Глава IV

Accession to the throne of Valens, who strongly patronized the Arians. His attempt to take possession of the Church of Caesarea in order to transfer it to the Arians for control. Reconciliation of St. Basil with Eusebius, and his effort together with St. Gregory to repel all attacks of Valens and the Arian bishops. The failure of Valens' attempts and his removal from Caesarea. Guardianship of St. Basil about all church affairs and his zeal in preaching the word of God. His conversations on the six days of the creation of the world, and the extraction of some thoughts from them, especially those serving to refute the latest objections from geologists and astronomers. Conversations on the Psalms, and extracting from them more edifying thoughts and especially those serving to understand the text. Interpretation of 16 chapters of the prophet Isaiah, and extraction of more edifying thoughts. A conversation about the fact that God is not the culprit of the existing evil in the world, from which some extracts were made to resolve those questions that still trouble the inquisitive minds of some of our contemporaries. Guardianship of St. Basil about the poor during the famine that befell the Cappadocia region, and his living and instructive word to the rich about helping the poor. Guardianship of St. Basil about the liberation of the Eastern Church from the attacks of the Arians and his concern for the establishment of monasteries in Caesarea and other places. St. Basil, having entered his Pontic monastery, soon felt that everything would work out for the good of those who love God. The silence of the solitude of monastic life soon showed him how desert life is superior to city life in terms of convenience for an ascetic life and how much more capable of establishing peace of mind even when overwhelmed by the most unpleasant circumstances of life. Time, however, soon showed that even sorrow itself was sent to St. Basil in order to show Eusebius and his entire Caesarea flock how much more useful his wise and blessed word is for the Church and more powerful than the episcopal power itself. Valens, baptized by Eudonius, the primate of the Arian church in Constantinople, 81, having taken over the administration of the Eastern Empire, decided to give the Arians complete triumph over Orthodoxy, and as a result of this, he expelled and exiled many already Orthodox bishops and exiled them to prison, and left the churches under the control of the Arian bishops. Since hitherto almost only the Caesarea Church remained faithful and did not submit to the violence of the Arians, therefore Valens (in July 365), taking with him the Arian bishops, himself undertook a campaign to Caesarea with the aim of certainly subordinating the hitherto independent Caesarea Church to the power of the Arians. Relying on the inexperience of the Archbishop of Caesarea, on the absence of St. Basil, a powerful opponent of the Arians, and the fact that the Caesarea Church, due to the disagreement between Eusebius and St. Vasily was divided between one and the other, Valens firmly believed that with his personal presence he would certainly win and achieve the long-desired goal 82. The rumor about such an enterprise of the Emperor greatly embarrassed the entire Caesarea church, and Eusebius himself was forced to remember and mourn the removal of St. Vasily. St. Gregory the Theologian, zealous for the good of the Caesarea Church, from which he was taken away in the person of St. Basil, an active and strong defender of the Church and a great lamp, who shed his light everywhere where the darkness of the Arian teachings was just beginning to penetrate, could also not remain an indifferent spectator of the injustice of Eusebius, who did not understand what danger he exposed himself and his flock by removing Great Basil from himself. And therefore, at the first opportunity, he wrote a letter to Eusebius, in which, with the complete freedom of a Christian, having in mind only the glory of God and the benefit of his neighbor, recalling the insults he had inflicted on his friend Basil, he urged him to return to those feelings that he had for him when he first assumed the office of presbyter. Eusebius, unable to take advantage of the advice and zeal for the work of St. Vasily, soon after his removal, invited Gregory to spiritual meetings. St. Gregory, in the name of his own truthfulness, asking him for permission to express to him everything that was in his heart, wrote to him: “condescend to my boldness, otherwise you will offend me, depriving me of freedom and forcing me to hide painful grief in myself like some kind of purulent and malignant harm. How glad I am that you do me honor and invite me to spiritual conferences and meetings; The insult that the most venerable brother Vasily, who was chosen by me from the very beginning and still remains for me a companion in life, teaching and the highest wisdom, suffered and still suffers from your reverence, was so heavy for me, and for such election I do not blame myself in the least - because it would be more modest to say so, otherwise you will think that by praising his perfections, I am praising myself. But by humiliating him and honoring me, in my opinion, you act almost the same as if someone began to stroke the same person on the head with one hand and hit him on the cheek with the other, or, having broken the foundation of a house, began to paint its walls and decorate the exterior. Therefore, if you are at all convinced by my word, then you will do it my way. And I ask you to make sure, because this is fair. If you treat him as you should, he will serve you. And my job is to follow him, like shadows following a body” 83. But Eusebius did not like this freedom in expressing his feelings and he wrote to Gregory, reproaching him for his disrespect for his rank. St. Gregory, answering with the same firmness, explained to him that he sincerely expressed his feelings and thoughts not out of lack of respect for his rank, but because he considered it more appropriate for him, as a generous person, to accept free speech from friends than flattery from enemies 84 . Bearing in mind the danger threatening the Caesarea Church from Valens and the Arian bishops accompanying him, St. Gregory, in order to quickly persuade Eusebius to make peace with St. Basil, without whose help he would not have had the strength to resist the Arians, wrote him a third letter, in which, excusing his freedom and courage in previous letters with excessive grief for his friend, he expressed his readiness, together with St. Vasily to come to him in order to act with combined forces against the enemies of the Church. “If it pleases you,” he wrote to him, “we will come to unite our prayers with you, strive together and serve you” 85 . And Gregory, indeed, soon arrived to Eusebius and saw with joy that time and circumstances had so softened his dislike for Vasily that he was ready to write to him first. Having learned about such a peaceful mood of the Archbishop's spirit, St. Gregory hastened to write to St. Basil, urging him to preface with his letter and then hastily come to Caesarea himself, “so as not to later remain in shame as a vanquished, when you could have won yourself, having beautifully and wisely conceded victory over yourself.” And in order to quickly encourage him to come to Kecapia, he wrote to him that a crowd of heretics was already attacking the Church and there was a danger that the teaching of the truth could be perverted if the spirit of Bezaleel, the wise architect of Orthodox dogmas and teachings, did not soon move. At the end of the letter he said: “if you find it necessary for me to come and be your assistant and companion, then I will not shy away from this either” 86. Soon after this letter from St. Gregory himself went to Pontus to visit his friend, not only out of love for him, but also as an ambassador from Eusebius and the entire clergy of the Church of Caesarea, in order to encourage him to come to Caesarea as soon as possible, since the Arians, supported by Valens, had devastated many provincial churches and were ready to attack Caesarea itself, the metropolis of the Caesarea region. What about Vasily, this courageous, full of high thoughts and truly Christ-loving soul? Basil needed little convincing, says St. Gregory - so that he would appear and become a champion. On the contrary, as soon as he saw me pleading (both of us had a common feat ahead of us, as defenders of the right teaching), he was defeated by prayer. He beautifully and very wisely reasoned within himself from spiritual understanding that even if one falls into cowardice, then there is another time for this, namely the time of safety, and in case of need, the time of generosity. Therefore, he immediately set out with me from Pontus, zealous for the truth, which was in danger, became an arbitrary supporter and betrayed himself to the service of the Mother Church" 87 . And only St. Basil arrived in Caesarea, and first of all hastened to sincerely and completely reconcile with Eusebius. Having taken into his own hands the power to manage the affairs of the attack against the enemies of the Church, he immediately set to work: “gives advice (to the Bishop), leads,” says St. Gregory, - the army (spiritual) is in order, destroying the obstacles encountered, stumbling blocks and everything that, having relied on, the opponents raised a fight against us. One accepts, another holds, and another rejects. For some, he is a solid wall and stronghold, for others he is a hammer, erasing stone (Jer. 23:29) and fire in thorns (Ps. 117:12), as the Divine Scripture says, conveniently destroying those like dry branches and offenders to the Divine. And if Barnabas also labored with Paul, who speaks and writes about this; and for this thanks also to Paul (i.e., St. Basil), who chose him and made him a collaborator in the feat! Thus, the opponents were left without success, and the evil ones were shamed and defeated for the first time by evil: they learned that it is not harmless for those who despise others to despise the Cappadocians, who are most characterized by steadfastness in faith, loyalty and devotion to the Trinity” 88. Thus, Valens' plans were destroyed 89. The news received then about the rebellion of Procopius and the destruction of many cities by earthquake and flooding of the sea 90, these messengers of God’s wrath at the Emperor’s wickedness, forced him to turn his attention to other matters, without however awakening in his conscience a feeling of contrition for his wickedness. Having protected the Church from attacks by heretics, St. Vasily tried to strengthen her internal strength in order to make her inaccessible to attacks another time. His first concern was not only to establish sincere peace between himself and the Archpastor, but also to assure others of this, so that neither enemies nor friends would have a reason for reprehensible talk about the misunderstanding that had arisen between them. The second thing (after the expulsion of the heretics) and care for Basil, says St. Gregory the Theologian, - was to provide services to the primate, to destroy suspicion, to assure all people that the grief occurred due to the temptation of the evil one, that it was an attack by someone jealous of unanimity in goodness, and he himself knew the laws of obedience and spiritual order. Therefore: he came, he made wise, he obeyed, he gave advice; He was everything to the primate - a good adviser, a truthful representative, an interpreter of God's word, a mentor in affairs, a rod of old age, a support of faith, the most faithful in internal affairs, the most active in external affairs. In a word, he is recognized as benevolent as he was previously considered unfriendly. From that time on, church rule passed to Vasily, although he occupied second place in the department, because for the favor he showed he received power in return. And there was some wonderful agreement and combination of power: one ruled the people, and the other governed... and Vasily’s cooperation was pleasant to him, and during Vasily’s reign he considered himself the ruler” 91. In addition to taking care of affairs related to the general administration of the Caesarea Church, St. Vasily paid special attention to the preaching of the word of God in order to take away from everyone the pretext for failure to fulfill the Divine law due to ignorance of it. All the words and conversations of St. Vasily deserve the full attention of every Christian, both in its internal content and in its external form and presentation. Like all the actions of St. Basil was distinguished by his extraordinary greatness and importance, and all his works are imprinted with the same character of Christian heights and greatness; This is their common and distinctive property, which belongs to them more than to the works of any other church writer. In all the words of St. Vasily is excellent: he speaks pure, elegant, majestic language; he is inimitable in the order and strength of his thoughts; he combines persuasiveness with pleasantness and clarity. In his teachings, St. Vasily dealt not so much with speculative subjects of Christian teaching, but with active ones. Vividly and convincingly for the mind and heart, he revealed the beauty of Christian virtues and exposed the vileness of vices. As someone who spent his entire life in asceticism and constant striving for the highest Christian perfection, he with captivating force tore his listeners away from vice and pointed out the right path to virtue. But his conversations: against moneylenders, against drunkenness and luxury - in terms of strength and animation are considered the best among all the conversations of St. Vasily. His very interpretations of the Psalms and sixteen chapters of the prophet Isaiah are aimed at the spiritual edification of his listeners. The very outward appearance of the preacher attracted attention to his words and inspired confidence in his teachings. St. Basil, exhausted by constant fasting, intense activity and illness, entering the pulpit, appeared to the eyes of his listeners pale, thin, emaciated and more like a ghost than a living person. But in such a weak body lived a spirit that did not know fatigue. St. Vasily, despite the extreme weakness of his bodily strength, not only every day, but twice a day, morning and evening, spoke teachings 92. Sometimes after preaching in one church he would come to preach in another 93 . For teachings so frequent and often very extensive, always filled with deep power and edification, the natural gift of speech, formed by the art of rhetoric, was obviously not enough, but the help of the One who gives His messengers strength and wisdom was needed. “Basily,” says St. Gregory, all the depths of the Spirit were tested, and from these depths he drew what was necessary to form morals, teach high speech, distract from the present and move into the future" 94 . In order not to remain indifferent to the spiritual benefits that St.’s contemporaries enjoyed. Vasily, let us at least use some thoughts from his conversations. Conversations for six days, spoken in church with a large gathering of people. 1st Conversation. At the beginning of the first conversation, St. Vasily shows that in order for the soul to become capable of seeing God in His creation, for this it must be pure from carnal passions, unclouded by everyday worries, hardworking, searching, delving into everything from which it is possible to obtain a concept of God worthy of God. “Is it not from the absence of these qualities that modern researchers of nature have a lack of faith in God, whose wisdom and goodness are seen in everything, both small and great, by other researchers of nature, but who have a purer heart and are freer from worldly worries and earthly attachments? In order to see an object in its proper form and light, one must establish the correct point of view on the object and have a sound eye. Is it not from an incorrect point of view on the world of God and the clouding of the eye of the mind by passions that the inability to explain much that is understandable to a believer, confusion in concepts, disorganization in public life, discord in family life, an unbridled desire for personal freedom, without respect for the freedom of another person, occurs? – But they say: science moves forward and clears man’s view of the world and the insatiable work of the mighty forces of nature. Let's see how far science has gone forward, and especially scientific researchers of nature, in their conclusions regarding the origins of all visible natural phenomena. “The Greek sages talked a lot about nature,” says St. Vasily, - and how those who did not know God did not admit that the origin of all things depends on a reasonable cause; and in accordance with this fundamental ignorance they concluded about other things. Therefore, some resorted to material principles and attributed the cause of all things to the elements of the world; others imagined that the nature of visible things consists of atoms and indivisible bodies, heaviness and solidity, because birth and destruction occur when indivisible bodies either come together or separate, and in bodies that exist longer than others, the reason for their long stay lies in the strongest cohesion of the atoms.” Isn’t it the same thing that the newest researchers of nature preach as they said two thousand years ago? They boast of their opinions as if they were the latest findings obtained by modern science; but in reality, the difference between modern and long-outdated views of the world does not lie in concepts, but only in words. But let's see how St. refutes these false opinions. Vasily. He says: “not a single one of their teachings remained firm and unshakable, because subsequent teachings always overthrew the previous ones. Therefore, we have no need to denounce their teachings; they themselves are sufficient for each other to their own overthrow.” Fifteen centuries ago, what a judgment was pronounced on the opinions of learned but unbelieving naturalists, by a man who had equally deeply studied both the word of God and modern sciences! We will not talk about those who take on the pitiful role of being the heralds of old, only in new clothes, and long-abandoned opinions about the principles of the universe. Their learned pride will not allow them to admit their error; they would rather admit to the complete absence of a brain in their heads than to bow before the obvious truth. An example of such pride and stubborn disbelief is provided by Voltaire, who, having once decided to deny the possibility of miracles, said: if a miracle had been performed before my eyes in the presence of two thousand obvious witnesses, gifted with common sense and intact vision, then even then I would have agreed to recognize myself and all the obvious witnesses as blind rather than admit the possibility of a miracle. It is better to leave such subjects to their own fate rather than waste words. But we turn our word to you, weak Christians, who, having neither the strength nor the opportunity to follow in their entirety all the sciences in the field of natural science, due to carelessness about the eternal salvation of their souls or being carried away by the novelty of ideas, have rejected faith in the undoubted truth of Divine Scripture and with unshakable confidence accept the conclusions of learned naturalists, not paying attention either to the precariousness of the basis of their conclusions, or to those disastrous the consequences that you will inevitably have to come to if you arrange your entire earthly life in accordance with their worldview. You have probably seen how, as a result of heavy rains, a stormy stream rushes from the mountains and with what swiftness it crushes and carries away everything that gets in its way. And woe to the traveler who, instead of watching its swirling foam from the side, stands in his way. He will become an inevitable victim of its stormy waters, and only after a long time will his crumpled and disfigured corpse testify to the survivors of his imprudence or carelessness. New teachings of various thinkers who trust too much in the authority of their minds, like a stormy stream, quickly captivate their contemporaries with their novelty. But several decades will pass - and this stream will dry up; its existence will only be reminded to the next generation by the pitiful state of those individuals who, leaving the unshakable stone of faith, were carried away by the novelty of the teaching. For whom the eternal life of the spirit is dear, do not leave the solid stone of the faith of Christ, remembering that human opinions will be replaced by one another, leaving evidence of the error of the human mind, and the word of God, as an indestructible truth leading to an eternally blessed life in heaven, will remain immutable in all ages. But let's return to St. Vasily. He, having recognized the opinion of the Hellenic sages, as destroying each other, is unworthy of an answer, further says: “those who write this and suggest so many small and weak principles of heaven, earth and sea truly weave a cobweb. They did not know how to say: in the beginning God created heaven and earth. Therefore, the atheism that had taken hold of them instilled in them the false idea that everything was without control and structure and was set in motion as if by chance. So that we would not be subjected to the same thing, the one who describes the universe directly, in the first words, enlightened our understanding with the name of God, saying: “in the beginning God created.” These three words revealed three great truths, which the blind mind of man could not discover; truths that destroy all the hypotheses of those who pretend to be wise men of science, but in reality fool them, since their hypotheses, without clarifying anything, only move away from the truth. In the word God, the writer of everyday life showed that the world has the reason for its existence not in itself, but in God, as the only culprit of its existence. The word create shows that the world was not formed only, as some thought, from matter co-eternal with God, but was created as if it did not exist before this act of God’s creative thought. The word first shows that the world received the beginning of its existence at a moment determined by God, therefore, there was a time when it did not exist not only in the form in which it appears to our eyes now, but also in its original elements, which did not yet have a definite form. Of these three great truths, St. Vasily brings out the fourth – the gospel truth about the end of the world. “What has begun,” he says, “will eventually, by all necessity, end in time... Where parts are subject to damage and alteration, the whole will necessarily undergo the same modifications as its own parts.” About geometers, mathematicians and astronomers, who are trying to penetrate into the inaccessible depths of the earth and measure with their gaze the immeasurable height of world space, but nowhere seeing God, the Creator of everything visible and invisible, he says, that they have become futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts have been darkened, and those who say to be wise, foolish (Rom. 1, 21-22) ... and Without a doubt, the excess of worldly wisdom will one day bring for them an increase in heavy condemnation for the fact that, delving into empty objects with such caution, they were arbitrarily blind in understanding the truth. They, who measured the distance of the stars, described the stars that are always visible and northern, as well as the stars located near the south pole, and visible to those living there, but to us (i.e. inhabitants of the northern hemisphere) unknown, who divided into a thousand parts both the northern latitude and the zodiacal circle, who accurately observed the return of the stars, their positions, declinations and general movement to their former places, as well as the time at which each of the planets completes its period - they did not find one of all ways how to understand God, the Creator of the universe and the righteous Judge, rewarding everyone worthily according to their deeds, and how to accommodate in their minds the idea of death; because the world needs to change if the state of souls is to move into another kind of life. For just as present life has qualities akin to this world, so the future existence of our souls will receive a lot characteristic of its state. But they are so unwilling to listen to these truths that they even greet us with loud laughter, who herald the end of this world and eternal rebirth.” They ask: was creative power really limited only to the creation of one earth, or at least one solar system, the bodies of which Moses mentions? “No,” answers St. Vasily, - what was created is the smallest part of the Creator’s power. Just as a potter, who made thousands of vessels with the same skill, did not exhaust either his skill or his strength: so the Creator of this universe, having a creative power not sufficient for the world alone, but infinitely more excellent, brought into being all the greatness of the visible with one wave of his will.” But was there anything before the creation of this visible world? - the curious ask. “There was something, most likely, before this world,” answers St. Vasily; - but although this is comprehensible to our understanding, it is not introduced into the narrative (of Moses), as it is inconsistent with the powers of the newly taught and infants in mind. Even earlier than the existence of the world, there was a certain state befitting the supermundane forces, transcending time, eternal, ever-continuing. In it, the Creator and Creator of all things created - mental light, befitting the bliss of those who love the Lord, rational and visible natures and all the decoration of intelligible creatures that surpass our understanding, so that it is impossible to invent names for them. They fill with themselves the essence of the invisible world... And when it became necessary to add this world to the existing one - mainly a school and a place of formation of human souls, and then in general a place of residence for everything that is subject to birth and destruction, then a succession of time akin to the world and the animals and plants found in it was produced, always hastening and flowing and nowhere exceeding its flow. Ancient thinkers, as those who did not know God, completely eliminated God from participation in the creation of the world, attributing to matter an original existence and self-formative power. The newest ones, such as some of the geologists and astronomers, not daring to descend to such a level of nonsense, nevertheless limit the omnipotence of the creative power of God, defining the period of creation not in days, as the Bible tells, but in tens of thousands of years. But St. Basil says: “since the action of creation is instantaneous and is not subject to time, then it is said create in the beginning, because the beginning is something not consisting of parts and not extended... So, so that we understand together that the world was created by the will of God not in time, it is said: in the beginning create. In meaning of this, the ancient interpreters, expressing the thought more clearly, said: God created briefly, that is, suddenly and instantly.” Having explained how the earth remains in empty space, without mixing with air or water and without changing its position in relation to other planets, he says: “If anything in what has been said so far seems plausible to you, then turn with amazement to God’s wisdom, which arranged it this way. For amazement at great objects does not diminish when the way in which something extraordinary happened is discovered. And if you don’t open it, then let the simplicity of faith be stronger than evidence from the mind. Conversation 2. In this conversation he shows that before the world received existence outside and became visible, it already existed in the thought of God with all the details of its subsequent existence. To accomplish this, while still in the idea of ​​the existing world, He created the matter necessary for this and gave the matter the forces necessary to achieve the intended goal. “God,” says St. Vasily, before anything visible now existed, put it in his mind and, having moved to bring into existence what did not exist, he simultaneously thought about what the world should be like and produced matter corresponding to the form of the world. For heaven He separated a nature suitable for heaven and into the form of the earth He put an essence characteristic of the earth and necessary for it. He gave to fire, water, air and the forms that he wanted and brought their essence, as required by the mental representation of each of the created things. And He united the whole world, consisting of heterogeneous parts, with some indissoluble union of love into one communion and one harmony; so that the parts, in their position, very distant from one another, seem to be connected through sympathy (gravity or magnetism). Therefore, let those who, with the help of their own speculations, measure a power incomprehensible to understanding and completely inexpressible in human language, cease their fabulous constructions.” Everything in the world, just as it received the beginning of existence from God, so the very forces imparted by God to nature manifested themselves externally not by accidental collision with each other, but by the command of the creative word of God: let it be. “Earth,” says St. Vasily, - according to the strength invested in her by the Creator, although she was ready to give birth to all this (i.e., different types of bread, herbs and flowers), she nevertheless waited for a decent time so that, by God’s command, she would bring her offspring into the world.” Conversation 3. At the beginning of the conversation, St. Basil says: “Having entertained your souls yesterday, as far as possible, with a conversation about the words of God, we gathered again the next day to review the miracles of the deeds of the second day. Since it was a morning and a weekday, seeing in the church of God various artisans who had come there both to pray and to listen to his teachings, but who still had the necessary work to earn food for themselves and their family, St. Vasily encourages their zeal with his words, showing that the time they devote to God will not be wasted for them. It is also not hidden from me that among us there are many artisans who, engaged in artistic handicrafts, hardly earn their living through daily work, and they cut off my word so as not to be distracted from work for long. What will I tell them? The fact that part of the time given as a loan to God is not lost, but is rewarded by Him with great profit. For all those circumstances that contribute to the work, the Lord will prosper those who prefer the spiritual, giving in their affairs both the strength of the body, and the zeal of the soul, and the convenience of selling work, and success in their whole life. But even if in this life the fruits of your labors did not correspond to your hopes, at least for the next century there is a good treasure - the teaching of the Spirit. Therefore, put away all worldly cares from your heart and now gather yourself entirely within yourself. For there is little benefit if you are here with your body and your heart is occupied with earthly treasure.” What an edifying example these artisans represent for the present time, not only to their fellow craftsmen, but also to people better off with the means of subsistence! How many people there are who, under the pretext of complex tasks and worries during the coming day, not only refuse to visit the church of God every day, but also from attentive prayer at home, forgetting the word of the Wise: He who builds labors in vain, if the Lord does not build! And what is the fruit of such a multi-care activity, the basis of which did not want to ask for God’s blessing? Most often, there is either failure in business or the use of the resulting fruits is harmful to the soul and body. The end of everything is later repentance, and sometimes with murmuring against God, Whom they did not want to call upon to help themselves at the right time. Focusing on the words: God speaks, St. Vasily asks: how does God speak? Is it the same as us? No, he answers the question himself: God’s will and the first aspiration of mental movement is already God’s word.” Then, paying attention to the fact that at the beginning it was said: God created the heavens and the earth, so, he says, Scripture could have said further: create the light, and then: create the firmament. - But since it is said: God speaks, then Scripture forces us to assume that there was someone who listened to the word of God and carried out the commands of God. “With this turn of phrase,” says St. Vasily, “Scripture, as it were, takes a roundabout road and gradually brings us closer to the thought of the Only Begotten. But for the incorporeal nature, even in this case there was no need for a word pronounced through the voice, because the very thoughts could be transmitted to the Co-operator. For what need is there of a word for those who can communicate their wills to each other mentally?” “For this reason,” he further notes, “this image of ranting was used to arouse our minds to research about the Person to whom the words are spoken. Explaining the words: and God saw that it was good, St. Basil says that God approves of each part of his creation, not as a person who likes and is pleasantly impressed by the external form of an object, but as a great artist who sees in each individual part of his creation the ability and strength to achieve the common goal intended for the whole world. “What is created by God,” he says, “is not pleasing to the eyes of God, and God’s approval of beauty is not the same as it is with us. For Him, what is beautiful is what is accomplished according to the law of art and is directed to a beneficial end. Therefore, He who assumed a clear purpose for what was being created, approved what was being created in parts, in accordance with His artistic laws, as long as it served to achieve the end. – When the hand lies on its own, and the eye is placed separately and each member of the statue is placed separately, then they will not seem beautiful to everyone. And if everything is put in its place, then the beauty of proportionality is often seen at first glance even by the ignorant. But the artist, even before adding, knows the beauty of each part and praises it separately, raising his thought to the end. God is now portrayed as such an artist, approving each of his works separately. But He will give due praise to the whole world taken together when it is created.” But how did St. begin his conversation? Vasily, with his attentiveness to the artisans who came to the church to listen to his teachings, ends it by addressing his words to them. “Let the talk about the second day cease with us, so that hardworking listeners will have time to examine what they have heard and what is useful, they will retain in memory and through careful reflection, as if through some digestion, prepare for the removal of those who serve for the benefit, and so that those who earn food through labor will have the leisure to finish their cares in the remaining free time and with a soul clean from worries, come to the evening feast of the word.” What amazing tirelessness in preaching the word of God in the great teacher of truth! There was a conversation in the morning, and another one is already being prepared for the evening! But what a zeal for listening to his words in his students, worthy of a great teacher! Despite the labors ahead of them to earn daily food, they rush to listen to his words both early in the morning and late in the evening. This conversation by St. Vasily concluded with good wishes to all, both those present in the church and those who, when looking at this visible world, are not content with perceiving only impressions from external objects, but want to ascend from the visible in thought and to the invisible, sensual eyes of the Creator of the universe. “May God, who created great things, give you an understanding of His truth in everything, so that from what is visible you may know the invisible, from the greatness and beauty of creatures you gather a suitable understanding of Him who created us. For from the creation of the world His invisible being has been conceived by created beings, and His ever-present power and Divinity are visible (Rom. 1:20). May He give you in the earth, and in the air, and in the sky, and in the water, and in the night, and in the day, and in everything visible, to collect clear reminders of the Benefactor. For we will not leave any time for sins, we will not give way to the enemy in our hearts, if through constant remembrance we instill in ourselves God, to whom is all glory and worship, now and always and unto the ages of ages.” Conversation 4. At the beginning of this conversation, in order to arouse the attention of those present in the church to listen to the story of the wondrous deeds of God and to reject the pretext for renouncing this soul-saving work by the tedium of long conversations, he points out that there are people who are not tired of saturating their eyes from early morning until late evening with ideas harmful to the soul. This tirelessness of ill-minded people shows that a person has a lot of strength for the work that he loves; if he gets tired of long church services or church preaching, it is only because he either has not yet realized the benefit for his soul from this work and has not been able to develop love for it. “There are cities,” he says, “in which the inhabitants, from late morning until the evening, saturate their eyes with all kinds of performances of miracles and no matter how much they listen to some immodest and indecent songs, from which a lot of shamelessness necessarily arises in their souls, yet they cannot get enough of them. Even many consider such people happy, because they, having left trading in the markets or practicing the arts necessary for life, spend their designated time of life in idleness and amusements, not knowing that the disgrace, abundant in immodest spectacles for those present in it, serves as a general and public school of debauchery and that the most harmonious sounds of pipes and fornicating songs, having been imprinted in the souls of listeners, prompt everyone to nothing other than outrage. And passionate hunters of the horse lists even in their dreams compete about horses, re-harness chariots, change charioteers, and in general, even in sleepy dreams, do not leave the daytime madness. So, are we, whom the Lord, the great Wonderworker and Artist has now called together to show us His works, will we be burdened with contemplation or will we be lazy to listen to the words of the Spirit? Shouldn’t we, on the contrary, surround this great and full of variety artistic church of God’s creation, and, each with our thoughts reaching back to ancient times, let’s consider the decoration of the universe? And God said: let the waters be gathered... into one gathering. “Perhaps,” says St. Vasily, another will ask: why does Scripture attribute what belongs to water by nature, that is, the power to strive down the slope, to the command of the Creator? In other words, but even now they ask the same question. They say: when, as a result of volcanic eruptions and the movement of the fiery molten mass located inside the earth, mountains and deep depressions were formed on the surface of the earth’s crust, then naturally, due to the force of gravity, the waters that had previously covered the entire surface of the earth should have flowed into the lowlands and basins, and the elevated places would have dried up without any special command from the Creator.” Why the word: let it gather. “We answer,” says St. Vasily: you became aware of the movements of water after the command of the Lord. Now it spreads everywhere, is unstable, by nature tends to sloping and concave places, but what power it had before, as a result of this command, such a desire to move occurred in it, you yourself do not know and could not hear from any eyewitness... If waters flow, then it is by God’s command; and if the sea is contained within its boundaries, then this is a consequence of the first law... The verb creates nature itself, and the command given then to the creature determined the order of creation for the subsequent time.” What is it, after this definition of the power of nature, to which natural scientists, who have not known God in nature, give such a powerful and creative force? The forces of nature are nothing more and nothing less than a continuation of the action of the same omnipotent and creative word of the Creator of the universe, which He said at the beginning: let it be, and so on. Some similarity to understanding the action of the creative word of God can be found in human actions. The king said the word that certain corps of troops at certain times of the year would move from one point of his kingdom to another and, after a certain period of time, would return to their previous point. Until the king’s word is canceled or changed by himself, the troops will move according to their destination. Who moves troops from place to place? A simpleton who pays attention only to intermediate weapons will, of course, say that the infantry is moved by the infantrymen’s own legs, and the cavalry is moved by horses. But a person who is able to think back to the original reason for the movement of troops will undoubtedly say that the troops are moved by the king’s word. Thus, a person, unable to rise in thought to the original and supreme Cause of everything that lives, moves and moves, attributes all visible phenomena of nature, as the main and only factors, to the force of gravity, the force of elasticity, the force of chemical affinity, or something similar. But a person raised by faith to the consciousness of the Supreme Cause says that God produces everything in the world and without Him nothing happens, not even the smallest thing, like a hair falling from the head. And therefore, in prayer, we turn not to the mediating causes of some events in our lives, favorable or unfavorable, but to the supreme cause - God. Continuing to clarify the idea that everything on earth during the initial creation did not happen as a result of the currently known forces of nature, but solely through the action of the creative word of God, he draws attention to the following passages of Scripture: and let the dry land appear. “God did not say: let the earth appear; so as not to show it as not yet constructed, dirty, mixed with water, not having received its characteristic image and proper strength, and at the same time so that we do not attribute the reason for the drying of the earth to the sun, the Creator caused the dryness of the earth before the creation of the sun. Delve into the meaning of what is written; not only the excess water drained from the earth, but even the water mixed with the earth in the depths came out of it (that is, from the earth, from which the land came), obeying the immutable command of the Lord.” And this did not require millennia, as some now think, but the creative word of God was immediately followed by fulfillment. And God said: let dry land appear, and so quickly. Paying attention again to the words: and God saw as good, he says: “Scripture does not show that some pleasant view of the sea was revealed to God. For the Creator does not look at the beauty of creatures with his eyes, but with ineffable wisdom he contemplates what is happening. It is truly a delightful sight to see the white sea when constant silence reigns over it; it is also delightful when its ridge, swayed by quiet winds, appears to the audience in a purple or azure color, when it does not hit the adjacent land hard, but seems to kiss it in a peaceful embrace: however, one should not think that, according to the words of Scripture, the sea appears to God in the same sense as beautiful and pleasant; On the contrary, in Scripture beauty is defined in relation to the universe.” “So, the sea is beautiful before God, because moisture from it flows through the depths of the earth; it is also beautiful because it serves as a receiver of rivers, receives streams from everywhere and does not protrude from its limits. It is also wonderful because it serves as the beginning and source of air waters, when it is heated by the rays of the sun and deposits from itself through evaporation thin particles of water, which, being attracted to the mountainous space and then cooled, as having risen further than where the rays reflected by the earth's surface extend, with increasing cold they become rain and fatten the earth... The sea is beautiful before God in another respect, because it limits the islands and serves them both as decoration and fencing; and also because it brings into contact the most distant parts of the solid earth from each other, delivering unhindered communication to seafarers, through whom it supplies us with information about the unknown, enriches merchants, conveniently satisfies our vital needs, makes it possible for those in abundance to sell their surplus, and for those in need to compensate for their shortcomings.” It further shows that the entire beauty of the sea, in which it appeared to the eyes of the Creator, who determines the dignity of a part in relation to the whole, is impossible to describe. Conversation 5. In this conversation, St. Vasily confirms the previously expressed idea that at the beginning of the creation of the world everything came into being not as a result of the currently known forces of nature, but solely as a result of the creative word of God. And the very forces of nature arose into existence and activity as a result of the same creative word of God, together with those objects on which they could have an influence and in themselves do not constitute the cause of the existence of creatures, but only a way of discovering in subsequent times the creative word once spoken by God. Everything in subsequent times began to manifest itself in such forms and with such external aids as were ordained in the Divine plan even before the creation of any creature. The grass that now arises from a seed, generated by the original blade of grass at the command of the creative word of God: let the earth sprout the former grass, sowing the seed according to its kind - for its initial emergence from the earth, the seed for itself had the creative word of God: let the earth sprout the former. – And the subsequent order of appearance of the most perfect plants was not the same as indicated by short-sighted modern naturalists. It was not ferns and algae that arose first, but then, after several thousand years, when the air was cleared of the excessive amount of water vapor that filled the atmosphere and the sun's rays gained free access to the earth, majestic palm trees appeared. No, everything on earth arose immediately upon the utterance of the creative word of God: may the earth bring forth the former grass, sowing seed according to its kind, and the fruitful tree, producing fruit according to its kind, without even waiting for the appearance on the firmament of the heavenly shining and warming celestial body - the sun. The only law and the only force for the initial emergence of all genera of plants that covered the earth was the revelation of the Divine will in the word: let it sprout. Then, when the entire plant kingdom arose at the behest of the Divine will, it began to continue its existence according to the method indicated by God himself. “After the earth, having laid aside the burden of water,” says St. Vasily,” she calmed down, quite decently she was given the command to grow first grass, then trees, which, as we see, is still happening today. For the verb at that time and its first command became, as it were, a natural law and remained in the earth for subsequent times, giving it the power to give birth and bear fruit... The earth must itself produce vegetation without the need for any outside assistance. Since some think that the cause of what grows from the earth is the sun, which, by the attraction of heat, brings to the surface of the earth the power hidden in the depths, then the earth is decorated before the sun, so that those who are mistaken will stop worshiping the sun and admit that it gives the cause of life. Therefore, if they are convinced that the whole earth was decorated before the creation of the sun, then they will reduce the immense surprise towards it, judging that it was later in existence than grass and greenery... The earth, observing the laws of the Creator, starting with a sprout, in a short moment of time went through all types of growth and immediately brought vegetation to perfection. The meadows were filled with abundant grass; the fertile plains, rising from the harvest in the fluctuation of classes, retained the semblance of a roiling sea. Every kind of greenery and every kind of vegetable, everything that grows as a bush and that bears legumes, appeared then in abundance on the earth. For nothing then stopped the growth; the inexperience of farmers, poor air quality and any other reason did not harm what arose. Condemnation has not yet hindered the fertility of the earth: all this was before sin, for which we were condemned to eat bread in the sweat of our brow. It is said: let a fruitful tree sprout. At this word, the bushes thickened, all the trees, usually reaching extreme heights, ran out of the ground - spruces, cypresses, cedars, songbirds; all the small trees suddenly became branchy and dense; The plants used for crowns appeared - roses, myrtles and laurels. None of this existed on earth before, and in one instant everything came into existence with a property belonging to each, most clearly distinguished from foreign plants and recognizable by the characteristic characteristic of each.” “Let the earth sprout. This brief command immediately became a great nature and artistic word, producing countless properties of plants faster than our thoughts. The same command, still operating in the earth, encourages it, after each year, to reveal its power, which it has for the production of herbs, seeds and trees. Just as the kubar, according to the force of the first blow given to it, makes subsequent revolutions when it describes circles, keeping the center unshakable in itself, so the sequential order of nature, having received its beginning with the first command, extends throughout all subsequent time until it reaches the general end of the universe. Let us all hasten to him, bearing fruit in good deeds and being filled with them, so that we may plant them in the house of the Lord, in the courts of our God (Ps. 91:14) in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Having shown the benefits of all plants for humans or animals intended for human use, he also draws attention to the fact that among plants there are many that are harmful to humans. “So what? asks St. Vasily. Will we really refuse to give thanks for what is useful and begin to blame the Creator for what is destructive to our lives? But let us not realize that not everything was created for our womb. On the contrary, just as what is prescribed for our food is at our fingertips and is known to everyone, so every created thing in the whole creation fulfills some special law of its own. Since ox blood is poison for you, is it really necessary for you to either not create this animal or create the ox bloodless, although we need its strength for so many needs in life! But the reason living within you is enough for you to protect yourself from harmful things. If sheep and goats know how to avoid what is harmful to their lives through one sense of distinguishing what is harmful, then tell me, is it really difficult for you to avoid what is poisonous for you, who has both reason and medical science, indicating what is beneficial, and the experience of your predecessors, inspiring you to avoid what is harmful? But nothing of this was created in vain or without benefit. For it either serves as food for some animal or, with the help of medical science, is discovered to be suitable for ourselves, serving to alleviate some ailments. Starlings feed on hemlock and, due to the structure of their bodies, do not tolerate harm from poison; hellebore serves as food for quails and they remain unharmed by their constitution. But these same plants are sometimes useful to us. Doctors use mandrake to induce sleep and use opium to soothe severe pain in the body. And some used hemlock to pacify the rage of lust, and hellebore eradicated many long-standing diseases. Therefore, what you thought to blame the Creator for, the same thing turned into an incentive for you to be more grateful.” Having shown the benefit that the plant kingdom brings to man in relation to his body, it also indicates that a prudent and reflective person, when looking at this kingdom, can learn many useful lessons for his soul. “I would like,” says St. Vasily, - to firmly root in you wonder towards creation, so that no matter where you are and no matter what kind of plants you encounter, you will always renew in yourself a clear memory of the Creator. Therefore, firstly, when you see greenery and color on the grass, bring to mind human nature, recalling the image of the wise Isaiah: all flesh is like hay, and all the glory of man is like the flower of grass (Is. 40:6). The brevity of life, the short duration of the joys and joys of human well-being found in the Prophet the most decent analogy. Today he blossoms physically, is fattened with pleasures, has a fresh good color in accordance with his blooming age, is cheerful, free, unstoppable in his striving, but in the morning he is the most pitiful, either withered by time or weakened by illness. Another attracts attention with the abundance of wealth; there are many flatterers around him, an accompaniment of feigned friends who catch his favor, many relatives who wear a guise; a numerous swarm of servants, either taking care of his food or fulfilling his other needs, whom he drags along with him, leaving the house and returning home, thereby arousing the envy of those he meets. Add to wealth any civil power or honors from kings, or government of the people, or command over the army, staff-bearers, who here and there instill great fear in their subordinates, beatings, description of property, taking into custody, prisons, which all increase unbearable fear in their subordinates. And what after this! One night, or a fever, or a pain in the side, or pneumonia, snatching this man from among people, removes him from disgrace and the place of his action suddenly becomes deserted and this glory turns out to be nothing like a dream. That is why the Prophet likened human glory to the weakest flower.” Mentioning that a cockle sometimes grows on a wheat ear, the growth is not only useless for nutrition, but even harmful to health, he says: “such growths on a healthy ear represent those who distort the teaching of the Lord, have not studied the Scriptures as they should and are damaged by the teaching of the evil one, but join the healthy body of the Church in order to quietly communicate their damage to the uninfected.” Having pointed out how the vineyards are cultivated and how the vine grows, St. Vasily says: “One glance and a reasonable glance at the vine will be enough for you to inspire you with what nature reminds you of. For you remember, of course, about the likeness of the Lord, Who calls Himself a vine and a worker of the Father, but calls each of us a rod, through faith planted in the Church and encourages us to be prolific, so that we are not consigned to fire after being condemned for barrenness (John 15:16). And He never ceases to liken human souls to grapevines everywhere. For it is said: the grapes came to the beloved in the rose, in the fat place. And: I planted vines and fenced fences (Isa. 5:1-2). Obviously, by grapes he means human souls, for whom he built a fence - a stronghold of the commandments and protection from the Angels. For the Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him (Ps. 33:8). Then, as it were, he made a trench around us, placing in the Church the apostles first, the prophets second, and the teachers third (1 Cor. 12:28). The examples of ancient and blessed men, raising our thoughts to heights, did not leave them cast down and worthy of trampling. He also wants us, as if with some curls, to be intertwined with the nearby embraces of love and to rest in them, and always striving for the heavenly, like curling vine branches, trying to align ourselves with the highest peaks. He also demands that we endure being dug in. And the soul digs in by putting aside worldly worries, which are a burden for our hearts. Therefore, having put aside carnal love and attachment to wealth, and recognizing the addiction to local disastrous glory as despicable and ridiculous, he seemed to have dug in and renewed his strength, throwing off the vain burden of earthly wisdom. One should not, according to the word of the parable, grow into branches, that is, live for show and seek praise for interference; but one must be fruitful, providing the true Farmer with the testimony of deeds.” Noticing that sour pomegranates and bitter almonds, when the trunk at the root is turned and a juicy wedge of pear is inserted into the very middle of the core, changes their bitter juice to pleasant, he says: “let no one who spends his life in sin despair of himself, knowing that just as agriculture changes the quality of plants, so the care of the soul for virtue can prevail over all sorts of ailments.” Recalling an example from the activities of gardeners who, in order to strengthen the strength and better fertilize garden fig trees, plant wild ones along with them, St. Vasily says: “What does this mystery of nature give you to understand? That we must often borrow from people who are alien to faith the incentive to demonstrate good deeds. If you see that someone who lives in paganism or has been torn away from the Church by some perverse heresy is chaste in life and strives for moral decency in everything else, then all the more intensify your efforts to become like a fruitful fig tree, which gathers strength from the wild fig trees close to it, stops melting and more thoroughly nourishes its fruit.” Conversation 6. In this conversation, having briefly mentioned that heaven and earth preceded everything, after them light was created, night and day were distinguished; then again the firmament and the appearance of land; then the water is united into a permanent and definite assembly; the earth was filled with its own products, growing countless kinds of herbs and enriched with plants of all kinds - St. Vasily notes that the sun and moon did not yet exist, “so that those who do not know God would not call the sun the chief and father of light, and would not consider him the creator of earthly growths. Therefore, the fourth day came, and then God said: let there be lights in the firmament of heaven... the need for which the lights were created is also indicated. It is said: illuminate the earth. If the creation of light preceded the creation, then why is it said that the sun was now also created to illuminate? Then the very nature of light was produced, and now this solar body is being prepared to serve as a chariot for that primeval light. This explanation of St. Basil the Great is in agreement with the latest discoveries of natural scientists. The latest research by natural scientists has shown that the cause of light lies not in the heavenly bodies, which seem to us to be spilling their light everywhere, but in the ether - the finest matter, spread throughout the entire cosmic space and precisely in a certain number of vibrations of this subtle matter per second. Consequently, when light matter was created by God, then in order to illuminate the earth during the day it was only necessary to excite to a certain extent the activity of this light matter. And the reason that aroused the activity of this light matter during the day and brought it to a calm state at night was the creative word of the One who created it. But God, having once created something, gave certain laws to what He created for the continuation of its existence in subsequent times. Thus, having produced all the plants on earth at the beginning with one creative word, he gave these plants the law to continue their further existence through insemination. - Explanation of St. Basil, that the solar body was created to serve as a chariot for that primeval light, also in accordance with the latest discoveries of astronomers. According to their observations, it turned out that the sun is a dark body like all other planets, but surrounded on all sides by a dense mass of light matter. This light matter, previously scattered everywhere, by the command of God, was mainly concentrated near the sun, and the sun, who created it by God, as the main concentration of light matter, was commanded in all subsequent times until the end of the world, to be in signs, and in times, and in days, and in years. Later in this conversation, St. Vasily explains what benefits the sun and moon bring to the earth, how they sometimes serve as a sign of various changes in the atmosphere, and at the same time exposes the errors of the Hellenic sages, who attached such great importance to the influence of the heavenly bodies on the earth that they made not only the prosperity and unfortunate adventures in a person’s life, but also the very moral dispositions of his soul dependent on them. Conversation 7. This conversation talks about the emergence of the kingdom of living beings: birds, fish and all kinds of reptiles. – Modern naturalists who measure the omnipotence of God, incomprehensible to the human mind, by their powerlessness and the order of action of the currently known forces of nature, generated by God and acting in the order indicated by Him, say that the Creator created one animal cell, from which, over the course of many millennia, the most perfect organisms developed through constant improvement. Who wouldn’t see in such speculation a mere play on words with a complete lack of common sense! According to such thinkers, the forces of nature are so powerful that they could, from a microscopic ciliate or a shapeless slug, although after a very long period of time, produce a cow, a horse, a monkey and finally a person, but at the same time they are so powerless that they could not even produce one animal cell. – So, a lie destroys itself, therefore, it is not worth the trouble to expose it in detail. We, as disciples of the incarnate Truth - our Lord Jesus Christ, will better listen to the story of the prophet Moses about the creation of living beings, and the holy one enlightened by the Spirit of God. Basil the Great. And God said, says the prophet Moses: let the waters bring forth the creeping things of the souls of the living, according to their kind, and the birds that fly in the firmament of the heaven, according to their kind (Gen. 1:20). “A command has come out,” says St. Vasily, - and immediately rivers produce and lakes give birth to their own and natural rocks; and the sea is belly-sick with all kinds of floating animals. Wherever there is water, in swamps and muddy places, it does not remain inactive and does not participate in the reproduction of creatures. For there is no doubt that toads, midges and mosquitoes arose from the water. What is visible now serves as proof of the past. Thus, all water hurried to fulfill the command of the Creator; the active and self-propelled life of creatures is immediately revealed by the great and ineffable power of God, because by the command of God the waters have been given the ability to give birth to life..... The voice of the command is short, or better to say, it is not a voice, but only a wave and aspiration of the will: but the thought contained in the command is as comprehensive as there are differences and similarities in fish and all reptiles”... “Let the waters of the creeping things destroy the souls of the living according to their kind. Now he commands the firstfruits of each species to come into being, and, as it were, some seeds of nature, and the multitude of living creatures is hidden in the subsequent succession, when they need to grow and multiply.” This is the story of the creation of the original living beings, which is as natural and understandable to the human mind as it is consistent with the omnipotence of the Creator. All living and sentient creatures, even before their awakening into existence, existed in the thought of God, and when the will of God moved towards the implementation of His thought, everything immediately came into being, and then the law was already given by the Creator about the method of procreation of each creature and the place of life and means of nutrition. And every creature, rightly recognized as incapable of reflection, fulfills the divine law with all accuracy, obeying the first omnipotent word of the Creator. Let’s not even talk about birds that fly thousands of miles to countries convenient for their feeding and childbirth: their paths are determined without any direction by surface signs and sometimes return to the same places and nests where they raised their children last summer. Let’s not talk about fish, at certain times, without any open command, moving in huge masses to places more capable of feeding them and continuing their species. Every insect knows how to continue its race, where to place the embryo of future offspring, how to protect itself from the harmful influences of the weather, and how to nourish its future offspring until they develop the ability to maintain their existence on their own. Who taught them all this? No one, of course, except God, who once said forever: grow and multiply, and fill the waters of the seas: and let the birds multiply on the earth (Gen. 1:22). Everything in God’s creations, no matter what you look at, small and great, everything reminds of the wisdom and goodness of the Divine; and a well-intentioned and reflective person will always be able to extract edification for his soul from examining creatures. With these lessons of nature, St. Vasily uses it not only to satisfy the curiosity of the listeners who greedily listened to his words, but also to teach them to use various natural phenomena for the edification of their souls. Having drawn attention to the fact that fish, in order to give birth and more conveniently raise their young in fresh waters, move in large numbers from the salty waters of the seas to the fresher waters of bays and rivers, he asks: “Who moves them? What royal command, what decrees nailed on the square notify about the coming date? Who are their guides? Do you see how God’s order replaces everything and reaches the smallest creatures! – A fish will not contradict God’s law, but we humans do not follow saving instructions. Do not despise fish, because they are completely dumb and unreasonable: but be afraid, lest you become more unreasonable than fish through opposition to the Creator’s decree... If unreasonable creatures are shrewd and skillful in taking care of their own salvation, and if the fish knows what to choose and what to run from; What shall we say, distinguished by understanding, instructed by the law, prompted by promises, wise by the Spirit, and yet managing our affairs more foolishly than fish? For they know how to think a little about the future, but we, having rejected hope for the future, are ruining our lives in bestial voluptuousness. A fish changes so many seas to find some kind of comfort, what can you say, spending your life in idleness? Idleness is the beginning of evil deeds. Let no one excuse himself by ignorance. We have a natural mind embedded in us, which teaches us to appropriate what is good and remove what is harmful from ourselves.” “I cannot keep silent,” says St. Vasily, - about the cunning and thievery of the polyp, which every time takes on the color of a stone to which it easily sticks; why many fish, swimming without fear, approach the polyp just like a stone and become ready prey for the cunning one. Such are the dispositions of those who please every prevailing power, each time conform to the circumstances, do not always adhere to the same intention, conveniently do one thing or another, respect chastity with the chaste, are incontinent with the intemperate, and change their dispositions to please everyone. It is not easy to evade such people and save yourself from the harm they cause, because the deceit they conceive is hidden under the guise of friendship. The Lord calls people of this nature ravenous wolves, who appear in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). Run at everything of a quirky and multi-personal nature; pursue truth, sincerity and simplicity. The snake is variegated, and that is why it is condemned to grovel. The righteous is not wicked: therefore the Lord brings like-minded people into the house (Ps. 67:7). At the conclusion of the conversation, St. Vasily says: “here I am forced to put an end to the word both by bodily weakness and evening time, although for lovers of listening I could add many more amazing things about sea works... But having escaped from the depths, we will resort to solid ground 95. For the wonders of the universe, one after another, overwhelming us, as if like waves, in frequent and continuous influxes, kept our word submerged in the waters; although it will be surprising if our thought does not meet even greater miracles on solid ground and, following the example of Jonah, does not run again to the sea. But it seems to me that my word, carried away by thousands of miracles, forgot proportionality and suffered the same fate as those sailing on the sea, who, lacking indispensable signs to measure their movement, often do not know how far they have sailed. It seems to me that the same thing happened to us: while the word flowed around creation, we did not feel the multitude of what we said. But although this honest assembly has a desire to listen and for the ears of slaves the story of the miracles of the Masters is pleasant, however, having here introduced the word into the pier, let us wait for the day to retell the rest. Let us all rise, give thanks for what has been said and pray for the fulfillment of what remains. Let the subject of table conversation during your meal be both what the word touched on in the morning and what it expounded in the evening; in thoughts of this, caught in sleep and resting, let yourself enjoy the joy of the day, so that you can tell you about yourself: I sleep, but my heart watches (Song 5:2), learning day and night in the law of the Lord.” Let us again pay attention both to the tirelessness of the inspired preacher, who, despite bodily weakness and exhaustion of physical strength, prompted by the tireless zeal of the spirit, morning and evening, edified his flock with the word, and to the zeal for his word in the listeners, who, despite the day's labors and worries, appeared in the church of the Lord morning and evening. Let us not only take note, but also fulfill the word of St. Vasily that the subject of our conversations at the table should be what touched our ears in the church of God or from a church service or from a teaching delivered by the pastor of the church. Nowadays, to great regret, the subject of conversation at the table and after the table for the most part is gossip from different people, known and unknown, gossip and disorderly laughter, so that it is difficult for someone who has entered such a society of people to determine whether this society is Christian or pagan. Conversation 8. In this conversation, St. Vasily confirms the previously expressed idea that everything suddenly came into existence in the full perfection of its development, and then each kind of living beings had to continue its existence in the way indicated by God. And God said: let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, and the four-footed creature, the creeping thing, and the beast of the earth according to its kind: and so it came to pass (Gen. 1:24). - “When he said: let him bleed, it does not mean that the earth wears out what was already in it, but He who gave the command gave the earth the power to mortar. For when the earth heard: let the former herb and fruitful tree grow: it did not bring forth some herb hidden in it, nor did it let out a palm, or an oak, or a cypress hidden somewhere below in the depths of its surface, but God’s word creates the nature of creatures. Let the earth sprout: it will not give up what it has, but it will acquire what it does not have, since God grants the power to act. So it is now: let the earth bring forth the living soul, not the one that is already in it, but the one that was given to it by God through this very commandment.” Later in this conversation, St. Vasily shows both the superiority in the organization of birds over fish, and in giving them a greater degree of development in the instinctive understanding of the means to satisfy their natural needs. At the same time, it shows that both birds and animals use only those means and methods for maintaining their existence that are indicated to them by God, without changing them to others; which shows in them both unconditional and at the same time unconscious submission to the will of God and an inability to self-improvement, which advantage is given only to man. Conversation 9. In this conversation, comparing the structure of the body of four-legged animals with the structure of man and turning his word to those present in the church, he says: “your head is raised to heaven, your eyes are looking at grief. Therefore, although you sometimes dishonor yourself with carnal passions, working with the belly and the lower parts of the belly, having attached yourself to foolish beasts and becoming like them (Ps. 48:13); however, it is appropriate for you to have a different concern - to seek the highest, where Christ is (Col. 3:1), to be higher in your thoughts than earthly things. And whatever form you are given, so dispose of your life. Have your life in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Your true fatherland is Jerusalem above; your citizens and countrymen are the firstborn, written in heaven (Heb. 12:20). Some unreasonable thinkers, considering visible nature, instead of reverence for the all-wise and most good Creator, try to blame the Creator for the creation of poisonous insects and ferocious animals, which often cause harm to humans. But St. Basil shows such blasphemous thinkers who blaspheme the Saint that if animals, instead of submitting to man, as was ordained in the beginning, attack him and harm him: then the reason for this is not God, but man himself, who by his resistance to God has rebelled against himself and all creation. But even now, when man reaches the purity and holiness in which the primordial man was before his fall, he remains not only unharmed by poisonous snakes, but also the sovereign ruler of the most ferocious beasts, as the examples of many saints prove. “Don’t blame anyone for the Creator,” says St. Vasily - that He produced animals that are poisonous, destructive and hostile to our life. Otherwise, someone will begin to blame the nurturer for putting the mobility of youth in order with blows and whips and curbing insolence. Animals are also made a proof of faith. Do you believe the Lord, who said: tread on the asp and the basilisk, and cross the lion and the serpent (Ps. 90:13)? And by faith you have the power to trample on snakes and scorpions. Don’t you know that the viper that touched Paul while he was gathering brushwood did him no harm, because the Saint was found full of faith (Acts 28:3-6). And if you do not have faith, then fear not the beast, but your own, more than unbelief, through which you have made yourself susceptible to destruction from everything.” Discourses on the Psalms were delivered by St. Basil in church, and these conversations were also said daily, as can be seen from the conversation at the end of Psalm 14. We currently have his conversations not on all Psalms; but there is reason to think that there were more of them: for example, in the conversation on Psalm 14, there is mention of another conversation on the same Psalm, spoken the day before, which we do not have. At the end of the conversation on the first Psalm, it promises a continuation, but this continuation, however, is not included in the remaining conversations on the Psalms. Leaving those who wish to understand the meaning of the Psalms to read all the conversations of St. Vasily, in order to familiarize our readers with them, we will point out only some places that can serve as the best guide for moral actions for modern Christians. In a conversation on the first psalm of St. Vasily first of all reveals the comprehensive benefit that they bring to those who read or sing them. “The Book of Psalms,” he says, “contains in itself what is useful from all (sacred) books. She prophesies about the future, brings events to memory, gives laws for life, offers rules for activity. In short, she is the general treasury of good teachings and carefully seeks out what is beneficial to everyone. She heals the old wounds of the soul, and gives quick healing to the recently wounded, and restores the painful, and supports the undamaged; in general, as much as possible, it destroys the passions that dominate souls in human life under different forms. And at the same time, it produces in a person some kind of quiet pleasure and pleasure, which makes the mind chaste.... If someone, like a beast, became enraged with anger, how soon will the Psalm sweeten his ears - he will go away, immediately taming the ferocity of the soul within himself with sweet singing. Psalm is the silence of souls, the dispenser of peace; he calms rebellious and agitated thoughts; it softens the irritability of the soul and disciplines intemperance... The psalm is a refuge from demons, entry under the protection of Angels, a weapon in night insurance, repose from daytime labors, safety for babies, decoration in a blooming age, consolation for the elderly, the most decent decoration for wives. The psalm inhabits the deserts, makes the marketplaces healthy.” Blessed is the man who did not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Paying attention to the word: don’t go, St. Vasily says: “Whoever is still alive cannot be called blessed due to the uncertainty of the end of life; but whoever fulfilled the duties assigned to him and concluded his life with a blameless end, it is safe to call him blessed. Why are those who walk in the law of the Lord blessed (Ps. 119:1)? Here Scripture calls those who have not walked, but still walk in the law, blessed. This is because those who do good for its own sake are worthy of praise; and those who avoid evil deserve praise not when they avoid sin once or twice, but when they are able to forever avoid the temptation of evil.” Blessed is the man who does not follow the counsel of the wicked. Calling any doubt about the existence of God, God's judgment and Divine providence the advice of the wicked, St. Basil says: “therefore, blessed is he who has not given himself room for doubt about God, who has not fallen into cowardice at the sight of the present (i.e., the vicissitudes of life and sometimes inequality in the division of external well-being between the righteous and the wicked), but expects what he expects, who has not had an incredulous thought about the Creator of us.” “Blessed is he who does not stand in the way of sinners. Life is called a path because each of those born hastens to the end. Just as those sitting on a ship, without any effort, are carried by the wind towards the pier, and although they themselves do not feel it, the running of the ship brings them closer to the goal: so we, with the passing time of our life, as if by some continuous and incessant movement in the imperceptible flow of life, are each carried away to our limit. For example: are you sleeping? and time is running away from you. Are you awake and your mind is busy? but together life is wasted, although it runs away from our feelings. All of us humans are running along some kind of field and each of us is in a hurry to reach our goal, so we are all on a journey. And in this way you can form an idea about this path. You are a traveler in this life; everything passes by; everything remains behind you; On the way you see a plant, or grass, or water, or something else that is worthy of your sight: you admire it for a short time, and move on. Again you encounter stones, abysses, cliffs, rocks, stumps, and sometimes animals, reptiles, thorns, or something else unpleasant: you grieved for a short time and then left. That's life; she has neither permanent pleasures nor long-lasting sorrows.” “What do you mean not a hundred? A person, being in the first age, is still neither vicious nor virtuous, because this age is incapable of either state. But when the mind in us has matured, then what is written comes true: the commandment that came, sin came to life, and I died (Rom. 7:9-10). For evil thoughts arise, born in our souls from carnal passions. Indeed, the commandment has come, that is, the knowledge of good has been acquired, and if it does not overcome evil thoughts, but allows the mind to be enslaved to passions, then sin has come to life, and the mind has died, having become dead through the Fall. Therefore, blessed is he who has not become stubborn in the path of sinners, but has entered into a pious life with a good mind.” “There are two paths, one opposite to the other - the wide and spacious path, and the narrow and sorrowful path. The two are also guidebooks and each of them tries to appeal to themselves. On a smooth and sloping path, the guidebook is deceptive; This is a crafty demon and through pleasure he draws those who follow him into destruction: and on the path that is not smooth and steep, a good Angel guides those who follow him through the many difficulties of virtue to a blissful end. While each of us is a baby and chases what pleases us in the present, until then he does not care the least about the future. But having already become a husband, when his concepts have been perfected, he seems to see that life is divided before him and leads, now to virtue, now to vice; and often turning his spiritual eye to them, he discerns what is characteristic of virtue and vice. The life of sinners shows in itself all the pleasures of the present age. The path of those being saved promises as much future blessings as it represents as many labors in the present. But a voluptuous and intemperate life offers not the expected later, but the real pleasure. Therefore, every soul becomes whirled and cannot stand among its thoughts. When he brings the eternal to his mind, he chooses virtue; when he turns his attention to the present, he prefers pleasure. Here he sees coolness for the flesh, and there its enslavement; here is drunkenness, and there is fasting; here unbridled laughter, and there copious tears; here dancing, and there prayer; here there is a flute, and there there is sighing; here is fornication, and there is virginity. since true good is intelligible to reason only through faith, and the sweetness of sin is at our fingertips: then blessed is he who is not carried away into destruction by the lures of pleasure, but patiently awaits the hope of salvation, and when choosing one path or another, will not enter the path leading to evil.” And do not sit on the seats of the destroyers. Under the seat, says St. Vasily, - of course, a fixed and constant inertia in the approval of sin. We must beware of this, because zealous indifference to sin produces in our souls some incorrigible habit. For an old spiritual passion or a time-established thought of sin is difficult to heal, or becomes completely incurable when skills, as most often happen, turn into nature. Therefore, we should desire that we not even touch evil. And the other way is to immediately run away from temptation, like a blow inflicted by an archer, according to what is written by Solomon about an evil wife: direct your eye lower to her, but jump back, do not slow down (Proverbs 9:18). And now I know those who in their youth crawled into carnal passions, and until they turn gray, out of habit of evil, remain in sins. Just as pigs, wallowing in the mud, continually become more and more covered in mud, so these people, through voluptuousness, cover themselves with new shame every day. So, it is a blessed thing to not think of evil. If, caught by the enemy, you have taken into your soul the advice of wickedness, do not remain in sin. And if you have been subjected to this, do not establish yourself in evil. Therefore, do not sit on the seats of the destroyers.” “If you understand what kind of seat Scripture means, namely, what it means to remain in evil for a long time, then investigate who it calls destroyers. About the pestilence, people knowledgeable in this matter say that if it touches one person or livestock, it spreads through communication to all those approaching. Such is the nature of this disease that everyone from each other is filled with the same weakness. Such are the workers of iniquity. For, by transmitting the disease to each other, everyone suffers from the disease together and perishes together. Have you ever seen how fornicators sit in the marketplace, ridicule the chaste, tell their shameful deeds, their activities worthy of darkness, and list the cases of their dishonor as exploits or other valor. These are destroyers who try to pass on their own vice to everyone and strive to make many similar to themselves in order to avoid reproach when the vices become common. Fire, having touched a combustible substance, cannot but engulf all this substance, especially if a strong wind blows, which carries the flame from one place to another. Likewise, sin, having touched one person, cannot but spread to all those approaching, when evil spirits fan it. Thus, the spirit of fornication is not limited to dishonoring one, but immediately comrades join in: feasts, drunkenness, shameful stories and an indecent woman who drinks together, smiles at one, seduces another and disposes everyone to the same sin. Is this infection really small, the spread of evil is of little importance... So, do not sit on the seat of the destroyers, do not participate in the meeting of people who damage morality and are harmful, do not remain in the company of advisers for evil! At the end of the conversation he says: “It is difficult for me to continue serving the word, because due to my congenital weakness I lack a voice,” and therefore promises to continue it in the future. Conversation on Psalm 7. Save me from all those who persecute me, and deliver me, lest a lion snatch away my soul. – Having explained these words, St. Vasily draws attention to the fact that the enemy does not leave God’s ascetics without trials even at their very exit from this life. “I think,” he says, “that about the courageous ascetics of God, who throughout their entire lives fought quite hard against invisible enemies: when they escape all their persecutions, being at the end of their lives, the prince of this age inquires in order to keep them with him, if there are wounds on them received during the struggle or any stains and imprints of sin. And if they are found unwounded and unsullied, then, as invincible, as free, they will be laid to rest by Christ. Therefore, the Prophet prays for the future and present life.” Conversation on Psalm 28. – Bring glory and honor to the Lord. St. Basil explains how and with what we can glorify God, and at the same time shows that, being carried away by any sinful disposition, we contribute to the glorification of the enemy of our souls - the devil, for which we will be condemned together with him. “And that our sin,” he says, “turns into glory to the one who inspires it in us, understand this from the likeness. Two military leaders enter into battle. When one army wins, its leader gains glory, and when the opposing army wins, all honor belongs to the commander of that other army. Thus, in your good deeds the Lord is glorified, and in your negative deeds, the enemy is glorified. Don't imagine that your enemies are far away; and do not look at the military leaders from afar, but look at yourself, and you will find the perfect fidelity of the likeness. For when the mind fights with passion and, with its effort and attentiveness, gains the upper hand, then it triumphs over passion, and with its success, as it were, crowns God himself; and when, having weakened, he succumbs to lust, then, having become a slave and captive of sins, he gives the enemy an opportunity for boasting, exaltation and arrogance.” But glorifying God with good deeds does not remain fruitless for ourselves. “Whoever here brings glory and honor to the Lord through good deeds will treasure up glory and honor for himself during the righteous reward of the Judge.” Analyzing the words: the voice of the Lord on the waters, St. Basil draws attention to what a voice is and how the voice of the Lord, that is, the will of God, expressed in words understandable to us, was communicated to the Prophets. Is it the way we communicate our thought to another person, that is, through shaking the air between us and the other person, making an impression on his auditory organ, or in some other way. - St. Basil does not allow this intermediary cause - the shaking of the air when communicating the will of God to the Prophets. Air, as a mediating cause for the communication of our thoughts to another person, is necessary only for our souls, covered with flesh, and therefore capable of entering into communication with the soul of another person only through the mediation of bodily organs and the air located between the speakers. But God, as the purest Spirit, can communicate His will to people sanctified by His grace and appointed to be instruments for the fulfillment of His special will, entering into direct communication with their mental power. To clarify this direct communication of God with holy men, St. Vasily pays attention to dreams. In sleepy visions, we hear sounds and certain words without shaking the external air, and we clearly remember the words heard in sleepy visions in the waking state with the same clarity and convincingness in reality of what we heard, as if we heard in reality. This shows “that it is possible to excite in the soul various ideas of sounds and words without the mediation of air and external organs.” What is the voice of the Lord? “This voice,” says St. Basil, is of a completely different kind, and to those who hear him, the sovereign (i.e., the mind) represents itself in that person to whom God wants to reveal His own voice, so this idea has similarities with what often happens in a dream. For just as, without shaking the air, as a result of ideas that occur in sleep, we retain in memory certain words and sounds, not through hearing, receiving a voice, because it is imprinted in our very heart, so the voice that comes to the Prophets from God must be something similar to this.” The voice of the Lord cutting off the flames of fire. Clarifying these words, St. Vasily shows that the apparently inseparable properties of fire - to burn and illuminate, the Lord, by His power, can separate one from the other, sometimes leaving in the fire one burning sensation without light, and sometimes light without the burning power. “The flame of fire,” he says, “was suppressed in Babylon, as we see from the story of the three youths, when the furnace poured it over forty-nine cubits and burned everyone standing around (Dan. 3:47); the flame, suppressed by the command of God, took in the spirit and provided the youths with the most pleasant breeze and coolness, so that they were in a calm state, as if under a tree’s shadow. For it is said: there was a noise like the spirit of dew (Dan. 3:50). And the suppression of the fiery nature is much more amazing than the division of the Red Sea into parts. But the voice of the Lord interrupts the natural continuity and coherence of fire. Although according to human concepts fire seems uncut and indivisible, however, by the command of God it is stopped and divided. I think that the fire, prepared as punishment for the devil and his angels, is stopped by the voice of the Lord at that end, so that from the two powers inherent in fire, namely, the power to burn and the power to illuminate, the terrible and punitive in the fire would be given to those worthy of burning, and the luminous and radiant would be separated for the joy of those who are having fun. Therefore, the voice of the Lord, cutting off and dividing the flame of fire, is needed so that what is not bright becomes the fire of punishment, and what does not burn remains the light of repose.” And in His church everyone speaks glory. Taking advantage of the clarity of these words of St. Vasily gives instructions on how one should stand in the church and together denounces those standing indecently. “Let them hear the words of the Psalm,” he says, “and let those who indulge in many words be ashamed. What does the Psalm say? He who is in the church of God does not speak evil and does not proclaim vanity or anything full of shame, but in His church everyone speaks glory. Here the holy Angels stand and write down your words, here the Lord himself observes the disposition of those entering. Everyone's prayer is open before God. It is open to him who, by disposition, who reasonably asks for heavenly things, who just for show, utters words with the edges of his lips, but his heart is far from God; who, although he prays, asks for bodily health, carnal wealth, human glory. One should not pray for anything like this, as the Psalm teaches: but in His church everyone speaks glory. The heavens will tell the glory of God (Ps. 18:2). The job of Angels is to praise God. For the entire heavenly army, it is one thing to give glory to the Creator. Every creature, both silent and broadcast, both worldly and earthly, glorifies the Creator. But miserable people, having left their homes and flocked to churches in order to receive some benefit there, do not incline their ears to the words of God, do not come to the consciousness of their nature, do not grieve over the fact that they are possessed by sin, do not grieve, bringing their sins to mind, do not tremble at judgment, but with a smile stretching out their hands to each other, they make the house of prayer a place of long conversations, not heeding the Psalm, which testifies and says that in the church of God everyone speaks glory. And you not only do not speak glory yourself, but you also serve as an obstacle to others, drawing their attention to yourself and drowning out the teaching of the Spirit with your noise. Be careful, instead of receiving a reward for your praise, do not leave here condemned along with those who blaspheme the name of God. You have a Psalm, you have a prophecy, the Gospel commandments, the apostolic sermons. Let the tongue sing, let the mind explain the meaning of what has been said, so that you can sing with your spirit, and sing with your mind too. God does not demand, but wants you to become worthy of glorification. Therefore whatever a man sows, that will he also reap (Gal. 6, 7). Sow praise so that you may reap crowns and honors and praise in the kingdom of heaven.” Conversation on Psalm 32. – Rejoice in the righteousness of the Lord. To understand how great the joy of the righteous, who loved the Lord and completely surrendered to the guidance of His holy will, shows that this joy, if only instantly, will illuminate the soul of the sinner with some kind of light to show him what great good he is deprived of, remaining in captivity to sin; then the sinner, at this moment of grace, is ready to leave everything that has delighted him hitherto, just so as not to be deprived of this high pleasure. “If when in your heart,” says St. Vasily, - as if a falling light produced a sudden thought about God and illuminated your soul, so that you loved God and despised the world and everything corporeal; then from this weak and small likeness, know the complete state of the righteous, who evenly and continuously increase in joy in God. You are visited from time to time and rarely by this joy, according to God’s providence, so that a small suggestion of it will bring to your memory what you have lost; and in the righteous there is constant divine and heavenly joy, because the Spirit undoubtedly dwells in him: the first fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. 5:22). Therefore, rejoice in the righteousness of the Lord. For the righteous, the Lord is like a container, whoever enters it, of all necessity, should be content and rejoice. And the righteous becomes a place for the Lord, receiving Him into themselves. But the sinner gives place to the devil within himself, not heeding the one who says: below, give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). Conversation on Psalm 33. - Let the meek ones hear and rejoice. They are called meek, says St. Vasily, - those who have tamed their morals, freed from all passion, in whose souls no rebellion has settled... Meekness is the greatest of the virtues, and therefore is numbered among the beatitudes. For it is said: blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). This land—heavenly Jerusalem—is not the prey of those who compete, but is given as an inheritance to the long-suffering and meek.” Magnify the Lord with me. – “The Prophet gathers a decent face for himself to glorify the Lord. Do not join me, neither rebellious, nor embarrassed, nor inflaming the soul with carnal passions: but you, meek ones, you who have acquired firmness and constancy of soul, have shaken off laziness and drowsiness in fulfillment of your duties, you will magnify the Lord with me. The one who exalts the Lord is the one who endures temptation for piety with a great mind, a strong and exalted spirit; and then, who, with a great mind and in the deepest speculations, considers the greatness of creation, in order to contemplate their Creator in the greatness and beauty of creatures (Wis. 13:15). For the more one delves into the laws by which the universe is structured and governed, the more clearly one contemplates the magnificence of the Lord and magnifies the Lord to the best of one’s ability. since the mind and reflections of one person alone are not at all sufficient to understand the greatness of God, then the Prophet accepts all the meek together into the fellowship of this matter. Therefore, one must completely abolish oneself from external rebellions, create complete silence in the hidden church of the councils of the heart, and then begin to contemplate the truth. Listen to the one confessing his sin, what does he say? My eye is troubled with rage (Ps. 6:8). Not only anger, but also desire, timidity, and envy confuse the eye of the soul, and in general all passions confuse and confuse the insight of the soul. And just as it is impossible to receive the correct impression from a visible object with a clouded eye, so it is impossible to begin to know the truth with an indignant heart.” From this source, that is, the clouding of the eye of the mind by passions, the blindness of natural scientists occurs, who, marveling at the greatness of God’s creation, nevertheless do not see the Creator himself. The Angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear Him and deliver them. Having demonstrated the extraordinary power of the Angel of the Lord, equal to an entire army, St. Vasily notes, however, that the Angel of the Lord appears to protect only those who fear the Lord. The angel, he says, will not depart from all those who believe in the Lord, unless we ourselves drive him away with bad deeds. For just as smoke drives away bees, and stench drives away doves, so the guardian of our life, the Angel, drives away much-lamentable and stinking sin. If you have in your soul deeds worthy of Angelic guardianship and a mind enriched with the speculations of truth dwells in you, then, due to the wealth of invaluable deeds of virtue, God will necessarily assign guards and guardians to you and protect you with the protection of Angels. Look what the nature of Angels is! One Angel is equal to a whole army and numerous militia. So, in the greatness of your guardian, the Lord gives you a militia, and in the fortress of the Angel, as it were, he protects you from everywhere with his protection.” Fear the Lord and His holiness, for there is no hardship for those who fear Him. Clarifying these words, St. Vasily says that those who protect themselves from being carried away by anything sinful - by the fear of God - will not tolerate deprivation of any of the virtues that serve as a necessary accessory to human perfection. Just as those who are nailed down with nails, he says, have limbs that remain motionless and inactive, so those who are seized in their souls by the fear of God avoid any passionate overwhelm of sins. Therefore, there is no hardship for the one who fears; that is, restrained by fear from every indecent act, he is not devoid of strength for any virtue, but is complete and does not lack any of the perfections inherent in human nature. Just as someone who lacks some necessary member is imperfect in body, but is also imperfect in that very thing that he lacks, so someone who is negligent about the one commandment through non-fulfillment becomes already imperfect because of this deficiency. But whoever has mastered complete fear and fears everything out of fear of God will not sin in anything, because he despises nothing; and he will not tolerate deprivation, because, in any case, fear is constantly with him.” And those who hate the righteous will sin. St. Basil, explaining these words, shows that those who hate the righteous man, by their very hatred of him, expose their sinfulness: if their deeds were not evil, then they would not be afraid of the light of the pious life of the righteous man and would not begin to hate him as a silent but constant denouncer of their evil deeds by the very opposite of his life. In addition, those who hate the righteous sin both against the righteous man himself, showing him injustice and, at the same time, ingratitude for his instructive life for everyone, and against God himself, insulting Him in the person of His faithful servants and hating the righteous man for precisely the fact that he serves God, and not the devil, along with them, who hate his righteous deeds in the righteous man. “They hate the righteous because they themselves live in sins, and the morals of the righteous, like the straightness of a rule (ruler), convict them when compared with the perfect. And since they live in sins, fearing reproof, they treat the righteous with hatred. And since they hate him, they burden themselves with new sins.” Conversation on Psalm 45. God is our refuge and strength, our helper in the sorrows that have come upon us greatly. Every person needs help, because he constantly encounters many sorrows and difficulties, both because of the weakness of his nature, and because of the slander of the devil through people enslaved to him by sin. A person finds peace of mind only when he places all his trust in God and completely surrenders to the guidance of His holy and wise will. “But although everyone agrees on this,” says St. Vasily - that our refuge is in God, but the enemy leads people into many errors and difficulties in choosing the Savior. For he traps them in an ambush like an enemy and deceives those caught again with the thought of resorting to him as a guardian.” And the enemy of our souls, the devil, uses various methods to distract us from God: either he inspires us to ask God for things that are not useful for us, or if God does not fulfill our requests that are harmful to us, he encourages us to place our trust in people as the best helpers in those needs that God did not want to satisfy.” For example: is anyone sick? Avoiding the burdens of illness, he prays for health. – Did you lose money? Mourns the loss. But illness is often useful when it enlightens a sinner; and health is harmful when it serves as an aid to sin for those who use it. So money also turned to others as a means to debauchery, and poverty brought chastity to many who had evil aspirations. So, do not run away from what you should not, and do not run to whom you should not. But let you have one thing to avoid - sin, and one refuge in misfortunes - God. Do not rely on princes; do not be proud of unfaithful wealth; do not be proud of your bodily strength; do not pursue the brilliance of human glory. None of this will save, all of this is temporary, all of it is deceptive; one refuge is God. Cursed is the man who trusts in man (Jer. 17:5) or anything human.” Practice and understand that I am God. Clarifying these words, St. Vasily shows that to know God it is necessary to have a heart free from all sinful dispositions and attachments and a mind not entertained by empty and fruitless speculation. “As long as we are concerned,” he says, “with objects outside of God, we cannot contain within ourselves the knowledge of God. For who, being concerned about worldly things and immersed in carnal distraction, can heed the teaching about God and be sufficiently thorough for such important speculations? Don't you see that the word, having fallen among thorns, is crushed by thorns (Matthew 13:22)? And thorns are carnal pleasures, wealth, fame, and worldly worries. He who seeks knowledge of God will have to stand outside of all this and, having brought the passions within himself into inaction, perceive the knowledge of God. For how will the concept of God enter into the soul, crowded by the thoughts that previously occupied it? Pharaoh also knew that only the idle can seek God, which is why he reproaches Israel: be idle, be idle, and say: Let us pray to the Lord our God (Ex. 5:17). But how good and useful for one who indulges in idleness is that idleness that produces in us the silence necessary for accepting saving teachings; So bad is the idleness of the Athenians, who exercise themselves in nothing except to say something or hear something new (Acts 17:21). This idleness is imitated by some even today, using their free time in life to invent some constantly new teaching. Such idleness is pleasing to evil and unclean spirits. It is said: when the unclean spirit departs from a person, he says, I will return to the place, but I am gone from there: and when he comes, he will find that house desolate and marked (Matthew 12:43-44). Therefore, let our idleness not open the entrance to the enemy, but on the contrary, let us not leave our inner home idle, having first infused Christ into ourselves by the Spirit! The Prophet says: abstain from the enemies who entertain you, so that in silence you may contemplate the teaching of the truth. Therefore, he says: anyone who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:33). So, we must abstain from marital affairs in order to engage in prayer, abstain from worries about wealth, from the desire for earthly glory, from the enjoyment of pleasures, from envy and every evil deed against our neighbor, so that when our soul is in silence and not disturbed by any passion, in it, as in a mirror, God’s illumination is pure and unclouded.” Conversation on Psalm 48. Those who trust in their strength and boast about the abundance of their wealth. A brother will not deliver: will a man deliver? He will not give God treason for himself, and the price of the deliverance of his soul. In these words St. Vasily sees an indication that in order to redeem himself from condemnation for sin, a person cannot find any means either in himself or in another person. Man, he says, cannot give God a propitiatory sacrifice for his own sins. How can one do this for someone else? – Besides the fact that every person is already subject to condemnation for original sin, no one, due to the weakness of his nature, can prevent any arbitrary sin in the continuation of his life on earth. But having committed even one sin, he is already a transgressor of the law and therefore subject to condemnation. And since in order to enter into communion with God, one must be completely clean from all sin: therefore, in order to erase the stain placed on the soul by sin, a person who does not have the power to make non-existent what has already been done once, must at least do such a good deed beyond his duties that could cover the sinful stain on the soul. But what can a person do beyond his duties? All the powers of a person’s soul and body, every moment of his life, belong to God and must be devoted to serving Him. From this it is clearly clear that a person has neither the strength nor the time to do anything beyond his duties to atone for a sin once committed. If a person cannot redeem himself from condemnation for sin, then it is self-evident that he can do even less to redeem another person. The example of Moses is proof of this. “Moses,” says St. Vasily - did not free the people from sin, but only begged God not to punish for sin. He could not even commit treason for himself when he fell into sin, and after so many great miracles and signs that he had seen, he uttered a word of doubt: listen to me, you rebellious ones, will we bring water out of this stone for you? Therefore, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron for this word: because you have no faith in sanctifying Me before the children of Israel, for the sake of this you will not bring this host into the land that I gave to them (Num. 20:10-12).” In whom should we seek atonement for our sins, if neither we ourselves nor any other righteous person similar to us by nature can do anything for our salvation? Don’t look for your brother,” says St. Basil, “for his own redemption, but for one who surpasses you in nature, not a mere man, but the God-man Jesus Christ, who alone can give God betrayal for all of us, because God has ordained purification by faith in His blood (Rom. 3:20).” And he will live to the end, he will not see destruction, when he sees the wise one dying. Explaining these words of the Psalm, St. Vasily returns to the thought of the redemption of man by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Whoever is delivered by God, who gave betrayal for him, has labored in this age (using efforts on his part so as not to fall again into the slavery of sin), and then he will live to the end. He will not see destruction unless he sees the wise one dying. Whoever preferred the narrow and laborious path to the smooth and calm path, during God’s visit, when those who disbelieved the words of God and those who walked according to the desires of their vain hearts will be taken to eternal execution, will not see the eternal destruction of incessant suffering. And the prophet calls wise either those who are strong in cunning, about whom Jeremiah speaks, that they are wise, who do evil, but do good without knowing (Jer. 4:22) or by wise we mean the disciples of the princes of this age who cease to exist (1 Cor. 2:6), who are said to be wise fools (Rom. 1:22). Why is the wisdom of this world a riot with God (1 Cor. 3:19). And since this wisdom makes fools, God says that He will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will reject the understanding of the wise (1 Cor. 11:19) (Is. 29:14). Therefore, the plausibility of false knowledge for those who are convinced of them is the cause of death. And such a death will not be seen by the redeemed by Him who deigned to save the believers through the violence of preaching.” And the man, who is ignorant of honour, is likened to foolish cattle, and becomes like them. Man, at his very creation, was awarded such a great honor that none of God’s creations. He was given the most perfect organization of his body and completely corresponding to the needs of his soul. His soul was created in the image of God, that is, it was given such properties that made it God-like, namely: it was given immortality, it was given a mind capable of understanding and recognizing not only itself and the surrounding creations, but also the Creator himself - both through considering what God created and through direct grace-filled communication with Him; she was given power not only over all living creatures, but, to some extent, over the very forces of nature. In addition, man is given moral powers, giving him the opportunity, through their exercise, to become like God in His other perfections, such as holiness, mercy, kindness, and long-suffering. But what about the person, did he understand his high dignity, did he take advantage of his advantages? No; “man,” says St. Vasily, exalted by such honor, not in reason, but ceased to imitate God and become like the Creator, having become a slave of carnal passions, taken to the senseless cattle and become like them. Just as the horse of misogynists neighs at the wife of his sincere man (Jer. 5:8), then how a predatory wolf rushes to the property of someone else (Jer. 22:27), and sometimes through intrigues against his brother in wickedness he is likened to a fox (Ezek. 18:4). But truly, this is an excess of senselessness and bestial unreason, if the one created in the image of the Creator is not aware of his original structure, does not want to understand all of God’s economy about him and from it conclude about his own dignity; but he forgets all this so much that, having rejected the image of the Heavenly, he accepts the image of the earthly. And so that he would not remain in sin, for his sake the Word became flesh and dwelt in us (John 1:14) and humbled Himself to such an extent that He showed His obedience even to death, the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). If you don’t remember your original origin, then form an idea of ​​your worth based on the price paid for you. Look what is given in return for you and know what you are worth. You have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ; do not be a slave of sin; Understand your worth, lest you become like foolish cattle.” Fear not when a man becomes rich, or when the glory of his house increases. Analyzing these words of the psalm, St. Basil shows that a righteous person, oppressed by sorrows, should not become discouraged and waver in his faith in Divine Providence, seeing a wicked man become rich and surrounded by glory; the end of earthly life and especially the afterlife fate of everyone to explain the bewilderment of the faint-hearted and unbelievers, showing the sad state of the wicked rich and the bliss of the suffering righteous. “When you see,” says St. Vasily, - that the unrighteous is rich and the righteous is poor, do not be afraid in yourself. Do not be embarrassed by the thought that there is no longer any divine providence supervising human affairs, or even though there is God’s supervision, it does not extend to above-ground places to delve into our affairs.... since between tongues and earthly people many think in a similar way and from the visible inequality in the division of worldly goods they conclude that the world is left without providence, then the psalm addresses them, calming the ignorant excitement of their thoughts... When he dies, says the prophet, the rich man will not take all his wealth with him; and as soon as he takes clothes to cover his shame, that too - if it pleases the servants who are equipping him for burial. He will be happy if he receives a little land as an inheritance, which the burying ones will give him out of pity, and they will do this for him out of respect for the common human nature, not bringing him a gift, but showing honor to humanity. Therefore, have no small heart, looking at the present, but expect that