30. Слово в день рождения государыни императрицы Марии Александровны (о воспитании детей в духе христианском. Просветить ум и образовать сердце можно только в Господе Иисусе, получая сверхъестественную помощь в Церкви Божией, в святых ее таинствах и всех освятительных учреждениях)

On days like this, attention involuntarily stops on objects loved by those people to whom these days are dedicated. What is closest to the heart of the Most Pious Empress Maria Alexandrovna? What is She most concerned about? What troubles Her soul? This is raising children. And thought used to imagine her surrounded by children, despised or despised, educated or brought up. Therefore, I do not consider it inappropriate, now, on the solemn day of Her birth, to say a few words about education, especially in this church, located in the house for raising children, and, moreover, on the day of the solemn act in it. The word about education - in the church, you already guessed, will concern education in the Christian spirit. Add to your guess that, according to the judgment of all who love the truth, there can be no lasting education other than that which is carried out in this spirit. This is how it is everywhere, at least, it is assumed to be so everywhere. And here - the mere fact that in this institution there is a church of God, and, of course, not as a random addition, but as a deliberate part of the building, or even its core, giving direction to all other parts - this alone sufficiently confirms that both the meaning and the content of this church served and serves as a guiding principle for everything that is taught and accustomed to here, and that educators and pupils gather in this church not only to offer their prayers to God, but also so that on His behalf he can receive lessons and instructions in his difficult task of education, placing the beginning of faith and life by faith as the basis of his work. With this thought, should we wish that it would be so, or should we thank the Lord that it is already so? “But in every possible way, I think, and not contrary to your conviction, I will say that it should be so.” In fact, what do educators want? They want to enlighten the mind and form the heart. Where can we find solid foundations and effective tools for both? - Nowhere, as in our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who has given us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and deliverance” (1 Cor. 1:30), that is, in the holy faith bestowed by Him, with all its saving institutions. For what does it mean to enlighten the mind? – Does it mean to imprint in it sound concepts about everything that exists and happens, namely: the concept of what God is, what His properties are, in what relationship He was pleased to place Himself in relation to the world and to us? What is this world, where does it come from, what holds it together and where is it going? What are we ourselves, why are we here on this earth, what does this half-light and half-dark state of ours mean, what awaits us in the future, etc.?.. The totality of such concepts constitutes the wisdom that man has always so actively sought and is seeking. And whoever knows all this truly is not unjustly called enlightened, as seeing everything in a clear light. It should be noted that these concepts are answers to questions that trouble our minds. There is no person who is not troubled by these questions, and there is no one who does not solve them in one way or another. But their real solution - the most reassuring and the most correct - is contained in the Revelation of Jesus Christ and is taught by the Holy Church. Here God is the All-Perfect Spirit, one in essence and threefold in persons, the Creator of the world and the Provider of all; the world is the creation of God, called into being by the single word of the Almighty and the verb of power, His contents are bound in everything by unchangeable laws, by the good will of God's will at every moment ready to submit and those who submit; man is a rational creature, full of perfections at first, then fallen and upset, now restored by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Church by the grace of the Spirit and, finally, having to appear in new glory in the next century, for faith and labor, good deeds, and so on. What bright, sublime and fruitful concepts! After this, it is in vain that the mind begins to solve them on its own. The experiences of his decisions, before the coming of Christ the Savior, and now in the West, among those who have overthrown the good yoke of obedience to the word of a false God, tangibly convince how weak he is in this regard and how much more akin to him here, as in many other things, remains forever a student and does not dare to ascend to the teaching chair. That is why we reject all his nonsense very thoroughly and intelligently. What remains for the enlighteners of the mind? – Do not invent, but take ready-made Divine truths and imprint them on the minds of children, and then on them, as on foundations, build the entire building of knowledge, or the entire body of sciences. What firmness and courage a mind thus enlightened acquires! How strong is the whole sum of knowledge in him, being imbued with a single spirit and common principles! What does it mean to form a heart? – It means to awaken the demands hidden in our nature, transform them into feelings and dispositions, proclaim them into the principles and rules of life, so that then one can say about everyone who possesses them: here is a perfect person. The question is, how to do this? Many people think that development is enough for this. Develop, they say, nature. Just as from a seed that has vegetated and opened, a tree or a flower emerges, perfect in its own way, so a person will also come out perfect if everything hidden in his nature is developed. It seems that such a situation could be more reasonable and more thorough? But what turns out is not at all what is expected. For example, when developing the aesthetic side, they surround the pet with elegant objects and teach them to practice the arts. The taste develops little by little; but at the same time various kinds of lust are expressed, and, moreover, in forms that are completely inelegant. Also: in order to teach them to behave with dignity, they introduce them into society and discover all the methods of decent mutual treatment. The goal is achieved to some extent; but at the same time pride, arrogance, self-will, inaccessibility, and contempt for inferiors are introduced. They are also accustomed to various kinds of responsiveness and activity: sometimes they lead to success; But isn’t self-interest, interest and ruthless pretentiousness growing more successfully? So it is in everything. What does this mean? Isn't good seed being sown? And why are there tares? - Because the seed of our nature was damaged by the fall, and much that was unnatural and unnatural was grafted into it, which, however, along with the natural, shows the right to satisfaction, hiding behind the guise of naturalness. That is why, where they indiscriminately develop everything that is found in a person, along with what is akin to us, they also develop what is not akin to us, and in our nature there are many parasites that often choke and dry up the natural branches. So, not everything needs to be developed in us; but develop some, and suppress and eradicate others. And this is the whole difficulty of upbringing and education. We do not have eyes or visual instruments to distinguish between the thin, intertwined threads of the natural and the unnatural. And even if it were possible to distinguish, there is no tool or anatomical knife to separate one from the other. Even if this were the case, there would be no strength to reinforce and revive what is akin to us and suppress what is not akin to us. Thus, while we are alone, with our own means, we cannot expect lasting success in the formation of the heart. And here the prudent educator fully feels the extreme need for supernatural help. And it is ready in the Church of God, in its holy sacraments and all sanctifying institutions. Divine grace, communicated and warmed by them, penetrating inside us, separates what is akin to us from what is not akin and, uniting with the former, strengthens it and revitalizes it, and by cutting off the latter, it dries up and destroys it. Therefore, whoever grows under the influence of them, without any special effort on the part of parents or educators, except for the inevitable warnings, appears upon entering the field of activity with feelings and dispositions that are purely human (or - what is the same thing - truly Christian), without an admixture of ugly unnaturalities that humiliate humanity. Thus, if they want to have strong effective means for the formation of the heart, let them keep those raised under the influence of the saving sacraments of the Church and all its sanctifying rites - and their work will be crowned with complete success... Let them not alienate children from the Church and churchliness, from prayers, fasting, fasting, confession and communion, keeping holidays and visiting shrines and other things, and you can be sure that at the end of the course of education the soul of the pets is like a virgin pure, she will be presented to Christ for every good work prepared. That's the whole educational program! To imprint the truths of faith in the mind, placing them as stewards of all other knowledge and concepts and to lead the pupils steadily according to the instructions of our guardian Mother Church; and children will come out strong in mind and kind in heart, kind with lasting and unshakable kindness. Where in any branch of knowledge concepts are allowed that are contrary to the truths of faith, they darken the mind of those being educated and weaken it with an admixture of lies. And where, moreover, they are somehow alienated from the Church, they spoil the heart, allowing unnatural (passionate) feelings and dispositions to open up and grow stronger in it. In offering all this, however, I offer it not as a lesson or reproach, but as a simple reminder, in the form of sharing our mutual convictions, which it is not unnecessary to renew and enliven by such reciprocity, in the present age of uncertain aspirations, almost without a goal or a starting point. Let us not deviate from the right path, and instead of instilling evil in our trusting childhood! For there will be a time when we will all stand before the face of the Judge: as if at that time we would not have to hear from the now silent children the reproachful question: “But you taught us the wrong thing,” or: “You didn’t teach us this!” Amen. July 27, 1859 In the Tambov Cadet Corps. You might be interested in: