Б. Отношение Бога к миру

The world is God's creation. Participation in the work of creation of each Person of the Holy Trinity Next to the thought of God, the thought of the world spontaneously arises in our mind; the question about God’s relationship to the world involuntarily arises. The preceding considerations prejudge this question. If God is an unlimited being, then the world in no case can be coeternal with Him. Indeed, the world came from God through the act of creation, that is, through “an action that does not presuppose any eternal substance from which the creature was made, and no force outside the creator; The world was created by God not from anything ready-made, but “from things that are non-existent, from nothing.” In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). So (at the beginning) the book of Genesis means “the limit from which the existence of the world begins,” “which, on the one hand, concerns immeasurable eternity, and on the other, limits measurable time” 249. The entire Holy Trinity participated in the creation of the world, which can be seen from the very expression of the writer of everyday life: God created 250. “That God the Father created all things by His Son, as by His eternal wisdom and His eternal Word,” John the Theologian testifies to this: All things came into being, and without Him they could not have been (John 1:3) 251. This idea is also confirmed by the expression: said, denoting the “way of action” of God in the creation of creatures; because “in the word said one can find the mystery of the Hypostatic Word,” which, as “pre-eternally born in God and as wisdom, speaks from the endless eternity of God into the circle of time to creatures, when the Wisdom of God should be revealed in them” 252. “The action of the Hypostasis of the Holy Spirit”, manifested during the creation of the world, is depicted in the book of Genesis with such a “word (the Spirit of God hovered over the waters), with which in another place (Deut. 32:11) Moses expresses the action of a bird nesting, or sitting with outstretched wings over the chicks and warming them. When applied to creation, this symbol depicts the action by which the creator most closely imparts vitality to the created, without, however, imparting to it his very essence and without mixing with it” 253. The image of the participation of each Person of the Holy Trinity in the work of creation can be briefly expressed in the words of Gregory the Theologian: “First, God imagines Angelic and heavenly powers, and this thought became a deed that was fulfilled by the Word and accomplished by the Spirit” 254. Inspiration to create the world So, “God is the cause of creation.” What prompted God to create the world? The immediate motivation for the creation of the world was the goodness of God. “Having no need for any creature, since He was and is always completely satisfied and blessed in Himself,” only “out of His infinite goodness and love, God wanted to communicate His blessedness, to have grace-filled partakers of His glory” outside His inner life; He wanted “creatures to receive from Him as much good as they can accept, and to rejoice and be blissful” 255. The ultimate purpose of creation was the glory of God (Proverbs 16:4); because “it is impossible to assign another decisive goal to creation if it is necessary to make it perfect and blessed”; because “the blessed life and well-being of creatures consists, so to speak, in the circulation of the glory of God” 256. General foundations of God's relationship to the world Creating the world for a specific purpose, God from the very beginning had to establish a relationship with it that would correspond to this purpose. God's relationship to the world is thus determined, first of all, by the world's ordained purpose from time immemorial - to proclaim the glory of God. Leading the world to its intended goal, God is conditioned in His further relations to the world, on the one hand, by His own nature and properties, because “no property of God can be deprived of its inherent action” 257, on the other hand, by the nature, properties and life of the world, because the world, due to its inertia, cannot suddenly embody perfections accessible to a limited being, on which is based “the universal law of gradualism, observed in actions and revelations of God" 258. A kind of dependence of God’s relationship to the world on the life of creation is especially noticeable where God’s definitions and actions come into contact with freedom, in particular with human freedom. To prove this point, we cite two of many cases. Let us remember the story of the Annunciation. “Why was the Archangel not content with speaking the word of annunciation to the Blessed Virgin, but used, one might say, urgent means to achieve a word of her consent? Is it possible that without this word of Mary the incarnation of the Son of God would not have taken place? Does the omnipotent will of God really need the permission of the human will?... Archangel Gabriel, without a doubt, did exactly what God’s commanding verb inspired him with; but the Archangel, not limiting himself to the word of annunciation, did not stop his conversation with the Most Holy Virgin until he heard from her a word of consent: wake me according to your word. Consequently, it was God’s will. Consequently, this was certainly required by God’s wisdom and God’s destiny. “From here it is clear that “the omnipotent will of God in a matter that actually belongs to omnipotence does not act without the consent of the human will. “God preserves inviolable the freedom of human will, preserving in it the feature of His image; and therefore, during the action of unlimited omnipotence, when His action must touch the inner spiritual state of a person, it takes into account the free will of a person” 259. So, the direction of the will of God himself partly depends on the direction of the human will; When man's relationship to God changes, God's relationship to man changes in turn. This position is sufficiently confirmed by a famous incident from the life of Nineveh. “God has already revealed to the prophet that the cry of anger of the Ninevites has risen, that their sins are ripe for punishment. Already a prophet of God's testimony against the criminal city: a cry of malice arose towards Me, turning it into a decisive determination, Nineveh will turn, he announced this to the Ninevites publicly. It seemed that both the immutability of God’s judgment and the dignity of the prophetic word, which must be inviolable, demanded that the announced determination be fulfilled without change. But nothing stood in the way of God’s mercy and goodness, as soon as the path was opened for them through repentance and prayer. And God repented of the evil that He said He would do to them, and He would not do it. That is, in the repentance of the Ninevites, by which the evil of sin is stopped, He found a means to stop the evil of punishment that was coming (attracted by sin)” 260. Although there is no doubt that in His relations to the world God is partly determined by the life of the world itself, yet through this He does not cease to be an unlimited being, because His dependence on the life of the world is a completely free self-limitation, standing in connection with eternal foreknowledge. God determines this or that attitude towards the world not after the changes that have taken place in the life of the world, but from eternity, before the very creation of the world. The content of God's mind is unchangeable. Everything that happens in the life of the world in time is known to God from eternity. Knowing the entire course of the life of the world before its creation, foreseeing all the changes in its life, God from eternity predetermines this or that manifestation of His will, corresponding to the changes that will take place in the life of the world and leading the world to its intended goal. No changes in the life of the world can prevent the will of God from achieving its goal; because if they could have interfered with the will of God, then God, foreseeing this, would not have created the world. If He created the world, then this is because “from eternity He sees and finds His creations in accordance with His wisdom and goodness” 261. God from eternity determined to become in a certain relationship with creation. Now let's see how they appear in order of time. Creation of the world in a known order of time. Creation of the invisible world. The existence of the angelic world and the concept of it – The creation of the world did not happen suddenly. In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Based on these words, it can be assumed, however, not as a generally accepted, immutable dogma, but as a theological opinion 262 that “the invisible was created before the visible” (Right. Is. Part I, issue 18), that “before the visible and rational creature, that is, man, God created the invisible rational creature, spirits” - that in the beginning God created “the highest spiritual world and the dwelling of the blessed" 263. They think so, by the way, in view of the fact that in the first words of the book of Genesis, the sky “is not attributed to the disorder in which the earth appears” 264 . Speaking about the time of creation of the invisible world, we must not only explain the very concept of the world of spirits, but we must prove their very existence; because “the oblivion of the heavenly powers in some Christians extends to the point that they even doubt the existence of the invisible world.” But “if we had not had evidence of this in the voice of Revelation, we could have found it in the book of nature. On everything that is visible is written the testimony of what is invisible. The Apostle Paul says that the invisible of God, His ever-present power and Divinity, from the creation of the world, through the consideration of creatures, is visible (Rom. 1:20); but just as not everything visible can be attributed directly to the invisible power of God, then, on the basis of the apostolic saying, one can see the invisible world through the world of transitory images - the world of permanent forces, through which the omnipotent power of God holds, carries (Heb. 1:3), moves, controls and preserves everything visible. Look at a tree or grass: what you see can only wither, wither and collapse; and what produces greenness, growth, color and fruit, is not that which is invisible? Look at yourself: what feels, desires, thinks in you, isn’t it invisible? Notice the staircase-like gradualism of creatures, which are more perfect than each other, since the action of the invisible is more revealed in them; start from earth and stone, in which the invisible is completely buried, climb the ladder of visible creatures to man, in whom the invisible can already dominate: is it not natural to assume above this level creatures in which the visible is completely absorbed - purely invisible, spiritual beings? True, in the current darkened state of man and the world, through the writings of visible things the light of the invisible world flickers dimly. But for this reason, in the book of Revelation, the eye purified by faith clearly sees not only the existence of the invisible world, but its proximity and close union with the visible world.” Here are examples: “The cherub guards the path of the tree of life (Gen. 3:24); An angel comforts the desperate Hagar (Gen. 16:7–12); The angels, together with the Lord, visit Abraham (Gen. 18); Angels save Lot from dying Sodom (Gen. 19); An angel saves the life of Ishmael, who is dying of thirst (Gen. 21:17–19); An Angel - and perhaps more than an Angel in essence, but an Angel in appearance and in name in sacred history - holds the hand of Abraham raised to the slaughter of Isaac, and showers him with blessings (Gen. 22:15. 17); Abraham promises an angel to guide his servant (Gen. 24:7), and this servant is wonderfully guided in finding Rebekah. Jacob, then the one who sleeps in a multitude sees Angels ascending along a ladder to heaven and descending to earth (Gen. 28:12), then the one who is vigilant meets with armies of Angels (Gen. 32:1); An angel appears to Moses in a burning bush (Ex. 3:2) to prepare him for the expulsion of the Israelites from Egypt; An angel in a pillar of fire and cloud precedes the Israelites from Egypt, protects them from the pursuing Egyptians (Ex. 14:19), accompanies them through the Red Sea and continuously wanders with them through the desert for forty years; under the order of the Angels the Israelites accepted (Acts 7:53) the law of Moses; The archangel of the power of the Lord appears to Joshua (Joshua 5:14) and orders the miraculous conquest of Jericho; An angel, instead of a Prophet, preaches to the Israelites, and the people, crying at his preaching, mark the place of this appearance with the name of weeping (Judges 2:1–6); The angel calls Gideon to deliver the Israelites from enslavement (Judges 6:11); An angel visits Samson's parents twice, predicts an extraordinary birth and teaches the mother to protect the fruit of the womb by abstinence (Judges 13); The angel strikes the Jerusalemites for the vanity of David (2 Samuel 24:16) and the Assyrians for the pride of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35); The Prophet Elijah is repeatedly guided in his actions by an Angel (1 Kings 19:5; 2 Kings 1:15); Elisha shows his youth a host of Angels, like a protective army (2 Kings 6:17); Isaiah sees the Seraphim surrounding the throne of the Lord, and from one of them he receives fiery cleansing (Is.6); Daniel sees thousands of thousands serving the Ancient of Days and the darkness of those who stand before Him (Dan.7:10); sometimes he meets a guardian angel and, perhaps, more than an angel, in a fiery furnace (Dan.3:92); sometimes in the lion's den (Dan.6:22); sometimes Gabriel hovers over him and touches him and explains visions to him (Dan.9:21).” In the New Testament, “we see an Angel announcing the barren conception of the Forerunner (Luke 1:11) and the seedless conception of the Savior (Luke 1:26), a whole army of Angels singing the glory of the birth of the Savior (Luke 2:13), an Angel resolving the bewilderment of Joseph (Matt. 1:20) and arranging the safety of the Baby Jesus from those who seek His soul (Matthew 2:13), Angels serving Jesus after His temptation in the wilderness (Matthew 4:11), Angels assigned to every child who sees the heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10), Angel who appeared to strengthen Jesus in the feat of Gethsemane (Luke 22:43), Angels opening His tomb (Matthew 28:2), proclaiming Him resurrection (John 20:12), Angels accompanying His ascension and announcing His return (Acts 1:10–11), Angels loosening bonds (Acts 12:7) and opening prisons for the Apostles (Acts 5–19); finally - an Angel, who was just emerging from the darkness of paganism to Cornelius in order to show him the entrance to the Christian Church (Acts 10: 3-6) 265. Already from the presented overview of the appearances of Angels, one can form some idea about them. By their nature, they are “bodiless spirits, gifted with mind, will and power” 266. This is how Gregory the Theologian speaks about the nature of Angels: they are “the second lordships, the servants of the first lordships, whether they should be represented as intelligent spirits, or immaterial and incorporeal fire, or ascribe to them some other nature, closest to what has been said” 267. Having the same nature, “intelligent spirits” differ from each other in degrees of perfection and approach to God. “In the Heavenly Hierarchy, as God-enlightened contemplatives will tell us, not everyone is able to receive the Divine Light, but the blessed spirits of the highest ranks transmit it to the blessed spirits of the lower ranks” 268. Michael, for example, is “not a simple Angel, but an Archangel, that is, one who rules over many Angels; moreover, not from those Archangels who command the rank of Angels closest to people, the lowest of the nine ranks of the heavenly ranks, but one of the seven supreme Angels, who are above all the heavenly ranks, directly before the throne of the Trinitarian Deity” 269. As created by God, Angels are different from Him; they treat Him as their Creator and completely subordinate their will to Him, as evidenced by their very name 270. “The Apostle, elucidating the high superiority of the Son of God over the Angels,” says: are they not all ministering spirits... (Heb. 1:14), i.e., “that Angels are ministering spirits, although by the nature of their service they are sometimes called authorities and dominions, but by grace sons of God.” 271. Angels serve their Creator with complete reverence and even fear. “Those on high The gracious Sons of God, pure spirits (even) of the highest rank, the closest primates of the throne of God, the Second Lights (according to the word of the fathers), full vessels of light, pouring it onto the lower ranks of heaven, do not dare to look at the uncreated light, do not dare to stand before Him with an open face, reverently cover their eyes, lips, faces with two wings, or, according to the church expression, with fear are covered" (Isa. 6:1-2) 272. Creation of the visible world. "The universal preparatory action of creative force" Directly after the creation of the invisible world or simultaneously with this, the earth was created (Gen. 1:1), which “in contrast to the heavens, signifying the invisible world, means the original substance and, as it were, the seed of the entire visible world” 273. This is how this “substance of the whole visible world” is described in the word of God: the earth was unformed and empty, and darkness was upon the deep (Gen. 1:3). Thus, “the substance of the entire visible world” was not initially “qualified in a positive and definitive way”, “did not have those types and forms that we associate with the concept of created things”; it was “a mass that does not have any solidity, not supported on a certain foundation,” - an abyss and water, - an abyss, in the sense of “a space not limited by the variety of things,” - water in the sense that, due to the “subtle parts of matter, and the general lack of permanent images,” it “of the known types of body should most closely approach the property of liquid.” Complete darkness permeated this entire chaotic mass - “not a shadow, such as the darkness of the night after the creation of the sun, but a complete absence of light, which had not yet been created” 274. The creation of the unsettled mass of “seeds,” or elements, of the entire visible world is “the universal preparatory action of the creative force.” This action was followed by “the actual formation of special types of creatures.” The formation of species was accomplished through the word, that is, through the “decisive will of God” 275. - “The actual formation (of the world) began with the production of light, which, having separated, probably from the first minute of its existence, began to concentrate.” The separation of light from darkness “was accomplished either through the very creation of it and the separation of dark bodies from the substance, or through a special movement by which light, having occupied part of space, laid the foundation in nature for those circulations that, through the alternating action of light on different sides of the earth, form on it light and darkness, day and night” 276. Thus began the “formation of celestial and terrestrial bodies.” On the first day it did not have the proper strength; it was established on the second day of creation. “The object of creation of the second day is the firmament,” “which, as if by the power of its being, gives strength and solidity to the formations of heavenly and earthly bodies” 277. The creation of the firmament established a division between the waters that are under the firmament and between the waters that are above the firmament 278. “In order to imagine the division of the waters in accordance with the description of Moses, let the viewer of the universe imagine himself on the forming earth at the moment of God’s command about the existence of the firmament. Previously, light through the unstructured substance located between it and the earth passed as if through water: now, when pure firmament should appear, the roughest parts of this water-like substance partly tend to the earth and, connecting with it, reveal its outlines; partly, by the same action, they ascend upward, that is, to other opaque bodies located in the heavenly space, for which the firmament also had to open” 279. Thus, “having formed more densely around their centers and being contained within constant limits, the dark celestial bodies left a space more permeable to light” 280. During the formation of planets, “water, by its gravity occupying the middle between air and earth, naturally had to embrace the surface of the globe.” On the third day, “the creative word collects it (water) in one place (which mainly constitutes the ocean, which has visible or secret communication with all the waters of the globe) and, based on the diverse combination of solid parts of the earth’s substance, brings land to the surface.” With the advent of land, it became possible to produce plants (Gen. 1:9–12). “God commands the earth to produce plants: because the beginnings of their origin were contained in its maternal depths, because subsequently they had to be especially tied to it by the place of their existence and the need for nutrition.” “In order to prepare food for its future inhabitants, the earth (really) produced herbs, trees and everything belonging to the plant kingdom. Without a doubt, the creation of the fossil kingdom should also be attributed to this time, although the narrator is silent about it, dealing only with the most visible objects 281. On the fourth day we received the proper arrangement of the luminaries. “The action by which the luminaries are produced, in all likelihood, is the concentration in certain places and the most perfect formation of the primordial light with the approval from these bodies of its constant laws and circle of activity.” “The origin of the luminaries, having borrowed light, can be imagined in such a way that they, being accepted as dark bodies, received, like the earth, their characteristic formation in the previous days of creation; being considered in the state of the luminaries, they accepted this image of being through the formation of the actual bright celestial bodies” 282. “On the fifth day, supplied with all the needs of living creatures, the earth began to be inhabited by creatures that had life and feeling.” On this day, reptiles (polyparous) were created, which mainly mean fish and insects - birds flying on the ground, under the firmament, i.e. “various genera of birds” 283. To the creatures of the fifth day, “as beings that feel themselves, the Creator, as it were, gave them the ability to reproduce, and this is expressed in the priests. The writer was blessed, although, however, previous creations also received their blessing in the very commandment about their existence” 284. “On the sixth day the animals of the earth came into being, among which the description of life distinguishes cattle, creeping things and beasts of the earth” 285. “After this God crowned his creations with the creation of man” 286. The creation of man. Composition of human nature – “The image of the creation of man shows in him the most excellent and closest creation to God. It is not produced by a single action, but by gradual formation, just as light is first created, and then the luminaries are formed. The Creator of the world does everything with one word; The Creator of man appears to be first speaking in Himself, then acting.” The creation of man was preceded by the counsel of God. God in the Holy Trinity of Rivers: Let us create man in Our image and likeness (Gen. 1:26). “The Council of God assigns the creation of man to the Holy Trinity, and does not leave this action to Her single Person” 287. The first element put into the composition of his nature during the creation of man is dust, in which he “must carry with him an eternal monument of his insignificance before God” - dust taken from the earth, so that man “had direct knowledge of the properties” of it and “the closest relationship” to it. “This substance, formed, so to speak, by the hands of the Creator, was, without a doubt, the purest, most perfect and therefore the strongest” 288. “In the person of the organized composition of the body, the Creator inhales, as is read in the original text of the everyday life, the breath of lives” 289. “God does not breathe into a person the soul in such a way that, therefore, it can in the proper sense be called, with the pagans, divinae particulam aurae, - a particle of God’s breath: for the living human soul differs far from God’s life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This inspiration shows only the beginning of its existence and a way of being, different from those souls that were previously created by the Word of God” 290. The soul in the composition of human nature constitutes an immeasurably higher part of it; In his soul, a person is less than an angel. “The soul is a thing (being) that is very expensive. Its correct assessment (lies) in the words of the Gospel: what good is it for a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? That is: the loss of a soul is a loss so great that it cannot be replaced by the whole world” 291. In the structure of the organism, “the soul is the basis of life”; whereas “the body is the dwelling and instrument of the soul”; the body (exists) not for itself, but for the soul” 292. At Ap. Paul and some church fathers teach that there is a tripartite division of human nature into body, soul and spirit. Indeed, human life, according to its beginnings, can be divided into three areas. “Man, by nature, lives the life of the body, articulated and plant, and the life of the soul, animal and rational. The life of the soul (sometimes) rises above the life of the body and manifests itself in voluntary movement, in feeling, in knowledge, in desire, in action; (sometimes it) plunges into the life of the body, hides in a closed, involuntary movement of the limbs and barely makes its way through illusory ideas... A Christian, by grace, still has a higher life, spiritual (John 3:5)... Spiritual life, having as its source the Spirit of God, has God and His grace as its light, its strength, its food, the beginning of its activity and the goal of its aspiration” 293. It should be noted that the highest principles of human life - soul and spirit or “spirit and mind are almost one, as the Apostle truly connects them when he expounds the truth, or the essence of Christian teaching, which consists in being renewed by the spirit of the mind (Eph. 4:23). If we can here note any difference between the mind and the spirit: is it that the spirit appears in the mind itself as something more sublime, more internal, revealing itself in the mind, just as the soul reveals itself in the feelings” 294 . – The high dignity of man and his main superiority over other creatures of the visible world lies in the fact that he was created in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26–7) 295. “The image of God in a person is such a treasure that not only a person, but in him the whole world makes God precious and dear” 296. To understand what the image of God consists of, “let us resort to comparing what was created in the image with the prototype.” We already know the concept of God as a prototype; therefore, when comparing with Him those created in the image of God, attention should be paid to the latter. Since “God is incorporeal, therefore man is created in the image of God in the soul.” “The Image of God (first of all) can be sought in the spiritual and immortal being of the human soul” 297. Indeed, the soul is an “invisible subtle force”, alien to materiality, it is a “spiritual and immortal being” 298. Whereas “the body itself explains its mortality, since it is obviously divided into parts and destroyed: the soul not only does not show in itself any signs of divisibility, destructibility, but exhibits a completely opposite property in the ability of reasoning, which represents divided concepts of things in an indivisible and unmerged unity, in no way compatible with the properties of the divisible substance.” Whereas “the body dies during the course of its life, and of course several times, in parts, daily separating from itself a part of its dead substance: the soul, throughout its entire life, feels within itself one constant existence. The body participates in life as if involuntarily, being set in motion by the power of the soul and always more or less burdening it with its laziness: the soul, even at a time when the activity of the body is suppressed by sleep or illness, continues its life and activity, independent of the body” 299. But spirituality and immortality of the soul are “too general traits”; therefore, the image of God is sought, further, “in the powers or abilities of the soul.” Indeed, in man there is “a mind, without which neither truth nor wisdom would exist for him” 300. The first man especially showed his intelligence in naming animals (Gen. 2:19-20) 301. Naming presupposes the gift of speech in a person 302. The word, as an organ of the mind, must necessarily reflect the image of God. Let us ask ourselves, “Where is the beginning of the word? – In heaven, above heaven, in eternity, in God (John 1:1). What is the dignity of a word? – Divine dignity: God is the Word. The Son of God, to express His Divine properties, did not find a better name in the human language than the name of the word: His name is called the Word of God (Rev. 19:13). What power does a word have? - Omnipotent power: all that was "... In the word of a person "there must be some image of the word of God and its power." Indeed, “the word placed man on the ladder of creation above everything earthly, and above the moon and the sun; the word united people into societies, created cities and kingdoms; knowledge, wisdom, law live and move in the word; virtue is formed, encouraged and spread by the word; the word in prayer ascends to God, converses with Him and receives what is asked from Him” 303... Since “God created man as a moral being, having a subtle inner sense of distinguishing between good and evil”; then “a necessary and high feature of the image of God” must certainly be, further, freedom 304. “Lubomy teaches that freedom is the ability and freedom to wisely choose and do the best; and that by nature it is the property of every person.” “True freedom is the active ability of a person, not enslaved to sin, not burdened by a condemning conscience, to choose the best in the light of God’s truth, and to put it into action with the help of the gracious power of God” 305. All the powers of our spirit are united in the indivisible unity of mental life. In this regard, “our soul is an image of the trinitarian divine unity 306. The image of God can consist not only in the powers of the soul and in their internal unity, but also “in the actual perfection of spiritual powers directed towards God and from Him directly receiving impressions of truth and goodness, or, according to the Apostle, in the righteousness and holiness of truth (Eph. 4:24).” “The Image of God can be sought (still) in the union of the soul with the body” and “in man’s relationship to the world.” “The soul in the body, like God in nature, being invisible, is present in everything, acts in it, animates it, rules it and preserves it” 307. Regarding all our research regarding the image of God in man, “we must carefully note that features of similarity are not always features of the image. But since the features of the image of God in man are not defined in the word of God with numerical precision, as if in order for him to be the image of an unlimited and indescribable Being in this respect, then there is no need to accept this image in too close a sign. We can agree that its general basis is in the essence and abilities of the soul; its essential and living features consist in the reflection of Divine truth and goodness, or in the holiness of truth; man’s advantages, which are more external and relative, are the addition and consequence thereof” 308... – The human couple was not created at the same time. First Adam was created, then Eve, first male, then female. God began to create a wife after Adam, “having surveyed the many kinds of animals, found himself a special and unique creature.” “The creation of the wife was preceded by the advice of God, like the creation of the husband, but not so solemn (Gen. 2:18)” 309. A wife is created differently from a husband; she is “created from Adam’s rib, so that man, created in the image of God, would be the only beginning of beings of his kind, just as God is the only beginning of all kinds of beings, so that the wife would always be close to the heart of her husband, in order to facilitate the mutual communication of thoughts, feelings, perfections and make the human race a single body.” Directly after creation, husband and wife “receive from the Creator the blessing of the multiplication of their kind, according to His intentions, in the purity of motives and the joy of love of children, and the blessing of unquestioning dominion over all earthly creatures” 310. “By the promise of the multiplication of the race, God gave man the power to produce others like himself: therefore, there is no need to look for another source of human souls other than the soul of the first man” 311. A general view of the creation of the visible world The work of creation ended with the creation of the human couple. After reviewing creative actions in the order in which they occurred over time, let us consider them together. “Moses, introducing God in human form after the completion of each part of creation and approving of it, confirms to us the perfection of each creature in its kind and in its purpose, even if we did not know it.” “After the completion of all creation, there follows a general approval of the creatures, pronounced with greater force than before... Each creature is especially good, but in general it is very good. Every day of creation brought new good into creation; but the day of the creation of man increased the good of the whole world" 312. – The creation of the world took place in six days, observing gradualism and a certain order. “The days of creation do not mean such a continuation of time in which things, according to the laws of nature alone, would have been formed and revealed from those created in the beginning of heaven and earth; because in this case the days of creation would not be distinguished from the days of Providence, and it would not be possible to say that God finished his work on the seventh day and rested (Gen. 3:2). The days of creation show the true order of the direct actions of the creative force that took place at a certain time” 313. In order to have a true understanding of the days of creation, you need to take the point of view from which “the writer of life considers and describes the actions of the Deity in the universe.” In fact, it is difficult to form an accurate idea of ​​the first three days of creation. “They are not similar to those that followed in that the actions that the sun now produces were then produced by the primordial unstructured light, which occupied part of the heavenly space” 314. All the days of creation begin in the evening, not in the morning. “In order to understand the possibility of this order of time, let the viewer of the universe place himself mentally on the line that, after the formation of the earth, should constitute its outline, and in the place where paradise should be planted; then let him imagine that the newly created light, penetrating through the unstructured matter to this point, appears from this point of view in the east. The time that elapsed from the beginning of creation until the appearance of light is the first evening, dusk or night; the appearance of the newly created light - morning; the time at which he must leave the horizon of Eden is the end of the first day.” The first day of creation corresponded to the “first period of movement,” which began with the separation of light from darkness, and “similar to that which is now observed in the celestial bodies” 315. The second and third days of creation were similar to the first. The remaining days were produced by the action of the sun. Why did God create the world in six days, and not in a shorter or longer period of time? The answer to this must be that “the origin of the sixfold or sevenfold number (of days) is hidden in the wisdom of God.” In any case, in a certain number of days of creation, it is not necessity that is manifested, but “the freedom with which the Creator reveals His goodness in creatures, as and when He wants” 316. Why is one type of creature produced before another? – The moments of time formed by the six days of creation were gradually filled with certain kinds of creatures. After creating the heavens and earth, “God gradually produced light on the first day of the world, on the second day the firmament, or visible sky, on the third day the reservoir of water on earth, dry land and plants, on the fourth day the sun, moon and stars, on the fifth day fish and birds, on the sixth day four-legged animals living on land, and finally man.”317 If we think about this gradualness with which creatures arose, we will see that the order of the creation of creatures “having life and feeling” has “some correspondence with the order according to which the physical world was formed in previous days. In the first three days, following the creation of light, the firmament was created, the waters were separated, dry land appeared; on the other three days, the formation of the luminaries was followed by the origin of animals, the way of being corresponding to water, firmament and dry land. “We can (also) notice that the formation of creatures proceeds from the uniform to the varied and from the coarsest to the finest, from the less perfect to the most perfect” 318. “Whatever the hidden reason for this gradualness in creation, to at least merge it into one inseparable instant or to represent the formation of the earth as a consequence of one mechanism of nature, would mean deviating too far from the simple meaning of Holy Scripture and forgetting that the creation of the world is a mystery, which we, according to the Apostle, understand by faith (Heb. 11:3).” “The gradual formation of the world shows us the complete dependence of creatures (on the Creator), which owe him not only their all-existence, but also each one’s education and perfection, and the holiness of the order of nature, which in all its parts comes from God and in the origin of creatures merges with the direct action of the Creator” 319. This is how Gregory the Theologian explains the order of creation of the invisible world and the visible world. “First, God invents angelic and heavenly powers. When these first works were beautifully arranged by Him, He invents a second world, material and visible, in order to show that He is able to produce not only a nature akin to Himself, but also something completely alien. But there was not yet a dissolution from both and a mixing of the opposite, which signifies even greater wisdom and a magnificent abundance of natures, and not all the wealth of goodness was known. Wanting to show this, the Creator-Word - to show, I say, an animal consisting of both natures: visible and invisible - creates man, taking a body from a substance that already existed, and putting in from Himself life, which Scripture calls the intelligent soul and the image of God" 320. God could have other, unknown to us, motives that guided Him when creating creatures 321. The reason for the certain gradualness with which creatures arose according to the word of the Creator lay in the creature itself, namely in its limitations, in the mutual dependence of creatures. Each species of creatures relies in its existence on another, so that for the existence of one species the appearance of another is sometimes necessary. When creating creatures, God was guided by this law. Thus, “light is produced before all things, according to the reasoning of natural scientists,” because “it is the subtlest, strongest and most necessary essence for the existence and formation of other things”; “Plants are produced before animals because they are prepared by them for food” 322. Why was man created after all the creatures of the visible world? – In accordance with the “general order of the visible creation, which consisted in a gradual ascent to the most perfect,” man, as a “small world,” as “a reduction and, as it were, the purest extraction from all the natures of the visible world,” was created by God after all the creatures of the visible world. This is also explained by the special position of man, which, according to the design of the Creator, he should occupy in the world. Just as “God is the ruler of everything, (so) man is made the ruler of the visible world”; he is “predestined to possess all the earth”; “the creatures of the earth were created to serve him” 323. By placing man in such a relationship with creatures, “God established in him the agreement of the lower creatures and their union with Himself. Their particular perfections originate and find their limit in the common good, the focus of which is in man; therefore he must be king over everything around him, in order to spread the influence of good everywhere. All creatures should offer God the service of reverence and gratitude; if their service does not rise above the sensual, a person must be their priest, in order to raise it within himself to the throne of the Most High. Creatures not endowed with understanding must demonstrate the understanding of God and tell the glory of God; a person must be their prophet in order to resolve their sensual broadcasts with the highest language of the spirit” 324. By creating man after all visible creatures, God wanted to “introduce him into the world, like a ruler into a house, like a priest into a church, perfectly arranged and adorned” 325. The purpose of man is not limited to his relationship to the unreasonable creature. Having been created in the image and likeness of God, he “through this is elevated above the kingdom of nature so that the end of his activity can only be God” 326. “Approaching God, according to the beneficial intention of the Creator, in accordance with the needs of a being created in the image of God, is for man the true and legitimate goal of striving in the field of life. One created in the image of the Infinite cannot be satisfied with the finite... The mind, created in the image of the Infinite, can only quench the thirst for knowledge with eternal truth. A heart created in the image of the Infinite, only infinity” can satisfy the hunger for well-being and bliss with good (Ps. 16:15; Hos. 12:6; James 4:8) 327. “But how can a person approach the invisible and incomprehensible God? “Obviously, he cannot fly, as soon as he wishes, with his whole being from earth to heaven, from the visible to the invisible: but he can and must” “in order to achieve communication and blissful union with God, turn to Him his abilities, marked by the features of His image, direct his mind, will, heart to Him, especially unite his will with His will, the movement of free will, through faith and love 328. The earth serves as a place where man must constantly fulfill his desire for God. “Earthly life was given to him in order to work out of it eternal bliss by the hand of free will, by the power of God’s grace” 329. If the visible world was created in order to serve as a place and means for the improvement of man, and if man was appointed king, prophet and priest among unreasonable creatures; then the fate of the visible world must be closely connected with the fate of man. The visible world must adapt in its life to the nature and condition of man. “For the righteous God keeps peace” 330. “Without the saints, the world would not be worthy of God’s keeping and could not stand. His seed is holy (Isaiah 6:13)" 331. If a person darkens the image of God within himself - the basis of his high position among other creatures of the visible world; then the creature, in accordance with this, will have to refuse to serve man. Man's misfortune should naturally respond to the creatures subject to his dominion 332 . II. God's providence for the world About the Providence of God in general The Necessity of God's Providence for the World and Its Reality – After the creation of the universe, God’s relationship to the world naturally had to change, but in no case could it completely cease. Since God is “eternal,” His actions should not be imagined to be as transitory as the actions of creatures, temporary beings. The action of creation ended for creatures, as temporary, but together (must) continue on the part of God, as eternal 333. The motivation for this, first of all, is the goodness of God. God, as “all-good, desires to bestow blessings, His omnipotence does not lack strength, and His wisdom is in means” 334 ... The world itself necessarily needs the good and omnipotent assistance of God. He, as a creation of God, cannot live without God. If “by the Hypostatic Word of God everything was created without exception, earthly and heavenly, visible and invisible”; then in Him must “contain life, or the source of life for everything that lives, and especially for those who live a spiritual and immortal life” 335. Indeed, “what is a creature in itself, outside of God? Nothing; because it was created from nothing. What can it produce by itself, is it again the same nothingness from which it itself was produced, although, perhaps, covered with the ghost of materiality, which is called vanity? The world is not like a built building, which can “stand even though the artist who built it was not in the world.” “A person makes something out of something that already existed before he started doing it, therefore something must remain when he has stopped doing it. God creates out of nothing; therefore, if He ceased His action, nothing more than nothing would remain 336. “A universe full of life with its free beings” cannot also be imagined as a “dead machine, all parts of which would be involuntarily moved by one another and which the great Artist who created it would not dare to touch to correct or improve any part, which may be especially necessary when order is disturbed by the abuse of the freedom of moral beings” 337. The world is not a machine. Such a world would not be worthy of God, the most perfect being 338. Thus, if the world is destined to exist after creation; then this can happen with “the constant action of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God, with which God would preserve the existence and powers of creatures and direct them to good goals.” The world exists; therefore, there is undoubtedly an unceasing action of the omnipotence, wisdom and goodness of God in the world,” the so-called providence of God for the world 339. – Indeed, “let us look at the world of earthly growths renewed in spring and think: where is its beginning and foundation. Shall we say that this is the earth from which he arises? But let us take a handful of earth covering the root of a plant, and we will see that it has neither the strength, nor beauty, nor nutrition, nor appearance, characteristic of various plants; and what he does not have, he cannot tell them. Shall we say that the power of the sun, air, and water are combined in plants? But this does not explain their origin. For how do the few elements produce innumerable kinds of plants, and even in one plant - numerous parts and properties? How does the same sun, the same earth, water, air, at the same time and in the same place, produce strong oak, soft grass, fragrant rose, and from the same plant - hardness in the stem, softness in the leaves, aroma in the flowers, nutrition in the fruit? Let us go, as far as possible, deeper to the natural foundations of visible existence. What is the foundation of the earth itself, which seems to be the foundation of what is visible on it? Shall we say with the experts of nature that this is the force of gravity or attraction to it, both in the sun and in the stars, acting mutually between them? What a dead foundation for a world full of life!.. What a cramped foundation for a building so vast! And is this a reason? The inquisitive mind is not satisfied, it asks: on what is it based, what is the basis for such a huge power of attraction, which should support and move the entire universe? So that, testing the depth, we do not fall into the abyss, let us stop... The foundation of such an immense building can only be revealed by the One who created it and opens it to the ceiling, since He Himself opens. Hang the earth on nothing (Job.26:7); This is how Job contemplates it... Let's reach, he says, to the ends of the earth; Let us enter the side of it that we imagine under our feet: we will find nothing near the earth, above it and below it, except air; Let us think: how such a huge and heavy body survives for so many centuries in such a thin creature, when even light fluff does not stay in the air for long, but soon falls. Our mind is lost; we see the earth hanging, but we don’t find it on anything.” The foundation on which the life of the universe rests is in its Creator. “One God is the founder of every creation; and in Him alone is its deepest foundation”; “God is everything, from the deep essence of beings to their visible appearance” 340. God's providence compared to creation. Its manifestation in relation to various types of creatures – Compared to creation, God’s providence for the world has similarities and differences. Both there and here the same power is at work - the power of the word of God. “God said: let there be light, and there be light (Gen. 1:3). The same goes for each subsequent creature. So, God speaks, let it be - this is the root principle of all things! The Power of God, the Word of God - this is the deepest foundation of their existence and well-being! For one cannot imagine the Word of God to be similar to the spoken word of man, which, having come out of the mouth, immediately ceases and disappears in the air. In God there is nothing that ceases, nothing that disappears; His word comes forth, but does not pass away: the word of the Lord abides forever (1 Peter 1:25). The creative word is like an adamantine bridge on which creatures are placed and stand, under the abyss of God's infinity, above the abyss of their own insignificance. The power of God is, when applied to our image of representation, the hand of the Almighty, in which He holds the circle of the earth, and every speck of dust, and all the circles of heaven, as He Himself counts, He alone counts the stars (Ps. 147:4). This is not philosophy, but a pure revelation of the very wisdom of God through the Apostle, who says that the Son of God bears all things by His power (Heb. 1:3); bears, that is, continuously acts in creatures with His word and His power, if not in the same way, then at least similar to how He acted in the first days of their creation” 341. In contrast to creation, God's providence is conceived as the reassurance of the Creator, of course, “not from weariness unusual for Him (Is. 40:28), but from works. This peace is not only the completion of affairs (or the end), but some special consequence of it” 342. “And human rest is not complete inaction, for complete inaction is impossible, but the action of forces balanced among themselves and with external objects of action, just as labor is the continued dominance of active forces over the object of action. Likewise, the work of God is an action in a creature that has not yet reached the measure of perfection predetermined for it by the wisdom and goodness of the Creator; but the action in creatures that have come to fulfill their predestination and, as far as possible, are in accordance with Divine perfections, is the peace of God. Bodily and sensory beings did not bring peace to God, but man, united with God by the power of His likeness and through his medium established other creatures in union with His perfections. since man, at the time of his creation, was still placed in a state of preparation and on the path to his full perfection, then the rest of God, relative to creation, is also the transformation and hope of that perfect peace when God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:20)” 343. The power of Divine Providence in relation to creatures that have reached complete and definite perfection manifests itself in a slightly different direction and to a different degree than in relation to creatures that have not yet reached the measure of perfection predetermined by them. Creatures of the first kind require only preservation in the form in which they are perfect to the extent possible, while creatures of the other kind, in addition to preserving their existence, also need God’s help to achieve the perfection possible for them. In particular, God’s providence about the world is manifested “in the origin, growth, completion, preservation, management, renewal of creatures, especially in the providence for man, marvelous for attentive observers” 344, in the invisible world it “acts as the primary light, enlightening the second lights, pure minds, - as an imprecise life, reviving and ennobling the immortal existence of spirits” 345. Of the creatures of the visible world, man, as created in the image of God, as the ruler of the world, should naturally be the subject of God’s special providence. Here is the saying of Jesus Christ, in which “as the general providence of God for creatures is visible, so I am special for man: look at the birds of the air, how they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them: are you not better than them? (Matthew 6:26). The entire Psalm 90 is an image of God’s special and varied providence for man” 346. God's special providence for man before his fall Paradise is the place of man's original home. God's care for the development of the mind and morality of the first man “Man, at his creation, was placed in a state of preparation and on the path to his full perfection” 347. God Himself was the educator of man and his leader on the path to perfection and bliss. From the very beginning, He placed man in the most favorable conditions for his development. “Through the special intention of God,” the “beautiful and blissful dwelling of the first man, described in the book of Genesis as similar to a garden,” was created, the so-called paradise, which “was material for the body, like a visible blissful dwelling, and for the soul spiritual, as a state of grace-filled communication with God and spiritual contemplation of creatures (Grig. Bog., f. 38, 42; In. Dam., Theological book. 2, ch. 12, 3)" 348. To exercise his physical strength, the first man had, by the command of God, to cultivate paradise. This activity alone, combined with “testing things,” was supposed to “increase the natural knowledge” of the ancestors 349. In addition, the very “image of the Creator was in man the source of reason or knowledge (Col. 3:10)” 350. “Man in his primitive state could draw knowledge of Divine things from direct conversation with God or Angels, since this can most likely be concluded from the walk of God in Paradise mentioned in Holy Scripture” 351. The moral state of our ancestors required special care from God. The first people were naked and not ashamed, says the word of God (Gen. 2:25), that is, they had “internal and external purity” 352. The first man had freedom, that is, “the ability to fulfill the law, in the consciousness of its perfection, out of love for the legislator”; and such an ability, of course, “did not exclude the possibility of doing evil” 353. Therefore, first of all, it was necessary to strengthen the freedom of the ancestors in good; and she is usually “strengthened in goodness by intensified experiences (attempts) to do good, which gradually, with the assistance of grace, constitute a good habit and, finally, the moral impossibility of doing evil” 354. For this, in fact, “God gave man freedom, so that he could freely make a choice between evil and good, between creation and the Creator, between himself and God,” so that, “continually choosing good, God and His will,” he would “affirm and expand his freedom (2 Cor. 3:17)” 355. In view of this, “he who was created free had to go through the path of testing” 356. The truth of God also demanded this. “It was determined in the eternal council that man should receive the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. In order to receive it, in order to possess and enjoy God Himself, our innocence was dissatisfied: for this we needed merit. Not only the truth, but the very love of God demanded this. For through this she still wanted to deepen the sweetness of heavenly blessings; that good is not particularly pleasant to us, which is acquired without difficulty” 357. “To open a chance for man to testify to God his obedience and strengthen his faith in Him by testing, God used the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 358, from the fruit of which he forbade man to eat, for fear of imminent, inevitable, extreme death in the soul and in the body” 359. Thus, “for the testing of man, not only the natural and internal law of love for God was appointed, but also the positive external law of the tree of knowledge.” It was supposed to serve, in the words of Gregory Bog., “a substance for freedom.” He “revealed to man a way of action based on the unconditional submission of his will to the will of God; and this obedience, immutably preserved, was supposed to invest limited will with unlimited willpower” 360. God's Covenant with Man in Paradise By giving the commandment, God made a covenant with the first man (Hos. 6:7). “The conditions of this covenant on the part of man were that he sincerely loved God and his neighbors, and showed perfect obedience to his Creator in all His commands” 361. “The conditions on God’s part were these: the continuation of man’s blissful state, his safety from death or painful destruction of the body, and, finally, eternal life” 362. The obligations imposed on man by the covenant could only be fulfilled by him with the help of God; “the original purity of his creation” man could preserve only “through communion with God the Word, in whom life was, and life was light by man in the beginning, just as always after (John 1:1–4)” 363. Man “was not so created that he should be and remain separated from God and at a distance from Him. If the soul of man is the breath of life from the mouth of the Lord, as the book of Genesis says, then what is the closeness between the breath and the one who breathes, such must be the closeness between the human soul and God. The separation of man from God is an unnatural state.” 364 God’s communication with man undoubtedly took place in paradise. “She heard the voice of the Lord God, descending into paradise at noon (Gen. 3:8): this is the trace of man’s initial communication with God” 365. Man was thus able to fulfill the terms of the covenant that applied to him. The makings of immortality, which God promised to man as a reward for obedience, were invested by the Creator into his nature at the very creation; God, the Creator of the world, is a “purely vital principle”; and “could anything flow from the source of life other than life?” To them, as “one, wise, and all-good,” “everything was created in unity, arranged according to the law of order and directed towards bliss: but God did not create death (Prov. 1:13)” 366. That is why, it must be, “every thing is not disposed towards that which dissects unity, which disrupts order, which deviates from bliss; every life loves to live and does not want to die; the instrument of knowledge or sensation wants to find its food and joy in objects consistent with its structure, and not suffer from those that are not consistent with its properties and are destructive to its composition” 367. Let us put it “a creature, as a creature, is subject to change; but its changes in creation and under the control of the all-perfect Creator can be arranged in order, to perfection, without suffering, without the destruction of the rough, unclean, dead, even in the case of their resolution into constituent principles, which can occur easily and pleasantly, such as, for example (since examples can be found in the current imperfect dispensation of creatures), the resolution of pure oil into light, or the destruction of incense into fragrant incense” 368. If everything created by God was intended for life, and not for suffering and death, and if everything was arranged in accordance with this purpose, then this especially needs to be said about man. “God, as the Wise One says, created man into incorruption (Wis. 2:23).” In paradise, the first man had special, extraordinary means to continue his blissful life: “his spirit lived by the word of God, and therefore enjoyed blissful immortality; his body was nourished from the tree of life and, thus, had to be preserved in painless incorruption” 369. The tree of life “hid such power that the correct use of its fruits constituted a protective medicine against old age and death and was no less necessary, but an incomparably more reliable aid for the immortality of the body than ordinary food simply for life” 370. “The fruits of the trees of paradise served for nutrition; the fruit of the tree of life is for health. They could make up for the deficiency in the body produced by movement; and this, bringing his powers into the same balance at all times, preserved in him the ability to live forever (Gen. 3:22) and mature to a painless transformation from the spiritual to the spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44-6).” Both of these conditions of immortal life - grace-filled communication with God and nourishment with the fruits of the tree of life - were in close connection with each other. Actually, “the life and light of man have always been in the Hypostatic Word of God (John 1:4)”; therefore, “the tree of life, in its beneficial effect on natural life, was a majestic formation of grace-filled life in God, in which sign the name of the tree of life is used in the New Testament (Rev. 2:7; 22:2)”; it “served as a symbol of heavenly life and its very source, which man should not have sought in himself, but in the consubstantial Word of God (Rev. 2:7; Prov. 3:18)” 371. What would happen if a person fulfilled the terms of his covenant with God? If a person fulfilled all the conditions of the covenant with God, then the “light of grace”, for which “everything was transparent and passable in paradise life, “was poured out unhindered onto nature and constantly filled it with goodness and bliss, preserving in inviolable perfection and immortality even that in which the possibility of corruption was hidden - the human body”; “Then the Son of God would dwell in men and reign throughout the whole world openly and solemnly, and would continually shed light and heavenly powers on the earth until he finally made it heaven itself” 372. The earth would then not be “an eternal prison for human immortality”; “Having completed a certain course on it, a person would ascend to heaven as easily as in Jacob’s vision of a ladder reaching to heaven, the Angels of God ascending and descending along it (Gen. 28:12). The possibility of this transition was partly shown to us in Enoch and Elijah” 373. “Reason calculates that if people were all born and not one of them died; then the multiplication of people would finally become incompatible with the space and methods of the inhabited earth; and thus the narrowness of the universe requires the mortality of men, so that those who die make room for the overabundant multitude of those who are born. To such petty life counters we can say the same thing that the Lord said to the Sadducees, who from the laws of marriage decided to extract a refutation of the teaching about the future life: you are deceived, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God (Matthew 22:29)... Do you really think that from earth to heaven there is no other road than the one that lies through the coffin and the grave? Do you also really think that the earth, even before its curse in the affairs of man, just as now, should have been measured in tithes for each person, for his habitation and food? A person not corrupted by sin was incomparably less dependent in life on the products of the earth than now; and the earth, without his labor, was incomparably more generous in his works than it is now... The incorruptible life of a sinless person was calculated by Providence better than by you now. since eternal providence has foreseen from the ages that the excellent gift of freedom, necessary for bliss, will be used by man for evil, and thus the original structure of man and earth will collapse: then there is no doubt that he wisely and beneficently calculated the resulting mixture of good and evil, which amazes and amazes us” 374 The Most Special Providence of God for Man After His Fall About human sin and its consequences At the very beginning of the heavenly blissful life of our first parents, an event occurred that changed the original relationship of God to people; this event, which had such an important influence on the fate of people, is a sin 375. In order to understand the changes in God’s relationship with people that have occurred as a result of sin, you first need to understand sin itself, its origin, essence and necessary consequences for man. The origin of sin. The beginning of sin is in the devil Man's sin was preceded by sin in the spiritual world (1 John 3:8). As we saw earlier, “before the visible and rational creature, that is, man, God created the invisible rational creature, spirits who are called Angels. One of these bright spirits, with some spirits subordinate to him, had the audacity to withdraw from obedience to the all-good will of God, his Creator, and through this he lost the light and bliss given to him, and became an evil spirit” 376. The fact of the fall of good spirits “is confirmed by the word of God when it speaks of the angels who did not preserve their origin, but left their dwelling (Jude 6)” 377. Evil spirits, “who became such through falling away from God,” after their sin “fell into self-love, pride and malice”; they became “unclean spirits who angered God, condemned, although the sentence of this judgment has not yet been promulgated throughout the kingdom of God and has not been carried out with all its might” 378; they are so rooted in evil that they have become completely incapable of loving goodness and repenting of sin 379 . It is clear after this that in relation to man they desire nothing and do nothing but evil. They “try to deceive people and, deceiving them, instill in them false thoughts and evil desires (John 8:44),” for which they are called devils, that is, slanderers or seducers 380. This attitude of evil spirits towards a person is all the more dangerous for him because they, as belonging to the higher world of spirits, are superior to humans in their powers. They can “act on the elements.” So, for example, the devil “was allowed to stir up fire in the air to burn Job’s sheep and shepherds, and to raise a storm to destroy the church and beat his children.” “The devil can have no less knowledge of the natural and even, perhaps, more than a person: since, due to the subtlety of his being, he sees much in nature that the spirit of man, imprisoned in the body, does not see,” but, unfortunately, “the wisdom of the devil lacks kindness” 381. The Fall of the Forefathers – After we know how hostile the devil is against God, against all that is holy and good, it is not surprising that he “was jealous of the bliss of men” and wanted to “deprive them of it.” To do this, he “used cunning: he entered the serpent and persuaded Eve to taste the forbidden fruit,” to break the commandment of God 382. The temptation of the first parents in heaven is not a myth. “The Lord said to the Jews: You are of your father the devil; he is a murderer from time immemorial (John 8:44). The Jews to whom this was said were not mythical, but real beings, and consequently their father was also the devil. What do the words indicate: a murderer from time immemorial? Without a doubt, for temptation in paradise and the fall of men" 383. This is how the fall of the first parents happened. “Having transformed before Eve into a bright Angel, into a teacher of truth,” the devil first “introduces her into doubt about whether she truly heard the word of God from her husband, and whether it is not out of superstition that she abstains from the tree of knowledge.” “Eve, answering the serpent, repeats the commandment about the tree of knowledge, with the peculiarity that she adds to it the words: and do not touch it. From this we can guess that the thought of the severity of the commandment and the fear of death was already beginning to overshadow in her the pure feeling of love and reverence for God the Lawgiver. The second speech of the tempter contains so many words, so many lies, but intertwined in such a way that they give the appearance of apostasy to action according to the intention of God. Noting that the fear of death keeps Eve in obedience to God, he takes away first of all this support: you will not die. But in order not to seem to contradict the Word of God, he tries to introduce his contradiction into the very word of God, and to this he turns the God-named name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Explaining this name, he assures that with eating from the tree of knowledge, God united perfect knowledge of good and evil, just as with eating from the tree of life he united immortal life, and promises in this knowledge new eyes, that is, a new degree of knowledge and even divinity.” “Two thoughts could revive such a description of the tree of knowledge: either the one that God, out of envy, forbade it so as not to have partakers of his own nature, or the one that Adam transformed the true meaning of God’s commandment. One was more profitable than the other for the tempter; but in Eve it is more convenient to assume the latter” 384. “The sinful disposition in Eve’s soul began with a disorderly direction of cognitive forces. Aroused by curiosity and mistrust, the wife looks at the forbidden tree as if she were seeing it for the first time. She forgets to look at it as an object of God’s commandment, but considers it in its intended relation to herself - to her sensuality, to her heart, to her understanding (Eccl. 7:30). With the deviation from the unity of God's truth into the multiplicity of one's own thoughts, the multiplicity of one's own desires, not concentrated in the will of God, or lust, which is the immediate cause of deception, and which, having conceived, gives birth to actual sin, was not separated (James 1:14-5). Eve sees in the forbidden tree not what it is, but what she desires, according to certain types of lust (1 John 2:16; Gen. 3:6). The first sin is born in sensuality - the desire for luxury, in the heart - the desire to enjoy without reasoning, in the mind - the dream of arrogant knowledge, and consequently penetrates all the forces of human nature" 385. The attraction to sin was followed by sinful action. The woman took the fruit of it (the tree of knowledge) and ate; She also gave it to her husband, and he ate (Gen. 3:6). This is how an event occurred that changed the subsequent fate of man and God’s attitude towards him 386. Who is the culprit of the sin that has occurred, and on whom should its consequences fall? In any case, the origin of sin does not lie in the will of God - holy and good. The goodness of God wanted nothing for man and did nothing for him except good. By the goodness of God, “the first man, having received high abilities and powerful powers at creation, having been made ruler of heaven and earth, enjoyed the most extensive freedom that a created being can have.” If “a limit was set to this freedom - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” - “if Adam was not given freedom to partake of its fruit”, and thus was given the opportunity to abuse freedom: then this, as we explained above, was necessary for the establishment of freedom in good, for the improvement of man. “God, in His goodness, gave man (free) will, naturally disposed to love God,” is not guilty of the fact that “man used this freedom for evil” 387, having many motives to fulfill God’s commandments 388. Temptation from the devil cannot completely justify the first parents; it can only reduce the degree of their sinfulness and guilt 389. Despite the mitigating circumstance, the sin of the forefathers was still very serious. They insulted the greatness of God “with an extremely criminal and rebellious desire to be like God”; “by arbitrary departure from the law” (1 John 3:4) they discovered “unbelief, disobedience, ingratitude, pride against God and the misuse of all abilities” 390. “Having crossed the limit set by the commandment of God,” man “deviated his soul from God, the true universal focus and completeness, formed for it a false focus in its self, imprisoned it in the darkness of sensuality, in the coarseness of matter,” “his mind, will, activity turned away, deviated, fell from God to creation, from the heavenly to the earthly, from the invisible to the visible” (Gen. 3:6); “deceived by the deception of the tempter (man) voluntarily became like foolish cattle and became like them (Ps. 4–8:13).” This is the fall of man 391 . – Every action necessarily causes a corresponding consequence. Before the fall, “the life and light of man were in God (John 1:4); deviation from the will of God was alienation from the life of God (Eph. 4:18),” which “separated man from God and His grace” 392. Although, even after sin “broke the original union between nature and grace,” “the light of grace, as Divine and therefore not sanctified by anything, never ceasing, always shines on everything: but nature, defiled by sin, darkened, coarsened, infected, became both unworthy and incapable of receiving the pure, light, subtle, incorruptible influences of grace” 393. Having left the source of life, “by the natural consequence of distance from God and at the same time by the action of God’s justice over sin,” man went towards death, “in whose name is the reduction of all evils and troubles” 394. “The poison of sin,” “which penetrated all the powers of human nature,” “accepted (by the ancestors) into the soul and heart, quickly spread throughout their entire being” 395. In fulfillment of God's threat (Gen. 2:17), “Adam died as if on the day of the Fall: he died in his mind, which, having participated in the Divine light, was clothed in the darkness of sensuality; died in his will, which had lost the power to strive for spiritual good; died in his heart, which fell from the heights of heavenly love and bliss and was fragmented according to the number of earthly delights; died in his activity, which from that time on could only produce dead works (Heb. 9:14)” 396. Thus, the process of life necessarily passed in the sinned person into the process of gradual dying. Innocent “man had spiritual life, walked in the light of the face of God, was fed by the word of God and could grow in spiritual good.” Since the time of the fall, when “the soul of man lost the grace of God, which enlivened it with a higher spiritual life,” “the human spirit has existence without life, just as in a dead body there is movement without life; he gives birth to such thoughts and desires that are alien to his being and even consume him”; It is clear that spiritual death befell man. Before sin, “man had the life of the soul, his imagination was filled with pure and holy images, his heartfelt sensations were alive without violent frenzy and sweet without charming rapture. An imagination deranged and thrown into coarse sensuality, restless and painful feelings, destructive passions” - all these consequences of sin constitute signs of spiritual death 397. “The poison (of sin), which a person initially took with his soul, in its further action was supposed to poison the body, partly slowly, but generally a deadly poison” 398. Physical death necessarily had to occur both as a result of the existing “connection between the illness of the soul and the illness of the body,” and as a result, perhaps, of the very properties of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil 399, and as a result of the deprivation of grace, which “preserved in inviolable perfection and immortality even that in which the possibility of corruption was hidden - the human body” 400. Although “man was in a state of integrity, the earth by his origin (Gen. 3:19); but this land was closed and fenced by the image of God and the power of the tree of life; after the removal of the image of God, it becomes naked and, with its removal from the tree of life, is given over to natural destruction” 401. Heredity of original sin – With the birth of children, the sin of the first parents with all its disastrous consequences had to spread throughout the entire human race. Indeed, “the sins of men are in some respects the tribe of the first sin, just as men are the tribe of the first man”; “thousands and millions of the sons of Adam”, as “branches of the first man”, “all of the same nature with him, all, like him, are earthy, all, like him, are infected with the ulcer of sin”; “according to the true dignity of their deeds and their very nature, in the Word of God they are called the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) of old, who deceived men, an evil tree (Matt. 7:17), at the root of which lies the ax (Matt. 3:10) of eternal condemnation, flesh in which the Spirit of God does not dwell ( Gen. 6:3) and are likened senseless cattle (Ps. 49:13)" 402. All this is as it should be. “What was in the source also flows in streams”; “just as from an infected source naturally flows an infected stream: so from an ancestor infected with sin... naturally comes offspring infected with sin” 403. The fact of the heredity of sin is noted on the very first pages of the book. Genesis 404. So, “what does it mean that it is written about Adam: bear a son after your own kind and in your own image (Gen. 5:3)? Is it that between Adam and Seth there were similarities in facial features and body structure? Was it worth the trouble to introduce such a petty remark into a narrative so sacred and, moreover, so brief?” “The Word of God: grow and multiply - implanted in Adam the ability to give birth to blessed children and pass on to them as an inheritance the image of God, according to which he himself was created; when this image in him was damaged by sin, then, although by the power of the original creative word he could give birth to a son, he could not communicate to him more than what remained in himself, give birth to a son, but not in the full and perfect image of God, but in his own form and in his own image, that is, with some remnants of the image of God and with some admixture of sin and damage to Adam. This is the original Divine and consistent natural law of human birth. Having been included in the book of Genesis on the occasion of the birth of Seth, he was never destroyed"; but “it destroys the proud opinion of those who produce men from the race of Gods 405. Uniformity of sin and its consequences in the human race The hereditary origin of human sins from Adam's sin is further confirmed by the homogeneity and universality of sins and its consequences in the human race. “Forgetfulness of the invisible and addiction to the visible was the beginning of evil (in the first) man: the same principle acted and continues to act in the spread of evil among people. Some of them stubbornly refused to look to the invisible God, and wickedness was born; others, out of passion for the visible, wanted to have a visible God: hence idolatry and superstition arose. They despised the invisible part of their being - the soul, and began to look only at the visible part of their composition - the body; and instead of human life, governed by reason and the law of good, a bestial life was revealed in people, driven by sensual lusts, and brutal, torn by unbridled rage. A passionate and greedy gaze at the visible, in an uncontrollable direction, becomes a kind of malevolent force, which from all visible objects, according to their differences, extracts a different poison, all the more terrible because in whom it is formed, it poisons him. This is how they look at visible physical beauty and fall into a frenzy of voluptuousness; - for gold and other visible goods, and become infected with covetousness; - for visible benefits in the hands of others, and poison their own hearts with envy; - for their own visible advantages, and blind themselves with pride” 406. “Having clung to the sensual nature primarily before the spiritual,” man, “as much as by the natural consequence of this action, as much as by the righteous punishment of this crime, is naturally under the yoke of sensuality” 407. “The experience and consciousness of at least some people, in some cases, do not say what the Divine Truth generally says: everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34).” What can we say about the freedom of people who, although not in slavery to anyone, are submissive to sensuality, possessed by passion, possessed by an evil habit? “Strange as it may seem before the eyes of reason, this self-contradictory phenomenon in human nature; but it has long been noticed even by those who were not taught this observation by Christianity: and if you delve deeper into the reasons for it, you can make sure that this is how it should be under certain circumstances. The source of goodness and strength is one God. If a person stands in goodness and through this in communion with God, then he continually draws from God the power to do good; and therefore, just as he is free to desire good, he is also strong to do it. But if he allowed himself to sin and through this entered into separation from God, then, as he moves away from God, the convenience for him to draw strength from God decreases; and therefore, when his will, by its nature, makes a reverse movement towards good and towards God, the power to do good does not correspond to the desire to do it” 408. “Untamed sensuality and earthly passions, relaxing the spirit, drown out its inner sensations and damage its heavenly desires.” Indeed, “the human heart, by its fallen nature, is dull (Is. 6:10), that is, sensual, and stony (Ezek. 11:19), that is, due to gross sensuality, incapable of subtle spiritual sensations”... “Sensibility, vice, passion,” “enslaving the will and depriving it of free power,” must necessarily “darken the mind.” “Men darkened by sin, immersing all their desires and thoughts in creatures, (for example), changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible things, and four-footed creatures, and creeping things (Rom. 1:23)” 409. If humanity was infected with the poison of sin from our first parents through natural birth; then sin must be a universal phenomenon in the human race. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), says St. Paul. Who will be clean from filth? Job asks, and he answers: no one, even if he lived on earth for one day (14:4-5). This sad phenomenon in the human race is explained to us by David, who, “without fear of breaking the commandment to honor parents, confesses: I was conceived in iniquities, and my mother gave birth to me in sins (Ps. 50:7).” This means that “all people sinned in Adam, who, since he began to give birth to children after sin, could not, without a miracle, pass on to them what he no longer had - sinlessness and incorruptibility, but naturally passed on what he had - sin and corruption (Rom. 5:12)" 410. “If this innate uncleanliness is little noticed by people, this is because, like fierce leprosy, it has penetrated into their being and mixed with nature itself 411. Thus, “when God, who does not want the death of a sinner, says of Himself that He brings the sins of the fathers upon the children and on the children of the children, to the third and fourth generation (Ex. 34:7), does this not mean that sin itself, which has unlimited dominance over man, is introduced into his being; extends his power along with the life that he gives to others, and if this hereditary yoke is not overthrown, collects his dues from his sons, grandsons and great-grandsons?” 412. If the sinful illness of one can become an infection for many, is it surprising that the death that follows it can also befall tribes and peoples, as well as people? Social life began when God spoke to the first human couple: fill the earth and rule over it: there is no division or destruction here. Why are civil bodies mortal, and sometimes even short-lived, if not for the same reason as natural bodies?” 413. This tells us that the consequences of sin extend not only to the individual, but also to social organisms. Consequences of sin in relation to nature The consequences of Adam's sin concern not only people, but all of nature in general. “Having been created as the ruler of creation, man in his fall carried away with him all his dominion” 414; “all creation in its ruler has lost part of its perfection and blessing” 415. Here's how it can be explained. “The blessed life and well-being of creatures consists in the circulation of the glory of God,” in the discovery of God-given perfections. “Man stopped the ever-animal circulation of the glory of God in himself, deciding not to return it to God, but to appropriate it for himself, in the hope, according to the promise of the seducer, to be like God himself. From this, something happened in the spiritual man similar to what happens in the sensual man when the circulation of the blood stops. Man spiritually died for the glory of God, or at least became deadened in such a way that in him there remained weak, in comparison with the previous state, movements of spiritual life, darkened, naked, painful and corruptible. since in the entire visible world the glory of God spread primarily through man, being reflected in him as in the image of God, then, having hidden from man, it no longer shines as clearly as in the beginning in the entire visible world. Although the Psalmist, having purified his senses, even after this heard the verb of heaven, telling the glory of God and their sound passing throughout the whole earth; but this sound, without a doubt, is no longer as high and magnificent as it was at the beginning; for then only the majestic and sweet sounds of life and harmony were heard, and now they are mixed with the tearing sounds of suffering and the noise of destruction”... 416. Having darkened the image of God within himself, “depending on which external advantages were based,” man necessarily had to lose his former power over nature 417 . b) “On the causes and principles of human salvation” The only source of all bliss is God – By breaking the commandment, the first man, and after him all other people, thought to find their happiness not in God, but in the world and in themselves. As one might expect, man did not find his happiness in created existence, and could not find it there. Indeed, “pure spirit and gross matter, immortal being and instant pleasure, a thinking being and sensual charm - is there any consistency here? The world is a rotating circle; our soul is the image of the Trinity Divine unity. A circle placed in a triangle cannot occupy the entire space; So the whole world will not fill the human soul” 418. And a person himself cannot be an independent source of his own happiness; because “there is only one God who is a self-satisfied being, always complete in Himself and abounding in every good thing, never lacking in anything from the outside, and consequently having no need for any nutrition. The human spirit, as created and constantly dependent on God, is not self-satisfied, because it is not God; and not being self-satisfied, he has the need to acquire the contentment he needs, or to eat in his own way. Leading him like food, he hungers for good; his mind, like drink, thirsts for truth. But the root of good is not in him, the source of truth is not in him: consequently, he does not have food and drink in himself; it is necessary that they be given to him. In God is the root of good, in God is the source of truth; therefore, to nourish the spirit, what is required is not what ascends from the earth, but what descends from heaven” 419. With the cessation of grace-filled communication with God, man could not use the heavenly source of life and bliss; from the time of his fall he was doomed to constant suffering. In an unsuccessful search for happiness in himself and in the world, under the weight of painful torment, a person, sooner or later, involuntarily had to come to the idea that his happiness is not in the world, but in God, that the path of sin is the path of destruction, that in order to achieve a blissful life it is necessary to return to union with God 420. This thought should have arisen all the more in a fallen being because sin did not completely deprive him of the image of God, according to which he had a natural attraction to God. Features of the image of God in man after the fall – The sin of the forefathers was not completely independent; they sinned through corruption from the devil. Although “it is surprising that the forefather attempted to illegally expand the area of ​​freedom, already almost universal”; however, in part “it can be explained by the lack of knowledge of the experienced, the cunning of the tempter and the very vastness of real dominion, in which it was easy not to stop at a limit that was apparently insignificant” 421. Therefore, after “man crushed the image of God, erecting his own idol,” certain, so to speak, erasures of the Divine seal, certain remnants of the image of God remain in his nature” 422. Even “the most corrupt person can find in himself the remains of the image of God. He loves life, although due to ignorance it is not immortal. Loves the truth, although only speculative. Hates lies, although in others. Loves praise, although without merit. Jealous of the virtue and glory of others. He fears and respects the wisest and most virtuous" 423. Fallen man “in a natural, damaged state,” “lacking free will and strength for spiritual and saving actions,” at least “has freedom in choosing the good of the natural, civil, moral (Gen. 8:21; John 8:34)” 424. All this is explained by the fact that, although “by the fall of man into sin, the image of God in him is crushed, it is not completely destroyed and destroyed,” that, although “the eternal sun has set in his soul, some rays of the dawn from Him still touch its heights” (Rom. 1:20; 2:14–5). Indeed, if after the fall man “knew God, then he knew it through the remains of the original light in the mind, with the help of pious tradition; if he did something good in some sense, then with the remnants of the original goodness in the will”; if he, “already dead by sins (Eph. 2:5) internally, still lived externally, and if some glimpses of a higher life still appeared in him: then he lived (by the way) with the remains of the life given to him in the beginning from God, just as a cutting lives, cut from a living tree, until the living sap in it is depleted, or until it is grafted back onto the living tree” 425. The very “duplicity and contradiction of directions” that “exist in human nature” testifies to the remnants of the image of God in him 426 . Man's powerlessness in the matter of salvation. The need for God's help to save him – Dissatisfaction with the world and with oneself prompted a person to leave the world, not to look at it and at himself as a source of happiness; Meanwhile, the remnants of the image of God involuntarily attracted man to the Prototype and reminded him of the grace-filled union with God as the only source of bliss. In such a mood, naturally, a desire should arise in a person to regain his former heavenly bliss in communion with God. But how to turn back? To return to the original bliss in union with God, a person needed to eliminate everything that destroyed this bliss, he needed to “get rid of the enemy of the devil, or from the danger of being subjected to his torment, to be preserved or cleansed from sin, as the source of all troubles and suffering, to be freed from the curse of the law, which binds and afflicts the sinner, to avoid condemnation from eternal justice, to be safe from being swallowed up by the abyss, where the worm does not die and the fire does not go out, where life and immortality are constantly killed by the undying death; in a word, man needed to be saved 427. But how to be saved? To be saved, first of all, you need to “preserve or be cleansed from sin, as the source of all troubles and suffering.” “But is this possible after sin is everywhere in the whole world, when we are conceived in iniquities, in sins (Ps. 50:7) and, as if by natural necessity, we drink unrighteousness, like drink (Job 15:16)”, when “the rough yoke (of sin and sensuality) has firmly fallen on the sinner, has grown to him and he, like harnessed cattle, does not have the tools to resolve himself from it? 428. After this, “what are the struggles undertaken (by a sinner for salvation) if not the efforts of a paralytic who wants to be raised up?” “Conceived in iniquities, condemned to death before birth, placed in conflict with all nature, taking revenge on its master for subjugating itself to vanity, having in the mind a leader who is most blind in the greatest dangers, in the heart of a friend who often betrays, in the conscience of a judge whose vigilance is terrible for sensuality, and sleepiness for the spirit - what is a poor stranger of the earth, like not an ulcerous warrior, forced at the same time to fight both external enemies and internal weakness? 429. Simultaneously with the abandonment of sin, the one who is being saved must necessarily take the path of goodness, head towards God; and this is impossible without knowledge of God and His law. How strong a person, in himself, is in the knowledge of God and His law - this shows us the pagan world. “The inability to achieve (the true concept of God) in paganism turned out to be such an extreme that people made gods for themselves out of wood and stone or deified despised animals, and in order to show them respect, people like themselves were sacrificed before them. More subtle minds barely reached the point of accepting the heavenly bodies and subtle forces of the physical world as deities. According to the testimony of the Songsinger of God, a fool was found who said in his heart: there is no God (Ps. 13:1) 430. In order to overthrow the yoke of sin and follow the path of good, knowledge of God and His law was not enough for a person. “If a person decides to work out his own salvation, then at least he knew all the means of salvation, let’s say without hesitation: salvation is impossible for him” 431. A holy life requires power to do good; but this power is not in sufficient quantities in man himself. “If the race of Adam could feel themselves with a single common sensation, it would be the feeling of a helpless paralytic” 432. Man is poisoned by the poison of sin: he is mortally ill; in order to live, he must first recover. And “to heal someone infected with poison, something more is required than just stopping the use of poison.” “You can (for example) break or chop a tree at the root: it will wither and dry up; but then you can no longer make it green, blooming, fruitful: this requires creative power. Likewise, the tree of the human race, broken at the root by sin, cannot bear the flower and fruit of true, spiritual life: creative power is required to produce this. Therefore, one of the best sons of the earthy Adam cried out to God: Create in me a pure heart, O God (Ps. 50:12). That is: I am aware of the impurity of my heart; but I don’t have enough strength to make it clean; it requires not only correction, but also re-creation.” “No one can be the creator of himself: someone who is mortally ill or dead cannot grant himself health or life, the source of which is closed in him” 433. “The source of goodness and strength is one God.” In order to draw the forces of good from this only source, a person must be in communion with God 434. But the communication of peace between man and God was destroyed by sin, which “offended the majesty of God.” To renew the grace-filled union with God, so necessary for a holy and blessed life, according to the demands of truth, a person had to suffer “a worthy punishment, in any case not small or short, because the majesty of God, which is offended by sin, is immeasurably high and eternal” 435. Someone “cannot help but admit that there is no more natural and indefeasible right than that which God has to demand that no His creature violate His will and law by any action, by any word, which is also a kind of action, by any thought and desire, which in the realm of spirit and omniscience are the same as words and actions in the realm of the senses; that whoever acts contrary to the rights of the Autocrat loses through this his own rights, which he enjoyed by His grace and which, according to the fundamental principles of royal improvement, he could not use except with the obligation of faithful obedience; that according to the same principles he will expose himself to the taming or punitive actions of justice” 436 ... How can a sinner after this restore the lost peace with God? “Peace is acquired between people either by warfare itself, or by righteousness, or by mercy; - abuse, when the winner orders peace to the vanquished; - truth, when the seeker of peace either confirms his justice, or makes up for the injustice done with satisfaction; - by mercy, when one who has neither the strength to conquer the world, nor the truth to deserve it, surrenders to the generosity of one offended by enmity, and through his own unfeigned humility, or, moreover, with the instruction of a faithful and powerful mediator, acquires the mercy of the world. But who can either seize the peace of God by force from the Almighty, or earn it through righteousness from Him, before Whom no one living will be justified (Ps. 143:2)? Whoever is once overcome by sin is already a slave of sin (John 8:34) and is guilty against the whole law of God (John 2:10), which requires complete holiness and perfection in the image of the Heavenly Father (Matthew 5:45); and therefore he no longer has either power or truth; he cannot by himself drive out the evil that has reigned in him, and if he does some imperfect good, it always relates to a present duty and therefore will never satisfy God’s justice for the evil previously done” 437. “To satisfy God’s justice (in relation to a sinner) meant to put the sinner to eternal death.” “Our only hope of peace with God is the mercy of the God of peace.” But you cannot rely solely on God’s mercy. “God is merciful, but also just; infinitely merciful, but also infinitely just; the scales of concepts stand equally, and there is no reason why the hope of God’s mercy could outweigh the horror of God’s justice.” “No property of the Divine can be deprived of its inherent action”; so, “how God’s mercy can be overwhelming for a sinner without violating the rights of God’s justice, this, without a special revelation from above, is completely incomprehensible” 438. “None of the sons of Adam, without a special revelation of God, could comprehend how grace-filled life and holiness could be introduced into a person who was not only infected and defiled by sin, but also killed, how someone condemned forever by eternal justice could be delivered from this condemnation without offending eternal justice, how a person, with the influx of creative power, could become a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), remaining the same person. This, as the Apostle says, is a mystery hidden from ages in God (Eph. 3:9), a mystery hidden from ages and generations (Col. 1:26)” 439. The helpless state of a sinner, left to his own strength, is so great that he not only cannot save himself, but is not even able to imagine what would completely save him from eternal death. The consciousness of extreme helplessness, the impossibility of finding salvation anywhere except God, should have strengthened in man the natural desire for God and the desire to receive help from Him to get rid of inevitable eternal death. How is God's mercy attracted to fallen man? – We saw that fallen man sooner or later, under certain circumstances, had to turn to God for salvation. But this is only one of the conditions for a person’s salvation. Another condition lies in the will of God - whether God wants or does not want to give help to the fallen. “With a feeling of need for the Divine and a desire to communicate with God, man naturally had to arouse the action of God’s infinite love. He, “burdened with sensuality, like a bird with wings weighed down with lead, only beat on the ground, instead of ascending to the sky.” “Shouldn’t we hope that the Grace of the All-Good Being of God will descend to a weak human being and enlighten a darkened mind, and warm a cold heart, and attract to Himself and calm a soul burdened with corruption?” 440. God was also prompted to save man by the fact that man had not completely “eclipsed the image of God in himself.” “All-good God the Father,” (in order) “not to yield His work to evil,” was urged to “renew His image in man” 441. “Just as we place our seal either on things that we claim to be our property, or on those that we wish to hide from others, so God imprinted man with His image, as His property, which no creature would dare to appropriate for itself, and as a handwriting, which no one would open except the Only Begotten Son of God. Man crushed this sacred seal, exposed the hidden secret of the knowledge of good and evil, and sold divine property for sin”; he “did not want to belong to God; stole himself from God, rejected the Lordship of God; dreamed for himself to be Lord and God” 442. But the all-good God had no intention of “losing man”; on the contrary, He most likely must have a desire to “take it away from hell and re-appropriate it for himself” 443. Suppose an extraordinary means was required to save a person; the human mind cannot even think of it. The means of man's restoration was to reconcile truth and the love of God. On the one hand, “the just God could not look at the every-minute criminal without fiery anger”; but on the other hand, and at the same time, “can a good Creator listen with cold disdain to the groans of a distressed creature? Justice awakens vengeful thunders, goodness holds back the hand ready to let them go... If unlimited Wisdom did not know the means to reconcile these incomprehensible contradictions that destroy the harmony of creatures and their union with their creator; If I had not been able to reconcile - yes, let's say in human terms - God with God and then God with man, then it would never have been said in the eternal council: Let us create man (Gen. 1:26). In terms of the existence of the world, the re-existence of moral nonentity - man must be assigned" 444. Eternal predestination for the salvation of people – Indeed, God the Father, “according to His foreknowledge and infinite mercy, for man who had deviated from the path of bliss, he predestined to open a new path to bliss” (Eph. 1:3-4). Although God has predestined from eternity to give all people the opportunity to be saved; but “since He foresaw that some would use their free will well, while others would use it badly, therefore He designated some to glory, and condemned others” (Right. Spanish Ver., Chapter 3); “Whom He foreknew, that is, in whom God foresaw a sincere and unchanging desire to please and achieve eternal salvation, those He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29)” 445. Thus, the eternal predestination of some to bliss, and others to torment, must be made dependent on the eternal foreknowledge of the dignity of each person. God expressed this thought to Abraham (Gen. 18:19): I began to know him (Abraham) because he commands his sons, and his household after him, to walk in the way of Jehovah, and to be kind and just, so that Jehovah will fulfill on Abraham what he said about him. “Knowledge here means election (Am. 3:2). Continuing to explain the reason for the subsequent revelation, God also points to the reason for the initial election of Abraham, which he believes to be foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29). To walk in the way of Jehovah, and to be kind and just, this actually consists of the subject of gracious foreknowledge and the basis of election” 446. The incarnation of the Son of God is the means predetermined by God for the salvation of people. The need for it – So, “the work (of our salvation) comes from eternity itself” 447. Since it was necessary to “recreate the church (of God) in man,” “to renew the image of God in him”; then the all-good God the Father from all eternity predestined for this purpose “to send His only begotten Son, by whom all things were created ( Col. 1:16)” - he determined “to introduce into humanity the consubstantial image of His Hypostasis ( Heb. 1:3)” 448. “The radiance of the glory of the Father, the Eternal Son,” the bearer of the will of His Father, in the eternal council of the Holy Trinity, out of His infinite love for God the Father and for the world, agreed to fulfill the will of the Father 449. – The means predetermined by God for the salvation of man fully correspond to its goal. For his salvation, man had the need to know God as an ideal, to which on the path from sin to holiness he had to strive. “The treasure of the knowledge of God lies hidden in the interior of the Divinity itself, inaccessible due to His unattainable height; Only he can take from it for the needs of salvation if the Son of God wills it to be revealed to him. Meanwhile, the Son of God Himself, Who wills to reveal to man the knowledge of God, no one knows except the Father (Matthew 11:27). How can the saving discovery of the knowledge of God be accomplished? It is necessary that the Son of God, from the unknown of the Divinity, which is above all images of knowledge, so to speak, emerge into some cognitive images, just as He is called the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).” If the Son of God “came forward into certain cognitive images closest to the Divine, into spiritual ones, and revealed himself in the angelic world, then this would not be enough for man. “Earth is not like heaven, and man is not like an Angel. Especially in the present state of earth and man, heaven and Angels are closed to earth and man; consequently, the revelation of the knowledge of God, characteristic of heaven and Angels, would not be a revelation for earth and man. So, it is necessary that the Son of God, when He wills to reveal the saving knowledge of God to present-day man, should also condescend and enter into the forms of knowledge closest to man; so that the Word of God, without ceasing to be the Word of God, enters into the image of the human word; so that the image of the invisible God, without ceasing to be what He is, enters into images visible to the eye of the earthly mind; so that He would appear either in transitory images (revelation and visions of the saints), or in an abiding image (the incarnation of the Son of God)” 450. In addition to the knowledge of God, man needed the strength to do good. Meanwhile, “the source of goodness and power is one God,” “presented by the Apostle as the fulfillment or fullness of all perfection, goodness and blessedness (Col. 2:9)” “But since the Divinity is infinite, no finite being can accept and accommodate this fulfillment. since the Divinity and all His fulfillment are spiritual, then no mortal creature can naturally partake of this fulfillment. Since the Divinity is holy and righteous, how can a sinner, especially, begin to fulfill It without being consumed by the all-consuming fire of God’s strict judgment? (Isa.59:7). “Such a sharp contrast between the approaching extremes threatens more with the extermination of an unworthy creature, like hay from a fire, than it reassures us with salvation” 451. Therefore, “for the extraordinary bringing down to man of the power of God,” which is so necessary for him to do good, a kind of conductor of the power of God was required, there was a need for “a medium by which the distance between God and man would be filled, the division destroyed, communication, uninterrupted, restored, which would touch with perfect unity both separated sides - God and man” 452. “What does a sinner do not want to die” to satisfy all these human needs? “God, wondrous in His destinies, in order to bless those who exist from Him with the highest and incomprehensible bliss, from eternity decided to unite His nature with human nature, in the person of His Only Begotten Son,” - He decided to “introduce His Hypostatic life, His Only Begotten Son, into a small, chosen portion of human nature, long, hidden prepared by the action of His destinies, protected from the contagious admixture of sin, to unite Divinity and humanity into a single Hypostasis of the God-Man,” “in order to reconcile and unite all humanity with the Divinity” 453 (Col. 1:19–20). This is the means predetermined by God for the salvation of the sinful human race! In the God-man, the Divine “fullness of all perfection, goodness and bliss”, “this unapproachable light, this consuming fire, as His Word itself represents God to us nowhere (1 Tim. 6:16; Heb. 12:29), tempered by Divine humanity, is an open source of light and living waters for a nature darkened and killed by sin” - “becomes touchable for finite beings,” and “not only draws closer to the lower spirituality of the human soul, but penetrates, embraces, and fills with Divine powers the very corporeality of His humanity—the corporeal lives in Him” (Col. 11:9) 454. As a result of this, the very humanity of the incarnate Son of God is “a full vessel of Divine gifts, which at a single touch flow from him; there is the mouth of the Divine source, in which all the inner and hidden fullness of the life-giving power of God becomes accessible and acceptable; there is a burning coal seen by the Prophet Isaiah in a mysterious revelation (Is. 6:6), which, through one touch to the lips of the prophet, penetrated into his being with its fiery power and cleansed and sanctified him” 455 ... How can people draw from the source of “all perfection, goodness and bliss” the grace-filled power for a new life? In this case, “the word of God instructs us, as much as we can accommodate, through a comparison (of the God-man) with Adam” 456. The Word of God finds two ancestors in the human race. The first of them, Adam, is a man of the earth (1 Cor. 15:47). All other people, descending from Adam, “are the essence of the branch of the first man, and therefore all of the same nature as him.” In this tree with many branches there was no true life after sin. After “the first man was cut off from God by disobeying the commandment,” “this once glorious tree in vain multiplies its leaves and branches, constantly withering, to infinity, and cannot produce any fruit for eternal life” 457. According to the eternal determination of God, a new tree, full of life, had to appear in the world, into which the fading tree of the human race could be grafted - the true Vine had to grow, which should unite the fallen generation with itself, make the withered green, fertilize the wonder, so that there would be much fruit in it and create much fruit (John 15:5) - a new Adam, who with his life-giving spirit he is able to penetrate and, having penetrated, destroy the kingdom of death, based on the destruction of the first Adam, to lead everything in himself (Eph. 1:10) and combine the end with the beginning” 458. Such a new head of humanity was to become the man, the Lord from heaven—the God-man, who “is man by human nature, and at the same time is the Lord from heaven by divine nature.” He is “the second (after Adam) man without successors, because”, “bypassing millions of people who are not in accordance with the first man standing on the descending ladder of natural, not free from sin, births”, “He alone among the human race is in accordance with the first man, coming from God directly, miraculously, inviolably to sin, revealing in himself a new source of grace-filled birth for the human race” 459... Under the guidance of the word of God, we have found two heads of the human race, to which “all other people belong like branches to a tree and to the root.” “Adam is naturally (by nature) the head of all humanity, which is one with him by natural descent from him. The God-man, in whom the Divinity united with humanity, graciously becomes the new omnipotent head of people, whom he unites with Himself through faith, in order to “introduce into humanity the life of God, which would defeat and destroy the death that reigns in it,” in order to impart to the human soul “a medicine that cleanses and heals, which destroys in it the deadly poison of sin, and at the same time a medicine that strengthens and protects, which does not allow this infection will be renewed and intensified by new falls.” Moreover, “the life-giving effect of grace, just like (and) the deadly effect of sin, extends throughout the entire human being from spirit to body; and since the power of God is, of course, more powerful than the power of sin, which is actually weakness, it is not surprising that grace, in the words of the Apostle (Rom. 5:20), is more abundant than sin that has multiplied, that it actually heals and restores rather than sin infects and destroys” (Rom. 5:15. 21; John 11:25) 460. When Divine power “instills faith in the hearts of people, then in the very bodies, purified by faith, the power of resurrection (should) shine forth more quickly or more slowly.” Thus the God-man “becomes our resurrection (John 11:25)” 461. How could the God-man satisfy the truth of God? – In order for a sinner, through the God-man, to enter into real communion with God, the source of grace-filled power, for this it was necessary to first satisfy the truth of God, offended by sin. Without this satisfaction, sin would always alienate man from God and would prevent man from communicating with God. In view of this, God the Father from all eternity predestined “to bring down the Divinity (the Son) clothed with humanity into human states, except sin, even in weakness, suffering and death,” so that through this the incarnate Son of God, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), freed us from guilt to eternal justice,” “hid us from the sight of God’s justice under the robe of His merits. “So what? “The justice of God (must be) completely satisfied (with such a sacrifice), because in the person of the God-man humanity bears the death condemned to itself, and it bears it completely, since the instant of death of the God-man, by the co-presence of the eternal Divinity, is equal to eternity.” Thus, forgiving mercy and judging truth meet, the truth of the Divine and the world of humanity kiss 462. This action of the wisdom and goodness of God can be compared to the redemption (redemption) of lost property. “It happens that we, wanting to retain our beloved property, to which our right is being disputed, agree to reacquire it by purchase - and sacrifice other property to unfair claims in order to ensure the possession of what we love. Thus, the infinite love of God marvelously strengthens its eternal right over us, in the unparalleled work of our redemption. Man did not want to belong to God; stole himself from God; rejected the Lordship of God; he dreamed of being Lord and God for himself... But love does not want to lose a person. She undertakes to take it away from hell and re-appropriate it for herself more than before; redeems a criminal from legal oaths (Gal.B. 13), and how? - having become an oath itself, it acquires the one who has been betrayed back into sin, and at what price does it acquire it? - not with corrupted silver and gold, but with honest blood, like the unblemished and pure blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:18-19)" 463 Thus, “in the incarnation (of the Son of God) we find a means that no created mind could invent - a means not only to please God with His worthy service, but also to receive forgiveness by offending Him with our lusts and wickedness; not only to do the will of God, but also to receive from Him everything that we ask, even before the communion of His Divine Nature, - in the name and intercession of His Only Begotten Son, who became incarnate and died for us, so that all His Divine powers might be given to us, including life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3)" 464 c) “On the gradual effect of restoration in relation to the entire human race, or on the universal grace-filled economy” a) Preparation of the human race to accept the Savior. Why does the salvation of man occur not suddenly, but gradually? Changing God's Relationship to People After Sin – Having revealed the main foundations of our salvation, let us see how, in the gradual order of time, the universal grace-filled economy of our salvation was erected on these foundations. Although it was predetermined from eternity, a certain period of time is required to restore the fallen. “We can say without hesitation that the reason (for this) is not in God. His word flows with speed (Ps. 147:4). To that speech and bysha; He commanded and was created (Ps. 32:9). The Eternal always has everything ready. For the Almighty all things are always possible.” The reason for the gradualness with which the sinner’s restoration takes place lies in himself. As a creature, he “necessarily hesitates, because he moves in certain circles of time, which he cannot speed up.” “As created free, he cannot be saved if “his will lacks conformity with the will of God,” if he does not have the desire to be saved and “readiness to accept the action of God” 465. And the sinner, immediately after the fall, really did not have the readiness to accept Divine help. “In order to reduce the confusion felt by sinners from the presence” of God, in order to “encourage (the first parents) to sincere and saving repentance,” God, at the first appearance to them after the Fall, “out of condescension takes upon himself the image of ignorance.” How did the person respond to the meek call to repentance? Already “at the first sign of the presence of God, Adam could feel that God did not want to leave and destroy him; and therefore had to resort to His mercy without calling; but he disappeared. Then he recognizes his nakedness, and such nakedness that not only brings him into shame, but also into fear, and forces him not only to cover some parts of his body, but also to completely hide; however, he is in no hurry to discover its cause. Mixed in with the very justification for sin is the insignificant justification through the temptation of the wife: she gave me fruit from this tree; and even a complaint against God himself: the wife you gave me. The wife, in turn, places part of the blame on the serpent: the serpent deceived me” 466. It is clear that immediately after the Fall, man did not yet realize all the importance and destructiveness of sin, all his helplessness, and, therefore, was not yet ready to accept supernatural help. As a result, God could not lead the sinner to the highest perfection and bliss through a serene heavenly life: the state of sin and alienation from God required another path. “The primordial, immaculate man was blissful in paradise without tears and walked the path of joy to the highest heavenly bliss. But when, seduced by the spirit of malice, man stumbled and fell into sin, the heavenly path of joy disappeared from him; and God himself, as a righteous judge, and at the same time as a humane doctor, put him on a deplorable path” 467. “The Tree of Life could not be useful to someone who, having been alienated from the life of God, carries within himself the internal principle of death: in this case, his immortality would only continue and confirm his death.” “Paradise, a place of testing, is no longer needed for those who have completed their testing (Gen. 3:22).” Therefore, after the fall, man “should not have used the instrument and sign of immortal life,” he must be removed from paradise. “The doors in the house are strengthened and locked to keep out the thief or to keep out a rowdy member of the household. So it is in the house of God. When the cultivator and guardian of God’s paradise stole the fruit from the tree of knowledge, then he was expelled, paradise was locked from him and its strongest guard with a flaming weapon was placed at its entrance” 468 . Disaster as one of the means to restore the fallen Since “man, imagining to be a god, imagined in himself to find an independent beginning of life,” then after being expelled from paradise, it was necessary to put him in such conditions under which he could easily “recognize his mistake” 469. Man wanted to find his happiness in the world, on his own. And so God, removing him from paradise, gives him the opportunity to fully experience this bitter happiness. But “as soon as sin took possession of the ruler (of creation), a rebellion arose in his domain, through the incomprehensible action of God’s justice”; “with the loss (by man) of the image of God, creation does not recognize its master” and “revolts against Him,” “the earth, cursed in the deeds of man, reduces its gifts for him” 470. God allows all this both to punish man for sin and so that “the kingdom of God is not at all swallowed up by the unlimited dominion of sin and death” 471. Thus, not joy, but “troubles awaited man” outside paradise, “on the path of death.” “Labor, which was Adam’s pleasure in paradise, now had to be accompanied by exhausting sweat; the blessing of childbearing became a source of suffering for Eve.” “One of the bitter fruits of the curse, which human sin sowed on the face of the whole earth, and the wrath of God allowed to grow,” was poverty. “As the visible object of the first sin was food, the fruit of the forbidden tree, and the first discovery of the sinful infection that penetrated man was artificial clothing - fig tree leaves, accordingly with these actions of sin, on the same two objects, on food and clothing of a person, the action turned out to be in a special way curses, so that in relation to these objects he became poorer than the last earthly creatures" 472. The bitter consequences of sin, appearing as punishment for sin, at the same time serve in the hands of Providence as a means of restoring the sinner. “Just as a protective father writes letters on the tools of children’s amusement that children must learn,” “The Creator of all things scattered them,” “only not always on the forehead and face of things,” the mark of vanity. Indeed, “our spirit finds a striking trace of vanity on everything that occupies us in the world: on our pleasures, on our wealth, on our virtues and on our wisdom itself.” “While the corruptible blessings of the world constantly disappear in our hands, vanity remains in our hearts, like thorns after flowers, and with various wounds produces the ruin of the spirit,” disappointment in the delights of the world 473. God uses this feeling to restore the sinner. “With every cry of deceived and dissatisfied desires,” the Heavenly Father wants to tell man that he “is not for the world, although the world is for him, that all the acquisitions (of the world) are only a waste of time, that that one need, which everything here reveals, but nothing can satisfy, deserves all the attention: there is only one need, this alone, He says, which constitutes the eternal, essential need of man, is the kingdom of God, or a grace-filled union with God” 474 . Thus, “by the constant experience of evil, we encourage (man) to turn to good,” to its only source - God 475. Disasters heal and stop the evil of sin – God uses the feeling of dissatisfaction and suffering that the world causes to a person not only to punish the sinner and turn his gaze from the world to heaven, but also “to suppress moral evil and heal 476. “Wonderful Providence commanded (the punitive consequences of sin) in various forms to pursue and defeat sin in such proportion to its progress and power, so that its generation would be an obstacle to its power and so that the blinded sinner would easily recognize in him his enemy and murderer” 477 ... “Whoever has eyes, without going through centuries and countries, always and everywhere sees the sword of God for crime, hidden in nature itself and in the ordinary the course of human affairs... Do we not see how the cup of earthly pleasures pours, if not always sudden, then, without a doubt, slow poison into the mouth of excess; self-interest does not so much fill treasuries with gold as it fills the soul with torment; offense provokes against oneself, if not justice, then another offense; deceit falls into the pit that it dug for one's neighbor, and men of blood and flattery do not spend their days (Ps. 54:24); The most subtle abuse of natural abilities unleashes an equally subtle weapon on itself: pride kills reason” 478. Measures to suppress sin serve at the same time as a means of healing it. “What we call evil by its unpleasant sensation and destructive actions in visible nature, this, so to speak, superficial manifestation of evil is a medicine or antidote to a deeper and more genuine evil, which, born from the abuse of moral beings, damages them internally and becomes the source of countless and endless evil consequences, internal and external, if its paths are not stopped by the ways of the Lord” 479. “In direct contrast” with the words of the Savior: the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21), “one can rightly say that the kingdom of the devil, or otherwise hell, and the very fire of Gehenna, not in its fullness, but in the beginning, is inside a person when sin lives in him. This hidden fire reveals itself in actions. He constantly kindles in the sinner’s soul desires for new sins: and he burns the conscience (1 Tim. 4:2) with a dark, but always painful consciousness of evil, which under special circumstances flares up into the flame of despair. Therefore, just as water is needed to extinguish a fire, so to extinguish the unnatural fire of sin in the soul, tears of repentance are needed” 480. “Sin is a disease that takes root in a person’s being.” Therefore, “just as sometimes a physical physician painfully burns out or separates an ulcer that has penetrated into the body and infects it with iron, and inflicts artificial pain in order to cure the disease; like this, the Physician of souls and bodies uses the instrument of sorrows to uproot the roots and erase the traces of sin, and with the fire of suffering burns out the infection of inclinations to sinful pleasures.” “As to heal health disorders caused by luxury and immoderation in food and drink, bitter medicines are used; Thus, to heal a soul infected with impressions of sinful pleasures, the sorrows of repentance and bitter tears are required.” “This is indicated by the saying of the Apostle Peter: he who has suffered in the flesh is free from sin (1 Pet. 4:1)” 481. If sin is not amenable to any treatment, if its further development cannot be stopped by ordinary preventive measures; then in this case God resorts to the most decisive means. The following events can serve as confirmation of this. Before the flood, man came “to a state in which he did not at all correspond to the destiny of Wisdom revealed in his creation, and could no longer be involved in the love and goodness of the Creative.” Every thought of the heart (of the people of that time) was one evil throughout life (Gen.6:5). Consequently, “the damage was the deepest, starting from the thoughts of the heart; the damage is the most detrimental, extending from here to all activities; universal damage, extending to all degeneration of the thoughts of the heart. Thus, when the very foundations of good were damaged, there was no room for correction, but only for destruction.” And it is known that “the world continues to stand and prosper as long as the seed of the elect is nourished and grows in it. When this seed becomes scarce, then the foundations of the world are shaken. Therefore, when the first world was subjected to extreme disorder in all conditions: in the church - from wickedness and godlessness, in the civil - from the predominance of giants, in the family - from voluptuousness and luxury; then God uses a terrible transformation and general execution as a last resort, on the one hand, to stop the successes of the evil, and on the other, to prevent the destruction of the good” 482. Here is another case that testifies that with the removal of the basis for decisive detections of the wrath of God, these very detections do not occur. “Rise up,” God says to Jonah, and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it, for the cry of its malice has risen up against Me. What does it mean: a cry of anger? This means that the multiplication of vices, untruths and iniquities, from which those who are oppressed by untruths cry out and the creature that obeys vanities involuntarily, no longer only groans (Rom. 8:20. 22), but, according to the extent of the abuses, cries out to God for justice. God sees even small sins, and hears the word of sin, and the thought of sin is not hidden from Him; however, He endures for a long time, waiting for the sinner to be corrected. But when the cry of malice rises to Him, He tames it with His formidable judgments, so that it does not destroy good.” God determined to destroy Nineveh. But after the Ninevites repented, “in their repentance He found a means to stop the evil of punishment that was coming” 483. The very method of detecting the decisive actions of God's judgment clearly shows what purpose they pursue. In the extreme acts of His justice, God first attempts to awaken in the sinner a sense of repentance. So, before the destruction of Nineveh, as we have now seen, God sends Jonah to preach about repentance. Before the flood, “God announces His judgment to people three times. First, He commands us to preach to them that they cannot use His mercy for evil forever, and that He leaves them one hundred and twenty years for repentance, during which the measure of His long-suffering must be fulfilled. Then, when this meek call for correction was not successful, He wanted to move hearts with fear, repeating not conditionally, but decisively His definition of the extermination of all living on earth. Finally, when this was neglected, then God turned from the entire human race to Noah alone,” because “Providence has no reason to protect someone who decided to live without benefit to others and to the detriment of his own soul” 484. Although “God is good and self-existent goodness testifies of Himself that He created darkness, that He builds evil; but he who delves into the affairs of Providence will not be embarrassed by this. For example, it was necessary for God to darken the eyes of the Syrian soldiers, so that Elisha, almost the only Prophet in his time and defender of the faith in the true God, would not perish from them. It was necessary for the corrupted tribe of the first world to perish in the flood, so that the small remains of the good tribe did not perish from the general infection of evil, and so that the earth did not turn into hell” 485. If, for example, we loved something to the point of oblivion of God, then there would be nothing left for “the Knower of the Heart and the Lover of Souls to do, except to take away the idol, to pluck, albeit painfully, the wrong love for the creature from the soul, which He wants to fill with His Divine love” 486. The most common means for the final suppression of sin is bodily death, to which all sinners are subjected, because “even after the expulsion (of Adam from paradise), his criminal and rebellious spirit continues to dominate in his race.” Therefore, “both he and his descendants, one after the other, are conveyed through the door of death to prison” and thus are finally deprived of the opportunity to sin 487. The benefits of God as a positive means for attracting a sinner to God – It is clear that suffering alone cannot restore the fallen; In addition to negative measures, such as suffering, positive ones are also required. Suffering in itself can only produce a feeling of dissatisfaction and a desire to get rid of troubles and their cause - sin. But where can one find deliverance from sin and consolation in troubles? The disasters themselves did not provide a positive, clear answer to this question. Suffering pushed a person away from the world; but where should a person’s positive desire be directed, what should serve as an attractive force for him? Man finds the answer to this in the blessings of God, which show him the path of the return procession to God. “In order for a person to enter into a blissful approach to God, it is necessary that the mercy of God first come to meet a person, without which not only mortal and sinful man, but also no higher creature would dare to approach the unapproachable Divinity 488. “Truth without goodness is like moonlight, which, although it somewhat disperses the darkness, does not warm or enliven” 489. Therefore, if we know that “God’s Providence controls the punitive forces acting on the human race, then it is all the more certain (it should be) that it controls the beneficial forces” 490. Thus, to convert Ahab, God not only used punishment and fear, but also tested him with benefits.” So, if Jeroboam the second, “not being more worthy than his ancestors, had success in war and expanded his borders”; then “God made through this final experiment to attract the people of Israel to himself with his good deeds” 491. The blessings of God are exclusively a work of God’s mercy, which “has the tendency to open for us, even the unworthy, the treasures of His grace, in anticipation of our repentance and correction,” as “a guarantee for rousing us with gratitude to the most zealous walking in the ways of God” 492. – Just as in the case of the measured development of sin, God binds the sinner with the bonds of death, so in relation to the righteous, who are in danger of becoming infected with sin, He uses a similar measure, i.e. through death he removes them from the midst of sinners. Having been favored by God, - this is how the wise man explains the unexpected death of the righteous man, - he was loved and quickly presented among sinners. The soul is pleasing to the Lord with it: I sow for the sake of striving from the midst of wickedness (Wis. 4:10, 14; cf. 2 Kings 22:20). Each time in the death of a righteous man, “the finger is seen or the voice of Providence is heard, or sin denouncing evil, from which the righteous, as from a mortal wound, is caught up in the eternal life, or punishment threatening evil, from which he was a fence” (Gen. 18:32-3) 493. Thus, just as the death of the wicked gives more scope for the development and establishment of good; Thus, the premature death of the pious protects the seed of goodness in them and, through the fear of punishment, partly encourages sinful people to do good. The motives we have indicated, which guide God in sending misfortunes and death to people, are sometimes combined in one action of God’s Providence. So, for example, “in the general disaster, the guilty must also fall, for whom the continuation of life would only serve to multiply their crimes; but the innocent could have suffered without injustice, whom suffering would have purified more and sealed with martyrdom; an unexpected death only hastened the path to the blissful end of their existence, and who were thus saved from the stumbling blocks that threatened them in the calm continuation of their earthly wanderings.” A disaster that ends the existence of the guilty and the innocent is doubly instructive for the survivors 494 . Temptation as a means to strengthen a person in virtue – Through suffering, God detaches man from the world, and through good deeds binds him to Himself. Suppose, out of fear of punishment and in view of reward, a sinner begins to correct himself, violates the moral law less and less, and becomes more and more imbued with holiness. But it is very possible that such a virtue, “due to the admixture of thoughts of vanity, self-interest and self-indulgence,” does not yet have the proper purity and strength; perhaps she is a hypocritical virtue. In order to “separate (its) uncleanness, expose hypocrisy,” “in order to free a person from harmful self-delusion and put (him) on the path of true repentance and correction,” God “allows people to be attacked and even, perhaps, sometimes brings temptations 495. “If the Heavenly King demands free and heartfelt service to himself, if He creates a kingdom of children and brothers, then is it surprising that He does not buy our obedience with visible benefits, that He does not enslave us with fear of imminent losses, but takes away His reward from our eyes and sometimes even exposes us to some troubles in order to allow us to more easily and selflessly choose Him as the Lord of our hearts”? 496 For a person, for his part, it is very natural to desire trials in order to more confidently follow the path of good. He “can and in some way should carefully think about whether his gratitude to God is perfect, whether his love is pure, whether his heart is not clinging to a secret passion for good deeds, past the Benefactor, and whether love, nourished by temporary good deeds, will not fade away when this food is exhausted. Temptation appears and invites: sacrifice your beloved Isaac; endure for God the deprivation of that which you love most after God... What reassuring and authenticating testimony does conscience give to a God-loving soul, when temptation does not change its gold, when in the crucible of suffering its love for God flares up more powerfully, when through the external mortification of nature an inner life of grace shines through, and heaven in man affirms the hope of man in heaven” 497 . “It is useful, through temptation, to raise true virtue to the highest purity, strength and perfection, according to what is said: holy, let him be holy (Rev. 22:11)” 498 ... Resolving the confusion that arises from the sight of suffering The previous discussions about the sufferings and benefits that God uses to restore the fallen prejudge the bewilderment that arises at the sight of disasters. “Wherever you turn with conjectures, you will be forced to return to one indisputable truth, that if a disaster is allowed to happen in the world, then it was allowed to happen only as a means of Providence. How else could disaster come to the world! Stealthily? It is forbidden. God is omniscient. Forcibly? It is forbidden. God is omnipotent. By the blind movement of the forces of nature? It is forbidden. They are ruled by the all-wise and all-good God." 499 Although disasters undoubtedly occur by the will of Providence, nevertheless they do not contradict the goodness of God; they, as we have proven above, serve as a means of restoring the fallen. It is impossible that “He who exists and from Whom the only good comes, would have the will to put us in a state in which there is nothing but evil - so that He who protects the ancient herbs and herbs should not protect man, even if he leads him through fire and water, when he finds it necessary” 500. Regarding the distribution of suffering among people, “the searching mind proposes two special questions: firstly, why do the innocent suffer, and secondly, why do those who are not innocent suffer not in proportion to their guilt, and often the least guilty suffer the most”! If no one is free from sin, then the first question “is not only resolved, but also destroyed; because, according to strict judgment, there are no innocents on earth and, consequently, all those in need suffer as more or less guilty.” “As for the question: why do people, although perhaps not sinless, but by all open signs innocent, sometimes suffer excessively severe poverty? (Then) who can convict Providence of this excessiveness? If we admit that the needy is not sinless, and if we know that every sin is a departure from the law, consequently a rebellion against the will of God the Lawgiver, rebellion in the Kingdom of God, an insult to the eternal majesty of God, then tell me: what sin is too small for a temporary disaster and what temporary disaster is too great for a sin? There is no dispute that not all sins are equally grave and that there are different degrees of guilt in the same kind of sin; but which of us can fairly accurately weigh this severity, quite accurately determine this degree? For this, one must put on the scales and measure not only the visible deed, but also the invisible desire, and the hidden intention, and the secret thought, strength and weakness, knowledge and ignorance, aids and obstacles, temptation to evil and encouragement to good, inattention to the unknown and infidelity to what has been proven by experience, obscurity and repentance, bitterness and contrition; but to whom is all this possible, except the one Searcher of hearts and wombs, the all-embracing and omniscient. Also, in order to weigh the burden of a disaster, one must take into consideration, in addition to its open appearance, the degree of sensitivity of the distressed person, the scarcity and even the absence, or, on the contrary, the abundance of counteracting consolations, and many for which the external viewer has no measure or weight. How do we talk about the measured severity of disaster, in comparison with the severity of sin, perhaps at random and at random” 501? In addition, it must be taken into account that “God acts in the temporary life of a person damaged by sin, not only as a judge, for which there will be a special time at the end of the ages, but also primarily as a doctor, for which there is now time.” Sometimes God “determines the measure of disaster and sorrow for a person not as a calculated reward for deeds, but as a method of healing that can overcome the power of sinful illness, and this is a completely different calculation. There are painful conditions that seem unimportant and not threatening, but against which a knowledgeable doctor finds it necessary to use cruel medical remedies. At the same time, the heavenly Physician does not always begin to heal mental illness after it has already opened: His gaze penetrates into the depths of the soul, invisible to this soul itself, and, revealing there the subtle germ of sin, passion, self-will, self-indulgence, a subtle admixture of evil and impurity to good inclinations and dispositions, with the instrument of temptation he brings out these painful principles for their healing and for elevating the soul to a higher state. cleanliness" 502. “If there are those who suffer innocently in relation to themselves and their deeds, the justice and goodness of God appear in abundance over them in the wonderful and saving deeds of God, performed as reward for innocent suffering. A tangible image of this is presented to us in the Gospel of the man born blind” (John 9:2–3) 503. If God “allows (the righteous) to be persecuted and oppressed, so that, like perfumes that are washed away, the stench of fragrances spreads out all the more, and in order to show that their true reward is not on earth; then He sometimes shows them at the height of earthly happiness and glory, so that the world does not think that they are forgotten.” “If the Lord delights His beloved, lest malice change their minds, or flattery deceive their soul (Prov. 4:11), then He plants them in His house, so that they may flourish in His courts, multiply in old age and proclaim with their prosperity that the Lord our God is righteous (Ps. 91:14-6)” 504. “He who dies innocently does not lose anything, but gains a safe and better life, and in it is bliss, or preparation for bliss, according to his ability, a reward according to his worth; Consequently, the person is not offended, the Ghost is right. Thus, late or early, easy or difficult, the death of His saints is always honorable before the Lord (Ps. 116:6) and saving” 505. – “If there are times when the path of the wicked is sown. .. then (maybe) this is the last reward that they will accept for some remnant of virtue.” “We can (also) explain the safety of such people by the silence of the Judge, who is in no hurry to cut short the time of long-suffering, because he has an eternity of justice ahead of him” 506. Moreover, the prosperity of the wicked can be very fragile. “The Sovereign Prophet saw and described the fate of triumphant wickedness: I saw the wicked exalting themselves and towering like the cedars of Lebanon. But how long did the phenomenon last? I passed by and behold (Ps. 36:35) 507. To the previous concept of Divine Providence, as “the unceasing action of omnipotence, wisdom and goodness, by which God preserves the existence and strength of creatures, directs them to good goals,” - after what has been said about Divine Providence, one should add: “it helps every good, and the evil that arises through removal from good stops, or corrects, and turns to good consequences” 508. God's Providence for Human Societies – Since the Fall, not only the nature of Divine providence for people has changed, but also its scope. Before the Fall, God’s special providence extended only to the first parents, because they were the only people then; After the expulsion of the first parents from paradise, with the formation of human societies, God's providence was supposed to embrace, in addition to individuals, entire societies. “If spiritual and moral beings require the separate providence of God, according to their particular properties, dispositions and circumstances,” then “whole human societies also require the concentrated providence of God, since the improvement and well-being of each person depends a lot on society” 509 . Indeed, in social life “events do not happen as they happen; the lot of people and human societies is not subject to unlimited arbitrariness and human passions” 510. “Whoever is not completely darkened by gross ignorance of God does not need to be guided by evidence to this obvious truth, that God is the Supreme King of kings and kingdoms.” God's providence for civil societies is necessarily presupposed, for example, by the properties of God - goodness and infinity. “For human society independent of God and uncontrolled by Him would prevent Him from fulfilling beneficial intentions for the world and man, would limit God, which contradicts the fundamental concept of the Divine.” Society must necessarily be subject to God’s industry, because it is God’s dispensation. “God is as much the Creator of the collected and received political formation as of the moral and natural world.” “No one who recognizes God the Creator and Provider will argue that the society of bees and ants is God’s dispensation in nature, because no elected members of the hive made a social decree for it, and no philosopher of the anthill invented the fables of the social contract. Well? Is the society of men less worthy to be the dispensation of the all-wise God and the everlasting subject of His beneficent management” 511? “To consider the need for mutual assistance to be the beginning of community life, and the reason for its expansion is the right of the strongest, is to imagine society as a union of bloodthirsty tigers and pitiful lambs. To think that many different wills spontaneously united into one, that from countless private benefits a common benefit was accidentally formed - means to produce the entire creation from an accidental confluence of dust particles" 512 . Power, without which the existence of society is unthinkable, comes from God. This again proves that the formation of civil societies depends on God. “The powers are of God. There is no power, as the Apostle says, but from God; But the existing powers were created by God (Rom. 12:1).” It is not difficult for an impartial investigator to understand how power, according to Christian teaching, comes from God. Where does this multitude of people come from, united by language and customs, which is called the people? It is obvious that this multitude was born from a certain smaller tribe, and this came from a family. So, in the family, properly so-called, lie the seeds of everything that later opened up and grew in the great family, which is called the State. Consequently, one must look there for the beginnings and the first image of power and subordination, visible today in society. The father, who naturally has the power to give life to his son and to form his faculties, is the first ruler; a son who cannot develop his ability to educate himself or preserve his life itself without obeying his parents and educators is naturally subservient. But since the power of the father was not created by the father himself and was not given to him by the son, but occurred together with man from the One who created man, it is revealed that the deepest source and the highest beginning of the first, and consequently all subsequent power between men, is in God. From Him, firstly, as the Apostle explains, every family in heaven and on earth is named (Eph. 3:15); then, when sons of sons are born into a people and a State grows from a family, immense for the natural power of the father, God gives this power a new artificial image and a new name, and thus through His Wisdom kings reign (Prov. 8:15); and further, no matter how long nations continue, no matter how States change, the Most High always rules over the kingdom of man through the all-acting Providence. since in times of ignorance, both people forgot their Creator, and human societies did not know their supreme Lord, then God, along with His other secrets, even sensually presented the secret of the origin of the powers that be before the eyes of the world in the Jewish people chosen for this. In Abraham he miraculously recreated the quality of a father and gradually produced from him a tribe, a people and a kingdom. He himself led the patriarchs of this tribe; He himself raised up leaders and judges for this people; He himself reigned over this kingdom (1 Samuel 8:7); He himself installed kings over him and for a long time showed miraculous signs of His supreme power over him. Thus, every power that holds, openly or secretly, comes from God and belongs to Him” 513. Instruments of Divine providence for fallen man After the Fall, during the restoration of the sinner, God uses not only blessings, but also suffering - he extends his providence not only to individuals, but also to entire societies 514. What serves as an instrument of Divine providence for the sinner? “We must believe that God’s providence for us is accomplished not only through the laws given from God to the nature of all creatures, but also, regardless of the laws of nature, by the omnipotent and omnipotent will of God” 515. In addition to the direct impact on the human soul, God “does good to each person through human society” and, “mutually, through man wants to do good to human society” 516. “Transient human dominions collectively and temporarily appear on the horizon of light in order to serve the invisible kingdom (of God), and the mighty lands are successively tormented by the rackets of its guard. Having bound nature with necessity and leaving man in the hands of his will (Sir. 15:14), the great Artist of the world extends his finger into the varied interweaving of events of natural and free acts, and with a mysterious movement, sometimes some hidden threads, sometimes visible tools, forms and connects everything into a single, multi-artistic fabric of world events, which time unfolds to the surprise of eternity itself. The various states of earthly citizenship are continually directed by Providence to prepare for themselves citizens of heaven; for this purpose it acts both through society on man, and, reciprocally, through man on society; for this reason the tongues that are tottering and that rise up against the Lord are grazed with a rod of iron, and like the vessels of the poor they are broken (Ps. 2:1, 2-9), those who turn are restored and planted (Jer. 18:9), those who are tempted are led through fire and water, those who are steadfast in the trial are brought into rest (Ps. 65:12); For this purpose, those chosen from the people of the Lord are exalted (Ps. 83:20), strong, predestined to do the will of Providence, supported by the right hand of the Almighty, which levels the mountains before them and breaks down the gates of bronze (Is. 45: 1-2). “What miracles of wisdom and goodness does not God create to accomplish His own chosen intentions in the undertakings of people! He looks upon them even before they look at the light, and from the beginning to the end of their course he watches over them, like the apple of his eye, adorns them with the gifts of nature, instructs them with examples, purifies them with temptations, makes them wise through experiences, strengthens them with prosperity, accompanies them in the paths of light, leads them through the paths of darkness, leads them through narrowness into the broadness (2 Samuel 22:20), protects them in dangers, inspires in deeds, makes peoples salvation and joy in life, crowns them in death, and finally accompanies them to the very grave with glory and blessings.” This can be seen, for example, in the lives of Joseph, Moses, Gideon and others 517. God also provides for human societies and for each person individually through disembodied spirits. Ap. Paul testifies (Heb. 1:14) “that although angels live in heaven, they are sent by God to serve on earth; that he directs the ministry of Angels in a special way in favor of those people whom he foresees, by faith or good or repentant life corrected, capable of inheriting salvation and eternal bliss. How the Angels carry out their service for the benefit of those who want to inherit salvation - St. John of Damascus speaks about this, having learned from the saints Dionysius the Areopagite and Gregory the Theologian, that the Angels guard parts of the earth, they represent the peoples and authorities, as the essence of our existence is done for this by the Creator and helps us, both in every possible way according to the Divine will and command, as it exists above us and is ever present to God (Theological Book 2, Chapter 3). In the Revelation of St. John we see an Angel having an area on the lights (Rev. 14:18), an Angel of the water (Rev. 16:5), four Angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth (Rev. 7:1). So, there are Angels who are entrusted with the custody and good management of certain parts and forces of the elemental world... in order to direct their actions towards the preservation and good of people... In the visions of the prophet Daniel we see a heavenly messenger who informs him of his heavenly (no doubt, prayerful) feat for the fate of the Jewish people and adds: and behold, Michael, one of the first elders, came to help me, and further: there is not a single helping with me about these, but specifically Michael, your prince (7, 13, 21). So, there are guardian angels and heavenly helpers of nations and kingdoms. There are guardian angels of every person belonging to the kingdom of God's grace. We can understand this from the words of Jesus Christ Himself: take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones; For I say unto you, that their angels in heaven shall always see the face of my heavenly Father (Matthew 18:10). The power of this saying lies in the fact that the Lord, urging us not to neglect children, points to the example of the Angels, who, although they always see the face of the Heavenly Father in heavenly glory, do not consider it low for themselves to care for the little children of men and to be called their Angels. If, therefore, for small children, whose spiritual powers and abilities are not sufficiently revealed to self-production and who are therefore less susceptible to temptations than those of their age, this arrangement is not considered superfluous, so that they have their own Angels; then it is all the more necessary to conclude that those who are older and more tempted are not excluded from this dispensation, who consequently have a greater need for spiritual help, and, with a higher revelation of spiritual powers, are more capable of spiritual communication. The Orthodox Church is so strongly convinced of the need for this Angelic service for each of those who want to inherit salvation that every day several times it asks us from God for an Angel of peace, a faithful mentor, the guardian of our souls and bodies.”518 So, “be sure that the Lord, with His Angel, commanded you to preserve you in all your ways (Is. 90:11), that is, in all circumstances of temporary life, and especially in the path of eternal salvation” 519. The image of the ministry of Angels is sometimes presented as similar to how “travelers, for an unhindered and speedy journey, send forerunners to prepare the path and the needs of the path (Gen. 24:40). This similarity vividly represents the invisible action of spirits sent from God to serve people 520. It should be noted that the ministry of Angels is not universal and constant. Not all people have guardian angels, but only those who want to inherit salvation. But in some cases they may deviate from the latter; “for like draws near to like” 521. Therefore, “who knows whether the Spirits of light are not evading us, being repelled by our dark deeds and thoughts. Perhaps even then, when they approach us for some kind of service, they are forced to protect themselves with a cloud from our moral impurity, which is unbearable for them and cannot bear the touch of their pure light” 522. It is not surprising that “in our days they hear little about the help of Angels, and even less believe what they hear about it.” “Just as in their visible appearances the holy Angels were often mistaken for similar people, so it can easily happen that a person mistakes their invisible actions for their own human, or ordinary natural actions. Doesn’t it happen, for example, that in the midst of bewilderment or some inaction of the mind, suddenly, like lightning, a holy and saving thought shines through; that in a overwhelmed or cold heart, silence is instantly established, or the heavenly flame of love for God is kindled. If every phenomenon by its kind testifies to the presence of an active force, then do not these internal phenomena of our soul testify to the presence of heavenly forces, out of love for mankind, throwing their rays into our mind and sparks into our heart? Isn’t this the essence of the actions of the Angels, according to the saying of the prophet Zechariah, speaking in us? 523. The need for a special providential relationship between God and fallen man The providence of God, extending to all people, through suffering encouraged the sinner to stop on the path of sin and turn to a righteous life; if he did not stop, he stopped the further development of sin. With his blessings, God softened and warmed the hardened heart of man, suppressed by misfortune, and attracted him even more to Himself. But in both cases, the connection between suffering and well-being with their Creator - God - could be very weak in the consciousness of the sinner. With a tendency toward sin, a person could easily have the idea of ​​the natural origin of earthly happiness and misfortune, especially in view of the fact that suffering and well-being sometimes do not correspond to the moral dignity of a person. Therefore, it was necessary to convince the sinner that everything in his life - both suffering and well-being - happens according to the will of God. If the sinner was convinced that in his distressed state he could receive help only from God, then it was necessary to support this consciousness in him and gradually prepare him to accept supernatural help. This was all the more necessary the more extraordinary the help itself was. A person might not recognize the means of salvation offered to him by God; therefore, it was necessary to show him the signs of the Deliverer. In order for God to appear and be known, it is necessary for the truth of God to go before His face, without which vision and no knowledge of the Divine is possible.”524 It was necessary to cultivate faith in people, because God's supernatural help could be accepted mainly by faith 525. God achieved all this through private measures that prepared people to accept the Savior. In order to bring man closer to Himself, to remind him of Himself and to guide him in restoration from sin to holiness, God Himself sometimes appeared to man. “Wonderful manifestations of God sometimes happened in a dream, sometimes in a certain intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness, sometimes in a state of vigil” 526. “The common basis of the Theophany, especially in human form, is the incarnation of the Son of God, for the root and beginning of His holy humanity were in men from the very first ancestors; and the Son of God was on earth even before His carnal birth, just as the Son of man was in heaven even before His ascension (John 3:13). The special images and degrees of revelations, as can be seen from the examples, corresponded to the circumstances and abilities of those receiving them” 527. The purpose of the Old Testament Epiphanies was especially clearly outlined in the first of them, which took place in paradise. “At the same time that the original life was damaged by sin, it was necessary to introduce the medicine of Christ into humanity; and it is introduced by the word of the first annunciation about the incarnation of God the Word: the seed of the woman will erase the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15); and from that time (it) began and continuously continued to act graciously, as can be noted in the Patriarchs and Prophets.” “In the predestination of the seed of the woman lies the seed of the whole gospel.” In it, “in the image of enmity between the serpent and man, the restoration of the kingdom of Grace on the ruins of sin and death is described with particular clarity.” It “proclaims a complete and eternal victory over the devil, the cessation of all actions and consequences of his enmity, the liberation of man from sin and death, the earth from curse and the flesh itself from corruption” 528. At the first Epiphany, the Covenant of grace was put in place of the first Covenant of works (Gen. 2:16–7). The establishment and essence of this covenant is contained in the very gospel of the victorious seed of the woman. After this covenant, God promises to the fallen human race, out of pure goodness and mercy, restoration and salvation through the power and merit of the Redeemer; man, on his part, undertakes not to oppose the action of grace and, as closely as possible, to unite with the victorious and Divine Seed of promise through faith, hope and love. To confirm this union, God believes, before the complete completion of this great mystery, to first present it to man in images and signs, then, at a certain time, after the appearance of the Messiah, to reveal it with all the circumstances; from which the various types of Divine economy come and proceed” 529. Preservation of faith in the true God and the development of the messianic idea in patriarchal times “God, to whom, according to the expression of Scripture, the essence of all His works has been understood from eternity (Acts 15:18) and whose all-seeing eyes see what we have not yet done (Ps. 139:16), from eternity has seen everything, countless for us, the generations of the sons of fallen Adam, and foresaw and chose one, if not in all his persons worthy, at least in some who preserved most of the remains of the pristine kindness, less susceptible to the infection of sin, primarily disposed to accept and faithfully preserve grace, capable, finally, with gradual grace-filled purification, to give birth to a pure Virgin, who can be the companion of the incarnate Divinity - a light that communicates only to the pure, a fire that scorches the unclean. Therefore, it was necessary to protect this race until it bears the most beautiful flower and the most perfect fruit of humanity - the Virgin. Mary, Mother of the God-man. Since this race was contained in the Jewish people, it was necessary to protect this people too” 530. This explains the circumstance that the Old Testament church, at first, barely leaves the boundaries of one family, and then appears among the people chosen by God, protected by written laws” 531. “Instead of Abel, God, to preserve His church, gave Adam Seth. He was the pillar and foundation of the godly tribe. He was followed in an unbroken family line: Enosh, Cainan, Mahleleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech and Noah. All these were the guardians and defenders of heavenly truth and heirs of piety.” “On the contrary, Cain’s descendants followed the path of their ancestor. It was carried away either by the cares and benefits of this life, or by sensual pleasures”... “Among the corruption of morals to which the descendants of Cain indulged, it is not surprising if the light of faith between them was eclipsed; The gospel of the woman’s seed has been forgotten.” From the descendants of Cain, wickedness passed on to the descendants of Seth. “The whole earth was corrupted. Her defilements multiplied until the global flood finally washed her face.” When the poison from the bite of the serpent in the heel infected the whole body with such terrible force, then the Physician of souls and bodies, without a doubt, used the most effective means to preserve life in a person by faith. From time to time He enlightened His sons with His revelations; strengthened their faith in hope with His miracles. The example of one Enoch proves both. The ordinary and more natural means that God used for the continuous preservation of piety was longevity, with which He blessed the Patriarchs. Their life lasted for nine centuries or more. Everyone, not only in youth, but also in adulthood, could personally receive instructions and saw the example of his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on at the same time” 532. After the flood, “God renewed the kingdom of grace and faith with the covenant that He promised to Noah before the flood (Gen. 6:18).” This “covenant embraces man with all animals” 533. After the flood, wickedness did not stop. “There is no doubt that it did not suddenly reach extremes, but “before the birth of Abraham it spread and intensified so much that the word of God reproaches his father himself for serving other gods.” “Therefore, God judged it necessary to make him an arbitrary exile and a constant wanderer, in order to preserve him from the kingdom of “darkness and in it to renew His church.” While “the church, hidden among paganism, almost lost sight of the tribe in which the hope of the promised seed lay,” “it was up to God Himself, so to speak, to raise the father of the believers. Abraham had so much faith to be worthy of revelation and election for this great purpose, and saw so many temptations and dangers that the visible presence of God and repeated repetition of promises were often needed to strengthen him. Theophany, covenants and promises 535 served as positive means for maintaining and clarifying the true faith in the race of Abraham. The true religion of patriarchal times was based on faith in the promised Seed. “The Apostle leaves no doubt about this when he sets forth the promise of Abraham about Christ (Gal. 3:16) and ascribes to this Patriarch the truth of faith (Rom. 4:13).” Of the prophecies of patriarchal times, Jacob's prophecy about the fate of the tribe of Judah was primarily important for the development of the messianic idea (Gen. 48:10). This is the meaning of this prophecy. “While Judah grows from a skimp into a lion and guards his children like a lioness, he will receive a scepter and legislators, that is, kings and rulers, from his own tribe. The scepter and the lawmaker will belong to Judah, that is, the persons, location, name of the tribe of Judah, until Shilog, that is, the Messiah, comes. The coming of the Messiah will be followed by the submission of the nations to Him. Shilog or the Messiah, like the previous legislators, will come from the loins of Judah, that is, will come from his descendants; for otherwise the present promise of the Messiah would not have applied to Judah. ​​At the coming of the Messiah, the scepter and the lawgivers would be taken away from Judah and the kingdom of Judah would be replaced by the kingdom of the nations submissive to the Messiah" 536 . Of the rituals by which the faith of the patriarchs was brought up, the main place is occupied by sacrifices. “They typified the great sacrifice that the Messiah had to offer to the justice of God with his own life; and therefore they served instead of the sacraments" 537. Egyptian slavery. Divine rule among the Jewish people – The family of patriarchs grew into a whole people in Egypt. During the Egyptian slavery, “the blows that crushed the stubble purified the grain; along with the desire for deliverance, the spirit of faith and hope in God grew among the Jewish people" 538 . After leaving Egypt, the Jewish people “were led throughout their journey not so much by Moses as by God”... “This journey can be called an unbroken chain of miracles and blessings of God” 539. God's rule continued among the Jewish people in subsequent times. “The power of the judges, which was not autocratic, but was not always within the same limits, and did not have a known and continuous succession, necessarily presupposed another, unlimited power and, obviously, depended on the appeal and favor of God” 540. During the time of the kings, God's rule did not cease, but only changed somewhat. Then God greatly influenced the lives of the people through the prophets 541. Changing the “covenant of grace” to the “covenant of works.” Law of Moses “In the days of Moses, the Divine economy of human salvation and the church itself received a new image, which from that time was to be preserved until the coming of the Redeemer.” At Sinai, “the covenant of grace, without changing in its essence, took on the form of a covenant of works” 542. “God has hitherto acted more on the inner man, and through this on the outer. But when the interiority of the majority of people was concluded through immersion in sensuality,” when “lawless life hour by hour more and more eclipsed in the human race the feeling and concept of internal law (Gal. 3:19)”; then God “began to act more through the external on the internal” (through the external law contained in writing) 543. The moral state of people required a strict law. “The state of humanity at this time represented adolescence, in which the impulses of passions correspond to an abundance of strength and, consequently, require curbing just as strongly; That’s why the law set for him by his mentor in Christ received gifts in one hand for the obedient, and in the other hand a scourge for the disobedient, and freedom of faith was hidden under his fear and burden” 544. The main purpose of the law was to instill in people a consciousness of helplessness and through this to arouse in them the desire for heavenly help necessary to save the fallen. Indeed, “what should a person feel when heeding the blessing of life proclaimed by the law, while this same law thundered with a curse on everyone who deviates even one line from it; whereas a man, looking at his deeds, could not help but realize that no one living will be justified before the judgment of the Lord? He saw death at the right hand of the law of life and was forced either to constantly tremble before it, or to flee from the law itself and seek other consolation” 545. But it was difficult to escape from the law; he followed the Jew everywhere. “Coming out of the tabernacle, the law of ceremonies accompanied its subjects to their homes and pursued them in all the paths of life. He disposed of their clothes; was present at their table; vigilant over the cleanliness of their bodies; took part in all their labors and acquisitions" 546. As always, so then “the law warned against sin, denounced and condemned the sinner, but did not give the slave of sin the power to break the bonds of this slavery and did not teach the means to atone for the iniquities committed, which, like the fiery seal of sinful slavery, lie on the conscience. And this is the weakness of the law (Rom. 8:3), to which the Apostle testifies without hesitation” 547. “God outwardly offered man a moral law, condensing it for general use in the Ten Commandments” not only so that “the knowledge of this law would show man his weakness and need for help,” but also so that “the feasible exercise in replenishing it would gradually clear his ability to accept grace” 548 . Teaching about the Messiah in times of law The doctrine of the Savior was explained mainly not by the ritual Mosaic Law, but by the prophets. “Hannah (Samuel’s mother) was the first to pronounce the name of the Messiah (1 Samuel 2:10)” 549. “Nathan, revealing to David the will of God about the creation of the church, at the same time announced to him that after him his Seed would rise, whose throne would be ruled for ever, to whom God would be a father and who would be to God as a son (2 Sam. 7:12 et seq.). David, of course, did not refer these words to his successor when he was surprised that God spoke about his house in the distance, and therefore, without a doubt, he understood them as the Apostle Paul later explained to us (Heb. 1:5) ... The psalms sing of the eternal and temporal birth, suffering, glorification, the spiritual kingdom (of the Messiah), the spread of the teachings of the Faith” 550. Later prophets presented the doctrine of the Messiah in a new light. They heard the voice of one crying in the wilderness (Is. 40:3), announced the birth of Immanuel from the Virgin (Is. 7:14), the Angel of the great council, the mighty God (Is. 9: 6), His origin from Bethlehem and the departure from the beginning of the days of the world ( Mic. 5: 2), the punishment of our peace on Him and His wound healing us ( Is. 53: 5), His rising from distress and judgment (-8) and ours in There is no resurrection on the third day (Hos. 13:14), His law coming from Zion (Is. 2:3), the New Testament (Jer. 31:31), the light of tongues (Is. 60:3), the Spirit of God poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28)” 551. “The concept of the true Faith not only was not eclipsed in the Jews during their captivity, but was also purified. The prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel again confirmed the doctrine of the Messiah. One represents Him as a single Shepherd of a single numerous flock (Ezek. 34:23. 29; 37:22). The other defines the time of His coming in 70 weeks, of which 7 are separated for the restoration of the temple and Jerusalem, then 62 until the appearance of the Messiah, and finally half a week for the establishment of the New Testament by His death” (Dan. 9 ch.) 552. “The ancient or, better, eternal truths of the Faith are renewed by the preaching of the last Prophets. When Haggai, in encouragement to the people of God, assured them that the Lord of Hosts, the Word of the Covenant and the Spirit of God was among them (Hag. 2:5-6), He, without a doubt, announced the mystery of the Trinitarian. Zechariah, under the image of a ditch that has no water (Zechariah 9:11), represents the state of fallen man. They portray the Messiah with such vivid features that, so to speak, they send Him to meet Him and teach Him to recognize Him without error. In their mirror we see how, following the Forerunner, clothed with the spirit of Elijah (Mal.3:1; 4:5), the Lord and the Angel of the Covenant comes to His church (Mal.3:1) and the glory of the church appears to the last more than the first (Hag.2:10); how the King is righteous and the one who saves is coming to Jerusalem in poverty and simplicity (Zechariah 9:9); how the Redeemer is valued at thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:13); how the Shepherd of souls is slain and the sheep of the flock are scattered (Zech. 13:7); how, finally, the converted Jews look with faith at the one who gave birth (Zech. 12:10), and after the captivity of Jerusalem, the Lord spreads from it light, living water and His kingdom throughout the whole earth (Zech. 15)” 553. God's Providence for the Pagan Nations In our study of the ways of preparing the human race for the reception of the Messiah, we paid special attention to the succession of patriarchs and to the Jewish people. This happened because God Himself took special care of this race and people, knowing that from it, as from the most worthy, the promised Seed should come. That is why, especially among this people, “in times of human ignorance, He did not leave Himself untestified, but through the blessings of His Providence and His miracles He proclaimed His goodness and power, through Divine judgments and punishments He stopped the paths of sinners, through the lives of His saints and the word of His Prophets He showed the way of salvation, through sacrifices, the priesthood and the church of the Old Testament, the one universal sacrifice of the cross of the New Testament, foreshadowed the priesthood of Christ and the Church of Christ savingly, illuminating the present, past and future with the single light of faith” 554. “And that is why prophets were sent to the Jewish people, especially before others, to imbue them with grace-filled light, so that they would not lose faith and would not perish from their sins and delusions. And so that he would not perish from enemies and disasters, miraculous powers and actions were often used.” When “the goal of Providence was achieved, there was no need to protect the Jews as before,” which is what happened to them after “they themselves renounced the holy seed.” From this alone it is clear that God was not partial to the Jewish people. If “He made one people the repository of the holy seed, that is, the race and birth of Christ,” then this is “in order to achieve through this the salvation of all nations and all people, which is actually spiritual and eternal” 555. Even before the coming of the Savior, the light of true faith, kept in the race of Abraham, penetrated into the dark environment of neighboring peoples. For example, “Elisha performed many miracles, which not only served to strengthen the flagging piety among the Israelites, but also to spread the glory of the God of Israel among the Gentiles. Likewise, during the long captivity of the Jews, “the pagans were not all deaf and blind, when God solemnly proclaimed Himself to them through His confessors and appeared in His miracles” 556 . “As the collection of sacred books explaining faith in the coming Messiah came to an end, God’s Providence opened up abundant opportunities for the dissemination of the teachings contained in them. This was facilitated by the dispersion of the Jews in Babylon, Persia, Media, Syria, Phenicia, Egypt, as well as the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the Greek language, which was dominant among educated peoples. Thus... the human race is preparing to receive the heavenly Guest" 557. In addition to the influence of the Jews, paganism had common natural means for preserving faith in God and for developing the inclinations of goodness 558. “For the pagans, God did not leave Himself untested, doing good, giving us rain from heaven, and fruitful times, filling our hearts with food and joy (Acts 14:17), - or, on the contrary, by withdrawing His fruitful blessing from the earth, reminding people of their spiritual barrenness and calling them to bear fruits worthy of repentance” 559. Before the coming of the Savior, “philosophy little by little exposed the absurdity of paganism” and thereby made the transition to Christianity easier for him 560. Signs of the fulfillment of times Finally, the time has come for the Savior of the world to appear. “The appearance of Jesus Christ, the Transformer of the world, was to follow at a time of greatest need and greatest readiness of the world for this transformation.” This was indeed the case. “The extreme of error in paganism, the most intense effort of the mind in the study of the Divine and nature, the highest degree of human power in the Roman monarchy, the universal expectation (of a New Order of Things)” - clearly showed that the fulfillment of the predetermined time had come (Gal. 6:4). “Idolatry, adorned with wit, supported by debauchery, became a universal religion and sanctified all vices (Acts 14:15-6; 17:30).” Reason “in the Greeks and Romans showed such experiences of its activity, after which one should either expect nothing better, or wait for extraordinary help from above (1 Cor. 1:21).” “Rome, imagining the world with its greatness, disasters, vices, vanity, made one especially feel the need for better spiritual dominion and contributed to its spread through the unity of external dominion.” “The Jews were expecting the appearance of the Messiah King, and the pagans were expecting a golden age. The glorious prophecies about the impoverishment of the prince and leader from Judah, about the seventy weeks of the renewed Jerusalem, and about the fourth kingdom of iron, were obviously fulfilled.” “The doctrine of the Messiah became only known and general, that the entire Jewish people were actively engaged in it (zealously), as can be seen from the popular definition by which Simon was confirmed as leader and Bishop until the faithful Prophet arises (1 Mac. 14:41), and from the examples of Simeon (Luke 2:25), Philip, Nathanael (John 1:45-9) and the Samaritan woman ( John 4:25)" 561. All this was a sign of the imminent coming of the Messiah. Why did the Savior appear after quite a long time? What has been said about the preparation of the human race to receive the Savior gives us the opportunity to explain why the Redeemer appeared at a certain time, why He did not appear earlier. If the Redeemer did not come to earth for five thousand years, then it follows that during all this time people were not ready to receive Him. After “man stopped the ever-animal circulation of the glory of God in himself,” “the God of glory, knowing that without His glory there is no bliss for His creatures, used, let’s say humanly, many different and extraordinary efforts in order to again manifest it in people. But these efforts for a long time seemed futile; in fact, they were only more or less distant and particular preparations for the real, universal, only possible manifestation of His glory among those who are deprived of it” (Rom. 3:23) 562 “The sinner was not ready to meet his God and ran away from Him.” Even “special circumstances and cases when and where the voice of God’s procession to man was especially clearly heard and thus man was especially called upon to prepare to meet his God” remained in vain. In accordance with the gradually increasing readiness of man to accept the Savior, the mystery of redemption was revealed more and more. “The great definition of the eternal council, or, according to the Apostle, the mystery, hidden from eternity and generations (Col. 1:26) and now revealed only to the saints and, even in its very revelation, still bearing seven seals, was revealed from ancient times by the Holy Spirit to its mysteries, and through them to all humanity, insofar as its gradually increasing understanding had to correspond and promote its gradual execution" 564. While a readiness to accept the Deliverer was being cultivated in man and the concept of Him was being clarified, “the secret action of Providence sought out in the human race and prepared for the blessed one in women, who could, with her purity, attract, receive, contain, hold the Divine lightning, without being scorched by the fire of the Divine, and thus through herself essentially assimilate the blessing of Christ to all humanity.” This circumstance was also one of the reasons why “centuries and millennia had to pass before the Word actually became flesh (John 1:14) and God appeared in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)” 565. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 253; Catech. 25; Zap. on Gen. 1, 1–2. Catech. 23, 30; Words and speeches, ed. 1848 1, 46. 92. “This fortune telling is explained by David (Ps. 32:6), Solomon (Prov. 8:22–9) and John (1:1–3), who obviously adapt their expressions to Moses.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 6–7. “The Holy Spirit overshadowed (the chaotic mass) and poured into it educational and life-giving power.” Bib. East. 3. “Under the name of the Spirit of the Lord (Gen. 1:2) one cannot understand an Angel, since it is not used in such a sign - nor wind, as in the Psalmist (149:7), for what wind is before the separation of the elements; It is not enough to understand with Chrysostom simply the life-giving power of the Divine. In depicting the actual Divine actions, the Spirit of God, according to the usual use of this word in Holy Scripture, marks the third Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity (Gen.6:3; Ps.32:6; Job.33:4; Acts.4:25; 7:51).” Ibidem. Words and Speeches, ed. 1874 2, 423. The beginnings of Christ. uch. 5 pages; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 4; ed. 1882 4, 572–3; Wed ed. 1848 2, 234–5. Ibid. “So, the Cherubim stand before the throne of the Lord, in the fullness of His glory, and in the glory of the Most Holy Trinity they cry out to each other the thrice-holy song (Is. 6:3); they cover their faces, because the essential glory of God is an unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16) even for the creatures on high; They are filled with eyes around and inside, because the desire to partake of the glory of God through contemplation makes their whole being an eye; they have no rest day and night (Rev. 4:8) not because rest is forbidden to them, but because the bliss that fills them with the contemplation and communion of the glory of God, as if from an overflowing vessel, is constantly poured out in the joyful murmur of praise, and thus the glory, even from the one God (John 5:44), returns to God. Thus, man in his primitive state was the image and glory of God (1 Cor. 5:7) and without clothing did not know nakedness, being clothed in this glory. Thus, the visible heavens will tell the glory of God... (Ps. 19:2-3).” “To proclaim God’s perfections and virtues” is as natural for a creature, “as it is natural for a stream to represent throughout its entire flow what it has received from the source.” In the glory of God lies “the universal purpose of creation, although it is fulfilled in different ways according to the diversity and degrees of creatures.” Ibid. (1848 1, 4). Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 150; Wed ed. 1873 1, 166. Ibid, - ed. 1877 3, 376; Wed ed. 1848 1, 179. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 53; Wed 296–7; ed. 1848 2, 127. 288. Words and Speeches, ed. 1882, 4, 510; Wed Ibid 538–9; ed. 1848 1, 105; ed. 1873 1, 120. Examples from the life of Jews. Bib. East. 235, 272, 277, 289 pp. Zap. on Gen. 1, 8. 21; 2 128; 3, 7–8; Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 123–4; Catech. 26–7. “Read. in General I. and Dr. Ros." 1870 1, 32. Cat. 23–4; Beginning hr. uch. 10; Bib. East. 2–3. Bib. East. 2–3. Indeed, in Genesis 1:1, “the heavens are neither aerial nor starry, for the firmament was created on the second and adorned with luminaries on the fourth day. Here we can mean the heaven of heavens (1 Kings 8:21), or the invisible world (Col.1:16). God Himself says in Job (38:4–7) that when He founded the earth, then the Sons of God were already shouting » Zap. on the book Gen. 1, 2–3. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848, 1, 312–314; Wed Catech. 23. Ibid. – It is clear to the spiritual, apparently, the reception of food by the Angels contradicts. And they ate (Gen. 18:8) - it is said about the Angels who appeared to Abraham. “Indeed, what did spiritual food serve for spiritual beings? The angel who appeared to Manoah denied her (Judges 13:16). Angel Tobiin also says about himself that he did not eat or drink, but only showed a vision of these actions (Tov.12:19). But Bl. Augustine admits that Angels, like humans, can eat food, with the difference that these are by need, and those by choice. To put an end to the bewilderment, it is enough to say that Angels, or spiritual beings in general, can take a body to the extent that they can also take bodily food.” Zap. on the book Gen.2, 124. Zap. on Gen. 2, 55. 57; Bible East. 299; Cat. 23. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 344. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 215. The earth in the sense of the globe was formed after; here it is “opposed to the structure of the entire visible World.” If here (Gen. 1:1) “the substance of the entire visible World in general” is called earth, then this is “because the earth is the closest object of contemplation in the creation of the World, because it is opposed to the sky, or the spiritual world, and finally, because in this state (i.e. chaotic) it cannot yet have a definitive name.” Zap. on Gen. 1, page 3. 5. “The writer of everyday life places it above the abyss or on the face of the abyss not because he relates it to only some part of the substance; but by applying this concept to the ordinary concept of light, which comes from above and especially appears on the surface of things.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 5–6; Bib. East. 3. “To say, by the nature of the Hebrew language, sometimes means to think, to intend (Ex. 2:14; 2 Sam. 21:16). The mode of action through the word is attributed to God in commemoration of His majesty, since even among people the mode of action through the word is the most sublime and subtlest - His omnipotence, since in human things we assume greater power in the action of the word than in the action of bodily strength - of His wisdom, since the external human word is the organ of wisdom.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 7. Bib. East. 3; Zap. on Gen. 1. 8 . The Hebrew word corresponding to the word firmament, “some of the newest interpreters propose: prostration or space, removing this concept from the use of the word (Ps. 40:19); but seventy interpreters are more consistent with both the sign and use of the word (Ps. 136:6; Is. 42:5; 44:24), and with the ancient concept of heaven, they constantly translate: stereoma, firmament... Moses calls the firmament not only the air surrounding the earth, but also the starry sky.” Zap. on Gen. 1. 10–12. “The waters under the firmament, according to some, should be clouds (Ps. 103:3; Job 26:8). But the collection of waters into clouds is unusual to call the separation of water from water. One might think that the writer of everyday life here called water what he previously called an abyss, with the difference that this unstructured substance, after the creation of light, partially became transparent.” Ibid. “In the creation of the third day, Moses represents the formation and improvement of our planet itself. Considering that in the description of the second and fourth days the action of the Creator in the whole universe is represented, and that the earth constitutes the smallest part of this whole, it is difficult to be sure that creative action was limited to it alone on the third day. It can be assumed that on this day other bodies of celestial space similar to it, that is, dark ones, have received a more definite formation, characteristic of them.” Zap. on Gen. 1. 13 ; Bib. East. 4. Zap. on Gen. 1, 15; Bible East. 4. In the words: let the waters give birth - God commands that “the bodily composition of fish and similar creatures be adapted to the nature of the waters, as their home, and to the substances found in the waters, as their food”; and also “indicated a certain beginning, or, as it were, a seed, from which, according to the creative word, this kind of creatures was supposed to arise, placed in the part of the universal nature predetermined for them by the action of the Spirit of God, hovering over the waters.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 17–18; Bible East. 4–5. The earth, more than other elements, is dead, but, in its turn, producing living animals, in a new way it reveals the power of the Creator, independent of help and planting life wherever it pleases.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 19–20. “By the name of advice (Acts 2:23; Eph. 1:11), and consequently by the action of advice, God’s foreknowledge and predestination are depicted in Holy Scripture. God’s council is eternal (Acts 16:18). But Moses brings it down to time in order to show it all the more close to man. Predestination embraces all creatures; but Moses presents the entire creation as having been accomplished, as if without preliminary reflection, and concerns the Creator only with man. This means that in the predestination of man lies the basis of the predestination of all creatures that preceded him in existence and all times that follow.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 21. “The power with which primitive man could act in the world through it must have been as great as the weakness that now holds a damaged person under the influence of the nearest and most distant creatures of this world.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 37. The human soul is called the breath of lives because “man actually combines in himself the life of plants, animals and Angels, temporary and eternal life, life in the image of the world and in the image of God. With all this, man became a living soul: that is, after the union of the soul with the body, he became a single being, in outer life belonging to the circle of animals.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 37–8; Bib. East. 6. “Creative inspiration relates primarily to a person’s face, as the seat of the instruments of feeling and the mirror of the soul.” Ibid. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 128; ed. 1877 3, 459; Wed 437. “The soul of the flesh is in the blood (Lev.17:11), i.e. blood is the seat and closest organ of the soul’s actions.” Zap. on Gen. 2, 9; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 247; 2, 270. Words and speeches ed. 1861 3, 83–3; Wed ed. 1848 2, 292–3. “The image and likeness of God does not need to be explained as two different things: since in the word of God one of these names is often used in the same force as both together (Gen. 1:26–7; 5:1; 9:6; James 3:9; Col. 3:10). However, the most significant of these words is: image, which is a similarity that is not accidental, but taken from the prototype. An image is something more than a trace. All beings show traces of the Creator, and, as it were, the back of God: the image of the face of God is found only in man.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 21–2. Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 179; Zap. on Gen. 1, 23. Zap. on Gen. 1, 21; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 279. Catech. 25; Zap. on Gen. 2, 9. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 81. Ibid. 2, 270; Zap. on Gen. 1, 22. “The end for which God solemnly commanded to give these (i.e. names) could be one in order to test and show the offspring of Adam his wisdom.” “In order to imagine the naming of names as an act of wisdom, it must be assumed that Adam previously had knowledge of the general properties and laws of creatures and, applying to this general knowledge what he found by experience or close examination in the special types of creatures, gave them names depicting their nature.” “He left a monument to this wisdom in the original language, the perfection of which one can still marvel at in the remains of it found in St. books of the Hebrews." Bib. East. 8; Zap. on Gen. 1, 47. “The original language existed before the creation of the woman, without requiring much time and labor for its composition and formation, like the gift of tongues in the Apostles. Man received it along with being; perhaps he improved his knowledge with the conversation of the Creator through sensory sounds and supplemented it from himself by inspiration from God, who predestined man for community life.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 47. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861, 3, 305; ed. 1848 1, 164. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 234; Zap. on Gen. 1, 43; Wed – 1877 3, 132. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 253, 254. Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 278. They find the image of God in a human “body, conformed to the body of glory of the God-man (Phil. 3:21). But the Apostle does not attribute this feature to the original image of God when he posits it in the spirit of the mind (Eph. 4:23) and when he uses the concept of the image of God as evidence of incorporeality (Acts 17:29).” In the power of man over the world, they see the image of God “Chrysostom and Theodoret, who take the words of God’s advice about the dominion of man (Gen. 1:26) as an explanation of the image of God, which, however, is doubtful.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 22–3. The “foundations” of the image of God are deeply laid in the soul so that even if its living features are eclipsed by deviation from the original rightness (Eccl. 7:30), although some remnants of it keep a person in the love and care of God (Gen. 9:6) and do not allow him to ultimately reject; and so that even fallen man may find out what he was and what he ought to be. External advantages are placed depending on the image of God, so that with its loss, God’s blessing will turn into punishment, the creature will not recognize its ruler and will rebel against him, so that the kingdom of God will not be completely swallowed up by the unlimited dominion of sin and death.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 23; Wed Catech. 25; The beginnings... 8. “Now God does not say: let us create, but I will do it. This difference in expression follows the difference between two pieces of advice, one of which contains a general and essential definition about a person, and the other is a particular addition to the first.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 45. “By this promise God is the Creator of the most distant descendants of Adam, as well as of himself. And since everyone is born with the ability to give birth; there is no doubt that in Adam the entire human race received this blessing. It has been preserved even in the midst of universal damnation: for it is deeply implanted in human nature.” “Therefore, the Word of God recognizes children not so much as the property of their parents, but rather as the property of God: this is the property of God’s sons, the wages of the fruit of the womb (Ps. 127:3).” “What mother could ever say: I will bear fruit?... Conception and birth do not take place without the providence of God; both are God’s work, God’s gift.” Ibid. 24.25; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 279, 197. Zap. on Gen. 1, 8. 26; Wed 12, 14. Ibid. 3–4; Wed 35.45; Bib. East. 2. Zap. on Gen. 1, 4–5. 12. Zap. on Gen. 1, 8–9; Bib. East. 3. Words and Speeches, ed. 1874 2, 423–4. Over the course of six days, “maybe God allowed nature itself to experience the forces gradually imparted to it, and sanctified its laws, introducing into them the actions of His omnipotent will.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 3. Ibid. 20. – “Will anyone say that it is too proud to think that the earth, the sun, and the sky are for us. To this I answer: if you think about this proudly, I advise you to put aside your pride and think about it humbly and gratefully before the benefactor God, and not think that a thought abused by pride therefore ceases to be true. Would you also say that it is not you alone who use the earth, the sun and the sky, and not only all men, but also countless other creatures of God? I answer: What about that? All the more wonderful; all the more immense is the wealth of God because, although countless beings use it, you also use it in such a way that it is completely prepared for you and adapted to your needs.” Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 107. Zap. on Gen. 1, 23–4; Wed Words and Speeches, ed., 1848. 2, 270–1. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 258. Ibid. 165; Wed ed. 1848 2, 234–5. Ibid. 35; Bib. East. 29; Zap. on Gen. 1, 112. Words and Speeches, ed. 1877 3, 419–420, cf. ed. 1861 3, 104. Ibid. 296; Wed ed. 1848 2, 127. Words and Speeches, ed. 1877 3, 419–420; Wed ed. 1848 2,164. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 283. – “Since existence is given and continues by the action of God, man does not have the power to evade this action, or, in other words, does not have the power to turn himself into nothing, for this power would be equal to the power of production from nothing. But since the action of God gives well-being, man, as if free, has the power to evade this action more or less.” Words ed. 1877 3, 420. “Which is better, a skilled machine, or a living, intelligent, free creature, and a well-ordered society of such creatures? What is more sublime - the artist who built the machine and watches its movements, or the father who gives birth to children and by education molds them into his own image, and the king who founded the kingdom of the free and rules them as they want to be ruled, only without violating His wise and good intentions? The choice here is not difficult and there is no need to expect an answer”: it is clear by itself. – Words ed. 1848 1, 68–9. – Although strict conformity with the law is observed everywhere in the world; however, this does not at all enslave the Creator to the laws of the world and does not exclude the possibility of supernatural actions. “Is the law higher than the legislator? Is the legislator enslaved by the law that has expired from his power? Doesn't the law require not only a legislator, but also a guardian? Can natural causes prevent the action of a supernatural cause? On the contrary, don’t they need its action, assistance, direction for their continuation just as for their beginning? Doesn’t the natural order in experience itself sometimes manifest a supernatural order above itself? For example, rain and hail are in the natural order; But was the hail of stones that struck the army of the five pagan kings with whom Joshua fought in a natural order? Why did this hail fall at this time and not at another time? Why against the pagan army, and not against the Israelite? Natural causes and order do not provide an answer to this. Only the word of the Lord can give the answer: The Lord cast upon him the stones of great hail from heaven (Joshua 10:11).” Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 283; Wed ed. 1848 2, 288. 1, 212; Catech. 80; Zap. on Gen. 3, 13. Words and Speeches, ed. 1877 3, 435–7; ed. 1861 3, 262; Wed Ibid. 282; ed. 1877 2, 383–385; Catech. 23; Zap. on Gen. 1, 48. “Since God is infinite, omnipresent and omnipotent, there is no state of creatures in the universe that would be inaccessible to Him, through which no path of the Lord would lie; there is no incident that was not led by the path of the Lord, however, in such a way that the path of the Lord never restricts the paths of freedom for moral beings.”... Words, ed. 1848 2, 27. “The creative Word of God is the foundation of the beginning and continuing existence of creatures. The Word of God blessing is the basis of their well-being. The sun shines on them; For them the earth produces; By Him and His inexhaustibly varied power is done that bread nourishes, wine strengthens, oil softens and heals; Through it every creature lives, grows, improves, and each is blissful in its own measure, to the glory of creative wisdom, goodness and power.” Words, ed. 1877 436–7. “God works until now (John 5:17), that is, He produces new creatures, but not new types of creatures; continues creation by preserving the laws of nature, but not by establishing new ones; He creates new things in the kingdom of grace (2 Cor. 5:17), and works in the kingdom of nature.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 27. Ibid. - “Therefore, perhaps, Moses does not give the seventh day either evening or morning, that is, a continuation that has limits.” Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 77; Wed 1, 107; ed. 1861 3, 105. 262. Cat.27; Wed Matthew 10:29–31; Ps.103:28-9; 72:27; 120:4; 131:11–12; Jer.18:9; Proverbs 8:15. – The universal conviction of peoples in the real existence of God’s providence is clearly revealed in prayer, which could not have arisen without faith in Providence. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 283; ed. 1877 3, 420; ed. 1873 1, 120; ed. 1848 1, 10. 12. 13. 68–9. 71; Bible Histor. 247. 341; Zap. on Gen. 3, 43–4. “Paradise was the first church of God on earth, in which God graciously appeared to man, in which man, sanctified by the image of God, was an immaculate priest, in which the tree of life was a visible, mysterious shrine.” “Paradise was like the capital of the earth.” “Moses posits paradise in Eden, a country which, according to the indications of other holy books (Is. 37:12; Eze. 27:23), can probably be sought near Mesopotamia, Syria or Armenia, in the east in relation to the country in which he writes, or to the promised land that he has in mind.” Catech. 25–6; Zap, on Gen. 1, 40–42. 38–9; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 41; Wed Bib. East. 10.12. God assigned simple agricultural labor to the first man also so that “as much as possible, he would further defend himself from the dangerous feeling of complacency and independence, and so that the visible perfection of earthly products, through labor, would bring to his mind the possibility and duty of cultivating his own heart”... Zap. on Gen. 1, 40–2. Zap. on Gen. 1, 49. – In a state of innocence, man was the holy church of God. This “church at its very beginning was clean, for although it was created partly from the dust of the earth, it was created by the hands of God; it was magnificent, for the image of God was placed in it; was holy, for he was filled with the breath of life from the Holy Spirit.” Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 177. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 97; Zap. on Gen. 1, 43. Ibid.; Wed Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 253. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1,157. – Freedom and submission to the moral law are completely compatible. Thus, the Apostle, “having complete freedom, renounces it and enslaves himself to everything: free from everyone, he is enslaved to everyone (1 Cor. 9:19).” This must happen under certain conditions to every other person. “The more willingly and more faithfully the good impulses of the spirit are followed, the more the sacred fire of the spirit ignites, its light shines, it goes from strength to strength, so that... every desire of the human will binds and leaves in inaction, as if in captivity, or in bonds, and only by pure spiritual wisdom, only by Divine love, only by devotion to the will of God, barely, so to speak, leads and carries a person touching the earth, where God and the laws call His kingdom, even if for this it was necessary to go through fire and water, through suffering and death.” This state can be called “blissful captivity, sweet bonds, unlimited free bondage, highly domineering slavery.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 135; ed. 1877 389–390. “Wilfulness is the madness of freedom.” Ed. 1885 5, 559. Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 290–291. “The name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, no doubt, referred to the effect that it could produce in man. However, it could not be a source of knowledge. This tree was supposed to constitute only a means and an opportunity for experimental knowledge or a real feeling of the difference between good and evil. This action could depend both on the properties of the tree and on the special purpose of God.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 40. Zap. on Gen. 1, 43–4; Words and Speeches, ed. 1874 2, 424. “Without a doubt, man was certainly already obliged to this by right of creation; but he had to commit himself to this again, freely, under new promises and charitable conditions on the part of God.” Bib. East. 9. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 151. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 247–8. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 97. 295; Wed Zap. on Gen. 1, 44. Ibid.; Zap. on Gen. 1, 40–2. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 187; ed. 1873 1, 218. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 182. – The introduction of a person into paradise “made him feel that he was not the natural ruler of his blessed home, but a prisoner introduced into it by grace and must pass through it to glory.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 40–2. “Man, having lost the experience of the original pure existence of himself and the universe, has also lost the concept of it. Just as a fish moving in water does not know the better and more perfect life that animals live in the air, so the poor human soul, immersed in the rough and corruptible elemental world and living in it, like a fish in water, does not know the subtle and imperishable life of paradise. Hence the bewilderment of the wise mind about whether such a life truly existed and how it could have been. We have now cited only one of these perplexities as an example of their insignificance.” Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 182; Wed ed. 1877 3, 258. It is difficult to decide how long the blissful state of the first people in paradise lasted. “But that it did not last long can be concluded from the words of the Savior, Who calls the devil a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).” Of the opinions that determine the amount of time of paradise life, more than others “worthy of attention” is the one according to which “Adam’s temptation in paradise lasted for fourty days, since the Redeemer paid for it with a forty-day temptation in the desert.” Bib. East. 12–13. “Some believe that the beginning of their falling away is in envy of man (Wis. 2:24), and some - in pride and deviation from the love of God to selfishness (Is. 14:12. 14), considering envy to be a consequence of the fall.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 54. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 290; Cat. 24. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 315; ed. 1882 4, 586. Letters from M. Filar. to A. N. Muravyov, ed. 1869, paragraph 124. “It is difficult to agree with the opinion” that when the tempter is called a serpent, then “this signifies a simple animal, which, by the example of its eating from a tree forbidden to humans, aroused in Eve an ungodly thought and desire: since in this case Moses would not have needed to attribute to this animal, instead of a simple action, judgments and words unusual for it, and since it is not necessary to present a being as the cause of evil in the world having freedom and acting in accordance with his nature would mean representing God as a tempter, contrary to His own word (James 1:13). It is impossible, on the contrary, to think that this serpent is only the ghost of an animal: since it is clearly compared with animals in the field. So the serpent-tempter is a true, but not a simple animal. A being of the highest kind acts through it, for it acts with reason, but it is an evil being, for it acts against the will of God, to the destruction of men and to its own punishment. This is that being who, precisely from the temptation and deception of men, in the word of God is called the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan (Rev. 20:2; Zech. 3:1), a murderer from the beginning, the father of lies (John 8:44).” Zap. on Gen. 1, 53–4. Zap. on Gen. 1, 53–7; Bib. East. 13. “The tempter, according to the same general rules, acts on all people according to which he acted on the first, with the difference that the serpent, which he uses as his instrument in paradise, is often located not outside, but inside the corrupted human nature, and is excited pride.” The tricks of hell operated in pagan prophecies: “the predictions of the false prophets came from the devil (although) not without the permission and special intention of God”; through pagan writers, “the prince of darkness gave the pagans a kind of revelation.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 76; Bib. East. 140.246.393; Wed Words and Speeches, ed. 1874 2, 288–9. Zap. on Gen. 1, 57–8; Wed “Read. in O.I. et al. Ros." 1870 1, 38–9; Words, ed. 1848 1, 318. “The difference between the sin of the husband and the sin of the wife can be assumed to be that the wife was the first to open her heart to the unknown tempter; and the husband acted against the direct command of God. In this understanding, the Apostle attributes deception to one wife (1 Tim. 2:14) and to one husband sin, crime, disobedience (Rom. 5:12; 14:19).” Zap. on Gen. 1, 58–9. “In some minds there is an opinion that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the firstborn of the three, the fall of the first people is nothing more than the conjugal copulation of Adam and Eve.” To this, first of all, let us note that neither the knowledge-tempter, nor the serpent’s words to Eve, nor Eve’s answers, nor the tree of the knowledge of good and evil can in any way be understood in an allegorical, non-historical sense. Moreover, if “the devil really tempted Eve to do what the new interpreters think about, then this time he would not be as cunning as usual, and very slow-witted. In this case, he would not need to follow the unreliable path of lies and slander: he could start the matter with pure truth. What would be the point in this case and what could the question mean: why did God say that you should not eat from every tree of paradise? The tempter, more reliably for his purpose, could ask: why do you not fulfill what God has said to you: grow and multiply? In this case, the sinned forefathers should have said (to God) in their justification: we did what led to the fulfillment of the commandment: grow and multiply, hitherto unfulfilled and unknown to us. If knowing a wife was the first crime that destroyed the human race: then how could the Apostle say that marriage is honorable in everyone, and the bed is not filthy (Heb. 13:4)? It would be an irreconcilable contradiction of the word of God to itself.” The account of Moses clearly states that “Eve sinned first alone, and not with her husband. How could Moses have written this if he had written the allegory that they want to find here?” Letters from Philar. to A. N. Muravyov - writings 124–125. 129. The same in Approx. to creativity St. O. 1857 4, 22–8. Words and Speeches, ed. 1861 3, 253; Catech. 32. One cannot reproach God for the fact that He “did not completely remove the dangerous tree from paradise, or did not steadfastly strengthen man against temptation.” In order for a person to experience true bliss, he needed to have merit. “If these merits were left to everyone’s own strength, then when should they be accomplished? In a state of innocence? But what feat should he define when he could not accomplish even so little - to abstain from forbidden foods - when this creation, made of dust and dust, admiring its own beauty, considered itself worthy of the glory and honor of God? Would he have agreed to voluntarily go from Eden to Calvary? He would surely refuse to buy bliss in heaven at such a high price, while living on earth in paradise.” If God allowed the devil to tempt the first parents; then this is not a mistake of wisdom, but a move of its highest economy.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 43; Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 1, 290–1. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 281; ed. 1861 3, 345; Zap. on Gen. 1, 54–57. Add. to TV St. From. 1857 4, 24; Zap. on Gen. 1, 58; Catech. 31; Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 97; Wed 5, 187; ed. 1861 3, 253. The opinion of those who produce sin from the limitations and weakness of man is untenable. “Errors, they say, are due to human limitations; vices from human weakness.” But “limitation is not fruit; it gives birth to nothing; because it itself is not nothing, but only a limit, an edge, a lack of essentiality. Let's take the ability of vision as an example. Our eye is limited; for this reason, we stop seeing an object moving away from us at a certain distance, and nothing more”... If vices come from weaknesses, then in order to “be virtuous, you need to be a giant. But we, on the contrary, as from sacred legends we know that when you perform a byahu on the earth, then the malice of men multiplies on the earth (Gen. 6:4-5): so now we often see that people who boast of the strength of spirit more than others, and have less reason than others to complain about bodily weaknesses or shortcomings, fall into vices more than those who are more susceptible to bodily weaknesses and shortcomings than others, and excellent They don’t attribute strength of spirit to themselves”... Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 318. 30; 2, 164. 299. “The root of sin is self-love.” 1, 97. Catech. 31; Zap. on Gen. 1, 44; Words, ed. 1848 1, 155; Wed 150. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 150. 181. – “Disobedience, sin, death: these are links of one chain; he who takes the first link draws to himself the last.” “Sin and death vouch for each other in the world that they are here.” This is quite natural. “Having given existence to insignificance, God gave being a law according to which it would act for good: action according to this law is life... The creature, leaving the limits set for it by the wisdom and goodness of the Creator, cannot ascend to the highest perfection, which, being in itself a insignificance, not only cannot be given, but cannot be returned to itself; (therefore) her deviation from the law is necessarily a fall into the lower circle of action, disorder, destruction “death”. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 155. 150, 97; Wed ed. 1885 5, 536–7. Zap. on Gen. 1, 59; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 94; 2, 12; ed. 1877 3, 366. Words, ed. 1848 1, 98. Zap. on Gen. 1, 44; Catech. 32. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 295. One can “imagine that in its essence it was opposite to the tree of life, that as much life-giving power was contained in the tree of life, as much akin to the substance of deadness was hidden in the tree of knowledge, that as much as the influences of the first were completely consistent with the structure of the human body, so many of the actions of the latter were incongruous with it, and therefore destructive.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 40–2. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 104. 187. Physical death must be viewed as a consequence of sin; because, “according to the word of God (Gen. 2:17), all death is punishment, and, according to ancient church teaching, God created man into incorruption (Wis. 2:23).” Zap. on Gen. 1, 44, 70–1; Bible East. 10. – The difference between bodily and mental death is that “the body, when it dies, loses feeling and is destroyed, and the soul, when it dies by sin, is deprived of spiritual light, joy and bliss, but is not destroyed or destroyed, but remains in a state of darkness, sorrow and suffering.” Catech. 32. – Physical death is not as terrible as mental death, in some cases it can even be beneficial. Bodily death “kills the temporary,” while spiritual death “kills the eternal; she herself is mortal, and this one can be immortal. The tomb, according to one Christian teacher (Tert), is a refuge from death: but this is not for one who dies in sin; for the second death awaits him even beyond the grave (Rev. 21:8) or the revelation of the first death in all its horrors.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 98. Zap. on Gen. 1, 76; Words, ed. 1861 3, 65; ed. 1873 1, 234. – ed. 1848 1, 318; Catech. 32. Soon after the fall, the ancestors noticed their nakedness. “Since the feeling of nakedness is preceded by the fear of God: this feeling can be attributed directly to the action of conscience. In the loins girded with leaves, which are the visible source and sign of offspring (Gen. 24:2; 49:10; Heb. 7:5. 10), she represented to Adam the entire human race and all the generations of sins and punishments that have to be born from the first sin: and the source of God’s blessing appears to him as a source of intolerable shame and torment.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 59. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 279; Zap. on Gen. 1, 104. 80; Wed Words, ed. 1885 5, 537. “So, according to the expression of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 9:21), death rises through our windows; that is, through the feelings with which we communicate with the visible world, too open due to carelessness, and even more due to addiction to the visible, sinful death enters the soul.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 818. Words, ed. 1861 3, 253–4; ed. 1848 1, 149–150. “Although we realize that we have the power to think about whatever we want: however, doesn’t it happen that, raising our thoughts to God, we cannot keep them high for a long time and constantly, that they, as if on purpose, descend, then even despite our efforts to elevate them, they are cast down to the ground, on low, vain objects? Although we feel that it is not some extraneous force that moves our desires, but we ourselves arbitrarily extend them to this or that object: however, does it not happen that, directing our desires to spiritual, heavenly, eternal goods, we experience a strong confrontation with other desires that attract us to earthly, perishable objects, to sensual pleasures, and weaken and delay our desire for God? Words, ed. 1861 3, 259. Words ed. 1877 3, 366; ed. 1848 2 12. – It is known that “pride kills reason”; and original sin consisted partly of pride. Ibid. 1, 5. 97. Words, ed. 1848, 1, 182–3; Wed 155.295; 2, 164; Catech. 33, Words, ed. 1861 3, 41. Words, ed. 1873 1, 177. Words, ed. 1848 1, 97–8. – “If any of us dared to ask: what are we guilty of, who unwittingly inherited sin and corruption from Adam? “For such a person, if he is at all attentive to himself, his own conscience could answer and block the murmuring lips, which can point out cases in everyone’s life in which we were not faithful to good intentions, being quite strong for this even in the case of hereditary damage.” Ibid 183. Words ed. 1848 1, 98. Bib. East. 14. – “The curse (of the earth) can be explained about the scarcity of the fruits of the earth: both because blessing signifies multiplicity and abundance, and the curse is followed by desolation (Gen. 27:27; Mark 11:21; Heb. 6:7-8; Gen. 8:21), and especially because Genesis 3:17 speaks of the earth in the sense that man feeds from her; for the following words of God can be taken as an explanation of this curse. But if the creation, as the Apostle says, sighs and sympathizes and longs for liberation from enslavement to corruption (Rom. 8:19-22), and if for the dwelling of righteousness a new heaven and a new earth are needed (2 Pet. 3:13), then the real curse must extend to more than its fertility alone. Only we cannot determine exactly how great the effect of this curse is, because we have not seen her in a state of primitive blessing.” on Gen. 1, 69. 70 . Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 4–5. Words and Speeches, ed. 18731, 278–9. Words and Speeches, ed. 1877 3, 364; Wed ed. 1873 1–278, 9. However, “be satisfied: says carnality.” But this is an impossible promise. “On the hearth of voluptuousness and luxury grow only those roses that, after delighting the senses, leave sharp thorns for the soul, sooner or later wounding it... These imaginary joys are nothing more than the seed of sorrows; they are not food, but poison for a weak heart.” “Be satisfied: promises covetousness.” But to be covetous means “to be an arbitrary sufferer, and in the sea of ​​abundance, like those possessed by fireweed, with every breath let out a groan, or repeat in the insides; I'm thirsty! “Be satisfied: says ambition.” But “the enviable happiness of disposing of the lot of others is a heavy burden, and the desire for exaltation is an indomitable force, which, when one indulges in its attraction, knows so little of its limits that the possession of the universe seems to be still a small destiny”... “Be satisfied: the glory cries out.” But “isn’t it madness not to have peace throughout your life in order to give a few idle people something to talk about? To console a mortal being with the immortality of a name - doesn’t it mean today to deprive oneself of food in anticipation of the morning?” “Be satisfied: the wisdom of the world teaches.” “Yes, wise men of the world! your exercises would be the most pleasant, your fate the happiest, if passions never covered the bright face of truth with a single cloud, if, instead of love for it, vanity, competition and hatred never ruled you; if the pen could never act in the same way as the sword. But when the bulk of your knowledge consists of useless questions and unsatisfactory answers, doubt and the disastrous art of turning the most sacred truths into verbal disputes: then can your imaginary enlightenment bring peace to the heart? Words, ed. 1873 282–4. Words, ed. 1861 3, 253. Words, ed. 1873 177, 207. “Read. in O.I. et al. Ros." 1870 1, 38. Words, ed. 1848 1, 151. 152. – 287; Wed 178–9; Bib. East. 16; Zap. on Gen. 1, 79. This is the meaning of the word to be saved “in a higher spiritual mind.” “In ordinary use, this word means to get rid of danger, from an enemy, from misfortune, from suffering, from death, from destruction”... Words, ed. 1861 3, 92. Words, ed. 1848 1, 295; 2, 299; Wed 1, 99. Words, ed. 1873 1, 152. Words, ed. 1848 2, 299; Wed 1, 152. Ibid.; Wed Bib. East. 406. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 205; ed. 1861 3, 65. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 149–150. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 2, 6. Ibid. 210; 1, 103. – “The good that you do today, you are obliged to do today, and therefore you do not make up for the evil done yesterday, although, perhaps, you partially correct it. You will intensify your efforts to do good. Wonderful. Only in this way you will not fully pay for the evil done before: because every day you are obliged to do good to the full extent of the forces given to you, and consequently you cannot do anything unnecessary against the lesson given to you, which you could turn into a merit beyond your duty and in atonement for your previous sins. Ibid. Words, ed. 1848 1, 150–1; 2, 6. 210. Words, ed. 1861 3, 65. – A person would not be freed from the obligation to satisfy God’s righteousness for sin even if he stopped sinning; because “what has been done cannot not be done” and because “before a human court, a thief or murderer who has ceased to kidnap and kill does not cease to be worthy of punishment.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 6. Words, ed. 1861 3, 141–2. “In immaculate man the image of God was the source of bliss; in fallen man it is the hope of bliss. He is the very foundation of human nature, which, although now covered with sin and hidden in the earth, is nevertheless supported by the whole building.” Words, ed. 1873 207. Words, ed. 1873 1, 207–8. “God has predestined and has indeed bestowed upon all men prevenient grace and sure means to the attainment of blessedness; and those who voluntarily accept the grace He bestows, use the saving means given by Him and follow the path of bliss shown by Him, He actually predestined to bliss.” Catech. 26–7; Words, ed. 1861 3, 177. Zap. on Gen. 11.127. 128. – The Orthodox teaching about predestination expressed now does not contradict the Bible’s story about God’s rejection of Esau and the election of Jacob. It is known that “the predestination of Jacob and Esau is described in the prophecy of Malachi (Malachi 1:2) and in the Epistle to the Romans (9:10–13) as an action of the all-free will of God. On this, in the doctrine of predestination, some base the opinion that the predestination of man takes place outside of foreknowledge. Against this false, so many harmful conclusion should be noted: 1) that both the Historian (Moses), and the Prophet, and the Apostle speak about the predestination not of individuals, but of tribes and peoples represented in their ancestors; why this example should not be applied to the predestination of persons; 2) that the Apostle, rejecting predestination by works, puts in its place predestination by faith, by which foreknowledge is necessarily presupposed; 3) what was said by the Apostle: is God really unjust? not at all, it refers precisely to foreknowledge and that Moses expounded this same thought historically in the legend (about Esau and Jacob).” “God several times divided the seed of the Patriarchs into better and worse, so that, rejecting one, he would give greater purity to the other: just as they double and triple the winnowing of wheat in order to obtain purer grain... Thus Jacob was chosen, and Esau was rejected. In the story of the last two (Gen. 25:19–34), Moses explains the course of this division and shows: 1) its predestination and foreshadowing before their birth (19–26), 2) its cause and origin in their properties (27–8), 3) its actual beginning in their actions (29–34).” Zap. on Gen. 3, 4. 6. 7–8; Wed, Bib. East. 171. Words, ed. 1848 1, 178, Words, ed. 1861 3, 141–2. Words, Ibid. 63.177; ed. 1848 1, 32. 59. 160; ed. 1873 291. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 149. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 151. 120–1. Words and Speeches, ed. 1873 204; ed. 18481, 150; ed. 1874 2, 313, cf., ed. 1848 1, 6. Words, ed. 1848 1, 119–120. Words, ed. 1873 1, 234; Wed Bib. East. 405. Words, ed. 1861 3, 65–6; Wed Zap. on Gen. 1, 50–2. Words, ed. 1874 2, 295–6; Wed Right Review 1869 1, 357. Words, ed. 1848 1, 296. Words, ed. 1848 1, 151. 32; ed. 1873 152; ed. 1861 3, 51. Words, ed. 1873 207–8. Words, ed. 1848 2, 217. Words and Speeches, ed. 1848 1, 179. Zap. on Gen. 1, 60. 61–2. Words, ed. 1861 3, 102. Zap. on Bib.1, 74–5. Words, ed. 1848 1, 37, Words, ed. 1848 1, 97. – “When it is said that the earth will produce thorns and thistles for man after its curse,” then “there is no need to believe that the curse produced new generations of creatures. And the blessed land could produce thorns and thistles; but for those creatures for whom they served for the benefit and benefit, now she grows them for man, and moreover, where he plants flowers or sows wheat.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 70. Ibid. 23; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 157. – “The suffering of the creature should aggravate the punishment of those who subjected it to their vanity, and make their disaster more striking and instructive. Zap. on Gen. 1, 69–70. Bib. East. 14. – “Man creates a home for himself, and animals also create: in this they are equal to each other. But for food - the birds of the air neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, but on the day of the curse it is said to man: in the sweat of your brow, take away your bread, and what is sown, reaped, gathered into the barns is not yet food for him, unless a millstone, the power of yeast, fire and various arts come to help... And for clothing - the villagers do not toil, nor spin, and also the dumb ones animals: their clothes, without any effort on their part, grow out of their very body, and in the same way, when they become worn out, they are replaced with new ones; and man not only does not find ready-made clothing in the whole world, not only does he need difficult and long-term work in order to make clothes for himself, but he is even forced to either rob or kill other creatures, for example, strip a sheep of its natural clothing in order to be clothed in its waves, or completely kill it in order to be clothed in its skin.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 218–9; Wed 1, 248; Zap. on Gen. 1, 69. Words, ed. 1848 1, 18–9. Words, ed. 18731, 278–9. Zap. on Gen. 1, 67. – “God, who is kind in His punishments, puts some on the path to him and salvation through (special) earthly troubles and deprivations; the path of peace and vanity seems to fall away before them, and they have no place left to seek consolation and hope, except in God and piety. The decisive experience of the impermanence and insignificance of the goods of the world gives them a decisive incentive to renounce the vanities of the world.” Words, ed. 1882 4, 625. Words, ed. 1861 3, 211. The earth produces thorns and thistles for man “where he plants flowers or sows wheat, so that the memory of sin may haunt him in both his needs and his pleasures. When I see a rose, says Basil the Great, it reminds me of my sin, for which the earth is condemned to grow thorns and thistles.” It is also a great instruction for the sinner to see the sin that devastates the universe. Zap. on Gen. 1, 69–70; Words, ed. 1848 2, 219. Words, ed. 1848 1, 97. Words, ed. 1848 2, 127. Words, ed. 1861 3, 102–3. Zap. on Gen. 1, 111. 112; Bib. East. 29. Words, ed. 1882 4. 509–510. Bib. East. 29–30; Words, ed. 1848 1, 22; Wed ed. 1861 3, 278. Words, ed. 1861 3, 344. Words, ed. 1848 1, 183–4. Ibid. 37. – “Just as sin separated man from God, so mortality separates him from the devil.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 76. – If sinful people, contrary to their own intentions, can serve the goals of good and redemption through their actions, then God gives them freedom of action in order to force them to serve good. Zap. on Gen. 3, 149–150; Words, ed. 1882 4, 528; ed. 1848 1, 31. Words, ed. 1877 3, 404–5. Ibid., ed. 1861 3, 344. Words, ed. 1861 3, 194. 238; Wed ed. 1882 4, 626. Words, ed. 1873 1, 216–7. – The Prophet says: the righteous has taken his hand from the presence of evil (Is. 57:1). “What does it mean: from the face of evil? Or from the face of evil committed by people, from which the righteous sometimes suffer more in life than in death, even martyrdom; or on behalf of other evil, with which the just God punishes from time to time” and stops the evil committed by people. Ibidem. “The Tower of Siloam fell in Jerusalem and killed eighteen people with its fall. Having pointed out this incident, Christ the Savior extracted from it the following reasoning: Do you think that these are more important than all those living in Jerusalem? Neither, I say to you: but unless you repent, you will all perish likewise (Luke 13:4–5). This example leads to the general conclusion that in a public calamity, which for those who do not understand is random and incomprehensible, those who understand and believe must see the rebuke of God’s judgment, which amazes some, and threatens all debtors of God’s justice, that is, sinners, in order to arouse them to repentance and protect them from further punishment and destruction itself.” Words, ed. 1848 2,206; ed. 1861 3, 212. “What is temptation? – The test of what, in what, or in whom, what property, what strength, what superiority, or, on the contrary, what imperfection, is found, unreliably recognizable on the outside, or completely hidden in the inside (Proverbs 17:3). A thing that appears to be gold can be either pure gold, or impure, or not at all gold in the inside: in fire the gold becomes purer, the impurity is separated, the counterfeit substance is exposed.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 270–280; 2, 256. Words, ed. 1873 1, 136–7. Words, ed. 1848 1, 184–5; Wed ed. 1861 3, 77–8. - “Love of God, for us to be worthy of Him, must take precedence in us over any other.” God “makes it easier for us to fulfill this duty” by making our enemy the charming world, which is so difficult to stop loving.” God “wishes us Divine happiness—happiness to turn evil into good, obstacles into means, and not have the need for earth on the way to heaven.” Indeed, the pious “do not complain about their bitter fate, do not want it to change; they rejoice, they bless God; they are happy.” They rejoice in my sufferings ( Col. 1:24; cf. Job 21; 2 Cor. 1:5) – says the Apostle.” Words, ed. 1873 1, 137; ed. 1848 1, 184. Words, ed. 1848 2, 128. Words, ed. 1848 1, 12–3; Wed 249. Ibid. 249–250; compare ed. 1861, 3, 284; ed. 1873 1, 137–8. Words, ed. 1848 1, 154. Words, ed. 1848 2, 127–8. Words, ed. 1848 1, 98; ed. 1882 4, 589. Words, ed. 1848 1.98. Words, ed. 1861 3, 240. Words, ed. 1861 3, 277–8. Words, ed. 1848 2, 271. 141. Words, ed. 1873. 1, 118–119. Words, ed. 1848 II. 135. – The fact that the action of God’s providence in the human race is rarely noticeable to you does not yet prove that it does not exist at all. “The Kingdom of God over the kingdom of man is not for everyone and is not always obvious, firstly, because the King of heaven is immeasurably high and incomprehensible, and His descending action is often hidden in a chain of intermediary natural causes and actions; secondly, because, reigning over the kingdoms to which He granted freedom, He keeps His gift inviolable and leaves plenty of room for human freedom; and this is why it happens that for quite a long time we hear noise and see the movement of human affairs, often mixed and disorderly, and do not notice how God’s Providence and judgment quietly follow it, affirming, protecting and exalting that which serves the kingdom of God, and sooner or later deposing that which opposes it. Therefore, in order to see the reign of God over the kingdom of man, one must observe with attention special cases in which it, as required by circumstances, is revealed with particular clarity.” Words, ed. 1861 3.240. Suffering and well-being serve in the hands of a good and just Providence as a means to educate in piety not only individual people, but also entire human societies. Only in this case it should be noted that in God's relations with the kingdoms of men there should be more correspondence with their general moral mood than in relations with individual people. “It is more convenient to imagine a person without reward for his deeds in this life, since for him there is another life in which this reward will be accomplished, than to imagine a kingdom and people without reward for the truth or sins of the kingdom and people; for since for earthly kingdoms and peoples there is no other royal and national existence other than the earthly, it is not otherwise than in this existence that the whole work of God’s truth must be accomplished over them.” This, however, does not mean that there is no place for long-suffering in God’s relations with the kingdoms of men. “For several centuries Abraham saw the lifted up hand of God, ready to bring down a punitive blow (on the Ammorites), but held back by long-suffering until the predetermined moment of justice; not, as it was said to him at that time, the sins of the Ammorites have been filled to this day (Gen. 15:16).” Words, ed. 1848 2. 141–2; Wed Zap. on Gen. 2. 89–90. – The gradually increasing power of sin finally fills the measure of God’s patience, and the kingdom is subjected to just punishment, so one cannot be tempted by the fact that sometimes a vicious society does not fall apart. “A depraved society is in strength like a man in a fever: his strong and rapid actions are the effect of illness, and often a harbinger of death.” Words, ed., 1848 1. 98. Words, ed. 1848 2, 288; Wed 1. 212; Catech. 80; Zap. on Gen. 3, 18.99. 1, 131. Words, ed. 1877 3, 450 – ed. 1848 2, 260. Zap. on Gen. 3, 85–6. Words, ed. 1848 2. 259–261; Wed Zap. on Gen. 3. 113. “The truth of God divides the spirit of knowledge among people by an unequal measure so that its concentrated power is all the more unhindered and extensive in its actions and so that through the advantage of some the good of each and every one increases.” Words, ed. 1873 1, 166. - “But since the improvement and protection of human society primarily depends on the supreme power over it, then the need arises for God’s providence to be primarily concentrated over the supreme power.” Words, ed. 1861 3.240. Words, ed. 1848 1, 311. 315–6. Words, ed. 1848 2, 344–5; Wed 1, 316–7. Ibid. 314. The activity of evil spirits is only permitted by God either as a punishment for people, or as a test of virtue. After what has been said about the Providence of God, one cannot help but admit that “the cases of the sons of men, whom the manifold wisdom of God leads along the paths of a righteous and good Providence, are so numerous, so diverse, so intertwined with mutual relationships, so deeply hidden by their beginnings in the hearts that one Heart-Knower tests, so far extended by their consequences throughout the mortal and immortal existence of people, that it is impossible to desire To understand everything that is dark in them, to explain everything that is difficult, would be to want to count the sand, or to scoop up the sea with a handful.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 128–9. – “The general law of judgment over sin, partly impressed in nature, partly brought into action by Providence, is not always revealed, not always quickly, not always equally according to the types, degrees and circumstances of sin, light, heavy, flagrant, involuntary, voluntary, through ignorance, through passion, through addiction, struggling, overcoming, prevailing, hated, loved, repented, unrepentant, correctable a temporary court, left to an eternal court. Who can measure the depth, explore the paths of God’s destinies.” Words, ed. 1882 4, 538–9. Words, ed. 1877 3. 404–5. “Faith was the consequence and end of the mysterious guidance of God.” Zap. on Gen. 2, 85. “In a night vision, God appeared to Abraham (Gen. 15:1. 12), Abimelech (Gen. 20:3), Jacob on the way to Haran (Gen. 28:12-3), and Laban (Gen. 31:24). He talked with them, and Jacob, moreover, saw the ladder, the Angels and Jehovah himself, in some form different from them. Between sleep and wakefulness, the youth Samuel heard the voice of God; and this voice was like the voice of Elijah the high priest (1 Samuel 3:4-10). In the same state, it seems, Balaam had some revelations (Num. 22:8–9. 24:3–4). The images in which God gave people in a state of vigil to recognize His presence are many different, such as: a) an Angel, outwardly appearing in the form of a man, but known from conversation, or inspired by the gaze of his awe and miraculous actions. Such were the appearances of Hagar (Gen. 16:7–13), to Abraham at the oak grove of Mamre (chap. 18), to Gideon (Judges 6:11, 16:21), and to Manoah (Judges 13:3, 6:20). Then: b) An angel descending from heaven and speaking either as a messenger of God or in the person of God Himself. This was the second appearance to Hagar (Gen. 21:17–8) and to Abraham during the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22:11–12. 15–6). Further: c) the man in what form the Lord fought with Jacob (Gen. 32:24); d) a voice from a burning bush, as God appeared to Moses for the first time (Exodus 3:4); e) a voice in the midst of smoke and fire, as God appeared to all Israel on Mount Horeb (Ex. 20:18; Deut. 4:15); f) a voice from the cloud, which was in the main appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:5–7); g) the voice of gentle breathing, after a storm, earthquake and flame; This is how God revealed himself to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11–13); h) a felt but incomprehensible overshadowing of the Spirit or the power of God, instilling in man the will of God; in this state Jaziel prophesied (2 Chronicles 20:14-5) and many other Prophets - sometimes they used some external aids to prepare themselves for this state, such as. Elisha used music (2 Kings 3:15); i) An angel speaking internally to man as an instrument of the Lord, who is at the same time present and felt without any images. This was apparently the kind of revelation of Zechariah (1:9. See Hierin Gal. 3:19). Although some wonderful visions are also perceived by the external senses; but the Manifestations of God actually occur in the spirit, so that at this time the outer man, depending on his preliminary purification and refinement, is sometimes elevated and enlightened, and sometimes, on the contrary, exhausted. This is evident from the examples of Jacob (Gen.32:25), Moses (Exod.34:29), Daniel (Exod.10:7–9), and the Apostles (Matt.17:6; Luke9:32; Acts9:3–8; Rev.1:10–17). The union of the appearing God with the Angel, the instrument of the manifestation, is sometimes so deep that the same effect is attributed to both without distinction (Ex. 20:1; Acts 7:38. 53; Gal. 3:19; Heb. 2:2) and that the one who sees it cannot distinguish the efficient cause from the instrument, as happened with John (Rev. 22:6-9).” Zap. on Gen. 2, 55–7. Zap. on Gen. 1, 65–7; Wed 1.71–2. Words, ed. 1848 1, 151. 178–9. There, see a similar explanation of Genesis 3:15. Words, ed. 1861 3, 41; Wed Zap. on Gen. 3, 4. Bib. East. 4. The history of people’s preparation to receive the Savior is similar to the history of the creation of the World, which is indicated in the Holy Scripture itself (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; 2 Cor. 4:6; Heb. 4: 3–4. 9–10). “In the beginning the church was heaven and earth together, or heaven on earth. The Fall of man made it an uneducated and empty land. Darkness covered her as if she had completely united with the abyss of fallen spirits. But the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, that is, over the tribes of men (which in the word of God are depicted as waters: Ex. 8:6-7; Rev. 17:15), perishing in Adam, and grace overshadowed him. God sent him the light of revelation about the Redeemer, and separated the kingdom of light from the kingdom of darkness, the believing man from the unrepentant devil, the seed of the woman from the seed of the serpent, the tribe of Seth from the tribe of Cain, the house of Noah from the corrupted one at the end of the first world. In order to reveal the light of revelation in greater clarity, God wanted to build the firmament, that is, a society in which His promises would be unshakably established and which would tell all other nations His glory and proclaim the gracious work of His hands (Is. 18:1 5; Rom. 10:18). For this reason, the troubled waters of the earthly tribes, during the pandemonium of Babylon, were divided; and the rejected nations, like the waters under the firmament, covered the earth, thinking only of the earth; Abraham and the Patriarchs, like waters above the firmament, ascended to the highest promises and closest union with God, and the chosen people who descended from them were purified and confirmed by the law.” Zap. on Gen. 1, 30. Bib. East. 19. 20. 21. 22–23. Zap. on Gen. 2, 12–13; Wed Bib. East. 34–5. Zap. on Gen. 2, 43, 46 et al. Zap. on Gen. 2, 50–178. 3, 32–33. 65–67; Bib. East. 48–49. 62–4. Words, ed. 1848 1, 131; – ed. 1861, 3, 195–6. Zap. on Gen. 3, 183–4. In patriarchal times, the truths of the faith were studied by descendants from their ancestors, repeated by frequent revelations, experientially cognizable visions in which the Son of God took on the image of a man. Moreover, many mysteries of grace-filled vision in these times were presented in various prototypes: thus, the seedless birth of Jesus Christ was depicted in the barrenness of Sarah and Rebecca; the union of the Divine and human natures in Him - in Jacob’s vision of the ladder; His suffering, suffered from his family, but later became a source of blessing - in the adventures of Joseph; His death on the cross and resurrection are in the sacrifice of Isaac; grace given to the Gentiles, but lost to the Jews, in the blessing of Jacob and Esau; the state of the militant church - in the pilgrimage of the Jews, etc. Incidents, which even now seem so significant, should not have been useless for those in front of whom and with whom they occur: they bore the stamp of the visible action of Providence, and from this it must be concluded that they served as a school of saving faith for the patriarchs.” Bib. East. 64–5. Read more about the prototype. see Zap. on Gen. 1, 131–3. 2, 13–4. 100–102. 109–110. 157–9. 176–8. 3, 27–9. 73–7. 103–4. 111–112. 129–130, etc. Ibid. 115; Wed Words, ed. 1848 1, 110–111. “The numerous details of the law, as well as the multiplication of people, but the decrease in those capable of direct revelations, the spread of idolatry, the shortening of human life, were the reasons why the spirit of heavenly teaching is contained in the writings of the sacred books.” Bib. Histor. 115–6; Wed “Thu.” in General love etc. " 1872 3, 43. Words, ed. 1873 1, 160. Bib. East. 131 et al.; Wed Cat. 94–6. “The name Mecciah is attributed to the patriarchs (Ps. 105:15), the prophets, such as (eg.) Elijah anointing Elisha (1 Kings 19:16), kings such as (eg.) Saul (1 Kings 12:3) and Cyrus (Is. 45:7), high priests, such as (eg.) Aaron (Ex. 29:7) and finally this name was given to the only Redeemer of the human race, Jesus, as a prophet, king and high priest, anointed not with earthly oil, but with heavenly oil (Ps. 44:8; Is. 61:1), whom the Old Testament patriarchs, prophets, kings and priests typified.” Bib. East. 217–8; “Read. in General love d. prosv". 1873 1, 9. “By the clear correspondence of some parts of the Psalter with other parts of Holy Scripture, one can find in it the complete composition of the teaching about Christ and the church.” Bib. East. 218; “Read. in General love etc. " 1872 1, 11; details further. Words, ed. 1848 2, 273. Bib. East. 286; Wed Cat. 36; Words, ed. 1848 1.12–4. 22–4; 2, 204–5; ed. 1861 3, 293. Bible East. 337–8.; Wed Words, ed. 1874 2, 314; ed. 1861 196. Words, ed. 1848 2, 60–1. Words, ed. 1861 3, 41–2. Bib. East. 250. 308; Wed 303. Ibid. 62–4. 136, 280; Words, ed. 1848 1, 151–2. Words, ed. 1874 2, 313–4. Let us draw attention, among other things, to the universal existence of prayer. “The pagans pray, of course, either because God, who is abandoned by the creature, but does not abandon it, leaves some sparks of His light in their darkened hearts, which enlightens every person coming into the world, and whom darkness does not embrace (John 1:9-5), which even in the flesh arouses some feeling of spiritual need, gives some premonition about the possibility of its satisfaction, and thus encourages them to cry out to the unknown God for unknown help; or because from the very cronyism of sensuality, in which paganism was mired, sometimes some inspired souls arose who, aware of the baseness and impurity of this state, with a sincere desire and effort to know the powers of the spiritual world, achieved some communion of them and then taught others to achieve the same with a sincere and strong desire, that is, prayer; or, finally, because from those times when there was true knowledge of God throughout the entire human race, and consequently, the power and reality of true prayer was known throughout the entire human race, despite the subsequent damage to the worship of God, there remained an indelible universal confidence both in the necessity of the worship of God itself and in the benefits of prayer, that is, about its power and reality.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 68. Ibid. 398–9. 381–2; Wed 388–392; Words, ed. 1873, 1, 134. Words, ed. 1848 1, 5. Even now, “man, due to his sinfulness, turns away and moves away from God; due to his changeability and weakness, he does not always listen to Him; due to his spiritual blindness and carnal coarseness, he often does not notice the subtle spiritual actions of the Divine.” Words, ed. 1848 2, 18. Words, ed. 1873 1, 204–5. “Don’t you think that it is very simple to accept God’s blessing, even if it is very high? Not really. Look at Sarah's experience. The Lord speaks to Abraham about her: I will bless her and give you a child by her (Gen. 17:16). You see what precedes her in absentia and in advance, so that she prepares to actually receive the blessing. But what? And after this preliminary, when the promised blessing was decisively given in her presence, she, it seems, was not found sufficiently able to accept it. Sarah laughed within herself (Gen. 18:12). No matter how innocent this laughter may be, it seems to be dissatisfied with its place before the word of God and before the face of God.” But “blessed among women, the Most Holy Virgin Mary was perfectly prepared for the highest of God’s blessings, which suddenly appeared upon her, and thereby contributed to the accomplishment of the long-prepared, called for and expected saving incarnation of the Son of God for us.” Words, ed. 1848 1, 179–180; Wed ed. 1873 1, 134; ed. 1861 3, 46.