Слово 2. Беседа души с умом, в вопросах и ответах, о том, откуда рождаются в нас страсти; здесь же и о Божественном Промысле и против астрологов

Soul . My dear mind! I am now addressing you with the usual conversation. I am no less amazed at how you, being appointed by the Creator as a kind of ruler, and containing all my vital forces and all, without exception, parts of the body, like some kind of king who owns a fortified city, or like some skilled helmsman, control the whole body through your most skillful mental maneuvers; then, like a rider who, having been thrown off by a fierce horse, is deprived of victory, and often even of life itself: so you, too, being often possessed by some dark passion - or destructive envy, or anger, or sadness - immediately become completely confused and terribly sad, and then all your reasoning and words become indecent and, in short, you then do not recognize anyone, neither your relatives, nor your dear friends to you. Should I say more? You then emit lawless blasphemy against Him Who is the Only Good. Tell me, I ask you: why does this happen to us - to me and to you? I strongly wish, beloved, to learn about this from you. Mind . You, soul, earnestly desire to learn something extremely incomprehensible and incomprehensible to reason from me. Therefore, with great pleasure I would prefer complete silence, if I were not ashamed of the divine preacher, who demands that we always be ready to answer everyone who asks us about the words of wisdom (1 Pet. 3:15). So, as much as I can, with help from above, I will tell you a little about what you are asking. A terrible, very terrible illness, oh soul, is self-love, and this evil disposition, having been established for a long time in our souls, requires great work and deeds until it is expelled from us. There was once, there was a time when you and I were free from these passions, and had a completely quiet and serene life, sated with the highest and purest thoughts of the most divine desires - when we were not worried about vain glory, any disputes, nor harmful envy, nor pride; but with simple, gentle and monotonous wisdom they always strived for higher things, being encouraged by the desire for the most perfect good. Our Creator, the soul, is simple, and is not at all involved in any evil or deceit. This is one goodness, one wisdom and truth; He is merciful, generous, all holy and righteous; from Him flows abundantly all holiness, all goodness and all spiritual gifts. Wanting to elevate to this perfection the original created by Him in His divine image, He, the most good One, gave him a divine commandment, which if he had preserved to the end without harm, he would have been truly blessed, and would have always purely and dispassionately enjoyed conversation with God Himself. For with that very divine breath He put into him all those venerable virtues that are in the Divine and all-holy nature, which are: goodness, mercy, meekness, truth, love and the like. However, he did not immediately give him complete success - and this, on the one hand, so that he would not be exalted by his multitude of gifts and would not be completely deprived of divine love, and on the other hand, so that, encouraged by the desire for the most perfect and purest good, he would always strive more to receive it. This is what makes me understand this is the fact that he could not for long refrain from violating God’s commandment. If he had had completely firm faith, he would have had firm prosperity; for from faith comes understanding, as the wise saying of Scripture clearly says: unless you believe, you cannot understand (Is. 7:9). So, the reason for his fall was the imperfection of faith and love for the Creator. Is your desire now satisfied, soul, or do you still need to be told about this in more detail? Soul . If it is not particularly difficult for you, then please speak more clearly. Also tell me how you can acquire meekness? Mind . I will gladly do this for you, if the grace of God from above gives me a word of wisdom. As I said above, the reason for our fall was the weakness of our faith, which is necessarily followed by ignorance of the most perfect good (understand God Himself, in Whom is perfection), and this produces a strong darkening of our mental eyes, and likens us, soul, alas, to senseless cattle, as the God-inspired hymnist says about this, for he especially and clearly sang: And this man is in honor, not in understanding, as it should be, and Therefore, you are like foolish cattle (Ps. 49:21). Our ancestors, due to the imperfection of reason, did not understand the deception of the evil serpent, and, like a fish swallowing a fishing rod, accepted his advice and incontinently ate the fruit of the forbidden tree; why, by the righteous judgment of God, they were deprived of bliss and divine stay in paradise. Having been deprived of their previous divine enlightenment and immediately undergoing internal death, they first of all accepted two of the most harmful mental ailments: oblivion and ignorance, from which their intelligent eyes were terribly damaged, and they became a receptacle for diverse passions. Due to oblivion, constantly losing from memory that divine glory, which, alas, we have lost without our minds; Desiring with all our souls this destructive glory lying on the earth, and achieving it, we are terribly proud and exalted, like the cedars of Lebanon; Having lost it, we are greatly wounded by heartfelt sadness and the arrows of destructive envy. For we cannot tolerate it when we see that we are dishonored while others are honored with great praise. This causes us to indulge in anger, since we consider ourselves more worthy of honor than anyone else. If we remembered that we all suffer equally from ignorance and oblivion, then in any case we would be more meek and would not, my soul, rush at each other like wild animals. So, from oblivion, vanity and anger, disastrous envy and pride are born; and from these again a multitude of evil passions are born, which, like wild animals, rush at us, terribly irritate, captivate and confuse us, plunging us into countless disasters. Ignorance of the most perfect good is the evil offspring: the root of all evil is the love of money, and the growth (interest) that comes from it, and to covet money without mercy, and godlessly to steal other people's goods, and to indulge in vile carnal fury, and to not know oneself and never have mortal memory, and the height of all evil is not to fear God at all and not to tremble at the future terrible judgment, but to live only always like dumb animals in insatiable gratification of the belly and carnal lusts, considering these bodily pleasures to be a perfect good. Hence the battles and wars, and captivities, and robbery attacks throughout the land and sea. Just as a person who is addicted to drunkenness, being heavily laden with wine, acts outrageously in everything and says inappropriate things, and considers honest and decent people to be dishonest and indecent, and in no way has any common sense: so you and I: darkened in our thoughts by ignorance of true good, we easily become victims of the action of storms of destructive passions, sometimes raging with rage and anger, sometimes losing envy, then being very frantic with carnal lust - to the point that we often renounce life itself. And there’s a lot to say! Just as a ship, having lost its mast, ropes, sails and the rudder itself, is carried by the wind back and forth, constantly struck by the force of huge waves, or, having stumbled upon a stone, is broken by the waves and plunged into the depths, so we, the soul, are constantly attacked by destructive passions, for we have madly destroyed our former beauty, submitting to the flattering deception of the serpent. Since then, we have died an internal death, with which the Lord punished us for transgressing His commandments, and life, which consists of dispassion and divine inspiration, has retreated far from us. The irreconcilable enemy of our kind, having subjugated us, taught us all evil and all lawlessness, strengthening himself, like a fighter against God, to completely remove us from faith and love for the Creator. He, the wicked one, instead of serving the One uncreated and beginningless Deity, Who is threefold in persons and one in essence, introduced the service of a countless number of false gods. Instead of the free will and autocracy given to us, which is how we, in fact, differ from the nature of the dumb, and, as far as possible for the weak human nature, we are likened to the One who created us in His image, the enemy subjugated us to a false belief in the action of the stellar current on us, assuring us that from here comes the influence on our will in the choice of good and evil, so that we cannot do anything at all. to do or desire contrary to what is determined for us by the fate of the immutable course of the stars. He also assures that happiness and everything that concerns us depends on the circle of the stellar current. By this, he invented three certain filth and destructions for those who obey him without their minds: firstly, the Author and Giver of all blessings, the only good and righteous by nature, Who, either with the promise of divine blessings, or with the threat of endless and terrible torment, takes us away from all evil and encourages us to an immaculate and God-like life - he, all wicked, godlessly tries to present us as the culprit of every evil for people, as having subjected them to the violent influence of the stars; secondly, he far distances himself from the fact that all people recognize him as the only culprit of all evil, and thirdly, he always keeps those who mindlessly obey this soul-destroying and wicked teaching in the creation of lawless deeds, since they are sure that they are firmly bound by the violence of the influence of the stars. It has happened to be heard from many that when they are convicted of some lawless action, they say that they can in no way give up on it, since the star under whose influence they are forcibly draws them to it against their will, and firmly ties them to this passion. Who could come up with anything more evil than this to blaspheme the Divine Truth itself? If He, by His commandments, strictly forbids us to covet another man’s wife, or to lie; and then, with the strong violence of the influence of the stars, forces us to all lawlessness and all malice; then how, by legitimizing something completely impossible for us, can, alas, be recognized as righteous? For who among those who wear flesh is able to always resist three strong fighters opposing him, that is, against demons, against the stars and against the incessant attack of natural passions, which always strongly attack us? Moreover, it turns out that He greatly offended the human race when He granted His kingdom to the highest ranks, that is, the Angels, and gave us opponents in the form of demons, stars and planets, who forcibly prevent us from entering it. Also: how will the divine word appear reliable, which says: Behold, I have given you power to tread on poisonous snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19), if by the influence of the stars we are attracted to evil passions? Having spoken about poisonous snakes, He clearly taught us that we are not drawn to evil deeds by the influence of the stars, but by destructive demons, from which we, the soul, first in ancient times suffered a fall worthy of lamentation, as the great and bright sun clearly testifies, the God-wise Paul, who says that the faithful must fight not against blood and flesh, that is, not against the weak human nature, but against the destructive to the principalities and powers of this age, to the most evil spirits, the inventors of all evil (Eph. 6:12). By their power in ancient times, demonic sorcery and the resulting delusion of idol worship were performed throughout the universe. Representatives of all demonic and astrological charms were very obediently listened to by rhetoricians, philosophers, and powerful kings. Their disciples are all sorcerers, and magicians, and those who watch the flight of birds, and who make the fate of man dependent on being born under the influence of one or another star - who, in the likeness of the serpent, pour into human souls the poison of their malice and the charm of stargazing. We have received power over all of them if we faithfully serve the Creator of all, the King and God, always fulfilling in deed all His holy commandments. If we transgress them, we will fall into countless misfortunes; but this happens to us according to the destinies of God, and not through the action of blind happiness, and not through the influence of the stars, as astrological madness falsely interprets. The stars are not placed over us, soul, but they are designed to disperse the darkness of the night with their light; also - to show sailors the path of safe navigation and farmers - the time when to plow the land. If, through the violent influence of the stars, some become lovers of virtue, and others followers of evil; The beginning of every good is faith in the true God, and the last evil of every evil is unbelief: then those who dishonor God do not deserve any condemnation, just as those who piously honor Him will not receive any reward or grace from God. For both do not happen arbitrarily, but through the compulsory influence of the stars, by which some are drawn to piety, and others to unbelief. After this, what significance will the divine saying have: women in need delight the kingdom of heaven? Also: and some go into imperishable life, and others into the fiery torments of the underworld (Matthew 25:46)? For what is done involuntarily deserves neither reward nor punishment, whether good or evil, as the most honest and inspired divine John of Damascus clearly theologizes, who says: “The Greeks think that everything that concerns us depends on the influence of these stars, the sun and moon, east and west: this is the exercise of astrological science. But we affirm that they serve as an omen of rain and lack of rain, cold and heat, drought and winds and the like; but they cannot serve as an indication of our affairs at all. For we were created by the Creator to be autocratic and sovereign in our affairs. If we do everything under the influence of the stars, then we do what we do under duress. And what happens under compulsion is recognized neither as good nor as evil. If we have neither good nor evil, then we deserve neither praise, nor rewards, nor reproach, nor torment. Thus, God will turn out to be unjust, giving prosperity to some and misfortune to others through the action of the stars. If everything goes and rushes according to need, then God does not rule the universe and has no providence for His creation. How can the words of Anna the prophetess be true, who says that the Lord will bring poverty and make rich, humble and exalt, raise up the poor from the earth and raise up the poor from the pit, bring down to hell and raise from there (1 Samuel 2:6-8) - if by the action of blind happiness and the flow of stars around, some are raised from the earth to a height, and others are brought down to the ground? If the words of Anna the prophetess are true, then belief in happiness and misfortune is a lie, as an invention of the infidels, and not the teaching and tradition of the saints. Therefore, we, as true believers, must arrange our lives and decorate it with laudable customs and good teaching. Moreover, if real life is a village, and the good seed are the sons of the heavenly kingdom, and the tares are the seed of the evil one, that is, the workers of all lawlessness: then from these divine words it is clear that it is not by the power of the movement of the stars that some are lovers of virtue, while others are devoted to evil; but this depends on the fact that some, obeying God, become good, while others, following the evil demon, become evil.” Let us not look for something better against the said assurance; for there is no one wiser than God. Moreover, if God created man in His image and likeness, that is, free and autocratic, so that he, of his own free will, strives to ascend to every godly life; then, as if repenting, he subjected him to the strong and compulsory influence of the stellar current, and thereby, like an unworthy captive, drives him to commit all sorts of obscene passions, and for this he is again very angry with us, why do we fulfill them: it will turn out that He does not agree with Himself, while He is the source of all wisdom. So, not the circle of blind happiness and not the stars, but the most good and the only righteous One Himself, reigning over all, with His all-seeing divine foreknowledge, everything that concerns us, wisely and righteously arranges and rules in the way that is most useful to us. I myself will kill, and I will create life again (Deut. 32:39), says He who reigns over all. Every gift is good and every gift is perfect, not just coming from above, but from the Father of lights Himself (Jas. 1:17) and from the Son and the Holy Spirit co-originating with Him, by Whom everything is superbly governed. The culprit of all evil is the devil, and so are we, who madly obey him. Being filled with envy and all sorts of malice, cast out of heaven due to his pride, he cannot tolerate it when he sees that we are disposed towards peace among ourselves; but, like a mad dog, whoever he meets, bites everyone, is equally angry with everyone: so this all-destructive one, being overthrown from the heights and subjected to extreme dishonor, seeing a person whom he previously had subordinate to himself and whom he put to shame with all sorts of unclean deeds, now (in the person of Jesus Christ), as the Most High God, glorified by everyone and sitting on the thrones of his fathers, is torn with envy, goes berserk and constantly grinds his teeth. Like a wild beast, he always secretly barks at us with his thoughts, inventing all sorts of snares, and strives, all nasty, to prevent us from entering the path leading to a passionless and ageless life. For the envious and malicious, it is usually joy and pleasure to see all those whom he hates perish. Therefore, he always fights us with bad thoughts, destructive envy and pride; he is a teacher of both theft and murder; he himself is the boss of all lies and flattery; he urges people to dig up the coffins of the dead and, without fear, to rob clothes from bodies that are already stinking. But why am I bothering you with a long speech? - He is the inventor of all malice and countless evils with which he filled the whole world, envying us because of the divine grace given to us from above. Being constantly greatly irritated by such and such evil passions, as if by wild beasts, is it surprising if, O soul, we often deviate from good morality and good behavior? After all, no one is surprised that the sea is often agitated by the strong action of the winds. And you and I are no different from the surface of the sea, disturbed by all sorts of winds. Now, my soul, you have already received completely what you desired, as I think, although all this has been briefly outlined to you. Now hear about how you can acquire meekness, since you asked me about this before. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Ps. 111:10), as the godly hymnist, the son of Jesse, sang. Consider true fear, soul, the diligent fulfillment of the divine commandments, and consider that fear, which is expressed in empty words alone, not as fear, soul, nor as reverence, but as the charm of a soul mocked by ethereal enemies because of its extreme madness. “Everyone,” said the Lord, “who hears My words and does not do them, that is, does not fulfill them reverently in the very deed, will become like the deformed man who built his church on a dog (Matthew 7:26). As a man who received authority over the city from his master and accepted from him excellent rules, according to which he himself should live well and honestly, and arrange the situation of the local residents correctly; he, having arrived in the city and having had enough of everything that is good in it, is greatly lifted up with pride and no longer cares about observing the rules given to him and does not even want to stay within the boundaries of power that are determined for him, but becomes heavy, majestic and ferocious for everyone, expressing this with a cry, a wild look and torment - not only is he deprived of his superiors, but is also subjected to executions worthy of his madness: so is the one who, having forgotten the divine laws, that is, generosity, mercy, sacred love, legality, truth, quietness, meekness, praiseworthy chastity and reverent humility, but only in the mere non-eating of certain foods and in hearing only the divine Scriptures does he conclude his faith - he is blinded with the eyes of his soul and falls away from the sacred assembly of saints. For they are not hearers of the law, says the holy preacher of God (Jas. 1:22), are pleasing to God, but those who are diligent always fulfill it. Therefore, acquire this purest fear of God as your main basis; for without it everything else is useless, including abstinence from food and a long stay in prayer. The Lord reproaches us very strictly, saying: Why do you call me: Lord, Lord, but what I command you, you do not want to do (Luke 6:46). On this solid and unshakable foundation (on the fear of God), try to create a strong rein (mean fasting and abstinence) of the flesh or belly, which rises up against us with uncontrollable aspirations and goes berserk with its desires. For if it expands, then we perish, just as, on the contrary, when it dries up, we constantly live a righteous life. Like fire, if it hits a small amount of bad wood, it acts in them quietly, without noise and moderately; if a lot of thick wood is added, it immediately rises to heights and makes some terrible noise: so you and I, if our belly grows fat from intemperance, we become very fierce and wild, and, like an animal alien to meekness, we become angry at everyone and are very indecently carried away by screaming and rage. When our flesh is dried up by abstinence, then everything about us remains in great meekness and all silence. This is greatly facilitated by living alone or together with like-minded people. Cohabitation with many often gives rise to passion for anger and against one’s will, when one has to either hear something indecent or see disorderly actions that are contrary to the traditions of our fathers. In addition to all this, the acquisition of meekness depends a lot on leading a non-covetous life, often practicing reading the lives of saints in silence and accustoming oneself to the memory of death. For nothing makes us more brutal than owning property, following the example of masters. Just as the surface of the sea in calm weather has a beautiful view and is fun to look at; when a strong wind rises, it becomes terribly indignant, raises waves like mountains, and makes a great noise: so the soul, puffed up by the possession of estates, becomes inflamed with rage, becomes arrogant about itself, becomes darkened in mind, loses tenderness and is hardened in the heart, which becomes cruel as a stone. For where there is a desire to acquire property, there is in every possible way an inordinate love of gold, and voluptuousness, and cares, and quarrels, and with all this, like thorns, the saving word planted in our hearts from heaven regarding the fulfillment of the Savior’s commandments by deed, the memory of eternal blessings, the future terrible judgment and bitter torment, is suppressed, where the mentioned passions abound, there is covetousness, and that of doing everything for the sake of man-pleasing, and this produces inhumanity, and such people become more ferocious than animals. From this it is clear that those who are constantly concerned about increasing wealth and acquisitions are greatly deceived. Hear, soul, a brief summary of everything that has been said, and try to put this into action without laziness. As I said above that from oblivion and ignorance of the most excellent true good, all passions arose in us, and a countless number of evils arose for us, so that we descended to the likeness of beasts, so frequent recollection of the above, and work to understand this, and an unceasing heartfelt desire for that divine glory, which is above all words, are sufficient in order not only to acquire perfect and inviolable meekness character, but is also able to place us before Him Himself who reigns on high and make us heirs of the land of those who are being saved, on which the feet of the meek, rejoicing in the divine light, stand firmly. Soul . I ask you, beloved, work a little more and explain to me what I ask you about. If the Lord kills and gives life, brings poverty and makes rich, humbles and exalts, brings down to hell and exalts, as you said above, and as in another place He says that He Himself creates evil (Deut. 32:39): then how is Satan recognized as the culprit of all evil? Mind . Do not be deceived, soul, by the identical names of evils and do not think that debauchery and poverty are one and the same evil. One thing, that is, debauchery, constitutes a crime of the commandment of God, it is abominable and disgusting, it kills the soul, brings it down to hell and gives it over to endless torment. Poverty is the taking away of the means that feed fornication, and for some it happens according to the destinies of God. For the Lord, as a wise and soul-saving physician, wishing to make the short-term human race partaker of His divine glory, does not apply the same method of treatment to everyone, but, according to everyone’s illness, he wisely invents a remedy that can heal it. Therefore, if wealth serves as a cause for grandeur and pride for anyone; or strength is the cause of insolence; or beauty - depravity: then it deprives him of beauty, sending him an illness that distorts his appearance, or jaundice, while the insolence of an intolerable strongman tames him with relaxation of bodily members or long-term illnesses; pride, which comes from wealth, overthrows into extreme poverty. He also sends crop failures, destructive diseases, sudden invasions of distant nations, or terrible earthquakes to cities and entire nations that anger Him with their lawless deeds, in order to root out their soul-destroying anger. And in short, all the soul-destroying passions that usually bring souls down to hell, He, like a good and wise doctor, very skillfully heals in various ways. So, let no one recognize the All-Good, without intelligence, as the culprit of soul-harming evils, since the doctor, as a rule, is not called evil because he treats Antonov fire and other infectious ulcers with a hot iron and a razor, sprinkling them, if necessary, with powerful powders. And those evils that, in fact, are such and are brought down to hell, subjected to terrible torment, the main culprit is Satan, as well as ourselves, when we mindlessly obey him. Strongly desiring our destruction, he, the wicked one, never ceases to invent it for us, and what commandments of God he knows that direct us without stumbling to the heavenly calling, he convinces us to act against them, seducing our thoughts in every way. And he always inflames some with lawless carnal lusts; others are entangled from everywhere in the bonds of love of money; he sadly destroys some by drunkenness and gluttony, and teaches others to rejoice in every murder. And one of them points to the inexhaustible and unexplored abyss of divine bounties; others are exhorted not to wait for judgment in the future and not to think that God is providing for our lives, but that all human circumstances are accomplished in one way or another by the movement of the stars and the circle of happiness. In short: he, the nasty one, arranges numerous intrigues to deceive our thoughts. Just as an experienced catcher does not set the same bait for all pompous birds, but, knowing which of them is more inclined to what, he offers it to it: so this all-pernicious demon, having learned what we are more happy about - either by natural inclination, or by skill, thereby arranges a very cunning net for us and traps us with it. Thus, the soul, the culprit of every harmful evil, together with us, is Satan. So, let us not blame the stars or planets, as if they attract us to commit lawless acts, and let us not be afraid of the circle of happiness, as if it raises and lowers our circumstances unevenly: these are all inventions of the godless Chaldeans and Arabians, and not the teaching of pious Christians. They constantly listened only to demons and idols and therefore could not learn any truth from them; and what good can anyone learn from a lie itself? We have one God, who very wisely and reverently arranges everything that concerns us for our greater benefit - and not by the circle of happiness, not by the movement of the stars, but by His secret destinies, as He Himself only knows. The secret of these destinies and their incomprehensible diversity were not known by the evil descendants of the Assyrians, who attributed all the disorders of this life to the circle of happiness and the movements of the stars. Just as some inexperienced doctor, wanting to heal a person suffering from dropsy or stomach pain, instead of seeing the cause of the disease in the malignancy of the patient’s nature or in immeasurable gluttony, out of inexperience ascribes the cause of the disease to the harmful influence of air and food, while the moderate use of both is beneficial: so those, leaving without reproach the autocratic and arbitrary choice of evil or good deeds, for the reason of which God is angry with us if we live lawlessly, or looks upon us mercifully if we live our lives well and piously, they attributed all deeds to the influence of the stars and the circle of happiness. Soul . Should astrology be completely rejected as an invention of the godless Chaldeans? Mind . No, dear soul, it should not be completely rejected, but everything cannot be accepted recklessly. After all, the science of literature, called logic, should not be completely rejected just because some use it for false and harmful competitions. But to the extent that this excites us to glorify God and inflames our soul with greater divine love, not in the least opposing the sacred and divinely inspired words of Scripture, but is completely consistent with it, so good is it, soul, and it should be studied as the work of the diligent studies of the ancient venerable men. Not all of this teaching is the invention of wicked people, but only that which leads to the abyss of destruction, attributing to the movement of the stars and the circle of happiness all our evil and good deeds, and how to spend time in prosperity or misfortune, and how much it dares to predict the future and makes us notice days and times and hours, as if some of them were prosperous and others ill-fated. All this, my soul, is blasphemous and contrary to the sacred words of Paul and Isaiah. For Paul, rebuking the Galatians who observed the months, seasons and days, calls them fools (Gal. 4:10); Isaiah, foreshadowing the desolation of Egypt, which was soon to come from the wrath of God, appeals to him in the form of mockery, saying: Where are your wise astrologers now, let them tell you and tell you what will happen to you (Is. 19:12). Woe to you, woe to you: it is your art and this wisdom that ruined you. For to think that it is not due to divine wrath for our lawless crimes, but due to the influence of some evil stars and from the circle of stellar currents and fortune-telling happiness, that hail and pestilence, and wars, and spoilage of fruits, and earthquakes and the like occur - this is, truly, the wisdom of the insane and godless, who believe that everything on earth happens without the providence of God. It is wrong for him to threaten to visit all our iniquities with a rod if we do not live according to His holy commandments, that is, if we do not always commit them in deed. For he says: If they defile My justifications and do not keep My commandments, I will visit them with the rod of iniquity and the stripes of their unrighteousness (Ps. 89:33). Isaiah also says: If you are willing and listen to Me, you will destroy all the good things of the earth that it produces at My command; If you do not want to, listen to Me, and the sword will destroy you. For the mouth of the Lord, he says, says this (Is. 1:19-20). Let us not godlessly consider the creator of evil stars to be the One who alone is good; for how can one righteously call Him all-good if some of His creations are beautiful and useful, while others are harmful? After all, a source cannot be both sweet and bitter; and the fig tree does not produce both sweet and bitter fruit; Likewise, the bee does not bring both honey and bile together. So, we should not completely reject the astrologer’s teaching, but let us only deviate from that, soul, which, as it is said, leads into a pernicious abyss and separates us far from the Most High. This, as the evil and wicked teaching of the Chaldeans, we will leave to them. We, as the children of the highest King, appointed by Him as rulers and received from Him the power to step on snakes and scorpions, will not be afraid of either the influence of the stars or the circle of happiness, but with joy and freedom we will walk the field of real life, always singing a victorious song to Christ the King. For by His death we have received the freedom of which we were deprived by ancient crime. So, the astrologer’s teaching, soul, is good, and whoever treats it prudently, it brings him considerable joy. It cannot be otherwise, for this science considers the most excellent wisdom of God the Word, who created everything, and, in addition, no small benefit comes from this for human life, for it teaches us to infallibly know the course of the sun and moon and the reason for the change of the four times, and also calculates the years. But let no one who steals say that the planet Mercury is to blame for his theft, as if it were dragging him, and against his will, to theft; Let no libertine consider the planet Venus to be the culprit of his debauchery; neither the murderer should expose the planet Saturn or Mars as the culprits of the murder he commits. But let everyone sincerely reproach himself for the fact that he has rejected far from himself the memory of the future Last Judgment and the fear of God, by which everyone, according to the testimony of Divine Scripture, avoids evil (Proverbs 15:27) and becomes an ardent zealot of virtue and a fellow citizen of the celestials. Soul . What harm is there to piety from attributing good and evil to the influence of the stars? Mind . Very big and very scary. This opinion not only, as stated above, represents God as the culprit for people of all evil, and inconsistent with Himself, and unjust, while He alone is essentially all-good and all-righteous; but He also reveals Himself to be the culprit of the destruction of countless people, since in reality, as the Scripture says, very few are saved (Matthew 7:14). For we see that most people, due to their lawless and depraved behavior and countless atrocities, perish dishonorably and shamefully. And not only does blasphemy extend to this; but even the most divinely inspired law completely destroys and makes one despair of the possibility of performing commendable virtues, assuring that this is very difficult or completely impossible, since the stars do not cooperate with this. Therefore, those who willingly listen to this teaching think that they can no longer renounce the fulfillment of dishonest passions, and everyone uses the violent influence of the star as an excuse for their malice. Because of this, many are sick in their thoughts with extreme evil-doing, and only with their tongues and lips do they show themselves to contain the holy Christian faith, and only because they are afraid of the fire with which the representatives of true good faith threaten the evil-believers. And they are so possessed by faith in the movement of the stars that they almost reverence it as a deity, and remain without repentance, having no concern for the future judgment, and consider everything useless - both prayers and sacrifices, if the power of the stars does not hurry. Such people spend their lives like dumb animals, insatiably satisfying the belly and the shameful desires of the flesh by all means, considering this pleasure to be perfect bliss, while its end is eternal torment in fire. All this happens to them because they do not obey the Divine Scripture, which commands: except the Lord thy God, thou shalt not fear anyone else; He alone shall worship and serve. If they really feared Him who reigns on high and diligently fulfilled His holy commandments, then they would not at all listen to destructive nonsense and would not subordinate their dignity to the stars, but would themselves, according to Scripture, be gods and sons of the Most High, obeying Him in everything with a kind heart; they would appear adorned with heavenly glory, and would be like angels, like Moses and Daniel and the beautiful Joseph in ancient times, filled with all divine grace. And how they preferred Egyptian fables to the holy commandments of the Most High, and attributed all their deeds and all the circumstances of their lives to the movement of the stars and the power of the planets: therefore they lost divine guidance and perished, being dishonestly defiled by all sorts of shameful deeds. Behold, he says, those who separate themselves from You will perish (Ps. 72:27), and those who always try to glorify Me, he says, I will also glorify them, and those who dishonor Me will receive eternal dishonor (1 Sam. 2:30). Having such completely reliable and clear sayings, we can freely and clearly say that the above-mentioned ungodly and destructive wisdom is a delusion that leads away from the all-good God, who arranges in every way for the human race a convenient path leading to heaven, and many of the people who adhere to the wisdom about the violent influence of the stellar current are terrible destroyers and are accomplices and accomplices to the leader of all evil and all lawlessness, the culprit of countless deaths and torments, the nasty Belial, assisting him in his fury and hatred of man. For nothing else can so separate one from faith in the Lord Jesus, nothing can so increase evil and diminish virtue, as to convince people that through the mediation of the stars both virtues and vices are acquired. What else could be more pleasing to the demon and more convenient for human destruction? If such people live prosperously, they give thanks to happiness, and not to God; If unfavorable times come again, then they blame the stars, but never themselves. Without blaming yourself, there is no way to receive forgiveness of sins. In addition, those who philosophize in this way make the demon innocent of any malice. If the proud and murderers, as they say, are made so by the planet Mars; thieves and flatterers - Mercury, fornicators, idiots and adulterers - Venus; wrathful and murderous and memory-evil Saturn, and other atrocities also depend on the influence of other planets that appear in certain signs of the zodiac circle: then the demon, according to their crazy wisdom, is innocent of any malice and remains free from any accusation. And if this is so, then let no one pray for deliverance from the many destructive demonic networks, but let him pray to God against the stars that forcefully draw him to all evil. Why fast and vigil, if against desire everyone is drawn out of need to fulfill carnal lusts. After all, I accepted these means from God against that evil, the destruction of which depends on my will, and not against that which does not depend on me. It is obvious that this teaching is violent and godless, and therefore let us reject it far from our thoughts. For by all the Christian fathers who shone forth in all wisdom and holiness and piety, it was rejected and discarded as completely godless. This teaching completely banishes the fear of God from the heart and never allows anyone living to reproach himself lawlessly, since it convinces him that all this happens to him by the force of the irresistible influence of the movement of the stars. And the judges themselves are not particularly angry with criminals for this reason, believing that this happens to them not of their own free will. The enemy, having planted such concepts in the thoughts of those who obey him, not only removes them forever from all virtue, but also secretly implants into their feeble-minded thoughts evil concepts about the one all-good and all-wise God, so that many shamelessly dare to mix what cannot be mixed, and bring truth and falsehood into one. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ, by His divine power, wave and wisdom, rules everything beautifully and righteously; in His hand is a cup full of undissolved wine, from which, according to the divine word, all sinners of the earth drink; By this cup we mean in every way the divine, most righteous and ruling court of God, which gives everyone their due, either rewards or executions, to the righteous and sinners. The above-mentioned followers of the insane teaching about happiness, at the feet of the King of all Jesus, depict the image of Fortune - the fabulous goddess of happiness, in the form of a woman who, like a wheel, raises some from below upward, and brings others down from above - wanting to show that in this way the Lord sometimes arranges human circumstances this way, sometimes differently. I decided not to talk too much about this godlessness and madness of theirs in this speech; for they are sufficiently denounced by a certain wise sage of theirs, named Hesiod, or, better, by those very young women whom he mentions, who, as they say, are the giver and author of all wisdom. They, having been asked by Hesiod why some people are famous and noble, while others are dishonest and ignorant, answered him that it is not the circle of happiness and not the influence of the planets that this happens, but by the will of the great Zeus, in other words, by the unspeakable destinies of God. The same is affirmed by the honest prophetess Anna and the royal divine singer, who both expressed this in agreement, as can be seen from their divine words. But Egypt and Assyria, who laid the foundation for this destructive teaching, accepted it from the godless demons themselves, since they always willingly listened to the speeches of the destructive demons and lived constantly, according to their malice, in lawless deeds. For everyone assimilates in his thoughts the teaching about which he knows that the teacher who lives with him rejoices in him. So let them (Egyptians and Assyrians), being obedient disciples of demons, enemies of the Most High God himself, be desecrated by their charm, being, together with their teachers, heirs of fiery torment. But we, having the divine kingdom within ourselves, which consists in the disposition of our nature to create works pleasing to God, through which we become partakers of His divine glory, and having learned from the divine and holy friends of God, into whom He Himself breathed the All-Holy Spirit of God, or rather from Him Himself who created our nature in His incorruptible image, let us not think that the influence of the stars can inhibit the creation of praiseworthy virtues, or to encourage them. Recognizing our glory, which we have received from God (understand the autocracy granted to us), we will please the Lord with joy and fear, obeying His commandments in everything, for the transgression of which we always fall into misfortune, just as through their fulfillment we remain in prosperity. Let no one, he says, being tempted, blame God for this: for God is not the tempter of the evil. “Everyone is tempted by his own lust by attraction and deception,” says some divinely inspired and heavenly man (James 1:13–14). And if this is not false, then isn’t it clear that blasphemy is brought against the all-righteous and the only most good one by those who philosophize that He forces people with the stars to commit evil passions? For, if there is some evil force in the stars that induces people to evil and to fulfill passions, then everyone who created them put this force in them and set them to rule over people. But such an opinion is a godless blasphemy, which may fall on the heads of those who so blaspheme the All-Righteous and All-Good. Recognize only one star, O soul, infallibly guiding you to the practice of excellent virtues; this is the ever-present pure fear of God, by which everyone avoids evil, as the Divine Scripture says (Proverbs 15:27). Always hold on tight to him, sailing straight to the heavenly, non-stormy haven. Know also that fulfilling the holy commandments with filial disposition is favorable to the fear of God. Also, recognize again that there is only one destructive planet, which with terrible fury drags you along the abysses of malice, this is the most vile demon, which in ancient times drove you out of Eden by eating the fruit, and now again intensifies to separate you from Christ the Lord your God through the destructive teaching of the astrologers. Then he clearly slandered the Lord to you, saying that out of envy He forbade you to eat the fruit so that you would not become immortal gods; Now, again, the all-bad one is slandering Him, saying that He, by the force of the stars, forces you to do completely stingy things. Beware of his harmful slander by all means, but do not be afraid of the movements of soulless stars. Always watch his destructive head, because he always diligently watches your heel (Gen. 3:15). The enmity between you and him was established from the very beginning. Know that he is your only enemy. The stars are all at your service, for they were created for your sake, to serve you, and not to own you. Know the autocracy given to you. You are not subordinate to any creature, but only to your Creator. Always serve Him with all prudence, as God and Creator, as Father and Lord, always crying out to Him with joy along with the singer: The Lord is my enlightenment and my Savior and the protector of my life, whom will I fear (Ps. 26:1)? Whom shall I fear, having Christ as my guardian? You also call with boldness, saying: In the day I will not fear, but I trust in You (Ps. 55:4). Always calling on His great and terrible and honorable name with prayer and singing, create, plant, march, cultivate the earth, being firmly established in the faith of Christ. Work without fear every day, except for those days on which this is completely prohibited by divine paternal decree. For in these days we should sing with all prudence to our King as the giver of all good things. May there always be glory, honor and power to Him, the One Trisolar Light. You might be interested in: