An instructive message to a certain prince about the falsity of stargazing and comforting for those living in sorrow

Just as our corruptible body experiences many different illnesses: some due to some unfavorable and uneven distribution of the elements that make up our body, and others due to a special divine vision in order to lead us to the knowledge and correction of our sins, so our souls often experience various sorrows and difficult circumstances. But this does not happen due to some unreasonable luck, or due to the movement and combination of evil stars, as the idle talk of the crazy and deceiving astrologers who philosophize and write contrary to all God-inspired scriptures, but it happens either due to the envy and hatred of crafty demons and evil people, or due to some divine permission of the Creator of all and the Lord, due to some serious and our incurable sins, into which we fall in our great madness, violating His saving commandments. And this is clear from the fact that the Divine Scripture speaks clearly about some who live unrighteously and lawlessly: “Besides, because of their flattery, you brought down evil on them; you brought down me, having always become proud. What a desolation it was; she suddenly disappeared, perishing for her iniquity, like the sleep of one who arises” (Ps. 73:18-20). The Scripture clearly showed us the reason for the ruin and death of some, saying: “Thou didst put evil on them because of their flattery,” that is, troubles and evil adventures. And a little further he says: “disappeared, perished for her iniquity,” and not because of the rotation of some evil stars and zodiacs, or from the wheel of happiness invented by Chaldean unbelief. And again in another place he says: “Lord, His throne is in heaven: you despise His eyes on the poor; the sons of men test His eyelids. The Lord will test the righteous and the wicked: but he who loves unrighteousness hates his own soul.” Then he adds: “He will rain down on sinners a snare, fire and a bogeyman, and a stormy spirit, part of their cup,” that is, righteous anger and indignation from God against them. But why is all this allowed to happen to them? Therefore, he says, “for the Lord is righteous, and love righteousness, righteousness is seen in His face” (Ps. 10:4-7), “in His hand the cup of wine is not dissolved” (Ps. 74:9), that is, the cup of the strongest wrath and righteous wrath of God against the wicked on earth, and not the image of happiness in the form of an elderly woman who, with a wheel, raises some to the heights of earthly glory, but others are brought down from there to extreme disgrace. Scripture clearly says: “The Lord makes poor and makes rich, He raises up the poor from the earth and raises up the poor from the depths.” For what? “Setting him with the mighty, and giving them a throne of glory” (1 Samuel 2:7-8); They took this idle talk and wisdom from the godless Hellenes, Egyptians and Arabians, and from them they were grafted onto their evil concepts. Therefore, we should not at all listen to them as philosophizing contrary to all generally divinely inspired scriptures, but on the contrary, if we want to be pious and have the Most High Himself as our patron, representative and intercessor in our sorrows, then it will be quite right for us to abhor them and completely turn away from them. But enough has been said about this here. Just as in case of bodily ailments and illnesses, people expect consolation and help only from coming to them and visiting doctors, whom we diligently seek, and whom we generously reward, wishing through them to obtain health, so in the case of spiritual sorrows and misadventures, may we have one firm refuge, one salvation and intercession, this is the Most High Himself, the righteous and terrible Judge Himself, by whose incomprehensible destinies we are allowed to we face all sorts of sorrows and difficult circumstances, due to the multitude of our iniquities, when we live unrighteously and lawlessly, hating each other, when we offend each other, slander and lie to each other. For, having rejected the fear of God, and having destroyed from our hearts that which constitutes the fulfillment of the whole law, that is, love for our neighbors, we, like wild animals, rebel against each other, each desiring to have everyone trampled under his feet, not understanding, due to our great foolishness, that the more someone strives to rise to the heights of vain glory, the more he exposes himself to fall. For “God,” it is said, “resists the proud” (James 4:6). If God Himself opposes them, then who is able to help them? Allowing ourselves to commit such and such grave crimes before the most holy eyes of the Almighty, we should not be surprised or embarrassed by the countless adventures that have befallen us. After all, it was not in vain that the divine prophet and king said about some of the lawless: “God will hear, and I will humble Him before the ages; for there will be no change for them,” that is, deliverance. And why? - “as if I did not fear God.” Therefore, “and stretch out Your hand to repay” the lawless with evil and sorrow. But for what reason, O prophet? Therefore, he says, “they have defiled His covenant” (Ps. 54:20-21), that is, they have trampled His holy commandments; “like wickedness is in their dwellings, ... and their hundred-dollar profits and flattery do not fail” (Ps. 54:16, 12); “Everyone speaks vain words to his sincere: flattering lips in the heart, and evil words in the heart.” Therefore, he says, “the Lord will consume all flattering lips” (Ps. 11:3-4), for they, he says, will take the righteousness of the “righteous” “from him,” that is, they condemned those worthy of mercy, and justified the wicked “for the sake of gifts” (Is. 5:23). Because of all this, in the words of the Apostle, “the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience” (Col. 3:6), for all such deeds “the avenger is God,” cries the divine Paul (1 Thess. 4:6). In ancient times, the kings and rulers of Jerusalem and the Samaritans allowed themselves something similar and worse for a long time, for which God, being at enmity against them, delivered the ten tribes of Israel into captivity to the Ninevites and destroyed their country, and enslaved the two tribes that made up the kingdom of Jerusalem (Judea) to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and overthrew their country. Subsequently, they allowed themselves the same thing in our Greek kingdom, as well as among the Bulgarians and Serbs, for which recently He made us captives, releasing the rod and weapons of the unfaithful Ishmaelites upon us with His righteous judgment. And righteous is Your judgment, O Lord God! You Yourself testified to us in advance and warned us through Your divine prophet Isaiah, speaking clearly like this: “If you are willing and listen to Me, you will destroy the good of the earth; If you do not want to, then listen to Me, you will girdle your sword,” that is, the invasion of foreigners and frequent wars will destroy you, due to My righteous indignation at you. Then he adds, saying: “For this is the mouth of the Lord,” that is, it is impossible for this not to be fulfilled (Isa. 1:19-20). How many different good deeds and corrections are pleasing to God, which appropriate us to our Master and God, because of which He looks at us with a merciful eye, preserves us, like the apple of his eye, from all enemies visible and invisible and glorifies us here and in the next century; So there are many different great vices and lawless deeds that deprive us of divine providence, his help and intercession, and plunge us into countless sorrows and illnesses and into various unfavorable circumstances. When, due to the multitude of our sins, we are deprived of help from God, then the wicked demons, invisibly constantly fighting against us, take power over us, saying to each other: “God has left them to eat; From these short sayings we can know with certainty the enmity that they have against us, the fools. For our enemy, “the devil,” according to the chief apostle Peter, “walks about like a roaring lion, always looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Let us also understand their weakness: for as long as we draw closer to God through good deeds and are protected by Him, until then they have no power over us and cannot cause us harm or always encourage us to do evil, but they retreat, bad ones, not being able to force us and force us to do evil. Having been first created by the Creator as autocratic, we have power in our deeds, both good and evil, and no one has power over us except the One who created us - not an angel, not a demon, not a star, not a zodiac, not a planet, not a wheel of fortune invented by demons. Let us not deliriously delve into the deception of the evil-wise Latins and proud Germans who teach and preach this. We ourselves are the cause of the sorrowful and difficult circumstances that befall us, breaking the saving commandments of the One who created us. Let the drowning of the ancient world by water and the subsequent destruction by fire and the bogey of Sodom and Gomorrah, accomplished by the wrath of God, due to the various evil and godless deeds of the people of that time, convince us of this. Let us hate their vicious life and manifold iniquities; Let us love the good change according to God of the Ninevites and remain in it to the end. If, due to the incomprehensible destinies of God, we fall into some kind of misfortune and unexpected sorrows, then even in this case we will not lose heart and despair or grieve beyond measure. But let us remember wisely the divine James, the brother of God, who says: “Have all joy, my brethren, whenever you fall into various temptations” (James 1:2), with which the righteous Judge either punishes us here for our past sins, or protects us in the future from those sins into which we would fall. Let us not grieve immensely and lose heart during adversity, but let us stand courageously, true believers Christians, and as those who have hope of receiving salvation through the sorrows allowed to us, remembering the one who says: “Whom the Lord loves, He punishes, He beats every son, He accepts him” (Proverbs 3:12). And in another place: “Blessed is man, even if you chastise him, O Lord, and teach him from Your law” (Ps. 93:12). And again: “When the Lord punished me, He did not put me to death. The right hand of the Lord has exalted me, the right hand of the Lord has created strength. I will not die, but I will live. The Lord is my strength and my song, and he will be my salvation” (Ps. 117:14, 16-18). With this and similar things, let us console ourselves and strengthen our souls with courage, putting on faith and hope in Christ, like the martyrs, with all patience and constancy and with thanksgiving from the bottom of our souls. It is good for us in such cases to remember the firmness of character of King Manasseh, who, having been brought down from the height of the royal throne into the last dishonor and suffering, imprisoned by the king of Assyria in a copper barrel and receiving a piece of rotten bread and a little water every day, did not lose heart, did not despair of his salvation, but was strengthened by a firm saving thought. Bringing to mind his countless wickednesses, with which he dishonored the Most High, His church and the laws of his fathers, he pleaded guilty to extreme wickedness, accepted great repentance, released a source of warm tears and many unspeakable lamentations, sobbing from the depths of his heart, and thus was able to appease himself of the only merciful and man-loving God and Master, quick to intercede and the salvation of everyone who calls on Him with true and unfeigned repentance, Who through His divine prophet promised us and fatherly bequeathed: “Consume the sacrifice of praise to God, and render your prayers to the Most High. And call upon Me in the day of your sorrow, and destroy you, and glorify Me” (Ps. 49:14-15). Being persecuted and subjected to great sorrows, let us remember the many years of patience and various hardships of that good and beloved youth of God - I mean the meek David - how he, being persecuted for so many years without any guilt by the unrighteous Saul, wandering through the deserts and mountains and hiding in caves, never abandoned his hope in God, from faith and love for Him, but in every way affirmed himself, saying: “I will love You, Lord, are my fortress. The Lord is my strength and my refuge and my deliverer” (Ps 17:2-3). And again: “The Lord is my enlightenment and my Savior, whom will I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 26:1). And again: “In the Lord do you trust, as you say to my soul: fly through the mountains like a bird” (Ps. 10:1)? And again: “Having overcome mortal illnesses, the troubles of hell have come upon me. I found sorrow and illness, and I called on the name of the Lord: O Lord, deliver my soul” (Ps. 114:3-4)? And again: “out of sorrow I called on the Lord, and heard me into space. The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear: what can man do to me?” (Ps. 117:5-6). His main hope in God, with which he then consoled himself, and now consoles us and affirms in the patience of sorrows, is the following, for he, blessed as a man, was sometimes embarrassed by the especially strong impact of sorrows, but at the same time he marvelously consoled himself and affirmed, saying: “How sorrowful are you, my soul? And are you embarrassing me? Trust in God, for we will confess to him, the salvation of my face, and my God” (Ps. 41:6). This is the same saving consolation that we will often repeat to ourselves with great faith and hope in God, and in every possible way the light of divine grace and God’s help will shine on us from above. For “the Lord is near,” says the Divine Scripture, “to all who call on Him in truth, He will do the will of those who fear Him, and He will hear their prayer, and I will save” (Ps. 145:18-19). Having learned clearly from a few divinely inspired words that sorrows and difficult circumstances are allowed to befall us - either because of the many sins we have previously allowed ourselves, or to stop future sins into which we would fall - let us stop angering the Most High by disobeying and transgressing His divine commandments. Let us love all virtue, uprightness of morals and generosity towards the poor, always having our hearts directed towards heaven, from where we await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: