Thoughts on immortality

Contents Thoughts on immortality Notes 1) If a person is not immortal, then there is no permanent spectator at the theater of the world. Who will appreciate the dignity of what happens on it? Someone needs to be immortal on earth. 2) The truth of immortality does not contradict any truth: many, on the contrary, are inextricably linked with it, stand and fall with it. The whole moral order is precisely this: if there is no immortality, there is no immortality either. 3) Can a person be honest and kind, without immortality?.. Maybe because of natural kindness, habit, shortcomings of strong temptation, and other things. But does it have to be?.. Obviously not. For, in order to be positively kind, in our world you have to sacrifice a lot, sometimes even your life. What can reward him for life if there is no immortality?.. Then the law of self-preservation is the highest of all laws. 4) Since there is a God, then it is difficult for the soul not to be immortal. Therefore, those who reject the latter also reject the former. 5) The main thing is, is there anything that will not collapse with death and survive the destruction of the body? And this depends on whether the soul is different from the body? Are there two different principles of life in us, and are they so different that one, spiritual, can exist without the other, physical? Eat. The proof is life; here these beginnings even reach the point of struggle - one can sacrifice another, and condemn him to death. In death, physics is already destroyed, but the soul is intact. Isn't this due to the difference? 6) We cannot imagine the soul as material, we cannot imagine how it can be destroyed and decay. Thought is imperishable, and the soul is thought; desire is imperishable, and the soul is desire; the will is imperishable, and the soul is the will; In general, consciousness is imperishable, and the soul is consciousness. All that we can imagine in this regard is that consciousness can fade, cease, as happens in a dream. But the dream itself, showing the possibility for consciousness to cease, reveals that, by ceasing, it is not thereby lost; waking up, we always find it again indestructible. 7) Is the condition of consciousness in the body?.. Now - in a certain state of the body; but is it always like this? Can't there be consciousness without a body? What does not happen now is not proof of impossibility, for now the soul is in connection with the body. But is it so without a body, after death?.. 8) And if physicality were generally needed for consciousness, then wouldn’t it remain in death as much as needed? Will all physicality disappear? Is there something indestructible?.. It may very well be. That it is invisible is not proof that it does not exist. The subtle in the material is invisible. You never know what is in the air that is usually invisible, but visible under a magnifying glass. 2. The truth of immortality is more an object of faith than the truth of the existence of God. The latter is, in some ways, even subject to the senses: “the invisible thing of God,” says the apostle, “is visible through the mind of creation” (Rom. 1:20), and the first is entirely above the senses. Why is this so?.. Is it due to the natural structure of things, or due to some transformation of their order?.. The Word of God reveals to us that the truth of immortality was obscured by chance, due to the fall of man. Before the fall, immortality was not a matter of faith, but of feeling; man did not expect this as he does now, but possessed it, just as he will possess it after the resurrection; then there was no death at all, not only in man, but, of course, in the whole world; then there was no century present and future, in the same sense as now, although the present was followed by the future; Therefore, the truth of immortality then, if judged today, was clearer and more tangible than the very truth of God’s existence, for man did not always see God with his eyes, but he always felt eternal life in himself and in himself with all his senses. But sin came and transformed (destroyed) everything!.. He introduced death into creation, he deprived man of immortality. How did you deprive? Is it absolutely? The Word of God does not define this. But since it attributes the future life and resurrection to the action of Christ’s merits, it means that without them all this would not have happened; does that mean what? That a person would remain in the bonds of death - either in body alone or in soul? That is, would it be completely destroyed? It seems the latter. But the first one can also be affirmed. They are accustomed to asserting the latter more according to the school concept of spirituality and, therefore, the indestructibility of the human soul, as a result of which it supposedly could not die, that is, be destroyed, regardless of the influence of Christ’s merits on this. In fact, if the soul is immortal by nature, then sin could not kill it or, more precisely, destroy it; he could only take away her body and bliss. How, in this case, are the merits of Christ useful?.. Obviously, not so much as saving the human soul from destruction, but because they again return to it the body lost through death, and bliss. Without Christ, a person, descending into the tomb, would never come out of it. Where would he be, and what would happen to him?.. He would, obviously, be in the world not ours, but a friend; would have suffered from the incompleteness of his being and sinfulness - and, perhaps, the further, the worse it would have been for him. Now something else: the death of the body remains, but as a temporary, passing disaster, moreover, one that, as a result of a special order, turns to the benefit of a person, serving to cleanse his being from everything that has happened in him that is harmful from sin. But, as a result of this new disorder and at the same time the order of things - disorder, since it came from us, order, since it was straightened and arranged from above - the existence of man fell apart, went through the eras - therefore it became unlike itself: instead of one person, three appeared - a living person, a dead person, a resurrected person. Each of these separate beings is fenced off from one another by a dark, impenetrable partition. A living person does not see a dead person, a dead person does not see the living and resurrected person. This is the basis and inevitability of faith; this is how the truth of immortality was dressed in a cloud; This is how it came together: the tea of ​​the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. From here it is clear that it is not the natural structure of things and, therefore, not God that is to blame for the fact that we now do not see eternal life and must believe in immortality. God not only did not hide it in the beginning, but actually gave it. But a person, having lost it, must stop seeing what was lost and must search. But the omnipotence of God, perhaps, could help us and bring us closer to our understanding. Why doesn't it do this? 3. Belief in immortality in the human race People have always and everywhere believed in immortality and the life of the soul beyond the grave. There was and is no people who believed in destruction by death; what now leads to unbelief was always before the eyes of people and, however, did not prevent them from believing in immortality. This is all the more surprising since a simple person, as people were in ancient times, is guided (more) by feelings than by consideration. Objections to immortality are all, so to speak, sensual, appearing in the field of experience; the supports of immortality are supersensible: and, however, in this respect, a sensual person, moved by something special, was able in this case to rise above the feelings, and despite what he saw, he firmly and constantly believed in what is invisible, what is above the senses. How could this be?.. Either in human nature there are urges to believe in another life, or this faith is received from above. Without a doubt, she followed legend. How did the legend begin?.. Either from experience - the appearances of the dead, or from revelation from above. How exactly?.. From ancient legends it is clear that faith in immortality was constantly combined with faith in the phenomena of the dead - their souls or shadows. The stories about this are countless. Where are they from? Weren't there really more phenomena from another world then?.. There are reasons to think that the two worlds, now so separated from each other, were previously closer to each other - therefore, the appearances of the dead were more frequent... 4. Origin of man The origin of man seems to some to be a material action, as if the whole man comes from the body of his father and mother... No! Father and mother here in relation to man are the same as the sower and the earth in relation to the seed, which is thrown into the ground in the fall, and in the spring comes out of the ground and becomes an ear or a tree. In the loins of the father, the seed of man is ready: who prepared it?.. Obviously, not man himself, for, even if he wanted, he cannot do this; the mother, like the earth, only accepts the seed, but does not give it existence, but only develops it - not according to her will, when she wants or does not want, but when it pleases God. Thus, father and mother both serve only as a reason for the origin of a person, and do not at all produce it. These are two shells that process the third - given, prepared. The power of God is at work here, incomprehensible, as in other similar cases. The origin of man is a mystery, like the origin of the whole world. Nothing can be extracted from it either pro or contra the spirituality and immortality of the soul. For we cannot say strictly how the body is formed; Is it surprising that we cannot explain how the soul comes into being? It is only obvious that the soul appears in the body when it has already received the fullness of its composition, and appears as if in a sleepy state, and then gradually awakens to consciousness and action; It is only clear that this soul does not arrive in parts, applying one to another, but develops from some whole center in which everything was curled. 5. Where does the doubt about immortality come from? For every doubter, it is born in a special way, characteristic of him, in which he often cannot give an account. For the most part, it happens that he does not believe, so that when he begins to think, he only comes up with reasons for continuing his disbelief. Consequently, unbelief arises without human consciousness. How?.. From various sources: from sensuality, from a bad life, from reading or dealing with non-believers, and so on and so forth. Meanwhile, it cannot be denied that unbelief can point, for its support and as an excuse, to certain phenomena in human life, and mainly to death. In death, a person completely disappears for us: the body still remains for some time, but the soul is not immediately in the body; otherwise we would not have buried the body in the ground. The soul after death is invisible, does not make its existence known by anything; therefore it does not exist. The argument is quite strong, apparently; and yet, in the mouths that deny immortality, it is false. The soul is invisible; she does not make her existence known; therefore it does not exist. It should not be: there is more in the conclusion than in the premise. To be sure of this, you just have to understand what this conclusion is based on. On the assumption that what is not visible and what does not make itself known is not there, then does not exist! Can you accept this position?.. Obviously you cannot. For there are things that are invisible, do not make themselves known, and yet exist; otherwise there would only exist that which is visible and makes itself known: absurdity! The soul may be invisible, may not make itself known, and, nevertheless, can exist, like someone who has left on a ship somewhere, when he does not write to you. Until you received the news that he died, you, without seeing him and without receiving any news from him, think that he is alive and that something is stopping him from letting you know about himself. At least, that’s how you think about the dead, many of whom have left, and not one of them writes - they don’t make themselves known. Yes, this, firstly, cannot be said: there are phenomena of the dead, or their actions, which cannot be doubted, although they are rare. Secondly, the reason why they do not make themselves known is obvious; they do not have a bodily organ through which they could communicate with us; and this reason acts equally in all of them. Break the instrument of the best artist, and do not give him another; he will not play in front of you, although he is alive and intact, with all the ability to play. In a sleepy (man) the soul is alive and whole; he lies in front of you; you put your hand on it; however, he does not let you know about himself, although perhaps at this very moment he sees you in a dream and talks with you. How people are divided in relation to the dogma of immortality Life after death for some is a subject of unbelief, for some - doubt, for some - reasonable conviction, for some - feelings, for some - faith, for some - experience. Is faith in God compatible with disbelief in immortality? In the concept one can separate these two things and, by destroying the first, contrive existence for the latter, although it will, of necessity, be much poorer than in collaboration with the first. But in practice and experience it is difficult to find a person who would firmly and consciously believe in God without believing in immortality. As far as we know, everyone who believed in God also believed in immortality; and those who did not believe in immortality did not believe in God, or had the darkest and poorest concept of Him. Can virtue stand in the absence of belief in immortality? Civil honesty can, to a certain extent, because it is supported by the fear of punishment and the natural pleasure of good. But the latter is weak, the first does not cover all cases. There are times when it is necessary to choose one of two things - to preserve the truth or life. What will make a person prefer truth to life if there is no immortality?.. Love of truth?.. Dislike of life?.. Where will the first come from? From the strong development of the sense of truth, the general development of the soul?.. But how will it develop, not assisted by the hope of eternal life?.. In such a time, a person will even have the obligation to prefer life to truth, even out of love for truth; for, having saved his life by betraying the truth, he will have many more occasions to do the truth and help others do it, or prevent others from breaking it; and having sacrificed his life to the truth, he will lose both life and truth forever. If there is no immortality, then our death is a natural thing. Why do we turn away from it so much? We do not turn away from natural things: from food, from sleep, from breathing, from various types of activity. We turn away only from the unnatural: from hunger, from disease, from cruelty, drunkenness, and so on. This means that death, insofar as we turn away from it, belongs to unnatural things. Our nature should have been without it. God is immortal. Is there only one?.. It cannot be that there are no immortal beings in the world. God is righteous and has given us a desire for righteousness. But righteousness in this world sometimes requires the sacrifice of one’s life. Where, then, is the support for it if there is no immortality? In this case, a person dying for the truth would be - dare we say - more righteous than God Himself. God is true; He would not have put into our souls the thirst for eternal life if there were no last life, and everything ended in death. Not many educated people are confident in immortality; most are in doubt about that; others do not believe at all, even clearly showing their disbelief. How could educated people, someone might think, not be sure of immortality if they could be sure? Alas, we would not like to speak against educated people and blame them for anything, especially in the present case. But we are sure that many of them will be pleased to learn and admit their guilt. 1) Shouldn’t educated people realize that pure human nature is less active in them, that its voice is not so audible, that both their life, their feelings and thoughts contain a lot of artificial, not purely human; that in this respect they are inferior to people who are uneducated but have preserved their nature? But confidence in immortality comes from nature, from inner feeling, from conscience. Is it surprising after this that the voice of immortality is less audible to educated people? 2) How many educated people have seriously thought about the truth of immortality?.. Rare. And the truth of immortality, as soon as it is brought to the interrogation of the mind, requires many inquiries, studies, and considerations in life. After this, there is nothing to be surprised that educated people suffer from disbelief in the future life. 3) Ask those who doubt: are they convinced of their unbelief? According to the information, it turns out that there is no conviction, because there was no research, and that unbelief is a consequence of mental laziness, imitation, a bad conscience, and an unclean life. 4) For the majority of educated people, it is more profitable not to believe than to believe in immortality. 6. Does a person have a feeling of his immortality?.. There must be. As a being destined for immortality, man cannot help but have a presentiment about this; and indeed, there is no person who, at certain moments of his life, has not felt in himself something that is higher than death. Is this feeling the same for everyone?.. No; in others it is very strong, in others it is so weak that it is almost absent. What does this difference depend on? From nature, or the will of the person himself?.. The feeling of immortality, like all other feelings in our soul, can intensify and weaken. When effort is made, it intensifies; when they neglect it, especially when they act in the opposite way, it weakens. What exactly does this precious feeling strengthen from and what weakens it?.. The answer, although brief, to this important question will not be alien either to these bright days, or, perhaps, to the mental state of some of the listeners. In the present state of man, in his composition, two principles are obvious: one is immortal, which does not disappear in death; the other is mortal, which continues only to the grave, and there it decomposes and disappears. Each of these principles produces in a person a feeling akin to itself: the immortal principle produces a feeling of immortality, the mortal principle produces a feeling of mortality. Both of these principles, immortal and mortal, are so closely combined that they now form one whole; -That’s why the feeling of immortality and the feeling of mortality merge into one indefinite feeling. Such uncertainty of feelings cannot last long: with the passage of time, when a person begins to act independently, one feeling takes over, at the same time another weakens and diminishes. If the feeling of immortality takes over, then the feeling of mortality weakens; if, for example, the feeling of mortality increases, then the feeling of immortality becomes weaker. It depends on what a person begins to live and act with. If he lives more of what is truly immortal in him - spirit, conscience, law, then the feeling of immortality intensifies. And if one strongly indulges in what is mortal in oneself—flesh and blood—then the sense of mortality intensifies. And with what he lives the most, he feels the most, the more he is penetrated, and from that he borrows strength and feeling. And this is the reason why peace-loving people have a strong sense of mortality, and they are afraid of death, but virtuous people have a strong sense of immortality, and they look at the coffin as others look at their night bed. 7–10. Objections and resolution of objections 1) A person is not visible before birth, and we say that he did not exist. He is not visible in death; Why are we going to say that it exists? The cases are equal, the conclusion must be equal. 2) In death, the conditions of existence known to us cease: therefore, being also ceases, cessante causa, cessat effectus. 3) If a person existed after death, then he would somehow make his existence known; but this is not the case, therefore... 4) If there was life beyond the grave, then why hide and hide it so much? The purpose of stealth is not visible. 5) Animals are clearly the likeness of man, and some are very close to him; but we affirm about all of them that they are not immortal. Why an exception in favor of one person? This is injustice, human selfishness. 6) Man has no desire for immortality; there is only a desire to live longer. But after living for a long time, he would become bored with living; eternity is unbearable for him. If this boredom of existence is not in us now, then the cause of this is sleep; in it we end being and accept again; without it, despite the brevity of life, we would become bored with it. 7) If a person were destined to live forever, then why and what is death for? She wouldn't be okay. As the end of existence, death is appropriate; otherwise it’s absurd. 8) Evidence from the spirituality of the soul does not prove anything in favor of immortality, for we do not know the nature of the soul. The words: spirit, matter are purely relative and conditional; we do not know the nature of either one or the other; therefore, we cannot draw firm conclusions from it. 9) The doctrine of the non-immortality of man can have practical useful aspects: make you value life, not tolerate oppression and autocracy, strive for equality and a harmless division of the benefits of life, and so on and so forth. 10) For the most part, it is better for a person to be virtuous than vicious, even if he is not immortal. 11) The best of the pagans - Socrates, Plato, Cicero - were not firmly convinced of immortality; expressed more desires and guesses than conviction and confidence in this. 12) The needs and unrest of this world helped strengthen the doctrine of immortality. Being dissatisfied with the present, they naturally turn to the future. What is strongly desired appears to exist. That's all there is to object to immortality. Some objections can be particularly disconcerting. But on the side of truth there are enough means to destroy all these objections. What had a beginning will also have an end. This is what they usually say, but why do they say this? All the reasons boil down to the fact that this is what happens from experience: what had a beginning then has an end. Indeed, the experience around us is, for the most part, this phenomenon. Mostly, but not always. The earth clearly had a beginning, but will it have an end?.. Experience does not say this at all. The sky had a beginning, but will it have an end?.. Experience does not show this. In general, the world had a beginning; but will the end follow?.. This cannot be said from experience. Thus, experience itself, from which the well-known rule was derived that what has a beginning has an end, confirms it only in parts, and not in general. Generally speaking, experience shows that many things that have a beginning have no end. If we proceed from experience to speculation, then it will turn out to be completely opposite. It must be said that everything that has a beginning is eternal, since it should not have an end. Why?.. Because the end is opposite to the beginning, just as cold is to heat, like darkness is to light. How will one come out of the other? - this is impossible. Here, in general, is the same law according to which physicists claim that a body to which motion is imparted must always move in the direction in which it is moved until it encounters an obstacle. If a person was created for the earth, and did not continue to live beyond the grave, then he has the right to complain that they did not take care to place him well. Why did he need to give such desires and thoughts then? Why not give what is needed for the convenience of earthly life? Now he can endure these inconveniences complacently, in the hope of eternal life; and since there is no reward, then he has the right to grumble and blame. They will say: he has been given everything he needs. No, obviously there is a lot missing. No one can make immortality obvious, really; but who can make non-immortality obvious?.. The evidence of materialists is indecisive; it all boils down to the fact that the body of the deceased decays, and we stop seeing him. For us it no longer exists; but does it exist for itself?.., we cannot reject this decisively, simply because we cannot see how the soul is destroyed. They will say: there is reason to suspect that there is no, since we do not see it. So; but there is reason to suspect that there is. What reason?.. Not only moral, even material; for example, the presence of a full soul just before death, when the body has already, one might say, half-destroyed. I was not and did not exist, but obviously began to be, I exist, cogito, ergo sum. There was some kind of force that called me from non-existence to being, and which then keeps me hitherto in being. Since I have not been before, I may not be again; but since it was not, and began to be, then from experience I already conclude that I can again come into non-existence and again be called - by the same power - to being. This is pure and direct logic. How do some people think that if I have lost being, for example, in death, then I have already lost it forever and irrevocably? Here, at least, there is no logic... Whoever He is, but having called me from complete non-existence, that is, when I did not exist at all, how is he not able to call me from temporary non-existence, into which, let us assume, death will lead me? But this is pure speculation. It’s more akin to me to think that, having once received being, it must already exist - in one form or another - forever. 11–12. Where does it talk about immortality? 1) In Dahlenburg - in the book “God in Nature,” volume 3, p. 311–323. The reasoning is not strong and not deep, but not bad. “It is easier to be an atheist than to doubt immortality.” 2) In the article about crazy people, Nizara, it is said in a note that crazy people before their death come to their right mind and die with consciousness. Why is this so, gentlemen physiologists? 3) From Lavater: “Ansichten in die Ewigkeit.” 4) In Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verses 19–22 (Eccl. 3:19–22). Massillon’s sermon on the certainty of the future life is florid, but does not penetrate into the matter, without philosophy. In the Apostolic Constitutions. Recosnitiones Clementis begins with a beautiful discussion on immortality. Ephraim the Syrian (“Christian Reading”) has a sermon against non-believers in the resurrection. An excerpt from the speech of Professor Philomafitsky - at Moscow University, at the act, 1844. N.B. It would be surprising if nature produced only such temporary intelligent beings as people. This would mean that the material part in it is stronger and longer lasting; a mountain, for example, has stood for thousands of years, a river also flows, and so on; and reasonable spectators would come and go, change, like in a theater. In the theater this is inevitable and good, but in nature it would show the weakness and frailty of the producing hand. 1. Our soul is bound on all sides by imagination: image after image. These images constitute the world of imagination. This world means a lot to the soul. A blind man, for example, only lives in it. The dead (that is, the soul of a deceased person) is perhaps only limited by it. Therefore, how important it is to fill the soul with pure imaginations. It’s the same as if someone was building a house for himself, preparing food, sewing a dress, collecting a library: obviously, everyone tries, if possible, to arrange all these things as best as possible. Do we think about it?.. And what a pity it is not to think about it! Whoever spent the day in terrible, disgusting scenes, what monstrous dreams he sees! Who spent his life in these scenes, what will he see after death? But here’s another remark: some images take possession of the soul so much that they occupy it all, the whole world and the whole (whole) life is concentrated in them for the soul. But such images are extremely important to pay attention to. The trouble is to contact a bad image in this way. Such praedominantes ideae deprive the soul of its independence more or less. “I’m not myself,” they say in this case. This is not enough: the image can take away all independence, drive a person out of himself, and deprive him of consciousness. How many crazy people have gone crazy in this way! And this is not enough. Having deprived of independence, an image can be imagined in a person, forcing him to accept his personality. The madman, imagining himself to be a dog, barks, bites, meows, and so on. Is this the limit to metamorphosis? Obviously not; he can go further. Until what? In Sardanapal - until brutalization. But here the body, coarseness, still prevents the soul from being transformed in such an unfortunate way, and after death? Here the poor soul, having accepted all its flexibility and fluidity, can completely pour itself into the image that has taken possession of it. 2. The magnetizer comes into a special relationship with the soul of the magnetized and commands it. The latter loses independence and lives as a magnetizer. Can only a person have such a message with a person? Could it not be with both good and evil spirits? The good, of course, will not abuse this and, since it is contrary to the order of things, they may not take advantage of this opportunity. What about the evil ones? What can't they do? Meanwhile, it is obvious how careful the poor soul must be so as not to fall under the influence of the spirit of darkness! 3. I compare nature, in relation to knowledge, to a high mountain. Those who live at its foot, in addition to being able to enjoy the majestic view of the mountain (although they are rarely capable of this), also enjoy all the everyday advantages of the location: there are piers, fishing grounds, pastures, and so on. Scientists climb higher, to the middle of the mountain: there are lovely views, but still the convenience of life. Woe to those who, not being satisfied with the middle knowledge, climbed to the top of the mountain, or at least approached its top, that is, entered the realm of metaphysics. Everything here is dry, bare or covered with ice. You can go back from the sensual mountain; from a metaphysical height, if a real ascent is made to it, there is no return. 4. The truth of God in visible nature The Apostle notes that the invisible perfections of God, revealed in creation, become visible to the point that an attentive viewer can see in nature the most ever-present creative power and Divinity. About some perfections of God this is so clear that it cannot be subject to any doubt; for example, omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness are visible in nature at every step. But some perfections constitute an exception in this regard. This is especially the truth of God. Who thinks to see her in creation, outside of himself? And yet, being one of the main perfections of the Divine, it must therefore itself be reflected in visible nature no less than other perfections. Why don't they notice her? or not as much as other perfections? Already because for a sinner the remark of this perfection is not as pleasant as others, for example, goodness and wisdom; and it is known that the less loved is the less noticed. Moreover, to discover the truth, a look, so to speak, is required; and there is also not a great abundance of it among sinful people. Finally, in nature itself, the truth of God is revealed less than other perfections, because it is rewarded by mercy. Opening up in all its strength, it would rush most of all against the person, and he is under the roof of mercy. Therefore, the discovery of truth is suspended until the great day of Judgment, and truth, and retribution. However, it opens! 5. A person can literally be fed secrets. He who knows the secret already considers himself superior to others, and is ready to lose a lot. Therefore, the position of secret secretary is more pleasant than other positions. There is nothing you can do to tie a person to you more than by allowing him into your secret. 6. Napoleon’s greatest misfortune during his last campaign, it seems to me, is that he felt good, better than everyone in his army, physically. Had he endured for a day or two what the poor soldier endured, or had he been more seriously wounded and suffered from the wound for at least a week, peace would probably have been concluded immediately, and all ambitious thoughts would have gone away like mice into a hole when a cat appeared. A great thing is physical need! 7. “What will I repay to the Lord for all that I have repaid?” (Ps. 116:3) Does this question apply to everyone? To everyone, even the most unfortunate ones, apparently. For if there are any misfortunes, then they are not from the Lord, but either from the person himself, or from other people. Moreover, the misfortunes that exist or exist concern only the surface of our existence and are something transitory; and the fund is what is from the Lord - always good and good. Every soul is gifted with the image of God; all things are redeemed by the blood of the Son of God; everything is sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit; everyone is destined for eternal bliss; placed in the midst of the world of God. But if even the least poor person in the world should speak in this way, then what can be said about you, the rich lucky ones of the world? Each of you, both when you get up and when you lie down, must say: “What will I repay to the Lord for all that I have repaid?” And what can one really give to Him? He does not demand our blessings. What does he want? Your heart: “Give Me, son, your heart” (Proverbs 23:26). Everything you have is Mine, but your heart is yours. I can't have it. If you really want to thank Me, then give Me your heart. So we'll make one. And what has been given to you will receive through this correct use. 8. “He remembered God and rejoiced” (Ps. 77:4) One memory of God fills the soul with joy and joy. For everything that can be imagined that is great, wise, good and loving is connected with the name of God. It is gratifying to remember in the midst of grief about a father, about a wise mentor, about an unchanging friend, about a powerful patron, about a skilled doctor: God is both a Father, and a Mentor, and a Friend, and a Patron, and such a Doctor, before Whom all earthly mentors, fathers, and doctors are small and weak. But in order for the mere memory of God to make us happy, it is necessary that we have a connection with God; It is necessary that we be His, and He is ours. Someone else's is no fun. Moreover, someone else’s disgusting behavior is no fun. Therefore, the remembrance of God produces a different effect on an ungodly person: “I remembered God and feared.” For the name of God is associated with the concept of Accuser, Judge, Punisher. What a bitter state that the thought of God produces despondency and fear! Isn't it all the same as a ray of light freezes? This is how sin transforms the order of things! Let's escape this state. Even in the midst of sins, let us not lose the spirit of repentance, and then every thought about God will be accompanied by spiritual joy. “Let us remember God and rejoice!” For with the name of God, the thought of the Father awakens, accepting those who repent with open arms. 9. “In the seventh day of the day we praise Thee about the destinies of Thy righteousness!” (Ps. 119:164) These are the destinies of God before the eyes of people who know how to look at them! They are such that for them it is necessary to glorify the wisdom of God not once, not twice, but seven times a day! And sometimes it happens with us that during the seventh day we are ready to grumble about the fate of the same truth of God. Where does this pathetic difference come from? Because we do not know how to look at these destinies. Let there be the most majestic picture, but if you do not find the true point of view, it will seem to you the most ordinary); and if it is a promising painting, it will lose its entire price. The destinies of God are precisely pictures of the latter kind: they require that we stand at a certain distance, but we become either too close or too far away, either relating everything to ourselves and nothing to others, then relating everything to others and nothing or too little to ourselves. Let us look at the destinies of God with the eyes of faith and devotion, with the eyes of humility and love, and perhaps we too will have the same thing as with David - we will praise the Lord. 10. “You have spread me out in sorrow” (Ps. 4:2) And grief, as psychologists say, compresses the heart. Yes, grief compresses sensuality, compresses pride; the spirit and conscience expand, liberate, and lead to infinity. “You have spread me out in sorrow.” In happiness, apparently, a person is great, for he is arrogant, contemptuous, and proud; but in fact it is small, because it is limited by itself, removed from everything truly great. In misfortune, a person is apparently small; but if he dissolves misfortune through faith, then in the midst of this external smallness he becomes much greater within himself. Is it not in sorrow that a person directs his thoughts to God, to the end of his life, of the whole world? And this is obviously a great space. Is it not in grief that a person is cold towards the whole world, separates from it, becomes outside of time and space? And this is also a visible spread. Is it not in grief that a person is able to decide on the most difficult feats, deprivations, sacrifices? What is this other than a consequence of the spread? In general, in sorrow and misfortune, what happens to our spirit is what happens to substances when they are put into fire: they expand, soften, melt and evaporate. If the soul is good, then the same thing happens to it as with a fragrant substance: the stench of humility and devotion carries far away. And if the soul is unclean, evil, unfaithful, then from it, like from a fetid substance, comes the murmur of blasphemy, bitterness and anger. 11. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20) What about works without faith? And deeds without faith are dead: these are not virtues, but, one might say, a scab of virtues, or, if you don’t like this comparison, this is a type, a picture of virtues, and not virtue itself. For where would works get life, if not from faith? From inclination to goodness? It is small and weak in us; it itself requires revival. From considerations of reason and suggestions of the mind? Firstly, they are cold and, since they themselves are not imbued with a sense of goodness, are not affirmed on a deep basis, they are weak, and moreover, they are crossed in action by suggestions of passions, pride, calculations... (a word is omitted due to illegibility), and so on. From the example of other people? But are there many examples of pure goodness, the actions of saints? From human praise and approval? This wind is changeable and fickle. It sometimes tears the sails with gusts, and sometimes it blows in the opposite direction; sometimes you can’t tell which way the wind is going. Therefore, works without faith are dead. 12. “Go in wisdom to those who are outside” ( Col. 4:5 ) This advice was once given by the Apostle Paul to his beloved disciples of the Colossians. By external he does not mean Christians: Jews and pagans. With all of them, the apostle orders Christians to walk in wisdom, that is, with special caution, prudence, and decency. Whoever remembers what position Christians were in then among the unbelievers, in whose hands were all the power and all the might of the earth and who, moreover, looked at Christians as enemies of their faith and morals, will understand the whole need of the apostolic council. The times of persecution are long gone; but has this good advice lost its use? No, a true Christian is always a wanderer and stranger in the world. Between the Kingdom of Christ and the spirit of the world, between the children of God and the sons of this age, there is and never will be peace. Therefore, you, who have decided to bear not only the name of Christians, but also to acquire a thing, to acquire that precious pearl, for the acquisition of which one must sell or despise everything, do not forget the apostolic advice - to walk “in wisdom ... to those without” - to those false Christians who, content with the idle name of Christians, do not think at all about actually belonging to Christ, or, what is even worse, having rejected the internal powers of piety, they try to retain His external image on themselves. “Walk... in wisdom,” without taking on an alien image, without appearing to be what you are not, this is not your wisdom; and without exposing your image to everyone and everyone, without untimely revealing what is hidden in you. If you value your own peace of mind, which can be disturbed by carnal people due to their inability to appreciate you, then value the honor of faith and the Gospel, which can suffer from false rumors about you. What good is it if you scatter precious beads before those who have no eyes or hands for them? They will trample him underfoot and turn on you - not to thank you, but to destroy you. 13. “If anyone does not want to do something, let him eat” (2 Thess. 3:10) This is what the state economy says; This is what the word of God teaches. If piety sometimes served as a cover for parasitism, then this piety is false, rejected by the Christian faith. The truly pious is hardworking. He considers it a sin to live by the labor of another when he can earn food for himself. An example is all the greatest ascetics, even those who, having been called to perform great deeds or devoted to a contemplative life, apparently do not have time to work with bodily labor. Who was responsible for more exploits than the Apostle Paul? “Care,” he says, “for all the Churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). But look where he gets his food from. Wasn’t the universe able to supply him, the apostle of the tongues, of the entire universe with daily bread? But he does not eat other people’s bread: “below the tuna, bread is poisonous... but laboring and toiling night and day, let us not burden you with anything” ( 2 Thess. 3:8) And, what should be especially noted, his concern for his own food does not in the least interfere with his main task, the preaching of the universe, on the contrary, it turns into assistance. For he uses the nights for this, that is, the time when he is free from the work of the apostle. And secondly, economic independence makes him much freer in his apostolic activities: he owes nothing to anyone; therefore it acts with equal power on everyone. His selflessness opens doors for him everywhere, and the word of God, sown with clean hands, “grows and is glorified” (Mark 4:27, 1 Cor. 12:26). The great ascetics of ancient times showed how work can be combined with a contemplative life and serve it for eternal benefit. Who supplied food to the Euthymias, Theodosii, Savvas, whose monasteries surpassed the cities with a multitude of brethren and were located among the many Syrian sands?.. Emperors, prefects? No, my own hands, those hands that were constantly raised to the sky. Having completed the prayer, the hundred-year-old elder sits at the threshold of his cell and weaves a koshnet; on a certain day of the week, the brother takes what he has done to Alexandria or Antioch and brings bread and juice for the next week. This is how they ate, “of whom (the whole) world is not worthy” (Heb. 11:38). This kind of life does not harm contemplation at all. After bodily labor, the spirit soars all the more willingly to where there is no sadness and sighing. On the contrary, idleness immediately weakened and finally killed the spirit of asceticism. Therefore, the great ascetics did not consider it better to begin their prayer of repentance than with the petition: “do not give me the spirit of idleness....” 14. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7) Why does he love? Is it really for giving? Only people, poor, selfish, can love in this way, and not the One who “He Himself gives to everyone life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). The Lord loves a willing giver not because he is a giver, but because the giver is willing. That is when they give not only with a good purpose, but also out of good will, from the soul, with a full hand; when they give without looking ten times at what they have left, without getting carried away by calculations, without forcing themselves to ask for a long time, without showing an appearance of boredom and disgust when giving; when they give and find pleasure in what they give, they show it with everything they can; when they give more than what could be expected. Tell me: is it possible not to love such a soul? who gives, but with difficulty, showing that through giving he is deprived, as it were, of a certain part of himself; gives, and at the same time punishes for what you receive from him. In the latter case, a callous soul is clearly visible, closed in on itself, entangled on all sides by calculations, unable to open up to messages and therefore to accept gifts from above from Him who accepts only in order to repay a hundredfold. Voluntary giving, on the contrary, presupposes in the giver a sensitive soul, a tender heart and open to all that is good, and therefore capable of receiving gifts of grace. Is it possible not to love such a soul and such a heart? 15. “His wrath is his wrath, and his will is his will” (Ps. 29:6) Such is the very fury of heaven! In herself, in her expression, there is anger; but in the will, in the intention, the belly! This is the beginning of life, which cannot tolerate the beginning of death, and therefore is anxious to overthrow and destroy it. For people it’s the opposite! Here there is often love in expression and treatment, and death in will and intention. Therefore, one of those who have experienced heavenly rage and earthly affection says: “I would rather fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men, for as is His greatness, so is His mercy!” 16. “We have... both abound and become deprived” (Phil. 4:12) This is the true measure of perfection and moderation! To be able to lose means a lot. But how many people, knowing how to lose, do not know how to abound. And it is just as necessary to be able to have excess as it is to be able to lose. For a person is moving towards a state where he will only need to be able to indulge in abundance, and there will no longer be any deprivation. How is this great knowledge to abound acquired? Dispassionate. What about dispassion? Selflessness. What about selflessness? The ability to lose. The latter is a condition and preparation for the former, although it does not always give it, just as color does not always give fruit. The ability to be abundant, like the ability to be deprived, has its root, extends its branches, blooms and bears fruit in the soul. But, to the highest degree, the most perishable body, becoming quality according to the soul, acquires the ability not only to be deprived, but also to be abundant. The greatest ascetics could consume all kinds of foods whenever they wanted without any harm. What is this if not knowledge of excess in reality? 17. Child Timothy, “be sober in everything” (2 Tim. 4:5) About everything, not just one thing. With us, sobriety usually comes down to abstinence from intoxicating drinks; a lot, if from excessive food; but this should not be the case for a true Christian. He is sober in everything! There was nothing to remind those who, according to the Apostle, mortified their body, crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts about the excessive consumption of drink and food; and meanwhile, the holy ascetics loved to talk and write about sobriety; there are entire chapters, even books, inscribed: about spiritual sobriety, about mental sobriety, and others. The soul, like the body, has a kind of drink and food, the consumption of which requires moderation; Otherwise, you can get drunk or become satiated, and through this you can be subject to spiritual illness - become, like a drunk person, incapable of acting in the right way, allow or create disorder, give temptation, even fall into some kind of crime. Need an example to explain the matter? Look at someone who is drunk with jealousy beyond reason: he is ready to kill for faith, because others do not think like him, and by killing, he will think that he is serving God. 18. How good it is that our Creator is an infinite, all-perfect Being, such that He has an abyss of everything not only for Himself, but also for us! Now we, as the children of the greatest rich man, can always hope and are not afraid of any constraint in our existence. What would we do if our Creator were not so great, if we could see the limits of His powers and perfections? We would be like a peasant with great abilities from a small landowner. Our souls would yearn for heaven, and we would be forced to sit in the hallway all our lives or follow pigs. So, glory to You, Lord, and for Your infinity! 19. How did the masses of stones come about? Some answer: through fire, others - through water, others - neither this nor that, or - both this and that. It all seems wrong. Why force fire and water to produce stones when we see from experience that stones disintegrate and disappear from them? I ask: are there stones in the human body? Not only do they exist, but they also grow, for example, bones. What system? Neptunian? Volcanic? No, but according to the strength of the body. Why doesn’t everything in stone and in the earth happen and happen in this way? 20. Aging in the human body is revealed, among other things, by a depletion of moisture: that is why old people and especially old women are hunched over and their skin is covered with wrinkles. Isn't that the same thing happening to the earth? The waters in many rivers have apparently become scarce, and one after another the channels and springs are completely drying up. Instead, the number of hillocks, dens and irregularities increases. 21. Suspicion in everyday affairs, which extends much further than certainty, is not always true, but in many cases it is justified; Why shouldn’t there be a place for suspicion in the field of philosophy? And what we call speculation, aren’t they mostly pure suspicions? Therefore, it would not be a bad idea to apply the rules of ordinary, if you like legal, suspicion to metaphysical objects. 22. The Creator gave something to the creature once and forever, irrevocably; it remains with the creature. When it goes against the Creator, it, so to speak, increases its distance from Him. But the Creator did not give everything that is needed for bliss; He left much to His direct action on creation, which should serve as a gift of reward for faithfulness. A rebellious creature does not have this, and without it it cannot be blessed. 23. Can you see with your ears? Partly possible. When you hear a certain noise, you guess what shape the noisy body has. Can you hear with your eyes? Partly possible. When you see a strongly spinning body from a distance, you can guess from its figure what kind of noise should be coming from it. 24. Transformations in political institutions are like a fetus in the womb; they have their time of conception, growth and, finally, birth. Revolutions are like throwing away babies; Rarely does an aborted child survive. Therefore, we must always wait for the resolution time? Yes. However, natural childbirth sometimes requires surgical assistance. 25. Among people there are a considerable number of people suffering from despondency. Are there not spirits of this kind among evil spirits? There are crazy people among people. Are there any crazy people among demons? In a certain sense, they are all crazy, just as every sinner is crazy. But besides this, are there any spirits who, like crazy people, have lost their consciousness? How terrible madness in the spirit must be! 26. The lower and more individual the concepts, the richer in private characteristics, the more they have their own physiognomy, their own kind of life; and the higher and more general, the poorer in signs and, expanding, one might say, they become empty. Isn't it the same with people? With elevation in rank, a person also becomes more expansive, many things are subordinate to him, but on the other hand, he becomes empty in character, soul, feeling, and personality. In his language the formulas are more general; his actions follow a high road, into six; the feelings of the heart are constantly suppressed by relationships, decency, and finally, excess. 27. Some plants have fruits first and then leaves; Isn't that what happens to some people? Their best, most useful works are the first; subsequently they produce some leaves that cover their nakedness, but cannot nourish others. Meanwhile, most people first have leaves, then flowers, and then fruits, that is, products suitable for consumption. 28. Childhood is the most innocent and the funniest. This means that laughter does not always imply anger. Be afraid not so much where they laugh at you, but where they seem to cry for you. The most evil person in moments of laughter is kinder and less dangerous. 29. Why does a person exist? If the actions of a machine can be used to judge the intention of the artist who produced it, then, unfortunately, it must be said that man exists to sin, for man, taken in the complexity of all people, does nothing so much as sin. Such is the man! But he is not a machine; therefore the law regarding machines and their relation to artists should not be applied to it. Or, if you want to keep the comparison, man is a machine, but a flawed one. A broken watch lies and shows the wrong hour; but how stupid it would be to conclude from this that they were made by the artist in order to Lie and deceive! A person’s purpose, therefore, should be judged not by his actions, but by his composition; but the human composition says something completely different about its purpose - that it was created for virtue. 30. They say that the most effective medicines are those that, when taken, make the disease somewhat worse, and then weaken and go away. Perhaps medicines that act in this way are useful; But I don’t think that they are the best for the disease from which they are given. The sign of direct, real healing should be that it immediately quells pain, produces relief, revives the patient and brings joy; This is exactly how some medicines work; This is how they and everyone should act. The opposite is unnatural, although it can sometimes be useful. We can find confirmation of this remark in instinct. It is known that instinct is the voice of nature; It is also known that patients, by instinct, sometimes strongly desire something, and the (prudent) satisfaction of their desire serves them instead of the best medicine. The question is: how do these drugs work? Do they aggravate the disease? No, but they are immediately accompanied by sleep and relieved. This is the standard for evaluating medications. 31. The Greek Church, in comparison with other Churches, represents a certain belatedness, or, as it were, a certain half-death, an inevitable consequence of its external circumstances. In this regard, the same thing happens to the Churches as to countries: those that lie under the southern sun have long since had spring; in others it is already summer, while in the north everything is still numb with the cold. But the north admires spring, when autumn is near in the south. In fact, aren’t some Western Churches already like an autumn garden from which the fruits have been gathered, and which no longer has sufficient shade from the leaves of the trees? And the Greek Church is clearly preparing to shake off the frost and snow and begin to bloom with spring flowers. It is most likely that the Western Churches, during their winter, will have to take fresh fruit from the summer of the Greek Church. 32. It cannot be denied that in the Western Church there is more external unity than in the Eastern. The latter, especially in some centuries, represents membra disjuncta. But what is surprising is that with such concentration of the Western Church, it was not saved from fragmentation; while the Eastern Church, despite its external fragmentation, remained with its ancient unity and avoided fragmentation. What split the West? The fact that there was too much centripetal force involved: increased compressibility crushes the body. What kept the East from disunity? The fact that centrifugal forces acted weakly in it. Why weak? Already because, among other reasons, that there was little action of centripetal force in it. In addition, happiness always separates people, and misfortune brings people together and binds them together; The West was happy and did not grieve at peace with itself; The East suffered and sought unity. 33. According to the flesh the dead are born; Are they not also born dead in spirit, that is, are there not spiritual homelands that are just as unhappy as those of the flesh? It seems to me that it happens. 34. What is the worst thing about poverty? By the way, it makes a person funny. 35. If at the Judgment of God not only deeds, but also the very words and thoughts of evil will be tested, then even more so the words and thoughts of good will not be forgotten. This means that when there is a lack of good deeds, it means a lot to think as much as possible about good things. Is it difficult?.. 36. “False Christs will arise... and will show great signs and wonders, as if they could deceive even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). The power of these words is this: there will be many signs and the number of miracles will be so great that, according to all the rules of reason, one must believe them, be deceived by them. Why are the elect not deceived? Because they follow more than just reason: they have something higher than reason. What's happened? Conscience, an inner and truly spiritual feeling - the Holy Spirit. Trouble without reason, trouble with reason too. Is there only one bad leader? And how many people who, except for their reason, do not want to hear about another leader! That is why how few signs are needed to seduce them, to lead them along, despite their reason, like captives, even to the ends of the earth! 37. What is the most tangible proof of human freedom today? His opposition to the law and conscience. Here everyone involuntarily feels within himself the effectiveness (in all likelihood a typo, instead of “duality”) and at the same time the possibility of doing one way or another. Unhappy proof, unfortunate freedom, unfortunate man! 38. The inevitable disadvantage of people at the top of public positions is loneliness: everyone is below them and far from them. Around them there are only barriers and various idols - servants and flatterers. On them are the first rays of the sun; They are the first to experience hail, snow and even lightning. 39. Why does the devil not repent? Because he does not know illness and death. Why doesn't he know? Because he doesn't have a body. Pain makes it known sooner, more accurately and more powerfully than anything else what sin means. 40. They say that we know nothing at all about God’s own way of being. No, we can’t say that, we know something. For example, we know and are confident that God knows the whole future. But this feature is clearly not our way of being, but the Divine. Another attitude: in us, or, better to say, in all rational creatures, there is a duality of law and will. You feel that there is a law in you not from you, but for you, that it is above you and is something superior to you, independent of you. In God this duality cannot exist; there the will is a law unto itself. Therefore, stat pro ratione voluntas in relation to God is pure truth. This is bad only in relation to creatures. 41. At some moments you feel that you essentially consist of your head and heart, that in these same places there is something that you cannot be without. 42. The expulsion of Chrysostom is a striking example of the collision of pastoral jealousy with the spirit of the world. 43. Those who do not allow the fall of spirits, man... (omission in the manuscript), all creation, must certainly allow two principles: good and evil. For in the world two streams are clearly visible - light and dark, and both are parallel, as far as our eye can see them. 44. What is the best image of representing God?.. As the highest free. All Divine actions, the very mind, the very ideas must be finally reduced to freedom. This is what Holy Scripture does. Oh, how deeper and wiser it is than our theories and systems! 45. According to the teachings of rationalists, the Christian religion is the best religion for strengthening a person in virtue, for inspiring his faith with hope. In my opinion, they are either lying, deceiving, or they themselves do not understand what they are saying. What strengthening is there by faith if Christ died and did not rise again? What support is there for faith if the life of such a most holy Person as the Son of Mary ended the way it ends, according to the Jews? In this case, the story of the Prophet of Nazareth is a new unresolved objection to the Divine world rule. Neologists claim that Christ was brought back to life through the care of His friends, and in this very thing - that He, being crucified, could not die and return to life again - they find a sign of Providence about Him, a sign of God’s love for Him. A great sign of love is not to die, having endured all the torments of death! Rather, it is a sign of friendly love. An important reward for such a feat is to remain alive, in order to then live another twenty and thirty years in the darkness of the doer, as is supposed about Jesus Christ by the neologists! The martyrs did not die for the frozen and revived Christ... (it is written all over in the manuscript, but there is obviously an omission here). All the dignity, all the consolation of the Christian faith will disappear. 46. ​​One of the greatest secrets of the omnipotence of God or, in other words, the creative power of nature is manifested in the image of the origin of creatures; Therefore, natural scientists most need to pay attention to this. Images of birth are different; but death is the same for everyone. 47. In illness, the sympathies of members of those who are in a special bond of friendship or opposition are revealed. The same thing happens in misfortune; here you can see who is a true friend and who is an enemy. 48. The river absorbs all living things, and as soon as what it absorbs dies, it spews it to the surface and throws it ashore. Isn't that what the river of time does to many great people? While they are alive, it draws them into the depths of obscurity and neglect, and after death it presents them to the gaze of everyone. 49. When the sun turns towards winter, then we experience more heat; and when it turns to summer, severe frosts set in. Isn’t it the same with the fate of man? Isn’t it then that the opposite turn begins, when a person is in the midst of the highest, either happiness or misfortune? 50. The most ordinary person loves to be taken at his word, and is offended by signs of distrust, reluctantly relying on evidence, although he has no shortage of it. How can the Creator not demand faith from His creatures? How not to be offended when they don’t want... (in the manuscript it is written: “they don’t want to do it even according to His voice”... an obvious incorrectness; shouldn’t it be corrected: they don’t want to do it before Him sometimes?..) take a single step without first looking out where it leads, and what will happen there... (again it is written: “it will be - actually misami”; shouldn’t it be read: with your own eyes)? Indeed, we treat ourselves as gods, and God as our debtor or enemy. They believe their father and mother, they believe their friends and comrades, they believe the great (of course, a typo, instead of: every) dishonest person, but they don’t want to believe God and demand proof! 51. They ask: “How did Robespierre, without excellent talents, rise to the very top of France, in its most turbulent time?” The answer to this is in the same storm that raged over France, and in the fact that Robespierre was lighter than all the others, which is why the whirlwind lifted him higher than everyone else. What is this ease? The fact that he had no attachments, was selfless, honest, incorruptible, fanatically strived for the same thing... Also: pressure during an earthquake often raises mountains from the surface, even from the bottom of the sea, to the clouds, and thus what was below turns out to be above everything, for example, a shell. It's the same with Robespierre and others like him. The volcano of revolution raised them above them all? Why?.. Because they were located above the very place that the whirlwind blew up, that is, with their way of thinking and external position they were at the very heart of the revolution. 52. There is sudden bodily death. There is sudden spiritual death, for example, the fall of the morning star. 53. The most deadly disease can occur with a jolt, through one touch. And the weakest health is not communicated below through many and strong blows. What does this mean? Or is death more important than life? Can't be. If this happens, it is because life, like dust, has weakened. And when it is higher, then the bed, with one touch, instantly mirrors death, the infection subsides, restores health and life (as it is written to them; but here it is written down, in all likelihood, incorrectly, although the meaning is clear). Example: the touch of the Savior. 54. No matter how majestic the vault of heaven is, as soon as you look at it carefully, you immediately feel that (it is) one reverse side, and the face is there! 55. Is there any regular arrangement in the starry sky? In general, apparently not. Everything was arranged as if after some strong shock: it was condensed there, sometimes in a regular pattern, sometimes at random. Meanwhile, the completely correct geometric figures in the placement of some stars show that there was not only meaning in the placement, but also a geometric mind. This passage of order brings to mind order in general. Is he still there, or was he? One can say both. In the first case, it must be said that, from our point of view, the whole is not visible, and therefore order is not visible. In the latter case, based on what we saw in practice, as it is. 56. Sin takes a person either by force, not allowing him to come to his senses, like anger, or by cunning, like other vices. 57. Is it possible to restore bodily innocence? It is forbidden. What about spiritual and moral innocence? It must also be impossible. But they say it’s possible! Is it so, and why is it so, if so? 58. I fear God, and I am not afraid of anyone. I’m not afraid of God, and I’m afraid of everything and everyone. 59. God created the world - in what image? God has no other image but his own. If so, then the world was created in the image of God; therefore, it must reflect the entire Trinity. And indeed, in toto mundo lucet trinitas, as the ancient pagan philosopher said. What Trinity? The same one that Christianity teaches. The patronymic is visible everywhere; the Word is heard everywhere; everything breathes the Spirit, and the Spirit blows everywhere. 60. God says: “You will surely die” (Gen. 2:17), the devil is the opposite. Not to believe in God, but to believe in the devil, to believe in heaven, to believe now, is absurd. But such is sin, it is always a kind of insanity. 61. There is no death in the world of the devil, but is it better? There is no repentance either. 62. The thief repenting on the cross is told: “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). However, after such a soothing saying, his legs were broken. A sign that punishments are not released even after forgiveness. Why? According to their probably moral need for the punished. 63. Extremes in vice can be useful for virtue; here all the unnaturalness of the vice becomes visible, and it becomes heavy on the soul and unbearable. If ever, then in a moment of extreme sin there may be a turn back into the realm of virtue. 64. There is moral law and freedom within us; therefore, there is God and immortality outside of us. This is the essence of metaphysics and morality. 65. Grammar, especially the verb, can be considered as a sign of the freedom and spirituality of the soul. Can a substance say: go, do this or that!.. The subjunctive mood still breathes with intelligence and freedom. Past and future tenses are a sign of the modernity of the soul, that it is not contained in the present. 66. “Then I will not be ashamed; I will always look upon all Your commandments” (Ps. 119:6) Truly, a person can only be pleasing to God when he is truly virtuous, and he is truly virtuous when he is virtuous throughout, always and in everything. But when will this longed-for “then” happen? Where can one get such a virtue?.. It’s good, at least, if a person at least pays attention to all the commandments, feels obligated to every good deed, makes an effort to be blameless in all respects, and does not consider anything contrary to the law allowed for himself; good and that too! And what else, much more, very much, will the Lord Himself and His omnipotent grace do for those who look down? They look unswervingly to all His commandments. 67. “Bound in heart in wisdom” (Ps. 89:12) To be bound in wisdom seems to be very good: the frame is beautiful! But to be bound by the heart is terrible at first sight. And yet there are people - “bound in heart in wisdom!” Who is this? Those who, chasing wisdom and knowledge, lost sight of love; who allowed cold knowledge, dry theories, abstract debates to cool their feelings and dry up their hearts. Look at another sage!.. He has an abyss of knowledge; he is all about the considerations that a step is a goal and a plan. And the heart!.. The poor heart is imprisoned in this wisdom, as in a prison; shackled by calculations all around, does not dare to move for mercy and compassion. Such fetteredness of the heart is an almost inevitable fate of those who philosophize in the elements of the world, for earthly wisdom by nature is of an iron (sidereal) nature. Heavenly wisdom, on the contrary, gives movement and space to the heart, because by its nature it is filled with “mercy and good fruits” (James 3:17). 68. “I have hidden Your words in my heart, lest I sin against You” (Ps. 119:11) This is where the Bible should be put for those who, with its help, want to get rid of the damned habit of sin! No matter what place of honor it is placed in, everything is still out of place until it is hidden in the heart. This truth should be noted especially by those who love the Bible in rich frames, behind golden frames. How to hide the Bible in your heart?.. By diligently reading it, diligently thinking about it and its contents, diligently, finally, doing what is written in it. 69. “Spend the proud thoughts of their hearts” (Luke 1:51) Here is the means of the wisdom of God to punish the proud! This does not require any effort, no special measures; One thought is enough - their own heart. “Spend away... the thoughts of their hearts.” How does thought waste the proud? Very natural and necessary together. A humble heart is like a deep well in which the water stands quietly, swaying with the breath of God’s grace, reflecting the full face of the spiritual sun and exuding currents of good thoughts and deeds. But the proud have a heart like a proud, bubbling spring, which, falling from cliff to cliff, constantly scatters in splashes. Scattering themselves, the thoughts of the proud waste themselves. Carried away by one or another arrogant plan, the proud one is constantly, so to speak, fragmented into parts, wasting his strength, abilities and time in vain. Trying to do much, beyond his strength, he often falls and breaks. This law of waste applies even more powerfully to many proud people. There is no way they can get along together. The thoughts of their hearts go against each other, and make them not tolerate each other. “Spend the proud thoughts of their hearts.” 70. “And He prayed a lot, so that He would not send them out of the country. There was a great herd of swine near the mountain. And all the demons prayed to Him, saying: Send us into swine, that we may come into him" (Mark 5:10–12) What a terribly pathetic prayer! Ask, as a special favor, permission to enter the herd of pigs; could there be a more despicable fate? And who asks for such pitiful mercy? The disembodied spirits that once lived in heaven possessed the greatest strength and power and were blissful in the light of the Face of God. This is what sin means! For sin has cast Satan and his angels out of heaven; sin has made them so miserable that being allowed to enter the herd of pigs is a great mercy for them. Is it only in the world of spirits that sin produces such a terrible transformation? No, wherever the shadow of sin may appear. We say with intention: the shadow of sin. In the material world, among irrational creations, there is no sin in its own form, since there is no freedom; but even here there may be a shadow of sin: deviation from the best laws of existence to less perfect ones. For each creature can follow with all accuracy the exemplary form of its breed, or it can deviate from it, and not, so to speak, fully achieve its destiny. This is what we call the shadow of sin. What does this shadow produce? Always accompanied by imperfection, ugliness, weakness, frailty. Take a crystal with irregular edges, with an illegal, so to speak, fracture; it lacks proper cleanliness and shine; it is brittle and of little value. Look at a plant that deviates from the example of its species; it is small, crooked, ugly; bears less fruit and does not live as long. Pay attention to animals that originated from an unnatural mixture of breeds: they are also small, weak and incapable of continuing their kind. Thus producing ugliness and destruction at both ends of the universe - in the world of spirits and in the material world - sin reveals its poisonous power with particular ferocity in the center of creation, where man stands. As a being that connects the visible and physical with the invisible and spiritual, as a reduction of all created things, man is therefore capable of both the highest bliss and the greatest misfortune. Therefore, sin does not destroy anyone as much as a person. Both in the material world and in the spiritual world, sin produced death; but in the first one bodily, in the last one spiritual; in man, sin produced deep death, physical and spiritual. In hell itself it will almost be more pleasant for an evil spirit than for an unrepentant sinner, for the spirit will be tormented by the spirit alone, and the sinful man will be tormented by the spirit and body. So, man, fear sin most of all: this is your first and last enemy! 71. “In part... we understand” (1 Cor. 13:9) This is how faith has been proclaiming for eighteen centuries, but poor reason still does not hear this, and often shouts that faith is incompatible with reason. No, faith understands in the same way as reason, it understands even better than reason what it understands, only it understands in part. But does reason, which undertakes to understand and interpret everything, understand everything completely? The circle of knowledge, like the globe, does not have its own poles that are inaccessible to research? At the very middle of knowledge, as if under the equator, are there lands where no thinker has yet set foot?.., in part, is the destiny of all our knowledge, an inevitable destiny not only for earthly existence, but, in all likelihood, for eternal life. There is only one God who is omniscient. On the contrary, if we compare the partly understanding of faith with the partly understanding of reason, then the latter in many respects will turn out to be narrower and poorer than the first. To be completely convinced of this, one need only take one simple table of contents of the subjects that make up the Christian doctrine, and the subjects on which philosophy works; Comparing one with the other, you will see that the circle of religious doctrine is much broader than the circle of philosophy, that the former embraces many very important aspects of human existence and things that philosophy does not and cannot reach. 72. “Even if there was a river of earth for you, and you did not believe, what if there was a river of heaven for you, would you believe?” (John 3:12) This means that the heavenly is very, very different from the earthly! It is so unlike that even if it were revealed, and, moreover, by such a heavenly Person as Jesus Christ was, then it would not have found faith among us!.. Why is this so?.. Because of the extreme remoteness of celestial objects from everything earthly. Astronomy tells us that the material sky, although it is even subject to our sensory gaze, is structured, however, according to different laws than those that are in force, for the most part, with us on earth; How much more must there be much and much different than with us in the spiritual heaven. In general, the higher the image of being, the more opposite it is to the lowest image of being; We see this on the entire ladder of creatures below us. But our real way of being in relation to the spiritual world is clearly the first step. Is it surprising if it is not only abolished, but even contrary to the way of heavenly existence? And being in a state of opposition to heaven, is it surprising if we cannot understand the latter? And this, without a doubt, is one of the main reasons why Holy Scripture tells us so little about the secrets of the age to come, about our state after death. How to talk about something for which there are no concepts in our minds, and no words in our language? The experience of St. Paul, who was caught up into heaven, perfectly explains this important truth. In paradise, the apostle saw and heard many things that cannot be seen or heard on earth. A certain concept of what he saw and heard remained in him even after returning to earth. But what? He could not find words in the human language to retell what he saw and heard. I couldn’t even say for sure (because I didn’t know for sure) whether he was in the body when he was in heaven, or outside the body? So everything he saw and heard in heaven was unlike everything we have on earth! So his very condition at that time was different from all our ordinary and most extraordinary conditions! What of this? Firstly, so as not to judge heavenly things by earthly things. Most of what we see, hear, and do here has no place at all; but on the contrary, there is precisely the place for that which “eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and that which has not entered the heart of man” (1 Cor. 2:9). Secondly, let us not be bored by the fact that the details of our future state beyond the grave are not revealed to us. On the contrary, this should please and comfort us, because this was done precisely because of the greatness of this state and its extreme elevation compared to our present state. Thirdly, let us not cling too much to our present earthly way of being, because it is not only given for a time, and a very short one at that, but is also in many ways opposed to our future way of being, so that one who clings to it, for that very reason, cannot quickly and conveniently become akin to the higher way of being. On the contrary, let us, if possible, renounce in advance all earthly and carnal ties, and ascend to the image of the highest being, the main features of which are indicated to us in the word of God, and of which the holy men of God have left us a model. Our own eternal good requires this. 73. “Keep away the Son, and not have the Father: but confess the Son, and have the Father” (1 John 2:23) Some (and are there many of them?), rejecting the Son, nevertheless think to have the Father: some even (so, at least, they say) reject the Son in order to have the Father. Yes, such people all know that this is impossible, absolutely impossible: “dismiss the Son”, by the same token – “have no Father”! I would like to know: why is this so? Because “no one knows... the Father... except the Son, and whoever the Son wills to reveal” (Matthew 11:27); but how will He reveal the Father to one who rejects Himself?.. Because “no one can come to” the Father except the Son (John 6:44); but how will the Son lead through Himself to the Father when they are running away from Himself?.. Because, finally, the Son “and the Father” are “one”! (John 10:30). After this, how pitiful is the fate of those who spend their whole lives trying to know the Father without the Son!.. And isn’t this similar to someone trying to know the sun without its rays, thunder without the sound it makes, the wind without the movement of air? 74. “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16) This means that optimism, or that “everything is for the better,” is not a dream. Otherwise, how could one always be happy? Joy is an involuntary feeling; when a person feels good, he is, even without permission, self-satisfied and cheerful; and when someone is in trouble, no matter how much you invite him to rejoice, you will not rejoice. And indeed, Saint Paul, before he said: “rejoice always,” had long ago said that “everything will work for good for those who believe in God” (Rom. 8:28). After this it is very clear how one can always rejoice; It is even incomprehensible how, after this, one could not always rejoice, for if for believers everything “hastens for good,” and good, by its very essence, is such that everything can always bring joy, then in this case, sadness, especially joyless, is characteristic only of those who do not believe in God. But it is desirable to know on what basis do those who preach optimism preach without faith in God and the Intercessor of God and men, without Whom faith in God does not so much please as it frightens a sinner? In this case, one should rather say the other way around, instead of: “always rejoice” - always grieve! For look at yourself and around you impartially: are there many reasons for constant joy? Solomon knew how to find sources of joy; he especially worked to discover and multiply them: what then? At the bottom of all joy he found - “vanity and ruin of the spirit”!... (Eccl. 1:2, Isa. 65:14). Without God and His Only Begotten Son, the Savior of men, there is no joy for men. Only one true Christian can and should “always” rejoice. 75. “Great is man” (Prov. 20:6) So great that the great Connoisseur and Judge of all things Himself put it above all things in the world. “What good is it for a man,” He says, “if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). “A great thing is man,” because this thing came from the Greatest, as a result of the Great Council, and was worth a lot. “And God said: Let us make man” (Gen. 1:26). “And God created man, took dust from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7). “Great is man,” because this thing has the greatest significance and contains extremely much. “And God created man, in the image of God created he him” (Gen. 1:27). “A great thing is man” because it is intended for great purposes. “And God bless (man), saying: increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and rule over it” (Gen. 1:28). “And God took man, whom he had created, and brought him into the paradise of sweetness, made it and kept it” (Gen. 2:15). “Man is a great thing,” because the fall of this thing transformed and overturned everything with it. “We know that all creation (with us) sighs and suffers even to this day. For the creature obeys vanity, not willingly, but because of him who obeyed” (man) (Rom. 8:22, 20). How is this great thing valued by people themselves? What does it not obey? What doesn't change? Man is like the son and heir of a great king, who, being in exile from an early age, forgot about his great origin and equally great destiny. Therefore, the first and last lesson to man should be: know yourself! 76. “Open my eyes, and I will understand the wonders of Your law” (Ps. 119:18) What eyes? Without a doubt, not sensual, but spiritual, the eyes of the mind, and even more so - the eyes of the heart, the enlightenment of which with the light of grace the Apostle Paul once so earnestly desired for his beloved disciples of Ephesus (Eph. 1:18). In the natural fallen state of man, these eyes are closed, like those of those born blind, and it is through them alone that one can see the “miracles ... of the law” of God. "Miracles" and not the ordinary meaning of the law; the latter is also visible through the eyes of natural reason. But the law of God has not only meaning, like human laws, but also miracles, as a product of Divine wisdom. In this respect, the revelation of God is similar to visible nature: order, greatness, beauty are visible in it even to the weak eye; but in order to see the internal composition of the universe, this requires insight into the surface of things—a special eye. Saint David had long possessed ordinary knowledge of the law, but at the same time he saw that in the law of God there was hidden a hundred times more than he saw, and that to understand the latter the eyes with which he saw were not enough; and so he prays to the Lawgiver Himself to open his eyes, so that he can no longer see the meaning, but the very miracles of God’s law, what is in it that surpasses our understanding. Wasn’t the result of the opening of these eyes in David Psalm 118, where the perfections of God’s law are described so strikingly and in detail?.. Or maybe the consequence of this was not a psalm, but silence: before miracles you cannot speak. 77. “My Father is working hitherto, and I am working” (John 5:17) As Moses said: “And rest on the seventh day from all Your works that You have done” (Gen. 2:2). Was the six-day creation really incomplete, so that after some calm it was necessary to get down to work again and continue it, or finish it? No, then everything that was needed was done, and everything that was done was very good, as the review of the work of the Great Doer Himself shows; therefore, the peace of God was complete and would have continued forever if the need for a new creation had not been revealed. Who discovered this need? You, man. How? Your fall and the transformation of all things through it. Ever since you fell from the height of godlikeness and killed yourself to death, the Father and the Son are still doing it again, and will continue to do it until you are resurrected and arise, begin to live in all the fullness of primitive life, take your place again, and through you all other creatures are restored and led. Working at a time when one should only rest is in itself an undesirable state; but man, having violated the peace of God and forced the love of his Creator to act again and, so to speak, to work, not only does not facilitate this work, but in every possible way aggravates, hardens, and grieves it, so that God’s very long-suffering is sometimes forced to complain about the work given to Him by people (Is. 7:13). Now, if there is anywhere a certain place of peace for creative activity, then it is in the souls of righteous people. “This is My peace... - says God Himself, “I will dwell here” (Ps. 131:14). It is in this mind that the Holy Church, through the mouth of its clergy, proclaims: “One is holy and one rests in the saints!” The expression is deep and very significant! If in the whole world now only you, a man, can bring peace to your Creator, then recognize your advantage and do not miss the precious opportunity to serve your Lord now, so that you can also participate in that Divine Saturday that will follow the new creation. 78. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, that he may forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9) What extraordinary logic! Faithful and righteous; therefore he will forgive us all our sins, as soon as we confess them and admit ourselves guilty! But to act this way is fitting for mercy alone; and the inherent property of truth is to judge, condemn the guilty and punish. How then did Divine truth forget, so to speak, its nature and turn into mercy? Next: the Son of God, the purest and most perfect Being, out of love for the fallen human race, took upon Himself all the sins of men, and through His suffering and death satisfied for them Divine justice in all its fullness and power, on the condition that those who turn from the path of evil and their untruths, and ask for mercy in His name, will always and without restraint receive it. This most merciful covenant in favor of fallen humanity and all sinners was accepted and confirmed for all eternity by the very righteousness of God. After this, every time a sinner repents and asks for mercy, not only God’s mercy, which has always stood for unfortunate sinners, but Divine truth itself, which by its very nature once stood against us, demands that the sinner be given forgiveness. Otherwise, the Heavenly Judge Himself would not have observed fidelity to the covenant and agreement that was accepted, approved and approved by Himself; otherwise Divine justice would cease to be just... So, this is where this extraordinary logic comes from! From Golgotha!.. 79. “Through hope... we are saved” (Rom. 8:24) Exactly, with hope; for what else? Our past is terribly dark! Our present is amazingly thin and poor! Therefore, if there is salvation, it will be in the future; but who will guarantee for the future? If we judge by the past and present, then we should rather despair for the future, because the future is a consequence of the past and present. Only in the light of revelation can the future itself appear bright and joyful—and it does! There can be nothing more majestic than the views in which Divine revelation depicts our future; here much goes beyond the limits of not only our experience, even the concept: “whose eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man, according to the testimony of the word of God, what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). 80. “In all things and in all things, both to be filled and to be hungry, and to have abundance and to be wanting” (Phil. 4:12) This is the true measure of complete perfection! To do this, one must be able to not only be abundant, but also to be deprived—not only to be deprived, but also to be abundant. The ability to lose means a lot, a lot, but not everything. How many are there who, having learned how to be deprived, do not know how to abound! And the latter, even now, is often just as necessary as the first, and later will be the only necessity, for a person is being led to a state in which there will be no deprivation, and where, therefore, it will only be necessary to be able to excess. How is this great skill acquired?.. Dispassion. And dispassion?.. Selflessness. And selflessness?.. Self-knowledge. And self-knowledge?.. Self-occupation and self-deepening. The ability to be abundant, like the ability to be deprived, is a quality and property of the soul; but, strengthened by constant skill, it is miraculously communicated to the body itself. From the biographies of the great ascetics it is clear that their very flesh was able not only to be deprived, but to be abundant, according to the will of their spirit; so that, for example, suddenly, after the strictest fasting and the greatest hardships, they could, when necessary, allow themselves to harmlessly partake of a wide variety of dishes. 81. “He who is coming, bring books, and especially leathern ones” (2 Tim. 4:13) Who writes in this way to his friend and gives him such an assignment? A student who studies science and therefore reads books? Or a mentor who teaches science, and for this he needs books? Or at least a person who has a lot of free time and wants to use it to read books? No, this is what the Apostle Paul writes - he writes to the Apostle Timothy! He writes from prison! He writes in firm confidence that the hour of his “departure” has come (2 Tim. 4:6), and he is already close to the altar as a sacrifice! What kind of precious books are these that could occupy such a person, in such a place, at such a time? Without a doubt, the first place among these books was occupied by the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; but on the other hand, the expression: “books, especially leather ones,” naturally leads to the idea that among these selected books, which Paul wants to see before his death and, so to speak, say goodbye to them, there were not just the books of the Old Testament, but also others - which ones exactly? The Old Testament Church, at the end of its existence, already had, in addition to the sacred codex of the divinely inspired, a considerable number of other books written by sacred men. These books could not be alien to the apostle, who, before converting to Christianity, went through all the degrees of education in Jerusalem, listening to lessons in wisdom from the lips of the best of the teachers of the law, Gamaliel. In addition, judging by some passages of Paul’s epistles, there were other books in his holy hands, written by writers and non-Jews. It is enough for us to note here that the Apostle Paul himself pays such attention to books! Why is it enough?.. In order to show that reading is not a sin, that studying useful books is not even contrary to apostolic dignity, that dealing with these dead mentors did not seem useless even for one who himself was a living mentor for the entire universe. Enough of this. 82. “The eyes of the wicked always receive evil; but the good remain silent forever” (Prov. 15:15) The first is not at all surprising, for since the entire world lies in evil, one only has to open a window, so to speak, for evil to immediately pour into the soul from all sides: the eyes of the evil, in front of all their other feelings, are open windows for evil; Is it any wonder that they “at all times... accept evil”? But how do “good people... remain silent forever?” , remain silent when everything around them is in turmoil? When they themselves must often participate, more or less, in the rumors of everyday life? Kind as the sea: it is very agitated, sometimes it seems to groan and let out screams, but all this is on the surface; several fathoms deep, and the sea, as naturalists assure, stands motionless in the most severe storm. Such is the righteous man: despite the external movement and suffering of his outer man, he is internally silent “for ever.” “The law of his God is in his heart: neither will his steps falter” (Ps. 36:31). In it “the peace of God surpasses all understanding” (Phil. 4:7). 83. “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37) Only God, or the God-man, could say this. In relation to all other beings, no matter how great, powerful and beneficial they may be, such a demand would be beyond them, above them and indecent to them. But in relation to God, such a requirement is completely fair and necessary. Fair: for the Heavenly Father is first and above all earthly fathers and mothers. The latter themselves must love Him above all, and therefore, they themselves must demand from their children that they love Him above all, and therefore, more than them. It is necessary: ​​for if a person does not love God more than his father and mother, then his earthly father and mother will be higher than God, which is completely illegal. But this same love, which befits the one God, and to the same degree, is demanded from us, and certainly demands, by Jesus Christ, for He is the true God and faith in Him, as the true God, is the necessary duty of everyone. 84. “God is the foundation of the earth with wisdom... in His sense the depths are broken open” (Prov. 3:19–20) When looking at different sides and forces of nature, different sides and forces of our spirit come into motion and activity: with others, the mind immediately awakens and the imagination of the least intelligent person begins to work; and with others, feeling is aroused in the least sensitive, and thought is eliminated, even suppressed. This happens to the viewer of nature, obviously because this is how visible nature itself is structured; and why is nature such that it excites the mind with another side and another feeling? The Wise One gives a deep answer to this in the above words. According to his pure and holy metaphysics, in nature itself, some things (like the heavens with their strict mathematical order) occurred primarily under the influence of Divine wisdom, others (like the abysses of waters with their constant movement and indeterminacy of forms) under the special influence of the sense of the Divine. In one person, as the image of God, the entire totality of Divine properties, the entire Creator, is reflected. So, man, know your high dignity, and be what you were designed for. 85. “The Son of God has appeared, that he may destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) What's going on? Are they those who were perpetrated by the devil after the creation of man, and whose essence lies in the destruction of man? Or those who were produced by the devil before the creation of man and, perhaps, the entire visible world, in the higher circle of things, in his own realm? First of all, without a doubt, the first, for the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil, in order to save through it the person he had destroyed. But, of course, the saving destruction of the works of the devil will extend beyond this and to other terrible fruits of his unfortunate activity, for in the world everything is connected in such a way that the perfection of the whole does not suffer from it. Only one work of the devil will remain undestroyed, that he made himself an archangel of light from an archangel of light, and dragged other spirits into the same abyss of evil. For this reason, he himself, like an incurable evil, will be expelled from the universe with all his minions, excluded from the circle of things, and will become a feature that does not belong to anything and does not constitute anything. But aren’t the works of the devil such by their nature that they destroy themselves? Why is such a great destroyer needed? In order to ensure that it was necessary not only to destroy these terrible deeds, but also to erect the works of God in their place. By his fall, the devil disturbed the order of things, transformed everything he could, but the essence of what was transformed remained unchanged. From this new chaos, God's beautiful world can again be erected. And for this great purpose the Son of God appears. The One by whom all things were created also appears to recreate everything. 86. “The body... not to fornication, but to the Lord, and the Lord to the body” (1 Cor. 6:13) The Apostle of Christ wants to turn his Corinthian disciples away from carnal vices, to which our fallen nature is so inclined, and which with such incredible force raged in the ancient pagan world, despite his apparently elevated education, and for This indicates in these words the purpose of the existence of our human body. A sensual person looks at his body precisely as an instrument of sensual, carnal pleasures, and in this he sets the goal of his existence; the apostle suggests something else, saying that our body, although carnal, has a purpose not carnal, but spiritual, high, holy, in some way - divine; that it is ultimately intended not only for some carnal, criminal pleasures, but not for our pleasures at all, not even for our spirit alone, but for the Author of all things - God. "Body... Lord,” - this alone would be enough to instill respect for the body, to force it to be treated as a vessel of grace, as a church of the Divine; but the Apostle is not content with this, he reveals the dignity of the human body “from another, higher side, one that goes even beyond the limits of our comprehension; he says that “and the Lord (the Lord Himself) to the body,” that is, just as the body belongs, like some kind of property, to the Lord, so the Lord deigns to belong to the body, as the Head, as the life and light of humanity, faithful to Him. How many thoughts are born with this expression that cannot be depicted in human language!.. And each of them should serve as an incentive to keep your body clean and holy. 87. “Do not be foolish about the great and the small” (Sir. 5:18) Why and about mala? Because great things are made up of small things; because the most enormous events begin, for the most part, with the smallest things; because someone who is not accustomed to paying attention to small things soon gets used to ignoring big things. “Do not be foolish,” that is, do not let go of attention at all, and not just become attached to small things and value them as great. In the latter case, the other extreme occurs: they think about every little thing, as if everything depended on it, and thereby do not have time to pay proper attention to the larger thing, to what really deserves it. To each his own: more attention to the larger, less attention to the smaller; but certainly to each his own; This is what the Wise One wants from us. 88. “Fashion is the belly, and the belly is meat; God will bring to naught both this and this” (1 Cor. 6:13) When will it be abolished? Without a doubt, when everything old is abolished - both the old world and the old man. “There will be no food for the belly, and no food for the belly,” which means that the future state of man’s restoration will be even higher than his state in the earthly paradise, for here it is commanded: “You shall carry food from every tree that goes into paradise” (Gen. 2:16), therefore, “the food for the belly” was “for the belly and the belly for food,” and there, in the future state, there will be neither one nor the other. On the other hand, how will the belly for the food and the food for the belly be abolished, when on the new earth, under the new heaven, the overcomers are promised to eat “from the tree of the living” (Rev. 2:7) and “hidden manna?” (Rev. 2:17). This animal tree, this hidden manna, is, without a doubt, nothing else than that “abiding in eternal life” (John 6:27), which the Savior Himself, while still on earth, promised to believers; but this heavenly Brush is – He Himself!.. To partake of this Divine Brush – not the womb, but a pure and holy soul. The womb for the belly and the belly for the belly will be abolished!.. What will happen to those for whom, in the words of the Apostle, the “womb” is “god”? What will happen to the low fans of the cold idol when the idol itself disintegrates into dust? Let them, in their free time, think about this for themselves!.. Or let them consult the Apostolic Epistle; there the terrible end of those “whose belly is God” is clearly indicated, and their “glory is in the cold” (Phil. 3:19). 89. Anger “and wrath make the days short” (Sir. 30:26) At least this danger and fear for one’s life and health would curb angry people and keep them from fits of rage! For is the danger small? Is fear in vain? How many people whose outburst of anger cost their lives, whom it killed instantly, in the prime of life and strength, amid enterprises and hopes? Although anger does not erupt over others so destructively, it always upsets their health and shortens their life. It cannot be otherwise, by the very essence of anger. Shaking all the vital elements of the body, disturbing and even temporarily stopping all functions of the soul and body, bringing bile and anger into a state of boiling and spreading throughout the body, it inevitably upsets the entire bodily composition, irresistibly spoils the blood and juices. The devastation it causes can even be seen and felt. Look at yourself in a moment of strong anger in the mirror: you will be horrified by your own appearance; he is so fierce, crimson, disgusting! At this time, put your hand on your heart: it beats like a hammer on an anvil. Could such a boiling of the blood, such a concussion of the nerves, such a spilling of bile not have a detrimental effect on life and health? That is why angry people are usually dry, yellow, as if baked in fire. So, if not for the sake of anything else, then for the sake of their own health, everyone should be as free as possible from anger, because even a single, strong anger, as can be seen from many examples, can kill the angry person - to death.