Часть 13. В страстную седмицу Великого поста

On Tuesday of Holy Week (while you labor your flesh, labor your soul too) “The Lord coming to free passion, the Apostle said on the way: “Behold, we are ascending to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed... to be crucified” (Matthew 20, 18, 26:2). Come, then, and we will descend upon Him and be crucified for His sake with the pleasures of life.” Thus, the Holy Church invites us to descend, suffer and be crucified with the Lord in these days, dedicated to the remembrance of His Divine suffering and death. As obedient children, you heeded this mother’s calling and entered upon the path of descent to the Lord indicated by her. And now I must not convince you to obey, but, comforted by your obedience, I wish only that you would more fully and perfectly bring to an end what you have already begun. And in fact, if any of you asked: “Behold, the Church invites us to descend to the Lord, who is going into free passion, how can we do this?”, then they would have nothing to answer, except perhaps: “Do what you do, just do it as you should - and you will descend to the Lord.” So you fast, go to church and pray at home, you have left worldly affairs for a while and are more with yourself, you have imposed pious activities on yourself and for this you take away part of your time from sleep - large or small. So do it. Fasting until the body feels deprived of contentment in food and drink, prayerful work until the flesh becomes tired, the elimination of the usual mutual relationships with forcing oneself to engage in soul-saving activities, wakefulness, despite the fact that it tends to sleep, and much more associated with fasting, constitutes the first step in following the Lord to the crucifixion. You just need to willingly, without self-pity, lift this burden. The man is life-loving. A slight scarcity of food and deprivation of sleep, or unusual weariness and fatigue, irritates the cry of the flesh and it seems to him that they are making an attempt to take his life. Whoever now, despite this cry, this, as it were, parting with life, not only does not succumb to self-pity, but, on the contrary, with a desire for self-bitterness forces himself to do the work shown, every time he does this, he takes a step after the Lord. And it must be said that only such a one is like Him in this regard. Is this true for you? If so, then you are there. If not, take care to add to the work that you still undertake this ruthless desire to embitter your flesh for the sake of the Lord. By this you will sacrifice your love of life to the Lord, or you will offer your flesh to be crucified with Him, imitating, albeit in a small way, His feat in the Garden of Gethsemane. Having started this way, force yourself to move even closer to the Lord in following Him. I want to say: when you toil your flesh, labor your soul too. Although the body and soul make up one person, but, as you know, the body often does one thing, and the soul does another. Bring your body and soul into harmony in the labors you are now undertaking. While fasting with your body, force your soul to fast: cut off wishes, suppress the emergence of passionate movements: anger, condemnation, exaltation, self-interest, intransigence, and others. While you trouble your body to stand in prayer here, in church, or at home, work hard with your soul to stand reverently before the face of the Lord in your heart, paying attention to what you sing and read. If you eliminate worldly rumors and isolate yourself with your body, add to this the undistractedness of your mind and concentration within yourself. If you force the body to be awake, you also arouse vigor of spirit or a living aspiration of zeal for the Lord. If you force yourself to engage in spiritual pursuits, force your soul to have a desire for them, which it cannot always boast of. When you do this, you will bind your soul. And she, accustomed to free movements and free actions, feeling the bonds on herself, will begin to languish, as if in captivity, and will raise a cry of discontent. But do not weaken in self-compulsion. In this way you will become like the Lord when He was led bound to trial, and, therefore, you will become even closer to Him in His descent into free passion. The work of body and soul together is the same as stepping first on one foot and then on the other, and represents a most successful procession after the Lord. Let's come even closer. Let us stand in judgment like the Lord. You've already planned to do this. I mean your fasting with the goal of partaking of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. They prepare for the most worthy Communion by cleansing their souls from all sins in Repentance. And this is what it requires: reconsider your life and compare it with the commandments of the Gospel, note everything that is inconsistent with them, recognize your guilt in this and condemn yourself without self-justification, be contrite in your heart and mourn for everything that has offended the Lord, and confess everything without concealment with the firm intention not to succumb to more sinful passions. Whoever does this properly will become like the Lord, as He was led for trial and condemnation to Annas and Caiaphas, from them to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, from this again to Pilate. The difference is that the Lord was unjustly condemned and embittered, but we will judge ourselves and crush ourselves righteously. But just as the Lord was unrighteously condemned for our justification, so our righteous self-condemnation will be our justification, through the innocent condemnation of the Lord. Do you want to finally approach the Lord Himself and go with Him to His free suffering, as if step by step? This is what you do: go through the Lord’s entire path of the cross in deep reflection, perceive with a sense of His illness, as much as our nature can accommodate, and have compassion for Him in your heart. Start by praying to the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, in tightness and languor until you sweat blood; go with Him, bound, along steep slopes and gorges to the courtyard of the bishops; stay with Him during the unrighteous criticism of Him, during the mockery of mocking slaves, during the denial of Peter; follow Him to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod and back; listen to the cry of the people and the rage of the condemners and the unrighteous verdict; carry the Cross with Him to Golgotha ​​- heavy until you fall under it with the noise of the blinded people and the caustic speeches of the triumphant elders; endure the nailing to the Cross, when nails were driven into living flesh, the raising of the Cross, which tore apart the wounds and disturbed the cycle of life, the crying of those close to them, and in their midst the Most Pure Mother, the mockery of the foolish, extreme humiliation to the point of: “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28) and bowing the head with surrendering the spirit to the Lord. Go through all this mentally and reproduce it more vividly in yourself, arouse sympathy for those illnesses and so sincerely enter into compassion that it is as if you yourself were suffering and accepting wounds. And you will be like the women who, walking after the Lord who carried the Cross, shed tears. So, step by step, you will come closer and closer to the Lord, who is coming in free passion, and will descend upon Him. Starting with physical labors, move on from them to spiritual deeds, and with both, perform self-examination: mourn and correct what is faulty in Repentance in order to worthily partake of the Mysteries of Christ; finally, by in-depth reflection on the sufferings of the Lord, enter into sympathy and compassion for Him. But is that all? Don't you notice that this path cannot end? This is how they descend only to the Lord coming to death. But it is not only necessary to descend, but also to be crucified with Him. How is this possible? When you embark on the path of true Christian life and begin to fulfill the commandments of Christ, then you will constantly crucify yourself for the sake of the Lord, or be crucified with Christ the Savior for salvation. Everything mentioned above is only a preparation for this. In the suffering of the Lord and compassion for Him we have an incentive to a Christian virtuous life, in spiritual and physical exploits we accept help for it, in Repentance and Communion we will lay the foundation for it and receive strength. All that remains now, having accomplished everything, is to begin to live truly as a Christian. And how and why this life is co-crucifixion with the Lord, you will understand at first. Feel for yourself how, in the performance of Christian virtues, sometimes our hands and feet are nailed, sometimes our heart is struck, sometimes our head is crowned with thorns, sometimes our whole body of nature is covered with wounds. I won't explain how it is. You know or you will find out. And I will conclude my word with sincere good wishes to you. May the Lord bless you not only to descend with Him, but also to be crucified with Him, for there is no other way to salvation! Amen. On Wednesday of Passion Week (how to avoid the fate of bitter Judas) Today, by the way, there is a bitter memory: the elders of the Jews gathered in the house of Caiaphas and discussed how to seize the Lord Jesus by cunning and put Him to death. At this time, uninvited by anyone, one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, comes to them and says: “What do you want to give me, and I will betray Him to you?” (Matthew 26:15). They gave him thirty pieces of silver. When I read this passage of Scripture, my soul was filled with indignation both at the elders and at Judas. Where were these elders looking that they had brought upon themselves and the people the guilt and punishment of deicide? And how could Judas, who was always so close to the Lord and so clearly saw the fullness of the Divine imprinted on Him, decide to do such an act? Then my thought turned to the character of Judas’ betrayal, and while I was thinking about this, my own deeds began to arise one after another from my conscience, very similar to the deed of Judas. The further, the more. Then, instead of indignation at Judas, fear for myself began to revive and an inner voice said to me: “Leave Judas, turn to yourself quickly and take care to avoid his bitter fate.” With this, brethren, I come out to you. I intended to depict before you the blackness of Judas’ betrayal. And now I say: let’s leave Judas. Let us better reconsider our affairs in order to cleanse from our life everything that bears any character trait of Judas, and thereby avoid the Heavenly punishment that fell on him. What is especially striking about Judas is that during his time with the Lord, he was exactly the same in life as all the Apostles. With them he ate, drank, walked, spent nights, with them he heard teachings and saw the miracles of the Lord, with them he endured all his needs, even went to preach the Gospel and, perhaps, performed miracles in the name of the Lord: neither the Apostles nor others saw any special feature in him. And yet, in the end, do you see what happened? Where does this fruit come from? Of course, from the inside, from the soul. And so, you see, something was ripening inside the soul that at the time there were no signs on the outside. Did even Judas himself know that in his heart he cherished such a snake that would finally destroy him? According to the custom of our enemy to hide the bonds with which he entangles the sinner, he always hides the main passion with various extraneous appearances from consciousness and even conscience, and only then, when he counts on the certain death of a person, does he release it - to attack - on him with all uncontrollable fury. One can, judging by this, think that Judas did not see all the ugliness of his passion and recognized himself as no worse than the other Apostles. And he fell, as if without foreseeing it. With this in mind, brothers, let us turn to ourselves and conduct a strict examination of the innermost movements of our hearts, without dwelling on our shameless appearance. In appearance, look how thin we are? And yet, who knows, maybe there is a serpent coiling around our hearts that is ready to destroy us - and will destroy us if the opportunity presents itself. Let me remind you of the thought of Saint Macarius of Egypt, who says: “Do not boast about any deeds or any exploits. But if you went into the very depths of your heart and killed the serpent nesting there, poisoning with its poison all manifestations of your life, then give thanks to the Lord.” He meant this either the sin living in us, or the main passion of everyone into which that sin is transformed. And this is what you should pay attention to most of all during the self-examination and Confession that is before you. Find your main passion. Convict her, throw her out. “The Lord does not require you,” says another elder, “to fast when you suffer from selfishness. Give him the simplicity of almsgiving. The Lord does not require noble and glorious deeds from you when you are infected with vanity. Give him humility and self-abasement." Same with everything else. The Lord wants us to expose that particular passion in ourselves and promise to overcome it, which overcomes us even more, and to distinguish ourselves in that particular virtue that is opposite to the passion that overcomes us. When you do this, then all other virtues will come into order and strength, and passions will weaken, for they usually stay close to our dominant passion. But let's turn again to Judas. So he carried a thorn in his heart. An opportunity presented itself and passion began to boil. The enemy took him, poor man, for this passion, clouded his mind and conscience and led him, like a blind or bound slave, first to crime, and then into the destruction of despair. But this would not have happened if he had revealed his passion to the Lord. The physician of souls would immediately heal the illness of his soul. And Judas would have been saved. The same will happen to us if we do not reveal our passion to our spiritual father. Now it will quiet down, but after that, just by chance, now it will fall. If we open ourselves, we contrite, we set the intention not to give in and ask the Lord for help in this, then we will stand faithfully, for “there is greater suffering in us than in the world” (1 John 4:4). The Lord, by His grace, at the hour of resolution, will kill passion and plant the seed of the opposite virtue. And then put in only a little work and, with God’s help, you will no longer wallow in the passions of dishonor and you will begin to look with an open face to the Lord, and to the saints, and to all Christians. A little more time and the Lord will come to you and make His Supper with you. Get ready! Throw out from your heart everything that is contrary to the Lord, sweep away all dust with heartfelt sighs, wash away every stain with tears of contrition, so that, having come to you, the Lord will find the church of your heart tidied up, laid out, cleansed. Let there be no one among you like Judas. And Judas, like the other Apostles, equally heard: “Easter will be in two days” (Matthew 26:2). But the Apostles approached the Lord and said: “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover for you?” (Matthew 26:17). What about Judas? He went and sold the Lord. But he still came to the Supper along with others. Is it really going to be like this between you tomorrow? Oh, it won't! There's still time. Come and, everyone, to the best of your ability, strive to be worthy to appear to receive the Lord in His Holy Mysteries. Confess what you are guilty of, cry and say: “Let us not, Lord! Help us stand in the front!” This is the main thing that the Lord wants. Let there be no careless people among you. Let there not be those who approach the Mysteries as they had to, without thought and feeling and without any concern for preparation. Especially let there not be those who, having not renounced their passion, not only have no intention of abstaining from its affairs, but are also not averse to co-indulgence in them and inclination to them. This is exactly like Judas: with his body at the Supper, but with his heart in treacherous plans. And to such a one, when, after the Communion of Christ’s Mysteries, he kisses the Chalice, will not the Lord say to him in his conscience: “Will you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48). May our Lord and Savior, the Most Pure Mother of God and all the saints help you to receive communion for the remission of sins and Eternal Life! Amen. On Maundy Thursday (The Lord is in us! Let us take care to keep him within ourselves forever) Glory to Thee, Lord! What a bright day we have today! How many communicants of the Holy Mysteries of Christ! Rejoice, blessed souls! The Lord is in you! The Lord is in you! For He Himself said: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:56). Let us all rejoice in common joy. There is no family, I think, without any communicants. Consequently, there is no house that would be deprived of God’s special visitation (supervision). So our whole city has now become a dwelling place for God, and not only our city, but every other city and the whole (village), all of Russia, the whole Orthodox world. Today is the Lord's Great Supper. He rejoices with souls and is everywhere “all things in all” (1 Cor. 15:28), both as the Source of good things and as the Lord of hearts. And this is the essence of the kingdom that He founded on earth: filling everyone with Himself, ordering everyone well, instilling what they should, giving strength, encouraging them in their labors. Oh, that the Lord Himself would help us never to lose His presence in us! Then, guided by Him, we would all faithfully walk the saving path, according to His eternal intentions for us. And this, brothers, is what we should be all concerned about now. The Lord is in us! Let us take care to keep Him within ourselves forever. He Himself is inquisitive. That's why I came into the world, to be in everyone. And He would not have left us, but what should we do if we begin to behave with Him in such a way that He can no longer remain in us? Over the past few days we have been clearing and cleaning the church of our hearts to receive the Lord. Now this Most Heavenly Guest and Visitor of souls has descended into us. Let us take care to give Him peace, to provide consolation, to reveal the action pleasing to Him in us. Let's take care to give you peace. For us, everyday vanities and entertainment were eliminated for this time, and we will not allow them. A modest measure of satisfying the needs of the body has already been assigned, and let this stamp of modesty and need forever remain on this part of the work of decay that is inevitable for us. We have introduced pious activities into the order of our household affairs, and let this remain an everlasting, unchanging law of our lives. To this we add this: let us refrain from plundering thoughts, do not allow the disturbance of desires, and do not deign to be moved by passions. Let us place all our attention and all our desire at the entrance to the heart where the Lord is, and in every possible way we will tear away everything that can disturb His peace in us, and He will rest in us. Let us take care to bring comfort to the Lord. The Lord is comforted by everything that is pure, holy, and truly good. For He Himself is purity, holiness, goodness. Surround His dwelling in you with sincere convictions in His truths, holy intentions, pure motives, readiness for every good indicated by His commandments. Let us take care to reveal the action pleasing to Him in us. The Lord is omnipotent. He is all-effective in us, not without us. He does not force our freedom, but He waits for us to surrender ourselves to Him or to give Him power over ourselves. Come with all the strength of your spirit and, falling before Him, worship Him and pray that He will take your strength as an instrument and act in them, planting everything that is good and saving, while weeding out and destroying everything evil and destructive. Prayer will bring the power of God into all the components of your nature and give Him room to act in you. When all this is in you, the Lord will not leave you, rested, comforted and unhampered in His actions in you. At present, of course, you are all in such a mood that the Lord has no reason to be dissatisfied with you. Everything is quiet and peaceful with you, both in your internal actions and in your external behavior. You think only about the good, you desire only the good, and prayer, surely, does not leave your lips. Oh, if only it were like this forever! And what will follow? The Bright Holiday will come, and then it’s almost an attractive time of year. And we'll forget everything. First, let us allow ourselves some light entertainment and light floating of thoughts and desires, as if resting after the difficult Lenten season; then we will quietly give freedom to passionate movements; and then let us allow within ourselves consent to the suggestions of the passions or the addition of the heart to them, after which life according to the passions will soon return. What's there? What's there? And there - the head becomes empty, the heart is in confusion, there is disorder in affairs and undertakings, everything that was acquired through the labor of saving fasting disappears. The Lord is forgotten and departs. This is what you should be wary of! Beware of future entertainment and hobbies. Become vigilant guards over yourself and your deeds, and at all times, from one Communion to another, do not allow anything that can offend the Lord and deprive you of His grace-filled presence, so that every new Communion is not the beginning of the Lord’s indwelling in you, but more and more sincere communication between Him and you and you with Him. Do you want me to offer you the simplest and most effective means to succeed in this? Never forget that the Lord is in you. Just as the owner of a house, when he sees a distinguished guest, will in no way allow anything unpleasant to him, so as long as we remember that we carry within us the Lord, who has deigned to dwell in us, our conscience will in no way allow anything that could offend Him. Just as none of us would dare to take such actions as the Lord’s torturers allowed themselves during His suffering, so while the memory of the Lord’s presence in us remains clear and strong in us, it is impossible for us to relax our vigilance over ourselves and allow anything that could disturb His peace. So, if unkind thoughts come, remember that the Lord is in you, and you will leave these thoughts behind, for allowing them would be like mocking the servants who mocked the Lord. Should a desire come, the fulfillment of which is contrary to the commandments of the Savior, remember that the Lord is in you, and do not allow your desire to be fulfilled, for this would mean the same as bowing your knees and saying: “Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matthew 27, 29). If passion flares up, remember that the Lord is in you, and you will find the strength to extinguish this passion, for otherwise you will be like those who shouted: “Crucify, crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21). So it is in everything. And it turns out that the memory that the Lord is in us will force us to carefully put aside everything that could offend Him, and strengthen His presence in us. In order to ensure that this memory does not leave us, be as often as possible in the churches of God, especially at liturgies, and here with all your strength reproduce in yourself those saving dispositions with which your souls were filled in these days, and, especially, that great mercy that you have been honored with now. When remembering Holy Communion at the Liturgy, involuntarily remember the good state in which you were and are now, and perceive the desire to keep yourself in it always, so as to always have the Lord within you. I am no longer pointing out to you that when the Lord is in us, then everything is in us: the light of knowledge is pure and undisturbed by neither doubt nor lies, and the strength of good deeds is indestructible by either internal or external obstacles, and the peace of God is pleasing, in which they do not cease to be blissful even in the midst of torment. At the present moment, who among you does not feel these benefits to a greater or lesser extent? Let this very good state of yours beg you to take care of preserving it. Compare what you are now with what you are when you indulge in vanity and passions, and choose the best. Who is taller than you now? Don't humiliate yourself. Who is more blessed than you? Do not plunge yourself into the burdensome bitterness of living not according to the spirit of Christ. But “all this news, you will be blessed even if you do it” (John 13:17). How close our good is to us and how rarely we know how to possess it! Let us pray to the Lord, the Most Pure Lady Theotokos and all the saints, that they will make us wise to arrange everything so that He who has visited us now will abide in us and, abiding, will tear away every sin, every passion and every soul, deed and thought will make us worthy to be His eternal home, to the glory of His most holy name. On Maundy Thursday (The Body and Blood of the Lord is a great gift) Rejoice, Orthodox Christians, that you have been vouchsafed to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ, and rejoice even more so that you have been vouchsafed this now, when the Sacrament itself has been established. Now the Lord has given communion to the holy Apostles and ordered them to establish the same Communion in the Holy Church. The Holy Apostles established. So we partake of the Most Pure Body and Most Pure Blood of the Lord for the healing of soul and body. Rejoice, having been granted this great Gift of God to you. But rejoice with fear. Say to yourself: “Glory to You, God! Glory to You, God! Glory to You, God!” But do not let your thoughts and feelings become loose, and guard your soul and body with all caution. Prepare for the Holy Mysteries with reverence, but do not think that everything is already over and you have nothing more to do with yourself. No. And now we need to continue working. You worked hard to receive the Gift, and now you must work to preserve it and use it savingly. Why, you think, is it established to take communion during Holy Week? Then, by the way, so that the communicants remember the suffering of the Lord and are in every possible way afraid to cause Him new suffering after receiving Him into themselves in the Holy Mysteries. After all, the Lord continues to suffer even now. Only then did He suffer from the unfaithful Jews, and now He suffers from Christians who, through Holy Communion, do not try to live like a Christian. When we receive communion, we receive the Lord into ourselves. Our heart becomes a church for the Lord. Through fasting and Repentance, this church became clean and tidy, and the Lord was at peace in it. But if someone then begins to think about bad things, desire bad things, and do bad things, then that will cause trouble to the Lord. It will be regrettable for Him to dwell in such a heart, or He will suffer in it. I will explain this to you with this example: imagine that someone would call one of you to his place and put him in a room where there is nothing to sit on, the wind blows through the windows, there is a leak through the ceiling, there is damp on the floor, and here mosquitoes bite. It would be real suffering for you to be in such a room. So the Lord suffers in the communicants when, after Communion, they do not properly preserve the church of their soul, when their thoughts, desires and feelings, deeds and words are not in order. For when someone becomes distracted and gives free rein to his thoughts, then it is the same as the Lord being disturbed by the wind in the church of the soul. When someone only thinks about eating, drinking and having fun, then it is the same as the Lord’s soul being damp in the church. When someone envies another, condemns him, mocks him, then it is the same as if he stings and wounds the Lord Himself. When someone is disobedient, lazy and does not observe the proper rules, then it is the same as the Lord having nothing to sit on in the church of his soul. When someone harbors bad thoughts and desires, is proud, and wants to appropriate what belongs to others, then the Lord finds no place for Himself in his soul, like someone in a leaky room. You see how and with what you can disturb the Lord, after receiving Him into yourself through Holy Communion, causing Him pain and suffering, and beware of this. Be humble, meek, peace-loving, do not offend each other, help everyone in need, do not tower over others and generally be zealous for every virtue - and the Lord will be at peace and joyful in you. For this, He will reward you with joy and give you every consolation. The Body and Blood of the Lord is a great Gift. We must honor this Gift as great, with love, reverence and all self-protection. I'll tell you one very instructive case. One schismatic, or Molokan (member of a pseudo-Christian sect), for some reason began to receive the Holy Mysteries together with Orthodox Christians. He accepted part of the Holy Gifts, but did not consume it, but hid it in a scarf and, when he came home, for some reason he put it in the hive with the bees - he was a beekeeper. Look what the bees did. Although they are unreasonable creatures, in this case they turned out to be smarter than humans. As soon as they saw a particle of the Holy Gifts, they immediately abandoned their usual work, stopped building the honeycomb, and with all care and speed began to build a decent room for the Holy Body of the Lord: they built a small altar, then a paten, and on this paten they placed the holy particle and enclosed everything with a vault, as if they were building a church or an altar. Then they sat down in a circle in order and hummed quietly, as if they were sending praise to God and praying. The owner, noticing that the bees had stopped flying, went to see what this meant. He opened the hive and was horrified to see how the bees paid reverent honor to the Body of the Lord, which he had despised. He quickly sent for the priest, repented of his sin, took communion and became forever a reverent reader of the Mysteries of Christ, and abandoned the schism, or Molokanism. So you have now received the Most Pure Body and the Most Pure Blood of the Lord. Be like the bees and show all reverence for the Gift you have received. Become like honey and like bees. Honey has a fragrance, but you must pray; Honey has sweetness, but you have love for each other; Honey has a pleasant color, but you will have good behavior in all parts. Bees are hard workers, and you will love work; bees are clean and you will love cleanliness; the bees are obedient, and you be obedient to whom you should. And just as those bees sat decorously around the particle and buzzed, so you too will set your thoughts around the Lord and pray to Him this day with the prayer that you can. And the Lord will accept your heartfelt appeal to Him and bless you. Behold, I told you how you can disturb and make the Lord, whom you have received, worry and suffer, and how you can give Him rest and delight. Avoid the former and take care of the latter. If you calm the Lord in this way, He will calm you and give you every gift and success in your affairs. Amen. On Maundy Thursday (as you wish, but arrange yourself so that you always look as if you have just received Holy Communion) Having now established the Sacrament of Body and Blood, the Lord entrusted its execution to the law of the holy Apostles, and the holy Apostles - to the Holy Church, in which He both dwells and acts urgently. The Holy Church always calls everyone to Holy Communion, especially during holy fasts, and even more especially on Holy Pentecost, on which all services and rites are adapted to prepare believers for the worthy Reception of the Body and Blood of Christ. The obedient children of the Church humbly heed this call and during this time fulfill their Christian duty unfailingly. And this is glory to God! Thank God that at least once a year they clear their conscience and take communion! And grant, Lord, that there be no one among them who would arbitrarily deprive themselves of this great Gift of God! Those who deprive themselves of it are deprived of the Lord, and without the Lord what are we? “Without Me,” says the Lord, “you cannot do anything... Just as a rod cannot produce fruit for itself unless it is on the vine: so also you, unless you abide in Me... He who is in Me, and I in him, will produce much fruit” (John 15:4-5). And who abides in the Lord? “He who eats My Flesh and drink My Blood in Me, and I am in him,” says the Lord Himself. Therefore, the matter of Holy Communion is a matter of life. To receive Communion or not to receive Communion means to be or not to be a Christian, to live or not to live in Christ. This is why the Lord adds: “Unless you have eaten the Flesh of the Son of Man, neither have you drunk His Blood.” ( John 6:53). Bringing to mind these decisive words of the Lord, you are perplexed - why do we not often receive communion? Recently reviewing a book, I came across instructions in it for those who often receive communion. Now, I thought, it was a blessed time when such teachings were appropriate! But with us, if you say: “Take communion on any other Lent besides Great Lent,” even then it will seem strange, strict and, perhaps, inappropriate. Now, however, my intention is not to convince you to receive frequent Communion, but this is what it is. Without the Lord, as you have heard, we cannot “do anything” (John 15:5) and we don’t even have “life” in us (John 6:53). The Lord comes into us through Holy Communion. For the most part, we receive Holy Communion once a year. So, is it not possible, at least if we no longer want to receive Communion often, to extend the power of this single Communion for as long as possible, to remain in the state of Communion from one Communion to the next? Or what am I saying? Isn’t it possible? This needs to be done. As you wish, but arrange yourself so that you always look as if you have just received communion. For this will only mean that you are in the Lord and the Lord is in you, or that you live a Christian life. And as soon as you lose the power of Communion, you will lose the Lord, you will no longer have a belly in you. This is what is required. The power of Communion is the tasting of the Lord. To be in a state of Communion means to constantly taste the Lord, or with spiritual feelings to feel His presence and power in us. The question is: how to achieve this? First of all, we must not force the Lord to retreat from us, and then sharpen our spiritual feelings to the tactile sensation of His communication. The Lord's promise is not false. What He said is so. “For the promise of God is great, in this is her and in this is amen” (2 Cor. 1:20), says the Apostle. He said that He Himself abides in the one who partakes of His Body and Blood (John 6:56), and so it is. The Lord abides with all worthy communicants. Rejoice, partakers of God! And do not deny this great Gift in yourself out of false humility or because of a vague understanding of the fruits of Holy Communion. Even if you do not definitely feel or touch this, the Lord is in you, until you are deprived of His presence due to any mortal sins. Just as in nature and on an ordinary day the sun shines and shows its power, although it is invisible due to the clouds obscuring it; or how, when ice melts, the thermometer does not rise, even though there is a lot of heat around; or just as during treatment sometimes the medicine already works towards recovery, but the patient still feels weakened and exhausted, so here: the Lord is in you, but His light is not yet visible due to the fog of diverse thoughts, although this fog is already thinned by the Lord; The Lord is in you, but His warmth is not yet fully felt for the sake of the coldness of the earthly and worldly desires that surround the heart, although they are already melting away from the fire of the Lord; The Lord is in you and is already healing you, but He hides His healing power for your own good from you under our visible infirmities. In other words, communication with the Lord has already taken place and is active in you, but due to a defect in the spiritual taste, it is not yet felt and clearly distinguished. So be confident in this thought that the Lord is in you. Honor both the Giver, the Gift, and yourself. Because of this, you yourself see what is appropriate to do. It is proper to pay every possible care to ensure that you do not somehow lose the Lord, who dwells and acts hidden within you. Ask: “How to create this?” I will answer: “Do not think that for this you have to undertake such work as moving mountains. No. The means to this end are very uncomplicated and simple.” That's what you need. First. Keep your conscience clear in relation to God, your neighbors, every thing and every deed; For this reason, whatever you do, have the testimony of the word of God and do it with humility and zeal, without any movement of self-will and negligence. Second. Neither in words, nor in deeds, nor in anything, whether small or large, allow anything that could not relate to the glory of God and in any way harm the cause of your salvation. Third. Even if you possess the whole world, have yourself in your heart as strangers have - strangers on earth, not having “the city that abides here, but the one to come” seeking (Heb. 13, 14). That's it! So, notice, three things are necessary: ​​to be strangers, to turn everything to the glory of God and your salvation, and to keep your conscience clear. I will not go into detail in explaining them. I will only say that these three contain everything, as you will see for yourself when you begin to act on them. Set yourself in this mood and strive to always act according to this mood. And the Lord will not only inseparably abide in you, but will often give and feel Himself. This feeling will especially fill your heart every time, in order to comply with the prescribed order, you will have to make some kind of self-compulsion and self-sacrifice, and you will do it without regret, with complete and diligent submission to the will of God. In this way the Lord consoles and strengthens His own, letting them know tangibly that their work is in vain and the path is not lost. And the more zeal and labor someone has, the more consolations he has, or tangible tastes of the Lord - these spiritual Communions of Him. Here the same thing happens as in the world, when the sun appears and hides in the clouds, appears again, hides again, otherwise it disperses all the clouds and one thing walks royally throughout the entire firmament of heaven. If anyone would like to more quickly ascend to a state of constant sensation or tasting of the Lord, use work intentionally directed toward training our spiritual senses. Let the eye of the mind strain to see the mysteries of Divine Revelation, starting from the Most Holy Trinity, through creation and Redemption, to the future restoration of all. Let the spiritual ear teach in hearing and accepting the suggestions of God, directly imprinted in the heart or indirectly through the word of God and other external instructions communicated. Let spiritual taste be exercised in tasting the truly holy and Divine. Let him learn to smell the fragrance of Christ in joy, spiritual joy, and to feel the touch of His fire in the warmth that warms his entire being - spiritual, mental, and physical. The training of spiritual senses completes the work of ascent to an unceasing sense of the Lord's communion. Through their teaching, the mediastinum that separates us from Him falls. Just as when the eyes are open and there is light, we naturally see this light, when there is a fragrance and the sense of smell is undisturbed, we smell the fragrance, so when our spiritual senses are trained and purified, we will be able to receive through their Lord in the corresponding actions of Him on us, or we will be in a state of tasting Him, otherwise, in a state of constant Communion. In this way, brethren, “sanctify” the Lord “in your hearts” (1 Pet. 3:15). And He, the merciful One, will abide in you and keep you in Himself and with Himself. May His goodness grant this to you! Amen. You might be interested in: