About the fact that human destiny is arranged by the Providence of God, and not by the stars and the circle of happiness

Having read many different books, both Christian and compiled by external sages, and having drawn from them sufficient spiritual benefit, I, most importantly, learned that every virtue that we humans undergo, every power and every authority that we desire, the giver and perfecter is the Creator and Master of everything. This I have known and understood. “Everything,” it is said, “is a good gift, and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). The other is “giving good,” and the other is “the gift is perfect.” “Giving good” is spiritual virtues, such as: reason, courage, truth, chastity, meekness and humility; also the worldly blessings given to us from the Most High Divine Goodness, which we need in order to live and to live well. “The gift is perfect,” which is abundantly given from above to the worthy, this is the various grace of the Holy Spirit, which perfects, confirms and preserves until the end the above-mentioned natural spiritual blessings from plunder. The kingdom and the priesthood, adorned and protected by the confession of the pious Orthodox faith, are the two greatest, best and most perfect blessings given to the pious from above by divine love for mankind and goodness - so that by one they would be sanctified and enlightened by believers, so that they would be saved in a manner pleasing to God and, by diligently fulfilling the commandments of God, would be preserved in faith and love for the Most High; others would be protected and live safely and reliably, without fear of the invasion of foreigners, having faithfully reigning over them, who always take up arms against their adversaries, arranging a quiet and serene life for their subordinates. If this is so, indeed, and is so confessed by all Orthodox and God-inspired fathers and teachers, then let the ignorant cease, and let not those who philosophize along with the Germans, holding the Chaldean and Egyptian traditions, say and preach that happiness, through the circle of movement of the stars, raises some to various degrees of power and authority, and deposes others from there and consigns them to final disasters and dishonor. Let them learn to speak with the divinely inspired prophet and king David: “Reh for the wicked, do not do wrong; and to those who sin, do not lift up your horns. For God is a judge: He humbles this one, and exalts this one” (Ps. 74:5, 8). Here is fair and unflattering wisdom and teaching: The righteous Judge and Provider Himself of all His creatures in general, exalts one and humbles the other with unspeakable destinies known to Him alone, and not fabulous happiness and the circle of the zodiac and the appearance of stars and planets. Also in another place the same divinely inspired king theologizes even more clearly, saying: “Who is the Lord our God? live on the high, and look upon the lowly in heaven and on earth: lift up the poor from the earth, and lift up the wretched from the rot.” For what? “Put him down,” he says, “with the princes, with the princes of his people” (Ps. 112:5-8). Let us listen carefully to the blessed prophetess Anna, and let us keep firmly in our minds her infallible and divinely inspired wisdom. She speaks clearly and firmly, blocking the unclosed lips of the Latin-following Germans, who are trying to root their delusion in the thoughts of the Orthodox. Let us listen carefully to what this blessed prophetess says, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and not like the Chaldeans, who were darkened and deceived by the spirit of demons. “Do not boast,” he says, “and do not speak high in pride,” and the following after this. Then he leads, saying: “The Lord kills and gives life, brings down to hell and raises up: the Lord makes poor and makes rich, humbles and exalts, raises up the poor from the earth, and raises up the poor from the pit.” For what? “Set him,” he says, “with the mighty people, and give the throne of glory to them as an inheritance” (1 Sam. 2, 3, 6-8). Is there anything in these revered words about happiness or about the wheel that supposedly raises up and brings down certain stars and planets according to their destiny? What will those say to this who claim that the movement of the stars is the reason for some - wealth or glory and superior dignity, and for others - squalor, disgrace and extreme dishonor? Consequently, not from the stars and the zodiac and planets, but from the Creator Himself, the “Father of lights,” comes “every good gift, and every gift perfect” (James 1:17) to those worthy of such a gift and such grace. And we will find quite a bit of evidence of this if we look for it reliably and with love for the truth in the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Book we will find a legend about what happened by divine providence and grace over Saul and David, the first kings of Israel. We will see that Saul, who went to look for the lost donkeys, was brought to the prophet Samuel not by luck and the wheel, as the astrologers falsely claim, but by the Creator of all, who foretold him to the prophet and commanded him to anoint him king over the Israelites, and when he disappeared after the anointing, the Lord told Samuel about him where he was hiding. Then, when the Lord was indignant with him for his insane disobedience, when he disobeyed twice and three times, he commanded Samuel to go to Bethlehem to Jesse and anoint the son of Jesse to the kingdom. When the prophet wanted to anoint Eliab, the first son of Jesse, who was distinguished among the other brothers by