У

Question How does Saint John of Damascus talk about pleasures? Rep. Pleasures are mental and physical. Emotional things are those which the soul alone senses in itself; These are the pleasures arising from science and contemplation. Corporal are those in which both soul and body participate; These are the pleasures obtained from food, from carnal intercourse, and from the like. However, there are no actual pleasures of one body. Further, there are true and false pleasures. And some actually belong only to the mind, and stem from knowledge and contemplation; and others, in which the body also participates, are obtained through the senses. Besides this, some of the pleasures are natural and at the same time necessary, such as: food that satisfies natural needs, clothing; and others, although natural, are not necessary, such as carnal copulation, in accordance with nature and legal. For although it contributes to the continuation of the human race, even without it one can live in virginity... Good pleasures should be considered those that are not associated with sorrow, do not leave behind a reason for repentance, do not go beyond the boundaries assigned to them, do not distract us too much from important matters, or do not enslave us to anything... Pleasure is opposed to sorrow. Four types of grief: grief, melancholy, envy, compassion. Grief is sorrow that takes away the tongue; melancholy is sorrow that oppresses the heart; envy is sorrow for the good of one's neighbor; compassion is sorrow for the misfortune of one’s neighbor (Expounded on Faith, ch. 13, 14). Question How holy. Tikhon talks about solitude? Rep. Satan lays snares for the pious everywhere and strives to catch them: as soon as you step out of the house, you are caught by the temptation of lawless words and deeds, which will either hurt or disturb your conscience. In the home and solitude, one who stays is free from incidents that lead those in meetings and conversations to sin. A house and a wall of temptation cannot give: the ear does not hear and the eye does not see evil... In solitude there can be an examination of conscience, which, like a notebook, will present to you your sins of your past life, and will present the judgment of God... In solitude there is righteous and true about worldly and perishable things - wealth, honor, etc., which will take you away from vanity and excite you to prepare for the blessed outcome, from fleeting - to the eternal. Solitude teaches true prayer. For where there is a discussion about eternity, there cannot but be true prayer, which does not consist in single words, but in heartfelt, ardent sighing that comes from the depths... Solitude does not know idle talk, for which an answer must be given on the day of judgment (Matt. 12:36); but it is the mother of silence, which is the root of sinlessness and good deeds. In solitude, a book is opened in which the faithful soul will see its Creator and recognize His omnipotence, which created everything out of nothing, and contains and preserves everything; His goodness, wisdom, revealed in creation and in the government of the world; His paternal love for the human race, which He showed through His only begotten Son in the restoration of fallen and renewal of decaying humanity. In the silence of solitude, His holy, merciful and fatherly providence will be presented to the faithful soul, and it will gratefully sing to the Provider and the Prophet: the eyes of all trust in you, O Lord (Ps. 145:15). In this silence you will hear, beloved. Christian, the voice of God, saying within you: I am the Lord your God, who created you, and has honored you with His image and cares for you (Ex. 20:2). In solitude you can more vividly know and see the Son of God, who appeared on earth in the flesh, from place to place, passing, preaching the word of God, showing the path of truth, calling sinners, suffering for them like a lamb, dying, etc. - In solitude - this godlike sabbath and sweet peace - you can conveniently turn your mind to the beginning of times and centuries, and with the eye of your mind you can see the wondrous works of God and, with faith, behold with amazement how God spoke and happened; commanded, and was created (Ps. 32:9); how after all he created man with special advice, and brought him into paradise, and gave him commandments, etc., etc.... All this will be imagined and presented to you, a Christian, solitude, and in solitude - contemplation of God, if you desire. And the more you separate yourself from people, the more often you will begin to draw closer to God; The more you move away from human rumors, the more well-disposed you will be; The less you talk with people, the more you will talk with God, and you will hear God talking to you inside your soul, and in this way you will come to know Him more conveniently and best. For just as in calm and clean water the sun is more conveniently and clearly seen than in disturbed and agitated water, so the eternal and spiritual Sun - God in silence and peace is more conveniently known by faith and the intelligent eye than in restlessness and human rumor. – From solitude, as a certain source, Christian virtues flow with the help of the Holy Spirit. Should all Christians go into the desert? No; but the desert be your home, which is given to you by God; to Him be glory and worship forever! “It rarely happens,” says St. Tikhon is about solitude; it rarely happens that a person returns to himself the same as when he went out into public. Desert and solitude gather goodness; but the temptations of the world are wasteful. Nowhere is it better for a person to repent than in solitude. Here a person collects all his past life in his mind, and looking at it, he sighs to Christ and asks for mercy from Him. A person sins in nothing more than with the tongue; and in solitude he runs away from this sin. Our eyes and ears are like doors through which temptations reach the heart and strike it. Solitude saves you from this. Young people, especially those living without marriage, whose blood is boiling, should maintain solitude, so as not to give or receive temptation. We read in Scripture that the pillars fell from the flesh. What do canes expect? One of the Saints heard a voice: run away from people and be saved. Let this voice ring for you and me too! However, when running away from people, not for the sake of people, but for the sake of sin, we must run away. We should hate sin, not people.” The Holy Church teaches this about the state of the souls of those who died before the general resurrection. Although before the final judgment neither the righteous nor the sinners receive perfect reward for their deeds, yet for all this, not all souls are in the same state, and are not sent to the same place (Right. Confess. Part 1, answer to question 61). We believe, says the message of the East. Patriarchs about the Orthodox Faith (Part I. 18), that the souls of the dead are blissful or tormented, depending on their deeds. Having been separated from their bodies, they immediately move (after a private judgment) either to joy, or to sadness and sorrow: however, they do not feel either complete bliss or complete torment. For everyone will receive perfect bliss or perfect torment after the general resurrection, when the soul is united with the body in which it lived virtuously or viciously (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:8). Saint Gregory the Theologian talks about this same subject in the following way in his word (7) on the death of his brother Caesarea. For me, the words of the wise are convincing that every good and God-loving soul, as soon as it is freed from the body associated with it, comes into a state of feeling and contemplating the bliss that awaits it; and after purification, or after putting aside what darkened it, it delights in some wonderful pleasure, rejoices and joyfully marches to its Lord; because she escaped this life as an unbearable prison, and threw off the shackles that lay on her, with which the wings of the mind were drawn down... (Creative Holy Father 1843, Part 3). Saint Chrysostom says: although the soul remains after death, let it be infinitely immortal, which it truly is; but without the flesh she will not receive those unspeakable benefits, just as she will not be punished (Demon 28. 12 chapters of Heb.). Saint Ephrem says this about the state of souls after death: when the sovereign Powers approach, when terrible armies come, when the Divine takers command the soul to depart from the body; when, dragging us by force, they take us to the inevitable judgment seat: then, seeing them, the poor man... begins to shake all over, as if from an earthquake. The divine withdrawers, having revealed the soul, ascend through the air, where the rulers, powers and rulers of the opposing forces stand. These are our evil accusers, strange tax collectors, inventory clerks, tax collectors: they meet on the way, describe, examine and calculate the sins and manuscripts of this person, the sins of youth and old age, voluntary and involuntary, committed in word, deed, thought. There is great fear there, great trepidation for the poor soul... from the countless number of enemies surrounding her, slandering her in order to prevent her from ascending to heaven, settling in the light of the living, and entering the land of life. But the holy Angels, having taken the soul, lead it away (a word on the repose of Christ). Saint Macarius says: when the human soul leaves the body, a great sacrament is performed. For if she is guilty of sins, then hordes of demons, evil angels and dark forces come, take this soul and drag her to their side. No one should be surprised by this. For if a person, while still alive, being in this world, submitted, surrendered and became enslaved to it: will they no longer possess him and enslave him when he leaves this world? As for the other best part of people; then this happens to them. That is, with the holy servants of God there are also Angels in this life; Holy spirits surround them and protect them. And when their souls are separated from their body, the faces of the Angels accept them into their society, into a bright life and lead them to the Lord. (Conversation about the dual state of those who have departed from here). Note It is proper to pray for the dead; and the Holy Church on the day of Pentecost (besides many other prayers, for example, on every Saturday, at every Liturgy) prays like this: accept, O Master, our prayers and supplications, and give rest to all souls that have previously departed, in the hope of the resurrection of eternal life: place their spirits and names in the book of animals, in the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the land of the living, in the kingdom of heaven, in heavens of sweetness, Thy bright Angels leading everyone into Thy holy abodes. (Prayer 5). Saint Cyril of Alexandria, in a word that begins like this: I’m afraid of death, says the following about the state of Saints and sinners after death. “Alas for the sinner, when the righteous are blessed, they are humbled. Righteousness in holiness, sinfulness in burning. The righteous are praised, but the sinners are damned. The righteous in the abodes of the Saints, the sinners in eternal exile. Righteousness in paradise, sinfulness in unquenchable fires. Ghosts enjoy, sinners become embittered. The righteous rejoice, the sinners are bound. The righteous sing, the wicked cry. Righteous trisagion, sinful trisagion. Righteous song, abyss of sin. Righteousness in the depths of Abraham, sin in the boiling waters of Belial. Righteousness is in peace, sin is in condemnation. The ghosts are watered, the sinners are scorched. The righteous rejoice, the sinners fall asleep with sorrow. The righteous are magnified, sinners melt away. The righteous are exalted, the sinners are humbled. The righteous are warmed, the sinners are blackened. The righteous are satisfied, the sinners are embarrassed. The righteous are rejoiced by the vision of God; the sinners are saddened by the vision of fire. The righteous vessel of election, the sinful vessel of Gehenna. Righteous - royal wheat; sins are destructive chaff. The righteous are the chosen seed, the sinners are the tares of the fire. To the righteous there is Divine salt, to sinners there is stench and stench. Righteous churches of God are not defilement, sinners are churches of demons of defilement. Righteousness in hell, sinfulness in the endless abyss. Righteousness in the light, sin in the stormy darkness. The righteous are with angels, sinners are with demons. Righteousness in the midst of light, sinners in the midst of darkness. The righteous are comforted by the Paraclete, the sinners and the demons are tormented. The righteous stand before the throne of the Lord, the sinners stand before painful darkness. The righteous always see the Face of Christ, sinners stand before the face of the devil. The righteous learn in secret from angels, sinners learn in secret from demons. The righteous bring prayer, the sinners cry incessantly. The righteous are in grief, the sinners are down. The righteous are in heaven, the sinners are in the abyss. The righteous are in the hand of God, sinners are in the place of the devil. The righteous are with God, the sinners are with Satan. Alas for sinners, when they are separated from the righteous. Alas for sinners, as their deeds are laid bare, and the counsels of their hearts are revealed! Alas for sinners, for they hate angels from the saints, and renounce the martyrdom from the saints! Alas for sinners, for they are cast out from the palace! Alas for the sorrows of that time! Alas for the repentance of that time!.. It is cruel to be separated from the Saints, it is crueler to be separated from God... Blessed is he who here condemns and humbles himself, for God’s sake, and humiliates and condemns himself! Such a one will be exalted from God on high, and will boast from the angels, and will not stand as one at judgment! Blessed is man, persevere in prayers, in fasting, in vigils!.. Such a one will enjoy eternal blessings, and will be a son, and a brother, and a friend and heir of God.”... Saint Tikhon thus consoles a monk who suffers dishonor. These are the ones who came from the great tribulation, written in the Revelation of John (Rev. 7:14). And in the Acts of the Apostles it is written: through many tribulations one must enter into the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). You see that the path to eternal life is a sorrowful one. You must endure whatever happens here, but you won’t tolerate it there! In the parables of Solomon we read: humiliation passes away from glory, glory comes before the humble (Prov. 15:33). That is: before the glory that is prepared in the next century for those who live piously, they will experience humiliation, reproach, ridicule, slander in this world. However much the pious soul will endure reproach, reproach, and slander here, only in the next century will it become glorified. Therefore, endure all reproach, reproach, and slander with all meekness and silence, and do not take revenge either in deed or in word on the slanderers, but more importantly, pray for them according to the example of Christ. Then your temporary dishonor will be turned into eternal honor; your dishonor is to glory, your humiliation is to praise, and all sorrow is to be consolation and joy. Believe this and be strong: be patient with the Lord, be of good cheer, the Holy Spirit exhorts the grieving soul (Ps. 27:14). Save yourself in Christ. Question What is holy. Tikhon speaks about the Pharisees? Rep. (Letter 104 part 12). We will see, St. Tikhon writes to one of his friends, what the Pharisees’ envy and malice inflicted on Christ the Lord, Who came to save them. When the Lord cast out demons from people, and the nations saw it and marveled, saying: “For no one has appeared like this in Israel, but the Pharisee said: about the prince of demons he will cast out demons” (Matthew 9:34). And again: this one will not cast out demons, except for Beelzebub, the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24)... But who can cast out a demon except God, Whom this generation trembles? And how can Satan drive out Satan, who have equal power?.. We see here. 1) Envy and malice blind a person, as we see here among the Pharisees: they attribute that deed to Satan, which befits God alone. 2) Do we see here what Jesus, our Savior, did not tolerate? Wanting to deliver us from the realm of Satan, I heard: about the prince of demons he will cast out demons, - He heard about Whose name and demons obey His servants - He Who gives power to His servants to tread on the scorpion and on all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19); The divine ears heard the blasphemy: about the prince of demons he will cast out demons. For our sake, our Lord our Savior endured. 3) True Christians face persecution and reproach in this world. If Beelzebub were to blame the master of the house, how much more than his household (Matthew 10:25)? It is absolutely necessary for slaves to suffer with their Master, for disciples with their Teacher, and for wisdom with their Head. Christ the Lord endured blasphemy; We, His servants, also need to endure. 4) Remember, beloved, that time in which our Lord heard terrible blasphemy from the Pharisees; and expect that the same Lord will soon come with His Angels to no longer endure, but to be glorified in His Saints and to be wondrous among all who believe (2 Thess. 1:10). Remember that day, and be saved. Question What did Christ the Lord answer to the Pharisees who blasphemed Him? Rep. (Letter 105). He answered them meekly and proved that He would cast out demons about the Spirit of God, and not about Beelzebub. For Satan will not cast out Satan: they agree among themselves, and everyone tries to destroy, not save, man... The blasphemy that the Pharisees spewed against Christ the Lord touched God in the face of Christ: for Christ is God, the Word of God, Hypostatic, Consubstantial with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Consider, then, how the blasphemy of the Pharisees hurt His holy soul? Blasphemy hurts every person, but it hurts the Tsar or another high person more: because his high rank and honor are blasphemed in him. So in Christ the Lord, the blasphemy that He suffered from the Pharisees affected the honor of God, and God, the miracle worker, was blasphemed in Him. We see that He was like a man, but He was true God, covered in human flesh... Therefore, He showed the blasphemers that they were grievously sinning. For although they did not believe that He was God, the works that He did were clearly God’s... The Lord healed the demonic: let us also pray to Him, and He will also heal our demonic souls: fierce demons in the soul: anger, impurity, envy, pride; and they torment the poor soul more than evil spirits torment the body... Save yourself. Question What instructions does Saint Tikhon teach in order to be able to accept blasphemy? Rep. (letter 106). Note and kindly heed: 1) when evil tongues blaspheme us, we must either remain silent or meekly respond to them. For our name and glory are nothing: we are earth and ashes, and unworthy slaves, therefore we are unworthy of praise... 2) When an evil tongue blasphemes the name of God and torments His honor: then we must not remain silent, but stand for the honor of His name and stop blasphemous lips. 3) Therefore, those who are jealous for their own honor do bad things, but do not neglect God’s blasphemed honor. A sign that such people do not know that God exists; they do not know that He is the Creator, Provider, Benefactor... Remember that God himself says: those who glorify Me will glorify, and those who disparage Me will be dishonored (1 Samuel 2:30). Save yourself.