Fundamentals of the Orthodox faith

Катехизис на сербском Содержание Увод О Божанском Откривењу О Светом Предању и Светом Писму О Светом Писму Садржај православног вероучења Први део – о вери православној О Символу Вере уопште и о његовом пореклу О члановима Символа вере О 1-м члану Символа вере О 2-м члану Символа вере О 3-м члану Символа вере О 4-м члану Символа вере О 5-м члану Символа вере О 6-м члану Символа вере О 7-м члану Символа вере О 8-м члану Символа вере О 9-м члану Символа вере О 10-м члану Символа вере О Крштењу О Миропомазању О Причешћу О Покајању О Свештенству О Браку О 11-м члану Символа вере О 12-м члану Символа вере Други део – о нади православној Шта је то «хришћанска нада» О молитви О молитви To the Lord About invocation - Our Father, Who art in Heaven; About the 2nd prayer - Hallowed be Your Name; About the 3rd prayer - May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; About the 4th prayer - Give us today our daily bread; О 5-м мољењу – И опрости нам дугове наше, као што и ми опраштамо дужницима својим; About the 6th prayer - And lead us not into temptation; About the 7th prayer - But deliver us from the evil one; О славословљу – Јер је Твоје Царство и сила и слава у векове, Амин Учење о блаженству О 1 Заповести Блаженства О 2 Заповести Блаженства О 3 Заповести Блаженства О 4 Заповести Блаженства О 5 Заповести Блаженства О 6 Заповести Блаженства О 7 Заповести Блаженства О 8 Заповести Блаженства О 9 Заповести Блаженства Трећи део – љубав православна О савезу вере и љубави О Закону Божијем и Заповестима О подели Заповести Божијих на две таблице О 1 Заповести О 2 Заповести О 3 Заповести О 4 Заповести О 5 Заповести О 6 Заповести О 7 Заповести О 8 Заповести О 9 Заповести О 10 Заповести Како се користити православним учењем о вери и побожности 1. The Orthodox catechism (religious teaching) represents the teaching of the Orthodox Christian faith that is given to every Christian for the sake of pleasing God and saving the soul. 2. The word "catechism" translated from the Greek language means announcement, oral teaching, and according to its use since the apostolic age, this word denotes the basic teaching about the Orthodox Christian faith that is necessary for every Christian (Lk. 1, 4; Dap. 18:25). 3. To please God and to save the soul, first of all, knowledge of the true God and true faith in Him are needed, and secondly, a life of faith and good works. 4. Faith is necessary because, as the word of God testifies, without faith it is not possible to please God (Heb. 11, 6). 5. Faith should be inseparably followed by a life of faith and good works, because, as the word of God testifies, faith without works is dead (James 2:20). 6. According to the explanation of the Holy Apostle Paul, zero is the basis of everything we hope for, the confirmation of unseen things (Hebrews 11:1). 7. The difference between knowledge and faith is that knowledge has the visible and comprehensible as its object, while faith has the invisible and even incomprehensible. Knowledge is based on experience or investigation of a subject, and faith is based on trust in the testimony of the Truth. Knowledge applies to the mind, although it can also affect the heart; faith belongs primarily to the heart, although it begins in the mind. 8. In the teaching of piety, not only knowledge is required, but also faith, because the main subject of this teaching is the Invisible and Incomprehensible God and the Wisdom of God hidden in a secret. Therefore, many parts of this teaching cannot be grasped by rational knowledge, but can only be received by faith. "Faith" - says St. Cyril of Jerusalem - "represents the eye that illuminates every conscience; it imparts knowledge to man. Because, says the Prophet, if you do not believe you will not understand (Isa. 7:9)" (Fifth Catechism for those who have been announced). 9. Saint Cyril also explains the necessity of faith in the following way: "Faith is not considered great only among us who bear the Name of Christ, but by faith everything that is perfected in the world is perfected, even by people who are strangers to the Church. Agriculture is based on faith: because he who does not believe that he will reap the fruits that will grow, will not want to work hard. Sailors are guided by faith - entrusting their destiny to a small piece of wood and assuming the inconstant movement of waves to a harder element, the earth - they indulge in uncertain hopes, having only faith with them, in which they trust more than in any anchor (Fifth Catechism for Advertisers). 10. We draw the teachings of the Orthodox Church from Divine Revelation. 11. By "Divine Revelation" is meant what God Himself revealed to people, so that they could correctly and savingly believe in Him and respect Him as they should. 12. God gave such a Revelation for all people, because it is necessary for everyone and is salutary for everyone, but since not all people were able to receive the Revelation directly from God, He chose special messengers of His Revelation, who would deliver it to all people who want to accept it. 13. Not all people are able to receive revelation from God directly because of sinful impurity and weakness of spirit. 14. Messengers of God's Revelation were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and other Prophets. They received and preached the basics of the Revelation of God; in fullness and perfection God's Revelation was brought to earth and spread throughout the Universe through his disciples and Apostles, the Incarnate Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. . At the beginning of his Epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says: God, who from long ago spoke to the Fathers many times and in various ways through the Prophet, in these last days spoke to us through the Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the ages (Hebrews 1, 1-2). The same Apostle writes to the Corinthians: We speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a secret, which God foreordained centuries ago for our glory, which none of the princes of this century knew... And God revealed it to us by His Spirit; because the Spirit examines everything, even the depths of God (1 Cor. 2, 7-8, 10). The evangelist John writes in the Gospel: No one has ever seen God: the Only Begotten Son Who is in the arms of the Father, He announced him (Jn. 1:18). Jesus Christ himself says: No one knows the Son but the Father; nor from Who knows until the Son, and if the Son wants to reveal to whom (Mt. 11, 27). 15. A person can know God through observing the world that God created, but such knowledge is imperfect and insufficient, and can only serve as a preparation for faith or as a kind of help for knowing God from His Revelation. Because what is invisible in Him, from the creation of the world with the mind is clearly seen in creatures, His eternal power and Godhead (Romans 1:20). He created from one blood every nation of mankind to dwell on the whole face of the earth, and he set predetermined times and the limits of their stay, so that they would seek the Lord, in order not to touch and find Him, although He is not far from any of us. Hebrew in Him we live, and move, and are (Acts 17:26-28). "Accordingly, faith in God is preceded by the thought that God exists, which we reach through creation. By carefully observing the created world, we know that God is Wise, Almighty, Good; also, we know all His invisible attributes. In this way, we accept Him as the Supreme Bishop. Since God is the Creator of the whole world, and we represent a part of the world, it follows that God is also our Creator. This knowledge is followed by faith, and after faith - worship" (St. Basil the Great, Epistle 232). About the Holy Tradition and the Holy Scriptures 16. Divine Revelation spreads among people and is preserved in the true Church in two ways: through the Holy Tradition and the Holy Scriptures. 17. By "Holy Tradition" is meant what people who truly believe and who respect God in word and deed hand over to each other and from ancestors to descendants: the teaching of faith, the Law of God, the Holy Mysteries and sacred rites. 18. All those who truly believe, united by the Holy Tradition of faith, as a whole and especially 1 , as established by the Divine, form the Church, which is the faithful guardian of the Holy Tradition, or, in the words of the Holy Apostle Paul - the Tree of the living God, the pillar and fortress of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15). 19. The Holy Scriptures are the books written by the Spirit of God through men sanctified by God, called Prophets and Apostles. These books are commonly called the Bible. 20. "Bible" is a Greek word. It means - "Books". This name expresses that the Holy Books are worthy of attention more than all other books. 21. The oldest and original way of spreading the Revelation of God is the Holy Tradition. From Adam to Moses there were no Holy Books. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself gave His Divine teaching and commandments to His disciples by word and example, not by book. And the Apostles initially spread the faith and strengthened the Church of Christ in the same way - orally. The necessity of Tradition can be seen from the fact that not everyone can use books, but Tradition can. 22. The Holy Scriptures were given in order to preserve the Revelation of God more accurately and unchanged. In the Holy Scriptures, we read the words of the Prophets and Apostles exactly as if we lived with them and listened to them, regardless of the fact that the Holy Books were written several centuries and millennia before our time. 23. We are obliged to preserve the Holy Tradition, as in accordance with the Divine Revelation and the Holy Scriptures, which the Holy Scripture itself teaches us - the Apostle Paul writes: 72 therefore, brothers, stand firm and keep the traditions which you have been taught, either by our word or by the epistle (2. Thess. 2:15). 24. Tradition is still necessary for a proper understanding of the Holy Scriptures, for the proper perfecting of the Holy Mysteries and the preservation of sacred rites in the purity of their original order. Saint Basil the Great says the following about it: "Of the dogmas and teachings preserved in the Church, we have some in written form, while we received some from the apostolic tradition, through secret inheritance. Both have the same force for piety, which no one who is even slightly versed in church order will contradict. Because if we dare to reject unwritten customs, as if they are not of great importance, we will imperceptibly harm the Gospel in what is most important, and only a desolate name will remain of the apostolic preaching. Let's recall, for example, the first and most general one: who taught in a letter that those who trust in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ are shadowed with the sign of the cross7 Which epistle taught us to turn to the east when praying; Who of the Saints left us in writing the words of invocation (of the Holy Spirit) in the transformation of the Eucharistic Bread and the Cup of Blessing7 Because we are not satisfied with those words that mention the Alostol or the Gospel, but both before and after them we produce others, which we received from unwritten teaching and which have great power for perfecting the Holy Mystery. Also, according to which letter do we bless the water of Baptism, and the oil of Anointing, and even the one who is baptized2 Do we not do this according to (in the Holy Scriptures) a silent and secret Tradition. And what else7 Which written word taught us even anointing with oil7 Where did the threefold immersion of man and other things related to baptism come from; from which letter was the renunciation of Satan and his angels taken 7 Was it not taken from this unpopularized and unpublished teaching that our Fathers preserved in silence inaccessible to curiosity and exposure, since they were taught for a reason to guard the sacred Mysteries in silence 7 Because how could teaching be published in writing about what the unbaptized are not even allowed to look at" (Rule 27. On the Holy Spirit. Ch. 27). 25. The Holy Books were written at different times. One - before the Nativity of Christ, the other - after. 26. These two parts of the Sacred Books have special names. Those written before the birth of Christ are called the books of the Old Testament; those written after the birth of Christ are called the books of the New Testament. 27. The Old and New Testaments are, in other words, the old and new covenant between God and man. 28. The Old Testament consisted of God promising to give people a Divine Savior and preparing them to receive Him. 29. For receiving the Savior, God prepared people with revelations, prophecies and portents. 30. The New Testament consists in the fact that God really gave people the Divine Savior, His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. 31. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Athanasius the Great and Venerable John of Damascus accept the number of twenty-two Holy Books of the Old Testament, according to the number of letters of the original Jewish language (St. Athanasius, 39th Feast Epistle; Rev. John of Damascus, Exact exposition of the Orthodox faith, book 4, ch. 17). 32. The Jewish counting deserves attention because the Jews (Jews) - as the Apostle Paul says - (were) entrusted with the words of God, and because the New Testament Christian Church received the Old Testament Holy Books from the Old Testament Jewish Church (Romans 3:2). 33. The Old Testament books of St. Cyril and Athanasius enumerate as follows: 1. The Book of Genesis (i.e. Genesis), 2. Exodus (Deuteronomy), 3. Leviticus (Third Moses), 4. Numbers (Quarters of Moses), 5. The Laws Repeated (The Fifth of Moses), 7. The Book of Judges and in addition to it the Book of Ruth, 8. The first and second books of Kings as two parts of one book, 9. The third and fourth books of the kings, 10. The first and second books of the Diary (i.e. Paralipomenon), 11. The first and second books of Ezra, which according to the Greek title are called Nemiah, 16. The book of the preacher, by the same writer, 17. Song of songs, his, 18. The book of the prophet Isaiah, 19. The book of the prophet Jeremiah, 20. The book of the prophet Ezekiel, 21. The book of the prophet Daniel, 22. The Books of the Twelve Prophets. 34. In this enumeration of Old Testament books, the book of Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach, as well as some other books that are not in the Hebrew language (such as the Wisdom of Solomon and the Book of Maccabees) are not mentioned. 35. We are to receive these last books. For them St. Athanasius the Great says that those who enter the Church are left to read from the Fathers. 36. According to the content of the Old Testament books, they can be divided into four groups: 1) legal, which represent the foundation of the Old Testament; 2) historical, which contain primarily the history of piety; 3) instructive, which contain the teaching of piety; 4) prophetic, which contain prophecies or predictions about the future, especially about Jesus Christ. 37. There are five legal books; they were written by the prophet Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Laws repeated. Jesus Christ himself gives these books a common name - the Law of Moses (Luke 24:44). 38. The book of Genesis contains the story of the creation of the world and man, and also the history and order of godliness in the early days of the human race. 39. The other four books of Moses contain the history of piety from the time of the prophet Moses and the Law given by God through him. 40. The historical books of the Old Testament are the book of Joshua, about the Judges, about Ruth, about the Kings, the book of the Chronicles, and the books of Ezdrin, Nemiah and Esther. 41. The books of instruction are the book of Job, the Psalms, and the books of Solomon (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs). 42. The Psalter, along with devotional teachings, also contains references to history and many prophecies about Christ the Savior. The Psalter is the most important guide in prayer and glorification of God, and is therefore constantly used in church worship. 43. The prophetic books are the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and twelve other prophets. 44. There are twenty-seven books of the New Testament. 45. Legal books, i.e. the backbone of the New Testament, we can justifiably call the Gospel, which consists of the four books of the evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 46. "Gospel" is a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. good and joyful news. 47. Books that we call the Gospel of the good news about the Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, about His coming to earth, about His life on earth, about His miraculous works and saving teachings, and finally, about His death on the Cross, glorious Resurrection and Ascension to heaven. 48. These books are called the Gospel because there can be no better and more joyful news for people than the news about the Divine Savior and eternal salvation. This is precisely why the reading of the Gospel in the church is announced every time with joyful exclamations: "Glory to You, Lord, glory to You!". 49. Among the New Testament books, the historical book "Acts of the Holy Apostles". 50. It tells about the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles and the spread of the Christian Church through them. 51. The word "apostle" means "messenger". The chosen disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom He sent to preach the Gospel, are called by this name. 52. The educational books of the New Testament are the seven epistles of the Council: one of the Apostle James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Judas, as well as fourteen epistles of the Apostle Paul: Romans, two Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two Thessalonians, two Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews. 53. Among the books of the New Testament there is also a prophetic book - the Apocalypse of St. app. John. 54, Translated from Greek, the word Apocalypse means "Revelation". 55. (This book contains mysterious representations of future events in the Church of Christ and the whole world. 56. When reading the Holy Scriptures, it is necessary to adhere to the following. First of all, it is necessary to read it with piety, as a word. of God, and with prayer for his understanding; secondly, it should be read with a pure intention - in order to be taught in the faith and to receive an incentive for good works; thirdly, it is necessary to understand it in accordance with the interpretation of the Orthodox Church and the Holy Fathers. 57. When the Church provides the teaching of the Revelation of God and the Holy Scriptures to people who are not familiar with it, she points out the following features that show that it is the true word of God: 1) the sublimity of this teaching, which testifies to the fact that: it cannot be an invention of the human mind; 4 2) the purity of that teaching, which shows that it came from the purest mind of God; 5) the power of the influence of that teaching on human hearts, inherent only to the power of God. 58. Prophecies are a sign of the true Revelation of God, and this can be explained with an example. The prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of Christ the Savior from a Virgin, which the natural human mind could not even imagine. Several hundred years after that prophecy, the Lord Jesus Christ was born from the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is impossible not to see that the prophecy was the word of the Omniscient God, and the fulfillment of the prophecy was the work of the Almighty God. That is why the Holy Evangelist Matthew, describing the Birth of Christ, cites the prophecy of Isaiah: And all this happened to fulfill what the Lord said through the prophet who said: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel, which means: God is with us (Mt. 1, 22-23). 59. Miracles are works that cannot be done by human power or skill, but only by the almighty power of God. For example - raising the dead. 60. Miracles are the mark of the true word of God. Whoever works true miracles works by the power of God, and accordingly, he is pleasing to God and shares in the Spirit of God. And it is characteristic of such a man to speak only the pure truth. Therefore, without a doubt, the Word of God speaks through him. That is why our Lord Jesus Christ Himself considers miracles to be an important testimony of His Divine mission: /2 I have a greater testimony than John's; because the works that the Father gave me to complete, these works that I do, testify for Me that the Father sent Me (John 5:36). 61. The powerful action of Christian teaching can especially be seen on the example of the twelve Apostles who were chosen from among the poor, ignorant people of low social status. Nevertheless, with that teaching, they conquered and subdued to Christ the mighty, the wise and the rich, kings and empires. The content of the Orthodox faith 62. In order to properly present the content of the teaching of piety, according to the book "Orthodox Confession" approved by the Orthodox Eastern Patriarchs, the saying of the Apostle Paul can be taken as a basis, that for a Christian in this life the foundation should be FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. And now faith, hope, love, these three remain (1 Cor. 13:13). A Christian therefore needs: firstly, the teaching of faith in God and in the secrets He reveals; secondly, the teaching of hope in God and the means of establishing it; and thirdly, teaching about love for God and for all that He commands to be loved. 63. The Church introduces us to learning about faith with the Symbol of Faith. 64. For guidance in teaching about hope, the Lord's sayings on beatitude and the Lord's Prayer can be taken. 65. The basic teaching about love can be found in the ten commandments of the Law of God, and also in the New Testament (Mt. 5, 44, 46; 10, 37 . Mk. 12, 30-33 . Lk. 7, 47; 11, 42 . Ji. 13, 34-35. 1. Cor. 13, 1-9 and others. ). The first part - about the Orthodox faith About the Symbol of Faith in general and about its origin 66. The creed is a teaching about the basic truths of the Christian faith, presented in short and precise words. 67. (The symbol of faith reads): 1) I believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible. 2) And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, of the Father born before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one-born to the Father, through whom all things were made; 3) Who came down from Heaven for the sake of us humans and for our salvation, and was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became a man; | 4) And Who was crucified for us at the time of Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried; 5) And Who was resurrected on the third day according to the Scripture; 6) And Who ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father; 7) And Who will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end. | 8) And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, Who proceeds from the Father, Who is honored and glorified together with the Father and the Son, Who spoke through the Prophets. 9) In the One, Holy, Congregational and Apostolic Church. 10) I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 11) I am waiting for the resurrection of the dead. 12) And the life of the future century. Amen. 68. The teaching of the faith was presented in this way by the fathers of the First and Second Ecumenical Councils. 69. Ecumenical Council - it is an assembly of pastors and teachers of the Christian Congregational Church, preferably from the whole universe, convened for the purpose of establishing the true teaching and order among Christians. 70. There were seven Ecumenical Councils: 2. in Constantinople - 381. 4. in Chalkidon - 451. . 5. in Constantinople - 553. 6. in Constantinople - 680 7. in Constantinople - 787. 71. The practice of convening councils is based on the example of the Apostles, who convened the Council in Jerusalem (Dap. 15). The words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself serve as a basis for this, which give the provisions of the Church such importance that the one who violates them is considered to be deprived of grace like a heathen. If he does not obey the Church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector (Mt. 18, 17). The way in which the Ecumenical Church makes its decisions is the Ecumenical Assembly. 72. The First and Second Ecumenical Councils, at which the symbol of faith was drawn up, were convened for the following reasons: the first - to establish the true teaching about the Son of God, and against the false teaching of Arius, and the second - to establish the teaching about the Holy Spirit, against the false teaching of Macedonia. 73. The First Ecumenical Council compiled 20 rules (or canons), while the Second Ecumenical Council compiled 7 rules. 74. In order to better understand the Universal Creed, we should pay attention to its division into twelve articles, or parts, and consider each article separately. 75. The first article of the Symbol of Faith talks about God, especially about the First Hypostasis of the Holy Trinity - about God the Father and about God as the Creator of the world. The second article talks about the Second Hypostasis (Person) of the Holy Trinity, about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In the third article - about the Incarnation of the Son of God. In the fourth article - about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. In the fifth article - about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the sixth article - about the Ascension of Jesus Christ to Heaven. In the seventh article - about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth. In the eighth article - about the Third Hypostasis (Face) of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In the ninth article - about the Church. In the tenth article - about Baptism, which also includes other Holy Mysteries. In the eleventh article - about the future (universal) Resurrection of the dead. The twelfth article talks about Eternal Life. "I believe in One God the Father, Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth and of all VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE. » 76. Believing in God means being firmly convinced of His existence, His attributes and works, and wholeheartedly accepting the words of His Revelation about the salvation of the human race. 77. From the Holy Scriptures it is possible to find out what faith in God should be reflected in. The apostle Paul writes: Without faith it is impossible to please God; because the one who approaches God should believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11, 6). The Apostle presents the effect of faith in Christians with the following prayer to God for them: That He may give you strength according to the riches of His glory, that you may be strengthened by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith (Eph. 3, 16-17). 78. True faith in God is most directly reflected in the confession of faith. 79. Confessing faith means openly admitting that we adhere to the Orthodox faith, with such sincerity and firmness that neither temptations (deceptions), threats, torture, or even death could force us to renounce our faith in the True God and in our Lord Jesus Christ. 80. Apostle Paul testifies that confession of faith is necessary for salvation: Because with the heart one believes for righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses for salvation (Romans 10:10). 81. For salvation, it is necessary not only to believe, but also to profess the Orthodox faith, because if someone were to renounce the profession of the Orthodox faith in order to save a transitory life or earthly comforts, he would thereby show that he does not have true faith in God the Savior and in the future blessed life. 82. In the Symbol of Faith it was not said: I believe in God, but it was added: in One God - in order to reject the false teaching of the heathens, who, considering the creation to be God, thought that there were many gods. 83. The very words of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures about the unity of God are included in the Creed from the following saying of the Apostle Paul: there is no other God but one. Because even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there are many gods and many lords, but we have only One God the Father, from Whom everything is and for Whom we are, and One Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom everything is and we through Him (1 Cor. 8, 4-6). 84. The very Essence of God cannot be known. It surpasses all knowledge, not only human, but also angelic. 85. About this, it was said in the Holy Scriptures through the Apostle Paul, that God lives in an inaccessible light and that no man sees Him, nor can He see (1 Tim. 6:16). 86. The following conclusions can be drawn from the Revelation of God about the Essence of God and the main Attributes of God: God is an Eternal Spirit, All-Good, All-Knowing, All-Just, All-Powerful, All-Present, Immutable, All-Sufficient, All-Blessed. 87. All this can be seen from the Holy Scriptures. The Lord Jesus Christ himself said: God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24). About the eternity of God, the prophet David says: Sin was born above and the earth and the universe were created, and from age to age - You are God (Ps. 90, 2). In the Revelation of John, there is the following eulogy to God: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come (Rev. 4, 8). Apostle Paul says that the Gospel was revealed by the commandment of the eternal God (Romans 14:25). About the Goodness of God Jesus Christ Himself said: No one is good except one God (Mt. 19, 17). Apostle John says: God is Love (1 John 4:16). Prophet David sings: The Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and of great mercy. The Lord is good to everyone and pitiful in all His works (Ps. 145, 8-9). About God's omniscience, Apostle John says: God is greater than our hearts and knows everything (1 John 3:20). The apostle Paul exclaims: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and understanding of God! How unspeakable are His judgments and unsearchable are His ways (Romans 11:33): About the Justice of God's judgment, the prophet David says: The Lord is wise, he loves justice; The righteous will see His face (Pe.11:7). Apostle Paul says that God will give to everyone according to His works and that God does not look at who is who (Romans 2, 6,11). The psalmist says about God's omnipotence: For He said, and it came to be; He commanded, and he showed himself (Pe.33:9). Archangel Gabriel says in the Gospel: With God everything is possible that he says (LK.1:37). David presents God's omnipresence like this: Where would I go from Your Spirit, and where would I run from Your face 7 If I were to go to heaven, You are there; to go down to hell, there you are. Let me rise on the wings of the dawn, and move to the end of the sea: and there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will hold me. To say: the darkness will hide me; but the night is like light around me. Even the darkness will not be darkened by You, and the night is as bright as the day: the darkness is like the light (Ps. 139, 7-12). Apostle James writes that with the Father of Light there is no change or shadow of change (James 1:17). The apostle Paul says that God does not accept favors from the hands of men, but that something is needed by Him, Who Himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone (Acts 17:25). He calls God the Blessed and ONLY Ruler, King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15). 88. God is a Spirit, although the Holy Scriptures attribute bodily parts to him, for example the heart, eyes, ears, hands. The Holy Scriptures are here adapted to ordinary human language, and should be understood in a spiritual and sublime sense; for example, Heart of God means Goodness or Love of God, Eyes and Ears mean Omniscience, and Hands - Omnipotence. 89. God is everywhere, but it is said that He resides "in the heavens" or "in the church". Yes, God is everywhere, but He is especially present in the heavens, where the blessed spirits glorify Him in eternal glory; and in the churches He is especially present, graciously and mysteriously, and the faithful notice and feel that presence devoutly; sometimes, it is shown through special signs. Jesus Christ says: Where two or three are gathered in My Name, there I am among them (Mt. 18, 20). 90 . The words of the Symbol: "I believe in One God the Father" should be understood in the sense of the relationship to the secret of the Holy Trinity, because God is One in Essence, but triune in Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - the Trinity is One and Indivisible. 91. The Holy Trinity is spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. The most important sayings about this in the New Testament are the following: Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19). Because there are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Logos (Word), and the Holy Spirit; and this Trinity is One (1 John 5:7). 92. The Holy Trinity is also mentioned in the Old Testament, but not so clearly. For example: By the word of the Lord the heavens were created, and by the spirit of His mouth all their hosts (Ps. 33, 6). World, World, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory (Jaa.6:3). 93. God is one in Three Persons. We cannot understand this deep secret of God, but we believe in it according to the unchanging testimony of the word of God: What is in God no one knows except the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2, 11). 94. The Persons of the Holy Trinity differ from each other in that God the Father is neither born nor proceeds from other Persons; The Son of God is eternally begotten of the Father; The Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father. 95. The three Hypostases or Persons of the Holy Trinity are completely of the same Divine dignity. Just as the Father is the True God, so is the Son the True God, and the Holy Spirit is the True God, and at the same time in the Three Hypostases (Persons) there is only one Trihypostatic (Tripersonal) God. 96. God is called Almighty because He sustains everything that exists by His power and His will. 97. The words of the Symbol: "Creator of heaven and earth and everything visible and invisible" convey that God created everything and that without God nothing can exist. 98. These words are taken from the Holy Scriptures. The book of Genesis begins with the words: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Apostle Paul says the following about Jesus Christ, the Son of God: For by him all things were created, that are in the heavens and that are on earth, that are visible and that are invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by him and for him (Col. 1:16). 99 . In the Symbol of Faith, "invisible" means the invisible, i.e. the spiritual world, to which Angels belong. 100 . Angels are disembodied spirits, endowed with mind, will and power. 101. The word "angel" means "messenger". 102. They are so called because God sends them to announce His will. Thus, for example, the Archangel Gabriel was sent by God to announce the conception of the Savior to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 103. The invisible was created before the visible, Angels were created before men. 104. Evidence of this can be found in the Holy Scriptures. In the Book of Job, God Himself speaks about the creation of the earth like this: Who laid its cornerstone When the stars were (created), all My Angels shouted to Me (Job 38, 6-7). 105. The name "Guardian Angel" is taken from the following words of the Lord Jesus Christ: For he commands his angels for you to guard you in all your ways (Pe.91:11). 106. Each of us has our own Guardian Angel. The following words of the Lord Jesus Christ will assure us of this: See that you do not overripe one of these little ones; because I tell you that their angels in heaven are constantly looking at the face of my heavenly Father (Mt. 18, 10). 107. Not all Angels are good and benefactors. There are also evil angels who are otherwise called devils (or demons). 108. They are also created to be good. And they became evil by violating the duty of complete obedience to God, and thus they fell away from Him and fell into self-love, pride and malice. According to the words of the Apostle Jude, these are Angels who did not preserve their dignity, but left their place of residence (Jud. 1:6). 109. The word "devil" (diabolos) in Greek means "slanderer" or "deceiver". 110. Evil angels are called devils, ie. slanderers or seducers, because they try to harm people by deceiving them, leading them to false thoughts and evil desires. 111. The Holy Scriptures revealed to us about the creation of the world, that in the beginning God created heaven and earth out of nothing. The earth was formless (i.e. it had no external form known to us) and desolate. Then God gradually created everything in heaven and on earth. On the first day of the creation of the world, he created light. On the second day - the firmament, i.e. visible sky. On the third day – sea, land and plants. On the fourth day - sun, moon and stars. On the fifth day - fish and birds. On the sixth day - four-legged land animals and, finally - man. Creation ended with man, and on the seventh day God rested from all His works. That is why the seventh day is called "Saturday", which means "rest" in Hebrew. 112. Visible things were not created as we see them today. During creation, everything was very good, ie. pure, wonderful and unscathed. 113. The circumstances of man's creation are known. God in the Holy Trinity said: let us make man in His image, as we are (Genesis 1, 26). And so God created the body of the first man, Adam, from the earth, and breathed into his face the breath of life, and brought him into Paradise and gave him food, apart from the other fruits of Paradise and the fruits of the tree of life; finally, taking a rib from Adam while he was asleep, he created from him the first woman - Eve (Genesis 2, 21-22). 114. According to the interpretation of the Apostle Paul, the image of God consists of the righteousness and holiness of the truth (Eph. 4:24). 115. The "breath of life" is the soul - a spiritual and immortal being. 116. The word "Paradise" means garden. This is the name of the wonderful and blissful abode of the first man, which is described as a garden in the book of Genesis. 117. The paradise in which the first people lived was real for the body, as a visible blessed abode, while for the soul it was spiritual, as a state of gracious communion with God and spiritual contemplation of creation (St. Grigorije the Theologian, Sermon 38,42; Rev. Jovan Damaskin, Theology, vol. 2, ch. 12). 118. The "tree of life" was such a tree that, if a man ate its fruits, he would save his body from illness and death. 119. Eve was created from Adam's rib so that the entire human race would be one body by its origin and so that people would naturally tend to love and protect one another. 120. God created man in such a way that man would know God, that he would love and glorify Him and thereby be eternally blessed. 121. God's will about man's predestination for eternal bliss has a special name in the teaching of faith - God's predestination. 122. God's predestination of man's bliss remains unchanged even now, when we see that man does not live in bliss. This is because God, in His omniscience and infinite mercy, determined even for man who had deviated from the path of bliss to discover a new way through His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. 123. God's predestination in relation to people and each person individually should be understood this way: God predestined to give each person, and he really did, grace and true means to achieve salvation; for salvation he predestined those who willingly receive the grace that He bestowed on them and who use the means of salvation that He bestowed on them, following the path of salvation that He showed them. 124. The Word of God speaks about it like this: For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29). 125. In the Exposition of the Faith of the Eastern Orthodox Patriarchs, it was said about this: "Since he foresaw that some of their free will would be used for good, and others for evil, he ordained one for glory and condemned the other" (Article 2). 126. The creation of the world and man is immediately followed by the action of God towards the world and especially towards man, which is called the Providence of God. 127. God's providence is the constant action of God's Omnipotence, Wisdom and Goodness, with which God preserves beings and the power of creation, directing it towards good goals, helping everything that is good and cutting off or correcting and turning to a good outcome every evil that arises through moving away from good. 128. About the Providence of God, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself says in the Holy Scriptures: Look at the birds of the sky, how they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into granaries; so your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more important than them! (Mt. 6, 26). From this saying, both the general Providence of God on creation and the special one - on man, are visible. The entire 91st psalm is an image of God's special and diverse Providence for man. "And in the One Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten, born of the Father before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten, not made, of the one-born Father, through whom all things were made;" 129. The names "Jesus Christ" and "Son of God" should be understood as follows: Son of God is called the Second Person of the Holy Trinity by His Divinity. The Son of God was called Jesus when he was born on earth as a man. He was called Christ by the Prophets at a time when His Coming to earth was still expected. 130. The name "Jesus" means "Savior" and was given by the Archangel Gabriel. 131. This name was given to the Son of God at His birth on earth, because He was born to save people. 132. The name "Christ" means "Anointed One", and it originated from the anointing with Holy Myrrh, through which the gifts of grace of the Holy Spirit are given. 133. He is not only called Jesus, the Son of God, the Anointed One. In ancient times, kings, high priests and prophets were called anointed. 134. Jesus, the Son of God, is called the Anointed One because all the gifts of the Holy Spirit were given unlimitedly to His human nature. In this way, the knowledge of the Prophet, the holiness of the High Priest and the power of the Emperor belong to Him to the greatest extent. 135. Jesus Christ is called Lord in the sense that He is the True God, because the name Lord is one of the names of God. 136. The Holy Scriptures speak about the Divinity of Jesus, the Son of God, as follows: In the beginning was the Logos (Word, Letter), and the Logos was in God, and the Logos was God (Ji.1:1). 137 . Jesus Christ is called the Only Begotten Son of God. This means that only He is the Son of God, born from the Essence of God the Father and therefore one Essence with God the Father, and that accordingly he incomparably surpasses all the holy Angels and holy men who are called sons of God by grace (Ji.1:12). 138. Holy Scripture calls Jesus Christ the Only Begotten. Here is an example of a few sayings of the evangelist John: And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (Ja. 1:14); No one has ever seen God; The only begotten Son who is in the arms of the Father, He announced him (Ji.1:18). 139. In the Creed for the Son of God, it is also said that he was "begotten of the Father". This indicates that personal attribute by which He differs from the other Persons of the Holy Trinity. 140. It is said that He was born "before all ages", so that no one would think that there was a time when He was not. In other words, this indicates that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of God as well as the Eternal Father. 141 . The words of the Symbol of Faith: "Light from Light" through a comparison with visible light explain to some extent the incomprehensible birth of the Son of God from the Father. Looking at the sun we see light; from that light is born the light that can be seen on our entire planet, but both are one light, indivisible, of the same nature. Similarly, God the Father is eternal Light (1 John 1:5); from Him is born the Son of God, Who is also eternal Light; God the Father and the Son of God are one eternal Light, indivisible, one Divine nature. 142. The words: "To the true God from the true God" mean that the Son of God is called God in the true sense of the word, the same as God the Father. 143. These are the words of the Holy Scriptures, taken from the epistle of the Apostle John the Theologian: And we know that the Son of God has not given us (light p) reason to know the True One; and we are in the True One, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20). 144. The Son of God is also said in the Symbol to be born, not created. This was done to discredit Arius, who impiously taught that the Son of God was created. 145. The words "of the same Father" mean that the Son of God is of one and the same Divine Essence with God the Father. 146. Jesus Christ Himself says in the Holy Scriptures about Himself and about God the Father: I and the Father are one (Ji.10:30). 147 . The words of the Symbol of Faith: "Through whom all things were made" show that God the Father created everything through His Son as through His eternal Wisdom and Word (Logos, Letter). Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that was made (Jn. 1:3). "Who came down from heaven for the sake of us people and for the sake of our salvation, and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became a man; » 148. "Who came down from heaven" - this is how the Symbol of Faith speaks of the Son of God. 149. It is said: "God came down from heaven" - although He is present everywhere as God. Actually, since He is Omnipresent He is always in heaven and always on earth; but on earth He was first invisible, and then appeared in the flesh; and, in this sense it is said that He came down from heaven. 150. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaks about this in the Holy Scriptures: No one has ascended to heaven except the One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man Who is in heaven (John 3:13). 151 . The Son of God came down from the heavens" for the sake of us people and for the sake of our salvation", as the Symbol of Faith says. 152. That the Son of God came down from Heaven "for us people", it was said in this sense, that He came to earth not because of any specific people, nor because of some people, but to save all of us - people in general. 153. The Son of God came to earth to save people from sin, curse and death. 154. Sin is a transgression of the Law of God. And sin is iniquity (1 John 3:4). 155. Sin entered people (although they were created in the image of God, and God cannot sin) - from the devil. 156. Sin passed from the devil to humans when the devil deceived Eve and Adam and persuaded them to transgress the commandment of God. 157 . God commanded Adam in Paradise not to taste the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and he told him that if he tasted it, he would die. 158. For man, tasting the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil became deadly, because it was associated with disobedience to the will of God. In this way, disobedience separated man from God and His grace and alienated him from life in God. 159 . The name "Tree of Knowledge" of good and evil suggests that through that tree, man learned experimentally what good is obedience to the will of God and what evil is to oppose it. 160. Adam and Eve obeyed the devil despite the will of God. In His goodness, God gave man, when He created him, a will naturally inclined to love God, but at the same time free, and man used that freedom for evil. 161. The devil deceived Adam and Eve in the following way. Eve saw a snake in Paradise that assured her that if people tasted the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would be "like gods". Eve settled on that promise and on the beauty of the fruits and she tasted them; Adam tasted looking at her. 162. From Adam's sin came the curse and death. 163. A curse is a condemnation of sin and evil that came from him on earth as a punishment to people by the righteous judgment of God. The earth is cursed because of you - said God to Adam (1, Moses 3, 17). 164. Two types of death resulted from Adam's sin: physical, when the body is deprived of the soul that animates it, and spiritual, when the soul is deprived of the grace of God that animates it with a higher, spiritual life. 165 . The soul can die, but not like the body. The body, when it dies, loses its senses and disintegrates, while the soul, when it dies through sin, is deprived of spiritual light, joy and bliss, but it does not disintegrate or be destroyed, but remains in a state of darkness, suffering and suffering. 166. Not only the first people died, but everyone dies, because everyone comes from Adam who was infected with sin, and they sin themselves. Just as a polluted stream flows from a polluted spring, so from a progenitor infected with sin, and therefore mortal, comes a offspring infected with sin and therefore mortal. 167 . The Holy Scriptures speak about it like this: Because sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death entered all people, after they were all shaken (Romans 5:12). 168. After sin, the fruits of the tree of life were of no use to man: he could not taste of them, because he was expelled from Paradise. 169. When the first people confessed their sin before God, God, according to His mercy, gave them hope for salvation. 170. This hope consisted in the fact that God promised that the seed of the woman would tread on the head of the serpent (ie, that he would defeat, destroy) (Genesis 3:15). 171. This means that the Lord Jesus Christ will defeat the devil who deceived people, and that he will deliver them from sin, curse and death. 172. The Lord Jesus Christ was called the "Seed of the Woman", because he was born on earth from the Blessed Virgin Mary, without the participation of a husband. 173. The benefit of this promise was that people could have saving faith in the Savior Who would come, as we believe in Him Who came. 174. In the old days few people believed in the Coming Sweetheart; most of them forgot the promise of God about the Savior. 175. God repeated that promise more than once. To Abraham, for example, he made a promise about the Savior in the following words: And in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 22:18). He later repeated the same promise to the prophet David with the following words: I will raise up your seed after you... And "I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:12-13). 176. The word "incarnation" means that the Son of God took upon Himself a human body, without sin, and that He became a man, without ceasing to be God. 177 . The word "incarnation" is borrowed from the words of the evangelist John: And the Logos (Word) became flesh (John 1:14). 178. After the Son of God was said to have become incarnate, the Symbol of Faith adds that he was a "lost man". This was done so that no one would think that the Son of God received only the flesh, i.e. body, but to accept that in Him is the Perfect Man, consisting of soul and body. 179. There is a testimony of the Holy Scriptures about this. Apostle Paul writes: /elan is the mediator between God and people, the Man Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). 180. The Lord Jesus Christ does not have only one nature. In Him there are two natures, divine and human, inseparable and inseparable, and corresponding to those natures - two wills. 181. And there are not two faces, but One Face, God and Man at the same time, in one word - God-man. 182. The Evangelist Luke talks about the Incarnation of the Son of God from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary in the Holy Scriptures. When the Virgin Mary asked the Angel who announced Jesus' conception to her: How will it be when I do not know of a husband - the Angel answered her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore what will be born will be holy, and will be called the Son of God (LK.1:34-35). 183. The Holy Virgin Mary came from the family of Abraham and David, from whom, according to God's promise, the Savior was to come. She was betrothed to Joseph, who was of the same race, so that he would protect her, since she was dedicated to God with a vow to always remain a Virgin. 184. Most Holy Mary truly always resided and remained a virgin ~ before she gave birth, during the time she gave birth and after she gave birth to the Savior, and therefore she is called Prisnodjeva (i.e. Svagdadjeva). 185. The Orthodox Church honored the Blessed Virgin Mary with another great name - Virgin Mary. 186. These names are taken from the Holy Scriptures, from the following words of the prophet Isaiah (7, 14) repeated by the evangelist Matthew: Behold, a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call his name Emanuplus, which means: God is with us (Mt. 1, 23). Righteous Elizabeth also calls the Blessed Virgin the Mother of the Lord: And whence did this come to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me 2 ( Lk.1:43 ). This name is actually the same as the name of the Virgin. 187. The Blessed Virgin is called the Mother of God in the following sense. Even though the Lord Jesus Christ was not born of her according to His Divinity, which is eternal, but according to human nature, she was deservedly called the Mother of God, since the One who was born of her, both in the very conception and in the birth, was what He always is ~ true God. 188. The high dignity of the Blessed Virgin Mary should be reasoned like this. Since she is the Mother of God, she surpasses every created being by her grace and approach to God, and thus her dignity, and therefore the Orthodox Church respects her more than Cherubim and Seraphim. 189. In connection with the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ from the Holy Mother of God, it should also be noted that since this birth was holy and without sin, it was also without pain, because God decreed to Eve as a punishment for her sin that she would give birth in torment (Rev. Jovan Damaskin, Accurate exposition of the Orthodox faith. Book 4, ch. 14). 190. God's providence gave signs by which people could recognize the Savior who was born for them - these are many accurate predictions about the various circumstances of His birth and earthly life. For example, the prophet Isaiah predicted that the Savior would be born of a Virgin (Isa.7:14). A prophet Micaiah predicted that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, and the Jews understood that prediction exactly that way, even before they learned about the event (Mt. 2, 4-6). After the construction of the second temple in Jerusalem, the prophet Malachi predicted that the Coming of the Savior was approaching, that He would come to that church and that a Forerunner, similar to the prophet Elijah, would be sent before Him, which clearly indicates the holy John the Baptist (Mal. 3:4-5). The prophet Zechariah predicted the solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Zech. 9, 9). The prophet Isaiah foretold with surprising clarity the sufferings of the Savior (Isa. 53). In the 22nd Psalm, the prophet David presented the Passion of the Savior with such accuracy, as if he was describing them while standing under the Cross itself. The prophet Daniel predicted 490 years in advance the coming of the Savior, His death on the Cross and the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem that followed, as well as the cessation of the Old Testament sacrifices (Dan. 9). 191 . At the time of His birth and life on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ was indeed misidentified as the Savior by many and in different ways. Wise men from the East recognized Him through the star that appeared in the East on the eve of His birth. The shepherds of Bethlehem learned about Him from the Angels, who informed them that the Savior was born in the city of David. Saint righteous Simeon and Anna knew Him by a special revelation from the Holy Spirit when, after certain days had passed after His birth, He was brought to the church. John the Baptist recognized him on the Jordan River at the time of his baptism by revelation, by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon him in the form of a dove, and by the voice of God the Father from Heaven: This is my beloved Son, who is according to my will (Mt. 3:17). A similar voice was heard by the Apostles Peter, James and John at the time of His transfiguration on Mount Tabor: This is My beloved Son, Who is according to My will; Listen to him (Mt. 17, 5). In addition, many recognized the Savior by the excellence of His teachings and especially by the miracles He performed. 192. The Lord Jesus Christ performed many miracles. People who suffered from incurable diseases or were possessed by demons He healed in the blink of an eye - with a word or a touch of the hand, even by just touching His garment. Once with five and another time with seven loaves, He fed several thousand people at once in the desert. He walked on water and tamed the storm with his words. He resurrected the dead: he resurrected the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and the righteous Lazarus - on the fourth day after his death. 193. Since He became incarnate for our salvation, the Son of God perfected our salvation with His teaching, His life, His death and Resurrection. 194. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God appeared in the teaching of Christ, or otherwise, in the teaching about salvation and eternal bliss - the same one that the Orthodox Church still proclaims today (Mk. 1:14-15). 195. The teaching of Christ is saving for us when we accept it wholeheartedly and act in accordance with it. The false word of the devil, which the first people accepted, became in them the seed of sin and death. On the contrary, the true word of Christ, which Christians earnestly receive, becomes in them the seed of a holy and immortal life. According to the words of the Apostle Peter, they were reborn not from rotten seed but from incorruptible seed, by the word of the Living God that remains forever (1 Pet. 1, 23). 196. The life of Jesus Christ becomes saving for us when we imitate him. Because He says: Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, there My servant will be also (Ji.12:26). "And Who was crucified for us at the time of Pontius Pilate, N suffered and was buried; » 197 . The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified at a time when His teaching and works had to awaken a devout respect for Him in all. d This happened because the Jewish elders and scribes hated Him, because He exposed their false teaching and lawless life, and because they envied Him, because the people respected Him for His teaching and miracles more than they did. Therefore they slandered Him and condemned Him to death. 198. Jesus Christ is said to have been crucified at the time of Pontius Pilate. This was done to mark the time when He was crucified. 199 . Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea, which was ruled by the Romans. 200. This circumstance is worth noting because the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy is visible through it: The ruler's rod will not be separated from Judah nor from his feet the one who sets the law, until the one to whom it belongs comes, the nations will obey him (Gen. 49, 10). 2 201 . In the Creed, it is not only said that Christ was crucified, but it is also added that he suffered, in order to show that His crucifixion was not just an appearance of suffering and death, as some false teachers said, but real suffering and death. 202. It was also said that he was buried. This also refers to the conviction that He really died and rose again, because His enemies even set a guard by the tomb and sealed it. 203. Jesus Christ suffered and died even though he was God. However, He did not suffer and die with the Divine but with the human nature, and not because he could not avoid suffering, but because he wanted to suffer. He said: I lay down my life to take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I myself lay it down. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again (JI.10:17-18). 204. That Jesus Christ was crucified for us is said in this sense, that He saved us from sin, curse and death by His death on the cross. 205. This is what the Holy Scriptures speak about. On deliverance from sin: In the home we have deliverance through His blood, and forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:7). On deliverance from the curse: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, becoming a curse for us (Gal. 3:13). On deliverance from death: And since those children have communion in flesh and blood, He also took the most intimate part, to crush with death the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and to deliver those who 73 fear of death all their lives were guilty of their slavery (Hebrews 2, 14-15). 206. Therefore, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross saves us from sin, curse and death. In order to make it easier for us to believe in this mystery, the word of God introduces us to it, as far as it is possible for us to understand it, through the comparison of Jesus Christ with Adam. Adam by nature represents the head of the entire human race, which, by its natural descent from him, is one with him. Jesus Christ, in Whom Divinity was united with human nature, graciously became the new Almighty Head of people, whom He unites with Himself through faith. Just as through Adam we fell under the power of sin, curse and death, so through Jesus Christ we are delivered from sin, curse and death. God wanted to show them (Saints) how rich the glory of this secret among the Gentiles is, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27). Because if by the transgression of one death reigns through one, all the more those who have an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness in life will reign through one Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). Therefore, there is no condemnation now for those who in Christ Jesus do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and death. Because what was impossible for the law, since it was weakened by the flesh, God, sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and because of sin, condemned sin in the flesh, so that the justice of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the spirit (Romans 8:1-4). 207. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered for all of us: He offered Himself as a sacrifice for all and obtained grace and salvation for all. This benefits those of us who voluntarily accept participation in His sufferings, considering His death (Phil. 3:10). 208. We participate in the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ by means of a living fervent faith, by means of the Holy Mysteries in which the saving power of the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ is stored and sealed, and, finally, by means of the crucifixion of our body with the passions and lusts that are characteristic of it. I - says the Apostle - died by the law to the law, that I may live to God. I was crucified with Christ; and I live - no longer I, but Christ lives in me; and now that I live in the body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:19-20). Or don't you know that all of us who are baptized into Christ Jesus are baptized into His death 2 (Romans 6:3) For whenever you eat this bread, you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death, until it comes (1 Cor. 11, 26). And those who belong to Christ, crucify the body with passions and desires (Gal. 5:24). 209. Crucifying your body with passions and lusts is possible by abstaining from passions and lusts, and by actions that stand in opposition to them. For example, when anger prompts us to gossip about the enemy and to do him harm, we should oppose that desire: remembering how Jesus Christ prayed for His enemies on the Cross, let us also pray for ours, and in this way we crucify the passion of anger. "And He who rose again on the third day, according to the Scriptures, " 210. The Lord Jesus Christ showed the basic proof that His sufferings and death are saving for us humans by resurrecting and thereby laying the foundation for our blessed resurrection. Indeed, Christ rose from the dead and became the firstborn of those who died (1 Cor. 15, 20). 211. The state in which Jesus Christ was after His death until the Resurrection is described in the following church song: "In the grave with the body, in Hades with the soul as God, in paradise with the robber, and on the Throne, you were, Christ, with the Father and D) soup, filling all the Indescribable." 212. The word "ad" translated from Greek means a place devoid of light (nevid). In Christian teaching, this means spiritual prison, that is, the state of the soul that has been torn away by sin from seeing the Face of God and from His inherent light and bliss (Jud. 1, 6; Octoich, ch. 5, verses 2, 4). 213. The Lord Jesus Christ descended into Hades in order to preach the victory over death there as well and to free the souls who were waiting with faith for His Coming. 214. There is the following testimony about this in the Holy Scriptures: That is why Christ also suffered once for our sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous, to bring us to God, having been put to death in the body and alive in the spirit, with which he came down and preached to the spirits in prison (1 Pet. 3, 18-19). 215. The words of the Symbol of Faith "And He who rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures" are taken from the Epistle to the Corinthians: "For I prayed to you first of all what I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose on the third day, according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15, 3-4). 216. The words "according to the Scriptures" mean that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected exactly as it was prophetically written about in the books of the Old Testament. 217. For example, in the 53rd chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, the death and suffering of Jesus Christ are presented extensively and in detail: He would be wounded for our sins and tortured for our iniquities; the punishment was on Him for the sake of our peace, and with His wound we were healed (Isa. 53:5). About the Resurrection of Christ, Apostle Peter quotes the words of the 15th psalm: For you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you let your Holy One see decay (Acts 2:27). 218. In the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, there is also an indication that Jesus Christ was supposed to be resurrected on the third day. The prophet Jonah presented a prophetic picture of this: And Jonah was in the whale's belly for three days and three nights (Jonah 2, 1). 219. People learned that Jesus Christ was resurrected in the following way. The soldiers guarding His tomb were horrified to learn this when the Angel of the Lord rolled away the stone that covered His tomb, causing a great earthquake. Also, the Angels informed Mary Magdalene and others about the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus Christ Himself appeared to many on the day of His Resurrection: to the myrrh-bearing women, to the Apostle Peter, to the two disciples who were going to Emmaus, and finally to all the apostles who were in the house whose door was closed. After that, during forty days, he appeared several times; one day He appeared before more than five hundred people at once (1. Cor. 15, 6). 220. After His Resurrection, Jesus Christ appeared to the Apostles for forty days in order to continue teaching them the secrets of the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). "And Who ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father;" 221. The reference to the Lord's Ascension in the sixth article of the Symbol of Faith is borrowed from the following words of the Holy Scriptures: He who came down is the same One who ascended above all to the heavens to fill all things (Eph. 4, 10). We have such a High Priest Who sits on the right side of the throne of majesty in Heaven (Hebrews 8:1). 222. Jesus Christ ascended to the Heavens with His human nature, while His Divine nature always resided and resides in the Heavens. 223. It is said that Jesus Christ "sits at the right hand of the Father", but God is present everywhere. This should be understood spiritually, ie. that Jesus Christ has equal power and glory with God the Father. "And Who will come again with glory, to judge the living and the dead, and His Kingdom will have no end; » 224. This is what the Holy Scriptures say about the future coming of Christ: This Jesus, who ascended from you to heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go to heaven (Acts 1:11). This is what the Angels told the Apostles at the time of the Lord's Ascension. 225. The Holy Scriptures say about His future Judgment: The hour is coming when all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have done good will come out to the resurrection of life, 4 those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment (Jn. 5:28-29). These are the words of Christ the Savior Himself. 226. The Holy Scriptures speak of His infinite (Eternal) Kingdom like this: He will be great, and will be called the Sun of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David, His father; And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom (Lk.1:32-33). These are the words of the Angel addressed to the Mother of God. 227. The future coming of Christ will be very different from the previous one. To suffer for us, He came humbled; and to judge us, he will come in his glory and all the Holy Angels with him (Mt. 25:31). 228. He will judge all people without exception. 229. He will judge in such a way that the conscience of each person is revealed in front of everyone and that not only all the deeds that someone has done during his entire life on earth, but also all the spoken words, secret desires and thoughts are shown. The Lord will bring to light all that is hidden in darkness and declare the intentions of the heart; then everyone will be praised by God (1 Cor. 4, 5). 230. He will, without a doubt, condemn us for ugly words or thoughts, if we do not correct them by repenting, believing and improving our lives. And I tell you that for every empty word that people say, they will give an answer on the day of Judgment (Mt. 12, 36). 231. When the Lord Jesus Christ will come to judge - that is not known; but we should live like that, to always be ready for it. The Lord is not late with the promise, as some think he is; rather, he suffers us for a long time, because he will not allow anyone to perish but for all to repent. And the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (2 Pet. 3:9-10). Watch, therefore, because you do not know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man will come (Mt. 25, 13). 232. In the Word of God, some signs of the imminent Coming of Christ were revealed to us, namely: the disappearance of faith and love among people, the spread of vices and misfortunes, the preaching of the Gospel to all nations, the coming of the Antichrist (Mt. 24). 233. Antichrist - this is the opponent of Christ, who will try to exterminate Christianity, but will perish himself in a terrible way (2 Thess. 2:8). 234. The Kingdom of Christ is, first of all, the whole world; secondly - all the faithful on earth; and thirdly - all the blessed (ie righteous, Holy) in Heaven. The first is called - the kingdom of nature, the second - the kingdom of grace, and the third - the Kingdom of Glory. 235. The words of the Symbol that there will be no end to the Kingdom of Christ refer to the Kingdom of glory. "And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, Who proceeds from Oda, Who is honored and glorified together with the Father and the Son, Who spoke through the Prophets. » 236. The Holy Spirit is called the Lord, that is. True God, just like the Son of God. 237. The Holy Scripture testifies to this in the words with which the Apostle Peter accused Ananias: Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit7 IM further: You have not lied to men but to God (Acts 5:3-4). 238. The Holy Spirit is called Life-Giving, which should be understood as the fact that He, together with God the Father and the Son, gives life to every creature, while He also gives spiritual life to people. If one is not born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). 239. We know that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father from the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: And when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness for Me (Ji.15:26). 240. The teaching about the descent of the Holy Spirit from the Father cannot be subject to any change or addition. First of all, because the Orthodox Church literally repeats the words of Jesus Christ Himself with this teaching. Secondly, because the Second Ecumenical Council, whose main object was to establish the true teaching about the Holy Spirit, undoubtedly presented this teaching in a satisfactory manner in the Creed. The Catholic Church recognized this so explicitly that the Third Ecumenical Council prohibited the composition of a new Symbol of Faith with its seventh rule. Venerable John Damascene therefore writes: "We say of the Holy Spirit that he is from the Father and we call him the Spirit of the Father." However, we do not say that the Spirit is from the Son, but we call it the Spirit of the Son" ("An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", vol. 1, ch. 8, p. 165). 241. It behooves the Holy Spirit to be worshiped and glorified together with the Father and the Son. This can be seen from the fact that Jesus Christ commanded the disciples to baptize in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19). 242. In the Creed it is said that the Holy Spirit spoke through the Prophets. This was said to expose some false teachers who said that the books of the Old Testament were not written by the Holy Spirit. 243. Holy Scripture testifies to the fact that it was the Holy Spirit who spoke through the prophets. Apostle Peter writes: Prophecy is never created by human will, but moved by the Holy Spirit, the Holy people of God speak (2 Pet. 1, 21). 244. The Holy Spirit also spoke through the Apostles. The apostle Peter says: It was revealed to them that they served you, not themselves, in what is now revealed to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven (1 Pet. 1, 12). 245. The Apostles were not mentioned in the Symbol of Faith because at the time when the Symbol was drawn up, no one even doubted the divine inspiration of the Apostles. 246. The Holy Spirit revealed himself to people in a special way. He descended on the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Christ. 247 . The Holy Spirit is still given to all true Christians. Do you not know that you are the church of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Cor. 3, 16). 248. One can become a narrator of the Holy Spirit through fervent prayer or through the Holy Mysteries. When you, the future evil ones, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who pray from Him) (LK.11:3). And when the goodness and love of God, our Savior, appears, not for righteous deeds that we have done, but according to His mercy, He saves us with the spa of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, which He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Tit. 3:4-6). 249. The holy prophet Isaiah points to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of power, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of the Lord, or the gift of piety and the highest inspiration (Isa. 11:1-3). "To one, holy, conciliar and apostolic Church." 250. The Church was established by God as a community of people united by the Orthodox Faith, the Law of God, the (church) hierarchy and the Holy Mysteries. 251 . Believing in the Church means devoutly respecting the true Church of Christ, accepting its teachings and obeying its commandments, with the conviction that the grace that flows from its One and Eternal Head - the Lord Jesus Christ - resides in it, has a salutary effect, teaches and administers it. 252. The object of faith is the Visible Church, although faith, according to the Apostle, represents the confirmation (proving) of the invisible. First of all, although the Church is visible, the grace of God that resides in it and in those who are sanctified in it - and which actually represents the object of faith in the Church - is invisible. Secondly, although the Church is visible, since it resides on earth and since all Orthodox Christians who live on earth belong to it, it is also invisible, since it also resides in Heaven and since it belongs to all those who have rested in true faith and holiness of life. 253. The understanding of the Church as one that dwells on earth and at the same time is Heavenly, is based on the following words of the Apostle Paul addressed to Christians: You have approached Mount Zion and the City of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, myriads of Angels, the solemn assembly and the Church of the firstborn, written in Heaven, and God the Judge of all, and the spirits of the perfect righteous, and Jesus, the Mediator of the New Testament (Hebrews 12, 22-24). 254. We are convinced that the grace of God resides in the true Church, primarily because its head is the God-man Jesus Christ, who is full of grace and truth, and so is His Body, i.e. He fills the Church with grace and truth (John 1:14-17); and secondly, because Christ the Savior promised His disciples the Holy Spirit, so that He would be with them forever, and so that, in accordance with this promise, He would appoint pastors of the Church (Jn. 14:16). Apostle Paul says about Jesus Christ that God the Father appointed Him above all to be the head of the Church, which is His Body (Eph. 1, 22-23). The same Apostle says to the shepherds of the Church: Look, then, on yourselves and on all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to shepherd the Church of the Lord and God, which He acquired with His Blood (Dap. 20:28). 255 . In that the grace of God will reside in the Church until . today, and that he will dwell in it until the end of the age, we are assured by the following words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as well as the words of His Apostle: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Mt. 16, 18); l, behold, I am with you always until the end of the world (Mt. 28, 20); To Him (God the Father) be the glory in the Church in Christ Jesus throughout all generations and forever and ever. Amen (Eph. 3, 21). 256. The Church is one because it represents one spiritual Body that has One as its Head - Christ, and is spiritualized by one Spirit of God. One Body, one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your vocation; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, Who is above all, through all, and in all of us (Eph. 4:4-6). 257. Jesus Christ is the only Head of one Church. The Apostle Paul writes about the Church that it is God's building for which no one can lay any other foundation than the existing one, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:9-11). 258. The unity of the Church imposes on us the obligation to take care to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the bond of faith (Eph. 4:3). 259. The Church is one, but there are still many separate and independent (Local) Churches, for example Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, Russia, Serbia... These are special Churches, that is, parts of the One Universal Church. The independence of their visible organization does not prevent them from being spiritually great members of one Body of the Universal Church, from having One - Christ as their head, and one spirit of faith and grace. This unity is visibly expressed by equal confession of faith and communion in prayers and the Holy Mysteries. 260. Undoubtedly, there is unity between the Church that dwells on earth and the Church in Heaven, both in their relationship to the One Who is the Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in their mutual communion. 261. Prayer filled with faith and love is a means of communication between the Church that resides on earth and the Church in Heaven. The faithful who belong to the Church in a feat on earth offering a prayer to God at the same time call for the help of the Holy One who belong to the heavenly church; and the Saints, who have come closer to God, with their intercessory prayers purify, strengthen and offer to God the prayers of the faithful who live on earth, and according to the will of God, they have a beneficial and beneficial effect on them, either by an invisible force, or through their appearances, or in another way. 262. The rule of the Church that resides on earth - to invoke the Saints of the Heavenly Church in prayer - is based on the Holy Tradition, the sources of which are also visible in the Holy Scriptures. For example, when the prophet David calls out in prayer: Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers (1. Dnev. 29:18) - he then mentions the saints to strengthen his prayer. This is exactly how the Orthodox Church still today invokes "Christ, our True God, through the prayers of His Most Pure Mother and all the Saints". Saint Cyril of Jerusalem in his interpretation of the Divine Liturgy says: "We also mention those who have passed away before, first of all the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, so that God may receive our prayers through their prayers and intercession" (Mystagogic Catechism 5, ch. 9). Saint Basil the Great says in the Sermon on the Day of the Holy Forty Martyrs: "He who is in trouble turns to the Forty just as much as he who rejoices: the first to get relief from troubles, the second to preserve his possessions... May your prayers be with the Martyrs." 263. There is also the testimony of the Holy Scriptures about the intercessory prayer of the Saints in Heaven. The holy evangelist John, in a revelation in Heaven, saw an Angel who was given a lot of incense to offer with the prayers of all the Saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense rose up with the prayers of the Saints from the hand of the Angel before God (Revelation 8:3-4). 264. There is a testimony of the Holy Scriptures about the beneficial appearances of the Saints from Heaven. The Holy Evangelist Matthew tells that after the death of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross, many bodies of the Saints who died were resurrected; and coming out of the graves after His Resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many (Mt. 27:52-53). Since such an important miracle could not have happened without an important goal, it should be assumed that the resurrected Saints appeared in order to announce the descent of Christ into Hades and his victorious Resurrection, and by preaching to help those who were born in the Old Testament Church to move to the New Testament Church that appeared at that time. 265. With the following testimonies, we establish our faith in the fact that the Holy One, after his repose (that is, after the presentation, because the death of a Christian is called the transition - presentation - to Eternal Life), works miracles in one way or another. The second book of Kings testifies that a dead man was raised from the touch of the bones of the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 13, 21). The apostle Paul not only healed and performed miracles himself, but towels and belts taken from his body did it (Acts 19:12). In this example, we see that even after his repose, the Saint can equally act beneficially through earthly means or objects that have received sanctification through them. Saint Gregory the Theologian in the First Letter against Julian says: "You were not ashamed of the victims slaughtered for Christ, nor were you afraid of the great ascetics: John, Peter, Paul, James, Stephen, Luke, Andrew, Thecla and others who before and after these suffered for the truth from fire, iron, beasts and torturers, and who bravely endured those tortures, as if they were in someone else's body or without a body. And why? Because they don't betray piety with a single word. That is why great honors and celebrations were properly established for them. Demons flee from them and diseases are cured. Among them are revelations and prophecies. Of these, the bodies themselves, when someone touches them or shows them respect, have the same power as the souls of the Saints. From them even the drops of blood, those small signs of suffering, have the same effect as the body". Venerable Jovan Damaskin writes: "The relics of the Saints were given to us by Bishop Christ as saviors who pour out the most diverse charities", to clarify this, he adds: "Because through the medium of the mind, God also moved into their bodies" (Exact exposition...). 266. The Church is Holy because the Lord Jesus Christ sanctified it with His sufferings, His teaching, His prayer and the Holy Mysteries. Christ loved the Church and sacrificed Himself for her, to redeem her, cleansing her by baptism in water with the word, to place her before him, a glorious Church, which has no spot or wrinkle, or anything like that, but to be holy and blameless (Eph. 5:25-27). In his prayer to God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ said: Preach them with your truth: your word is truth... I sanctify myself for them, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth (Ji. 17, 17, 19). 267. The Church is Holy despite the fact that there are those who sin in it. Those who have shaken, but have cleansed themselves through true repentance, do not prevent the Church from being Holy, while unrepentant sinners are like dead limbs cut off from the body of the Church, either by a visible act of the Church's authority or by an invisible action of the Court of God, and it preserves its Holiness in this respect as well. Cast out the evil one from among yourselves (1 Cor. 5:13). But the foundation of God stands firm, having this seal: Lozna Gostod those who are His, and: Let everyone who calls (confess) the Name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness (2 Tim. 2:19). 268. The Church is called Parliamentary and Ecumenical, because it is not limited by any place, time, or people, but includes true believers of all places, times, and peoples. Apostle Paul says that the Gospel exists in the whole world, that it is fruitful and growing (Col. 1:5-6) and that in the Christian Church there are no Greeks or Jews, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarians or Scythians, slaves or freemen, but Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). Thus those who are of faith (that is, who believe) are blessed with faithful Abraham (Gal. 3:9). 269. An important advantage of the Congregational Church is that it belongs to the lofty covenants (promises) that the gates of hell will not prevail against it, that the Lord will dwell in it until the end of the age, that the glory of God will remain in the Church in Christ Jesus through all generations and forever and ever, and that accordingly it will never fall away from the faith, nor will it make a mistake in the truth of the faith or fall into error. "Without a doubt we confess as a hard truth that the Catholic Church cannot make a mistake or fall into error and utter a lie instead of the truth, because the Holy Spirit, Who always acts through the Fathers and Teachers of the Church who serve faithfully, protects it from any error" (Epistle of the Eastern Patriarchs on the Orthodox Faith, Article 12). 270. The Catholic Church includes all those who truly believe in the world. Since the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, is the head of the Church, and He is the savior of the body, then, in order to participate in His salvation, it is necessary to be members of His Body, i.e. members of the Congregational Church (Eph. 5, 23). The Apostle Peter writes that Baptism saves us like Noah's ark: all who were saved from the global flood were saved exclusively in Noah's ark. Likewise, all those who gain eternal salvation, gain it in the One Congregational Church. 271. The following thoughts and memories should be associated with the name Church of the East. In Paradise, which was located in the East, the first Church of the Sinless First Parents was established; after the fall into sin, a new foundation was laid there - the foundation of the Church of those who are saved in the covenant (promise) of the Savior. In the East, in the land of Judea, our Lord Jesus Christ, having completed the work of our salvation, laid the foundation of His own Christian Church. From there it spread throughout the Universe; and to this day, the Orthodox ecumenical faith, established at the Seven Ecumenical Councils, is unalterably preserved, in all its original purity, in the ancient Eastern Churches, as well as in those that agree with the Eastern ones, among which, by the grace of God, is the Russian Church. 272. The Church is called Apostolic because in it, ever since the Apostles, it has continuously and unchangeably preserved both the teaching and the inheritance (through sacred ordination) of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In this sense, it is also called Orthodox, or Orthodox. So, therefore, you are no longer strangers or sojourners, but you are fellow citizens of the Saints and the household of God, built on the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, where the cornerstone is Jesus Christ Himself (Eph. 2:19-20). 273. Calling the Church Apostolic, the Symbol of Faith continues to hold firmly to the apostolic teaching and tradition, and to avoid such teaching and such teachers that are not based on the teaching of the Apostles. Apostle Paul says: 7 then, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings you were taught, either by our word or by the epistle (2 Thess. 2:15). According to the first and second advice, stay away from heretics (Tit. 3, 10). Because there are many disobedient, idle talkers and deceivers, especially those who are of the circumcision, whose mouths should be closed, who pervert entire homes by teaching as they should not, for the sake of dishonorable gain (Titus 1:10-11). If (your brother) does not even obey the Church, let him be to you like a Gentile and a tax collector (Mt. 18:17). 274. In the Church there is an order in which the inheritance of apostolic service is preserved; tb is - church hierarchy. 275. The ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Christian Orthodox Church has its origin from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and from the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, since then it has continued uninterruptedly through pre-ministerial ordination in the Holy Sacrament of the Priesthood. He gave some as Alostoles, and others as prophets, some as evangelists, and others as pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints in the work of service, for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12). 276. The hierarchy that can speak on behalf of the entire Catholic Church is represented by the Ecumenical Council. 277. The main parts of the Universal Church are subordinated to the Orthodox Patriarchs. 278. Smaller Orthodox regions and cities are subject to metropolitans, archbishops and bishops. 279. In order to fulfill the duty of obedience to the Church, we must know what she demands from her children. This can be learned from the Holy Scriptures, from the rules of the Holy Apostles, the Holy Ecumenical and Local Councils, the Holy Fathers and from their church constitutions. About the 10th article of the Creed "I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins." 280. Baptism is mentioned in the Symbol of Faith because faith is sealed (confirmed) with Baptism and other Holy Mysteries. 281. The Holy Sacrament is a sacred action through which grace, or the saving power of God, works on man in a mysterious way. 282. There are seven Holy Mysteries: 1) Baptism; 7) Consecration of oil. 283. Each of these seven Holy Mysteries has its own spiritual power: 1) In the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, man is mysteriously born for spiritual life; 2) In the Holy Sacrament of Anointing, he receives a grace that enables spiritual growth and strengthening; 3) In the Holy Sacrament of Communion, man is spiritually nourished; 4) In the Holy Sacrament of Repentance, a person is cured of spiritual diseases, i.e. sins; 5) In the Holy Sacrament of Priesthood, he receives the grace for spiritual rebirth and education of others through the teaching and perfecting of the Holy Mysteries; 6) In the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, a grace is obtained that sanctifies the conjugal union, the natural birth and upbringing of children; 7) In the Holy Sacrament of the Consecration of Jeleja, bodily diseases are cured by means of healing from spiritual diseases. 284. In the Symbol of Faith, not all the Holy Mysteries were mentioned, but only Baptism, because a doubt arose in relation to Baptism: should some people (for example, heretics) be baptized again? It was necessary to resolve that issue, which was done in the Symbol of Faith, in which we confess one Baptism. 285. Baptism is a Holy Sacrament in which the faithful, during the three-time immersion of the body in water, with the invocation of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, dies to a carnal and sinful life and is reborn by the Holy Spirit for a spiritual and holy life. If one is not born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God (John 3:5). 286. Baptism came about in the following way. On the Jordan, the Prophet and Forerunner of the Savior John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the One who is coming after him, i.e. Jesus Christ (Acts 19:4). Then Jesus Christ sanctified Baptism by his own example, receiving it from John. Finally, after His Resurrection, He gave the Apostles a solemn command: Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28, 19). 287. The most important thing in the sacred act of Baptism is the three-time immersion in water while uttering the words: "The servant of God (name) is baptized, in the Name of the Father." Amen. And the Son. Amen. And the Holy Spirit. Amen". 288. Repentance and faith are required from the one who wants to receive Baptism. Therefore, the Symbol of Faith is read before Baptism. Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved (Mk.16:16). 289. Small children are baptized according to the religion of their parents and godparents, who are obliged to teach them the religion when they reach the appropriate age. 290. It can be proven from the Holy Scriptures that (just) small children should be baptized. In the time of the Old Testament, circumcision was performed on children eight days old, and in the New Testament, instead of circumcision, Baptism is performed, and accordingly, Baptism should be performed on young children. 291 . The fact that baptism is perfected instead of circumcision can be seen from the following words of the Apostle, addressed to the faithful: You were circumcised by the circumcision not made by hands, by rejecting the body of sin by the circumcision of Christ, since you were buried with Him by Baptism (Col. 2:11-12). 292. Godparents are present at the Baptism in order to testify to the faith of the baptized before the Church and to take him under their care after the Baptism in order to confirm him in the faith (St. Dionysius the Areopagite, "On Church Hierarchy", ch. 2). 293. Over the one who is baptized, a conjuration is performed in order to drive away the devil from him, who since the time of Adam's sin has gained access to people and a certain power over them, as over his captives or servants. The apostle Paul says that all people who are outside of grace walk according to the spirit of this world, according to the prince who rules in the air, according to the spirit who now cooperates with the sons of opposition (Eph. 2:2). 294. The power of conjuration lies in the Name of Jesus Christ, which is invoked with faith and prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ made a promise to the faithful: In My name they will cast out demons (Mk. 16:17). 295. The sign of the cross, which is perfected here and in other similar cases, has the same force as the Name of the Crucified Jesus Christ, which is produced with faith by the movement of the mouth; it is the same with the sign of the cross, which is shown with faith with a hand gesture, or in some other way. St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes: "Let us not be ashamed to confess the Crucified One, but let us boldly make with our hands the sign of the cross on our foreheads and on everything else: on the bread we eat, on the cup we drink from; let's picture it when we enter, when we leave, when we go to sleep and get up, when we are on the road or resting. The sign of the cross represents a great protection given to the orphans and the weak without suffering. Because this is the grace of God, a sign for the faithful and a fear for evil spirits" (Catechesis for the Public 13, 36). 296. The use of the sign of the cross dates back to apostolic times (St. Dionysius the Areopagite, "On Church Hierarchy", ch. 2 and 5; Tertullian, "On Wreaths", ch. 3; "On the Resurrection", ch. 8). 297 . The white clothes in which the newly baptized are dressed, signifies the purity of the soul and the Christian life. 298. The cross is placed on the baptized person so that he always remembers the commandment of Christ and the visible indication of it: If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me (Mt. 16, 24). 299 . The walk of the baptized person around the baptismal font with a candle signifies spiritual joy combined with spiritual enlightenment. 300. In the Creed it is commanded to recognize one Baptism. This should be understood so that Baptism is not repeated. 301. Baptism is not repeated because it is a spiritual birth; a man is born once, therefore he is baptized once. 302. Those who sin after Baptism are more guilty for their sins than the unbaptized for theirs, because they had special help from God to do good and they rejected it. Because if those who escape from the impurities of the world through the knowledge of the Lord p Slas Jesus Christ, again become entangled in them and are overcome, the latter becomes worse for them than the former (2. Pet. 2, 20). 303. However, even for those who sin after Baptism, there is a means to obtain forgiveness of sins. That is - repentance. 304. Anointing with Myrrh is a Holy Sacrament in which, along with the anointing of parts of the body with Holy Myrrh, the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the faithful, for growth and strengthening in spiritual life. 305. The spiritual action of this Holy Secret is discussed in the Holy Scriptures by the Apostle John: And you have the Anointing from the Holy One and you know everything... The Anointing you received from Him remains in you, and there is no need for anyone to teach you; rather, as that same Anointing teaches you about everything, and it is true and not a lie, and as it teaches you, remain in it (1 Jn. 2, 20,27). In a similar way, the Apostle Paul says: He is the One who establishes us with you in Christ, and who anoints us, who also seals us, and who gave the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor. 1, 21-22). This is where the words that are uttered during the Anointing are taken: "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit". 306. Regarding the mention of the external act of Anointing in Holy Scripture, we can consider that the words of the Apostle John refer to the visible anointing; however, it is more certain that the Apostles used the laying on of hands to impart the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the baptized (Acts 8:14-17). The successors (successors) of the Apostles, instead, began to use Anointing, for which the anointing that was used in the Old Testament era could serve as an example (Ex. 30,25; 1. Kings 1, 39; St. Dionysius Areopagite, "On Church Hierarchy", ch. 4). 307. It should also be noted about Holy Peace that its consecration was left to the highest clerical ranks (i.e. bishops) as the successors of the Apostles, who performed the impartation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit themselves, by the laying on of hands. 308. The anointing of the forehead signifies the sanctification of the mind, or THOUGHTS. 309. The anointing of the breast signifies the sanctification of the heart, or desire. 310. The anointing of the eyes, ears and mouth signifies the sanctification of the senses. 311. The anointing of the hands and feet signifies the sanctification of the Christian's actions and overall attitude. 312. Communion is a Holy Sacrament in which the faithful, under the form of bread and wine, eat and drink only the Body and Blood of Christ for Eternal Life. 313. This Holy Sacrament was instituted in the following way. The Lord Jesus Christ, on the eve of His suffering, perfected this Holy Mystery for the first time, presenting in it in advance a living image of His saving sufferings; having received communion from the Apostles, He gave them the commandment to always perfect this Holy Sacrament. 314. Regarding the Holy Sacrament of Communion in connection with Christian worship, it should also be noted that this Holy Sacrament represents the main and essential part of Christian worship. 315. The divine service in which the Holy Sacrament of Communion is perfected is called the Liturgy. 316. The word "Liturgy" means "communal service". But, first of all, this name is accepted to denote the service where the Holy Sacrament of Communion is perfected. 317. Regarding the place where the Liturgy is performed, we will note that it should be performed exclusively in the church where there is the Holy Table (Throne), or, ultimately, instead of the table, there must be an antimins where the Holy Mystery is performed, consecrated by the archbishop. 318. The church is called a church because the faithful who make up the Church gather in it for the purpose of prayer and perfecting the Holy Mysteries. 319. The table on which the Holy Sacrament of Communion (Eucharist) is perfected is called the Throne because Jesus Christ as King is mysteriously present on it. 320. The basic order of the Liturgy consists in the fact that first the substance is prepared for the Holy Mystery, then the faithful are prepared for the Holy Mystery, and finally the Holy Mystery itself is perfected. 321. The part of the Liturgy in which the substance for the Holy Sacrament is prepared is called the Proscomidia. 322. The word "Proscomidia" means "Offering". 323. The first part of the Liturgy is called so in accordance with the custom of the ancient Christians to bring bread and wine to the church for the perfecting of the Holy Sacrament. For the same reason, this bread is called prosphora, which means "offering". 324. Proscomidy as a part of the Liturgy consists in remembering the (Old Testament) prophecies and prophecies, and to some extent also the events related to the Birth and Passion of Jesus Christ. In addition, the portion necessary for perfecting the Holy Sacrament is taken from the prosphora, and also the required amount of wine, mixed with water, is poured into the sacred vessel. The one who officiates mentions the entire Church: glorified (canonized) saints, living and deceased, as well as those who offered prosphora with faith and fervor. 325. The bread for the Holy Sacrament should be as required by its very name, the holiness of the Sacrament and the example of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles - wheat bread with yeast. 326. The fact that only one bread is used for Communion signifies, as the Apostle explains, that we are many in one Body, since we all partake of one bread (1 Cor. 10, 17). | 327. The bread prepared for Communion is called Agnec (Lamb), because it represents the image of the suffering Jesus Christ, similar to how he was depicted in the Old Testament by the Paschal lamb. 328. The Passover lamb is the lamb that the Israelites, according to God's command, slaughtered and ate as a sign of remembrance of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery. | 329. The wine for the Holy Sacrament of Communion is combined with water, because this sacred act is perfected as an image of Christ's suffering, and at the time of His suffering, blood and water flowed from His pierced rib. 330. The part of the Liturgy during which the faithful prepare for the Holy Sacrament was called the Liturgy of the Announced in ancient times, because not only the baptized and those who received Holy Communion could attend it, but also the announced, i.e. those preparing for Baptism, and also penitents, who were not allowed to receive communion. 331. This part of the Liturgy begins with the blessing or glorification of the Kingdom of the Holy Trinity ("Blessed Kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit..."). 332. This part of the Liturgy consists of prayers, songs and the reading of the apostolic and gospel books. 333. It ends with a commandment to those who have been announced to leave the church ("Go out, you who have been announced..."). 334. That part of the Liturgy during which the Holy Sacrament of Communion is perfected is called the Liturgy of the Faithful, since only the faithful (believing), i.e. those who have received Baptism, have the right to attend this service. 335. The most important act of that part of the Liturgy is the recitation of the words spoken by Jesus Christ during the institution of the Holy Sacrament: Take, eat, this is My Body... Drink from it, all of you, because this is My Blood of the New Testament (Mt. 26, 26-28), and then - there is the invocation of the Holy Spirit (epiklesis) and the blessing of the gifts, i.e. offered bread and wine. 336. This is especially important because during this action the bread and wine are transformed or transfigured into the true Body and Blood of Christ. 337. Regarding the word "transfiguration" (transfiguration), i.e. change of essence, it was said in the "Exposition of the Faith of the Eastern Patriarchs" that the word "transfiguration" does not explain how the bread and wine are transformed into the Body and Blood of the Lord, because no one can understand this except God, but it only shows that truly, truly, and in its essence, the bread becomes the Lord's Body, and the wine becomes the Lord's Blood itself. Similarly, Venerable John of Damascus writes about the Holy and Pure Mysteries of the Lord: "The body is truly united with the divinity, that body which is from the Holy Virgin; but not by the descent of the body that ascended into heaven, but by the fact that the bread and wine themselves are transformed into the Body and Blood of God. But if you investigate the way in which it happens, it is enough to hear that it happens by the Holy Spirit, exactly as the Lord created a body for Himself and in Himself with the Holy Spirit from the Holy Mother of God. And we know nothing more than that the Logos of God is truly active and all-powerful, while the method is inaccessible to examination" ("The Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith", vol. 4, ch. 85, pp. 315-316). 338. Anyone who wants to access the Holy Sacrament of Communion should examine (reveal) his conscience before God and cleanse it by repenting of sins, which is helped by fasting and prayer. Let a man examine himself, and thus let him eat from the bread and drink from the cup. Because whoever eats or drinks unworthily, judgment eats and drinks for himself, not distinguishing the Body of the Lord (1 Cor. 11, 28-29). 339. The one who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ is united with Jesus Christ Himself in the most intimate way and becomes a participant in Eternal Life in Him. He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him (Ji.6:56). He who eats My Body and drinks My Blood has eternal life; and I will resurrect him on the last day (J. 6, 54). 340. Regarding how often one should partake of the Holy Mysteries, let's first note that the ancient Christians used to partake every Sunday; but today there are few who have such purity of life that they would always be ready to approach such a great Mystery. The Church advises with a motherly voice that those who strive for a pious life should confess before the spiritual father and receive communion with the Body and Blood of Christ four times a year, or every month (even more often, according to the advice of the clergy), and all of them must (at least) once a year ("Orthodox Confession", 1, question 90). 341. Those who only attend the Divine Liturgy, and do not receive Holy Communion, can and should participate in the Liturgy by prayer, faith and especially by constant mention of our Lord Jesus Christ, who commanded the perfecting of the Holy Sacrament of Communion for His memory (Lk. 22:19). 342. At that moment of the Liturgy, when the walk with the Gospel takes place (the so-called Small Entrance, Small Entry), the memory of the Lord Jesus Christ Who came out to preach the Gospel is perfected. Therefore, when reading the Gospel, we should have such attention and piety, as if we had seen and heard Jesus Christ Himself. 343. At that moment of the Liturgy, when the walk with the prepared Holy Gifts to the altar (the so-called Great Entrance) takes place, one should remember Jesus Christ's voluntary suffering, as a sacrifice to be slaughtered, even though more than twelve legions of Angels were ready to protect him as their King. "The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes to the slaughter" (Song at the Liturgy for Holy Saturday). 344. At the very hour of the perfecting of the Holy Secret and the communion of the priest in the altar, we should remember the Last Supper of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Apostles, His suffering, death and burial. 345. After this, the unveiling of the curtain, the opening of the Imperial doors and the display of the Holy Gifts mark the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ after the Resurrection. 346. The last showing of the Holy Gifts to the people, after which they are hidden from view, represents the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to Heaven. 347 . Perfecting and receiving the Holy Sacrament of Communion in the true Christian Church (Orthodox Church) continues continuously until the very Coming of Christ, according to the words of the Apostle Paul: whenever you eat this Bread and drink this Cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord, until (He) comes (1. Cor. 11, 26). 348. Repentance is a Holy Sacrament in which the one who confesses his sins, with the visible announcement of forgiveness by the priest, is invisibly absolved from his sins by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 349. This Holy Sacrament originates from Saint John the Baptist: he preached to those who came to him baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; they, in turn, confessed their sins (Mk. 1:4-5). Jesus Christ promised the Apostles the power to forgive sins when he said: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt. 18, 18). After His Resurrection, He really gave them that authority with the words: "Recite the Holy Spirit!" Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; and whom you keep, they are kept (Ji.20:22-23). 350. The one who repents is required to be contrite for the sins committed, the intention to correct his life, faith in Christ and hope in His mercy. Sorrow that is according to God brings repentance for salvation, which is not repented of (2 Cor. 7, 10). And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does judgment and justice. he will live from it (Ezek. 33:19). All the Prophets testify to Him that everyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins in His Name (Acts 10:43). 351 . There are also preparatory and auxiliary means for repentance, namely fasting and prayer. 352. The Holy Church uses a special tool to cleanse the soul and calm the conscience of a repentant sinner - penitence. 353. This word means prohibition. By this is meant the determination (by the priest) of certain special exercises in piety and of certain deprivations when it is necessary; their goal is freedom from sinful iniquities and overcoming sinful habits; Penances are, for example, a fast on top of the one that applies to all, and for serious sins - opting out of Holy Communion for a certain period of time. 354. Priesthood is a Holy Sacrament in which the Holy Spirit, through episcopal ordination, appoints a properly chosen person to perfect the Holy Sacraments and feed the flock of Christ. 7 if people consider us as forerunners of Christ and stewards of the Mysteries of God (1 Cor. 4, 1). So take care of yourselves and of all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as bishops to feed the Church of the Lord and God, which he acquired with His Blood (Acts 20:28). 355. Shepherding the Church means teaching people in faith, piety and good deeds. 356. There are three necessary degrees of priesthood: bishop, presbyter (priest), and deacon. 357 . The difference between them is that the deacon participates in the perfecting of the Holy Mysteries (but does not perfect them); the presbyter perfects the Holy Mysteries and is subordinate to the bishop; the bishop not only perfects the Holy Mysteries, but also has the authority to pass on the grace gift of perfecting them to another through ordination. About episcopal authority, the Apostle Paul writes to Titus: That is why I left you in Crete to arrange what was unfinished, and to appoint presbyters in ALL the cities (Titus 1, 5). And to Timothy: Do not lay hands on anyone too quickly (1 Tim. 5:22). · 358. Marriage is a Holy Sacrament in which, in front of the priest and in the Church, with the free promise of the bride and groom about their mutual spousal fidelity, their marriage alliance is blessed, following the example of the spiritual alliance of Christ and the Church, and the grace of pure unity is prayed for them, for the sake of the blessed birth and Christian upbringing of children. 359. The fact that marriage is a Holy Sacrament can be seen from the following words of the Apostle Paul: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a great secret, and I am talking about Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:31-32). 360 . Not everyone is obliged to get married. Virginity is better than concubinage if one can keep it pure. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ said: Not everyone can receive that word except those to whom it is given... Whoever can receive, let him receive (Mt. 19, 11-12). And the Apostle says: And to the unmarried and to the widows, it is good for them if they remain as I am. If they cannot support themselves, let women marry... He who is unmarried takes care of the Lord's, how he will please the Lord; and he who is married worries about this world, how he will please his wife... Likewise, he who marries his girlfriend does well; but he who does not marry does better (and Cor. 7, 8–9, 32–33, 38). 0 Consecration of the Consecration of the Consecration 361. The consecration of oil is a Holy Sacrament in which, when the body is anointed with oil, God's grace is invoked on the sick person, which heals mental and physical weaknesses. 362. This Holy Secret originates from the Apostles, who, having received authority from Jesus Christ, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them (Mk. 6:13). The apostles handed over this Holy Secret to the priests of the Church, which can be seen from the following words of the Apostle James: If anyone among you is lying7, let him call the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven (James 5:14-15). About the 11th article of the Creed "I am waiting for the resurrection of the dead." 363. Resurrection of the dead, which, as the Symbol of Faith says, we are waiting for, or expecting - it is the action of God's Omnipotence by which all the bodies of dead people, reuniting with their souls, come to life and become spiritual and immortal. The spiritual body is sown, the spiritual body rises (1 Cor. 15, 44). Because this corruptible must be clothed in incorruption, and this mortal must be clothed in immortality (1 Cor. 15, 53). 364. A body that has rotted in the earth and decayed, will be resurrected, because just as God created the body from the earth in the beginning, so He can restore it after it has decayed in the earth. The apostle Paul explains this by means of a sown grain that rots in the ground, but from which grass or a tree will grow. What you sow will not come to life unless it dies (1 Cor. 15, 36). 365 . All the dead will be resurrected, while for those who remained alive until the time of the general Resurrection, the current gross bodies will be changed in a moment and will become spiritual and immortal. We will not all die, but we will all be changed, at once, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet: because the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed (1 Cor. 15, 51-52). 366. The resurrection of the dead will take place at the end of this visible world. 367 . This perishable world will end by being transformed into an imperishable one. And matter itself will be freed from the slavery of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Romans 8:21). We expect new heavens and a new earth according to His promise, where justice dwells (2 Pet. 3, 13). 368. The world will be transformed by fire. The present heavens and earth were left by His word for the fire and are kept for the Day of Judgment and the destruction of ungodly people (2 Pet. 3:7). 369. The souls of the dead remain in this state until the Universal Resurrection: the souls of the righteous ~ in light, peace and a foretaste of eternal bliss, and the souls of sinners ~ in the completely opposite state. 370. The souls of the righteous do not receive complete bliss at the same time after death, because it is determined that the whole man will receive the payment according to his works, after the resurrection of the body and the Last Judgment of God. Apostle Paul says: Now the crown of justice awaits me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day; but not only to me, but also to all who lovingly await His Coming (2 Tim. 4:8). And also: It is necessary for us all to appear at the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what he has done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5, 10). 371. A foretaste of bliss is given to them before the Last Judgment, as testified by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in the story of the righteous Lazarus, who, immediately after death, was taken into the arms of Abraham (Lk.16:22). 372. This foretaste of bliss is united with seeing Jesus Christ Himself, with one's own eyes. This is especially the case with the Saints, as the Apostle Paul points out: I have a desire to die and be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). 373. Regarding the souls of those who died with faith, but failed to bear fruits worthy of repentance, it should be noted that the prayers offered for them can be helpful in reaching the blessed Resurrection, especially when they are combined with the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, as well as good deeds done in their memory. 374. This teaching is based on the immutable Tradition of the Congregational Church, the beginnings of which are still visible in the Old Testament Church. Judas the Maccabee made a sacrifice for the fallen warriors (2 Maccabees 12:43). Prayer for the departed has always been an obligatory part of the Divine Liturgy, starting with the Liturgy of the Apostle James. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem says: "The benefit will be too great for the souls for whom prayer is offered at the time when the Holy and Terrible Sacrifice is offered" (Mystagogic Catechism 5, ch. 9). Saint Vasilije the Great says in the prayers of Pentecost that the Lord gladly receives from us prayerful propitiations and sacrifices "for those who are kept in hell", with the desire to receive "peace, forgiveness and freedom". About the 12th article of the Creed "And the life of the future century. AMEN. » 375. The life of the future age is the life that will occur after the Resurrection of the dead and the universal judgment of Christ. 376. For those who believe, who love God and do good, that life will be so blissful that we cannot even imagine it now. It has not yet been revealed what we will be (1 John 3:2). I know a man in Christ - says the Apostle Paul - who will be taken up to Heaven and will hear the unspoken words that man is not allowed to speak (2 Cor. 12, 2, 4). 377 . Such bliss comes from seeing God in light and glory, and from union with Him. Because now we see as in a mirror, in a puzzle, and then we will face to face; now I know in part, and then I will be known as I would be known (1. Cor. 13, 12). Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Mt. 13, 43). God will be all in all (1 Cor. 15, 28). 378. The body will also participate in the bliss of the soul. It will be glorified by the light of God, similar to the body of Jesus Christ at the time of His Transfiguration on Tabor. It is sown in weakness, it rises in glory (1 Cor. 15, 43). And just as we bear the image of the earthly (that is, Adam), so we will also bear the image of the heavenly (that is, Christ) (1 Cor. 15, 49). 379. Not everyone will be blessed to the same extent. There will be various degrees of bliss depending on how one has striven here in faith, love and good works. Another is the glory of the sun, and another is the glory of the moon, and another is the glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. So is the Resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:41-42). 380. The unbelievers and the lawless will be given over to eternal death, or, to put it another way, eternal fire, eternal torment, together with the devils. And whoever is not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). This death is the second death (Revelation 20:14). Depart from me, cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Mt. 25, 41). And these will go to eternal torment, and the righteous to eternal life (Mt. 25, 41). It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with one eye, than with two eyes to be thrown into the fiery hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched (Mk. 9:47-48). 381. Sinners are not dealt with so severely because God wants their destruction, but they themselves perish, because they do not receive the love of the truth in order to be saved (2 Thess. 2:10). 382. Reflections on death, on the Resurrection, on the Last Judgment, on eternal bliss and on eternal torments help us to refrain from sins and to free ourselves from attachment to earthly things; such thoughts provide comfort when earthly goods are lacking; also, they encourage us to preserve our soul and body in purity, to live for God and for eternity and to obtain eternal salvation in this way. The second part - about Orthodox hope What is "Christian hope"? 383. Christian hope is the settling of the heart in God with the conviction that He is constantly looking after our salvation and will grant us the promised bliss. 384. Our hope, or the foundation of our hope, is the Lord Himself: Christ (1 Tim. 1:1). Fully hope for the grace that will be brought by the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1,13). 305. The means of obtaining the hope of salvation are prayer, the true teaching of beatitude, and the actual observance of that teaching. 386. There is a testimony of the Word of God that prayer is a means of gaining hope of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself unites the hope that the desired will be obtained with prayer: And whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, that will I do, so that the Father in the Sun may be glorified (John 14:13). 387. Prayer is the lifting up of the mind and heart to God, which is manifested through a person's pious address to God. 388. By raising the mind and heart to God, a Christian should do the following. Firstly, to glorify God for His Divine perfection, secondly, to thank Him for His good works, and thirdly, to ask Him for what he needs. That is why there are three main types of liturgy: glorification, thanksgiving and supplication. 389. It is possible to pray without words - with mind and heart. An example of this is the prophet Moses, who prayed like this before crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 14, 13). 390. Such a prayer has a special name. We call it spiritual, mental and heart prayer, or, in one word, inner prayer, just as, on the contrary, a prayer that is produced in words and is accompanied by other signs of piety, is called oral or external prayer. 391 . Prayer can also be purely external, when someone utters the words of prayer without attention and earnestness. 392 . However, only external prayer is not only not enough to obtain grace, but on the contrary, without internal prayer it angers God. God Himself shows displeasure at such a prayer: This people draws near to Me with their mouths and honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. But they honor me in vain (Mt. 15, 8-9). 393. However, inner prayer alone is not enough without outer prayer, just as a soul alone is not enough for a person without a body... Since we have both soul and body, we should glorify God with our bodies and our souls, which are God's, as it is natural for the mouth to speak from an overflowing heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ was spiritual to the greatest extent, but He also communicated His spiritual prayer both with words and with pious body movements: sometimes by raising his eyes to heaven, sometimes by bowing his knees and face to the ground (1. Cor. 6, 20; Mt. 12, 34; 26, 39; J. 17, 1: Le. 22:41). 394. There is a prayer that can be a general Christian prayer and a pattern for all other prayers. That is - the Lord's Prayer (Lord's Prayer). 395. The Lord's Prayer is a prayer which our Lord Jesus Christ taught the Apostles and which they handed on to all the faithful. Our Father, Who art in Heaven, (1) to hallow Your name; (2) for Your Kingdom to come; (3) that Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven; (4) give us today our daily bread; (5) and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors; (6) p lead us not into temptation, (7) but deliver us from evil. Because Your Kingdom is power and glory forever. Amen (Mt. 6, 9–13). 397 . For the sake of easier consideration of the Lord's Prayer, it can be divided into the invocation, the seven prayers and the eulogy. About invocation - Our Father, Who art in Heaven; 398. By faith in Jesus Christ and by the grace of rebirth, we dare to call God our Father. And to those who received him, he gave authority to be children of God, to those who believe in his Name; who was not born of blood, nor of the desire of the flesh, nor of the desire of the husband, but of God (Ji.1:12-13). 399 . "Our Father" should always be said, even when someone is praying alone. 400. This is because, according to Christian brotherly love, God should be invoked and good things should be asked from Him not only for oneself, but also for everyone. 401. In the invocation, we should say "Walk in the Heavens" so that, starting with the prayer, we would leave everything earthly and perishable, and so that we would raise our mind and heart towards the Heavenly, Eternal and Divine. About the 2nd prayer - Hallowed be Your Name; 402. The name of God is holy and, without a doubt, holy in itself (Luke 1:49). 403. It can also be sacred in people, i.e. His eternal holiness can manifest itself in them. 404. This happens as follows. First of all, when we have the Name of God in our thoughts and in our hearts, when we live as His holiness demands, and when we celebrate with such a life God; secondly, when the others, seeing our good life, glorify God. So that your light shines before people, so that they can see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven (Mt. 5:16). About the second prayer - Let Your Kingdom come; 405. In the second prayer of the Lord's Prayer, we are talking about the Kingdom of God, i.e. the gracious Kingdom which, according to the Apostle, is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17). 406. This Kingdom has not yet come in all its power for some, and for some it has not come at all, since sin still reigns in their mortal body, # they listen to it in their lusts (Romans 6:12). 407. It comes hidden and spiritual. The kingdom of God does not come in a visible way... The gift of God is within you (Lk.17:20-21). 408. As the Kingdom of God, the Christian can seek glorification, that is, complete bliss for the faithful. I have a desire to die and be with Christ, which is much better (Phil.1:23). About the 3rd prayer - May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven; 409. The third prayer says that we should ask God that everything we do and that happens to us is not the way we want it to be, but the way it pleases God. 410. This should be prayed because we often make mistakes in our desires, and God unfailingly, even more than ourselves, desires every good thing for us and is always ready to bestow it on us, if it is not prevented by our arbitrariness or stubbornness. To the one who can do even and incomparably more than what we ask or think, according to the conspiracy that works in us, to Him be the glory in the Church (Eph. 3, 20-21). 411. We pray that God's will be fulfilled "on earth". exactly as "as in heaven", because in Heaven the Holy Angels and blessed people, all without exception, always and in everything carry out the will of God. About the 4th prayer - Give us today our daily bread; 412. "Our daily bread" is the bread that is necessary for us to exist, to live. 413. Prayer for daily bread should be offered to God with these thoughts. Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that we should not ask for more than "daily bread", i.e. from that which is necessary for us to eat, and also not from the most necessary clothing and dwelling; everything that is beyond that and that is not necessary, but serves for pleasure, should be left to the will of God; if it is given, we should thank God, and if it is not - we should not be upset about it. 414. It is commanded that we ask for daily bread only today, that is. for this day, so that we would not overburden ourselves with what will be in the future, but that we would trust in God. Do not worry, Dakte, about tomorrow; because tomorrow they will take care of everything. Each day has enough of its evil (Mt. 6:34). Your heavenly Father also knows that you need all these things (that is, he knows what you need) (Mt. 6:32). 415. Under the term "daily bread" you can also look for everything for the soul. Because man consists of body and soul, and the soul is far more important than the body, and the soul can also be asked for "daily bread", without which the inner man dies of hunger (St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogic Catechism 4, 15). 416. Daily bread for the soul is the word of God and the Body and Blood of Christ. Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt. 4, 4). Because My Body is true food, and My Blood is true drink (John 6:55). About the 5th prayer - And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; 417. The words "our debts" in the Lord's Prayer mean our sins. Sins are called debts because we got everything from God and we owe everything to Him, i.e. we should submit everything to His will and law, and if we don't do that, then we remain debtors before His righteous judgement. 418. "Our debtors" ~ these are people who did not give us what they owed according to the Law of God; these are those who, for example, did not show love, but enmity. 419. At the righteous judgment of God, we can hope that our debts will be forgiven through the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because there is one God, one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim. 2:5-6). 420. If we ask God for forgiveness of our sins, and we ourselves do not forgive others, then we will not receive that forgiveness. If you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will forgive you. If you do not forgive people their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses (Mt. 6, 14-15). 421. God does not forgive us if we do not forgive others, because through unforgiveness we show that we are evil and thus distance God's gentleness and God's mercy from ourselves. 422. The words of the Lord's Prayer "may we also forgive our debtors" unwaveringly demand that the one who prays has no hatred or anger towards anyone, but has peace and love with everyone. If, therefore, you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, and first go and reconcile with your brother, and then come and offer your gift (Mt. 5, 23-24). 423. If I cannot quickly find the person who has something against me, or if he is not in the mood for reconciliation, in that case it will be enough to reconcile with him in the heart, before the eyes of God Who sees everything. If possible, as far as you are concerned, have peace with all men (Romans 12:18). About the 6th prayer - And lead us not into temptation; 424. In the Lord's Prayer, the term "temptation" should be understood as such a set of circumstances, where there is a real danger of losing faith or falling into serious sin. 425. Such temptations come from our body, from the world, ie; from other people, and from the devil. 426. With the words "lead us not into temptation", we ask, first of all, that God does not allow temptation to occur, and secondly, if it is already necessary for us to be examined and purified through temptation, that he does not give us over to temptation completely and does not allow us to fall. About the 7th prayer - But deliver us from the evil one; 427. With the words "deliver us from evil", we ask for deliverance from every evil that can befall us in the world ~ because from the time of the first sin, the world lies in evil (1. John 5:19) - and especially we ask for deliverance from sin, and from cunning persuasions and slanders of the cause of evil, the spirit of malice - the devil. About glorification - For Your Kingdom is power and glory forever, Amen 428. The hymn was added to the Lord's Prayer, first of all, so that, while begging for mercy from Him, we would at the same time give worthy respect to the Heavenly Father; secondly, so that, thinking of His Eternal Kingdom and power and glory, we would strengthen ourselves more and more in the hope that He will grant us what we ask for, because it is in His power and concerns His glory. 429. The word "amen" means "truth" or "let it be". 430. This word is added to the doxology because it shows that prayer is offered with faith and without any doubt, as the Apostle James teaches (James 1:6). 431. In order to establish the hope of salvation and attain bliss, one should add one's own feat to the prayer, i.e. acts of piety. About this, the Lord Himself says: And why do you call me: Lord, Lord, and you do not do what I say (Lk. 6:46). Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but who does the will of My Father Who is in Heaven (Mt. 7, 21). 432. Guidance in this feat can be the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ which is summarized in His sayings on beatitude. 433. There are nine such sayings: (1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (2) Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted. (3) Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (4) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. (5) Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be pardoned. (6) Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. (7) Blessed are the adversaries, because they will be called sons of God. (8) Blessed are the exiles for the sake of justice, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (9) Blessed are you when they shame you and persecute you and, lying, say all kinds of bad words against you, because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in Heaven (Mt. 5, 3-12). 434. For the sake of a proper understanding of these sayings, it should be noted that the Lord presented His teaching about attaining bliss in them exactly as the Gospel says: Having opened His mouth, he learned. Being meek and humble in heart, He did not present His teaching in the form of a commandment, but by calling blessed those who freely accept that teaching and adhere to it. Therefore, in each of these sayings about bliss, we should first consider the teaching, ie. the commandment, and then calling them blessed, i.e. the promise of reward. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 435. The first commandment of the Lord for attaining bliss is that those who desire bliss should be poor in spirit. 436. To be poor in spirit means to be spiritually convinced that we have nothing of our own, but only what God gives us, and that without God's help and grace we cannot do anything good; therefore, we should consider that we are nothing, and that we resort to the mercy of God in everything. In short, according to the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, spiritual poverty is - humble wisdom (Tum. Jev. according to Matthew, Sermon 15). 437. The poor in spirit, without a doubt, can also be rich, if they realize that visible wealth is perishable, that it passes quickly and that it cannot compensate for the lack of spiritual treasures. For what good is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul" Or what kind of ransom will a man give for his soul (Mt. 16, 26). 438. Bodily poverty can contribute to the perfection of spiritual poverty, if a Christian chooses it voluntarily, for God's sake. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said to the rich man: If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, so follow Me (Mt. 19:21). 439. The Lord promises the Kingdom of Heaven to the poor in spirit. 440. The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them in this life, through faith and hope, spiritually and only in a hint, while in the future life it will belong to them completely, through participation in eternal bliss. Blessed are those who weep, for they will be comforted. 441. The Lord's second commandment for bliss is that those who desire bliss should weep. 442. Weeping in this commandment should mean sadness and brokenness of heart and real tears because we serve the Lord imperfectly and unworthy, or even deserve His wrath through our sins. Grief that is according to God brings repentance for salvation, which is repented of (ie, constant repentance); and the grief of this world brings death (2 Cor. 7, 10). 443. To those who cry, the Lord, first of all, promises to comfort them. 444. By this is meant a gracious consolation consisting of the forgiveness of sins and the appeasement of the conscience. 445. This promise is combined with the commandment to weep so that sorrow for sins does not lead to despair. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 446. The Lord's third commandment for bliss is that those who desire bliss should be meek. 447. Meekness is a calm state of mind combined with caution not to anger anyone and not to be angry about anything. 448. The special characteristics of Christian meekness are - not grumbling and not only at God, but also at people, not being arrogant, and not giving in to anger when something happens against our wishes. 449. The Lord promises the meek that they will inherit the earth. 450. In relation to the followers of Christ, this promise must be understood as a prophecy that was literally fulfilled, since the ever meek Christians, instead of being exterminated by the wrath of the Gentiles, inherited the universe previously ruled by those same Gentiles. Besides, the meaning of this promise in relation to Christians in general and to each of them individually, is that they will receive an inheritance, in the words of the Psalmist, in the land of the living, where they live and do not die, i.e. will receive eternal bliss (Ps. 27, 13). Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. 451. The Lord's fourth commandment for bliss is that those who desire bliss should hunger and thirst for righteousness. 452. By the name of justice, we should understand every good deed that a Christian should want as food and drink, we primarily mean that justice that was said in Daniel's prophecy: to bring eternal justice, i.e. that a man, who is accused before God, is justified through grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Dan. 9:24). To that justice, the Apostle Paul says: God's justice through faith in Jesus Christ for everyone and everyone who believes, because there is no difference. Because everyone has sinned and is deprived of the glory of God, and they are justified by His gift, His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God determined to be the sacrifice of repentance through faith with His Blood, to show His justice by the forgiveness of past sins (Romans 3:22-25). 453. Hungry and thirsty for justice - these are those who love to do good but do not consider themselves righteous, nor do they rely on their good deeds, but consider themselves sinful and guilty before God - those who, through the desire and prayer of faith, seem to be hungry and thirsty for spiritual food and drink, i.e. gracious justification through Jesus Christ. 454. The Lord promises those who are hungry and thirsty for justice that they will be satisfied. 455. To be satisfied here means the following: just as bodily satiety brings, firstly, the cessation of the feeling of hunger and thirst, and secondly, the strengthening of physical strength, so spiritual satiety means, firstly, the inner satisfaction of the pardoned sinner, and secondly, gaining the strength to do good, and this strength is given by justifying grace. After all, the perfect satiety of the soul, which was created for enjoyment - with endless treasures, will follow, in the words of the Psalmist, in Eternal Life: I will be satisfied when Your glory is revealed to me (Ps. 17, 15). Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be pardoned. 456. The Lord's fifth commandment for bliss is that those who desire bliss should be merciful. 457 . This commandment should be fulfilled by acts of mercy, both physical and spiritual, because, as St. John Chrysostom says, "there are different ways of doing mercy and this commandment is broad" (Tum. Jev. according to Matthew, Sermon 15). 458. The corporal works of mercy are these: 3) To dress naked or someone who does not have the most necessary clothes; 4) To visit the one imprisoned in the dungeon; 5) Visiting the sick, serving him and helping him to recover or to prepare for death in a Christian manner; 6) Accommodate the traveler and allow him to rest; 7) Bury those who died in poverty. 459. Spiritual works of mercy are: 1) to turn the sinner away from the path of his error with advice (Jacoblj. 5:20), i.e. from his false way; 2) To teach truth and goodness to the ignorant; 3) To give good and timely advice to a loved one in a predicament or in case of a danger that he does not notice; 4) Pray to God for him; 6) Not reciprocating the evil that others have done to us; 7) Forgive insults from the heart. 460. Those who justly punish the guilty do not violate the commandment of mercy if they do it as they should and with good intention, i.e. to correct him or to protect the innocent from his crimes. 461. The Lord promises the merciful that they will be pardoned. 462. By this is meant pardon from eternal condemnation for sins at the Court of God. Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. 463. The Lord's sixth commandment for bliss is that those who desire bliss should be pure in heart. 464. Purity of heart here is not exactly the same as sincerity - which implies that a person does not show a hypocritical good mood when it is not actually in his heart, but that he shows the good mood of the heart through good actions, which represents only a lower degree of purity of heart. A person achieves the purity of heart by a constant feat of vigilance over himself, expelling from his heart every lawless desire and thought, every attachment to earthly objects, constantly preserving with faith and love in his heart the memory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 465. The Lord promises those who are pure in heart that they will see God. 466. This promise should be understood in such a way that the Word of God compares the human heart to the eye and attributes the enlightened eyes of the heart to perfect Christians (Eph. 1, 18). As a pure eye is able to see light, so a pure heart is able to contemplate (spiritually observe) God. Since seeing God is the source of eternal bliss, the promise of seeing God is the promise of the highest degree of eternal bliss. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 467. The seventh commandment of the Lord for blessedness is that those who want to be blessed should be peacemakers. 468. This commandment should be fulfilled in the following way. We should postulate with everyone in a friendly manner and should not give cause for quarrels; if disagreements do occur, we should end them by all means, and even if it means renouncing one of our rights, unless it contradicts what we are obligated to do or if it would cause harm to someone. We should also reconcile others who are at odds, as much as it is in our power, and when we cannot, then we should pray to God for their reconciliation. 469. The Lord promises peacemakers that they will be called sons of God. 470. This promise shows the greatness of the exploits of the peacemakers as well as the greatness of the reward prepared for them. Because they imitate the Only Begotten Son of God Who came to earth to reconcile sinful man with God, they are promised the gracious name of sons of God and, without a doubt, the bliss worthy of that name. Blessed are the exiles for the sake of justice, because theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. 471. The eighth commandment for beatitude is that those who desire beatitude should be ready to suffer persecution for the sake of justice, without betraying it. 472. This commandment requires the following qualities: righteousness, constancy and firmness in beneficence (virtue), courage and patience in case someone is exposed to suffering and danger because he does not want to betray the truth and benefactors. 473. To the exiled for the sake of justice, the Lord promises the Kingdom of Heaven in exchange for what they are deprived of by persecution, just as he promised it to the poor in spirit as a compensation for the suffering of want and poverty. Blessed are you when they shame and persecute you and, lying, say all kinds of bad words against you, because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for a great reward is yours in Heaven 474. The ninth commandment of the Lord for bliss is that those who want bliss should be ready to accept insult, persecution, troubles and even death with joy for the sake of the Name of Christ and for the true Orthodox faith. 475. A feat according to this commandment is called a martyr's feat. 476. For this feat, the Lord promises a great reward in Heaven, i.e. a special and high degree of bliss. The third part - Orthodox love 477. The act and fruit of true faith in a Christian should be love and good works in accordance with it. Because in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is worth anything, but faith that works through love (Gal. 5:6). 478. For a Christian, faith alone is not enough, without love and good works. Because faith without love and good works is ineffective and dead, and therefore cannot lead to Eternal Life. Because whoever does not love his brother remains in death (1 John 3:14). What is the use, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works7 Can faith save him7? Because just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead (James 2, 14, 26). 479. It is impossible to be saved by love and good deeds without faith, because it is impossible for a person to truly love God who does not have faith in Him. At the same time, a man who is wounded by sin cannot do truly good deeds if he does not gain spiritual strength, or the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ. Without faith it is not possible to please God; because the one who approaches God should believe that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Heb. 11, 6). Because whatever are of the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not abide in all that is written in the BOOK of the law to do it (Gal. 3:10). Because we wait for the hope of righteousness with the spirit, by faith (Gal. 5:5). For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that is not from you, it is a gift from God; not by works, so that no one would boast (Eph. 2, 8-9). 480. Love that is not accompanied by good deeds is not true. Because true love is naturally manifested through good deeds. The Lord Jesus Christ says: He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word (Jn. 14, 21, 23). Apostle John writes: Because this is the love of God - that we keep His commandments (1 John 5:3). We do not love with word or tongue, but with deed and truth (1 John 3:18). About God's Law and Commandments 481. The means for distinguishing between good and evil deeds are the internal Law of God, i.e. the testimony of conscience, and the external Law of God, i.e. commandments of God. 482. In the Holy Scriptures, it is said about the internal law that what is according to the law is written in the hearts, since the conscience testifies, and since the thoughts accuse or justify each other (Romans 2:15). 483. Although there is an internal law in people, an external law is also given to them. It was given because people did not listen to the internal law and because, leading a carnal and sinful life, they stifled the voice of the spiritual law within themselves, which is why it was necessary to remind them of the external law through commandments. What then will the law 7 Because of sin was added (Romans 3:19). 484. The external Law of God was given to people in the following way. When the Jewish people, who are descended from Abraham, were miraculously freed from Egyptian slavery, then, on the way to the land that was promised to them, in the desert, on Mount Sinai, God showed His presence in fire and cloud, and gave the Law through the leader of the Israelites - the prophet Moses. 485. The main and general commandments of this Law are the following ten, which were written on two tablets, i.e. stone slabs: 1) I am the Lord your God; have no other gods before Me. 2) Do not make yourself an idol or any image; do not bow down to them NOR SERVE THEM. 3) Do not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain. 4) Remember the day of rest to celebrate it; work for six days and finish all your work, and the seventh day is a rest for the Lord your God. 5) Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on Earth. 9) Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10) Do not desire anything that belongs to others (Exodus 20, 1-17). 486. These commandments were given to the people of Israel, but we should also act in accordance with them, because in essence it is the same Law that, according to the words of the Apostle Paul, was written in the hearts of all people so that they would act according to it. 487. The Lord Jesus Christ taught that one should act according to the ten commandments. He ordered that in order to obtain Eternal Life one should keep the commandments, that they should be understood and fulfilled more perfectly than they did before His arrival (Mt. 19, 17; 5, 1-48). On the division of the Commandments of God into two tablets 488. The Ten Commandments were divided into two tablets. This means that they hide two types of love, ie. love for God and love for neighbor, and that therefore two types of obligations are prescribed. 489. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about this. To the question: What is the greatest commandment in the Law - He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like this one: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets are based on these two commandments (Mt. 22, 36-40). 490. All people represent our neighbors. This is because they are all creatures of the One God and they all came from one man. To us, however, they are particularly close relatives by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, as children of the One Heavenly Father. 491 . There is no commandment to love oneself, because even without a commandment, naturally, no one ever hates their body, but nourishes and cherishes it (Eph. 5, 29). 492. There should be the following order in love for God, neighbor and oneself. You should love yourself just for the sake of it God and to some extent for the sake of our neighbors, we should love our neighbors for the sake of God, and we should love God for the sake of Himself, and more than anything else. Self-love should be offered at the sacrifice of love for others. No one has greater love than this, that he lays down his life for his friends (Ji.15:13). And love for oneself and for one's neighbor should be offered as a sacrifice of love for God. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me - says Jesus Christ - is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter greater than Me is not worthy of Me (Mt. 10, 37). 493. Although the entire Law rests on two commandments, they are still divided into ten, in order to more clearly present our obligations to God and to our neighbor. 494. Obligations towards God are prescribed in the first four commandments. 495. These are the following obligations. In the first commandment, it is determined that one should know and respect the True God. In the second - that false worship should be avoided. In the third - that one should not violate God's reverence with a single word. In the fourth, that the order of time and the order of actions that show reverence for God should be preserved. 496. Obligations towards fellow human beings are prescribed in the following six commandments. 497 . These are the following obligations. The fifth commandment requires love and respect for our neighbors, especially for those who are closest to us, starting with our parents. In the sixth commandment - not to endanger the lives of others. In the seventh - not to injure their moral purity. In the eighth - not to damage their property. In the ninth - not to harm them even with a word. In the tenth - to not even wish to harm them. 498. As for the obligations towards oneself, they are contained in the commandment about duties towards one's neighbors, because one should love one's neighbor as oneself. I am the Lord your God; have no other gods before Me. 499. With the words I am the Lord your God, God seems to point to man Himself, thus commanding him to know the Lord God. 500. Special obligations can be derived from the commandment to know God. 501. The words "you shall have no other gods but Me" refers to communion and attachment to the One True God, i.e. to pay homage to Him. 502. The following obligations apply to inner reverence for God: 2) To walk before God, ie. always remember God and act cautiously in everything, because He sees not only our actions, but also our hidden thoughts. 3) To fear God, or to feel awe before Him, i.e. consider the wrath of the Heavenly Father as the greatest calamity that can befall you, and therefore try not to anger him. 6) To obey God, ie. to be constantly ready to do what He commands, and not to grumble when He does not do with us what we would like. 7) To worship God as the Most High Being. 8) To glorify God as the All-Perfect. 9) To give thanks to God as Creator, Thinker and Savior. 10) To acknowledge God as the All-Good and Almighty Helper in every good undertaking. 503. The following obligations concern external worship: 1) To confess God, i.e. to acknowledge that He is our God, and not to deny Him even when we would have to suffer and die for such an acknowledgment. 2) To participate in common worship, established by God and established by the Orthodox Church. 504. In order to better understand and preserve the first commandment more correctly, we also need to know what sins are against it. 1) Godlessness - when people, whom the psalmist justifiably calls foolish, wanting to save themselves from the fear of God's judgment, say in their hearts: there is no God (Pe.14:1). 2) Polytheism - when many false deities are accepted instead of the One True God. 3) Unbelief - when acknowledging that God exists, they do not believe in His Providence and Revelation. 4) Heresy - when people add opinions contrary to the Divine Truth to the teaching of faith. 5) Schism - arbitrary removal from the unity of worship and from the Orthodox Cathedral Church of God. 6. Apostasy - when, due to fear of people or for the sake of worldly benefits, they renounce the true faith. 7) Despair - when they lose hope of receiving grace and salvation from God. 8) Returning - when, abandoning faith in the power of God, they believe in the mysterious and mostly evil forces of matter, especially evil spirits, and try to act with their help. 9) Superstition - when they believe that some ordinary thing has Divine power, and they are afraid of it, or they trust in it instead of God; thus, for example, they believe the old book and think that only it is correct, and not the new, although it contains exactly the same teaching and the same worship. 10) Laziness in relation to devotional learning, prayers and communal worship. 11) Love for the creature more than for God. 12) People-pleasing - when they please people so that they don't try to please God. 13) Trust in man - when someone trusts in their own abilities and strengths, or the abilities and strengths of other people, and not in the mercy and help of God. 505. Man-pleasing and trusting in man are against the first commandment because the man whom we please or in whom we trust, while forgetting God, for us in a way represents another god, instead of the True God. 506. In the Holy Scriptures, people-pleasing is spoken of like this: because if I were still people-pleasing, I would not be a servant of Christ (Gal. 1:10). 507. The Holy Scriptures say about trust in man: thus says the Lord: cursed is the man who trusts in man and puts his body as his arm, but his heart departs from the Lord (Jer. 17:5). 508. In order to progress more easily in fulfilling his obligations to God, man should treat himself like this: he should renounce himself. Whoever wants to follow Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me (Mk. 8:34). 509. Renounce yourself - according to the interpretation of St. Basil the Great - means the following: "He who strips away the old man with his deeds, worn out in seductive lusts, renounces himself." Such a person also renounces all worldly inclinations that can hinder him on the path of piety. Complete rejection consists in not being attached to life itself, but thinking of death, so as not to trust in oneself". 510. When he renounces himself and when he deprives himself of many natural pleasures, man can receive a gracious, Divine consolation, which even sufferings cannot destroy. Just as Christ's sufferings are abundant in us, so our consolation is abundant through Christ (2 Cor. 1, 5). 511. The first commandment, which prescribes devout respect for the One God, fully corresponds to the correct showing of respect to Angels and Holy people, because in them we respect the grace of God, the grace that dwells and works in them, and through them we ask for help from God. Do not make yourself an idol or any image; do not worship them NOR serve them. 512. The second commandment talks about an idol. In the commandment itself, it is explained that an idol is a representation of something: heavenly, earthly, or living in the waters, and which is worshiped and served instead of God. 513. The second commandment forbids the worship of idols as false deities or representations of false gods. 514. However, it is by no means forbidden to have some other sacred images. This is clearly seen from the fact that the prophet Moses, through whom this command was given by God, at the same time received a command from God to in the tabernacle, i.e. to the movable Jewish church, set golden sacred images to the Cherubim, and that in that inner part of the church, towards which the people turned to worship God. 515. This example is particularly important for the Orthodox Christian Church, because it explains the correctness of the use of holy icons in the Orthodox Church. 516. The word "icon" is Greek and means "image" or "image". In the Orthodox Church, priests are designated by this name representations of God Who appeared in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, His Most Pure Mother, and His Saints. 517. The use of holy icons would not be in accordance with the second commandment only in the case that someone stopped deifying them. However, this commandment does not in any way contradict the respect of icons as sacred images and their use for the sake of pious remembrance of the works of God and His Saints, because in such a case icons are like books in which there are figures and objects instead of letters (St. Gregory the Great, Letter to Serene Bishop). 518. When worshiping the icons, one should be in the following state of mind: the one who observes them must direct his mind towards God and the Saints who are represented on them. 519. The sin against the second commandment is called idolatry. 520. Apart from gross idolatry, there are also minor sins against the second commandment, which include: 2.) stomach upset, overeating and drunkenness; 521. Idolatry includes self-interest. Apostle Paul says that gluttony is idolatry (Col. 3:5), because a selfish person serves wealth more than God. 522. The second commandment forbids selfishness and thus teaches selflessness and generosity. 523. Idolatry also includes pleasing the stomach, because those who please the stomach put sensual pleasure above all else, because, as the Apostle says, their god is the belly, or, in other words, the belly is their idol ( Phil. 3:19 ). 524. The second commandment forbids indulging the stomach and thus teaches abstinence and fasting. 525. Pride and vanity belong to idolatry because a proud man values ​​his abilities and possessions above all else, which for him thus represent an idol; and a vain man wants others to respect that idol. Such pride and vanity was shown by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, who set up a golden idol for himself and commanded everyone to worship him (Dan. 3). 526. There is another vice close to idolatry, and that is hypocrisy - when someone uses external acts of piety, such as fasting and strict observance of rituals, to gain the respect of the people, without thinking about the inner correction of his heart (Mt. 6, 5-7). 527. The second commandment forbids pride, vanity and hypocrisy, and thus teaches humility and doing good deeds in secret. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 528. The name of God is taken in vain when it is spoken in useless and vain conversations, and it is even worse when it is spoken falsely or with a violation of piety. 529. The third commandment forbids the following sins: 1) blasphemy, or insolent words against God; 2) grumbling at God or complaining about His Providence; 3) sacrilege, when sacred objects are ridiculed or ridiculed; 5) false oath, when they confirm with an oath what is not there; 6) breach of oath, when what was promised is not carried out; 7) violation of vows given to God; 8) frivolous use of swearing in ordinary conversations. 530. There is also a special prohibition in the Holy Scriptures to use oaths in ordinary conversations. The Savior says: And I say to you: do not swear at all... Therefore, let your word be: yes, yes; no, no; and what is more than that is evil (Mt. 5, 34, 37). 531. This does not prohibit all oaths in social matters. The apostle Paul says: For men swear by greater than themselves, and every one of their quarrels ends with an oath as a surety. That is why God, wanting to show the heirs of the promise as reliably as possible the immutability of His decision, used an oath (Hebrews 6, 16-17). From this we should draw the conclusion that if God Himself used an oath to provide the strongest possible assurance, then it is all the more permissible and necessary for us to take an oath on important and necessary occasions, when it is required by legitimate authority, with piety and a firm intention not to violate it in any way. Remember the day of rest to celebrate it; work for six days and finish all your work, and the seventh day is a rest for the Lord your God. 532. It was commanded to dedicate the seventh day to God, and not any other day, because God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day he began the work of creation. 533. Saturday is not celebrated as a real holiday in the Christian Church. However, in commemoration of the creation of the world and as a continuation of the original celebration, it is exempted from fasting (except during the four main fasts and on the feasts of the Beheading of John the Forerunner and the Elevation of the Holy Cross). 534. In the Christian Church, the fourth commandment is carried out in the following way. It is celebrated every seventh day, but not the last of the seven days, i.e. Saturday, but the first day of every week, which is Sunday. 535. Sunday (ie Sunday, Russian: voskresenje) is celebrated from the time of the Resurrection of Christ. 536. The Holy Scriptures speak of the celebration of Easter. In the book of Acts, the gathering of the disciples is mentioned, i.e. Christians, on the first day of the week... to break bread, that is. works perfecting the Holy Sacrament of Communion (Acts 20:7). The Apostle and Evangelist John, in the Revelation, also mentions the Lord's day, i.e. Sunday ( Rev. 1, 10 ). 537. The seventh day, or Sabbath, in the Old Testament Church also meant other days, established as holidays or for fasting, for example the feast of Passover, the day of purification; so also in the Christian Church, apart from Sunday, other holidays and fasts should be preserved, for the glory of God, and in honor of the Mother of God and other Saints. 538. The main holidays are the holidays established as a memory of the most important events related to the saving Incarnation of the Son of God for us and the manifestations of the Godhead, and also those established in honor of the Most Holy Mother of God, as the One who served the mystery of the Incarnation. These are, in order of events, the following holidays: 1) Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8/21). 2) Introduction to the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary for her consecration to God (December 21/4). 3) Annunciation to the Holy Mother of God, i.e. the angel's announcement to the Blessed Virgin that the Son of God would become incarnate from her (March 25/April 7). 4) Christmas – Nativity of Christ (December 25/January 7) 5 5) Baptism of the Lord and Holy Epiphany (January 6/19). 6) Meeting of the Lord in the church with the holy righteous Simeon the Theotokos (February 2/15). 7) Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6/19). 8) Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem - Flowering (seven days before Easter). 9) Easter - Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, or Passover - Feast of feasts, a foretaste of eternal feast, eternal bliss. 10) Ascension of the Lord to heaven (40th day after Passover, on Thursday). 11) Feast of Pentecost - Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, in honor of the Holy Trinity (50th day after Easter, on Sunday). 12) Exaltation of the Holy and Life-giving Cross of the Lord, which was found by Empress Jelena (September 14/27). 13) Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15/28). 539. The most important fast is Great Lent, or Holy Forty. 540. It is called Pentecost because it lasts forty days, not counting the week of Christ's Passion (i.e. Holy Week). 541. Great Lent lasts forty days because the Lord Jesus Christ Himself fasted for so many days (Mt. 4, 2). 542. You should also fast on Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday - as a memory of the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on suffering, and on Friday - as a memory of His suffering and death. 543. The Christmas, Great Lady and Peter's fasts were introduced for the following reasons. The first two - so that we would show respect to the feasts of the Nativity of Christ and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary that follow them, and the last one according to the example of the Apostles who fasted in preparation for the works of preaching the Gospel (Acts 13:3). 544. According to the commandments, holidays should be spent in the following way. First of all, on those days you should not work, or engage in worldly and everyday affairs; secondly, they should be kept as sacred, i.e. on those days, holy and spiritual works should be perfected, for the glory of God. 545. On holidays, it is forbidden to work so that we can complete holy and God-pleasing works without interruption. 546. On holidays you should: 1) coming to church for joint worship and teaching the word of God; 2) also, at home, one should engage in prayer and reading, or conversations beneficial to the soul; 3) consecrate a part of one's property to God and use it for the needs of the Church, which also serves it for charity to the poor; 4) visit the sick and those imprisoned in dungeons, and do other works of Christian love. 547. However, such acts can also be done on weekdays, and it is good for those who can do it. And whoever is bothered by work, in the end, needs holidays to avenge such acts. One should pray constantly every day, morning and evening, before and after lunch and dinner, and, if possible, at the beginning and at the end of every work. 548. Those who allow themselves immodest games, theaters, worldly songs, intemperance in food and drink on festive days, are greatly insulting the sanctity of the holiday. Because if even innocent, but useful for everyday life jobs, do not befit holy days, then useless, carnal and evil deeds are not befitting even before them. 549. When the fourth commandment speaks of six days' work, it no doubt condemns those who, on ordinary days, do not engage in the work appropriate to their calling, but spend their time in idleness and distraction. Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on earth. 550. The fifth commandment prescribes special obligations towards parents and teaches that they should be respected: 1) treat them with respect; 3) nurture and watch over them in times of illness and old age; 4) after their death, as well as during their lives, pray for the salvation of their souls and accurately fulfill their wills that do not contradict the Law of God and the civil law (2 Mak. 12, 43-44; Jer. 35, 18-19; Prep. John Damascene, Letter on the deceased). 551. The gravity of the sin of disrespecting one's parents should be judged in the following way. As easy and natural as it is to love and respect our parents, to whom we owe our lives, it is such a grave sin not to respect them. That is why according to the Law of Moses, the death penalty was pronounced for cursing one's father or mother (Exodus 21, 16). 552. The commandment to respect parents is accompanied by the promise of a peaceful and long life. This was done so that the obvious reward would encourage even more to fulfill that commandment, on which rests the order of family life, and then of social life. 553. This promise is fulfilled as follows. The examples of the ancient patriarchs or forefathers show that God gives special power to parental blessing (Genesis 27). A father's blessing establishes the home of children (Sir. 3:9). God, according to His all-wise and just Providence, especially preserves the lives of those on earth who respect their parents and helps them, and as a perfect reward for a perfect benefactor, He grants them an immortal and blessed life in the Heavenly Fatherland 554. Among the commandments that require love for one's neighbors, parents are mentioned first, because parents are naturally the closest to us. 555. In the fifth commandment, "parents" should mean all those who, according to us, take the place of parents. 556. Instead of parents we have: 1) imperial power 3 , and the Fatherland, because the empire is a big family in which we are all children of our Fatherland; 2) spiritual shepherds and teachers, who, through teaching and the Holy Mysteries, give us birth for the spiritual life and educate us in it; 557. The Holy Scriptures speak of imperial authority like this: Let every soul obey the authorities that rule, because there is no authority that is not from God, and the authorities that exist are established by God. Because whoever opposes the government, opposes the decree of God (Romans 13:1-2). Because the servant of God is good for you. If you DO EVIL, be afraid, because he does not carry the sword in vain, because he is God's servant, the avenger, to pour out his wrath on the one who does evil (Romans 13:4). That is why it is necessary to obey not only because of anger, but also because of conscience (Romans 13:5). Fear God, my son, and the king, and do not oppose either of them (Prov. 24, 21). Therefore, give the king's things to the king, and God's things to God (Mt. 22, 21). Fear God, respect the king (1 Peter 2:17). 558. Our love for the Fatherland should lead to the readiness to lay down our lives for it (John 15:13). 559. The Holy Scriptures say this about respect for pastors and teachers: Listen to your elders and obey them, because they are watching over your souls, since they will answer for them, so that you do it with joy and not with sighing, because this would not be of use to you (Hebrews 13, 17). 560. In the Holy Scriptures, there is a special instruction about respecting the elderly, the same as parents. The apostle Paul writes to the apostle Timothy: Do not rebuke the old man, but advise him as a father; young men as brothers; old women as mothers (1 Tim. 5:1-2). Stand up before the gray head, and respect the face of the old man, and fear your God (Lev. 19:32). 561. That benefactors should be respected as parents, it is possible to be convinced by the example of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Who was obedient to Joseph regardless of the fact that Joseph was not His real father, but only an educator (Lk. 2:51). 562. There are also superiors, who should be respected immediately after parents, similar to them. These are the ones who take care of our upbringing instead of parents, i.e. school elders and teachers; then those who protect us from disorder and insecurity in society, i.e. civil authorities; those who protect us with the force of law, i.e. judges; those to whom the imperial power entrusted the safeguarding and protection of social security from the enemy, i.e. military officers. 563. In the Holy Scriptures, it is said about the obligations towards the elders: Loyal, therefore, to everyone that you owe: to whom tax - tax, to whom customs ~ customs, to whom fear - fear, to whom honor - honor (Romans 13:7). 564. This is how the Holy Scripture speaks about the subordination of servants to their masters: Slaves, obey your masters according to the flesh, like Christ, with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of your heart, not only acting outwardly as if you are pleasing people, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart (Eph. 6, 5-6). Servants, be submissive with all fear to your masters, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh (1 Pet. 2, 18). 565. The Holy Scripture also prescribes obligations towards children, which correspond to obligations towards parents. Do not irritate your children, but raise them in the education and teaching of the Lord (Eph. 6, 4). 566. The Holy Scriptures speak about the duty of shepherds towards the spiritual flock as follows: Guard the flock of God, which is entrusted to you, and oversee it, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, n according to God, not for dishonorable gain, but from the heart; nor as if they were lording it over the inheritance of God; but be an example to the flock (1 Pet. 5, 2-3). 567. The Holy Scriptures speak about the duties of elders and those who rule like this: Masters, show justice and equality to your servants, knowing that you also have a Lord in heaven (Col. 4:1). 568. If it happens that parents or elders demand something contrary to religion or the law of God, then they should be told what the Apostles said to the Jewish elders; Judge, is it right before God that we listen to you more than God (Acts 4:19). 569. The quality or virtue required by the fifth commandment is called obedience. 570. The sixth commandment forbids murder, ie. taking life by approaching in any way. 571. Not every taking of life is murder. It is not unlawful killing when life is taken in the line of duty, such as: 1) when the criminal is punished by death according to the law; 2) when the enemy loses his life in the war for the defense of the Fatherland. 572. About involuntary manslaughter, that is. when killing happens accidentally and without intention, you should think like this. An involuntary murderer cannot be considered innocent if he did not show the necessary precaution by which he could have prevented the murder. In any case, according to the understanding of the Church, he needs a true cleansing of conscience (repentance). 573. Apart from direct murder with any weapon, this crime also exists in the following cases: 1) when the judge convicts the accused whom he knows to be innocent; 2) when someone hides or frees a murderer and thereby enables him to commit new murders 3) when someone could save a neighbor from death but does not do so, e.g. when the rich allow someone to die of hunger; 4) when someone exhausts subordinates with too hard work and severe punishments and thus hastens their death; when someone shortens his own life by intemperance or other vices. 574. Of all murders, the greatest crime is suicide. Because if it is unnatural to kill another man, similar to us, then it is even more unnatural to kill oneself. Our life does not belong to us as property, but to God, who gave it to us. 575. Dueling as a means of resolving disputes should be thought of this way. Since the settlement of disputes is a matter for the court, and the participant in the duel arbitrarily decides on a procedure in which death threatens both him and his opponent, the duel involves three serious crimes: opposition to the authorities, murder and suicide. 4 576. Apart from physical murder, there is also spiritual murder. Spiritual murder comes from temptation - when someone seduces a neighbor into unbelief or draws him into iniquities and thus subjects his soul to spiritual death. The Savior says: And whoever offends one of these little ones who believe in Me, it would be better for him to hang a millstone around his neck and sink into the depths of the sea (Mt. 18:6). 577. There are even more subtle forms of murder. To a certain extent, all actions and words can be subsumed under this sin directed against love, which disturb the tranquility and safety of the neighbor, and, finally, the inner hatred against him, even when it is not shown. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15). 578. When it is forbidden to harm one's neighbor, then it is commanded, as far as possible, to preserve the life and well-being of one's neighbor. 579. In this regard, we should do the following: 4) to facilitate the position of the unfortunate; 5) to treat everyone meekly, with love and advice; 6) to make peace with those who are angry; 7) to forgive insults and do good deeds to enemies. Do not commit adultery. 580. The seventh commandment prohibits adultery. 581. Adultery includes several sins. Apostle Paul advises not to mention these impurities among Christians (Eph. 5, 3). Only out of necessity, in order to guard against those sins, it is necessary to name some of them: 1) fornication, i.e. carnal love among those who are not married; 2) adultery, when those who are married unlawfully direct their love towards persons from outside; 3) filth, when close relatives are united by a marriage-like alliance 5 . 582. The Savior teaches that adultery is judged as follows: Anyone who looks at a woman with desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt. 5:28). 583. In order not to fall into that thought, inner adultery, we should avoid everything that can awaken impure feelings in the heart, such as: voluptuous songs, dances, ugly conversations, unrestrained games and jokes, licentious plays, reading books describing impure love, drunkenness, etc. One should try, according to the Gospel, and not look at what is misleading. If your right eye offends you, pluck it out and cast it from you; because it is better for you that one of your members should perish than that your whole body should be thrown into hell (Mt. 5, 29). 584. "To dig out the eye that deceives" - this means that it should be dug out not by hand, but by will. Whoever has firmly decided not to look at what seduces, has already dug out the eye that seduced him. 585. When the sin of adultery is forbidden, then the following benefactors are recommended through it: spousal love and fidelity, and for those who can bear it - complete purity and chastity. 586. The Holy Scriptures speak of the duties of husbands and wives as follows: Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her (Eph. 5, 25). Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. Because the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body (Mt. 5:22-23). 587. In order to avoid fornication and live chastely, the Holy Scriptures command us to keep our bodies clean, because they are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, he who commits adultery with his body sins, i.e. it dishonors him, infects him with diseases and damages mental faculties such as imagination and memory (1 Cor. 6, 15, 18-19). 588. The eighth commandment forbids stealing, ie. appropriating in any way what belongs to others. 589. There are specific sins that are forbidden by this commandment. The most important are: 1) robbery, i.e. public and violent seizure of other people's property; 2) theft, i.e. secretly stealing someone else's property; 3) fraud, i.e. misappropriation of something belonging to another by means of trickery, when, for example, a fake (falsified) banknote is given instead of a real one, bad goods instead of good, when it is stolen by means of a false weight or measure, when one's own condition is hidden in order to avoid paying debts, when what is promised in terms of conditions or what is written in the will is not fulfilled, when the thief is hidden and thus the injured party is deprived of satisfaction; 4) appropriating what is dedicated to God and belongs to the Church; 5) when some receive dishonorably and others dishonorably hand over clerical duties, not out of dignity, but for benefit; 6) receiving bribes, when they take advantage of subordinates or those whom they judge, and depending on that appoint the unworthy, acquit the guilty, prosecute the innocent; 7) cash, when they get paid for work they don't perform and thus steal the salary and deny the benefit they could to bring to him for whom they were to work; also, when they have strength to work, but instead live by alms; 8) usury, when under the pretext of some right, but actually violating justice and philanthropy, they turn to their own advantage someone else's property, or someone else's labor, or the difficult financial situation of their neighbors, e.g. when lenders burden debtors with interest, when superiors exhaust their subordinates by excessive orders or work, or if in times of famine bread is sold at too high a price. 590. When these sins are prohibited, the following benefactors are recommended at the same time: 4) mercy towards the poor. 591. He who is not merciful to the poor also sins against the eighth commandment if he has anything to help them. Because everything we have belongs to God, and the surplus is given to us by the Providence of God in order to help the poor; and if we don't give them from our surplus, then we steal or hide what belongs to them and which represents the gift of God. 592. There is a still higher benefactor who stands in opposition to sins against the eighth commandment. Such a benefactor, which the Gospel enjoins not as an obligation for everyone, but as advice to those who are zealous for feats of piety, is a complete absence, i.e. renunciation of all property. If you want to be perfect, go sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, so follow me (Mt. 19, 21). Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. 593. The ninth commandment forbids bearing false witness against one's neighbor, as well as any lie. 594. The following are prohibited as perjury: 1) false testimony in court; 2) false testimony outside the court - when someone is slandered behind his back, or when he is unfairly accused to his face. 595. It is not permissible to reproach others for their vices. The Gospel does not allow us to judge the vices and shortcomings of our neighbors, unless we are obliged to do so by our calling, and it exposes those who do the opposite by correcting them with an example of meekness: Judge not that you be not judged (Mt. 7, 1). 596. A lie with the intention of harming one's neighbor is also impermissible, because it is incompatible with love and respect for one's neighbor and is not worthy of a human being, especially a Christian, as one who was created for truth and love. Therefore, rejecting the lie, speak the truth each one with his neighbor, because we are members of one another (Eph. 4, 25). 597. In order to avoid sins against the ninth commandment we need to control our tongue. Because whoever wants to love Life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil, and let his lips not speak deceit (1. Pet. 3, 10). If any of you thinks he is godly, but does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, his godliness is in vain (James 1:26). Do not desire anything that belongs to others. 598. The tenth commandment forbids desires that contradict love for one's neighbor, and, which is inextricably linked to desires, thoughts that contradict that love. 599. Not only evil deeds are forbidden, but also evil desires and thoughts. First of all, because when evil desires and thoughts exist in the soul, it already becomes impure before God and unworthy of God; Solomon says: The Lord hates evil thoughts (Prov. 15, 26). Therefore, we need to cleanse ourselves of these inner impurities, as Alostol teaches: Let us cleanse ourselves of every impurity of body and spirit, creating a sanctuary in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7:1). Secondly, because it is necessary to suppress sinful desires and thoughts in order to prevent sinful acts, because sinful acts are born from them as from seeds, as it was said: For from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false testimony, blasphemies (Mt. 15, 19). Rather, everyone is tempted by their own desire, which tempts and deceives them. Then the desire to labor gives birth to sin, and sin committed gives birth to death (James 1:14-15). 600. When one forbids coveting anything that one's neighbor has, one forbids the passion called envy. 601. The words "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" prohibit voluptuous thoughts and desires, i.e. internal adultery. 602. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his fowls, nor anything else that belongs to thy neighbor" - these words prohibit selfish and power-loving thoughts. 603. According to these prohibitions, the tenth commandment enjoins us the following obligations: 2) be satisfied with what you have. 604. In order to purify the heart, frequent and fervent invocation of the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ is especially necessary. How to use Orthodox teaching on faith and piety 605. In order for learning about faith and piety to be of use to us, we need to put into practice what we have learned, under the threat of severe condemnation for failure to do so. When you know this, you are blessed if you do it (John 13:17). And that servant who knew the will of his master and did not prepare NOR DO according to his will, will be severely beaten (Lk.12:47). 606. When we see sin in ourselves, then we should not only repent quickly and firmly decide to avoid sin in the future, but also try, as much as possible, to smooth out the scandal or damage done with appropriate good deeds. This is how Zacchaeus, the tax collector, acted when he said to the Lord: Lord, here is half of your possessions given to the poor, and if I harm anyone with something, I will return it fourfold (Lk.19:8). 607. When it seems to us that we have fulfilled a commandment, we should take the following measure of caution - we should adjust our heart according to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: if you do everything that you are commanded, say: we are unnecessary servants, because we have done what we are obliged to do (Lk.17:10). TJ. by the teaching of grace gifts, faith and knowledge of God from Saints Alostola through their students to today's bishops. This prophecy means that in the nation that will arise from Jacob, rulers from the tribe of Judah will not cease to rule, nor leaders from his descendants, until the Savior comes, to whom (in the spiritual sense) all nations will obey. And indeed on the eve of Christ's birth, Herod sat on the Judean throne, as the first king who did not belong to the tribe of Judah, but to the heathen tribe of the Idumeans. We have translated the Russian word "gosudarstvenaya vlast" here as "imperial", because the word "gosudarstvo", according to the interpretation of Vl. Furthermore, it means "realm, empire, kingdom - a country under the administration of a master", while "sovereign" - "world leader, ruler: emperor, emperor, king or prince". After all, Saint Philaret also lived at a time when there was a God-anointed imperial power in Russia. Of course, we could also translate "gosudarstvenai" as "state power", and we wouldn't be wrong, but we wouldn't have correctly guessed the meaning of what the Saint is talking about, since the state power can also be the power of the antichrist, which really happened in Russia after 1917, and the antichrist's power can in no way replace parents for Christians (lrom. transl.). In the Catechism of Metropolitan Filaret, there is no mention of intrauterine infanticide called "abortion" - the artificial and violent termination of pregnancy, as a type of murder, because in his time intrauterine infanticide was not as catastrophically widespread as it is today. The Holy Church condemns intrauterine infanticide as the intentional killing of a newly conceived and unprotected life, i.e. as the most terrible premeditated murder (lrim. transl.) St. Filaret Moskovsky is not talking here about a series of adulterous sins with which, alas, today's world is flooded, among which, certainly, the most common sins are homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexuality, which today, in the Western de-Christianized civilization, as the supposed "freedom of sexual orientation", have been declared as a basic "human right".