his beauty and physical age, the Lord forbade him, telling the prophet about each of the brothers, of whom there were seven, that the Lord had not chosen one of them to be king. Then their younger brother David was called “from the flocks of sheep” (Ps. 77:70), who, when he appeared, the prophet immediately anointed him, since the Lord told him about him: “This is the one whom I have chosen; arise and anoint him” (1 Samuel 16:12). Did we understand from this that by the advice and beck of God, and not by fables about the wheel and happiness, some thrones are placed on high, and are also brought down from them again? As for Saul and David, it was like this. Let us also look at the various dispensations of God’s Providence regarding the kings of Samaria. When Solomon angered the Creator of all and the Lord by worshiping with sacrifices Ashtoreth, the goddess of Sidon, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and the other gods of his wives, then the man of God, the prophet Ahijah, having received a command from God, handed over the ten tribes of Israel to Jeroboam, Solomon’s servant, appointing him king over them, which was fulfilled by God’s command, and not by wheel of happiness. Then, when Jeroboam fell into iniquity and sinned before God, Baash, the son of Ahiin, took over the kingdom of Samaria, killing King Nebat, the son of Jeroboam, and destroying his entire house, bringing upon himself the wrath of God. But so as not to burden my listeners with a story about what happened to each of them according to God’s dispensation, for many amazing things happened there by the Providence of God, by which some were elevated to royal heights from a low state, and then were again destroyed along with their entire family when they badly and godlessly disposed of the kingdom, I will move on to the New Testament and try to tell what happened in it according to an unexplored providence God's What happened here is no less important than what happened in the Old Testament, in the sense of showing the truth and exposing the astrologer’s deception, but it is also very conclusive and unquestioning. Thus, Constantine the Great, the first of the Christian kings, was inspired not by the wheel of happiness and not by the different movements of the planets, but by the appearance of a cross composed of stars, by which he was gradually led from above to the true faith, and by inscriptions to take up arms against the God-fighter Maxentius, for the inscription said clearly: “Constantine, hereby defeat your enemy.” Then, when he defeated him by the power of the cross and became the autocrat of the entire Roman state, then, by the providence of God, he fell into illness, so that, trying to get rid of it, he would be honored to find a doctor who could save him from both the illness and the leprosy of unbelief, which he received. Such was the providence for this blessed king. And what happened regarding those who reigned in Constantinople - Justinian the Great and Justin, Basil the Macedonian, Phocas the torturer and Mauritius - does not it clearly indicate that by Divine advice and wave, and not by the wheel of fortune and the movement of the stars, some were elevated to royal heights, while others were dishonorably deprived of this. When King Anastasius, called Dikorr, wanted to execute some nobles hostile to him, a divine vision that happened to him in a dream allowed him to do this, and he was told: “You are allowed to execute your enemies; May you not cause any harm to Justinian and Justin, for they are vessels destined by Divine Providence and have to serve him, each in his own time.” Mauritius also sent many alms to the venerable monks living everywhere, beseeching God through them to forgive him the inhumane sin that he committed by betraying fourteen thousand soldiers to death to the barbarians out of great enmity. And in a dream he hears the voice of the Unwashed Judge, who says to him: “Where do you want me to reward you - in the present century or in the future?” And when he answered: “in the present,” the Righteous Judge said to this: “Give him over to Phokas the warrior”; which was immediately fulfilled. Phocas in the east was proclaimed king of the Greeks by his army. Mauritius, hearing about this and learning about his coming, fled from the royal chambers at night. Phocas, having received royal power and learned that Mauritius was still alive, ordered to bring him and execute him publicly, which was fulfilled by the righteous destinies of God, and not by some kind of happiness and his wheel. And again Phocas, who ruled the kingdom in a bad and godless manner, the Lord deposed with dishonor through Heraclius and deprived him of this life with a bitter death. But, so as not to be burdensome for you, if I narrate in detail the events that were arranged by the providence of the common Creator of all at all times and in the kingdoms of different peoples, I will offer you the testimony of the divinely inspired fathers and universal teachers, who very clearly and strictly forbid us to delve into the charms of stargazing, and with this I will finish the word. The first after blessed James, the brother of God, Paul, who was caught up to the third heaven, in his letter to the Romans commands them this way, saying clearly: “Let every soul be subject to the powers that are: for there is no authority except from God: but the authorities that exist are created by God. In the same way, if you resist the authorities, you resist God’s command: those who resist themselves receive sin” (Rom. 13:1-2). From this it is clear that by God’s will and dispensation, and not by some wheel and fabulous happiness, some are elevated to royal heights, and are also deprived of it if they find themselves ruling the kingdom not well and not in accordance with the will of God, as it is written by the Holy Spirit: “The Lord appoints a king and dismisses him” (Dan. 2:21). If it is the Lord, then it is not some kind of wheel, or fortune and a combination of stars, as the error of the Chaldeans and Egyptians claims. Leading us away from their error, the same divine apostle writes clearly, or, better yet, reproaches the Galatians, saying this: “But then, since you do not know God..., how much more do you know from him how you return again to the weak and evil elements, which you again want to serve from above? Do you look at the days, and the months, and the seasons, and the years” (Gal. 4:8–10)? These are the words of Blessed Paul. And that distinguishing between days and hours is criminal, and abominable, and is not characteristic of Christians, and that the holy Apostle Paul calls these demonic teachings elements - listen to the God-inspired father, Basil the Great, who teaches this. Interpreting the words of the prophet Isaiah against the Jews, where it says: “As from the beginning the land of their magic was filled, like the land of foreigners” (Isa. 2:6), he says; “You see what an evil it is for you to practice magic: magic that follows the deception is left outside the providence of God. Many of the Christians even now listen in many ways (to magic), and watch the days and hours and time, and believe the signs, watch the flight of birds, responses and meetings, and much more. But we will hear how the people who adhered to this cause were rejected for this. This business and invention are satanic. “For these nations,” it is said, “whom you have inherited, these enchantments and sorceries will listen to: but the Lord your God has not given this to you” (Deut. 18:14).” This is what this divine father and universal teacher teaches and bequeaths to us, believers. We, I don’t know what happened to us, listen more to the Chaldean and Germanic demons than to the God-speaking teachings of our God-inspired fathers and teachers, who assert that everything that concerns us does not happen and depend on the wheel of some kind of happiness, but that, being initially honored by the autocracy that created us, we ourselves are powerful in our thoughts and deeds, as good and evil. Let us listen wisely to our reverend father John of Damascus and, please, let us leave behind the charm of the astrologers that has prevailed over us. This divine father and teacher clearly says this: “The Greeks understood that these stars, the sun and the moon, the sunrise and sunset, govern everything that concerns us. We, believers, affirm that they will signify rain and lack of rain, cold and warmth, dampness and dryness, and winds, but matters that concern us - not at all. But we ourselves, being created by the Creator as autocratic, have power in our affairs. If all our deeds are carried out according to the movement of the stars, then, consequently, we do what we do under compulsion; and what is done under compulsion is recognized as neither good nor evil. If we do neither good nor evil of our own free will, then we deserve neither praise and rewards, nor blame and punishment. But God, in this case, will turn out to be unjust, as giving good to some and evil to others; It will also turn out that He does not rule and does not provide for His creation.” Having such unfalse and irrefutable evidence of God-inspired and wise fathers and teachers, it is very good and saving for us to submit and obey them in simplicity of mind, being content with their God-inspired teachings and traditions, but not only reject strangers as wicked and godless, but also abhor them and run away from them, like poisonous snakes, according to the divine commandment: “My sheep have the voice of My voice.” They listen, but do not follow what is strange, but run from it, for they do not know the strange voice” (John 10:27:5). And who can be recognized as the most alien and hostile to God and us, if not those who assert and teach that all our thoughts, deeds, desires, and circumstances depend and occur on the influence of the planets, the zodiac and the wheel of happiness? They not only deprive us of the gift of autocracy, with which we were honored by our Creator, by which we acknowledge being created in the image and likeness of God, but they also turn out to be very godless and demonically blaspheming Himself, Who is the highest truth and goodness, recognizing Him as unjust and the creator of evil creations. If, in their opinion, the movement of the stars and the zodiac makes some good and others evil, some rulers and others subordinate, some living honestly and chastely, and others nasty and unclean and workers of all lawlessness; if, indeed, some stars have such a beneficial power, which makes some good and chaste and rulers, and others evil, nasty and subservient, then it follows in every possible way that the Creator of the stars invested such power in them. If we accept this, then it turns out that God is the culprit, that is, the initial cause of all evil in general, and through the movement of the stars, for some he is a mediator of good and salvation, and for others, evil and destruction. What could be more wicked than this? God is truly good, the giver and author of all good; He is not at all guilty of evil and does not serve as the cause, just as the divine Jacob, the brother of God, secretly teaches, saying: “Let no one be tempted, as we are tempted by God: God is not the tempter of the evil, but He tempts no one.” Every one is tempted, because of his own lust we are attracted and seduced: the same lust, when conceived, gives birth to sin; but sinful acts give birth to death” (James 1:13–15). This is the reason for all our evils and our destruction! It consists in immediately and immediately submitting, in the likeness of beasts, to the bodiless, carnal and spiritual lusts and passions that rise up against us and not wanting to resist them, to restrain and curb them with the rational power given to us from above, as the divine Maximus the Confessor wisely and piously teaches, speaking approximately like this: this is nothing more than neglect of doing what is intelligent by nature; therefore, those who diligently always practice this work always do good and never do evil. If you also want to get rid of evil, reject negligence, and with it you will drive away all the evil that lies in the seductive proposal of thought, which will be followed by inappropriate deeds. What is the natural activity of our mind, the same one clearly teaches, saying: the natural activity of our mind is that the verbal part of the soul inherent in us is in obedience to the word of God and that it keeps the wordless part of the soul in obedience. Let this order be preserved in everything, and then there will be no evil in creatures and no power to attract evil. That we are not by force, nor by the combination of certain stars and zodiacs, are drawn to good or evil deeds, and not by the wheel of happiness do we become glorious or dishonorable, the same wise father and teacher clearly teaches, saying: our mind is in the middle of some two, of which each produces its own effect on it: one is virtue, and the other is vice; this is an angel and a demon. Our mind has the power and strength to follow or resist whomever it wants. Holy powers always attract us to good, while natural inclinations and good will help us in this; demonic attacks produce passions and evil will in us. We have three motives for good: natural inclination, holy powers and good will. There are also three motives for evil: passions, demons and evil will. So, having heard and been sufficiently and correctly taught by our God-inspired fathers and teachers, that we ourselves have power in our thoughts and deeds, and that we are encouraged invisibly by the angel of God for good deeds and are preserved by him; We are drawn to evil and lawless actions by the evil demon, because of our great madness and disregard for the commandments of God, and that the Lord brings poverty and riches, humbles and exalts, brings down to hell and raises from there, raises the poor from the earth, and raises the poor from the rotting place - let us now, please, leave behind the deception of the Egyptians and Chaldeans, who blasphemously claim, that all our deeds and thoughts are accomplished by the stars and the wheel of happiness, and not by the Providence of God and his ineffable destinies. From the beginning they were ministers and disciples of crafty demons. Therefore, they are worthy of their teachers and philosophize and speak, trying to distract the pious from faith in God, from the love, hope and fear of God, by which and through which the Creator of all and the Lord is glorified and praised, when piously and Orthodox believers and those who serve Him are saved, but the false teacher is the devil, this godless and abominable lawmaker of the Chaldeans and Greeks, who in every way always tries to distract them with the deception of astrologers. the pious from faith in God and love are put to shame, spat upon and given over to extreme dishonor. By the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are Christians, and therefore we must adhere to the traditions of His divine disciples and other God-inspired fathers and universal teachers, philosophize on them, study them and love them. “If you are risen with Christ,” says the divine Apostle, “seek those on high, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God: philosophize on the things above, not on the earth.” (Col. 3:1–2). The false, wicked teaching of the astrologers and predictors of a person’s fate by birthdays was not revealed to the Chaldeans, Hellenes and Egyptians, not from above and not from the grace of the Holy Comforter, but by the crafty and man-hating demons themselves, to the destruction of those who believe them. The teaching of the divine prophets and apostles and universal teachers was revealed by the Holy Paraclete Himself and taught to the faithful for salvation. Where will you find, tell me, that the word happiness is mentioned in these writings, or that they talk about the combination and separation of planets and zodiacs, which determine for some well-being and prosperity, and for others - the opposite of this, for some - positions of leadership, and for others - slavery and the last dishonor? You will not find such false idle talk anywhere. On the contrary, they preach one God as the creator, and ruler, and provider, and ruler, and organizer of all our good deeds and thoughts; We have not heard or met anyone other than Him, our ruler and organizer, in the holy scriptures and we do not accept it, even if an angel from heaven began to preach and teach this, even if all the wise men of this world and researchers together began to affirm it. We will not agree with them, as true Christians and true followers of the Divine Paraclete, who says through Isaiah: “I am the first, and I am forever. And My hand is the foundation of the earth, and My right hand is the foundation of the heavens: I will call, and they will stand together” (Is. 48, 12, 13). And again: “Behold, the Lord of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judea the mighty and the mighty, the strength of bread and the strength of water, the giant and the mighty, and the man of war, and the judge, and the prophet, and the watchful, and the elder, and the ruler of fifty, and the wondrous counselor, and the wise architect, and the intelligent listener. And I will make young men rulers over them, and scoffers will rule over them” (Isa. 3:1-4). By this we clearly learn that not from the stars and zodiacs, but from above, that is, from the “Father of lights” Himself, “every good gift and every perfect gift” descends (James 1:17) to the human race, while people piously and prudently, with reverence and truth, serve the Most High Master, fulfilling His holy commandments and commandments. When they transgress and trample His holy commandments and commandments, then all the above-mentioned benefits are taken away from them, as the same prophet again says: “The earth wept,... wept at the height of the earth. The earth has created lawlessness for the sake of those who live on it, since they have transgressed the law and changed the commandments, destroying the eternal covenant. For this reason, a curse will cover the earth, because those who live on it have sinned; for this reason, those who live on the earth will become wretched, and there will be few people left” (Is. 24: 4-6). According to this, blessed David also prophesies, speaking to the Creator of all Himself about some people who have greatly committed lawlessness: “Besides,” he says, “for their flattery you brought evil upon them; How was it desolate? she suddenly disappeared, perishing for her iniquity, like the sleep of one who arises” (Ps. 73:18-19). And that the astrologer’s teaching, which claims that by the convergence of planets and zodiacs, both good and evil are given to all cities and individually to each person, is an obvious lie, the same divine prophet Isaiah teaches us so loudly, prophesying the final destruction of the Egyptian kingdom. His prophecy is as follows: “Become now with your magicians and with many of your spells, which you learned from your youth, if they can help you. All of you have become weary in your counsel: may the astrologers of heaven, looking at the stars, stand now and save you, may they announce to you what they have to come to you. Behold, you, like your boastfulness, will be burned with fire, and will not take your souls out of the flames” (Isa. 47:12-14). What other proof could be more reliable than this testimony that astrologer's charm is completely false and hateful to God and cannot save those who listen to it, since all those who practice it and love it, like brushwood, will be tormented by eternal fire and will not be able to deliver their souls from the flame. Let us not in vain seek help and foreknowledge from deaf and insensitive and unreasonable objects of what the Creator and Ruler of all has advised about each of us. This is completely unknown and unknown to any created nature. “Who understands,” he says, “the mind of the Lord, or who is His adviser?” (Isa. 40:13) That is: no one! And if no one knows the future except the Creator of all, unless He Himself reveals to some holy and pious man, His prophet: then how foolishly are we looking for demon-possessed and lying magicians and observers of the movements of stars and birds? All this is indecent and alien to Orthodox Christians, who every day say and boast before God: “Lord, my soul has been lifted up to Thee, O my God; in Thee I trust, that I may never be ashamed” (Ps. 24:1). If we say this with faith, we pray to Him, then how do we again resort with heartfelt hope to the godless astrologers and various magicians and curse ourselves madly? For we add in prayer the same psalm: “Let the wicked be ashamed in vain” (Ps. 24:3). Who will these lawless ones be, if not those in particular who madly separate themselves from faith in God and hope in the common Lord of all and turn with payment, with a great second and with hope to the companions of demons, - I mean the astrologers and magicians, - wanting to learn something about themselves from them? If all this had not been strictly forbidden to us by the Holy Scriptures, then even then we should not have sought it, obeying the divine Apostle Paul, who bequeaths to us saying: “I do not want you to be fellow demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and the table of demons” (1 Cor. 10, 20, 21). If he does not order the sacrifices offered to demons to be eaten as bad, then all the more will he forbid us to go to the sorcerers and sorcerers, the servants of demons, the one who drove out the evil spirit from the slave girl in Philippopolis, who used magic to the Greeks, and forbade him, although he spoke the truth about the apostles (Acts 16:16-18). So we should, like the teacher, not only not want to predict what is about to happen to us, but also forbid it, so as not to do it, and drive away those who do not correct themselves far from cohabitation with us, as tools of the evil demon and “vessels perfected for destruction” (Rom. 9:22). It is common for Orthodox Christians to abhor this with all their souls and to turn away, but to have all their hope in the one true God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and to always unswervingly fulfill His holy commandments with the fear of God and faith and to say with the prophet: “The Lord my God is my strength, and will cause my burden to do: and he will lift me up on high, that I may overcome in His songs” (Habakk. 3, 19). To him be glory forever. Amen. You might be interested in: