About our soul: the Holy Fathers about the soul. Conversations with the priest. God Consciousness and Human Consciousness
Much has already been said above about people’s abilities for spiritual perception, and about the fact that we have inner, spiritual hearing. Christians are well aware that thoughts, just like images, come from God, the enemy and from man himself. Saints and ordinary Christians can hear the Voice of God and revelations from Him (theme “On the mysterious actions of God”). Here are some quotes about this:
Theophan the Recluse (The Path to Salvation): “Those who have achieved (to be the temple of the living God) are the mysteries of God, and their state is the same as the state of the Apostles, because they also know the will of God in everything, hearing, as it were, a certain voice, and they, having completely united their senses with God, they secretly learn His words from Him.”
Luke of Crimea (Spirit, soul and body): “For the holy prophets, direct hearing of the words of God and perception of them with the heart were possible. “And he said to me, Son of man, accept all my words that I speak to you with your heart and hear with your ears” (Ezek. 3:10). “My heart says from You: “Seek My face”; and I will seek Your face, O Lord” (Ps. 26:8). The prophet Jeremiah talks about his calling as a direct conversation from God with him. The Prophet Ezekiel, having described his extraordinary vision of the glory of God, continues: “When I saw this, I fell on my face and heard the voice of Him speaking, debt consolidation pros and cons and He said: “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak to you.” "And as He spoke to me, a spirit came into me and set me on my feet, and I heard Him who spoke to me" (Ezek. 2:2)."
Schiigum. Savva (Experience of building a true worldview): “In a soul that has been cleansed of passions and accustomed to unceasing prayer, the (inner) hearing is so refined that it constantly perceives the voice of God.”
Metropolitan Tryphon Turkestanov (Akathist “Glory to God for everything”, Ikos 10): “...Sharpen my hearing, so that at all moments of my life I hear Your mysterious voice and cry out to You, the omnipresent:... Glory to You for indicating the secret voice, glory to You for the revelation in a dream and in reality...”
Holy ascetics could also hear demons.
Ephraim the Syrian (Funeral Hymns): “I once heard that death and Satan were arguing among themselves about which of them has more power over man. Death pointed to its power, with which it conquers everyone. Satan points out his malice with which he leads everyone into sin.”
Basically, we sinners are constantly in our own thoughts and listening to thoughts from our enemies, often without even suspecting that these are thoughts from them. This is discussed in detail in the topic “On delusion,” chapter “The Impact of the Enemy on a Person’s Mental Power.” But there are times when a person clearly realizes that this thought and “voice” does not come from him, and it is precisely this action that is called an auditory hallucination in science.
When considering acute auditory hallucinations, let us pay special attention to the content of the conversations of the “voices”. The following quote was given above: “The content of hallucinations is a discussion or commentary on the patient’s behavior, reproaches for drunkenness, a discussion of his family affairs. Sometimes the voices are imperative (imperative) in nature, threatening violence, ordering to give up money, throw yourself under a tram, hang yourself, etc. In a number of cases, the voices argue among themselves: some accuse, others justify; some threaten, others defend; some order to commit suicide, others warn against it.” Audible quarrels with defense and accusations are an image of ordeals, when demons and angels argue about the soul. You can read about this in the stories of St. Theodora about the ordeals.
As for the commanding character, this is how demons always act when they want to drive a soul to suicide.
Ignatius Brianchaninov: “Only one of the sins - suicide - cannot be healed by repentance, but each of them mortifies the soul and makes it incapable of eternal bliss.”
Nikolai Serbsky (Symbols and Signals, Ch. 12): “The feeling of extreme despair that directs a person’s thoughts towards suicide is a clear signal that an evil spirit - the spirit of despondency - has taken possession of the soul of this person.”
Sometimes demons inspire a person to commit murder, in which case they can become visible, but often they only inspire such thoughts.
Fatherland (Ignatius Brianchaninov): “They said about a certain brother that he lived as a hermit in the desert and for many years was deceived by demons, thinking that they were angels. Sometimes his father according to the flesh came to him. One day, a father, going to see his son, took an ax with him with the intention of chopping his own firewood on the way back. One of the demons, warning the coming of his father, appeared to his son and told him: “Behold, the devil is coming to you in the likeness of your father with the goal of killing you, he has an ax with him. You warn him, snatch the ax and kill him.” The father came, according to custom, and the son, grabbing an ax, struck him and killed him. Then the unclean spirit immediately attacked this hermit and strangled him.”
Moral Theology (sins against the 6th commandment, sin - killing someone or just an attempt on someone’s life in temporary unconsciousness): “Fever, drowsiness (as if intoxicated from sleep), wakefulness during sleep (indulgence, sleepwalking), disorder of mental faculties from prolonged insomnia, loss of all consciousness while intoxicated: all this, with the special violence of the enemy-devil, leads some to murder, which is distinguished by even special cruelties. Let us assume that a person cannot be blamed for his painful and completely unconscious state, in which he commits a terrible sin; for example, in sane sleep, sanity is destroyed (the sleeper is not responsible for the harm that happened around him); and even more so, a painful dream cannot be imputed. However, often the culprits are those reasons that gradually disposed a person to an unconscious state: and drunkenness in this case is not at all recognized as a reason that would destroy sanity. Yes; A person comes into a state of temporary unconsciousness more from his own sins and vices. Moreover, at this time (as in a dream) he mostly belches out what occupied him in a healthy state (for example, a praying man whispers more prayers in a fever, and a robber raves about murders) ... - A Christian has an angel from God - a guardian who, in moments of his unconscious crime, would not have retreated from him if he had not previously removed this good spirit from himself by his ungodly deeds. - All this leads to the conclusion that in unconsciousness the one who committed murder or attempted such a crime , when it comes to memory and consciousness, must bring deep contrition before God. - You, Christian, pray to God first that you will not be in any disorder of mental abilities, and then that your guardian angel will not retreated from you even in moments of unconsciousness!”
Hearing the enemy's voice is well known to those Christians who have been attacked by the enemy with blasphemous thoughts.
John Climacus (Ladder, ch. 23): “Often during the Divine Liturgy, and at the most terrible hour of the Mysteries, these vile thoughts blaspheme the Lord and the holy Sacrifice being performed. From here it is clearly revealed that these ungodly, incomprehensible and inexplicable words are spoken within us not by our soul, but by a God-hating demon who was cast out of heaven because he attempted to blaspheme God there too.”
(You can also read about them in the topic “About beauty”)
We also note that the Fatherland books contain many examples of what demons do invisibly to humans. This can be not only screams and whispers, but also other actions.
The life of the desert fathers: “Once the demons told Saint Macarius of Egypt that not a single meeting of monks could exist without them. Come, look at our deeds... May the Lord forbid you, unclean demon! - exclaimed Macarius. And, starting to pray, he began to ask the Lord to reveal to him whether there was any truth in the words of the devil. Coming to the celebration of the all-night vigil, he asked the Lord for the same thing. And then he sees... The Ethiopians scattered around the church, jumping up to each monk, seemed to be flirting (while reading psalms). Whoever closed his eyes with two fingers began to doze off; they put a finger in the mouth of another, and he yawns... The reading ended, and the brethren prostrated themselves to pray before God, then suddenly the image of a woman flashed before one, before everyone in general - first one thing, then another... And as soon as the evil spirits imagine something, how actors in the theater, this will enter the heart of the one praying and give rise to thoughts... But loans el paso tx no credit check it also happened: then evil spirits ran up with some kind of deception - suddenly they jumped back headlong, as if driven by some force, and did not dare neither stop nor pass by them. But they jumped on the necks and on the backs of other, weaker brothers: apparently, they were inattentively praying. Seeing this, St. Macarius sighed and shed tears. After finishing the prayers, he called each brother separately, and it turned out that everyone was thinking about what the elder had seen.”
About hypnagogic hallucinations and the teachings of the Holy Fathers on this matter
Concluding the conversation about visual and auditory hallucinations, let’s say that along with what is said above about hallucinations, there is another type of hallucination – hypnagogic. Let's briefly consider its essence.
Textbook on psychiatry: “Hypnagogic hallucinations are visual illusions of perception, usually appearing in the evening before falling asleep, with eyes closed (their name comes from the Greek hypnos - sleep), which makes them more related to pseudohallucinations than to true hallucinations (there is no connection with the real situation) . These hallucinations can be single, multiple, scene-like, sometimes kaleidoscopic (“there is some kind of kaleidoscope in my eyes,” “I now have my own TV”). The patient sees some faces, grimacing, sticking out their tongues, winking, monsters, bizarre plants. Much less often, such hallucinations can occur during another transitional state - upon awakening. Such hallucinations, also occurring when the eyes are closed, are called hypnopompic. Both of these types of hallucinations are often one of the first harbingers of delirium tremens or some other intoxicating psychosis.”
Textbook on clinical psychology: “Hypnagogic hallucinations, which, along with hallucinations of the imagination and pseudohallucinations, are classified as incomplete, also occur in children more often than true hallucinations. Hypnagogic hallucinations are understood to be predominantly visual images that spontaneously arise when falling asleep, which are projected into the dark field of vision with closed eyes or into an external unlit space with open eyes. Their content can reproduce individual impressions and images perceived by the child during the day. Such hallucinations are often observed in healthy, especially impressionable children, children with pronounced eidetism. Pathological hypnagogic hallucinations are not associated with images of everyday impressions, are unusual, often fantastic and are accompanied by an affect of fear.”
Textbook on psychiatry: “Children and adolescents may also have pseudohallucinations, often in the form of hypnagogic ones. The latter most often occur against the background of an illness, especially one that occurs with clouding of consciousness in the form of oneiroid (schizophrenia, infections, including intracranial, intoxication). A 3-year-old girl, already put to bed, suddenly jumped up and began hitting herself on the head with her fists, crying and shouting, “Again these scary guys are in my head, I just can’t get them away.” Pseudohallucinations in the form of hypnagogic (before bedtime when falling asleep) can occur in children and adolescents without any psychosis, but in the presence of such traits as emotional lability, impressionability, and increased suggestibility.”
Textbook on neurophysiology: “During the period of falling asleep, mental activity is very diverse. So-called hypnagogic hallucinations often occur. This type of hallucination looks like a series of slides or pictures. In contrast, dreams are more like movies. It is noted that hypnagogic hallucinations occur only when the dominant rhythm of wakefulness disappears from the EEG (EEG - slow waves and individual bursts of alpha rhythm).”
Because It was said above that hallucinations can occur while falling asleep or before waking up, so we consider it necessary to talk about sleep and the state of drowsiness.
Theophan the Recluse (Outline of Christian Moral Teaching): “Dreams are unauthorized movements of the imagination in the sleep of the body with a lack of self-awareness and independent will. In the course of dreams, three degrees are distinguished: “delirium” - during dozing, the actual “dream”, or sleepy reverie, during the perfect sleep of the body, and “secret sleep”, unremembered, during the dead sleep of the body. In their production, the life of the heart with images dominates. When the soul’s power over itself is lost, then images of the imagination, as if breaking free from some rivets, fill the entire area of the soul. Here, images of different times and places, present and past, bad and good, are mixed and combined according to laws that there is no way to know. The personality of the dreamer himself is lost: he is inserted into the dramas imagined by the imagination as an outsider and undergoes strange transformations: now he rejoices, now he suffers, now he is promoted, now he is put to shame, and so on. Since the soul loses its independent activity in a dream, it is even more strongly exposed to the influence of another world than in reality, and the good one is influenced by the good, and the bad one by the evil. ...There are three types of these dreams. Some are “promiscuous”, about whom Sirach writes: “like one who embraces a shadow or chases the wind, so one who believes in dreams” (Sir. 34:2). Others are “intelligible”, which are implanted in a person who begins to regain consciousness by God or a Guardian Angel. Job says about them that during sleep and in visions at night, when sleep overwhelms a person, when he sleeps on his bed, God opens his ear and, having taught it, seals it in order to lead a person away from evil deeds, in order to remove pride from him. and to keep his soul from the grave (Job 33: 15, 16, 17). Third, finally, there are special dreams, large payday loans - “Divine, prophetic.” God Himself says about them: “If there is a prophet of the Lord among you, then I reveal myself to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream” (Num. 12:6). Dreams are as the heart is. They can for the most part be considered witnesses to our moral state, which is not always visible in the waking state. In a careless person, devoted to passions, they are always unclean, passionate: the soul there becomes a playground of sin. For a person who has converted and is zealous for the purification of his heart, they are either good or bad, depending on what prevails, and sometimes - how he falls asleep. Here he is subject to frequent attacks by demons, who sometimes strongly seduce the inexperienced, as Saint Climacus notes.”
Ignatius Brianchaninov (vol. 5, chapter 46): “We need to know and know that in our state, not yet renewed by grace, we are unable to see dreams other than those made up of the delirium of the soul and the slander of demons. Just as during a state of vigor thoughts and dreams constantly and incessantly arise in us from fallen nature or are brought by demons, so during sleep we see only dreams based on the action of fallen nature and the action of demons.”
Euthymius Zigaben (Explanatory Psalter, ps. 118, v. 147, footnote): “The untimely (midnight) is especially accompanied by the most powerful attacks from mental enemies: because darkness itself contributes to every vile and nasty and indecent action...”.
As mentioned above, before deep sleep, a state of drowsiness occurs. Many people had various revelations precisely in a dormant state (you can read about this in the Lives of the Saints). Here are examples of how this happened to ordinary people:
Trinity leaves from Dukhovny Meadow: “The ever-memorable Archbishop. Vologda Nikon (+1919) recalled his own mother, and was distinguished by remarkable detail related to the circumstances of his birth. “My mother,” he said, “when I was delivered from the burden, I suffered for a long time and was close to death. In these difficult moments of her torment, she began to fervently pray to St. Nicholas, asking for his holy help. In the midst of prayer, she for a moment fell into a thin slumber and sees : from the icon of St. Nicholas, which was in the corner ark, the living St. Nicholas came out. He, approaching the suffering woman, meekly said: “Calm down! By God's permission, this very minute you will easily be relieved of your burden as a boy. Call him by my name Nikolai,” and he became invisible. After that, my mother immediately gave birth to me and asked to name me Nikolai at baptism.”
Trinity leaves from Spiritual Meadow: “On the day of the opening of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov, - Fr. reports about himself. Archimandrite Kronid, - I, having come from the early liturgy and in grief from overwhelming thoughts, lost myself in half-asleep and then I can’t even give myself an idea whether it was half-asleep or in reality, I only see from the front door of my cell 1000 dollar loans fast coming to Rev. for me Seraphim. I fell to my knees before him and, crying and sobbing, began to ask him, saying: “Help me, Pleasant of God, in torment from thoughts.” And I hear his gentle, fatherly voice in response: “Believe, undoubtedly, in our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save the suffering. Read the Holy Gospel daily, be meek and humble, and you will find peace for your soul.” Having come to my senses after these words of consolation; I saw myself sitting on the sofa and felt great joy within me. After this phenomenon, I won’t say that the thoughts disappeared, but I became stronger in the fight against them and was not embarrassed by them as much as before.”
Let us note that in Christian teachings, a soul in slumber is considered to be a soul living in sins, in negligence and carelessness about its salvation, as well as in despondency.
Gregory of Nyssa (Explanation of the Song of Songs, conversations. 11): “(it is necessary) to always be awake with the mind, as if some seductress of the soul and a accuser of truth, driving away drowsiness from the eyes, I mean that drowsiness and that sleep by which these dreamy dreams are formed in those immersed in worldly seduction ideas: superiority, wealth, dominance, arrogance, charm of pleasures, love of fame, addiction to pleasures, ambition..."
Theophan the Recluse (Interpretation of Psalm 119, v. 28): “... when the soul slumbers, sin does not sleep, but, creeping up, attempts to captivate it and attract it to itself. “The beginning of sleep,” he says, is dozing, and the beginning of fall is the disintegration and relaxation of the soul through despondency. Just as one who is dozing is drawn to sleep, so one who is morally weakened is drawn to sin.”
Based on all of the above, it is quite natural that alcoholics have disturbed sleep, their bodies are exhausted, and in drowsy states they may have hallucinations, or see and hear demons.
About fear during alcoholic psychoses in the teachings of the Holy Fathers
The issue of fears must be considered from three points of view: the first is the fear of a sinner (it will be discussed in the section “On the hidden spiritual causes of drunkenness”), the second is fear during abstinence (i.e. when abstaining from drinking alcoholic beverages) and the third is fear during hallucinations.
Let's look at the second fear. It was said above that psychosis mainly occurs when a person abstains from drinking alcohol. Let us recall what happens to a person emotionally: “The harbingers of delirium (pre-delirium state) last for several hours. Usually, by the evening, the anxious and melancholy mood characteristic of withdrawal is replaced by affective lability: depression alternates with euphoria, anxiety with apathy. Excitement, restlessness, and talkativeness are combined with an influx of vividly imagined colorful memories. Illusions appear: hanging clothes are mistaken for a person, someone’s faces are seen in patterns and spots... Then complete insomnia sets in. Restlessness, anxiety and fear increase. The main symptom of delirium appears - vivid visual hallucinations.”
Such emotional states with the suggestion of thoughts about drinking come from demons in order to prevent a person from coming to his senses from the passion of drunkenness.
Theophan the Recluse (The Path to Salvation): “But there is something that comes directly from Satan. From him there is a certain vague timidity and fear that troubles the soul of a sinner at any time, and even more so when he thinks about good. This is almost the same as a master threatening a servant when he begins to do something not according to his will and plans.”
Experiencing such a demonic action, the soul wants to get rid of these sensations, and resorts to a well-known method - take alcohol and “relax.” And this is what the enemy of the human race needed.
As for fear directly during hallucinations, a quote was previously given that hallucinations (in particular “pseudo”) differ from ideas produced by the soul in that they do not depend on the will of a person, are intrusive, violent and have completeness and formality of images. This observation corresponds to the teaching that spiritual forces influence a person independently of his will and this causes great fear in a person. This is how the saints talk about it:
Ignatius Brianchaninov (Conference of the soul with the mind): “The blood is agitated, the imagination is heated by some action that is alien and hostile to me, and I see tempting images approaching me, enticing me to dream of sin, to enjoy the destructive temptation. I don’t have the strength to run away from seductive images: my painful eyes are involuntarily, forcibly drawn to them.”
In general, causing fear in a person is a kind of fun for the enemy.
Nicodemus the Holy Mountain (Invisible Warfare, part 2): “Our enemy the devil rejoices when the soul is troubled and the heart is in anxiety. Why does he contrive in every possible way to disturb our souls.”
Athanasius the Great (Life of Anthony the Great, paragraph 28): “The demons, having no power, seem to amuse themselves at the spectacle, changing their disguises and frightening children with many ghosts and specters.”
Athanasius the Great (Life of Anthony the Great, paragraph 37): “...demons, when they see people in fear, all the more multiply the ghosts in order to bring them into greater horror, and, advancing, they already swear, saying: “When you fall, worship me” (Matthew .4, 9)".
Athanasius the Great (Life of Anthony the Great, paragraph 36): “...the invasion and vision of evil spirits is outrageous, with noise, voices and screams, like a riotous movement of poorly educated young people or robbers. From this, fear, confusion, confusion of thoughts, sadness, hatred of ascetics, despondency, sadness, memories of relatives, mortal fear, and, finally, a bad desire, negligence of virtue, and moral disorder immediately arise in the soul.”
So, with psychoses that arise from alcoholism, namely delirium and hallucinosis, phenomena occur that are the fruit of sin, which allows enemy spirits to act openly before the sinner. The same painful processes that occur in the human body are also the fruit of sin.
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Prof. P. I. Novgorodtsev
The essence of Russian Orthodox consciousness
Beginning his famous treatise “On the Social Contract,” Rousseau anticipates the question: “is he a sovereign or a politician if he writes about politics?” “My answer,” he says, “is that it doesn’t, and that’s why I write about politics. If I were a prince or a legislator, I would waste no time in telling what should be done; I would do it or remain silent." And he explains that he writes as a citizen of a free state who has a voice in general affairs.
I could begin this article with a similar question and a similar answer. People may also ask me: why am I, being neither a clergyman nor a theologian, undertaking to talk about theological subjects. And I answer this: if I were a clergyman or a theologian, I would preach and teach; but being only a son of the Orthodox Church, I only want to understand and understand the essence of the faith that I profess. I want to follow the advice of St. Anselma: credo ut intelligam— I believe in order to understand, ready, according to his own instructions, in cases of mystery and incomprehensibility to bow before the highest mystery. Caput submittam! - as he said.
But don’t expect from me theological reasoning or dogmatic interpretations that a sophisticated theological scholar, even a secular scientist, would give. I choose for myself a task that is much more modest and more accessible to me. After all, Orthodoxy, like every other religious confession, being a certain system of dogmas and tenets of faith, at the same time eats the cultural creativity of a famous people. Therefore, I can consider it not only from a dogmatic and theological point of view, but also from a cultural-historical and religious-philosophical point of view. Of course, there is always a necessary relationship between the theological and dogmatic side of a known religion and its cultural and historical expression: dogmas are reflected in consciousness and in life. But it is equally certain that the same religion and even the same religious confession are adopted differently by different peoples. Just as Christianity has been received in such diverse ways by different peoples,
Likewise, Orthodoxy is understood differently in different places. Not only Russians are Orthodox, but also Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, and Abyssinians. But when we come closer together on church grounds with our fellow believers, we immediately immediately feel the difference between their religious consciousness and ours. Obviously, with the unity of dogmas, there can be different assimilation of them, in accordance with the difference in national characters and cultural types. Like every other people, we Russians bring special national features into the understanding of our faith. It is this Russian understanding of Orthodoxy that I want to talk about in this essay. But here from the very beginning it is necessary to keep in mind the following. If every form of religious consciousness strives to be close to its original source, then in Orthodoxy this desire manifests itself with particular clarity and persistence. Russian Orthodoxy, no matter how much it bears a national imprint, places its main strength in its fidelity to its Divine fundamental principles and the original apostolic and patristic teachings. It believes that its essence is determined primarily by its correspondence with its eternal and universal basis and that the most valuable feature of Russian religious consciousness lies precisely in the fact that it was destined to most purely preserve the spirit of Christ's teaching. All my further statements should be understood in this sense. If I speak further about the peculiarities of the Russian Orthodox consciousness, then the center of gravity I believe is not that this is our Russian consciousness, but that it is a consciousness that has remained in some amazing agreement with the spirit of primitive Christianity.
But how can we find the starting point for our consideration? How to determine the basic principle that the Orthodox consciousness recognizes as the most important path to God and the most important guarantee of its manifestation and affirmation in life? We know very well what is the basic principle of Catholicism and what is the basic principle of Protestantism. For Catholicism, such a principle is, first of all, the authority of the church as an institution; here the organization, power and discipline of the church, which takes upon itself the salvation of people, comes to the fore. The most characteristic expression of this principle is the idea of theocracy. This is primarily a legal understanding of Christianity. In the Protestant consciousness, the principle of freedom, the principle of personal direct circulation of
a soul turning to God. The creative principle of both religious life and religious consciousness is the individual. Here, personal merit and personal responsibility of a person before God are recognized as the main path of religious consciousness. This is primarily an ethical understanding of Christianity.
But what is the basic principle of Orthodoxy? Although a definite answer to this has long been given in Russian literature, this answer has still not gained general recognition among Orthodox Christians, much less among Catholics and Protestants. Both Catholics and Protestants still look down on Orthodoxy as something backward and imperfect, and believe that the Orthodox Church needs a certain correction in order to take the real path. For Catholicism, this correction must consist in reunification with the one true Christian Church, which is the Catholic Church; for Protestantism it must be expressed in reformation, that is, in the renewal of church dogmas and church life on the basis of free individual consciousness. Where is your organization and discipline, where is your practical influence on life, Catholics ask us. Where do you have the free scientific spirit and the power of moral preaching, Protestants ask. And we have to admit that we have neither Catholic discipline nor Protestant freedom. But what do we have and what positive principle can we point out as the most essential, according to the Orthodox view, both for the organization of life and for the establishment of faith?
I noted above that this principle has long been established in our literature: this is the principle mutual love of all in Christ. According to this principle, the most important thing in religious life is not that it is based on the authority of the church organization, as Catholics say. and not that. that it is established on the basis of freedom, but that it is generated by the grace of universal mutual love. Both the church organization and the freedom of the believing consciousness are necessary, according to the Orthodox view, for the creation of religious life, but before them, believers need a spirit of mutual love, unity in Christ. Neither the organization of the church nor the freedom of the believing consciousness can receive correct expression without this. From a truly religious point of view, they will remain powerless and fruitless if they are not affirmed, supported and replenished by the gift of mutual love, the gift of God's grace. This is first and foremost a religious-mystical understanding of Christianity.
What is most characteristic of this Russian Orthodox contemplation is how the beginning of love is perceived and assessed here. In all Christian confessions, the commandment of love is fundamental and defining - without this they would not be Christian. But while in other confessions, especially in Protestant, there is a tendency to give this commandment a rather moral character, in Orthodoxy it receives a genuine religious-mystical meaning. According to Orthodox consciousness, love is more than the usual property of morally good human will: love is a miracle. According to the successful expression of one spiritual preacher, it is either generated by long-term cultivation of a sense of goodness, or is carved out by the suffering that visits a person, or is begged from God through prayer. And as a miracle, love in this sense creates miracles and makes the impossible possible. And precisely because this is not just a human property, but a gift from above, a gift of God’s mercy. This is not just love, but love in Christ, enlightened and reborn by the co-presence of God's grace.
But when Orthodox teaching speaks of love, it believes that love in this highest religious-mystical sense, like love in Christ, carries within itself the power of endless expansion: in its inner ideal being and manifestation it is mutual and universal love, connecting man with an invisible bond with all humanity. Love in Christ has this grace-filled property of elevating individual human consciousness from singularity, isolation and isolation to unity, integrity and universality. All these concepts - love, conciliarity, integrity, universality - are unambiguous for the Orthodox understanding, each follows from the other, and all together they are contained in the concept of love in Christ.
But all these concepts in Russian Orthodoxy also receive further deepening in the direction of the connection and unity of humanity. The beneficial creative action of love is also manifested in the fact that it enlightens human consciousness with a sense of universal and complete mutual responsibility. True Christian love leads a person to the conviction that “everyone is guilty before everyone, for everyone and for everything.” This wonderful and thoughtful statement by Dostoevsky reveals in the best possible way the idea of universal solidarity and universal responsibility of people for each other, which is so characteristic of
Orthodox consciousness. Just as Christ accomplished the work of redemption of all mankind, and not of individual people and not just one nation, just as the appearance on earth, suffering, death on the cross and resurrection of the Son of God are not only subjective, moral, but also and objective, global significance, so the highest lot bound the future fate of humanity on earth with the unity of real circular solidarity and responsibility. It cannot be that individual people or nations acquire merit only for themselves and are responsible only for themselves: everyone lives for everyone and everyone is responsible for everyone. In this view, in this belief, we again discover the deepest difference between our religious consciousness and the Catholic and Protestant. The Catholic understanding in the matter of salvation emphasizes the mediating role of the church as an institution; Protestant - puts forward the idea of a person’s personal responsibility before God and personal merit in the matter of salvation: everyone is responsible for himself and is saved by the power of his own faith. Orthodox consciousness, on the contrary, is based on the conviction of the general moral and religious responsibility of everyone for everyone and everyone for everyone: it is based on the idea of saving people not individually and separately, but jointly and collectively, accomplished by the action and power of a common feat of faith, prayer and love . And this is why, according to the Orthodox view, love, as the building principle of faith and life, by its nature carries within itself the principles of conciliarity and universality. Only here, only in this view is the isolation of individualism truly overcome, only here is the state of human solitude and human disunity radically overcome. That Protestantism is individualistic there is no need to prove this, but it is not equally clear that Catholicism does not go beyond the framework of individualism. Meanwhile, undoubtedly, Vladimir Solovyov was right when, in his famous report on the medieval worldview, he said that the essence of this worldview leads to the idea of individual salvation. The Church here was not so much an all-pervading moral communion as an institution towering above the believers, and therefore she considered it possible to communicate her grace-filled gifts to the believers not so much through the power of their internal loving communication in Christ - which constitutes the ideal basis of churchliness - but through the external act of church indulgences , church regulations and instructions. And in
In a certain sense, this medieval tradition lives on in Catholicism to this day. After all, even now church unity is established here on the authority of the pope, on powerful organization and discipline, on politics and propaganda, on the diplomatic art of the Jesuits. But under these premises and assumptions, the principle of churchliness loses its true essence, its internal meaning and, extending in breadth, loses its depth.
The conviction of the Orthodox Church in its significance and universal calling stems, on the contrary, not from its faith in its external resources, but from faith in the power of the truth that it professes. The Christian Orthodox Church has universal significance not because it has a church organization and missionaries, but because it carries within itself the properties of universal and all-conquering truth. The practice of Catholicism, which allows for the possibility of catching converts in its networks through external means of diplomacy and propaganda, is alien and incomprehensible to the Orthodox consciousness. It comes from the idea that turning to true faith is conditioned by its internal perfection, the help of God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Aristotle has a wonderful expression explaining the power of Divine perfection: κινεἶ οὐ κινούμενον , κινεῖ ὡς ἐρώμενον , - it moves, while itself remaining motionless, it moves, becoming the object of passionate aspirations. Such is the property of every perfection that it does not need to move, vainly worry and use effort in order to attract souls and hearts to itself.
Associated with this is a certain passivity and contemplation of the Orthodox consciousness, and in this regard, the Orthodox Church, both from strangers and from its own, is sometimes reproached for being one-sided, for not paying attention to earthly, human tasks. As Harnack recently argued, the Eastern Church, entirely turned to the other world, neglected the moral transformation of this world and remained on the path of asceticism and contemplation, leaving all earthly life to other forces. Earlier, Harnack Vladimir Solovyov judged the Orthodox Church in the same spirit when he said: “The East, Orthodox in theology and non-Orthodox in life, understood the divine-humanity of Christ, but could not understand the divine-human significance of the church. For him, the church was only a shrine, given from above in its final form, preserved by tradition and assimilated by piety. And truly this is the very first thing in the church, but for the East it was both the first and the last. For him
the whole truth of Christianity, represented by the Church, was only above humanity and before humanity. But Christianity is the truth of God-manhood, that is, the internal unity of the Divine with humanity in all its composition. The Church, or the Kingdom of God, should not remain only above us, be only an object of our veneration and worship, - it should also be in us ourselves for all humanity, a ruling force and free life. The Church is not only a shrine, it is also power and freedom.” “Having become completely attached to the divine foundations of the church,” the East “forgot about its fulfillment in humanity. But just because a church is founded does not mean that it is complete, and that we do not have to do anything to complete it.”
Against these reproaches, it is necessary to note that here the natural incompleteness of the earthly work of the Orthodox Church is taken as a fundamental disregard for earthly affairs and that this incompleteness is not opposed to the perfection of the Kingdom of God, but only to the Western church ideal. Solovyov writes this way - completely in the spirit of Catholicism: “the church, or the Kingdom of God.” But, as the later interpreter of the destinies of the church, Kartashev, beautifully says, “if the Kingdom of God were identical with the Church, then, according to the covenant of Her Teacher, the Church would not pray incessantly: “Thy Kingdom come!” This means that it did not come with the advent of the Church. “When it comes completely, then what is in part will be done away with.” Praying for the coming of the Kingdom, the Church itself rushes towards its eschatological completion, itself yearns for the desire to reveal its fullness, to be fulfilled to the end, when the Kingdom of Christ comes on earth. One might think that she will then give the Household the keys of the Kingdom, which “will have no end.” The symbol says this about the Kingdom of Christ, and not “about the Church.” The Orthodox Church has never denied the task of its “perfection in humanity”; she only denied the Western ways to accomplish this task and distinguished, on the one hand, the eschatological idea of the fullness of perfection, possible only for the Kingdom of Christ, for the miraculous rebirth of our earth into a new earth, and on the other hand, the historical stages of relative perfection, accessible to the visible earthly organization of the Church. Vlad. Solovyov, who at a certain period of his life was inclined towards Western ideas, completely takes the stand of the Catholic understanding of theocracy and therefore speaks of the possibility of a “worldwide organization of true life” carried out by the power of the “spiritual power of the Church.” Orthodox consciousness from
denies these claims to earthly, even if spiritual, power, and does not believe in the correctness of the paths that the West has followed. Here it is important to fully appreciate the fundamental conviction of the Orthodox Church that the highest support of church life is not the power of the church. not organization and discipline, but the grace-filled power of mutual love and the help of God. The church rests on this, and the universal truth is affirmed, according to the beautiful liturgical cry: “let us love one another, that we may confess with one mind.” As I said above, this is primarily a religious mystical understanding of Christianity. Catholicism and Protestantism are Western European solutions to the religious problem; the human, humanistic element predominates in them; Orthodoxy, on the contrary, is an Eastern, Asian solution to this problem, and therefore it is closer to the original spirit of Christianity, closer to the depth of the religious treasures of the East. And his idea of the church, and his teaching about love, and his thoughts about the paths to God are surrounded by this basic religious-mystical feeling that in the true church, in true love, in true life, God, the grace of God, the grace of Christ are invisibly present, here is the root of everything and that, cut off from this root, all human thoughts and deeds become powerless and fruitless.
This is why the concept of external authority, not assimilated by freedom, and the idea of freedom, not illuminated by “the light coming from heaven” and created from human strengths and aspirations alone, are so alien to the Orthodox consciousness. Orthodox teaching is a teaching about the power of mutual love in Christ, but at the same time it is also a teaching about freedom in Christ: one is connected with the other, and one without the other is unthinkable.
From here flow all the basic properties of Russian piety and worship of God, all the features of the religious psychology of the Orthodox believing soul. Without claiming that I will list all these properties and features in full, I will indicate only those that seem to me the most important. They are the following: contemplation, humility, spiritual simplicity, joy in the Lord, the need for external expression of religious feeling, aspiration for the Kingdom of God. I now want to characterize each of these properties separately.
1. Contemplationmeans such a turning of the believing soul towards God, in which the main thoughts, aspirations and hopes are concentrated on the Divine and heavenly; what-
the human, the earthly here seems to be of secondary importance and at the same time imperfect and fragile. Hence the lack of real attention to worldly affairs and practical tasks. From a Western point of view, this should be seen as something wrong and inappropriate. In fact, this is only a genuine expression of that religious consciousness that was brought to us from the East, from where we received our religion. Both in the West and in our country, sometimes they see the misfortune of Russia in the fact that we did not have a reformation, that we did not have that secularization of religion, that transformation of Christian morality into a methodology and discipline of daily life, which took place among Western peoples. In reality, there can be no transition from Orthodoxy to Reformation, for Orthodoxy is essentially contemplative and ascetic. It not only does not exclude, but also requires the influence of religion on life and in essence has always had this influence, but its spirit is completely contrary to the transformation of religion into morality, and morality into a methodology and discipline of daily life, to which the Reformation naturally leads. The Reformation could have been born in the depths of Catholicism, for Catholicism already represents the secularization of religion; in the Reformation only a further and, moreover, decisive step is taken along the path of this secularization, ultimately completely separating life and morality from religion. Orthodoxy, on the contrary, is the preservation of the pure essence of religion, which turns the believing consciousness to God, and in another, higher, heavenly world, indicating the true focus of human thoughts and deeds. Influence on life, on culture, on the state, on everyday life is carried out in Orthodoxy in other ways than in Western confessions: the determining forces here are not authority, not discipline, not a sense of duty, standing outside of religion and experiencing it, but the recognition of God’s commandments, commandments unity and love and fear of God, fear of sin and damnation. Life here is determined precisely by religion, and not by morality, so that without religion and morality there is no one left, and when an Orthodox person falls away from religion, he can lean towards the worst abyss of fall. But this precisely demonstrates the extent to which he cannot live without religion and how everything in Orthodoxy is supported by religion.
When, like Solovyov, they talk about “the East, Orthodox in theology and non-Orthodox in life,” they lose sight of the fact that for the East “Orthodoxy in life” is achieved in different ways and is measured by different measures than for the West: not by the degree of external practical improvement , and si-
the felt connection of life with its divine origins. What do we see in the West as a consistent development of the principle of reformation? According to the vivid description of Konstantin Leontyev, here “instead of Christian afterlife beliefs and asceticism, there appeared down to earth, humane utilitarianism; instead of thinking about love for God, about the salvation of the soul, about union with Christ, care about general practical good. Real Christianity no longer seems to be divine, at the same time a joyful and terrible teaching, but childish babble, an allegory, a moral fable, the sensible interpretation of which is economic and moral utilitarianism.” This is the secularization of Christianity to which the Reformation led, and from the point of view of Orthodoxy, going in this direction does not mean correcting the one-sidedness and insufficiency of Orthodox consciousness, but moving out of the realm of religion into the realm of autonomous morality without religious morality. These are two different planes, between which there is no transition.
“Unorthodoxy in life,” from the Orthodox point of view, can be corrected not by reformation, but only by an act of internal universal rebirth, miraculously strengthening the feelings of love and fear of God in believers. For the Orthodox Church, which in principle does not recognize the ways of external discipline and external influence on the conscience of believers, achieving Orthodoxy in life is an infinitely more difficult and mysterious task, and the Orthodox understanding of this task places it infinitely above the methodology and discipline of daily life: we are talking here precisely about the complete rebirth of man, the manifestation of the miracle of God’s mercy over him.
2. Humility - the second of the named properties of the Orthodox consciousness - is inextricably linked with the first, with contemplation: the true and genuine turn of the believing soul to God certainly leads to humility, to the consciousness of the insignificance of human powers. And here again we find in the Russian Orthodox consciousness precious traces of the East, reflections of Asian religious and mystical feeling. In the West, in Europe, these traces and reflections do not exist; here the commandment of humility is not established, and there is no spirit of humility in feelings and thoughts. Neither Catholicism nor Protestantism fostered this spirit. Western man is primarily a proud man, and the further one goes to the West, the more pride he has: the Frenchman is prouder than the German; The Englishman is prouder than the Frenchman.
A Western man is a man proud of his culture, his education, his science, his discipline, his politics. He thinks that he has overcome everything, that he can do anything; he thinks that his constitutions and parliaments are his democracies and republics. - the height of human wisdom is that the path he follows is the only path to human greatness. He looks with arrogance at the backwardness of his eastern neighbors and expects them to learn his wisdom and follow his path. Meanwhile, it is we, these eastern neighbors, who have every reason to call on the European consciousness to break its pride and understand the meaning and significance of the feat of humility. For this means calling on the basis of Christian and generally religious consciousness. This is the wisdom proclaimed by the ancient Jewish prophets, who taught nothing more persistently than that people, cities, and kingdoms perish from pride. In vivid images and formidable prophecies, the Old Testament teachers spoke with amazing power about the vanity of earthly human greatness, about the shame of the pride of human self-delusion. Here, for example, is a wonderful passage from the book of the prophet Obadiah: “The pride of your heart has deceived you; you live in the clefts of the rocks in an elevated place and say in your heart: who will bring me down to the earth?
But even if you, like an eagle, fly high and make your nest among the stars, then from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
Or another place from the book of the prophet Isaiah:
“And his land was filled with silver and gold, and his treasures were without number, and his land was filled with horses, and his chariots were without number; and his land was filled with idols: they worship the work of their hands, what their fingers have made.
And the man bowed down, and the man humbled himself; and You will not forgive them.
Go to the rock and hide yourself in the earth from the fear of the Lord and from the glory of His greatness.
The proud views of man will droop, and the lofty things of mankind will be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
For the day of the Lord of hosts is coming on everything that is proud and arrogant and on everything that is exalted, and it will be humiliated.
And to all the cedars of Lebanon, high and exalted, and to all the oaks of Bashan.
And to all the high mountains, and to all the towering hills.
And on every high tower, and on every strong wall.
And on all the ships of the Tarsians, and on all their desired ornaments.
And the greatness of men will fall, and the lofty things of men will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
This spirit of humility, this awareness of the insignificance of human pride and arrogance constitutes one of the fundamental foundations of the religious consciousness that came to us from the East from Asia. Russia, which has this great happiness not only geographically, but also spiritually, half belongs to Asia, in the depths of its religious consciousness bears this spirit of humility, as one of the main gifts of its ancient faith.
3. But closely connected with this spirit of humility is the third feature of Russian Orthodox piety, which I mentioned above - this simplicity of soul, the consciousness that religious truth is a simple truth that is given not to scientific sophistication, not to criticism, not to self-exalting wisdom, not to a culture proud of its conquests, but to the childish simplicity of the soul, simple naive faith, humble admiration for the mysteries of the greatness of God. This is the consciousness that “spiritual poverty,” which is spoken of in the Beatitudes, is the best way to comprehend the mysteries of God. Simple Galilean fishermen were the first heralds of the words of the Savior, and the Apostle Paul, who knew the depth of human wisdom, cites with special emphasis the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will reject the understanding of the prudent.” “Because,” he says, “the foolish things of God are wiser than men, and the weak things of God are stronger than men.” This superiority of simplicity, living by the light of God, over the wisdom of human enlightenment, is felt with particular brightness in the Orthodox consciousness. One cannot help but see a remarkable coincidence in the fact that both the faithful son of the Orthodox Church, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy, who left the church, are equally convinced that the greatest religious truths are revealed to the simplicity of the soul, to the simple, ingenuous mind of the people. The deepest motives of their populism stem not from the idealization of folk life, but from the ideal idea of the ability of simple folk consciousness to find paths to God. Their preaching is based on the ideal of evangelical simplicity. They seem to be telling us: do not get carried away by the fruits of culture, its richness, its splendor, its diversity; remember that above culture is the people themselves, who create the spirit of the people; don't compare cultural achievements with each other
and the people, do not separate yourself from the people with a high wall of cultural achievements, do not become arrogant and do not try to make the culture of the Tower of Babel sky-high.
4. The next property of the Orthodox consciousness, which we must explain, is joy in the Lord. Observers and experts on Russian monastic life note how constant this trait is even among hermits and ascetics - joy and some kind of condescension towards people, towards human weaknesses. Why joy? Why not sadness? not darkness? not despondency and contrition for sins? - Because the joyful news lives in the consciousness: “Christ is risen!” “Christ is in our midst!” Because redemption erased the head of the serpent, because that basic and first religious idea that the world lies in evil, that sin and its suffering are original and inevitable, is replenished with a new higher message - the news of the appearance of Christ to the world, of the descent of God to earth to people . In the illumination of this higher light, which no darkness can embrace, all human sins and weaknesses seem to be redeemed, for them there is a way out, there is forgiveness, there is hope for salvation. If in the Catholic religious consciousness the autumn mood of sadness prevails, then in the Orthodox the spring mood, the joy of restoration and rebirth, stands out clearly. And as Gogol beautifully noted in his time, nowhere is the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ celebrated, this “holiday of holidays and the triumph of celebrations” like in Rus'. The image of the Grand Inquisitor, the image of the formidable, punishing Torquemada, corresponds to the general spirit of Catholicism. On the contrary, the characters of Sergius of Radonezh, Seraphim of Sarov and many other shining, bright and joyful Russian saints and ascetics correspond to the spirit of the Orthodox Church. And it is remarkable that in that religious consciousness, which, moving away from Orthodoxy, still retains traces of it, lives this trait of joy and security in the Lord. Thus, Tolstoy, with all his rationalism, with all the isolation and solitude of his religious feeling, in his break with the church, still feels Orthodox when he speaks of religious feeling in the following expressions: “the main thing in this feeling is the consciousness of complete security, the consciousness that He exists, He is good, He knows me, and I am completely surrounded by Him, I came from Him, I go to Him, I am a part of Him, His child: everything that seems bad seems so only because I believe in myself, and not to Him, and from this life, in which it is so easy to de-
to obey His will, because this will is also mine, I cannot fall anywhere except in Hero, and in Him is complete joy and goodness.”
5. Next to this feeling of joy in the Lord stands that feature of Orthodox consciousness that I named above the need for external detection of religious feeling. By this I mean the desire to demonstrate the turning of one’s thoughts and feelings to God in external signs, symbols and actions. In particular, Protestants are struck in the gatherings of our worshipers by those seemingly external manifestations of piety that are so characteristic of an Orthodox person: candles, prosphora, kissing icons and the cross, making the sign of the cross, kneeling. Even enlightened and subtle foreign observers of Russian life are inclined to point to these expressions of religious feeling as some kind of incomprehensible backwardness, as a purely external attitude towards God, exhausted by the performance of external actions and devoid of any internal content. It seems to them that instead of the necessary internal self-deepening, an exclusively external understanding of religion dominates here. For the Protestant consciousness, which believes all the power of a prayerful appeal to God in concentrating the spirit, in concentration, in going inside oneself, everything external seems unnecessary, distracting from self-deepening. It is understandable that with this understanding, Protestants experience a kind of optical illusion in relation to manifestations of Orthodox piety: they see the external and do not see the internal that is hidden behind it. They do not see that these manifestations reflect the active impulse of the believing soul, its desire to get out of itself and enter into communion with God, that it is in this kind of external actions that a mystical desire is revealed to bow, to prostrate before the Lord, to kindle the flame of one’s faith before Him, to commune to His mercy and help, beg and cry for this mercy and help.
And when, on the other hand, Protestant writers reproach the Orthodox Church that in its church services it has not sufficiently developed the practice of spiritual teachings, that it cares little about the moral guidance of its flock, then the same optical illusion is repeated and the same misunderstanding continues. For a Protestant in his church service, among the bare walls of his temple, the most important thing is to listen to a moralizing sermon, to perform the prescribed chants and prayers,
The goal is the same moral concentration and self-purification. The main thing here relies on human influence and personal self-deepening. On the contrary, for the Orthodox, the most important thing in the church service is the effect of God’s grace on the believers, their communion with God’s grace. It is not human influence that is decisive here, but Divine action, not simple moral education, but mystical unity with God seems to be the goal here. The gracious power of the Eucharist and liturgical rites, in which the grace of God mysteriously descends on those praying, is the highest focus of church services and prayer offerings. The exclamation of the clergyman: “The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” - calls on the gifts of God's grace to all those present at the liturgy, including those who do not receive Holy Communion on a given day. Tain.
These are two sides of the same relationship. the desire not only internally, but also in external manifestations, with the help of visible signs and symbols, to elevate one’s thoughts and feelings to God and the perception of Divine grace communicated in the sacraments and sacred rites. And in comparison with this mysterious effect of God's mercy on the human soul, powerfully educating and leading a person in life, the educational effect of the human word, to which moral preaching strives, is of completely secondary importance.
From this side, Catholicism is infinitely closer to Orthodoxy; Catholicism also accepts external expressions of prayerful appeal to God. But since in this respect discipline, organization and orderliness prevail here, the freedom of individual involvement of the believing soul in common prayer in the Catholic rite is to a certain extent paralyzed. On the contrary, in Protestantism this freedom is brought to the point that church service here turns into a simple cult of morality, into a flowing rational moral teaching, which stands on the threshold of either pantheism or atheism.
Getting ready for the road,
This is the last time faith will be here,
as Tyutchev says.
6. It remains for me to explain the last of the properties of the Orthodox consciousness that I mentioned - the aspiration of the Kingdom
God's . As I said above, the identification of the visible earthly Church with the Kingdom of God is alien to the Orthodox consciousness. It seeks and expects the kingdom of God as a real order, but achieved under certain special miraculous conditions. The Kingdom of God cannot be built in the order of earthly work, and yet all earthly life must be surrounded by the thought of this desired Kingdom. In popular ideas, this belief is clothed either in the image of a righteous land, existing in some unknown place, or in the legend of the invisible city of Kitezh, hidden from human eyes at the bottom of the lake. The deepest meaning of these ideas is that earthly human life can never lay claim to perfection and truth, that we must always strive and gravitate towards the highest truth, that only illuminating our earthly thoughts and deeds with an unearthly light, only basing them on the “sense of contact with our mysterious other worlds,” based on the aspirations of the Kingdom of God, we can arrange our lives correctly.
And here again the Orthodox consciousness follows its own special path, dissimilar from the paths of Catholicism and Protestantism. Catholicism believes that the Kingdom of God is not only an aspiration, but also a reality being realized in the history of the Catholic Church; in this church it has its visible earthly embodiment. On the contrary, Protestantism so separates earthly reality from religious aspirations that religion becomes a private matter of personal consciousness, and culture, society, and statehood are declared autonomous areas of original secular construction. Orthodoxy, believing that the Kingdom of God is fully feasible only in the last days, and now should only illuminate with an invisible light all our earthly construction, stands, as it were, in the middle between the extremes of secularization of the Divine ideal and renunciation of it.
I seemed to have finished my presentation and answered, as best I could, on the topic posed. But at the same time, I vividly feel the incompleteness of my explanations. Let others, who know more than me, fill in and correct what was said. The time has come when we all need some new and simple explanations of the essence of our faith. its ancient essence must remain unshakable, but it must be understood in a new way by the new consciousness. For us, who have experienced unheard-of, catastrophic events, much is now being revealed and clarified from what was previously unclear, to which we were inattentive.
The precious treasures of our faith are also revealed to us with unprecedented clarity.
To come to an understanding of these treasures was my task in this essay. But speaking about the properties of our faith, I would least like to call for a proud consciousness of our superiority over the West. My point is by no means that we need to boast or boast about our faith. No, we first of all need to make ourselves worthy of it. Wonderful gifts and treasures are hidden in the depths of the Orthodox consciousness, but we ourselves do not always know how to use them, and we do not know how to show them to others, and we do not know how to understand them to ourselves, and we do not know how to justify them with our lives.
So in our fertile land there are inexhaustible deposits of all riches and all fertility and abundance, but it has dried up and closed to man, and does not accept grain thrown by human hands, and does not open its depths. For man was unable to take care of and love her and wanted a different lot, not the one that, according to the commandment of God, calls him to humility, love and work; and it will open only to the feat of humility and love.
Likewise, in our faith there are treasures and riches that we did not know and did not appreciate, and they are now revealed to us through the greatest trials and suffering. And when we penetrate more fully and deeply into their being, then the soul of Russia will open to us, and our homeland will again become open and accessible to us...
P. Novgorodtsev.
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*) Currently Metropolitan of Khabarovsk and Amur– Approx. Ed.
These are theses. I used them during my report and have placed them here. The main, in my opinion, thoughts are highlighted in large font. Lowercase – main quotes, mainly from St. Feofana.
In his work “The Human Soul. Experience of Introduction to Philosophical Psychology” (Moscow, 1917; reprint: St. Petersburg, 1995) Semyon Ludwigovich Frank was forced to state: “The word “consciousness,” which, at first glance, is understood by everyone in the same way, i.e., refers to the same range of phenomena, is in fact one of the most polysemantic and vague words of the human language.”(Frank. 1995, p. 469). In the almost ninety years that have passed since these lines were written, final clarity on this issue has not been achieved. Many approaches to the problem of consciousness have ultimately led to many different points of view on it..
Rubinshtein S.L., speaking about personality:
Precisely because every activity comes from the personality, as its subject, and, thus, at each given stage the personality is the initial, initial one, personality psychology as a whole can only be the result, the completion of the entire path traversed by psychological knowledge, covering all the diversity of mental manifestations , consistently revealed in it by psychological knowledge in their integrity and unity.
“The question... of studying personality is the question of its self-awareness" (Rubinstein), therefore, such thoughts could be attributed to self-awareness.
The logic here is simple:
– firstly, initially self-consciousness seems to be a black box, we do not know anything about it reliably;
– secondly, the only acceptable methodological approach in this case is to explore the diversity of mental manifestations; of course, using scientific methods;
– and thirdly, from this private knowledge, like mosaics, to put together an image in its entirety, to build a complete theory of self-consciousness.
But even after the first glance it becomes clear: this path is endless, and the goal is unattainable (if this is the path followed).
– is there enough scientific methodological basis for studying the properties of the human spirit, which includes self-awareness? I think no. Scientific methods are fully applicable only to material phenomena; personality, self-awareness are phenomena of a spiritual order;
- it is unlikely that it will be possible to study at least one mental manifestation: almost inevitably, different points of view will arise (and have arisen), and from them - different hypotheses, theories, schools. What can we say about diversity?
– But even if we assume that it will still be possible to study (and therefore build a generally accepted theory) every mental manifestation, this does not mean at all that it will be possible to put together a holistic picture of self-consciousness from these mosaics. Again, generally accepted.
And S.L. himself noted: “ No matter how great the importance of the problem of personality in psychology, personality as a whole cannot be included in this science.”
. And, therefore, self-awareness.
The patristic paradigm is built on different foundations. The main thing is that self-consciousness is not a “black box” at all; personality is revealed in its entirety through the Gospels, through the image of Christ. Moreover, the Personality is perfect, divine. The Holy Fathers revealed the spiritual and ascetic aspects of self-awareness. And the psychologists of the Russian school (Snegirev, Nesmelov, Zenkovsky) are psychological. “The phenomenon of self-awareness. Patristic approach". This approach is most fully and systematically (of the works known to me) set out in the fundamental work of St. Feofan the Recluse “Outline of Christian Moral Teaching”. My report is based on this work. As necessary, to reveal or explain certain thoughts of St. Feofana, I will refer to the works of V.A. Snegireva and others. Vasily Zenkovsky.
« Self-awareness, writes Archpriest. Basil, - is the main sign of personality in a person.” It “has as its object... the depth and inexhaustibility of life within a person; and therefore self-consciousness is... consciousness of one’s unity, one’s “I”, one’s originality, separateness”. This depth and inexhaustibility can hardly be expressed in words. Moreover, find a scientific definition.
There are known attempts of this kind. Here is one of them: “ a vertical contour that unites all levels and subsystems of a person, forms his vertical, hierarchically ordered integrity, upon achieving which the maximum synergetic effect is manifested, and the level of entropy of a person as a living system is reduced to the maximum" Absurdum per absurdum.
Because V.A. Snegirev defines consciousness as “ simply the presence in the soul of any specific state, living and active, or some sum of them" AND St. Feofan the Recluse does not seek to give an exhaustive definition in ratio, realizing the impossibility of this. It is limited to the following: " A special turn of consciousness is self-consciousness, or self-knowledge. It is predominantly turned inward and distinguishes itself from its actions, rising above both».
And then begins what the holy fathers call spiritual reasoning, the highest gift of God. What is this turnover? It is not at all that self-consciousness is consciousness turned inward, towards oneself; it can also be directed outward. Self-awareness is moral consciousness, that is, consciousness through the prism of moral feeling.
Man is a moral being, which means he must have “ strictly moral consciousness, called self-consciousness, in which a person recognizes himself as a person obligated to purposeful activity, to responsive deeds subject to reporting».
Strange, isn't it? However, here are the words of S.L. Rubinstein: " Human consciousness is generally not only theoretical, cognitive, but also moral consciousness, and then an even stronger statement. It receives its psychologically real expression in the inner meaning that everything that happens around him and by himself acquires for a person.».
So, moral consciousness by definition is self-consciousness.
Any act of self-consciousness (be it a thought, image, deed) is invariably accompanied by a moral feeling. This moral feeling, on the one hand, is experienced as something whole, unified, and on the other hand, it arises as a combination, the interaction of other feelings. V.A. Snegirev identifies four of them:
« One’s own (and other people’s) actions, regardless of their pleasantness and usefulness,
– distinguishes between good and bad;
– feels the need, the pull to do good and avoid bad (sense of duty);
– feels opportunity, has freedom of choice as to what to incline one’s will to (a sense of freedom, moral freedom);
– feels satisfaction in the soul when doing good and torment when doing evil (approval or torment of conscience);
– experiences a feeling of approval when good is accompanied by pleasure, and evil by punishment (sense of justice);
The last four arise in the soul so quickly, almost simultaneously, that they merge into a single state, feeling" Which is a moral feeling.
Let us note once again that such a complex emotional-sensual moral process accompanies every act of self-consciousness.
And let us emphasize once again: any mental action that does not include a moral feeling is not an act of self-consciousness. Even if it is directed inward. (A moral feeling, being directed at any object, “makes it its own,” including it in the sphere of personal experiences (but those described above), as it were, includes it in the sphere of personality).
The more intense and stable the moral feeling, the clearer and more distinct the self-awareness. Moreover, a person is on a higher moral level. It is obvious.
But connected with self-consciousness is another phenomenon of exceptional importance: religious consciousness. V.A. Snegirev states the following: “ The idea of an infinite omnipotent Being is an integral part of the process of self-consciousness... The degree of clarity of this last idea is therefore always proportional to the degree of clarity of the first: the idea of one’s own personality is vague, vague, and the idea of an infinite Personality is also vague; a person clearly, definitely and distinctly recognizes the peculiarity of his own personality and its properties - a clear, definite idea of the peculiarity and main properties of the infinite Personality arises».
In other words, the clearer my self-awareness (the clearer my personality is represented in my consciousness, the more intense my moral feeling), the clearer my perception of God.
For many years St. Feofan peered into the movements of his own soul and the souls of a huge number of people who communicated with him and were edified by him. He points out three elements of self-awareness “in which a person recognizes himself as a person obligated to purposeful activity, to responsive deeds that are subject to reporting.”
According to St. Feofan has three main structural elements: expediency, duty and responsibility. Those. awareness of the fact that I:
1. is obliged to do certain things that
2. must have a specific goal (accompanied by a sense of duty to achieve it) and
3. to be accountable (to someone or something).
Actually, the entire colossal, profound work “The Outline of Christian Moral Teaching” is a very detailed vector of spiritual and moral development. Its two poles: a sinner (unenlightened by grace) is the initial state. The ultimate goal of development is a true Christian, a spiritually successful person. What are the spiritual states of the sinner and the Christian?
The main difference between them is the ability to rise above oneself and above the outside world. St. Feofan speaks about this ability very succinctly and intelligibly. I will quote his words:
about a person who works at sin and passions, it is undoubtedly known that he does not rise above the external world, but, on the contrary, is carried away by it, lives in it, as if dissolves with it, which is why he is called external, living outside himself, having gone beyond himself. He considers the well-being of his external things to be the well-being of his own person and, on the contrary, their unwell-being as his misfortune. That is why there is an attempt to cause damage or actual damage to clothing, home, furniture, place, etc. shake him deeply, strike him to the very heart.
He also does not rise above his inner world, but just like external things, he is carried away by the mechanism of his internal movements. They usually say: I was lost in thought, I was lost in thought, I don’t remember what happened to me and around me... that is, at that time he was carried away by the movement of thoughts, or he was beside himself with joy, grief-stricken, lost his temper in his heart... .that is, he devoted himself to the movements of his heart; or you won’t remember in your troubles and worries: this is necessary, another is needed... that is, constantly driving forward and forward the diverse desires of the will. It is obvious that one given over to sin has no power over internal movements, but is, as it were, pressed into them, drawn by them, like a warrior cramped inside a regiment. And this is not just for one hour, but constantly. Such is the law of his inner life: to behave as a slave.
This is the most dangerous of the deceptions of the sinner’s face. He considers everything that arises inside to be himself and stands for it as for himself, as for his life. That’s why he doesn’t want to deny himself anything.
Meanwhile, how many things come into us from outside of Satan and the world, except for what arises from the sin living in us, which also should not be considered as our own?
The first action of the grace-filled awakening of the sinner is to extract the soul from the mechanism of his internal and external life and to rise above its flow... Here, therefore, lies the first opportunity for true and complete consciousness .
Here are the words of the famous psychologist V.I. Slobodchikova: “The practice of working with consciousness means that thanks to a person’s aspirations and his actions, consciousness ceases to be something spontaneous, related to nature (being) and a direct automatic functioning. Consciousness for the first time begins to be reflection. Reflection acts as a break, as a way out of a person’s complete absorption in the immediate... process of life in order to develop an appropriate attitude towards it.”(Human Psychology, p. 183. The same thing is said, but in different languages).
From this moment it begins, for the first glance of a person under the influence of grace is drawn to his essential relationships: first of all, its light falls on them. Then the one who is attentive to himself does not descend from this height of spirit. His eye is elevated above everything that is his own and above everything that comes into contact with him, and he understands and sees everything clearly, like some kind of guard.
A true Christian's self-awareness is at the highest degree of perfection. So - he clearly knows his actions; knowing his actions means:
– remember clearly the facts of internal and external life,
– how pure or sinful they are,
– fully remember, realize their “power and meaning” (meaning - what are they for, where do they lead in a given situation, their purpose? Or content?),
– what was their motivation,
He knows what he means himself, what awaits him, what state he is in, what his relationship to others is...
- what is his internal state now, at this current moment,
– what are his relationships with people,
– what spiritually he is like at this period of life,
– what is the trend of his spiritual development.
This brochure is intended to, at least to some extent, fill the existing gap in Orthodox popular science literature. It examines the Christian teaching about the spirit, soul and body of man. The connection between this teaching and the question of the purpose of Christian life is revealed. The brochure contains an attempt to confirm the thoughts of the Holy Fathers about the soul with the data of modern science.
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The given introductory fragment of the book About our soul: the Holy Fathers about the soul (N. S. Posadsky, 2009) provided by our book partner - the company liters.
All parts of human nature were created from the dust of the earth, and Adam was created as an active animal being, like other animate creatures of God living on earth. “But this is the power that if the Lord God had not then breathed into his face this breath of life, that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, elevating him to godlike dignity, then he would have been like all other creatures, although having flesh and soul, belonging to their race, but not having the Holy Spirit within them. When the Lord God breathed into Adam’s face the breath of life, then, according to Moses’ expression, and Adam became a living soul, that is, completely similar to God in everything and one like Him, immortal forever and ever” (Reverend Seraphim of Sarov).
This breath of life and there is the highest principle in man, that is, his spirit, by which he immeasurably rises above all other living beings. Therefore, although the human soul is in many ways similar to the soul of animals, in its highest part it is incomparably superior to the soul of animals, precisely because of its combination with the spirit, which is from God. The human spirit is like a connecting link between body and soul.
This means that the body and soul are not the whole person, or rather, not the complete person. Above the body and soul there is something higher, namely the spirit, which often acts as a judge of both soul and body and gives everything an assessment from a special, higher point of view.
The spirit from God, combined with the soul of animals, raised it to the level of the human soul, and man became twofold.
“The animal soul, where feelings are, where irritation and lust are, makes us small chim above animals, and the spirit reveals us small chim diminished and from the Angels. Man has a spirit, whose true life is life in God. The spirit, says St. Theophan the Recluse, as a power emanating from God, knows God, seeks God and finds peace in Him alone. By some spiritual, intimate instinct, ascertaining his origin from God, he feels his complete dependence on Him and recognizes himself as obligated to please Him in every possible way and to live only for Him and by Him, and to sanctify the animal part of the soul and the body itself to the point of dispassion.”
The human spirit, according to St. Theophan, is “an organ of communication with God, a God-conscious, God-seeking and God-living power. Its essential features are consciousness and freedom; its driving principles are faith in God, a feeling of complete dependence on Him and confidence in Him. The manifestations of his life are the fear of God, the actions of conscience and the thirst for communion with God, expressed (from the outside) by dissatisfaction with anything created. This is the breath of God-like life that God breathed during the creation of the primordial world, and which returns to God after death, according to Ecclesiastes.”
Saint Luke Voino-Yasenetsky writes: “A person’s soul is much higher in its essence, for the spirit participating in its activity is incomparable with the spirit of animals. He may possess the highest gifts of the Holy Spirit, which the holy prophet Isaiah (11:1-3) calls the spirit of the fear of God, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of strength and strength, the spirit of light, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of the Lord or the gift of piety and inspiration in the highest degrees.
The spirit and soul of a person are inseparably united during life into a single essence; but you can also see different degrees of spirituality in people. There are people who are “spiritual,” according to the Apostle Paul (1 Cor. 2:14).
There are... people are cattle, people are grass, there are people who are angels. The former are not much different from cattle, for their spirituality is very low, and the latter are close to disembodied spirits who have neither body nor soul.
So, the soul can be understood as a set of organic and sensory perceptions, traces of memories, thoughts, feelings and acts of will, but without the obligatory participation in this complex of higher manifestations of the spirit, which are not characteristic of animals and some people. Ap speaks about them. Judas: These are soulful people who have no spirit(Jude 19).
In self-consciousness during life, the life of the spirit is closely intertwined with those mental acts that are common to man and animals, that is, with organic sensations and sensory perceptions: these latter, in turn, are inextricably linked with the life of the body, especially the brain, and disappear with the death of the body. Therefore, the primitive soul of animals is mortal, just as those elements of human self-consciousness that emanate from the deceased body (organic and sensory perceptions) are also mortal.”
There is in my soul fear of God- this is awe of the greatness of God, inextricably linked with unchanging faith in the truth of God’s existence, in the reality of the existence of God as our Creator, Provider, Savior and Rewarder.
Just as an unbridled horse, throwing off the bridle from its lips and throwing its rider from its ridge, rushes faster than any wind and becomes unapproachable to those it meets, so the soul, rejecting the fear of God that bridles it and throwing away the reason that controls it, runs through the camps of wickedness until , rushing into the abyss of destruction, will overthrow his own salvation into the abyss.
The spirit contains a sense of Divinity - conscience and dissatisfaction with anything.
Conscience- this is an internal feeling that determines value, spirituality, legality, duty, morality, ethics of both individuals and all humanity. This is the assessment of actions from the point of view of good and evil, necessary and universal.
Conscience is a marvelous reflection of the Divine in man. God inscribed in the soul of man the requirements of His holiness, truth and goodness, instructing him to monitor their fulfillment and judge himself whether they were good or bad. In Holy Scripture, conscience is called a “rival”, since it always resists our evil will.
Conscience is a natural law that enlightens the mind and shows it what is good and what is evil. God, creating the human soul, sowed into it the seeds of all virtues. For their proper growth, influence from God is necessary. But if there is free will, a person can decide for himself whether to accept these beneficial influences or not. This is where our conscience must show itself.
Conscience shows a person what is right and what is wrong, what is pleasing to God and what is displeasing, what he should and should not do. But he not only indicates, but also forces a person to fulfill what is indicated, and rewards with consolation for fulfillment, and punishes with remorse for non-fulfillment. Conscience is our inner judge - the guardian of the Law of God. It is not for nothing that conscience is called the “voice of God” in the human soul.
“Conscience has a natural desire for God and is the book of God’s commandments. If we do not obey our conscience, then our lamp, shining behind the veil (of the sinful will), shows things darker and darker, and how in the water, clouded by much silt, we do not recognize our own face” (Rev. John Climacus).
Abba Dorotheos argues that one should always preserve one’s conscience towards God and not neglect His commandments even in the depths of one’s soul, in secret. You also need to maintain a conscience towards your neighbors, that is, not to do anything that offends or seduces them in deed, word, appearance, or glance. Even with things, a good conscience teaches you to handle them with care, store them and not spoil them.
Conscious of being obligated to please God, the spirit would not know how to satisfy this obligation if conscience did not guide it.
The Holy Fathers say: use conscience in all your deeds instead of a lamp, because it shows perfectly all your deeds in life, both bad and good.
“Conscience is the true teacher: he who listens to it is not stumbling” (Abba Thalassius).
Thirst for God- the third manifestation of the spirit in man. Our spirit cannot be satisfied with anything created or earthly until it finds complete satisfaction in God, to living communion with Whom the human spirit always consciously or unconsciously strives.
These are the manifestations of the spirit in man, which should be the guiding principle in the life of every person, that is, to live in communion with God, in the will of God and to abide in the love of God, and this means to fulfill one’s purpose on earth and inherit eternal life.
The Monk Macarius of Egypt says: “A body without a soul is dead, and without a spirit the soul is dead for the Kingdom of God.”
The body, soul and spirit of a person are in a certain relationship, and the nature of this relationship is determined by the moral state of a person.
The combination of the spirit with the soul of the animal in man resulted in the elevation of the soul, its transformation into the human soul. This determines the versatility of life states in a person (a set of feelings, views, rules), such as “physicality”, “soulfulness”, “spirituality” and intermediate ones between them. The same explains the duality of human motivations in the conditions of earthly existence: “one pulls him down with grief, the other pulls him down.”
The experience of the 20th century is an exemplary experience of universal beauty. All kinds of “isms,” from political to psychiatric, have brought the world to the brink of disaster.
But the experience of true freedom can still be revealed to the world, and this experience is repentance, a change of consciousness. The experience of transformation of the fallen mind, its sanctification, deification. This is the only true experience, unappreciated by humanity, and even if appreciated, it is pretty much forgotten.
It’s a disaster if nothing happens in a Christian’s life, if his soul is as lukewarm as in a village puddle. It’s a disaster if “everything is normal” and familiar in spiritual life. But what about the Kingdom of God, which is “necessary,” and what about “be zealous for great gifts,” and what about that “perfection” to which the Lord calls us?! In a word, each of us is called to the fullness of spiritual life and to be content with less is a sin not only of laziness and indifference, but, above all, of dislike for God.
It's like we're living in make-believe. “Pretend” we pray, “pretend” we fast, pretend we repent and nothing happens in our lives. No transformation, no insight or change of consciousness!
Fasting is a time of overcoming the flesh, a time of effort through which a different vision of the world is acquired: incomparable, amazing, perfect... infinitely superior to all human experiences. What the Lord calls the Kingdom of God is within us.
Satan is deprived of creative ability, he only perverts God’s ideas and all “isms” from psychiatric to political are just surrogates for the truth, fakes that exploit one property of the human soul. This quality is longing for the Kingdom of God!
Fasting and prayer are the means of acquisition. “Give blood and receive the Spirit,” say the holy fathers. By “blood” here we mean the experience of abstaining from sensual pleasures and pleasures, forcing oneself to fulfill the Commandments of God, to live a Christian life. This is it: in the transformation of the soul, in reconciliation with God.
Without this real and bright reconciliation, without the amazing experience of the Easter meeting with the Risen Christ, human life loses its meaning, and there is absolutely nothing to make up for it.
Lent is the germination of faith through the land of human damnation, and Easter is the long-awaited meeting of the sprout with the Sun!
