The question of the origin of evil in the world worried the minds of many philosophers, writers and religious figures of different faiths. We invite readers to familiarize themselves with the report on this topic by a second-year student of the magistracy of the Moscow Theological Academy, read at the scientific student conference "Actual Issues of Modern Theological Science" (MDA, May 1-2, 2017). Published in the author's edition.
Introduction
Throughout human history, each person experiences the burden of evil existing in the world, which has literally penetrated into all spheres of human life. It is no coincidence that the apostle and evangelist John the Theologian has the following words: The whole world lies in evil (John 5:19). And, in fact, evil is an essential attribute of a fallen world.
Perhaps one of the most important and complex questions of mankind is the following: “How did evil appear? And what does it represent?” And on what answer we will have to it, the human perception of the entire universe and the attitude of people to God will depend. In this regard, it is extremely important to get the right answer to the question posed.
In the modern world, evil means primarily suffering. T.Yu. writes well about this. Borodai: "Modernity is increasingly inclined to understand by "evil" exclusively or predominantly suffering." But the patristic tradition has its own understanding of evil. And it, by the way, practically does not correspond to modern representation. As Priest Stefan (Domuschi) writes, “all Christian argumentation was built on a certain understanding of what evil is. And although suffering was also talked about in detail, it was extremely rarely identified with evil as such.
The origin of evil in the angelic world
To begin with, it should be said about how evil appeared in our world. And here, first of all, it is worth noting that the holy fathers unanimously denied the connection between the appearance of evil and God. For example, St. Basil the Great says: “It is impious to say that evil has its origin from God, because the opposite does not happen from the opposite.” And in Theophilus of Antioch one can find such a statement: “Nothing evil was originally created by God, but everything was beautiful.” You can quote a lot of quotations from the holy fathers about this. But if God is not the source of evil, then where did it come from? As Lossky V.N. says: "Evil has its origin in the angelic worlds." And, indeed, it was in the midst of the invisible world that evil first appeared.
Most of the holy fathers and church writers believe that the angelic world was created by God before the appearance of the material world. As perfect beings, absolutely all angels had freedom. And one of the closest angels to God, named Dennitsa, having abused his freedom, opposed his Creator and fell away from Him; besides this, he drew many other angels with him. This is how fallen spirits appeared in the world. And initially all the fallen angels were good. You can find a number of statements from the holy fathers about this. For example, St. Anthony the Great writes: “Demons are called so not because they were created like that. God didn't do anything evil. On the contrary, they were created to be good.” The same can be found in St. Macarius the Great: "All rational beings, I mean Angels, demons and souls, the Creator created pure."
The holy fathers are unanimous in their opinion that Satan fell away from God absolutely voluntarily, no one pushed him to do this. For example, St. Cyril of Jerusalem writes the following about this: “The first culprit of sin and the father of evil is the devil.<…>No one has sinned before him. He sinned not because he received from nature the necessary inclination to sin; he, having been created good, from his own will became the devil, having received this name from actions.
The Holy Fathers see the reason for Dennitsa's falling away in his pride, namely, in the fact that he wanted to take the place of God. In St. Anthony the Great we find the following words: "Pride and arrogance cast the devil out of Heaven into the underworld." Saint Gregory the Theologian not only writes that Satan fell because of pride, but also adds that, because of his envy, he dragged other angels along with him: “So he [the devil] is cast down from his heavenly circle for exaltation; but fell not alone. And inasmuch as his insolence ruined him, he dragged many into the fall, precisely all those whom he had taught sin, just as an intruder who inclined the royal army to treason, carried him away - out of envy of the God-wise host of the King in heaven and out of a desire to reign over many evil ones.
Thus, the appearance of evil originates in the angelic (invisible) world. Satan, being created as a good angel, voluntarily (because of pride) fell away from his Creator, and because of his envy, he took with him some of the other angels. At the same time, I would also like to quote the statement of Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) that “the doctrine of the voluntary falling away of the devil from God is the answer to the eternal question of any philosophy about the origin of evil.”
The origin of evil in the material world
In the visible world, evil appeared when Adam and Eve in Paradise violated God's commandment and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. The third chapter of the book of Genesis talks about this at some length. From this place it is clear that evil was suggested to the ancestors by the serpent. In the form of a serpent, as the holy fathers say, there was a devil who, out of envy, seduced people. Despite the fact that the devil took some part in the fall of the forefathers, the responsibility for the violation of the commandment remains with Adam and Eve, because Satan only offered to eat the forbidden fruit, he did not force the forefathers to do this. But why did people listen to the devil? St. John Chrysostom writes the following: "The first man fell into sin from pride, desiring to be equal with God." Indeed, pride is the root of the ancestral fall, because man wished to become a god apart from God. All this led to tragic consequences that affected not only the ancestors, but the whole of humanity.
Reflecting on the fall into sin, St. Cyril of Alexandria posed a very interesting question: “If created man had to reach such a great misfortune, then is it not fair to think that it would be much better for him not to have being?” At the same time, the saint recalls the words of the Savior: ... it would be better for that person not to be born (Mark 14:21). Nevertheless, answering this question, St. Cyril gave important arguments in favor of the appearance of people. First, according to the saint, being as a gift of God is in itself better than non-being; secondly, God gave man not just life, but a blissful life in paradise, and finally, thirdly, a person in the future must become a partaker of God's grace, but since sin became an obstacle on the way to this glory, the Lord found a suitable remedy: decay of human flesh and subsequent death. “The death of the flesh has been invented with benefit,” says the saint, “not leading the animal to perfect destruction, but rather to renewal and, so to speak, to the future alteration, observing it, like a broken vessel. And that a living being would have to endure incorruption, the Builder did not know this, but on the contrary, he knew that along with this, the destruction of obscene deeds, and the destruction of corruption, and the elevation to a better state, and the perception of the original blessings would follow.
The Holy Fathers speak a lot about the sad consequences of the Fall. St. John Chrysostom writes that after the violation of the commandment, people became mortal: “Although they (Adam and Eve) lived for many years, but from the very minute they heard: Dust you are and to dust you will return (Gen. 3:19), they received death sentence, became mortal." According to the thought of St. Macarius the Great, people suffered first spiritual death, and then physical: “As in the transgression of Adam, when the goodness of God condemned him to death, he first underwent death in his soul, because the intelligent feelings of the soul became quenched in him and, as it were, mortified by the deprivation of heavenly and spiritual delights; afterwards, after nine hundred and thirty years, bodily death also befell Adam. Also, St. Macarius says that after eating the forbidden fruit, a person’s nature was distorted and he fell under the power of Satan: free from his power, not a single member of her, neither thoughts, nor mind, nor body, but clothed her in a purple of darkness. Saint Theophilus of Antioch writes about the physical suffering that befell a person after the fall: “For disobedience, a person endured labor, sorrow, illness, and, finally, death.”
The nature of evil
The holy fathers and church writers sought to find out what evil is in itself and whether it has its own nature.
Clement of Alexandria is the first ecclesiastical writer to explain evil from an ontological point of view. He writes that God is good, and everything that He created is also good. At the same time, evil, which God did not create, does not have its own existence, it is outside good and is either its absence or its opposite. “Evil is the opposite of good, just as justice is the opposite of injustice,” writes Clement. At the same time, as P.B. Mikhailov, "the definition of evil as the absence or deprivation of good for Clement means an indication of the absence of God or removal from God, who is the Highest Good." As confirmation of this point of view, there is the following passage from Clement's "Educator": “Where the Lord turns with his face, there is peace and joy; and from where it turns away, evil begins to creep in. God does not want to see evil, because He is good. If He turns away His face from somewhere, He does it because of people's unbelief, and evil develops there. At the same time, Clement notes that evil cannot be a source of good: “Evil cannot give birth to good, just as light cannot give rise to darkness or cold to heat. Evil cannot do good because its nature is evil and it blinds like darkness.
Thus, Clement defends a position according to which evil in the ontological sense does not have a nature and independent existence, but is the absence of good or its opposite.
Origen was also concerned with the nature of evil. Reflecting on this issue, the church author speaks of a passage from the Gospel of John: Everything came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being that came into being (John 1:3). Here Origen poses the following question: "Does not the concept of" all "evil and vice include in itself?" Answering it, Origen writes that among what God has created, there is nothing bad and unnecessary. At the same time, he says that evil does not have a nature and essence: "Defect is non-substantial." Indeed, since evil, according to the ecclesiastical author, is non-existent, it has an apparent existence, and not from God and not from the Son of God, therefore it cannot be considered that evil is included in the concept of “everything” in the above Gospel passage.
At the same time, Origen points out that the source of evil is rooted in free will: “Every (man) will has a reason for the wickedness that dwells in him. This wickedness is evil; hence evil and pernicious are those actions that come from wickedness, and strictly speaking, in nothing else ... evil cannot be assumed.
Thus, Origen, following Clement of Alexandria, writes that evil does not have its own nature and essence; therefore, it does not have an independent existence, while evil is a lack of good.
Saint Athanasius the Great partly touched upon the theme of the nature of evil. Thus, St. Athanasius asserts that good is a being, and evil is a non-existent. He explains it this way: “And I call things that are good, inasmuch as they have patterns for themselves in God who is; but the non-existent I call evil, since the non-existent is produced by human inventions. Therefore, evil has no nature of its own. At the same time, God is not the source of evil, therefore it did not always exist, but had its origin in the created world.
Reflections on the theme of the nature of evil can also be found in the works of St. Basil the Great. Denying God's involvement in the appearance of evil, the saint rejects the opinion that evil can have its own nature: "Do not consider God guilty of the existence of evil, and do not imagine that evil has its own special independence." Saint Basil gives various definitions of evil. So, in one place he says that "evil is not a living and animated entity", in another - "evil is the deprivation of good", in the third - "every evil is a mental illness." It is no coincidence that P.F. Smirnov writes the following: "Evil, according to Basil the Great, obviously does not have substantiality and originality and therefore does not exist forever, as a special beginning."
The source of evil, according to St. Basil the Great, is rooted in free will: "Evil, taken in the proper sense, originated in arbitrary falls." The saint also writes that evil is “a state of the soul, opposite to virtue, and occurring in the careless through falling away from good.” Consequently, evil "appeared already in creation, generated by the free will of rational creatures created by the good."
Thus, evil, according to St. Basil the Great, does not have its own nature and independent existence. Evil is the deprivation of good. The source of evil is not in God, but in the free will of rational creatures.
Saint Gregory of Nyssa spoke a lot on this subject. According to V.I. Nesmelov, St. Gregory’s reflections on the topic of evil were deeper than those of his predecessors: “Unlike others, he [St. depth and originality of its philosophical justification and disclosure. He quite rightly understood that it is impossible to talk about the origin of evil unless it is determined in advance how it should be understood, and therefore the starting point of his teaching was the question: what is the essence of evil? In order to give a correct answer to this question, according to St. Gregory, it is necessary to consider the relationship between the concepts of “good” and “evil”. At the same time, under the good, the saint understands, first of all, virtue, and under evil - vice. Reflecting on this topic, St. Gregory came to the following conclusion: “The difference between virtue and vice is presented not as a difference between any two hypostatic phenomena. On the contrary, just as the non-existent is opposed to the existent, and it cannot be said that the non-existent is hypostatically different from the existent, we affirm that non-being is opposite to being; in the same way, vice is opposed to the concept of virtue, not as something existing in itself, but as something understood by the absence of a better thing. It follows from this that good has existence and evil does not. As an example that would give an explanation for this difference, the saint cites the following: “And, as we say that blindness is the opposite of sight, by blindness we mean not something that exists in itself, but the deprivation of a previous ability, so we affirm that vice is also seen in the deprivation of good - as if a kind of shadow that appears after the removal of the beam. At the same time, A.R. Fokin notes that "good or good, in his words, exists as something that exists, normal, primordial, natural." St. Gregory has an absolutely different attitude towards evil. “Evil appears only when good disappears, and has existence only in this violation of the primordial, normal order, that is, in other words, it has no existence at all, as a special, independent phenomenon that could exist simultaneously and next to good, as its opposite,” writes V.I. Nesmelov. Confirmation of these thoughts are the following words of the saint: “Depravity is not worthy in itself, but deprivation of goodness is constituted. But the good is always the same, and constantly abides, and is formed without any prior deprivation of anything.<…>And depravity is the deprivation of being, and not being. Evil is not only “deprivation of good,” but, as the saint writes, “lack of good”: “Evil is nothing but vice. Every vice, not as something existing in itself and turning out to be independent, has that distinctive feature that it is a lack of good.
At the same time, St. Gregory writes that the source of evil lies in the free will of rational creatures: “For outside free will there is no inherent evil.” A similar statement can be found elsewhere: "Evil, taken outside the will, does not exist in itself."
Thus, St. Gregory of Nyssa believes that evil has no nature and does not have its own existence, but is a deprivation, a deficiency or the opposite of good, because it appears only when good ceases to exist.
We should also cite the statements of theologians who summarize the thoughts of the holy fathers and church authors of the 2nd - 5th centuries. about the nature of evil. As V.N. Lossky: “In the essential aspect, the fathers believe that evil does not exist, that it is only the deprivation of being.” Therefore, evil does not have its own nature, it is "the state in which the nature of personal beings who have turned away from God exists." The same idea can be found in Archpriest Oleg Davydenkov, who writes about it this way: “From a Christian point of view, evil is not nature, but a state of nature, or, more precisely, a state of the will of a rational being, falsely directed towards God.” Priest Stefan Domuschi also shares this position: "Evil is not an entity, it does not exist in the world, like objects or living beings, but is a state of will."
Conclusion
Thus, according to the generally accepted patristic teaching, God is not the creator of evil. It appeared first in the angelic world, when one of the most perfect angels, due to pride, fell away from his Creator, and a number of other angels followed his example. In the material world, evil originates from the moment when the forefathers, on the advice of the devil, violated God's commandment and ate from the forbidden tree, for which they were expelled from paradise. The consequences of this exile were very tragic not only for the first people, but for the entire human race, because people lost direct communication with God, their nature was distorted, and they fell under the power of evil spirits.
The holy fathers and church writers are unanimous in the opinion that evil, unlike good, does not have its own nature, it also does not have an independent existence. Evil is a deprivation, lack or opposite of good, because it appears only when good at some point ceases to exist. The source of evil is rooted in the free will of sentient beings. It was the abuse of freedom that gave birth to evil.
Boroday T.Yu. The birth of a philosophical concept. God and matter in the dialogues of Plato. M., 2008. S. 187.
Domuschi S., Jer. The problem of theodicy in the history of philosophy and Orthodox theology // Spiritual Traditions of the Peoples "Eurasia": Journal of Interdisc. research in the field of religion and culture. M., 2012. S. 231.
Basil the Great, St. Conversations on the Six Days. Conversation 2 // Complete collection of works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. S. 341.
Theophilus of Antioch, St. Epistle to Autolycus. Book. 2, 17 // Early Church Fathers. Anthology. Brussels, 1988, p. 483.
St. Athanasius the Great: “God did not create anything evil” (Athanasius the Great, St. Life of St. Anthony the Great, 22 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creation. Part 3. STSL., 1903. P. 197.).
St. Athanasius the Great: “Evil is not from God and not in God” (Athanasius the Great, St. Word on the Gentiles, 7 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creation. Part 1. STSL., 1902. P. 133.).
St. Gregory of Nyssa: “God, the Creator of beings, is not the cause of evil” (Gregory of Nyssa, St. Big catechumen, 7 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creation. Part 4. M., 1862. P. 27.).
St. Diadochus of Photiki: "God did not create anything evil." (Diadokh, Bishop Photiki. The ascetic word, divided into one hundred active chapters, filled with knowledge and spiritual reasoning, 3 // Philokalia. T. III. M., 1900. P. 9.).
Lossky V.N. Dogmatic theology // Lossky V.N. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. dogmatic theology. STSL., 2012. S. 476.
See Davydenkov O., prot. dogmatic theology. M., 2014. S. 241.
Athanasius the Great, St. Life of St. Anthony the Great, 22 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 3. STSL., 1903. S. 197.
Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual Conversations. Conversation 16, 1 // Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. S. 129.
Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Teachings are categorical. Second catechetical teaching, 4 // Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Teachings are categorical and secret. M. 2010. S. 25.
Anthony the Great, St. Feats and good deeds in particular // Philokalia. T. I. M., 1895. S. 135.
Gregory the Theologian, St. Theological Poems. Word 7. About smart entities // Complete collection of works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. II. M., 2007. S. 23.
Hilarion (Alfeev), Met. Mystery of Faith. M., 2017. S. 41.
For example, see: Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the culprit of evil, 8 // Complete collection of works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. S. 952. John Chrysostom, St. Conversations on the book of Genesis. Conversation 16, 2 // John Chrysostom, St. Creations. T. IV. Book. 1. St. Petersburg, 1898, p. 128.
John Chrysostom, St. Interpretation of the Holy Evangelist Matthew. Conversation 65, 6 // John Chrysostom, St. Creation. T. VII. Book. 2. St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 671.
Cyril of Alexandria, St. Γλαφυρά or skillful explanations of selected passages from the book of Genesis. I, 3 // Cyril of Alexandria, St. Creation. T. IV. M., 1886. S. 14.
Cyril of Alexandria, St. Γλαφυρά or skillful explanations of selected passages from the book of Genesis. I, 4 // Cyril of Alexandria, St. Creation. T. IV. M., 1886. S. 17.
John Chrysostom, St. Conversations on the book of Genesis. Conversation 17, 9 // John Chrysostom, St. Creations. T. IV. Book. 1. St. Petersburg, 1898, p. 153.
Macarius the Great, St. Word 7. On the freedom of the mind, 26 // Macarius the Great, st. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. S. 379-380.
Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual Conversations. Conversation 2, 1 // Macarius the Great, St. Spiritual conversations, messages, words. M. 2004. S. 30.
Theophilus of Antioch, St. Epistle to Autolycus. Book. 2, 25 // Early Church Fathers. Anthology. Brussels, 1988, p. 489.
See: Russell D.B. Satan. The Perception of Evil in the Early Christian Tradition. SPb., 2001. S. 99.
Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. I. Book 2, 8:39 // Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. I. SPb., 2003. S. 283.
Ponomarev A.V., Mikhailov P.B., Fokin A.R., Seregin A.V., Smirnov D.V., Sudakov A.K., Shokhin V.K., Kazaryan A.T. Evil // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. XX. M., 2009. S. 212.
Clement of Alexandria. Teacher 1, 8 // URL: http://www.reformed.org.ua/2/196/1/Quement%20of%20Alexandria (date of access: 10.04.17)
Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. III. Book. 6, 17:159 // Clement of Alexandria. Stromata. T. III. SPb., 2003. S. 86.
Origen. Commentaries on the Gospel of John II 13, 93 // Cited. by: Collection. Cosmos and Soul (Second Issue). Teachings about nature and thinking in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and Modern times / Ed. A.V. Seryogin. M.: 2010. S. 166.
Origen. against Celsus. Book. 4, 65 // Origen. About beginnings. against Celsus. SPb., 2008. S. 751.
Athanasius the Great, St. Word on the Gentiles, 4 // Athanasius the Great, St. Creations. Part 1. STSL., 1902. S. 130.
See: Ibid., 7 // Ibid. S. 133.
Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the culprit of evil, 5 // Complete collection of works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. S. 949.
Basil the Great, St. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the culprit of evil, 5 // Ibid. S. 949.
Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev IX, 4 // Ibid. S. 423.
Smirnov P.F. The essence of evil according to the teachings of St. Basil the Great // Christian reading. SPb., 1907. No. 2. S. 239.
Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev II, 5 // Complete collection of works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers in Russian translation. T. III. M., 2008. S. 342.
Basil the Great, St. Conversations on Shestodnev II, 4 // Ibid. S. 341.
Smirnov P.F. The essence of evil according to the teachings of St. Basil the Great // Christian reading. SPb., 1907. No. 2. S. 240.
Nesmelov V.I. The dogmatic system of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Kazan, 1887. S. 406-407.
Gregory of Nyssa, St. Big catechumen, 6 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creations. Part 4. M., 1862. S. 22.
Fokin A.R., Litvinova L.V., Turilov A.A., E.P.A., Lukashevich A.A., Shevchenko E.V. Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa // Orthodox Encyclopedia. T. XII. M., 2006. S. 506.
Nesmelov V.I. The dogmatic system of Saint Gregory of Nyssa. Kazan, 1887, p. 408.
Gregory of Nyssa, St. Conversations at Ecclesiastes, 5 // Gregory of Nyssa, St. Creations. Part 2. M., 1861. S. 276-277.
Gregory of Nyssa, St. Big catechumen, 7 // Ibid. Part 4. M., 1862. S. 27.
Gregory of Nyssa, St. Conversations at Ecclesiastes 7 // Ibid. Part 2. M., 1861. S. 326.
Lossky V. N. Dogmatic theology // Lossky V. N. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church. dogmatic theology. STSL., 2012. S. 475.
Davydenkov O., prot. dogmatic theology. M., 2014. S. 259-260.
Domuschi. S., Jer. The problem of theodicy in the history of philosophy and Orthodox theology // Spiritual Traditions of the Peoples "Eurasia": Journal of Interdisc. research in the field of religion and culture. M., 2012. S. 238.
The struggle between good and evil, as a person grows up, passes from children's fairy tales into real life. This choice is made daily, even in the most insignificant trifles. The book "Wise Thoughts", which was published in , contains statements, dialogues and stories of holy ascetics of the first centuries of Christianity - the golden age of monasticism.
Foreword
Our ideas about the world around us in childhood are formed through the concepts of "good" and "bad", "good" and "evil". Each of us has an inner judge. This is conscience. No wonder conscience is called the voice of God. Without sensitivity to the voice of conscience, the soul of a person comes into a deplorable state and is struck by a craving for various vices. And conscience tends to become silent if a person constantly neglects it. And then there are distorted ideas about good and evil.
A Christian missionary asked an African Hottentot, "What is bad?" The Hottentot replied, "That's when my neighbor beats me, steals my cattle, and kidnaps my wife." "What is good?" the missionary asked. "And this is when I beat my neighbor, steal his cattle and kidnap his wife." Are we not becoming like a Hottentot in the pursuit of pleasure and material goods?
The Lord Jesus Christ, pouring out his love and mercy on repentant sinners, harshly denounced the spiritual leaders of the people, who knew the Scriptures thoroughly and zealously carried out hundreds of religious prescriptions. The Hottentot and the Pharisee, oddly enough, have a common platform - these are distorted ideas about good and evil. And the fault of this distortion is always selfishness. After all, the foundation of Divine teaching and human conscience is the opposite of selfish sacrifice: love is determined by the willingness to sacrifice, because Christ also ascended the cross for our salvation.
Sacrifice and purity of conscience have always found their fullest expression in monastic service. The holy fathers of the golden period of monasticism labored in the deserts, fleeing from the well-fed privilege that entered the external life of the Christian Church along with the status of the official religion of the Great Empire. The thoughts of these ancient fathers about good and evil, the thoughts of the gospel - deep and wise, but childishly accessible and simple - can help each of us apply them to our conscience and our lives.
***
One of the fathers saw a certain sinner. Then the elder wept bitterly and said:
This one has fallen today, and I will tomorrow.
A certain brother asked Abba Anthony:
- Pray for me.
The old man replied:
“Neither I nor God will have mercy on you if you don’t have mercy on yourself and please Him.”
Abba Joseph was glorified by people as a great ascetic. Somehow one of the brothers came to him for advice. Lamenting, he asked the question that tormented him:
What should I do, father? I cannot endure sorrows, nor work, nor give alms.
“If you can’t do any of this, then at least keep your conscience in relation to your neighbor. Move away from all evil - and you will be saved, - the elder answered him.
Once upon a time there lived an old man, to whom many came to find out the means to gain the meaning of life and purity of heart.
- Abba, tell me how to be saved? one of the visitors asked him a question.
The old man replied:
- If you want to be saved, then when you come to someone, do not start talking until they ask you.
Struck by this word, the traveler bowed to the elder and said:
“Truly, I read a lot of books, but I didn’t know such instruction yet. - And he went, having received great benefits.
Abba Palladius said to his spiritual children:
The soul that loves God must either learn with faith what it does not know, or clearly teach what it knows. If she does not want to do either one or the other, then she suffers from insanity. For the beginning of apostasy is satiety with doctrine and word, that is, with that which the soul of the God-lover craves.
A brother who sincerely wanted to change asked Abba Sisoya:
- Why do passions not leave me?
Because their vessels are inside you, answered the wise old man. Give back what is theirs and they will leave.
Instructing the monks, a certain elder said:
- If the soul has only a word, and does not have a deed, then it is likened to a tree that has flowers, but no fruit.
How to find God as soon as possible - by fasting, labor, vigil, or alms? They asked the old man about it.
Christ-loving and compassionate, with a smile on his lips, he answered the monks:
“Many have worn out their flesh recklessly—and have not received any benefit from it. Our mouths breathe with fasting, we have studied the Scriptures by heart, but what God is looking for in us, we do not have: the fear of God, love and humility.
One of the holy fathers, who was a spirit-bearing mentor for his children, said that it is equally necessary to beware of both praise addressed to oneself and condemnation of one's neighbor.
- Why is that? - asked his children.
- Nobody knows anything. The thief was on the cross and was justified in one word. was numbered with the apostles, and in one night he destroyed all his work, and descended from heaven into hell. Therefore, let no one who does good boast: all who trusted in themselves fell in an instant of time.
The elder never looked into the inner cell of a monk. But one day I saw him eating food in violation of the fast. Then the abba said:
- It's a wonderful thing! We make prayers, representing God as being everywhere and listening to our words; and when we sin, we do it as if He did not see us.
“So that also women, in decent attire, with modesty and chastity, adorn themselves, not with braided hair, not with gold, not with pearls, not with clothes of great value, but with good works, as is fitting for women who devote themselves to godliness” (1 Tim. 2: 9- ten).
“Wherefore walk in the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous, for the righteous will dwell on the earth, and the blameless will dwell on it; but the lawless will be cut off from the earth, and the treacherous will be uprooted from it” (Prov. 2:20-22).
“Let love be unfeigned; turn away evil, cling to good” (Rom. 12:9).
“Return evil for evil to no one, but seek good before all men” (Rom. 12:17).
“It is good to be zealous for good always” (Gal. 4:18).
“But the God of peace, who raised from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the everlasting covenant, our Lord Jesus [Christ], may he perfect you in every good work, to the fulfillment of His will, working in you what is pleasing to Him through Jesus Christ. To Him be glory forever and ever! Amen” (Heb. 13:20-21).
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
“I desire that you be wise for good” (Rom. 16:19).
“See that no one repays evil for evil to anyone; but always seek what is good to one another and to all” (1 Thessalonians 5:15).
“We pray to God that you do no evil” (2 Corinthians 17:7).
“But be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).
“So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mat. 5:16).
“And lead a virtuous life among the Gentiles, so that for the reason for which they revile you as evildoers, seeing your good works, they glorify God” (1 Peter 2:12).
“A good man brings forth good out of the good treasure of his heart, but an evil man brings forth evil out of the evil treasure of his heart” (Luke 6:45).
“He who leads the righteous to the path of evil will himself fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good” (Prov. 28:10).
“The tongue of the wise communicates good knowledge” (Prov. 15:2).
“A wise man is afraid and turns away from evil, but a fool is irritable and presumptuous” (Prov. 14:16).
"Beloved! do not imitate evil, but good. Whoever does good is from God; but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
“Sinners are pursued by evil, but the righteous are rewarded with good” (Prov. 13:22).
"And do what is just and good in the sight of the Lord [your God], that it may be well with you" (Deut. 6:18).
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:21).
"Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" (1 Peter 3:11).
"And who will harm you if you are zealots for good?" (1 Peter 3:13).
Learn to do good, seek the truth, save the oppressed, protect the orphan, stand up for the widow. (Isaiah 1:17)
For such is the will of God, that we, by doing good, stop the mouths of the ignorance of foolish people. (1 Peter 2:15)
Whoever does good is from God; but he who does evil has not seen God. (3 John 1:11)
Who will reward each according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in a good deed seek glory, honor and immortality, eternal life. (Rom. 2:6-7)
Do not repay evil for evil to anyone, but look after good before all people. (Rom.12:17)
We strive for good not only before the Lord, but also before people (2 Cor. 8:21)
But God is able to enrich you with all grace, so that you, always and in everything having all contentment, would be rich for every good deed. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Doing good, let us not lose heart, for in due time we will reap, if we do not weaken. (Gal. 6:9)
So, as long as there is time, let us do good to everyone, and especially to our own by faith. (Gal. 6:10)
May the man of God be perfect, prepared for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:17)
They say they know God, but by their deeds they deny it, being vile and rebellious and incapable of any good deed. (Tit. 1:16)
Woe to you who have lost patience! what will you do when the Lord visits? (Sir 2:14)
Have a good conscience, so that those who reproach your good life in Christ may be ashamed for what they reproach you for as villains. (1 Pet. 3:16)
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and strive for it. (1 Pet. 3:11)
For what is it to be praised if you endure being beaten for your transgressions? But if, while doing good and suffering, endure, this is pleasing to God. (1 Pet. 2:20)
Whoever knows how to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. (James 4:17)
And those who have done good will go out into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:29)
Instructive quotes from the Holy Fathers
The tongue of a careless condemner, driven by the devil, is more poisonous than the tongue of a serpent, because it stirs up quarrels and bitter enmity among the brethren, sows revolts and villainy among the peaceful, and disperses populous societies (St. Anthony the Great, 89, 59)
"If you have Love, kindness - you are an angel, and wherever you go, and wherever you are, you bring paradise with you. So, already in this life we begin to feel heaven or hell" ~ Paisius Svyatogorets.
Not only he is deprived of the Kingdom of Heaven, who has faith, but neglects life; but he will also be removed from his sacred gates, who, in faith, even did many signs, but did nothing good (St. John Chrysostom, 50, 276)
The firmness of your faith is revealed not when you are served, and you listen to flattering speeches, but when you endure persecution and beatings (St. Ephraim the Syrian, 30, 418)
Do not demand love from your neighbor, for the one who demands (it) is embarrassed if he does not meet it; but it’s better that you yourself show love for your neighbor and calm down and, in this way, you will lead your neighbor to love (St. Abba Dorotheos, 29, 189)
Keep your mind and heart from teaching falsehood. Do not talk about Christianity with people infected with false thoughts, do not read books about Christianity written by false teachers (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, 38, 115)
Conversation is useful only spiritually, but silence is preferable to all others (Abba Thalassius, 87, 317)
If you love silence - the mother of repentance, then with pleasure love both small bodily harm, and reproaches, and insults that will pour down on you for silence (St. Isaac the Syrian, 59, 179)
It is necessary to turn away from a person who slanders a brother. You shouldn't say jokes. One should not laugh and endure laughers (St. Basil the Great, 10, 54).
It is not possible for a believer to be saved, receive remission of sins, and become worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, as with fear and love, partaking of the mysterious and pure Body and Blood of Christ God (St. Neil of Sinai, 73, 366)
If someone is weak in body and has committed many grave iniquities, then let him walk the path of humility and his inherent virtues, for he will not find another means of salvation (St. John of the Ladder, 57, 214)
This is how anyone who wishes can rise from the earth and ascend to heaven, firstly, one must strive with the mind and tame the passions, and secondly, practice psalmody, that is, pray with the lips, because when the passions diminish, then prayer already naturally gives pleasure and sweetness even to the tongue and is imputed to be pleasing before God, thirdly, to pray wisely and, fourthly, to ascend into contemplation. The first is characteristic of the novice, the second is for those who are successful, the third is for those approaching the last stages of progress, and the fourth is for the perfect (St. Simeon the New Theologian, 77, 189)
If you follow the advice of the virtuous; then do not be ashamed when the wicked begin to ridicule you. (St. Gregory the Theologian).
It is not the one who has already been saved who has preserved the given talent intact, that is, the gift of grace given to him, but the one who has multiplied it; not he is pleased who moves away from evil, but he who does good; it is not the one who shows his love for the Tsar who does not enter into agreement with his enemies, but the one who both arms against them and opposes them out of love for the Tsar (St. Simeon the New Theologian, 77, 295-296)
A man who lives piously does not allow evil to enter his soul. And when there is no evil in the soul, then it is safe and unharmed. Over such, neither the evil demon, nor accidents have power. God delivers them from evils and they live unscathed, preserved, like godlike ones. If anyone praises such a person, he will laugh in himself at those who praise him; if he dishonors, he himself does not defend himself before those who reproach him, and is not indignant that they say so about him (St. Anthony the Great, 89, 80)
Do not repay evil for evil, nor insult for insult, for by this God Himself humbles you, seeing that you are not humbled by yourself (St. Anthony the Great, 89, 113)
Love for enemies is love for God, who gave commandments and laws, is imitation of Him. Know that when you do good deeds to your enemies, you do good not to them, but to yourself, you do not love them, but obey God (St. John Chrysostom, 54, 64)
Enemies, even if they have caused us countless evils, with all that we have good ... we will not fail to do them good deeds. For if, by enduring evil, one can satisfy their wrath, much more so by doing good to them. The first is less than the last, because it is not all the same - to do good to the enemy ... or to be ready to suffer (from him) a greater evil. From the latter, let's move on to the first, which (and constitutes) the advantage of the disciples of Christ, (St. John Chrysostom, 52, 139)
Only the insane tend not to allow the wisdom of God and not to know that God manages everything justly, arranges correctly, does it with benefit, even if we temporarily do not know the reasons for what is happening (St. John Chrysostom, 49, 911)
We ask opponents: is there a God? If they say no, then we will not answer, because both the insane and those who say that there is no God are not worth an answer (St. John Chrysostom, 46, 287)
The multiplied apostates, calling themselves and appearing outwardly Christians... will act against the servants of God with the violence of power, and slander, and cunning machinations... and various seductions, and fierce persecutions (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov, 42, 141).
The Mother of God is exactly like an indestructible wall between God's wrath and people. She takes away most of the thunders of Heavenly Justice, ready to punish the ungrateful sinners. Only behind such a wall are we often safe, while we think that our safety is the result of the ordinary order of things. (Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt).
The Holy Spirit rests in simple hearts. Inner simplicity must also be poured out on all of our externals - simplicity in everything: in speeches, in appearance. Do not pretend to be reverent, do not look down, do not speak in a hypocritically quiet voice, otherwise, although you make up your appearance with good intentions, grace will depart from you. (Elder Parthenius of Kyiv).
My soul, Lord, is occupied with You all day and all night, I seek You. Your Spirit draws me to seek You, and the memory of You gladdens my mind. My soul has loved You, and rejoices that You are my God and Lord, and I miss You to tears. And although everything in the world is beautiful, nothing earthly interests me, and my soul yearns only for the Lord. The soul that has known God cannot be satisfied with anything on earth, but still strives for the Lord and cries out like a little child who has lost her mother: “My soul misses You and tearfully seeks You.” (St. Silouan of Athos).
Sayings of the Holy Fathers about diseases
Patience means that everything that happens should be generously endured: do not despair in illnesses, do not lose heart in misfortunes, do not grieve in poverty and do not grumble at insults.
Who, having sinned, is not punished here, that same unfortunate person. ~ Saint John Chrysostom
Some old man was often sick. It happened that he did not get sick for one year; The elder was very sad about this and wept, saying: “My Lord left me and did not visit me.” ~ ancient patericon
The more we suffer in this life from disease, persecution, the power of enemies, or poverty, the more we will inherit the rewards in the next life. ~ Blessed Jerome
The all-good Lord allows a person in this life various insults and embarrassments, illnesses, and so on, all this in order to cleanse the soul from sins and instill in eternal life.
When illness weighs us down, we do not need to grieve that because of pain and ulcers we cannot sing psalms with our lips. For illnesses and wounds serve to exterminate lusts, while both fasting and prostrations to the earth are prescribed for us to conquer the passions. If, however, these passions spew out illnesses, then there is nothing to worry about.
Truly, through bodily illnesses, the soul approaches God. ~ Saint Gregory the Theologian
In illness, before any other deed, one must hasten to be cleansed of sins in the Sacrament of Penance and in one's conscience to be reconciled with God.
It happens that God shelters others from trouble with a disease, which they would not have escaped if they were healthy.
The Lord heals many diseases through doctors and other means. But there are diseases, the cure of which the Lord imposes a ban, when he sees that the disease is more necessary for salvation than health.
Sickness for a person is the grace of God. And if a Christian accepts as God sent for the benefit of his soul and complacently endures his painful condition, then he goes straight to Paradise. At the sickbed there is threshing: the more blows, the more grains will be knocked out and the richer the threshing. Then you need grain under the millstone, then flour into mixing the dough and sour it, then - in the form of bread - into the oven, and finally - at the table of God.
During illness, everyone should think and say: “Who knows? Maybe in my illness the gates to eternity are opened to me?
In illness, before doctors and medicines, use prayer and the Sacraments: Confession, Communion and Unction.
If you are sick, then invite an experienced doctor and use the remedies prescribed by him. For this purpose, so many beneficent plants spring from the earth. If you proudly reject them, you will hasten your death and become suicidal.
The wealth of the soul is in patience.
In illness, learn: humility, patience, complacency and thanksgiving to God.
If you have to indulge yourself due to illness, then this is nothing. And if under the pretext of illness, then it’s bad. ~ Saint Theophan the Recluse
Most of our illnesses come from sins, which is why the best way to prevent and heal from them is not to sin.
A great feat is to patiently endure illnesses and among them to send songs of thanksgiving to God.
We are brought closer to God by sorrow, tightness, sickness, labors. Do not grumble against them and do not be afraid of them. Although the disease torments your flesh, the spirit saves. ~ Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
The Lord makes up for the lack of our good deeds either with illnesses or sorrows.
Although it is a good deed to take care of the sick and visit them, yet one must have discernment; where your spiritual dispensation is damaged, there things will do without you.
Try to console the sick person not so much with services as with a cheerful face. ~ Saint Demetrius of Rostov
Diseases come from sin, they weaken the passions, and a person comes to his senses. Whoever endures illnesses with patience and thanksgiving, they are charged instead of a feat and even more ... At the same time, one must believe and hope that if it pleases the Lord God for a person to experience illnesses, then He will give him the strength of patience. ~ Reverend Seraphim of Sarov
The Lord sent you a disease not in vain and not so much as a punishment for past sins, but out of love for you, in order to tear you away from a sinful life and put you on the path of salvation. Give thanks to God for taking care of you. ~ Hegumen Nikon
The devil attacks the dangerously sick more strongly, knowing that he has little time.
In dangerous illnesses, first take care of the purification of your conscience and the peace of your soul.
Thank God that you are on a good path: your illness is a great gift from God; day and night for this and for everything praise and give thanks, and your soul will be saved. ~ Elder Arseny Athos
Sick and poor, do not complain and do not grumble about your fate, about God and people, do not envy other people's happiness, beware of despondency and, especially, despair, submit completely to the Providence of God.
Sickness reconciles us with God and brings us back into His love. ~ Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt
Reflect on the fact that everything here is fleeting, but the future is eternal.
The patient should comfort himself by reading the Divine Scriptures about the sufferings of the Savior.
The Lord accepts the patience of illness instead of fasting and prayer.
Being sick, do not force yourself to go to church by force, but lie under the covers and say the Jesus Prayer. ~ Reverend Anatoly of Optina
The enemy tempted the ancient Christians with torments, and the current ones with illnesses and thoughts.
All the most grievous sorrows and misfortunes are endured by people more easily than serious bodily ailments. An undoubted expert in the matter of tormenting and tormenting people - Satan - in the face of God Himself testified that bodily illnesses are more unbearable than all other misfortunes and that a person who bravely and meekly endures other disasters can weaken in his patience and waver in devotion to God, having undergone a serious illness.
If you endured here, you will not endure eternal torment in the next world, but, on the contrary, you will enjoy such bliss, before which present happiness is nothing.
Whoever has no comfort here and endures it patiently, he may well hope that there, in the future life, he will receive great and inexpressible joy. ~ Rev. Ambrose of Optina
Bible Quotes About Prayer
How to Pray
"Lord! Teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). "Likewise the Spirit strengthens us in our weaknesses; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed” (Rom. 8:26-27). "Do not be faint-hearted in your prayer and do not neglect to give alms" (Sir.7:10). "Be prudent and watch in prayers" (1 Pet.4:7). "Be persistent in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2).
Faith and prayer
“A good deed is prayer with fasting and almsgiving and justice. Better a little with justice than a lot with unrighteousness; it is better to do alms than to collect gold” (Tov. 12: 8) “And whatever you ask in prayer with faith, you will receive ” (Mat. 21:22). The one who "asks in faith, not a little doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven up and tossed by the wind. Let such a person not think to receive anything from the Lord" (James 1:6-7). "Therefore I say to you : whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and it will be for you” (Mark 11:24). "And the prayer of faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him" (James 5:15).
On the Need for Prayer
"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). "Delight yourself in hope; in tribulation be patient, in prayer constant” (Rom. 12:12). "Therefore, watch at all times and pray" (Luke 21:36). "But I cry to You, Lord, and early in the morning my prayer precedes You" (Ps.87:14). "Hear, O Lord, my words... for I pray to Thee" (Ps.5:2-3). Daniel "kneeled down three times a day, and prayed to his God, and praised Him" (Dan.6:10 ). "Do not worry about anything, but always in prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your desires known to God" (Philippians 4:6). "Always rejoice. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). "I am praying to Thee, O Lord... according to Thy great goodness, hear me in the truth of Thy salvation" (Ps. 68:14). "You hear the prayer; all flesh resorts to you” (Ps. 64:3).
Humility in Prayer
"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love in synagogues and on street corners, stopping to pray in order to show themselves before people. Truly I tell you that they already receive their reward" (Mat. 6:5). when you pray, go into your closet, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you openly” (Mat. 6:6).
Jesus Christ and prayer
“And in the morning, getting up very early, he went out and went to a desert place, and there he prayed” (Mark 1:35). “He went into desert places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). “In those days He went up the mountain to pray, and remained all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). “And having sent the people away, He went up the mountain to pray in private; and in the evening he remained there alone” (Mat. 14:23).
Neighbors and prayer
“Confess your deeds to one another and pray for one another” (James 5:16). “Forgive your neighbor an offense, and then your sins will be forgiven through your prayer” (Sir.28:2). "The one who honors the father will have joy from his children and on the day of his prayer will be heard" (Sir.3:5).
Prayer and your enemies
"And when you stand in prayer, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Heavenly Father may also forgive you your sins" (Mark 11:25). "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you and persecuting you” (Mat. 5:44).
Life's Troubles and Prayer
“Watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation” (Mat. 26:41). “And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly” (Luke 22:44). “You must always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). “Watch at all times and pray that you may be able to avoid all these future disasters” (Luke 21:36).
Spirit and prayer
"Pray at all times in the Spirit" (Eph. 6:18). Jesus Christ said: "The Spirit gives life... The words that I speak to you are spirit and life" (John 6:63). “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mat. 26:41).” “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding” (1 Cor. 14:15).
When God refuses our prayers
"Ask and you do not receive, because you ask not for good, but to use for your desires" (James 4:3). "The Lord is far from the wicked, but hears the prayer of the righteous" (Prov.15:29). “So a man who fasts for his sins and goes again and does the same thing: who will hear his prayer? and what benefit will he get from the fact that he humbled himself?” (Sir.34:26) "The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, (to destroy them from the earth)" (1 Pet.3:12).
When God Answers Our Prayers
If “My people, who are called by My name, humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins” (2 Chronicles 7:14). Father in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). God "looks at the prayer of the helpless and does not despise their supplication" (Ps. 101:18). "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done to you" (John 15:7 ). “God does not listen to sinners; but whoever honors God and does His will, he listens to him” (John 9:31). “The eyes of the Lord are turned to the righteous, and His ears to their prayer” (1 Pet.3:12).
ATHONE ELDERS ABOUT PRAYER
Elder Jerome said: “Pay attention to how each day goes by. Place your future in the Providence of God. God will help. What God wants, it will be. Do not think about the future and do not burden your mind with thinking about it. God will help".
Elder Paisius writes about keeping the mind: “When there is no vigor, then we lose our mind (the demon kidnaps it), and we are left with one body, without a mind, like chumps, and later, when we collect our mind, it is burdened with garbage, which the evil one uses it as kindling and puts fire into our block (into the flesh), while he himself laughs at us and jumps, rejoicing in evil. In order not to leave our mind, we must constantly suck the sweet name of Jesus in our heart for spiritual progress. For the absence of the mind is the same as the absence of the owner in the house, and then the house becomes ruins.
HOLY FATHERS ABOUT PRAYER
Prayer is the test of everything; prayer is the source of everything; prayer is the engine of everything; prayer is the guide of everything. As long as the prayer is correct, everything is correct. For she will not allow anything to be faulty (St. Theophan the Recluse).
If anyone asks you to pray for him, answer him: Brother! For the sake of the prayers of His holy saints, may God have mercy on me and you according to His will (Father).
Most recently, my article “On the Heresy of Neo-Tolstoyism” was published, which denounced the erroneous views of Count L. N. Tolstoy and his modern followers regarding the inadmissibility of using force in protecting one’s neighbor and the inadmissibility of military service on the basis of the Gospel. This work was mainly a detailed analysis of the texts of the New Testament and, using their example, proved that the humanistic sentimental ideology of non-resistance to evil by force does not go back to the Gospel! Since the representatives of modern Tolstoyans, like their predecessors a century ago, are extremely skeptical about the interpretation of the Gospel by the patristic tradition, while demonstrating typical Protestant thinking, I did not find it necessary to quote numerous quotations from the holy fathers on this issue, although I did give some. All attention was directed to the gospel. This time I suppose to make up for this omission and present numerous testimonies of the Holy Fathers about the permissibility of resisting evil by force, about war and military service. use of force in all possible cases or something like that. We, Orthodox Christians, in accordance with Holy Scripture and the Tradition of the Church, consider it possible to use force only in those exceptional cases when it is not possible to protect loved ones and goodness in any other way. In the Fundamentals of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, it is said about this " P recognizing war as evil, the Church nevertheless does not forbid her children to participate in hostilities when it comes to protecting their neighbors and restoring trampled justice. Then war is considered, although undesirable, but a forced means » (VIII, 2).
It is absolutely inappropriate to interpret my work as an accusation against anyone! The main task of these works is to dispel the still prevailing opinion in society and the near-church environment that Christianity disapproves of military service. It is important to emphasize that in the ancient world, soldiers were assigned not only purely military duties, but also functions that are currently assigned to the law enforcement system: arrest, escort and detention of criminals, execution, regulation of the movement of people and vehicles at the entrance to settlements (city) and departure from them. In this regard, the words spoken by the holy fathers can be fully attributed to the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, traffic police, FSB, GUFSIN, FSSP, etc.
Recall that the New Testament in no way condemns military service and the profession of a warrior. At the beginning of the Gospel of Luke Saint John the Baptist indicates the general principles necessary for the pious life of warriors - “The soldiers also asked him: what should we do? And he said to them: do not offend anyone, do not slander, and be content with your salary ”(Luke 3: 14). In the ancient church monument “Apostolic Decrees” we find a tradition that goes back to the Apostle Paul “If a soldier comes, then let him learn not to offend, not to slander, but to be content with the salary given; if he obeys, let him be accepted, but if he contradicts, let him be rejected” ( Apostolic ordinances through Clement, Bishop and Citizen of Rome, 32). Without a doubt, the principles of attitude to military service, set out by St. John the Baptist are characteristic of the entire Early Church - they condemn looting and extortion of bribes, but not the very fact of military service or the profession of a warrior.
In the epistles of the Apostle Paul, various aspects of military service are used as a metaphor for the spiritual struggle to which every follower of Jesus Christ is called: above all, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Eph. 6:14-17). The example of the Apostle Paul was followed by the early Christian apologist holy martyr Justin the Philosopher(165) and 3rd century Christian teacher holy martyr Cyprian of Carthage(258) - hereinafter the dates of the blessed death of the saints are indicated. In their spiritual teachings, we will find many different military analogies and images, in particular: all Christians are called soldiers of Christ, Christ Himself is a commander, the Sacrament of Baptism is an oath, the Church is the military camp of the Lord. Of course, these are allegories used for pedagogical purposes, but it is unlikely that the teacher will cite realities contrary to the purpose and meaning of education as analogies.
Moreover, a very important point is fixed 3rd canon of the Local of Arles Council of 314, which, condemning desertion from the army, reads in part: “Those who throw down their weapons in peacetime, it is decided not to be allowed to take communion” ( Taube M.A.Christianity and the international world. S. 43). And although the decisions of the Council of Arles were not included by the Church in the obligatory code of canons, nevertheless they quite clearly expressed the negative attitude of the Church towards desertion (for no particular reason), because this is detrimental to both the army that protects civilians and the deserter himself. who committed an act of cowardice and apostasy.
Regarding the moral and ethical aspects of the conduct of a defensive war, as well as the heroic deeds of the warrior-defenders, he spoke Saint Athanasius the Great(373). In his Epistle to Monk Amun, the saint said the following tough words: “It is not permissible to kill, but to exterminate the enemy in war is both legal and worthy of praise; therefore, those who distinguished themselves in battles are awarded great honors, and monuments are erected to them, announcing their merits " (Athanasius the Great,saint. Creations. M., 1994. T. 3. S. 369). It should be noted that this epistle of St. Athanasius was approved as a general church teaching at the VI and VII Ecumenical Councils.
Saint Basil the Great(379), speaking about the providential significance of wars, in particular, he noted that “God in wars sends executions to those who deserve punishment” ( Basil the Great,saint. Conversation 9. About the fact that God is not the culprit of evil (http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/0082.php). The same saint, defending the profession of a warrior and focusing on the texts of the New Testament, exclaims: “Is the military rank devoid of hope of salvation? Is there not a single pious centurion? I recall the first centurion, who, standing at the cross of Christ and realizing his strength by miracles, when the insolence of the Jews had not yet cooled down, was not afraid of their fury and did not refuse to proclaim the truth, but confessed and did not deny that was truly the Son of God(Matthew 27:54). I also know another centurion who knew about the Lord, when he was still in the flesh, that He is God and the King of hosts, and that one command is enough for Him to send benefits to those in need through ministering spirits. About his faith, the Lord also confirmed that it is greater than the faith of all Israel (see: Matt. 8: 10). But Cornelius, being a centurion, didn’t he merit to see an angel and, finally, through Peter, didn’t he receive salvation? (Basil the Great, saint. Conversation 18. On the day of the holy martyr Gordius (http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/0289.php). In the same way, St. Basil writes a letter to a Christian soldier, in which there are the following wonderful words: “I recognized in you a person who proves by himself that in military life it is possible to preserve the perfection of love for God and that a Christian should be distinguished not by the cut of his dress, but by his spiritual disposition. » ( Basil the Great, saint . Creations. SPb., 1911. T. 3. S. 133).
On the other hand, St. Basil the Great speaks of the spiritual and spiritual dangers with which the activity of the defender of the Motherland is inextricably linked. The 13th canon of the saint reads: “Our fathers did not charge murder in war for murder, it seems to me, out of condescension towards the defenders of chastity and piety. But perhaps it would not be bad to advise them, as having unclean hands, to refrain from communion of the holy mysteries for three years. Basil the Great,saint. Take my word. M., 2006. S. 204). It is impossible to fight without hatred, without blood. It is impossible to fight without killing! And even when murder is a necessary measure, the lesser of evils, it still injures a person’s nature, inflicts wounds on his soul. Sin is sin! But here the defender of the Motherland can be compared to a firefighter who, rushing into a burning house, saves an insensible child, but at the same time he himself receives burns and requires medical assistance. And the 3 years appointed by St. Basil are nothing but the time of rehabilitation, the stay of a person who returned from the war in intense fasting and prayer, so that those spiritual wounds that he received, laying down his life for his friends, could heal, heal! And this is a very important pastoral care of the saint for the Christian soldiers who returned from the war, in order to prevent such sad phenomena known in our time as the “Afghan syndrome”, “Chechen syndrome”, etc. For comparison, it is necessary to point out that a real conscious killer was excommunicated from the Holy Mysteries, according to the rules of St. Basil the Great, for 20 years!
Authoritative canonist of the 13th century Matthew Vlastar this is how he spoke about the decrees of St. Basil the Great: “Thus, this divine father also considers praise worthy of those who go against opponents and defend the Christian race, for what can be more worthy of praise than being champions of chastity and piety? But since this holy father had the intention to purify the defilements, which are sometimes combined with good deeds, he subjects these (warriors) to moderate penance ... it is necessary that those who spend their lives in battles and stain their hands in the blood of foreigners first be cleansed by the medicine of repentance and its fire the filth connected with such an occupation was burned and thus proceeded to the sacraments of the new Adam ... And under the emperor Nikephoros Fokas, this rule benefited the Church, for when he began to force the Church to establish a law so that those who fell in the war were honored on a par with the holy martyrs ... the then primates of the Church, when by many arguments they did not convince the emperor that his demand was impious, they finally took advantage of this rule, saying: how can one rank among the martyrs those who fell in the war, when Basil the Great excommunicated them for three years from the sacraments as "having unclean hands", and thus averted the emperor's violence » (Matthew (Vlastar), hieromonk. Alphabetical syntagma. M., 1996. S. 428).
Perhaps this rule was said by St. Basil the Great rather in a recommendatory way, and not in a categorical one, because in practice it was almost never fully implemented - the period of repentance for soldiers before communion, as a rule, was reduced. This is indirectly evidenced by such authoritative canonists as Zonara and Valsamon- "this advice did not seem to be carried out" ( Nicodemus (Milash),bishop. Rules of the Orthodox Church with interpretations. M., 1996. T. 2. S. 386). There was a pious custom in our country - the soldiers who returned from the war lived for some time in the monastery as laborers, where they put their state of mind in order. The holy noble princes also had a well-known custom - before death, they took monastic vows.
To this it should be added that already in those days there were categories of persons who were exempted from military service. We are talking about people who have dedicated themselves to the direct service of God and the Church. In particular, Saint Gregory the Theologian(389) in a letter to his friend, the commander Elevih, asked for the dismissal of the reader Mamant he needed from military service: “Give him a written dismissal; thus you will give yourself successful hopes in the war and the military leadership ”( Gregory the Theologian,saint. Creations. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1994. T. 2. S. 549). The reader is the first stage of the priesthood, and according to the canons of the Church, readers are on the list of the clergy.
The brother of St. Gregory the Theologian also talks about the war as a great calamity - Saint Gregory of Nyssa(394). In particular, he writes: “Whatever you talk about pleasantness in life, in order for it to be pleasant, peace is needed ... War stops the enjoyment of all blessings. If even during the time of peace we endure some calamity for humanity, then evil, mixed with good, becomes easy for those who suffer. True, when life is constrained by war, we are also insensitive to such mournful cases; because the common calamity with its sorrows exceeds the private calamities ... But if the soul, stricken by the general calamities of war, numbs to feel its own evils, then how can it have a pleasant feeling? Where are the weapons, spears, sophisticated iron, sounding trumpets, rattling cymbals of the squad, closed shields, clashes, crowds, fights, battles, massacres, flights, pursuits, groans, screams, earth moistened with blood, trampled dead, the wounded left without help and all that in war one can see and hear ... can anyone find time there to bend the thought to the remembrance of the amusing one? If the memory of something pleasant comes into the soul, will it not serve to increase grief? ( Gregory Nyssky,saint. About blessings. Word 1 (http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/0556.php). It is not surprising that St. Gregory of Nyssa calls the prevention of war the greatest blessing, for which the Lord grants a double reward, “for it is said: blessed are the peacemakers, and the peacemaker is he who gives peace to others” ( there).
Another saint of the 4th century - Blessed Ambrose of Milan(397) in his treatise “On the Duties of the Priests”, in particular, he says that “it is not a sin to be a warrior, but to fight for theft is lawlessness” ( Cit. Quoted from: Nikolai Goncharov, priest. Military rank before the court of the Word of God and the mind of the Holy Orthodox Church // Bulletin of the military and naval clergy. 1914. No. 19. S. 670). Here St. Ambrose, in fact, follows the principles of attitude towards military service and soldiers expressed by St. John the Baptist. Developing this thought, the saint urges to show mercy and indulgence towards unarmed, obedient and asking for mercy enemies - “for military force is not for evil, not for offense and self-will, but for protection and goodness” ( there). Saint Ambrose condemns the use of martial law in wartime for the purpose of robbery and violence against civilians. These actions the saint calls sin and lawlessness.
The next great saint and teacher John Chrysostom ( 407) said the following about the causes of ongoing wars: “wars constantly grow from the root of sins” ( Creations like in the saints of our father John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople. SPb., 1900. T. 6. S. 41). At the same time, the saint refuted the opinion that military service is incompatible with the Christian way of life and allegedly hinders salvation. In particular, he writes: “You put forward military service as a pretext and say: I am a warrior and cannot be pious. But wasn't the centurion a warrior? And he tells Jesus that I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed (Matt. 8:8). And, surprised, Jesus says: Truly I say to you, even in Israel I did not find such faith (Matt. 8:10). Military service did not in the least serve as an obstacle for him ”( John Chrysostom,saint. To Jews, and Hellenes, and heretics; and in words: Jesus was called to marriage (http://www.ispovednik.ru/zlatoust/Z02_2/Z02_2_63.htm).
It is necessary to add that St. John Chrysostom taught his flock to pray for God's help to the soldiers in the war: “Wouldn't it be inconsistent with anything if, while others go on a campaign and put on weapons with the aim that we stay in security, we ourselves did not even pray for those who are in danger and bear the burden of military friendship. Thus, this does not constitute flattery at all, but is done at the request of justice ... They constitute, as it were, a kind of stronghold, placed in front, which guards the tranquility of those who are inside ”( Cit. by: Georgy Yastremsky, priest. Military rank according to the works of the ecumenical fathers of the Church // Bulletin of the military and naval clergy. 1914. No. 20. P. 710).
In its turn, Blessed Augustine of Hippo(430) believed that to some extent war can even be beneficial, since it destroys or weakens the arbitrariness of malevolent people. The saint also believed that the condemnation of military service by some people “actually arises not from religious motives, but from cowardice” ( Cit. by: Nikolsky V. Christianity, patriotism and war // Orthodox interlocutor. Kazan, 1904. Vol. 2. Part 2. S. 76). Such harsh words of Augustine Aurelius are also known that the commandment " don't kill by no means transgress those who wage wars under the authority of God or, being by virtue of His laws (that is, in view of the most reasonable and just order) representatives of public authority, punish the villains with death ”( Augustine Aurelius,blissful. About the city of God. M., 1994. T. 1. S. 39).
There is a rather erroneous opinion that supposedly Saint Peacock the Merciful, Bishop of Nolan“considered it possible to threaten fiery hell for service to Caesar with weapons in hand” ( Taube M.A.Christianity and the international world. M.. 1905. P.48) and thus the saint is presented as a consistent opponent of military service in general. However, statements of this kind are a deliberate distortion of the words of St. Paulinus the Merciful. At one time, the saint wrote in poetic form the life of St. Felix of Nolan, where in particular he mentioned the warrior Hermia, the brother of St. Felix, who “persistently sought earthly blessings” and “living by his own sword and carrying out the fruitless labor of an insignificant military service, subordinated himself to the arms of Caesar without serving Christ" ( Cit. by: Trouble Venerable. Life of Blessed Felix // History through personality: Historical biography today. M., 2005). However, as we can see, here we are not talking about warriors in general and not about military service, but about a specific warrior man who, again, is reprimanded not for military service, but for the fact that he preferred earthly goods obtained by weapons godly Christian life. And although Saint Peacock calls military service insignificant, he does not claim that it in itself hinders the salvation of a person. Saint Bede Venerable, commenting on the life of St. Felix written by St. Peacock, in particular, emphasizes that: “His brother differed from Felix in his customs and therefore became unworthy of eternal bliss. For Hermias zealously strove only for earthly goods and preferred to be a soldier of Caesar rather than of Christ ”( there), once again emphasizing that such a negative characterization was awarded to a single warrior, and not warriors in general.
The same situation arose around the words Reverend Isidore Pelusiot(449) available in a message to one person who wanted to send his son, who had the ability for scientific work, to be sent to the army. In particular, the Monk Isidore wrote: “Some say that you were so distraught and upset in your mind that you intend to give this youth, to whom God gave the ability to learn everything, a weapon and assign him to military service, not highly valued, even despised and making people playthings of death. Therefore, if your mind is not completely damaged, leave a reckless intention: do not extinguish the lamp, which is trying to kindle for glory; let a reasonable man continue to study the sciences. And save this honor, or, rather, this punishment, for others, some vagabonds who are decent for the ignorance of the crowd. Isidore Pelusiot,reverend. Letters. Book. 1. Letter 390 (http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/0369.php). However, from the context of the letter, it is quite obvious that this is not about condemning military service as such, but about the care on the part of the Monk Isidore in relation to a young man he knew, who had a vocation for scientific activity. The wise monk understood that military service, as a choice of life path, would not benefit this young man. Therefore, the Monk Isidore, in harsh terms, dissuades the father from determining the life of his son along the military line.
Elsewhere, St. Isidore Pelusiot speaks of the need to distinguish between just and unjust wars, offensive and defensive: “Wars are ignited most of all for the sake of acquiring someone else's property. But one should not blame all those waging war; those who initiated either the infliction of offense or theft are justly called destructive demons; those who avenge moderately should not be reproached as having acted unjustly, because they are doing a lawful deed ”( Isidore Peluciot, St. Creations. M., 1860. Part 3: Letters. pp. 382–383). Just like St. Basil the Great, St. Isidore, without equating murder in war with ordinary robbery, nevertheless believes that “although the killing of enemies in wars seems to be a legal matter and monuments are erected to the victors proclaiming their merits, however, if we analyze the close affinity between all people, then it is not innocent; therefore, Moses ordered the one who killed a man in the war to use cleansing and sprinkling ”(Isidore Pelusiot, saint. Creations. Part 3: Letters. P. 111).
Speaking of Saint Isidore Pelusiote, one cannot ignore another very important thought expressed by the monk. In particular, he condemns such a phenomenon as “parquet officers”, when some people, having achieved high military ranks, prefer to stay in the rear over the hardships of real army service, while vainly showing off their military ranks to civilians. In the Epistle to the Warrior Tuva, the Monk Isidore writes the following: “It is not in times of peace that one should be in full armor, not in the middle of the marketplace to appear in a militant form, and not to walk around the city with a sword in hand, but in war, one should do such experiments on opponents and intimidate them. Therefore, if you like a warlike look and wish yourself victorious proclamations and monuments, then go to the camp of those fighting the barbarians, and not here, having bought for money the right to flee from there and live at home, imagine what you should do there ”( Isidore Pelusiot,reverend. Letters. Book. I Letter 40).
In the same way, Saint Isidore Pelusiot touches on a problem that is of particular relevance today. We are talking about those officers who, having extensive experience in military operations and personal courage, put all these skills on the path of crime, turning their talents against civilians of their own country! In the “Epistle to the Warrior Isaiah”, who apparently succumbed to this temptation, the Monk Isidore writes the following: “If, in your opinion, the sharpness of weapons, a helmet and armor are a reliable means of living comfortably, indulging in robbery and devastating high roads, then know that many, having protected themselves even more reliably, underwent a disastrous death, since justice did not accompany their strength. These are among us, according to the Scriptures, Oreb, Zevey, Salman, Abimelech, Goliath, Absalom, and others like them; Therefore, if you want to be not a useless warrior, then turn to spiritual warfare as soon as possible and fight more against your outrage" ( Isidore Pelusiot,reverend. Letters. Book. I Letter 79).
In another letter to the soldier John, the monk writes: “Finally stop your insolence, John; look at the great and unspeakable depravity of your deeds. Or, as a rightfully armed and lawful warrior, go out to fight with the barbarians, or behave in the city like a good citizen and observe decency ... You make, as I learned, invasions of monastic huts and steal the reaped sheaves of farmers in order to appropriate them to yourself ... See that you do not experience any storm and do not suffer a just removal of members, so that here you will be punished with blindness, and there you will be prepared for fire ”( Isidore Pelusiot,reverend. Letters. Book. I. Letters 326–327). It should be noted that in these letters St. Isidore Pelusiot does not say something fundamentally original and new - he only sufficiently pedagogically reveals the attitude towards soldiers, which St. John the Baptist explains in a few words.
The military craft is a sphere of extreme emotional tension, and hence there is a great danger of self-intoxication with one's own courage and exploits, which in turn give rise to the arrogance of warriors in relation to the civilian population. And in order to sober up a certain militaristic vehemence of the eras of permanent wars, it is useful not to idealize military service as such, to read these letters of St. Isidore Pelusiot. It will also be useful to recall the fact that, according to the teachings of the Church, military service is impossible for those who have dedicated themselves to the priesthood or monasticism. " 7th canon of the IV Ecumenical Council(451) commands that once ranked among the clergy or monks, they should not enter either military service or the secular rank, taking off their sacred robes and changing clothes according to the custom of those; otherwise, those who dare to do this and do not repent and do not again accept the clothes characteristic of the sacred life, which they previously chose for the sake of God, he commands to be anathematized: for he who dares to do something like this is no longer subject to eruption, since he himself sentenced himself to this before condemnation, laying down taking off his priestly clothes and becoming a layman" ( See: Matthew (Vlastar), hieromonk. Alphabetical syntagma. M., 1996).
Blessed Theodoret of Kirsky(457), speaking of the discipline of life, he teaches “Since there are many different kinds of pious life: monastic and cenobitic life, desert and city life, civil and military life ... in every kind of life you can please God, it is not without reason that it is said:“ who is the man who fears the Lord? He will establish a law for him on the path that he has chosen, that is, in the kind of life that a person has decided to lead, he will give him decent and consistent laws. So St. John the Baptist advised the publicans who questioned not to take more than what was prescribed, and the soldiers - not to offend anyone, be content with quitrents, that is, certain food, cf. OK. 3:12–14" ( Theodoret of Kirsky,blissful. Explanation of the Psalms. M., 2004. S. 89). Renowned teacher of monasticism reverend Barsanuphius the Great(563) repeats the thought of St. John the Baptist about condemning looting: “Some came to us asking about military service; we answered them that there are grievances in it, and God does not help grievances ”( The Venerable Fathers Barsanuphius the Great and John a guide to spiritual life in response to the questions of the disciples. M., 2001. S. 502).
The lives of the saints give us numerous examples of the miraculous help of Orthodox soldiers from God during wars. So Saint John Mosch(619) told the following story: “One of the fathers gave me the following story of a warrior, a former dracanary: “During the war in Africa with the Mauritanians, we were defeated by the barbarians and were persecuted, during which many of ours were killed. One of the enemies overtook me and already raised his spear to hit me. Seeing this, I began to call on God: "Lord God, who appeared to Your servant Thekla and delivered her from the hands of the wicked, deliver me from this misfortune and save me from evil death. I will retire to the desert and spend the rest of my life in solitude." And turning around, I no longer saw any of the barbarians. I immediately withdrew to this lavra of Koprata. And by the grace of God he lived in this cave for 35 years. John Mosch,blissful. Limonar, 20 (http://utoli-pechali.ru/content/books/lug.htm).
Similarly, Saint John Moschus cites the story of Abba Palladius about a warrior who, in his spare time from army service, indulged in such ascetic deeds that he was set as an example even to monks! The story goes like this: “In Alexandria there was a warrior named John. He led the following way of life: every day from morning until nine o'clock he sat in a monastery near the entrance to the church of St. Peter. He was dressed in sackcloth and weaving baskets, he was silent all the time and did not talk to anyone at all. Sitting at the temple, he was busy with his work and only one thing proclaimed with tenderness: "Lord, cleanse me from my secrets (Ps. 18: 13), so that I will not be ashamed in prayer." Having uttered these words, he again plunged into a long silence ... And then again, after an hour or more, he repeated the same exclamation. Thus he proclaimed seven times during the day, without speaking a word to anyone. At the ninth hour, he took off his sackcloth and put on military clothes and went to his place of service. I stayed with him for about eight years and found a lot of edification both in his silence and in his way of life. John Mosch,blissful. Limonar, 73).
At the Monk John of the Ladder(646) we also find a very interesting comparison of warriors with monks: “Let us explain in this word the very image of the militancy of these courageous warriors: how they hold the shield of faith to God and their mentor, averting them every thought of unbelief and passing (to another place), and, always raising the spiritual sword, they kill with it any of their own will that approaches them, and, being dressed in iron armor of meekness and patience, they reflect with it any insult, wounding and arrows; they also have a helmet of salvation - the prayer cover of their mentor "( John of the Ladder,reverend. Ladder, 4. 2 (http://www.pagez.ru/lsn/0086.php). Saint Nicholas Cabasila Hamaet(1398) writes: “And there is no obstacle to any occupation, and the commander can command the troops, and the farmer can cultivate the land, and the applicant will manage affairs and will not need anything because of this.” ( Nicholas Cavasila, St . Seven words about life in Christ. M., 1874. S. 136).
Supporters of the pacifist interpretation of the Gospel often refer to the words of the Lord about love for enemies. The Holy Fathers repeatedly gave clarifications regarding this. We find a very interesting episode concerning the question under consideration in the life of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, Enlightener of the Slavs. When the Muslim Saracens asked St. Cyril why Christians participate in wars while Christ commanded them to love their enemies, he replied: “Christ our God commanded us to pray for those who offend us and favor them; but he commanded us: there is no greater love than if a man lays down his life for his friends(John 15:13). Therefore, we endure the insults that you inflict on each of us separately, but in society we defend each other and lay down our lives for our brothers, so that you, dragging them into captivity, do not captivate their souls along with their bodies, inclining the pious to your evil and ungodly affairs" ( Cit. Quoted from: Barsov M.V. Collection of articles on interpretive and instructive reading of the Four Gospels. SPb., 1893. T. 1. C. 574).
At the same time, it should be emphasized that the 7th canon of the IV Ecumenical Council, which forbids clergy (clerics) to take up arms, was not always properly observed. True, the clergy themselves (perhaps, having embarked on the path of earthly warfare by extreme necessity), did not assess such a situation as worthy and due! An example worthy of attention is from the “Sufferings of the 42 Martyrs of Amoria” (IX century), when the Muslims who captured the Byzantine officers led the latter to execution, and they reached the Euphrates River, the Sharia judge called one of them, the holy Crater, and said to him: “You were once a cleric, belonging to the rank of the so-called priests, but, having rejected such a degree, he then took up a spear and weapons, killed people; Why are you pretending to be a Christian by denying Christ? Shouldn’t you better turn to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and seek help and salvation from him when you no longer have any hope of boldness before Christ, whom you voluntarily renounced? To this, Saint Crater replied that it was precisely for this reason that he was all the more obliged to shed his blood for Christ in order to obtain redemption for his sins. (Maksimov Yu.V. Feat of the 42 Martyrs of Amor in the context of the Orthodox controversy with Islam (http://www.pravoslavie.ru/put/080319171635). It is also worth mentioning that Metropolitan Georgy of Kyiv, in his essay “Contest with the Latins”, among the delusions of the Roman Catholics, in particular, indicates that the Latins allow “bishops and priests to go to war and defile their hands with blood, which Christ did not command” ( Cit. by: Macarius (Bulgakov), Metropolitan. History of the Russian Church. M., 1995. Book. 2).
However, the Church has always supported the warriors who drew their swords in order to defend, protect the weak and restore trampled justice. One of the forms of such support is the institution of regimental priests (chaplains), whose duties included the spiritual, moral and patriotic education of soldiers. Among them were famous saints, for example, the organizer of cenobitic monasticism on Mount Athos Saint Athanasius of Athos who accompanied Emperor Nicephorus Phocas during his victorious campaign against Crete. Athos Emperor Nikephoros after death, he was revered as a saint, and in his essay "Strategic" he devotes a particularly significant place to the issue of spiritual and moral education of soldiers, including through the establishment of mandatory regular prayers. In particular, he writes “The commander should decide in advance ... that in the camp in which the entire army is stationed, during the doxology and at evening and morning prayers, army priests make fervent prayers, and the whole army exclaims: “Lord, have mercy!” - up to a hundred times with the attention and fear of God and with tears; so that no one dares in the hour of prayer by some kind of labor ”( Nikephoros II Phocas. Strategy. SPb., 2005. S. 38–39).
It is also reliably known about the Monk Athanasius of Athos that, at the request of Empress Zoya, he blessed his tonsured commander Tornikios to return for a short time to military command in order to save the country from the invasion of the Arabs. In subsequent eras, mass cases of the participation of the Greek clergy in the armed struggle against the Turks during the liberation uprisings are also known. In memory of this, a kind of monument was even erected in Crete, depicting a priest with a gun in his hands. Montenegrin priests and even the metropolitans themselves took part in the bloody struggle against the Turks even more actively! However, it should be repeated that all these were exceptions caused by the special circumstances of the time.
The history of our state also knows cases when, in exceptional cases, saints violated the 7th canon of the IV Ecumenical Council, when the military skills of one or another tonsurer were so in demand in matters of state security that strict adherence to the canons (acrivia) gave way to practical and saving house-building (savings). So St. Sergius of Radonezh at the request of the holy noble prince Dimitry Donskoy, he blessed two schemamonks, formerly valiant warriors, saints Alexander Peresvet and Andrey Oslyabya, to participate in the Battle of Kulikovo.
For any reasonable person, it is obvious that a lot in the army depends not only on the policy and position of the state, but also on the personality of each specific military leader, commander. According to the combined arms regulations, the commander should, in particular, “be an example of moral purity, honesty, modesty and justice” ( http://www.studfiles.ru/dir/cat20/subj241/file8656/view92403.html). The holy fathers perfectly understood that a believing and pious commander would help the Church to fulfill its duty of preaching and spiritual nourishment of the soldiers, and by personal example would help strengthen piety and a healthy moral climate among the personnel. And therefore, among the works of the saints, we will find, among other things, messages to military leaders with explanations of what an Orthodox warrior should be like. For example , Saint Macarius of Moscow(1563) wrote in 1552 a pastoral letter to Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his troops, who at that time were on a campaign against Kazan. In it, the saint, in particular, calls on the tsar “with all his Christ-loving army to fight well, bravely and courageously with God's help for the holy churches of God and for all Orthodox Christians - against your adversaries ... your traitors and apostates, who always shed Christian blood and defile and destroying the holy churches" ( Cit. Quoted from: Pushkarev S.G. The role of the Orthodox Church in the history of Russian culture and statehood. Seal of St. Job of Pochaev, 1938). In the same epistle, Saint Macarius writes that the one who guards himself from transgressions of soul and body and strives “in purity and repentance and in other virtues” is worthy of God’s help in battles. The saint also writes: “If it happens to any of the Orthodox Christians in that battle to suffer to the point of bloodshed for the holy churches and for the holy Christian faith and for a multitude of Orthodox people and then be alive, they will truly cleanse their former sins by the shedding of their blood” ( Cit. Quoted from: Dimitry Polokhov, priest. Moral and patriotic education in the armed forces on the basis of the Orthodox Christian faith. Diss. Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2000).
By the way, the much-loved rumors of the pacifists regarding the words of the Sermon on the Mount about love for enemies are denounced by St. Demetrius of Rostov (1709). Here is what he writes: “Do not think, my listener, that I repeat these words about those enemies who are at war with our Christian fatherland and are at enmity against our pious faith ... They not only cannot be loved, but it is even necessary to make war against them, laying down the soul his own for the Christian kingdom and the integrity of the Church" (Dimitri Rostovsky, saint. Creations. SPb., b.g. S. 482).
At the same time, the holy fathers also consider those cases when certain orders imply a direct violation of the commandments of God, for example, the killing of civilians or unarmed people; killing of prisoners, etc. Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk(1783) writes: “What is not contrary to the law of God is commanded, listen and do: otherwise do not listen, as it is more fitting to obey God than men (cf. Acts 5:29.) Thus did the holy martyrs ... if [ commander] orders to lie, offend, steal, lie, etc. - do not obey. If he threatens punishment for this - do not be afraid ( Tikhon Zadonsky,saint. Creations. M., 1875. T. 3. S. 345). The lives of the saints tell us about numerous cases of the first three centuries of Christianity, when pagan commanders ordered Christian soldiers to sacrifice to idols or execute Christians who did not want to sacrifice to idols - and Christians disobeyed such orders, remaining faithful to God until martyrdom. Saint Innocent of Kherson(1857) believed that the Orthodox faith is the main thing that a Christian warrior should hold on to. The saint writes: “The true warrior of Christ is the one who, in addition to earthly weapons, also has the weapons of God - living faith, firm hope, unfeigned love for the truth and Christian humility” ( Innokenty (Borisov),archbishop. Works. T. 3: Words and speeches. SPb., 1908. S. 407).
This work would not be complete if it did not mention one person who, according to the logic of things (outside the intervention of God's providence), was waiting for a brilliant military career as an outstanding officer, and perhaps even a general of the army of the Russian Empire. We are talking about a student of the Military Engineering School - Dmitry Alexandrovich, who is known to all of us as Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov(1861). About the positive qualities of a warrior, St. Ignatius wrote: “Fortitude is one of the first virtues of the army, both earthly and spiritual. Warriors experienced in battle consider a brave attack on an enemy formation as a sign of courage, but incomparably greater - silent standing with gloomy firmness under the cannonballs and grapeshot of enemy batteries, when the general plan of the commander requires it. It is on such warriors that he can rely the most, on such warriors our ascetic Jesus Christ relies most and crowns them with spiritual crowns ”( Ignatius (Bryanchaninov),saint. Letters to the monks, 78 (http://www.anb.nnov.ru/letters/letter.php?id=78).
Moreover, St. Ignatius did not limit himself exclusively to spiritual advice, but, having a military education and striving to bring as much benefit to the Motherland as possible, he considered it possible to give even recommendations of a strategic nature in matters of war! In a letter to his friend N.N. To Muravyov, who during the Crimean War commanded the Russian army advancing on Turkey, St. Ignatius wrote: “In the current war, brilliant actions are not needed, essentially useful actions are needed. Others enthusiastically say that after taking Erzurum you will go to Gallipoli or Scutari in order to lock up the enemy fleets and troops and deprive them of the opportunity to receive reinforcements; others say that from Erzurum you will go to Trebizond. And I allow myself to give my opinion, because indulgent people listen to it. I recognize a campaign to the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles as impossible until the events determine: whether the allies will make a landing for action against Georgia; I consider a trip to Trebizond, as well as to any other seaside place, of little use, if not completely fruitless in a war with an enemy who has all the advantages at sea; only a demonstration of such a campaign can be useful in the event that the enemy detaches significant forces to guard coastal places; such a demonstration may keep the enemy troops guarding the coast inactive. In my opinion, for the campaign of this summer, we mean actions of incomparably greater importance: this is preparation for the campaign of next year, the results of which can be much stronger and more decisive, and actions in all directions from Erzerum Patalik to the population of Asia Minor, which will be electrified by the spirit of hostility to the dominion of the Turks, especially to dominion in the Western European way, and thus the fall of the Turkish Empire will become inevitable, if not in the current campaign, then in subsequent ones. The main thing is not to rush to make peace here, without waiting for the fruit after such donations and efforts ... God willing, you will take both Kars and Erzurum ”( Cit. Quoted from: Shafranova O.I. Letters of St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov) N.N. Muravyov-Karsky // Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate. 1996. No. 4–5).
It is absurd to believe that the saint gave such advice, as if in exchange for spiritual instructions. On the contrary, in each of his letters the bishop pledged his prayers, gave spiritual advice, and sent blessings. The Russo-Turkish war had as its goal the liberation of our fellow Christian Slavs from the Turkish yoke, and in this context St. Ignatius, in addition to his ardent prayerful support, dared to give practical advice in the field of military affairs.
Our other outstanding St. Philaret of Moscow(1867), speaking about the war of 1812, he emphasized that it was the Orthodox faith that gave strength and courage to fight even to inexperienced recruits, and the sacrilege and blasphemous actions of the French soldiers gave the Russian soldiers the determination to defeat the enemy to the end! In particular, the Metropolitan of Moscow wrote: “When the government was forced to put citizens inexperienced in battle against an excessive number of enemy hordes, faith sealed them with its own sign, approved it with its blessing, and these inexperienced warriors reinforced, delighted, and surprised the old warriors. And when the frantic crowds of the wicked did not leave unarmed faith in the world, when, especially in the capital rich in ancient piety, they filled their hands with sacrilege, defiled the temples of the living God and cursed his shrine, zeal for faith turned into a fiery, tireless zeal to punish blasphemers and even to encouraging hope that the enemy of God will not long be our happy enemy" ( Collection of opinions and opinions of Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, on educational and church-state issues. SPb., 1887. Add. t.s. 9).
The following words of St. Philaret of Moscow are devoted to the doctrine of war as a forced necessity in a fallen world: “God loves a good-natured world, and God blesses righteous warfare. For since there are non-peaceful people on earth, it is impossible to have peace without military help. An honest and trustworthy world, for the most part, must be won. And in order to preserve the acquired peace, it is necessary that the victor himself does not allow his weapons to rust. Filaret (Drozdov),saint. Words and speeches. M., 1882. T. 4. S. 272). “War,” wrote the saint, “is a terrible thing for those who undertake it needlessly, without truth, with a thirst for self-interest or dominance, which has turned into a thirst for blood. They bear a heavy responsibility for the blood and disasters of their own and others. But war is a sacred cause for those who accept it out of necessity - in defense of truth, faith, fatherland" ( Filaret (Drozdov), saint. Selected works, letters, memoirs. M., 2003. S. 481).
During the Crimean War, St. Philaret especially emphasized deep respect for the highest manifestations of military service and, in particular, wrote: enemies, our compatriots, close to the disgrace of war. But with these sad memories, a comforting and majestic thing is connected. Our warriors of the sea, having begun their exploits by destroying the Turkish fleet, when they had to evade the excessive superiority of the naval power of several powers, not only did not give up their ships, but also made them an underwater fortification to protect the harbor and the city. Then, for eleven months, the united warriors of sea and land victoriously resisted in Sevastopol the most numerous troops of the four powers and hitherto unprecedented destructive weapons. Finally, although the enemies are allowed to work on the ruins left by them in order to multiply the ruins, the Russian army stands in Sevastopol to this day (until the conclusion of the Paris Peace). In the Far East, a small fortification with a handful of people repulsed the sea and land attacks of incomparably strongest enemies, who, according to the confession, participated in it more by prayer than by force. In the west, the two strongest fleets were uselessly exhausting their efforts against one fortress, while looking at the other only from a distance. In the north there was a strange confrontation: on the one hand, warships and firearms, on the other, clergy and monastics, walking along the wall with a shrine and prayer, and several people with weak and faulty weapons: both the monastery remained undefeated and the shrine inviolable. The troops of four powers acted against Russia, and among them were the strongest in the world ... And despite all this, in Europe we are not defeated, but in Asia we are winners. Glory to the Russian army! Blessed be the memory of the ascetics of the fatherland, who sacrificed their courage, art and life!” ( Cit. Quoted from: The State Teaching of Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow // Orthodox Life. 1997. No. 9–10).
Another lamp of the Russian land of the XIX century - Saint Theophan the Recluse(1894), criticizing the pacifist teaching of the Tolstoyans, writes that “in warriors and wars, God, often visible, showed a blessing both in the Old and in the New Testament. And we have how many princes glorified by the relics, which, however, fought. In the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra in the caves there are the relics of warriors. They fight out of love for their own, so that they are not subjected to captivity and violence by the enemy. What did the French do in Russia? And how was it not to fight with them? (Collected letters of St. Theophan. M., 1899. Issue 5. C. 208). At the same time, the saint also carries out another very important idea that no matter how high a military feat in itself, however, without Christian humility, it does not give holiness and does not lead a person to paradise! So, retelling in one of his instructions a fantastic story-parable by V.A. Zhukovsky’s “Peri and the Angel” and calling it “instructive,” St. Theophan writes: “Peri, the spirit, one of those carried away to falling away from God, came to his senses and returned to paradise. But, having flown to its doors, he finds them locked. An angel, their guardian, tells him: "There is hope that you will enter, but bring a worthy gift." Peri flew to the ground. Sees: war. A valiant warrior dies and in dying tears prays to God for the fatherland. Peri picked up this tear and carries it. Brought, but the door did not open. The angel tells him: “A gift is good, but it is not strong enough to open the doors of paradise for you.” This expresses that all civil virtues are good, but some do not lead to paradise. Theophan the Recluse,saint. What is spiritual life and how to tune in to it? Ch. 66: Instruction to the pilgrims). The story ends with the fact that only when Peri brought a tear of a repentant sinner, he was allowed into paradise. At the same time, in another place, St. Theophan the Recluse spoke very commendably about military service and, in particular, wrote that “the military path is the best - pure, honest, selfless” ( Collection of letters of St. Theophan. M., 1899. Issue. 8.C.95). In another letter, the saint also exclaims: “You are a future warrior! The business of a warrior is to stand cheerfully and always be ready to engage in a fight with the enemy, not sparing himself and not indulging the enemy ”( Collection of letters of St. Theophan. M., 1899. Issue. 5. C. 118).
Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt(1908), discussing the reasons for the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, directly points to the teaching of Leo Tolstoy that corrupts and leads a person away from understanding truly Christian values. The All-Russian priest writes: “Why could we not now defeat the pagan enemies with our brave army? Let's say without hesitation: from disbelief in God, a decline in morality and from the senseless Tolstoy teaching "do not resist evil", following which Port Arthur surrendered to capitulation, and military ships - into shameful captivity with all equipment. What a glorious teacher for the entire Russian army and for all military and other authorities, the holy noble Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky! But which of the intelligentsia now reads about his exploits and who believes the miracles said? It is from this disbelief and from our proud, arrogant mind and arrogance of our military strength that we suffer all sorts of defeats and became a laughingstock for the whole world!” ( New formidable words of Father John of Kronstadt. Part 2. Word IX (http://www.rus-sky.com/gosudarstvo/i_kron/new-wrd2.htm#9). In another place, the presbyter of Kronstadt testifies: “In order to earn heavenly help in the difficult circumstances of the Fatherland, one needs firm faith in divine help, and most importantly, repentance for the sins that caused God’s wrath against Russia, correction of morals. The war was caused by the godlessness and immorality of the Russian all-estate world, and the war gives it a bitter lesson. John of Kronstadt, St. Golden words (http://www.orthlib.ru/other/inkrpokrov.html). And Hieromartyr John Vostorgov(1918) during the war with Japan, he spoke of the need to “be imbued with grateful love for our warrior heroes, dying for us on the battlefield, for the wounded, sick, and come to them with all possible help” (And oann Delights, archpriest. Regarding the war with the pagans // Full. coll. op. SPb., 1995. T. 2, S. 422).
We read a very interesting story about the help of God to the soldiers who believe in Christ in Saint Nicholas of Serbia(1956) in “Letter to Soldier John N.”: “You write about a miraculous incident that happened to you in the war. Someone before the start of the battle handed out the gospel to the soldiers ... you caustically remarked: “Steel and lead are required here, not books. If steel won't save us, books won't save us!" This is the remark you made then, because until that day you considered the faith of God for nothing ... But nevertheless you took the little book and put it in your inner pocket on the left side. And what happened? You yourself say: a miracle of God, and I confirm it. The wounded fell around you; Finally, you were defeated. You got a grain of steel. You grabbed your heart with your hand, waiting for the blood to rush. Later, when you undressed, you found a bullet stuck in the hardcover of the book: it aimed right at the heart. You were shaking like you were in a fever. Finger of God! The holy book saved your life from deadly lead. That day you consider your spiritual birth. From that day on, you began to fear God and carefully study the dogma... The Lord, by His grace, opened your eyes... Some in the war destroyed the body, and others - the soul. The first lost less. And some have found their souls, and they are the true winners. There were those who went to war like wolves and returned like lambs. I know many of them. These are those who, like you, due to some miraculous event felt that the invisible Lord was walking beside them” (Nikolai Serbsky, Saint. Missionary Letters, 23 (http://www.pravbeseda.ru/library/index. php?page=book&id=907).
Another story of St. Nicholas: “During the war they sent one timid soldier to reconnaissance. Everyone knew his timidity and laughed when they found out where the foreman was sending him. Only one soldier did not laugh. He approached his comrade to support and encourage him. But he answered him: “I will die, the enemy is very close!” "Do not be afraid, brother: the Lord is still closer," the good comrade answered him. And these words, like a big bell, rang in the soul of that soldier and rang until the end of the war. And now, the once timid soldier returned from the war, awarded many orders for bravery. So his good word transformed him: “Do not be afraid: the Lord is even closer!” ( Nikolai Serbian,saint. Missionary letters, 23). Indicative in this regard is the metaphor that Saint Nicholas cites in terms of service in the army and the life of a Christian: “True Christians have always considered their life military service. And just as soldiers count the days of their service and happily think about returning home, so Christians constantly remember the end of their lives and their return to their Heavenly Fatherland. Nikolai Serbian,saint. Thoughts on Good and Evil, 3–4 (http://www.wco.ru/biblio/books/nikserb1/).
All these thoughts of the Holy Fathers convincingly show that the Church has never adhered to Tolstoy's views regarding non-resistance to evil by force. In the Gospel we do not find a single word condemning military service itself, on which the neo-Tolstoyans insist. We do not see this mainly in the era of the early Church - we see the opposite - excommunication for desertion. War is seen as a necessary necessity in a fallen world. Honoring the war as a great disaster, the holy fathers, however, believed that a defensive war or military actions aimed at restoring trampled justice are obligatory remedy to curb the greater evil. Protecting your compatriots and fellow believers (including weak people - women, the elderly and children) from an intruder and enemy is an undeniable virtue, and not a sin. The violence used in this case is a forced and necessary measure.
The Holy Fathers consistently and thoroughly refute the opinion that military service is incompatible with the Christian way of life and allegedly hinders salvation! Very indicative in this respect are the words of St. Blessed Augustine that the condemnation of military service by some people “actually arises not from religious motives, but from cowardice”! This is eloquently confirmed by our saints of the 19th century - St. Theophan the Recluse, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, who give a pejorative assessment of the philosophical teachings of Leo Tolstoy as spiritually corrupting and untenable! The following thought runs through the entire patristic heritage - the profession of a warrior is one of the most noble, but the facts of abuse of the capabilities of an armed man are a shameful thing! However, the same can be said about any profession - a doctor, a teacher, a clergyman!
Holy Tradition testifies that there were many warriors who pleased God precisely with their feat of arms. Murder in war cannot be equated with malicious murder in peacetime, however, it is also wrong to consider this forced action absolutely harmless. In this regard, church pedagogy provides wonderful spiritual guidance in relation to those who were forced to burn their souls with this deed. The holy fathers with great wisdom approached such a complex phenomenon as military service, on the one hand setting as an example the courage, steadfastness, heroism and selflessness of soldiers, using even well-known metaphors in relation to spiritual life. But, on the other hand, the saints insisted that faith and piety are indispensable and irreplaceable qualities of a Christian warrior!
The entire history of the Orthodox Church shows that at all times Orthodox warriors, who have true faith and an example of pious life, have always taken a blessing from the Church in the person of a bishop or priest to protect the Fatherland and restore desecrated justice before a campaign or an outbreak of war. And such a blessing was always given - the Church prayed for "authorities and hosts" and spiritually supported our defenders. And our task today is to sufficiently revive the spiritual nourishment of the Russian army (as well as other power structures) - the core and support of the Russian statehood, which, without a doubt, is the guarantor of "times of peace, quiet and silent life." And here it is extremely appropriate to recall the words of blessed memory His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II: “The Church desires that a person wearing a military uniform be enlightened by the light of the Truth of Christ, so that the Lord Himself guides this person both in peacetime and in wartime. The Church believes that if a soldier gives his heart to Christ and is led by the Lord, then he will not go astray, but will sincerely and sacrificially defend his neighbors, honorably fulfill his military duties.
“Conscience without God is horror, it can stray to the most immoral.A person must constantly ask himself the question: are my beliefs true? There is only one test for this - Christ».
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky
“When a person believes a lie, divine harmony is disturbed in his soul, divine strings weaken and love for God cools, the soul becomes cloudy and a gloomy enemy easily settles in it. ”
Elder Nikolai Guryanov
« By faith comes the spirit: the spirit of the earth, the spirit of demons, or the Spirit of God. As is the faith, so is the spirit. Through faith in Christ we acquire the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God.”
Saint Nicholas of Serbia
Elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer(1924-1994):
« All the evil in the world comes from the fact that there is no divine enlightenment. When there is no divine enlightenment, a person is in darkness. Then one says: “Let's go here”, the other says: “No, I know very well, let's go here”, the third: “There”, the fourth: “Here”. Everyone thinks that it is right to go where he thinks. In other words, everyone wants good, but they are in confusion and cannot come to an understanding. If there were no clouding, then they would not swear: they would clearly see which path is better, and together they would go to it ... "
Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga John (Snychev) (1927-1995):"People, blinded by the brilliance of alluring, impracticable slogans, devoid of a clear understanding of the meaning of existence, who has forgotten how to distinguish good from evil, friends from enemies, becomes helpless and easily controlled no matter how strong and numerous he may be.
Venerable Anthony the Great(251-356): « God, being good and not envious (generous), gave man freedom in relation to good and evil, endowing him with reason, so that, contemplating the world and what is in the world, he would know Him who created all things for man. But an unrighteous person may wish and not understand this, may, to his misfortune, not believe and think contrary to the truth. Such is the freedom of man in relation to good and evil!
Rev. Justin (Popovich) (1894-1979)
in his work “Dostoevsky on Europe and the Slavs” writes: “Both good and evil are too mysterious and complex phenomena not only in the person himself as a person, but also in general, in humanity. Both in evil and in human good there is something ancient, primordial. His ancestral being is covered with the darkness of the unknown and dark. And people solve the problems of good and evil often guessingly and presumably...
People on their own cannot solve this problem. They can only do this by being enlightened, led and led by God.”
Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky writes: “It is almost obvious that evil languishes in humanity deeper than socialist doctors suggest, that in no structure of society you can escape evil, that the human soul will remain the same, that abnormality and sin come from itself, and that, finally, , the laws of the human spirit are still so unknown, so unknown to science, so indefinite and so mysterious that there are not and cannot yet be any healers, or even final judges, but there is One Who says: "Vengeance is mine and Az will repay." He alone knows the whole mystery of this world and the final fate of man. A person, however, cannot yet undertake to decide anything with the pride of his infallibility, the times and dates have not yet come. The human judge himself must know about himself that he is not the final judge, that he himself is a sinner, that the scales and measure in his hands will be absurd if he himself, holding the measure and scales in his hands, does not bow before the law of a mystery that is still insoluble and does not resort to to the only way out - to mercy and love.
On earth, however, we are, as it were, wandering. And if there were no precious image of Christ before us, then we would perish and get completely lost, like the human race before the flood.
Conscience without God is horror, it can stray to the most immoral. A person must constantly ask himself the question: are my beliefs true? For this there is only one test - Christ.
In the world there is only one single manifestation of absolute beauty - Christ.
Christianity itself contains living water, only Christianity can lead people to the sources of living water and save them from the abyss and destruction. Without Christianity, humanity would fall apart and be destroyed.».
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov (1807-1867):“Truth is co-present with the Holy Spirit: He is the Spirit of Truth. Lies are co-present and assisted by the spirit of the devil, who is a lie and the father of lies ... He who wants to receive heavenly wisdom must leave my own earthly...
Reading heretical books and paying attention to their teachings is a grave sin against faith, a sin of the mind that is sick with pride and therefore overthrows the yoke of obedience to the Church, seeking insane, sinful liberties...
The death of the soul is worse than the death of the body: the dead body will be resurrected, and often the death of the body is the cause of life for the soul; on the contrary, the soul mortified by evil is the victim of eternal death. One thought can kill the soul containing some kind of blasphemy, subtle, not at all noticeable to those who do not know.
There will be a time, the holy Apostle foretold, when they will not listen to sound doctrine, but according to their own lusts they will choose teachers for themselves, scratching their ears: and they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn away to fables (2 Tim. 4, 3-4) ...
False teaching does not stop at any fiction, or at any deceit, in order to give its fables the appearance of truth, and the more convenient it is to poison the soul with them.
False doctrine in itself is a lie. They will deceive the reader before the writer.
Hieromartyr Peter of Damascus(8th century):“Let no one read anyone who does not serve to please God. If, however, when he reads something of this kind in ignorance, then let him strive to erase it from memory as soon as possible by reading the Divine Scriptures, and from them precisely those that most serve for the salvation of his soul, according to the state that he has reached ... But he does not read books that are contrary to this . What need is there to receive an unclean spirit instead of the Holy Spirit?Whoever practices in what word, he receives the property of that word, although the inexperienced do not see this, as they see those who have spiritual experience.
Saint Nicholas of Serbia (1880-1956):“By faith comes a spirit: the spirit of the earth, the spirit of demons, or the Spirit of God. As is the faith, so is the spirit. Through faith in Christ we acquire the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God.
The Church teaches that there is a Holy Spirit, Who is God from God, Good from Good, Immortal from the Immortal, Omnipotent from the Almighty, Truth from Truth, Light from Light, Life from Life. You want people to live in the spirit of the times. But the spirit of the times is changeable, like the wind, with the only difference being that the ordinary wind uproots and destroys trees, while the spirit of the times uproots and destroys souls...
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Comfort, bringing consolation, but if the spirit does not bring comfort, but restlessness and sadness, then this spirit is not God's and not from God.
Every spirit of every time who rises up against Christ, rebels against Him, is not from God, not from the truth, but deadly and morbid.
All your deeds, not in the name of Heaven and without the blessing of Heaven, will bear bitter fruit, for it will not shed its blessed rain and life-giving light on them.
Whatever you do, listen to Heaven…”
“What is a lie? This is the hidden truth.
What does it mean to "lie"? It means to hide behind the robes of truth: to hide behind the back of truth, to appear under the name of truth; hang a sign of truth over the shop of lies; with the help of rouge and whitewash, pass off the old woman as a bride . A lie cannot take a single step under its own name. For, wherever she introduced herself: "I am a lie," no one would accept her. And therefore it walks in the shadow of truth, thereby confirming the reality of truth, for without truth it cannot move from its place...
If the heart is defeated, everything is defeated. If the heart is damaged, everything is damaged. Love and hate, wisdom and stupidity, purity and filth, life and death come from the heart.. If faith is in the heart of a Christian, it becomes his invincible strength...
God looks at the heart and is not deceived by words. People value words because they do not know what is behind the words, what is in the heart...
The Lord does not look at the mouth, but at the heart. When He comes to judge the world, He will not judge the speech, but the heart…
Therefore, the Old Testament sage said: Most of all, keep your heart, because it is the source of life.(Prov. 4, 23). If the core of the tree rots, how long will the tree live? But the human heart rots from sin, and when it rots, a person turns into a shadow of a person and drags along the earth until he completely disappears ...
Unbelief is friendship with the devil, and sin, or depravity, is the path by which such friendship is reached. Depravity is falling away from God, and unbelief is darkness, weakness, and horror into which a person who has fallen away from God falls.
It is a thousand times better not to be born at all than to be born and rebel against God.
Stop relying on the man whose breath is in his nostrils(Isaiah 2:22). He urges all who have ears and understanding: “Turn away from hope in the weak and mortal. Return to the Living God, in Whom is salvation." Who has deceived you so much that you pushed Christ to the end of the table, and gave the first places to the rabble of foreigners, insolent people, fools and sowers of death? Will you let me seduce you again? Choose: life or death. And know that if you rebel against God again for the sake of the false gods of "culture", God will also rebel against you. And then your children, trembling with fear in the caves and burrows of the earth, will know the glory and majesty of the Lord God, Creator and Almighty. But at a high price, more expensive than yours.
Don't joke with God. Whenever people, guests at God's meal, began to act out of order, punishment followed as a warning from the Host. The last world wars with a twenty-year break are God's two terrible warnings to the present generation. Let the Christian peoples fall on their knees before the offended Christ and recognize His authority and give honor, glory and reverence, due to Him alone. So do you, Orthodox brothers, if you want to avoid a third world war, which will be worse than the last two.
You cannot become great as long as you fear something more than God, as long as you love someone more than God.…
Eternal good immortal life in the Kingdom is promised not to knowledge, but to faith. The Lord gave man unlimited possibilities to believe and limited possibilities to know...
We constantly stumble over the flesh when we think about the spiritual. Whoever overcomes this stumbling block will come closer to understanding the spiritual reality...
The Christian way of knowledge is love. If you want to know the secrets of heaven, love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your thoughts. And the Lord will dwell in you, and you will be in God, and God in you. And you will feel the reality of many things that are beyond human knowledge and reason.
Believe me, when a person comes to the knowledge of the action and manifestations of the heavenly world in our earthly life, he feels that he has entered the boundless and incomprehensible realm of wonderful reality ...
Falling away from Christ means a covenant with Satan, the enemy of God, and a covenant with God's adversary - a covenant with death, a covenant with the grave, a covenant with unrighteousness, a covenant with darkness, a covenant with all evil and madness , a covenant that leads to eternal destruction of both man and the whole people.
Elder Nikolai Guryanov
did not allow listening and reading lies about the Holy Kings and about people in general because it leads to confusion. Every lie leads to this. [We see why demons suggest that in order to draw any conclusion about anything or anyone, it is necessary to examine the whole range of opinions about the object under study.] “ When a person believes a lie, divine harmony is disturbed in his soul,- the priest said, - the divine strings weaken and the love for God grows cold, the soul becomes cloudy and a gloomy enemy easily settles in it. The eye of the soul becomes cloudy, and it does not see the truth". That is why many slander the Holy Tsar John the Terrible and the man of God Gregory the Russian (Rasputin). Because of the impurity of hearts... This is how the father explained...”
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