Отдел третий. Любовь к богу и ближним

General concepts about Christian love “How to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind? With all my heart, that is, undividedly, not divided between love for God and love for the world, and in general for creation; if, for example, you pray, do not pray with a split heart, do not be entertained by vain thoughts or worldly passions; be all in God, in His love with all your soul, that is, not with some strength of the soul, not with your mind alone, without the participation of your heart and will, but with all your strength, and not half-heartedly or lightly; when you have to fulfill any commandment, fulfill it diligently, to the point of sweat and blood and life, if necessary, and not lazily and sluggishly or reluctantly (from the book “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. II, 1st ed. 1892, p. 169). 2. Try to turn your whole life into serving God. “Whether you read anything at home, begin this work with a meek heartfelt prayer, so that God will enlighten and make you wise in faith and piety and in carefully fulfilling your duties; never read out of idleness, to pass the time, by doing this you will degrade the word, which should all serve our salvation, and not idle talk and a means of pleasure and a pleasant pastime; When you speak to your neighbors, speak wisely, prudently, instructively, edifyingly; Avoid idle talk, like the poison of the serpent, remembering that “for every idle word that men speak, they will give a word about it on the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36), that is, they will hear the just verdict of the Judge; whether you teach your children or strangers, turn this matter into serving God, teaching them with zeal, pre-thinking about the means of teaching clear, intelligible, complete (if possible) and fruitful. Conquer in the name of the Lord and the power of the cross the wiles of the enemy who is trying to confuse, overshadow, constrain, weaken you. Even if you eat, drink or do anything else that is lawful, do everything for the glory of God” (from the book. “My life in Christ” Rev. Kronstadt Ioann Sergiev, vol. II, ed. 1st. 1892 p. 300). 3. A person is not justified by faith alone, but also by good works “We believe that a person is justified not simply by faith alone, but by faith promoted by love, that is, through faith and works,” write the Eastern patriarchs. – We recognize as completely impious the idea that faith, replacing works, acquires justification in Christ: for faith in this sense could befit everyone, and there would not be a single one who is not saved, which is obviously false. On the contrary, we believe that it is not the ghost of faith alone, but the faith that is in us through works that justifies us in Christ. We honor works not only as evidence confirming our calling, but also as fruits that make our faith active and can, according to the Divine promise, deliver to everyone a well-deserved reward, good or bad, depending on what he has done with his body” (Epistle to the Eastern Patriarch on the Orthodox Faith, Part 13). 4. The path of those who love God is narrow “A remarkable phenomenon in nature: when you plant a plant in a large wide pot or tub, the plant goes to the root: it grows thick, produces many branches, and the tree grows poorly, produces few and small leaves and flowers; and when planted in a small pot, when the root is small, the plant quickly grows upward, produces good leaves and flowers (if the plant produces flowers). Isn't that what happens to a person? When he lives in space, abundance and contentment, then he grows in his belly and does not grow high in spirit, does not bear fruit - good deeds, and when he lives in cramped conditions, in poverty, in illness, in misfortunes, in sorrows, in a word, when the animal side of him is suppressed, then he grows spiritually, produces flowers of virtues, ripens and bears rich fruits. That is why the path of those who love God is narrow” (from the book “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, T. II, 1st ed., 1892, p. 157). 5. There is no joy in this world, only comfort in the Lord “This world,” says St. Demetrius of Rostov, - filled with tears, not joy, - sorrow and sadness, not joy, - burdens and sorrows, not joys. There is nothing permanent or unchangeable in it. His joy is mixed with sorrow, his joy with sorrow, his glory is changeable; wealth soon disappears, beauty turns into dust and ashes, sensual pleasure into stench and pus, and finally all this is stopped and concluded by unexpected death. There is nothing in this age worthy of joy and joy, nothing brings consolation and tranquility, but everything is filled with crying and sobbing: human life is vanity of vanities. A person is born from decay, grows up in illnesses and ailments and spends his whole life in sorrows and sorrows, in anxiety, excitement, uncertainty, experiencing inconstancy in everything, on all sides he has enemies and ill-wishers, slanderers and persecutors, everywhere for him there is struggle and confusion, fear and fear for everything, he does not find peace and peace in anything. The whole world is full of troubles and misfortunes; Wherever you turn, you see struggle and indignation. On the one hand, you have to fight with gluttony, on the other with drunkenness - there with cruelty, and here with insensibility, now with lust, now with greed. There is fear everywhere; sin and crime are everywhere; there is no safety anywhere; there is nothing to rejoice about in this sorrowful life. And then death will come, there will be separation from everything and a sudden change in everything: the soul will move to another life and receive reward for its deeds here, and the flesh will remain as food for worms, turning into stench and pus. What's so joyful about that?! Therefore, do not rejoice in anything temporary in this deplorable age, because everything in it is impermanent and perverse, everything in it is deceptive and changeable. But if you want to be consoled, seek consolation in the Lord alone; if you want to rejoice, rejoice in the Lord alone: ​​carnal joy soon passes, but joy in the Lord abides forever. Earthly joys suddenly disappear and turn into sorrow, but the consolation of the Most Holy Spirit in the Lord always consoles and will forever console with unspeakable consolation; Therefore, do not rejoice in anything else, but only in the Lord. “Rejoice in the Lord... all who are upright in heart” (Ps. 31:11), says the prophet; and also the apostle says: “Always rejoice in the Lord. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks” (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18): in these three duties lies our salvation. Rejoice in nothing else, but only in the Lord; all joy, if not in the Lord, is false and deceptive; all consolation, if not in the Lord, is a burden and confusion for the soul. So, do not rejoice in food and nutrition, or in the wealth and glory of this world, or in any beauty or unreasonable pleasures, but rejoice in the Lord and seek joy in God alone; in these temporary things there is no true joy, but only imaginary, quickly passing, unreasonable. There is no light in darkness, there is no life in death, there is no truth in lies. The joy of this world is false, its consolation is not constant, its joy easily changes. Joy and consolation continue for some time, and then suddenly grief; there was joy for a while, followed by crying and sobbing; Before the consolation has time to pass, grief and sadness suddenly sets in. Rejoice with joy and be glad in the Lord alone” (from the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov). 1. Treat everyone the way you want them to treat you. (Father John of Kronstadt) Do with everyone the same way as you would like them to do with you; sincerely respect and love everyone; be kind to everyone from the heart; pity those who sin; sympathize with the misfortune, grief, sorrow, loss, poverty of your neighbor; take the opportunity to do something good for someone; rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; Do not think bad about anyone without a sufficient reason, but think good thoughts about everyone; Do not have enmity or hostility or envy or ill will in your soul towards anyone; do not humiliate or despise anyone in your soul due to any shortcomings or errors, but cover everyone and everything with love and condescension, look at those who sin as weak, as mentally ill; do not repay evil for evil, but repay good for evil, and you will fulfill the commandment of Christ and will be crowned from Him with an incorruptible crown of righteousness and eternal life. 2. Love for neighbors, extending to self-sacrifice Good to all, evil to no one, that is lawful living, says a wise Russian proverb. Imitating the providence of the Creator, we must strive for the goal of life by spreading goodness to relatives, friends, compatriots, and then to all humanity, as soon as the opportunity and opportunity opens up; but in such a way that you cover someone else’s roof and your own does not leak, that is, while doing good to strangers, do not leave your neighbors, especially your relatives, without help, for whoever does not care about his relatives, according to the word of St. ap. Paul, worse than an infidel (1 Tim. 5:8). While we desire the good of our friends and neighbors, we act unfairly when we base it on the misfortune or harm of others. Be friends with a friend, and do not harm another (enemy), - also says a Russian proverb. Compassion is not just a feeling akin to humanity, but the fulfillment of a duty that orders us to help every suffering person to the fullest extent possible - whether he be the object of our love or hatred. In Russian history, the example of Rzhevsky, who laid down his life for his enemy Lyapunov in the confidence that his days were useful for the fatherland, is extraordinary in the annals of mankind. And the Savior of the world, commanding him to lay down his life for his friends, calls such love the highest: “Greater than this love has no one, but whoever lays down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). This sacred rule was fulfilled by the peasant Susanin, who sacrificed his life for the salvation of the newly elected Tsar of Russia, Mikhail Feodorovich; this St. and the great commandment is fulfilled by all soldiers who lay down their lives in battle, for the faith, the king and the fatherland, and all those who, even in peacetime, put the love of duty above their lives (Archpriest G. Dyachenko). 3. Thoughts about loving others 1. “If you love God, then you must love the one whom God loves; because when we love someone, we also love the one whom we love” (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). 2. “The Lord loves us all, and we must love everyone” (Philar., Archbishop of Chernigov.). 3. “Seeing a pile of gold-bearing soil, the ignorant will despise it, but the knowledgeable will not despise it, for the sake of the grains of gold contained in it: similarly, looking at a person who represents an unpleasant appearance of ignorance, rudeness, disorder, vice, the inattentive will despise him, and the attentive will regret, but will not despise, because in this unsightly lump there is gold - the essence of man, and especially his soul.” (Filar., metro station Moskovsk). 4. “Whoever does not help another because he is a Jew, a Turk or a Lutheran is not a Christian” (Archarch I. Tolmachev). 5. “It’s hard for you when no one wants to share your grief with you: hasten to share the grief of your neighbor” (Philar., Archbishop of Chernigov.). 6. “Do you want people to love you? Love people. Do you want everyone to do good to you without exception? Do good to everyone without exception. Would you be pleased if everyone treated you meekly and humbly? Be meek and humble before everyone” (Filar., Moscow Moskov.). 7. “Let our friendship belong to good people; our respect is to the pious; our immediate and primary concern is our family; our love is for everyone; our help is for those in need” (Archarch I. Tolmachev). 8. “Don’t talk about your happiness with a person who is much more unhappy than you.” 9 . “Love calms and pleasantly expands the heart, enlivens it; and hatred painfully constrains and worries him. He who hates others tortures and tyrannizes himself is the stupidest of all fools” (from the book: “My Life in Christ” vol. I, Archpriest of Kronstadt John Sergiev, 1st ed. 1891, p. 32). 10. “Remember that the Lord is in every Christian. When a neighbor comes to you, always have great respect for him, for the Lord is in him, who through him often expresses His will. “God... is at work in us, even to will and to do good pleasure” (according to the good will of God) (Phil. 2:13). Do not spare anything for your brother as for the Lord, especially since you do not know in whom the Lord comes to visit you; be impartial to everyone, kind, sincere, hospitable to everyone. Remember that through the unbelievers the Lord sometimes speaks or wins their hearts towards us, as happened in Egypt with the prison guard, whose heart the Lord placed towards Joseph" (Gen. 39:21) (from there, p. 108). 4. Stories about high Christian love for neighbors 1. An example of ardent love for neighbors can be seen in Serapion Ave. This St. the ascetic did not have any other clothing except his epancha, did not acquire any property, not a single permanent shelter, but lived like a bird, like the Son of Man, who had nowhere to lay his head - he walked from place to place, carrying with him only the Gospel, and where night befell him, he spent the night there. One day, while going to Alexandria, he met a beggar who, without clothes, was shivering from the cold. St. Serapion, stopping, thought to himself: “I am revered as a faster and a doer of Christ’s commandments, yet I wear clothes, and this beggar, a servant of Christ, is dying from the cold. In truth, I will be condemned as a murderer on the Day of Judgment if I do not cover his nakedness and allow him to die of cold.” After these thoughts, he immediately took off his cap and gave it to a beggar; then he sat naked at the crossroads, holding the Holy Gospel in his hands. At that time, one acquaintance, passing by him, asked: “Father Serapion, who exposed you?” The holy ascetic, pointing to the Gospel, said: “It divided me.” Then St. Cerapion saw the debtor being led past him to prison; Having pity on him, and not having anything to give him, he sold the Gospel and gave the man money to pay the debt. After Serapion came to his cell, the disciple asked him: “Where is the Gospel?” The holy elder said: “My son! It constantly told me: “Sell what you have and give to the poor...” (Matthew 19:21). I obeyed and did so so that for obedience I would receive boldness before God.” To get rid of the Manichaean heresy of one Lacedaemonian mayor, and another time to save one buffoon, he sold himself to them as a laborer for a small price, and served with them until with his instructions and example of a pious life he turned them to the path of salvation (“Cheti-Minea” May 14). 2. In the 4th century according to Christ, the bishop of Nola was St. Peacock, originally from Gaul. The present Kingdom of Naples was then divided into four districts. One of them was in Campania, with the main city being Zero or Nola. The Vandals, who had established themselves in Africa at that time, very often raided the coastal villages and cities of Campania and the rest of Italy. These barbarians devastated them and took the inhabitants captive; and the bishop himself often had to suffer from them. So, one day, having robbed the bishop's house, the vandals left the bishop himself in only his shirt. At the same time, one unfortunate woman comes to him and, with hot tears and cries, tells him that her only son, the hope and support of her old age, has been taken prisoner by the Vandals along with many others, and that if someone does not ransom him immediately, he will be taken into captivity in Africa. “I can give you nothing,” answered the bishop, “except for my mortal body.” Take it, if you want, and give me myself, instead of your son. Motherly love overpowered love and respect for the bishop; the woman accepted the offer, and they immediately went to the camp of the military leader King Gizeric, who had captured the son of the unfortunate widow. Before agreeing to such an exchange, the military leader asked St. Pavlina: does he know any craft? He replied that he partly knows gardening. As a result of this, St. The peacock was taken instead of the young man and was soon taken to Africa; no one in the enemy camp suspected that the elderly gardener was a bishop. When Peacock arrived in Africa, he remained in the service of the military commander and, despite his advanced years, diligently tended his garden and vegetable garden. Soon the military leader fell in love with the Peacock Gardener for his reasonable speeches; he found in him an intelligent and experienced man of high virtue. After a little time, the bishop managed to win over everyone around him so much that the king’s friends and advisers more than once came to him for advice and consolation. The bishop, one day talking in the garden with the king's son-in-law about many important subjects, noticed among other things that his father-in-law would not live long, and that therefore he needed to be ready to take his place. King Gizeric himself, having learned about this prediction, sent for Peacock. The peacock came to him - and what was the king’s surprise when, looking at the bishop, he recognized in him that formidable judge who, the previous night in a dream, reproached the king for his pagan life and evil deeds! After this, the king no longer doubted that Peacock was not an ordinary gardener, and, at his urgent requests, Peacock confessed that he was the Bishop of Nola, and told on what occasion he was captured by the Vandals. The pagan king could not help but be amazed at the Christian virtues of the elderly shepherd; - he listened to him with delight, and, having received some good and kind advice from Peacock, the king wished to let him go to the city of Zero to his flock with rich gifts. But St. Peacock, refusing gifts and treasures, asked the king for only one favor: to release all the captive Christians with him. Peacock's request was respected. They gathered all the prisoners, put them on ships, providing them with food supplies, and thus the bishop, to the great joy of the inhabitants of Nolya, returned with honor to his flock, and was greeted with reverence and delight (“Ch.-M.”) (Arch. Gr. Dyachenko). Love when everyone loves you Let them destroy you for love Love everyone, everyone! – enemies as brothers, Like the sun to darkness - be a stranger to curses: Let love be sacred to the heart: Crucified with him on the cross And with Him he rose again in triumph! 1. This happened during the last Turkish war. At night a shootout broke out. The Turks advanced on our fortifications, deafening us from afar with the noise of rifles and noise. Our soldiers, exposed to fire, calmly waited for the command. We fired the first volley at point-blank range when the Turks approached twenty to thirty paces. - God! how many deaths! My dears, my sick ones! – a gentle voice whispered from behind me. - Why are you here, sister? get off! You can't, they'll kill you! My sister didn't listen to me. She grabbed her head with her hands and whispered a prayer. I hear, not for myself, but for us. We repulsed the Turks and drove them away. The next day, embittered, they shot at everyone who raised their head above the rampart. Loud groans were heard behind the rampart. - What is this? who's moaning? - the nurse asks me. - The Turks came to our fortifications yesterday. They were wounded, but they didn’t have time to pick up their own. - They will lie there until they die. - Yes, after all, we need to pick something up? You can’t do this, because they are suffering! “You just have to raise your head above the rampart and the Turks will start shooting.” - See! - Still! God will help! Brothers, can they really die like this?! The soldiers hesitated. Who wants to go to certain death! - You have soul, my dears! Orthodox, I feel sorry for them. - It’s a pity, it’s a pity, sister! how to get out? There's death here! One Turkish wounded man, as if on purpose, was rushing about right next to the rampart. “If you don’t want to, I’ll go myself.” “And before we had time to come to our senses, my sister was already behind the shaft. - What is this, brothers! Are you really going to leave? - And the old non-commissioned officer, with the St. George’s Cross, jumped over the rampart. More soldiers with stretchers jumped over him. Hell has risen. Bullets whistled from everywhere. The sister, not paying attention, bent over the bushes, looking for the wounded Turks. There is not the slightest fear on the face, only it has turned pale and the eyes are shining. To the credit of the Turks, as soon as they noticed why ours had come down, they lowered their guns and stuck their heads above the rampart. Apparently they were amazed. - Merciful mother! - the soldiers said about their sister. 2. Sister Raevskaya woke up under a wet tent. A cold wind rushed through the damp Bulgarian valley, drowned under fog, swirled around the tent, burst under its fluttering panels, and poured dampness and cold. In the tent, on straw, the sisters of mercy slept; I could hear heavy breathing, delirium, and groaning in my sleep. Sister Raevskaya woke up at dawn. Until recently, she was a fair-haired girl with a fresh face. Where did her hair go? Why did her face fade and somehow become haggard? “It’s not her, not her at all.” The other day a St. Petersburg acquaintance met her and did not recognize her. - What's wrong with you? – he asked later. - She survived two typhus... And you know what kind of work we have... - Olga Petrovna, leave quickly! You have done too much, it will be yours. Save yourself now. – Even then they send me to Russia. They say: two more months and I will die here. - How easily you say this! Yes, she and all her friends got used to it. Their feat is unnoticeable; only the soldier will take the memory of him to his remote village - the soldier whom they won from death. The day began in fog - cold, dim. A firefight flared up in the distance. Soldiers pass by the tent to their combat positions. - Sister Raevskaya! “You’ve been assigned to Russia,” says the young doctor, smiling affably, “you’ve worked hard, it’ll be done!” We have to leave tomorrow. Just listen to me, go somewhere further to the south - you need to seriously take care of yourself. You are a rich woman, you can do everything for yourself. Raevskaya began to pack up. The sisters say goodbye to her. Warm and dry rooms, fresh beds, hot food - they dream of, like God knows what happiness... Raevskaya will go to her sister - to Italy - she has been calling her to her for a long time, to the gracious south, to the shore of the warm sea: their sun is warm and the sky is cloudless. How nice it is there! - Sister, Stepanov is dying! - the nonsense has already begun... Raevskaya dropped her things and ran out of the tent. To the side is a hut made of brushwood. Everyone who was marked by gangrene (Antonov fire) with its terrible seal was brought here. There is only one way out from here - to the grave. Sister Raevskaya came here - she was not afraid of infection and more than once sat over the dying for days and nights. - Well, Stepanov? – Raevskaya asked, entering that hut. The wounded man, tossing about in delirium, looked at her wildly. She placed her thin, pale hand on his head. Little by little, the patient’s delirium began to subside. A ray of consciousness flashed across his face. - Sister... darling... darling! They’ve abandoned everyone - you’re alone with me, God save you! - Well, that's enough, that's enough! Who abandoned you? They see that you are better and go to others who are heavier. I came here to relax and chat with you. You have been assigned home; You'll get better at home. - At home! - and it was as if the sun had cast its farewell light on the already darkened face of the dying man. - Home, thank God! We have a good, big family; We live prosperously, sister: we only have three cows and four horses! Here's how we do it! You are our mother, pure dove! – And he never took his beaming gaze off her. The sister's tired hand remained on his hot forehead. She did not stop smiling at the dying man and talked to him for a long, long time about his dear side, about the distant family that was waiting for him - could not wait. Listening to sweet speeches, Stepanov walked away happy, smiling... The sister closed the dying man’s eyes and crossed him... “Everyone has given up - you are alone with me!” – Raevskaya recalled Stepanov’s words. - So will she really leave them now and leave? Will that hot sun, that blue sky, those happy people make her forget this world of sorrow and torment, where she was a Guardian Angel?.. No, this is her place - while her heart is still beating in her chest. - No, I won’t leave you, I won’t go anywhere! – she repeated all in tears. And she gave up everything, she did not leave... But she also did not leave death, which had long guarded the martyr (from the stories of Nemirovich-Danchenko). 7. The most important virtue of a Christian towards his neighbors The holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian reached a ripe old age and lost strength from his great labors. He could no longer go to the meeting of the faithful, and his disciples brought him there in their arms. Until his last strength, he considered it his sacred duty to teach Christians. Finally it became difficult for him to speak. Then he only said: “My children, love each other.” Surprised that he repeated the same word, the disciples asked him: why does he do this? “This is the commandment of the Savior,” answered John, “it is an abbreviated content of the entire law” (according to “Ch.-M.”). Two friends were walking along the road and entered the forest. A few days ago there was a terrible storm here, which uprooted many of the oldest oak trees. Between the overturned oaks there were two oaks, one next to the other, completely unharmed, and it was strange to see that the storm had knocked down the strongest oaks, but these remained in place. “Let’s come closer and look at them,” said one of the friends. They approached the oak trees and saw that they were so tightly intertwined with their roots that no storm could knock them down. “You see,” said the other, “how strong friendship and friendship are.” A lonely person is easily overwhelmed by an evil fate, but he who has a true friend will always resist it. And they hugged, kissed and promised each other to be friends forever and then went home cheerful and happy (from the magazine “Church and Parish School”, part III, December 1889, Kyiv, 83–84). In Athens (Greece) St. Vasily had his only friend, St. Gregory the Theologian, who also came here for scientific education. This is how these Christian youths were saved from the temptations that surrounded them. “We knew,” says St. Gregory, - only two roads: one that led us to the church and to the holy mentors who preach there, - the other, which led us to the academy (higher school) to teachers of literature and philosophy. As for those roads along which people go to worldly holidays, to disgraces, to feasts, we did not know them and did not want to know them. Knowing that bad examples are like contagious diseases, we did not communicate with those of our comrades who were depraved, impudent and disorderly, but treated only the moderate, modest and pious.” Comrades St. Vasily and Gregory, seeing their unparalleled purity of life, tireless zeal for science and prudence, could not help but feel involuntary respect for them and, following their example, tried to curb themselves. Christian boys! Do not get carried away by indiscriminate attachment to your comrades. How many young people die from frivolous imitation of their comrades! “Whoever touches resin,” says the wise Sirach, “will be blackened, and whoever enters into communication with the proud will become like him” (Sir. 13:1). “He who deals with the wise,” the wise Solomon testifies, “will be wise, but he who makes friends with fools will become corrupt” (Proverbs 13:21). The example is especially contagious in a friendly union, when young people are in frequent contact with each other, see each other constantly, and get used to each other. (compiled from “Resurrection of the Demon.”, published by the General Spiritual Enlightenment for 1886). 10. What can Christian friendship do? In the Armenian city of Militin there lived two warriors: Nearchus and Polyeuctus. They lived very friendly and loved each other like brothers. However, they were not of the same faith: Nearchus was a Christian, and Polyeuctus was a pagan. Nearchus often regretted that his friend, a kind and honest man, remained in idolatry, and tried by all means to convert him to Christ. To do this, he often read the Holy Scriptures to him and talked about Jesus Christ. At one time, a decree from Emperor Decius was received in Militina, which ordered the execution of all Christians who did not worship idols. Nearchus was saddened that he had not yet managed to convert Polyeuctus to Christ and that now he would have to part with him. Polyeuctus noticed this sadness and asked him what he was sad about. “I grieve over our separation,” answered Nearchus. - About what separation? Is there anything that can separate us? - said Polievct. – Our friendship is inseparable to death! “I am a Christian,” a friend explained to him: “they will lead me to death for my faith, and then you will leave me: after all, you are an idolater.” “My friend,” Polyeuctus answered with heartfelt feeling, “nothing will separate us.” This night Jesus Christ, Whom you serve, appeared to me; He took off my clothes and put on me another, new one, of indescribable beauty. “This means,” he said, “that you will throw away pagan errors and put on Christ—you will know Him!” – Haven’t I already known Christ? - Polyeuctus said to this: - Didn’t my heart burn when you told me about Him and read the Holy Gospel? From now on, I want to completely be His servant and am ready to confess His name. And he went to the square and openly confessed the name of Christ before the pagans. They began to torture him and condemned him to death. Walking to the place of execution, he saw his friend Nearchus in the crowd and shouted to him: - Save yourself, friend! Don't forget about our friendship! - And he joyfully bowed his head under the sword... (according to Trinity sheet No. 738). One monk from among the Syrian hermits once brought a bunch of grapes to the Monk Macarius. Macarius, who lived according to the spirit of Christian love, which does not seek its own, took the grapes to another brother, who was then sick. The sick man was extremely happy about this sign of the holy man’s love and thanked the Lord for it. But, thinking more about the good of his neighbor than about his own, he did not eat the grapes, but sent him to another brother. This one did the same and forwarded it to the fourth. Thus, the bunch went around all the cells of the brethren and, passing from hand to hand, finally returned again to the one who first received it as a gift, to the teacher. Macarius. Sacred joy seized the soul of the righteous man when he saw love and self-control between the brethren, vividly expressing the words of the divine apostle: “Do not owe anything to anyone except mutual love; for he who loves another has fulfilled the law” (Rom. 13:8) (according to “Resurrection Reading”). 12. About how the saints protected the peace of their neighbors Rev. John Kolov once went with some monks from the monastery. Night overtook them on the way, and the guide, unfortunately, lost his way... – What should we do? - John’s companions said to John, “wandering here, you can die.” “Don’t tell the guide anything,” answered the elder, “the poor man will be ashamed and will be sad, annoyed and, perhaps, murmur; It’s better to do this: I’ll say that I’m sick, I can’t go further, and I’ll stay here until dawn. So he did. The other monks announced that they would remain with him; everyone stayed here until the morning and did not cause grief to their brother; the next morning the road was found, and the travelers arrived safely at their place (according to “Taught the good.”). There was once a formidable ruler, Dionysius 82, in the city of Syracuse. With his cruelty and injustice, he so turned all the inhabitants against himself that he began to suspect everyone of wanting to kill him. One day he ordered the capture of a Greek, Miros, whom he suspected of malicious intent against himself. Dionysius ordered Miros to be brought to him and said to him with anger: “They told me that you were slandering me and plotting evil against me.” “No,” said Miros, “I did not vilify you, I only called you hard-hearted, which is what you are; I did not plan anything bad against you, I only exposed the evil that you did. - Scoundrel! - said the ruler, - all the same, you are worthy to die on the cross for this. In those days, execution on the cross was the most shameful. “I am ready to die,” answered Miros, “I will not beg you for mercy; but give me, for God’s sake, three days of freedom so that I can say goodbye to my family. I will leave my friend as a guarantee that I will return to the torment of death. The ruler thought and said with a sly grin: - I will fulfill your wish; Go, I give you three days, but if after three days you do not appear in Syracuse, I will hand over your friend to be tortured. If you really have to execute your hostage, then perhaps his execution will atone for your guilt. And Dionysius thought to himself: “Myros will not return again, let the people know what a deceiver and traitor he is.” Miros came to his friend and said: “Dionysius condemned me to execution, but gives me three days of freedom so that I can say goodbye to my family; therefore, I ask you, stay in prison for three days for me as a reliable guarantee that I will return. The faithful friend happily agreed to fulfill Miros’ request, hugged him goodbye and allowed himself to be taken to prison and put in chains. Miros hastened to leave Syracuse and arrived in the village where his mother and sister lived. They, the poor ones, wept bitterly when they learned about the fate awaiting their beloved son and brother. They tried with all their might to keep him with them longer, but, finally, Miros broke away from them and set off on the road, afraid to delay. He was in a terrible hurry. And suddenly, a storm arose, the wind howled, a thunderstorm shone, a downpour began to roar, streams rushed from the mountains into the valleys, the streams overflowed and overflowed all around. On the way in front of Miros the river turned blue. He was already approaching the bridge thrown across it... The river swollen, waves climbed out of the banks and suddenly tore down the bridge; In sight of Miros, he fell into the water, and the waves completely covered him. In vain Miros rushed back and forth along the shore and peered into the distance and in vain called for help. Not a single shuttle was visible anywhere, not a single sail flashed anywhere. And Miros stopped, overwhelmed with grief. The river spread wider and wider and raged like a sea. Then Miros fell to his knees with a prayer: “Oh, my God, calm these waves! Time flies; the sun has long since set after noon, and if it sets and I am not in Syracuse, my friend will suffer for me.” But the abyss roared more and more, wave ran into wave, and the minutes flew by one after another. Finally, despair took hold of Miros, and he boldly rushed into the foaming stream and began to break the waves with his mighty hand. And then he reached the shore. But he had barely taken a few steps when a riotous band of robbers appeared towards him from the neighboring forest; The villains blocked Miros' path and raised their clubs at him. -What do you need? I have nothing! - Miros cried. “I only have life, but I need it to save my friend!” And hot tears streamed down Miros’s face, and with such a pleading gaze, full of mental anguish, he looked at the robbers that they were embarrassed and made way for him. And he hurried on... the sun scorched him with terrible heat; the air became more and more stuffy, there was not a shadow anywhere, and the traveler became weak. He fell to his knees and prayed: “Oh, God! Was it not You who carried me out of the watery abyss, was it not You who saved me from the hands of robbers? Send me help so that I can save my friend!” Falling to the ground with a groan, he suddenly heard a murmur not far from him. Miros crawled to a nearby hill and saw a silver spring gushing out of it. He greedily fell to him and refreshed his weary body. And he hurries on. The trees cast long shadows across the meadows. Some two travelers were walking along the high road, Miros overtook them, and suddenly their terrible words reached him from behind: “Now,” said the travelers, “they will surely crucify him.” Melancholy squeezed Miros's heart; fear for his friend seemed to put wings on his wounded legs... And here is Syracuse: the tops of the city towers are already gilded by the setting sun. The steward of his house, old Philostratus, came out to meet Miros: his faithful servant recognized him from afar. - Back! - he shouted to Miros, running up to him, - you’re too late. Get out of here. Think about your salvation. Your friend has already been handed over to torture. From hour to hour, he kept hoping, still waiting, and did not believe that you would be late. They mocked him, they assured him that you were a deceiver and a traitor, but no one could confuse his hopes. “Oh, if it’s too late,” said Miros, “if my return does not save him, then I will share the same fate with him, so that the ruler does not dare to say that I did not keep my promise and betrayed my friend; let him destroy two victims, but let him find out how friends can love and trust each other. The sun had already set when he reached the city gates. From a distance he saw a cross erected in the square and curious people agitated all around. And so, he sees how his friend is being led and how they are lifting him on a rope to the cross. But then Miros moves the crowd apart and shouts: - Executioner! stop the execution; I am the one for whom he guarantees. The people shuddered and fell silent and watched in amazement as friends rushed to each other, embraced each other lovingly and cried with joy. And all the people around began to cry. The news of this spread throughout the city and reached the formidable ruler Dionysius, and suddenly his heart trembled and softened. And he ordered the condemned to be brought to him. When Miros and his friend were brought in, Dionysius looked at them with a tender look and said: -You won my heart. I see that friendship exists, that it is not a fairy tale, and I would like to become your friend. Do not refuse to accept me into your holy union, let me know the sweetness of friendship and trust (from the book “Flower Garden”, Moscow, 1889, pp. 41–44). 14. The reason for a high Christian life is love for God Once upon a time there lived a young girl whose excellent character qualities were the subject of surprise to everyone who knew her. She wore a gold medallion around her neck, which she did not allow anyone to open. One day, in a moment of extraordinary frankness, she allowed her friend to touch the spring of the locket - and the secret was revealed. A friend saw the inscription: “I love Him whom I have never seen” (i.e. I. Christ). Such was the secret of her wonderful life. The girl changed into the same image that she imitated (i.e. Christ) (from the book “The Greatest in the World” by G. Drummond, p. 90). 15. Instruction of St. John Chrysostom on self-examination St. Chrysostom teaches: “As for our actions, after dinner, in the evening, when we go to bed, when no one bothers us, no one outrages us, we will demand from ourselves an account of everything that we have done and said during the day. And if we see any sin behind us, we will punish our conscience, we will reproach our soul, we will hurt our conscience so much that after we get up, they will not dare to drag us again into that abyss of sin, remembering the evening punishment. And that this is the most convenient time for such a calculation, listen to the words of the prophet: “Whatever you say in your hearts, on your beds you will be moved” (Ps. 4:5). During the day we do many things that we do not want: our friends irritate us, our servants enrage us, our wife is sad, our child is sick; and many everyday and social affairs lie around, and then we cannot be careful not to sin in something. But in the evening, having freed ourselves from all this, having come to our senses and taking advantage of perfect calm, we will gather the judgment seat on the bed, so that through this trial we may appease God” (from the works of St. John Chrysostom). 16. A person must constantly improve morally “Walking in the forest, in the garden, or in the meadow and seeing young shoots of plants, fruits on trees and a variety of wild flowers, take for yourself a lesson from all this God’s vegetation, just such a lesson: every tree in the summer certainly gives off significant shoots, certainly grows in volume and height - every tree seems to be strengthening every year to move forward with the strength God has given it; so tell yourself: and I must certainly every day, every year become morally higher and higher, better and better, more perfect and perfect, I must move forward on the path to the Kingdom of Heaven, or to the Heavenly Father, by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit, living and acting in me. Just as a meadow is decorated with many flowers, so the meadow of my soul should be decorated with all the flowers of virtues; just as trees bear flowers and then fruits, so my soul must bear the fruits of faith and good deeds (from the book “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. I, 1st ed., 1891, p. 161). About the first commandment of God's law 1. About how St. Great Martyr Barbara knew the true God During the reign of Maximian, in the city of Iliopolis lived one noble and wealthy citizen - Dioscorus, a pagan by faith. He had an only daughter, whom he cherished like the apple of his eye. Beautiful in face, and even more beautiful in heart, she, as she grew older, surpassed all her peers in beauty. So that none of the ordinary people could see the beauty of Barbara - that was the name of Dioscorus' daughter - Dioscorus built a high pillar with a richly decorated dwelling on it and shut his daughter there. Hidden from human gaze, removed from all external entertainment, the young woman delved into the contemplation of the beautiful world of God. One day, looking at the heavenly bodies and admiring the beauty of the earth, she asked the slaves assigned to her: – Who created all this so wisely, so beautifully? “All this,” answered the pagans, “was created and arranged by the very gods whom your parent worships, and who stand in his chambers.” But the wise maiden was not satisfied with such an answer and thought: “The gods revered by my father were themselves created by human hands and soulless, made of gold, or silver, or wood: how could they, being themselves unable to walk with their feet or act with their hands, be the creators of such wise things?” She thought for a long time in this way, and finally, the grace of God touched her heart, which was looking for God the Creator, and announced to her heart and mind that there is one God who created heaven and earth with all their beauty. Such a thought about God, which constantly occupied the soul of the young woman, awakened in her an irresistible desire to know more closely and more clearly the one true God, the Creator of everything. But since under Varvara there was no one who could teach her and guide her on the path of salvation, the Lord God Himself appeared as her mentor and teacher, always close to those who seek Him and pouring grace into the hearts, making babies wise and showing the path to salvation. Varvara’s father left home for a long time and gave orders that in his absence his daughter’s freedom should not be restricted, but that he would allow her to go wherever she wanted and do whatever she wanted. Taking advantage of the freedom given by her father, Varvara met Christian girls. Hearing from them about the name of the Lord Christ, she rejoiced in spirit, recognizing in Him the One whom her soul had long longed to know. At this time, by the special providence of God, a Christian priest arrived here. Having learned of his arrival, Varvara immediately called him to her and, having learned from him all the truths of faith necessary for salvation, she was baptized. So St. Barbara came to know the one true God, worshiped and glorified in three persons - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and sealed her faith with the crown of martyrdom. She was not afraid of torment, but, in hope of God’s help, in the midst of the most severe suffering, she loudly cried out: “I honor the Trinity - one Divinity.” – The wonderful world of God is open to each of us: know the Creator, Christian, and above all try to please the Lord. From an early age, learn the knowledge of God and do not weaken until old age to succeed in it (according to “Vosk. Reading” 1888, p. 37). 2. Sayings of the word of God about the fear of God – “Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord” (Ps. 127:1). - “Fear the Lord [all] His saints, for those who fear Him have no poverty” (Ps. 33:10). – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7). – “The fear of the Lord drives away sins; he who does not have fear cannot justify himself” (Sir. 1:21). - “He who fears the Lord will honor his father and, like rulers, will serve those who gave birth to him” (Sir. 3:7). - “Those who fear the Lord! wait for His mercy and do not turn away from Him, lest you fall. Those who fear the Lord! Believe in Him and your reward will not perish. Those who fear the Lord! hope for good things, for eternal joy and mercy. Look at the ancient generations and see: who believed in the Lord and was ashamed?” (Sir. 2:7–10). “The eldest among brothers is in their respect, so those who fear the Lord are in His sight. Whether someone is rich and famous or poor, their praise is the fear of the Lord” (Sir. 10:24, 25). “According to the Scriptures,” teaches Rev. Pinuphrius, - the beginning of our salvation and wisdom is the fear of the Lord; from the fear of the Lord, saving contrition of the heart is born, and from this - aversion from all acquisitions - the root of humility; from humility comes the mortification of the will, and the mortification of the will destroys all vices, which, if destroyed, then the virtues multiply and grow in such a way that they produce purity of heart, which acquires the perfection of angelic love” (see Month. A. Sergius, vol. 2, p. 315; sn. Historical right. monastic in the eastern profession. M. D. Ak. P. Kazanskogo, chapter I. p. 234). 4. Examples of enduring sorrows with joy and thanksgiving to God A righteous person who knows and believes that everything that happens to us happens according to the permission of the all-wise and all-good Providence of God, accepts every evil that befalls him with a courageous and joyful heart. 1. St. ap. Paul says: “I am filled with consolation, abounding with joy in all our tribulation” (2 Cor. 7:4). “I rejoice,” he says, “not only in hunger and thirst, not only in chains, prisons and wounds, not only in troubles and oppression, and in all our sorrow, and not only am I filled with a little consolation, but I am filled with joy that exceeds abundance, abundant with joy, when they beat me with sticks, when they stone me, when I am shipwrecked and spend a whole day in the depths of the sea.” 2. The same thing happened with St. ap. Andrei, who, when they led him to the crucifixion, still greeted the holy cross from afar and, approaching it, joyfully hugged and kissed it (according to “Ch.-M.”) 5. Thank God for all His gifts One perspicacious old man, sitting at a common meal, where everyone was served the same food, saw that the food eaten by the brethren was changing: one was eating honey, another was eating simple bread, and some were eating green vegetables. Surprised by such a change in food, he asked the Lord to reveal this secret. The Lord announced to the elder: those who eat honey mean those who, with fear and spiritual joy, accept the gifts of God, constantly turning their thoughts to God - those who eat bread are also content with gratitude, and those who eat greens are those who are dissatisfied with food and grumble. Therefore, for their own good, everyone should use the gifts of God with a feeling of gratitude, according to the words of the Apostle: “Whether ... you eat, whether ... you drink, or do anything else, do everything for the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31) (Prologue Aug. 4). 6. Always thank the Lord Do you eat bread or quench your thirst, Or else do you please your eyes or your ears: Bring to memory the Author of these blessings: May He be in your heart and on your lips. 7. About thanking God for good deeds “God, when he sees someone grateful for the past, sends him even greater gifts; Let us also try to offer all possible gratitude to the Lord for the blessings given to us from Him, so that we may be rewarded with even greater ones; and let us never forget the blessings of God shown to us, but always keep them in our mind, so that remembering them prompts us to constant gratitude, although they are so numerous that our mind is not able to count God’s bounty to us. In fact, who can even imagine everything that has already been given to us, what has been promised, what is served every day? He brought us from non-existence into being; gave us both body and soul, created us intelligent, gave us this air to breathe, arranged all creation for the human race and wanted from the beginning that man would enjoy his stay in paradise, live life without sorrow and without any labor and, being in the body, in no way inferior to the Angels and incorporeal forces, but was above the needs of the body. Then, when, through carelessness, a person was caught by the flattery of the devil through the serpent, and then God did not stop benefiting the criminal sinner, but in the very punishments he showed the excess of His love for mankind and showed him many different and countless benefits. Finally, when, after the subsequent multiplication of the human race and its deviation towards wickedness, God saw that the wounds were incurable, He destroyed those who did evil with a flood, as if some harmful leaven, leaving the righteous Noah so that he would become the root and firstfruits of the human race. And look what favor he shows! From this righteous man and from his son, He deigned to multiply the human race to such a great number, gradually chose the righteous, and appointed them as teachers for other people, who could edify everyone with their virtues and, like doctors, heal the sick. He leads them first to Palestine, then to Egypt, thereby exercising the patience of His servants, and at the same time more clearly revealing his own strength; and then constantly continued to take care of the salvation of people, sending prophets and through them performing signs and wonders. To put it briefly, just as we can never enumerate the waves of the sea, even if we have tried it a thousand times, so we cannot enumerate the various blessings of God that He showed to our race. Finally, when God saw that even after such providence, human nature still has a need for great and ineffable love for mankind, then, as if taking pity on our race, He sent to us a Physician of souls and bodies, raising, so to speak, from the bosom of His fathers His only begotten Son, Who deigned to take the form of a slave and be born of the Virgin, to live with us and endure all Our infirmities, so that our nature, lying down from many sins, to raise from earth to heaven. Wondering at this and imagining the excessiveness of God’s love for the human race, St. the evangelist John exclaimed: “So... God love the world” (John 3:16). Look at the surprise expressed in this saying! The word "taco" indicates the importance of what he wants to say; that's why he started like this. Tell us, blessed John, how is “taco”? Show us the measure, show us greatness, reveal superiority. “So... God loved the world, for He also gave His only begotten Son to eat, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but may have eternal life.” You see, the reason for the coming of the Son of God is so that people who were threatened with destruction would receive salvation through faith in Him. Who can comprehend in thought the great, wondrous and incomprehensible favor that God showed to our nature in the gift of baptism, granting us the remission of all our sins? But what can I say? Neither thought nor word is able to count other blessings. For, no matter how much I say, the rest will still be such that in its excess it will surpass what has already been said. So, who can comprehend with his mind that path of repentance that God, out of His inexpressible love for mankind, revealed to our race, and, after the gift of baptism, those wonderful commandments through which we, if we want, can gain His favor? Do you see, beloved, the abyss of blessings? Do you see how many of them we listed, and yet we could not recount even a small part of them? For how can human language express in words what God has done for us? And yet, no matter how numerous and great these benefits are, even much greater and inexplicable are the benefits that He promised, after this life, in the next century to those following the path of virtue. Blessed Paul (the Apostle), wishing in a few words to present to us their excessive greatness, says: “Whose eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has the heart of man breathed what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). Do you see the excess of gifts? Do you see that His benefits exceed all human understanding? “And in the heart,” he says, “there is no sigh for a man.” So, if we want to reflect on them and render gratitude to God to the best of our ability, then we can gain even greater His favor and arouse in ourselves a stronger disposition towards virtue. In fact, the remembrance of good deeds greatly stimulates the deeds of virtue and disposes a person to despise everything present, to cleave to such a great Benefactor and daily show living love for Him” (from the 27th conversation of St. Golden on the book of Genesis). 8. Grateful feelings of the soul for the blessings of God Creator and Lord of the universe! How wondrous, O God, is Your power! How marvelous is the unchanging providence! With your right hand, like a tent, And in it above our heads From the heights of heaven, like a free flame, Like the wind, you send your angels, Serving spirits, into the world of the valley. Your clothes are an unsteady light, Your path is the wings of flying whirlwinds. (From “Collection of devotional readings” by Count Valuev) 9. It is sinful not only to read, but even to keep non-Orthodox books, for example, heretical and schismatic ones Presbyter Kyriakos, who kept the heretical works of Nestorius in his cell, was convinced of his guilt by the following vision: he saw standing near his cell a Woman dressed in a scarlet robe, and with her two husbands, in whom he recognized the Presbyter. The Mother of God and her companions, John the Baptist and John the Theologian. In indescribable joy, the reverent presbyter rushed to the feet of the Mother of God and asked to visit his cell. But She did not agree, despite his tearful requests, and finally said: “How do you want Me to come to you when you are holding My enemy in your cell!” Waking up from sleep, Kiriak, in deep sorrow, began to think: “Who could this be the enemy of the Most Holy One? Mother of God? There was no one with me in the cell except me.” Some time later, while busy reading books, the presbyter found among them the teachings of the heretic Nestorius, who was condemned at the 3rd Ecumenical Council for calling the Most Holy Theotokos not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ, as if a simple man was born from Her, and not God at the same time. Now only Kiriak understood who the enemy of the Rev. was in his cell. Mother of God. He immediately burned the heretical book, saying: “From now on, let me not have an enemy of the Most Holy Theotokos” (Prologue, October 1). 10. I am a stranger to fruitless doubt I am a stranger to fruitless doubt, Holy verbs of revelation And it’s sweet to me in hours of suffering To remember, sometimes in silence, 11. St. Thekla the First Martyr, as an example of deep attention to preaching the word of God St. Thekla was the daughter of pagan parents and lived in the city of Iconium during the time of the holy apostles Paul and Barnabas. Seeing their miraculous actions, the 18-year-old pagan listened to their teaching about Christ Jesus, and when the apostle spoke about virginity and chastity, Thekla was so attentive that she forgot about food and her mother and listened to the teaching about God for three days. After this, she firmly believed in the Savior and dedicated her virginity to Him. For such attention to the sermon of St. Paul and strong faith in Christ, the teacher-apostle called Thekla his first spiritual daughter. A little later, St. the girl was honored to be the first martyr for her preaching about Christ (according to “Ch.-M.”). 12. God's terrible judgment on the heretic When the wicked heretic Arius began to teach that the Lord I. Christ is only the first and most perfect creation of God, but not God, then St. the fathers condemned him for this and deprived him of church fellowship. Despised by everyone, he did not know what to do; but the spirit of malice inspired him to pretend to be a believer and ask Emperor Constantine the Great to order him to be accepted back into communion with the Church. The peace-loving emperor agreed, especially since Arius, when asked by the emperor: “Do you believe so, as the fathers affirmed at the Council of Nicaea,” hiding on his chest under his clothes the charter on which his superstitious heretical teaching was written, answered, striking himself on the chest: “So I believe.” The Emperor agreed. But God, who, according to the word of St. Scripture cannot be mocked (Gal. 6:7), and he was not slow in punishing the heretic. St. Alexander, Archbishop of Alexandria, who, by order of the emperor, was to receive Arius into communion with the church, knowing his stubbornness, prayed all night before the day on which Arius was to receive Arius that the Lord would not allow his worst enemy to invade the church. The Lord heeded the saint’s prayer. In the morning, Arius, surrounded by his like-minded people, triumphantly intended to enter the church and, with the kiss of Judas, approach St. communion, but on the way to church he suddenly felt a terrible internal illness, from which his whole belly, like Judas’s, disintegrated, and he immediately died in a shameful manner (“Ch.-M.” Aug. 30). 13. Heresy is a terrible sin To Rev. Monks came to Agathon to test his faith and humility. -Are you Father Agathon? - they asked, as if not knowing him. “I am Agathon, a sinful servant of God,” answered the elder. “There are rumors that you are a proud and intemperate person?” “It’s absolutely true,” answered the monk. - They also say that you are a liar and like to judge others? – And it’s true! - said Agathon. – I also hear that you are a heretic? - It's not true! - the old man objected. – Why do you accept all the vices, but deny the last one? – Those vices are common to man, and heresy is apostasy, which, despite all my sins, I cannot and do not want to take upon myself (“Vol. Tale of the Mobility of the Holy Fathers”; book of Chronicles, Read. 1856. March Dep. III, p. 168). 14. The punitive effect of God’s judgment on an apostate in remorse of his conscience St. Vadim lived in the 4th century in the Persian kingdom. At that time, the Persian king Savorius initiated a severe persecution of Christians. All who did not want to worship the sun and fire were condemned to death by order of the king. Many true Christians at this time showed the firmness of their confession and, having courageously endured various tortures, sealed their faith with martyrdom; among these confessors was St. Vadim, Archimandrite of Persia. Imprisoned in prison, he did not want to show even external worship to the sun in order to get rid of death. But at the same time, there were also traitors to the Christian faith from among those imprisoned: such was a certain Nirsan, an Aryan prince, who, fearing the impending torment, declared to the king his desire to return to his former pagan faith, in order to thereby gain the king’s favor and return to his former position. The king agreed to return Nirsan to his former princely rank and his former wealth if he personally killed St. Vadim, who was kept in prison with him. The traitor to the faith of Christ did not hesitate to raise his fratricidal hand against the saint. But when St. Vadim was brought in chains, and Nirsan had already taken the sword to fulfill the royal command, suddenly a sense of conscience awoke in the soul of the traitor. The reproachful gaze and meek words of the monk, who was not afraid of death, but grieved over the death of his brother, struck the criminal: he trembled and his hand became numb. The unfortunate man would have had to obey the voice of his conscience in order to avoid his eternal condemnation, but he drowned out his conscience with a trembling hand and killed the saint more than once. The king returned Nirsan to his former princely dignity and all the wealth, but nothing could return his peace and joy to the criminal soul. From the prick of his conscience, he fell into a state of despair, like the fratricide Cain, and committed suicide, thus experiencing the fate of Judas the traitor (according to “Ch.-M.” April 9). 15. No need to resort to soothsayers Listen to how the Lord punishes people for sorcery and how miraculously He saves those who resort to Him alone in adversity and sorrow. During the time of the prophet Elijah, there was a king in Samaria named Ahaziah. It happened that he fell from the window of his palace and became seriously ill; he was struck by the horror of approaching death. And so, he began to think about who he could turn to in order to receive healing. And finally he decided to send his household to the city of Ekron to the idol Baal to ask: will he die of illness or will he recover? The ambassadors set off. And as they walked along the road, suddenly a husband meets them, wearing a leather belt. It was the glorious prophet Elijah. Stopping the travelers, he asked them where they were going? And without waiting for an answer from them, he continued: “Or is there no God in Israel, because you are coming to ask Baal?..” (2 Kings 1:3). Go home and tell your king that magic will not bring him any benefit and that he will never rise from his bed because he despised the true God and turned to an idol for magic. Soon the prediction of St. husband: “And the king died according to the word of the Lord, even according to the word of Elijah” (2 Kings 1:17). But what happened to King Ahaziah can easily happen to anyone who resorts to divination when sick. Christians! Are we worthy of this holy name? If someone’s child gets sick, or if a husband falls ill, don’t we have a helper in heaven—God? Or is there no God in Israel, as if you are coming to question Baal? Don’t we have an intercessor, the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God? Do you really believe in the help of the dark power more than you hope for the help of God? But listen: another king, named Hezekiah, fell ill and was already dying. The Lord sent him to notify him of the death of the prophet Isaiah. “King,” the prophet said to him, “in the name of God I proclaim to you; Don’t worry about medications, get ready to die - your last hour has struck!” This was God's determination. But what did Hezekiah do? He did not fall into cowardice, did not turn to sorcerers, but turned to God with fiery prayer, and prayer saved Hezekiah: the Lord changed His determination. Before Isaiah had time to leave the fence of the royal house, the Lord again appeared to Isaiah and commanded him to inform the king that he had been given 15 more years of life. Two days later, Hezekiah recovered and lived another 15 years. Here are two sick kings - Ahaziah and Hezekiah - both suffered from a serious illness: but Ahaziah resorted to the help of the dark power in his illness - and died, and Hezekiah resorted to God - and recovered. Give up sorcery: it is a sin, very contrary to God, do not undertake this disastrous path of the devil, but accept the path of God - through prayer, hope, faith. May the Lord Jesus Christ be your only physician of souls and bodies; to Him be glory and dominion forever (according to V. Rt.). About the second commandment of God's law 1. On the veneration of holy icons St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, tells that in the city of Virpta, where there were many Jews, one Christian lived in a poor hut; in his front corner hung an icon of the Savior. After some time, this Christian bought himself a new house and left the hut, forgetting in it, at the discretion of God, the icon of the Savior. A Jew settled in this hut; he didn’t notice the icon. One day a friend of his, a Jew, comes to visit him. This one, sitting at the table, noticed the icon and asked the owner: “How does he, being a Jew, keep a Christian icon in his house?” Although the owner assured that he had not noticed the icon before, the guest was not appeased by this and went to his bishop and elders and announced this to them. In the morning, all the Jews of the city gathered in the hut where the icon of the Savior was, took it down from the wall, began to curse at it, and then, like their fathers, they nailed it to a tree, and one of the Jews hit the rib of the image of the Lord with a spear; but, lo and behold! Immediately blood and water flowed from the icon and filled the whole vessel. Great fear gripped all the Jews who were here. They drew up a council and decided on it that if they saw any miracle from this blood, then everyone would believe in the Crucified One. First, the one who was lame from birth was brought; They anointed his feet with blood - and he immediately became healthy. The rumor about this miracle spread throughout the city; They brought the blind, the demon-possessed, the paralytic and the lepers - and everyone received healing. All the Jews of that city believed in Christ, told the local bishop about it and received baptism from him with all their families and built a church in this city in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian must worship holy icons with faith and love, honor them honestly and with reverence (according to “Ch.-M.”). 2. The legend about the image of the Savior not made by hands In those days when the Savior, living on earth and passing through Jewish cities and villages, preached the Kingdom of God and worked miracles, in the city of Edessa, in Syria, there lived a prince called Abgar, who suffered from an incurable disease. Hearing about Christ the Lord and His great miracles, Abgar wished to see Him with his own eyes, hoping to receive healing from Him. But it was impossible for the prince himself to go to Judea, so he sent a letter to the Lord asking that the Lord come to him in Edessa. But, doubting whether the Lord would deign to come to him, Prince Abgar sent the skilled painter Ananias to depict the face of the Lord on the icon, hoping to see the image of the Savior and through this have joy in his illness, for the prince had great love for the Lord, hearing about Him and His miracles. With the princely letter, the painter Ananias reached Jerusalem and here he saw the Lord teaching the people. Because of the crowds of people, Ananias could not get closer to the Lord and, waiting for the time when the people dispersed, he stood on a stone and, looking diligently at the face of the Savior, tried to portray Him, but he could not do this, for the Divine face of the Lord was miraculously changing. Ananias worked for a long time, but did not achieve anything. Then the Lord commanded St. Apostle Thomas to bring to Himself the painter standing on the stone. When Ananias was brought to the Savior, then the Lord called him by name and occupation - a painter. “Where is the letter from your prince Abgar, which you brought to Me from Edessa?” - asked the Lord. Ananias was surprised and horrified by the Lord’s foresight and immediately, with trepidation, handed the prince’s letter into the hands of the Savior. The Lord read the letter and, fulfilling the desire of Prince Avgar and his painter, ordered water to be brought, washed His most holy face and wiped it with the quadrangular towel given to Him, and suddenly a miraculous likeness of the Divine face of the Lord was depicted on the canvas. The Lord, giving it to Ananias, said: “Carry it and give it to the one who sent you!” – This was in the last days of the Lord’s earthly life, shortly before His suffering. Ananias returned to Edessa to his prince and handed him a miraculous image of the Lord. Avgar joyfully kissed the miraculous image of the Savior Christ and received healing (according to Ch.-Min.). 3. You need to revere the shrine Ancient Christians kissed not only the altar and sacred things, but also the very walls of the house dedicated to the Lord. “Approaching the altar,” notes St. Athanasius the Great, - we kiss him with fear and joy.” And St. John Chrysostom points in his writings to the same ancient Christian custom, saying: “Don’t you see how many kiss the vestibule and walls of the church.” We all, from time to time, kiss St. icons, the life-giving cross of Christ and other sacred objects. It is known from the sacred books that one touch of the Savior saved people from severe suffering. The handkerchiefs and aprons that belonged to the Apostle Paul, when the sick touched them, stopped their illnesses (Acts 19:12). In the same way, the healing and cleansing power of holy icons is attested to by signs and miracles - many believers received wondrous help from miraculous icons when, after animated prayer, they reverently kissed the shrine. But great caution is needed to touch the shrine without judgment. “Do not touch Me,” the Lord Jesus Christ once said to Mary Magdalene. If this was said to the companion and disciple of Christ, then with even greater severity it warns those who have neither the fidelity nor the zeal of Magdalene. It is not sanctification, not the grace of consolation and healing, but condemnation that is received by those who approach holy things with unclean lips, without sincere faith and reverent reverence. Let us remember how severely the Lord punished the ancient Jews for irreverently looking at and touching the sacred ark upon its return from Philistine captivity. Many Jews then died a sudden death due to a lack of humility and due reverence. In order to benefit himself by venerating the miraculous icon, St. Whether it is the Gospel or the life-giving cross, we must be vividly aware of our unworthiness. When kissing an icon, we must raise our thoughts and feelings to the person depicted on it and give him due honor. The believing soul, imagining the greatness of the face recalled by the icon, is filled with joy and fear; “with fear, as it is explained in the church song, for the sake of sin, but with joy for the sake of salvation” (verse on Vozd.). So, do we honor St. the cross of the Lord, an icon, the Gospel, the robe of the Mother of God or any other sacred objects, our thoughts should be directed to God, the Mother of God and the saints. Every act of our reverence should serve as a sacrifice of our zeal for God, a sign of our reverence for Him. When kissing a shrine, we must nurture the hope that its grace-filled power will clear the thorns of our passions and bring down the sanctifying grace of God to our soul. One touch of the lips without ardent faith and prayer of the heart will not bring us any benefit (Prot. G. D-ko). 4. Two miracles from St. icons During the occupation of Moscow by the French in 1812, according to Napoleon's plan, the entire Kremlin was to be blown up into the air. From five terrible explosions, the walls of buildings trembled, glass cracked, doors fell; iron, stones, logs of the Nikolskaya Tower, the arsenal and the Kremlin walls, like feathers, flew into the air. But on the wall of the same St. Nicholas Tower, the image of St. Nicholas remained unharmed - the rope on which the lantern with a candle hung did not even break. The fragile glass of the icon case bent, but did not break (Snegirev “Memorials of Moscow Antiquity”, 1, 100–102; 2, 339–340; reference to the Historical Russian Church by F. Gumilevsky, period 5, p. 200), In Inkerman, at the foot of a cliff that was going to be blown up with dynamite, there was a hut where one poor family lived. By order of the authorities, everyone was ordered to get out of it. At that moment, when they wanted to light the dynamite, a worker approached the engineer and convincingly asked him to allow him to go into the dilapidated house and take out from there the icon left by the old woman who lived there in the confidence that the holy icon would prevent the rock from being blown up. After listening to the worker, the engineer shrugged his shoulders, and everyone around looked at each other; nevertheless, the worker was given permission to remove the icon from the house. At this time, an old woman approached the crowd and demanded that the image be left in place. They set the dynamite on fire, the rock shattered into a thousand pieces and literally crushed the miserable little house to the ground, leaving only the corner in which the icon stood and the icon itself untouched (“Sunday Thursday,” 1888) 5. Dear to us in front of the icon... This ardent wax, kindled We know that the candle is burning, The clergy sings solemnly, - 6. St. Defender of Icon Veneration St. Stephen, defending the veneration of icons before the Greek king himself, used the following method to admonish him: he showed a coin with a royal image and asked: – What will happen to the one who tramples this image with his feet? “This one will be executed,” they answered him. “What kind of punishment are worthy of those,” he said, “who dishonor and trample on the image of the Savior and His Most Holy Mother?” And, throwing the coin on the floor, he began to trample it with his feet. This time the emperor limited himself only to ordering the conclusion of St. Stephen to prison, where he found three hundred people imprisoned for icon veneration. Soon they brought out St. Stefan for new torment - they dragged him through the streets and finally hit him on the head with a thick stump, which is why he died immediately (from the book “Brief Essays on the History of the Christian Church”, Moscow, ed. 1884, p. 111). 7. Resolution of the Seventh Ecumenical Council regarding icon veneration “The image of the honest and life-giving cross should be placed in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and garments, on walls and boards, in houses and paths; honest and holy icons, painted with paints and from fractional stones and from other substances capable of doing so, such as: icons of our Lord Jesus Christ, our most immaculate Lady Theotokos, also St. Angels and all saints and reverend men. For when the faces of saints are visible through the depiction on icons, then those who look at them are encouraged to remember and love their prototypes, and to honor them with a kiss and reverent worship, not our own, according to our faith, worship of God, which befits the only Divine nature, but veneration in that image, as well as the image of the honest and life-giving cross and the Holy Gospel and others honor is given to the saints by incense and the lighting of candles, as was the custom of the ancients: for the honor given to the image passes to the prototype, and the one who worships the icon worships the creature depicted on it.” “This is how the teaching of St. our fathers, and this is the tradition of the Catholic Church, which has accepted the Gospel from end to end of the earth. And those who dare to think or teach differently, or, despising church traditions, invent something new, or reject something approved by the Orthodox Church - such as: the Gospel, the image of the cross, life-giving icons and St. relics of martyrs, or they will treat sacred vessels without respect, as if they were ordinary things - if there is a bishop, let him be alien to the episcopacy and deposed, let the cleric be expelled from the clergy, monk or layman, let him be anathematized" (i.e., excommunicated from the church) (see the book "Rules of the Holy Apostles, Holy Seven Ecumenical Councils"). 8. Miraculous admonishment of a sinner One man, a serious sinner, known for his wickedness, had the habit of always turning to the Mother of God with an angelic greeting: “Rejoice, joyful one, the Lord is with you!” “Once upon a time this man happened to get lost in the desert. He was exhausted from hunger and thirst and finally completely despaired of his salvation from starvation. But then, he saw the Most Pure Mother of God with many beautiful virgins carrying various foods - sweet and filling - but all on defiled and unclean dishes. “Eat,” the Mother of God told him. But he refused. “I cannot eat, because although the food is very good, the dishes on which they are served are unclean and defiled.” “So,” the Blessed Virgin said to him, “and I cannot accept the greeting that you always send to Me, because it, in itself being good, coming from bad lips and an unclean heart, becomes unpleasant for Me.” Therefore, go and first cleanse yourself of your spiritual defilement, and then you will be satisfied with heavenly food. The vision ended, and the repentant sinner, to his joyful surprise, saw himself near his home. With repentance and a pious life, he atoned for his previous wickedness (from the book “The Irrigated Fleece”). 9. Don’t be vain and don’t be proud, man! “You see that during spring the water flows with great aspiration and noise, but soon it flows away; or smoke and fire rise high, but immediately disappear: this is exactly the state of proud and hated people: they become fierce and noisy, and they are in their pride, but they are destroyed, like fleeting water - they rise like flame and smoke, so that not a trace of them is visible. The prophet of God, an obvious and faithful witness of the truth, testifies to this: “I saw the wicked exalting himself and standing tall like the cedars of Lebanon: and he passed by, and behold, he was not, and he sought him out, and his place was not found” (Ps. 37:35, 36). On the contrary, it is said about the one who fears God: “For he does not move forever. There will be a righteous person in eternal memory. He will not fear the hearing of evil: his heart is ready to trust in the Lord: if his heart is strengthened, he will not fear until he looks at his enemies” (Ps. 111:5-8), which is also evidenced in Psalm 36. This incident and discussion teaches you, Christian, not to follow the example of those who are fearless and proud of the wealth, glory and honor of this world, lest you perish with them; but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and fear His name, so that you may be exalted from Him with the humble and those who fear God (1 Pet. 5:6), “as everyone who exalts himself will humble himself; he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14), according to the teaching of the eternal truth - Christ" (from the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, ed. 3, vol. II, p. 72). 10. God does not tolerate human pride God does not tolerate human pride, He is not with those who say: We are the salt of the earth, we are the pillar of the shrine, We are God's sword, we are God's shield! He is not with those who sound the words And, the dead vessel of the living, Dead in soul and asleep in mind. But God is with those in whom God's power is, He is with the one who has evil pride I didn’t use words of humility, He did not boast of human glory, He is with the one who has spirit and freedom He is with the one who calls all the nations To the spiritual world, to the Lord's church! One wondrous ascetic (stylite), distinguished by the gift of insight, told the following to Bishop Theodore of Edessa: “My brother and I, from a young age, left worldly life and with him retired to a monastery; We stayed here for three years and, on the advice of our spiritual father, retired into the desert; Having found two caves here, we settled in them; there we remained silent, eating only those plants that the meager nature of the desert provided; One day, while collecting herbs, I looked up and saw that my brother stopped for something, crossed himself and then hurriedly left; Wanting to find out what was there, I came to the place where my brother had left, and, to my surprise, I found a huge amount of gold; I took off my robe, collected all that treasure and brought it to my cave; After living a little, I went to the city, bought a house, built a monastery, created a church and with it a hospice for the sick; I used all the wealth I found to help the poor and set up the monastery: I took nothing for myself and, having finished my business, I again withdrew into the desert, with the consciousness that I had done a good deed; but it died from my pride and arrogance and lost its value from condemnation: walking through the desert, I thought that I had acted better than my brother, and became more perfect than him; in such thoughts I approached my brother’s dwelling; I had not reached the cave in which my brother labored, when suddenly an Angel of God appeared to me and convicted me of self-praise; approved of my brother’s action and said to me: “If you do not repent, you will not receive the good portion that was assigned to your brother.” I repented for a long time, I prayed for a long time on this pillar, and only now a sweet light shone in my heart, and I was honored to hear from the Angel: “Peace and salvation to you!” In spiritual joy and a feeling of heartfelt gratitude to the merciful Lord, I fell to the ground, and St. The angel, raising me, said: “Because of your arrogance, because you humiliated your brother, I hid from your sight, but did not cease to protect you, as the Lord commanded me; Now, seeing your humility, the Lord remembered you and commanded me to be with you in this life and in the next century, and God gave you the gift of seeing the righteous and sinners.” And this is what I see, Father: if I see a righteous man, then the bright Angels of God are near him; If a sinner walks past me, then I see many demons around him; An angel of God stands far from him and grieves; if the demons want to destroy the soul of that sinner, the Angel of God does not give it to them: for the good God awaits the sinner’s conversion and his repentance and continues his life so that he reforms” (from “Resurrection Reading” 1889). We are looking for primacy, superiority over others. But let us think: is such harassment in the spirit of the teachings of I. Christ? This search for primacy in a Christian is disgusting to Him because it reveals pride, and pride, as we know, is the most intolerable vice in the eyes of God. Therefore, we see that all the great people in the Christian world were humble. 1. How much did the Mother of God stand out during the life of I. Christ? Did She, the Mother of such a great Wonderworker, think that therefore everyone should show Her honor and respect? But the Mother of God is mentioned least of all in the Gospel. We only see Her at the wedding in Cana of Galilee and at the cross. Thus, neither the Mother of God Herself sought supremacy or fame, nor did Her Son desire this for His Mother. 2. All the saints ran from this glory. Abbess Athanasia even left the monastery she had founded in order to avoid human glory, to avoid the honor and respect that began to be given to her for her piety. The Monk Paul of Thebes labored secretly alone in the desert for ninety years. And if God Himself had not revealed it, this lamp would have remained hidden, unknown to anyone. 3. The saints also tried to suppress this desire to excel in some way in their other disciples - again in order to avoid pride. In the monastery of the Monk Pachomius there was one who wished to hold a greater fast than the other brethren. Pachomius forbade him and ordered him to eat the same food and in the same quantity as others. Another strove for martyrdom - he again restrained him, ordered him to save his soul and please God on the path he had previously embarked on. In a word: they suppressed and exterminated in their students any desire for superiority over others, and instilled in them a spirit of humility and renunciation of their own will. 4. Our Lord I. Christ showed us a different path to exaltation. He told everyone to consider himself last - not to think anything about himself, or to think as the least of all. He commands to serve everyone, to be a slave for everyone. And tell me, who wouldn’t love such humble and loving people? Who will not pay respect and respect to the one who considers everyone to be superior to himself, serves everyone, cares about everyone, is ready to do everything for everyone that he can do? Such people unwittingly win the hearts of everyone. “But this is the one I will look upon,” says the Lord, “the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at My word” (Isa. 66:2). 5. They will say: it is difficult to serve others! But who do you serve in the person of your brothers? – To I. Christ Himself: is it really hard to serve Him Who Himself came not to be served, but to serve Him Himself, and not only to serve, but to give His soul for the deliverance of many? This is the highest image of serving others - Christ our Savior. Oh, how zealously His sincere followers imitated Him in this matter! Wanting to serve Christ in the person of the poor, they deliberately took into their care the unfortunate - lepers, the weakened - and followed them, washed them, fed them from their own hands, while keeping in their hearts the thought that they were serving I. Christ Himself. They did not demand any gratitude from them for this - they knew one thing, that with this they would create their own salvation and theirs (extracted from “Souls. Reading”). 13. All the glory of man is like the flower of grass; The grass is lost, and its flower is fallen away (1 Pet. 1:24) Saint Eudokia, without a doubt, firmly knew and felt this truth when, elevated to the level of Grand Duchess of Moscow, she voluntarily descended into the state of a slave, when, under magnificent utensils, she used to wear a poor and stiff hair shirt! Not gold, honors, but only good morals They will make you worthy of eternal glory. How destructive pride is can be judged first of all by the fact that it is the first sin of the devil. The devil was originally the first angel before God. Pride made the first Angel an enemy of God and cast him down from heaven. Pride is the sin of the Antichrists. The Antichrist, according to the words of the Apostle, will exalt himself “above everything that is called God or that is holy, so that he will sit in the church of God, showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4) Pride takes away the price from asceticism itself. “When there is no foundation - humility,” says St. Chrysostom, - then, even if someone rises to the heavens in life, all this will easily be destroyed and will have a bad end. Even if you were distinguished by fasting, prayer, almsgiving, chastity or some other virtue, all this without humility will collapse and perish” (Demon on Matthew 25). From pride arise disputes, fights, opposition to superiors, rebellions, and unjust wars. For all these reasons, pride is the most ungodly sin: “God opposes the proud” (James 4:6). Of the six vices that the Lord especially hates, according to Solomon, pride ranks first (Prov. 6:17). Among the 7 most important mortal sins, pride is also placed in first place (see Legal Confession). In the person of the Antichrist and the wicked servants, his pride will be punished by the terrible judgment of God (2 Thess. 2:12). But even in real life, the Lord often shames and humiliates pride, as can be seen from the examples of Pharaoh, who died in the Red Sea for proudly opposing the will of the Lord - Nebuchadnezzar, who fell into a bestial state because he boasted of his power and forgot about his dependence on the Most High, who owns the kingdom of men (Dan. 4), - Antiochus Epiphanes, who, as punishment for having exalted himself before the God of Israel and tried by all means to destroy true reverence for God, was struck by a disgusting dying illness, so that he himself recognized this illness as the effect of the wrath of God on his pride (2 Mac. 9: 5-28), - persecutors of Christianity, for rebelling against God and His Christ, who died painful deaths, etc. 83 (extracted in abbreviation from “Collection for any spiritual reading” by Archpriest V. Nechaev, now Vissarion, bishop of Kostroma, published in 1884, p. 207). 15. Addiction to dress is unworthy of a Christian The mother of the blessed one once came to Saint Peter, the hermit of Antioch, famous for his gift of healings. Theodorit, bishop Kirsky, who suffered from pain in one eye, so severe that no aid from the most skilled doctors helped. But this woman was still young and loved to adorn herself with gold earrings, rich necklaces, blush her face and dress in luxurious silk dresses. In the same form she appeared with her request to St. Petru. The holy hermit, noticing her panache, considered it necessary to first heal her from this mental illness. “Tell me,” he asked her, “if some excellent painter presented for a public exhibition a portrait he painted according to the rules of art, and some ignoramus, who understands nothing about fine painting, decided to find this work of art unsuitable and, what’s even worse, began to correct the beauty of the depicted face, lengthening it, for example. eyebrows and eyelashes, whitening the skin, tinting the cheeks - do you think the artist would not be angry, seeing how an ignorant hand distorts what was written with excellent art? - Understand that the Creator of all things, this wondrous Artist who formed our beauty, suffers no less, but even much more, insult from your vain attachment to outfits and embellishments, because you would not smear your face with different colors if you did not think that God’s creation lacks grace; and by thinking this way, you seem to be reproaching the Almighty and All-Wise God for weakness and foolishness.”... Touched by such a lesson, the mother of the blessed. Theodorite threw herself at the feet of St. the hermit, begging her to forgive her frivolity and not abandon her intercession for the healing of her illness. The saint healed her with the sign of the cross (“Chronicles”, 1845, part 4). 16. Sayings of the word of God about the sin of love of money - “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). - “Anyone who does not renounce ... his property cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). - “But those who want to get rich fall into misfortunes and snares, and into many senseless and harmful lusts, which plunge a person into all-destruction and destruction: for the love of money is the root of all evil: the love of money is the root of all evil; – “Covetousness... is idolatry” (Col. 3:5). - “You fool, this night they will take your soul from you: and what you have prepared, to whom will they be?” (Luke 12:20). - “Seek... first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all this will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). 17. Indulging your passions means serving idols Saint I. Chrysostom teaches: “Don’t tell me that you don’t worship the golden idol; rather, prove that you don’t do what the gold tells you to do. There are different types of idolatry: one considers mammon (wealth) as a master; another recognizes the womb as God, and another another, even cruder passion. You do not sacrifice oxen to them, as the pagans did, but you do it even worse: you sacrifice your soul to them. You do not bend the knee, you do not bow to idols, but with complete obedience you do everything that your belly, your gold, and your dominant passion command you to do. And the pagans are vile because they deified our passions: they called carnal lust Aphrodite or Venus, anger Ares or Mars, and drunkenness Dionysus or Bacchus. Although you do not make material idols for yourself, like the pagans, you serve the same passions with great zeal; You make the members of Christ members of a harlot and defile yourself with other iniquities” (from the works of St. John Chrysostom). 18. Covetousness as a reason for the loss of a spiritual gift One abbot of a cenobitic monastery, in which each of the brethren was fed by the labors of his own hands, was of such a high life that he was honored by God with the gift of casting out demons. His mercy was so great that he shared his last - food and clothing - with the poor. He was completely non-covetous, so when they brought him something as a gift, he usually said: take yours from here; leave us to Christ our God; let Him take care of us, Who said: “Those who work for Me will rejoice” (Is. 65:14). And our hands can nourish us; they will be our condemnation if we live on the labors of others. Hearing about the virtuous life of this ascetic, the king called him to his place, talked for a long time and gave him money for the needs of the monastery. This time the abbot, unfortunately, violated the usual rules of his non-covetousness: he accepted the money and from that time on became covetous. He bought oxen, donkeys and hired workers to enrich himself. And so, as usual, they bring him to him, possessed by a demon. The elder said to the demon: “Get out of God’s creation.” But the demon answered him: “I don’t listen to you now because you have become one of ours; You put aside sadness, even according to Bose, and submitted to the vanity of life, - therefore you have no power over me” (Prologue Oct. 20). 19. A high example of non-covetousness Abba Macarius, while in Egypt, once found a thief with a mule who was robbing his property. The elder, as if a stranger, approached the thief, loaded a mule with him, and with perfect silence sent him out, said: “We have brought nothing into this world, but let us bear what we can” (1 Tim. 6:7). The Lord is given, the Lord is taken away: as the Lord willed, so it was" (Job 1:21). Blessed is the Lord in everything! (from the “Skete Patericon”). Hypocrites, blinded by pride, do not notice how they harm themselves and others. They lose all trust and respect from others because they lead them into deception and unforeseen mistakes with their pretense and deceit. Hypocrites bless their neighbors with their lips, but curse their neighbors in their hearts. Therefore, it seems to us, we can add to them the words of the psalmist: “There is no truth in their mouth: their heart is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongues” (Ps. 5:10). But let the spiritually blind not forget that the all-seeing, righteous God will find out all unrighteousness; they will not deceive Him. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven with man,” says the Lord, “for you yourselves do not enter, and you do not allow those who want to enter” (Matthew 23:13). A bitter fate awaits the hypocrites! Let us explain this truth. In the life of the teacher. Onesiphorus recounts the following incident: the Monk Onesiphorus of Pechersk had a spiritual son and friend, a monk, who tried to imitate him and seem like a faster; He pretended to be chaste, but falsely: he ate and drank secretly and sinned with his body. Although Onesiphorus was a seer, his friend’s hypocritical behavior was, according to higher intentions, hidden from him. And the brethren of the monastery did not understand the hypocrite at all. But God punished him and revealed his hypocrisy: the monk, being healthy until then, suddenly died. His ashes gave off such a stench that no one could approach him. So they sang it, standing in the distance. During the funeral service, someone was heard screaming, as if someone was being beaten. Then the Monk Anthony (whose relics rest in the Kiev-Pechersk caves) appeared to the Monk Onesiphorus and said menacingly: “Why did you put such a vile lawless person here? Throw him out as food for the dogs: he is not worthy to be here.” Why were the affairs of his friend hidden from the seer Onesiphorus? The Angel of God who appeared to him said: “Then the Lord hid the monk’s deeds in order to show him in his actual form to all who sin and unrepentant: let them, having seen, repent” (“Kievo-Pecher Patericon”). 21. Flatterers are our great enemies “Flatterers are our great enemies: they blind our eyes, do not allow us to see our great shortcomings and therefore block our path to perfection, especially if we are proud and short-sighted. Therefore, we must always stop the flatterers who speak flattering speeches to us and avoid them. Woe to him who is surrounded by flatterers; good - who is surrounded by simpletons who do not hide the truth, although unpleasant, for example, exposing our weaknesses, errors, passions, mistakes” (from the book “My Life in Christ”, Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. II, ed. 1892, p. 90). 22. Instruction by Rev. Simeon the Stylite on food The Monk Simeon the Stylite once said: “Although food does not defile a person, it nevertheless gives rise to bad thoughts, darkens the mind, takes root of passion, transforms a spiritual person into a carnal one, nailing his thoughts to carnal lusts.” That is why he himself ate food only once a week (“Ch.-M.” May 24). 23. Thoughts about the dangers of drunkenness 1. “Fear the excessive consumption of hot drinks, like the fire of Gehenna” (“Spiritual colors” part II). 2. “If ever a person is under the power of the devil, it is especially when he is drunk” (“Spiritual colors,” part II). 3. “A drunkard is not worthy to live in the society of rational beings: he should be placed among animals and expelled from the society of people” (St. Basil the Great). 4. “Do not drink excessively not only wine, but, if possible, also water” (“Spiritual colors” part II). 24. Sayings of the word of God about those drunk with wine - “Do not be among those who are drunk with wine” (Proverbs 23:20). – “Wine is a sorrow for the soul when one drinks a lot of it, during irritation and quarrel. Excessive consumption of wine increases the rage of the foolish to the point of stumbling, diminishing his strength and causing wounds” (Sir. 31:34, 35). - “Do not show yourself brave against wine, for wine has destroyed many” (Sir. 31:29). - “Woe to those who are bold to drink wine and strong to make strong drink” (Isa. 5:22). - “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life, and lest that day come upon you suddenly” (Luke 21:34). – “Do not get drunk with wine, which causes debauchery” (Eph. 5:18). - “As in the day, let us behave decently, not indulging in feasting and drunkenness” (Rom. 13:13). – “Drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10; Gal. 5:21). 25. Sayings of the word of God about the sin of drunkenness - “Take heed... to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness... and lest that day come upon you suddenly” (Luke 21:34). - “As in the day, let us behave decently, not indulging in... drunkenness” (Rom. 13:13). - “Say what is in accordance with sound doctrine: so that the old women... do not become enslaved to drunkenness” (Titus 2:1, 3). - “Whoever loves fun will become poor; but whoever loves wine... will not become rich” (Proverbs 21:17). – “A drunkard... will become poor” (Proverbs 23:21). - “Who’s howling? who's moaning? who has quarrels? Who's in grief? who has wounds for no reason? who has purple eyes? Those who sit long drinking wine” (Prov. 23:29, 30). - “Do not get drunk with wine, which causes debauchery” (Eph. 5:18). - “It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes to drink strong drink, lest, having drunk, they forget the law and turn the judgments of all the oppressed” (Prov. 31:4, 5). e) to contempt for the works of God: - “the harp... and the flute and the wine at the feasts of the sons of Judah; but they do not consider the works of the Lord, neither do they consider the work of His hands” (Isa. 5:12). - “Do not be deceived... neither drunkards nor revilers... will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). – “The works of the flesh are known; they are... quarrels... murders, drunkenness, disorderly conduct and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). Avoid the company of drunkards: - “I wrote to you not to associate with someone who, while calling himself a brother, remains... a drunkard... and do not even eat with such a person” (1 Cor. 5:11). - “If... a slave... begins... to drink with drunkards, then the master of that slave will come on a day on which... he does not expect, 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 24:48–51). 26. Everyone who drinks wine is a suicide Each of us knows how drunkards soon weaken in strength, melt like wax, are subject to illness and, finally, unexpected death. But here suicide is not yet so visible. We will explain this by comparison: our life is completely like a lit lamp; each lamp has a certain amount of oil, which must burn for a certain time; Equally, each person has a certain amount of life reserve, which must continue in him for certain years. Just as a lamp can exhaust its oil prematurely when, instead of one, it burns with two or three wicks, so human life can soon be exhausted when the oil of life burns with double or triple flames. That is why, instead of the warmth of life, the drunkard feels a burning flame within himself; instead of light - blindness of the mind and heart; instead of quiet joy - violent and wild fun. That is why he dies as quickly as a lamp lit by many wicks burns out, and often does not live to reach half of the limit assigned to him by God. Isn’t such a waste or squandering of life an obvious suicide? (Archpriest Gr. Dyachenko). 27. Drunkenness is the cause of many and great sins One of the ancient sages said that the vine produces three grapes, the first of delight, the second of rapture, and the third of sorrow. This means that moderate consumption of wine contributes to the pleasure and health of a person, a lot of consumption makes him drunk, and excessive consumption darkens reason, arouses irritability, gives rise to quarrels and other disorders, always accompanied by sad consequences: being in a drunken state, a person easily dares to commit all sins, even the most serious ones, which in a sober state he is afraid, ashamed and abhors (Ancient Patericon). 28. Ten bitter grapes of drunkenness (From the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov) “If we want to carefully examine the power of drunkenness and if we call it a grapevine,” says Saint Demetrius of Rostov, “then we will find in it ten moral grapes that bring harm and sadness to a person: Its first cluster is darkness of mind, darkening of reason, loss of consciousness; for from a stomach overflowing with wine, wine vapors rise to the head, act on the brain and disturb the mind. Therefore, many, in a state of intoxication, do not remember themselves and do not know what they are doing and what they are saying, as if they were crazy, and no matter what evil happened to them: whether dishonor or beatings, they do not remember anything for tomorrow. For such, what is written in parables is fulfilled: “I was beaten, and I was not sick, and I was mocked, but I did not understand” (Proverbs 23:35). The second grape is shamelessness: a drunk is not ashamed of anyone, but, having lost his conscience, he utters speeches that are bad for chaste ears; his lips are like a beastly pit filled with stinking uncleanness, and his tongue is like a shovel with which to throw out this uncleanness... What else is the heart of such a person than a receptacle for many evils, from which nothing can come out except evil, according to the word of the Gospel: “an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). The third grape from the vine of drunkenness is failure to keep secrets. A drunk man openly tells everyone all those secrets, his own or others’, that he carefully hid in the depths of his soul, keeping them in silence when he was sober. This is not enough: what has long passed and been consigned to oblivion, even then he remembers, and like a dead man he resurrects from the grave. And just as it is usual for a drunk to vomit food from the stomach, it is also usual to reveal secrets: both food and secrets cannot be kept in a drunken state. The fourth grape of the Sodom vine of drunkenness is the incitement of carnal lust, which is why the apostle exhorts “do not get drunk with wine, in which there is fornication” (Eph. 5:18). The fifth cluster, full of serpentine poison, is rage, anger, enmity, quarrels, abuse and bloodshed. Having drunk wine, people rebel against each other with rage. The sixth gall cluster from the vine of drunkenness is damage to health, exhaustion of bodily strength, trembling of hands, headache, weakened vision, stomach pain, groans, infirmities, premature old age, diminished years of life and unfortunate death. The seventh grape is waste of property, loss of wealth, deprivation of benefits: “A drunken worker,” says the son of Sirach, “will not be rich” (Sir. 19:1). How many people are there who, due to drunkenness from great wealth, came to the last poverty! An example of this is the prodigal son described in the Gospel parable. The eighth bitter grape is the loss of salvation. Both material wealth and spiritual treasures are wasted through drunkenness, because a drunken person has the audacity to commit all sins. Whatever sin a sober person abhors, fears or is ashamed of, the same sin he is not ashamed to commit, neither fears nor abhors when he is drunk. A person who, through drunkenness, has lost all virtues, does not he deprive himself of salvation and alienate himself from the heavenly inheritance? The apostle rightly says: “drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10). The ninth gall cluster is the wrath of God: a drunkard, breaking the commandments of God, arouses the wrath of God Himself with his sins. That is why the prophet Isaiah cries: “Woe to those who rise in the morning, and to those who persecute strong drink until the evening; for I will burn the wine” (Isaiah 5:11). The tenth most bitter fruit of drunkenness is the ultimate destruction of the soul... Other sinners, when their hour of death comes, can repent and regret their sins, because their mind is sober: but how can a dying drunkard repent when he does not remember himself, when he does not realize that his death is coming, which he did not expect at all? And for someone who dies without repentance, Gehenna is inevitable. These are the moral bunches of these Sodom grapes, that is, drunkenness: although they taste sweet at first, but then this sweetness turns into the bitterness of bile, into the poison of serpents and asps (from the text of St. Demetrius of Rost.). 29. What is the root of drunkenness? Listen to what Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk says about drunkenness: “The stingiest and most harmful vice is drunkenness. It is the cause of many evils, both mental and physical. It deprives the body of strength and exposes it to all sorts of diseases, but nothing destroys the soul more than drunkenness. Drunkenness causes quarrels and fights, foul language and ungodly songs, prodigal sins and all sorts of temptations. That's why St. Chrysostom says that no one is so kind to the devil as a drunkard. And it is truly so: no one fulfills his evil will like a drunkard: what a sober person does not dare to do, a drunken person boldly decides to do. The drunkard is a lost man, but he himself does not notice it; he is drowning in the swamp of sin, but does not think at all about how to get out of it; he rolls around in the mud like a pig, but he doesn’t want to wash this mud off himself; moreover, he is angry at the one who would like to pull him out of this disastrous abyss. And the word of God thunders terribly against this vice: do not flatter yourself, do not deceive yourself: drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9, 10)! So great is the evil of drunkenness; It’s not enough to mourn him: we must fight him in every possible way. How to fight? – What do they do when they want to destroy a thin plant? They pull it out by the roots or cut off its root. What is the root of drunkenness? Where does a drunkard start? Here is a man who a few years ago had no taste for vodka, and now he won’t leave the inn: how did he get here? where did you first become acquainted with vodka? It cannot be that a person who does not drink at all would decide to immediately go to this unkind place to get drunk: no, probably - he hesitated for a long time before drinking the first glass. But to his misfortune, there was a “kind” man who brought him that fatal first glass, treated him, persuaded him to drink - “for health, for fun, for the sake of company,” and - oh, if this “kind” but stupid man knew what great evil he had sowed in the soul of this unfortunate, now helpless drunkard! He drank one glass and liked it; drank another - it seemed to become more fun, he repeated it, and out of habit his head began to spin... A little time passed - again a treat, again vodka and he drinks without hesitation, repeats more boldly, drinks the fourth and fifth, and now he is drunk... The holiday has come, it is necessary to treat the “good” people, but these “good” people do not drink without the owner, and again he drinks, drinks his vodka, and so little by little he gets used to it, begins to drink on weekdays, learns the way to the inn, goes there, first sneaking away from his family and neighbors, and then clearly, openly, and now he reaches the most pitiful state: he can no longer stop himself, madly surrenders to his disastrous passion and perishes, perishes both body and soul... This is what that “kind” person did who persuaded him to drink the first glass! they are offended when a guest refuses vodka: you, they usually say, don’t love me, don’t want to drink to my health... Do they, these “good” people, know that they are sometimes, without knowing it, villains for their guests? Here is what St. Tikhon of Zadonsk says about them: “Many have the bad custom of treating their guests to such a meal that when they go home, they do not recognize the road along which they came to visit. For such a treat, both a strong request and low bows became a custom. And the evil, carnivorous human cunning has also invented a good guise, which covers up evil, like poison is sweetened with honey: let’s drink to the health of so and so!.. As if the one for whom they drink will gain more health from this! And many people not only do not consider this harmful custom a sin, but also consider it a due, a sign of respect, special cordiality, so that a treat will not be a treat if you don’t get the guest drunk. Oh, what blindness, what madness, what deception of the murderer-devil! Listen, brothers, what harm can come from such a treat both to the hospitable hosts themselves and to those whom they so inhumanly treat. Firstly, a drunk person decides to commit all kinds of evil, all kinds of temptations. A participant in all these iniquities that a drunken person dares to commit is also the polite person who treated him so much: if this person were sober, he would not have created such a temptation. In a sober person, even a small spark of reason shines, but in a drunken person it completely goes out. Although a sober person is drawn by lust to lawlessness, conscience constantly arms itself against sin and leads a person away from falling, while a drunken person is easily overcome by lust, and his conscience becomes powerless. Secondly, from these polite, but also poisonous treats, a person reaches drunken passion, which takes over him so much that he is no longer able to free himself from it, and it often happens that in such disastrous insensibility he ends his life, dying without the hope of eternal salvation. And that “good” person, or better to say, that villain who got him drunk, becomes the culprit of his death: after all, the one who opens the way to destruction is the one responsible for the death of a person. Thirdly, this polite man, who tries to get his guests drunk, shortens their lives: after all, from the drunkenness to which he disposes his guests, various illnesses occur, and illnesses lead to premature death. Fourthly, a person, corrupted by these zealous treats, becomes unbearable for his family, for his father and mother, for his wife, children and friends, and becomes worthless for his entire fatherland. This, brothers, is where this foolish serving of vodka to your guests leads. That’s how many troubles and evils come from such cordial treats!” This is how Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk concludes his word about treats. And here these treats have become like some kind of immutable law. People will deny themselves a piece of bread, they will sit without fuel, they will walk around in rags, but by the holidays they will get money, get it and drink it. The peasant trembles over every penny; and he spares nothing for this disastrous vodka: there were cases when a peasant took his last bag of bread to the market in order to buy vodka for the holiday and treat his friends to the glory: how can you lag behind others? As if what a shame it would be if he didn’t have vodka on a holiday! And these holidays last for three or four days, and the next day the children are already crying: “There is no bread!” Aren't these holiday treats crazy? Isn’t this rampant drunkenness that comes from these treats a grave sin before God? Adults drink, teenagers drink, even girls and little children are treated to treats: how can these seducers of these little ones not fear God?! At least they were afraid of the terrible word of Christ: woe to him who seduces one from these little ones! It would be better for him to drown in the depths of the sea than to seduce a young man and a child into such a grave sin! This is where the root of drunkenness is, this is why this evil is spreading in a wide wave across the face of our native land! If it weren’t for these treats, these begs to drink, there wouldn’t be even half of those unfortunate drunkards who are now encountered at every step! Brothers, have pity on yourself, have pity on your neighbors: don’t pester them with vodka, at least don’t force someone who refuses to drink. Will you say thank you to someone who offers you a drink that will make you go crazy? - And vodka drives you crazy and ruins forever the one who makes friends with it. So, do not get drunk with wine, do not treat others to it either: do not deceive yourself, it is said: “drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:10)! (Extracted in abbreviation from No. 696 Trinity sheet). 30. Two blessed cures for drunkenness Reading the word of God and fervent prayers to the Lord Jesus Christ are blessed remedies against drunkenness. Let us present stories showing the reality of these blessed means. 1. “I had one parishioner who suffered for many years from heavy drinking,” said one priest, “how much grief his family endured, how many times he himself swore an oath not to drink more vodka, but it was all in vain: he continued to drink and rage... Once his wife bought for about one kopeck a sheet of paper in which was printed a story about how one officer got rid of heavy drinking by reading one chapter from the Gospel, as soon as he began to be tormented by a thirst for vodka, she bought it and gave it to her husband to read. A good seed sank into his heart: the poor man began to follow the example of that officer... So what? Every day, the urge to drink began to appear less and less often, and he, reading the gracious word of God, was completely healed from binge drinking” (from “Trinity leaf.”). 2. In one village there was a craftsman at a factory, very skilled in his craft, a kind and dear craftsman, but, unfortunately, he drank, and often. One God-fearing man advised him that, when he wanted to drink wine, he should say the Jesus Prayer to himself: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” 33 times, according to the thirty-three years of Jesus Christ’s earthly life. The workman obeyed, began to do it, and soon stopped drinking completely. And what else? Three years later he entered a monastery (“Dushep. Read.” Jan. 1864). 31. He who drinks heavily pleases the devil and deeply offends his Guardian Angel 1. The devil, it is narrated in the prologue, rejoicing (looking at the drunkards), says: “I have never rejoiced and rejoiced so much about anything as about drunken Christians, because my will is complete in drunkards; For me, drunkards are better than filthy people: God can cleanse filthy people, but he hates and abhors drunkards. The drunk are mine, the sober are God's. “Go,” the devil said to the demons after this, “go and teach Christians to drink and do all the will of my desire” (Prol. April 7). 2. And how a drunkard insults his Guardian Angel is difficult to describe. “Drunkenness,” says the teacher. Theodosius of Pechersk, “we drive away the Guardian Angel from ourselves and attract an evil demon to ourselves: through drunkenness... we are approaching hell, not having the word of God in our mouths through drunken rot.” Thus, moving away from the Guardian Angel, the drunkard comes into the power of Satan. Now Satan begins to kindle all the unclean passions in man. “Woe,” says the Scripture, “to those who, from early morning, seek out strong drink (as the Jews called any drink that can produce intoxication) and until late in the evening heat themselves up with wine... Woe to those who are brave to drink wine and are strong to prepare a strong drink” (Is. 5:11, 22). 32. Lesson against drunkenness “Do not flatter yourselves... drunkards... will not inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). Bitter and terrible cases of drunkenness evoke the word about drunkenness. Drunkenness, brethren, is the devil’s snare, the devil’s poison, for drunkenness destroys human souls, and with their souls their bodies. What are drinking houses? Snares of the devil. In houses they put some kind of dish with fly agaric water to drive away flies; the flies will drink it, get drunk and then die. Drinking houses are similar to this. Wine taken in excess is a murderous thing; and man is greedy; this is his natural weakness, inherited from the first people. Wine merchants - forgive me - are murderers, especially those who sell bad wine. How so? – It’s very simple: a person, especially a simple, uneducated one, and everyone, is weak and sinful: it’s easy to lure him into every sin, into every vice; and the owners of drinking houses are driving the poor people into drunkenness. “But woe to that man,” says the Savior, “to whom temptation comes... for the Son of man – the Son of God – has come to seek and save the lost” (Matthew 18:7, 11). Woe to those who build and multiply drinking houses! People perish both physically and mentally, like flies in fly agaric liquid, from the multiplication of drinking houses and the sale of wine: and the owners of these houses are guilty of their destruction. And who are these who are perishing? – The children of the Heavenly Father, the children of the Lord Jesus Christ, are the children of the Holy Spirit, the Lord Life-Giving, who gave birth to them in the baptismal font. Have ears to hear, let him hear! If the owners of drinking houses and those who allow them to build many of them want to earn mercy at the Last Judgment of the Lord: let them immediately cleanse the drinking houses of wine, and let them turn them into residential buildings or for other real needs. It's time to stop playing with wine and destroying the souls and bodies of the poor people. And you, people of the Lord, immediately stop drinking and ruining yourself and your families, and ruining your souls and bodies. In the name of the Lord, I beg you to stop drinking, especially on Sundays and holidays. The Lord's days must be sanctified by abstinence, prayer and virtue, and not desecrated by drunkenness, rioting, foul language and other indecent acts. Do not corrupt yourself with drunkenness: remember that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit not made with hands, but “if anyone corrupts God’s church, God will corrupt him” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17), i.e. and here he will be subjected to illness, and upon death to the most terrible suffering in eternal fire. “Do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it: but rather be filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourself in psalms and songs and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18, 19). Amen (Kronstadt Archpriest John Sergiev). (See the book. Lessons and examples of sacred love, Archpriest G. Dyachenko, ed. 3, p. 280). About the third commandment of God's law 1. Do not dare to grumble against God when you see that righteous people sometimes suffer disasters, while the evil and wicked often prosper “Like there is no righteous person,” says St. John Chrysostom - who would not have sin, there is no sinner who would not have at least some good. And since there is a reward for everything, it happens that a sinner receives a corresponding reward for his good deeds, no matter how unimportant his good is (i.e., in enjoying temporary happiness on earth) and the righteous person accepts proportionate condemnation for his sin (i.e., enduring temporary sorrows and misfortunes), even if he has committed an unimportant evil” (Demon. 6 about Laz. in Chr. 1818 2, p. 189). This means that there is no unrighteousness with God; on the contrary, His justice is great when He does not leave any, even small, human virtues without reward. Here is an instructive example of reward for the righteous and the evil: one pious monk, coming from his deserted monastery to the nearest city, saw that the city ruler, known for his vicious life, evil and unjust, was being solemnly buried here. The monk thought: “Why was this unworthy man awarded such an honorable death and burial?” Returning to his monastery in confusion, the monk was even more struck by bewilderment about the ways of God's providence when he saw, not far from the monastery, the abbot of his monastery, a pious elder, lying on the road, torn to pieces by a beast. Knowing the holy life of the elder, who died a sudden violent death, the monk did not know what to think, and began to doubt Divine justice. Then, at the command of God, an Angel appears to the confused monk and reveals why the unrighteous ruler was awarded an honorable death, and the holy elder died violently. “The ruler of the city,” the Angel proclaimed, “although he was truly a man of a vicious life, he had one good deed, and for this good deed he received an honorable death as a reward, then the terrible judgment of God and condemnation for his other unrighteous deeds awaited him; the holy elder suffered sudden death because he, as a man, had one sin that deserved punishment; the goodness of God, as a cleansing for this sin, imputes a disastrous death to him, so that behind this temporary calamity he appears before the face of God cleansed and justified.” With such a revelation of the Angel, the embarrassed monk was completely consoled and continued his feat in peace (Prologue, July 2). But besides this, there is another, more important and hidden reason for the suffering on earth of pious people and the prosperity of vicious people. It is known that even pious and God-fearing people, with all their caution, fall into some secret and obvious errors. But since, according to the word of Scripture, it is not bad to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Apoc. 21:27), then the Lord, wanting to prepurify them for the Kingdom of Heaven, sends sorrows and needs to them, in order to show all His followers that it is fitting for us to enter the Kingdom of God through many sorrows (Acts 14:22), and although there are many sorrows for the righteous, from all of them The Lord delivers (Ps. 33:20). Therefore, let us not dare to comprehend the actions of the all-good God, who, by paths known to Him alone, leads man to salvation. He knows what is necessary for each of us, and therefore He does with us as He pleases. Just as a pot has no right to say to a poor person: why did he create it this way and not another; so we have no right to experience the inscrutable destinies of God and wonder why He rewards the wicked and punishes the righteous (compiled from the Prologue). 2. Comfort to parents grieving the loss of their children Here is the story of one pious father, who mourned the early death of his beloved son: “I dreamed,” he says, “that children were passing by me and Volodya between them. I rushed to him with joy; he smiles at me with his old, angelic smile. I extended my hands to him: - Volodya, I say, is that you? He threw himself on my neck and hugged me tightly. - Where are you, my joy, are you with God? - No, I’m not with God yet; I will soon be with God. - Okay, better than yours. And with you I am often near you. Sometimes I'm bored. – Especially when they cry about me; but it consoles me when they pray for me, when they give to the poor for me. I keep praying, praying for my mother, for you, for my brothers, for my sister, for everyone who loves me. Hug my dear mother for me, like this, tightly... “You should see her, my joy.” - And I’ll see you, and I’ll see you. - When you stop crying. From this story you see that the immeasurable grief of parents brings sadness to the innocent souls of deceased babies; their tender children's heart responds to the grief of their parents and grieves for them, grieves that the parents offend the Lord God with their inconsolable grief, because they do not want to submit to the will of God, they do not want to think that in essence they should not cry, but they should thank God that He, the Merciful, took them to Himself, in His arms, from this deplorable vale... And in fact, my friends: is it really worth it? cry that your children are not with you in this sorrowful life, that they will never know those sorrows of life that we, adults, encounter at almost every step? After all, they are with the Lord God, there they glorify the Lord together with His holy angels; So is this really what you are crying about? No, we are not crying about that, you say, but about the fact that children were our only consolation, our hope. - Listen to this touching look of the burial of an infant: God, my God! Give comfort to my home, cool my mother’s womb, and water my father’s heart! Do you hear? The child is praying for you, he is asking the Lord Himself to comfort you - what else do you need? Or is your own earthly consolation more valuable to you than heavenly comfort—more valuable even than the eternal bliss of your little ones? Do not argue with God, my friends, surrender yourself and your children to the will of God and believe: the Lord God has many consolations and blessings for you, if only you are ready to accept them. And this will be when you give your heart to the Lord: “Give Me, son, your heart,” He says (Prov. 23:26). “My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready!” Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever). (Extracted in abbreviation from No. 171 Tr. l.). 3. Stories about God's judgment over blasphemers 1. King Antiochus was once punished for his blasphemy: while still alive, he began to rot; the stench from it emanated from the whole army and was unbearable for everyone (2 Mac. 9:17, 28). 2. One spiritually edifying book narrates that the Mother of God twice admonished one comedian who was blaspheming Her before the people, and then, appearing to him for the third time, she traced him with Her finger along his arms and legs, which were taken from him immediately: thus he became like a stump (“Meadow of the spirit.” ch. 46). 3. During the reign of Julian the apostate, his nobleman arrived in Antioch to rob the rich cathedral church. Having desecrated the throne, he ordered sacred things to be thrown onto the floor, sat on them and spewed unimaginable blasphemies against Jesus Christ. But suddenly he was struck by a terrible illness; worms immediately appeared on his body and quickly began to penetrate his insides; no medical help had any effect, and the enemy of God died in severe torment. “Then everyone saw,” notes the church narrator, “that this disease was sent by God as punishment for mocking the shrine” (History of Soz. Book V, Chapter 3). 4. Here is another story showing how grave is the sin of those who blaspheme and blaspheme. It was autumn. One Sunday morning, two young landowners went hunting. The ringing of bells echoed through the clean air and invited everyone to the church of God. But our hunters had no time for the church of God: not only did they not go to church themselves, they even laughed at the pilgrims who met them. Approaching the edge of the forest in which they thought to hunt, they noticed an old stone cross, which had become covered with moss over time and was not visible to everyone also because it was under a linden tree, which overshadowed it with its yellowed leaves. - This thing always makes me angry as soon as I pass by it! - said one of the friends, pointing to the cross. “There’s no point in being angry with her,” answered the other, “you can order her removed from here!” - What - order! Wouldn't it be better to shoot him? Two shots rang out and the cross fell to the ground. “I hit the top,” one of the friends remarked. “And I’m right in the middle,” added another, “and they both laughed.” They began to hunt. But the Lord, in His holy wrath, did not leave the desecrators of the shrine without punishment. What happened? What happened was that by the evening of the same Sunday, the landowner workers brought our hunters home on stretchers: one of them was bloodied and dead, the other was barely alive, unconscious. How did this happen! “Having hunted enough, our friends settled down under a tree to have breakfast, and laid their guns on the branches of the tree. We had breakfast; I had to pick up my guns and return home. The eldest of the hunters began to remove the gun from the tree and did not notice how one tree branch touched the trigger of the gun lock: a shot rang out - and his younger friend fell to the ground. All his efforts to bring his friend back to life were in vain: he died instantly. Then, in wild despair, he ran to the place, but on the road he tripped and seriously injured his leg. - Apparently, everything happened this way by accident: but it is difficult for a believer not to see in all this the hand of God, punishing blasphemy. Oh, if only such examples had a more effective effect on our petrified hearts and encouraged them to correct themselves!.. (from Resurrection Reading for 1889, No. 47). 4. From the instructions of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk on the use of the name of God “Say the name of God, remember it with all reverence, fear and reverence, and then – there and then, where and when it is needed; for the name of God is holy and terrible, and he who remembers Him with disrespect sins gravely. So, give respect to the name of God as to God Himself. You remember the name of the king of the earth with reverence, as it should, all the more the name of God, the King of heaven, before Whom the Angels themselves and the souls of the saints revere, should be remembered with high reverence. The name of God is correctly remembered or pronounced in prayer, in doxology, in thanksgiving, in spiritual songs of praise and in conversations and conversations that are proper for Christians, that is, when the conversation is about the holy word of God, about the law and the Gospel, about the coming of Christ into the world, about His suffering and death, raised up for us, about death, about eternal torment and eternal life, etc., but in other conversations without Do not remember extreme needs, and if you need to remember, remember with all fear and due respect. In lies and jokes, be extremely careful not to mention the name of God, so that God’s punishment does not immediately befall you, for our God is a consuming fire. Godships that are extremely indecent for Christians have become a custom, such as: by God, for this God, God is the witness, God sees, for this Christ, etc., and they are mentioned by people often and in almost all words. Such deities are nothing more than a satanic invention, invented for the dishonor of the name of God and the destruction of man. Beware of swearing like this and like that. When you need to affirm the truth, have the word of Christ be yours: “to her, to her: neither, nor” (Matthew 5:37). Everything else comes from a hostile spirit” (from “The Works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk”). 84 5. Biblical example of punishment for perjury King Nebuchadnezzar went against Jerusalem and took possession of it. He left King Zedekiah on the throne, but took an oath from him that he would be faithful to him. Despite this, Zedekiah entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar and, thus, violated this oath. For this perjury, the Lord then denounced Zedekiah through the lips of the prophet Ezekiel, who said about him: “My oath, which he despised, and My covenant, which he violated, I will turn on his head. And I will throw My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and there I will sue him for his treachery against Me.” This Divine threat was soon fulfilled: Nebuchadnezzar again took Jerusalem, took Zedekiah to Babylon, where his eyes were gouged out and he was put in prison, in which he died. This was the punishment that befell Zedekiah for perjury. 6. Stories about God’s punishment for deity 1. Once two lepers came to the Monk Auxentius (leprosy is a terrible disease, mainly in hot countries: lepers are separated from the rest of society; this disgusting disease gradually destroys a person alive). They prayed to Auxentius to heal them. – Why were you punished, what sin did you commit? - the monk asked the unfortunate people. But they only bowed and asked for healing. “Know,” said Auxentius, “the Lord punished you for the fact that you have the custom of swearing and swearing.” The lepers were amazed at the saint’s foresight, truly realizing their sin in this regard. Having anointed the lepers with consecrated oil from head to toe, the servant of the Most High God exclaimed: Jesus Christ heals you! And they recovered instantly (“Thu-Min.” February 14). 2. June 14, 1865, one peasant named Ignatius Grigoriev, getting excited, beat the village shepherd. The shepherd brought a complaint against the peasant at the meeting. The peasant, ashamed of his act and wanting to hide it, swore before a secular gathering with these words: “God kill me with thunder if I beat the shepherd.” The peasants left Grigoriev without punishment, respecting him for his sober life; but God sought out the one who abused the oath, for general admonition. The next day after the meeting Ignatius Grigoriev, going about his business from one village to his village, according to his words spoken at a worldly gathering, was actually killed by thunder. This is what it means to swear to a lie in front of people. Divinity is often considered an unimportant matter, if only a person would be believed, but before God it has a high price (“Soul. Reading,” March 1870). 3. One small merchant (ofenya) of the Vladimir province was very clever in deception. He would enter the house in the most modest manner, bow before the holy icons, inquire about the health of the owner and mistress, and so politely and convincingly offer to buy something from him that he rarely left the house without selling. To the words: “The goods are foreign, the colors are durable,” he constantly added his cherished god: “By God, a penny to ruin, to die without repentance, to go crazy.” And such terrible, vain oaths were not in vain for the unfortunate man. His trade went wrong, he became poor, went crazy and was found frozen under a birch tree on the main road! Thus, this unfortunate man, who arbitrarily doomed himself, perhaps for a penny, to madness, and who so willingly wanted to die without repentance, according to the inscrutable destinies of God, received both (The Wanderer, 1869, July). 7. Stories about heavenly punishment for a false oath Once upon a time to St. Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople († 582), received a blind man. - How long have you been blind? – asked the patriarch. “It’s already been a year,” answered the ill man. To the question: why did the illness happen? – the blind man said the following: “I had a lawsuit with one person, and in order to win the case, I sinned - I confirmed the lawsuit with a false oath. I won the case, but soon after that I became blind. Pray for me, servant of God! The saint took pity on the unfortunate man, made a prayer for him, and the Lord sent the blind man insight. Let the present case with the perjurer be a saving lesson for everyone: human court can be deceived by perjury and false witness, but God cannot be deceived, and the court of God strictly punishes those who call the name of God in vain (“Ch.-M.” April). 2. Someone named John, a boyar of Kiev, having become a monk in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, had with him his young son Zacharias. Feeling the approach of death, John entrusted his son to the protection of God, and left a thousand hryvnia of silver and a hundred hryvnia of gold to a certain monk named Sergius, also a former boyar, to save them until his son came of age and give them to him. Having thus ordered, John died. Zechariah, having reached the age of fifteen, demanded his father's inheritance from Sergius. Sergius was amazed, as if not knowing what the young man was demanding; but seeing the persistence of the demands, he took on the appearance of being offended, and reproachfully said to him: “Your father gave all his property to God: ask Him, not me. It’s not my fault that your father was so unreasonable that, while enriching the poor, he made his only son a beggar. but Sergius resolutely refused. Then Zechariah demanded that Sergius swear that he had not received money from his father. Sergius, in the presence of outside witnesses, goes with Zachariah to church, and, standing before the image of the Mother of God, swears by heaven and earth that Zachariah’s father did not give him a half-ruble. To confirm the oath, he wanted to kiss the icon of the Mother of God, but an invisible force chained him to the place, he could not approach the image and, trembling with his whole body, he exclaimed: Reverend Fathers, Anthony and Theodosius! pray to the Mother of God so that the angel of death does not destroy me! After such a miraculous conviction of a false oath, Sergius returned the estate that belonged to Zechariah (“Ch.-M.” March 24). (Prot. Gr. D-ko). 8. About blasphemous and other evil thoughts Many suffer from evil thoughts caused by the action of the devil; these thoughts are of three kinds: about prodigal uncleanness, about unbelief in God, and especially about blasphemy against God, the Most Holy Theotokos and the saints of God, against holy icons, holy sacraments and everything sacred. In the book of St. Demetrius of Rostov: “Spiritual Medicine for Confused Thoughts,” the following is said about blasphemous thoughts: “there is no sin in these thoughts, if a person does not want them, hates them and turns away from them: but if someone willingly accepts them, he sins mortally; The one who, out of ignorance and cowardice, thinks that these thoughts come from him also sins: for they are the creation of a demon, and they should be attributed to him, and not to himself. When we hate and resist these thoughts, and they forcibly invade us, then there is a reward for man from God for patience” (from the works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov). St. John Climacus says about this that “when a person rejects blasphemous thoughts, not only is he not guilty of them, but he is also rewarded with an increase in heavenly reward. When the devil puts these thoughts into a person, he tries to convince him that he himself gives birth to these thoughts in himself, in order to thereby lead him to despair; but one must know that all those thoughts that the soul does not desire are from the devil: it also happens that a person, as if in some kind of oblivion, accepts thoughts for a short time, but, having come to his senses, drives them away; in this case, one must sigh from the depths of the heart to the Lord and repent, and the Lord will forgive” (“The Ladder”). Whoever is embarrassed by these thoughts, his enemy strengthens them, and whoever neglects them, his enemy leaves him disgraced. During the attack of these thoughts, one should not enter into any reasoning or argument with them, but constantly say the prayer internally: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner, as said by the holy fathers: “Strike the adversaries in the name of Christ: there is no stronger weapon than this, neither in heaven nor on earth” (“Margarit”, ed. 3, p. 159). (Prot. G.D.). About the fourth commandment of God's law 1. It is a sin to indulge in crazy fun on holidays One day the Monk Niphon saw with his spiritual eyes that about thirteen men were preparing to go to church to glorify the name of God; and then a demon, in the form of an Ethiopian, approached them, began to whisper something in the ears of some, and these immediately darkened their faces, began to laugh shamelessly, curse and sing songs, forgetting about the church of God. Then they met a musician, and many followed him, and those who did not want to were pulled by the demon by force, and everyone walked singing and dancing. Blessed Niphon, seeing all this with spiritual eyes, exclaimed with heartfelt sorrow: “Oh, woe to those who offer sacrifices to demons through games!” From then on, he strictly commanded his disciples to be careful from nasty and disorderly games, for they are from the devil (“Ch.-Min.” December 23). Two artisans lived nearby, who both practiced the same craft: they were tailors. One of them had a wife, father, mother and many children; he went to church every day. However, despite the fact that through this he took a lot of time from himself to work at his craft, he sufficiently supported and fed himself and his entire family, thanks to the blessing of God, sought daily for his work and his home. The other devoted too much to his craft, so that often on holidays, which should be dedicated to serving God, he was not in the church of God, but sat at work, but was not rich and had difficulty feeding himself. So he began to envy the first and become jealous; One day he couldn’t stand it and asked his neighbor with irritation: “Why are you getting rich? after all, I work harder than you, but I’m poor.” And he, wanting his neighbor to remember God more often, replied: “Here I go to church every day, often finding gold along the way and little by little I acquire it. If you want, we’ll go to church together, I’ll call you every day; but only divide everything that each of us finds in half.” The poor man believed, agreed, and together they began to visit the church of God every day, where the soul is involuntarily disposed to prayer, and where the grace of God invisibly touches the human heart; The other one soon got used to such a pious custom. But what? God apparently blessed him and his work; he began to get better and get richer. Then the first one to give a good thought admitted to his neighbor: “I didn’t tell you the whole truth before, but what I said for the sake of God and your salvation is of what benefit to your soul and to your property! Believe me, I didn’t find anything on earth, no gold, and I didn’t visit the church of God because of gold, but precisely because God said: “Seek... first the kingdom of God... and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). However, if I said that I found gold, I was not wrong: after all, you found it and acquired it.” – So the Lord’s blessing on those who sacredly honor the Lord serves as the best and most reliable companion to labor, which is why the Apostle, commanding the Thessalonians to work, also commands them to pray unceasingly: “Be patient in prayer” (Col. 4:2), that is, be constant (comp. according to Prol. July 9). 3. Gifts received from above for composing church hymns sung on holidays Ave. Roman was a clergyman at the Church of Sophia - the Wisdom of God in Constantinople. He was very virtuous and pious, but completely ignorant of literacy and not bookish, therefore he was entrusted with the lowest position in the church: he prepared the items necessary for worship, lit candles and lamps, kept the church clean, but he was completely incapable of performing choir service. Despite this, Patriarch Euthymius, seeing Roman’s jealousy, obedience and vigilance, ordered him to be given an equal share with the clergy who made up the church choir, which was the reason for their envy and anger at the saint. - At the same time, they grumbled at the patriarch himself, who compared an ignorant person with them. But the Lord was pleased with St. The novel shows the powerful power of heavenly illumination and enlightenment. Once on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, when the sovereign himself was present in the church and St. Roman lit candles, the singers began to push him and reproachfully said: “You receive an equal part with us: come to the pulpit and sing a song of praise with us.” Having received shame in front of all the people, St. Roman could not restrain himself from tears, and at the end of the service, when everyone left the church, he fell on his knees before the image of the Most Holy Theotokos with fervent prayer and, having come home, did not want to eat, but fell asleep. In a dream, the Mother of God Herself appeared to him, holding Her scroll in her hands, and said: “Open your mouth and snow this.” When St. Roman swallowed the charter, then suddenly woke up and felt sweet consolation in his heart, and extraordinary enlightenment and understanding in his mind. Inspired from above, St. Roman came to the all-night vigil and at the time when it was necessary to sing the kontakion, St. Roman, as was the custom of that time, ascended to the pulpit and, to the general amazement, sang sweetly the song composed in his mind: The Virgin is giving birth to the Most Essential, etc. No one knew where such wisdom came from in a simple, non-bookish man. St. himself Roman told everyone the appearance of the Mother of God that had happened to him in a vision, and everyone glorified the Lord. The Patriarch installed St. Roman as a deacon, and since then he has not ceased to demonstrate the gift given to him by God in composing church songs, which St. The novel contains more than a thousand, with which we now glorify God, wondrous in His saints, during divine services (“Ch.-M.” Oct. 1). When with heartfelt sadness I stand with tears in my eyes, - When I look with fear On the Body of the Lord and Blood - Christ's love for all people: "In Your holy churches" Everywhere, “in the abysses”, “mountains”, And “in the deserts” hot, sultry, And “in the dens” of wild mountains, Where you can't hear the free birds, Where the lion's gaze sparkles... Those who, God, You in childhood “In pure living” and “virginity”, He awaits death with joy... All Their glorious ancient family, “Lift up” them, Lord, “right hand”, “Conquer Them”... Our “kingdom” “In peace”, “establish” in glory And all the “army”, “bosses” And legal “marriages” "The power of old age" Don't forget the little "babies" And under the shadow of the church of the weak, “Collect” all the “wasted” The spirit of malice... "the deceived" Those who are “at sea, going on a journey” “Give the widows and the orphans” strength, Grant to beings in bitter “captivity” "The weak" and all the "sick" “In the mines” and “works”, Who calls to you, God? It could be so easy to forget, - It is yours to be kind to those. “Name” of everyone, “I will demand” - Who calls, O God, to heaven, For those “You and everything” You “be” (“Shower Reading” for September 1897) 5. The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 15:8) That the Lord actually rejects gifts from evil-acquired wealth, an instructive example of this is contained in the life of St. Theodore Sikeot. Chosen by God from his mother’s womb to a special service, Theodore, while still a youth, set an extraordinary example of fasting and diligence in prayer. Having come of age, through a strictly ascetic, solitary life, he soon gathered around him many disciples who wanted to use his advice and example of pious life, so that a populous monastery was formed under his leadership. When the church in his monastery in the name of St. Great Martyr George became small and inconvenient for the multiplied brethren, the monk created a new church, the most spacious, in the name of St. Archangel Michael. To serve the Divine Liturgy in this church, it was necessary to purchase a new vessel, because in his monastery the Divine mysteries had hitherto been preserved in a small marble vessel. The monk sent his deacon to Constantinople to buy a silver vessel for the priesthood. The messenger bought a new, shining silver vessel, skillfully made, and brought it to the monk. St. Theodore, looking at the brought vessel, rejected it as blackened and stinking. Everyone was surprised at this because they saw the vessel brought clean and white. When, at the inspiration of the saint, the brethren prayed that God would open their spiritual eyes, then all of them, like St. Theodora, saw the vessel black as coal, and were even more surprised at such an extraordinary sign. They sent the vessel back to the city to the goldsmith from whom they bought it, and then they learned that the silver used for the vessel was from the utensils of a woman’s bad life, from her bad income. So, through the insight of the Rev. Theodore, God showed people how contrary to the greatness and holiness of His people’s sacrifices from unrighteous acquisitions (according to “Ch-M.” April 22). Christmas time has arrived, which means holy days, and on a holy day sin is twice as sinful. But here’s our problem: on holy days we sin the most. At other times, for example, hardly anyone would think of dressing up and clowning around, but during Christmas time this demonic fun seems to be a legitimate thing. But do you know, lovers of Christmas fun, how strictly St. looks at them. church? Here is her rule on this matter: “If men put on women’s clothes, and wives in men’s clothes, and in platbands (i.e., masks), they transform different faces into themselves: excommunicate the Chicks” (61 Trul. Cathedral Ave.). And this means: such are the communions of St. deprive them of the mysteries because they do not want to listen to the commandments of God; God Himself said: “Let no man’s utensils be on a woman, nor let a man put on a woman’s robe: for all these things are an abomination to the Lord God” (Deut. 22:5) (extracted from “Trinity Leaf” No. 93). “In church I proclaim to you the word of the Lord, I read to you the letter of Christ,” says one of the oldest Russian preachers, Bishop Kirill of Turov. - When someone brings a royal or princely letter to a city to their subjects, they do not inquire what kind of life the person who brought it is like: whether he is rich or poor, a sinner or a righteous person, but they only listen attentively to what is being read, and take care not to let anything slip... And if an innocent person makes noise at the same time, they drive him away. If there is so much attention for the earthly king, we must pay even more attention here in St. the church where the Lord God talks with the Angels. That is why I beg you, those who come, to go to church... Don't you understand what is being sung? I will teach you even more if you pay attention and learn. If you do not pay attention, you will be condemned because you had a teacher and did not pay attention. Tell me: if at sunrise someone closes his eyes, unwilling to see the light, and says: for me darkness is better than light, will you approve of him or condemn him? The same is the word of teaching in the church. God's word is called in Scripture light, and one that is higher than all visible light. Visible light illuminates the eyes of the flesh, but that light illuminates the eyes of the soul. If you were given honey or other sweet drink every day in the church, would you not go even without being called? You would outrun each other. But in the church the words of God are taught, better than gold and expensive stones, sweeter than honey and honeycomb, and you are deprived of them without coming to church! I reproach and condemn those who do not go to church to listen to the word of God; but I praise and bless you who come” (from the Instructions of St. Cyril, Bishop of Turov). 8. Those who allegedly do not understand Orthodox worship One townswoman came from church and said: – At least don’t go to our parish church. The priest serves so indistinctly and quietly that you can’t understand anything. In addition, the prayers are written in Slavic, and the Slavic language is not understandable to everyone. You listen and listen attentively in order to understand something, but then you just give up, or you go completely out of your way. “Have you really not made out anything at all in the church?” - asked her old father-in-law, who, although he was very religious, had not been to church due to ill health. “Almost nothing,” his daughter-in-law answered him. – “Lord have mercy” did you hear? – the old man asked her again. “Of course, I heard it,” she answered, “but that’s not enough.” - How little? what are you saying? Read the Gospel and you will find out that it is not a little that with this prayer you can find great mercy from the Lord. The Canaanite wife, who had a demon-possessed daughter, who screamed after Jesus Christ? She shouted: have mercy on me, Lord! And the Lord took pity on her and finally said to her: “O woman, great is your faith: do as you wish” (Matthew 15:28). And her daughter was healed at that hour. And what did the blind men of Jericho shout? They shouted: “Have mercy on us, Lord!” (Matthew 20:30). And through this prayer they achieved what they wanted - they received insight. You see, what a great prayer this “Lord have mercy!” For her, the Lord can enlighten us and deliver us from the power of the devil. Have you ever heard the prayer: “Remember us, Lord, when you come into Your kingdom?” “Yes, I heard that too,” answered the daughter-in-law. - So this prayer saved the thief on the cross. For this prayer, Christ was the first to let him into heaven. He said to him: “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). You have heard such great prayers, and yet you say that you have heard almost nothing. -Have you read about the publican? - Having come to church, he stood from afar and prayed in few words: he said only: “God, be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13). And yet the Lord justified him. - This means that you understand quite a bit about the church and you yourself know quite a bit in order to be saved (“Sunday Thursday”). 9. About reverent standing in the church of God The Church of God, according to the word of the Savior Himself, is a place of His special presence: “where... there are two or three congregations in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). This holy truth was also expressed by the psalmist king: “The Lord himself is in the holy church” (Ps. 5:3). Reverent presence during divine services is not only rewarded by universal church prayer, but also saves the souls of Christians. Here is an example of this: on Great Saturday evening, before the feast of the bright resurrection of Christ, Saint Niphon, standing in the church with the people, was honored to see the Queen of Heaven Herself, who came to the church with the holy apostles and saints. Whoever stood with zeal and reverence among those present, the Mother of God looked at them with love; and who stood carelessly, for those she grieved and prayed (“Life of St. Niphon,” December 23). 10. The church is the earthly sky “In truth, the church is the earthly heaven, for where the throne of God is, where terrible mysteries are performed, where Angels serve with people, where the constant praise of the Almighty is, there truly is heaven and the heaven of heavens. So, let us enter the church of God, especially the Holy of Holies, with the fear of God, with a pure heart, putting aside passions and all worldly cares, and let us stand in it with faith, reverence, rationally, attentively, with love and peace in our hearts, let us leave renewed, as if from heaven, let us live in the holiness proper to heaven, not being bound by worldly lusts and pleasures" (from book: “My life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. II, 1st ed., 1892, p. 224). 11. The Lord delivers those who visit the church from misfortunes The Lord protects those Christians who often visit the church of God from misfortunes, sorrows and misfortunes, takes care of them, protects their lives and even delivers them from the obvious danger of death. Here is a soul-saving story about this, preserved in the Scriptures of the Holy Fathers for our edification. One unfortunate father, seeing that he, his wife and son were about to die of hunger, said to his son: “Dear child! There is only one way left to save our lives: to sell you as a slave to some nobleman. Do you agree to this? The obedient son answered: “Do what you want, father; I’m ready for anything.” The grieving father himself took his son to the rich nobleman and, parting with him, said to him at parting: “Here is my father’s testament to you, my son: when you pass by the church and see that the service of God is going on there, then you cannot leave from there until it is over.” The son took his parents’ covenant to heart and began to steadily fulfill it. “A year later, the nobleman’s wife hated him so much for some reason that she decided to destroy him at all costs. One young slave, the mistress’s favorite, especially contributed to this. And so, she says to her husband: “I have learned for certain that the newly purchased slave is plotting against your life; It’s better to let him die himself before he kills you.” - The frivolous nobleman believed the slander and on the same day, meeting with the criminal judge, he told him: “Tomorrow I will send you one slave with a scarf; order his head to be cut off and, wrapped in a scarf, give it to the one who comes after him.” And he did not name either one or the other. The next day, the nobleman sends the innocent young man with a handkerchief to the judge, and he goes, not at all thinking that death awaits him there. His path lay past the church, where at that time the service of God was being performed; he remembered his parents’ behest and stopped at the church door until the end of the service. Meanwhile, the impatient mistress hastened to send her favorite to the judge and ordered him to ask: what will be the answer to what the newly purchased slave was sent with? Passing by the church, this one stopped for a minute out of curiosity. The kind young man looked around and, seeing his comrade, asked him: “To the judge,” he answered, “the gentlemen demand an answer to why they sent you.” “Ah,” said the young man, “I haven’t been to see him yet; I really want to listen to God’s service; Do me a favor, brother: take this handkerchief to the judge instead of me, and I will be worthy of service and go in your place for an answer. Wanting to serve his mistress and not suspecting anything, the slave took the handkerchief and went to the judge; and the judge immediately ordered his head to be cut off. “The service ended, and the young man, by agreement, came to the judge for an answer. There they gave him something heavy, wrapped in a scarf, and he, without curiosity, handed the parcel to his masters. You can imagine how amazed they were when they saw the one they had sent to death alive! And having unfolded the scarf, they saw with horror the head of their beloved slave... When the matter was clarified, both husband and wife involuntarily admitted that God Himself had covered the innocent and punished the guilty. Hearing about this, brothers and sisters,” this is how the pious writer concludes this story, “do not leave the church before God’s service ends, so that the Lord will cover you from all sorts of troubles” (Trinity leaf. No. 253). 12. Fast of the ancient hermits The ancient desert dwellers drank only water, and then often and even deliberately rotten; ate only herbs, vegetables, tree fruits; not everyone ate bread, not many ate fish, of course occasionally; no one ever ate meat. On Holy Pentecost, the hermits intensified their fast; There are legends that some ascetics ate almost nothing during the entire holy Pentecostal period until the bright resurrection of Christ. The possibility for a person, especially for a southern person living in a warm climate, the possibility of such a multi-day fast, which so-called science loudly doubted, has now been proven before the eyes of the whole world by experience 86 (Conversations and teachings of Nikanor, Archbishop of Kherson and Odessa. vol. III. Odessa, 1886, p. 80). 13. Strict fasting does not shorten a person’s life The holy ascetics ate the most meager food, and during fasting one bread and water, or one potion of some kind was enough to strengthen them in the most difficult feats. Despite the fact that they mostly reached very old age - for example, Anthony the Great lived 105 years old, Pavel of Thebes 113 years old, Sergius of Radonezh. 78 l., Kirill Belozersky 90 l., Makary Zheltovodsky 95 l. and others. This means that strict fasting and mortification of the flesh do not shorten human life, and therefore failure to fast under the pretext of preserving health is an empty excuse of people devoted to sensuality and not thinking about the benefits of the soul (according to “Ch.-M.”). 14. What does not go into the mouth defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth does defile a person (Matthew 12:30) “The Lord said this not because He did not favor fasting, or considered it unnecessary for us - no, He Himself fasted, and taught the apostles to do so, and instituted fasts in His holy church; but he said this so that, while fasting, we would not limit ourselves to malnutrition or dry eating, but would take care, at the same time, to keep our soul in fasting, without indulging its wishes and passionate inclinations. And this is the main thing. Fasting serves as a powerful means for this. The basis of passions is in the flesh; when the flesh is exhausted, then it is as if a tunnel has been laid under the passions, and their fortress collapses. Without fasting, overcoming passions would be a miracle, similar to being on fire and not getting burned. For someone who lavishly satisfies his flesh with food, sleep and rest, how can he keep anything spiritual in his attention and intentions? To renounce the earth and enter into the contemplation of invisible things and the desire for them is as inconvenient for him as for a decrepit bird to rise from the earth” (from the book “Thoughts for Every Day of the Year” by Bishop Theophan the Recluse, pp. 225–226). 15. Fasting under compulsion does not constitute merit before God Returning one day to the Tavennisiot monastery after a month's absence, Rev. Pachomius the Great learned that the cook did not prepare the brew during his entire absence, because the brethren ate dry food. “In order not to spend time in idleness,” the cook explained, “I weaved matting for the monastery.” -Have you woven a lot of matting? - asked Pachomius. The monk ordered them to be burned with him. “This is your punishment,” said Pachomius, “for violating the charter.” Since it is supposed to prepare a brew, you were obliged to fulfill what was commanded; another might have eaten, but you forced everyone to fast against their will: and fasting under compulsion does not amount to merit before God (“Ch.-M.” May). 16. Praise to the fast of St. Ephraim the Syrian “Love the most beautiful fast - a worthy and godly deed. Fasting is a chariot that ascends to heaven; fasting gives birth to prophets, makes legislators wise; fasting is a good protection for the soul, a reliable companion for the body; fasting is a weapon for the valiant, a school for ascetics; fasting reflects temptation, anoints the feat of piety; he is the companion of sobriety, the author of chastity; fasting - valor in battle; fasting quenches the fiery power, fasting stops the mouths of lions; fasting raises prayer to heaven; fasting is the mother of health; fasting, mentor of youth, adornment of elders, good companion to travelers; Those who fast have an honest body and a precious soul; fasting calmed Lazarus in the bowels of Abraham. Therefore, let us also love him, so that we too may be accepted into Abraham’s bosom. Let us flee from luxury and drunkenness, accompanied by noisy laughter, this mother of fornication. Drunkenness is not acceptable to the Lord. Drunkenness removes the Holy Spirit from us. Fasting - improvement of the city, deanery of the marketplace; fasting - peace in homes; fasting is the guardian and preserver of virginity; fasting is the path to repentance; fasting is the culprit of tears; fasting does not love the world, nor what is in the world. Therefore, let us not lose heart while fasting, because the Angels in every church record those who are fasting. Fasting does not allow rancor. And those who collect in their memory the sorrows and evil they have done, although they apparently pray and fast, are like people who draw water and pour it into a broken barrel: the Lord does not accept prayers from someone who remembers evil against his brother” (from the works of St. Ephraim the Syrian). Macarius of Egypt was a great faster, but when he happened to be visiting, he never refused a meal, even drinking grape wine in moderation. But at home, for every cup of wine, Macarius did not allow himself to drink water for a whole day, and for the treats he exhausted himself with long-term fasting (“Ch.-M.” January 19). 18. Heavenly reward for workers in the lowest ranks An example of a heavenly reward, deserved when passing the duties of a lower rank, appears to us in the life of St. Euphrosynus, who lived in the 9th century in the Amorite countries near Palestine. Ave. Euphrosynus was born from simple parents, but surpassed noble ones in his good deeds. Living in a monastery, Euphrosynus served the brethren at the cookhouse, but served not as people, but as God Himself, with great humility and obedience, working day and night in his work; At the same time, he never abandoned prayer and fasting. He meekly endured many insults, insults, and annoyances; igniting a material fire, it was inflamed by the fire of Divine love and its heart burned towards the Lord. While cooking food for the brethren, through his virtuous life he prepared a meal for himself in the Kingdom of God, in order to be satisfied with those about whom it is said: “Blessed is he who eats dinner in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14:15). He worked for God in secret, and the Lord rewarded him openly. The Lord showed this reward to His servant in this way: a certain presbyter (priest), who lived in the same monastery as Euphrosynus, always prayed to the Lord that He would sensually show him the future blessings prepared for those who love God. And so, one night the priest had a vision: he imagined that he was standing in paradise, looking at its beauty with fear and joy, and he saw the cook of his monastery, Euphrosynus, walking in that paradise. Approaching him, he asked: - Brother Euphrosynus, isn’t this heaven? - Yes, father, this is God’s paradise. “By the great goodness of God, I was settled here to live, for this is the abode of God’s chosen ones. – Do you have any power over these beauties? can you give me any of this? “If you want,” said Euphrosynus, “take it by the grace of my God.” Then the priest asked him for apples, and Euphrosynus took three apples and put them in his handkerchief. Suddenly they struck for matins, and the priest, waking up, mistook the vision for an ordinary dream, but, stretching out his hands to the handkerchief, he actually found apples, from which an extraordinary fragrance emanated. Arriving at the church, the priest found Euphrosynus standing in the congregation at the morning singing. He approached him and with an oath learned from him the secret of the vision, and everything that he saw in the dream was confirmed by the testimony of St. Euphrosynus. At the end of the service, the priest told what he had seen to the brethren and showed them three apples of paradise, from which everyone was filled with spiritual sweetness. Then they went to the kitchen to Euphrosynus to worship this servant of God, but they did not find him, for he, having left the church, disappeared, avoiding human glory, and did not appear at the monastery again. The brothers divided the apples among themselves and distributed them to others for blessings and healing from their illnesses. And they received more and more benefit from such holiness of St. Euphrosyne, going back to the highest exploits (memorial September 11) (see “Resurrection of the demon.” ed. General. Lyub. spirit. pr. for 1887, No. 37). Work predisposes to prayer and is supported by it, and prayer predisposes to work and is stimulated by it. One day St. Anthony the Great, struggling in the desert with his thoughts, asked the Lord from the depths of his heart: “Lord, show me the way of salvation!” By some involuntary impulse, he came out of his cave and saw someone similar to himself, who was sitting and working, then got up from work and began to pray; then he sat down again and twisted the rope; Having worked, he again stood up to pray. It was the Angel of the Lord sent to instruct and strengthen Anthony. This Angel of God said to him out loud: “And you do this, and you will be saved.” Work, supported by prayer, and prayer, accompanied by good work, can lead to the salvation of the soul, to which workers should strive first and most of all (Act. Tale of the ascetics of the Holy Fathers, p. 3, §1, ed. 1845). (From the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). “Idleness or laziness is in itself a sin, for it is contrary to the commandment of God. Our forefather Adam was also told by God: “By the sweat of your brow, bear away your bread until you return to the land from which you were taken” (Gen. 3:19). This command also applies to us, the sons of Adam. And the holy apostle forbids those who do not want to work. Therefore, those who live in idleness and feed on the labors of others constantly sin, and will not stop sinning until they give themselves up to blessed labors. This excludes the infirm and elderly, who even though they wanted to work, but cannot. – The human heart can never be idle, but it is always busy with some thoughts. And therefore, the spiritual enemy the devil conveniently approaches an idle heart, which is not occupied with any useful work, like an idle house, and fills it with evil thoughts, like harmful tares, and teaches them to produce them in the very action. Therefore, idleness gives rise to many iniquities: hence drunkenness; hence all fornication; hence the evil conversations, gossip, ridicule; hence the frequent feasts, thefts, robberies, perjuries; hence card games and the inseparable deceptions, outrages, quarrels, fights and other lawlessness that go with them. Idleness teaches you to steal, lie, flatter, and deceive, for the idle, not having anything to eat, rushes to steal other people's labors, either openly, or secretly, or by deception. Thus, idleness teaches much evil, according to the words of the wise Sirach” (Sir. 33:28) (from the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). 21. It is necessary for a Christian to fast “It is necessary for a Christian to fast in order to clarify the mind, excite and develop feelings, and motivate the will to good activity. We overshadow and suppress these three human abilities most of all “with gluttony, drunkenness and the cares of this life” (Luke 21:34), and through this we fall away from the source of life - God and fall into corruption and vanity, perverting and desecrating the image of God in ourselves. Gluttony and voluptuousness nail us to the ground and cut off, so to speak, the wings of the soul. And look how high all the fasters and abstinents were! They soared in the skies like eagles; They, earthly beings, lived with their minds and hearts in heaven and heard inexpressible verbs there, and there they learned divine wisdom. And how a person humiliates himself with gluttony, gluttony and drunkenness! He perverts his nature, created in the image of God, and becomes like dumb cattle and even becomes worse than him. Oh, woe to us from our addictions, from our lawless habits! They prevent us from loving God and our neighbors and fulfilling God’s commandments; they root in us criminal carnal selfishness, the end of which is eternal destruction. Thus, a drunkard does not spare a lot of money to satisfy the flesh and stupefy himself, but spares pennies for the poor; a tobacco smoker throws tens and hundreds of rubles into the wind, and begrudges the beggars the pennies that could save his soul; those who love to dress luxuriously, or those who are hunters of fashionable furniture and dishes, spend huge amounts of money on clothes and furniture with dishes, and pass by the beggars with coldness and contempt; those who love to eat well do not spare tens and hundreds of rubles for dinners, but they spare pennies for the poor. It is necessary for a Christian to fast because with the incarnation of the Son of God, human nature is spiritualized, deified, and we hasten to the heavenly kingdom, “which is not meat and drink, but truth, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; meat to the belly and food to the belly, but God will bring to naught both this and this” (Rom. 14:17; 1 Cor. 6:13). Eating and drinking, that is, having an addiction to sensual pleasures, is characteristic only of paganism, which, not knowing spiritual, heavenly pleasures, spends its entire life in the pleasure of the belly, in heavy eating and heavy drinking. That is why the Lord often denounces this destructive passion in the Gospel. And is it reasonable for a person to constantly live in gastric fumes, gastric fumes rising inside from the incessant cooking of food and its fermentation? Is man just a walking kitchen or a self-propelled chimney, to which all those who smoke incessantly can rightly be likened? What pleasure is it to live in constant fumes, evaporation and smoke? What will our homes be like? Why would we contaminate the air with stench and breathe it, and most of all, darken and suppress the soul, kill its last spiritual strength? (From the book: “My life in Christ,” Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. II, 1st ed., 1882, pp. 230–231). 22. Physical and spiritual fasting Let us fast physically—observe strict abstinence, strict moderation in everything. But, fasting physically, let us at the same time fast mentally. “Let you fast,” says the saint and wonderworker Tikhon of Zadonsk, “your mind from vain thoughts; let the memory fast from resentment: let your will fast from evil desire; let your eyes fast from evil vision; Let your ears be kept from vile songs and slanderous whispers; let your tongue fast from slander, condemnation, witchcraft, lies, flattery, foul language and every idle and rotten word; let your hands fast from beating and stealing other people's goods; let your feet fast from walking in evil deeds. This is the Christian fast that our God requires of us” (from the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). 23. Fasting must be combined with other virtues One man wanted to see the king and asked one of his friends to take him to the king. The friend agreed, but said that he could only take him halfway. Then the man turned to another friend, who agreed to take him to the royal palace. To fulfill his desire to see the king himself, the man turned to a third friend. This one agreed to bring him to the king himself. “What does this parable mean? The first friend is fasting, which brings us to half the path of salvation, the second is chastity or purity of soul, leading to heaven, the third friend is obedience, which leads us to God Himself.” From this you see that fasting must be combined with other virtues in order to please God (“Skete Patericon”). About the fifth commandment of God's law 1. Biblical examples of God’s punishment befalling children who are disrespectful to their parents 1. Judah, the son of Jacob, had a son Er, evil at heart and rebellious, and for this, as the Holy Scripture says, “God killed him” (Gen. 38:7). 2. The high priest of Israel, Elijah, had two sons, but since they were evil, disobedient and not God-fearing, the Lord struck them down while still in strength and health: they were killed in the war, which Elijah was predicted about in advance (G.D.). 2. Two examples of visible punishment of God for insulting a mother “The blessing... of the father establishes the homes of children, but the oath of the mother uproots to the ground” (Sir. 3:9). 1. Blessed Augustine relates the following accident, which befell an entire family in Caesarea in Cappadocia in his time as a result of careless maternal oaths. “One mother, being greatly upset by the eldest of her sons, in the presence of the younger ones, who not only did not restrain their brother from a daring act against their mother, but also did not give her any protection, despite the fact that they were all nine in number, - as if in revenge for the insult inflicted on her, she immediately began to curse all of them, indiscriminately, more and less guilty, with terrible oaths. The power of the mother's oaths was so effective that the eldest of them, as the most guilty, who even dared to beat his mother, was immediately paralyzed, so that all his members were subjected to constant trembling and beating; after that, in order of seniority, all the others were subjected to the same illness for a year. Ashamed of their fellow citizens and the very walls of the city, in which and among which this condition became even more painful for them, they were forced to leave them and, scattered in different directions, wandered throughout the entire Roman Empire. And the mother, unable to hide anywhere from reproaches and remorse, out of despair hanged herself, adding obvious sin to an unintentional crime.” This incident, the truth of which does not allow us to doubt the testimony of Blessed Augustine and the entire Church of Hippo, shows how great the power of parental blessing is, not only, but also the curse itself, even unintentional; how seriously those parents sin who, either in anger, or out of malice, or generally out of recklessness, curse their children - how, finally, the children themselves sin doubly, becoming guilty before the court of God, both for themselves and for their parents, when their actions against them (no matter how important these actions may be) bring them to such a state that they decide, often without reflection, to pronounce curses on their children. Always honor your fathers and mothers, may their blessing rest on you, may you be well and may you live long on earth (from “Resurrection Reading”). 2. A similar example of the wrath of God befalling a disrespectful son is recorded in Russian chronicles. One poor widow had an only son. The mother hoped to have in him a good breadwinner and support in her old age, but the son often brought the poor mother to tears with his rude actions. Once he beat his wife for no reason; the mother began to persuade him with tears, but the irritated son rushed at the mother with abusive words - and it’s scary to say - he grabbed her by the chest and shook her with such force that the poor woman hit her head painfully against the wall... The groans of his mother, the cry of his wife and the crying of his children forced him to let go of his old mother and leave the house. Then the deeply offended mother, all in tears, falls to her knees before St. icons and says: “Lord, You see how my dear, ungrateful son offends me, how he pays me for my love, for my care for him: may he be cursed from now on, may he have neither my nor Your blessing!..” So what? The judgment of God was completed: on the same day the offender-son felt a trembling throughout his body; this trembling intensified more and more every day and finally reached the point that he, until then a strong and healthy worker, could not wield not only a plow or a scythe, but even a spoon - he could hardly move his legs and could only take food from the hands of his wife and children... True, he asked forgiveness from his mother, who soon died, he became quiet and humble, like a child, but his life became more painful hour by hour. He was also at St. saints in Kiev, Pochaev, Voronezh and other places, but God was not pleased, despite his tearful pleas, to grant him healing... Thirty years passed in this way; finally his illness became so severe that he could not speak; they called the priest to him; he confessed and received Holy Communion. Tain, - this strengthened him so much that he began to speak freely, and having taught his children and relatives how serious the sin of disrespect for parents is, he died peacefully... (see the magazine “The Wanderer” for 1861). 3. It is necessary to monitor the behavior of children at an early age Some parents completely neglect raising their children at an early age. If a child does a bad thing, the unreasonable parent says: “Eh, it’s okay, he’s still a child, he doesn’t understand, but when he grows up, he won’t do this.” And this child grows like a wild apple tree in the forest. Taste the fruit from this apple tree, and you will not rejoice - it is so sour and bitter. And so, unstopped by anyone, not punished or admonished, this child subsequently grows up as a slave to his disorderly inclinations; His early bad behavior becomes a habit - and he becomes an unfit member of society, a grief for his parents, a burden and a temptation for many. “There is nothing worse,” says St. Chrysostom - when children's misdeeds are not corrected and through this they turn into a habit in children. These offenses, when neglected, usually spoil the child so much that subsequently it is no longer possible to correct him with any admonitions, and the devil leads such children as captives wherever he pleases. He becomes their sovereign ruler, gives them harmful instructions, and the unfortunate children, not at all thinking that these instructions will lead them to final destruction, fulfill them with full desire” (from the works of St. John Chrysostom). 4. The power of good impressions in infancy Saint Macrina, the sister of Basil the Great, recalling her childhood, said that her mother used to sit her on her lap and force her to pronounce the sweetest name of Jesus Christ with a weak and babbling tongue. And from then on, the fire of love for the Lord was still kindled in Macrina’s heart, burning throughout her entire life (“Ch.-M.”). One Christian youth answered the tormentor’s question: from whom did he learn that there is only one God? - answered: “My mother taught me this, and the Holy Spirit taught my mother, and taught me so that she could teach me.” When I rocked in the cradle and sucked at her breast, that’s when I learned to believe in Christ. Are those mothers doing well now who postpone the saving instillations of faith until a certain age of the child, and teach their children to the decencies of the world, one might say, from the very cradle (“Ch.-M.”). Now let us ask: do those parents who are not afraid to say and do things in front of their children that cannot be approved by reason, conscience, or the law of God do well? After all, young children's souls, starting from the first day of their life, perceive everything, both good and bad, imprint everything, both holy and sinful, in their souls and then, as they grow, the received impressions reveal a good or evil character. So, from the very first days, plant in the souls of your children everything that is holy, beautiful and true, and be afraid to create and do in front of your children, even infants, everything sinful, false and unclean. Remember that children's souls are very impressionable and notice, perceive and remember everything. Currently, one remarkable case has become known in science, how one lady and one elderly gentleman remembered with all accuracy what they saw and heard when they were only - the lady was two months old, and the gentleman was six months old. If parents were well aware of the truth that children's souls are impressionable, they would be extremely afraid of saying or doing anything bad in front of children, so as not to seduce the child's soul and lay the foundation for it to sin and vice at a very early age in life (Archpriest G. Dyachenko). 5. Thoughts on the responsibilities of parents towards children 1. The moral state of children for almost their entire lives depends for the most part on the moral influence of their mother on them. “Give us better mothers,” someone said, “and we will have better people” (“Spiritual color”). 2. “Parents will be punished not only for their own sins, but also for their children if they do not raise them in piety” (St. Chrysostom). 3. “Children who are afraid to be brought to tears even after their misdeeds, often the parents themselves are subsequently forced to cry” (“Spirit. Color”). 4. “He is not wise who knows how to punish, but he who knows how to protect from wrongdoing” (“Spiritual color”). 5. “Whoever deprives children of church deprives them of God and all happiness” (Archarch I. Tolmachev). (Prot. Gr. D-ko). 6. Instruction of St. John Chrysostom on raising children in faith and fear of God Let's listen to the universal teacher - St. Chrysostom: how excellently he speaks about education in faith and the fear of God: “Isn’t it foolish to teach children the arts, send them to school, spare nothing for their education, and not care about raising them in the punishment and teaching of the Lord? That is why we ourselves are the first to reap the fruits of such upbringing of our children, seeing them as impudent, intemperate, disobedient, depraved! Let us not do this and listen to the admonitions of Blessed Paul: let us raise our children in the discipline and teaching of the Lord, let us give them an example of piety, let us make them practice reading the Scriptures from an early age. Everything with us should be secondary in comparison with caring for children and raising them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord. He who first of all learns to be wise, through this acquires wealth that surpasses all wealth and the greatest glory. It is not as useful to educate a son by teaching science and external knowledge through which he will acquire money as by teaching him the art of despising money. If you want to make him rich, do this. Rich is not the one who cares about acquiring more property and owns a lot, but the one who needs nothing. Instill this in your son, teach him this: this is the greatest wealth. Do not worry about making him known by external learning and giving him fame, but try to teach him to despise the glory of this life: this will make him more famous and famous. This can be done by both the rich and the poor; this is learned not from secular teachers and not from the aid of science, but from the divine scriptures. Do not worry that your son will live here for a long time, but that there he will be worthy of limitless and endless life: give him great things, not small things. Listen to the words of the apostle. Paul: “educate them in the discipline and teaching of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4) (from the 21st conversation of St. I. Gold. on the Epistle to Ephes.). 7. Sayings of the word of God about honoring parents – “Honor your father and mother in deed and word, so that a blessing from them may come to you, for a father’s blessing establishes children’s homes, and a mother’s oath destroys to the ground... accept your father in his old age and do not grieve him in his life. Even if he has become impoverished in mind, have mercy and do not neglect him in the fullness of your strength, for mercy towards your father will not be forgotten; despite your sins, your prosperity will increase. On the day of your tribulation you will be remembered: your sins will melt away like ice from warmth” (Sir. 3:8, 9, 12–15). “Cursed is everyone who dishonors his father or his mother” (Deut. 27:16), says the Lord through Moses. - “He who forsakes his father is the same as a blasphemer, and cursed of the Lord is he who provokes his mother” (Sir. 3:16). - “An eye that scolds a father and annoys a mother’s old age, the ravens of the valley will peck out, and the eagle’s chicks will devour” (Proverbs 30:17). 8. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is what justice requires (Eph. 6:1) Our parents love us, their children, despite all our mediocrity, all our bad qualities, waywardness and heartlessness. Shouldn't children then also be lenient towards the sins of their parents? The Holy Scriptures warn us about this very early on. As Noah lay naked in his tent, his son Ham earned eternal damnation by his crude ridicule, which offended the moral sense even in that harsh world. Shem and Japheth deserved eternal blessing for their unfailing respect, as a result of which they covered the nakedness of their father. Therefore, in the name of all those tender memories, everything sacred of family life, let us remember that in our family always and everywhere we must bear “one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2) - that the sin and vice of one person will always be and remain the shame and suffering of the whole family. The family ties that connect us with each individual family member are indestructible ties. One mother's son was caught stealing at school. She lived on the outskirts of the city; but it was so hard for her to bear the shame of her son that even several years later she never walked even at dusk along the streets of the city near which she lived. There was another case: one high-ranking gentleman, who had a very famous person as his son, stained himself with a dark and evil deed. As a result, he lost everything. His service was over forever, his star had sunk prematurely into deep darkness. Since then he has not been seen anywhere. But the good son did not leave his father. He shared this terrible burden with him. He took his unfortunate, disgraced father, who had lost everything, into his house and lived with him until his death. For his sake, he gave up all the joys of life. This was a wonderful example of self-sacrifice, especially since very few people knew about this act. But the noble son, for his filial devotion, received the obvious blessing of the Lord and, probably, in that distant country where everything is fairly assessed, he will receive a hundredfold reward. St. ap. Paul calls the fifth commandment “the first commandment with a promise” (Eph. 6:2), and we turn now to that promise. “Honor your father and your mother [so that it may go well with you...] so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you” (Ex. 20:12). Long before St. Prophet Moses, a certain Egyptian sage wrote that “a son who follows the words of his father will, as a result, reach a very old age.” Prodigal, disrespectful sons bring damnation upon themselves. “Show me a son who loves his mother,” says one of the modern writers, “and I will show you a devoted friend, a tender spouse. Show me a person for whom love for family has no charm, because it is too low for him, and I advise you never to trust him, which can make up the happiness of others.” You remember the great blessing that the prophet Jeremiah pronounced (Jer. 35) over the children of Jonadab, son of Rechab, because they obeyed the command of their father. The young sailor was setting off on a voyage, but when he got into the boat, he noticed that his mother had tears streaming down her face; “Bring my things back,” he said, “I don’t want to go and kill my mother with grief.” “George,” exclaimed his mother, “God blesses children who honor their parents, and I believe that He will bless you.” This young man was George Washington, the famous first President of the United States of America. But chiefly the promise of the fifth commandment was to the nations, and history confirms its fulfillment in full force. The cornerstone of the public good was considered the stone of the family hearth. A people that produces bad sons will, of course, not have good citizens. Families deprived of love accelerate the destruction of society and the decline of a people. For clarity, let's take two ancient peoples. Why were the Spartan people worth ten other Greek nations in battle? This happened because Spartan youths were brought up to obey their parents. When a Spartan mother handed her son a shield with the words: “Come back with it or on it,” her words made him invincible. When a Spartan youth complained to his mother that his sword was too short, his mother answered him: “Increase him with your courage,” and armed him with a triple weapon. Obedient sons are always brave patriots 88; and due to the fact that respect for parents contains respect for the homeland, it happened that three hundred Spartans confronted numerous Persian troops at Thermopylae, and the Greek poet Simonides wrote them an epitaph 89: “Tell Sparta, those who passed by, That we lay down here faithful to our duty.” The same was true in Rome in its best days. The irresistible charm of greatness, which excited his troops to victory, was based on his father's power. The promise of the fifth commandment remains eternally true, and when Greece and Rome began to raise vain and self-willed sons who followed only their own desires, when Greece gave vicious and effeminate dandies, such as Aristophanes portrays in one of his comedies; when Rome produced bejeweled libertines like Otto and matricides like Nero, then God began to wash away their glory, just as one washes away what stuck to it from a dish and, having washed it, throws it over (compiled by Archpriest G. Dyachenko from the book: “The Voice from Sinai.” Spiritual and moral conversations according to F.V. F-u. St. Petersburg). 9. About how terrible it is to insult parents One day, a young man was brought to the Monk Parthenius, Bishop of Lampsaki, tormented by an unclean spirit. The philanthropic Parthenius, even without any request, always helped the suffering with his prayers. But at this time, looking at the young man, he showed a look of displeasure. The parents tearfully begged the man of God to have mercy on their son and save him from a severe illness. But the man of God answered them: “Your son is not worthy of healing, for a tormenting spirit was given to him as punishment for being a parricide.” The parents were horrified... but Parfeniy asked them: – Did your son often insult you? “It’s true,” answered the father. “Did you pray in the sorrow of your soul,” continued Parthenius, “that the Lord would punish him?” “We sinned before the Lord,” the parents answered with a sigh. Then the man of God said: “Let him suffer as if he deserved this punishment!” But the unfortunate parents, regretting their son, did not stop begging the saint of Christ to ask God for forgiveness. It was only out of condescension to the tears of his parents that Parthenius blessed the young man and, after praying to the Lord, healed him (“Cheti-Minei”). 10. Wrath of God for insulting mother On one estate, the daughter of a clerk, a girl of about fifteen, dared to boldly say to her meek mother, who was forcing her to work: “May your eyes pop out, old one!” And so, as soon as these daring words were uttered, one of the daughter’s eyes burst (“Moskov. Tserk. Ved.” No. 5, 1890). 11. Children should be lenient towards their parents' weaknesses. Children should never allow themselves to laugh at their parents’ shortcomings, and even more so should never allow themselves to use impudent words and actions towards them. The example of Ham, who was cursed in his descendants for mocking his father's weakness, shows very clearly how God is angered by such actions. In the life of John the Theologian we read that when a pagan woman’s mother wanted to be criminal in relation to her son, St. The apostle taught the son not to refuse his mother respect, and to cover up the mother’s lawless plan with silence. The apostle considered it so necessary to indulge in the vices of parents even among pagans! (“Ch.-M.” Sept. 26). “My son,” says the wise son of Sirach, “accept your father in his old age and do not grieve him as long as he lives” (Sir. 3:12) (Arch. G. D-ko). 12. Examples of obedience to the will of parents 1. Our Lord I. Christ, King of heaven and earth, who came down from heaven for us for the sake of men and for our salvation, “without obeying” (Luke 2:51) His mother and imaginary father Joseph the treemaker. Out of obedience to His Most Holy Mother, He deigned to perform the first miracle in Cana of Galilee, turning water into wine, although His hour had not yet come. 2. Isaac, out of obedience to his father Abraham, willingly allowed him to bind him and lay him on the altar, agreeing to die at the hands of his father rather than disobey his will. 3. The famous sage, the mighty King Solomon, when his mother Bathsheba came to him to ask for one thing, stood before her and bowed to her, and they set up a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat down on his right side. 4. Luke of Greece, for the sake of his mother’s wishes, even left his chosen path of life, knowing that only that is pleasing to God that is done with the blessing of his parents (“Chet.-Min.” Feb. 7) (Arch. G. D-ko.). 13. Children, appreciate the tears of your mothers! Nowadays, we see many sad examples when bad children respond to their mother’s tears in the spirit of the modern mood: “Tears are so common in women; a woman cries about everything... from weakness, from excessive sensitivity and lack of judgment! But beware, children, of thinking in this way about the tears of your mothers, the great value of which you do not understand. A mother’s heart is so tender towards her children that whether joyful or sad changes occur in their lives, in any case, a loving mother sheds tears. What is this from? Because the life of children is born and formed under the heart of the mother, and before the baby is born into the light of God, he lives the same life with his mother for a long time. Isn’t it natural after this for a mother’s heart to respond to all the movements of hearts that are so close to her, so akin to her? And it responds in most cases with tears. A mother’s tears contain everything: gratitude to God, goodwill, joy, and grief. When any grief befalls a son or daughter, the mother is the first to rush to them with tears. How important these tears are is known to those children who have already experienced the vicissitudes of life, who have experienced enough grief. If the human heart is such that in sorrowful days it seeks the participation of others, then in whom can it find this participation more alive and more sincere, if not in the mother? But if the tears of a Christian mother in this case are dissolved by prayer, then they can even be a cure against disaster. We know a mother who cried over the wicked life of her son, and with a cry begged the Lord to save her son from temporary and eternal death. And the Lord heard her prayer, and the son, leaving a vicious life, led a pious life and was later a glorious teacher of the Western Church. They were blessed. Augustine and his mother, the pious Monica; Her prayerful tears bowed to the mercy of the Author of life. A mother sheds tears not only at sad, but also at happy events in the lives of her children. This time her tears are tears of heartfelt joy and lively gratitude to God. Children, delighted with happiness, often forget about the Hand of God, which bestows blessings on them, and only rush to take advantage of their happiness as quickly as possible. But the mother does for them what the children themselves should do: she raises her grateful gaze to the sky, and her gaze, imbued with maternal feeling, is filled with tears. Oh, how precious these mother’s tears, offered to God for them, should be for children! They serve as a living connection between the all-good and wise Providence of God and the blessed children. For her son and daughter, for her happy children, the mother is the first to lift up her heart full of grateful tears to God. The tender, loving heart of a mother sheds tears even when the children are preparing to enter a new field of activity. In this case, the mother’s tears are tears of prayerful goodwill and blessing, and should be especially important for children. For such a “blessing establishes the homes of children” (Sir. 3:9), that is, it serves as some kind of foundation for their earthly well-being. Therefore, children are a hundred times happy when, upon entering a new field of life, their mother’s prayerful tears water their heads! This is, as it were, the saving oil with which ancient martial artists anointed themselves in order to more easily avoid the hand of the enemy; this is an invaluable guarantee of success, with which you can not only fearlessly, but also faithfully move towards the goal of your calling. Just do not neglect, children, your mother’s tears, just accept your mother’s good wishes with your heart, put her Christian advice into action, and the Lord will not leave you on the paths of your life. Remember that a mother’s prayerful tear rests on your head; in this tear facing the sky, without a doubt, the sky is reflected. Learn to appreciate this treasure with dignity. The mother's heart is especially worried about the behavior of her children. There is nothing more regrettable for a Christian mother than for her son or daughter to behave badly. “Son... the grief of a mother is mad,” notes the Wise One (Proverbs 10:1). While some look at madness with indifference, and others, for the sake of lawless species, even try to support his weaknesses and vices, the mother sheds bitter tears, looking at his death. Do you think, children, that in this case the mother’s tears are insignificant? Is it possible? A mother, in relation to her children, is in a sense an image of an unearthly being. She mourns not just their physical death, but their spiritual one. If “there is joy before the angels of God for one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10), then, without a doubt, there is also sorrow for every unrepentant sinner. Children wandering in the child of self-will and vice, this sorrow of St. They do not understand heaven, since they do not raise their mental gaze there. But they can always see the reflection of this grief in their mother’s tears. Therefore, woe to the lost son if his mother’s tears flow in vain for him: his destruction if he laughs at his mother’s tears. “Cursed by the Lord is he who provokes his mother” (Sir. 3:16). A sinner, blinded in the path of wickedness, does not see the danger to his soul; God sends him a visible angel-mentor in the person of his mother. And if the tears of this angel remain in vain for him, then what else can soften the hardened heart of his son? 14. Biblical and church-historical examples of deep respect for royal power Not only the word of God, but also the history of nations repeatedly teaches us to deeply honor the king and revere him as God’s anointed. 1. David, pursued by Saul, who was looking everywhere for an opportunity to kill him, David, having every opportunity to take the life of Saul himself, as a personal enemy, not only piously spares and sacredly protects his life, as God’s anointed, but also bitterly reproaches his careless bodyguards. “The Lord forbid me, so that I lay my hand on my lord the king,” he says to Abishai, who is ready to pierce Saul with a spear, “do not you dare kill him. Who can lay hands on the Lord's anointed with impunity? No, “I will not lay my hand on my master, for he is the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 24:12). Then, turning to Saul’s bodyguards, he reproaches them for their carelessness towards the king. Warriors of Saul! As the Lord lives, you are worthy of death because you poorly guard the life of your sovereign, the Lord’s anointed (1 Sam. 26:16). 2. The Prophet Daniel, even in captivity, pays royal respect to Nebuchadnezzar, this devastator of their native land, hated by the Jews and the destroyer of Jerusalem dear to them and their first shrine - the church, and, predicting the punishment from God that would befall him, he is embarrassed and says with deep sorrow: Oh, sir! let this evil befall your haters, and not you (Dan. 4:16). 3. And with what deepest respect does St. ap. Paul to King Agrippa, defending the cause of his apostleship before him, although the king did not have special power over him. “King Agrippa! “I consider myself happy,” he says, “that I can speak and defend myself before you today” (Acts 26:2). 4. Another example from Christian antiquity: when Julian the Apostate, going to war with the Persians, passed with his army through Cappadocia, where St. Basil the Great, this shepherd, “rendering, according to the word of the Lord, God to the Gods and Caesar’s to Caesar” (Matthew 22:21), met Julian as a king, and, honoring the anointed of God in his person, presented him with three barley loaves. The cruel persecutor of Christianity ordered to give St. Basil a handful of hay, saying with caustic mockery: “Take animal food from us and be sure that I will feed you with hay when I return from Persia.” The desecrated saint, having paid respect to the king, returned and prayed to God to enlighten the apostate with His grace. This is the kind of respect that the truly loyal subjects paid to the sovereigns (“Resurrection.” 1888, No. 40.) (Arch. Gr. Dyachenko). When the Poles, who were hanging around in large crowds near Moscow, learned about the election of Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov to the kingdom, then they decided to kill the newly installed Russian Tsar, who was still living in his Kostroma village. Having set out to commit a villainous plot, they split into several gangs, and one of them lost their way; It was winter during a strong snowstorm. They met a peasant from the palace village of Domnina, Ivan Susanin, whom the Poles stopped and asked about the whereabouts of Mikhail Feodorovich. He volunteered to be their guide, and the Poles promised to reward him with handfuls of gold. Susanin takes them on the way to his village, treats them, gives them something to drink, and meanwhile secretly sends his son to warn the king of the imminent danger. The villains, having had dinner, warmed up and slept a little, got ready for the road at midnight, led by Susanin, who, turning along a country road, through snowdrifts and ravines, led them into an impenetrable forest. Exhausted, the Poles began to suspect the guide and, waving sabers over his senile head, cried out: “Not me,” Susanin calmly answered them, “not me, you deceived yourself.” You falsely thought that I would give you the life and health of the Tsar-Sovereign. God strengthened me: Tsar Michael was saved! The Poles, in a rage, chopped him into small pieces and themselves died from cold and hunger (see “Good Word,” Archpriest G. Dyachenko, ed. 4, year 2). 16. Miracle of salvation of God's anointed On October 17, 1888, all of Russia, as one person, shuddered with “horror to many” at the terrible news of that mortal danger, from which the support, hope and happiness of the entire Russian land - our most pious and beloved Sovereign with all his august family, almost perished, but after that, she was filled with feelings of the warmest gratitude when she learned that among the rubble of what had been crushed to pieces railway carriage, among a thousand dangers from which many died and suffered, traveling with the royal train that crashed, only the Sovereign, saved by the miracle of God's omnipotence and mercy, with His royal family, remained unharmed. Yes, only one miracle of God’s omnipotence and mercy saved us our hope - our beloved Sovereign on the memorable day of October 17, 1888. This cannot be doubted for a single moment. – Indeed: is it possible to explain salvation from imminent death here by “chance?” The carriage in which the Tsar and His family were was completely disintegrated, the floor and ceiling collapsed, the walls were flattened, but all these debris inexplicably formed a cramped and completely safe place for the Tsar and other members of the royal family. Meanwhile, the danger was so great that the servant standing next to the Emperor was killed on the spot, but the Tsar, protected by God, remained intact, and the image of the Savior not made by hands was intact; Moreover, the lamp in front of him did not go out and the glass case in which he, according to the custom of the Orthodox Church, was placed, did not break - a clear and forever unforgettable sign for all Russians that the Savior of the world, whose face is depicted on the icon, has preserved for us the Tsar and His royal house. Truly, the great mercy of God was revealed to us in the miraculous salvation of our King. Our thoughts are afraid of even one question: what would happen to Russia, what would happen to all of us, if we were deprived of our Tsar and all of His august house? Who would then protect justice and truth in our land and oversee the implementation of state laws, for historical experiences have proven that beautiful laws turn out to be a dead letter if there is no living, supreme power overseeing their implementation? Who would then repel the external enemies of Russia and suppress the internal ones who hinder the peaceful development of their native country in the field of sciences, arts, industry, trade, moral life, in a word, in the field of its spiritual and physical development? (from the words of Archpriest Gr. Dyachenko, printed in the “Moscow Church Vedas” for 1890 in l. 44). 17. Selflessness in war Among our sailors who went on night searches and sorties near Sevastopol, Lieutenant Biryulev gained enormous fame. Under his command, seven sorties were made. The foray on the night of January 19th to 20th, 1855 was especially successful. On a dark, stormy night, our detachment of 250 hunters approached the rubble unnoticed and, with a loud cry of “hurray,” attacked the enemy. A stubborn hand-to-hand fight ensued: they fought with bayonets six times; They fought with rifle butts and threw stones at each other. Here, sailor Shevchenko, who accompanied Lieutenant Biryulev on all sorties, showed a special example of selflessness. When our hunters drove the enemy out of the trenches with bayonets, about 15 of the retreating French took aim at Biryulev. Then Shevchenko, seeing the danger his boss was exposed to, crossed himself with a cross, shielded Biryulev with himself and fell in his defense, fatally struck by a bullet (from Bogdanovich’s stories). 18. The teaching of the word of God about honoring the king “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's” (Matthew 22:21). This is the most holy commandment of our Lord I. Christ Himself. The Lord did not say: “Come on,” argues St. Chrysostom - but said: “give”, for paying taxes does not mean just giving, but giving what is due, paying a debt. So is St. The Apostle Paul teaches: “Give to everyone their due: to whom to give, to give; to whom is dues, dues” (Rom. 13:7). “Let every soul be submissive to the higher authorities... he who resists authority resists God’s institution... Every boss, and especially the king, is God’s servant, for your good... He protects you from evil, he gives you scope to do all good. He is God's servant, an avenger to punish those who do evil. And therefore one must obey not only out of fear of punishment, but also out of conscience” (Rom. 13:1, 2, 4, 5). “Be submissive to every human authority, for the sake of the Lord,” teaches St. ap. Peter; - to “every” authority, and especially to the king: “to the king... as the supreme authority, and to the rulers as sent by him... for this is the will of God... Fear God, honor the king” (1 Pet. 2:13–15, 17). Who was the king who, before others, met with the preaching of St. Petra? - Herod. What services did Herod provide to Christianity? Wasn't he the one who raised his hands against the church of God? Didn't he kill the Apostle James with a sword? Was it not he who imprisoned Peter himself? And after all this, Peter preaches: “Honor the king.” Why? Because, of course, this is the will of God, this is how God wants. We read this commandment in the Old Testament. Covenant: “Fear, my son, the Lord and the king; Do not associate with rebels” (Prov. 24:21). “Whoever provokes... a king sins against himself” (Prov. 20:2). “Keep the king’s word” (Eccl. 8:2). “Do not violate the queen’s secrets” (Tov. 12:7). 19. About obedience to authorities On obedience to the authorities, St. John Chrysostom in one of his conversations (23 demons on the Epistle to Rom.) teaches this: “Even if you were an apostle, even if you were an evangelist, even if you were a prophet, even if you were someone else, obey.”... “Destroy the courts of justice, and you will destroy all order in our lives; remove the helmsman from the ship, and you will sink the ship; take the leader away from the army, and hand over the soldiers into captivity to the enemies." “Therefore we must give great thanks to God because there are kings and because there are judges. Having concern for the well-being of people, so that many of them would not live more senselessly than animals, God established the power of rulers and kings, like the reins for driving a chariot and the helm for steering a ship” (Conversation of St. John the Golden. on Ps. 147). 20. More parents need to honor spiritual shepherds. “Do you know,” asks St. John Chrysostom - who is a priest? - and answers: the angel of the Lord" (2 Rules on 2 epistles to Tim.), and "therefore, we should honor shepherds,” he says, “more than parents (O Holy Book 3), for they are the servants of Christ on earth, and whoever honors them honors Christ” (Demon 7 on Matthew’s Gospel). 21. About the veneration of priests (From the works of St. John Chrysostom) “Let us, beloved, show all respect to those who have been given the power of the Holy Spirit. The priestly rank is of great importance: “whose sins you forgive,” it is said, “they will be forgiven” (John 20:23), which is why Paul says: “Obey your instructor and submit” (Heb. 13:17); and: “have them in abundance in love” (1 Sol. 5:13). You care only about yourself, and if you organize your well-being well, you have no responsibility for others: and the priest, although he has organized his own life well, if he does not diligently take care of you and everyone entrusted to him, he will go to hell with the evil ones, and not for his own, but for your deeds, he may die if he does not fulfill, as he should, everything to which he is obliged. So, knowing how great the danger is for them, show them favor. This is also what the Apostle Paul means when he says: “For they keep watch over your souls,” and not simply, but “so that the word may be rewarded” (Heb. 13:17). Therefore, they should receive great respect from you. If you, together with others, attack them, then your deeds will not have good success. For as long as the helmsman is in a good mood, those on the ship are safe; but when they irritate him with hostile and offensive treatment of him, then he can neither be attentive nor do his job as he should, and against his will exposes them to countless dangers. Likewise, the priests, if they receive respect from you, can well arrange your salvation; if you insult them, they will give up, and you will easily carry them along with you in the same waves, even if they are very virtuous. Remember what I. Christ said to the Jews: “The scribes and Pharisees sit in the seat of Moses: all the slaughter, the tree... they tell you to do... do” (Matt. 23:2, 3); and the priests are no longer sitting on Moses’ seat, but on Christ’s: for they have accepted Christ’s teaching, just as Paul says: “For Christ... we are ambassadors, as I pray to God with us” (2 Cor. 5:20). Don't you see how everyone submits to the worldly rulers, although they are often better than them in birth, life, and mind? But out of respect for the one who appointed them, they do not think about anything like that and reverence the will of the king, no matter what kind of authority he received from him. This is the fear we show when a person ordains someone! When God ordains, we despise the ordained, revile, insult with countless curses and sharpen our tongues against the priests, while we are forbidden to condemn the brethren! What is this apology worth when we do not notice the log in our own eye, but carefully notice the knot in the eye of another? Don’t you know that by judging others in this way, you are preparing the strictest judgment for yourself?.. Knowing all this, we will fear God and honor His priests, giving them all honor, so that both for our own good deeds and for the respect shown to them, we will receive great reward from God” (“Resurrection Reading” XV). 22. Instruction of John Chrysostom on doing good to altar servers and monks “Be your house,” says St. Chrysostom - the chamber of the servants of God, that is, the elders and every church rank. Bring such into your house, and seat them with great honor. Set a table for them, like Christ Himself; Serve before them, and your wife and your children. If they force you to sit down, then sit in the lowest place. Make your name known, and in the church of God, prayer for you to God rises like incense, and let your light always shine in the church, and your prosphora the same way. Remember those who are in the monasteries, who hold the angelic rank, and wear the monastic image: bring them into your house, and wash the naked, and set a meal for them in the monastic order. Teach your wife and children to serve with fear and silence, like the angels of God. See them off with worship, and after dismissing them, give them what they need for the monastery. Even so, even if they say: Lord, have mercy, once: it is written: “The prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much” (James 6:16). Yes, if only one can, how much more if many cry out to God? Rather, labor for those who are in the tombs, and in the caves, like solid angels, who have departed from this world, and serve one God. Bring what they need, and accept their prayer. Place their words in your heart and pray for their blessing. Pray, then, that they may pray to God for your sins, and go to your clean home. They did not accept slander against the monk or against any saint. If you see someone sinning, do not judge him, but listen to God’s command: “Do not judge, lest you be condemned” (Luke 6:37). To those who pass by along the way (when they meet you on the way), do not be ashamed to bow your head” (see Prologue, April 27, the word of John Chrysostom: as it is fitting to show mercy). 23. Honor your mentors The Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great, who knew how little dignity a noble family and wealth have without a good upbringing, sent to find the most learned man in the entire empire. Those sent after a long search found such a husband; His name was Arseny, to whom Theodosius entrusted his son to raise and teach him. The boy, proud of the fact that he was the king's son, during the teaching made the mentor stand in front of him, while he himself sat. When Theodosius saw this, he said to his son in a voice full of reproach: “Get up and give way to your teacher; honor, dignity and wealth are random things, and you don’t deserve them. God may not today or tomorrow take all this away from you, but learning is the property of this man, and you must always respect and honor him. Get up, let your teacher sit” (Sunday Thursday). 24. Stories about Christian obedience 1. Due to the troubles of his family life, Pavel the villager, already in his old age, came to the desert to the Monk Anthony the Great. -What do you want? – the reverend asked him. Anthony. “I want to be a monk,” answered Pavel. - You can’t: you’re already old; The hardships and labors in the desert are beyond your strength, go to the village and work. “I will do whatever you command; “Whatever you teach, I will also do,” says Paul. Anthony did not agree to take him in and closed his cell for three days. On the fourth day, the great hermit, opening the doors, saw with amazement Paul standing at his cell. “I already told you,” Anthony repeated, “that you cannot live here.” – I’ll die here; “But I won’t leave,” Pavel answered firmly. The visible perseverance of the 60-year-old simpleton defeated the strict Anthony, who accepted him and began to test how obedient, hardy and patient he was. The Monk Anthony saw that Paul stood at the door of his cell for 3 days hungry. Having accepted him, he made him weave a rope from date branches. The student weaved until the evening. Having looked at the work, the abbot found it faulty. “Unravel the rope and start again,” the teacher ordered. Pavel worked until the 7th day. At sunset, Anthony asked: - Shouldn't we eat a piece of bread? “As you wish, my father,” said Pavel. Then the monk arranged a cell for his obedient disciple not far from his own. And the new hermit Paul began to work for the Lord for salvation. Working all day long under the scorching sun, he rarely refreshed himself with a piece of stale bread, spending his nights in prayer and singing psalms (according to “Cheti-Min.”). 2. One elder sent his disciple to the Monk Isidore for advice on some matter. “And by nightfall, return home,” he told him. A disciple came to St. Isidora. While he was talking with him, evening came, a storm arose, rain began to pour, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The student got ready to go home. St. Isidore and other monks asked him to stay overnight with them. “How will you go in such a storm? There is a river on your way: the rain is falling heavily; she’s playing out too much now, you’ll drown!” But the young man stood his ground. “My abbot ordered me to return today,” he said, “how can I disobey him?” The Monk Isidore and other monks gathered to see off the guest. They came to the river and saw: the river had overflowed widely, and the waves were still moving along it. The young man took off his clothes, tied them on his head and boldly walked across the river. The monks stood and looked in awe at the retreating young man. And he walked, cutting through the waves that lashed his body. The water is already up to his neck. She splashes right in the face. The monks crossed themselves. But the young man, with God’s help, got out to the other side, got dressed and bowed to the Monk Isidore and his companions. They joyfully blessed him and walked away, praising the young man’s obedience to his elder mentor (“Chet.-Min.”). 3. At Rev. Benedict was brought up by two youths: the Moor and Placis. These were the children of Roman senators, given by the parents of St. Benedict for training in piety. One day Placidas went with a water-carrier to the river to fetch water for his mentor, and, wanting to scoop up the purest water, he went into the rapidity of the river. A strong wave, gushing, overturned the boy and carried him down the river... Death is inevitable!.. but God protects obedient children who please their parents and mentors. Rev. From afar, Benedict saw with the eyes of his soul the misfortune of Placis, and, calling the Moor, said to him: “Run, run! Placida fell into the river!..” The Moor ran headlong to the river and, seeing Placida in the middle of the river struggling with the waves, ran along the river as if on dry land, grabbed the drowning man by the hair and pulled him to the shore... Here the Moor already came to his senses and, looking back, saw that he was running on water, and not on land. Having come to the mentor, the boy told about the miracle that had happened to him. The holy mentor remarked to him: “Always remember, my son, that unquestioning obedience to superiors and mentors has great power” (“Ch.-M.” March 14) (Arch. G. D-ko). 25. About gratitude to benefactors One pious elder lived in solitude in the desert from a young age, in fasting and prayer. One day a noble official from the city came to the desert monastery with alms. Having distributed a silver coin to all the monks, the benefactor brought the gold coin to the hermit and earnestly asked him to accept it. The elder did not need alms, and hitherto he had not accepted it from anyone, being content with a cup of water and a stale piece of bread. But now, for some temporary impulse, he took a gold coin from a benefactor. Then, after the usual midnight prayer, the elder fell asleep, and the following vision presented itself to him. Here he is, together with his brothers, standing on a spacious field, which is covered with thorns. A bright young man approaches each of the brothers and orders them to reap this thorny thorn more diligently. Finally he comes up to the old man and says: why are you standing idly? Harvest thorns! Yesterday, together with your brethren, you hired yourself out for this work, and received more than others, namely gold, when others were given only a piece of silver, and now you stand idly, while others are working hard. You accepted more than others, and you must work more than others. These thorns are the sins of the one who gave you alms yesterday. And so, work by the sweat of your brow!.. Then the elder woke up (“Cheti-Minei”, March 7). Well, beloved fellow sufferers! Will we also idly accept charity from our benefactors? Oh no! our heart knows how to remember good deeds; our tears know how to flow over time, not for show... For God, nothing more is needed from our grateful poverty. And so we will become now, my friends! now, each in his own place, let us stand in prayer before God, and weep before Him for the sins of our benefactors; Let us pray that the grace of God will help them to walk steadily along the paths of His holy commandments, that it will preserve their health and protect them from all evil. The Lord will arrange the rest that relates to their earthly happiness, for He Himself said: “Seek... first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). But not only now, but always we will remember in our prayers to God all those who do good and benefit us (according to “Ch-M.”). 26. Council of St. John Chrysostom on how a husband should treat a bad wife St. Chrysostom says to the husband: “Even if your wife sins a lot against you, forgive her everything; if you take a malicious one, teach her kindness and meekness; if there is a vice in a wife, drive it out, not her. If after many experiences you find out that your wife is incorrigible and stubbornly adheres to her customs, then do not expel her, for she is part of your body. Let the wife’s vices remain incurable, for this you are already destined for a great reward, because for the fear of God you endure so many troubles and tolerate an unkind wife as if you were your own member” (from the works of St. John Chrysos.) About the sixth commandment of God's law Renewing his blessing to the human race after the flood, the Lord laid down one immutable law for murderers: whoever sheds human blood, his own blood will be shed among people, for man is created in the image of God. I will require... your blood... I will require it from every beast, I will also require the soul of a man from the hand of a man... his brother (Gen. 9:6, 5). The earthly life of man, created in the image of God, is so important in the eyes of God that the Lord decided by His judgment to avenge the murder of a person, committed not only by a person who can and should realize the gravity of this crime, but also by murder committed by wild, unreasonable animals: “I will exact your blood from every beast.” That is why it happens that the murder of a person between people never remains undiscovered, unpunished. And even if these crimes multiplied, and because of their sheer multitude they could sometimes hide from the gaze of human justice, they cannot hide from the eyes of God, they cannot escape His righteous judgment. The prophet Isaiah says that at the time when the Lord, although long-suffering, but at the same time just, sends His wrath on the criminals, then the very earth will reveal the blood it has swallowed up and will not hide those who were beaten (Is. 26:21). And not only do disasters on earth haunt the murderer, but he also moves away from God so that his prayers do not reach God. “When you stretch out your hands to Me,” says the Lord, “I close My eyes from you; and when you multiply your prayers, I do not hear: because your hands are full of blood” (Is. 1:15) (see the book “Lessons and Examples of Christian Love”, Archpriest G. Dyachenko). 2. God's wrath for inhumane crime A few years after the murder of St. John the Baptist, the Jewish king Herod, both for this inhumane crime and for mocking the Redeemer on the day of His suffering (Luke 23:11), was subjected to the righteous wrath of God. It was revealed like this: having been slandered before the Roman Emperor Caligula by his own nephew - Herodias' brother - Herod Agrippa, in supposedly treasonous plans against the Romans, Herod was deprived of all his power and wealth and exiled to prison first in Lyon (Lugdunum) in Gaul, and then in Lerida - a Spanish fortress. Herodias and her daughter (Salome) shared his exile with him, in which they ended their lives miserably. Salome died before them. Tradition says that once in winter she crossed the small river Sikoris on the ice; In the middle of the river, the ice broke under her, and she sank into the water so that the ice squeezed her neck and she hung on it with her head, while her body, not reaching the river bottom, swayed from side to side until the ice cut her neck. The corpse sank to the bottom of the river, and the head of the deceased was brought to Herod and Herodias. Thus, God’s justice punished the dancer, for whose sake the honorable head of the Forerunner of the Lord was beheaded! (Sunday Thurs.). 3. You can’t run away from your conscience The Greek chronicler George Kedrin says that the Greek emperor Constas, not wanting his younger brother Theodosius to take part in government with him, forced him to abdicate the throne, accept the clergy against his wishes and be ordained a deacon. And so Theodosius was dedicated. But this was not enough for the power-hungry brother: after a while, Konsta ordered him to be killed; the fratricide thought of living peacefully and reigning happily without his brother. But on the very first night after the crime, in the middle of the night, when he began to fall asleep, his unjustly murdered brother Theodosius appears before him, dressed in the sacred robe of a deacon, with a full cup of his blood in his hands, and steam was still rising from the warm blood, and says to him in a terrible voice, full of reproach and denunciation: “Get drunk, brother! I am your brother Theodosius, whom you killed; This is my blood, which you thirsted for, so quench your insatiable thirst with it - drink up, brother!” The king trembled at such a vision; in confusion and fear, he jumped out of bed and ran out to other chambers. Having calmed down somewhat from his excitement, he went back to bed, and again the same vision, the same bloody cup and the same terrible voice: “Get drunk, brother!” It happened like this on the first day, it happened like that on the next, the same thing began to repeat itself every time he went to bed: his brother came to him and said his terrible words. To get rid of this terrible ghost, the king went to the fields, gardens, and hunting; but even there it pursued him, and there it frightened him, and there it brought him a deadly cup - drink up, brother! Finally, Consta could not stand it, he left Constantinople by sea to Sicily, in the hope that, perhaps, with a change of place there would be no ghost, but this did not help either. Everywhere he was tormented in soul, because he carried the cause of this torment in his conscience. A terrible shadow followed him everywhere - get drunk, brother! And how long did this last? Until, after several years of painful life, by the righteous permission of God, the fratricidal king himself was killed in a bathhouse; That's when he finished this bitter cup! Poor Konsta! Unhappy king! After all, what frightened you so much was not an armed man, not even alive, but already dead, just one image, one shadow... True, but how scary the mere idea of ​​the sin he committed was for him! He could commit this sin, but he could not look at it! His conscience convicted him, and the conviction of conscience is unbearable torment (extracted in abbreviation and from the front syllable from the “Trinity leaf”). 4. Stories about the painful state of murderers The Lord Jesus Christ himself calls the devil “a murderer from time immemorial” (John 8:44). The first bodily murder was committed by the firstborn of Adam. Cain, out of envy of his younger brother Abel, killed him. Thus, the first dead man in the human race was the innocently murdered Abel. But even in this murder the machinations of the devil are suspected. They asked St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria: where did Cain learn to kill Abel when no one had ever died? St. Athanasius answered: the devil showed him in a dream how to kill his brother (Chronicle, 1842, part 2). Murder is the most terrible crime. Neither before God, nor before people, nor before civil laws there is either justification or excuse for a murderer. The criminal’s own conscience is his first judge and punisher. A murderer is terrible for everyone, disgusting in his own eyes. General horror when looking at a murderer, internal disgust for this crime, involuntary shudder at the mere thought of it, serve as proof of the importance of the crime and, as it were, a warning and protection of us from this crime. How painful this crime must be for the conscience of the criminal! 1. A certain Daniel, who renounced the world from a young age, lived in a monastery and served one God. One day a robber attacked him, and Daniel, defending himself, killed him with a stone. The crime was committed without witnesses, unintentionally, in his own defense from the murderer, and with all this, Daniel’s conscience did not give him peace day or night. He came out of solitude, came to the city, confessed his involuntary murder to the patriarch; but he acquitted him of responsibility under civil laws, and yet could not calm his troubled conscience. Daniel announced his crime to several bishops, and when no one condemned him, he could not reconcile himself in his soul, and therefore announced his murder to the city authorities. But, acquitted by a civil court, he was not calm until he accepted penance. He took charge of the leper, cleaned his scabs and chewed food for him himself (Prologue June 7). 2. Here's another example. One robber came to Abba Zosima of Cilicia and asked the elder: “Do me a favor, for God’s sake, since I am guilty of many atrocities, make me a monk, so that I can get away from my evil deeds.” “He was accepted into the monastery and dressed in monastic clothes. - Having lived nine years in the monastery and having learned the psalter and all the monastic rules, the robber comes again to the elder and says to him: “Honest Father, do me a favor, give me worldly clothes and take monastic clothes.” The elder, saddened, said to him: “What for, my son?” He answered: “For nine years, as you know, father, I spent in the monastery, and as much as possible, I fasted, abstained, and resignedly, with the fear of God, lived in obedience; I know that the goodness of God has forgiven me my atrocities. And yet every day I see a boy who tells me: why did you kill me? I see him in my dreams, and in church, and at meals, he says this, and bothers me every hour. Therefore, father, I want to leave to die for the boy; for I killed him in vain. Taking his worldly clothes and dressing, he left the monastery and retired to the city, where the next day he was caught and beheaded (“Spiritual Meadow”, ch. 165) (Prot. G. D-ko). 5. Several examples of God's justice revealing secret murders 1. Manslaughter serves as a reason to punish the malicious killer. In 1611 it happened that when the servants of Glover, the English ambassador in Constantinople, were playing among themselves, one of them accidentally bruised one Janissary to death 90 . The Aga (chief) of the Janissaries complained about this to the vizier (chief minister), who demanded that the ambassador punish the murderer. Glover imagined that the murder was done unintentionally and that he did not know which of his servants was to blame: however, everything was in vain, and he finally, fearing that there would be an outrage, promised to hand over the criminal, which is why he ordered all his people to gather to find him. Then five Janissaries rushed at one servant named Simon Dibins, and the others unanimously argued that this same man was the murderer, although Dibins was not even in the place where the Janissary was killed. The ambassador, confident of Dibins' innocence, persistently interceded for him and even gave a significant sum for his release; however, seeing that all his efforts were unsuccessful, he was forced to abandon him. On the day of execution, Dibins confessed to the ambassador sent to him that he had once committed a murder in England and retired to Candia, that in the misfortune that had now befallen him, he recognized the hand of God punishing his previous crime, and accepted the execution without a murmur. He was hanged on the gate of the ambassador, who, having learned about Dibins’s villainy, was very pleased that, according to God’s wise providence, a malicious criminal was punished instead of an unintentional murderer (from the book “God’s Justice, Miraculously Revealing Secret Murders”, Moscow, ed. 1829). 2. The dress of the murdered person exposes the murderer. One woman, named Katerina Ge, was sentenced to be burned for the murder of her husband. The following incident exposed her in this crime: during interrogation in front of witnesses, the caftan of the murdered man was presented, which she gave to her neighbor; this dress seemed to her like a headless man, which is why she, at the sight of such a terrible ghost, was so greatly amazed that she fainted; and, having come to her senses, she could no longer lock herself in the crime, although before that she very boldly defended her innocence. The surprised spectators had to recognize this incident as an act of God's justice (from the same place). 3. Exposing the murderer to the murdered. Novozybkovsky district, Chernigov province, village of Demenok, peasant Pavel Yankov, who was grazing cattle with the boys in the field, hit one of them, Andrei Penezhenok, for disobedience, with his fist on the head so hard that the boy fell unconscious to the ground. Yankov was frightened by the consequences and, thinking by the magnitude of the crime to get rid of suspicion in him, grabbed a knife and cut the stunned boy's throat to the bone... The dead body was found the next day under a bush, near the road where the criminal had taken it. But since this place was located in the same field where cattle were grazed, Yankov, on suspicion, was taken into custody and subjected to investigation. However, he did not confess during interrogation; no evidence came to light. Meanwhile, after the doctor examined the dead body on the same day, the next day the parents of the murdered man began burial. At the last farewell to the body, the suspect was brought to him. Having looked the dead man in the face, Yankov had just kissed him when blood poured out of the dead man’s mouth and nose. The horrified spectators took this for the discovery of a murderer from above. The heart of the criminal also trembled: he crossed himself, approached his landowner, fell at his feet and confessed to the crime. So the murdered man solemnly denounced his murderer! The event is truly wondrous and amazing: the dead man, by the will of the all-acting Lord, silently but eloquently testifies to who killed him... Let us bow before the incomprehensible destinies of the One who spoke to the fratricide: “the voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me” (Gen. 4:10) (“Muscovite” 1852). (Prot. G. Dyachenko). “When anger flares up in your heart against someone, then believe with all your heart that it is the work of the devil working in your heart, hate him and his generation - and it will leave you. (Do not recognize her as something of your own, do not sympathize with her). Tested. The trouble is that the devil hides behind us, hides his head and his tail, hides, and we, blind, and think that only we ourselves are doing this, stand for the devil’s work, as for something of our own, as for something just, although every thought about any justice of our passion is purely false, ungodly, and destructive. Be guided by the same in relation to others; when you see that someone is angry with you, do not consider his anger to be his direct work; no, he is only a passive instrument of the all-evil enemy, he has not yet fully learned his flattery and is being deceived by him. Pray that the enemy will leave him and that the Lord will enlighten the eyes of his heart, darkened by the poisonous, corrupting breath of the spirit of malice. We must sincerely pray to God for all people who are subject to passions: the enemy is active in them” (from the book “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. I, ed. 1, 1891, pp. 141–142). The ascetic Isaac, having quarreled with his brother, did not cease to have in his heart an angry feeling against him, which was always aroused by the memory of the former quarrel with his brother. Suppressed by a heavy feeling and fearing responsibility before God, the pious ascetic did not know what to do to achieve peace. At this time, an unknown young man came to him and, without making the sign of the cross at the entrance, as he should have, said: “Surrender yourself to me, and I will give you peace.” The ascetic recognized the spirit of malice in the young man who appeared to him and indignantly renounced him. “I am God’s servant,” said the ascetic. “No, you are mine,” answered the devil. “You have a grudge against your brother and have been angry with him for three weeks, and the fire of hell awaits those who hold a grudge, and I am assigned to such people - that’s why you are mine, and not God’s.” Struck by such words, the ascetic realized his disastrous state, in which his rancor towards his brother kept him. Feeling a holy determination to break apart the destructive networks of the enemy, he immediately stood up, went to his brother, against whom he had anger in his heart, bowed with humility and asked for peace. Immediately he felt in his soul a sweet peace and a high sense of triumph over the culprit of evil - the devil. What did the pious ascetic see when he returned home? Shamed by the Christian love of the ascetic, the devil could do nothing more to him than to burn his handicrafts and matting, which the ascetic usually laid down when he stood for prayer (from the Prologue of September 5). 8. What sin, besides heresy, is the most serious? “Like all virtues, love is higher,” St. answers this question. Ephraim the Syrian, - and the gravest of all sins is to hate a brother; for “he who hates his brother is a murderer,” as the apostle said (1 John 3:15). He who hates his brother hates God Himself. “He who hates his brother is in the darkness, and he walks in the darkness, and he does not know where he is going, for the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:11). That's how many evils are caused by hatred. And “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8) (“Resurrection Reading,” 1889, No. 9). 9. Life is more valuable than wealth A certain rich stonecutter went with his children to trade in a foreign direction. He took everything that was best and valuable to him with him, carried it onto the ship, and set off with prayer. According to God's special providence, he fell in love with one boy on the ship who served him, and for this he ate from his table. The boy was not ungrateful to his kind patron. One day he heard that the sailors of the ship were whispering among themselves. Having listened more carefully, he learns that they conspired to throw the rich stonecutter, whom he served, into the sea and take possession of his property. With sadness and sorrow, he came for his usual service to the rich man’s table. - Why are you so sad today, boy? - the rich man asked him. The boy was silent. “Tell me frankly,” the rich man asked him again, “what happened to you?” Then, bursting into tears, the grateful boy told him everything he had heard from the sailors. – Do you know this correctly? - asked the rich man. “Yes,” answered the boy, “they firmly decided on this.” Calling his children, the rich man ordered them to do whatever he told them without excuses. Having taken out the boxes, he began, in the presence of everyone, to lay out precious stones and all the best from them. Then, turning to everyone, he said: – Is this what life is about? And for this reason am I in danger of being thrown into the sea? Is this why I am dying now, and not taking anything with me from this life? Children, throw everything into the sea. His children immediately carried out their father’s orders: they immediately took him and threw him into the sea. The sailors were dumbfounded with horror and abandoned their evil intention. The rich man, by the destruction of his wealth, saved his life (“Meadow of Spirits,” ch. 201). 10. About the sin of profanity Anyone who uses foul language insults God, who created us in His image and likeness, Whom we must glorify with pure, undefiled language. The Word of God sharply condemns foul language: “put aside everything,” it says, “wrath, wrath, malice, slander, filthiness of your mouth... If anyone... thinks that he is godly and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his godliness is empty” (Col. 3:8; James 1:26). To show how detrimental foul language is, let us cite one case from the lives of the saints: a certain resident of the city of Rome had a little son whom he loved and spoiled very much. Excessive pampering brought him to the point that the boy did not restrain himself in the use of words. As soon as he didn't like something, he started cursing. He sometimes dared to insult even with foul words the name of God, icons and other sacred things. At that time there was a pestilence among the people, and the boy became seriously ill. One day, when he was in the hands of his father, demons suddenly began to take his sinful soul. Seeing them, the little one trembled with horror and shouted: - Father! Get me away from them! -What do you see, my child? “The demons have come and want to take me.” Then he began to swear with vile words and died immediately (from the stories of St. Gregory the Dvoeslov). 11. The treatment of mental illnesses (passions) is completely different from the treatment of physical illnesses “In bodily illnesses, you need to dwell on the disease, rinse the sore spot with mild remedies, warm water, warm poultices, etc., but in mental illnesses it is not so: an illness has attacked you - do not dwell on it, do not caress it at all, do not indulge it, do not warm it, but beat it, crucify it; do the completely opposite of what she asks; hatred of your neighbor has attacked you - quickly crucify it and immediately love your neighbor; stinginess has attacked - be generous quickly; envy attacked - quickly be kind; pride has attacked - quickly humble yourself to the ground; the love of money has attacked - rather, praise non-covetousness and be jealous of it; tormented by the spirit of enmity - love peace and love; if you are overcome by gluttony, rather be jealous of abstinence and fasting. The whole art of treating illnesses of the spirit consists in not dwelling on them in the least and not indulging in them, but immediately cutting them off” (from the book “My Life in Christ” by Archpriest John Sergiev of Kronstadt, vol. II, 1st ed., 1892, pp. 275–276). 12. Sayings of the word of God about anger 1. “[Anger destroys even the wise.] A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up wrath” (Prov. 15:1). 2. “Jealousy and anger shorten the days, but care brings on old age before its time” (Sir. 30:26). 3. “When you are angry, do not sin; let not the sun go down on your anger; and do not give place to the devil... Let all irritation and rage, and anger, and shouting, and slander, along with all malice, be removed from you; but be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:26, 27, 31, 32). 13. Let not the sun go down on your anger (Eph. 4:26) The Holy Fathers, our mentors in good living, implementing in their lives the Christian rule of peace, tried at the very beginning to suppress in their souls the very thought hostile to their neighbor. So, St. Macarius said about himself: “I never went to bed, having something against another, and as much as I could, I also did not allow anyone to go to bed, having something against me” (“Venable Legend” p. 28, §4). Rev. Isaac said: “I never brought into my cell thoughts against my brother who insulted me, and I also tried not to leave my brother in his cell with thoughts against me” (ibid. § 9). The main incentive on our part to seek all possible means for reconciliation with those at war should be the consideration that until we are reconciled with others, we ourselves will remain under the wrath and condemnation of God and cannot expect mercy and forgiveness from God for ourselves. I. Christ proposed the parable of the unmerciful debtor, which contains precisely the truth that God will not forgive us unless each of us forgives his brother from our hearts their sins (Matthew 18:35) (compiled according to Resurrection Reading). 14. Do not repay evil for evil When Christ, my Head, Endured without complaint or grumbling From evil people there is fierce suffering: Shall I dare to murmur violently? To the tree He blessed the enemies, And to them, lo and behold! forgave everything: So that torment is equal to torment, And evil for evil, and revenge for revenge No, gentle suffering is better And there is hope in Providence. Without God there is no salvation in us; And with God the monster himself will fall. 15. How can you avoid getting angry? Answering this question, St. Vasily V. says: “If you always remain in the thought that you are before the eyes of the spectator of God and the existing Lord is near you, for what subject in the eyes of the sovereign would dare to do anything displeasing to him? Also, if you do not expect obedience from others, but you yourself will be ready to obey, considering everyone higher than yourself, for if anyone demands obedience for his own benefit, then let him know that the word of the Lord teaches that everyone should serve others. And if he is punished for disobeying the Lord’s commandment, then he needs not anger, but mercy and compassion, in order to act like the one who said: “Who faints, and I do not faint?” (2 Cor. 11:29) (from the works of St. Basil V.-T. V, pp. 228–229). 16. The severity of the sin of tempting others “He even wickedly seduces my brother,” says the apostle. Paul, “I will not eat meat forever, lest I cause my brother to stumble” (1 Cor. 8:13). He is ready to better forever give up meat and wine, which were not prohibited, just so as not to give a reason to his neighbor’s weak conscience to be tempted. “Do not think,” teaches Blessed Augustine, “that you are not a murderer if you have tempted your neighbor to sin... You are corrupting his soul, you are stealing from him what belongs to eternity.” “Oh, cruel evil temptation,” exclaims St. Tikhon of Voronezh, “beware, Christian, of giving temptation, and beware of temptation yourself, like a pestilence” (Prot. G. D-ko). 17. Don’t be friends with the vicious As if you touch tar, it will be blackened, so if you join the proud, it will be true for him, - testifies the ancient sage, Jesus Sirachov. Just as resin is sticky, black and, when it burns, smoky and stinking: so the evil deeds of the vicious blacken his soul, stick to his comrade and friend, infecting the heart and spreading, like smoke and stench, a bad reputation and a harmful example. This is what happened in the 3rd century in Rome with the young Niphon, the son of a noble and wealthy citizen. From his adolescence, Niphon was kind, quiet, meek and pious. And when he became a youth and met bad comrades during his studies in Byzantium, he changed completely; he indulged in all sorts of vices characteristic of young men; and there was no bad deed whatever he did. One day, Niphon, who was dying morally, came to his friend, Nicodemus. He looked intently into his face in surprise and then said: “Do you believe it, brother, I have never seen your face like today: it is black and scary, like Murin’s.” Thus, vice distorted Nifont’s hitherto beautiful face. A poorly and absent-mindedly lived life leaves an indelible mark on a person’s entire appearance; moral, spiritual ugliness is transmitted to the face of an intemperate person. “If you want to make a friend, then make him by trial and do not soon entrust yourself to him,” the ancient sage warns us (Sir. 6:7) (Arch. G. D-ko). 18. Examples of prayer for enemies 1. The Holy Martyr Paul, before his execution, asked for some time for prayer, in the hearing of those around him, he prayed for Christians, Jews, Samaritans, and pagans; for the emperor, the persecutor of the judge, and for the murderer himself; having awakened the tears of those present with his full love for everyone, he calmly bowed his head under the sword (“Church history.” Inno. demolished: “Sunday reading” 1860–61, p. 95). 2. One martyr Pionius in Smyrna, from the very flames of the fire, prayed for the emperor, both judges and all the pagans. When he concluded his prayer with a loud cry, “Amen!” the flame covered him and stifled the life in him (see the book “The First Days of Christianity” by Farrar, p. 134). 19. Stories about Christian treatment of neighbors 1. The Monk Macarius of Egypt, once walking with a disciple to Mount Nitria, sent the disciple ahead. On the way, the student met a pagan priest who was hastily walking somewhere, and immodestly said to him: “Listen, demon, where are you running?” The priest, in response to the unfriendly word, rushed at the student, began to beat him and, leaving him in place barely alive, moved on. The Monk Macarius also met him and said to him: “Good journey, good man!” The priest was surprised at Macarius’s greeting and, stopping, said to him: “Your greeting amazed me, and I see that you are a man of God! but a monk similar to you just met me, annoyed me, and I almost left him alive on the road.” – Then the priest earnestly asked the Monk Macarius to make him a good monk just like him, and accepted the Christian faith (“Chet-Minea” Jan. 19). So an evil word makes a good person evil, and a good word makes both good people and evil people. 2. In the Egyptian desert there lived a pious old man, whom his neighbors respected and to whom they came for blessings, asking for his prayers to God. The great Pimen also came to the same desert and settled near the elder’s cell. The people turned to the new mentor, and this aroused the anger of the elder against the newcomer. Envious of Pimen's fame, the elder interpreted all his actions in a bad way. Pimen the Great learned about this and said to his brethren: “What should we do with these people, who, having left such a holy man, turned to us, sinners and little-known? how to satisfy the anger of the holy father? Let's go to him with a bow; Maybe we can appease him.” “We went to the lamenting old man and knocked on the door of his cell. -Who's there? - they asked the aliens. - Pimen and his brothers came to receive a blessing from the holy father. “Tell Pimen,” the elder ordered to answer, “that I don’t have time to see him and accept him.” Pimen and the brothers answered from behind the door: “We will not leave here until we are worthy to bow to the holy elder.” And they remained at the doors of the cells under the sunny heat. The elder, touched by the humility of the newcomers, opened the doors for them and, receiving them with a brotherly kiss, entered into a spiritual conversation with Pimen. And from that time on, the elder and Pimen became friends and interlocutors (“Chet-Min.” Aug. 27). 3. In the monastery of St. Kirill Belozersky there was a monk Theodotus, who hated his abbot so much that he could not see him or hear his voice indifferently. The brothers diligently persuaded Theodotus to put aside his enmity towards the boss, worthy of love and respect, but they could not convince him; and Theodotus finally decided to leave the monastery. However, before leaving, he went to the monk to confess his thoughts. St. Cyril received the monk with fatherly love, took him by the hand and, before he confessed his thoughts to him, said: “Dear brother in Christ! everyone is deceived, considering me a good person; you alone judged correctly, having known my sins and malice. But, trusting in the mercy of the Lord, Who will help me correct myself, I ask you to forgive the insults I have inflicted on you, and to pray to the merciful Savior for me.” - The monk, struck by the humility and gentleness of the abbot, fell at his feet, confessing his unfair enmity towards him and asking for forgiveness. Thus pacified, Theodotus no longer thought of leaving the authority of the Venerable. Kirill (“Ch.-M.”). About the seventh commandment of God's law 1. Whoever defiles his body with fornication becomes a dwelling place for demons A young girl possessed by an evil spirit was brought to St. Hilarion the Great for healing. The demon shouted: “I cannot leave, I will not leave it until the young man who sent me here orders me to leave.” - Why didn’t you enter that young man himself? – the monk asked him. “Because,” the demon answered, “my comrade, the demon of fornication, already lives in this young man.” The saint of God prayed and freed the sufferer from the demon. “Flee fornication,” exhorts St. ap. Paul. He didn’t say abstain, but “run,” try in every possible way to avoid dissolute life. Remember that our bodies are the church of the Spirit of God living in us (1 Cor. 6:18, 19); How can the church of God be turned into a dwelling place for demons!.. “Carry your own,” says the apostle of Christ further: “you now do not belong to yourself, you were bought at a price—at the price of the blood of the Son of God.” “You are the church of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Know this: “Whoever corrupts the church of God,” desecrates, destroys, God will corrupt and severely punish him (1 Cor. 3:16, 17)! Perhaps you yourself have seen, or even heard, how precisely this terrible sentence of God’s judgment is being fulfilled on libertines even in this life: some of them rot alive from terrible contagious diseases, others go crazy and die in terrible agony. But this does not save the unfortunate unrepentant violators of God’s seventh commandment from judgment in the future life: and there God will judge the fornicators and adulterers (Heb. 13:4). “Do not flatter yourself,” says the apostle of Christ, “do not deceive yourself: “neither fornicators... nor adulterers, [nor defilers]... will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). “I can’t keep up,” you say, “I don’t have enough willpower, I can’t control myself, and circumstances no longer allow it.” “I readily believe, my friend, that you have become a slave to a sinful habit, and you cannot control yourself; but who says that you can break out of the captivity of sin through your own efforts? Here, of course, we need God’s help, and God is always ready to help us in the matter of salvation. Ask Him for this help, pray, cry before Him, as the harlot cried at the feet of Christ, but immediately do what you can to get rid of sin, and believe: God will help you get rid of the snares in which you are entangled: God does not want the death of a sinner. He looks at his heart, and as soon as the flame of a sincere desire to give up sin ignites in his heart, as soon as you say: “Lord, accept me as You accepted the harlot, I will sin no more, I am ready to sacrifice everything, just help me, a sinner,” and He, the Merciful, will extend the embrace of His love to you, and will arrange all your “circumstances” for your good, remove all obstacles (extracted in abbreviated from No. 354 of the Trinity Leaf). 2. The exploits of the Rev. John the Recluse, who struggled with the lust of the flesh The exploits of St. John the Recluse are amazing. “Truly blessed is he who dedicated himself,” writes Polycarp, “to the will of God and kept His immaculate commandments, keeping body and soul without defilement of the flesh and soul: I am talking about St. John the Venerable, who shut himself up in a narrow place in a cave. He spent thirty years in great abstinence, suppressing his body with strong fasting, wearing glands all over his body.” At the beginning, for three years in a row he spent two or three days without food, and sometimes a whole week; Heavy glands on the body increased the severity of hunger and thirst, but the carnal passion did not go out. He went to the cave of St. Anthony and stayed there day and night, praying at his tomb. The saint announced to him: “John, John! you need to shut yourself up here in order to at least weaken the warfare (that is, the influx of unclean carnal lusts and the fight against them) by invisibility and silence. “The Lord will help you with the prayers of the saints.” And John shut himself up in the narrowest and darkest cave; but the abuse did not stop; Thirty years were spent in this cave, and thirty years were a time of painful struggle. Not knowing what to do with himself, John decided on an even more difficult feat: he dug a hole, sat down across his chest and covered himself with earth. I spent the entire Great Lent in this situation; his legs were burning, his veins were writhing, the heat was consuming his insides: John rejoiced in spirit, not feeling the sinful fire. Only the terrible vision terrified him. “Lord, my God! Who did you leave me with? have mercy on me, for You are the only one who loves mankind,” the sufferer prayed. And when he finished the prayer, a light shone, and the terrible serpent, hitherto ready to devour him, disappeared, and he heard a voice: “Here is help for you, John; but take heed to yourself so that no worse thing happens to you. According to the strength of your patience, it has been allowed to you, so that you will be burned like gold; The master assigns hard work to the strong and strong servants, and bad and easy work to the weak and weak.” St. John himself spoke about such exploits to one brother who was in great despondency (see History of the Russian Church, Philaret Gumilevsky, period 1, pp. 244–245). 3. The pitiful state of mind of the one who violates marital fidelity “Look at the adulterer,” says St. John Chrysostom - and you will see that he is a thousand times more unhappy than those bound in chains: he fears everyone, suspects everyone: his wife, and the husband who committed adultery with him, and herself, and his household, friends, acquaintances, and the very walls, and his shadow, and himself; and what is most disastrous of all is that his conscience cries out and torments him daily, but if he presents the judgment of God, he cannot even stand for fear. And the pleasure of sin is short, but sorrow is long; for in the evening and at night, in the desert and in the city, the accuser follows him everywhere, showing not a sharp sword, but unbearable torment, striking and killing with fear” (Demons 22 on 1 Cor.). “How will an adulterer apologize? – the same saint asks in another place. “Don’t tell me about the passion of nature: this is why marriage was established so that you would not overstep the boundaries, for God, thinking about your peace and honor, gave you a wife for this purpose, so that you would tame the kindling of nature through your spouse and free yourself from all lust.” And you, with your ungrateful soul, dishonor Him, reject all shame, transgress the boundaries assigned to you, dishonor your own glory. Why do you look at someone else’s beauty, why do you look at a face that doesn’t belong to you, why do you violate a marriage, dishonor your bed, why do you insult a member of your body—your wife?” (Conversation of St. I. Gold. on Psalm 12.) 4. Looking at your wife with lust is already adultery “Whoever looks at a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). He who agrees to the matter commits adultery with his wife in his heart, but is prevented from doing so either by the place or by the fear of civil laws. The fact that many, without committing an evil deed, are punished as adulterers, is not difficult to verify by the example of Holofernes. When he was in a hurry to commit the hated deed, then Judith, as the law of righteousness, drew her sword and cut off his head, calling on God for help and protection as the lawgiver and supporter of chastity. So the two elders, who said to Susanna: “Behold... we are in thy lust” (Dan. 13:20), although they did not do this, were nevertheless punished and suffered death as adulterers. Therefore, if anyone is like this even now, that is, lustful, intemperate, lusting after other people’s wives; then he commits fornication in his thoughts; and whoever controls the passions, keeps himself clean from violation of duty and from defilement, is not an adulterer, but the ruler of the passions; he stops the swiftness of voluptuousness with the fear of God, just as a solid and unshakable rock prevents a sea wave” (Creative St. XXIV, creative. Afanasia Alex., part 4, 478). 5. About the means of combating fornication The first means of conquering fornication within oneself is prayer. “Build a mountain if you can,” teaches St. father (St. John Laest.), - spiritual, and if not, then the outer eye; motionless, in the image of the cross, hold your hands in order to shame and defeat Amalek in the image of the cross. Cry out to the One who is able to save, using not cunning expressions, but humble sayings, beginning like this: “Have mercy on me, for I am weak” (Ps. 6:3). Then by experience you will know the power of the Most High and, with invisible help, you will drive away the invisible.” Thus, through prayer they disarmed the spirit of the prodigal saint. James the Persian, Venerable Mary of Egypt and other great ascetics. The second remedy against prodigal passion is humility combined with fasting. “Tell me, my tormentor is my flesh: how can I become invulnerable from you? - once said one St. husband, how can I avoid natural disaster, when I have already made a vow to Christ to be at enmity against you? How will I overcome your torment, when I was commanded in advance to be your oppressor? And the flesh, in response to my soul, said: “My Father in me is self-love; if you have recognized the obvious and deep weakness of mine and yours, then you tie my hands; if you torment my larynx with hunger, then you will tie my feet and take away from me the opportunity to go further; if you enter into an alliance with obedience, then you will dissolve the alliance with me, and if you acquire humility, then you will cut off my head” (St. John the Climacus. 86 on chastity). 6. Good customs are corrupted by evil conversations (1 Cor. 15:33) If you want to preserve your innocence intact, Do not make friends with a depraved person, and do not enter into conversation with him, Run home from his sumptuous lunch: Like an ulcer, depraved conversation smolders the soul. 7. Recourse to the power of the cross Blessed is he who is the church of his soul Did not betray the flame of passions Blessed is he whose thought is always holy, Who wouldn't be sorry to be humble? Composes joy and sadness. About the eighth commandment of God's law 1. Sayings of the word of God about theft – “Bread acquired by untruth is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth will be filled with wood” (Proverbs 20:17). - “He who builds his own house with other people’s money is the same as he who gathers stones for his own grave” (Sir. 21:9). - “Do not be deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers... nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). – “Better is a little fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble with it” (Prov. 15:16). “The stolen property of others,” says Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk, “is like fire when it enters a house and consumes all other property, for where there is untruth, there will be no good, but all misfortune will follow. Predators and robbers are like a man drawing water with a sieve: everything that they steal and collect flows out of their hands, like water drawn with a sieve. Steal and grab, man, steal as you want and whatever you want, but know that everything will flow out of your hands and your own untruth will consume like fire” (Works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. vol. IV, p. 70). 3. Examples of strict attitude towards other people's property 1. Abba Agathon was walking one day with his disciples. One of them, having found a small green lentil pod on the road, says to the old man: “Father, do you tell me to take it?” The elder looked at him in surprise and said: “Did you put it here?” The brother answered: “No.” The elder said: “How do you want to take something that you didn’t put in?” (Dist. tale about the sub. of the Holy Blessed Fathers § 11). 2. One of the saints, named Philagrios, living in the desert of Jerusalem, diligently engaged in work, and thereby earned himself food. One day, while he was standing in the market selling his handicrafts, someone dropped a wallet containing a thousand coins. The elder, having found him, stopped in the same place, saying: “Of course, the one who lost will return.” And so, the lost one goes and cries. The elder gave him the wallet and did not accept any gratitude from him. 3. When Abba Arseny lived in the monastery, there was a novice there who stole baskets from the elders. Abba Arseny took him to his cell, wanting to correct him and calm the elders. He says to the novice: whatever you want, I will give it to you: just don’t steal. And he gave him everything he needed. But he left him and started stealing again. The elders, seeing that he did not stop stealing, kicked him out. They said: if there is a brother who has sins of weakness, then he must be tolerated. But if he steals, then drive him out; for he destroys his own soul, and troubles all those who live with him (from the same place). (Prot. G. D-ko). 4. Should not take someone else's One day in the bishop's house of St. Thieves climbed into Spiridon and, having captured several sheep, wanted to leave. But God, loving His saint and taking care of his small possessions, bound them with invisible force, so that they could not move and remained there until the morning. The Monk Spyridon left his cell at dawn and, finding them in such a pitiful position, gave instructions that they should never take anything that belonged to others, but should feed on the labor of their own hands; then through prayer he resolved their invisible bonds and sent them home (“Ch.-M.”). One merchant, for turnover in trade, often borrowed money from Saint Spyridon; when, returning, he brought him his debt, the elder usually ordered him to put the money himself in the box from which he took it. The elder believed the merchant and did not count the money. Many times the merchant, with the permission of the saint, took and gave gold, and the Lord blessed his trade. But one day, having been tempted, the merchant did not put the money he brought into the box and, having deceived St. Spiridon, kept it... What happened? Not only did the hidden gold not bring him any profit, but he soon became completely impoverished. In this extreme, the merchant comes again to St. Spiridon and asks him for a loan of gold. The saint, as usual, sent him to his bedroom for money, but since the merchant did not put anything in the box, there was nothing to take. Returning empty-handed, he announced to the saint that there was no gold in the ark. “Besides your hand, until now there was no one in the ark,” the elder calmly answered him, “if you had put the money in then, you would now take it again: there is no one to grumble about, it’s your own fault.” Struck by shame, the merchant fell at the feet of Spiridon. The elder immediately forgave him, but sent him back to the house, not with money, for he had none, but only with a convincing instruction in advance not to offend his conscience with self-interest and deception (“Ch.-M.”). There is no offense in life, the most apparently insignificant, for which the infinite truth of God would not exact from us, if we do not manage to avert the punishment by repentance and contrition of heart. “One day a neighbor visited me,” says one shepherd, “and our conversation turned to the law of retribution, that with what measure we measure, the same will be measured to us. “I’ll tell you a wonderful incident that happened to me, close to our conversation,” said the neighbor. – I was previously a gardener, and once I went to the market with my products; An old man comes up, buys something from me, pays and leaves; Having counted the money, I saw that the old man gave me an extra 80 kopecks; he was still not far away, it was possible to click on him and return the money, but the evil one whispered: “You didn’t steal; 80 kopecks is not a trifle in rural life, so why does he think poorly?” During these thoughts, when a struggle took place within me: to return or not to return the money? the old man went far away, and I calmed my troubled conscience by saying that even if I called him now, my voice would not reach him; but it’s impossible to leave the cart unattended if you’re trying to catch up with the old man. And I, a sinner, rejoiced at my find. I didn't sell out early. It was necessary to spend the night in the city. In the morning my owner wakes me up with bitter news: the horse I rode on was stolen from me. And what amazed me even more was that just before the congress to the city I paid 80 rubles for the horse. Thus, the 80 kopecks hidden from the old man were recovered from me with huge interest of 99 kopecks per one. And from that time on, I made it a rule for myself to always and in everything, as far as the Lord helps, observe the strictest truth, especially not to be deceived by unclean profits, and I repeat this to everyone and everyone” (from the book: “Lessons and examples of Christian hope”, Archpriest G. Dyachenko, ed. I, p. 277). About the ninth commandment of God's law 1. Sayings of the word of God about the harmful habit of lying – “An evil vice in a person is a lie; in the mouths of the ignorant it is always” (Sir. 20:24). – “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who speak the truth are pleasing to Him” (Prov. 12:22). – “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18). - “So, beware of useless murmuring and beware of a slanderous tongue, for even a secret word will not be in vain, and slandering lips kill the soul” (Wis. 1:11). – “So the tongue is a small member, but does a lot. Look, a small fire ignites a lot of substance! And the tongue is fire, the embellishment of untruth; the tongue is in such a position between our members that it defiles the whole body and sets the circle of life on fire, being itself set on fire by Gehenna” (James 3:5, 6). – “The behavior of a lying person is dishonorable, and his shame is always with him” (Sir. 20:26). - “Therefore, putting away lies, speak the truth every one of you to your neighbor, for we are members of one another” (Eph. 4:25). 2. Warning against idle talk The fatherly legends contain the following warning regarding the habit of idle talk - a warning showing how disastrous this habit is for the soul and disgusting to God. “Among the holy elders there was a great man, to whom I. Christ bestowed such grace that he, through the action of the Holy Spirit, saw what others did not see. He said that one day many of the brethren were sitting, talking among themselves. When the conversation was soul-saving and sayings from the Holy Scripture were cited for edification: then holy angels stood among the brethren; a joyful smile shone on their faces; they listened with pleasure to the Lord. When the conversation turned to vain conversations, the Angels became upset and immediately went far from the talkers, among whom unclean boars covered with scabs appeared and revolved around them. They were demons; they took the form of boars and amused themselves with the idle talk and verbosity of the monks. Seeing this, the blessed elder went to his cell and cried throughout the whole night: lamentations and tears poured out from his heart about the sorrowful illness of our fall. He exhorted and instructed everyone, saying: “Beware, brothers, from idle talk and vain conversations, from which destruction is born for the soul and through which we become hateful to God and the Angels” (“Fatherland” Bishop Ignatius). 3. Pray for curbing the tongue. From a word of untruth and a word of blasphemy, Merciful Lord, protect me: But a warm word of kindness and prayer, Put a humble word in my mouth! (“Collected pious readings.” by Count Valuev) 4. The severity of the sin of judging our neighbors The Judge and King of Heaven deigned to pronounce a clear commandment: “Do not judge” (Luke 6:37)! This means that those guilty of this are conscious and intentional disobedients of the will of God. They arbitrarily and impudently deprive the heavenly Judge of the right to judge all people. “We have one Lawgiver and Judge, who can save and destroy; and who are you who judge another? - asks the Apostle James (James 4:12). Why do you anticipate, like the Pharisee, the judgment of God and judge another? Let us take care that something bad and terrible does not happen to us for judging others. This is what happened to one monk - Abba Isaac of Thebes. “When I was in a neighboring monastery,” Isaac told himself about himself, “I noticed in him one monk of a careless life and mentally condemned him; and when I returned to my cell, an Angel appeared before me at the very door and said sternly: “The Savior commanded me to find out your opinion: what should be done with the monk condemned by you?” Isaac felt guilty and, prostrating himself before the Angel, repented and asked for prayers. “Get up,” said the Angel, “this time the Lord forgives you, but in future be afraid to condemn your brother before the Lord condemns him, otherwise you will not be allowed into this cell” (“Teaching the Reverend” vol. 1, p. 128). 5. Stories about how we should not judge our neighbors 1. One brother in the monastery fell into sin. The brethren gathered and sent for Abba Moses; but he didn't want to go. The presbyter (priest) again sent to call him in this way: “Go, a meeting awaits you.” Abba Moses stood up and went. Taking a basket with holes and filling it with sand, he carried it behind him. The brothers who came out to meet him asked him: “What is this, father?” The elder answered them: “It is my sins that are pouring down behind me, but I do not look at them, but now I have come to judge the sins of others.” The brethren, having heard this, did not say anything to the sinful brother and forgave him (from the “Venerable Tale of the Sub-Saint and Blessed Father”). 2. Two brothers lived in the same monastery, and each of them was honored to see the grace of God on his brother 91. One day it happened that one of them left the monastery on Friday and saw someone eating in the morning and said to him: “On Friday, are you eating at such an early hour?” The next day there was a meeting, where the brother who had left the monastery also came and pronounced a condemnation for breaking the fast. Another brother, who remained in the monastery, looked at the newcomer, saw that grace had departed from him, and was saddened. When he came to the cell, he said to him: - What have you done, brother! for I do not see on you, as I saw before, the grace of God. “I,” he answered, “neither in deed nor in thought do I recognize anything bad in myself.” “Didn’t you say any condemnatory words?” - his brother told him. - Yes! Yesterday I saw one eating in the morning, and I said to him: you are eating on Friday at this hour! This is my sin! But work with me for two weeks and pray to God that He will forgive me. That's what they did. After two weeks, the brother saw the grace of God again descending on his brother. They were comforted and thanked God (“Dr. Pat.”). So, you see, whoever condemns others, the grace of God departs from him and he faces eternal destruction. And therefore, noticing the weaknesses and shortcomings of others, beware of condemning them, but, remembering that we are all sinners before God, condemn yourself, sigh before the Lord and tell Him: “I am a sinner, a great sinner before You, Lord! I'm sorry!" And then the Lord will not condemn you at His Last Judgment. For He said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Prot. G. D-ko). Do not judge, so that by reproach That stone would not have fallen on you from above, Heavy stone of condemnation, Which you threw at your brother. Don’t judge!.. It’s not people who are evil at heart, And people's lives are often evil. First find out what their path is 92 Don't judge! Do you dare to guarantee That you won't be carried away by addiction? Don't judge! You may be wrong. Don't judge! You won't be judged... 7. The virtue of curbing the tongue One of the great ascetics of piety, Abba Sisoes, once said to his disciple: “Believe me, for thirty years now I have been praying to God like this: Lord Jesus! protect me from my tongue. But even to this day I fall every day and sin with my tongue” (“Venerable Tale of the Subsidiary Saint,” p. 28, § 4). That’s how difficult it is to refrain from falling into sin with words! And indeed, the harmful habit of slander and abuse of the tongue is especially rooted in us and is difficult to overcome because the very instrument of sin - the tongue - is constantly with us and at our complete disposal, as the most obedient instrument. Thus, in our country it is never considered acceptable to utter shameful and rotten words, to judge one’s neighbor, to laugh at his weaknesses, to distort the truth, or to spread fiction to the detriment of one’s neighbor. All this has become such a common thing among us that little attention is paid to it and no effort is made to correct such evil tongues... Meanwhile, listen to what the Savior says in His Gospel: “I say to you, that every idle word that men speak will be given back on the day of judgment: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 13:36, 37). And St. ap. James says: “If anyone sins in word, he is a perfect man” (Jas. 3:2), and such perfection must be achieved by every Christian so as not to lose the fruits of Christian justification, for the same apostle testifies that “if anyone thinks that he is pious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, his piety is empty” (James 1:26). The human language, as a verbal tool of intelligent beings, has great power. Used well, it produces a lot of good, but used poorly, it brings incalculable harm to people. Abuse of language even in ordinary conversations is harmful to a person, because idle talk devastates the soul, shakes convictions and makes a person frivolous and unfounded in his judgments and actions. Ave. Anthony the Great once very expressively said about some of his students: “They are good, but their courtyard is without gates.” The elder said this because they said whatever came into their heads! (Hon. Tale, p. 7, § 18). Such a destructive effect of idle talk on the human soul is St. This is what the fathers had in mind when they so strictly demanded silence from their disciples and tried so hard to curb their tongues that they used the most drastic measures to achieve this - for example, it is said about Abba Agathon that he spent three years holding a stone in his mouth until he learned to remain silent (“Venerable Tale.” 31 § 15). Remember that just as you cannot joke with fire, you cannot consider the habit of evil tongue unimportant. “A small member of the tongue,” says St. ap. Jacob, but he does a lot. Look, a small fire... ignites a lot of substance! And the tongue is fire, the embellishment of unrighteousness” (James 3:5, 6). Let us continually pray that the Lord will help us conquer our tongue and keep our word in useful silence, or in careful and wise use of it when we need to speak (compiled from No. 46 “Resurrection Conversations”, published by the General Spiritual Enlightenment for 1887). Blessed Elizabeth, being during her lifetime the abbess of one of the women's monasteries, zealously cared for the salvation of her sisters in the Lord. An experienced ascetic, who knew a woman’s heart well, instilled in sisters and wives to especially beware of evil tongues, as a very common sin among women. “Whoever, by dodging a lie,” she said, “thinks that he is showing his intelligence and strength, is mistaken to the point of pity; he is an obedient tool of Satan, the father of lies. The Father of Darkness brings darkness to such a soul; it does not recognize its sins, does not see its danger and remains insensible. Women's talkativeness is all the more sinful because, with a lack of prudence and irritability of heart, we most often waste emptiness, lies, slander, frivolity, which is harmful to ourselves and to others. “The heart of the righteous answers, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil in a river,” says the wise man (Proverbs 15:28). What does babbling evil tongue reveal? The anger of pride, enraged by its weakness. In poverty, a woman, out of envy, denigrates others; the rich humiliate others out of pride. How much trouble, how much suffering comes from this for people? How detrimental all this is to the immortal soul! Love each other, and do not be malicious, we are told” (see the book “Ascetics of the Eastern Church” by Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov, p. 225). 9. Intercede for those who are absent Always stand up for those who are absent (since they, in conscience, deserve it), following in this the great commandment of I. Christ: “In everything that you want people to do to you, do so to them, for this is the law and the prophets." (Matthew 7:12) On the dinner table of Blessed Augustine 93 the following inscription was made: “Whoever likes to touch upon the good name of those who are absent in conversations, let him know, that access to this table is forbidden to him.” If a person, even the most worthy of love, forgot this advice, says the biographer of Blessed Augustine, then the owner told him: “Either we erase this saying, or I will retire to my room” (Arch. G. D-ko). 10. The reward for defeating the temptation to judge your neighbor Abba Paphnutius told about himself: “Once, while traveling, I lost my way, because there was fog, and I found myself near a village. There I saw some shamelessly talking to each other. I stopped and began to pray for my sins. And so, an Angel appeared to me with a sword and said: “Paphnutius! all those who condemn their brothers will perish by this sword! But you did not condemn, but humbled yourself before God, as if guilty of sin. Therefore, your name is written in the book of the living” (“Venerable Tale of the Mobility of the Holy Father” p. 235, 1). So, let us pay attention to ourselves and take more care of our sins in order to free ourselves from them. One pious elder, seeing that his brother had sinned, said with a sigh: “Woe is me! just as he sinned today, so I will sin tomorrow.” In the same way, each of us must, with the memory of our own unworthiness and powerlessness, repel from our minds the proud thoughts of condemning our neighbor (“The Most Valuable Tale of the Sublime Saint and the Blessed Father”). 11. Condemnation falls on the condemner Once upon a time, the Monk Arseny became seriously ill. The monks carried him to the church hospital and laid him on a soft bed. An elder from another monastery came to visit the sick man and, seeing Arseny on a soft bed, he was tempted and thought: “Is this Father Arseny? How can he rest like that?” But as the stranger was amazed at this very carelessly, the priest who was there guessed his thoughts and, taking him aside, asked: - Who was he, living in the world, and what was his life like? “I was a shepherd,” the monk answered, not suspecting anything, “and I lived in extreme poverty and sadness.” -Are you living well now? – the priest asked him again. “Very calm,” he answered, “having everything I need.” “Know,” said the priest, “that this old man whom you see was the second father to the royal children; he had thousands of slaves before him; his bed was soft and luxurious; his riches were countless: and so, isn’t it true, that you, after worldly labors, are now at rest, and Father Arseny, after worldly peace, is now working. The elder admitted his error and, bowing at the feet of the priest, asked him for forgiveness for having offended the righteous man so much in his heart (Prologue May 8). “Do not condemn... you will not be condemned,” said Christ the Savior (Luke 6:37). Christians! We often condemn our neighbors, but we don’t even want to look back at ourselves. 12. Stories showing how dangerous it is to judge people prematurely During the patriarchate of St. John the Merciful in Alexandria, there lived a certain sixty-year-old elder Vitaly, who was known throughout the city as a man of unchaste life. When they shamed him to his face and scolded him for indecent behavior, he usually said: “I am a sinner, for I am a man covered with flesh!” Since the death of Vitaly, many healings from touching his relics have testified to the holiness of his life, which everyone previously recognized as vicious. In the hands of St. Vitaly's will was opened: “Men of Alexandria! do not condemn your neighbor, no matter how sinful he may seem to you, do not condemn him before God’s judgment” (“Cheti-Min.” April 22)! 2. Saint John, sitting in a deserted cell, reflected on the ways to salvation. At this time, an elder visitor comes to him from a nearby monastery for a word of edification and a blessing. - How do your brothers live? – St. asked the visitor. John. “It’s good with your prayers,” answered the elder. - And what is life like for N N, about whom there was a bad reputation? “He hasn’t changed at all!” “Woe to him,” John exclaimed. And with that word he fell into an extraordinary slumber. And he sees himself on Golgotha, under the cross of the Savior, crucified between two thieves, and Angels standing near the cross... With a feeling of reverence, John strives to fall before the Savior, and hears a voice: “Take him away from Me! This is My enemy; for he condemned his brother before My judgment, he condemned the brother for whom I suffered on the cross!” The expelled John woke up and with a deep sigh said to the visitor: “This day is terrible for me! woe to me, who condemned my brother!” and told the elder his vision. Only through prolonged repentance did he subsequently regain God’s favor (Prologue Oct. 25). 3. A certain monk, living in a monastery, spent his life carelessly. The time had come for his death, and, dying, he met death with the smile of a righteous man. This surprised the brothers who were present at his departure to eternal life, and they asked the dying man to tell them, for their edification, the reason for his sadness and sweet smile. The dying man, rising on his bed, told the brethren that the Angels, appearing before his deathbed with the handwriting of his sins, demanded from him justification for them. But the monk could only tell them one thing: “I am a sinner; but, since I became a monk, I have not condemned anyone, I have not harbored malice towards anyone: and therefore I hope that the word of the Savior will be fulfilled over me: “Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Luke 6:37)!” – And the Angels tore up the handwriting of his sins (“Ch.-M.” March 30). (Prot. G. D-ko). 13. A wonderful example of love for truth St. Anthimus, Bishop of Nicomedia, lived during the reign of Diocletian, a cruel persecutor of Christians. When at this time the persecutors tried first of all to find and execute the abbots of the church, in order to thereby deprive Christians of leaders, then St. Anthimus, at the special inspiration of God, withdrew from the city for a while and hid in a nearby village. From there he sent exhortations and letters to the Christians committed to trial and imprisoned, encouraging them to the upcoming feat of martyrdom. This became known to the king, and he sent soldiers to find St. Anfima. The soldiers searched for a long time and, tired, stopped in the village where he was; they met him here and asked: “Where is Anthimus, the Christian teacher, hiding.” Realizing that the hour of his martyrdom had come, St. Anfim said to the soldiers: “Come into my house and rest, I will tell you where the one you are looking for is hiding.” Having received the soldiers into the house, the saint treated them with all love and cordiality. After the meal, standing before the soldiers, St. Anfim said: - I myself am Bishop Anfim, for whom you were sent; take me and lead me to those who sent you. The soldiers were amazed by the generosity, meekness and benevolent appearance of the old man, who so cordially sheltered and treated them. They all unanimously began to ask St. Anfima escapes, promising to inform the authorities that he was not found anywhere. “No,” answered the saint, “it is a sin before God to violate the truth; it is criminal to deceive any person, and even more so one’s king, and to allow lies in the performance of one’s duty; perform your duty honestly - you are innocent of fulfilling an illegal order given to you. With this word he went to the city, and what did he do while going to his death? All the way he talked with the soldiers about the Christian faith and so confirmed them that right there on the way in the river he baptized them, thus making them children of grace, beloved of God. Presenting himself before the tormentor, St. Anthimus fearlessly confessed his faith in Christ and, after terrible torture, was beheaded with a sword (“Ch.-M.”). 14. How a Christian should treat his slanderers “When your brother sins against you in some way, e.g. will slander you, or maliciously convey your words to another in a distorted form, and slander you, do not be embittered at him, but look for the good sides in him, which undoubtedly exist in every person, and dwell on them with love, despising the evil he has woven against you, like dirt, not worth attention, like a demonic dream. Thus, gold miners do not pay attention to the abundance of sand and dirt in the golden sand, but stop at the golden grains of sand, and although there are very few of them, they value the little and wash it out of the abundance of unsuitable sand. This is what God does with us, long-sufferingly cleansing us” (from the Diary of Archpriest I. Sergiev, see Russian pilgrimage). 15. Executions of God for slander Three evil people slandered Saint Narcissus and confirmed their slander with an oath. One said: “May I perish by fire if I lie”; the second called upon himself a severe illness; the third said: “May I go blind if I don’t tell the truth.” The saint endured wrongful accusations without malice; but God’s justice befell the false witnesses, and each of them suffered the execution that he himself called for (from the book “Recounts from the history of the church”, Bakhmeteva). 16. Terrible admonition to slanderers St. Gregory, Bishop of Akragantia, due to the slander of evil people, was imprisoned and brought to trial. But the Lord justified and glorified the innocent Gregory, and punished and shamed the slanderers. When at the local council of bishops the condemnation of the slanderers was determined, and when St. Gregory asked everyone for forgiveness, so that some would not be sent into exile, others would not be executed, then suddenly a storm arose, the air grew dark, darkness covered everyone - and they saw that the slanderers had become black in the face, like coal, and the main ones - Savin and Kriskent, in addition, had their lips hanging down so that they could neither connect them nor speak with them ("Ch.-M." November 23). About the tenth commandment of God's law What air is to the body, thoughts, desires and feelings are to our soul. The air can be clean, cool, well-dissolved, and unclean, stuffy, harmful: so thoughts, desires and feelings can be either pure, bright, holy and God-loving, or unclean, dark, sinful and disgusting to God. Clean and cool air refreshes our body, strengthens it, therefore we inhale its life-giving streams with pleasure: similarly, holy thoughts, desires and feelings strengthen our soul and give it strength to do good deeds. On the contrary, unclean and harmful air exhausts and weakens the body, infects it with diseases and prematurely brings a person to the grave: so unclean, sinful thoughts, feelings and desires defile the soul, infect it with sin and drive away the grace of God from it, without which the soul dies an eternal death and perishes. In the cool, clean air, under the open sky, the fragrance of flowers is wafted: in good thoughts, feelings and desires, in a prayerful conversation with God, the soul feels the quiet breath of the grace of the All-Holy Spirit, comforting and delighting the humble, God-loving heart with heavenly joy. On the contrary, the infected air is filled with a stench, everyone is in a hurry to get out of it, and only unclean reptiles like to stay in it: so from the sinful soul, overwhelmed by unclean thoughts and desires, the bright Angels of God move away, and only unclean demons are comforted by it... “Go out into the open field,” said one holy elder, consoling his disciple, who complained to him that he could not cope with his thoughts, “go out into the field, spread out the hems of your clothes and try to hold back the gusts of wind: just like we ourselves cannot restrain our thoughts.” But they can be stopped by the One to whom both the stormy winds and the noisy sea are obedient: we will cry out to Him, as the apostles cried: “Master, Master, we perish” (Luke 8:24). – And He will hear and come to us, and speak His almighty word in our heart: “Be silent, stop” (Mark 4:39). – And sinful thoughts will be silent, and your soul will become light, with the quiet breath of God’s grace... (from No. 371 “Tr. L.”). 2. About unclean thoughts and the fight against them A Christian should not only not do bad deeds, but even have bad thoughts and unclean desires. According to the Savior’s words, not only should he not take the life of his neighbor, but he should also be angry in vain. He must not only keep the seventh commandment, but also not look at a woman with lust. An immodest look, an unclean thought, a bad desire make our soul unclean before God, unworthy of union with God. Only the pure in heart will enjoy the sight of God. Therefore, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness, not only of the flesh, but also of the spirit. A Christian who does good deeds, but harbors unclean thoughts in his soul, is a painted coffin: beautiful in appearance, inside full of all uncleanness; This tree is green, but rotten inside: it is only good for firewood and will be thrown into the oven. The same will happen to a Christian who only appears to be pious. The Pharisees were pious in appearance, but the Savior announced to them: woe. Unclean thoughts are seeds: if you do not throw them out of the soul, unclean words and bad deeds will grow from them. To understand how great sin is - bad thoughts, it is enough to remember that the most important sins are pride and envy - and this defilement is not of the flesh, but of the spirit; but the proud and envious will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, just as thieves, robbers, murderers and others who have sinned by deed will not enter; - that the devil is a spirit, and his sins are defilements not of the flesh, but of the spirit; that the Savior in vain condemns the angry one as a murderer, and the Apostle John calls his hating brother a murderer, and not only about the hater, but also about the one who simply does not love his brother, he says that he remains in death. “Blessed is he who has and will dash your babies against the stone” (Ps. 136:9), says the psalmist, meaning by babies unclean thoughts. They are small, but if you revive them, they will grow into giants who can enslave an entire person and plunge them into Gehenna. In the lives of the saints it is said that some virgins and abstinents were not worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven because they delighted in unclean thoughts and criminal desires. Nothing bad can be brought into the Kingdom of Heaven; therefore, a person with impure thoughts and desires will not enter. But how to get rid of unclean thoughts when they themselves, sometimes without our desire, enter our soul? Impure thoughts and desires enter our soul in two ordinary ways: through sight and hearing. Don't look at the bad, don't listen to the bad; turn away your eyes, so as not to see vanity; make your hearing idle, blasphemous and seductive words; By doing this, you will close the entrance to your soul to unclean thoughts. Our soul is often compared to a field: what is sown on it will grow. You love going to shows; How do you want to protect your soul from evil thoughts? You love reading seductive books; How can there be no impure desires in your soul? You love to sing secular songs that caress sensuality; Where can there be pure thoughts in your soul? What goes around comes around. Read the word of God, the lives of holy men, sing psalms and spiritual songs, reason about the ways of God’s Providence; Plant the sacred in your soul, and good thoughts will be in it. The Holy Fathers say: when a cauldron boils, then no fly will touch it; when it gets cold, then flies will immediately fly in and the dog can come close and eat what was put into it... When the ark of our soul is animated by love for God, when prayer burns with a bright flame in it, then no unclean thought will touch it. Like trees, says St. Chrysostom, - deeply rooted, are not crushed by any pressure of the wind; Likewise, prayers offered from the depths of the soul are not delayed by any attacks of thoughts (Contra. Anom. 5). For this reason, the prophet says: “Out of the depths I called to You” (Ps. 129:1). And just as, when the sun’s rays appear, wild animals run away into their holes, so when the ray of prayer shines in our soul, our mind is enlightened, our heart is cleansed, all crazy thoughts and unclean desires disappear. Have good hearts, and then earthly vanity will gradually fall away from your heart. Pray without ceasing; constantly keep in mind the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: this wondrous name is terrible for demons; it, like fire, burns every unclean thought. Reflect more often on the fact that for our sins our Lord Jesus Christ endured terrible passions and the cross, that for our pride His head was crowned with thorns, that for our intemperance they strangled Him and beat Him on the cheeks, for harmful lust His heart was pierced with a spear, that for our sins He is completely wounded and embittered. Think more often about death, about God’s judgment, about eternal bliss for the righteous, about Gehenna prepared for the devil. These holy thoughts will tame the aspirations of the passions, extinguish the kindled arrows of the evil one that are flatteringly driven towards us, they will calm the rebellion of our flesh and put to death all earthly and material wisdom, and you will have a cheerful mind, a chaste thought, a sober heart; all satanic dreams and harmful lust will not touch you (Past. Sobes. 1900, No. 44). 3. Stories about confronting emerging sinful desires 1. Rev. Zeno, tired of the journey, sat down on the road near a garden with cucumbers and took a piece of bread from his travel bag to refresh himself with food. Looking at the cucumbers growing in the garden, he was tempted by the thought of picking one cucumber. This matter is not important, his thought told him, but at the same time another thought told him: thieves are being punished. So first test yourself, can you bear the punishment? And he became a reverend. Zeno stood under the rays of the sun, and remained in this position for five days... Feeling that his strength had almost dried up from the heat of the sun, he said to himself: “Zeno! it is hard to endure punishment; So don’t kidnap someone else’s” (Venerable Tale of the Sub. St. from.). 2. One day Abba Hellin wanted honey; He soon found a honeycomb under a stone and said: “Get away from me unbridled lust, for it is written: “Walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lusts” (Gal. 5:16); and, leaving the honeycomb, he departed (from Lavsaik). 3. Lecturer Savva the Sanctified, while still a youth, worked in the monastery garden, and, tired of the heat and thirst, wanted to eat an apple before the time specified by the monastery regulations for lunch. And so, he picked an apple from the tree. But, not having yet tasted the plucked fruit, he remembered the story of the fall of Adam and thought to himself: Adam, who was forbidden to eat the fruits of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for his intemperance was expelled from paradise and died, and through him we all became mortal. How much evil comes from intemperance! And so I should not eat a plucked apple, because the hour determined by the charter for lunch has not come. And he threw the apple (“Chet-Min.” Dec. 5). (Prot. G. Dyachenko). “Through envy... death comes into the world by the devil,” says Holy Scripture (Wis. 2:24). Envy is not akin to people, but akin to the devil: it comes from the devil. People tend to sin out of weakness, but only the devil tends to do evil out of envy. Envy is the daughter of the devil, and whoever combines with it will bring nothing but malice, and malice gives birth to death. Cain made friends with envy and cultivated anger in himself; the anger matured and brought death to two: Abel, temporary, and Cain himself, eternal. Envy is a double-edged sword 95 that harms both: both the envier himself and the one whom he envies. Let's listen to what they say about the sin of envy of St. fathers. Gregory of Nyssa writes: “Envy is the beginning of malice, the mother of death, the first door of sin, the root of all evil.” Basil the Great exhorts: “Let us, brothers, avoid the intolerable evil of envy; it is the commandment of the tempting serpent, the invention of the devil, the seed of the enemy, the guarantee of God’s execution, an obstacle to pleasing God, the path to hell 96, the deprivation of the Kingdom of Heaven.” And St. I. Chrysostom says that if someone were a very virtuous person, and even a miracle worker, but was still overcome by envy, he would not receive any benefit from his deeds - moreover, he would be considered among the great sinners by the judgment of God. “Whoever works miracles,” says this saint. the father of the church, - will preserve virginity, observe fasting, will bow to the ground and compare with the Angels in virtue, but has this flaw (i.e. envy), he is more wicked than all, more lawless than the adulterer, and the fornicator, and the digger of coffins” (extracted with the omission of some places from the works of St. Demetrius of Rostov). 5. Council of St. Vasily defeat envy “If you see with an understanding higher than human, you will not consider anything earthly great and extraordinary: neither what people call wealth, nor fading glory, nor bodily health; If you do not provide benefits for yourself in transitory things, but direct your gaze to the truly beautiful and praiseworthy, to the achievement of eternal and true blessings, then you will be far from recognizing anything earthly and perishable as worthy of pleasure and competition. And whoever is such and is not amazed by worldly greatness, envy can never approach him” (Tv. St. Vas. V. IV. 188, 190). 6. Envy is sadness about the well-being of one's neighbor - Why is this man not cheerful? - they asked one sage, pointing to the envious one, who always walked with a gloomy and tearful face. “Because,” answered an experienced expert on human nature, “either some misfortune happened to him, or his neighbor was lucky” (from the works of St. Basil the Great). 7. Moral advantages of poor people over rich people “Do not introduce to me those who condemn poverty, but imagine those who have become glorified through poverty,” says St. John Chrysostom. – Elijah, brought up in poverty, was delighted with that blissful admiration; Elisha became famous for it; John (the Baptist) and the apostles were in poverty. With their wealth, Achaab, Jezebel, Judas, Nero 97 and Caiaphas perished. Where there is money, there is opportunity for enmity and countless feuds. The lips of selfishness are filled with insults, vanity, excessive pride, curses and flattery, but poverty’s lips and tongue are healthy, always filled with gratitude, blessings, meek, affectionate, submissive words, approval and praise. You will say: the poor are offended by the rich. - Again you speak in praise of poverty; for who is blessed, tell me? Is it the one who offends, or the one who is offended? Obviously, blessed is he who is offended and generously bears insults. But the love of money makes one offend, and poverty makes one endure insults. The poor one, you say, is suffering from hunger; and Paul (i.e. the Holy Apostle Paul) was hungry. The poor have no quiet refuge; and the Son of man had no place to lay his head. Do you see how far the dignity of poverty extends, where it places you, how it makes you like men, and how it makes you an imitator of the Lord Himself? If it were good to have gold, then I. Christ, Who gave untold blessings to His disciples, would have given it to them. But He not only did not give it to them, but also forbade them to have it” (from 90 demons of St. I. Chrysostom on Ev. Matt.). 8. An envious person is worse than a money lover One Greek sovereign, wanting to know who was more vile: an envious person or a lover of money, ordered two people to be brought to him, one of whom suffered from envy, and the other from the love of money. When those invited appeared, the sovereign said: “Let each of you demand from me such a gift as he wishes, and I will give it to him with joy; after this, the second of those who asked and received the gift will receive twice as much as the first one requested and received.” The envious man refused to ask for the gift first, not wanting the money-lover to receive double; and the money lover refused to ask for a gift first in those forms, so that the envious person would not take possession of the double gift. Since there was no end to the disputes, the sovereign found himself forced to stop these disputes by ordering that the envious person be the first to make a request for a gift. And what do you think the envious man demanded as a gift? He then demanded that one eye be torn out from him, of course, wanting both eyes of his opponent to be torn out, that is, so that he would become completely blind. Thus, this villain, out of envy, not only refused every royal gift, but even decided to allow himself to be mutilated, just so that his rival would not receive the gift twice as much (from the book: “Lessons and Examples of Christian Love,” Archpriest G. Dyachenko). 9. Why aren’t everyone rich anyway? Blessed Theodoret, solving this question, comes to the following reflections: “With an equal division of gold, if everyone were equally rich in it, how would people get the necessary things for themselves? And who would agree to serve another, having the same income as him? If poverty didn’t force us, who would want to sit at the stove and cook food? -Who would make bread and grind wheat in a mill? who would lead the working oxen under the yoke 98 and begin to plow the land? Who would take up stone-making in order to prepare stones for buildings and, skillfully stacking them, to build houses, if need did not force them and did not encourage them to work? Who would take up ship craftsmanship? Would anyone take on the position of helmsman 99 or the work of a ship's worker? Who would work in a weaving and sewing industry? Would anyone want to be a potter or a coppersmith? If everyone had the same amount of money, one would not serve the other, but one of two things would be necessary: ​​either everyone would have to carefully study all the necessary arts, or everyone would remain with the same lack of necessary things. There is no need to prove that it is impossible for one person to study all the arts... What remains, therefore, is that an equal abundance of money for everyone would be disastrous for everyone, and it would become to them what happens to people who, from satiety, lose the pleasures of taste. And here we see God’s care, why so-called inequality is the cause of everyday comforts and the basis of a well-ordered community” (extracted from the omission of certain places from the creative blessing of Theodoret). 10. Sayings of the word of God about contentment with your condition – Godliness with contentment is a great gain: “Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with anxiety” (Proverbs 15:16). “It is great gain to be godly and content” (1 Tim. 6:6). Believers should be satisfied: a) in any condition: - “In whatever rank anyone is called, brothers, in that let each one remain before God” (1 Cor. 7:24). – “I know how to live in poverty, and I know how to live in abundance; I learned everything and in everything, to be full and to endure hunger, to be both in abundance and in lack,” says St. ap. Paul (Phil. 4:12). - “Do not say: “Why were the former days better than these?” for you are not asking this out of wisdom” (Eccl. 7:10). b) what they own: - “Better is a little with righteousness than much gain with unrighteousness” (Prov. 16:8). “I have learned to be content with what I have,” says St. ap. Paul (Phil. 4:11). - “The soldiers asked John (the Baptist): what should we do? And he said to them: Do not offend anyone... and be content with your salary” (Luke 3:14). “Having food and clothing, we will be content with that,” teaches St. ap. Pavel. (1 Tim. 6:8). - Better is a moderate state with peace and love than an abundant one with unworldliness and enmity: “Better is a handful of peace than handfuls of... vexation of spirit” (Eccl. 4:6). - “Better is a dish of greens with love in it, than a fatted ox with hatred in it” (Proverbs 15:17). - “Better is a piece of dry bread, and peace with it, than a house full of slaughtered cattle with strife” (Prov. 17:1); - “Do not give me poverty and wealth, feed me with my daily bread, so that, being full, I will not deny You and say: “Who is the Lord?” and lest, having become poor, I should not steal and take the name of my God in vain” (Prov. 30:8, 9). It is dangerous to never be satisfied: “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts that plunge people into disaster and destruction; for the love of money is the root of all evil, which, having given themselves over, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:9, 10). - “A lonely man, and there is no other; he has neither a son nor a brother; and all his labors have no end, and his eye is not satisfied with wealth. “For whom do I work and deprive my soul of good?” And this is vanity and an evil deed!” (Eccl. 4:8). - “Woe to you who add house to house, adding field to field, so that there is no room left for others, as if you alone were settled on the earth” (Isaiah 5:8). Apostolic exhortation to contentment: – “Have a disposition that does not love money, being content with what you have. For the Lord Himself said: I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). 11. Biblical example of being content with your condition “Barzillai the Gileadite came from Roglim and crossed over the Jordan with King (David) to conduct him beyond the Jordan... because he was a rich man.” He provided food for the king during his stay in Mahanaim. “And the king said to Barzillai, Come with me, and I will provide for you in Jerusalem. But Barzillai answered the king: How long do I have to live to go with the king to Jerusalem? I am now eighty years old... Will the slave recognize your taste in what I eat and what I drink? And will I be able to hear the voice of singers and singers? Why should your servant be a burden to my lord the king? A little while longer your servant will go beyond the Jordan with the king; Why should the king reward me with such mercy? Let your servant return to die in his city, near the tomb of my father and my mother” (2 Samuel 19:31–37). 12. Thoughts about being content with your condition in poverty and low rank 1. “Do not be seduced by other people’s goods, for you will soon leave your own” (St. Demetrius of Rostov). 2. “Do not be deceived by seeing the wealth, pomp and splendor of others, for at death no one will take anything with him (Ps. 48:17, 18). Where is now the pomp, wealth and glory of Solomon? (“Spirit. colors.”). 3. “Do not envy the rich and do not grieve that you do not have wealth, because it is in no way a sign of true happiness and contentment: “And through gold bitter tears flow like a river,” said one poet” (“Spirit. Color”). 4. “Earthly happiness does not consist in the abundance of earthly goods, but in contentment and peace of mind, which is mostly inaccessible to people endowed with an abundance of earthly goods” (Vissarion, Bishop of Kostroma). 5. “Having put aside grief for what we do not have, let us learn to give thanks for what we have” (St. Vas. the Great). 6. “He who complains about his lot is not a warrior of Christ” (Abba Pimen). 7. “You smile, looking at how the child wants to seem like a giant: look around: aren’t you more ridiculous when you are dissatisfied with your condition?” (Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow; principal book of Archpriest Gr. Dyachenko: “Lessons and examples of Christian hope”). 13. Consolation against poverty (From the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk: from his work “On True Christianity,” book 2, § 246). “Those Christians who suffer poverty and are bored by it can console themselves with the following considerations. 1) Like any other disaster, so poverty is allowed to fall on us from the Lord. “Good and evil, life and death, poverty and wealth are from the Lord” (Sir. 11:14) and is sent to us for a good end. 2) Through poverty, a person can conveniently free himself from all those evils that surround wealth. Pride, stinginess, luxury and other similar evil things have almost no place in poverty; Poverty humbles everyone, and there is no reason for a beggar to be generous and luxurious. Among the rich these Christian plagues are found and their hearts are afflicted. The beggar is free from the care of storing wealth, which constantly follows the rich man and supports his heart; a beggar is not afraid of thieves and predators to whom wealth is subject; The aphid of poverty does not corrupt, nor does the prayer corrupt; from envy, which looks at wealth unpleasantly, poverty has been removed; the beggar does not prepare an answer for wasting wealth, for which the rich will be tortured. Poverty does not allow you to live in idleness and laziness, just as the custom of eating for the rich, but forces you to do it. “Poverty,” says Chrysostom, “does not give birth to idleness, but hard work” - (Demon 2 on the last to Ephesians). Do you see how many evils and troubles poverty frees you from! Let your poverty be a consolation to you, and not an insult and indignation, for it takes you away from pride, stinginess, luxury, pomp, vanity, sadness, fear, human envy, idleness, laziness and other spiritual evils, and leads you to the narrow Christian path and guides you to heaven. “A certain guide,” says Chrysostom, “the path leading to heaven, poverty, the anointing of suffering, some great and wonderful teaching, a benign refuge.” 3) The poor and the rich spend their days and live equally: poverty does not take away wealth from the rich, nor does poverty take away from the beggar, nor does it give days and life; Equally weak flesh is strengthened by rich and wretched beggars, equally covered with rich clothes and rags, equally in a hut and in bright palaces it rests; Likewise, both of them end their lives, but with the only difference that the rich man, as he lives, will end with sadness and fear, and the beggar without sadness and fear; the equal, finally, concludes the coffin of both the rich and the beggar, and in death and after death the rich is equal with the beggar. And once upon a time they were equally judged at the world court! But no, it won't happen. “To him it has been given... much, much will be required of him” (Luke 12:48). The rich man should give an answer to the Judge about his wealth, how and for what he kept and spent the wealth given to him from God, just as everyone gives an answer to the Lord about his talent (Matthew 25:19-30). The beggar does not care about this: he has no wealth, and does not prepare an answer about the expenditure of wealth. gives, nor does poverty take away true bliss from us, but rather makes us more blessed than the rich. For true bliss does not consist in outward appearance, but in peace of mind, from which wealth leads away, but poverty leads to it. Consequently, he who has a lot is not calm and blessed, but he who cares about nothing: poverty leads us to this. Take this into consideration, Christian, and do not be afraid of poverty, for it is for you, and not against you, it overcomes you, and does not fight you. 4) In your poverty, remember the free poverty of Christ the Son of God. “I know... the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for because of your poverty He is rich, so that by His poverty you may be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9), - who was born of the poor Virgin Mother and was laid “in a manger, for there was no place for them in the monastery” (Luke 2:7); those who “came to their own, and did not receive Him as their own” (John 1:11); who had no place to bow his head (Matthew 8:20), and had poor disciples and apostles, and commanded them to love poverty: “Do not acquire gold, nor silver, nor copper for your belts,” and so on (Matthew 10:9, et seq.). Where does Saint Paul say about himself and the other apostles: “as if you are poor, but make many rich; as if you have nothing, but contain everything” (2 Cor. 6:10). And Saint Peter said to the lame beggar: “I am not an imam of silver and gold” (Acts 3:6). May the free poverty of Christ and the holy apostles, let your sorrow from poverty soften and comfort your heart. 5) Remember that you are a stranger and a stranger in this world, a traveler on the path of this world, and you are going to the heavenly fatherland. Who gets rich while traveling? Doesn't he collect wealth and send it to the fatherland? The Christian fatherland is heaven: there Christ commanded us to hide treasure for ourselves: “Hide... for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither worms nor aphids corrupt, and where things are not undermined or stolen: where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:20, 21). There we must send our treasures, treasures not of this world, but worthy of this fatherland: love, patience, meekness, mercy and others; We will no doubt find them there. You are a traveler: who is burdened while walking along the path? Isn’t it better to throw off the burden and make the path easier? The burden of a man walking along the path of this world is wealth, which sanctifies his path and holds him back, does not allow him to strive for his fatherland. The pain of many has lifted this burden from heaven and plunged it into the depths of hell! “The narrow gate, and the strait path you bring into the belly,” says Christ (Matthew 7:14). God gives food to all flesh, not only to people, but also to livestock and the chick of ravens that call upon Him (Ps. 145:9). “If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these” (1 Tim. 6:8). 6) The contentment and joy of the rich will soon end, and the poverty and sorrow of the poor will end: everything will end soon. Soon there will be a change: instead of the temporary poverty that you endure, the eternal treasures of God’s goodness will be opened to you, and you will forget your poverty and sorrow. You are already closer to the end now than you were yesterday or the day before. And as soon as he comes, your poverty will end, just as wealth will leave the rich. “For we have brought nothing into this world; we shall certainly bear out what we can” (1 Tim. 6:7). And then the rich will be compared with the poor. Death makes everyone equal, the rich with the poor, the glorious with the low and wretched, and equalizes masters with slaves. Open the coffin of the dead and you will not know where the rich man is and where the beggar is, where the nobleman and his servants are, where the master and where his servant lie: they all show the same appearance - decay, earth and ashes. The only inequality in souls is believed: as if a pious soul is carried into the bosom of Abraham by Angels, the wicked one is thrown into hell, the place prepared for it according to its deeds (Luke 16:22, 23). Remember and do not be bored by poverty, which does you more good than wealth does for the rich. This consolation is not appropriate for those beggars who live without the fear of God, drink drunkenly, do not want to work, but spend their days in idleness: such poor people in body and soul are poor here, in the next century they will be poor when they do not repent” (from the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk). An oath in its pure sense does not contain anything reprehensible, and is not only not dangerous, but useful and even necessary for the well-being of society, and therefore permissible. 1. It was established and sanctified by God Himself for the people of Israel. “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God,” He says through Moses, “and shalt serve Him alone, and swear by His name” (Deut. 6:13; Exod. 22:11; Jer. 4:2). The prophets predicted that in the time of the Messiah even the pagans themselves would swear by the name of the true God (Isa. 19:18, 65:16). 2. Holy Scripture makes clear its general use in both the Old and New Testaments. Patriarchs, prophets, pious kings, apostles, all people swear by it; Angels swear by it, God Himself swears by it (Heb. 6:13, 17; Gen. 21:23, 24, 22:16–18; Ps. 89:4, 5; Dan. 12:7; Apoc. 10: 5, 6, etc.). The Lord Himself, being questioned by the Jewish high priest with an oath, respected the oath and gave him a direct answer about His Divinity (Matthew 26:63, 64). 3. The public good requires an oath. It is the best means of preserving order, fidelity, justice and obedience among people, and is accompanied by the most beneficial consequences both for individuals and families, and for entire societies. It would not be needed only in a society where perfect holiness reigns, or where there is no piety or reverence for the name of God at all; and where there is no dominion of perfect truth, but piety has not yet completely weakened, there, in important and necessary cases, it constitutes the most effective means of preserving mutual fidelity. 4. The oath, in its very spirit and essence, completely agrees with the spirit of the Christian faith. Through it, the swearer confesses his faith in God, the omniscient, holy, just and omnipotent, who does not leave lies and deceit without punishment, and truth and loyalty without reward, and, therefore, it is a kind of confession of faith. 5. As for the words of Christ: “I tell you not to swear in any way” (Matthew 5:34; Sn. James 5:12), they are partly directed against arbitrary oaths, against prejudices, superstitions and abuses of the Jews (Matthew 23:16, etc.); in part they only suggest that we try to live so holy and honestly that we do not have the need to resort to an oath, and so that everyone believes our one word, knowing our honesty. In the same sense, one must understand the advice of St. fathers and teachers of the church when they instruct us to avoid swearing. They partly rebel against an arbitrary oath, used unnecessarily, against the habit of swearing - as an unnecessary matter, which can easily be dispensed with, against various abuses of an oath and against a false oath; partly they want us to achieve such perfection that others will believe us even without an oath (compiled from “Morals and Law Theology”, Archpriest Solyarsky). The proposed story is taken from pagan life, but it perfectly prepares the reader to understand what the Christian feeling of friendship consists of; that's why we present it here. We are convinced that schools and families will read it with pleasure. Prot. Gr. D-ko. Dionysius lived 400 years before the birth. Christ's. In Russian proverbs we see an expression of the popular belief that pride does not lead to good: “A water bubble does not last long.” “Don’t inflate, you’ll burst.” “There was a horn, but God knocked it down.” “Don’t raise your nose, you’ll stumble.” “Don’t spit in the air if you feel sorry for yourself.” This is a beautiful transcription of the prayer of St. Basil the Great is placed in the Shower. Thurs. for 1897 Sept. month. North American Tanner, who made a large bet that he would endure a 40-day fast, and did so under strict, relentless supervision. Patriots are ardent lovers of their homeland, the Tsar and their faith. Epitaph is a gravestone inscription. Janissaries are the guards (bodyguards) of the Turkish Sultan. Under the grace of God here, obviously, of course, is some external sign of God’s mercy towards the monk, for example. special light around the head or something similar. Blazh. Augustine is a teacher of the Western Church, known for his writings useful to the Church of God. He lived in the 4th century A.D. Biographer is a biography writer. Double-edged - sharp on both sides. Nero was a cruel Roman emperor who killed many Christians, and under him St. apostles Paul and Peter. The helmsman is the helmsman who steers the ship. To reprimand is to hinder. You might be interested in: