Гнев Божий

How true are the scales of God and what rewards does wickedness find for itself, sometimes immediately, sometimes quickly, as it pleases (I believe) the artist - the Word and the manager of our affairs, who knows when to atone for disasters with mercy and when to admonish insolence with shame and executions, using the corrective measures known to Him. But who can fully depict the diseases that befall the wicked according to God’s judgment, torments that do not remain hidden, other various defeats and executions commensurate with the crimes, unusual cases of death, consciousness of guilt in the midst of the suffering itself, useless repentance, admonitions in dreams and visions sent from above? Or those clear and obvious evidence of God’s wrath, which we saw in the impudent people who desecrated God’s churches, or who violated sacred meals, or who showed their fury on mysterious vessels, who devoured our flesh with impunity and who dared to do everything else (1)? God partly threatened us, partly stretched out a scourge on us, restrained us from others by force, subjected us to others, equally admonishing us with punishment and threat, and paving the way for His anger, He, out of an excess of goodness, begins with less, so as not to have the need for more. But He also punishes more if He is forced to do so. I know this purified weapon (see Ps. 7:13), this drunken sword in heaven (see Isa. 34:5), which is ordered to cut, destroy, disgrace, and not have mercy on bodies, brains, or bones. I know that he is impassive, like a bear deprived of children and like a lynx that meets the Assyrians on the way (Hos. 13:8), not only the ancients, but also everyone who is now an Assyrian through lawlessness; and that it is impossible to escape from the strength and speed of His wrath, when He is vigilant over our wickedness and when His enemies are pursued by jealousy, ready to devour their opponents (Heb. 10:27). I know this plunder, and devastation, and destruction, and broken hearts, and weakening of the knees (cf. Nahum 2:10), and other similar punishments that befall the wicked. Not to mention the judgment courts there, to which those spared here are subjected; therefore, it is better to undergo admonition and purification here than to endure torture there, when the time comes for punishment and not purification.... For those who have left here there is no confession and correction in hell (see Ps. 6, 6); because God limited the time of active life to staying here, and left the life there to study what had been done (1). "Lord! stop (Am. 7:5), Lord, give me relief (Ps. 39:14), Lord! forgive (Dan. 9:19), do not betray us completely for our iniquities and, without striking us, admonish others, when we ourselves can become wise, seeing others punished! Who will we see punished? The pagans who do not know You, and kingdoms that have not submitted Your power. And we are Your people, O Lord, and the scepter of Your inheritance, so punish us, O Lord, but in righteousness, and not in Your anger, so as not to belittle us (Jer. 10:24) and not to humiliate us before all those who live on earth.” With these words I attract mercy. And if it were possible to satisfy his anger with burnt offerings and sacrifices, he would not regret this either. But you yourself imitate the frightened priest. To her, beloved children, to her, who participate with me both in punishment and in God’s love for mankind! Save your souls with tears, stop your anger by correcting your undertakings, appoint a fast, announce a meeting, as blessed Joel commands you with us, gather the elders and infants - this pitiful age, especially worthy of God’s love for mankind (Joel 2:15-16). I know that the same is commanded to me, the servant of the Lord, and to you, who have been awarded the same honor: to enter in sackcloth and weep day and night between the porch and the altar (see. Joel 1, 13; 2, 1.) and in a pitiful form, with an even more pitiful voice, relentlessly cry out for oneself and for the people, sparing neither labor, nor words, nor everything with which God is propitiated, crying out: have mercy, O Lord, Thy people, do not give up Thy inheritance to reproach (Joel 2, 17) and so on - the more we indulge in sorrow, the higher our dignity, in order to teach the people by our example contrition and correction of a vicious life, followed by God's long-suffering and cessation of punishment. So, come, all brethren, let us worship and fall down before Him, and weep before the Lord who created us (see Ps. 95:6); Let's make a common cry, divided by age and gender. Let us raise the voice of prayer in the ears of the Lord of Hosts instead of the cry that He hates (see Gen. 19:13). Let us precede His anger with confession, and just as we saw Him angry, so let us wish to see Him appeased (1). For someone who has committed a serious offense, anger is not severe, because the court only repays equals for equals (2). If you hear in Scripture that God is angry and is likened either to a lynx, or to a bear, which becomes enraged from love, or to one inflamed by wine and intoxication, or to a sword flashing at the evil, then do not take this as advice to indulge in passion. Otherwise, it will mean that you are inventing evil for yourself, and not seeking liberation from it. Listen to Scripture with good intentions and not with evil intentions. God does not tolerate anything like what I tolerate. Don't tell anyone this! He never loses His temper; This is characteristic of complex beings and those who are mostly in a struggle with themselves. But God, as is obvious, is an unchangeable nature. Why is He portrayed like this? According to the laws of allegory. For what? To frighten the minds of simple people - what is the purpose of much of what is expressed in words. Understand that the speech here is not direct, and then you will find the meaning. Since we ourselves strike when we become angry, the defeat of the evil ones was presented in the form of anger. In the same way we invented sight, hearing, hands; and since we need them to bring something to fruition, we attribute them to God when He does the same according to our imagination. Moreover, you hear that the wicked suffer from the wrath of God, not the good, and they suffer according to the laws of justice. But your anger has no limits and makes everyone equal. Therefore, do not say that your passion was given to you from God and is characteristic of God himself. Or, if you think about yourself that you are an imitator of God, then imitate, but first let the winds dispel your illness (2). You might be interested in: