Questions and short answers about faith and other things necessary to know a Christian

The collection “Questions and short answers about faith and other things necessary for the knowledge of a Christian” is a short catechism. The essay is written in the form of a dialogue (question-answer). The text covers topics from the interpretation of the Creed and the doctrine of the Holy Trinity to a detailed analysis of the 7 Sacraments of the Church and the foundations of Christian morality. A separate chapter is devoted to the story of the Ecumenical Councils, their history and decisions. Outlining the general truths of Christian teaching, the author especially dwells on those subjects that were misinterpreted by heretics and schismatics. At the end of the book there is a “Prayer for the daily confession of a person entering the path of salvation.” The language of the work is simple and accessible to a wide audience. Contents Preface About the Creed Narrative of the Holy Ecumenical Councils and their rules 1. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism 2. The Sacrament of Holy Confirmation 3. The Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist 4. The Sacrament of Priesthood 5. The Sacrament of Holy Repentance 6. The Sacrament of Marriage 7. The Sacrament of Anointing About the virtues Prayer for everyday confession of a person, entering the path of salvation Beginning of confession Saint Demetrius of Rostov is known throughout “baptized Rus'” - Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl, writer, poet, playwright, zealous and eloquent preacher, humble ascetic, caring shepherd - and after his death he enlightens and nourishes his flock. Dimitry of Rostov was born in 1651 in the village. Makarovo, near Kyiv. His father was a Cossack centurion of the Kyiv regiment. In 1660 the family moved to Kyiv. The future metropolitan studied at the Kiev-Mohyla Collegium (1662–1665), and was fluent in Latin, Polish and Greek. In July 1668, at the Kiev Cyril Monastery, he took monastic vows, in 1669 he became a hierodeacon, and later in the Gustynsky Monastery (near the city of Priluki) he was ordained a hieromonk. From 1677 he preached in Slutsk, Vilna, Novy Dvor (Rzeczpospolita), and lived in Chernigov. He was abbot in the monasteries of Baturin, Glukhov, Kyiv, Chernigov, Novgorod-Seversky (1681–1700). Since 1684, on behalf of Archimandrite Varlaam Yasinsky, Dimitri worked on compiling the biography of all the saints revered by the Orthodox Church (Cheti-Minea), his main work. In 1689 in Moscow, in the retinue of Hetman I.S. Mazepa Dimitri met with Tsar Peter I and Patriarch Joachim, from whom he received the blessing to compile the Chetyi-Menya. When working on the Four Menaions, he used both Old Russian and Latin, Greek and Polish sources; many of the earlier lives he selected were edited by him. In 1701, on the recommendation of Peter I, he was appointed Metropolitan of Siberia, but, having fallen ill, he stayed in Moscow. On January 4, 1702, Dimitry was appointed Metropolitan of Rostov and Yaroslavl. After the liturgy in the Assumption Cathedral in Rostov, the saint delivered a welcoming speech to the flock, saying that he came “not to serve me, but to serve you... not to please myself... but to care for the benefit of everyone, to carefully seek salvation for everyone, to pray for everyone” (2, p. 10). The life of the saint in Rostov became the fulfillment of these words. Pointing out the shortcomings of the local clergy - lack of education, drunkenness, dishonest attitude towards their duties and the ignorance and indifference to the Church of the laity, the saint saw his task primarily in the education and training of the flock and clergy. He created a bishop's school in Rostov, the education in which was modeled on the Kyiv educational institutions. Contrary to the demand of Peter I to report to the authorities about anti-government sentiments discovered during confession, Metropolitan Demetrius denounced priests who violated the secret of confession and looked for worthy priests in every class. Several messages of Demetrius of Rostov to the Rostov clergy of a disciplinary nature are known. Metropolitan Demetrius was the author of works of a religious and moral nature, as well as many sermons denouncing ignorance, greed, laziness, and forgetfulness of the sacred commandments. The style of oratorical works of Demetrius of Rostov became a classic model for preachers of the 18th–19th centuries. Saint Demetrius died in 1709, on the night of October 28, a day after his namesake. Saint Demetrius was buried in the Rostov Spaso-Jacob Monastery. During the renovation of the monastery in 1752, its relics were discovered. “Short Questions and Answers about Faith” refers to the dogmatic writings of St. Demetrius of Rostov and represent a catechetical presentation of the doctrine and moral teaching of the Orthodox Church. This book contains simple and complex questions, the answers to which reflect the very essence of Orthodoxy. A person seeking salvation, enlightened by faith, must have a thorough knowledge of what the Christian faith requires of him, how he should live and act as a Christian, for without knowing the foundations of faith, a person cannot determine for himself what and why he believes, cannot adequately prepare and receive the Sacraments, and participate in the life of the Church. Demetrius of Rostov sets out in completeness and mutual connection the foundations of faith and morality for every Christian. This is a visual, very accurate and detailed guide, with simplicity of presentation (question and answer) helping any reader to study the fundamentals of the Orthodox faith. What is a Symbol? – The symbol is a confession of the holy Orthodox faith. What language is the word "symbol"? - Greek. How to translate it in Russian? – A brief statement, or, in other words, confession of the holy Orthodox faith. Where is it stated? - In the books of the holy fathers and in the Book of Hours. What is the name of this Symbol? - Nicene, or Constantinople. Why is it called Nicaea and Constantinople? – Because it was compiled at two Ecumenical Councils, namely: the First Nicene Council and the Constantinople Council, which was after the Nicene Council. How does this Symbol begin? – I believe in one God the Father, Almighty and How many members is this Symbol divided into? - At twelve. Count all the members separately for me. - First Council: 1) I believe in one God, etc. 2) And in one Lord Jesus Christ... 3) For our sake man and for our salvation... 5) And rose again on the third day... 6) And ascended into heaven... 7) And again the coming with glory... 1) And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord...Into one Holy, Catholic... 2) I confess one baptism... 3) I hope for the resurrection of the dead. 4) And the life of the next century. Amen. Tell me in detail what you understand and believe in each member? - In the first, I express my faith that one God Almighty is the Creator of all visible and invisible creation, the Father and Guardian, that out of nothing, by His one omnipotent command and will, He created heaven with all its beauty and Angels, the earth with people and animals and everything else in its time and supports all this in its existence. In the second member, I believe that our Savior Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Only Begotten, begotten in an ineffable way from the Father before all ages, as light is born from light, essentially and impassively. In the third, I believe that the true Son of God, consubstantial and equal to the Father, came down from heaven to save the human race, condemned to hell, to the region of Satan, by the fall of Adam, and accepted human flesh, made by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary and Her Virgin blood, rational and animated, and not soulless or ghostly, like true God and true man, consisting of rational soul and human body, the one Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and not two sons, the one filial hypostasis of God, abiding in two natures: born according to Divinity from God the Father before all ages, according to humanity from the Virgin Theotokos at a predetermined time. In the fourth, I believe that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the ineffable love for His creation - man - voluntarily endured suffering, torment and death; He really suffered, and not in a ghostly way, and not according to Divinity, but according to humanity, was crucified and buried. Fifthly, I believe that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, by the omnipotent power of the Divine was resurrected on the third day with the same flesh that he received in the womb of the Virgin Mother of God, with whom he suffered and died, as was predicted by the prophets. In the sixth, I believe that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, after His forty-day stay with His disciples, by the power of His Divinity, ascended into heaven with His flesh and sits at the right hand of the Father, as God of equal honor and consubstantiality. In the seventh, I believe that our Savior is the last Judge of the living and the dead, the righteous and the sinful, and with the same flesh that He received from the Virgin Mary, with which He suffered, was buried and ascended, He will come to earth with all the Angels, with great glory, to reward each according to his deeds, and His Kingdom, which the righteous will receive as a reward, will have no end. Eighth, I believe that the Holy Spirit is perfect God, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, proceeding from the Father Himself, equally worshiped and glorified with the Father and the Son. In the ninth, I believe that there is only one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, which is confirmed by the blood and teaching of Christ, the apostles, holy fathers and martyrs, which the gates of hell cannot overcome and by which the Orthodox Eastern Confession is held to immutable salvation, following its intact laws. In the tenth, I believe that if someone is not baptized, he cannot be saved. Thus, the Sacrament of Baptism is the door of God's grace: if we are not baptized, then the blood of the Son of God will not benefit us; if we are baptized, then we receive remission of sins and eternal salvation, we become partakers of the merits of Christ, the Son of God, and we commit ourselves to fulfilling the entire Christian law, especially to the reverent communion of the Body and Blood of Christ under the guise of bread and wine. In the eleventh, I believe that with the same flesh that we received from God, with which we were created and lived in the world, we will rise in the last time according to the voice of the Son of God and will receive, according to our deeds, either eternal life or eternal torment. In the twelfth, I believe that both the Kingdom of Heaven and hell are endless in time and that after the resurrection from the dead and the day of judgment we will lead an eternal life - either blessed with God, or damned with the devil. How many symbols are there? – Two: 1) Niceno-Constantinograd; 2) Saint Athanasius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Why is the first Symbol called Nicene-Constantinopolitan? - Because the Council of Constantinople (Constantinople) confirmed the Nicene Confession of Faith and expanded the confession, namely: it added members about the Holy Spirit, about the Church, etc. Who was the compiler of this Symbol? – Holy Fathers, gathered by the Holy Spirit at the Ecumenical Councils: at the First in Nicaea and at the Second in Constantinople. Who were the holy fathers? – Patriarchs, bishops and other fathers knowledgeable in Orthodox teaching, and Orthodox teachers. How and where were the Councils held? - By the decision of the holy fathers and the command, and the support of pious kings for reasons that are especially important in church life, within the boundaries of the Greek state. What kind of bishops were there at that time: Russian or from other regions? – Greek, Roman and others. Why were there no Russian bishops at the Councils, since they too are Orthodox? - Because at that time Russia was not enlightened by holy baptism, but remained in the darkness of idolatry until the time of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, who spread the holy faith in Russia and planted it with his example and zeal in the year 6496 from the creation of the world, and 988 from the incarnation of the Son of God. Why are these Councils called Ecumenical? - Because they were composed of bishops who gathered from all over the universe, were accepted by the Ecumenical Christian Church and were collected by pious ecumenical sovereigns. Narrative of the Holy Ecumenical Councils and their rules Against whom was the First Council assembled? – The First Ecumenical Council was assembled in 325 from the incarnation of our Savior, in 5933 from the creation of the world, in the 12th year of the reign of Constantine the Great. It was assembled in the city of Nicaea, and 318 holy fathers were present at it. The elders of the Council of the holy fathers were the following: Alexander of Constantinople, Alexander of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, Macarius of Jerusalem and Sylvester of Rome, represented by their ambassadors. The council was assembled against the heretic Arius, a former Alexandrian presbyter, who blasphemed the Son of God, for he called Him a creation, and not God the Creator and not consubstantial with the Father, and argued that there was a time when He did not exist. At this Council, the fathers set out their confession, recognizing the Son as equal in honor, equal in throne and consubstantial with the Father, decided to celebrate Holy Pascha in the same way as we celebrate it now, and adopted other rules; Aria and his unrepentant like-minded people were condemned to eternal damnation. From the First Council to the Second 55 years. The Second Ecumenical Council took place in 381 in Constantinople under Patriarch Nektarios of Constantinople, Cyril of Alexandria, Meletius of Antioch and other persons of the priesthood. There were 150 holy fathers on it; it was gathered against Macedonius, Patriarch of Constantinople, an evil blasphemer of the Holy Spirit, for he considered Him to be a creation, and not God and not one being with the Father. But the holy fathers confessed the All-Holy Spirit to be equal in honor with the Father and the Son, proceeding from the Father, equal in worship with the Father and the Son. Were there other heretics at that Council? – There were like-minded people of Apollinaris. The false teaching of Apollinaris was that, according to him, the Son of God had only a body without a soul, that the Divinity died with the body, and so on. From the Second Council to the Third 51 years. The Third Ecumenical Council took place in 431 from the incarnation of Christ, during the reign of Theodosius the Younger, in the city of Ephesus under Cyril, Pope of Alexandria, Juvenal of Jerusalem and Mnemon of Ephesus. There were 200 holy fathers present at it. It was gathered against the evil Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople, who taught that in Christ there were two natures and two hypostases and that Christ, born of a Virgin, was a simple man. He called the Virgin Mary not the Mother of God, but the Mother of Christ, and uttered many other ungodly heresies, for which he was condemned at the Ecumenical Council and accepted execution from God for his madness, for his blasphemous tongue was eaten away by worms. From the Third Council to the Fourth 20 years. The Fourth Ecumenical Council took place in 451, during the reign of Marcian, in the city of Chalcedon under Anatolia, Patriarch of Constantinople, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Maximus of Antioch; there were 630 holy fathers on it. It was gathered against the evil Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, and Archimandrite Eutyches, who, although they confessed our Lord Jesus Christ as consubstantial with the Father, but wickedly taught about His acceptance of human nature, merged two natures - Divine and human - and preached that both natures were made into one, so that suffering and confusion were attributed to them and to the Divine. In addition, they said that the Lord was not of the same nature as we are, and they philosophized that He took on flesh that was not composed and did not come from Maiden blood, but was incarnated in some special Divine image. The Holy Council deposed and anathematized these heretics, confessing our Lord Jesus Christ as perfect God and perfect man, in two natures, without dividing Him into two hypostases, or into two sons, and without merging Him into one nature. That heretical confession, which was condemned at the Fourth Council, is still held by the Armenians, and this Armenian teaching consists in the schismatic two-finger, in which the upright index finger denotes the Divinity, and the humanity of Christ is denoted by the index finger adjacent to it. In explanation of this, they cite that the bent finger denotes the humanity of Christ because Christ, having bowed the heavens as humanity, descended to earth, therefore, as if he brought ready-made humanity from heaven to earth and with ready-made humanity moved into the womb of the Virgin, and did not receive it from Her Virgin blood. With such two fingers, in accordance with the Armenian teaching about the incarnation of Christ, another meaning is connected: three fingers, the first with the last two, are united in the name of the Most Holy Trinity to commemorate the fact that it is as if the entire Trinity was incarnated in the person of Christ, and not just one of the Trinity, the Son of God. In accordance with this teaching, the Armenians add the words to the Trisagion: “crucified for our sake”; and with such correspondence with the wicked Armenian teaching, the schismatics recognize their two-fingeredness as the highest shrine, the basis of salvation and Christianity and, calling it the ancient cross, exalt it not only above the real cross, but also above Christ Himself. Om of the Fourth Council to the Fifth 102. The Fifth Ecumenical Council was held in the city of Constantinople in 553, during the reign of Justinian the Great. 160 holy fathers gathered there and its elders were: Eutyches of Constantinople, Apollinaris of Alexandria, Domnus of Antioch and Damian of Sozopolis. This holy Council completed and confirmed the acts of the holy Council of Chalcedon, cursed the heresies that had spread in his time, namely, the ancient fabulous teachings of the glorious teacher and presbyter Origen, Evagrius and Didymus, who foolishly taught that there would be an end to torment, for the Lord, they said, is generous and abundantly merciful, will not be completely angry (Ps. 103:8-9), forgetting at the same time the words of the Gospel: these go into eternal torment, but the righteous into eternal life (Matthew 25:46), which words are not contradicted by the quoted words from the psalm: the Lord is not completely angry, for they refer to the present age and have the same meaning as what was said in the seventh psalm: God the Judge is righteous and strong, and slow to anger, and does not bring wrath every day (Ps. 7:12). But what follows next is to be horrified: If you do not turn, it is said there, He will cleanse His weapon, He will make His bow tense, and He will prepare the vessels of death in it, He will make His arrows burnt up (Ps. 7:13-14). The same Origen incorrectly taught that the present flesh has the right to be resurrected, that souls pass from body to body, and other incorrect things, which the Council rejected. From the Fifth Council to the Sixth is 128 years. The Sixth Ecumenical Council took place in the city of Constantinople in 680, during the reign of Constantine the Bearded; there were 171 holy fathers on it. The elders of the Council were: George, Patriarch of Constantinople, Theophan of Antioch, Peter the monk of Alexandria and other holy fathers. The Council was convened against the (Monothelites) co-religionists: Theodore Bishop of Parano, Honorius the Pope of Rome, Paul, Pyrrhus, Sergius, Peter of Gugniv, the former bishops of Constantinople, Macarius of Antioch, Cyrus of Alexandria, the heretical teacher, Elder Polychronius and all their followers, for they taught that in Christ Jesus there is one will. The same holy Council confessed that Christ God has two natures, two desires, two wills and one hypostasis of God the Word; in addition, he laid down 102 rules. From the Sixth Council to the Seventh is 107 years. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, like the first, was in Nicaea. It took place in 787, during the reign of Constantine and his mother Irina; There were 167 holy fathers on it, including the ambassadors of Pope Hadrian, Tarasius of Constantinople, Politian of Alexandria. It was gathered against the iconoclasts, whom it cursed, and confessed our Lord Jesus Christ as indescribable according to Divinity, but described according to humanity, and therefore decided to worship His most pure image, the image of His Mother and all the saints. This holy Council laid down 22 rules. What is an icon? – An icon is an image of a real person. Can an icon be called God because it serves as an object of veneration? - No, she is not God, but the image of God, for which she is revered. Were there any Councils before the seven Ecumenical Councils? - Were. Even in the time of the Apostles, a Council was held in Jerusalem, and in post-Apostolic times there were Councils in other places. The history of the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem is set out in the Acts of the Apostles, written by the holy evangelist Luke. Were all those seven Councils solid? – All are solid, because the main foundation of our faith rests on them. Where is the symbol of Patriarch Athanasius stated? – We have it in the Psalter. How does it start? - “Whoever wants to be saved, first of all, it is fitting for him to hold the Catholic faith, even if someone does not keep it whole and blameless, he will perish forever except for all bewilderment.” What is the Catholic faith? - To believe in one God, glorified in the Trinity, and to honor the Trinity in Unity, as the Symbol teaches us. What does catholic mean (in Greek καθολικός - katholikos)? - Everywhere widespread, or conciliar, consonant. What is the Holy Trinity? - Three hypostases, or three faces. Tell me about this in more detail. – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father was not begotten, the Son was born from the Father before the ages, the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father before the ages; Holy, Consubstantial and Indivisible Trinity. So, three Gods? - No, not three Gods, but one God, worshiped in three hypostases. What is hypostasis? – Hypostasis is a Greek word, in Russian it means face, and the face is of course not physical, but spiritual; in God it is as if in the light of radiance. Who is God? – God is the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What is God? – God is the Creator of heaven and earth, everything visible and invisible. What is visible and invisible? – The visible is what our bodily eyes see, namely: the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and all their decoration; the invisible are the Angels of God, the souls of men. Is the Holy Spirit the Creator? - Creator. So, three Creators? - Not three, but one, for there is one God, worshiped and confessed in the Trinity. How did God create such a magnificent building of His visible and invisible creation? “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the Spirit of His mouth all their strength,” says the psalmist (Ps. 32:6). How many natures do you confess in God? - One nature. How many creatures? - One creature. What is a creature? – A being is an original thing that does not contain anything external in its composition. How many images do you confess in God? – One image, for as the Father is, so is the Son, so is the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Father is Light, or Radiance, the Son is the same Light, or Radiance, and the Holy Spirit is the same Light, or Radiance. How many wills, in other words, desires? - I confess one will. How many hypostases do you confess in God? – Three hypostases: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And if you have shown this about God, then tell me briefly in confirmation, why is God one and why is he threefold? – He is one in Divinity, as was said above, but three in hypostases. What is common in the three Divine hypostases and what is special? – What is special about the Father is ungeneracy, the Son has birth, and the Holy Spirit has procession; The Divinity and the Kingdom are common to them. From whom was the Son born? – According to the Divine, from the Father before all ages, just as light is born from light, by a spiritual birth, and not a carnal one, in an indescribable manner. From whom does the Holy Spirit come? - From the same Father, as the Gospel and the Symbol of the Holy Faith teach us. Is God visible or invisible? – Invisible, since God is Spirit, God is Light, God is spiritual nature; He is incorporeal, unimaginable, indescribable, ineffable. If He is as you said, that is, incorporeal, then why does the psalmist attribute to God many actual parts of the body: eyes, ears, hands, shoulders, etc.? - The Psalmist describes this in order to indicate through visible bodily signs the actual invisible Divine power with which He supports His creation and through which it controls. After all, He is all the eye, all the hearing, sees everything, hears everything, nothing can hide from Him, but everything is naked and obvious before Him, not only deeds and words, but also the thoughts of the heart; He, therefore, is all, as it were, an omnipotent hand, which with its omnipotence creates and transforms everything. Where is God? – By His Divinity He abides everywhere. But does He remain everywhere by His grace? – Not everywhere, but in select places. What are these chosen places? – Churches of God, where holy relics rest and the holy Sacraments are performed, especially the chosen place of God is God’s throne in heaven. Who is Christ? – Christ is the Son of God and God, the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. Is it Father Christ? - No, not Christ. Is the Holy Spirit Christ? - No, not Christ. Why is this so? – Because They were not incarnate, for the Father was not born of anyone and is therefore the first hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is not born, and is the third hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. One second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity was incarnated from the Holy Virgin: Jesus Christ, the Son of God. When was the Son of God given this name: Jesus Christ? - After His incarnation from the Blessed Virgin. How many natures do you confess in Christ, the Son of God, who became man for our sake? – I confess two natures: one Divine, the other human. The divine nature is the Divinity itself, as was said above, and human nature is soul and body. How many creatures do you confess in Christ? – I confess two beings: one consubstantial with the Father in Divinity, the other consubstantial with the Mother in humanity. How many wills, or, in other words, desires, do you confess in Christ? – I confess two wills: Divine and human. How was the Divine will manifested? – The Divine will consists, for example, in cleansing lepers, as can be seen from the fact that Christ, wanting to manifest the Divine will and action, said to the leper: I want, be cleansed! (Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:41; Luke 5:13). How did the human will manifest itself? – The human will manifested itself, for example, when Christ, hanging on the cross, asked to quench His thirst. How many actions are there in Christ? – I confess two actions: Divine and human. What is His Divine action? – Divine action consists in helping all people to be saved and come to an understanding of the truth. What was His human action? – The human action consisted in the fact that He traveled, toiled, and the like. How many hypostases do you confess in Christ? – I confess the one hypostasis of God the Word, for He is the only Son of God and the Son of the Virgin, as stated above. Does Christ have a human hypostasis? - It does not, since there are not two Sons and not two Christs, but one Christ, the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin, as stated above. How many births of the Son of God do you confess? – I confess two births: the first – pre-eternal, flightless, incorporeal, when He shone from the Father like light from the sun; the second birth was when recently the great, eternal, co-originating, invisible, incomprehensible God, penetrating into the hearts of all people, was born from the Holy Virgin Mary. Why did the Son become incarnate, and not the Father or the Holy Spirit? – So that He would retain the property of His hypostasis, so that He would be the Son both in heaven and on earth. Is Christ's flesh present everywhere or not everywhere? - Not everywhere. Where is she now? – The flesh of Christ, received from the Most Holy Theotokos, lived and suffered on earth, after the resurrection from the dead and after the ascension remains in heaven. Is there the flesh of Christ on earth? – Mysteriously, Christ’s flesh remains on earth in the Divine Mysteries under the guise of bread and wine. In what sense does the psalmist attribute sitting to Christ, saying this: The Lord said to My Lord: sit at My right hand (Ps. 109:1); Does the symbol say: “sitting at the right hand of the Father”? – With this appeal of the Father to the Son: “sit at My right hand,” the psalmist expresses the equality of honor and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Divinity. The symbol confesses Him as having received from God, according to humanity, greater honor than any other creature. By what nature did Christ the Lord suffer for us? – A nature subject to suffering, that is, flesh, and not Divinity. Do we celebrate the first birth of Christ the Lord? - No, we do not celebrate the first birth, since it was flightless, and was in an incomprehensible way. According to the establishment of the Church, we celebrate the second birth on December 25; it was from the Ever-Virgin Mary after the incarnation of the Word in Her according to the gospel of the Archangel on March 25. After the incarnation of Christ and the union of the Divinity with the body, was there not a separation of God the Son from God the Father and from God the Holy Spirit? – It was not, because the Divine is inseparable and indivisible, omnipresent and fills everything. Neither the Son was separated from the Father through His incarnation and descent to earth, nor the Father from the Son, nor the Holy Spirit. Could the Father or the Holy Spirit become incarnate? – I said about this above, namely, that the Son became incarnate in order to be His Son in heaven and on earth, so that God the Father would remain unborn, while the Spirit proceeds. Where was God when there was no heaven and earth? – God contains Himself, therefore He abides in Himself; and if He created heaven and earth, then He created them not for His own sake, that He might dwell and rest in them, but for our sake, that we might be praised and honored. Does God have a throne in heaven? – Although God, as I have already said, is everywhere and fulfills everything, he especially reveals the light of His Divinity in heaven, where he has an intangible throne. As He Himself said: Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool (Is. 66:1); His feet are understood to be spiritual, and not physical, that is, His presence is more complete and perfect than the presence of solar light, which exists everywhere and fills everything. Was there a manifestation of God on earth? - No one has ever seen God as He is, but since it is accessible to our vision, the appearances of God happened either in reality or in a dream, such as to the forefathers, prophets, apostles, martyrs and many reverent people. Likewise, the Son of God revealed the glory of His Divinity, as far as human eyes could comprehend, during the Transfiguration and Ascension. When did God create the angels, before all ages? - No, He alone, by His nature, remained uncreated before all ages, but the Angels were created by Him at a certain time. What are Angels, how do we understand them and who are they? – Angels are spirits, incorporeal, invisible, sinless, not existing by themselves, but created by God’s grace before any other creation, moving from place to place in the twinkling of an eye. Why were Angels created? – Angels were created so that they sing the glory of God and serve Him; then in order to serve people in this world and be guardians of kingdoms, cities, places, people and every creature. How many ranks are they divided into? - Into three, and each rank, in addition, is divided into three more ranks, such as: in the first Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim; in the second Power, Dominion and Strength; in the third, Angels, Archangels and Principalities. Are they sinless? – As I have already said, they are sinless, but not through themselves, but through the grace of God, since they did not agree to resist God together with the light-bearer, and therefore they have this grace from God, and not by nature. Who is the light bearer? – The Light-Bearer was the noblest and foremost Angel, who, being ungrateful to God for His blessings, preferred the love of creation, loving himself more than the Creator, that is, God, wanted to be like Him and became proud, for which, with his like-minded people, he was cast down from heaven to hell, deprived of his natural beauty, and, however, the angelic nature remained with him, and from a light-bearer he turned into a dark demon and an angel of every kind uncleanness, the inventor of lawlessness, the enemy of God and people. Can this angel of darkness repent in view of the fact that God is long-suffering and merciful, is not completely angry, and is always at enmity (Ps. 103:8-9)? - The grace of God never quarrels forever if it sees someone repentant. But since this grace of repentance was given only to man for the sake of Christ incarnate, but was not given to the angel of darkness, then, in the absence of grace, he cannot repent. Why is man given the grace of repentance, but the angel of darkness is not given? – The grace of repentance was given to man because he sinned not on his own, but at the instigation of the enemy, while the devil sinned spontaneously, without any other instigation, and, moreover, in comparison with man, he had higher talents and qualities. Since when did the Angels become so established in grace that they could no longer sin? – As I said, from the time when they did not agree with the light-bearer, from whom the grace was taken away, but given to them. Weren't the Angels peacemakers, that is, creators of heaven, earth and the whole world? – I said that God is the Creator of everything, and Angels are the servants of the Lord. True, there were heretics who called the Angels creators, but this heresy, together with its followers, has long been cursed. Could God have created another world like this? – He can create not only another, but also a thousand thousand such worlds, and if He does not create, this is not a matter of lack of power, but of His favor. For who can be His adviser or who knows His mind (see Rom. 11:34)? Was there faith before the composition of the Symbols? – Not only before the compilation of the Symbols, but from the very beginning of the world, starting from Adam and his closest descendants, there was faith in God as the Creator of everything, and in the Son of God who would come and be incarnate, called the Messiah. All the forefathers, patriarchs and prophets had the same faith until the very time of the incarnation of the Son of God. After the incarnation of the Son of God, Christ Himself announced faith to people through the apostles. At the Ecumenical Councils, the holy fathers disseminated it, interpreted it and approved it by the Holy Spirit. Why is the Son of God called Christ and what does this word “Christ” mean? – The word “Christ” means anointed one. The Son of God is the King of heaven and earth. Kings are called anointed, therefore the Son of God is called Christ, that is, the Anointed. According to Divinity, was Christ born of the Mother of God? - No one has yet had such an opinion that Christ was born of the Mother of God according to Divinity, and it is godless to believe so; He was born of Her according to humanity. The Virgin Mary is called the Mother of God because before the age of birth she gave birth to God the Word in human flesh. If Adam had not sinned, would Christ have become incarnate? – He would not have been incarnate, since the reason for the Lord’s incarnation was the fall of Adam: this latter died forever, but Christ resurrected him forever. Did God know that Adam would sin? - I knew. Why did He allow him to sin in this case, or why did He create him? – It should not have been that the crime of Adam defeated the grace of God or the wickedness of the devil overcame it and that the opinion should arise that God, being afraid of the sin of Adam that was hostile to Him and the wickedness of the devil, did not create Adam and the devil. Therefore, God, being good and desiring to do good, in His goodness created the devil and man in a good state, since He does not want lawlessness and hates it, but the devil and man did not create sin out of their own good will. If God allowed and did not prevent both the devil and man from sinning, then this is because God does not violate free will. However, He warned man not to sin; Having granted free will, the Lord God, in His justice, does not produce violence, as the psalmist testified about Him: Thou art righteous, O Lord, and Thy judges rule (Ps. 119:137). What did Christ do on earth by virtue of His humanity? - He drank, ate, fasted, walked, talked, rested and slept. What did He do by virtue of His Divinity? – He cleansed lepers, raised the dead, etc. What else did He do according to His humanity? – He suffered, was crucified and died. Did Christ suffer with his soul or only with his body? -Both soul and body, for a body without a soul does not suffer. Was the soul crucified? - The body was crucified, but the soul grieved; the body was nailed for the salvation of the world, blood was shed, but the soul suffered and especially lamented, knowing that there would not be many who would take advantage of the suffering of Christ for their salvation. What was the last suffering of Christ? – Crucifixion and perforation of the rib. What events happened when Christ died on the cross? “His soul was separated from his body, the church veil was torn, stones disintegrated, the sun and moon darkened, the dead rose from their graves, and the earth shook. What change then happened to Christ? – God, being in the flesh, suffered in the flesh, but in the flesh, and not in the Divine, he tasted death and delivered the spirit into the hands of the Father. Where did the soul of Christ go? – To hell to destroy the domain of Satan, to deliver the captive souls of Adam and other people and to reveal the power of His Divinity. Where did she go from hell? – To heaven, and brought with her souls freed from captivity; then the soul of the robber went to heaven. And where did the soul of Christ go from heaven? – She returned to the body, and then Christ was resurrected. Was the whole Divinity present at the dead body of Christ? – Many times I answered that God is present everywhere with His Divinity. And the Son of God was Divine, with his soul in hell, and in his dead body, and everywhere, indescribable, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection, how long was Christ on earth? – Forty days until he ascended to heaven. Where did He stay before His ascension? – Sometimes in paradise, consoling the redeemed, sometimes he appeared to the disciples and taught them. Where did the Lord ascend from and was His ascension visible? – He ascended from the Mount of Olives in front of His disciples, the Mother of God and other wives. What does Olivet mean? “Mount of Olives means the place of olive trees, and it is so named because olive trees grow on it, from which oil, or wood oil, is obtained. Did the Lord ascend in divinity or in humanity? - According to humanity, since after the resurrection it was deified, glorified, light-like, shining with a god-like light. Why did you sit at the right hand of the Father? – For His voluntary humility, suffering and death, for which He not only accepted the seat at the right hand of the Father, but is also a Judge over the living and the dead. Who is greatest in heaven after Christ? – Mother of God; after the Mother of God, together with the Angels, John the Baptist, then the apostles and other saints. Why is the Mother of God higher than all the saints and angels? – Because She is the Mother of the Savior of the world. According to humanity, Christ was of what tribe? – Jewish; and not only Christ, but also the Mother of God and the apostles. How and when did the Holy Spirit appear? – He appeared in the form of a dove during the Baptism of Christ. Why this way? - Because the dove is the purest bird, and the Holy Spirit is the guardian of spiritual purity. Does the Holy Spirit always exist in the form of a dove? - Not always and never, but only this was His appearance. However, He will appear as He wishes, but by the nature of His being He is not a dove, but light, the third radiance, or the Divine hypostasis. Do the souls of saints see God in heaven? – They always see the face of the Heavenly Father and in this contemplation they find their joy. Is this their bliss and reward? – Yes, in this, as the psalmist testifies: I will be satisfied, until Thy glory is revealed to me (Ps. 16:15). Did the saints accept their promise before the Last Judgment? After all, the apostle says: let not perfection be achieved without us (Heb. 11:40), that is, before the day of judgment there is no full reward? – Until the Day of the Last Judgment, there is no complete reward for a complete person, that is, consisting of body and soul, therefore, there is no complete torment in hell for those condemned, but there is partial reward. After the Judgment there will be complete retribution - both in body and in soul. So, there is also private torment? - Eat. Which one? – Despair, the feeling of an angry God, deprivation of eternal blessings, dark and terrible places, constant vision of the devil and being with him, the torment of the soul caused by him, an unquenchable fire, a worm of conscience that does not die. Do the elect and the Angels have faith and hope in heaven? – The angels have neither faith nor hope, because from the time they were established in grace, they saw the One in whom they should believe and in whom they should hope; and since they always see the face of the Heavenly Father, there is no place in them either for faith or for hope, for faith and hope have as their object the invisible. God's elect in heaven also have no faith and hope, because they see Him in whom they believed and have Him in whom they trusted. Both Angels and the chosen ones have only one immortal love. What prompted the Son of God to become incarnate and die a shameful death? - Love for the human race. Who did King David call gods? – Apostles, prophets and all the elect; however, because of this, they cannot yet be equated with God, and they are not gods by nature and essentially, but by participation in God's grace. Kings are also called gods because of their participation in the power of God on earth. Why is Christ a perfect man? - Because it has a body and a soul. Where are the holy relics located? - Those who are famous reside in special venerable, decorated places, in the churches of God and on the holy throne. How many main properties does the Holy Church have? – Four: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic; The main property of the Church is to be the body of Christ, as the apostle says: You are the body of Christ, and partake of it (1 Cor. 12:27). Why is the Church united? - Because there is one God, one faith, one baptism, one Sacraments and commandments and one teaching of Christ, the Gospel and the Apostles. Why is she a Saint? – Because he believes in the Holy of Holies and has the most holy Sacraments, handed down from Christ God, and there is nowhere else to take shrines except the Church. Why is it Sobornaya? - Because it was composed and collected from the peoples of the entire universe, and not from one people, as it was before, when it consisted of one Jewish people. Why is she Apostolic? - Because it was handed over to us from the holy apostles and has apostolic power, that is, the priesthood. Who founded and established the Church and on whom? – Christ established it on Himself and acquired it with His blood, and not with two fingers or a beard. What is the image of God in man? - The soul is invisible, rational, living, immortal and free, having power over the whole earth, and three spiritual powers: mind, word and spirit, as St. John of Damascus discusses at length in his word appended to the book “Orthodox Confession of Holy Icons,” explaining the third type of icons. Explain this more clearly and in detail with examples. – Just as the soul has an invisible power, an invisible being and nature, so God is invisible; and just as the soul is rational, so God is the Lord of intelligences: Who understands the mind of the Lord? or who is His quick adviser? O the depth of the wealth, wisdom and mind of God! (Rom.11:33-34). Just as the soul is alive and immortal, so God is the one who lives first and forever and who animates everything with Himself. And just as God is sovereign in His will and possesses all creatures, so He created man free, so that he would possess the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and all the earth. Just as God has three faces, so the human soul has three powers: mind, word and spirit; and as the word is from the mind and the spirit from the mind, so are the Son and the Holy Spirit from the Father; just as the mind cannot be without the word and without the spirit, so the Father has never been and cannot be without the Son and the Holy Spirit; and just as the mind, the word and the spirit are three different spiritual powers, although, however, there is one soul, and not three souls, so the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three persons of God, and not three Gods, but one God. Just as the soul is located in the whole body and not a single member of the body lives without a soul, so God fills heaven, earth and the whole world with His Divinity, and not a single place can be without the presence of God; but God does not fill the world in exactly the same way as the soul fills the body, for He cannot fit into the whole world, and if He created a thousand thousand worlds, then even then He would not fit into them. So, it is by the soul, and not by the body, that man is created in the image of God? – Yes, accurately and truly with the soul, although not completely, for who can compare with God? Why, then, in the funeral stichera about the dead body is it written: “I see our beauty lying in the tomb, created in the image of God, ugly and inglorious?” – This stichera is the creation of St. John of Damascus, who in his above-mentioned word about holy icons recognizes that the image of God is in the soul, and not in the body. Likewise, in the second book on the Orthodox faith, in the 12th chapter, he wrote about man like this: “The image of God in man consists of reason and freedom, and likeness in virtue, in assimilation as far as possible.” This saint wrote the same thing in the indicated word about holy icons. “The fourth type of icons,” he says, “are made up of images, outlines and images that recreate before us invisible and incorporeal beings, as far as they can be represented bodily and be accessible to our vague knowledge - God and Angels. We cannot see angels, that is, incorporeal invisible spirits, what they are in themselves, why they appear to us and are depicted in a bodily image, and this image is called angelic, although not in the literal sense, but only because it represents spiritual powers in Angels.” And one must reason about God in the same way as the same saint reasoned in the first book, in the 11th chapter, saying: “Everything that is said about God in a bodily sense is said symbolically, that is, fortune-telling, representative and has some higher meaning, for the Divinity is simple and devoid of a visible image. Thus, by the eyes, eyelids and image of God we mean His providential power over everything and His perfect knowledge.” In a similar way, the monk talks at length about other expressions about God in the bodily sense, which we have already partly talked about. Hence it must be recognized that due to the fact that God repeatedly appears to the prophets in our bodily image and in Scripture our bodily members are attributed to Him: eyes, ears, etc., our bodily appearance and beauty can already be called the image of God, however, not in the exact and proper sense, like the soul, but as some distant example and transformation; the basis for this can also be the appearance of God the Word, according to the apostle: God appeared in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). It is also necessary to resolve the question of whether one should believe in the human soul, in view of the fact that it is the exact image of God. But if this is so, then one must also believe in bodily substances and other creatures that represent God. So, for example, the same Saint Damascene wrote in the indicated word about holy icons: “And in creation we see images that vaguely signify Divine phenomena, so when we say that the Holy Trinity is represented through the sun, light and rays.” After all, the sun also has the image of God in itself, but wouldn’t it be godless to believe in the sun, as the Persians and pagans believed and still believe; and if schismatics believe in beards and two fingers, then don’t they behave in this case like the same Persians and pagans? Can we call Christ and the Holy Spirit Father? – It is possible, but by our Father, and not in the Divine. Why can they be called that? - Because Christ redeemed us with His blood, and the Holy Spirit overshadows every believer with His grace and sanctifies through baptism and other Sacraments. And both Christ and the Holy Spirit, together with the Father, are our Creator and Life-Giver, therefore, just as God the Father is our Father, so are Christ and the Holy Spirit. And the gospel prayer “Our Father, Who art in heaven” contains an appeal to all three persons of the Divine. Is the Father as he is depicted in the icons: an old man with a beard? - No way. If the mind inherent in our soul cannot be depicted, then even more so God, who created us, cannot be depicted with paints in a visible image. But since He appears in this form to the prophets and was called by them the Old Denmi, the Holy Church, with general consent, legitimized at the holy Councils to depict Him in this way, to venerate and recognize Him as the elder Old Denmi, that is, pre-eternal and beginningless, having neither the beginning nor the end of His days. Is the Son as he is depicted in the icons? – Since the Son has human flesh and is a perfect man and a perfect God, He is depicted as He appeared on earth in human form, sometimes in infancy, sometimes at a perfect age, although His Divinity itself, as the Word, cannot be depicted. Isn't the Holy Spirit a dove? - No, but I have already said that only His appearance took place in the form of a dove, which is the invisible image of Him that we reverently worship; The Spirit itself cannot be depicted. When we believe in the Church, who do we believe in? – We believe in Christ, the Head of the Church, in the Evangelical and Apostolic teachings of Christ, in the Holy Sacraments handed down by Christ. Is Christ praying for us in heaven now? – According to Divinity, Christ the Lord does not pray, but, as our Savior, He prayed on earth to His Father, especially on the cross, and was heard, and now He is a constant Intercessor for all of us before God the Father in heaven due to His heard prayer, which He offered on earth, and due to the fact that His flesh, suffered and ascended, is offered in the Bloodless Sacrifice. Do we have other intercessors besides Christ? - We have no one like Christ, and as many as He interceding for us, besides Him; but to appease God, angered by our sins, we have through Christ and to Christ strong intercessors in the person of the Mother of God and all the saints. Was there ever God the Father without a Son? - He was not, because He would not be the Father if He were without the Son, and the Son would not be the Son if He were without the Father, therefore His birth is ineffable, that is, pre-eternal, beginningless. Where was the Annunciation of the Son of God? - In Nazareth. How long did it take for the eternal Word to incarnate? - In the blink of an eye. How long did the Mother of God carry Christ in Her womb? - Nine months. Who called the Blessed Virgin Mary the Mother of God? - Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah. What language is the word Host? - Jewish. What does it mean in Russian? - Almighty, or omnipotent, omnipotent. Who does the name Hosts refer to? - To all three persons of the Divine, as the Symbol of Saint Athanasius teaches about this: “The Almighty Father, the Almighty Son, the Almighty Holy Spirit, however, not three Almighty, but one Almighty; and as the angels sing: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.” What does the word Jesus mean? - Savior. What is the word Jesus? - Jewish. What does the word Christ mean? - Anointed. What language is this word? - Greek. What is the Hebrew word for Christ, or anointed? - Messiah. Whose name is Jesus Christ, or Messiah? – The name of the Son of God, and not the entire Holy Trinity. How is it written on the crown of Christ? – Ο ων. What is this - ο ων? – This word is Greek and in our opinion means Jehovah. Why is such a name written on the crown of Christ? - So that they do not think that Christ began to exist only from the time when He was born from the Mother of God, and to point out that even before His birth from the Mother of God, He was born according to the Divinity without beginning, before all ages from the Father, that, having received His Divine hypostasis from the Virgin Mother of God and being born at a certain time, He at the same time always exists, and did not begin to exist only at that time, but only appeared then and began to exist as man, not as God. What name is written on the icon of the Virgin Mary? – The Greek expression is written “Μητερ Θεου” (“Mithir Teu”, MR ΘΥ), which in our opinion means Mother of God. What does the word Nika mean? – This word is also Greek and means winner in Russian. Why are three stars depicted on the icons of the Mother of God: on the forehead and on both shoulders? – To indicate that the Mother of God remained a Virgin before the Nativity (Christ), during the Nativity, and after the Nativity. Is there a body of Christ on earth? – I said that Christ ascended into heaven with soul and body by the power of His Divinity, but in a mysterious way His body remains on earth under the guise of bread and wine. In what sense is Christ called a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, and how did Melchizedek typify His priesthood? – Just as regarding Melchizedek we have no information in the Holy Scriptures about his race or death, so the Son of God is beginningless and endless, and who can confess His race? (Isaiah 53:8; Acts 8:33). And just as Melchizedek sacrificed bread and wine to God, so Christ sacrifices Himself under the guise of bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. What is faith based on? – On the revelations of God, on what God revealed through the prophets and apostles, for what is visible cannot be an object of faith, as it is written: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29). What are Scriptures and what are Traditions? – The Scriptures make up the Old and New Testaments, while Tradition is what we accepted through the oral preaching of the Apostle, through the writings and decrees of the holy fathers. Who proclaimed the law in the Old Testament? - At the command of the Lord, it was proclaimed by Moses, who was the first prophet. How many books of Moses are there? – Five, namely: the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. What books make up the New Testament? – Gospel, Apostle and Apocalypse. Who wrote the Gospel? - Four evangelists. Who wrote the Apostle and the Apocalypse? – Luke, Peter, James, Jude, Paul and John. Who does the Church consist of? - From different nations. How many names do you have? - Three: by nature a man, by baptism a “name”, by faith a Christian, and not a perstover, or a bradover, or an Old Believer. Why shouldn’t a Christian be called by these last names, and from the very beginning of the Christian faith, Christians were not called by such names, that is, Perstover, Bradover and Old Believers? - Because to be called a finger believer means to believe in two fingers, whether Christ’s or some other. If you believe in the two fingers of Christ, then you have to either recognize Christ with two fingers, and not with five, or recognize the two fingers of Christ as more holy in comparison with the rest of His fingers and with His entire human composition. And such faith in Christ will be impious, for it honors in Christ only two fingers, and not the whole Christ, and does not recognize that in Him not only are all fingers, both folded and unfolded, equally holy, but even His last hair is trembled by the Angels. To believe not in Christ’s fingers, but in some other fingers, means completely rejecting Christ and honoring two fingers instead of Christ, as if some idol of Veles or goat horns, or a bear’s paw, following the example of foolish idolaters. To be a bearer and to believe in beards is also an idolatrous custom; Old Believers are called both schismatics and Jews. Consequently, Old Believer and Jew mean the same thing. We Orthodox should be called Christians, as stated in the 11th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, because we believe in Christ and in what Christ taught us through the apostles, evangelists and through His Apostolic Church; and, moreover, having put on Christ in baptism and united with Him in the most intimate way through the communion of His Body and Blood, we have a share in His glory, like His brothers and sons, and receive the promised inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven, unless we lose it as a result of our voluntary sins. If, when performing the sign of the cross, we use three fingers, and not two fingers, then we do this contrary to the heretical Armenian teaching (which was mentioned above), in order to testify to our Orthodox faith in God, one in the Trinity, announced to us by Christ, one of the Trinity. Also, in the blessing hand, by virtue of our faith in Christ, we depict the name “Jesus Christ,” but we do not believe in the fingers themselves, as well as in the brushes and paints used to paint the icon, and it is not from these fingers that we expect sanctification, life and protection, but from the Holy Trinity, from the name of Jesus Christ and from His sign of the cross. And although not the entire Trinity suffered on the cross, but since this happened with the good will of the entire Trinity and from the entire Trinity power is imparted to the cross for the sake of one of the Trinity crucified on it - Christ, then in the sign of the cross both the name of Jesus Christ and the name of the Most Holy Trinity are equally invoked. Consequently, the three fingers were not formed contrary to the Christian faith; putting two fingers together is a heretical custom, since it is consistent with Armenian teaching. How many common and essential properties of God are there? - They are impossible to count. Is at least some of them indicated somewhere? – The Symbol of Athanasius of the Patriarch of Alexandria shows the following general properties of God: uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, Almighty, God, Lord. The book of the “Orthodox Confession” discusses the same properties at length in the first part, in response to the thirteenth question. What is the difference between the names God and Lord? – The difference between these names is that it indicates different properties of God: the word “God” means the omnipotent Creator, who created everything out of nothing without any labor or coercion, according to His sole goodness. The word "Lord" denotes the Sovereign who rules over all creation, upholds all things by His will, and Whom all creation serves; if he does not want to support the creation, then he can lead everything again to non-existence, according to the word of the king-prophet: They will perish, but you remain (Ps. 101:27). That is, heaven and earth will perish with all the things created by You, Lord, if You want to destroy them and bring them into oblivion again; But just as you remain with them, so you will remain without them without change and without any diminishment for yourself. To better explain the name God and Lord, one should imagine God's supernatural miracles: like God, He created fire so that it would shine and burn; and as the Lord, He made a change in the properties of the fire in the bush of fire and in the oven with the three youths, so that the fire would not burn, but would cool. Also in other cases, one should reason and recognize that God creates everything, and the Lord transforms everything as He wants. What are the personal properties of God? – The Father is unbegotten, the Son is begotten, the Holy Spirit proceeds. Are all the personal properties of God indicated here? – There is also a property of the Son of God – incarnation. What is God's law? – The law of God consists of two main virtues, or, better said, commandments, to which the ten commandments of the Law of Moses are reduced. What are these commandments? – Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–39). How much should we love God? - Since God created us from nothing, for our sake he created heaven and earth with all their beauty and redeemed us from destruction with the blood of His Son, then we must love and honor Him, like the children of a father, so that no worldly love can surpass this love for God. How much should we love our neighbor? - Since no one is his own enemy and no one hates his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it, then everyone should wish the same good for his neighbor as he does for himself, and love him as he loves himself. Count me the Ten Commandments in detail and tell me what they contain and what they command to observe? - Not to have other gods except the one God, who created heaven and earth, and everything that is in them, and not to render Divine veneration to anyone other than God. 1) Do not make for yourself any idol or dishonest image, following the example of idolaters, and do not bow to any images other than honest and holy images for the glory of God, His Most Pure Mother and holy saints. 2) Do not use the name of God, His Most Pure Mother and the holy saints in any blasphemous and ridiculous expressions and do not swear in the name of God in vain and falsely. 3) Honor Sundays and holidays by going to the Holy Church for prayer, especially to the Liturgy, giving alms, reading the Holy Scriptures and other good deeds; especially to express respect for such great days through sober behavior and not to be defiled by vile drunkenness, from which many evils arise. 4) Honor father, mother and all authorities, for he who does not love and does not honor the person whom he sees, how can he love and honor God Whom he does not see? (see 1 John 4:20). 5) Do not beat anyone in vain and without justice, not only to death, but also to a bloody wound, and even to minor damage; in addition, do not harm a person in his good name, glory and honor through slander, do not harm him spiritually with unkind advice, inclining him to do evil, with praise or inducement. 6) Beware of fornication and adultery, and from all sinful bodily uncleanness. 7) Do not steal either secretly or openly, or by any force, forgery or unjust taking, because everything that is taken from someone in any unjust way should be considered theft. 8) Do not testify falsely in anything against your neighbor. 9) Not only do not take anything from anyone, but also do not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. How many sacraments do you confess that were established for our salvation? –Seven: 1) Baptism, 2) Confirmation, 3) Eucharist, 4) Priesthood, 5) Repentance, 6) Marriage, 7) Blessing of Anointing. Who established these Sacraments? – Christ the Lord, by virtue of His shedding His precious blood for us. What is the Sacrament? – A sacrament is a sacred act that in some visible way brings down the invisible grace of God into the faithful soul. For what purpose did Christ institute the Sacraments? – 1) So that they are a sign of the true sons of God, that is, the Orthodox Church; 2) so that they are a sign of our faith in God, alien to any temptation; 3) so that they serve us as spiritual healing for salvation. What should be in every Sacrament? – Three necessary conditions: 1) a legal, that is, correctly ordained celebrant of the Sacrament; 2) a thing or matter corresponding to each Sacrament; 3) the image or form by which every Sacrament is performed, namely: the invocation of the Holy Spirit in certain words, through which the priest performs the Sacrament by the power of the Holy Spirit and in which the thought of the consecration of the Sacrament is expressed. 1. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism What is baptism? – Baptism is the washing away of original sin, and in adults it is also voluntary. What does baptism bring to a person? – It opens the door of the Kingdom of Heaven. What constitutes the matter of this Sacrament? – Simple, clean water, not mixed with anything. What is its shape? – The following words: “The servant of God, or the servant of God, is baptized in the name of the Father, amen, and the Son, amen, and the Holy Spirit, amen”; “Amen” is pronounced by the receiver. What should be observed during this Sacrament? - So that the recipient, as well as the priest, are of the Orthodox faith. Can a layman baptize a baby? - Maybe, but only in great, extreme and mortal need, drinking only water and saying the words: “The servant of God is baptized” and so on. If such a case occurs, should the priest baptize the baby again or perform the prayers and rituals related to baptism? - In no way, but he must only anoint the baby with holy oil. Can this Sacrament be repeated? - Not at all, since it leaves an indelible imprint on the soul. What is original sin? – Adam and Eve’s violation of God’s commandments in paradise. Why are people born in sins? - Because when Adam sinned, then we, being born from him, become sinners. What grace of God do we receive in baptism? – Cleansing from ancestral sin and forgiveness of other sins committed before baptism; for by baptism a person becomes a son of God and an heir of grace. Is it possible to baptize more than one baby in one font? – It is possible, as can be seen from the lives of the saints, especially from the life of the holy martyr Sebastian in Chetya-Minea on October 18. What must be observed when performing the Sacrament of Baptism? – Since upon baptism we become sons of God, renounce all the works of the devil, and promise to follow Christ, then we must sacredly preserve what we promised at baptism until our last breath. How many types of baptism can there be? – In three: 1) water baptism, 2) desired baptism and 3) bloody. By water baptism we are baptized according to the institution of Christ; The holy martyrs were baptized with welcome baptism and bloody baptism, who, sometimes without receiving real baptism, achieved the Kingdom of Heaven through confession of the true God Jesus Christ and suffering. This confession and suffering, together with the desire for baptism, was imputed to many instead of baptism due to the extreme mortal danger threatened by the tormentors. 2. The Sacrament of Holy Confirmation What is Confirmation? – Confirmation is the Sacrament of the grace of the Holy Spirit poured out on the newly baptized. What is the matter of this Sacrament? – Myrrh, consecrated by an Orthodox bishop. What form? – The following words: “The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, amen.” What must be observed in this Sacrament? – It is necessary to ensure that the myrrh is not damaged in its fragrance. A priest cannot sanctify this world, but only a bishop; but every priest must have it with him. What is holy myrrh prepared from? - From wood oil and other fragrant ointments. What grace of God do we receive in him? – We receive the seal of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in order to be firm and constant in the faith and in all Christian virtues. What to do in the case when Orthodox Christians, having apostatized from their faith, having accepted the Mohammedan or Jewish faith and having lived among the confessors of this faith, turn to Orthodoxy again: should such people be baptized a second time or not? – You shouldn’t baptize, you just need to anoint them with myrrh and renounce them. Is the Sacrament performed a second time? – It is performed only on kings and also on those who have apostatized from Orthodoxy into a non-Christian faith. 3. The Sacrament of the Most Holy Eucharist What is the Eucharist? – The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the matter of this Sacrament? – Wheat, leavened bread and natural, grape, simple wine, not adulterated. What color should the wine be? – I said that it should be natural, grape, and not adulterated; as for the color, although the Russian Church has adopted the custom of performing the Sacrament with red wine, in general the Orthodox Church with full justification performs this Sacrament with white wine, as, for example, in Greece and in other Orthodox regions. What is the form of this Sacrament? – The following words addressed to God the Father: “And make this bread the honorable Body of Thy Christ.” During the utterance of these words, the essence of bread and wine is transformed into the essence of the Body and Blood of Christ our God through the action of the Holy Spirit and the prayer of the priest. What must be observed when performing this Sacrament? – Three things: 1) the priest must be properly ordained; 2) the altar, that is, the throne, or antimension, must be consecrated by the bishop; 3) the priest must have an unshakable faith that the essence of bread and wine is transformed into the essence of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit. Do we see the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ? “We don’t see it, but we believe in it without doubt.” What does the ordinary bread we eat turn into? – Into our body and its nutritional power. What is the bread on the throne turned into? – He is transformed into the essence of the Body of Christ, and only the appearance of bread remains, while the wine is transformed into the essence of the Blood of Christ. What is the effect on us of bread, transubstantiated into the Body of Christ, and wine, transubstantiated into the Blood of Christ? – It consists in the fact that we unite with God, like fire with iron, and become one-blooded and one-in-body with Christ, according to the Gospel word of Christ: He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56); and according to the word of the Apostle: You are the Body of the Holy Spirit, and you shall receive from part (1 Cor. 12:27). For whom are bread and wine also offered, or, better to say, the Body of Christ under the guise of bread, and the Blood of Christ under the guise of wine? – Firstly, for all representatives of the social order of people, that is, for the spiritual and civil authorities, as shown in the proskomedia and in the litanies. Secondly, for all the living, not only believers, but also unbelievers, so that they may be converted. Thirdly, for those who died according to the right faith and for all church needs, not excluding the one who brings gifts, that is, the priest. Until when can this Sacrament be performed? - Until the matter of this Sacrament, that is, the type of bread and wine, deteriorates. Who benefits from this Sacrament? – Orthodox Christians who accept it with dignity and are reverently present during its celebration, that is, at the holy liturgy; It also benefits those for whom it is offered, living and dead. Is it possible to be saved without this Sacrament? – It is by no means impossible, for the Savior said: He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him (John 6:56). And one more thing: Unless you have eaten the Flesh of the Son of Man and drunk His Blood, you have not life within you (John 6:53). How many times a year should an Orthodox Christian take communion? – The Holy Church legalized communion in each of the four fasts, but commanded illiterate people who work with their own hands, under pain of mortal sin, to receive communion at least once a year before Holy Easter. What is the priesthood? – The priesthood is a Sacrament in which, through the laying on of a hierarch, the power is given from God to the priest to perform divine services and the Sacraments established in the Church of God. What is the matter of this Sacrament? - A man who is properly ordained to become a priest. What form? – Episcopal ordination and prayer read by the bishop: “Divine grace” and so on. How many degrees of priesthood are there? – Seven: 1) goalkeeper, 2) reader and singer, 3) exorcist, 4) priest, 5) subdeacon, 6) deacon, 7) priest. What quality should a priest have? – He must: 1) have the proper age, 2) not be married a second time and not be married to a widow, 3) have sufficient intelligence, knowledge and wisdom to perform the Divine Sacraments and instruct the flock, 4) be an example of good and godly deeds, 5) not be born of obvious fornication, 6) not be defiled by vile sins, especially murder, 7) have intact all the members necessary for the completion of his ministry. What gender should a priest be? - A person of good behavior, male. What is his power? - Perform the Divine Sacraments. Which? – Seven listed above. How is a bishop different from a priest? - Just the breadth of power. The bishop himself performs the Sacraments and communicates to others the authority to perform them. A simple priest, that is, a priest, only performs the Sacraments himself according to the authority given to him by the bishop, but cannot transfer the right to do this to others. A priest, but only a bishop, cannot consecrate myrrh and antimensions. How is a bishop different from an archbishop? - By sheer breadth of power; also patriarchs and metropolitans. When a priest officiates after committing a mortal sin, is the Sacrament valid? - It happens, since the Sacrament has its beginning from Christ, but only in this case does it not communicate any grace to the priest himself, as if he is in sin: For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment for himself, without discerning the Body of the Lord, says the apostle (1 Cor. 11:29). 5. Sacrament of Holy Penance What is repentance? – Repentance is a Sacrament in which, through permission from the bishop, we are given remission of sins committed by us through holy baptism. What is the matter of this Sacrament? – Sins committed in word, deed and thought, especially a person repenting of his sins committed after baptism. What form? - Permission from the priest in the following words: “Our Lord Jesus Christ by the grace and compassion of His love for mankind” and so on. Who is the performer of this Sacrament? - Priest. What should a priest pay attention to when performing this Sacrament? – To the following seven points: 1) who, 2) what, 3) where, 4) with whose help, 5) why, 6) how, 7) when. That is, who repents? Man, Christian, Orthodox, old, young, married, virgin, reasonable. What did you do? That is, he sinned, transgressed the commandment of God, in what exactly. Where? That is, in what place, secretly or openly, in a church or in a house. With whose help? That is, by advice, command, motivation, example. Why? Did nature require this or need, etc. How? That is, the repentant must declare under what circumstances he committed the sin. When? That is, at what time: in hunger and need, in illness, in prosperity, in wealth, etc. According to this information, penances should be imposed. How did Judas repent? - He confessed his sin, returned the price, but since, due to despair in his salvation, he went and hanged himself, he did not receive forgiveness, because he did not want to pray and ask for forgiveness in his sin with the hope of God's mercy. Should those who sin be explicitly forgiven? – It should not be until those who have clearly sinned openly repent. If they report their sin to the priest with true repentance, then the forgiveness of their sin is left to the discretion of the priest. What is penance? – Penance consists mainly of what Christ commanded with the words: Go and do not sin (John 8:11). At the same time, one must also perform prostrations, prayers, alms, and fasting for the duration of the time indicated by the priest. Did the robber have penance? - Was. Which? – The shins crossed on the cross, and the crucifixion itself. How is this Sacrament performed? – The priest’s prayer of permission. From whom did this Sacrament of forgiveness of sins receive its power? - From Christ, our Savior. What is an example of penance? – In the Gospel, the penance of Zacchaeus, who sinned, through that he repented. How many parts does repentance include? – Three: 1) contrition for sins, 2) verbal confession of them, 3) satisfaction, that is, the appointment of penance by the confessor. Are sins always forgiven if we repent of them after proper correction? - Always, at the very time when a sinner cries out to the Lord with heartfelt contrition, he is heard by Him, like the publican, Zacchaeus, Manasseh, David, the harlot, etc. What is marriage? – Marriage is the Sacrament of unfeigned consent between husband and wife and the preservation of faith and marital love. What is the matter of this Sacrament? – Male and female persons who wish to be legally married without being forced and who declare this before the priest. What form? - Priest's prayers. What is required to be observed during this Sacrament? – Anyone who wishes to enter into the secrets of marriage must, first of all, perform the following pious deeds: 1) fast for some time before marriage; 2) confession and communion of the Holy Mysteries; 3) cleansing from what interferes with marriage; 4) both spouses must maintain faith, honor, purity; 5) they should not be connected by property, kinship, nepotism, they should be Orthodox, free, etc. according to the rules. What grace of God is contained in this Sacrament? – Grace for the honest birth of children, and also to ensure that love for one’s wife is not an obstacle to love for God. And if someone is attracted to other people’s wives, then although there may be love between the spouses, it is fickle, and there is no longer love for God, but enmity against God (see Rom. 8:7). What is consecration of oil? – Blessing of oil is a Sacrament in which, through anointing with sacred oil and through the prayer of a priest, the grace of the All-Holy Spirit is given to the sick person, healing from illness and remission of sins. What is the matter of this Sacrament? – Oil consecrated for the Sacrament is pure, without any admixture. What form? – The next prayer: “Holy Father, Physician of souls and bodies” and so on. What should be observed when performing this Sacrament? – 1) There should be as many celebrants of this Sacrament as required by the church charter, namely: seven priests, in extreme need two, although one can perform it, it is not appropriate, since one cannot complete that Sacrament, holding the Gospel over the head of the sick person, after a prayer read at the same time. 2) The patient must first confess, then accept this Sacrament. Who established this Sacrament? - The apostles, for the Epistle of James says: Is any of you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, etc. (James 5:14). On what occasions is this Sacrament taught? “I said that it is served only to the weak, to no one else but them.” Only on Maundy Thursday or Maundy Saturday can those who are healthy begin it according to church custom, and not on the basis of written tradition. Why is this Sacrament taught to the healthy on Maundy Thursday? – Since on Maundy Thursday at the evening Christ confirmed the New Testament of His Body and Blood, it is not indecent on this day for a healthy person to begin this Sacrament, who does not know the day and hour assigned to him. What grace of God is given through this Sacrament? – Forgiveness of sins forgotten during confession, filling of satisfaction not fulfilled by those who confessed due to illness, and healing or alleviation of bodily illness. What is virtue? – Christian virtue is the fulfillment of God’s commandments with the help of God and the consonant action of the human mind and will. How many are the most important Christian virtues? – Three: 1) faith, 2) hope, 3) love; They are called the most important because without them it is impossible to be saved. What other virtues flow from this? – The following: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, wisdom, truthfulness, courage, chastity. Which virtue is the most important? – Love for God, love for neighbor. Love is the most important of the virtues because it will remain immortal both in the present and in the next century. What is sin? – Sin is a transgression of God’s commandment. What causes sin? – It is accomplished in three main ways: in word, in deed, in thought; also the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. How are sins divided? – According to Holy Scripture, one sin leads to death, and another does not lead to death (see 1 John 5:16–17). What is a mortal sin? – Mortal sin is divided into ancestral and voluntary. What is ancestral sin? – Parental sin is a crime of the commandment of God given to Adam in paradise. How is this sin destroyed? – The blood of the Son of God, through holy baptism. What is voluntary sin? – Voluntary sin is a crime against God and natural law, which we commit after holy baptism at the age of perfection with reason and free will. How is this sin destroyed? – Pure and sincere repentance and the blood of the Son of God. What is a sin that does not lead to death, that is, a sin subject to forgiveness? – This is the sin that does not deprive us of grace and can easily be forgiven. How many immortal sins? – Immortal sins cannot be counted, according to the words of the psalmist: Who can understand the Fall? (Ps. 18:13). How many mortal sins? – There are seven mortal sins, or the most important ones: 1) pride, 2) covetousness, 3) fornication, 4) envy, 5) gluttony, 6) rancor, 7) despondency. These sins are called the most important, major, or major, because other sins stem from them. How are these sins overcome? - By the opposite virtues, namely: 1) pride is overcome by meekness, or humility, 2) covetousness - by generosity, 3) fornication - by curbing the flesh, or purity, 4) envy - by love, 5) gluttony - by abstinence and sobriety, 6) rancor and anger - by patience and forgetting of insults, 7) despondency - diligence and hard work. What other sins are there? – There are the following six sins, called sins against the Holy Spirit: 1) excessive reliance on the mercy of God, 2) despair in one’s salvation, 3) obvious opposition to the established truth and rejection of the Orthodox Christian faith, 4) envy of the spiritual benefits that neighbors receive from God, 5) remaining in sins and stagnation in malice, 6) neglect of repentance until the end of this life. There are four more sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance: 1) arbitrary murder, 2) fornication of Sodom, 3) causing harm to the poor, inflicting insults on widows and orphans and oppressing them, 4) withholding wages from mercenaries. How are these sins overcome? – Virtues and observance of God’s commandments, contrition of heart, repentance, confession and penance. What virtues should a Christian practice and always practice? – He must: 1) study the law of the Lord day and night, as the psalmist teaches in the first psalm (see Ps. 1:2); 2) pray to God at all times, as Christ exhorts in the Gospel: Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness and the sorrows of this life, and that day suddenly come upon you; For a snare will come upon all who live on the faces of all the earth. Watch ye therefore at all times, praying, that ye may be counted worthy to flee all that will be, and stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:34-36). Amen. Prayer for daily confession of a person entering the path of salvation Having found a secluded place and remaining alone, sit down, reflecting on your life, and bring to mind all the sins you have committed from your youth, both confessed and unconfessed. Having remembered everything, sigh from the depths of your heart, beat yourself on the chest, if possible, and cry. Rising, fall on your knees and lift your mind from the earth to the throne of God, surrounded by Cherubim and Seraphim. There, having seen with your intelligent eyes God sitting on a high and exalted throne (Is. 6:1), looking at your conversion, seeing all your ways and listening to what you want to say, fall at His most merciful feet and with fear begin to speak to Him like this: Most Gracious God, fountain of goodness, abyss of mercy! To my Creator, Redeemer and Savior! To You, who knows the hidden secret and searches hearts and wombs, I confess my sins and offer before the all-seeing Eye in the hearing of all Your Angel and Archangel of my iniquity. I have sinned, my Lord and Creator (in this and that). Here, quietly pronounce all your sins in detail, as if to the Lord Himself, with shame, trembling in your heart and with tears, saying: thus and so have I grieved Thee, my Lord; Having finished confessing your sins, say: Behold my ulcers, and scabs, and putrefactions, O All-Merciful Physician! Behold my heavy burden, O good Lord! Behold my cold and my nakedness, O long-suffering Judge! These actions have saddened me, angered me and irritated Your goodness; With this I have desecrated Your image, I have offended Your Holy Spirit and I have driven away My Guardian Angel from myself; with this Thy dearest Blood, shed for me, has been trampled upon and imputed to nothing; By this I destroyed the beauty of my soul, I was exposed to Your grace and a den of thieves was created, a dwelling place of demons and passions; With this I have corrupted the Church, redeemed by Your Blood, desecrating my whole body, my acts of harlotry, desecrating my soul with unclean, blasphemous, proud thoughts, vile, prodigal; by this deigning and delighting in them, with these joy there would be a demon, weep with an Angel, and with them there is a soul, lying, like in a tomb, evil in customs, sprinkled with the dust of insensibility and the stone of bitterness laid down. Behold, Lord, my iniquity, which is greater than my head, which has multiplied more than the hair of my head and more than the number of the sand of the sea. In this confession, I reprove, condemn, and commit guilt for myself, not exactly these, as I have remembered, but which I do not remember, and which I do not understand, for they are sins, and which I don’t know how to confess, I put all this into Your great mercy, O all-merciful and gentle God. Because of the many and many deeds of my cold, because of the great darkness and madness of my mind, because of the fierce falls and insensibility, I barely came within myself and from the depths In my despair at Thy greatness, mercy not overcome by all human sins, I looked and saw, as if you did not want the death of the sinner, but were mercifully waiting for his conversion, and for the sake of one You mercilessly poured out Your Blood for sinners, and call them to repentance. Behold, I have realized that I am accursed, I am a sinner, I have surpassed the sins of the whole world, I am the second of evil deeds, the devil, an imitator of Judas, a fellow crucifier, I, accursed and lawless, of all abominations an indefinable sea, a bottomless abyss of all uncleanness, I am evil, a cold-hearted doer of all evil, I come running and fall to You, the All-Merciful and All-Bountiful, in the pain of my heart with repentance crying: I have sinned, Father, in heaven and before You, I have sinned and committed lawlessness, I have become a transgressor of Your commandments, I have sinned like no one else has ever done; Your son is not worthy to be called; I am not worthy to look up and see the heights of heaven, I am not worthy to open my mouth before You, having hitherto been Your enemy. But I pray to Your goodness and bring a prayer to Your kindness: have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy and according to Your many bounties, cleanse my iniquities. Have mercy, forgive and cleanse, for from You there is cleansing. Lord, if you want, you can cleanse me. We know that if you want to save everyone, save me too, if you can, as much as you want; Bow down, Lord, to your mercy, remember Your ancient mercies and bounties and forgive my sins; do not remember my evil deeds, do not enter into judgment with Your servant, do not reward me for my deeds, neither reprove me with Your wrath, nor punish me with Your wrath. Open for me the doors of Your goodness, open for me the doors of repentance, accept me into repentance and call me to reason, raise up the fallen, seek out the lost, find the lost, heal the ulcerated, raise the dead. Lord God of Powers! Turn me, show Your face, and I will be saved; Make Thy face shine upon Thy servant. How long, Lord, will you forget me completely? How long do you turn your face away from me? Turn away Your face from my sins, do not turn Your face away from me, as I grieve, hear me soon. We know that I am not worthy of Thy love for mankind and mercy, but I am worthy of torment, such as hell, I am worthy of the never-ending worm, the gnashing of teeth, utter darkness, fire unquenchable, prepared for the devil and his angel. I am worthy of Tartarus, for whom Satan himself trembles. Moreover, great is Thy majesty, great is Thy mercy, and there is no sin, conquering Thy love for mankind. For this reason, I do not despair, but I hope in Your inexhaustible and unceasingly pouring out grace and ineffable mercy on everyone; I hope and trust in You, Lord, so that I will not be ashamed forever. You are my hope, O God, but hope does not put you to shame. Do not disgrace me, Lord, at Your Last Judgment before the darkness of the Heavenly Powers and all Your saints. I sincerely regret that I have angered You, my Creator, and have saddened my eternal and endless goodness through my anger, and I had to unceasingly love Him and keep Your commandments, This, as if I hated, I breathed in countless sins; Even though I wanted it earnestly, I barely thought about it and neglected it; Even though I could satiate myself more sweetly with Him, I became bitter and rejected Him; I had to cleave to the Unman, but I separated myself from Him; He alone had to live, He alone died, but I live by sin, passion and lust; Even though I had to fear and revere Him, I have offended and dishonored the lesser brethren and myself, desecrating myself in deeds, words, and thoughts; Even though we had to thank and glorify Him unceasingly, while remaining with Him, we turned away from Him, ran away in the path of the corrupt and were too lazy to open our mouths to the glory of His Most Holy Name. Oh my desire! Oh my merciful God! Yes, you are not completely angry with me, a sinner. Now I deeply regret this, and I will not stop regretting it. Oh, so that I never anger You, my Lord! O that I may be counted first among the dead, rather than provoke You, my good Lord! I was born, I was raised, I live until this day, and I grieve You, my Lord? May my heart now be dissipated by illness, may my petrification be disintegrated and crushed by pity, may I all wear away like wax with internal burning, for I have lost my God, His grace has fallen away, I have offended His kindness, I have become alienated from His love, I have despised His glory, I have withdrawn from His merciful presence. May my eyes be haunted by the issue of the waters day and night because I have not kept Your law, because I have transgressed many things and sinned many things before You; My heart is troubled about this, because it trembles with torment, because because of the falling away of heavenly blessings it is exhausted, because it melts away, because You are angry, all that is Good, all that is Sweet, everything I love, everything I desire, I will not stop regretting this from now on and forever. May my life disappear in illness and my life in sighs, may my soul faint in illness, and may my bones be troubled by this, as my God, my Creator, my Lord, Redeemer my saddened litigant. And what will I do? We know that you are good, my God, merciful and you, my Creator, merciful and generous, you, my Redeemer, are only merciful because you did not spare your soul, but you laid it down for us sinners, and You do not deal with us according to our iniquities, nor repay us according to our sins. Behold, I will create, at Your most pure feet I will fall, I will bow and fall and cry before You, the Lord, who created me. I am an abyss of sins, I plunge myself into the abyss of Your mercy, my God, and I pray to You: guide me to true repentance and bring me to my insensible and petrified senses. Thou hast received many sinners who repent: David, Manasseh, Josiah, the publican, the harlot, the prodigal son, the thief, Peter, Saul, Photinia, Taisias, Pelagia, Mary of Egypt; do not reject me, those who have exceeded their sins; for you have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance. Call upon me too, the most sinful of all; Even if I have done nothing good before You, let me, by Your grace, make a good beginning; and grant me, Lord, to love Thee, as I sometimes loved that very sin, and to work for Thee without laziness, as I previously worked for the flattering Satan; Above all, I will serve You, my Lord Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, if You may give me Your grace to help me. I truly marvel at Your great long-suffering, O All-Merciful One, for at the time when my iniquity was committed, You did not bring Your righteous judgment upon me, but instead convicted me Thou art by Thy wrath, nor with Thy wrath didst thou execute me, nor with lightning didst thou strike me from on high, thou didst command below the earth to bring me down to hell, alive and not insolent in any way You allowed death to kidnap me; and when I was surprised at this, I knew that Your immeasurable mercy had awaited my repentance and the long-suffering and merciful correction of my bad life, without punishment Leave me alone, so that I may come to my senses, and recognize my iniquities, and leave behind my evil undertaking. But I knew and came running to You with repentance, not of my own accord, but You instructed me and brought me to Yourself. And why did You do this, and that You are moved towards so much mercy, and why do You need to call me? We don’t know; Behold, we know exactly that I am a sinner and irresponsible, and have been Your enemy until now, and have not yet been corrected; but before You Yourself called and brought me before You, enlighten my mind, open my mouth, teach me what to say before You, and cleanse my many iniquities, wash away my lawlessness and abomination, sprinkle me with the hyssop of Your mercy, make me whiter than snow, so that I may not stand abominable and defiled before You. There would already be no place for me in the dark depths of the earth to be hidden, tender before the majesty of Thy unapproachable glory in such cold, and naked jelly and all the filth. I stand scorched and vile as sinners, looking at me to all Your upcoming Cherubim and Seraphim. But nowhere is there a place that can hide me before Yours more than the brightest eyes of the sun. I am amazed and perplexed by this, how you do not disdain only my vile filth and allow me to stand before You and be bold, rather than say a river without a cold? Why do you not disdain to look at the uncleanness of my heart and the abomination of my soul? How can Your representatives, having suddenly forbidden weapons of fire, not reject and wed me from Your presence? How can they, who are disgusted with me, not cast me bound into utter darkness? But Your kindness and extreme compassion do not want this to happen; Much, great indeed is Your mercy, the highest of the heavens, the deepest abyss of hell, the most spacious of all the earth and the sea, Your goodness, even though it does not want me to perish, but awaits conversion and rejoices at the sinner’s repentance. Thy great mercy, Lord, always bear with me for a long time, who promised to repent in many ways and again in the thaw and the most cruel fall; I made many promises of repentance and confirmed them with oaths, but I lied passionately. I repent, trembling, will it really be, Lord, strike me? And hour by hour I do the same. You also have mercy on me, not destroying me with my iniquities. Glory to Your long-suffering, glory to Your mercy, glory to Your compassion, glory to the multitude of Your mercies, glory to the many abundance of Your goodness, glory To Your merciful face, Whom I now stand before, my Lord, I offer You my will and intention, in the hope of Your help, set forth, from now on, from this day, from this hour, from now on It is my power to correct my evil and cursed life, but I will be sick and sorry for past sins to the point of death, but I will be on the lookout for Your help for those who come in danger. Believe me, my Lord, that I hate my vile deeds and for my own sake, I hate my all-bad life and, moreover, I do not want to irritate You, my good God, with them; Therefore, You, Lord, give me help, for without Your omnipotent help and grace I can never get away from my evil deeds and sinful customs and do not a single good deed, without You. I can’t do anything. I have the will to repent, if You, God, help me, you can cleanse me. Lord, help me, and I will be saved. I believe, Lord, in Your goodness, help my unbelief; I believe that You are near to all who call on You in truth. Truly, truly, truly, I want to turn with all my heart to You, my God, in repentance. God, attend to my help, Lord, seek my help!” After this, rising from the ground, reaffirming your hope in the Lord and meditating on His great goodness and mercy, read Psalm 102 so that your soul may be comforted: “Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, His holy name,” and so on. If it is impossible for you to comprehend all these words in your memory, then put them in your mind in short articles like this: 1) I confess all my sins to my God; 2) I consider myself unworthy of His mercy, but worthy of eternal torment, 3) however, I do not despair; 4) I humbly ask for forgiveness; 5) I set the intention to correct my life; 6) I firmly believe that my sins will be forgiven. Literature used 1) Saint Demetrius of Rostov. Essays. T. 1. Small works with the addition of a life and cell notes. St. Petersburg: Aksion Estin Publishing House, 2009 // Reprint from the publishing house. works of St. Demetrius, Metropolitan of Rostov. T. 1. M. 1839. 525 p. 2) Orthodox encyclopedia. T. 15. M., 2007. 750 p. You might be interested in: