Why live by the commandments? Or three misconceptions about the Christian life. What a true Christian should be like Orthodoxy and life in the world

Many in the modern world want to be saved, but not many know where to begin salvation. This article will help you with this. It contains the instructions of Schema-Archimandrite Kirik, an Athonite monk. At first glance, this word is about little things, but without observing these little things, it is impossible to keep the great saving commandments. These little things consist of four points: how to start a business; how to turn everyday affairs into spiritual affairs; how to bring repentance to God for inattention to misdeeds committed during the day and, lastly, about the memory of death, that is, about the exodus from this life to eternal life.

About starting any business: Do not first begin any business, even the smallest and most insignificant, until you call on God to help you, because the Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing.” That is, without God’s help we cannot do anything useful and saving. Therefore, one must invoke God’s gracious help either in words or mentally: Lord, bless! God help me! And by calling on the name of God we receive blessings from the Lord. So, with every smallest deed and undertaking, always cry out to the Lord for help, otherwise there will be no prosperity, not only in ordinary everyday activities, but even in holy deeds, but its end will be sad and even sinful, according to St. John Chrysostom. And because of our forgetfulness of God, demons are close to us, like air, they also touch our thoughts, by God’s permission; but through prayer and the sign of the cross we can quench all the arrows of the evil one.

How to turn everyday affairs into spiritual affairs: St. Apostle. Paul said: “Pray without ceasing and do everything for the glory of God, for this is acceptable and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” You can and should pray for every task, as St. John Chrysostom says: “You can pray while sitting at a spinning wheel, and raise your mind to God, who looks at our mind and heart.” Therefore, it is important for us to carefully monitor our thoughts and imagination, because purity of heart comes from purity of mind. We must switch from a visible object to the invisible name of God in all our cases and activities: if you wash or clean any object, say to yourself: Lord, cleanse the filth of my soul! When you wake up, cross yourself, and when you get up from sleep, say: Glory to You, who showed us the light. If you see a beautiful object, glorify the Creator of all! In all deeds and undertakings, accustom yourself to the memory of God; and in order to get used to it, you need to ask for gracious help from the Lord.

On repentance before God: When performing every work and undertaking, due to the weakness of his nature, a person falls, pursued by the enemies of our salvation. But we need to get up and improve. But how? Through repentance before God. For example: as soon as you notice in yourself a sin of mind, word, thought, or any sinful passion or habit, repent to God this very minute: Lord, forgive and help! Then every demonic action in our thoughts and especially in our imagination will fall away from us. When the day has turned to evening and night comes, before going to bed you need to think: how did you spend your day? Remember where you were, what you saw, what you said, and if you see anything sinful, repent to God. The evening habit of repentance before God will lead further to the middle of the day, and then you will catch yourself in the place of sinful fall (in the little things). God does not require extraordinary feats from us, but small, only permanent ones, according to the word of St. John Chrysostom.

About mortal memory: “Remember your end,” St. tells us. Scripture, “and you will never sin” (Sir.7:39) There is no stronger way to encourage virtue than the memory of death. It is like a bridle that keeps a person from committing sinful acts. Mortal memory does not allow us to forget that beyond the grave we will give an answer for all the lawlessness that we have committed on earth. St. John Climacus said: “Just as it is impossible for a hungry person not to remember bread, so it is impossible for someone who does not remember death and the Last Judgment and eternity to be saved.”

Holy Scripture points us to one of the primary virtues - prudent silence. The Lord said that every idle word that people say will be answered on the Day of Judgment. By holding your tongue at a time when strong grief has excited you, you will prevent a quarrel, perhaps cruel and dangerous, you will quench enmity, perhaps long-term and endless. Will someone accustomed to idle talk ever feel the urge to pray? While caring about this virtue, one must also have a reverent fear of God, that is, have constant fear so as not to offend the greatness of God, neither in thought, nor in word, nor in deed, to anger His goodness and not to move away from the Grace of the Holy Spirit who lives in us .

The material was prepared by Elizaveta Pavlenko, a 4th year student at the Orthodox St. Tikhon’s Humanitarian University

Currently, a large number of people who have understood in their minds or felt in their hearts that God exists, who are aware, albeit unclearly, of their belonging to the Orthodox Church and who want to join Her, are faced with the problem churching, that is, entering the Church as a full and full member.

This problem is very serious for many, since upon entering the temple, an unprepared person is faced with a completely new, incomprehensible and even somewhat frightening world.

Priests' robes, icons, lamps, chants and prayers in an obscure language - all this creates in the newcomer a feeling of alienation in the temple, leading to thoughts about whether all this is necessary for communication with God?

Many people say: “The main thing is that God is in the soul, but going to church is not necessary.”

This is fundamentally wrong. Folk wisdom says: “To whom the Church is not a Mother, God is not a Father.” But in order to understand how true this saying is, it is necessary to find out what the Church is? What is the meaning of Her existence? Why is Her mediation necessary in human communication with God?

The rhythm of Christian life

PriestDaniel Sysoev

Let's start with the simplest. Each type of life has its own characteristics, its own rhythm, its own order. So a newly baptized Christian should have his own rhythm and type of life. Firstly, the daily routine changes. Waking up in the morning, a Christian stands in front of the icons (they are usually placed on the eastern wall of the room), lights a candle and a lamp and reads morning prayers from the prayer book.

How to pray according to the text correctly? The Apostle Paul writes that it is better to say five words with your mind than a thousandtongue (1 Cor. 14:19). Therefore, the person praying must understand every word of the prayer. St. Feofan advises starting by analyzing part of the rule, praying with these words, and gradually adding new prayers until a person begins to understand the entire rule. During prayer, you should never imagine saints or Christ. This way you can go crazy and become spiritually damaged. We must carefully follow the words of the prayer with our minds, forcing our hearts to remember that God is everywhere and sees everything. Therefore, it is more convenient to keep your hands pressed to your chest during prayer, as the liturgical Rules say. We must not forget to protect ourselves with the sign of the cross and bow down. They are very good for the soul.

After morning prayers, they eat prosphora and drink holy water. And they go about their business. Before sitting down to eat, a Christian reads the Lord's Prayer:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, as it is in Heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

And then he makes the sign of the cross over the food with the words: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." After the meal, we do not forget to thank the Lord:

We thank Thee, Christ our God, for Thou hast filled us with Thy earthly blessings; Do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom, but as You came among Your disciples, Savior, give them peace, come to us and save us.

It is worthy to eat as you truly bless Thee, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate and the Mother of our God. We magnify You, the most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption. (Bow.)

During the day, Christians try to keep God in mind all the time. And that's why we often repeat the words: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” When it’s hard for us, during temptations, we turn to the Mother of God with the words:

Virgin Mary, Rejoice, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women and blessed is the fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.

Before every good deed, we ask God for help. And if it’s a big deal, then you can go and order a prayer service at the church. In general, our whole life is dedicated to the Creator. We consecrate houses and apartments, cars, offices, seeds, fishing nets, boats and much more in order to receive grace through this. If you like, we create an atmosphere of holiness around ourselves. The main thing is that the same atmosphere is in our hearts. We try to be at peace with everyone and remember that any task (whether work, family, cleaning the apartment) can serve both for salvation and for destruction.

In the evening, before going to bed, we read prayers for the coming sleep, asking God to keep us through the night. Every day we read the Holy Scriptures. Usually a chapter of the Gospel, two chapters of the Epistles of the Apostles, one kathisma of the Psalms (but the amount of reading is still determined individually).

Every week we fast on Wednesday (remembering the betrayal of Judas) and Friday (remembering the Calvary torment of Christ) and observe major fasts (Great, Petrovsky, Assumption and Nativity). On Saturday evening and Sunday morning we are always in church. And we try to take communion at least once a month (and the more often, the better). Before Communion, we usually fast for three days (so, if we take communion once a month or less, and if more often, then we determine the measure of fasting together with our confessor), we read the rule from the prayer book (three canons: penitential, the Mother of God and the Guardian Angel, as well as the Consequence to Holy Communion). We make sure to come to the evening service, confess our sins, and come to Liturgy in the morning on an empty stomach.

It is very useful to find a confessor for yourself - a priest who helps us go to Christ (but in no case to ourselves - beware of false spirituality!). There is no need to rush to the first priest you meet. Confess to different people, pray, and if you have a heartfelt understanding with someone, then he, gradually, he can become your spiritual father. Just find out first whether his life is pious, whether he follows the Fathers of the Church, whether he is obedient to the bishop or not. It is also advised to look at how he performs worship. Reverence before the face of God will tell you whether he can help you come to Christ. Ask your confessor for an explanation based on Scripture and the works of the Holy Fathers, and then follow their advice. This should be done not because you don’t trust him, but because you need training, which is impossible with blind obedience.

From the book of Priest Daniil Sysoev “Why haven’t you been baptized yet?”

MY FIRST PRAYERS

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Heavenly King, Comforter, Soul of truth, Who is everywhere and fulfills everything, Treasure of good things and Giver of life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us from all filth, and save, O Good One, our souls.
Prayer to the Most Holy Trinity

Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us; Lord, cleanse our sins; Master, forgive our iniquities; Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities, for Thy name's sake.

Lord's Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven and on earth. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors; and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Symbol of faith

I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, visible to all and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only begotten, who was born of the Father before all ages; Light from Light, true God from true God, born, uncreated, consubstantial with the Father, to Whom all things were. For our sake, man and our salvation came down from heaven and became incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human. She was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried. And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. And ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father. And again the coming one will be judged with glory by the living and the dead, His Kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Life-Giving One, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who spoke the prophets. Into one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. I hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the next century. Amen.

Virgin Mary

Virgin Mary, Rejoice, O Blessed Mary, the Lord is with You; Blessed are You among women and blessed is the Fruit of Your womb, for You have given birth to the Savior of our souls.
Worthy to eat

It is worthy to eat as you truly bless Thee, the Mother of God, the Ever-Blessed and Most Immaculate and the Mother of our God. The most honorable Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim, who gave birth to God the Word without corruption, we magnify Thee as the real Mother of God.

CHURCH ETIQUETTE

Before entering the Temple, you should make the sign of the cross and bow three times.

To do this, in order to correctly make the sign of the cross, the thumb, index and middle fingers of the right hand are connected in such a way that their ends are folded evenly, the other two fingers - the ring and little fingers - are bent to the palm. With three joined fingers we touch the forehead, stomach, right shoulder, then the left, depicting a cross on ourselves, and lowering our hand, we bow.

You should come to the service in advance in order to calmly, without fuss, enter the Temple and be a participant in the service from the beginning to the kissing of the Cross. First you need to approach the festive icon lying on a lectern in the middle of the church: cross yourself twice, bow and venerate, that is, kiss the Holy Icon and cross yourself and bow again.

You must enter the Temple quietlyand reverently, as into the house of God. Noise, talking, walking, and even more so laughter offend the holiness of the Temple of God. In the temple, men of any age remove their hats and must stand on the right, while women pray with their heads covered with a scarf, being on the left side of the Temple. When entering and leaving the Temple, you must cross yourself three times and bow at the waist towards the altar. We bow with prayers: “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” “God, cleanse me, a sinner, and have mercy on me,” and “He who created me, Lord, forgive me.”

In health or death notes, only names and only baptized people are written. The Church does not pray for the unbaptized. Names neededwrite in full, in the genitive case.

In the Temple we can pray for ourselves, for our family and friends, for their health or repose. To do this, you need to approach the desired icon. When placing a candle in front of the icon of this or that saint, you need to be able to turn to him with prayer, request, and gratitude. Approaching the icon, cross yourself, gather yourself mentally and say to yourself: "Holy Father ( saint's name), pray to God for us." Then light a candle, venerate the icon with the same words and, standing in front of the icon with a lit candle, say your prayer. Who knows, maybe read the troparion. When lighting a candle for yourself or someone else, you can pray like this: "Holy servant of Christ and father ( saint's name), help me, a sinner, in my life, beg the Lord to grant me health and salvation and forgiveness of my sins, help my children. ..” etc. When placing candles in front of different icons, especially during services, try not to walk throughout the Temple, as this distracts the worshipers.

The Church has rules of conduct during congregational prayer. When the priest overshadows those praying with the Cross or the Gospel, an image or with the Holy Gifts, everyone crosses themselves, bowing their heads. When he overshadows with candles, blesses with his hand or censes, you should not be baptized, you just need to bow your head.

Before communion, everyone bows to the ground and stands up, saying to themselves: “Behold, I come to the Immortal King and our God.” In front of the Holy Chalice, the hands are folded crosswise on the chest, with the right hand on top of the left. This replaces the sign of the cross, since you cannot cross yourself in front of the Chalice before and after communion, so as not to accidentally touch it and spill the Holy Gifts. When approaching the priest, they say their name. Having received communion, everyone kisses the edge of the Chalice. After this, a little warmth is received: diluted wine and a piece of prosphora, which are on a separate table. After communion that day, people no longer kneel.During the liturgy, one usually kneels three times: when the consecration of the Gifts occurs (from the exclamation "We thank the Lord" until the end of singing “I’ll sing for you” ), when the Holy Chalice is brought out for communion and when the priest overshadows the people with the Holy Chalice with the words: “Always, now and ever and unto ages of ages.” When the priest censes in our direction, reads the Gospel, pronounces the words "Peace to all" , it is customary to bow your head. At the end of the liturgy, believers go to venerate the Cross, which the priest holds in his hand, and kiss it. TO repose without bowing:

• In the middle of the six psalms on “Alleluia” - three times.
• In the beginning "I believe"
• On vacation "Christ our true God"
• At the beginning of the reading of Holy Scripture: the Gospel, the Apostle and proverbs.They cross themselves with a bow from the waist:
• When entering and leaving the temple - three times.
• With each petition, litanies.
• With the exclamation of the clergyman giving glory to the Holy Trinity
• With the exclamations of “Take, eat”, “Drink from it all” and “Yours from yours”, “Holy to saints”
• With the words: “The most honest”
• With every word: “Let us bow down,” “Worship,” “let us fall down”
• During the words: “Alleluia”, “Holy God” and “Come, let us worship”,
• at the cry of “Glory to you, Christ God,”
• before leaving - three times
• On the canon on the 1st - 9th song at the first invocation to the Lord, the Mother of God or the Saints
• At the litia, after each of the first three petitions of the litany, there are three bows, after the other two, one bow.Cross themselves with a bow to the ground
• During fasting, when entering and leaving the temple - three times
• During Lent, after each chorus to the song of the Mother of God “We magnify you”
• At the beginning of the chant: “Worthy and Righteous”
• After “We’ll sing for you”
• After “It is worthy to eat” or Zadostoynik
• At the cry: “And grant us, Master”
• When carrying out the Holy Gifts, with the words: “With the fear of God” and a second time - with the words: “Always, now and ever”
• In Great Lent, at Great Compline, while singing “Holy Lady,” at every verse; when reading “Virgin Mother of God, rejoice” and so on. at the Lenten Supper - three bows
• During fasting with the prayer “Lord and Master of my life”
• During the fast, during the final singing: “Remember me, Lord, when you come in Your Kingdom.” Just three prostrationsHalf bow without the sign of the cross: With the words:
• "Peace to all"
• "The blessing of the Lord is upon you"
• "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ"
• "And may the mercy of the Great God be"
• At the words of the deacon: “And forever and ever” (after “For art thou light, our God”) It is not necessary to be baptized:
• While reading the psalms
• In general, while singingYou need to cross yourself and bow down at the end of the singing, and not at the last words. Prostrations to the ground are not allowed:
• On Sundays,
• in the days from Christmas to Epiphany,
• from Easter to Pentecost,
• on the days of the Transfiguration and Exaltation (on this day there are three prostrations to the Cross). Bowing stops from the evening entrance until “Grant, O Lord,” at Vespers on the very day of the holiday.

SACRAMENTS

• Baptism. A symbol of a person’s entry into the Church. It is performed according to the faith of the person being baptized (adult) or according to the faith of the baby’s parents. This is the only sacrament that can be performed not only by a priest, but (if necessary) by any layman. Baptism is performed with water (a symbol of the washing of the spirit), but if absolutely necessary, snow or sand can be taken.
• Confirmation. The mystery of the descent of the Spirit of God on a newly baptized member of the Church. Usually performed immediately after baptism.
• Repentance. The sacrament of reconciliation of a sinner with God through confession and permission given by the priest
• Eucharist, or communion. Participation in the eternally occurring Last Supper of Christ. The Eucharist is the incarnation of Christ under the guise of bread and wine, the reception of which means participation in the redemptive mystery.
• Blessing of oil, or unction. A sacrament performed on the sick for their healing
• Marriage. The sacrament of the sanctification of married life...
• Priesthood, or ordination. The sacrament of the transfer of apostolic grace from bishop to bishop and the right to perform sacred functions from bishop to priest. There are three degrees of priesthood: bishop, priest, deacon. The first performs all seven sacraments, the second - everything except ordination. The deacon only assists in the performance of the sacraments. Patriarch, metropolitan, archbishop are not a rank, but only different forms of episcopal service.

CHURCH CALENDAR

HOLIDAYS

Twelfth Moving Holidays
Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem- Sunday;
Easter- Sunday;
Ascension of the Lord- Thursday;
Day of the Holy Trinity(Pentecost) - Sunday.

Twelfth Immovable Holidays
Epiphany- January 6/19;
Presentation of the Lord- February 2/15;
Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary- March 25/April 7;
Transfiguration- August 6/19;
Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary- August 15/28;
Exaltation of the Holy Cross- September 14/27;
Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary into the Temple- November 21/December 4;
Nativity- December 25/January 7.

Great Holidays
Circumcision of the Lord- January 1/14;
Nativity of John the Baptist- June 24/July 7;
Holy Chief Apostles Peter and Paul- June 29/July 12;
Beheading of John the Baptist- August 29/September 11;
Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary- October 1/14.

Church reckoning is carried out according to the old style. The second date indicates the new style.

POSTS

There are four long fasts a year. In addition, the Church established fast days - Wednesday and Friday - throughout the year. One-day fasts have also been established to commemorate some events.

Multi-day posts
Lent- pre-Easter, lasts a total of seven weeks. Fast strict. Very strict weeks- first, fourth (Worship of the Cross) and seventh (Passion). During Holy Week, fasting ends after the liturgy on Holy Saturday. According to custom, they break their fast only after Easter Matins, i.e. on the night of Holy Resurrection.

Great Lent is associated with a rotating circle of holidays and therefore falls on different dates in different years, depending on the day of Easter celebration.

Petrov post- before the feast of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Starts on All Saints' Day (Sunday after Trinity) and continues until July 12 in the new style. This fast changes its duration in different years, because it depends on the day of Easter celebration. This post is the least strict, ordinary.

Dormition post- before the feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. It always falls on the same dates: August 14-28 new style. This - strict fast.

Christmas (Filippov) post- begins the day after the celebration of the Apostle Philip, always falls on the same days: November 28 - January 7 new style.

One-day posts

Wednesday and Friday- throughout the year, except for continuous weeks (weeks) and Christmastide. Fast ordinary.
Epiphany Christmas Eve- January 5/18. Fast very strict(there is a folk custom on this day not to eat until the star).
Beheading of John the Baptist- August 25/September 11. Fast strict.
Exaltation of the Holy Cross- September 14/27. Fast strict.

Very strict post- dry eating. They eat only raw plant foods without oil.
Strict fasting- eat any boiled vegetable food with vegetable oil.
Regular post- in addition to what they eat during strict fasting, they also eat fish.
Weakened post(for the weak, on the road and eating in canteens) - they eat everything except meat.

HOW TO CORRECTLY REMEMBER THE DECEASED.

The custom of remembering the dead is already found in the Old Testament Church. The Apostolic Constitutions mention the commemoration of the dead with particular clarity. In them we find both prayers for the departed during the celebration of the Eucharist, and an indication of the days on which it is especially necessary to remember the departed: third, ninth, fortieth, annual Thus, the remembrance of the departed is an apostolic institution, it is observed throughout the Church, and the liturgy for the departed, the offering of the Bloodless Sacrifice for their salvation, is the most powerful and effective means of asking the departed for the mercy of God.

Church commemoration is performed only for those who were baptized in the Orthodox faith.

Immediately after death, it is customary to order a magpie from the Church. This is a daily intensified commemoration of the newly deceased during the first forty days - until the private trial, which determines the fate of the soul beyond the grave. After forty days, it is good to order an annual commemoration and then renew it every year. You can also order longer-term commemorations in monasteries. There is a pious custom - to order commemoration in several monasteries and churches (their number does not matter). The more prayer books there are for the deceased, the better.

Days of remembrance should be spent modestly, calmly, in prayer, doing good to the poor and loved ones, and thinking about our death and future life.

The rules for submitting notes “On repose” are the same as for notes “On health”

Memorial services are served before the eve. Kanun (or eve) is a special square or rectangular table on which there is a Cross with a Crucifix and holes for candles. Here you can put candles and put food for remembrance of the dead. Believers bring various foods to the temple so that the ministers of the Church will remember the deceased at a meal. These offerings serve as donations, alms for those who have passed away. In former times, in the courtyard of the house where the deceased was, on the most significant days for the soul (3rd, 9th, 40th) funeral tables were set, at which the poor, homeless, and orphans were fed, so that there would be many people praying for the deceased. For prayer and, especially for alms, many sins are forgiven, and the afterlife is made easier. Then these memorial tables began to be placed in churches on the days of the universal remembrance of all Christians who have died since the ages for the same purpose - to remember the departed. The products can be anything. It is prohibited to bring meat food into the temple.

Memorial services for suicides, as well as for those not baptized in the Orthodox faith, are not performed.

But in addition to all of the above, the Holy Church at certain times creates a special commemoration of all fathers and brothers in faith who have passed away from time to time, who have been worthy of Christian death, as well as those who, having been caught by sudden death, were not guided into the afterlife by the prayers of the Church. The memorial services performed at this time are called ecumenical.
On Meat Saturday, before Cheese Week, On the eve of the remembrance of the Last Judgment, we pray to the Lord that He will show His mercy to all the departed on the day when the Last Judgment comes. On this Saturday, the Orthodox Church prays for all those who have died in the Orthodox faith, whenever and wherever they lived on earth, whoever they were in terms of their social origin and position in earthly life.
Prayers are offered for people “from Adam to this day who have fallen asleep in piety and right faith.”

Three Saturdays of Great Lent - Saturdays of the second, third, fourth weeks of Great Lent— were established because during the presanctified liturgy there is no such commemoration as occurs at any other time of the year. In order not to deprive the dead of the saving intercession of the Church, these parental Saturdays were established. During Great Lent, the Church intercedes for the departed, so that the Lord forgives their sins and resurrects them into eternal life.

On Radonitsa - Tuesday of the second week of Easter— with the departed they share the joy of the Resurrection of the Lord, in the hope of the resurrection of our departed. The Savior Himself descended into hell to preach victory over death and brought from there the souls of the Old Testament righteous. Because of this great spiritual joy, the day of this commemoration is called “Rainbow”, or “Radonitsa”.

Trinity Parents' Saturday- on this day the Holy Church calls us to commemorate the departed, so that the saving grace of the Holy Spirit may cleanse the sins of the souls of all our forefathers, fathers and brothers who have departed from time immemorial and, interceding for the gathering of all into the Kingdom of Christ, praying for the redemption of the living, for the return of the captivity of their souls , asks “to rest the souls of those who have departed first in a place of refreshment, for it is not in the dead that they will praise Thee, Lord, those who exist below in hell dare to bring confessions to Thee: but we, the living, bless Thee and pray, and we offer purifying prayers and sacrifices to Thee for our souls.”

Dimitrievskaya Parents' Saturday- on this day, commemoration is made of all Orthodox slain soldiers. It was established by the holy noble prince Demetrius Donskoy at the inspiration and blessing of St. Sergius of Radonezh in 1380, when he won a glorious, famous victory over the Tatars on the Kulikovo Field. The commemoration takes place on the Saturday before Demetrius Day (October 26, old style). Subsequently, on this Saturday, Orthodox Christians began to commemorate not only the soldiers who laid down their lives on the battlefield for their faith and fatherland, but along with them, for all Orthodox Christians

It is imperative to remember the deceased on the day of his death, birth and name day.

Christ said: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword,” and also, “Just as the world hated Me, so it will hate you.” The Christian is called to a certain extent to confront the world. How to combine this with the desire for a career and well-being? How to prepare children for this without raising them into gloomy, all-condemning fanatics, and without pushing them away from the Church? Archpriest Alexy UMINSKY, the confessor of the St. Vladimir Orthodox Educational Center and host of the TV show “Orthodox Encyclopedia,” discusses this.

Purpose and integrity

What does "social difficulty" mean? A person has a low pension, poor medical care, lack of social guarantees, that is, he is not free in society, right? Due to his religious position, in my opinion, he cannot experience this in our society.

What about the opportunity to work in some areas? Opportunity to get a better paying job?

Yes, a Christian cannot work in some areas - in the porn business, in the gambling business and other places where sin is promoted and where there is an industry associated with sin. Everyone knows this.

But in principle, is an Orthodox person obliged to be successful?

No, I don't have to. Just like he doesn't have to be unsuccessful. He owes nothing to anyone except God. That is, as a citizen, he is obliged to comply with the laws of his country, pay taxes and live without violating the civil and criminal code. And everything else concerns his duty before God, which the Gospel gives us. Success or failure is a personal matter for everyone, at will.

But the question may sound different: should a person set a goal to be successful? Can an Orthodox person even allow himself to set such a goal? The answer is, it can, although it doesn’t have to. I don't have to, but I have the right.

Now an opinion has emerged that a modern Orthodox person is obliged to set himself the following goals - a professional career, success, in order to have more weight in the eyes of non-church people, to create the image of the Church as a community of successful people.

You need to understand what kind of success we are talking about. If we are talking about the concepts of the modern world, then there is no need to strive for such success, because this is tantamount to the love of money and the desire to establish one’s life without God, relying only on oneself. If we are talking about being responsible for one’s life, then in this case the person, of course, must be successful.

Success is understood in the modern world quite clearly - as success in achieving external goals with a resulting increase in well-being. If success does not bring income, then it is not perceived as such. In this sense, the world sets the following task for everyone - to be ahead of progress, to be in the forefront, and all ways to achieve this goal are good.

What does it mean for a believer to be successful? To bring the matter to the end, to victory; be a professional in your field; to improve in the area in which you are called... It's more like integrity. Such success does not set itself the goal of increasing well-being in any way, but often – naturally – it leads to this. This is how it should be - a person who knows how to work receives a salary for it. A professional must be in demand and receive good money - but this is not an end in itself.

You can be an excellent musician - for the sake of music; or be a good doctor and help people, but don’t strive for career achievements, pushing everyone aside with your elbows... In the Christian sense, you need to be successful. A Christian should not be a C student in life - in the family, at work, in church. He must successfully fight sin and "to appear victorious over sin". Relationships between spouses, professional duties and active church life are how this is measured. This is a clear criterion of how correctly you live, and how much your life goes according to the will of God. And if a person justifies his unwillingness to work, to be responsible for his life, for his family, including for his church obedience, by the fact that “it is a sin to even think about success” - then this is an obvious substitution and lie.

Nowadays, family success and career success very often collide. It turns out that you are either successful in one thing or another.

So you need to choose the right success for yourself.

The question of success must be posed correctly, otherwise it may be like this: “oh, we are Christians, we are not successful and this is what we will boast about.” Such foolishness.

Open doors to outside

When raising children, you are faced with the same opposition between sociality and orthodoxy. How to avoid the development in a child of a feeling of superiority in relation to non-church people, the pathos of belonging to a narrow (or wide) circle of Orthodox Christians?

A sense of superiority towards non-church people, of course, is cultivated. It can only be avoided if the parents themselves do not experience it. And they do not consciously cultivate this in the child - after all, a sense of superiority, elitism, and chosenness can really protect a child from meetings, friendships, activities, and so on that are unnecessary from the parents’ point of view. There are parishes in which the opinion is cultivated that one should not be friends with non-church children at all, that a child should not walk in the yard at all, that a child should only go where people from their parish go. For example, they suggest that all children who do not go to church are... “contagious”...

You can learn bad things from them. All the songs they sing there are demonic. And so on, in varying degrees of intensity, from obscurantist to intellectual. But the point is one thing: we are not like everyone else, and if you get there, you can quickly die. As soon as a child starts making friends with someone not from the church, not from the parish - that’s it, he is under suspicion, they say, this can end badly. That is, this is an attempt to create a kind of Orthodox vacuum for the child, to place him under the hood. As a result, the child will either become a vile Pharisee with this feeling of superiority, or the first thing he will do is happily throw it away and go to all troubles.

There is also another feeling towards non-church peers: envy. When raising children, we often hear the word “impossible”, and it becomes the prevailing word in education. This is impossible, this is impossible - but for non-believers everything is possible. It seems to me that we need to take some middle path, cultivating in the child the ability and desire to communicate with other children, invite these children to your territory, open the doors of your family to “friends from the outside,” communicate with them, and then everything will fall into place places.

This applies to teenagers...

This no longer concerns teenagers, they are already formed in some way by this moment, it’s all about the younger ones.

Considering that all concepts and values ​​are blurred in society, the desire to isolate your child from the world is understandable. Even non-believing parents, it seems to me, are looking for some corner, some sphere where they can feel at least some more or less solid ground under their feet, something to lean on...

It's understandable, yes. And what - if people have found the Church, they have their own guidelines - should they fence this world with walls and make it “the world of Prince Gautama”? In this case, the child, coming out of the “underground,” will not bring himself or the Gospel into the world—he will not be able to.

But how can we explain to children that some of the actions of those around them are sinful, that the world lies in evil, without condemning anyone? How, for example, without judging, explain why someone has two moms or two dads?

When we talk to children, we need to understand that children do not know how to judge. And we are not talking about what a bad person is, but about what actions are bad. As for “two moms or two dads” - there is no discussion at all about who is bad, who is good, which dad, why two moms... This remains outside the brackets, because the child himself understands some things, in addition, the child You can always say: “Well, you know, there are different situations in life.”

There is no need to explain everything in detail. It seems to me that it’s not so difficult to figure this out, because when we explain that actions are bad, it’s not so much about those around us, but about the principles of what is good and what is bad. And if a child asks the question “Why? He is acting so badly?”... Then, perhaps, we can say that they probably didn’t have time to explain to this boy that this was bad, but you know that! They will tell him about it.

What if a child has a desire to tell someone else something to correct them?

Let him say it. This will be his child's business.

That is, we delegate to the child the opportunity to “fix” someone? We can't, but can he?

Why can't we? Let's not think of the words we read or hear as all-encompassing, absolute rules. Absolutely right, there is a precise ascetic rule - do not speak badly about anyone, thinking that by saying something bad about him, you will enlighten and educate someone. But still, the understanding of these words cannot be narrowly focused. You shouldn’t make clichés out of patristic quotes and measure the rest of your life with this cliché, without thinking about anything else. Life is always wider, deeper and more unexpected.

So talking bad about someone is one thing, but explaining to a child what is good and what is bad is another. It is necessary to somehow pose the problem of evil and explain the attitude towards this evil. And when a child encounters this, parents should give him ways to solve this problem, help him solve it, and if he tries to do it himself, well, that’s normal. If he is wrong, then we can correct him, who is not mistaken?

In this case, a parent can only correct his own children. He is not obliged and does not even have the right to correct strangers.

ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF A CHRISTIAN

CHRISTIAN ETHICS

1 - The purpose of the Christian life.

The goal of Christian life - union with God and with other people in the likeness of the Trinity, consubstantiality - is achievable through communion with the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must be grafted into Him like branches into a vine (John 15:4-9). This is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, which is why we can say that the goal of Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit or His grace-filled gifts. And the greatest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the holy love that unites everyone, or the inspiration of love and holy life. The one who has acquired the gift of love no longer lives according to his own inclinations and considerations, but according to the inspiration of God, being the temple of the Holy Spirit, and can repeat after the Apostle “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) . Such a person is adopted by God the Father, he is a saint, which is why they say that the goal of Christian life is holiness.

2 - Divine Revelation. (Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition).

Through His Divine Revelation, God Himself shows us the goal of true life and how to achieve it. Divine Revelation was given to the Church, that is, to the union of people who have already desired unity with God and among themselves. The Church preserves Divine Revelation, or the living experience of communion with God, and transmits it to its members. This is called Sacred Tradition. Among its components, the most precious is the Holy Scripture, that is, the Divine Revelation captured in writing by people specially chosen by God for this purpose.

Mastering the Holy Scriptures is the first step on the path to God.

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a single whole, but for Christians the New Testament lies at the basis of everything, and above all the Gospel, which captures the image of Jesus Christ Himself, revealed in the events of His life, in His deeds and words.

The Incarnation and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church took place once, which determines the uniqueness of the Scriptures of the New Testament. Nothing can be added to them or taken away from them.

Reverent reading of the Holy Scriptures not only gives us knowledge about God, but, in part, knowledge of God Himself, to some extent introducing us to Him, especially through the Gospel.

Sacred Tradition is not a summary of abstract knowledge passed on for memorization. Living truth is transmitted for assimilation by a living heart. This is possible with the help of grace, in other words, with a new private revelation of God. Divine truth is always the same, but the form of its assimilation changes depending on the person who perceives it, as well as on the time and place (era, country) where the assimilation of truth occurs. Hence the difference in prayers, rituals, sermons, theological works, as well as the inevitable change in some of their forms.

3 - Composition of Sacred Tradition.

The Holy Tradition may include, in addition to the Holy Scriptures, any written and oral word offered by the Church for the spiritual edification of believers, as well as some sacred rites. After the Holy Scriptures, the most important are the dogmatic decrees of the Ecumenical Councils and the sacraments of the Church, liturgical texts and rituals, as well as canonical decrees, the writings of the Holy Fathers, theological works and sermons, but not all of them are of equal value, and can, in accordance with the living experience of the Church, acquire sometimes greater, sometimes lesser significance in the composition of Sacred Tradition.

The content of Divine Revelation can be divided into five parts. 1) Revelation about the Trinity God Himself and His Divine life. 2) The teaching about God - the Creator of the world, about the creation of the world and man, about their destiny and the Fall. 3) About God incarnate and about the Holy Spirit acting in the world, i.e., the teaching about the work of saving humanity. 4) About the Church and the holy sacraments. This is already a transition to moral teaching. And, finally, 5) the doctrine of the spiritual or moral life of a person (ethics).

It is better to divide this last part, in turn, into three sections: 1st, about the images of a person’s true, righteous life; 2nd, about obstacles to a truly Christian life, that is, about passions and sins; 3rd, about the means of overcoming evil and acquiring a grace-filled life.

5 - Dogmatic and moral teaching of the Church.

From Divine Revelation about God Himself, about the world and man, embodied in the dogmas of the Church, we learn that God is love (1 John 4:16), and this allows us to see the destructiveness of evil and make the right choice between light and darkness. But besides these truths, which are the subject of dogmatic theology, Divine revelation also teaches us exactly how to go to the light, which is the subject of moral theology.

6 - Basic laws of human spiritual life and their disclosure in the Old Testament.

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” and “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mark 12:30-31). These two basic laws of human life “in spirit and truth,” expressed in the form of advice or commandments, are already indicated in the Old Testament, where their meaning is revealed in the image of people who tried to live according to them. But in the Old Testament, only the sons of the chosen people were considered neighbors. Such a limited moral ideal is unacceptable for Christians who know about the universality of Divine love. But we must not forget that the Old Testament only prepared the New Testament, and Israel was not just one of many nations, but was a school of fidelity to God, the people of God, the Old Testament Church, i.e., the germ of the New Testament, universal Church.

The images of some Old Testament righteous people are so beautiful that they are prototypes of the Lord Himself. For example, the innocently suffering and meek Abel, Isaac, Joseph, Job or Moses are the leader and teacher of their people, who completely devoted themselves to serving them, as a prototype of the saving ministry of Christ for all people.

But the Old Testament also contains examples of apostasy from God and images of evil people and actions. Such, for example, is the story of Cain and Abel, in which the “killing of man by man” (which is not found in any ancient religion) is branded with superhuman force.

The revealed teaching of the Old Testament about the spiritual life of man is revealed in many commandments, among which the Ten Commandments of Moses or the Decalogue retain their significance for Christians. The first four of them reveal the commandment about love for God, and the rest - about love for man. Most of them have a negative form of prohibitions, indicating the main obstacles on the path to a godly life.

8 - First and second commandments.

The first commandment proclaims the main truth that there is one God: “I am thy God, and thou shalt have no other gods besides Me.”

The second commandment explains the first: “Thou shalt not make images of anything, whether in heaven, or on earth, or in the water; thou shalt not worship or serve them.” This is a warning against pagan worship of false gods. Meanwhile, there are still idolaters today, moreover, among those who do not consider themselves such, and even among Christians. These are all those who recognize some relative value as the highest, considering, for example, the most important thing is the triumph of their people, or their race, or their class (chauvinism, racism, communism). An idolater and one who sacrifices everything for the sake of money, for the sake of personal glory, for the sake of wine or other pleasures. All this is betrayal of God, substitution of a false goal for a true goal, subordination of the whole to the particular and the higher to the lower. This is a perversion of life, illness, ugliness and sin, leading to the disintegration of the personality of the idolater himself, and often to the death of other people. In view of this, the second commandment can be understood as a warning against all sin in general.

9 - The third commandment.

The third commandment: “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain” protects the basis of our communication with God - prayer. With His Word God created the world. The Word of God, incarnate, became our Savior. Therefore, our word (after all, we are the image of God) has great power. We must pronounce carefully every word, and especially the Name of God, revealed to us by God Himself. You can use it only for prayer, for blessing and for teaching the truth. By pronouncing the Name of God in vain, we wean ourselves from using it as it should and weaken our ability to communicate with God. The Lord Jesus Christ also warns us against swearing (Matt. 5:34-37). Blasphemy, murmuring against God, blasphemy and deification are especially harmful to humans. But every evil or false word has destructive power: it can destroy friendships, families and even entire states. The Apostle James writes with particular force about the need to bridle the tongue in the 3rd chapter of his letter. If God and His Word are Truth and Life Itself, then the devil and his word are a lie and the source of death. The Lord said that the devil is a murderer from the beginning, a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

10 - The fourth commandment.

“Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Work six days, and give the seventh day to the Lord your God.” This is a reminder that our deeds are the path to God, outside of whom there is no peace. In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was an image of God's rest after the creation of the world, or, in other words. His inner-divine life, and thereby the image of the highest spiritual (contemplative) life of man, to which the Sabbath rest called and accustomed him. For Christians, the Lord's Day is a Sunday day, a day of prayer, a day of assimilation of the Word of God and the Eucharist. The first Christians were excommunicated from the Church if they did not receive communion on two Sundays in a row.

Christ reinforced his teaching about the inseparability of love for God and man by healing the sick on God’s day, on Saturday. Now the sign of our inseparable love for God and man is, first of all, participation in the Eucharist: it gives us the strength to do good. Therefore, on all Sundays and holidays we celebrate liturgy.

11 - The fifth commandment.

“Honor your father and your mother, and it will be good for you, and you will live long” - this is not only a call to love your parents, but also an indication of the basis of love for every person. To learn to love everyone, we must first love those who are closest to us (1 Tim. 5:8). The prototype of perfect love is the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Heavenly Father. The unity of all to which people are called begins in the Christian family. Honoring parents and paying attention to their advice is the foundation of culture. Disrespect for them (which is personified by Noah's second son, Ham) is the beginning of the collapse of any human society and the falling away from the Church.

12 - The sixth commandment.

“Thou shalt not kill” is the main commandment, since murder is the extreme opposite of love. To love means to desire the fullness of every good for the beloved and, above all, the fullness of life, and therefore eternal existence. Murder is also suicide, since it destroys the basis of life - love - in the heart of the person who kills.

But direct suicide is the gravest sin. It involves the denial of all trust in God and hope in Him, as well as the denial of the possibility of repentance. This is practical godlessness and the most unnatural thing a person can do. The methods of murder and suicide are innumerable, especially if indirect murder is taken into account. You can kill not only with weapons and hands, but also with words and silence, and with a glance and reluctance to look. In the end, every sin, as a violation of the laws of true life, is indirect murder. Murder is also the unwillingness to protect or save another. Defense may require not only self-sacrifice, but also violence, sometimes even murder. This justifies, to a large extent, a warrior who kills in war, but if he does not kill out of hatred or thirst for blood. But this does not always justify war, which in itself is evil. The main responsibility for war lies with the rulers and leaders of peoples. Politics and methods of waging war are subject to moral assessment, which is increasingly forgotten in our age.

13 - The seventh commandment.

A direct violation of the commandment “thou shalt not commit adultery” is any extramarital union between a man and a woman, but any sensual excess and any action conducive to this is considered a violation of it. In a Christian marriage, where family life is determined by personal relationships filled with deep love, it does not violate spiritual harmony. Outside of marriage, the manifestation of the ancestral instinct easily becomes isolated into an independent sphere, which destroys the integrity of the human personality. This is all the more dangerous because all the high creative impulses of a person are closely connected with his family life. Temperance increases spiritual strength, and licentiousness weakens them and, often, leads to various diseases, which are reflected in the descendants of the sinner. Promiscuous sexual life causes disorder in relationships with people, sometimes - violent hostility. In the fight against sinful temptations, especially in the tribal area, direct shared efforts are not enough. This also requires the cultivation of other, higher interests, and, of course, prayer and participation in the grace-filled life of the Church, and, most importantly, living love for God and people.

14 - The Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Commandments.

The commandment “thou shalt not steal” warns against sin, which can greatly damage the love between people. Property is often necessary condition a person’s life, ensuring his future, and sometimes a connection with the past; often it is a condition for creativity, and sometimes its fruit. Like a name, property can be a symbol of the person himself. Therefore, a thief can touch very deep aspects of the personality of the robbed person, causing him real moral harm. However, absolute importance cannot be attached to certain types of property, private or public. According to the teachings of St. Cassian the Roman, property is neither good nor evil, but something in between that can become good or evil.

