely communicating with the Head of the Church Himself, as a guarantee of eternal life in heaven. O holy Church! O Divine Liturgy! How Divine, holy, life-giving you are! In the Catholic faith there is no idea of the Church. It has gone down the drain: there is no proskomedia in it, the most pure Blood is not given to the laity, but it is precisely what is needed. “Drink from it, all of you,” says the Lord, “this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:27–28).
The vital element of your soul is in the Orthodox Church and in the Orthodox church: there is the throne of God, there is St. The Gospel with the Epistles of the Godly Apostles, there is heavenly worship, there are the faces of the Lord, the Mother of God, St. angels and saints, there is incense to the Lord, there are lamps and candles, burning and signifying the burning of your spirit before the Lord. Graft there, run there, rest your soul there.
Traveling around Russia, you often come across churches, like the tabernacles of Israel wandering through the desert, or like hospices for strangers. And in fact, city or rural churches are tabernacles and hostels for strangers, for we all believe and know that we are all strangers and strangers here, and not permanent residents; Churches are theological schools, medical clinics, educational places, road stations for heavenly travelers, charitable houses, where we receive the greatest benefits and gracious benefits for preparing for our ascension to heaven.
With the coming to earth of the most embodied hypostatic Wisdom (incarnation), in order to accept the great sacrament of faith, pure, simple souls were required, capable of simplicity of faith and acceptance of the greatest Divine truths, in order to correctly teach them to others (may they be able to teach others too). These lofty instruments of truth, successors to the greatest grace of God, heavenly wisdom, were the apostles.
O simplicity of heart! O faith, wisely wise! How precious and pleasing you are before God and how saving you are to man! God came into the world in the flesh to save the human race, and He needed to choose helpers for Him from among men. Who was worthy to be a helper to God the Word? Simple unlearned people!
Who among the people was worthy to be entrusted with the greatest and most wise secret of the incarnation of the Son of God and His wonderful construction of the salvation of the human race? The Lord, the knower of the heart and the righteous Judge of the human race, found twelve simple fishermen worthy to accept, preach and implement this mystery, and then added seventy more to them, also from a simple rank primarily.
Christian holidays provide knowledge about the dogmas, or the main saving truths of the Christian faith: about the one God in essence, about the trinity of Persons, about the redemption of the human race by the One from the Trinity, the cross and deliverance from sin, curse and death, about the power of the cross, about its veneration, about the dogma of the resurrection of the human race, about the Last Judgment, or the eternal torment of the unbelievers and unrepentant, about veneration saints and imitation of them, about the power of repentance and the infinite mercy of God, which has mercy on sinners, about the power and saving power of mercy and alms.
Why does the Holy Church annually remember and celebrate the highest events of the Christian world, for example: the Annunciation, the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Resurrection and others? In order to kindle and confirm our faith, our Christian hope, our gratitude and love for God and the Mother of God, our unashamed Representative before God, in order to remember and not forget our heavenly, eternal fatherland and not have an addiction to the here, only preparatory and educational, temporary, transitory life. If there were no these Christian holidays, then Christians would forget that they are Christians, called to the heavenly fatherland, and would not know why they live, why they joined the Christian society or the Church of God, what the purpose of their life is, why they need to believe in Christ, in the Holy Trinity, why they need to pray to God, the Mother of God and call on the saints.
Church holidays explain all this to us and make us aware of God’s providence for us sinners, teach us to love and thank God and always keep in mind the future life, which has no end, and prepare for it.
Are you, brothers and sisters, interested in the all-redemptive work of Christ, His economy of human salvation, are you interested in the Church, the sacraments, the work of prayer and repentance? To tell the truth, we are all often interested in mere trifles, but we are not interested in these things that are infinitely important to us! Where is the mind? Where is the purpose of life? Everyone has many goals - different pleasures, but there is no single need. Where is the soul? The soul is buried in the depths of passions and already, like a dead one, along with a seared conscience, is silent and does not show itself to be good in any way, because there is no soil for it, and no reason either. Well, where can a drunkard, a riotous one, remember about a hungry or cold neighbor, unless the thought comes to mind, if there is no money for wine: he must rob or kill his neighbor and drink himself to death again.
What did people do with the very incarnate Goodness and Heavenly Truth, with the very Beginning and First Life, the Lord Jesus Christ? They tempted him in every possible way, dissembled before him, envied him, looked for him in order to catch him in his words and bring him to the Roman court, and finally, after all sorts of mockery and torment, they killed him on the cross. What did people do with the true faith that Christ brought from heaven, with all His teachings, with the sacraments established by God? They distorted them beyond recognition, and some rejected them, and in the place of His teaching they put their own invention, like the scribes and Pharisees, and in our time Leo Tolstoy.
Christian logic, it seems, is not difficult and can easily be understood and studied and is vital enough to love, study and assimilate it with all your heart, and yet it is this Christian logic that almost everyone has forgotten - both the simple and the scientists (the pseudo-scientists) and do not delve into it at all and do not study it with diligence, like other earthly and tedious sciences, arts, craftsmanship. Heavenly logic and wisdom are justified by her children like Seraphim of Sarov, Theodosius of Chernigov and other saints. Which of the laity today is looking for this pearl of great price (a soul in the image and likeness of God), this treasure that is priceless, but little appreciated?
Lord, how immeasurably You have magnified the human race through Your incarnation and God-manhood and the Ever-Virgin Mother of God who incarnated You and Your chosen humanity, in the person of countless saints. And how much (oh horror!) the Tolstoyans and all the intoxicated so-called intelligentsia curse at You and Your Church, at Your teaching, at Your sacraments and worship. Lord, how long is this reproach? How long will this madness last? Lord, come down to crush this mountain of wickedness. Wake up!
The Son of God came to earth in order to, through His teaching, miracles, example, suffering and death, restore and save the human race, enlighten, purify, renew, adorn it with every virtue and unite it with Himself forever, and Leo Tolstoy with writers like him, countless in number, appeared and live on earth in order to darken, corrupt with their godlessness, unbelief and anarchy many people who follow them and read them blasphemous writings. Lord, destroy them from the earth or convert them to faith, humble their demonic pride!
Christians, especially Orthodox Christians, who keep and observe in purity the dogmas of their God-given faith, have been given so many blessings and strength from God for salvation, so many secrets of God have been revealed, that for those who believe, are attentive, and strive in their faith, it is easy to be saved and become heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven, the eternal, “for the yoke of the Lord is easy and His burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). The angels tremble. they are amazed at the mercy of God that was for us, manifested in the incarnation of God for our sake, His cohabitation with people on earth, His personal teaching, the countless miracles He performed to assure His Divinity and Divine embassy, in suffering for us, death, burial and resurrection from the dead, and ascension into heaven, with the promise of His second terrible coming to judge the living and the dead.
But the majority of people remain either unbelievers or doubters, insensitive, indifferent, deaf to the word of the Gospel, partial to the vain, empty and false word of man, to hypocrisy and hypocrisy, to everything mirageous, ephemeral, to that which is of vain interest for one day, and forgets about the eternal, that which is only needed. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 20:16).
Do you all know, who should know, that our entire current revolution is, first of all, a consequence of apostasy from faith, from our God-loving, holy, vital Orthodoxy, which has all the power for those who believe in it to put everything in order - both our internal and external world, and politics, and all family, civil and economic life?
The Lord entrusted to us, Russians, the great saving talent of the Orthodox faith, in which many faithful people were saved. We received this talent through the apostles of Christ. This invaluable talent has been trampled upon by many Russians, and they will answer for it to the righteous Judge. At the first coming of Christ, we were given a talent (i.e., the human race), and the broadcast of the spiritual apostles went out into the whole earth, and their words went out to all the ends of the universe. At the Second Coming, the Lord will require all of us to account for the use of our talents. The king will be exhausted, and every subject, small and great, and every mortal, and the deeds of every person will be laid bare before everyone, not a single thought will be hidden, the entire inner life of everyone will appear as if photographed, it will be impossible for anyone to renounce or lock themselves in their sins if they have not repented while living on earth. Where are your works, brothers! How did you spend your earthly life, this precious deposit given to you by the Creator to prepare for the future life, for the revelation of your strengths and abilities, for the use of your talents?
“The Queen of the South came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, here is greater than Solomon” (Matthew 12:42) – the hypostatic Wisdom Itself. And many spiritually blind people studied and are learning from Leo Tolstoy, whom they read greedily and fall into his cleverly placed nets, become alienated from God, fall into despair and commit suicide. These are the fruits of the devil's talent, sowed by the enemy of God through his minion - Tolstoy.
Lord, you are the true Lord of creation. What are the Finns, Poles, and Germans plotting against Russia and against Your Holy Church, who have distorted Your Gospel, who have fallen away from Your Church! Lord, what are they up to! They want to completely devour us and destroy Your Church, Your churches, Your worship, Your statutes, the decrees of the holy apostles and holy fathers, ecumenical and local councils. What have we come to!
God! You see the cunning of the enemies of the Orthodox faith and Your Church and their zeal to overcome it. Put an end to them, let all their evil work die with these people!
“Did you not sow good seed in your (Thy Church) field? where does the tares come from" (Matthew 13:27): heresies, schisms, the admission of new dogmas, all sorts of vices, the desire to dominate, supremacy in the Catholic Church, distortion of worship, sacraments, rituals (unleavened bread)? The Lord answers: “the enemy man did this” (Matthew 13:28), human pride and malice, but the Lord allows everything to grow to the end, and in the next century he will evaluate everyone according to his deeds.
The world is a collection of dead souls, the head and prince of which is the devil, the father of lies. The Church in its true meaning is an assembly, or union, of living souls, whose head is Christ the Life-Giver and Comforter and Perfector, the Life-Giving Spirit. “The whole world lies in evil” (1 John 5:19); the world is a collection of those blind with the eyes of the heart. The Church is a gathering of those who see everything in the true light. All people in the world are unregenerate and are subject to blindness of heart, but the class of pseudo-scientists and writers of the bureaucratic world, students, and women are, for the most part, subject to the most disastrous blindness from proud conceit, and what is worse is that they are not aware of their misfortune and will see it only when they are dying and when their whole life seems to them in full view. Contemporary events confirm the truth of these words. In their spiritual blindness they do crazy things.
Do not hold your heads too high and proud, you scientists, but unbelievers (although not all) - you are all far from true wisdom and true knowledge and from the source of life, from the true path; many of you have not tasted true wisdom, Christian wisdom, have not believed in Christ as the true God, in His Gospel, in His Church, the only true and right teacher of truth and giver of life. You are all blind and dead, although you seem wise to yourself. “God has turned the wisdom of this world into foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:20). If you want to have true knowledge, true wisdom and true life, put aside your pride, your conceit, your arrogance, humble yourself sincerely and go again to learn from the former fishermen and abandon your rotten, corruptible and foolish wisdom. Descend from your heights, sit lower, bow your heads and your ears to the eternal truths. Indeed, it is not Leo Tolstoy who has completely gone crazy for wisdom, but the Church, which he tramples under foot, the apostles and evangelists, and the ecumenical and all kinds of holy fathers and teachers.
Stop drinking the dead water of novels and all the endlessly multiplied books of stinking worldly wisdom. If you do not obey, you will remain for the rest of the century as learned blind men who do not know the true path, and you will die in your sins and inherit eternal darkness. Laugh completely at eternal and living truths; We lovingly call you into the depths of the Church - wake up from sinful slumber and passionate hypnosis, which we attribute to you in all fairness.
Lord, if I am Your priest and in Your Name I have been trumpeting my voice for so many years against the greatest heretic Tolstoy - this high wall of Jericho, then may this wall of pride fall to the surprise of all who believe and honor You, the only Lord of glory, desecrated by this heretic of heretics. “How long, O Lord, will the wicked triumph” (Ps. 93:3)? How long will blasphemy and wickedness prevail? The whole earth was filled with blasphemy.
“You will die in your sins if you do not believe in Me” (John 8:24), says the Lord to the Pharisees. Woe to Leo Tolstoy, who does not believe in the Lord and is dying in the sin of unbelief and blasphemy. The death of a sinner is cruel. And his death - Tolstoy - will be fear for the whole world. (Of course, my relatives will hide this.)
Lord, lead Russia to the true and salutary path for all the suffering and martyrdom from the deadly weapons of her faithful children, so many in all parts of her. Lord, plant firm faith in the hearts of all her sons, so that Your Church may shine with Orthodoxy and unfeigned piety; Teach all classes to believe and walk in the ways of Your commandments.
Who would not want to unite the Orthodox with Catholics or Lutherans and be one with them - in Christ, one Church, one community of believers! But which of the members of these spoken churches, especially the primates called popes, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops, or priests, priests, will agree to renounce their errors? Nobody. But we cannot agree with their heretical teaching without harming our spiritual salvation. And their enmity towards us is eternal. Prejudice against us, their belief that we are schismatics, is not this a great obstacle to unity? So try to connect. Is it possible to combine the incompatible - a lie with the truth?
Catholic Jesuits, to please the pope and their selfish lower views and goals, perverted the law of conscience and the law of the Gospel, arguing that in order to achieve selfish goals or religious goals, Catholics can use all sorts of illegal means: that means, kill, and be malicious in every possible way, and persecute the Orthodox faith, call them a schismatic and dog faith, and burn Orthodox Christians at the stake, as Gus and others.
As a result of the deviation from the truth of the Gospel, the Pope and Catholicism have become the subject of heated controversy for the sake of truth, and Catholics, defending their untruth, are angry with the Orthodox, hate them, revile them with all sorts of unrighteous and blasphemous words, and revile our true faith itself in every possible way. So that in order to restore truth and peace they would renounce their false, harmful and destructive opinions and come into agreement with Orthodoxy, but no: they consider themselves to have the right to stand for lies and affirm lies, to the destruction of themselves and Catholics. Catholics, come to your senses, wake up! You have been misled! Return to the truth!
The words of our Savior Jesus Christ are true: “Whoever is not with Me is against Me” (Matthew 12:30). Catholics, Lutherans and Reformed people have fallen away from the Church of Christ - they are not of one mind with us, they are at enmity against us, they strongly persecute us to death, oppress us in every possible way for our faith, ridicule it and us and cause us all sorts of trouble, especially in the main places of their population, they clearly go against Christ and His Church, they do not honor the life-giving Cross, holy icons, holy relics, they do not respect fasts, they convert saving dogmas of faith. They are not with us, against us and against Christ. Turn them, Lord, to Thy true Church and save them!
Catholics are to blame, by the way, for the fact that they unfairly consider us heretics and schismatics, they scold and curse our holy, righteous, immaculate hierarchy, the Catholic Church, they do not want to follow our Orthodox teaching, out of contempt, pride and disgust, they do not even want to set foot in our church, considering this a desecration. Satanic hatred!
From the incorrect understanding by Catholics of the words of the Savior: “you are Peter, and on this stone” (on Christ, whom Peter confessed to be the Son of God) “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18), depend all the errors of Catholics and popes, and especially the imaginary primacy of the pope in the church and the viceroy of the popes. They are only ministers, co-workers with the apostles.
Exposing Catholic lies. Catholics recognize the pope as the head of the church on the basis of the words of Jesus Christ, which they incorrectly interpret: “On this rock” (Christ, not Peter - in our opinion) “I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Why do Catholics attribute the words of the Savior “on this stone” not to the Savior, but to the Apostle Peter? Because before these words the Lord said to Peter: “You are Peter,” and after that he said: “And on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). We affirm that by the words on this stone the Lord means Himself, and not Peter, for Christ is everywhere called the Stone of faith and the church in Scripture. The Apostle Paul, when he speaks of a stone in the desert that miraculously produced water for the Jews and quenched their thirst, means Christ by it. But for greater and clearer proof that by the words “on this rock” we must understand Christ as the Foundation of the Church, I cite a similar passage from the Gospel of John: “Destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). What did the Lord mean by church here?
The Church of His Body not made with hands, and not the Temple of Jerusalem. So in the above words I meant not Peter, but Himself. Is it clear?
The core of Catholic pride and Catholic lies in dogma, in government and moral teaching is the primacy of the pope, an imaginary and incorrect understanding of the Savior’s saying: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). All the holy fathers of the first and subsequent centuries, and the very first, Orthodox popes, recognized that by the main Stone we must understand Jesus Christ Himself - “The Rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:4). As proof of this truth, the truest and most obvious, I cite a word that has a similar turn in the Gospel of John: “destroy this church” (John 2:19). (By church we mean the church of the Body of the Lord not made with hands, and not the Temple of Jerusalem; this is clear from the flow of speech.) By church the Lord means His most pure Body, just as by the Foundation Stone we must mean Christ Himself, and not the successors of Peter the Apostle or Peter himself. This is clear. And the popes imagined themselves to be the heads of the church and its foundation, and even the vicars of Christ, which is absurd and incompatible with anything.
And hence all the arrogance of the popes and their long-standing claim to supremacy and unauthorized control of the entire universal church. Well, the popes have done various tricks in their papal church, various false dogmas leading to falsehood both in faith and in life. This is a completely heretical church.
Is the Pope the head of the church? No, this is ridiculous. The Church embraces both the holy saints and the angelic council - this is one body under the head of the One Christ. What does sinful dad have to do with it!
If Jesus Christ had intended to give His church, upon His ascension to heaven, another head in His place, or a vicar, as the popes say, considering themselves vicars of Christ on earth, then He would have clearly announced this before His ascension, for this is such an important dogma for the salvation of human souls; and the apostles would have announced this or one of them would have called himself a vicegerent, otherwise none of them said anything, remembering the words of the Lord: “whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:26), “yet you are all brothers” (Matthew 23:8). The whole trouble is that Catholic theologians incorrectly interpreted the Lord’s words to Peter: “on this rock” (not on Peter, but on the Lord Himself) “I will build my Church” (Matthew 16:18). Compare the words of the Lord: “destroy this church” (Body of Christ), “and I will raise it up in three days” (John 2:19).
How holy is the Orthodox faith and the Church! How righteous, full of God’s peace, full of infinite and indescribable beauty (imagine the names of all the saints, remember their lives, full of every virtue and miracles during life and after death)! The Church satisfies all the needs of the human spirit and saves everyone who is devoted to it and faithful until the end of their lives. Glory, Lord, to Your holy Orthodox faith! The papists, recognizing the pope as the head of the church, placed him on the throne instead of Christ and deified him, and placed Christ in the background. The Pope was made the vicar of Christ, while Christ remains with us “always to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). But look how many errors are allowed in the papal (and not Christ’s) faith, strange errors, blasphemous ones - and you will turn away from it with indignation and horror! O human pride! O satanic pride! Dad seems to be infallible! O Jesuitism!
If the Roman pope were completely of one mind and of one mind, of one doctrine with the Lord, he could, although not in the proper sense, be called the head of the church, but since he is discordant and contrary to Christ, then he is a heretic and cannot be called the head of the church and teach the church: for She is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), and the pope and papists are a reed shaken by the wind, and completely They perverted the truth of Christ both in teaching and in worship (unleavened bread and without proskomedia), and in government, enslaving all of Catholicism to their heresy and making it incorrigible, for the pope, with all his heresies, was recognized as infallible by the Catholic Church, and, therefore, incorrigible, counter-thinking.
Catholics, recognizing the head of the church as the pope, the real Head of the church - Christ, lost and were left without a Head. The whole history of the papacy testifies that Catholics do not have a Head, because they do inappropriate things, they fight against the Orthodox Church not spiritually, but according to the flesh - with hatred, malice, revenge, all sorts of curses, murders from around the corner, arson, riots, rioting, disobedience, separatism, despite the fact that the Poles in Russia live freely, preferentially, permissively, in contentment to all, like other nations. The hatred of Catholics for the Orthodox is historical, the most frantic: Catholic priests and bishops, and many Polish intellectuals are ready to swallow us alive. Enlighten, enlighten and save them, Lord! Where is their Head of the Church – Christ? He is love, goodness, meekness, mercy, long-suffering, and Catholics have nothing of the kind. And in dogma there are so many heresies, innovations, and deviations from the truth! O disastrous papal system!
The one Head of the church of heaven, earth and hell is Christ God. Can a human pope be the head of the Church that is in heaven? It can't. And in general, can the Pope, a sinful man, be the head of the entire earthly church and control the fate of earthly and hereafter? Did dad crucify himself for us? Was Christ divided? Can the solid foundation of the Church, existing through all centuries, be a person, so to speak, one-day and constantly changing, like a kaleidoscope, in thoughts, dispositions, intentions, and enterprises? Read the history of the popes: what were they like? How many of them were completely worthy of their seat? And only in the first centuries there were several worthy ones, but in subsequent centuries there were so many unworthy and vicious ones, to the shame of the entire Roman Church! Are these the heads of churches? Catholics point out that in our liturgical books Peter is called the head of the church, but he is not called in the proper sense, but as the primate of the Roman Church, but not the universal one. In this sense, the metropolitans of Ancient Rus' - Peter, Alexy and others - were called the heads of the Russian church.
It is amazing how, in their free-thinking, learned, crafty and proud people transform their great teachers - Christ himself, infinite Wisdom, the apostles who had the wisdom of the Holy Spirit; This is how Catholics transformed the teaching of the Wise Christ Himself, the heavenly Teacher, without Whom no one knows the Father, but only He, the Son. Christ says that the Spirit proceeds from the Father, and yet Catholics, Lutherans and Anglicans say that He proceeds from the Father and the Son. Finally, stop blaspheming the Holy Spirit and making lies about Him: those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this nor in the next century. Have you forgotten the words of the Apostle: “Even if we or an angel from heaven preached to you a gospel other than what we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8)? Is this word scary or not? “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). And the words of the apostle are the words of God. Don’t be angry, friends, but listen to the truth of God in the simplicity of your heart, because we speak and dare from the simplicity of our hearts. Reject lies and accept the truth, and unite with us in like-mindedness; You are full of disagreements and arguments.
The coming of Christ is near, at the door.
Proskomedia visually depicts the entire church with the Head, Christ, and the members of heaven, earth and hell (the deceased). O wonderful union of God with people! The Roman Catholics rejected proskomedia and thereby beheaded the church, breaking the obvious connection between the visible militant church and the invisible triumphant one, in order to give place instead of Christ to another head, a human one, not free from errors, in which it makes its members - clergy and laity - participants. Oh, what a wise, true and saving institution of the Church, protected from error by the Holy Spirit - the Enlightener and Christ - the Almighty Head!
Petition of blood. I believe in the all-cleansing intercession of the most honorable Blood of Christ God, shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the whole world (who believes accurately and in truth) and my sins, I believe in the all-powerful intercession of this Blood, which speaks (intercedes) better than Abel’s. Popes and Catholics have rejected this all-gifted Blood for the laity and do not give it to them, probably out of economy, so that less wine comes out! And with what mad zeal they lure the Orthodox into Catholicism, into their destructive faith! Protect, Lord, Orthodoxy from fierce Catholicism, in which everyone submits to the arbitrariness of the Pope and the Jesuits.
We received the talent of universal Orthodoxy from God for the glory of God and our salvation. How do we use and multiply this talent? How do we thank the Lord? What is our repentance? What good deeds are we doing? “Everyone has shied away and become obscene. There is no one who does good, not even one." (Ps. 13:3). Don't these words of Scripture apply to us too?
The Fall and its consequences.
The devil is the author of sin. The meaning of the Calvary sacrifice and the sacrament of communion in the providential work of human salvation
In every person, even if he is wise, there is a lot of stupidity, and sometimes disgusting stupidity. Every moment, man, beware of yourself and your stupidity. This greatest stupidity is sin: from it all harm comes.
The fall of the first people and the entire human race was deep, widespread, disastrous and terrible in its consequences - in terms of the deprivation of those life gifts that man lost after the fall, and in those terrible fruits that sin gave rise to as a consequence of separation from God - the Source of life.
Sin is the all-nasty, deadly, most painful and at the same time delightful poison of Satan, killing the soul and body forever, plunging into total darkness, separating the soul forever from God. Only the Blood of Christ will cleanse this poison.
A vineyard planted by the Lord. The Lord expected sweet grapes from him, but he, the grape, turned into thorns. The crown of thorns on the Head of the Savior is a sign of the sinful thorns with which humanity is filled.
O sin, sin, how destructive you are! You have made the world, created by God out of nothingness, alien to God. “He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him. And to those who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave them power to become children of God, who were born neither of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God” (John 1:10-13).
What is the power of crime, the greatest free madness, the ingratitude and misfortune of the first people? The fact is that they exchanged God for creation, love for the Creator for devotion to an evil creature, the most holy incorruptible union with the Creator for an unclean, evil, evil and corruptible union with creatures. “Whoever loves father or mother more... Me is not worthy of Me” (son and daughter...) (Matthew 10:37). What can we say about the connections and addictions of sinful fornicators and harlots, about malicious alliances, what are the current revolutionary alliances? About alliances of sectarians, schismatics, heretics, about alliances of robbers, thieves, anti-state?
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind... and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). From the moment of disobedience to the commandment of God in paradise, man fell of his own free will from the love of God and transferred perverted love to himself (pride, selfishness) and to earthly objects, he was completely clothed in the delusion of the enemy, and turned this delusion onto himself, he was deceived by his mind, falling away from the mind of God - he fell into thousands of delights, into the delusion of all earthly pleasures and did not leave his heart places for God, Whom should be loved (with all my heart) with all my being, glorified, thanked, honored with sacrifices pleasing to God, as a sign of gratitude and gratitude.
“If you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). In order to fully understand these words, you need to remember that through sin man fell completely from God and became all earthly, worldly, and not God’s, not spiritual, not heavenly, as he should have been, became a slave of madness, vanity and corruption, and was not only not indignant at such a state, but was amused (as now), did not think about repentance and did not recognize its necessity, just as proud writers and proud people in general do not realize this now, having forgotten that they are “worms and not men” (Ps. 21:7), earth and ashes.
Having been seduced by the forbidden fruit in paradise, Adam and Eve left a destructive, charming inheritance to the human race - all the charms and lies of the earth, all vanity, all sinful madness, and above all, the woman herself became an object of delusion, lust and mockery from endless men! Oh, how deeply and into what impurities the woman or former maiden has fallen! How misogynistic men rummage around in her filth and lusts. And then every person, except for the chosen and well-meaning, turned everything earthly into delusion and passion - he turned life itself into every passion, and for himself he became the subject and goal of all kinds of passions. Eternal darkness, unless the Lord enlightens the eyes of the heart. O pitiful animal, man, endowed by the Creator with freedom, image and likeness in the beginning, and appointed king of all irrational creatures, which in many cases are more intelligent and expedient than him.
God has withdrawn from the hearts of men and does not reign in them, because the evil spirit of all delusion and alienation from the Creator reigns in them - Satan; man has become a workman of the devil, a laboratory of evil demons, creating in him all kinds of charm, all kinds of evil. Christ the Redeemer came to earth precisely in order to pluck man from this destructive delusion and restore in him again the image of God and the likeness of God and make him a new creature and unite him again with God. And the saints achieved the goal of Godlikeness through faith, love, labor, humility, obedience, and unceasing prayers. Thank God for this.
Eve was seduced by the forbidden fruit, and so all of humanity fell into worldly delusion and began to be seduced by everyone, and the woman herself became an object of delusion through her physical beauty, and everything, everything became an object of delusion for man: food, and drink or drinks of all kinds, and clothing, and money, and all kinds of games, and amusements, and animals - dogs, cats, birds - man became addicted to everything, - and God was no longer in his heart; God became forgotten in hearts, distant and despised, blasphemed. O ungrateful animal man! O stupid animal, although respected by reason! What intrigues do you deserve, malevolent one!
Human nature is terribly, unimaginably corrupted by all sorts of sins, such that it is shameful, painful and scary to even talk about. We, priests and confessors, know this more than anyone else, especially those of us who, with our closeness and spiritual affection and sympathy, with our ardent faith and sincerity in our relationship to the spiritual sores of our spiritual children, have earned their trust. Oh, how these simple, sincere souls of sinners and sinners suffer from sins and how they need our sympathy, advice, healing and God’s mercy! There is no such sinful absurdity and abomination of sin that a person has not fallen into. One or another sinner mixed with all sorts of neighbors, the most related people, with all kinds of livestock and animals, with birds, with cats, dogs, pigs, horses, cows, calves. My God! What is this? How far has man fallen! These are ordinary people. And the learned and educated, the rich, the well-born fall and fell even worse during their education - men on men commit the same punishment.
The ancient pagan emperors had a passion for beautiful boys and satisfied their carnal passion with them. Other high-ranking officials did the same. Saint Andrew for Christ's sake, the holy fool, clearly accused one court official of this. It is not without reason that one hermit abbot, a high ascetic, once gathered his brethren and talked with them about poverty and spiritual poverty and the penetration of the depravity of sin into human nature, in the end he said: “Brothers, let us all pray and cry,” and everyone shed tears of heartfelt contrition.
Do you feel like you are in a state of loss, in the state of a lost person? And what is this loss? On a very important subject: you have lost in yourself what was essentially invested in our nature, you have lost the likeness of God, and often the very image of God, which you have corrupted, disfigured, desecrated. Look quickly for this lost drachma.
The enemy the devil, who deceived Eve and Adam through the forbidden tree, deceives all people to this day with all sorts of worldly, everyday passions - food, drink, carnal sensuality, etc. passions. This is how wide and deep the consequences of sin are!
It is especially important for future spouses to abstain from passions, because passions pass with birth to children and are communicated to them, so that children become miserable heirs of the passions of their parents, as well as their illnesses (for example, scrofula). Oh, legacy of sin, a deplorable legacy!
How disgusting sin, whatever it may be, is to the all-holy Lord. This is an abomination that separates the sinning soul from Him. “Consider yourselves dead to sin, alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:11).
The stench of sin, perceived through foolishness, carelessness and skill in youth, remains in the soul and in the flesh until adulthood, and sometimes until old age, and generally throughout life. Remember and beware!
Die to sin so you can live for God. What base, corruptible, unclean and destructive aspirations are yours, man! They separate the soul from God and tear it into corruption and death, blind the soul, plunge it into shameful slavery - into madness! Woe of the heart! Let us direct our minds and hearts to the cross and crucify Christ, for our sake crucified. Amen.
Our life is a constant test through everyday circumstances and clashes with people - how much we are inclined in soul and heart to faith, hope and love for God, our Creator, and love for our neighbor, and how prone we are to sin and various everyday carnal passions, or to obedience to the devil, acting through carnal passions and the delights of the world. Blessed is the one who understands the depth of this task and walks firmly towards God, overcoming temptations from the flesh and the world, fighting the world and the ruler of the world, who constantly deceives us with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Holy saints of God, their lives serve as an example and guidance for us in our lives.
The Lord exalted man above all earthly creatures, creating him in His image and likeness, with a rational and immortal soul, which He did not abandon even after its terrible fall into the filth and corruption of sin and death, and He especially pitied and showed compassion for it, sending His only begotten Son to purify it. “For the only begotten Son, you have sent purification into the world,” proclaims the holy church hymnographer. How many enemies does a fallen man, a captive, have! Our own insidious, multi-passionate flesh, the devil, awake and cunning over our destruction, the adulterous and sinful world, with all its evil customs and charms, with all its vanity and inconstancy. Every minute there is danger from sin, danger of destroying soul and body. Every minute we must be on guard, at war with sin and the enemy: to stay awake and fast, to pray and meditate, to cry for ourselves and for others who perish constantly and everywhere, for everywhere the enemy’s nets are laid for destruction, everywhere a skillful, cunning fisherman catches, he does not live idle for a minute. Stay awake, soul, pray, fight, escape the enemy’s snares.
“As long as the light is with you, believe in the light, so that darkness does not overtake you” (John 12:35-36). These last words are terrible. The Lord warns the Jews to abandon their unbelief, blindness, wickedness and blasphemy and believe in Him, the Everlasting Light that enlightens every person; otherwise they will become the prey and slaughter of Satan, who roars like a lion. It is terrible to be swallowed up by this serpent, this whale of all hell. Take care, brothers and sisters, and serve the Lord diligently as long as you are alive and can control yourself.
The hell of countless sins has infected the entire being of a person, soul and body, and always seeks to hide from a person, to hide its ugliness, its absurd appearance (appearance), so that a person does not hate it and does not feel disgust and hatred towards it; he always flatters a person, presents himself in a desirable, attractive form and, as he should, demands obedience and satisfaction (fox!).
God exalted man, creating him in His image and likeness, and the enemy, the blasphemer and flatterer, constantly tries to defile and destroy him with unworthy thoughts and blasphemies. Cursed!
Our Lord Jesus Christ has delivered and is delivering us from all sorrows and sorrows, and we thank Him for that with all our hearts. But how quickly the enemy engulfs us from nowhere with unexpectedly inflicted sorrows, especially from evil and crafty people or from unforeseen circumstances. Glory to You, who protects our belly from sorrows and sorrows!
I pronounce a solemn curse on that first apostate from God, from His eternal truth, order, peace and bliss, who was the first to allow sin and all its abominations to be born in God’s pure creation, who fell from the height of the greatness and holiness of Dennitsa, who spreads sin in the world, by the permission of the all-wise Creator, so that long-suffering may be manifested into infinity and the exploits and valor of those devoted to God and God will shine forth. good spirits and faithful people who remained in goodness, devoted to God unto death, so that there could be a place for the extreme all-redemptive descent to earth of the God-man Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, His incarnation, cross, death, burial, resurrection and the final victory of good over evil; I curse that wicked, ungrateful womb in which the stupid, daring dream and pride first arose - to equal God and declare war on Him, His eternal truth, holiness, wisdom, infinite beauty and invincible power.
The first apostate from God - the devil, who became proud before the Creator, declared war on God and His truth and then on the human race, which listened, in the person of Adam and Eve, to his flattering speeches. A person, defeated by the enemy through inattention and frivolity and captured from the enemy by all kinds of sins, must wage a continuous war with the enemy and sin and defeat him with the help of God in order to regain the truth of God, the holiness and peace of God, lost frivolously, and achieve the crowns of victory - incorruptibility. God's truth demands this. Bring back the lost likeness of God and a blissful life with immortality.
The enemy does not sleep: day and night, in sleep and in reality, he draws us to sin and feeds in our soul all sorts of soul-killing passions. Stay awake, man, crucify the passions of the flesh, especially gluttony and all carnal sins.
A world of dreams, a world of illusions, is created for us every night by our disembodied enemy, and just as in reality he creates for us every day a world of dreams, vanity, and countless illusions, so in our dreams. Day and night a person is under the spell of ethereal enemies. May the Lord deliver us from them!
Just as we are involved with carnal feelings in objects visible with our eyes, for example, when we meet those passing by, we become absorbed in their faces, gait, and costumes, and are often carried away sinfully; in general, we use all our senses biasedly; with all our senses the enemy tries to remove our hearts from the Lord. Woe to us! Constant struggle is needed, constant vigilance, otherwise the all-damned sin will captivate and make us its slaves. “Lord, help us for Thy Name's sake. Lord of strength, be with us!”
"Deliver me from the devil's haste." The devil is in a hurry, he is in an incredible hurry, he catches a person in order to destroy him forever, and people doze, are inactive and sleep in their everyday vanity, in their passions, selfishness, gluttony, prodigal, gambling (theater and cards), fashionable, literary, sleepy and all kinds, and - they die in the thousands, like flies from fly agarics. Hurry, hurry, Christians, to save your souls, while there is time, while the Lord waits and is patient, until the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven are closed. “The foolish virgins came and said: Lord... open to us,” and the Lord answered them: “Get away from Me, I don’t know you” (Matthew 25:11-12). And how the Lord hurries to save the faithful, attentive and ready! He hurries every hour, every minute and sends every help. “The Lord is my Shepherd! I will not need anything: He will give me rest. in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, strengthens my soul, guides me on the paths of righteousness for the sake of His Name” (Ps. 23:1-3).
The enemy of our salvation has remained faithful to his evil, destructive system for about eight thousand years in order to ensnare people into destruction with all sorts of temptations and passions. And how many, how many he has destroyed and brought to hell the careless and unfaithful, proud, crafty and evil people from every nation, language, condition, sex and age, how wide is his fiery mouth with which he devours the infidels!
The enemy who deceived Adam and through his deception gained dominion over him, deprived him of his power over nature and declared himself the prince of this age. At first, man was appointed by God as the prince of this age and the lord of all visible creatures, so that neither fire could burn him, nor water could drown him, nor a beast could harm him, nor anything poisonous could harm him; and when he gave in to the enemy’s flattery, he betrayed his superiors to the enemy. Therefore, the magicians and sorcerers, through the action of a contrary force, with the permission of God, perform some miracles, possessing poisonous animals and entering fire and water without harm, like Jannes and Omri, who resisted Moses, and like Simon the Magus, who rebelled against the Apostle Peter.
You have been defeated by the evil enemy, conquer yourself; you have been given strength, every helping and facilitating grace for victory over the enemy: believe, do not sleep, do not relax, but strain all your strength. “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne” (Apoc. 3:21). O simplicity of heart! O faith that does not philosophize wickedly!
Take care of the purity and peace of your soul, like the apple of your eye, “do not let your foot be troubled” (Ps. 121:3). Every earthly, worldly addiction is from the devil. Reject and despise him immediately, so that you may gain Christ in immortality.
Through his fall, man went to the left and went extremely far to the left, moving away from God the Giver of Life, losing righteousness and life and inheriting the enemy’s cunning, his vanity, passion for corruption, malice, pride, envy and death; it was more necessary to go back in order to correct it, and this he could not do without the special omnipotent will of God, without redemption by the Lamb of God, the right, sinless God-man; it was necessary to return the lost righteousness, sanctity and truth, but the devil took such possession of his victim that without a corresponding ransom, perfected by eternal and infinite truth, he could not and did not want to return his sacrifice to God the Creator and, according to the truth of God, man had to suffer for centuries and millennia until the Deliverer of the human race came to earth to fulfill all the truth, to suffer for the unrighteous and die for them, to trample on death and rise from dead, granting resurrection to everyone. Such a strong enemy held us in bonds of death!
The spiritual principle in us is infinitely dear - the immortal soul, created in the image and likeness of God, rational, loving, free, immortal, simple in essence, uncomplicated, indivisible. But sin, invented by the devil, distorted and disfigured her, bifurcated her unnaturally, turned her thoughts and affection and love to the creature instead of the Creator, turned her away from love for Her Original, the Prototype, the First Life, attracted her to the original of evil and darkness - the devil, sowed in her false vain thoughts, passionate vain aspirations and feelings, addictions to creatures, turned her eyes away from incorruption and turned to corruption, from heaven to earth, from paradise to the place of exile. A fallen person absolutely needs a rebellion, a lost person needs a return to the true, initial path, a person who has fallen into darkness needs a return to the light, a person who has fallen into decay needs a return to life, a person who has fallen into slavery needs a return to the former freedom of the spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ does all this in us by the power of the Holy and Life-Giving Spirit; All this was accomplished in their earthly lives by the holy apostles and all the saints through faith, repentance, the word of God, contempt for the adulterous, vain world, through spiritual wisdom, constant struggle against sin, in all its forms, abstinence, prayer, almsgiving, mortification of the flesh with passions and lusts.
“I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth” (Matthew 11:25). When the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ, wanted, by the infinity of His goodness, to fulfill at the end of the ages the eternal advice about the salvation of the human race perishing by sin and to find the missing royal drachma, to seek the lost sheep of His verbal flock, then, taking on Himself a human image and putting on the whole man from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, He chose as assistants to Himself, His great work, simple disciples and apostles, fishermen by occupation, and through them he showed in practice that the work of our salvation does not depend on worldly nobility, learning or earthly vain wisdom, but that it is the only work of God, the work of His goodness, wisdom, power and mercy. “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, etc.” (1 Cor. 1:27).
Human nature is wondrous, divinely structured, and to recreate it, such a supernatural means was required - the incarnation of the Son of God: His life on earth, countless miracles, Divine teaching, suffering, death and resurrection. The fallen image of God, unappreciated, to which the whole world is unequal, was the reason for such supernatural providence of God. Do people understand this? Few understand and appreciate, and therefore many live unworthily, at random, as if by chance, not thinking about the high goal of the Christian title, living in the vanity of all sorts of addictions.
The necessity of the incarnation and death of the Son of God according to the flesh and the manifestation of God's righteousness for the salvation of the human race fallen into death are more clearly expressed in the words of the Apostle Paul to the Hebrews. “As the children” (all the fallen descendants of Adam) “participate in flesh and blood, so He also took part in them, so that by death He might destroy the one who had the power of death, i.e. the devil, and to deliver those who, from the fear of death, were subject to slavery all their lives, for He does not receive Angels, but He receives Abraham’s seed,” etc. (Heb. 2:14–17). This is a lesson for Tolstoyans and all senseless intellectuals who attach too much importance to the blind human mind.
A great man is when he fulfills the commandments of God and is a friend of God, as the Lord said to His disciples: “You are My friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14), and “Abraham is called the friend of God” (James 2:23); he is divine and awarded the greatest honors from God and the eternal kingdom. But he is low and pitiful, thoughtless and stupid, subject to all sorts of disasters, all sorts of absurd and senseless passions, when he does not want to obey the law of God and fulfill the holy and blessed, vital and wise commandments of God. Man in his creation is honored by God with great honor, having been created in the image and likeness of God and king over all earthly creatures, having received the promise of immortality for keeping the commandments of God, and so easy! But inattention to oneself, manifested voluptuousness, desire for divine honor and disobedience to the Creator’s commandment turned man’s life upside down, a righteous punishment for him.
But the Creator’s eternal plan for the salvation of fallen man is wonderful: in the advice of the all-good and all-wise Trinity, which created everything, it was decided to redeem fallen man from sin, curse and death by the incarnation and incarnation of the One from the Trinity - the Son of God; His life on earth and the fulfillment of all the commandments of God until death on the cross and victorious resurrection with the glorious ascension and descent in the form of tongues of fire. Glory to the Lord for this!
I am constantly amazed by God's all-good, all-wise structure of salvation of human souls, created in the image and likeness of the all-good, all-wise, eternal God, from the very beginning of the human race until the end of the century. Listen and delve into what God has done and is doing for this great, humane work from the very beginning of the fall of the first people into sin, curse and death, from the first removal of them from Him. How much concern for salvation, what a promise about the Seed of the woman, who has to erase the head of the serpent! How much care there is for the chosen seed - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, for all the patriarchs of the chosen people, as well as for the people! How many wonderful thoughts, how many miracles (during the exodus from Egypt) in the wilderness, under the judges, under the kings of the chosen people! How many paternal punishments from the Lord God to the stubborn, criminal people, how many terrible captivities; how many deaths of the guilty before God! And various idolatrous peoples - what scourges of God they served to punish the Jews, how they themselves were later crushed by the righteous judgment of God!
And in the New Testament - the appearance of the Archangel Zechariah, the birth of the Forerunner, the Annunciation to the Ever-Virgin and the birth of the Savior of the world!
Through sin we have lost the likeness of God, in which we were created by the Creator, and have become strangers to Him, incommunicable. He himself deigned to become like us, to become a man, without ceasing to be God, in order to make us like Him, he was born from a Mother, a pure Virgin, without a husband, and from the Holy Spirit. Oh miracle of miracles!
What the Lord did for us as our Savior, how He exhausted Himself, what punishment He accepted for the sins of the world and personally for all of us! What did we do?
None of those not enlightened by the light of Christ's Gospel could have thought or imagined that God would so love the fallen human race and give us the Only Begotten Son for our salvation - for teaching, working miracles, establishing the church and sacraments, for voluntary suffering, death and resurrection and ascension to heaven to send the Holy Spirit. Give thanks, tremble, man!
“I am the door: whoever enters through Me will be saved,” etc. (John 10:9). Christ is the mental door. Where? To paradise, to the Kingdom of Heaven, through the faith of Christ, the Redeemer and Savior, to His Church, the only one who saves, to which the true teaching of Christ, the saving sacraments and the guidance of shepherds have been entrusted. Without Christ, without the Church, there is no other door to the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who have fallen away from the faith of Christ, from the Church, will perish if they do not turn and repent.
For the sake of the atoning death of the God-man, the whole world stands for the world and all centuries stand indestructibly, for this hour of innocent, atoning death; The Lord is patient with all the lawless, blasphemers, traitors to the faith and the Church during this hour, hell has not yet opened its terrible mouth to devour the unrepentant, as it is said: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire... and these shall go away into eternal torment...”. (Matthew 25:41–46).
“The Word incarnate consumed all-evil sin” (words and songs can.). But here is a wonderful expression from the canon of St. Forerunners. “Once upon a time, Thou didst plunge into the abyss of all wisdom the Baptist, who createth with grace the stream of all crime” (of the human race), “but I pray, dry up the streams of my sins through Thy Divine intercession.” The abyss of truth, holiness and mercy of God! Christ God, having suffered and died for us and resurrected, drowned with His grace all the crimes of the human race who believe in Him. What a joyful thought for us sinners, what hope in the merits of Christ! He can drown all our sins with a word and throw them into the depths of the sea. Satan was and is the cause of the abyss of all human sins, although people themselves are to blame for them due to lack of repentance (repent). The Lord destroys all the filth of sins. Glory to His truth and mercy!
There is a beginningless, personal Being, whose name is Genesis (I am the One) and which cannot not exist. It gave both being and existence to every thing in the world, and the world itself received its being from Him. It created all beings as being, in a word, in one word: “let there be light, and there was light; let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and a firmament appeared” (Gen. 1, 3, 6); and so on and so forth, until everything proposed in the Creator's intention came into its position and solid existence. This personal, beginningless Being, which we call God, as an all-good and all-powerful Being, could give a person a secondary moral existence when he lost it by free will, and called it “rebirth” in the Holy Gospel (Matthew 19:28). But the gift of re-existence to man came very dearly - it was bought at the price of the terrible suffering of the God-man Creator and the Blood shed on the cross and His death: “bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:20), you will not be slaves of man. “You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from the futile life handed down to you from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and most pure” (1 Pet.
1.18–19 ). Do we value this? Do we appreciate this sacrifice of Christ?
Lord, I am amazed at the greatness of Your works in the kingdom of grace and in the kingdom of nature created by You; I am amazed at Your immeasurable truth and wisdom, that You, having allowed Your verbal beloved creation (man) to fall deeply and be stolen and deceived and ridiculed by the murderous serpent, deigned to redeem and restore him in a supernatural way. He himself became incarnate and became human and chose the good as the instrument of incarnation. The Most Pure Virgin, Whom he showed to be the Intercessor and Intercessor of all faithful Christians. The angels marvel at Your condescension, Your glance, Your goodness and wisdom.
If the goodness of God had abandoned me, then I would have remained an old man, full of sins that began in my youth and continue in part to this day, and I would be all gloom and darkness, uncleanness and stench. Now the goodness of God continually cleanses, sanctifies, renews, fragrant and beautifies me. Glory to the Lord for this!
Lord, how wonderfully You arrange the salvation of the human race! How gracious, wise, condescending, meek, long-suffering, compassionate, for you patiently wait for our correction and conversion, enlightening us with the light of grace, compelling, touching, testing our hearts and insides. And we - how lazy, slow, insensitive, careless, voluptuous, selfish, impatient we are. Move us, Lord, to salvation in every way! “Let the saints rejoice in glory, let them rejoice on their beds” (Ps. 149:5).
How the Lord attracts to Himself through liturgical songs, stichera, canons and the entire composition of the divine service, and until the end of the century He will attract the chosen believers who love God’s service! What a wealth of ardent repentance and heartfelt tenderness is hidden in our worship! Day and night, many ascetics stood in prayer, attracted by love for Christ, and sacrificed the greatest feats of abstinence, prayer and contemplation to the Christ they loved and loved.
My brother, priest, whoever you are, our position in the holy church is extremely important, high, multi-responsible: we are entrusted with the constant preaching of the right, saving faith, performing divine services and supernatural, great, heavenly, saving sacraments, shepherding the verbal sheep and guiding them to the eternal life, we are obliged to lead the people to the heavenly fatherland by good example, life and words. I especially focus my and your attention on the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.
My God! What an abyss of holiness, mercy and truth of God, what unimaginable greatness is hidden in it, what salvation, purification, sanctification, renewal, immortality, deification is hidden in it! What a supernatural union of the creature with the Creator! Do you and I, as we should, lift up our hearts to grief during its occurrence? Are we on fire? Do we lift the hearts of the faithful to heaven with our reverent service? God, through the liturgy and the communion of the Holy Mysteries, unites human nature with Himself and raises it above heaven, places it with Himself on the throne of glory, and couples it with the angels. Do we understand this height of our service, this immeasurable goodness, truth and wisdom of God; whether we value it properly; do we thank the Lord, do we love Him fervently; do we love each other? “Let us love one another, so that with one mind we confess: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of one substance and indivisible.”
O Divine, most holy, most heavenly, all-encompassing, heaven and earth-centering Orthodox liturgy! How wonderful, how desirable you are, how full of infinite goodness, wisdom, truth, holiness of God, incomprehensible greatness. Already your preliminary part, the proskomedia, briefly and in general terms depicts your Divine greatness, salvation and heavenly beauty. Here, in figurative, very unequal parts of wheat bread, the following are figuratively presented:
The Lamb of God Himself, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sins of the world, the Mother of God, in whose honor a triangular particle is taken from a special prosphora and placed on the right side of the Lamb, the faces of all the saints - the Forerunner, the prophets, the apostles, the saints, the martyrs, the reverends, those without ribs, the holy righteous Godfather Joachim and Anna, the saints of the day and that the saint whose name the liturgy bears. This heavenly, triumphant Church, which has unity with the earthly Church, is represented in figurative particles by the entire earthly Church - the entire bishopric of the church on earth, in Christ, as a serving rank during the sacraments, prayers and teaching, and finally, the third tribe of the church is figuratively represented - the underworld, or the children of the church who died in faith and repentance.
See what a wonderful all-encompassing Divine union of heavenly, earthly and underworld! It is joyful, majestic, and divine to stand in the middle of the paten, the Lamb of God, slain and pierced, i.e. a quadrangular large part of the bread, which has the potential to be transformed into the Body of Christ, and next to the paten stands the holy chalice, the image of that wonderful Cup of wine, about which at the Last Supper the Lord proclaimed: “Drink of it, all of you, this is My Blood of the New Testament” (Matthew 26:27-28). But listen to what the priest reads, what prayer ends the proskomedia. “O God, our God, Heavenly Bread, who sent food to the whole world as Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, Deliverer and Benefactor, blessing and sanctifying us, bless this offering yourself and accept it into your heavenly altar. Remember, O Lord, those who offered and for their sake they brought, and preserve us without condemnation in the sacred rite of Your Divine Mysteries!” What touching Divine love is depicted in this prayer to the Heavenly Father! What an inexpressible love of God for the world, not only by human, but also by angelic spiritual lips!
Not any earthly food, not any manna from heaven, but He gave the Flesh and Blood of His Son Himself for food and drink - our closest communion and fusion with Divinity and humanity! O inexpressible love, O highest honor! O condescension that strikes all angelic, cherubic and seraphim minds! O wisdom of God! O truth of God, mercy, beauty and greatness of the indescribable sacrament! And we, unworthy priests or bishops, perform this liturgy so often, we partake of the Holy Mysteries sometimes and daily! O triumph of God's love! O bliss! O affirmation, our deification, so often perceived! How do we view liturgy? Do we always change with love, thanksgiving and constant fear? Are we becoming heavenly, divine, holy?
Starting to perform the proskomedia, the priest, marking the lamb prosphora with three copies, says: “in remembrance of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ,” and then, preparing the square part of the prosphora, signifying the future Lamb, or the future most pure Body of Christ, he says in the words of the prophet Isaiah: “like a sheep led to the slaughter,” etc. (Is. 53:7 ) and with the words: “as if His belly is taken up from the earth” (Isa. 53:8), he takes a quadrangular part from the middle of the prosphora and places it on the paten and, cutting it crosswise, says: “The Lamb of God is devoured, take away the sin of the world, for the worldly belly and salvation,” piercing it from the side, says: “And one of the soldiers with a copy of His rib was pierced, and aby came forth blood and water” (Jn. 19, 34). O indescribable love of God! O inexpressible miracle of miracles - the liturgy! Fall before it, humanity, and shed tears of repentance: after all, it is being accomplished for your sins.
In the gift of the Divine Liturgy to the Orthodox Church and in the gift of other sacraments to it, so much has been given by God that no human mind can appreciate the greatness of these gifts: the gift of rebirth, adoption, renewal, the right to eternal life, entry into heaven, cohabitation with the angels and all the saints and eternal reconciliation with the Heavenly Father and participation in His holiness and beatitude. Do you, Orthodox Christians, value this gift of God, do you try to live worthy of the Christian title, in purity and holiness and in all virtue?
The Terrible Blood of the Son of God, offered at the liturgy, intercedes for us daily. And what a wonderful communion the liturgy is – communion with God, the Head of the Church, with all the saints, dead and living. What love should be inflamed by the performer of the sacrament - a bishop or priest! How one must be detached from all earthly attachments! Lord, grant us, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, to reverently perform this mystery.
Communion of the Holy Mysteries in every liturgy makes us healthy, peaceful, and renewed. How many greatest gifts are hidden in the liturgy! We thank the Lord, who revives us with his wonderful mysteries! Orthodox Christians, worship the liturgy that worships us by the grace of God! Priests and laity, be renewed by it every day. Glory to the bounties of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Look how many relatives, friends and relatives you have in Christ: the Mother of God, holy angels, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, saints, hosts of martyrs, the righteous and all the saints. Celebrate the proskomedia and the entire liturgy attentively, meaningfully, heartily, reverently, gratefully, understand it deeply, be moved and cry before God with tears of repentance and admiration. How many blessings God has granted to the race of Orthodox Christians in the celebration of the Liturgy! After death, all the wealth of goods prepared by God for those who love Him will clearly be revealed - “now we see, as if through a dark glass” (1 Cor. 13:12).
The Church is the body of Christ, to which all the saints belong, starting with the Mother of God and ending with the last of the saints, all Orthodox Christians who sincerely believe and always try to act in accordance with their Christian calling, all the spiritual laity, and finally, all those who have fallen asleep in faith and repentance. Everyone, as members of one Body, helps each other, especially the saints who struggle on earth and diligently resort to them, especially the all-good and all-powerful, all-righteous Head of the Church - Christ, this “Lamb of God who takes away the sin” of ours and the whole “world” (John 1:29). Liturgy is an all-giving, Divine service for all living and dead; The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses the sins of all believers who repent and earnestly pray and are zealous for the Christian life. Wonderful, all-conciliatory, all-sanctifying, all-purifying, all-renewing and all-deifying liturgy! One must attend the liturgy, participate in its prayers, praise and thank the Lord.
“Take, eat... Drink of it, all of you” (Matthew 26:26–27)... Does everyone eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of the Lord according to His commandment? In our Orthodox world, in other places in the church, no matter how hard it rolls, there are no communicants; in universities there are no communicants, not to mention other Christian denominations... We care about ourselves. What is going on here!.. O our Divine faith! Divine Orthodoxy, more shining Orthodoxy than the sun, won for us by the blood of the apostles, hierarchs, martyr, venerable and all-righteous, come to us! O most precious pearl! O treasure hidden in the field (in the heart and in the church)! Oh update! O incorruption! O light! O Divine salt! O bright sun! O eternal life itself! O reconciliation accomplished with the righteous God of sinful people! O golden chain with the sky! O golden staircase to heaven!
Since sin in all forms penetrated the entire being of man - soul and body and dissolved and mixed with it, the Lord, the all-wise Creator and Physician, was pleased to heal humanity - like with like. The Doctor himself mixed with the person being treated and gave him to eat His most pure Body and His most pure Blood and mixed with him His Divinity and humanity.
Humanity is defiled and corrupted by all sorts of sins: the blood is infected with all sorts of passions, and man is unclean in all his blood, brains and bones; only one Most Holy Virgin Mother of God was and is with the most pure and virgin blood, from which the Son of God was incarnate. To get rid of all the filth of sin and to renew human nature, it was necessary for the wise, righteous and omnipotent Physician to establish the sacrament of baptism and communion of His Body and Blood, and they were established by Christ the Savior Himself.
“The Only Begotten Son, Good Father, you sent purification into the world.” There is a terrible uncleanness in the world that corrupts the soul and body of a person, defiles, darkens, separates forever from God, the Source of life, and cannot be cleansed by anything except the Blood of the Son of God, shed for the sins of the world. This Blood was intended before all ages in the Council of God for the cleansing of the world, i.e. believers and faithful people, and was typified in the Old Testament in the bloody sacrifices of goats and calves. But the Old Testament sacrifices cleansed only carnal uncleanness, not mental impurity; The blood of the Son of God cleanses both soul and body, but only those people who, with faith and repentance, approach the sacrament of communion. Believe, repent, cleanse yourself, correct yourself!
O hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes! O their accursed pickiness towards the sinless God, who walks the earth in the flesh with His disciples! The simple-hearted, humble disciples of Christ, following the Savior through the sown field, became hungry, plucked the ears of corn, rubbed them with their hands and ate on the Sabbath day (Matthew 12). Of course, such a visible violation of the Sabbath commandment found enemies in the evil Pharisees, and they began to grumble about breaking the Sabbath, but the Lord, exposing their hypocrisy and envy, defended the righteousness of His disciples. But now I ask you, man, do you feel spiritual hunger and thirst to eat the vital, supernatural ear and two-forged, naturally vital grain - the Flesh and Blood of Christ the Giver of Life, the true heavenly Bread that gives life to the world? If you do not feel this saving hunger, then it means you are spiritually dead. A person who is beginning to recover or is healthy naturally feels hungry and thirsty. How many of these dead are there in Russia, in the Orthodox Church, who do not feel this saving thirst? Darkness!
Countless numbers of intellectuals do not come to communion at all, many people come very rarely, many take communion only once a year. And the Lord calls out daily: “Take, eat... drink, all of you...”. and there is no eating or drinking!
Unspeakable greatness and unspeakable gift - the communion of the most pure Body and Blood of the Son of God! What is the depth of the fall and corruption of sin, the extraordinary means of restoring the fallen, the renewal of the corrupt, the cleansing of the greatest defilement of sin, which cannot be cleansed by anything other than the invaluable and most pure and all-purifying Blood of the Most Holy of all saints, the Son of God. We must meditate on this mystery of salvation day and night, constantly give thanks and praise for it, and try to live up to it with all our strength, desires, and fulfillment of all the saving commandments of God. “The heavens and the earth were terrified at this and were amazed, for God had appeared as a man in the flesh.” Oh what love! What condescension! What truth, what wisdom, what sanctification, deification, the elevation of our nature above all heavens!
Glory, Lord, to Your Divine Mysteries, with which You clothe me as with a Divine robe and power. Truly the greatest, Divine adornment for a true communicant, priest or layman, are the Divine Mysteries. What honor have you bestowed, Lord, on the Christian race of the Orthodox confession, by entrusting and giving it your Divine Blood, the entire Divinity and Humanity, enriching and immortalizing the whole person. What love we owe to You, Lord, what gratitude, what mutual love we must live in, how we should love and “esteem one another above ourselves” (Phil. 2:3)! I thank You, Lord, for all Your ineffable mercies.
Do priests and deacons, parish and city, receive communion worthily at every liturgy? No, many are unworthy. God sees what they think and do. Lord, You are the righteous Judge of all, do not judge us, unworthy, who often partake of the cup of Your holy Body. Behold, we are all unworthy of Your terrible and heavenly and life-giving Mysteries. May your immeasurable mercy cover our sins!
Do you value, O priest, who performs sacred rites and celebrates the Liturgy every day, the fruits of communion of the holy life-giving and terrible and heavenly Mysteries! Do you feel cleansing of sins, renewal, enlightenment, rebirth, sanctification, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, a good yoke and a light burden (Matthew 11:30), freedom of spirit, joy in the Holy Spirit? Blessed are you if you feel all this and thank God. Warm up the gift of God in yourself, do not be indifferent, insensitive, ungrateful. For the feeling of gratitude you will be worthy of greater grace, correct yourself, strive in everything for the perfection of life and virtue, so that you will be worthy to hear the voice from the Lord: “good and faithful servant! You were faithful in small things, I will put you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord." Amen (Matthew 25:21).
You, priest of God, servant of the Most High Creator, serve the Liturgy with fear and proper preparation, especially if you serve daily, see what you are doing with your womb, which is daily through the communion of the saints, the life-giving Mysteries of Christ, the church of God - is it not an instrument of gluttony and delicacy, an instrument of the devil, who through the womb dragged the human race into hell and subjected it curse. Hold fast to the fast commanded by the Savior, pay attention to yourself and others, and save yourself and the people.
“Let a person examine himself” who wants to partake of the Holy Mysteries, and then let him partake of the heavenly Bread, the Body of Christ, and drink from the Cup of Life, “for whoever eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks condemnation for himself, without considering the Body of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11, 28-29). So, those who wish to receive communion, test yourself, your conscience, remembering your sins - condemn yourself before the Last Judgment, for if we reasoned, i.e. If they would examine their lives in detail and correct themselves, then they would not be condemned.
The Christian's earthly path to God
The earthly path of a Christian to God is the struggle with the flesh, repentance, the fulfillment of Christian virtues: love for God and neighbor, patience and forgiveness of offenses, humility, mercy and so on. Wealth at a Glance
“From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and those who use force take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). Two invisible forces constantly act on a person: good and evil, the power of God, the power of grace, and the power of the devil, the evil and all-destructive power; man is placed in this world, as it were, between two fires, of which one is life-giving, about which the Lord says: “I have come to bring down fire on the earth” (Luke 12:49), and the other is a scorching and burning fire. A person must make an effort on himself in order to arouse in himself the Divine fire, the fire of faith and love for God and neighbor. Man lost his first Divine dignity, his rightness, holiness, goodness, meekness and filled his soul with all sorts of sins. Now, you don’t have purity of heart - this is a big loss, you need to acquire it; there is no constant sympathy for your neighbor in his sorrow, misfortune, poverty, illness - change yourself, be sympathetic...
you do not have zeal in prayer to God, you do not have a spiritual taste for prayer, you do not have a spiritual ear for listening to the Word of God - transform yourself, develop your spirit, taste and spiritual ear in order to listen with love to the Word of God, in order to feel the sweetness of prayer and the sweetness of good deeds. Evil strongly fights a person and forces him to do evil, but good attracts him to himself with his moral beauty, spiritual peace, spiritual freedom; good attracts to itself with the promises of eternal life for victory over passions. “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne” (Apoc. 3:21).
It's a wonderful thing. The same person who reveres the Creator and sees His creation in a beautiful, delightful form and is full of surprise, love and reverence for Him is also capable of low, unclean, sinful, evil thoughts and carnal feelings, and can imagine in his mind the most unclean bestial lusts and pleasures, and become deeply defiled in his thoughts and feelings. What a contradiction you are! What a yearning for sin is in you! How sin, in the form of all uncleanness, strives to realize itself in practice and defile you. What a spiritual feat is constantly ahead for you - to fight the impurity within you and win back your nobility of spirit and purity of soul and body! Otherwise, you will corrupt and desecrate your nature - soul and body. Truly, “The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force receive it” (Matthew 11:12). “To him who overcomes I will give to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Apoc. 3:21).
A constant war against sin is necessary as long as we are on earth; You cannot sit idly by, otherwise sin will overcome and conquer and subject you to eternal captivity, shame and torment.
Do you know why we are all poor and ugly and what we need most of all? We were all conceived and born in iniquity and poor in purity, righteousness and holiness - for unrighteousness and uncleanness were conceived with us in the womb of the mother, in the loins of the father and, with our age, they grew and took root and became like weeds in a field among the wheat or like dry, barren fig trees. It is worthy of crying and tears. We were born into Christianity or joined the Orthodox Church, therefore we must live in purity and all virtue, but we live carelessly, meaninglessly, vainly, haphazardly and do not think of striving for Christ's perfection, forgetting what the Lord told us: “Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
“Kingdom of Heaven”, i.e. holiness, purity, righteousness, abstinence, prayer, chastity, love for God and neighbor - “it is taken by force” (Matthew 11, 12), i.e. by the power of God’s grace-filled help and their own zeal, “and those who use effort gain it.” The flesh resists the spirit, that is, all virtue, so that we do not do what we want, for the sake of God and the salvation of the soul and for the good of others. What is required is human resistance to all evil, all passion of the flesh and spirit, all lust and learning, the assimilation of all virtue.
The creature fights with the Creator, the creature swears at the Creator or imagines swearing at Him, meanwhile it swears at itself to its own detriment; but now she will be solemnly defeated: “for He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:25-26). In the fall, man was given more grace than was given before the fall. Marvelous is the superiority of Your goodness over the evil of the devil, Lord! Let the superiority of Your goodness appear, O Lord! Glory to You!
My God! How the enemy has dishonored and dishonored Your creation, which was created in Your image, and is still dishonoring us all day and night with countless sins and passions, absurd, unclean, blasphemous, harmful thoughts that confuse our souls! What attention, what prayer, what abstinence, what struggle we must have with our mental enemies! God, help us all, especially those who are faithful and attentive to themselves!
You fell into the devil's captivity through inattention, ingratitude, and pride: try to free yourself from this captivity with the help of the all-powerful Warrior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who defeated our common enemy and adversary; That is why all Divine powers have been given to you. Look at the example of the struggle of the apostles, saints, martyrs and all the saints and imitate them, and they always help those who call on them with faith.
The Lord God is completely neglected and disrespected by you, brothers and sisters, because of your sinful addictions, because of your lack of love for each other; you dream only about earthly things and not at all about heavenly things, you care about carnal health, but not at all about spiritual salvation. “Our citizenship is in heaven, from where we await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20).
There is nothing more reliable than the obvious truth that people and human societies from the very beginning of their existence, from the very beginning of sin, have been in a state of decline. This fall of humanity has become permanent, inevitable. People were careless about the first commandment of God, which should have strengthened them without falling, they deviated from it, did not fulfill it through pride, frivolity, negligence, and from that time the life of the human race became an incessant, unceasing series of falls - the falls of individuals, entire families and societies. This is how people still constantly stumble and fall. No matter how many laws you write for human societies, basic and all kinds, these laws are not able to keep people in family and social order. Families, clans and peoples are worried, restless, cannot live peacefully, all sorts of passions agitate human societies, disrupt the peaceful flow, produce unrest, infidelity, betrayals in public life, everything is turned upside down, paternal, governmental and supreme power fluctuates, is close to falling and falls.
What a picture of falls! This is a centuries-old, thousand-year-old picture.
What is the history of the human race? The history of falls, then uprisings, the history of the vacillation of human thoughts, family and social life, and the history of the falls of kingdoms and peoples or individual cities and institutions. What picture does our time present? A picture of the falls of all societies. Where is the reason for such weakness of minds, classes, institutions, deliberately gathering to establish a wavering state and, meanwhile, still wavering; where is the cause of darkness, weakness and fall? In unbelief, in falling away from God, from God's wise commands, in trusting blindly in one's own mind, in following one's passions. And rightly so - without God, without the mind of God, without the law of God, without “the Church of God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), societies cannot stand firmly and their institutions cannot have firm support, and therefore they all fall apart, for it is said: “without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Our life on earth is a dream, a dream and constant and gradual dying, not life; I want a true, real, Divine life, characteristic of a being created in the image and likeness of God. My God, what kind of dreams are we having when we sleep at night, in the morning or in the evening! These are dreams, dreams, and often sinful ones at that! Is this a loss of time for God, for life in the love of God, in the holiness of God, in incorruptibility, in the light of the Divine, in the world, in the space of the heart?
What kind of life is ours on earth? We do not live, but we wander, consciously or unconsciously, willy-nilly. When will we really live and serve God, who serves us in every possible way and pleases us with the countless blessings of life, with all help, all kinds of healings, consolations, warnings and all kinds of preservation, mercy, forgiveness of our sins? When will we think, feel, speak, undertake and do godly, reasonable, saving things? All our sinful passions are not our delirium, are they vanity?
You, intellectuals, have abandoned heavenly wisdom and clung to earthly vanity, lies, mirage, impenetrable darkness: and you will be punished by your own madness, your own passions. You have neglected the living water, the life-giving light, the salt of the earth, and you will be exhausted in your eternal corruption, you will not see the light of God forever, but will remain in darkness. You preferred Leo Tolstoy to Christ, the highest secular writers, who multiplied their writing to infinity, so that a Christian has no time to take up the Word of God, which is the source of purity, holiness, truth, light, eternal life and bliss.
The enemy seduces with carnal beauty and momentary sweetness, but the enemy turns Him away from the Source of spiritual and eternal beauty, from God, and considers Him worthless and destroys Him to death. This is crazy! And you desire eternal, spiritual beauty - God, who created all beauty; rise from the corruptible, decaying and stinking to the incorruptible, eternally fragrant and wonderfully fragrant bodies of the saints, living and after death. God, what captivity humanity is in! Captured by all kinds of sins that blind the mind and heart of a person.
Lord, you caught the killer devil who caught us, killed him and delivered us from his jaws. Therefore, the Church appeals to the Lady Theotokos in one song: “By Thy womb-bearing, O Lady, the bow of the mighty ruler of the world: for Thou didst luminously give the flesh of the Divine Incarnation to the Father’s Word (Christ), the hedgehog of the righteous catch of our enemy (the devil); We also cry out to Him: “Glory to Your power, O Lord” (Song 4, service Aug. 1). What nonsense is sin, or our old man! How have we become defiled, corrupted, darkened, gone mad, killed, how have we lost God’s blessing and been subjected to curse and eternal torment? Or do we strive again and again, strive, want a constant repetition of corrupting sin of any kind? Because of what? Because of momentary pleasure, carnal irritation, intoxication with carnal pleasure. O damned sin! O damned passion of the flesh, blind, all-destructive, deadly! How long will you live and reign in us and destroy us?
Saints of God of all names, we bless you to cheerfully and constantly fight with the flesh, despise it, trample it, kill it, and through this instill God in your heart and become a vast village of the Holy Spirit. Help us to kill her, who kills us every day.
Friendship with our flesh and the charm of carnal pleasures are the cause of our sins, the cause of coldness towards God, addiction to the world and its imaginary transitory disappearing benefits, the cause of our mental laziness and negligence. “I’ll wake up and sleep!” (Matthew 25:5).
Notice behind your multi-passionate flesh what your greatest enemy it is: through a thousand lusts it wants to remove your soul from God, to weaken, defile it, to kill it - it weakens you through laziness and coldness to prayer, to prostrations, to the thought of God. O domestic, all-evil, flattering enemy! How long will I be with you? “Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Rom. 7:24)?
Whoever sleeps for a long time, for him spiritual interests become alien, prayer becomes difficult, external and heartless, and the interests of the flesh become in the foreground - food and drink, profit, games, various amusements. Excessive sleep is harmful and relaxes the soul and body.
“He who suffers in the flesh ceases to sin” (1 Pet. 4:1). This is why suffering and the cross are necessary for a Christian: without suffering, without dejection, our flesh fools, rages, sins, angers God, creates misfortune for itself and the soul. O damned flesh, multi-passionate, because of which all the troubles in humanity! O multi-passionate, nasty heart! “What comes from a person defiles a person. For from within, from the human heart, come evil thoughts, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, the envious eye, blasphemy, pride, madness - all this evil comes from within and defiles a person” (Mark 7:20-23). This is where the source of evil is in a person - in the heart! “Create within me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 50:12). “Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Ps. 50:9). O goodness, O omnipotence, O truth, O wisdom of God! O simplicity of God's being!
Baths and prolonged sleep, all taken together, are very unfavorable to spiritual life and develop laziness and voluptuousness. Avoid undead flesh in every possible way and treat it harshly, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
From the all-good God only good things come, and not evil, - and your very illness is good, but you grumble, are faint-hearted, despondent: be patient, give thanks; for free indulgences in youth - involuntary illnesses in old age.
During fasting, especially for a priest, one must abandon the pleasures that irritate the flesh and not please it, but grieve it: sleep briefly, teach the people the word of God, unfeigned, fruitful repentance, awaken hatred of all sin, explain how it is unnatural to us and disgusting to God, how it (sin), contrary to nature, has become akin to it and acts in it powerfully, insatiably and destructively.
Look at the world and everything in the world as a passing shadow and do not become attached to anything, do not have attachments. What is essential is the spiritual, eternal world and the Lord God who created it: cling to Him with all your soul.
We need an urgent, continuous struggle with all the passions that live and are rooted in us. Tell me, what passion did you overcome and kill? Aren't they all still alive in you and don't they hurt you and confuse you? Rise up and overcome all passions, these mental Amaliki living in you and getting along with you. “What fellowship has righteousness with iniquity? What does light have in common with darkness? What agreement is there between Christ and Belial" (2 Cor. 6:14-15)?
Others become so accustomed to sins and have such a corrupted conscience that they do not consider sin as a sin, but as an ordinary matter and as if permitted, or as a matter of skill, dexterity and daring to deceive and seduce others and take advantage of their oversight and ignorance to their advantage. We must keep our conscience healthy, pure, unsullied, sensitive, tender, which would immediately repel the touch of any sin, no matter how deadly poison, “for the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). So in the present evil time of various freedoms, incorrectly given, misunderstood, others do not consider murder to be a sin, and adultery, and robbery, and others.
As sins are repeated, a habit of them is formed; as sins are repeated, the will to good weakens more and more, and to evil becomes stronger so that it becomes difficult to resist sin. One must become so accustomed to any virtue that it becomes a natural property in a person.
Every Christian soul must achieve such a state of mind that it always feels complete disgust for any sin, no matter in what form it may appear, and at the same time achieve a perfect disposition of heart towards all virtue.
In order to inherit heaven and eternal life and be worthy of the eternal community of holy angels and holy men, you need to purify yourself here on earth, hate sin and love righteousness, righteousness alone, and thus become like God and His saints, “for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What does light have in common with darkness” (2 Cor. 6:14)? The saints spent their entire lives preparing and cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; they especially need to learn humility, for the beginning of sin is pride. Dennitsa fell with pride.
All the saints recognized themselves and felt that they were sinners, and they all sincerely repented, cried, showed possible consciousness of voluntary and involuntary sins, ascended the degrees of repentance and correction, exercised themselves in every virtue and achieved holiness, likeness and attribution to God. We read prayers every day, are touched by them, cry and receive mercy from the Lord. Glory to His mercy, His long-suffering, His good-will and kindness! How blessed are we to have such a God, “mighty in mercy and gracious in strength, to help comfort all them that trust in his mercy.”
You read in the evening prayer: deliver evil from science (prayer to the Holy Spirit). If you have learned to feast on food, eat and drink in excess, lustful thoughts, cherish lusts in yourself, be greedy, be lazy in prayer, envy, be offended by all sorts of trifles, grumble about difficulties in life, illnesses, failures, then now learn to kill everything in yourself with fasting, prayer and deeds according to your strength and do not think that only a monk needs this - this is necessary for every Christian in every way. rank and status: If you managed to sin, then manage to justify yourself and purify yourself in order to become a son of light.
Let us all think about our deplorable, terrible fall and the need for rebellion and correction. Many are not aware of this fall and therefore do not consider uprising proper and necessary and become ossified in countless passions and bad habits. Lord, open our mental eyes.
A true Christian abhors all sin not only in words, but also in deed, in thoughts, feelings, memories, and imagination, and, abhorring it, he loves God and virtue with all his heart. May this, servant of God, always be with you.
Every day, hour and minute, be a strict observer and judge of all thoughts, desires and all movements of the heart, words and deeds, and do not allow yourself to be desecrated by a single thought, imagination and desire, sinful word and deed, knowing that the Lord is a righteous Judge, judging you every moment and evaluating your entire inner person. For God's sake, keep yourself pure continually, for your end is near.
Pay attention to yourself and see where your inner eye looks - to God, to heaven, to the imperishable fatherland, to the saints and the heavenly glory that they received for their labors and struggles, for their strong devotion to the Lord and unfading love, or to the earth, to earthly pleasures, to this captivity, to these vanishing dreams.
If you want to know yourself exactly what you are like, what shortcomings, habits, passions, vices you have, notice your dreams when you sleep day and night, notice them all as much as possible - and you will get a picture, or an echo, of your spiritual direction, good and bad, and, having recognized yourself, immediately try to correct your shortcomings and cut off sinful tares like a sickle.
“If your right eye causes you to stumble... if your right hand causes you to sin” (Matthew 5:29-30)... Man is created upright and must be so, having abandoned the wickedness of sin; it is necessary to cut off the passions, not the arms and legs; the passions must be plucked out, not the eyes. “Evil thoughts come from the heart” (the evil eye) (Matthew 15:19). All this must be cut off, uprooted with the help of God's grace.
“Unless anyone... hates... his own life... he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26–27). Indeed, you must hate your soul, for it is full of all sorts of passions that alienate you from God, the Eternal Life, it is an instrument of the devil, it is your irreconcilable enemy.
The righteous Lord allows good and evil to grow and mature in this world and is patient with it, not even though the death of sinners and to increase the punishment of the unrepentant and those who abuse His long-suffering. This long-suffering of God, the fruit of His love for creatures, is praiseworthy and amazing. Thanks to this long-suffering, how many sinners and sinners were saved, who should have perished forever if the Lord had not been patient with us, foreseeing our conversion and correction. O wonderful long-suffering! I glorify this wonderful property of God, grace and patience! How many greatest sinners have been saved through you! Manasseh, the king of Judah, this most wretched king, was pardoned only through Your long-suffering. Read the prayer of Manasseh (2 Chronicles 36:23) of repentance and learn the depth of repentance and self-condemnation and correct yourself.
God gave us, sinners, suffering from countless passions, as a merciful Doctor, repentance as spiritual medicine, as life. Every sincere soul thirsts for repentance, as life-giving nourishment, as food that strengthens the soul and body, like a blind person - for light. The gift of repentance was granted to us by the Holy Father of Heaven, blessed by Jesus Christ, and by Him alone, for He alone fulfilled for us all the truth, the whole law of God, which no man could fulfill on his own, for He alone took upon Himself the curse with which the Heavenly Father righteously cursed humanity’s disobedience, He alone endured all the torments for us and for us tasted the “death” that we had earned for ourselves. as an inevitable “worship of sin” (Rom. 6:23). If the Lord Jesus Christ had not voluntarily sacrificed Himself for us, we would not have been given repentance, but for the sake of His sacrifice it is given to all believers, and all those who truly understand diligently use it, are changed by the Divine change, become new people, with new thoughts, desires, intentions, deeds and are saved, enlightened and appropriated to God.
Only the unbelievers, the crafty, the stubborn and the lazy perish.
Is humanity responsible for this terrible ninth hour, in which our Redeemer gave up his ghost? Responsibly, every soul is responsible, for for every soul the Lord suffered and died, for each one this infinitely dear price was paid. We must live not for ourselves, but for the One who died for us and was resurrected. This is our responsibility, this is our duty regarding the God-man who died for us on the cross, and since Christ died for you, then you must always sincerely repent, for the Lamb of God suffered for your sins as well.
“To the Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Soul of Truth... fulfill everything....” (Prayer to the Holy Spirit). Everything, i.e. filling heaven and earth. Does He, the Holy Spirit, fill your heart? Ask yourself sincerely, and if not, then why, due to what passion of yours, because of what sin? And try to attract the Holy Spirit into your heart through unfeigned repentance.
Christian man! Remember how much caring and wonderful providence the Lord showed for your salvation, predetermining to save you before the ages were created, announcing His coming to earth through the prophets and various righteous people of the Old Testament, how He came to earth and fulfilled all His plans for you, founding the Church with pastorate and sacraments, giving it the saving word of grace upon grace, all the saving means of life and piety! Remember the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ for you, the tempting death on the cross, the resurrection and ascension into heaven and the promise to come to earth a second time with glory for the judgment of the living and the dead. Tell me, what are you doing for your salvation, “for the Kingdom of Heaven requires effort, and those who use force gain it” (Matthew 11:12)? Be ashamed of yourself, repent, mourn your unbelief, negligence, inertia, laziness, vanity, madness and other passions, and quickly get to work on the work of your salvation. Read the Word of God, read how the saints, servile labored people.
O renewing power of repentance, by the grace of God! How great is God’s mercy and long-suffering toward us sinners! Every day (being zealous for repentance) we are renewed by the grace of repentance. The Lord, in repentance, grants the soul restoration. I am touched by God’s immeasurable compassion for the human race. What an immeasurably great price He gave to the Heavenly Father for delivering man from hell and eternal torment and for bestowing holiness, as a ransom for us to God: he gave Himself, suffered and died for us! O lost drachma, soul created in the image of God! Bride of God! Child of God! “He was wounded for our sins and tormented for our iniquities; the punishment of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed” (Isa. 53:5). Therefore, we must suffer for Him and be crucified in order to come to life with Him.
How holy, good, wise, eternal, all-blessed is the will of God for us, humans, and how we must constantly, with all our might, try to fulfill it for our own eternal and temporary well-being. And our will is so sinful, short-sighted, blind, erroneous, selfish, disastrous, having in mind only its own personal benefit and profit. Do not forget that you have been corrupted in soul and body since your youth, and deeply humble yourself and repent before God and thank Him for giving you time for repentance and correction. Oh, how much mercy the Lord poured out on you all the days of your life on earth! No number! Cry and give thanks.
How many different passions, coldness and carelessness about the soul and its eternal fate beyond the grave, despondency, grumbling, disobedience, waywardness nest in the depths of our hearts - and how unclean we are before God, unworthy of Him almost every minute, and worthy of Him only when we sincerely acknowledge our sins and cry about them, asking for forgiveness and expressing a firm desire not to repeat sins in the future, not to be defiled by them, not to be servile to them, but to firmly preserve and fulfill the holy, righteous and wise will of God.
“Draw close to God, and He will draw close to you” (James 4:8). Through sin, people moved away from God, His life, and were appropriated to the devil, the author of sin and all evil and death. But by the power of the Crucified One, signs and wonders of man’s salvation are still being performed, for his sincere repentance, through which he becomes close to God or the God-man - in one Person, unmerged, indivisible.
“He has filled those who hunger with good things” (Luke 1:53). The deeper the repentance, humility, consciousness and feeling of one’s sins, the more abundantly the grace of forgiveness is given, the more blessings are poured into the soul of a person from the all-generous Master. Manasseh was the most lawless of the kings, but then he showed great and deep repentance, and was granted great forgiveness and mercy from the Lord. Delve into the repentant prayer of Manasseh, the king of Judah, how he humbled himself and repented of it; How he magnified the mercy and long-suffering of God! His prayer is an example of repentance.
“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Sins remove a person from God, the Source of life, and plunge him into death. To get closer to God, you need sincere repentance. God Himself is looking for the withdrawn person. He Himself leaves heaven and comes to earth, becomes a man, enters into close communication with him, converses, sanctifies the waters with His Baptism, bestows the bath of rebirth, establishing the Last Supper - communion of the Body and Blood, brings down the grace of the Holy Spirit on believers, grants repentance, remission of sins, sanctification, renewal, confirmation, sonhood and deification. What else has He not given? He gave everything, everything in abundance. How do people use means of salvation? They trample on them like swine pearls (Matthew 7:6). But it will be strictly exacted from the unbelievers, the ungrateful, the proud and the evil-willed.
“I can’t dig, I’m ashamed to ask” (Luke 16:3). That’s the trouble and the important loss: you can’t ask, but you have to ask. “Ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7); “after all, you are unhappy and pitiful, and poor and blind and naked” (Apoc. 3:17); I can’t dig, but I have to dig; you would dig in the depths of your soul and unearth a real treasure - an immortal soul buried by passions, that soul that was created in the image and likeness of God and which is completely suppressed by worldly lusts and pleasures.
Great are the sins by which the holy men were tempted, into which they fell, for even a righteous man falls seven times a day (Proverbs 24:16); but we owe them great examples of repentance, the mercy of God, such as: David, Manasseh and many saints of the New Testament - the apostles Peter and Paul, the harlot, the prodigal, the prudent thief, Mary of Egypt and many, many; If they had not sinned gravely before God, they would not have given the church such wonderful, fiery, sincere examples of repentance. Read with heartfelt attention the psalms of King David, especially Psalm 50, and the prayer of Manasseh, king of Judah, the most wicked of kings, who commanded to grind with a wooden saw the greatest of the prophets, Isaiah, and the one who had mercy - and you will see how great was the power of repentance in them, which God Himself accepted into the stench of fragrance as a model for us sinners.
I love the great Forerunner and Baptist of the Lord John for his meek, but formidable and decisive sermon to the Pharisees and Sadducees: “His shovel is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn, and burn the straw (chaff) with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). Listen or read these menacing words more often and repent, modern Pharisees and Sadducees and all intellectuals and ignoramuses in the Law of God. Wait for the terrible fulfillment of the latter, and for all who strive, for the blessed promise of the Lord. Amen.
“Now, O Pharisee, he stood praying within himself” (Luke 18:11). What does the all-seeing, all-righteous, terrible, judging Eye read in the Pharisee’s soul, for the Pharisee did not pray out loud, but secretly, to himself? “God, I thank You that I am not like other people” (Luke 18:11) and so on. By Pharisee one can understand all the arrogant, arrogant in their title, rank and mind, vanity in learning, wealth, beauty, strength, successes and looking with pride and contempt at sinful, but humble and repentant humanity in the soul, whose inner eye, enlightened by the light of grace, is turned inward, into the depths of the heart, and contemplates the entire abyss of sin, all corruption, which sin brought into our nature, all guilt before the justice of God, all our punishment from the Divine judgment and, humbly recognizing our sins, cries out from the depths of a humble heart for mercy: “Be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13).
This is what the righteous Eye saw, what the righteous Eye read in the heart of the publican: It saw, It read in one ignorant pride and arrogance, and in the other (the tax collector) the humble consciousness of many sins and the sinner’s irresponsibility before the highest Truth: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” What countless numbers of Pharisees see the Divine Eye, especially in the present time - a time of godlessness, a time of worship of one’s own mind, one’s own writing talent, a time of worship of gold and silver idols, a time of seeking power over subordinates. You pathetic, senseless, short-sighted, blind people! You do not assume and do not think that all your judgments, frivolous, malicious, all your passions are inscribed with an indelible incisor there, in heaven, in the book of God’s eternal destinies, and even in your consciences - and all will be revealed at the national court and will bring you unbearable shame and righteous condemnation.
Now you are hiding from human judgment and from your conscience and doing lawless deeds with impunity, spending time in games, carnal pleasures or idleness and ridicule - not a single thought will be hidden there. Consider your sins here while there is time for repentance. The doors will soon be closed, and you will knock in vain and say: “Lord, Lord, open to us” (Matthew 25:11). The answer will be to you: “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I know you” (Matthew 7:23). You are the first here everywhere - you will be the last there, i.e. in hell, the last, these repentant publicans, will be the first. On this universal threshing floor, the shovel will sweep away all the chaff and burn it with unquenchable fire, and will gather the wheat into the heavenly granary. So, “let the unjust continue to commit unrighteousness; let the wicked still be defiled, and the righteous still create righteousness, and the holy still be sanctified. Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward everyone according to his deeds” (Apoc. 22:11-12).
What will you do, unbelievers, unprepared, relaxed, corrupted to the marrow of your bones, when the Last Judgment of God befalls you by accident, like the Japanese war, like the Russian revolution? Then they will not give you time to enter the house to take what you need, “one is taken, and another is left” (Matthew 24:40).
The people of the first antediluvian world were given 120 years to repent, and they were warned that for their sins there would be a general punishment from God - a flood. Time passed, and people were corrupted and did not think about repentance and did not believe the preacher of repentance, the righteous Noah - and the Word of God was fulfilled exactly. The Jews did not believe the prophets that they would be captured by the Babylonian king, and continued to worship idols - and went into captivity, and Jerusalem was destroyed, and all the wealth went to Babylon. The Jews contemporary to Jesus Christ did not believe in Christ as the Messiah and killed Him by death on the cross, and Christ’s prophecy about the fall of Jerusalem was soon fulfilled - the Jews were exterminated by the Romans without mercy. So in the present time, the people have gone mad, they do not heed the cry of the holy church, they say - these are fairy tales, the priests are deceiving us for their income. O blind, O stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, are not all the events predicted by the Gospel and now coming true before your eyes? Here is a war of extermination, a famine, pestilence. Do you really not believe in God’s justice even now?
But know that judgment is at the door, and the Lord will soon come with glory “to judge the living and the dead” (2 Tim. 4:1).
The character of the present life is faith, repentance, struggle or war with sin in all its forms, walking in the ways of the Lord, bearing the fruits of repentance, multiplying the talents given for work, putting on the new man. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). “Behold, I am creating everything new” (Apoc. 21:5), says the Lord. The basis of piety is a deep knowledge of oneself, one’s image and likeness, knowledge of the entire depth of one’s fall, one’s helplessness without God, who alone can restore us from the fall and cleanse us “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1), cleanse, sanctify and make us a new creation. Lord help us! Lord save us!
We have been given a lot of mercy from God, but a lot of change for the better is required from us, a lot of repentance, zeal, love and every virtue, so that a man of God can be perfect, ready for every good deed.
True repentance does not require the repetition of the sins of which a person has repented, but the unswerving following of the path of virtue. And it often happens that a person repented of irritation, anger, hostility and soon gets carried away by them again, repented of intemperance, and soon the same thing again, repented of partiality, addiction to a person, and a minute later - the same thing again.
“Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Diligent repentance, daily and hourly, should lead us to correction, to virtue and perfection, day by day, hour by hour we should be better. Repentance should cause sighing and tears, as in the publican and the harlot.
“My foot stands on righteousness” (Ps. 25:12). This verse of the psalm came to my mind, and I deepened it in my heart through meditation and thought: oh, if only my foot (soul) would stand firmly on the perfect rightness of the law of God, on the rightness of grace. Grant, O Lord, this mercy to Thy servant!
“Friend, how did you come here not wearing wedding clothes? And he said to the servants: having tied his hands and feet, take him and throw him into outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; for many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:12–14). Christ our God likened Himself to the holy, beautiful, luminous, eternal Bridegroom, who deigned to be betrothed with an eternal, incorruptible, vital betrothal in the future endless life and in this here, earthly one, betrothing Himself to a faithful soul. To become engaged to souls who are faithful, but who have been defiled by countless sins, who have distorted the image of God and who have distanced themselves from God, who have become strangers to Him because of their sins. The Lord gave them beautiful, incorruptible, spiritual clothing in the sacrament of baptism and sealing with the Holy Spirit through anointing with holy myrrh.
But man again desecrated the robe of baptism and again withdrew from God and clothed himself in the stinking rags of passions, breaking and dishonoring his betrothal to God; then the Lord, in His mercy, deigned to give him the wedding robe again in sincere repentance and communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and the person again receives an incorruptible robe and is united in the closest way with the heavenly Bridegroom in order to take care in every possible way not to stain the wedding robe again and to live in holiness. Who are these souls betrothed to Christ, the heavenly Bridegroom, and where are they? These souls are you, brothers and sisters. I ask you: is your wedding garment clean? Have you adorned your souls with good deeds? What will you bring to the wedding supper, to the Kingdom of Heaven? Are you constantly preparing for where the beautiful Bridegroom, the King of the angels and all saints, awaits us? Get ready immediately, time flows and brings you closer to the end of your life, and then you will have to make a reckoning with the righteous Householder for your entire life. To her, I say: let us all prepare to acquire the robe of the soul, pure, holy, pleasing to the heavenly Bridegroom. Amen.
Loyalty and devotion to the Lord of every rational creature is required; but in order to be faithful and devoted to the Lord, you need to give up your addiction to your passionate flesh and the adulterous and sinful world, which seduces us with momentary pleasures. You need to stop being a slave to the womb, the theater, cards, the circus, a slave to various revelries, tobacco potions, a slave to silver and gold and intricate fashions. Here you are, a fan of the theater, will you be justified in the judgment of God in your addiction to it? No, because because of him you forgot God, the church of God, the word of God, prayer, your high purpose for your soul, created in the image and likeness of God, you forgot about eternal life and preparation for it, about almsgiving, virginity, chastity and abstinence. And you, covetous and covetous, will you appear right before God when He judges you according to your deeds? No, your gold, your covetousness, your stinginess, your greed will crush you, you will be a stranger to God’s mercy, as you have not had mercy on your neighbor. You will be thrown into the fire of Gehenna, and you will be denied even a drop of water to cool and quench the flames of hell.
And you, fornicator, will you receive pardon at the trial if you do not repent and give up your adultery, do not pay for it, do not make amends for it with alms and abstinence? Thus, all those attached, addicted to the shadow of this world, its deceptive passions, will not be pardoned unless they repent. Oh, how many who sinned and repented were pardoned! How many former fornicators, murderers, covetous people and repentants have entered heaven and are enjoying bliss! How great is God’s love for mankind! How great, immeasurably great, is the redemptive power of the cross, the Blood of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ, shed for the world! How will the unbelievers, the proud, the bitter, the rebellious, the despairing, be justified? God's mercy was ready for them if they would humbly turn to God, Who does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Lord, forgive us priests who, for lack of time, “quickly lay on the hand” (1 Tim. 5:22) giving permission (to the penitent). Don't judge us for this and for many other things.
What brings us closer to God, or what makes us His natural, dear children? The living image of God, embedded or innate in our soul, the union of faith into which we entered with God at baptism, being born by water and the Spirit and assimilated to God, an obligation on both sides: on the part of the Lord - to have mercy on us and to educate us spiritually for the Kingdom of Heaven, for eternal life in God, on our part - the desire and effort to love God, who loved us to the extreme, to please Him by fulfilling His commandments and to live holy, withdrawing sins and bringing repentance to Him. This is what makes us close to God, His close children. And sin continually intensifies to alienate us from God, to remove us, to cool us towards Him, to make us wild, like animals and beasts. “The ox knows its owner; and the donkey is his master’s manger,” and man often does not know his Lord (Isa. 1:3).
Everyone change, be transformed internally; proud, humble yourself and consider yourself the lowest of people, never be proud of anything and do not boast. For what good thing do you have that is not from God? All good things come from Him. Change envy to benevolence; if you are living fornication, immediately leave your uncleanness and be zealous for the purity of your thoughts and desires; if your will is wicked, correct it and be blameless in your insides; if you are a lover of money, leave your partiality and hardness of heart towards the poor and be merciful; if you are grumpy and quarrelsome, be modest and live in peace with everyone; if you are lazy towards prayer and virtue, be careful in future; if you are a drunkard, henceforth live soberly; if he steals, give it to him himself; if you are crafty, be simple and unhypocritical. All of you, rise to the height of virtues, like a mountain, and shake off your sins, like mud, like uncleanness, like corruption and a source of corruption.
Walk always before God, as before the Face of an all-good, omnipotent, quick-to-obey Father, always ready to fulfill the righteous desires and requests of our hearts.
Think and reason in such a way that all your thoughts, feelings and dispositions of your soul are known in heaven when you sit, lie, walk, work, pray, read, talk - everything, absolutely everything is known, and therefore live carefully, think and feel rightly, live according to your conscience and according to the commandments of the Savior and God, treat people sincerely, simply, unkindly, kindly, purely and holy, pray to God and to the saints diligently, reverently. Amen.
You, man, every day, hour, minute, the Lord, the Creator of creation, pleases you in every possible way: the sun shines on you, caresses you with the quiet light of the clear month, and life-giving and pleasantly refreshing air, and fire, and water for all your needs, and grain, and wood, and root crops, and fruits lying on the ground (and in what an innumerable variety of different pleasant tastes!) and flesh all kinds of animals and all kinds of fish and birds; and fabrics, as many fabrics as the Lord has given you to cover and clothe your flesh or to adorn you; how many metals and precious stones to decorate yours and holy churches! This is how God pleases you all, for your existence and well-being, pleasure. Aren't you also obliged to please Him for your own good - to live according to your conscience and the Law of God, His commandments and advice, according to His Gospel, according to the instructions of your spiritual mother, the Church of God? Are you pleasing to Him? You feel joyful, pleasant to breathe the air and be illuminated by the sun, eat pleasant bread for reinforcement, vigor and strength, drink all sorts of drinks. What are you doing that is pleasing and pleasing to the Lord?
Although He does not need anything of yours, He requires pleasing Him for your own sake, because in this pleasing Him is your life, your peace, your light, your strength, your joy, your bliss. Leave madness - and you will live, correct your mind in knowledge - and you will inherit an eternal life.
The Lord loved us with boundless love, descending from heaven and becoming a man for us; and how little there is in us, many have no faith and love for Him at all, because they are completely carried away by worldly and carnal passions. These holy saints and saints loved Him with selflessness, with ardor, with what deeds! But they are blessed and blessed by the church forever.
“God, who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). And how can we not sacrifice for Him, for communication with Him, all sorts of worldly attachments, all sorts of passions, love for family and friends, for wealth, for honors, for food and clothing, for games and amusements? Who and what will we envy, having within ourselves the Lord, the Source of life and all blessings?
Who should be nicest to us? Isn't it the Lord, our Creator and Provider? What an abyss of life, holiness and light there is in him! And consider carefully all His works, if possible - what kindness the Lord has shown in them and is constantly showing in them, His goodness, wisdom and wonderful providence for everyone! What a wonderful book - this visible nature, telling the incessantly attentive and thinking and believing the perfections of the Creator, His infinite mind! But what is most amazing is that the Lord, as the greatest proof of His goodness, created man in His image and likeness, with a reasonable, free capacity for mutual love between people and love for His Creator and Provider, for appreciating His deeds, for gratitude and devotion to Him until the end of life, destined for immortality. It is in it, in the human soul, that you especially seek the enlightenment of God’s goodness, wisdom, and the greatness of the Divine, for what is more precious and higher in a person than to be the image and likeness of God and to manifest His perfection in oneself?
That is why the Lord alone is worthy of our primary and complete love and selflessness. “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mark 8:34). And what do we find in creatures, in our passions and lusts of flesh and blood, in addictions to the world? We find constant deception, delusion, decay, sorrow, darkness and crampedness, disappointment and boredom, emptiness and, in the end, eternal torment, if we do not come to our senses, repent and turn to God, the Source of our life and all good. There we constantly find deception and harm in the excessive pleasures of the belly, in food, drinks, in games, shows, revelry, in reading only secular books of light content. How many, after their death, will inconsolably groan and cry that they wasted the time given for such a great purpose, i.e., in vain. for the salvation of the soul, for appropriation to God, for repentance, alienation from all sin, for all good deeds! As long as we have time, we will wake up from our sinful and destructive sleep, from our sinful daydreaming. “Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight, and blessed is the servant, for he will be found vigilant...”.
The main commandment of the Law of God is love, it must be fulfilled urgently; but the devil, knowing this, opposed and contrasts his unclean carnal love, which from the beginning he taught and still teaches people, the love of this world - adulterous love, the love of the honors of this world: “I will give you all the glory if you fall and worship me,” the devil said to the Lord (Matthew 4:9).
How many different kinds of sins and passions nest in the depths of your soul when the Lord opens the eyes of your heart to see them. “Lord, cleanse me from my hidden secrets, and keep your servant from plotting” (Ps. 18:13-14). “Foxes (demons) have holes and birds of the air (demons) have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20). But what a reward is prepared for a pure heart! How the Lord glorifies them in this present life! And what has he prepared for them in the future!
Your heart should be completely embraced and absorbed by the love of God and should have no place in itself for carnal impurity, blind, senseless, destructive to soul and body. Meanwhile, the enemy slander and attracts to carnal iniquities, inflames, scorches with thoughts and imagination of nasty sin, but you resist with all your might and do not allow yourself to be carried away by them, so that you do not become defiled and anger God.
Do you not prefer creation to the Creator and do you not love creation more than the Creator? It is necessary that every person come to true reason and learn to sincerely honor and love the eternal personal, loving Creator of creation and for the sake of His love to despise earthly, partial love.
Do not love gifts more than the Benefactor, do not love corruptible food more than incorruptible food - the most pure Body and Blood of Christ, for others love their delicacies more than this heavenly, incorruptible, life-giving food.
One must abhor all sin and have no heartfelt attraction and disposition (love) towards it, for example, towards food, drink and various inappropriate things. Instead, one must constantly have reverent and grateful thoughts about God, about His unceasing benefits, about His sweetest promises in the present and future centuries, about the incomparability of future heavenly blessings in comparison with the here, transitory, corruptible, rude ones, one must always repent of all deviations from the Law of God and negligence in fulfilling it.
You, a Christian, must be the master and lord in your heart, must rule over all passions and kill them, and give dominion to grace and every good, especially love for one's neighbor, in order to love God most of all, for love for God is tested by love for one's neighbor: “he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see” (1 John 4:20), and we have this commandment from Him, that He who loves God must also love his brother. “He who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
There is One Precious One, One Who is the edge of all desires - the Lord, pure, incorruptible, holy, premium, eternal Lust, Whom all the saints desired strongly, irrevocably, invincibly. Which is the never-falling Desire of all the countless councils of angels. And we have so many charming, deceptive, unclean, corruptible lusts, because of which we constantly fall away from love for God and neighbor! Vain, pitiful, obscene people who have turned their whole lives, their thoughts and desires, their aspirations into a lie, leaving the only thing they need - the grace of God, leaving a storehouse of living water and digging themselves holey wells in which there is no living water, but only muddy, unclean, bitter, dead water of passions! Oh, how sin and all our passions have darkened us, disfigured and killed us! We need enlightenment, purification, sanctification, unceasing repentance, self-knowledge, especially the knowledge of our countless sins. “I acknowledge my iniquity, I lament my sin” (Ps. 37:19). Glory to You, Lord, our enlightenment, our love, our life treasure!
Have you, O priest, appropriated yourself to Christ with all your thoughts, with all your soul and with all your heart, so that He could appropriate you to Himself, dwell in you and create an abode in you?
“I count all things as rubbish, that I may win Christ” (Phil. 3:8). Oh, the high Christian heavenly philosophy of the heavenly Paul! Everything earthly: human beauty, perishable wealth, the sweetness of food and drink, the beauty of clothing, gold and silver - all earthly delights that seduce the eye and senses, count them as rubbish in order to gain Christ, for you cannot have the heart of Christ if you have an attachment to something earthly. Is this heavenly philosophy? Imitate.
Don’t be angry at soulless things and don’t scold them when they don’t work out the way they should and become a hindrance to your business. If you get used to being angry at things, you will become angry with people, even without reason, and you will fall away from love, and love is the essence of the entire Law of God. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:33).
The Lord says: “love your enemies, bless those who curse you and do harm to you” (Matthew 5:44). So, love your enemies Poles, Finns, Georgians, Armenians, Jews, Caucasian tribes; they strongly hate and are sick with devilish hatred, they are pitiful, unhappy, subject to passions and a hundred times need our regret and sympathy; hatred has blinded the eyes of their hearts, they are at enmity against God, who commanded love to everyone. Love every person who hates you and pray for him, “overcome evil with good,” according to the Apostle (Rom. 12:21).
Anyone who gets used to being irritated and angry at various things that do not satisfy him (falling, breaking), that do not fit the measure, etc., gets used to getting irritated at people who for some reason do not please him, at those who oppose him intentionally or unintentionally. We must endure everything indifferently and, at the slightest pretext of irritation, repent to God and ask Him to help us who are weak.
If a king or any spiritual or secular authority in general is mistaken in many ways and acts illegally, due to a weak conscience or lack of character, with visible omissions, do not despise, do not scold, do not humiliate them in words, but pray to the Lord for them, so that “he will heal the weak and fill what is lacking,” for without God we cannot do anything truly good and useful.
“Blessed are you when they revile you” (Matthew 5:11). The Lord pleases those who are reviled for His holy Name, because He Himself was reviled and slandered by the scribes and Pharisees. And you rejoice, and do not be sad, do not be offended that you are reviled and all sorts of fables are thrown at you - “great is your reward in heaven for this. Rejoice and be glad” (Matthew 5:12). This was what you lacked: you were not blamed, but only praised; therefore, when they praise you, think about how you might not be condemned by God, because everyone only says good things about you. Remember Christ God, “Who, being slandered, did not slander each other, and while suffering, did not threaten, but handed it over to a righteous Judge” (1 Pet. 2:23). Amen.
“If you bring your gift to the altar... go first and be reconciled...”. (Matthew 5:23–24). We should not have a hostile attitude towards anyone, but should have an attitude of condescension, patience, all-forgiving, full of love, so that God will forgive us too.
“Judge not, lest ye be judged; for with the judgment you judge, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2). Lord, grant us not to judge the living, much less the dead. You are the only righteous Judge - as the Creator and Lawgiver of the living and the dead. And grant us to strictly condemn ourselves and ask for forgiveness and forgiveness of voluntary and involuntary sins for the deceased.
See how the Lady praises God-loving humility: “The Lord has looked upon the humility of His servant, for from now on all generations will please Me” (Luke 1:48), and how she condemns pride, because of which the fall of so many angels with Thrones, Principalities, Powers, and Authorities occurred. “He showed,” says the Mother of God, “the strength of the muscle.” His own, he scattered the arrogant in the thoughts of their hearts” (Luke 1:51). Who are these proud people in the thoughts of their hearts? The fallen angel and the whole kingdom of demons. Oh, how many more victims of suffering and death, human victims, there must be to fill the number of those who have fallen, and how many are the victims of death, especially in these years of anarchy, impunity and terror! every day! How many are killed for the faith, the king and the fatherland! They all make up for the number of fallen angels. Lord, how righteous, how good, how wonderful, how incomprehensible are Thy works. Lord, preserve Thy Church unshakably.
A wonderful, wise prophetic song of the Mother of God: “My soul magnifies the Lord... that He looked upon the humility of His Servant; for from now on all generations will call me blessed...” (Luke 1:46–48). First of all, She praises God for the fact that He gave Her humility and looked upon this humility. The Blessed Virgin, with deep humility, corrected Eve’s tendency towards pride and the desire to become equal to God. The Son of Her and God “humbled Himself, becoming obedient, even to death, even death on the cross, and made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, becoming in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:7-8). For humility, he exalted the Virgin Mary, making Her His Mother, and created unimaginably great greatness for Her.
Serve people impartially and willingly - rich or poor, healthy and sick, handsome and ugly, noble and simple, believing and remembering that they are all members of Christ and your souls and that for impartial and diligent service you will receive a reward from the Hero of Christ. “Whoever gives his neighbor to drink, even a cup of... water, in His Name, will not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42), He says. When serving others, sometimes there is partiality, or laziness, reluctance, or anger and irritation, or a desire for reward. Know that your reward is Christ.
When you serve in a church, then you serve reverently, but when you serve in simple houses and with ordinary people, you serve carelessly, hastily and heartlessly, as if God, the great and terrible Knower of the Heart, is not the same in the church and in every place. Correct yourself and be sincere and reverent everywhere.
Take away from me, Lord, every evil thought of this visible life. How constantly I am tired of this whole evil thought of the visible (there is the invisible) of this life, distracting us from the real, invisible, eternal life. We constantly notice in the world greed for what is visible, passionate desire, envy of the rich, and more and more, endlessly acquiring for themselves and not giving from their wealth to the poor or even taking away from them. Be rich in God and do not envy those who enrich themselves to the point of madness and oblivion of God.
Do not look at the multitude of beggars who pursue you with their begging as your enemies, because of your addiction to acquisitions, but as truly friends of God and yours, because of whom an eternal, imperishable reward is being prepared for you in heaven; do not look at them as parasites, but, on the contrary, look at yourself as such, because from many you eat and drink for free for sweetness. Do not feel sorry for money, but for them as truly poor and pitiful, having nowhere to lay their heads, walking to the point of exhaustion for small alms. “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).
I was in the villages and saw peasant life. What poverty everywhere, what rags with countless patches! What emaciated faces from lack of nutrition! What mournful faces! What, these are stepsons and not children of God? The rich don’t even want to look at them, they don’t want to clothe them, feed them, comfort them! What is the soul of the rich! How disgusting she is to God who loves mankind! Do not please the rich, do not flatter, do not envy him, but cry for him as for the most pitiful person.
I mentally compare the city, especially the capital, and the villages and marvel at the contrast between them: in those, i.e. cities - insane luxury, millions spent on unnecessary splendor, brilliance and grace, and in the villages - extreme squalor, huts or houses, mostly thatched, the furnishings are the simplest; for food and drink, rye bread, stew as God will provide. Working together with God and mammon, the passion for covetousness makes a person an idolater: “covetousness... is idolatry,” says the apostle (Col. 3:5). Remember what greed brought Judas to. This is the enemy of God and man, covetousness. Flee covetousness - it makes a person stony-hearted, an enemy of God and people.
In the case of the rich man mentioned in the Gospel, who departed from the Lord with sadness, we see how many rich people today, apparently believing and loving the Lord, immediately fall into distrust and hardness of heart when they are required to give alms to the poor, and depart from the preacher with sadness, better desiring to live in wealth than with God.
“He collects” (earthly treasures) “and does not know who will get it” (Ps. 38:7), says the prophet David. The pitiful state of the rich man's soul. “Who will get what you have prepared” (Luke 12:20), says the Lord to the rich man in the parable. Terrible condition! He prepared untold wealth, but lost God and his soul and prepared it for eternal torment. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me, taking up the cross” (Mark 10:21), says the Lord to the rich young man.
Remember the Savior’s words about the rich, how difficult it is for them, who trust in wealth, to “enter the Kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23), and that their lot is eternal torment for their attachment to wealth and for their hardness of heart towards the poor, for they depart from Christ with sadness when they are offered to sell their property and give it to the poor, for whom they do not care. In general, the rich are pitiful as those who have perverted their nature, as those who have become wild and who place their life not in God, but in the abundance of acquisitions, ready to take off the poor man’s last shirt. Our wealth is God and His truth and mercy.
The main illness of the rich young man, which is spoken of in the Gospel, was that he was passionately devoted to self-interest, to the love of money - from head to toe, and his heart was not merciful, but cruel, uncompassionate towards the poor, and he lied to the Lord, the Knower of the Heart, that he had kept all the commandments from his youth: he did not love either God or his neighbor, he loved only himself, he loved to save and collect, and not to give to the poor. I saw a hungry man - I did not feed him, I saw a naked man - I did not clothe him; In general, he did not help anyone in need. You see, it’s a pity for him to collect it, it’s a pity to give it away. Will he pray - he thinks about money, not about God; in general, he only thinks about earthly things, and not about how to love God and neighbor more passionately, to do good more diligently; but he does the commandments only out of appearance, as if to show off to others. Oh, my damned soul, flee from such hypocrisy and double-mindedness!
Lord, what wealth have you given to man! You gave Yourself, all the grace of the Holy Spirit, the future kingdom with its eternal blessings and joys - but earthly wealth and attachment to it deprives a person of God and eternal life, it is the enemy of man. Think about it according to Christ and the apostolic teaching and the example of the saints, how they looked at earthly wealth, how they voluntarily abandoned it, how they despised it, considered it as rubbish, as a great obstacle to the love of God and the salvation of the soul. Is spiritual wealth still not enough for you? After all, God Himself gave you all of Himself, giving Himself to “those who fear Him” (Ps. 110:5); and you listen to the flattery of the enemy and envy the rich, who are getting richer and losing money from day to day - Who? The Lord himself!
Two bellies, two lives are intended for God’s chosen people - temporary, earthly, and eternal, heavenly. This life was given to us independently of us, the future life without us, without our faith and desire, without good deeds cannot be given to anyone, we must firmly and constantly believe in the future resurrection of the dead and in the future endless life, we need to educate ourselves for it, stock up on the oil of good deeds and alms, for “the merciful will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Therefore, the Lord and the Gospel pointed out to the rich young man, who wanted to know about the path to the Kingdom of God, to give alms, and generous ones at that, and the word about distributing property to the poor and eternal life seemed inconceivable to the young man, and he left the heavenly Teacher with sadness in his heart. The Lord said on this occasion that “it is difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God,” for one cannot make hope in soulless wealth and earthly happiness his goal, and not the heavenly fatherland, not poverty of spirit. For me, instead of all the riches, honors, beauties and earthly sweets - Christ God is true, eternal, inalienable wealth, says the faithful Christian. Truly!
- the property of a believer and devotee. “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).
A person who is envious of someone else’s wealth or the convenience of life, himself reveals his addiction to it and the wrong direction of his mind and heart, and his heart departs from God and becomes an idolater. Look better at the peasant: there is a drink - water, sometimes tea, and not everyone, only according to each person’s income, has an estate - two or three cattle, a horse and several sheep for food and clothing. And if you take into account the constant fires that burn everything in the village to the ground, you are amazed at how poor peasants are still alive. The townspeople are drowning in wealth, the village is drowning in fire and poverty. Villagers are martyrs, eternally mournful people. These last many will be the first in the next century.
Do not envy the stingy and hard-hearted rich people who wrongly got rich at the expense of the poor people. They perish in their vanity and enrichment and do not have God and have completely fallen away from Him. Remember that “the earth and everything that is in it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). Do not be jealous of those who are enriched in the body, but do not care about the immortal soul, and pray for them, the perishing, darkened by their souls, and always have God in your heart - the true wealth of a believer. Hey, amen.
He who envies the wealth of others thereby reveals a hidden desire to take possession of their industry and wealth, and at the same time the emptiness of his mind and heart and lack of faith in God, by whom every person lives, and love for his weak neighbor. If God were the wealth of his heart, he would never envy the earthly and perishable wealth of his neighbors, considering it vain and greatly hindering the salvation of his soul. For it is extremely difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God, and it is easy to perish, like the merry rich man of the Gospel or the rich man who “had a good harvest in the field, and he thought to himself: what should I do? I have nowhere to gather my fruits” (Luke 12:16-17). Read the Gospel and look for where the wisdom of a true Christian lies: is it not in poverty of spirit and self-sacrifice? “We have nothing, but we possess everything,” says the apostle (2 Cor. 6:10).
“Shine in our hearts the true sun of Thy righteousness.” The Church prays to the Lord on behalf of every Orthodox Christian, so that He will teach us the complete truth of God, so that, like the sun, it will illuminate our heart, and our soul, and our thoughts, so that not a single dark passion of sin, not a single evil thought, or any hostile feeling towards anyone will remain in us, so that a person will be clothed according to the loins and the truth according to his ribs, so that “he will love righteousness and hate iniquity” (Heb. 1, 9). This is what it means: “Shine in our hearts the true sun of Your righteousness, O Lord.”
God! Do we grieve you, who is immeasurably good and constantly benefits us in every possible way, with all kinds of sins and all kinds of passions? Correct us by their destinies and show us worthy of Yourself, so that we may live worthy of our Christian calling and election.
At Your feet, Lord, we lie in tears of repentance with all the weeping saints, prophets, martyrs, apostles and all the righteous - and we ask You for mercy through their prayers, for the salvation of souls, and for the Kingdom of Heaven, although we are unworthy of it because of our sins. I bring to Your intercession Your Most Pure Mother, and the councils of Angels, and all rational creation - have mercy and save us sinners according to Your grace and mercy. Hey, amen.
Lord, save the Russian people, the Orthodox Church in Russia is perishing: debauchery is everywhere, unbelief is everywhere, blasphemy, lack of authority. Lord, everything is in Your hands, You are the Almighty!
The responsibility of a Christian person before God
The responsibility of a Christian person before God. Last Judgment. The need to actively accomplish one’s own salvation following the example of the saints. Prayer and reading the word of God
What is the dignity of man and the human soul when the Lord honors him with the communion of His most pure Body and Blood and makes him His church, the church of the Holy Trinity! Think about this, mortal people, and learn from the immortality given to you by the Conqueror of Death. “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life” (John 6:54).
The soul is a creative principle: both in reality and in dreams, especially in dreams, it constantly creates, invents or imagines all sorts of faces, things, types of nature, the most diverse, produces or sees different events in such a way that you wonder where it comes from, is created, from what inexhaustible source. This is a wonderful creative quality of the soul. Where do these diverse phenomena, these things, these types of nature come from? Who presents them to the gaze of the soul? It is strange that a sleeping person who does not use any senses in his sleep sees, hears, touches, and uses the organ of the tongue, which during sleep is completely bound and does not function. During sleep, the soul acts independently, independently of the body, as the dominant living principle. “Wonderful are Your works, O Lord” (Ps. 139:14)!
The human soul is of immeasurable value, according to the truth and righteousness of God, but people value it very little or not at all, do not care about it, do not clear it from the thorns of passions, do not care about repentance (repent), about cleansing, about adornment (wedding clothing), affirmation, about striving with all their strength and abilities for heaven, for a heavenly life on earth, as the saints did: “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20), about the fulfillment of every virtue. Most people seem to deliberately indulge in all sorts of passions and abominations, all kinds of vices and remain unrepentant. Woe to people who bury their talents in the ground and do not multiply the God-given deposit for their own bliss, the glory of God, for immeasurable goodness and generosity. Read, Christian, with attention and often the Gospel, understand and put in your heart the Word of God.
The Creator alone knows all the dignity of the human soul, which He created in His image and likeness, and He alone can appreciate all its boundless love and devotion to Him, the Lord God. Blessed is the Christian man who understands this and cleaves with all his heart to God, his Creator and Redeemer, and endures all temptations in love and devotion to Him, like Job of the Old Testament, like the apostles, hierarchs, martyrs and all the saints who pleased God and were awarded heavenly citizenship for their fidelity and devotion.
Everything organic and animal in the world lives a unique life, to the glory of God, to the proclamation of His wisdom, goodness, His beauty, the first and beginningless life. A special, reasonable, personal, eternal, blissful life was given from the original and beginningless Life only to the angels and the human race, meaningful, chosen, obedient to the commands of the Creator, i.e. saints. And we must achieve this life, according to the instructions and commandments of the Creator and with His omnipotent assistance, every day and hour - and we are commanded to constantly watch, “because our adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
The Lord wants you to grow spiritually and reach maturity, like an ear of grain, or to flourish and smell fragrant before God with all spiritual virtue, like the beautiful flower of the fields and valleys. This is your purpose, man. But at the same time, the Lord wants you to avoid every stench of sin through repentance and tears, abstinence and constant vigilance over yourself, through the struggle with thoughts and sinful inclinations and passions, for “the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force, and those who use force take it away” (Matthew 11, 12).
Out of compassion and immeasurable love, God mingled with human nature in order to deliver man, created in the image of God, from the affinity and confusion of the devil, and he, man, according to the teachings of the devil, passionately mingled with all dumb flesh, not to mention illegal and unnatural mixtures with human flesh, mingled even with wood and stone, creating stone and wooden gods and “saying to the tree: “You are mine.” father,” and to the stone: “you gave birth to me” (Jer. 2:27). What nonsense - sin! What an illegality, what a mockery of the enemy against man! Deliver us, Lord, from such madness.
The eternal love of God constantly surrounds us, edifies, protects, guides, helps, strengthens, makes visible and invisible enemies victorious and heals illnesses, cleanses sins, pacifies souls, enlightens, and comforts. Glory to endless love!
In our mind, in our hearts and in the movements of our fallen will, sinful dreams almost constantly move and act, dreams of certain passions that nest and grow and take root in us from our earliest youth. Therefore, it is the duty of a Christian and a Christian woman to strictly pay attention to themselves, to constantly drive away from themselves these sinful dreams, this delusion, this abomination of the devil, and to acquire their spiritual and physical vessels in holiness and honor, so that they will be everlasting temples of the Holy Spirit. “You were bought with a price,” says the apostle, “glorify God... in your bodies and in your souls, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:20). Act “worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (Eph. 4:1).
“Every man is vanity,” says David (Ps. 38:12). “Vanity of vanities and all is vanity,” says Solomon (Eccl. 1:2). Even the majority of Christians who have received the gracious new law from Christ serve vanity.
Remember the great supper and the endless good things prepared by the Lord of the House, and those called to it by His mercy: all refused because of worldly passions, and therefore not one of those called will taste His supper. It's horrible! What kind of disbelief, disrespect for the Lord! What laziness, what absurd addictions! And yet, this is how it was and will be! Everyone follows the broad path of easy sin, everyone avoids the narrow and regrettable, purifying, testing, preparatory path!
And the dust of the earth will testify about us at the judgment of God. “And shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11). My God, how many witnesses to our wickedness! Where will we run? Where shall we hide?
All saints will be witnesses of the saving faith of Christ against all our learned secular ignoramuses who boast of their false education, against all non-Orthodox Christians, especially those who are called only Orthodox Christians, who have long ago betrayed their faith in practice. That is why the martyrs are called in Greek µ ά ρτυρεξ - witnesses. Remember, Christian, how many witnesses are against you at the judgment of Christ.
People are in turmoil, the elements are in turmoil, air, water, earth, fire are in turmoil - due to the sins of people, the elements that are being burned will soon be ruined, the earth and everything on it will burn. Sins have multiplied to the brim. There is no longer an opportunity to live in peace. Church of God, Bride of Christ - adorn yourself in order to appear brightly to Your beautiful, incorruptible, eternal Bridegroom.
It was terribly difficult for all nature at the hour of death of the God-man: it was not in vain that “the whole earth shook, the stones were scattered, the sun darkened, the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the departed saints were resurrected, and coming out of the tombs, after His resurrection they appeared to many” (Matthew 27:51-53). But nature held firmly with the hand of the Almighty and is still holding on... waiting for the end, when the human race will turn into a stinking corpse and there will be nothing for it to exist, when the wheat is finally ripe and ready for the final harvest... Then it will be said: “Let go of your sickle and reap, because the time of harvest has come” (Apoc. 14:15).
In the end, we will all have to leave this short life here, move into eternity, appear to the holy and righteous Judge and Creator of all, God, and give an account of our lives. How and with what will we show up? What judgment and sentence will we hear from Him for all eternity? This is what we should think about more often, what we should care about. Oh, think all about this future destiny and prepare your good deeds, your spiritual fruits, so that no one will appear as a fruitless tree.
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead with a word - this means that He is the Creator of Lazarus, the Creator of the human race; He raised up the widow's son with a word - which means that with the same word He created the world from nothingness; He rebuked the winds and waters with a word - that means He created them with His word, to Whom everything obeys; He walked on the waves of the sea as if on dry land, which means He is the Creator of seas, lakes, rivers and all kinds of sources; He transformed fire into dew, water into wine, rivers into blood, the dust of the earth into midges, brought toads out of the sea to punish the Egyptians - which means He is the Creator of the elements; therefore, by the same word of Him, in the last days the earth will turn into a blazing fiery bonfire and the elements that are burned will be ruined. This means that by the same word of the Lord the dead will all be resurrected. Do atheists understand this wonderful creativity and providence of the Lord for the world?
Lent, or Great Lent, has ended. The holiday of Christ's resurrection of the righteous Lazarus from the dead has arrived, as a sign of the resurrection of Christ from the dead and the future general resurrection. So, in the future resurrection for all, new eternal life will begin for the righteous and repentant, and for unbelieving and unrepentant sinners - eternal torment, as Christ Himself announced. His Word does not pass by. Righteous Lazarus lived for several years after his resurrection, was a bishop, and died at a very old age. Everyone needs to prepare for the future life. Man was created for endless life, only sin introduced death and a short life into the world, full of illness and sorrow; but the Lamb of God took upon Himself the sin of the world - Christ conquered death.
Glory to the greatest holiday of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead and the triumph of the resurrection.
Glory to the future general resurrection of people. Let no one dare to darken the glory of this worldwide event. No atheists, no Tolstoy: irresistible glory covers this event, and the church celebrates it worthily, it is alone in the whole world. The Resurrection of Christ is celebrated in a miserable, beggarly, doll-like way among Catholics and among our schismatics, because it is false, homemade, and not from the Holy Spirit.
Since our adversary the devil has become everything in many and is trying to be everything in all people with a darkening, desecrating, demonizing, corrupting, killing, disfiguring force, and is trying to enslave the entire human race for himself, then the all-good, all-righteous, wise and all-powerful Lord wants to be all in all to the man opposed to war: holiness, righteousness, opposing, conquering, enlightening, cleansing, renewing, fragrant, affirming, immortalizing, deifying power. Glory to Thee, Trinity our God! Sin has infected the entire human race - the soul and body of man: the mind, heart and will, physical organs, all the senses, sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, infected all the elements: air, water, fire, earth and light - everything is defiled by human sin, therefore “the earth and everything that is done on it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10), and there will be a new heaven and a new earth - incorruptible, and “the creation itself will be freed from slavery corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21).
“From now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father” (Matthew 26:29). This is what the Lord says as a man: He foresaw a new heaven and a new earth, in which all chosen people will be renewed and will have everything new - a new city, the spiritual Jerusalem, and new food, and new drink, which are Christ Himself and the Holy Spirit, and the new Sun, or Lamp, which is Christ. The present fruit of the vine - the Blood of Christ - is a figurative drink of the future true communion of Christ in His (similar) kingdom. It is right for You to receive communion in the unevening days of Your Kingdom.
How painful it is for the body and dark for the soul together - the absence of the sun. How everything became numb and dead from the extreme cold! How sad, painful, boring! And what is it like for the human soul to be without the grace of God, without prayer, without the Word of God, without worship, without communion of the Holy Sacraments! For many, only death will show all the orphanhood, poverty, misery of their souls!
Lord, how will the human soul ever regret that when it was given the choice to enrich itself with theology, contemplation and love of God, to ascend above everything earthly and corruptible and to inherit the Heavenly Kingdom, it voluntarily submitted to corruption and carnal passions; when it could have ascended high, it sank low, low, to the underworld!
The words of the Lord Jesus Christ are terrible: “where their worm” (sinners) “does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44). They will come true in all truth and power on unrepentant sinners - adulterers, murderers, thieves and others. Oh, cry, sinner, with bloody tears for the terrible misfortune that is coming to you. Believe it or not, this misfortune will come to you and sneak up on you unnoticed. “He will come... on a day on which he does not expect” (unintentionally), “and at an hour in which he does not think, and will cut him up, and subject him to the same fate as the hypocrites; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:50–51).
All unbelieving and unrepentant sinners face eternal punishment, eternal torment, “prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41), and rightly so, because they did evil and fulfilled his evil and destructive will. Each of us experiences within ourselves the punishment for sin: confusion, sorrow and oppression (Rom. 2:9).
Real life is a spiritual school, a struggle, a feat, a battle with sin or the spirits of wickedness in high places, fighting us for evil. Everyone needs to learn to overcome sin within themselves with the help of God, for without God all the Divine powers for life and piety are given to the threshold and from God; you just need to not be lazy to use them. Do you want to learn how to delight the Kingdom of Heaven with power? Learn from the saints how they labored, how they used every effort on themselves, what selflessness they had, what dispassion for wealth, for worldly honor and glory, for carnal pleasures; what abstinence they had, what zeal for God; what constant prayer; what work, what virtues! And how faithfully they reached the Kingdom of God. None of them were put to shame, all received incorruptible life and eternal glory, eternal bliss, and are beyond any fear of losing the acquired Kingdom of Heaven. Imitate them too, each according to his own strength, read, listen to the Word of God, listen, understand, strive tirelessly for the goal of your life - and you will receive eternal bliss.
After all, you worked one way or another for earthly prosperity; work especially to obtain eternal life: “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all this, all earthly blessings, will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Amen.
How sublime, rich, bright, Divine the soul is in God’s holy men; what feats she was capable of in them, i.e. in all saints! What divine contemplations she is capable of! What a gift of words, what creations, what song works in John Chrysostom, Theodore the Studite, Damascus, Joseph the Songwriter, Kozma Mayumsky and other countless church hymnographers! And today's people have fallen to what extent! To dumb animals, and even worse!
The essence of the human soul, albeit fallen, is amazing. For what is it like for saints who have diligently served the Lord in this temporary life! How devoted she is to God with love, with selflessness, prayer, abstinence, and unceasing vision towards God! How pure, firm, bright, fragrant! And the very bodies of the saints emit a fragrance. And what an end! How peaceful, glorious, bright, holy!
My God! What a sight, what heavenly consolation to St. Sergius and Seraphim! The Lord Himself clearly and solemnly appears to the gaze of St. Seraphim with heavenly powers at the small entrance of the liturgy, and repeatedly the Most Holy Lady Theotokos! And the Mother of God herself and the saints granted Saint Sergius a place in his cell. O consolation! O the dignity of man - a Christian and ascetic! Glory to God who has been so gracious!
The saints vigilantly watched all the movements of their hearts and noticed whether any hostility, ill will and malice or envy of anyone, partiality, self-interest nested in them, and immediately uprooted these devilish roots, threw out this hellish leaven, as well as all other passions. All roots and roots were immediately cut off out of God’s jealousy and were not allowed to spread, lest they be suppressed and separated from God. Amen.
Remember the only wealth of Elijah the prophet - the mantle that was lowered on Elisha during the ascension of the prophet. Oh, how he, Elijah, loved God, how alien he was to all worldly passions! He was all in God and before he was taken to heaven he lived with his heart in heaven, with God. “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand,” he said (1 Kings 18:15).
Just as it is common for us, with good vision, to see objects close and far away, so it is convenient for holy angels, holy saints of God, to see in the Holy Spirit, in Whom they abide, in Whom they rest, - the hearts of people, their thoughts and desires, by the grace of God. The so-called seers, with the eyes of their hearts and on earth, saw the hearts and deeds of people done in secret. Saint Andrew, a fool for Christ's sake, convicted one nobleman of the secret grave sin of Sodom.
The Divine economy of human salvation is true in itself to the iota throughout the space of all centuries, and the promises of the Lord to the faithful and those who strive are true to the iota. Not a single one who walked faithfully and steadfastly in the path of the Lord was ashamed or perished, but received an imperishable reward for his exploits - the Kingdom of Heaven. How does the world look at the exploits of people of faith and piety and at the ascetics themselves? Like superstitious and frenzied people, they do not believe in the truth of God’s economy and therefore perish in their unbelief. O wonderful truth of the Divine economy of human salvation!
“Let us sing to the Virgin Mary the universal glory, from man who vegetated and gave birth to the Lord, to the incorporeal” (angels) “song” (glory) “and the faithful fertilizer” (glorification). “For this the heavens and the church of the Divine appeared.” Thus, the church hymn writer, the golden-stringed saint of Damascus, glorifies in his first dogmatics the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos, whose Dormition we now remember and glorify. Let us speak with joy and glorify this Virgin and Mother, glorified by the whole world, descended from the human race, Whom the disembodied angels and earthly faithful men incessantly glorify with joy, for She has become heaven and the church of the Divine. The predetermined end of Her earthly, sorrowful life came, and she fell asleep for three days in the sleep of death, life-giving. One could then say about Her: “The Maiden is not dead, but sleeps” (Matthew 9:24). Yes, She fell asleep, died for three days, like Christ God, Her Son, and on the third day she rose again. She was resurrected and taken to heaven. Oh miracle! O blessed fate! O endless joy! Dignified and righteous!
For She, the Most Pure One, would only seem to rejoice on earth as the All-Righteous One, but She suffered all her life for Her Only Begotten Son, all her life she feared for Him because of His many enemies - the kings of this world, and scientists, and unbelievers, hypocrites, superstitious, treacherous, proud, flattering, envious, money-loving. But then the earthly life of the God-man, full of suffering, ended. The Crucified One was resurrected, His eternal glory began, He sat down and, according to humanity, at the right hand of God on the throne of glory. She was left to live on earth, in the house of the Apostle John, who was adopted by Her. Already almost in old age, She rested and was soon moved to the eternal bright abodes. And what was Her glorious Dormition! With what light did Her most pure face shine! What a wondrous, endless, indescribable fragrance there was from Her ever-virgin Body, as St. Dionysius the Areopagite, who was at Her burial, writes! What sweet angelic singing! With what honor, with what wondrous hymn She was buried with the inspired chanting of the holy martyr Hierotheus! A glorious end to a glorious beginning, earthly life!
How beautiful is the angelic cathedral, countless and comprehensive! If the visible world, for example, the starry world, is so beautiful, and earthly nature with all its elements, fields, meadows, gardens, forests, rivers, seas, lakes, with all the plants and the animal kingdom and other creatures is so great and beautiful, then what, how great and beautiful should be the angelic world, bright, sinless, intelligent, beautiful, strong, mighty! O beauty, oh greatness, oh bliss, oh praise to the Creator!
“Let the saints rejoice in glory, let them rejoice on their beds” (Ps. 149:5). Let us remember the life of the Monk Xenia, her abandonment of her parents’ home, her neglect of wealth and nobility and her betrothed, her fiery love for Christ, fasting, prayer, exhaustion of the flesh, concern for the salvation of the souls of virgins. Why is there such a desire for God in the souls of the faithful and pious? Because like strives for like, the soul, created in the image and likeness of God, strives for the Like, the image for the Prototype, light for Light, life for Life, good power for good Power, mind for the Source of wisdom. And people who are unfaithful and senseless, sinful and evil strive for similar things, i.e. to the evil and all-evil devil, evil to evil, darkness to darkness, uncleanness to uncleanness, evil power to evil power. Like foolish virgins, unbelievers and believers doze and sleep, but believers without good deeds, without mercy to their neighbors. Fools who believed in faith did not have good deeds, and therefore they were condemned. Oh, how many Christians will be condemned!
Reading with attention the church services to the saints for every day of the year and contemplating their deeds in spirit, I cannot be amazed at their selfless love, the inexpressible condescension of God towards them and the love of God for them. How many spiritual gifts they received from God, what miracles they performed, what gift of prophecy they had! Both during their lives and after their death, God glorified them, and dwelt in them, and honored them with unspeakable glory and honor. Some saints shone like the sun at their death, and angels were their companions to heaven. This is what it means to have a human soul, cleansed of sins and loving its Creator with all its heart!
How beautiful and varied in form, color and smell are the countless flowers and plants in general in nature and in different climates on earth! Can't get enough of the sight and smell of them. If the plants are so beautiful, then how fragrant are the saints, the righteous of God of all ranks, degrees and dignities in paradise! “If... the grass of the field, which exists today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, God so clothes it, more than you, you of little faith” (Matthew 6:30). Try, man, to achieve inner beauty, faith, virtue and do not become lazy. How fragrant - better than any flowers - are the relics of saints! God is marvelous in His saints, and He is marvelous in me, in me, a sinner who repents and continually receives mercy and judgment from the Lord.
The Transfiguration of Christ on Tabor shows that if the local sunlight is so beautiful and life-giving, then how much more beautiful and life-giving is the future eternal and non-evening light.
The present elemental world is a faint shadow of future incorruptible, eternal, sweetest blessings. Judge by present things about future incorruptible blessings. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). “Wonderful are Your works, O Lord!” (Ps. 139:14).
“Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). What do you say, Lord, “come and inherit”... Your words are completely true and correct. The immeasurable goodness of God has prepared for us an eternal, incorruptible Kingdom, where there is no need, illness, sorrow and sighing, corruption and death, but eternal pleasure, eternal joy and truth. And we, of little faith and vain, are not jealous, we are negligent about this Kingdom, in which the righteous will reign forever with God and in God. Oh, how blind we are, partial to the visible and temporary! How pathetic and stupid and senseless we are! We renounce eternal bliss, cohabitation with God and the saints and cling to dust, to dreams, to darkness and spiritual stench.
Who is worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven among people? One who tries with all his might to become like God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in holiness, goodness, and mercy to others; who tries to become like the saints - in repentance, prayer, abstinence, patience, meekness, quietness, obedience, unfeigned love (and we are all prone to partiality). In heaven there is only place for holiness, love, like-mindedness, one holy and immaculate will. “The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17).
Every day seeing the firm and correct flow of all the celestial bodies and planets and the firm standing of the globe (circle) with everything that is on it, I am surprised and cannot marvel at the goodness, power and wisdom of the Creator, One in the Trinity, and, mentally transporting myself to the invisible, incorruptible, eternal world, incomparably superior to the visible world, I am even more amazed at the Creator of all worlds, visible and invisible. If the visible world is so beautiful, diverse, full of life and beauty, then what is the invisible world like? It is not in vain that the Word of God says that “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, and the things that God has prepared for those who love Him have not entered into the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). Love God immediately, all intelligent Christians, and achieve perfection in love and eternal truth.
“If you have not been faithful in what belongs to others, who will give you what is yours” (Luke 16:12). Someone else's property is earthly wealth, earthly positions, earthly body, health, which we did not know how and did not want to use according to God's instructions as transitory and temporary. Our true wealth is our soul, rich in the image and likeness of God, rational free will, immortality, the ability to love God and neighbor, repent, pray, thank and glorify God. This is our property - the soul, created in the image of God, which we have made alien to God due to our worldly passions. The holy saints were faithful to God even in the possessions of others, squandering them on the poor, and they used their own souls appropriately, cleansing them with prayers and tears of repentance, through the labors of vigil and fasting, and torment for Christ. So, let us be faithful to God both in external and in internal property, or in someone else’s and in our own. Ours is the soul given to us by God for Christian education, for restoration of the image of God, for likeness to God and endless bliss.
Man is terribly fickle and changeable as a result of the initial damage in paradise: from the heights of heavenly contemplation and Divine thoughts, he can instantly fall into the abomination of nasty, evil, prodigal and blasphemous, evil and envious thoughts and feelings, so that after high spiritual joy he has to secretly cry about his damnation. Blessed is he who, by the grace of God, is firmly established in God and escapes the wiles of Belial the blasphemer.
A person is so deeply damaged, corrupted and defiled by sin, endlessly manifold, that even after struggling for a long time in contemplation and thought of God, if for a moment he lets go of the spiritual reins of his mind and heart, he can now descend to thoughts and feelings that are low, carnal, and nasty; for the roots of sins penetrate deeply and in all directions into the human heart and it often happens that until a person’s death they remain in him and paralyze his soul; Only through patience, abstinence, unceasing prayer, illness and suffering are eradicated. “I grind with the teeth of beasts,” said Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer, “in order to become the pure bread of God.”
Because of the transitory, material, do not neglect the eternal, spiritual, and do not lose love and peace with your neighbors for the sake of material expenses, losses and deprivations. Stay in peace and love. “Try to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord,” says the apostle (Heb. 12:14).
“There is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for My sake and the Gospel, and will not receive now a hundred times more... and in the next age eternal life” (Mark 10:29-30). Why? Because all those who cling to this age are leaky wells that cannot have living water in them and often die a cruel death.
The image of this world passes away as something corruptible, with all its beauty, wealth, sweetness, glory and honor. There are only eternal blessings, treasures, eternal life, truth, love with the holiness and peace of God. Direct the eyes of your heart there, come there, “from where help comes” (Ps. 121:1).
“For indeed, with all Thy chosen ones I will be a partaker of Thy incorruptible blessings, which Thou hast prepared for those who love Thee, O Lord!” Imperishable blessings are ready, but I do not strive to receive them through faith and hope, zeal for virtue. Woe is me, Lord!
We pray daily and glorify the great saints of God, who presented their prayers to the church in writing, we think with their thoughts, we feel with their feelings, we lament our sins through their contrition, we try to rise to their love for the common Creator and God, we form with them one church, one flock of Christ, and may we be pardoned and saved. Just let us not weaken, let us not become lazy in life, but let us force ourselves to repentance and all good deeds. The saints lived, labored, fought, endured temptations, defeated internal and external enemies in the name of the Lord, and were saved. We too will be saved by the grace of God.
A Christian must not only abhor all sins, but also not allow sinful thoughts to enter his mind. Holiness is the element of a Christian, without it a Christian is not a Christian. “Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ is not His” (Rom. 8:9). “Be holy, for I am holy, the Lord your God” (Lev. 11:44). What is needed is constant repentance, constant struggle with sin, prayer to God for help, and help is ready. Thank you for her, for it is said: “Without Me you will help to do nothing truly good” (John 15:5).
The holy saints of God firmly looked with the eyes of their hearts at the future eternal life and steadily strived for it all their lives. And you do the same.
Everywhere in the world we see the triumph, strength, joy and playfulness of life: reptiles, insects, birds, fish of countless species, countless animals, beasts and the king of earthly creatures - man; everyone lives, strives for contentment in life and joy, for work. Look how merrily insects fly and play, such as butterflies, grasshoppers, flies; birds, fish, cats, dogs, sheep, calves, stallions - and let us marvel at the joy and triumph of life in them. But this life is fleeting, not for long do they all have fun and rejoice: soon they will be gone, but in their place new ones will be born - and so, as if on a wheel, life spins. Who gave them and gives life to everyone? Life is beginningless, eternal, personal, wise, all-good - God. But life, longed for by earthly creatures, with its blessings, soon passes and ends for the dumb. Therefore, the All-Good Personal Life wants and has determined to give the rational human being eternal life in heaven, together with God, and has given all the means to man to achieve it. This is your goal, man: strive for eternal life and eternal joy!
Caress yourself to the Savior and the Mother of God, like a sincere son or daughter, caress, I say, by heartily reading the canons, akathists to the Sweetest Jesus and the Mother of God, caress yourself to the saints with fervent prayers and the prescribed canons and akathists, and you will not be put to shame, soon you yourself will feel in your heart the heavenly caress from the Holy Spirit, but do not be discouraged if your heart coolly through the gloomy winds of the ethereal enemy. The Lord sees everything, and no one leaves Him empty-handed, and quickly gives everyone what they deserve. Be patient, for it is said: “With your patience save your souls” (Luke 21:19).
When praying to God and the saints, you need to force yourself to put aside all worldly attachments to people and things, or any partiality towards people and things, and force yourself to love everyone as brothers and sisters, with all goodwill, as yourself.
Insatiably, joyfully and unceasingly glorify the Lord the All-Creator, the heavenly angels, countless in multitude, and holy men as well, but we, earthly and earthly, stout, are so lazy in prayer, praise and thanksgiving! Because they are addicted to the earth, to the voluptuous and lazy flesh, to earthly acquisitions, to various sensual pleasures. In order to worthily glorify and love the Creator, one must eradicate sinful pride, selfishness, and selfishness. “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
Long sleep cools the heart and dulls it to prayer. Oh, how carefully one must indulge in sleep. Enjoying food and drink also cools our heart to prayer.
Treat every person sincerely, lovingly, in simplicity of heart, without hypocrisy, regardless of face, as you want others to treat you. Treat with great reverence and love, pray to the holy saints of God, especially the Mother of God and all the saints. God willing, you will see them in the next century face to face, their lordship and glory, which God has vouchsafed to them, and you will be convinced that you did not in vain honor them and call them here on earth, being in the flesh and being in the Church of God, to which they, like you, belong as members of the one Body of Christ, of which He is the Head.
“Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 6:9-10). Do you, sinner, sincerely desire holiness, are you jealous, possessed by the enemy, the destroyer-devil, of the peaceful Kingdom of God, firstly, in yourself, and then in all people; Do you want to sincerely fulfill the righteous, all-good will of God and do you wish and pray to God that all people would know and fulfill the will of our Heavenly Father? We say these words of the Lord’s Prayer every day without a deep understanding of their meaning and throw them as if to the wind, and therefore there is no good change in us, but we all remain the same sinners, careless and evil.
With what attention, with what reverence, with what love, peace and gratitude we must always pronounce the name of God and the Lord’s prayer: “Our Father..”, and all other prayers. The name of God is great, holy, terrible, and just naming Him is blessed for the believer.
In heaven they accept only the sincere language of the heart of a believer, praying, repentant, merciful and compassionate towards others, pure and chaste: the Lord turns away His Face from the evil heart.
When you pray before the image of the Lord, or the Mother of God, or the saints, ask yourself internally: do you sincerely and with love look at the holy icons, do you pray with faith, do you pray with all your heart, with all your thoughts and with all your hope? Is your heart not asleep, is your thought not asleep?
When we pray for our neighbors, the Lord looks at our hearts - do we sincerely desire salvation and all good for our neighbors as for ourselves; secondly, whether we sincerely abhor sin and love repentance and virtue; thirdly, whether we sincerely love the Lord and are heartily devoted to Him; fourthly, are we not angry with anyone, are we at enmity?
“Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). The Lady received the fullness of grace from the Lord as the Mother (according to humanity) of the all-perfect Creator, the fullness of truth, holiness, goodness, mercy and compassion for sinful and distressed humanity, the fullness of power and strength, bliss, eternal glory and superiority over all heavenly powers. She received all ten sacraments of grace and, due to the incomprehensible abundance of grace, like countless sea waters, she can and does abundantly exude to all who come to Her with faith, all grace-filled help in troubles, sorrows and illnesses and in any sad situation. Come to Her with undoubted faith and hope.
Resort to the holy and all-powerful prayers of the Mother of God, do not deprive yourself of this grace - Her prayer prevails in propitiation for everyone and for you. Amen.
“Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Everything about You is grace-filled, Lady: pregnancy, birth, upbringing, annunciation, conception from the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the eternal Child; and Your whole life is full of grace.
We, Orthodox Christians, talk face to face, mouth to mouth, with the Lord, the Mother of God, the holy angels and all the saints. This is what it means, according to Orthodox Christian custom, to reverently before holy icons, “to pray in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). This is why we supply them in churches and houses of worship (chapels) and in our homes. We believe in the closeness of the Lord and His saints to us and that we are one spiritual body with them, one Church, just as there is one Head of them and ours, the Lord Jesus Christ. With such faith in our holy icons and in the Church, will you, iconoclast-heretics, throw stones of slanderous condemnation at them? We are right and you are wrong and false.
The life-giving face of the Savior, the Mother of God, the Forerunner and the saints depicts the most holy truth, goodness, humility, and mercy. With what love we must look at the holy icons, at the image of the Holy Cross, at the Gospel and other shrines that remind us of the great deeds and words of God and the holy saints. So look, and do not lower your face to the ground, do not be alienated with your heart and eyes, like the Lutherans, Pashkovites or Jews. Appropriate yourself to the heavenly Church. Do you love monuments to famous people, do you love looking at their portraits, photographs, why don’t you like looking at the faces of saints? You are inconsistent and very, very stupid, false and wild.
Looking at the iconostasis in a church, in a chapel or at home, remember the words of the Savior: “you... are not strangers or aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2:19). And say: by the grace of God, we, Orthodox and faithful Christians, are cohabitants of the Mother of God and all the saints. That is why we use holy icons and honor them, and in them is the most primitive thing, i.e. saints themselves, we form with them one cathedral, one Church, heavenly and earthly. By honoring them, we remember and honor their exploits out of love for God, their loyalty and devotion to Him until death, and we ourselves want to imitate them in faith and selflessness for the sake of His name.
An Orthodox Christian turns his face to the holy icons of the Savior, the Mother of God, Angels and various saints in order to clearly demonstrate his faith in their presence, in their closeness to himself; in holy icons they realize and fulfill our Orthodox faith, but without holy icons we seem to hang in the air, not knowing to whom we pray. Praying to the Lord, the prophet David said: “Seek His face” (Ps. 104:4); “I will seek Your face, O Lord” (Ps. 26:8). “The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to destroy their memory from the earth” (Ps. 33:17).
The holy apostles and the entire innumerable council of the righteous and all the saints are heavenly minds and thought and cared about heavenly, and not earthly things: they lived with their bodies on earth, but with their hearts and minds in heaven. Christian societies that do not venerate the saints are pitiful; they deprive themselves of the holy example of their life and their intercession. The Lord Himself teaches us to call His saints as intercessors. “The smoke of incense ascended with the prayers of the saints from the hand of an Angel before God” (Apoc. 8:4). Lutherans, what do you say to this?
With faith and love I call on all the holy apostles and prophets and all the saints and I worship them, and in their person the only God who dwells and abides in them - I honor in them the undying love for the Creator, their holiness, their incorruptible life, their trampling of all the temptations of life, their heavenly wisdom, their perfect truth, devotion to the Lord, obedience to His commandments, their patience, their indestructible patience in exploits, in suffering for Christ, firmness in the truth, in dogmas, in commandments, in all teaching of virtue.
I am saddened by people who do not read the Word of God at all, but who read only newspapers and secular literature without choice. Woe to them from ignorance of the Word of God and the will of God about them. What answer will they give to God at the trial?
Ethereal enemies use every effort to devalue for us in our thoughts and hearts the sayings of the Word of God and the words of church prayers and to give value to worldly, vain books and sheets with all sorts of worldly sins and temptations (songs, dramatic works, novels, etc.). Some noticed how their enemies prevented them from pronouncing the words of the Holy Scripture and the words of familiar prayers, and how much grief, despair, darkness they caused, confusing and killing their hearts (paralyzing), how much struggle they needed, the most intense, in order to break their enemies and calmly and sincerely read the Word of God and prayer.
In our old man there is a tendency, when reading the Word of God or liturgical books or the writings of the patristic and generally holy books, to sometimes secretly resist what is being said, i.e. what is said and written. This is the secret voice of the enemy - Satan, who was the first to learn and teach fallen spirits and people to resist God, His holy truth and righteousness. So, I noticed and notice that the devil secretly resists me, my heart and mind, when reading prayers, canons, stichera, the Creed, and I must overcome and overthrow him for his thoughts. Oh, accursed one, get away from me, enemy of the truth and righteousness of God! You lead those who listen to you, like Adam and Eve, to lies, damnation and death.
Extracts from the diary for the biography of Fr. John of Kronstadt
I glorify God’s immeasurable mercy and long-suffering towards me and all people. For seventy years I sinned every day and repented, and the Lord had mercy on me, did not punish me in all His righteousness, expecting my correction every day. The days of my youth passed, and in a higher educational institution, at the Academy, I began to be more attentive to my inner world. Having become a priest, I did not live without sin, but I delved deeper and deeper into the meaning of my calling, and the Lord had mercy on me every day, giving me tears of repentance, granting me frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries; My service to the Holy Church, the performance of prayers and the Sacraments was not without stumbling blocks, invisible enemies fought hard and captivated me, confused me, especially when performing the Sacraments, the struggle was for life and death, spiritual death. I repented, cried, was overcome, and received forgiveness.
During the first years of my priesthood, I did not often, not every day, perform the Liturgy, and therefore I often relaxed spiritually, then, seeing the benefits of the daily celebration of the Liturgy and the communion of the Holy Mysteries, I began to serve and receive communion daily. And in all the years of priesthood and service to God, how many mercy I received from Him - there is no number. I thank the Lord for the wonderful evening and morning prayers and the rule for Holy Communion. How many tears of purifying tenderness the Lord gave me, what streams of mercy he poured out on me, and this every day - even until now! What will I render to the Lord for all these mercies? My iniquities have multiplied more than the sand of the sea, and I am still alive, and I still repent, without ceasing to sin in deed, word, thought, laziness, negligence, intemperance and every sin characteristic of man. O God, be merciful to me, a sinner, again and again! Have patience with me, who have grown old in iniquities, and cleanse me from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Amen.
Lord, I experience daily repulsion from You by the spirit of earthly delights, which kills me, darkens me, tormenting me with vanity. I must constantly fight with myself, with my lusts and the charm of the enemy and mortify all passions, considering them absurd, senseless and harmful, and prefer everything and love You alone. Oh, how cunning, vigilant, and active the enemy is to our destruction! And not suddenly we become aware of his intrigues, but later, when we are extremely tired and disgusted. We are often in its charm. Lord, deliver us from evil. “The empty belly is blessed to eat with Divine desire opened” (antiphon).
Lord, fill my entire being, and may all ill will flee far from me, may this absurdity not touch me for a single moment. May I be entirely in You and with You, all-sufficient Good. You are my belly. You are my world. You are my bliss, You are my light, and strength, and glory. Amen.
Lord, do not let me dream of myself as being the best of any of the people, but think of myself as the worst of all and not condemn anyone, but judge myself strictly.
The Holy Guardian Angel daily and hourly guides me on the path of salvation. I see this with the eyes of my heart, I feel it and thank God and God’s steward.
Every day the Lord recreates and recreates me through the service of the liturgy and the communion of the Holy life-giving Mysteries; I see, feel, sense this Divine miracle and thank my Creator and Recreator, “creating me into a new creature,” healing, pacifying. What will I bring or what will I render to You, Lord? I have nothing good of my own, everything is Yours. Teach me to love you dearly, O Lord my God.
The Trinity is my life, my light, peace, deliverance, my salvation, my beauty, my health, my contentment, providence for me and for all creation, my strength and glory, my extensive renewal. She is everything to me, I envy no one, I am well-wishing to everyone and I pray to God to grant everyone what they need, and the rich a generous womb and a compassionate heart.
I would like to see the original Goodness, Lightness, Beauty, infinite Wisdom, the Power that created, and bears, and controls everything, but I am not ready, I am unclean in heart. “Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7:1).
In my old age (79 years), every day there is a special mercy of God, every hour and every minute: my physical strength is exhausted, but my spirit is vigorous and burning towards my beloved Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have received and am receiving so many guarantees of mercy from God in this life, and I hope that in the future life after death; and death is birth into eternal life, by God's mercy and love for mankind.
God bless! Fifty-two years of my priesthood have been fulfilled by God’s grace and mercy, I am still alive, although I am sick. For so many years of grace-filled priesthood, I will not be able to thank the Lord, One in the Trinity. He served as best he could, as best he could, as hard as he tried, but he made a lot of mistakes, was unwell, and fought the enemy hard. Cover, Lord, all my sins with Your mercy.
What will I repay to You, Lord, for You have given me the grace to be born and raised in the Orthodox faith and Church and in the dear, invaluable fatherland, Russia, in which the Orthodox Church has been planted since ancient times. I thank and glorify You as much as I can, according to Your grace!
Lord, there are no words in the human language worthy to thank You for all the countless benefits shown by Your goodness to me, a sinner, throughout my entire life, which has flowed before Your Face, Generous Father! Even until now, for the seventy-ninth year, You have preserved and saved me every day, and now especially, in view of my enemies, who seek to devour me because I am Your servant, although unworthy. But grant me, Lord, the grace to completely thank You and acquire a pure life, created for me by repentance, grant me to avoid the charms of manifold sin, which fights and wants to steal me from You. Grant me to glorify You loudly and loudly in this godless world. Amen.
(The sermon of Father John given below is printed from his manuscript)
In one of the morning prayers to God the All-Creator, we read: “and save us and bring us into Your eternal Kingdom, for You are my Creator and the Provider and Giver of all good.” Today at morning prayer I paid special attention to these words. They contain important and very instructive and comforting thoughts.
We are all sinners, we do not have freedom from sins, all of us, like all things and beings in the world, and our bodies are perishable and fleeting, disappearing; Meanwhile, our soul is eternal and wants eternal existence and tries to perpetuate itself in some way; believers and pious souls have a desire for eternal life and consider life here to be a dream and a fleeting dream. We, Christians, from the book of the Gospel, which is the Word of eternal and imperishable truth, are taught to believe in eternal life and every day we say to ourselves: “I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century.” Christ our God is the resurrection and the life. He gave us eternal life. “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to all who are in the graves.” Thus, dear brothers and sisters, there is a kingdom of eternal light, eternal life, eternal love, eternal truth, eternal peace, eternal beauty, eternal, endless and unimaginable bliss for those who have prepared themselves for the future age. This is an immutable truth. But there is also an undoubted truth that we must prepare here for this kingdom of peace, truth and love.
The Gospel teaches us this preparation, the Church teaches us. We must teach ourselves here the right faith and all Christian virtues: love, simple-heartedness, meekness, humility, goodness and mercy, forgetfulness of malice, abstinence and the beginning and end of all virtue - constant prayer. A Christian cannot live without prayer, like a fish without water.
Let us, dear brothers and sisters, prepare for the eternal kingdom through faith, prayer and virtue. Amen.
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