blissful and endless life: for then you will see that poverty, dishonor, and deprivation of pleasures serve for the good of the righteous. And do not be embarrassed when you see that now imaginary benefits are divided as if unjustly. For you will hear it said to the rich man, “You have received your good in your life,” and to the poor man, “He has received your evil in your life” (Luke 16:25). Why is it right that one is comforted while the other suffers? Discourse on Psalm 59. At the beginning of this conversation, St. Vasily explains to those present that he, despite his painful condition and the weakness of his strength, is encouraged to talk with them by their zeal for him. “When I look at your diligence to listen,” he says, “and at the weakness of your strength, the image of an already grown-up baby, who has not yet been weaned from the breast and is disturbing the mother’s nipple, dried up by illness, comes to mind. The mother knows that her sources of milk have dried up, but, attracted and disturbed by the baby, she gives him the nipples, not with the intention of nourishing him, but to stop his crying. So, although my strength has been drained by long-term and various bodily ailments, however, I am ready to offer you, if not significant pleasure, then some satisfaction, because the excess of the highest love will be satisfied if your attraction to me is quenched by my voice alone. Having explained the Psalm, at the end of the conversation, turning to the listeners, he says: let us convince ourselves, brethren, in times of temptation not to resort to human hopes and not here on earth to seek help for ourselves, but to pray with tears and sighs, with diligent prayer, with intense vigil; for he receives help from sorrow who despises human help as vain and is affirmed in the hope of Him who is able to save us, but is affirmed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Conversation on Psalm 61. Having mentioned that the 38th Psalm has the same name as the one being analyzed, St. says. Basil: “both Psalms primarily talk about patience, by which mental irritability is tamed, and after the destruction of all arrogance, humility is perfected. For it is difficult to imagine that a person who does not tolerate being the lowest and the last could ever, when reproached, refrain from anger, or during times of tribulation overcome temptations with long-suffering. And whoever has succeeded in the highest humility, hearing reproaches, since he recognizes himself as even more worthy of humiliation, will not be embarrassed in soul by the fact that they dishonor him with words. But if they call him poor, he knows that he is really poor in everything and meager, and every day he needs alms from the Lord. If they call him a man of low birth and unknown in the world, it has long been imprinted on his heart that he was created from dust... So that the soul, having submitted to the wisdom of the flesh (exaltation and high opinion of its merits), does not give in to anger and sorrow, he says (the humble one) - why do I make the soul, to which its Creator entrusted it with the control of the body and bodily passions, a slave of worthless passions? Therefore, one must control one’s passions and work for God. For it is impossible for sin and God to reign in the soul; on the contrary, I must prevail over vice and submit to the Lord of all, for this is my salvation. St. Basil, explaining the words: I bless with my lips, and curse with my heart, shows how people who have submitted themselves to the suggestions of the devil pervert the very concepts of the immoral actions of man. “What is humorous,” he says, “such people call funny; foul language - those who know how to behave; through the measure of the demanding and angry one is called a person who does not deserve contempt; the stingy and unsociable are praised for their prudence, the wasteful - for generosity, the fornicator and dissolute - for the ability to enjoy and for their swagger; in general, every vice is covered up in the name of a related virtue. Such people bless, but curse with their hearts, because with their praises they bring a curse on the lives of those being praised, subjecting them to eternal condemnation for the very thing for which they approve.” In God is my salvation and my glory. Taking these words of the Psalmist as a lesson for all who consider it an honor and glory to be called and be servants of God, St. Basil says, “Blessed is he who does not admire any worldly heights, but has God as his glory, who boasts in Christ and can say with the Apostle: Let me not boast except about the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14)! But now many boast of their bodies: such are those who exercise themselves in struggles or, in general, who bloom with the freshness of age. Many boast of courage in war, considering even the murder of fellow tribesmen a virtue, because military valor and the monuments erected to commanders by cities are commensurate with the number of murders. Some are famous for the construction of city walls, others for the construction of water pipes and the construction of large buildings for exercise in struggles... Another is famous for his wealth, and another for being a strong and invincible vita or expert in worldly wisdom. We must regret the glory of all such people, and please those who put their glory before God. If someone highly values ​​the fact that he serves under the king and is honored by him with great honor: then how much should you value yourself in honor that you are a servant of the Great King, called by Him into close fellowship, received the Spirit of promise, so that, having been sealed by Him, you may become a son of God! Conversation on Psalm 114. From the beginning of this conversation one can see how the tireless activity of St. Basil, with all the weakness of his physical strength, and the amazing zeal of Christians to listen to his teachings. In the church of St. Martyrs, in which he usually delivered his discourses on the Psalms, Orthodox Christians gathered from midnight, both to participate in the church service and to listen to the conversation of St. Vasily. But since, due to official circumstances, he had to engage in worship and preaching the word of God in another church, which was at a great distance from this one, he could not come to the Church of the Martyrs before noon. Those who came to the church from midnight did not leave at the end of the service, but patiently waited for St. Vasily until noon. And in order not to spend time idly and in empty conversations, they sang a Psalm. – St. Vasily, having ascended the pulpit, explained to those present the reason for his delay, and since he himself was too exhausted, both by labor and by the painful weakness of the body, he said to them: give thanks with me to the Benefactor, who strengthens this visible weakness of my body with His invisible strength. But in order not to upset you, by keeping you for a long time, I will briefly talk from the Psalm that I found you singing.” Like, incline your ear to me. God, as a knower of the heart, can recognize what is being asked by the movements of the heart and therefore has no need either for a voice on the part of man or for the proximity of his ears to hear the weak cries of the person praying. But with these words, says St. Basil, - The Psalmist expresses only the extreme and tender attentiveness on the part of God to the weak and timid cries of the humble and repentant sinner. The similarity is taken from the example of a humane doctor who inclines his ear to a patient who, from exhaustion, cannot speak clearly, in order to learn up close the needs of the sufferer. Interpretation of 16 chapters of the prophet Isaiah. When interpreting the historical meaning of the first chapters of the prophet Isaiah, St. Vasily used almost every verse of the chapter under discussion to make an edifying and useful application for his listeners. Of course, it couldn’t be otherwise, because a church pulpit is not like a school pulpit. In the church, most of those present consist of people who are willing and able to be edified by the intelligible word of the Shepherd of the church, but are little or not at all prepared to listen to scientific and dry explanations of any historical places of St. Scriptures. The authority of the speaker often replaces the strongest evidence of any truth. For many, it is enough to know who said a well-known thought: and they will no longer require any evidence to recognize its usefulness and edification. This is in relation to the mind. As far as influence on the heart is concerned, the authority of the person speaking is often stronger than all the evidence. – No matter how convincing the speaker’s speech may be, if the listeners have neither trust nor special respect for him, then his word will have little effect on their hearts and will not incline them to direct their activities according to the suggestions of his word. - But the word of St. Vasily’s attitude towards his contemporaries combined both the strength of persuasiveness and the powerful influence of the authority of a person who was deeply respected and sincerely loved. – For us, the authority of St. Basil the Great is still incomparably higher than for his contemporaries, because we look at him not only as a pious man and a zealous shepherd, but as the great Lamp of the Church already glorified by God himself. And his word should influence our souls much more strongly than on his contemporaries, because we look at his word not only as the fruit of great learning and deep reflection on the subject, but as the fruit of a soul sanctified and wise by the Holy Spirit himself. His word becomes binding on us not because of the power of its persuasiveness and irresistibility, presented in support of his proof, but because it is the word of St. Basil the Great. So that this fruitful word of St. Basil did not remain useless for our readers; we borrow from his interpretations of the prophet Isaiah at least some thoughts, while taking into account the spiritual needs of contemporary Christians. Be wise, like a serpent (Matthew 10:16). The snake prudently and intelligently removes old age. For when she needs to shed her skin, she crawls into a tight place where her body would be compressed from everywhere, and thus, pushing through it, she sheds old age. So perhaps this word also demands from us that, walking the narrow and sorrowful path, we put off the old man and put on the new, and that our youth be renewed like an eagle (Ps. 102:5) 96. Why are different gifts of the Holy Spirit communicated to different persons and not to the same extent? Having shown that in order to prepare oneself for the reception of the Spirit, not only the curbing of passions is necessary, but also one’s own measure of disposition towards faith and the benefit of the one who receives grace and the listeners of his time or those who will subsequently use the prophets, St. Basil says: it is beyond human nature to explain the reason why the Spirit of God acts differently in the worthy - and one is entrusted with prophecy and, moreover, to a certain extent, another receives the gifts of healing and those to a certain extent, and another with greater or lesser powers. For He alone knows this, Who delves into the spiritual merits of everyone, and gives to each, according to invisible measures of justice, what he deserves 97 . What is needed in order to become capable of receiving special revelations of the Holy Spirit and how are these revelations communicated? Pure and enlightened souls, having become, as it were, a mirror of God’s action, showed in themselves a clear, unfused image, undarkened by carnal passions. For the Holy Spirit abides in everyone, but actually reveals its power in those who are pure from passions, and not in those whose sovereignty of the soul (i.e., mind) is darkened by sinful impurities. In addition to cleanliness, they must show in themselves the evenness of a well-ordered state. For he is not pure who behaves unevenly in relation to chastity, but he who has subordinated the wisdom of the flesh to the Spirit. Just as we see images of faces not in every substance, but only in smooth and transparent substances, so the action of the Spirit is not reflected in every soul, but only in souls that have nothing obstinate and nothing corrupt in themselves (Proverbs 8:8). The snow shines, but does not show the image of those who look at it, because it is rough and made of frozen foam. Milk is white, but does not take on images, because it also contains some small bubbles. And in the water, due to its smoothness, even a black image is visible. Likewise, the unevenness of life is not capable of receiving God’s action. Therefore, when the soul, having devoted itself to every feat of virtue, with strong love for God constantly preserves in itself the remembrance of God imprinted in it and thus makes God as if living within itself, then, from a strong desire and ineffable love for God, becoming inspired by God, it becomes worthy of the prophetic gift; because God gives divine power and opens the eyes of the soul to understand the visions that He pleases to communicate. Therefore, the prophets were formerly called seers (1 Samuel 9:9), for they saw the future as if it were the present. But ideas that occur in dreams can help us understand the prophetic excitement in the easiest way. Just as in a dream we see different images and hear different sounds and words without the influence of external objects on our senses, so the mind of divine and blessed men, imprinting images in itself, sometimes in the waking state, and sometimes in a dream, is filled with divine words and visions, while the images of visible objects are not reflected to it through the eyes and it does not receive with the ears the vibrations of the air produced by sounding instruments. For the high and exalted throne and He who sat on it, whom Isaiah saw (Isaiah 6:1), were not something external that could be seen. Also not humanoid was the one from the loins up like an electrus and the fiery one from the loins down, described in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 8:2). But the mind of the prophets contemplated these objects with a higher power, while the spirit in fortune-telling showed them the nature of God. 98. If purity of life is needed to receive special insights from the Holy Spirit, then why were the gift of foresight given to Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, and the gift of prophecy to Balaam and Caiaphas? - Because, ruling the state of worldly affairs and having influence on other people, they had to foresee to arouse faith in others. Here the reason (foresight and prophecy) is not the purity of the soul, not the enlightenment of the mind, which contemplates God and draws strength from Him, but the word imparted to them economically, not “according to dignity, but according to the demand of the time 99. Did the prophets realize what they were saying, or did they go into a kind of frenzy, so that they served only as instruments for the prophetic Spirit? It is contrary to the promise of God to make a divine inspiration frantic, so that when he fulfills divine instructions, he goes out of his natural mind and when he benefits others, he himself does not receive any benefit from his own words. And in general, is it in any way consistent with reason that the Spirit of wisdom should make a person like one devoid of reason, and the Spirit of knowledge should destroy rationality in him? But light does not produce blindness, but, on the contrary, awakens the power of vision given by nature, and the Spirit does not produce darkness in souls, but, on the contrary, awakens the mind, cleansed of sinful defilements, to the contemplation of the mental 100. About the disastrous consequences of negligence, about constant improvement of oneself in spiritual life. Just as one who perfects himself stretches into the foreground, so one who sins retreats back, moving away from the Lord and thereby destroying himself. For it is said: all who separate themselves from You will perish (Ps. 72:27). Therefore, we will live in such a way that the past will never be better than the future, or the present. Ecclesiastes also forbids this: do not say that the days of old were more blasphemous than these; as if you did not ask about this in wisdom (Eccl. 7:11). For if the previous days are better than the subsequent ones, then we will be told: in vain you suffered so much, turning your good deeds into nothing by subsequent negligence. For Ezekiel says: if the righteous turn away from his righteousness, and do unrighteousness according to all the iniquities that the wicked has done, all his righteousnesses that he has done will not be remembered: in his transgression, which he has transgressed, and in his sins, which he has sinned, he will die in them (Ezekiel 18:24). Look at another young man, who from childhood was brought up in an honest life, carefully goes to the house of prayer, does not neglect his strength to do good, remembers eternal judgment, accepts the word of teaching with love, and then he creeps into fornication: how in him, after the loss of chastity and deprivation of fruits, complete degradation follows! His evil conscience no longer leads him to the place of prayer, because he did not remain among the faithful, but fell away. He does not stand with those who cry because he is ashamed. From now on, he is lazy about prayer, inventing imaginary excuses in response to those who ask. He says: so-and-so is forcing me, I can’t wait for the Divine service, and again, for such and such a reason that he happened to invent, he leaves the church before the prayers of the faithful, then from gradual habit the thought of apostasy is born and he reaches complete destruction. In general, it is common for the evil forces, as soon as they deprive us of the fruits of truth, to not move away from us until they are entangled in the delusions of reason 101. Let us also be afraid to become barren, so as not to be left without God’s charity. Our guardian is the Holy Spirit. When the soul bears fruits worthy of eternal granaries, the Spirit abides with it, protects it and repels the machinations of the solitary wonder (Ps. 79:14). But when it produces clusters of gall and brings clusters of sorrow (Deut. 32:32), then the Spirit leaves the barren soul and it is trampled upon by bestial thoughts and bestial desires of all kinds 102. Who will not tolerate your sins? Explaining these words from the prophecy of Isaiah, St. Vasily shows that remission of sins does not benefit the penitent when performing the sacrament of repentance if the sinner returns to the same sins again. “It is not he who confesses his sin who said: I have sinned, and then remains in sin; but he who, according to the word of the Psalm (Ps. 33:3), acquired his sin and hated it. What benefit will the care of a doctor bring to the patient when the person suffering from illness clings tightly to what is destructive to life? Thus, there is no benefit from forgiving someone who commits injustice, and from apologizing for debauchery to someone who continues to live dissolutely. – But in what case are spiritual sins forgiven? When virtue, having dominated the soul and completely protected it with its lessons, produces in it an aversion from the opposite disposition, so that the soul, having an opportunity for covetousness, voluntarily strives to respect equality, and although it would be convenient to commit a lie, even without witnesses it avoids this as the greatest evil. Whoever is so disposed as a result of his skill can be forgiven of previous untruths. Likewise, chastity, when the soul acquires skill and constancy in it, makes amends for previous debauchery. We do not call chaste the one in whom intemperate desires have weakened due to old age or illness, or some other incident. For in such a person, although sin still lives, his activity is hindered by the weakness of his members. And chastity is a true force united with consciousness, deeply imprinted in the soul and destroying the remaining traces of shameful movements. Whoever has healed himself in this way, having adopted an attitude contrary to sin, the grace of forgiveness is also useful for him... The All-Wise Steward of our life wants those who have lived in sins and then vow to rise to a healthy life, to put an end to the past and, after committing sins, to make some beginning, as if renewed in life through repentance. And whoever constantly makes promises and constantly breaks them, as completely desperate, He deprives him of his love for mankind” 103. Wash and cleanse yourself, take away the wickedness from your souls before my eyes (Isa. 1:16). After explaining the literal meaning of these words, making an application to Christians, St. Vasily shows that to be justified before God, it is not enough to just wash yourself in the waters of Baptism, but you must also, by your own will, reject every evil deed and learn to do good deeds with faith in the omniscience of God, and, moreover, do good deeds, guided not by your own arbitrary considerations, but by the Gospel commandment. “Is it really enough for me to wear myself out and, having received forgiveness for my previous deeds, to remain in peace? Or do you need something else? Take away wickedness from your souls before my eyes. For cleansing through washing depends on the Lord’s love for mankind, and putting aside wickedness is a matter of our own thoroughness. But so that we, relying on the grace of washing alone, do not abandon the fulfillment of the commandments, for this purpose it combines into one whole volume of life. Take away wickedness from your hearts, as if eradicating evil thoughts from the sovereign power of the soul, so that neither word nor deed of evil is reflected. Before my eyes. since those who, outside of faith, keep many of the rules of an honest life, for example, abstinence in marital behavior and in the pleasures of food, as well as constancy and serenity of character, were not content with saying: take away wickedness, but added before my eyes, because not a single deed can be done properly without pious faith in Christ. Or, since the Father sees in secret (Matthew 6:6), then the words: before my eyes mean: in every place visible to God, so that we take away wickedness not only in deeds, but also in thoughts. And this is acquired through perfect love, because love, according to Pavlov, does not think evil (Cor. 13:5)” 104. Further St. Vasily shows that good deeds must be done in accordance with the law: otherwise, apparently good deeds, like medicinal herbs, taken without considering the requirements of medical science, the nature of the disease and the properties of the herbs themselves, can bring harm instead of benefit. For example, almsgiving in itself is a good deed, but if it is done for show, just to earn praise from people, then instead of benefit it will bring condemnation for vanity. Seek judgment (Isa. 1:17). “Since everything will be subject to examination and judgment... it is necessary that reason, as a judge, having taken the highest place in us, should every time reason and examine what should be said and what should be done, and, after careful reasoning, deign to do things and yield to the aspirations of the soul. Paul also says this: even if they had reasoned with themselves, they would not have been condemned (1 Cor. 11:13)” 105. Deliver the offended one. “Offences come in two ways: some are offended in a physical way, for example, in property and something else external, while others suffer an offense in their very soul. But we are commanded, without any discrimination, to deliver the offended. You need to know that we are obliged to have greater care for those in whom the most important thing is being harmed. Whoever has fallen under the power of the devil and is being held captive by him, we must with all diligence free him from the devil and bring his mind into the obedience of Christ. But care must also be taken to save those in need from bodily harm, when, having fallen into the power of predators and oppressors, they are carried away by their violence, like a torrent. And if we are not able to deliver, then with words of consolation we will reinforce in them patience to endure difficulties, not sparing anything in our power. If in this we do not achieve what we want, then at least we will show compassion out of brotherly love” 106. Judge the sirah. Explaining these words, in addition to explaining the literal and spiritual meaning, St. Basil says: “since God is called the Father of those who believed in Christ and loved a life in accordance with the Gospel, then if someone, through the transgression of the law, has made himself alien to God and has become, as it were, orphaned, deprived of His providence for himself, strive through a truthful and reasonable judgment to bring him back into fellowship with God and without condescending to him recklessly and without using merciless excommunication. But judge him, offering useful ways of repentance" 107. And come, and let us be exhausted, says the Lord (Isa. 1:18). In the book of prophecies of Isaiah, the Lord appears to be entering into a discussion with people about their actions, so that, at the end of the trial, neither the convicted person would have the right to consider himself unjustly accused, nor the acquitted person would have the right to be considered pardoned without merit.” Yes, and decently, says St. Basil, - so that the judgment of God would not be violent, but, on the contrary, would have more in common with those courts that people have and would give the defendants room for justification, so that a person, seeing his case brought to clarity and when punished, confirms the irrefutable judgments of God, agreeing that the punishment was imposed on him in all justice, and also when pardoning him, he saw that forgiveness was given to him according to the law and in order. Scripture presents this personified not because the Judge will ask each of us questions or give answers to the judged, but in order to inspire you with care, and so that we do not forget to think about our justification. It is likely that by some unspeakable force, in a moment of time, all the deeds of our life will be imprinted in the memory of our soul as if in a picture... And the books mentioned in Daniel (Dan. 7:10), what do they mean if not the Lord awakening in human memory images of everything that has been done, so that everyone remembers their deeds and so that we see why we are being punished” 108. Unbelief is the mother of vices. “For he who believes that God is present everywhere at every event, is present at every action, sees the counsels of the heart, will he allow an evil thought into himself or commit an evil deed? On the contrary, under the assumption that God either does not look at them or does not care about what is happening, people rush to wicked deeds” 109. Your innkeepers mix wine and water. Having explained the literal meaning of these words and pointing out tavernism as an evil, which, among other things, was the cause of God’s wrath against ancient Israel, St. Vasily moves on to the spiritual meaning of these words. “There is,” he says, “wine that gladdens the heart of a person, that is, the mind and has dominion in the soul; these are the teachings of the Scriptures, taught to us through the holy Apostles and Prophets from the cupbearer - the Spirit - for eternal joy. Many, by using them, dilute the word with water, mixing their own thoughts to the harm of those listening. For, serving their pleasures and pleasing them with flattering speeches, they feed their passions for their own destruction. By weakening what in Scripture strictly, strongly and usefully curbs and allows for the destruction of those who listen, some kind of ignorant love of mankind, reckless apology for sins and other similar things that are popular with many, they weaken the souls of sensualists more and more.” The desire to take advice from another is the fruit of humility. “In general, advice is some kind of sacred matter, a unity of will, the fruit of love, proof of humility. For it is a strange arrogance to think that you have no need for anyone, but to listen only to yourself, as the only one capable of advising the best. But you hesitate to surrender to those who teach what is needed, and you are ashamed to admit that they are more prudent than us in life. Moreover, whoever, while waiting for an adviser, gives room to his own reasoning, for a long time, with only difficulty and attention, attacks the trail of what is needed” 111. Whoever harbors any sinful passion in his soul is an idolater and a captive of the devil. “Every sensualist, whatever of the forbidden he is enslaved to, deifies it as an idol, sets it up in a bad church, that is, in his heart, persistently remains with it with his thoughts and carries within himself images of what he desires. So the rich man, having his heart where his treasure is, serves the idol of covetousness; the glutton, enslaved by the lusts of food, has his belly with God” 112. But by submitting to any passion, “we become, as it were, prisoners of sin and are led captive by the evil one in order to turn our slaves of lawlessness into lawlessness” (Rom. 6:19) 113. And the tongue will judge in the midst (Isa. 2:4). Here it is shown that the punishment for peoples who are alien to piety is different, and not the same. Since they have lost the knowledge of God, they are all worthy of torment and execution. Since there is a difference in their way of life, in the passions of dishonor (Rom. 1:6) and in wickedness against their neighbor, a trial of the pagans is required to sort out their sins against their neighbor” 114. Contempt for others is the beginning of pride, and slander is a product of pride. But everyone who submits to any of these sins will be condemned along with the devil (1 Tim. 3:6) and will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). “If someone became proud and the devil fell into judgment (1 Tim. 3:6), then he will be condemned along with the leader and, as it were, the creator of pride; for the Lord opposes the proud (1Pt. 5:5). The beginning of pride is usually contempt. He who despises and considers others to be nothing, and recognizes some as poor, others as people of low birth, and others as ignorant: as a result of such contempt, he comes to the point that he considers himself alone to be wise, prudent, noble and rich, strong, and contempt serves as the beginning of pride for him. For to be proud means to make an effort to become superior to others; and in order to achieve this, a person humiliates his neighbor and exalts himself. And contempt is the beginning of pride, and pride is the evil offspring of contempt. Therefore, vengeance is on everyone who is annoying and proud (Isa. 2:12), because similar sins are punished in a similar way. So, the glorious day of the Lord will bring with it vengeance on everyone who is annoying and proud. But we are poor, every day we indulge in these vices and do not understand how evil we are sinning. Those who are annoying (i.e., slanderers) will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). And we indulge in slander and slander, we do not understand that the words that I now utter will become against me on the day of judgment, will cut off my path and will become like a wall through which it is impossible to cross... Of course, it is now possible for someone who is high, if he wants, to stoop to the humility of the humble, and there is a danger that the humble will now be brought into the exaltation of the proud. For the very thought of oneself that one has reached the heights of humility serves as a reason for exaltation, and to exalt oneself over one who is apparently a great sinner is already a terrible pride, which the Pharisee allowed in himself before the publican" 115. And God will humble the first daughters (Isa. 2:17). Explaining these words of prophecy, St. Vasily says: “These words, taken by themselves, contain something useful and wonderful for the people, because they curb the lives of unchaste women, who in appearance, in their looks, in their actions, and in their clothing, show an inclination towards fornication. When, thinking highly of bodily beauty, they exalt themselves before others, resort to empty pomp and are puffed up by what soon fades and disappears, then they wear their heads high so that their faces are visible to everyone. An honest and well-behaved woman, lowering her head to the ground out of shyness, has her face tilted down, and with the intention of catching many in the nets of beauty, she walks with a high neck. And by combing the hair. This is a reproach to a woman who breathes fornication, she looks with a curious eye, shows freedom of heart in her gaze, smiles, calls out fornication with her eyes, spills some kind of pernicious poison from her eyes, something similar to what they say about the basilisk, which, as they say, with one glance kills whomever it looks at.”116 Woe to those who attract sins, as if they are already long; and like the yoke of youth is a belt of iniquity (Isa. 5:18). “By sinning, we prepare for ourselves bonds and already (ropes) with which we are bound, because according to the number and importance of sins, we weave for our souls bonds, either greater or lesser, from which, according to the word of Jeremiah, we became prisoners (Pl. 3:34). Therefore, those who have carnal wisdom are surrounded by earthly bonds and, according to the righteous determination of the Judges, bound by them hand and foot, they are condemned and cast into utter darkness (Matthew 22:13). They are bound by hand, that is, in their activities, and by their feet, that is, in their ways. For indeed, everyone is entangled in the chains of his own sins, so that each of the members who acted in the commission of sins is bound with special bonds as punishment for this. Therefore, the Prophet says: woe to those who attract sins, as if they are already long, that is, to those who add to the first fall the second, third, and so on, wickedness, untruth and debauchery. But those who fell into sins, instead of multiplying them and adding one evil to another, had to atone for their sins after first entangling themselves in evil. Although it is impossible for human nature not to sin, and therefore there is no one who is righteous on earth, who will do good and not sin (Ecl. 7:21); however, it is possible, having sinned through rashness or infatuation with evil, to immediately change, repent and not accumulate evil for evil. And just like those who twist ropes, when one of the ropes being twisted comes to an end, they take another, using it to lengthen and enlarge the previous one; So those who plunge into the depths of evil, before finishing the first sin, begin the second, and again add a new one to this. And thus their whole life, passing in their sins, is likened to some kind of long, constantly twisted rope, in which the past is connected, and what is constantly coming closes again into something similar to what preceded it. Therefore, the Prophet says: woe to those who attract sins, for they are already long." 117 Woe to those who are wise in themselves, and understand before themselves (Isa. 5:21). “This can be said about people who think of themselves that they are wise and reasonable, without being so. But we can also say about those who really have the gift of understanding and knowledge, but do not communicate it to others, for wisdom is hidden and the treasure is not revealed, what benefit is there in both (Sir. 20:30)? Such are wise before themselves, and not before others, just as those who have hidden talent in themselves (Matthew 25:25). But he who does not use knowledge for the glory of God is also foolish before God. And there seems to be a third meaning of these words: wise and reasonable are those who were created by God as such and are aware of His gift in themselves: but they do not believe in God the reason for intelligence and impute it to themselves; They are wise in themselves and understanding before themselves. By the way, it would be appropriate for them to say: what, imashi, did you accept him? Even if you accepted that you boasted, it was not accepted? (1 Cor. 4:7) 118. Woe to your mighty ones who drink wine, and to the nobles who dissolve strong drink (Isa. 5:22). Having shown what disastrous consequences intoxication with wine can lead, especially to those in command, - St. Vasily further says that intoxication and, at the same time, clouding of the mind and perversion of activity can be caused not only by wine, but also by any passion: “for the love of fame and lust for power is a terrible intoxication. And also terrible intoxication - envy, hypocrisy and slander of one's neighbor. The soul drunk with them forgets wisdom” 119. What kind of mind can be called great? “That mind is truly great, which contemplates the great, is able to penetrate into the Creative laws, and from them understand the beauty of the wisdom of the Artist of all kinds. Great is he who is able to penetrate into the economy of everything done by God and into His Providence, which extends to the smallest creatures, and from this discern the righteous judgments of God. Great is the mind that recognizes the King of glory and the Lord of hosts in the Angels and Powers and all worldly glory. And whoever pleases and exalts himself, it would be much more fair to call him an imaginary sage and superstitious, rather than great in mind." 120 He who submits to any passion becomes the plaything of the devil. “It is said about the demons who instill in us various sins that they will dance, because dancing is a varied movement of the members. And since those who dance appear in disgrace, either in one or another guise, then likewise the demons, instead of guises, use us and dance, representing either an angry person, or a lustful person, or a devotee of carnal pleasures, or a liar. Thus, we give room within ourselves for the various actions of demons and, according to their will, we change our hearts and bodily members. Therefore, when you see that a person either indulges in immoderate laughter, or is crushed by sadness, or torments himself in tears, lamentations and screams: then conclude that someone is dancing in him, taking on one or another form. And whether love of money, vanity, or pride is introduced into the act: in any case, he mocks the human race who rejoices and dances in souls that are flexible and willing to sin” 121. Which of the words and conversations of St. Vasily on various occasions date back to the time of his presbyteral service, and which ones he said, having already been a Bishop, are difficult to determine with accuracy. To determine the time of his teachings, one must keep in mind: against what errors did St. Does Vasily speak or make comments in his conversations? Those conversations that talk about the Doukhobors or Macedonians belong to a later time, that is, to the time of his episcopal service. On the contrary, those teachings in which there is no hint of the false teachings of the Macedonians can be attributed to the time of the presbytery service. But since St. Even during his episcopal service, Basil could speak about various moral subjects without touching on heretical teachings, therefore in this chapter we will consider only those of his teachings that can reliably be attributed to presbyteral service. And there are few such teachings, namely: the 8th, 9th and 12th, of which we already turned our attention to the 12th teaching in the 3rd chapter, as was said at the beginning of the presbyteral ministry of St. Vasily by appointment of the Archbishop himself. Now we will consider his 9th teaching, in which various objections of free-thinking people are resolved, imitators of which are still found today. His 8th teaching is remarkable for the special power of eloquence, liveliness of presentation and the beneficialness of its consequences. Having learned from the teaching of the Psalms that the righteous endured sorrows more than anyone else and yet, keeping in their souls the spirit of humility and perfect submission to the will of the divine, they never allowed themselves to grumble at God, but seeing in these sorrows God’s care for their spiritual improvement, they always endured them complacently, - St. Vasily further shows that if evil-minded people, when faced with sorrows, allow themselves to grumble against God and sometimes even reach the point of disbelief in Him, then the reason for this is the relaxation of their will in goodness and the absence of a humble consciousness of their sinfulness, which requires healing from the Divine Providence that cares for people. “Ill-minded people,” he says, “barely encounter even the slightest grief in life, unable to bear the difficulty of the circumstances, they immediately begin to waver in their thoughts: does God care about this world, does he oversee the deeds of everyone, does he give everyone their due? Then, when they see that their unpleasant situation still continues, they affirm an evil opinion in themselves and resolutely say in their hearts that there is no God. The speech is foolish in his heart: there is no God (Ps. 13:1). And whoever has put this into his mind already falls into every sin without caution. For if there is no one to watch, there is no one who rewards everyone according to the dignity of what is done in life: then will anything prevent one from oppressing the beggar, killing orphans, killing widows and strangers, daring to do any ungodly deed, desecrating oneself with unclean and vile passions, all sorts of bestial lusts? Therefore, as a consequence of the thought that there is no God, the Prophet added: corrupted and disgusted in his endeavors. For it is impossible for one who does not suffer in his soul to forget God to turn away from the right path. Why are the pagans given over to an unskilled mind, and do wicked things (Rom. 1:28)? Is it not because they said: there is no God? Why did they fall into the passions of dishonor, and their wives changed their natural likeness into a supernatural one, and their husbands inflicted punishment on their husbands (Rom. 1:26-27)? Is it not because I have changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of beasts and four-footed creatures and creeping things?” (Rom. 1:23). “Therefore, as truly devoid of intelligence and meaning, the one who says: there is no God is insane. But close to him and in no way inferior to him in nonsense is the one who says that God is the author of evil. I believe that their sin is equally grave, because both equally deny the good God, one saying that there is no God, and the other claiming that He is not good. For if God is the author of evil, then he is obviously not good. And therefore in both cases God is denied.” “Why do diseases speak? Why untimely death? Why the destruction of cities, shipwrecks, wars, times of famine? This is evil, they continue, and yet all this is God’s work. Therefore, who else but God should we recognize as the culprit of what is happening? So, since we have touched upon this often repeated question, then, raising the word to some generally accepted beginning and having carefully analyzed the proposed subject, we will try to make a clear and unambiguous explanation of it.” “We must first affirm in our thoughts one thing: since we are the creations of a good God and are in the power of Him who arranges everything that concerns us, both important and unimportant, we cannot endure anything without the will of God, and if we endure anything, it is harmless or not such that something better could be imagined. For, although death is from God, yet without a doubt, death is not evil; Unless anyone would call the death of a sinner evil, because for him, crossing from here is the beginning of torment in hell. But again, it is not God who is the cause of evil in hell, but ourselves, because the beginning and root of sin is what depends on us, our freedom. By refraining from evil, we could not endure anything disastrous. But since we are caught in sin by voluptuousness, can we present any plausible proof that we have not become the cause of sorrow for ourselves? “Therefore, some evil is only in our sensation, and other evil is in our own nature. Evil in itself depends on us, these are: untruth, debauchery, unreason, timidity, envy, murder, poison, deceitful deeds, and all similar defects, which, desecrating the soul, created in the image of the Creator, usually darken its beauty. We also call evil what is difficult and painful for us to feel: bodily illness, bodily wounds, lack of necessities, disgrace, damage to property, loss of relatives. Meanwhile, the wise and good Lord sends each of these disasters to us for our own benefit. Wealth takes away from those who use it badly, and thereby crushes the weapon of their unrighteousness. Illness is sent to those for whom it is more beneficial to have bound members than to rush unhindered into sin. Death falls on those who have reached the limit of life, which was set from the beginning in the righteous judgment of God, who from afar has provided for what is beneficial for each of us.” “And famine, drought, rain are some kind of common ulcers for entire cities and nations, which punish evil that has exceeded the limit. Therefore, as a doctor, although he produces labor and suffering in the body, he is nevertheless beneficial, because he fights with the disease, and not with the sick; So God is also good, Who arranges for the salvation of the whole through private punishments. You do not blame the doctor for cutting some things in the body, cauterizing others, and completely taking away others; on the contrary, you give him money, you call him a savior, because you stopped the disease in a small part of the body until the suffering spread throughout the whole body. And when you see that a city has collapsed on its inhabitants due to an earthquake, or that a ship with people in it has crashed at sea, you are not afraid to stir up a blasphemous tongue against the true Doctor and Savior. But you should have understood that in moderate and curable diseases, people benefit from caring for them alone; and when it turns out that suffering is not inferior to medical remedies, then it becomes necessary to separate the damaged part so that the disease, spreading to the places in contact with it, does not pass into the main members. Therefore, just as the doctor is not to blame for cutting and cauterizing, but the disease is to blame, so the destruction of cities, having its origin in the excessiveness of sins, frees God from all reproach.” Pointing further to some places of St. Scriptures in which God seems to be the culprit of death and various disasters that befall man, he says, that all these places can seem like that only to people who are unable to understand the true meaning of Scripture. “But for one who understands the meaning of Scripture, not one of these passages contains an accusation against God that He is the author and creator of evil.” Paying special attention to the words: create peace and build up evil (Ps. 45:7), he says: “he especially creates peace in you when he pacifies your mind with good teaching and pacifies the passions that rise up in the soul. The creator of evil, that is, transforms evil and leads to the better, so that it, having ceased to be evil, takes on the property of good... Moreover, if by the word peace you mean liberation from wars, and by evil you call the difficulties that accompany those at war, then campaigns, labors, vigils, restlessness, shedding of sweat, wounds, murders, the capture of cities, enslavement, taking captives, the pitiful appearance of prisoners, and in general all the sorrowful consequences wars, then I affirm that this happens according to the righteous judgment of God; In wars, God sends executions to those worthy of punishment. Or would you like Sodom not to be burned after its lawless deeds? so that Jerusalem would not be destroyed and the church devastated after the terrible fury of the Jews against the Lord? But how else could this have justly happened, if not through the hands of the Romans, to whom the enemies of our Lord, the Jews, betrayed their lives? Therefore, sometimes justice requires that the evil generated by war be inflicted on those worthy of it ... " “Therefore, illnesses in cities and nations, dryness in the air, barrenness of the earth and disasters encountered in everyone’s life prevent the increase of sin. And all evil of this kind is sent from God to prevent the generation of true evils. For both bodily suffering and external disasters are designed to curb sin. So, God destroys evil, and evil does not come from God. And the doctor destroys the disease, and does not introduce it into the body. The destruction of cities, earthquakes, floods, the death of armies, shipwrecks, any destruction of many people that happens from earth, or sea, or air, or fire, or for any reason, happens in order to bring chastity to those who remain; because God curbs the vices of the people by means of executions by the people. Therefore, in the proper sense, evil, that is, sin, this evil most worthy of this name, depends on our will, because it is in our will either to refrain from vice or to be vicious. And among other evils, some, like exploits, are needed to demonstrate courage, for example, Job’s deprivation of children, the destruction of all wealth in one instant of time and the defeat of purulent scabs; and others are sent as a cure for sins, for example, for David, domestic shame serves as punishment for lawless lust. And we also know terrible executions of a different kind, sent by the righteous judgment of God, in order to make those who are inclined to sin chaste. For example, Dathan and Aviron were devoured by the earth into the abysses and abysses that opened beneath them. For here, by this kind of punishment, they themselves were not led to correction (is this possible for those who have descended into hell?), but by their example they made others chaste. So Pharaoh was drowned with his entire army. Thus were the former inhabitants of Palestine exterminated.” Therefore, although the Apostle in one place calls such vessels of wrath perfected for destruction (Rom. 9:22), we should not think that Pharaoh’s dispensation was in any way bad (in this case, the guilt would rightly fall on the one who arranged it), but on the contrary, when you hear about vessels, understand that each of us was created for something useful. And just as in a big house one vessel is gold, another is silver, another is clay, and another is wooden, and the arbitrariness of each of us has similarities with the substances of the vessels, a person who is pure in morality and insidious is a golden vessel, and his lowest in dignity is a silver vessel, while wise in earthly things and fit for contrition is an earthen vessel, and conveniently defiled by sin and becoming food for eternal fire is a wooden vessel; so a vessel of wrath is one who, as in a vessel, has contained all the suggestions of the devil, and due to the stench that has occurred in him from the corruption, he cannot be taken for any use, but is worthy only of destruction and destruction. since it was necessary to crush him, the reasonable and wise Master of souls arranged for him to become famous and known to everyone, and through this, when he himself became unhealed due to excessive depravity, he brought benefit to others with his misfortune. God hardened him with his long-suffering and slowness in punishment, allowing his sin to intensify, so that the truth of God’s judgment would be revealed to him when his wickedness increased to the extreme limit. Why, starting with smaller plagues, and constantly multiplying and intensifying the executions, did not soften his stubbornness, but found that he despises God’s long-suffering and endures the disasters sent to him as something familiar. Even after this, he did not put him to death until he drowned himself, in the arrogance of his heart, daring to follow the path of the righteous, and dreaming that the Red Sea would be passable both for the people of God and for him.” “So, having been taught this by God, having received the concept of the separate types of evil, knowing what real evil is, namely sin, the end of which is destruction, and what imaginary evil is, painful to feel, but having the power of good, such as the suffering sent to curb sin, the fruits of which are the eternal salvation of souls, stop being upset by the orders of God’s economy and generally do not consider God guilty of the existence of evil and not imagine that evil has its own special independence... “But evil nevertheless exists. Where do they say evil comes from if it is neither without beginning nor created? Instead of answering St. Vasily asks: where do the diseases come from? and in explanation of this question, he says that illness is not something independent, but is a consequence of deviating from the correct lifestyle. For example, represents an animal. An animal is given a healthy body and as long as it uses food that is natural to itself, it does not suffer any suffering. But as soon as it takes any food that is not akin to and not beneficial to its nature, it begins to suffer. So, illness is a consequence of an incorrect lifestyle and, therefore, God did not create illness, but He created only the body and at first a healthy one. This is how one must reason in relation to sin, which has become the cause of various sufferings for a person.” “God created the soul, not sin. The soul has become damaged by deviating from what is natural to it. And what was the main benefit for her? Being with God and uniting with Him through love. Having fallen away from Him, she began to suffer from various and varied ailments. Why is there a general acceptability of evil in it? due to free striving, everything more befitting of rational nature. Not being bound by any necessity, having received from the Creator a free life, as created in the image of God, she understands the good, knows how to enjoy it, is endowed with freedom and strength - being in the contemplation of the beautiful and in the enjoyment of what is imagined - to observe the life that is natural to her, but also has the freedom to sometimes deviate from the beautiful. And this happens to her when, having had enough of blissful pleasure and, as if weighed down by some kind of drowsiness, having fallen from the heights of heaven, she enters into communion with the flesh for the vile pleasures of voluptuousness.” Next shows St. Vasily, that death is not a creation of God, but is only an inevitable consequence of man’s removal from God as the source of life. Just as a person, being close to a lit lamp, is in the light, but the further he moves away from this source of light, he is plunged into darkness. So in relation to God, the source of life and light, the more a person approaches God by his own will and love for Him, the more fullness of life and light he enjoys; but the more one moves away from Him, the more one plunges into darkness and death. Consequently, the cause of moral darkness and death, both spiritual and physical, is not God, but man himself, through the bad direction of his will, mind and heart. While Adam was in spiritual communion with God, until then he enjoyed all spiritual and physical blessings and no feeling of sorrow and suffering touched him. But when he preferred what seemed pleasant to carnal eyes to the imaginable beauty of God and placed the filling of the belly above spiritual pleasures, “he became outside the blessed life, becoming evil not out of necessity, but out of recklessness. Therefore, just as he sinned because of bad will, he died because of sin. To the extent that he moved away from life, to the extent that he approached death, because God is life, and the taking of life is death. Therefore, Adam prepared death for himself through separation from God, according to what is written: for those who remove themselves from You will perish (Ps. 72:27).” “So, it was not God who created death, but we ourselves brought it upon ourselves by evil deed. God did not prevent our destruction, so as not to preserve the illness itself immortal in us.” “But they say: why is it that in the structure itself we are not given sinlessness, so that it would be impossible for us to sin, even if we wanted to? “That’s why you don’t recognize servants as serviceable when you keep them tied up, but when you see that they are voluntarily fulfilling their duties before you.” Therefore, what pleases God is not what is forced, but what is done virtuously. Virtue comes from will, and not from necessity; and will depends on what is in us, and what is in us is free. Therefore, whoever blames the Creator for not making us sinless by nature does nothing more than prefer the irrational nature to a rational nature, to a nature endowed with will and self-activity, motionless and without any aspirations...” “Therefore, let us stop correcting the Wise One. Let us stop searching for what would be better than what He created. Although the reasons for His private orders are hidden from us, let us affirm in our souls the following proposition: no evil comes from Good.” “To this question, through the connection of concepts, another comes about the devil. Where does the devil come from if evil is not from God? What can we say about this? The fact is that for this question it is enough for us to use the same reasoning that is presented about wickedness in man. For why is man wicked? By my own free will. Why is the devil angry? For the same reason; because he also had a free life, and he was given the power to either remain with God or withdraw from the Good. Gabriel is an angel and always stands before God. Satan is an Angel, and has completely fallen from his own rank. And the first was kept by will in those above, and the last was cast down by free will. And the first could become an apostate and the last could not fall away. But one was saved by his insatiable love for God, and the other was made an outcast by his distance from God. And this alienation from God is evil... So the devil is wicked, having wickedness from his will, and not his nature is opposite to good. Therefore, why does he fight with us? Because, having become a container of every vice, he accepted the disease of envy and envied our honor. Our carefree life in paradise was unbearable for him. By cunning and cunning he deceived the man, and using the same desire that man had to become like God as a means of deception, he showed the tree and promised that through eating this fruit man would become like God. For he said: if you take it down, you will be like a god, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5). Therefore, he was not created as our enemy, but through envy he was brought into enmity with us. For seeing that he himself had been cast down from the Angels, he could not watch with indifference how the earth-born through success rises to angelic dignity... But they say: why was there a tree in paradise, with the help of which the devil could succeed in plotting against us? For if he had not had a deceptive bait, how would he have led us into death through disobedience? “It was because a commandment was needed to test our obedience. For this purpose there was a plant that bore beautiful fruits, so that we, in deviating from the pleasant, having shown the superiority of abstinence, would rightfully be awarded crowns for patience. Eating was followed not only by disobeying the commandment, but also by the knowledge of nakedness. For it is said: they were poisonous, and their eyes were opened and they understood, as if they were besha (Gen. 3:6-7). But it was not necessary to know nakedness, so that the human mind, inventing clothing and protection from nakedness for itself, should not be distracted by the concern of replenishing what is missing, and so that in general it should not be distracted from attentive striving towards God by caring for the flesh.” St. Basil, abundantly feeding the souls of his flock with divinely inspired and edifying words, did not leave their bodies without food in need. The year 368 presented him with an opportunity to fully demonstrate his charity and tender care for the needs of his flock. The winter was extremely cold and without snow, as a result of which all the grain sown in the fall froze. From the onset of spring and throughout the entire summer, the sky was cloudless and clear, the heat of the scorching sun was so strong that the earth cracked and the sun's ray freely penetrated into the depths of the crevices. But with such exhausting sunny heat for all living things, throughout the entire spring and summer, the earth was not watered with a single drop of rain. The consequence of all this was that all the grass burned, the grain seeds sown in the spring either did not sprout or dried up at their very appearance, and the human gaze did not meet greenery anywhere, which would testify to the continuing life of the plant kingdom on earth. Abundant and never-drying springs became scarce, the flows of large rivers dried up so much that small children could cross them. Small rivers and streams were completely dry, so that many areas could not deliver even one drop of water to the inhabitants to quench their scorching thirst 122 . To complete the misfortunes of the city and surrounding areas, there was no way to supply grain from other countries, since the Cappadocia region did not have any water communication with the sea, and the land supply of grain was unthinkable due to its extreme high cost. “The most unbearable thing in such circumstances,” says St. Gregory the Theologian, - the insensibility and gluttony of those who have excesses. They take advantage of time, extract profit from poverty, reap a harvest from disasters, do not heed what the merciful poor gives in return to the Lord (Proverbs 19:7), that he who sells wheat stingily is cursed by the people (Proverbs 11:26), they do not hear promises to the philanthropic, nor threats to the inhuman” 123. “Farmers,” says St. Vasily, sitting on the fields and folding his hands on his knees (the usual position of those who lament, mourn their lost labors in vain), will look at the young children and begin to sob; they will fix their eyes on their wives and burst into tears; they will touch and feel the dry leaves of the sprouted stems and weep loudly like fathers who have lost sons who have reached the flowering age” 124. Hungry, emaciated, exhausted, with pale lifeless faces, with sunken and dull eyes, men, women and children walked around the city, seeking help from the rich, while others, no longer having the strength to cross the threshold of their home, languished in the cruel pangs of starvation. Such a soul-rending picture of the people's suffering could not, of course, fail to arouse feelings of compassion for the suffering people in such a valiant Shepherd as St. Vasily. First of all, his flock needed his word, to admonish some and to console others. In his word spoken on this occasion, having revealed with all its completeness and astoundingness the picture of the national disaster, like an experienced spiritual doctor, he points “first of all to the cause of the disease, without eliminating which radical healing of the patient is impossible. Having shown before how the Ninevites repented and with what deeds they eliminated the execution that threatened them from God, he says: “This is the way of thinking of the well-conscious slaves! Such is the repentance of those possessed by sins! But we commit sin with all our might, but we approach repentance carelessly and lazily. Who among us, when praying, sheds tears in order to receive rain and irrigation in time? Who, in imitation of blessed David, wet the bed with tears to atone for sins (Ps. 6:7)? Who washed the feet of strangers and wiped away the travel dust in order to appease God by asking for an end to the drought in time? Who nourished the child who lost its father, so that God would now nourish the fruits for us, like an orphan, beaten by the unkindness of the winds? Who looked upon the widow, constrained by the difficulty of food, so that now she could receive the necessary food as a reward? Tear up the unrighteous scripture so that through this your sin may be resolved; blot out the obligation to pay heavy growth, so that the earth will give birth to what is usual for it. since you have copper and gold, and everything that does not give birth gives birth contrary to nature: then the earth, which by nature is capable of birth, becomes solid and, as a punishment for those living on it, is condemned to sterility.” Then, turning to rich capitalists, he shows them that gold will not save them not only from eternal punishment, but also from temporary punishment, if God, in his righteous anger, extends the punishment for a longer period. “Let the worshipers of covetousness, who accumulate wealth to the point of abundance, show what power or benefit their treasures will have if an angry God prolongs the punishment even longer? Soon those who hoard it will become yellower than gold if they do not have bread, which was despised yesterday and today for the convenience of having it in abundance. Imagine that there is no one selling, that there is no bread in the granaries. What is the use of heavy bags of money then? Tell me, will you not be buried in the ground with them? Isn't the earth gold? Will not useless clay lie next to the clay of the body? You have acquired everything, but you do not have one thing necessary - the ability to feed yourself. Make at least one cloud out of all your wealth; figure out a way to produce a few raindrops; awaken the earth to fertility; end the disaster with your proud and majestic wealth. Maybe you will call on one of the reverent men for help, so that through his prayers, like Elijah the Tishbite, you will be granted relief from disasters by a poor man who has no property, no shoes, no home, no warm corner, no other benefits of life, covered with one tunic, like Elijah the man with a mantle, a student of prayer, a table-fellow of abstinence. And if you receive the help you ask from such a person, won’t you then laugh at wealth, which requires many worries? Wouldn't you spit on gold? And silver, which you previously called omnipotent and most kind, will you not throw it away as uncleanness, having learned that it is a weak helper in need” 125 . Having described the terrible appearance of those exhausted by hunger, St. Vasily shows the criminality of the indifference of the rich, who pass by such sufferers without paying attention to them. “What kind of punishment is worthy of someone who passes by a person with such an emaciated body? What else can be added to such cruelty? Isn't it worth classifying him among the fierce beasts, recognizing him as a villain and murderer? Whoever has the opportunity to heal evil, but puts it off voluntarily and out of covetousness, can justly be condemned on a par with murderers” 126. Having further shown the beauty of virtue - mercy towards the poor and the ease of acquiring eternal salvation through this virtue, St. Vasily convinces rich people to take advantage of the present time of distress to acquire a blissful eternity. “It’s time to call you to the mother of commandments (i.e., to mercy); take special care that this time of trading and buying does not go to waste for you, because time flows and does not return to slowness; the days rush by and outrun the lazy one. And just as it is impossible to stop the flow of a river, unless someone, having captured it at the first meeting and the first impulse, uses the water as it should: so it is impossible to hold back time, which is forced forward by the non-stop circulation; the past cannot be brought back unless someone catches what is coming. Therefore, the commandment, like something running, keep and fulfill; take it and squeeze it in your arms from all sides. Give little and get much. Resolve the original sin by donating food. For just as Adam passed on sin to us through evil eating, so we will atone for this evil eating if we satisfy our brother’s need and hunger... You have many examples of brotherly love in both the Old and New Testaments. If you see a hungry old man, call him and feed him, like Joseph did to Jacob. If you find an enemy in extremes, do not apply vengeance to the anger that holds you, but feed him, like Joseph did with his brothers who sold him. If you meet a young man, depressed by his work, shed tears, like Joseph over Benjamin, the son of old age. Perhaps you are also tempted by covetousness, like Joseph’s mistress, and you are drawn by your clothes, so that you neglect the commandment and love this lover of gold and peace more than the Lord’s commandment. When a thought comes to you that is hostile to this commandment, dragging your chaste mind into the love of money, forcing you to neglect brotherly love and holding you back at the first, and you throw off your clothes, leave with anger, be faithful to the Lord, like Joseph to Pentephry. Supply the poor even for one year, as he supplied for seven years. Don’t sacrifice everything to lust; give something to your soul. Imagine that you have two daughters: prosperity here and life in heaven. If you don’t want to give everything to the best, then at least divide it equally - both intemperate and chaste. Take care that when you need to come to Christ and appear before the face of the Judge, the life here does not turn out to be too rich, but another life is naked and dressed in rags - a virtuous life, having the appearance and name of a bride. Therefore, do not present the bride to the Groom as ugly and unadorned, lest He look away and turn away his face, and when he sees, he hates and renounces the union with her; but dress her in decent attire, keep her beautiful until the appointed time of marriage, so that she, too, with the wise virgins, will light a lamp, having an unquenchable fire of knowledge and not lacking in the oil of merit, so that the inspired prophecy is confirmed by the very act, so that what is said becomes befitting for your soul: the queen appears at your right hand, adorned in robes of gilded clothes... Provide for the present and about the future and not to lose the latter for the sake of vile self-interest 127.” Having instilled in rich people generosity towards the poor, especially in that time of calamity for everyone, he convinces poor people to endure the sorrow that befalls them with obedience to the punishing hand of God and thereby show that they are not flattering slaves, expressing affection and devotion to Him only in the happy days of their lives, but in sorrow they are ready to retreat from Him with a murmur at His orders. Along with this, with the examples of many saints, he tries to reinforce in them hope for the help of a good God, who does not send temptations beyond his strength to his faithful servants. What was the state of the soul and body of St. Basil in this disastrous time for everyone, we can see this from his letters to Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata 128. In one of these letters to St. Vasily writes: “I will not talk about the illnesses that followed one after another, about the inconveniences of winter, about the continuity of affairs, as if it were something known, which I already conveyed to your perfection before. And now the only consolation I had in life, I mean my mother, and it was taken away from me because of my sins. And don’t laugh at me that at such an age I complain about being an orphan; on the contrary, forgive me that I cannot patiently endure separation from such a soul, for whom I do not see equal in merit in those who remain. Therefore, my ailments have returned to me again, I am again lying on my bed, in complete exhaustion of diminishing strength, and only from hour to hour I expect the inevitable end of my life.” Such was the state of the soul and body of St. Vasily, when the city and the whole country were languishing, exhausted by hunger. “But as soon as he was freed from his own ailments that were debilitating him, he hurried to the aid of the suffering people. “His word, spoken on this occasion in the church, did not remain fruitless: in the poor it reinforced hope in God’s help and patience in sorrows; in the rich it inspired generous charity. But St. himself Vasily did not limit his care for the poor only to his word, but used the estate remaining after the death of his blessed mother, Emmelia, for the benefit of the poor. In addition, he took an active part in feeding those exhausted by hunger. “Having opened the storehouses of those who have,” as St. Gregory the Theologian, with words and exhortations, accomplishes what is said in Scripture, breaks up food for the hungry (Ps. 57:8), satisfies the poor with bread (Ps. 131:15), feeds hunger (Ps. 32:19), and fills the hungry souls with good (Ps. 106:9). And how? For this also greatly increases his merit. He gathers into one place those stung by hunger, and some even barely breathing, husbands and wives, babies, elders, all pitiful age, asks for all kinds of food that can satisfy hunger, puts out cauldrons full of vegetables and salty provisions, which our poor eat; then, imitating the ministry of Christ himself, who, girded with laziness, did not disdain to wash the feet of his disciples, with the assistance of his slaves or servants, satisfies the bodily needs of those in need, and satisfies the spiritual needs, adding honor to nourishment and easing their lot for both 129.” “There are many other proofs of Vasily’s care and concern for the Church; These are: Vasily’s courage before his superiors, both in general before everyone, and before the most powerful in the city; his decisions in disputes are not made without trust, but after being pronounced through his lips, through the use of those who have turned into law; his intercession of those in need, mostly in spiritual matters, and sometimes in carnal ones (because this, too, by winning people over with good disposition, often benefits souls); feeding the poor, receiving strangers, caring for virgins, written and unwritten rules for monastics, ordering prayers, decorating the altar and other things that only a truly man of God and acting according to God can use for the people 130.” In all these valiant actions, St. Basil can be confirmed partly from his letters, and partly from the testimony of other church historians. The right of trial over litigants, in case of consent of the litigants, was granted by Constantine the Great to the Bishops themselves, whose definitions were revered on a par with royal definitions; The secular authorities, in this case, were entrusted with the obligation to bring only their definitions into execution 131. But Bishops sometimes shared this right of judgment with trusted representatives of the clergy 132. And since on St. Basil, by virtue of the Archbishop's extraordinary power of attorney to him, had all episcopal responsibilities, so he also exercised the right of trial over litigants, attracting litigants to his court with his impartiality in court and sincere goodwill to both parties. Proof of the participation of St. Basil in the position of those oppressed by strong people are served by many of his letters written by him during his presbytery. – In a letter to Sophronius the Master asks to intercede for the parent of St. Gregory the Theologian and save him from the hassle of going to court, because after the death of Caesarea, who dying gave up his estate to the poor, when this estate was partly plundered, partly spent by Caesar's parents for the poor and to pay off debts, new lawsuits were announced from people to whom Caesar allegedly owed money. “Our most God-loving brother, Bishop Gregory, has also experienced the hardships of this life,” he wrote. For he, along with everyone else, suffers anxiety, being struck by incessant insults, as if by unexpected blows. People who do not fear God, and perhaps forced by the greatness of the disaster, attack him under the pretext that Caesarius took money from them. The loss is not difficult for him, because he has long learned to value wealth at nothing. But, since the property of Caesarea was in the hands of servants and people who, in morals, were no better than the servants, and having divided the most expensive things among themselves with complete freedom, they kept a perfect smallness; then the parents of Caesarea, having received a little of the property of Kecapiev and considering it to belong to no one, soon spent it on those in need - both according to their own will, and according to the words of the deceased; because, as they say, Caesar said when he was dying: I want everything I have to go to the poor. “Why, as executors of Kecapia’s order, they soon disposed of the estate for the common benefit and now Gregory was faced with Christian poverty on the one hand, and on the other hand the hassle of going to court.” “Therefore, the idea came to me to bring all this to the attention of your praiseworthy rightness, so that you, out of respect for the husband whom you have known for a long time, for the glory of the Lord, who takes upon Himself what is done to His servants, and out of respect for me, one of your chosen friends, talk about this with the guardian treasure and, in your great prudence, come up with a way to free Gregory from these offensive and intolerable worries. Without a doubt, there is no person who knew Gregory so little that he would suspect him of something indecent, for example, that out of passion for money he invents such things. For the proof of his impartiality is ready. He willingly cedes to the treasury the remains of the Kecapian estate, if only it would be saved and the intercessor for state property would himself deal with those declaring their claims, and would himself demand evidence from them, because we are not capable of such matters. For it is not difficult for your perfection to know that while it was possible, no one left Gregory without achieving what he wanted, but everyone without difficulty received what he demanded; why many even regretted not asking for more at first. This was especially the effect that many began to attack him. Looking at the example of those who warned, others began to announce their false claims one after another. Therefore, we ask your sedateness to resist all this and stop and stop the continuous series of evils, like some kind of stream. You yourself know how to help the cause without waiting for us to teach you this, who, due to our inexperience in everyday affairs, do not even know how to get rid of trouble. Therefore, be both an adviser and an intercessor, inventing, out of your great prudence, the very method of assistance 133.” In a letter to Augurius, he asks about the same matter regarding the Caesarian inheritance 134. In another letter he intercedes for a person close to him named Leontius and asks for the same care for this house of Leontius as for his own. “I have already written to you about many things that are important to me, but I will write about many more matters. For it is impossible for those in need to disappear and for us to refuse to show mercy within our power. No one is so close to me and no one can console me so much with his success in anything as the most venerable brother Leonty. Receive his house as you would receive me, not in the poverty in which I now live by the grace of God, but when I lived in abundance and owned the fields. It is obvious that you would not bring me to poverty, but would preserve what I have or increase my abundance. Therefore, I ask you to do the same with the mentioned house of this person. For all this, you will receive the usual reward from me - prayers to Holy God for the labors that you undertake, being so kind, supportive and considerate to the requests of those in need." 135 In another letter he asks for a certain presbyter, his co-pupil, through whose labors the saint also fed. Vasily, so that with the new equalization of taxes, no new taxes should be imposed on him. “The presbyter of this town, as I think your honor has known for a long time, is my fellow pupil. Therefore, do I need to say that another way to convince your mercy is to look at him friendly and help him in business? For if you love me, as you probably do, then without a doubt you will try by all means to calm down those whom you consider to be one with you. So, what am I asking? To ensure that the previous filing remains with him. For he works a lot, serving me for food, because, as you yourself know, I have nothing of my own, but I am content with what my friends and relatives have. Therefore, look at this brother’s house as mine, or better said, as your own, and for the benefit shown to him, God will send you, your house and your entire family the usual help.”136 Living in the city, St. Vasily, however, did not abandon the exploits of monastic life 137 and, without abandoning care for the monasteries he founded in Pontus, he established community monasteries in the city of Caesarea itself. This can be seen from the letter of St. Vasily to the abbot of the monastery he had previously founded, to whom he escorted one who wanted to devote himself to serving God in the monastery, located in the city of Caesarea itself. “Someone,” wrote St. Vasily, to this abbot, as he himself says, having known the vanity of this world and having learned that all the pleasures of this life are subject to vicissitudes here and prepare only substance for the eternal fire, but they themselves soon pass away, he came to me with the intention of moving away from this difficult and much-weeping life, leaving carnal pleasures and henceforth following the path leading to the abodes of the Lord. Therefore, if he really firmly desired this truly blessed life and had in his soul a beautiful and praiseworthy love, loving the Lord our God with all his heart, with all his strength and with all his thought, then it is necessary that your piety show him the difficulties and inconveniences of the narrow and narrow path, but also confirm him in the hope of blessings, as yet invisible, prepared according to the promise worthy of the Lord. Writing for this reason, I beg your incomparable perfection in Christ to instruct him as much as possible, and let him make a renunciation without me to please God, and be instructed in the initial rules, as established and set forth in writing by the holy fathers, and also let him be offered everything related to ascetic rigor, and thus he will be introduced into this kind of life, and, according to his will, taking upon himself deeds for the sake of piety, having bowed under the good yoke of the Lord, arranging his life in imitation of us for the sake of Him who was poor and who bore flesh, and striving towards the goal, the honor of the highest calling, he will be worthy of praise from the Lord. Ему и здесь хотелось приять венец любви по Богу, но я отлагал cиe до времени, желая вместе с вашим благочестием умастить его на таковые подвиги и одного из вас, кого сам он изыщет, поставить ему наставником подвижничества, чтобы прекрасно руководствовал и своим усильным и блаженным рачением соделал его борцом достойным одобрения, разящим и низлагающим миродержителя тьмы века сего и духов злобы, с которыми у вас брань, according to the word of the blessed Apostle (Eph. 6:12). Поэтому, что я намеревался сделать вместе с вами, то ваша о Христе любовь да соделает и без меня 138 ». Обители общежития, учрежденные в городе, руководя во многих случаях и недоумениях устным словом, начертал для них и письменно образец совершенной жизни в одном послании. Так как это послание может быть прекрасным руководством в жизни духовной не только для современных иноков и инокинь, но как основанное на учении Евангельском, во многом и вообще для всех христиан, поэтому мы предложим его вниманию наших читателей. “In the inspired Scripture,” writes St. Василий, – много правил, которые обязаны наблюдать возревновавшие о благоугождении Богу. Но я почел необходимым сделать краткое напоминание по указанию самого богодухновенного Писания, пока о тех только обязанностях, о которых у вас теперь предложен вопрос. И поскольку свидетельство о каждой обязанности найти в Писании не трудно, то предоставляю cиe тем, которые упражняются в чтении Писания, и сами в состоянии напомнить даже другим следующее». «Христианин должен иметь образ мыслей достойный небесного звания и жить достойно Евангелия Христова. A Christian should not be distracted or distracted by anything from remembering God, His will and judgments. A Christian, having become in everything above justification under the law, should not repay evil for evil; should not be angry. He must be long-suffering, endure everything, no matter what, and whoever does a lie must be rebuked at the right time, not with a passionate movement to avenge himself, but with a desire to correct his brother, according to the commandment of the Lord. He should not say anything about his absent brother with the intention of denigrating, this is slander, even if what was said was fair. You need to turn away from a person who reprimands his brother. Shouldn't be funny. One should not laugh and tolerate laugh-makers. We must not idle and say anything that does not serve either the benefit of those listening, or the use necessary and permitted by us by God. Why should those engaged in work try as hard as possible to ensure that the work is done in silence and that even the kindest speeches are given by those who, after testing, have been entrusted with arranging the word for the building of faith, so that we do not offend the Holy Spirit of God. None of the strangers should voluntarily approach any of the brethren or talk to them until those assigned to oversee the general deanery throughout all judge whether this is pleasing to God for the common good. One should not be enslaved by guilt, desire to eat meat, and generally be voluptuous in the consideration of food or drink, because the ascetic abstains from everything. What is given to everyone for use should not be considered property or hidden away, but with care one must look at all this, as if it belongs to the Lord, and not pass without attention even by what is accidentally thrown or left in negligence. No one should be a master even of himself, but everyone, as given by God to the service of unanimous brethren, is accordingly obliged to reason about everything and do everything, however, remaining in his own rank. One should not grumble either when there is a lack of what is needed, or when one is tired of work, because everyone is judged by those who are given the power to do so. One should not allow oneself to scream or any other type or movement that shows irritability or deviation from the undoubted confidence in God's presence. The voice must be proportionate to the need. One should not respond to anyone or do anything insolently or contemptuously, but one must show modesty and respect in everything. One should not intentionally blink an eye or use any other sign or movement of a member that insults a brother or shows contempt. One should not try to be smart in clothes or shoes: this is vanity. To satisfy bodily needs, one should use something inexpensive. Nothing should be spent beyond necessity and for the sake of pomp: this is abuse. One should not seek honor and strive for primacy. Everyone should prefer everyone else to themselves. Shouldn't be disobedient. Those who are able to work should not eat bread in idleness, but those who are engaged in doing something for the glory of Christ must force themselves to be zealous in their work to the best of their ability. Everyone must, with the approval of their superiors, do everything with reason and conviction, not excluding eating food and drinking, as if they were doing this for the glory of God. One should not move from one task to another without the approval of those who are assigned to manage it, unless inevitable need suddenly calls someone to help the weakened. Everyone is obliged to remain in what he is assigned to, and should not, transgressing the measure of his own duty, take on what is not entrusted to him, unless those who have the power to dispose of this recognize someone in need of his help. There is no need for anyone to be in one work group from another work group. One should not do anything out of rivalry or because of a quarrel with someone. One should not envy the good reputation of another and rejoice at someone else's shortcomings. In the love of Christ, one must grieve and lament over the shortcomings of a brother, but rejoice in his success. One should not look indifferently at those who sin or remain silent about them. The one who reproaches must reprove with all compassion in the fear of God and in the intention to convert the sinner. The one who is reproached or receiving a reprimand must accept it willingly, recognizing that his own benefit lies in the correction. When someone is accused, no one else, in the presence of the accused or in the presence of others, should make any objections to the accuser. And if the accusation seems unfounded to anyone, then he must speak with the accuser in private and convince him or convince himself. Everyone, as much as he has the strength, should heal anyone who has something against him. One who has sinned and repented should not remember evil, but must forgive him from the heart. Whoever says that he has repented of sin must not only lament what he sinned, but also bear the worthy fruits of repentance. Whoever has been admonished regarding his previous sins and has been deemed worthy to receive remission of them, if he sins again, he prepares for himself a judgment of wrath that is more severe than before. Anyone who, after the first and second admonitions, remains in his sin must be reported to the superior, and then, having received a reprimand in front of many, he may come to shame. And if even in this case he does not correct himself, it is necessary to cut him off as a temptation and look at him as a pagan and a tax collector in order to bring safety to those who zealously work in obedience, according to what has been said, that when the wicked fall, the righteous come into fear. One should not cry over him as if he were a member cut off from the body.” The sun must not be allowed to set on the brother's anger, otherwise the night may separate both and leave them with inevitable condemnation on the day of judgment. We must not delay the time of our correction, because the morning day is wrong for us: many, having planned many things, did not live to see the morning day. It should not be deceived by the satiated belly, which causes nightly dreams. We should not amuse ourselves with excessive work and transgress the limits of moderation, according to what the Apostle said: having food and clothing, we will be content with these (1 Tim. 6:8); because abundance beyond need shows covetousness; and covetousness is condemned as idolatry (Col. 3:5). One should not be a lover of money, nor should one accumulate unnecessary treasures that are unnecessary. He who comes to God must love poverty in everything and be nailed by the fear of God, like the one who said: nail my fear to your flesh: for from your judgments I will fear (Ps. 119, 120). May the Lord grant you, with all conviction, to accept what has been said, to the glory of God to reveal fruits worthy of the Spirit by the good pleasure of God and the assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ” 139. There are such ascetics who, being carried away by impulses of pious feelings, from the very first time determine themselves to face all sorts of difficulties of the ascetic life, thinking, so to speak, to reach the pinnacle of perfection in one leap. But such ascetics, out of pride, who do not want to take advantage of the advice of people more experienced in ascetic life, for the most part end their lives in tears, or at least are subjected to such stumblings and falls that cast a dark shadow over their entire ascetic life. – Wishing to protect such ardent but unreasonable ascetics from harmful consequences for them, we find it necessary to acquaint them with the letter of St. Basil to the disciple Chilon, in which he admonishes him that in a virtuous life one good beginning is not enough, but constant and continuous progress is necessary; offers many rules for living a solitary life, advises not to suddenly rush to the heights of perfection, but to observe gradualness in exploits, and warns not to leave the desert under the plausible pretext of living a virtuous life in the world and attending spiritual meetings. “I will be the culprit of the saving deed for you, my sincere brother,” St. wrote to him. Vasily, - if you willingly accept advice from me on what you should do, especially in such cases about which you yourself asked for advice. Many may have had the courage to begin a solitary life, but few probably bothered to complete it properly. And without a doubt, the end of the matter is not in one intention, but in the end - the fruit of labor. Therefore, there is no small benefit if someone does not rush to the end of his intention, but limits monastic life to just the beginning, and what is most ridiculous, leaves his own intention, for which outsiders accuse him of lack of courage and prudence. About such the Lord also says: whoever wants to build a house, will he not first despise what he has, even if he has it to finish it: lest when he lays the foundation, and is not able to finish it, those passing by will begin to curse him, saying, “This man laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it” (Luke 14:28-30). Therefore, let the beginning be followed by zeal for success in a good deed. For even the most courageous ascetic Paul, desiring that we should not provide ourselves with previous good deeds, but would prosper more and more every day, says: forgetting what is behind, but deliberately pursuing what is before, for the honor of the highest calling (Phil. 3:13-14). Such is the whole of human life: it is not content with what has gone before, but is nourished not so much by the past as by the future. What good is it to a person to have a full belly yesterday, if now, with renewed hunger, you do not find the characteristic consolation of food? Likewise, the soul does not benefit from yesterday’s good deed if the fulfillment of righteousness is abandoned on this day. For it is said: “As I find you, so will I acknowledge you.” “Therefore, the work of the righteous becomes in vain and the character of the sinner is blameless after the change that has happened to them, when one goes from better to worse, and another from worse to better. This can also be heard in Ezekiel, who teaches as from the person of the Lord. For he says: if a righteous man sins when he turns aside, I will not remember the righteousness that I have done before this, but he will die in his sin (Ezek. 18:24). And the same thing is said about a sinner: if, having converted, he does righteousness, he will live life in it (Ezek. 27, 28). Where are so many works of the servant Moses, how soon did a momentary controversy prevent him from ascending to the land of promise? What was the purpose of Gehazi's treatment of Elisha when, through his love of money, he brought upon himself leprosy? What benefit did Solomon have in the abundance of wisdom and in such a previous love for God, when he subsequently fell into idolatry from misogyny? Yes, and blessed David was not blameless because of his sin with Uriah’s wife. To bring safety to those who live according to God, it is enough to “see the fall from better to worse of Judas, who for so long was a disciple of Christ, and then, having sold the Teacher for a small reward, thereby acquired a stranglehold for himself. Therefore, let it be known to you, brother, that he is not perfect who begins well, but he who is skilled before God is he who gives a good account of his work. Therefore, brother, do not give sleep to your eyes, and slumber among yourselves (Ps. 131:4), until you are saved, like a chamois from a snare and like a bird from a net! For look, you are walking among nets and walking on top of a high wall, from where it is not safe to fall.” “Therefore, do not suddenly reach for the very top of asceticism; above all, do not rely on yourself, lest you fall from the heights of ascetic life due to inexperience. For gradual progress is better. Little by little, take away the pleasures of life, destroying all your skills, so that by your resistance you suddenly irritate every desire for pleasure, and do not turn a crowd of temptations against you. When you have overcome the addiction to one pleasure, then enter into the struggle against the addiction to another, and thus you will overcome in good time any inclination to pleasure. For the name of pleasure is one, but the types of pleasure are different. Therefore, brother, first of all, be patient in every temptation. And how many different temptations the faithful are tested, sometimes by worldly losses, sometimes by accusations, slander, disobedience, slander, persecution! All this and the like serve to test the faithful.” “Moreover, be silent, not rash in speech, not argumentative, not stubborn, not vain, do not misinterpret everything; but love fidelity, be not long-winded, always ready not to teach, but to learn. Don’t be curious about worldly life: it won’t do you any good. For it is said: Let not my mouth speak of the deeds of men (Ps. 16:4). He who speaks pleasantly about the deeds of sinful people readily awakens in himself a passion for pleasure. But wish to know better the life of the righteous, for in this you will find benefit for yourself. Do not be eager to show yourself in public, bypassing villages and houses, but run through them like nets for the soul. And if someone, out of great reverence, convinces you to enter his house under various pretexts, then let him learn the faith of the centurion, who kept Jesus, who hastened to him for healing, from doing so, saying: Lord, I am not worthy, let you come under my roof, but just speak the word, and my boy will be healed (Matthew 8:8). When Jesus said to him: Go, as you believed, you will be healed at that hour (Matthew 8:13). Therefore, let it be known to you, brother, that it is not by the presence of Christ, but by the faith of the one who asks, that the sick man was freed from his illness. So now, no matter where you pray, if the sick person believes that your prayers will help him, everything will be fulfilled according to his desire.” “Love those close to you no more than the Lord. For it is said: whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:36). What does the Lord's commandment mean? It is said: unless someone takes up his cross and follows Me, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27). If you died with Christ for your relatives according to the flesh, then why do you want to live with them again? And if you again build for your relatives what you ruined for Christ, then you make yourself a criminal; therefore, do not leave your place for your relatives, for when you leave a place, you may also leave your morals.” “Do not love crowds, villages and cities, but be a desert lover, always remaining undistractedly within yourself, recognizing prayer and psalmody as your work. Do not neglect reading, especially read the New Testament, since reading the Old Testament often causes harm, not because it contains harmful things, but because the minds of those who suffer harm are weak. For all bread is nutritious, but it is harmful to the weak. Thus, all scripture is inspired by God and useful (2 Tim. 3:16) and there is nothing unclean in it, but unclean only to the one who recognizes it as unclean. You tempt everyone: keep the good, clear away from every form of evil (1 Thess. 5:21-22). All pain is of the essence, but not all is good (1 Cor. 6:12).” “Therefore, with everyone with whom you deal, be unoffending to everyone, reasonable, brotherly loving, friendly, humble in wisdom, do not stray from the goal of love of hobbies for expensive foods, but being content with the present, do not take anything from anyone beyond what is daily needed for monastic life, and especially shun gold, as the accuser of the soul, the father of sin, the servant of the devil. Do not make yourself guilty of lust for wealth under the pretext of serving the poor. And if someone brings you money for the poor, when you find out who is poor, advise the person who has the money to take it to the poor, so that by accepting money from him you do not defile your conscience. Run after pleasures, love moderation and exercise your body in labor, and accustom your soul to temptations. Recognizing the separation of soul and body as liberation from all evil, expect the enjoyment of eternal blessings, of which all the saints have become partakers.” To the presbytery works of St. Basil of St. Gregory the Theologian lists the order of prayers. But by this, first of all, we must understand the Liturgy, known under the name of the Liturgy of Basil the Great. - What St. Basil wrote the liturgy, this is undoubtedly assured by: a) Proclus Patriarch of Constantinople (434-447), who says that St. Vasily, wanting to heal human weakness because of the length of the service who refused to attend divine services, shortened the ancient rite of the liturgy; b) Peter the Deacon, known for his work on the Incarnation, says: the prayers of Basil’s liturgy are repeated by the entire East; c) Leontius of Byzantium (VII century) in the 3rd book against Nestorius; d) Council of Trula and 7th Ecumenical Council. - In addition to the rite of the Liturgy of St. Vasily transformed the order of morning and evening services and wrote prayers. About the order in which the morning service was performed at St. Basil, can be seen from his epistle to the Neocaesarians; and how splendidly the divine service was performed can be seen from the fact that it had a striking effect on the Emperor Valens himself, which we will have occasion to talk about. St. Basil also has prayers for various occasions, which are still read during the daily service, namely: two midnight prayers: one - Lord Almighty, and the other: We bless You; two prayers between the hours of the 1st hour: Eternal God, without beginning and Send light and it comes; prayer at the end of the 6th hour: God and Lord of hosts, and the other at the end of the 9th hour: Master, Lord. Vespers Prayer: Blessed are you, Lord. There are also other prayers: two before communion and one after communion; one at the Blessing of Unction; two prohibitions over the sufferer; two for desecration, one for those who hate and those who love. Another prayer: Shine in our hearts, O Lover of Mankind, which is read after the 11th kathisma and among the morning prayers of the service book. He also composed prayers read on the day of Pentecost after the liturgy at Vespers and decreed that one should kneel while reading these prayers, with a feeling of reverence, to testify to the divine power of the Holy Spirit. In the first prayer, his faithful confess themselves unrequited before the judgment of God's truth, but trusting in the mercy of God the Father and the power of the atoning sacrifice made by the Son, they dare to beg the Merciful One for the forgiveness of sins; in deep contrition of heart they ask the Lord that He, by His own power, would protect spiritual enemies from violence and would gather everyone under His roof. In another prayer, remembering the outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, they ask the Intercessor, who has received the power to send the Comforter, so that He would send down to them the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of the fear of God, so that without being seduced by the reds of the world, they would desire with all their souls the perception of eternal blessings. – In the third prayer, remembering the departed fathers, brothers and sisters, they beg the One who has the power over life and death, so that the prayers of His Church will give peace and repose to those who need it. To these three prayers are added the ordinary evening prayers of St. Vasily about the sinless passing of the evening and night. The Church, according to its external administration, is divided into different departments and bears different names. So there were churches: Caesarea, Antioch, Alexandria and others, but in reality the Church, as having one Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, and feeding everywhere with the same grace-filled currents of the Holy Spirit, is one, and the separate Churches according to external governance constitute only parts of one Universal Church. This is how St. looked at it. Basil the Great and therefore, although the Church of Caesarea enjoyed relative peace and did not tolerate greater evil from the Arians, he could not look calmly at the disorder and disasters of other Churches. Although caring for other Churches was not part of the scope of his presbyteral duties, and physical weakness could completely free him from this concern, St. Vasily, excited by the spirit of zeal for the good of the entire Universal Church, hurried to help where suffering was felt. Although his good intentions did not always achieve their goal due to the inscrutable fate of Divine Providence, he recognized himself as obligated to do what he recognized as useful and for his good intentions and aspirations, of course, received a well-deserved reward from the Lord. If he, not only during his presbyteral service, but even his episcopal service, did not manage to achieve the complete overthrow of the Arians and the establishment of peace throughout the Eastern Church, but his zealous desire for this goal, for all that, remains an invaluable merit for the Universal Church. The spirit of struggle he supported in Orthodox pastors and flocks against Arian wickedness preserved the spirit of intact life in the Orthodox Church; so that when the time appointed by God for the deposition and complete defeat of the Arians arrived, the Orthodox Church turned out to be not incurably sick, but filled with strength and spiritual strength and could continue its further existence in all its color and fruitfulness for those who entered its fence. Let us briefly trace the activities of St. Basil in relation to the entire Eastern Church, not to evaluate his actions, but in order to show in what sad state this Church was then. We already know that Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, as an Arian, was equally hostile to both Orthodox and semi-Arians. As a result, the Semi-Arians sought to unite with the Orthodox, and St. Vasily was in a hurry to take advantage of this circumstance. The semi-Arian bishops of the Hellespont and Bethany, together with the Orthodox, gathered at the Council in Lampsacus 140 to destroy the decrees of the Arians approved at the Council of Constantinople (360) and to restore the Bishops they had deposed. St. Basil, who was at that time still a presbyter, although he was not personally at this Council, but when the Orthodox Bishops, who had gathered to Eusebius to go together to Lampsacus, invited him to their place for meetings about the faith 141, he tried to confirm Eustathius of Sebaste and the other Bishops with him by firm reasoning in the Orthodox teaching about the dogma that was being subjected to quarrels, i.e. about the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. The fruit of this Council was a determination to return to their Churches those Bishops who, according to the slander of the Arians, were exiled for not recognizing the symbol of Constantinople, compiled by the Arians. Although the definition of the Council of Lampsacus was not carried out due to the opposition of Valens, it already served as a reason for the rapprochement of the Semi-Arians with the Orthodox, since the Semi-Arians, although they did not throw out the word similar from the symbol, recognized this word as necessary only to distinguish the hypostases, without denying the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. Since the heretics, who caused so much harm to the Orthodox, drew their strength mainly from external support, namely, from the patronage of Emperor Valens, therefore the Orthodox, in addition to unanimity and unshakable firmness in the confession of the Orthodox faith, also had to be opposed to external force in order to counteract external force. This is St. Vasily, who cared with all his might to bring triumph to Orthodoxy, understood well and therefore made efforts to win over Valentinian, the Emperor of the Eastern and Western Empire, in his favor, to whom Valens was only a co-ruler, but subordinate to him in his actions. Hope for Valentinian was based on the fact that he adhered to the Orthodox teaching, although he did not persecute confessors of other faiths 142. To successfully act on the Emperor, it was necessary to enter into communication with the Western Church, which then, taking advantage of the patronage of the Orthodox Emperor, enjoyed peace. For this purpose, an embassy was sent from the Eastern Church to Liverius, the chief Bishop of the Roman Church, consisting of three Bishops, Eustathius of Sebastia, Silvanus of Tarsus and Theophilus of Kostovalsky, equipped with letters from other Eastern Bishops 143. Although this embassy did not have the desired success, since those sent did not find the Emperor, it nevertheless gave hope for a favorable outcome in the future, since through this embassy a beginning was made for communication with the Western Church. The thought of uniting with the West to establish peace had long been in Vasily’s soul, as he wrote to St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria. “And I myself,” he wrote, “even with my meager understanding of affairs, have long known that there is only one known means to help our churches - the unanimity of Western bishops with us 144. How much sympathy the thoughts of St. expressed. Basil and other eastern bishops can be seen from the fact that the message of Liverius and other western bishops was received with special pleasure at the Council of Tyana, which was presided over by Eusebius Archbishop of Caesarea 145, with whom, of course, St. Vasily, as his constant collaborator in church affairs. – In order to establish unanimity between all the Eastern churches, it was proposed to draw up a Council in Tarsus, but the orders of the Orthodox Bishops were stopped by Valens, who prevented them from gathering there. The unanimity of the Bishops is the basis of the well-being of the Church, especially when it is overwhelmed by enemies, therefore St. Vasily tried to enter into written communication with many heads of private Churches (even with those who, through a misunderstanding, were hostile to him) in order to maintain unanimity and the totality of opposition to heretics. - In place of Basil, Bishop of Ancyra, who was unjustly removed by heretics, Athanasius was elevated, who showed clear dislike for St. Vasily and in front of everyone reproached him for allegedly writing and composing something malicious. St. Basil, forgetting the personal insult, hastened to heal his soul with a sincere explanation. Some who came to us from Ancyra informed me that you, dear leader, do not remember me with pleasure and not as usual. But, as you know, nothing human amazes me and no change is unexpected for a person who has long known the weakness of nature and the convenience of moving from one extreme to another. Therefore, I don’t rate it as great if something has changed in our relationship and instead of the former honor I now hear reproaches and insults. It seemed to me really strange and extraordinary that your disposition towards me has changed so much that you are angry and annoyed with me, even, as those who heard it say, threatening me with something. To tell the truth, I laughed a lot at these threats. And I would absolutely become a child if I were afraid of such insurances. What I found terrible and much troubling was that your accuracy in everything, which I was sure was observed for the consolation of the Churches to be the support of the right faith and the seed of ancient and true love, was so much borrowed from the present state of affairs that the blasphemies of any people are more important to you than what has been proven about me by long-term experience, and without proof you are carried away into absurd suspicions. What else am I saying: into suspicion! Whoever is indignant and threatens, as they say about you, apparently reveals in anger someone who is unaware, but clearly and incontestably already convinced. – But, as I said, I attribute the reason for this to the present tense. For was it a great task, my wonderful one, to talk to me about anything in a short letter, as if one on one, or, if you didn’t want to entrust such a matter to a letter, to call me to your place? And if it was necessary to bring the matter out into the open and the uncontrollability of anger did not allow time for delay, then one of the people close to me and able to keep a secret could be used as an intermediary for an explanation with me. But now, to whom of those who come to you for whatever need do they not disclose that I am writing and composing something harmful? And as those who retell your speeches say word for word, you used this very saying. Assuming that he was misled by some heretical work bearing his name, in order to weaken his teaching authority through slander, St. Vasily says at the end of the letter: you yourself will resolve my bewilderment if you deign to clearly say the name of the one who led you into grief against me 146. The fruit of this letter was that Athanasius, Bishop of Ancyra, was on friendly terms with St. until the end of his life. Vasily. And when Athanasius ended his days (which happened shortly after this letter), St. Basil wrote, among other things, to the Ancyra Church: the man who in the true sense was the pillar and affirmation of the Church fell; better to say, he moves away from us, raptured to the blissful life... There is no more advice from the mind, truly moved by God. Oh, how many times (I blame myself for this) did it occur to me to be indignant at this husband, because having completely given himself over to the desire to be resolved and to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23), he did not choose to remain in the flesh for our sake 147! Of the remaining letters that have survived to us from St. Basil, it is clear that while he was still a presbyter, he had correspondence with many Bishops; He was especially in close and friendly relations with Eusebius, Bishop of Samosata, to whom he confided all his sorrows and joys. Even being almost on his deathbed, he wrote to him: I am lying on my bed in complete exhaustion of diminishing strength and only from hour to hour I expect the inevitable end of life. – And the Church is in almost the same position as my body; no good hope is visible; things are constantly going for the worse 148 . - But the hour of death for him was delayed by Divine Providence for several more years, since the Lord, who sees the future as the present, saw that he, with his pious zeal for the good of the Church, could still bring much benefit to her with his talents and example of a holy life. Gregory the Theologian, lyrics. 43, p. 87. Gregory the Theologian, letter 12. Gregory the Theologian, Sl. 43, p. 88. Gregory the Theologian, Sl. 43, pp. 89–90. For the six-day conversation 2 and 8. Gregory the Theologian, Sl. 43, p. 124. In this conversation he spoke about aquatic animals, and in the next he plans to talk about birds. Basil the Great, Sl. 8, p. 122. Gregory the Theologian, Sl. 43, p. 91. Basil the Great, letters 27 and 30. Gregory the Theologian, Sl. 43, p. 92. Basil the Great, letter 32. Gregory of Nyssa in the life of St. Macrina. Basil the Great, letter 23. Basil the Great, letter 215. Basil the Great, letter 62. Basil the Great, letter 25