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What is the purpose of the Christian life? The most important thing in the life of a Christian Great scientist and Orthodoxy

Addressing people in parables, Christ repeatedly emphasizes the idea that our earthly life has an important, unique meaning.

Such, for example, is the parable of the ten virgins waiting for the groom with lighted lamps (see Matt. 25:1-13). The groom delayed until midnight. But the wise virgins had oil in reserve for their lamps, and they met him with dignity and went with him to the wedding feast. The foolish virgins did not foresee that the groom would come late, and they did not store any oil. When they announced that the bridegroom was approaching, their lamps had already begun to go out. They went to the merchants to buy oil, and when they returned, they did not have time to meet the groom and then knocked in vain on closed doors.

While a person lives in this world, he can set the direction of his path in eternity. Beyond the threshold of death, he loses the ability to change - his spiritual development will continue in the direction of good or evil chosen during life. Therefore, the vector of our development in earthly life should be directed towards Christ - this is the most important thing. But how can this be done in practice? How, living in this difficult world, can one achieve the goal of Christian life?

This question haunted one Orthodox young man. He asked it to many people: those who were wise in life experience, those who had received theological education, and those who were ordained to the priesthood. In response, he heard the immutable truths that one must believe in God, pray, keep fasts, go to church, live according to God’s commandments, and do good deeds. Nevertheless, the young man did not stop and continued to ask. And only many years later the Lord gave him a comprehensive answer through His great ascetic - St. Seraphim of Sarov. The saint himself reminded him of this question and revealed the purpose of Christian life. The person who was lucky enough not only to meet the true lamp of faith on his path, but also to become his student, was Nikolai Motovilov, who recorded this conversation. The answer sounded very simple: “The true goal of Christian life is to acquire the Holy Spirit.”

Motovilov did not immediately understand the meaning of these words, and the Monk Seraphim explained that in the parable of the ten virgins, Christ calls our earthly existence a “marketplace,” and the business of human life is a “purchase” and says to everyone: “Buy until I come.” Throughout his life, a Christian should be engaged in “purchasing” (“acquiring”) the grace of the Holy Spirit—the oil mentioned in the parable—to maintain the lamp of his soul. To those who believe that this oil is good deeds, St. Seraphim objects that it is not for nothing that the parable is talking about virgins. Preservation of virginity is an equally angelic virtue, superior to all others. Both the wise and the foolish virgins were equally virtuous. But, in the figurative language of St. Seraphim, the foolish virgins did not receive “not a penny of profit” from their good deeds.

Any trader works to make a profit. The Monk Seraphim calls spiritual profit the gradual assimilation to Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Acting like a merchant, a Christian must do good deeds in an effort to receive God's grace through them, which transfers him from a corruptible state to an incorruptible, deified state. Good deeds in themselves, if they do not increase the grace of Christ in a person, have no value. Healed by the grace of the Holy Spirit, human nature acquires the ability to exist eternally together with the Lord in His Kingdom.

Closed doors are death, blocking the path of spiritually untransformed people to the Heavenly Palace, where the Bridegroom, Christ, resides. He says to the foolish virgins: “I do not know you” (Matthew 25:12), because they do not know Him. This is an answer to Christians who in their earthly life were careless about spiritual gifts and did not strive to become like Christ. The Monk Simeon the New Theologian explains that in the future life a Christian will not be asked what good deeds he has done in earthly life and how many, but he will be carefully tested, with what state of spirit he performed them and “does he have any resemblance to Christ, like a son to his father."

The foolish virgins did not have any virtues in reserve, but rather the grace of God acquired through them. According to the explanation of the Monk Seraphim, they considered only the external, formal fulfillment of Christian duties sufficient, without caring about “whether they received the grace of the Spirit of God,” and lived their whole lives without knowing Christ.

Likewise, Abbess Arsenia (Sebryakova) lamented that, while fulfilling all the requirements of the monastery charter, many sisters of her monastery do not work on their inner state, “they do not look for, do not try to exterminate passions at their roots.” When asked by the abbess, “why are they not doing anything to save themselves,” these sisters were offended. After all, they were busy from morning to night with obediences and regularly read the monastic rule. But the abbess wanted their work to pursue the main goal - to have a constant aspiration towards Christ.

Professor Alexey Ilyich Osipov

The problem of the meaning of life.

The problem of the meaning of life is the problem of the sought-after ideal or truth.

Its understanding determines the purpose, direction and nature of all human activity. However, the very solution to the issue, speaking essentially, is determined by the existential-personal attitude of a person: his freedom, his spiritual and moral state.

In the historical arena, three main forces claim to resolve this issue: religion, philosophy and science. Briefly, their answers could be expressed as follows.

Religion, by which we mean such a complete system of beliefs where the ideas of God and eternal life are central, sees the meaning of life in unity with God.

Philosophy, ultimately, is about the rational comprehension of truth.

Science is about maximum knowledge of the world.

Naturally, each of these answers requires broad interpretation.

What is unique about the Orthodox understanding of this issue?

It sees the meaning of life in eternal life in God, otherwise called salvation. This means, firstly, the conviction that God exists, and that He is not only the source of being, but also being itself, in which only the good of existence of everything that exists is possible, a full comprehension of the Truth and knowledge of the created world in its essence is possible. Secondly, this presupposes the understanding that real (earthly) life is not a self-sufficient value, but a necessary condition, a transitory form of being for a person to achieve perfect life in God. Therefore, the atheistic call is unnatural for the Christian consciousness: “Believe, man, eternal death awaits you!” - because it does not leave the most important thing for meaning - life, in which only meaning can be and is realized.

The essence of the Christian faith can be expressed in two words: “CHRIST IS RISEN!” - since they contain the entire endless and at the same time very concrete perspective of life. Its meaning is in likeness to Christ and unity with Him, otherwise - deification, theosis. What does it mean? To answer briefly, this is perfection in kenotic (Greek - self-abasement, sacrificial humility) love, which constitutes the very essence of God, for “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him” (; 16).

The Apostle Paul writes in some detail about this state in his letter to the Galatians, when he lists the fruits of God's action in man. He characterizes it as love, joy, peace, long-suffering, mercy, meekness, self-control (). In another message, he describes this state in the following words: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (9).

The Apostle, as we see, writes that a person who has been spiritually cleansed, healed of passions, that is, spiritually healthy, is in deep joy, love and peace of soul - speaking in modern language - in happiness, but not fleeting, accidental, caused by the action of nerves and psyche, but has become a property of the soul of a “new” person, and therefore integral, eternal. It should be noted, however, that this state in itself is not the goal and meaning of a person’s life according to Christian teaching. It is only one of the consequences of achieving the goal - salvation, deification, unity with God, in which a person’s personality reaches the fullness of its disclosure, God-likeness.

But perfection in love is not only the moral and emotional good of a person. Love is no less a perfect “tool” for knowing the Truth and the created world. It is no coincidence that those whom, due to their special spiritual purity, are called venerables, called spiritual life true philosophy, the art of the arts, the science of the sciences. They called it that because correct asceticism, restoring the unity of the soul with God, opens to man both the knowledge of the Truth, and the contemplation of Its imperishable Beauty, and the knowledge of the essence of all creations. The experience of the Church clearly demonstrates that the spiritual perfection of man, to which the Gospel calls, is not the fantasy of heated dreamers, but a reality, a fact, practically verified an infinite number of times in the history of the life of the world, and to this day offered to the seeking person as the only reasonable goal of existence. .

Naturally, such a meaning of life is unacceptable to the pagan world, the essence of which was expressed by the first Theologian of the Church in the following words: “... everything in the world: the lust of the flesh (thirst for pleasures: sensual, aesthetic, intellectual), the lust of the eyes (thirst for wealth) and the pride of life ( the search for power, glory), is not from the Father, but from this world” (16). The psychological basis of the world is the “ostrich syndrome” - the refusal to see the only indisputable and inevitable reality of this life - death. Therefore, he devotes all his strength to acquiring these “benefits”. And although it is quite obvious how ruthlessly they are all taken away from the simple touch of death, nevertheless for the world an ideal that goes beyond the interests of this life, an IDEAL crucified in this life, is, in the words of the Apostle Paul, temptation and madness ().

The Christian meaning of life, which consists in the acquisition by a person here on earth of God-like spiritual values ​​and faith in the real resurrection of the body for endless life in God, thus becomes in irreconcilable contradiction with the ideal of the so-called. atheistic humanism.

It would be extremely interesting and important to analyze the spiritual sources from which the denial of the Christian ideal occurs. There is no doubt that these origins are purely spiritual and not rational. This is confirmed by at least the following considerations.

First. Every correct theory must at least satisfy two basic requirements: have evidence to support it, and be verifiable (it goes without saying that it must be consistent). That Christianity satisfies these conditions is obvious, and that atheism does not have (and cannot in principle have) either facts confirming the non-existence of God, or an answer to its main question: “What should a person do to be convinced of the non-existence of God?” - no less obvious. More precisely, atheism must admit its complete agreement with religion that for a person seeking the meaning of life, there is only one way to find (or not find) it - religious.

Second. Christianity offers man an ideal, greater or equal to which no other religion in the world has known - pure, selfless love. This love, in the image of Christ, is the highest state of good (to use Plato’s terminology), happiness (to use the terminology of the world), the bliss of a spiritual person, and at the same time a means of true knowledge of God and all created existence. That this ideal of perfect love is realistically achievable, and not the fruit of someone’s imagination, is evidenced quite eloquently by the history of the Church and the lives of its saints. Why, in this case, is it not only denied by the world, but also often “cleansed” from human consciousness with bitterness, fire and sword? Isn’t this very bitterness an indicator of the true source of the world’s denial of the Christian ideal of life?

Third - the well-known so-called. "Pascal's Wager". Indeed, the recognition of Christ, without taking away anything useful and reasonable from a person in this life, at the same time gives him complete hope for prosperity in eternity, if Christ is God and Savior. On the contrary, rejecting Him as the ideal and meaning of life, without enriching man’s earthly existence in any way, deprives him of everything in eternity, if there is a God. Consequently, being a Christian is “profitable,” but rejecting the Christian meaning of life is unreasonable. But in this case, why is this meaning rejected?

Christianity is rejected, of course, not because of any fundamental contradictions with human nature and life. The reason is completely different. It is rejected because of its complete opposition to the goals and character of life of the pagan world.

For the world, pleasures, wealth and fame are the essence of life, but for Christianity they are passions that inevitably entail suffering, disappointment and inevitable physical and spiritual death. For paganism, the meaning of life is earthly blessings, for Christianity - spiritual blessings: love, peace of soul, joy, purity of conscience, generosity, that is, what a person can possess forever. Finally, for paganism Christian holiness itself is unbearable; for it it is like a reproach of conscience in an unrepentant soul, like the ringing of a bell, reminiscent of eternal truth. By the way, it is no coincidence that the revolution of 1917 in Russia threw down and destroyed bells with such hatred...

About the most important thing

Father Sergius said that I would give lectures. Don't believe me - I forgot my glasses. We'll have to talk!
You know, our age is of such a kind that when we come into contact with something or something is offered to us, we, sometimes consciously, sometimes subconsciously, ask ourselves - what will this give us? The West teaches us a little bit like this to look at things pragmatically. Stop having your head in the clouds.
So, you can often encounter exactly the same approach when we talk about Orthodoxy. But really, what can it give me? What does it give to a person? There are many worldviews. And, you know, we look at them as something applied. This is life - this is our life. These are our worries, these are our troubles, if you like, sorrows, joys. It is our life. We know our work, we know what we live for, what we strive for. But worldview and religion are just an appendage. I'm trying to talk about what I think a lot of people feel. Religion has become an appendage to life! Life is one thing, religion is another! The most that a modern person strives for is to go to mass on Sunday or on holidays. At the Academy, I quite often say that the priests perform services during the service, the professors are present at the service, the students sing during the service, but I don’t know who prays. What is this anyway? And why do we need to pray?
The fact is that any worldview, a worldview in essence and religion in particular, is not an appendage to our practical life, but it turns out that this is what determines our life, determines it in the most important things. And what is most important for us is probably something we all know. The most important thing for us is that our souls feel good. You know, in a hut - yes, to your liking! Or you can live in palaces and be an unhappy person.

The abbot, whom you may have heard of, told me a story from his life. He himself was from an Orthodox family, a believer, but then he went to school, and from school to a real school. There he was completely convinced that there was no God, that these were just empty fantasies that meant nothing. And that the meaning of life lies precisely in exploring this world. As much as possible. To achieve dominance in this world and acquire all the benefits that this world can give. We were all, he said, infected with materialism.
And one day, he said, we were all deeply shocked. Suddenly a message appeared in the newspapers, in large print, as they say, “with exclamation marks”: “A millionaire committed suicide!” – we were all shocked. “We were already,” he says, “raised in a materialistic worldview.” Yes, yes, this was before the revolution, mind you, before the revolution! Don’t think that this is now, somewhere, in Soviet times. No, this was the 1900s. "We were all materialists." “I remember,” he says, “I go into the dining room and do not take off my hat, as is customary in Orthodoxy, demonstrating my atheistic conviction.” A millionaire committed suicide... So what is the most important thing in life? He had everything! It turns out that love failed - and everything is lost.

The Greeks have a very interesting myth; they generally have a lot of interesting myths. Deep myths that sometimes really reveal very strongly certain aspects of human life, psychology, sometimes even affect the very being of a person. The myth of the Sword of Damocles. Remember how one of the nobles envied the king that he lived in luxury. The king noticed this and decided to have a feast. He seated the nobleman in his place, but hung a sword over his head on a thin hair. And then he asked: “Well, how are you feeling? Why don't you eat or drink? Why are you so sad? Why are you so sad? This idea of ​​the Sword of Damocles is a great idea, I’ll tell you. Every person who has been born, let alone born, is already sitting under the Sword of Damocles. No one knows when this hair will break. That is, we hear, of course, we hear - it broke off over something, over another, over a third, over a tenth. This is how wars begin - this thin hair breaks over millions.

And so a person involuntarily asks himself the question, if he wants to break away at least a little from everyday life, from the bustle, which, by the way, clutters the most, you know, like dust in the eyes or something: what am I living for? A person sees, there seems to be vision, but the dust can cover his eyes so much that he sees nothing, everything seems to be there, but he sees nothing. So, this is our daily life, these are our worries, problems, torments, perplexities, disputes, etc. Our lives are sometimes so closed that we don’t even have time to think: why am I living? What am I living for? What's the point in this life of mine? What is the point of all this activity of mine? What is the point? Okay, I've done everything, now what? Did. Well, I did. What next? True, there are different attempts to answer this question. But in reality, these are half measures. “I do this to live!” - but very often we do a lot of things not at all in order to live. In order to live, we need much less. “We do it for others!” – but we need to think: what can we do for others? In general, the question of the value of what we do is one of the most important. Meaning and value are the content of all our activities. This meaning and value can only be assessed from the point of view of one or another worldview. Only a worldview can answer the question: is this good or bad? Am I engaging in activities that will truly benefit me and other people?! Or it just won’t do anything, I work like a squirrel in a wheel: I make things with one hand and ruin them with the other!

So, the first question that, it seems to me, should arise before a person, and indeed it does, no matter how much we sometimes suppress it. This, in the end, is the question of: “I, as an individual, live for how many years - and that’s it? Or do I, as a person, continue to live, will I continue to live?” Here, if you like, are two statements that cannot be reconciled and reconciled. This is an alternative. Or: believe, man, eternal death awaits you - this is what atheism says. Or: believe, man, eternal life awaits you. And this [earthly] life is only, if you like, an exam, an opportunity to reveal oneself as a person, as a moral being striving for one thing or another.

Who is this person? A man is his faith! What does he strive for, what does he want, what is he looking for. The belief that there is no God, no eternity, no soul, is magnificently shown by Dostoevsky in The Brothers Karamazov. I remember when I watched the film, I simply said in my heart, even in delight: “Now apologists have nothing to do!” There is a wonderful conversation between Ivan Karamazov and a hanger-on, i.e. demon: “But if there is no God, then everything is allowed?! If there is no God, then why live?” A healthy person can reason well, everything is fine with him, everything is fine now. Is the person sick? Did he start having problems? Isn’t it the same in the family?! Etc. What is the meaning of life there, tell me? Only from the point of view of our worldview can all our activities and our entire lives be correctly assessed. So, in connection with this, a very important question arises, with which I began: “What does Orthodoxy give to a person? What does the Christian faith as such give us? I am not now touching upon the question of the relationship between Orthodoxy and other religions, or the relationship of Orthodoxy with other faiths. These questions, you know, are very interesting. Now I want to say literally about the main thing - what Orthodoxy really gives to a person.

Now we are talking about the fact that our position, the position of each of us, is really a position under a hanging sword. We never know whether we are healthy or already sick, who knows? How will things turn out for us tomorrow, what will we have in our family, what will we have at work, what will we have in the state, what will we have in the world? We don't know anything! All our assumptions are for the most part very approximate, and then, these are assumptions and nothing more. What do we know? We don't know anything.
And now, pay attention: a person believes, I especially emphasize this word - believes that there is no God. Because it’s impossible to know, you understand. It is impossible to know that there is no God. From the point of view of science, what is our cognitive activity? The knowable world is infinite, and, therefore, all our knowledge at any moment in time is only a drop from the ocean, therefore, from the point of view of science, it will never, in any future, be possible to say that there is no God, even if He really does not exist. was. Science will never be able to tell. The most she can say is: yes, perhaps He exists! See what the likelihood of this is.

But maybe we can talk about this later. Now let's talk about something else. That in the absence of faith in God, in the conviction that our life is only earthly life, connected exclusively with the body, and a person has no soul, a person’s consciousness disappears, personality disappears, there is no God - then all our What is life built on? To calculate everything, each of us knows this, we cannot do anything. We are counting on a very small range of issues that we can count on. I say again: we cannot know anything about any global, state, social, or natural shocks! And we can’t do anything, even if we knew something.
Or health, family matters…. A person who does not believe in God is always in a state: “No matter what happens!..”. As if the person on whom I depend did not change his attitude towards me. As if someone would drop something like that on me. No matter where they set me up, etc. Such a person has no solid ground under his feet. We see how revolutions are carried out: in the blink of an eye. Someone was SOMEONE, became NOBODY, etc.

What does Orthodoxy give? The Orthodox faith and a person’s conviction that God exists and that God is Love, and not something else, completely changes a person’s perception of everything that happens in his life. How worried was the millionaire who committed suicide! And how many people commit suicide for other reasons - deprived of their post, deprived of their position... How much stress, strokes, heart attacks we have, how much despair. Where? Because we don’t have solid ground under our feet. This solid ground is faith in God, Who is Love. I know that nothing will happen to me, nothing will happen without the will of God! Only an alien can look and say: “Oh... this man in a white coat is cutting him with a scalpel. What horrors, what is happening to him, what are they doing to him?” Because he doesn't know anything. And the person who knows will say: “Well, this is a surgeon, the best surgeon in the world, who saves a person from cancer.” What happens to me, with the Christian faith, is perceived as the loving and wise Providence of God towards me. I know this for sure, because I believe. I believe that this is not a random phenomenon. That this is not a conspiracy of some people, that this is not the hatred of some person. No one and nothing can touch me unless God allows it. I draw attention to this as the most important thing that concerns our lives.

Faith in God gives extraordinary courage in relation to all sorrows that happen to a person. People who do me harm - and I see how they do it - from a Christian point of view are only blind - hear, blind! - instruments in the hands of God. The scalpel doesn't understand anything! From the outside, you might think that he is tormenting my skin, my organs. In reality, what is happening? A loving and wise operation, without which I cannot live. Just think what Christianity says! Faith in God gives me a solid foundation in this life. What gives me courage, I repeat again, gives me the opportunity to have a completely different attitude towards other people. I don’t need to ingratiate myself - I need to treat the person truthfully. I don’t need to hate - I need to truly treat a person, the way I want to be treated. Christianity establishes the highest principle, the central principle, under which only man can truly have happiness here on earth.

I’m not saying anything about the future now, because very often one hears and reads that Christianity supposedly promises only pie in the sky. That only after death you will receive something, there will be eternal benefits for you. But here there is nothing. Nothing like this. Nothing like this!!! It is here that Christianity gives a person something that nothing else can give. Look, now they are running to psychologists, psychics, sorcerers, I don’t know who they are running to, in order to somehow relieve this burden. “I can’t do this anymore, what should I do, I’m sad...” You can’t imagine, at one of the meetings in Finland they cited statistics: now more than half of the people - Western, wealthy people - more than half of the people have lost the meaning of life and are turning to psychiatrists. The cause of suicide and terrible stress is the loss of the meaning of life. They don't know what's next. Now everything is there – and then what? What's next? Christianity gives a person a perspective of life, does not close him in this narrow circle, in these tens of years. He says no, you are not an animal, you are a human. Your personality is indestructible. So I draw attention to this. How important it is for a person to choose a worldview! A person must be reasonable. One must be able to intelligently approach where it is, the correct faith. Is it faith in the eternal life of the individual - or is it faith in the eternal death of the individual, its disappearance. Let me tell you, our entire future life depends on this.

Pascal is a famous physicist, we all know him as a physicist, but we don’t know anyone else - that he is a man who spent almost his entire adult life in a monastery. He left us with wonderful thoughts. He did not have time to write the book that he planned to write as a response to atheism; he died very early. But his notes remained. They were published after Pascal's death, when they were found. His “Thoughts on Religion” have not yet lost their relevance. Anyone interested can read it. And, in particular, there he has one interesting thought, which remained in the history of human thought as “Pascal’s Wager”, a bet - that is, a dispute. So what is this bet? He says that a person who does not believe in God wins nothing here, wins absolutely nothing here, but if there is a God, he will lose everything there. A person who believes in God loses nothing here, he does not have two stomachs and ten shoulders, but he gains everything there - if there is a God. The first question, therefore, is there a God or not? Without this, a person’s worldview is not a worldview. Of course, you don’t have to look for anything, you can slide down to a level of life where a person doesn’t need anything in the world. Well, we know what kind of standard of living this is - so to speak, animal, biological, plant, whatever you want, at least not human. A person cannot refuse the question - why do I live and what is the meaning of my activity? Christianity answers what meaning this activity has, any one: economic, economic, creative, state - it doesn’t matter. What meaning does it have? If God is Love, and I want to tell you again, God is not a being that is somewhere in the constellation Alpha Centauri, sits there and controls from there, presses levers or buttons. God is Spirit. That is, it is not a material something. This is not the law of gravity, this is not some kind of ether that permeates, this is something completely immaterial, something that we, naturally, cannot describe, but something else is important: God is fundamentally different from everything material.
If God is Love, that is, the essence of our entire existence, our entire existence, existence, both cosmic and human, then the Christian faith has as its focus a principle or, let’s say, “law number one”, on which all other laws are built, from which all other laws flow. This is the law of love, you see, here it is, the eternal principle. Because God is that eternal Being who permeates our entire existence and man, first of all. This is the principle of love. Christianity hence says that the entire basic thought, the entire basic content of human activity should be activity that corresponds to this principle. Everything that does not correspond to this principle of love is incorrect activity. What does unfaithful mean? We know what doing the wrong thing is in any matter: we do something wrong, and then we scratch our heads - what to do now? Wrong activity is what is called sin in Christianity, and what is called error in production.

What is sin? Christianity speaks about one amazing thing, which, unfortunately, is little known to people. It says something like this: Did you steal? You stole from yourself! But not his. Did you hurt him? You have done harm to yourself! Not him. Do you have something? You only have what you gave to another! In Christianity, sin is everything that harms a person’s soul. This is a very important point. Harm, no matter who I bring it to: to myself, to another, or to nature, is a sin. And from here, every sin is a wound inflicted on me. Every sin I commit. Only for the most short-sighted eye is murder, great theft, terrible betrayal, etc. called sin. But Christianity looks a little deeper and calls on people to put on glasses. No, all these great sins are a consequence, and not an independent act. The consequence of what happens in the human soul. Nobody ever killed outright. He hated this man, he spun this reel a thousand times in his soul, he committed murder a thousand times in his soul before he actually did it. That is why Christianity says that the first and most important sin is committed in the human soul. You know, when a person is on a mountain and there is a sled there, it’s very interesting to go down the hill. But they tell him that, at some stage, there is an abyss there. They say it's better not to get on the sleigh. If you sit down, you won't stop in the middle. Christianity therefore pays attention to the so-called spiritual side of man. So we talk a lot - spiritual, spiritual! Soon you start touching yourself - am I a ghost?! What is spiritual? But that’s what’s spiritual! This is what happens in me, inside, what no one sees or hears. I can hate a person inside, and this hatred can then lead to terrible consequences, and these consequences, since they are already taking place not only in the soul, but also in the material plane, they turn out to be the most severe wounds for me.

Here we are talking about Divine Revelation, we are saying that the New Testament is a revelation. Old Testament, New Testament, Gospel - revelation of Who? The revelation of the One we call God. Who is this God? – Love, What does He reveal? Human! don't harm yourself! How? And like this! At first there were rough commandments; if you take the Old Testament, then there were the roughest commandments. You know, don't kill, don't steal, etc. The rudest commandments that stick out in your eyes. Christ came and pointed out the reason for these things and said that a person harms himself, upsets his life, ruins his life, debauchery begins in his thoughts! It never happens right away! So Christ just warns about this: man, pay attention to your soul! To your thoughts, to your feelings, to your desires. Just think about the purity of man that Christianity talks about. It speaks about his very soul. What a shrine he is calling him to! Think about how wonderful this is. This is the beauty that Chekhov spoke about: Everything in a person should be beautiful - the soul, the body, the hands, and the face. Man is called to be a royal being. In what sense? In a holy sense. By the way, only those who know how to manage themselves can manage others well. He who does not know how to manage himself will never be able to properly manage others. This is the law. This is the law that the ancient sages, pre-Christian, spoke about. Christianity only confirms this. And he says that the hardest battle a person has to fight is the battle with himself. And victory of victories is victory over yourself!

Will you notice: in Christianity who is most glorified? Devotees. What are they doing there in the desert, you say, saving themselves?! Well, egoists and nothing more. He climbed into the desert somewhere and sits there, saving himself. You might think so! In fact, what we are talking about: no one has ever achieved anything without giving up everything that hinders him. They say that someone was writing an etymological dictionary, so he completely abandoned friends, acquaintances, everything. He went into complete seclusion, literally. For a very long time, almost several years. But then he really gave out what was needed. What a dictionary it was! And what do desert ascetics do? The most important thing! An attempt to cleanse ourselves of everything that hurts us, that hurts us, that kills us. That's why we glorify them this way. These are truly pure soul people.

Unfortunately, we talk very, very little about this. In our lives, of course, very little is said about this. Now life is becoming more and more materialistic. The materialism by which the West lived or is now living, and for which materialism is the only goal in life, literally dominates there. Now it strikes, of course, our consciousness. But we still have, I would say, a soul. In general, in Russia, this is an amazing phenomenon, after so many years of atheism, where there are so many people, it seems, brought up in the spirit of atheism, who have just been given freedom - look what an explosion has occurred! Where?! In general, this is a phenomenon that scientists would probably take up if humanity still existed for a long time, but, unfortunately, it will not last long, because the same scientists say so. This is an amazing fact: as soon as the ban was lifted, people flocked to the temple. Moreover, what’s most interesting is that you’ve probably noticed: parents bring their children, even in the literal sense of the word, children. Children - ten, fifteen, twenty years old - bring their parents to. There is still a voice in our soul, this spark of seeking truth, a feeling of sacredness, the understanding that I am not just an animal, I am a human being, and I cannot believe that I will never exist, that with the death of my body I will cease to exist. exist.

By the way, I don’t know whether this is interesting for you or not, but I want to say that atheism as a worldview does not stand up to criticism, not only from the point of view of the scientific view that I spoke about: that science can never say that there is no God. Atheism, it does not stand up to criticism from the other side. He can't answer the most important question. And the most important question for him is: what should I do to make sure that there is no God? He also claims that there is no God. I want to make sure of this. Do you want to make me believe? Sorry. I want to be convinced, not believe. Tell me, what should I do to make sure that there is no God? Do science? How many scientists do you need to count? The greatest scientists who believed and believe in God. Do you want to study art, literature, philosophy? It is clear that these spheres do not say that God does not exist. So what should I do to make sure that there is no God, that there is no soul, that there is no eternity for me? Atheism is silent. No answer. There is no answer to this question. Christianity only knows, on the contrary, what it says: for the sake of God, for the sake of all that is holy, try to live like this, try, and you will see that God exists. Points directly to a specific path. By the way, many people of different eras, different social status, different educational levels, even different intellects - from the lowest to the highest - when they took the path indicated by Christianity, they came to this faith, or better yet, to direct, personal knowledge of the Divine . It turns out that Christianity shows this practical path to everyone who really sincerely wants to be convinced of this. I'm not even talking about the fact that Christianity has a whole series of arguments, both negative in relation to atheism and positive, confirming its truth. After all, every theory, if you like, is confirmed by what? Remember, the neutrino: when it was discovered, discovered theoretically, then for thirty years they wondered whether it actually existed or not. All the data that there should be a neutrino is there, but in reality – is it there or not? There are an incredible number of people in Christianity who believe not simply because they were raised in a Christian environment. This faith doesn't cost much, I tell you. So many people who were brought up in the Muslim faith would be Muslims, and those who were brought up in the Buddhist faith would be Buddhists. I wasn't talking about these people. I don’t want to talk about these people, there are many such people everywhere. In any religion. I’m talking about other people, I’m talking about those people who, figuratively speaking, went through this life “with a bow and a sword”, really sought God and found Him.

If we pay attention to at least one thing, just one fact: the history of the origin and formation of Christianity, then we will certainly be convinced of what kind of religion it is. As you know, Christ was crucified, i.e. They were given the most severe punishment of that time. His disciples, the apostles, sat in fear, as it is written: “fear for the sake of the Jews,” locked in the room. Why? Because they knew: as soon as they were discovered, they would be executed immediately. They will also be crucified or stoned. This is where Christianity began, just think! The Jewish Sanhedrin gave an order - everyone who preaches about this name should be brought to him. And many of Christ’s disciples, as we know, suffered. Stephen, who is called the first martyr, was stoned, Jacob was thrown from the temple. The most severe persecution and real terror began. This is a word that will be very useful to us now. This is the era in which Christianity began its life. This turned out to be not enough. There turned out to be very good connections with Rome, with the royal house, and we see that already in the 60s, maybe even at the end of the 50s of the first century, a law was passed according to which everyone who is recognized as a Christian, whether he himself says, If they report him, he must be executed. Christians - to the lions. Can you imagine the situation in which Christianity was born? Now, if we really imagined it this way, really, in life, we would then understand that Christianity should not have existed. It must be destroyed at the very root, at the very beginning, this is precisely what was intended. That is why they killed Christ, that is why they killed His disciples. By the way, every single one of them, except John the Evangelist. All were executed. All their followers. Execution after execution. Christians to the lions. Circuses were filled with spectacles. In Nero's Gardens, Christians were tied up, tarred, and set on fire at nightfall as torches. Tell me, what religion could exist here? And all this continued until 317, with some interruptions. I ask myself: how could Christianity exist, how could it exist, how could it even remain?

I point to this fact as one of the striking arguments indicating that Christianity is not just, you know, some kind of religious philosophy or some kind of sect that arose and you can’t get rid of it. A lot of sects arise, and so they remain these sects. And then they disappear. And this is a religion that later spread throughout the world. Under what conditions!!! It seems to me that this fact alone is enough to believe in God. Only by recognizing this can one understand the existence of Christianity up to the present time. And it could have been destroyed for what reason? Because of apostasy from God. Only for this reason.
This, at least, is a consideration, this historical fact speaks volumes. That Christianity is not the invention of some visionary, dreamer, etc. And then, when we read the Gospel, we see the image of Christ. He is an amazingly sober, let's say, Man. Sober. There are no dreams. Moreover, a Man Who is not eager for power or glory is not an ambitious person. Having resurrected Jairus's twelve-year-old daughter, the first thing He does is order not to tell anyone about it. He heals one leper, another - and orders not to tell anyone about it. Man did not strive for anything earthly. Neither power, nor wealth, nor glory interested Him.

So, I want to say that Christianity has very strong arguments confirming that God really exists and this God is precisely the idea that Christianity gives. In this case, we are entering the sphere of “Christianity and other religions”. Each religion represents God in its own way. Just like Ivan Petrovich over there. Who do you think he is? "Wrongful man." And you? - “Oh, wonderful man.” Do you think so? - “Oh, weak-minded.” And you? - “So this is a genius!” Ask ten people about another person, and sometimes we will hear ten opinions. People felt that God existed. All peoples believed. By the way, this is a very interesting fact: that all peoples have always believed in God. And so far not a single atheistic tribe has been found among the so-called wild peoples. No one. Never. This is a most curious thing. Everyone believed. But it’s one thing to believe that He exists, and another thing to believe who He is! There were, in different nations, strong personalities, or thinkers, or strong “charismatics” who said: “This is who He is. He is such and such.” This is how the Doctrine of God was formed, from bottom to top. There is a feeling of God, there is an idea of ​​God, and who He is has already been proposed by one or another “active creator of religion.”

This is how many ideas about God arose, this is how many religions arose. It got to the point that religions had already appeared that claimed that many Gods existed. Not one God, but many. And this arose, by the way, very simply. I think you and I will also come to this soon. At least there is a tendency towards this. You know that the Greeks had a God of Trade, a God of War, and a God of Love. How did this come about? Well, of course, there is only one God. But then it began to arise in consciousness that there are those who especially patronize this or that type of human activity. This is how degradation began: from the “awareness of one God” came the awareness of the multitude of those who are in charge of each of their areas. It started in Catholicism, and then it began to come to us and, I think, it will really, really take root. This or that saint is in charge of this or that area. In churches now, you often have someone come up to you and ask who to pray to, so that... And that’s it, neither the Lord God nor any other saint - only this saint and no one else is needed. If, for example, the husband is a drunkard, then who needs to pray? No one! And it is necessary in front of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon. If you simply pray to the Mother of God, it will not give anything. An icon of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” is definitely needed. This image of the Mother of God, then it will help. The Mother of God herself was divided! I remember once, back in the 70s, Kremlin doctors came to us, and we took them around our museum. And there, in particular, there is an icon of the Mother of God “Addition of Mind”. So, you know what the discussion was like. One doctor yelled: “My son is studying, give me such an icon!” And the second: “And I have a daughter. Give it to me too." You feel? Now this is at the level of such an easy thought, almost even anecdotal. But in reality this is not a joke at all. It is a very rare occurrence when they come to a priest and ask to serve a prayer service to the Mother of God in order to get rid of the disease of drunkenness. Rather, they will come and ask to serve a prayer service in front of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon, and there will be a queue of them. Hear what's happening. No longer the Mother of God, but an icon. I’m just psychologically depicting how it can happen that people, having once believed in one God, began to believe in many gods. We even excel in this: believing in the Mother of God, we share Her with icons. I remember one old woman gave me a very strong response to my statement that the Mother of God is alone. “Like one Mother of God? And Vladimirskaya? And Iverskaya? And Kazanskaya? Is this what they teach you in seminary?” And I had a blast! Of course, I immediately gave up, there’s nothing to say. This was the process by which faith in one God was disintegrated, even into many gods.

So, how were ideas about God created in people? Each religion believes in its own God, that is, in its own image of God. It turns out that this is how religions differ. In fact, there is, of course, one God. And these ideas about God sometimes reached such distortions that it simply became scary. To the point of complete depravity. To the point of complete Satanism. And here the gods were. So, how is Christianity different from such religions? Let's just think about it. If there is God, if He is Love, He cannot, in the end, not reveal himself to people. He can't help but open up. It opens. That is, there is a path not only from bottom to top, but there is a path from top to bottom. This is what we call Divine revelation. Christianity, unlike other religions, claims to be a revealed religion. In this sense, it is a true religion. I gave you only one argument, a historical argument, showing the conditions under which Christianity developed, how terrible persecutions, tortures and executions the first Christians were subjected to. But the religion remained, spread and became worldwide. This alone suggests that Christianity is not just a product of our fantasies. And this is the religion that was constantly, constantly supported by the power of God. You will not find any explanations, you just have to talk objectively with historians - there are no human reasons to explain the fact of the preservation of Christianity in history. This is where I would like to end the lecture. Now let's talk.

Answers on questions

Now, of course, the situation in our country is such that we are among many religions, or rather, not religions, but worldviews. There are many sects, many representatives of other religions. Catholicism is becoming very active now. This tendency of his is called “eternal”. He has already raised the rank of his dioceses here, or more precisely, of his formations here in Russia. Now several dioceses have arisen, bishops have been appointed, and there is now a metropolitan. And, in general, as you see, the situation in this regard is becoming more and more complex. Moreover, all the calls of our Church and even our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to somehow correlate their activities with the state of affairs that has always taken place in our country, and to take into account Orthodoxy, all these statements of ours remained, in fact, unanswered. Catholicism has finally reached Russia. There’s no way Dad will come to Russia yet. This, of course, is his cherished dream. But he has already been around us. And in Ukraine, and in Armenia, and in Georgia, so we, so to speak, are in a certain Catholic aura, which is now trying to permeate our Church as much as possible. I think that, of course, there are real prerequisites for this.

– Alexey Ilyich, here’s a question: “Is a person who believes in his soul, but does not attend church and does not fast, considered a believer?”

You know, it’s difficult to answer this question in such a general form. Formally speaking, of course not. According to the formal ones. Because if I believe that now someone will run in here and say: “We’re on fire, there’s a fire!” If I believe, they will immediately carry me out either through the door or through the window. And if I don’t believe it, I won’t budge. It's true?
So, how can I say that I believe in my soul, and do not go to a place where only I can come to my senses at least a little? Pray a little. Where can I hear the Gospel, its explanation. If I believe, how can I not go there! If I believe, then I must confess, cleanse my soul, at least a little. What am I, a sinless being, or what? I believe, I'm an angel. So I need to confess, I need to take communion. I need to pray. It’s impossible without this.
Therefore, I will tell you: faith is always effective. If I believe, I will definitely do it. If I don’t do it, it means I don’t believe, it means I just have some idea in my head that doesn’t give any concrete impetus to my life. This remains an abstract idea. Like a point in geometry, without size. Yes, any point, no matter what it is, has dimensions, take any point, on any paper. No! A geometric point has no dimensions. That's how it is here too.
So I very much doubt that such a belief can benefit that person. But I can’t say this completely. Because faith is like a grain, a seed that we plant and which can then sprout, then can grow more, and can become a tree. And even bear fruit.
Therefore, everything depends in this case on the person. If it is a nascent faith, perhaps yes, while he is at this stage. But if a person has believed in God for decades and does not recognize any temple or anything, then I very, very doubt it. I think that this is no longer faith. It’s simple, as Khomyakov, one of our geniuses, said: “not faith, but belief.” Still, it is necessary to somehow distinguish between these two concepts, and in this case I would call it that.

– I have the next question. We are worldly people, we live in the world, and the Savior showed us the way, but I have a wife and children. Where is the line that I should find in this matter? It is clear, saints, they could go into the desert and be saved through this. What about us? How can we find that line so as not to offend our family and friends and not forget ourselves, our salvation.

That's a good question. I will remind you a little of the text, and then perhaps you will see part of the answer. The young man asked Him: what should I do to be saved? Jesus said: Do you know the commandments? - I know. And lists them to him. “I did all this,” says the young man. Then go further, he says, if you want to be perfect, then go and sell your property and give it to the poor. Listen, if you want to be saved, then yes, give up everything, says Jesus. There, in the Gospel, it is written so directly. You see, there are two fundamentally different steps here.
Therefore, regarding us, worldly people, what would I say? We must live according to our conscience. Actually, this is what it all comes down to. All the commandments. If something like this doesn’t work out, then at least sincerely repent. In that they violated. But if someone really wants to achieve more, then we understand that being in our bustle, constantly communicating with people, we are constantly literally sinning. Condemnation alone never leaves our lips. Condemnation alone does what, but envy, jealousy, what not, and hostility? We are spinning here, hitting each other, stabbing each other continuously, straining ourselves every moment, so it is impossible to achieve much here. I told you about a scientist who, in order to write an etymological dictionary, closed himself for literally a year or two. Only then could he do something. And in general, I’ll tell you, no one could do anything great if he did not devote all his strength only to this task and did not renounce everything else. So, if a person wants to be perfect, then yes. Then he really needs to renounce everything that he can really renounce. To the extent that he renounces, to that extent he gains the ability to improve in this matter. That's why they went into the desert, into seclusion, solitude. Do you know what to call them? Greenhouse flowers. Look how lush the flowers are in the greenhouses; these will never grow in the fresh air. So, they were greenhouse flowers. They created exceptional, ideal conditions for spiritual life. And therefore they could achieve more. Something we just can't achieve. We cannot reach a state where we love everyone equally. We can never achieve the goal of loving our enemies. I say love, in the sense of feeling with your heart. We can feel with our minds, we can treat the enemy fairly, but in order to love him - excuse me. I can't do this. They achieved this.
You say - what does this give to a person? The answer to this question is very simple. Anyone who has ever fallen in love knows what it is. So they did: they acquired love, and not falling in love with everything and everyone, and this was their state of mind. This is the state of mind of a lover who is ready to give everything, ready to be walled up, this is what love is. This is the state for which a person is ready to give everything. So, it turns out that the correct Christian life and the perfection that is achieved by a person under special conditions brings amazing results to that person. Yesterday, if anyone was in church, you probably heard the life of Mary of Egypt. I will tell you that what happened to her is a completely unique case in history, and it is humanly impossible to explain it to anyone. So that she, immediately leaving her stormy life, went into the desert and then was there alone for 47 years! This alone is either just a complete fantasy or a fact. And if it’s a fact, then we must understand what was in her soul that she paid everyone for. Neither hunger, nor fears from animals, nor cold, nor complete loneliness, nothing could drive her out of there - such was her condition. That's what perfection is.
Perfection is the maximum approach to God, Who is Love. The Apostle Paul says that spiritual fruit is love and joy. You remember the things he lists. But, unfortunately, we hardly know what it is. We have forgotten about these things. We don't feel it. Therefore, it is now incomprehensible to us how Mary of Egypt could have stayed there. After all, how can one explain the suffering of a martyr? After all, tens, hundreds, thousands died during these 300 years of persecution. Well, how was this possible when I know for sure that every Christian will be given to beasts or crucified or something else will be done to him, and I will accept Christianity? Are you laughing? Why do I need this, what religion is it, why do I need to accept it? And how is it possible to declare oneself a Christian? Or when they offer me to throw a handful of grains into a hot frying pan in front of an idol standing - that’s it, and you’re free. Just everything. And thousands and thousands of people went to a wild, terrible death, but did not renounce. The Great Martyr Eustratius said on this occasion: “This torment is the joy of Thy servants.” We have forgotten these categories. In general, these categories: love, joy – these are real things. And it is precisely the correct Christian life that cleanses the human soul from dirty, unclean, crazy and all other thoughts, feelings and desires. Makes the soul capable of perceiving God, feeling God, experiencing God, and then this soul is filled with truly inexplicable joy, love, etc. This is what excellence brings. But for this you need to free your soul. The soul has certain dimensions: the more it is filled with rubbish, the less useful it is, the more ballast, the less useful cargo. This is what our soul is.
So, what do we beat her with? So, I constantly fill my soul with all sorts of dreams and thoughts. All sorts of films. All sorts of rubbish, hostility. The more I fill my soul with this, the less there is left that can nourish me. And that’s why we don’t worry. There is no joy, no love, the soul dies. What a problem. Therefore, in our worldly life, I believe, we should, as far as possible, strive to live according to our conscience, according to the Gospel. And then, what is also very important: at least with your soul, don’t get attached to anything. Yes, we know: we must do this and that, this is our job, this is our business, we are obliged to do it. But don’t get attached with your soul. Because you know who a rich man is, in the bad sense of the word: one who is attached to his wealth. And this rich man may be the last beggar. Who is the rich man? One who is attached to his possessions, who lives by it, who longs for it, for whom this is the goal of life. That's who the rich man is. And at the same time, a rich person can be a person who does not acquire, he is not attached to it. By the way, I want to say: the more of these ties to the earth, the more difficult it is for a person to die. We need to know this. Because you will have to cut off too thick ropes. You need to not be internally attached to anything. And I will say that it is a great blessing when a person is not attached. And when we: “Oh, my God, what will Princess Marya Alekseevna say!” When we are disturbed by human opinion, when we are disturbed by all sorts of other things, it is difficult for a person, very difficult. Therefore, our task is to fight this tether as much as possible, then we can achieve some kind of freedom.

– By the Providence of God, we can all turn out to be blind instruments in the hands of the Almighty.

There is no need to mix two completely different things here. Human freedom is one thing. I am faced with a choice: I can do good or evil. Because my freedom decides this. And here I am responsible and, accordingly, bear the results of this choice. That's one thing. What do I want to do and what am I already doing within myself? And it’s a completely different matter what I will be allowed to do in relation to other people, the world around me, etc. I can hate someone with fierce hatred and am ready to kill him. But I can’t kill him in any way. I would kill him, but it just doesn’t work. This is where God's Providence operates. But not in my freedom. My freedom remains. That’s why we say that a person can sometimes be outwardly morally pure. That is, what does it mean to be morally pure? Maybe he behaves impeccably in human society and no one will say anything bad about him. Yes, he doesn't steal. He performs his deeds religiously. Everything is fine in his family. In general, everything is fine. Good man. This is the moral side. But inside, this is the spiritual side, he can be completely defeated. We don't know, what does he want? What is he aiming for? What does he dream about, this moral man? What can he dream about? About Slava. If I live entirely by this, waiting for human glory, - this feeling alone, this search for glory already crosses out my entire spiritual life. So inside a person can be proud, and vain, and love-loving, etc. But on the outside he can be a completely moral person.
So, in relation to Cain, for example. The fact that Cain wanted to kill his brother and hated him is a matter of his freedom. His personality. His sin. And the fact that he was allowed to kill Abel is a matter of God’s Providence. Of course, a counter question arises: why was this necessary? Why was Abel killed? He could have lived another 900 years! I think that you and I will not find a final answer to this question, but there is a fundamental answer. I can’t say specifically, but there is a principled answer. There is no glory without achievement. I believe that martyrdom is always one of those moments for a person that brings him special benefit. Either they are atoning for his sins, or they even bring him eternal glory. Not earthly, but eternal. But we look exactly the opposite. Someone was killed somewhere or something happened to someone, we say - it serves him right! He was like this, like this and like this. What does Christianity say? God is Love, He allowed this man to suffer, maybe even repent, we don’t know what other moments, minutes and hours he was alive. Letting one suffer is the great mercy of God. You hear, if you look from the point of view of eternity, our assessments take on a completely different character. In particular, the exact opposite of those to which we are accustomed in this life. We are what he needs, he deserves it. But it turns out that the One who cuts with a knife, with a scalpel, performs the operation. The Savior performs the operation. A completely different understanding of the facts. The fact that God gave Cain to do this is possible, and for him this later served as a subject of repentance. We don't know his future life. And for Abel this served as a crown of glory. This, I think, is how this fact and similar ones can be understood.

– We, Russians, bearers of Orthodoxy, are under the protection of the Mother of God. On the one hand, it takes pride in this, on the other hand, it smacks a little of self-exaltation. How to draw the line here? We, the bearers of Orthodoxy, are sort of like an “Aryan nation,” and the whole world is kind of like nothing.

I think that you have already answered yourself and anticipated my answer. Wherever there is exaltation, know that there is untruth there. This happens all the time: “We are under the protection of the Mother of God.” What it is? What does this mean: that I can do anything, and the Mother of God covers me? Is this what? Again the same reason. Because who says that? These are people who, it seems, accepted Orthodoxy without knowing anything about it, and introduce their worldly, that is, passionate, principles into consciousness. It's just a disaster. I just now told you to serve a prayer service for drunkenness in front of the “Inexhaustible Chalice” icon and no other. If it’s in front of Vladimirskaya, then there won’t be any case. The same is true in front of the “Sovereign” icon, and if not in front of the “Sovereign” icon, then there will be no use. You see, this is no longer the Mother of God, but an icon. This way we will soon come to paganism. It is very dangerous. Icons are images of someone we believe in. Who do we pray to? This is an image. And there are many of these images. There are about 700 images of the Mother of God. Various images before which we pray. Just like there can be as many photographs of you and me as you like. That's the problem. It was the pagans who thought that their images, painted or sculpted, were gods. For this Christianity denounced them.
And it’s the same with Russia. Well, what is it: “We are the third Rome.” Well, Elder Philotheus had such an idea, but he had a completely different idea. What a thought: Rome has fallen, Byzantium has fallen, where else is that center, that state, where Orthodoxy would be the state religion and would have every opportunity to exist, spread and live. Yes, in Russia. Yes, in Moscow. That's just the idea - that's all. Then. But to say that this is forever and will always be so is the same as saying: our ancestors saved Rome. About the same.
The same applies to the cover of the Mother of God. The Protection of the Mother of God is not unconditional. Were the Jewish people the chosen ones? Was. If they rejected Christ, their chosenness was taken away. Nothing and no one can be forever. Everything depends on our will. Well, I will blaspheme God, and the Mother of God will cover me! I will insult Her Son, and she will cover for me? Think for yourself. And Athos says: “No, we are under the protection of the Mother of God.” Greece says: "No, we." Russia: “No, we.” Let's fight. Well, what is this? The protection of God, the saints and the Mother of God is used only by those who really sincerely want to follow the commandments of God. He who rejects these commandments himself rejects this covering. This is the law of life.
You know, in one article I read how Nicholas II was canonized and the author of the article writes, a year after that: “Now for a whole year the royal family has been enjoying heavenly blessings.” Just think, this is written by a new theologian, I know him, he is an engineer by training, a mathematician, and suddenly - this is all his knowledge of theology. It turns out that before this, before canonization, it didn’t matter, even if they were saints, they didn’t enjoy it, but after canonization, they did. And if they decanonize him, ask him, then what will happen? Then back to the underworld, right? Well, what kind of logic is this!
It is from such views, from such an understanding of things, that such views are formed. It's very sad, I tell you. Christianity says one thing: until a person humbles himself, God cannot approach him. And he can’t do anything to him. “Go away,” he says, “Lord, I will do it myself.” Until he humbles himself, no one can begin to approach him, but God Himself. Do you understand now why pride is the most terrible thing? This is vanity, this pride, this is I - this is We. These are the surest means of breaking away from God. God opposes no one more than the proud. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is how I understand this situation.

Slava writes: is it good, is it right, as a Christian, to have a goal in life? If you cannot answer definitively, say so. What does the Bible say about this? Do you yourself have a goal towards which you are moving, or do you simply live, fulfilling the commandments of the Lord, and He leads you, showing you where to turn at each moment?

Greetings to you in the Lord, Glory!

The goal of any person’s life is to change from glory to glory under the influence of the Holy Spirit (), to proclaim more and more clearly the perfections of the Creator and Savior (). Proclaiming does not mean going around and telling everyone how good God is, although that is also part of proclamation. But the most important thing is to live and act as His child should live and act, think as His real child should think, feel as His child will feel.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”() (the Greek word translated here as “feelings” also means: “to think, to think, to contemplate, to ponder, to reason”).

I think you will agree that there is no higher goal than to become like God. All other goals pale in comparison to the infinity that appears before us when we understand that we were not born to sit in front of the TV all day long or discuss other people’s problems or satisfy our ever-wanting flesh, not to to become the most famous and brilliant, with a lot of money and opportunities, but in order to be like God ().

“Everything in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not from the Father, but from this world. And the world passes, and its lust, and he who does the will of God abides forever» ().

What is God's will for us? He wants us to be “blameless and pure, children of God without blemish among a crooked and perverse generation, in whom you shine as lights in the world.”() This is the will of God - for us to shine with His light, the light of His righteousness, holiness, justice, love.

I believe your question relates to goals that can be called minimum goals: now I’ll finish school, then I’ll work for a year, then I’ll go to college, then I’ll get married, have two children and work in such and such a company, grow professionally, etc. Very good goals because they show that you want to develop. However, it is important to remember that they are not main, but secondary to what God expects from you. You should not see the meaning of your life in these mini-goals. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” ().

The most difficult thing for any person is to say to God: “I want to fulfill the goals that You have set for me. Let Your goals become mine. I believe that You will lead me through life so that I can do everything for which You brought me into this world.”, but it seems to me that this is the only way to not only fulfill God’s commandments, but live joyfully and confidently, fulfilling them. David knew this very well, so he prayed like this:

“Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me into the land of righteousness.".

“Show me, O Lord, Your ways and teach me Your paths. Guide me to Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; I hope in You every day".

With love in Christ,
Sasha.

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His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus'

Word of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill on Great Wednesday in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on April 11, 2012

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Today, on Great Wednesday, we remember an event that is of great importance for the Christian’s understanding of what is the most important, most essential thing in the Christian way of life, in the way of life of a believer, which distinguishes it from another way of life - the way of life of people who do not know God, do not recognize Him and have no connection with Him.

What happened in the house of Simon the leper (Matthew 26:6-16), when a woman, a harlot, poured precious myrrh on the Savior and this act aroused a feeling of malice and hatred in the soul of Judas, teaches us a lot. In fact, the woman probably gave all her money and everything she had to buy this precious liquid, which was used to anoint kings in ancient times. It was truly a huge material value, and by pouring this ointment on the head and body of the Savior, she seemed to devote all of herself and everything that she had to the Lord.

No personal feelings can be driving here - here is a certain deepest idea, a certain worldview, which, of course, that woman could never formulate and leave to us. But we, thinking about this act, can clearly determine what kind of worldview it is and what kind of way of life it is that made a righteous woman out of a sinner. At the center of this way of life is a person’s willingness and ability to sacrifice himself, with what he has, with what is dear to him, in the name of God.

How crazy this way of life seems for people who do not know God and do not recognize Him! Judas, who was next to the Savior, was one of His disciples, should have been imbued with these thoughts and this way of life, because he saw the Savior, knew about the coming suffering, because the Lord repeatedly said that He had to die and be crucified . Judas could not help but remember these words - he saw before him the One who gives His life in the name of God's truth. And what? This example and these words did not touch Judas. And the sinful woman, who was probably despised by many and did not hear the words that Judas heard, who was not as close to the Savior as Judas was, felt in her heart the need, the need to pour out everything on the Sufferer, who was going to death to atone for the sins of the human race. that she had.

Judas is indignant, and this indignation is recorded in the Gospel of John. It is he, and not just one of the apostles, who says: “Why such a waste? Wouldn’t it be better to sell this precious ointment?,” and then, as if catching himself, adds: "and give to the poor". Judas did not think about the poor, as the evangelist testifies, but he spoke so because he was a thief. It was he who carried the box that contained the money of all the apostles - each of them did not have his own personal funds, but contributed everything he had to the common treasury, and from there received what he needed. So, it was Judas who was the keeper of this box and put his sinful hand into it, otherwise the evangelist would not have called him a thief.

From the point of view of Judas, the woman’s act is madness, because you should not give to someone, but take, and, if necessary, then not only take it fairly for your labors, as God has blessed, for every worker is worthy of food, but also in an unjust way, stealing, offending and bringing suffering to other people. What's the difference? Whether another suffers or does not suffer, as long as I feel good. The way of life and way of thinking that Judas shared was a godless way of life and a godless way of thinking, in which there is no God, no fear of God, no high idea - at its center is man himself, for whom any way to satisfy his own sinful desires is possible.

And we know how this one the godless lifestyle is still often dressed up in light clothes. Sometimes, blaming the Church, they say: why have churches with golden domes? Why should the clergy who stand before the throne of God have vestments? Maybe it would be better to sell it all and give it to the poor? These people do not care about the poor - they care about themselves, because a non-believer cannot understand someone who believes in God, who devotes himself to God through serving his neighbor. After all, a harlot poured precious myrrh on her neighbor, and she served her neighbor, compassionate with Him in His sufferings and sorrows, and thus served God. When we serve God, we always have enough strength to serve our neighbor, we have enough understanding to build our lives in such a way as to share our resources, our opportunities, be they material, intellectual or spiritual, with other people. It is this way of life that is blessed by God, and therefore every person is called to give more than to take: “It is more blessed to give than to receive”(Acts 20:35).

Today we remember the act of the woman who poured myrrh on the head of the Savior, and the act of Judas, who was not only indignant contemplating this feat, but at that moment he decided to go and betray the Savior. Memories of these events give us a clear idea that rejection of God’s world and rejection of a religious way of life entail resistance to God and struggle with Him. It was at this moment that Judas became a traitor - when his worldview and worldview collided with a different outlook on life and a different way of life, igniting a terrible hatred that could no longer be stopped. And, as you know, he followed this path of hatred and resistance to the Lord to the end, betraying Him to torture and death.

It is no coincidence that the Lord says: wherever the Gospel is preached, the whole world will know what this woman did as great example of serving God, How a great and holy example of sacrifice and the ability to give of oneself to one’s neighbors, which is perceived in the eyes of God as the greatest divine service, as a sacrifice to God. AND we are all called today this gospel narrative to such service to God through service to our neighbor, which alone is capable of saving our souls and transforming the world around us. Amen.

Anthony Dulevich, head of the missionary department of the Kyzyl diocese. Reflections on the words of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain.

“So, there is nothing left that we could still ask from our Savior and, having received it, we would say with Philip: “Lord, it is enough for us!” (John 14:8). If we begin to look for something better for our life, then He will tell us: “This Sacrament that I have given you is the fullness of all blessings, and I have nothing greater than it. I have given you all the good things in this Bread and in this Wine.” ("Instructions of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain").

What an amazing and wonderful thought of the holy Athonite ascetic! If a believer sincerely and wholeheartedly accepts these words, then his attitude towards all the blessings and honors of this world will radically change. Moreover, I am convinced that faith in the truthfulness of this thought of St. Nicodemus can give a Christian freedom from everything that is passing and superficial (if, of course, he does not have it). If a person does not have a family, children, work or position in society, there is no reason for despondency, because he has the opportunity to accept the Most Precious Blood of our Savior. Blood, a drop of which is not worth the entire Universe.

The meaning of Christian life is union with God. On earth, this union occurs most closely through the Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. If a person, calling himself a Christian, believes that there can be something greater in his life than the communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord, then he does not have an Orthodox worldview. If a Christian is convinced that there is nothing more important and significant in earthly life than union with Christ in the Sacrament of Holy Communion, then the desire of someone who thinks like this not to approach the Chalice as often as possible looks at least strange. But many, while verbally affirming this truth, for some reason do not strive to receive communion more often.

There are no saints who would object to frequent Communion. On the contrary, almost in unison they say the opposite. “And this is the opinion of all saints, that there is no salvation without communion and there is no success in life without frequent communion,”- wrote Saint Theophan the Recluse. And Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) taught that the petition “Give us this day our daily bread” imposes on Christians the obligation of daily communion with the Holy Mysteries, which is missed today. There is no need to list all the holy teachers of the Church who called for regular participation in the main Sacrament. One can only pay attention to the joint work of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain and St. Macarius of Corinth, “On the Continuous Communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ,” in which, relying on Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, these saints respond to 14 objections of opponents of frequent communion. The canons of the Church also call for Communion at every Liturgy. The ninth rule of the Holy Apostles subjects a layman to penance who is at the Liturgy but does not receive communion. And the second rule of the Council of Antioch also speaks of the excommunication from the Church of those who were at the Liturgy and did not want to receive communion. The interpreter of this rule, Zonara, emphasizes that reprimand is imposed on those who do not receive communion, supposedly out of reverence and humility. And this is easy to explain. What kind of humility can we talk about if at the Divine Liturgy Christ, through the lips of the priest, addresses all the faithful: “Come and eat,” “Drink from Her, all of you,” and the faithful cross themselves and bow, but, neglecting the words of the Lord, do not go to receive communion, as if and Christ did not address them at all? Saint John Chrysostom teaches: “If you are unworthy of communion, then you are also unworthy of participation (in the Liturgy of the faithful, and therefore in prayers)... ...If someone, being invited to a feast, expressed consent to this, appeared and would have already begun the meal, but then would not to participate in it, then - tell me - would he not offend the one who invited him?. These are the formidable words that Saint Chrysostom speaks to those who do not want to approach the Holy Chalice! Of course, this does not apply to those who are under penance, women in uncleanness, and those who entered the Liturgy, passing by the temple and initially not intending to participate in the Divine Service.

A Christian's trust in God is tested by his attitude towards the Divine Liturgy and Holy Communion. If we believe that the Blood of Christ contains everything we need, then the Divine Eucharist will become for a Christian the center of all life, from which rays will emanate, sanctifying all his activities. Thoughts of little faith do not agree and try to prove that if you participate in the Liturgy every day, you simply won’t have time to do anything. Saint Theophan the Recluse answered the nuns (but I am sure that this is also true for the laity who have the opportunity to attend the Liturgy every day) to this bewilderment: “Let the urge not tempt you, firstly, to omit this or that Divine service, to complete the required work out of necessity. Remember that work is not successful when there is no blessing from God on it, and this blessing must be attracted and brought down from heaven. .. With what and where? Prayer in church. When a blessing is asked, then one hour will replace the work of a whole day, while without it everything is torn and confused, and the day passes in vain." No social or missionary activity can be more important than the Eucharistic life. After all, without sanctifying their souls at the Liturgy and without uniting as often as possible with Christ in Holy Communion, a Christian will not have the strength to regularly help those in need. It’s the same with a mission: by receiving communion and having Christ within himself, the missionary brings Him to the people. By placing Holy Communion at the forefront, a Christian receives blessing from God for all his other affairs. The King of kings is present in the Eucharistic Chalice with His Body and Blood. And where the King is, there is His Kingdom. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

There are other words of the Monk Nicodemus, prompting a number of thoughts: “Our Lord wants one thing: to unite with your damned soul, but you do not want to unite with Him - the all-surpassing Good? The Creator shows such ardent love, but the dust shows such coldness? The Lord deigns to live in you and make you His home, but you, an ungrateful creature, slam the door in front of Him and don’t want to let Him in? By showing such ingratitude, you become like those Jews who in the desert wanted Egyptian onions and garlic, that is, carnal pleasures. What else should God do to overcome your insensibility and inhumanity? . The Lord wants to unite with us! This thought forces us to consider the issue of Communion from a different angle. If we are children of God, then we must try to please Our Heavenly Father. If He wants us to unite with Him in Communion, then what can we do but run to the Chalice? Of course, a perfect God wants to be with us all the time, and not just on Sundays. Therefore, He arranges His Divine meal for us every day. This thought of Saint Nicodemus is an additional motivation against human laziness and coldness: if you yourself do not want to go to receive communion due to negligence, then remember that God wants to unite with you, and go (of course, having previously prepared) to please Him.

These are two beautiful and in some ways even radical thoughts about the Christian’s attitude to Holy Communion that the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain left us. Everyone can draw a conclusion for himself: does he believe these words of the Athos saint? After all, if we trust these words, then they oblige us to a lot.

Reference*

The Monk Nikodim Svyatogorets was born in Greece in 1749 from well-behaved parents Anthony and Kalivursi. At baptism he was named Nicholas. From an early age, the monk strives for purification of the heart and an equal life with the angels. He received his education in Naxos from the parish priest. Then, at the age of fifteen, his father sent him to school in Smyrna. In addition to theological disciplines and ancient Greek, Nikolai is studying Italian, French and Latin. In 1770, during the time of persecution of Christians by the Turkish authorities, Nicholas left the city of Smyrna and returned to his homeland - Naxos. In 1775, he goes to the holy Mount Athos, where he undergoes obedience at the Dionysiata monastery. In the same year, Nicholas was tonsured a monk with the name Nicodemus, and he completely devoted himself to spiritual exploits. Every day, studying the law of God and studying the patristic writings, he completely mortifies the thoughts and movements of the flesh through intense fasting and constant mental prayer.
In 1778, the Monk Nikodim the Svyatogorets took on the great angelic image - the schema - and settled in the cell of Feonas. While laboring there, the holy father instructs those who come to him with wise and divinely inspired words, conducts an in-depth study of the manuscripts of many Athonite monasteries, becomes an active publisher and popularizer of the patristic works that he authored and translated into the popular language, and begins to actively collaborate with many modern public and church figures. In the last years of his earthly life, he changed the place of his exploits several times. On July 1, 1809, in the sixtieth year of his life, the Monk Nicodemus departed to the Lord. He was buried in the Skurteon cell in Kareya. Canonized by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1955.