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Question Where and how is holy. Tikhon finds out the need for Divine help to save a person? Rep. In his spiritual treasure, collected from the world, in article 10 (part X), entitled: poor people and the king are their visitor and sympathizer. If the king himself came to the people who are in captivity, suffering all kinds of misery, and expecting nothing more than bitter death, and visited them, and wanted to suffer with them and suffer for them, in order to save them from that bitter work, and return them to their fatherland: this would be so great and wondrous that all centuries would glorify it with great surprise. But the king, although a high figure, is a mortal man... It is wonderful and surpasses all surprise that God, the Creator of heaven and earth, great and incomprehensible, came to us poor and visited us; and came to us in our image to redeem us; - that the immaterial Spirit deigned to clothe us with animate and servile flesh; before the age - from the Father, God - from God, the Light - from the Light, incorruptible shining, from the Virgin, unmade and most holy, was born, and called her Matter, and wanted to be called the Son, for our redemption! Oh, miracle of miracles! God called His servant His Matter, and the Son of God was called the Son of the Virgin and was pleased to be, - and thus beginningless - to begin, invisible - to be visible, intangible - to be touched. impregnable to cherubim and seraphim - to be approachable for sinners... The Almighty has become weak, the All-Powerful has become powerless. And what's weirder? The Lord, from His evil servants, blasphemed, ridiculed, reproached, embittered, slandered, beaten, wounded, led to death, nailed to the cross and imputed with the lawless, meekly and willingly, wanted to endure. For whom? For the sake of me, you, your real enemies. The Prophet, seeing this from afar, exclaimed with horror: Lord, I heard Your hearing and was afraid! Lord, I understood Your works and was horrified (Hab. 3:1, 2)!.. If you want to see a miracle every day, meditate every day on the incarnation and passion of Christ. And from this soul-saving reflection will follow: 1) living faith: for if Christ died for everyone, then for me and for you; if He is the Savior of all, then He is mine and yours; 2) hope: if he has done so much and suffered so much for us, will he leave us in need? 3) obedience: for in order for a lover not to offend his beloved, it is imperative to show him obedience; 4) gratitude, fear, consolation to the sinner and the repentant will follow; 5) from here the nobility, honor, dignity and advantage of the human soul is clearly revealed. For her redemption and deliverance, it was not an angel, nor any other intercessor sent from God, who came, but God and the Lord himself, about which the holy thoughts have already been offered at greater length above. Tikhon. Question As in another place it is holy. Tikhon finds out the need for divine help to save a person? Rep. It happens in the world that one borrows several money or other things from another - and what is borrowed is called debt; and the one who takes it is a debtor. And the more someone takes, the more he multiplies his debt and becomes more indebted to the lender. So every person, when he breaks God’s commandment and sins before God, falls into debt before God and becomes a debtor to God; and the more he ruins the commandments of God and sins against his Creator, the greater the burden of debts he collects and becomes more owing to the Majesty of God. Therefore, human sins are called debts to God, and sinners are called debtors, as we read in the Lord’s Prayer: forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors. The law obliges the debtor to pay the debt to the lender: so every sinner by the law of God is obliged to satisfy God for his sins. A debtor, when he does not repay his debt to the lender, is thrown into prison: so a sinner, when he does not repay his debt to his Creator, is thrown into eternal prison. But what will a sinner give to God, a sinner who has offended His infinite majesty so many times? There is nothing to pay for one sin; How will you pay for many and serious sins? For sin alone, an insult to the infinite majesty of God, is worthy of eternal punishment and death, as Christian theology teaches. It's hard to do a favor to a person; but it is incomparably more painful to oblige God with sins! Sin is sweet to people, but its fruits are bitter! The pattern of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). It is convenient to commit sin, but it is not easy to free yourself from sin. For liberation, it is imperative to come to the One who says: if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). It happens that when a debtor cannot repay his debt to the lender, then the lender, by his sole mercy, leaves him the debt, and so the debtor is free. We, God's debtors, we could not, cannot, give our debts to God; but He, by His unconditional mercy, leaves us the debts of our sins. We are this debtor, having owed our talent to our King, over whom the King had mercy and released him the entire debt (Matthew 18:24–28). To us, his debtors, the Heavenly King leaves many and heavy debts of sins, like a dark talent, because we have nothing with which to repay; but he forgives those who turn to Him with a pure heart, and repent of the sins they have committed, and fall before Him, and ask for mercy from Him; - leaves by grace and love for mankind His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who was delivered up for our sins and arose for our justification; Who was ulcerated for our sins and tormented for our iniquities (Rom. 4:25; Isa. 53:5; Part X. Art. Debt). To Him, our Redeemer, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory and worship forever. Amen. Preparation of the human race for the sacrament of redemption of St. Tikhon clarifies in the article Spiritual Treasures, entitled: The Tsar Expected from the Citizens, his coming to the city and his acceptance from the citizens. The king, intending to come to some city, sends messengers ahead to that city to announce to the citizens His coming to come... Thus, the King of heaven, destined to come into the world as into the glorious city created by His hands, sent ahead messengers, His servants - the prophets, in order to announce to the world His coming into the world, which they had predicted many times and in many different ways; and all the Old Testament faithful and saints were waiting for Him with great desire. Many prophets and righteous women longed to see and hear Christ the Son of God in the flesh (Matthew 13:17). And when the time came, the King of heaven came into the world, Jesus Christ; All who loved His Divine appearance met Him and accepted Him. The King of Heaven lived on earth and brought about salvation in the midst of the earth, and again ascended to heaven and sat on the throne of His glory. His servants, the holy Apostles, preached His saving vision to all the ends of the earth: and all who accept their saving preaching are saved. And so the Prophets and Apostles of the only Savior of the world, the Son of God, preached to us. The Prophets - who had come into the world - the Apostles - who had already come into the world and who had accomplished the sacrament of our redemption, preached... And so there is one Christ, and in the Old and in the New Testament there is a Savior of the faithful... The Prophets preached the first coming, saying: Christ is coming into the world; and Christ came into the world, quietly and humiliatingly. Down, like rain on a fleece, and like a drop dripping on the ground. (Ps. 71:6). About the Second Coming, pastors and teachers of the Church say: Christ will come into the world again - to finish, complete His work, the sacrament of redemption of the human race (Part X, Art. 12). A fallen and damaged person is nothing more than an abomination and stench before God, from which His most holy eyes turn away... Adam brought us into this calamity with his fall. But Christ, the Son of God, came into the world from disaster and evil to deliver us. He, appearing in the flesh, became an intercessor and mediator between God, who was angry, and the people who angered Him. He fulfilled the law of God and the will of God perfectly, so that no sin was committed, and flattery was not found in His mouth (1 Pet. 2:22). He took upon himself the sins of the world, and, like a blameless lamb, he will cleanse them. For God, who knew no sin, made sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Having taken our sins upon Himself, He also took the punishment due to us for our sins; for there are no sins without punishment. The Lord gave up His sin for ours (Isa. 53:6). We were worthy of eternal rejection, condemnation from the face of God, and torment in hell with the devil and his evil angels, as apostates; but Christ the Son of God, the King of glory and our Lord, took upon Himself this execution of ours. Thus, He provided us with the most perfect healing against all our misfortunes and wretchedness, and the most well-known source of all true bliss. He is our Liberator from captivity and the power of the devil. He is the healer of our ulcers, with which we were mortally wounded from his enemy, like from a robber. He is the light against our darkness. He is a doctor against our infirmities. He is our wisdom against our madness and bewilderment. He is a consolation against all our sorrow. He is the belly and the source of life against our death... He is our intercessor against the wrath and judgment of God. We were sinners; He became our justifier. We were unclean; He became our sanctification. We were captured by the devil; He became our deliverer... For this be due to Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, thanksgiving and glory from us unworthy. Amen (Part VII). Question Do you remember the example by which he sanctifies? Does Tikhon explain the mystery of our redemption through the coming to earth of Jesus Christ? Rep. For the sake of explaining this, take the following example for your reasoning: if any monarch were angry with any hail for a crime that would subject citizens to the death penalty; in such a calamitous case, the kind royal son would have stood up for the citizens, and would have petitioned his angry father, humbly surrendering himself to the will of his father, and deigning to endure everything for the guilty, in order to bring the condemned into the mercy of his parent: then their salvation would be unprecedented and solely attributed to that son’s petition. For without this filial intercession, all citizens of the criminal city were inevitably sentenced to execution. The whole world became guilty of God, because everyone had sinned (Rom. 3:19, 23), and therefore everyone should, according to the righteous judgment of God, die forever. The Son of God stood up for all those who sinned: Christ died for all (Cor. 5:15), and thus became the intercessor of God and men (1 Tim. 2:5), - the angry God, by His free humility, suffering and obedience, appeasing and bringing those who were angry into His mercy. Be with you, be with you, my soul! Question How can you introduce your incomprehensible mystery of redemption into your thoughts? Rep. What we often think about takes root deeper in our memory and heart. Think often about this great and wondrous thing and pray, and it will take root. You see His image in the church and in the house, think that this image is the Son of God and the heavenly King and your God, who for your sake appeared, and lived, and worked. Do you see the image of the Most Holy One? Mother of God, remember that image of the Most Holy. The virgin who gave birth to your Lord in the flesh, and carried him in her arms and nourished him with his mother’s milk. Do you see the images of St. Apostles, think here that these are images of witnesses of Christ and God-seers... You see the image of the Baptist John: think here that this is the likeness of that great Prophet who was worthy to baptize your Lord, and pointing at him with the hand of the river: behold, the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Thus, when we often discuss Him and His actions, His memory will deepen in our hearts (Letter 86). Here's a reverent reflection for you, holy one. Tikhon about redemption. “Wonderful is the goodness, he philosophizes in his Zadon solitude, wonderful is the mercy and Providence of God for us! We have sinned; and Christ our Lord suffered execution for us. The slaves sinned: the Master is punished... We stole the glory of God with our ancestors: and He rewarded for this, as it was said through the Prophet: even though I did not delight, I rewarded (Ps. 68:5). Through our disobedience and sins, every calamity, misfortune and damnation entered the world; but through the suffering of Christ, all the bliss that we have and will have has returned to us. Through sin we fell; through Christ's suffering they rose up. We died by sin; They came to life through the suffering and death of Christ. Christ died for us, and by His death He made us alive. David, the King of Israel, once wanted to die in place of his son Absalom, and, weeping for him, he said: My son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, who will give death to me instead of you? I am instead of you... (and so on 2 Samuel 18:33). Thus, Christ, the Son of God and, according to the flesh, the Son of David, seeing us dead and lost, wept for us and desired to die for us, and in fact died and suffered in order to revive us who had died. Glory to His ineffable love! He died and we came to life: His death is our life. Through sin we departed from God; through Christ we returned to God. The devil took us captive through sin, triumphed over us like a cruel tormentor: Christ, our Lord, defeated and put to shame that cruel tormentor with His atoning death, and by His power snatched us away from his hands. Question How holy. Tikhon says that Christ suffered and died willingly for our redemption? Rep. So, by the way: the traitor wanted to sell and betray Him; Christ did not resist; and Judas delivered Him into the hands of the wicked. The wicked wanted to take Him and bind Him: He did not resist them; and they took him and tied him up. They wanted to lead Him to a lawless crowd; He did not resist, and they brought Him. They wanted to judge the Judge of all, to mock Him, to embitter Him, to wound Him: He did not resist; and they condemned Him, and quarreled, and embittered Him, and wounded Him. They wanted to nail him to a cross and hang him between two villains: he didn’t resist, so they nailed him and hung him. I do not resist, He said (Isaiah 50:5), nor contrary to the verb. No one will take my (soul) from Me, but I lay it down for Myself (John 10:18). And who could have done anything to Him if He Himself had not allowed it? Who could take and embitter the One who holds in His hand life and death and everything? With one mania, in the blink of an eye, He would have struck all His enemies, if He had wanted to!.. Question In the redemptive suffering and death of Jesus Christ, what properties of God were especially revealed? Rep. Truth, mercy and wisdom. We see that the truth of God does not leave sin without punishment. The truth of God demanded that a person who sinned be eternally executed for sin. God's mercy wanted to have mercy on the sinner. The wisdom of God invented a way in which both the truth and the mercy of God were satisfied. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, satisfied the righteousness of God with His suffering and death. And God’s mercy took place to accomplish our salvation. Thus, through the suffering of Christ, the truth and mercy of God are satisfied. The truth has received its pleasure: and we are saved by the mercy of God. Question What was the motivation for the atoning suffering and death of Jesus Christ? Rep. Love – God’s love for the human race is hot and flaming. God so loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Just as a child-loving father, seeing his children in captivity, or in some other misfortune, sympathizes and sympathizes with them out of love - love is compassionate - so the philanthropic God, seeing us captive from the devil and in destruction, had compassion for us and had mercy on us. Therefore, it was not hard for Him to send His Son into the world, and to give Him up to suffering and death for us, for our salvation. See, man, God’s love for you! How many times do you see the image of Christ’s suffering, or how many times do you hear about them, so many times should you remember the love of God and reverently marvel at it... God loved you and sent His Son for you: satisfy and correspond to His love and His holy will, and be careful about your salvation. (Stat. He did his job and left - from the abbreviated spiritual.). Question Did the Son of God redeem everyone? Rep. To your question, Saint Tikhon says in letter 8: did Christ come to redeem everyone, I answer: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). All have sinned; for Christ came to redeem everyone. Christ died for all (2 Cor. 5:14). Well, he came to save everyone. Therefore, the Gospel is commanded to preach to all creation... God does not look at human faces: everyone is equal to Him: He does not want anyone to perish. Therefore He sent His Son, the Redeemer, for everyone. Glory to the Father who sent the Son of the Redeemer! Glory to the Son who came to redeem us! Question Will everyone be redeemed and saved? Rep. Whoever accepts Him, the Redeemer, by faith, and is baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, will be saved (Mark 16:16); and whoever does not accept will perish. So the Jews did not accept Him; This is how Mohammedans, pagans and false Christians do not accept Him, who have faith in their tongues, but have godlessness in their hearts. Save yourself!.. About temptation, Saint Tikhon offers the first thing - from the saints. Chrysostom, then his reasoning (part 1). From St. Chrysostom: The best and most useful temptation for those who are vigilant is peace. It is not temptation, but the negligence of those who are tempted that causes destruction. God sends temptation for the sake of testing. Disasters and temptations make us pure and bring us good things. Tikhon’s discussion about temptation: 1) since Satan is our enemy, Scripture testifies to us. He tempts our faith, our love, our hope. Tempts faith by introducing doubt, unbelief, all kinds of heresies, schisms, apostasies; tempts love, turning our will away from the commandments of God, and all enmity between us; tempts hope, leading us to despair of eternal life and promised blessings. 2) Every temptation, although it comes from Satan, is, however, not without God’s permission. Simone, Simone, behold, Satan asks you (Luke 22:31). The story of Job also testifies. 3) Not a single faithful person will escape temptation; for if Christ was tempted three times, how much more so were His faithful. 4) Temptations are allowed to us for a good end. For in temptation God shows us whether we are carnal or spiritual? What is in our heart, is it the simple love of God, or the love of the world? Hence – humility and sobriety. 5) To help yourself in temptation, immediately turn your mind to something else useful and holy reflection. You can also tell the tempter that Archangel Michael said to the devil: may the Lord rebuke you! (Jude 1:9). Protect yourself with the sign of the cross, and arm yourself with the power of Christ crucified. Turn away from the tempter and reject him. 6) The sign is not good if someone does not feel the temptation: the tempter does not touch the one whom he sees under his power. 7) It often happens that the tempter retreats for a while and leaves us alone; but then we need sobriety more; for it suddenly attacks us - on the other hand, accidentally. Therefore, always be careful how dangerously you walk (Eph. 5:15). 8) When tempted, ascribe the victory not to yourself, but to God and thank Him. 9) If you happen to be tempted, you should not despair, but immediately rise up, repent and correct yourself, and struggle with greater fervor, calling on God’s help. Explaining the Lord's Prayer, Saint Tikhon says that: 1) Temptation can be good or bad for us. Temptation to good comes from God: David and other saints desire and ask to be tempted by such temptation. Tempt me, O God, and convince my heart; and gain me and understand my paths (Ps. 139:23). Abraham was tempted with such a temptation (Gen. 22). It is not about this temptation that we speak when we pray: lead us not into temptation. Temptation to evil, or deception, comes either from the devil, who in every way seeks to catch us, seduce us, lead us to sin and destroy us; or - from the flesh, which fights us with passions and lusts; or - from the world, which encourages us to evil through deception, vanity and temptations. The word in prayer is about this temptation: do not lead us into temptation. 2) God, being good, does not tempt anyone to evil. Let us tempt no one, as we are tempted by God: God is not the tempter of the evil, and He tempts no one. Every one is tempted, because of his own lust he is drawn and deceived (James 1:13, 14). 3) In this word: do not lead us into temptation, we pray to God to preserve us from the temptation of the world, the flesh and the devil by His grace. 4) And although we fall into temptation, we ask that he would not allow us to be defeated by our enemies, but would help us to overcome and conquer them. 5) From this it is clear that we are powerless and weak on our own without God’s help. For if we could resist temptation on our own, we would not be commanded to ask for help. 6) By this we learn, as soon as we feel a temptation coming upon us, to immediately pray to God and ask Him for help. 7) From this we learn not to rely on ourselves and our strength, but on God. 8) When we pray: do not lead us into temptation, we must not lead ourselves into temptation. “Whenever,” says Saint Chrysostom, we are drawn to heroic deeds, we must stand courageously; but those who are not called must remain silent and wait for the time of achievement, and let us show reluctance and courage for vain glory.” Question What instruction does Saint Tikhon teach, in addition to what is shown in the missals, about confession? Rep. When you, Saint Tikhon tells the presbyter, confess your (i.e., spiritual) son, you must: 1) with all meekness, as a doctor of the soul, exhort him to declare all the sins that he committed after confession, before the former, and ask: has he fulfilled the penance if it was assigned by the spiritual father? Then you can say to him like this: “To God, child, you confess, Whom you have angered with your sins; and I am His unworthy servant and witness. Don't hide anything, and don't be ashamed, and don't be afraid. For there are only three of us here: God, who is everywhere and who knows all your deeds, how they were done, and awaits your self-willed confession. You yourself also know your sins: do not be ashamed to pronounce them all, which you were not ashamed to do. I am the third, servile to you...” Moreover, declare to the confessor, so that, according to St. Gospel, he forgave everyone against whom he had enmity (Matthew 6:15). 2) When during confession you notice contrition of heart and sadness for sins: good; Thank God! And if you don’t notice sadness and contrition in the person confessing, then try in every possible way to bring him to regret that he has offended God both good and great... You can admonish him like this: “Do you think, child, what kind of person we are before God when we sin?.. Are we then extremely ungrateful; then we pester His enemy and ours, that is, the devil; we reject His fatherly love, we despise the blood of the Son of God, shed for us, we despise His holy Gospel. He nourishes us, warms us, preserves us from all evil; the sun shines on us... But we forget these and other blessings of God when we sin. Oh, why are we doing this?.. Doesn’t it hurt our parents when we resist them? Doesn’t it hurt our benefactor when, instead of love, we reward him with hatred, instead of goodness, with evil? Isn’t it more pitiful and regrettable for God, who hurts us so much, when we show Him our ingratitude and resistance by sinning? Oh, it would be better if the sun didn’t shine for us then! It would be better not to see this light; lose parents and friends; It would be better to die a hundred times over and not live in the world!” 3) According to Confession, so that the one who confessed in advance should beware of sins in every possible way and so that in the world he would have nothing more kind than his Creator... and for past sins he would try to satisfy them... tell him that God greatly hates sins and inflicts executions for sins; that He sent His Son into the world to destroy them, and sent executions many times for their sins. For sin, God did not spare even the Angels, and cast him down from heaven; for sin, Adam and his entire generation were expelled from paradise; for sin the whole world was drowned with waters, and so on. etc.; And you, child, remembering this, beware of sinning in the future. Question Like bl. Tikhon talks about the Confession of Faith? Rep. You confess, Christian, one God: good. But do you believe in God with your heart, as the Apostle teaches: with your heart you believe in the truth, but with your lips you confess for salvation (Rom. 10:10)? Without heartfelt faith, a verbal confession of faith is very insufficient. Verbal confession can be a sign of faith; but a false sign happens when the life of the professer contradicts faith. Oral confession follows from faith, like a word from a thought conceived in the mind: with faith, with the same words (Ps. 116:1). But true faith is not always proven by verbal confession, just as the word does not always resemble the thought. For people often say not what they have in their hearts; sometimes those who confess God do not think the same thing in their hearts and do the wrong thing as the confession of faith teaches. They confess God with their lips, but with their hearts and deeds they reject Him. They preach God with their lips, but in their hearts they say: there is no God... You call God Father, Lord, King, Protector and Helper, as in the Lord’s Prayer, in the psalms the faithful pray to Him and sing: good; faith is a sign. But look, are you trying to show obedience to Him, like a father, and to become like Him in your character? For the son is like the father. Do you serve Him as your Lord? Do you not work for mammon and other idols? Doesn’t sin reign over you when you call Him (God) your king?.. Hear what God says about oral confession, which does not come from the heart and does not agree with the heart: These people draw near to Me, and with their lips they honor Me, their heart is far from Me (Matthew 15:8)... You confess, saying: I believe in Christ the Son of God: good. But do you accept Him with your heart? Gospel? Will you follow His teaching written in the Gospel? Aren't you ashamed of His humility, poverty, and patience? Do you carry your cross, which He offers to all the faithful: if anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and come after Me (Matthew 16:24)? Listen to what He says about those who do not bear their cross: those who do not take their cross and come after Me are not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:38; Mark 8:34). Hence it follows that the faithful servant of Christ is not the one who confesses Christ with his lips, but the one who believes in Christ with his heart and is not ashamed of Him and His words... You confess: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord: good. But see if you are not resisting the Holy Spirit with hardness of heart and unrepentant life, as Saint Stephen denounces the Jews: stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! you continually resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51)... Confess: I believe in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church: good. But look, are you a true member of the Holy Church? She is holy, sanctified and sanctified by the blood of Christ, the Son of God (Eph. 5:26, 27). She serves God with her reverence and righteousness before Him. Do you keep the holiness that was given to you by faith in baptism (1 Cor. 6:11)? And if you lost it through negligence, do you try to return it through repentance, change of life and faith? Do you shun all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, creating holiness in the passion of God (2 Cor. 7:1)? If you don’t have this, then you are not a member of the Holy Church. For the church is holy and blameless (Eph. 5:27), and it becomes its members to be holy and blameless... You confess: the tea of ​​the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century - good; this is a sign of hope. But look, don’t you have morals that show that there is no resurrection of the dead? Don't you live like animals and cattle, who only do what they want and what their feelings represent, and at the death of which their soul disappears? Aren't you doing things that close the door to the eternal life that you believe and confess? – Do not flatter yourself: neither harlots, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor defilers... will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). He who sincerely believes in Christ and looks forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century, is guarded from such deeds. For everyone who has this hope cleanses himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3). Saint Tikhon touchingly inspires us to correct our damaged heart and atone for the sins we have committed, reflecting on a simple, everyday word: what have you become (Spiritual Treasures, v. 32)? It happens that when people who have gathered for some task are working and toiling, and one of them becomes lazy, then the other says: “Why have you become?” Thus, to one who has begun to correct himself, but is weakening in the feat of piety, one can say as encouragement: other Christians are working in their work: but what have you become? Others struggle against sin, the devil, the world and passions: what have you become? Others work diligently in the grapes of the Lord: why have you become? Others work diligently for the Lord: why have you become? Others diligently pray, beg and knock at the door of God’s mercy: what have you become? Others sow their own spiritual: what have you become? Others are generous and give alms: what have you become? Others do good to their neighbors: why have you become? Others, despising wealth, honor, glory and all the vanity of this world, look at eternal bliss and flow towards it: why have you become? Others humble themselves before God and people: why have you become? Others work with love and serve the good and salvation of their neighbors: what have you become? Others strive for eternal life: why did you become and not eat? Others have denied themselves and, having taken up their cross, follow Christ, follow Him with patience, love, meekness and humility, and follow Him into eternal life; - life, where there is a home for all those who rejoice, - where there is joy, gladness, sweetness and bliss, - where God is seen face to face, - where sickness, sadness and sighing escape, - where the voice and noise of those celebrating are heard, - where they sing the unceasing and sweet song: Alleluia, - where there is sweet and blissful friendship with the Angels, - where those who follow go To Christ, like sheep to a shepherd: what have you become? Why don’t you rush to a calm, peaceful and sweet place? There, all the saints went and entered, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, saints entered... and settled there, and rejoiced, and were merry, and expected the general resurrection and perfect bliss: why have you become? They are waiting for us with great desire for them to go there and for us to come too. The heavenly Father is also waiting, the One who did not spare us for His Son’s sake is waiting; The One who created us in His image and likeness is waiting; awaits, may he bless us with eternal bliss. What are we worth? Are we taking a nap for the sake of it? Why should we not go there and not rush there? The whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19). What in the world is not sad? Wealth is associated with poverty, glory with dishonor, honor with dishonor, peace is not without anxiety, peace is not without confusion and rebellion, love is hypocritical, friendship is not without suspicion, sweetness is dissolved in sorrow. From everywhere there is fear, from everywhere there is illness, suspicion, danger and sadness. There is no truth, there is no fidelity: truth has fallen away from the sons of men (Ps. 11:2). Therefore, the whole world lies in evil. What good are we losing in this world? Vanity of vanities and all sorts of vanity... Woe to me, for my coming continues!.. (Eccl. 1:2; Ps. 119:5). O Jesus, the sweetness of life, the joy and joy of those who love You! I lift up my mournful eyes to You from this bitter and deplorable vale. Draw me after You... I lift up my eyes to You, who dwells in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of a servant are in the hand of his masters, and as the eyes of a servant are in the hand of his mistress: so are our eyes to the Lord our God (Ps. 122:1, 2). Question Like St. Does Tikhon reflect on divine truth or spiritual wisdom? Rep. (Part IV, ch. 2, §19). The means through which we come to the mind of truth and spiritual wisdom are: 1) God’s holy word with the help of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Scriptures, according to the word of the Apostle, are able to make one wise for salvation through faith, even in Christ Jesus. 2) Sincere prayer. This is what the Apostle says: If anyone lacks wisdom from you, let him ask from God, who gives to all without partiality, and it will be given to him (James 1:5). That is why Solomon prayed: knowing that I would not gain wisdom except God give it, and this without understanding, which is grace: I came to the Lord and prayed to Him (Wis. 8:21). We learn spiritual wisdom and dogmas not in the books of the sages of this age, but in the books of the prophets and apostles, and we learn it in the school of the Holy Spirit, Who, through His holy word, makes wise the hearts of His faithful. Spiritual wisdom has its place and seat in the heart, and not on the tongue, inside, and not outside; - in strength, and not in words... Hence it happens that a rude villager, ignorant of the alphabet, but living in the fear of God, is smarter, more skillful and wiser in Christian matters than the wordsmith and sage of this age, without the fear of God. The signs of spiritual wisdom are: 1) careful teaching in the word of God; 2) seeking advice from pious and reasonable people; 3) discussion about the wondrous providence of God, about His truth and mercy; 4) frequent recollection of death and those that follow, that is, of the terrible judgment of Christ, of a blessed and unhappy eternity; 5) contempt for the world and 6) most of all, prayer to the One who is the Truth himself, and the source and giver of truth. Question Like St. Does Tikhon teach us to learn the truth from various simple cases? Rep. Here are some examples: you hear one asking another: who created this house or this city, and you see that nothing happens by itself, but has its beginning and existence from something else. From this case, turn your reasoning to the world and everything that exists in the world, and ask, from whom does it (i.e., the world) with all its fulfillment and decoration have its beginning? And he silently answers you: He created me. The sun, the moon and the stars answer you: He created us. The earth and everything on it answer you: He created us. You see that dirty or smoked glass does not accommodate natural light. Likewise, the human soul, stained and blackened by sin, does not accept the light of God’s grace as long as it remains in sins. For sin is like a dark darkness... The glass, as it begins to be cleansed, will begin to let light into itself. So the soul, cleansed by repentance and faith in Christ, gradually becomes enlightened... You see that the earth, although seed is sown on it, does not vegetate when there is no moisture on it. Here is this truth: the human heart, although it hears God’s word, cannot produce fruit when it does not have the moisture of God’s grace. You see that iron or stone, although hot, do not emit a voice (sound) until water is poured onto them; when the water pours out, then they show their ardor with noise. Here is this truth: many people (from them I am the first: God forbid!) hitherto seem humble and meek until they receive offense; and when they feel offended, they become angry and rage and make noise, like hot iron doused with water. You see that if a son returns to his father from a foreign land, the father rejoices over his son and the son over his father. From this case, by faith, raise your mind to the house of the Heavenly Father, to which true Christians, children of God, return from the country of this world, into which we were exiled for our sins. ABOUT! How will the faithful soul then rejoice when, after a disastrous journey in this world, he returns to the house of the heavenly Father, appears before the face of God, sees Him face to face, sees Him as He is, and bows to the throne of His glory! The Heavenly Father will also see his son returning from this vale, and will rejoice over him with all His family, and will calm and comfort him. You see the sun rising and the day beginning. Here you have enough material to think about: 1) about the goodness of God and 2) about the righteous sun, Christ the Son of God, who died and rose again. Just as this sensual sun sets and rises: so Christ, having appeared on earth and having accomplished the great work of our salvation, entered, entered the tomb and again rose... You see that when the fire touches the fragrant incense, immediately a pleasant smell rises. Thus, when the human heart is touched by the grace of the Spirit, then prayer and sighing are born in the heart.