Christ's teaching does not provide a basis for any specific economic system, but gives a criterion for how to judge property in various cases. And this criterion is the spiritual good of a person.

Ninth Commandment: “Do not bear false witness against your friend,” in addition to exposing the sin of false testimony in court, is understood by church interpreters as a warning against all sin in words, i.e., it is considered as an addition to the third commandment.

Tenth Commandment warns against envy and desire for the good of others, in other words, against internal evil, which is the cause of external evil. In this respect, the tenth commandment is similar to the New Testament commandments.

15 - About the moral teaching of the New Testament in comparison with the teaching of the Old Testament.

In the Old Testament commandments about love for God and neighbor, a revelation was already given about the basis of true life, but its inner content is barely revealed. Decalogue, for example, indicates only what is contrary to love, and even then more to the fruits of evil. In the New Testament, true life is revealed in full as perfect Divine love. She appeared in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ - God Himself, who became man, in His life and in His teaching, and then, after Pentecost, by the power of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Christians.

16 - About the deeds of Christ, about His miracles.

The life of the Lord Jesus Christ, His redemptive feat and His triumph were discussed above, but the teachings of Christ and His miracles, which He called His “works,” provide images of true life on the path of man. The miracles of Christ testify to the perfection and power of Divine love, which delivers man from evil and bestows the fullness of all good. Thus, by turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, the Lord increased the joy; casting out demons, healing the sick, raising the dead, He delivered from suffering and the sorrowful consequences of sin. In miracles over nature: taming a storm, walking on water, multiplying loaves of bread, the Lord also showed His love, restoring man’s power over the elements, lost after the Fall. But, in addition, the Lord resurrected souls killed by sin, a means of which, along with His word, were all other miracles. Through them, the Lord strengthened people’s love for Him and faith in Him, i.e. those forces without which the soul is dead. The Lord refused to perform miracles that would amaze the imagination and force one to believe, but he worked miracles, noticing the faith that had already arisen, thereby showing that He does not force, but calls to good. Performed by the power of the Holy Spirit, that is, by the power of Divine love, the miracles of Christ did not exceed the capabilities of human nature, and the Lord gave the power of miracles to His followers.

Finally, having established the holy sacraments, the Lord gave people the opportunity, after the descent of the Holy Spirit, to always be witnesses and participants in His miracles. The sacraments of the Church are Christ's ongoing miracle-working. In the sacrament of the Eucharist we find everything that the Lord bestowed on people during His earthly life: the power of the spirit over matter, the expulsion of evil spirits, the healing of soul and body and the guarantee of our resurrection in glory.

Thus, the miracles of Christ are for us God's call to mercy, hope, faith and love. No less than the words of the Lord, they teach us what we should do to become participants in eternal life.

17 - Christ's call to love by examples of love.

Love is always a free act; therefore one cannot command love. You can only call for love. You can kindle love, but only with your love. Everything we need to know about love, most often the Lord revealed in images, and images are not commands, but calls. The greatest image of love and the call to it is the Lord Himself. The miracles of Christ were images of perfect love, but His words were most often figurative : The Lord Jesus Christ constantly addresses us in parables.

18 - Parables about the Heavenly Father.

Calling us to be “perfect, even as the heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), Who commands the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unjust (Matt. 5:45), the Lord in His parables first of all gives us an image of the Divine love of His Father. Such a revelation of the love of the Heavenly Father is, for example, the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32); it reveals that God is ready, at the first repentant movement of the soul, to revive and completely bless it. This parable also shows us that love is not only compassion, but also rejoicing.

The Lord also speaks about the mercy of the Heavenly Father in the parable of the unrighteous judge (Luke 18:1-8), of the son asking for bread and fish (Matt. 7:9-11), of the Vinedresser sacrificing His Son (Matt. 21, 33-41; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19). The Father's mercy is revealed in the parable of workers hired at different times and receiving the same pay (Matt. 20: 1-16). All these parables are a call to know the perfect love of the Heavenly Father and to partake of its power and bliss.

19 - Parables about the Savior Himself.

In other parables the Lord speaks about Himself. Thus, in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), Christ reveals Himself as the Bearer of the highest joy. Bridegroom of the Church and every soul. In the parable of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1-16), the Lord speaks of His saving sacrifice for all, of His concern for the unity of the Church, and of Himself as the only door through which it is possible to enter the realm of abundant life. In the parable of the lost sheep, the Lord teaches that one human soul has the same value for Him as all souls together. The meaning of this parable is especially important for the pastors of the Church to understand, as they are called to be a living example of Christ’s love.

The parable of the Last Judgment (Matt. 25:31-46) is of particular importance. It contains the teaching of the Lord as the Judge of all people, and that the world is judged by love. The main justification of a person is in the fruits of his mercy and in the desire for it. The parable points out the main signs of compassionate love: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, visiting the sick and the prisoner. The Lord, out of His immeasurable love, identified Himself with every person, therefore, by pleasing or, conversely, offending our neighbor, we please or offend Him Himself. He who loves his neighbor, whether he realizes it or not, loves God Himself, since to love means to see in the beloved something infinitely valuable, the image of God. But the moment will come when a person learns that having loved, having pity on his neighbor, he has met God, because God is love; and passing by the suffering one, he rejected the Lord Himself. Each meeting we have with our neighbor, especially those stricken by failure and suffering, is for us the beginning of the Last Judgment. Whoever understands this can expect the final verdict with hope.

The Lord Jesus Christ also teaches us that without Him we cannot do anything truly good, and that Christian life is not a simple chain of good deeds, not just philanthropy, but a constant ascent to God; and in this ascent He always comes with us and helps us.

20 - Parables about the Kingdom of God, the Church and grace.

The Gospel is the good news of the Kingdom of God. The Lord taught about him most of all, for He came to establish this Kingdom and called to enter it. The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Christ, but it is also the Father’s House, as well as the Kingdom of grace and the realm of the Holy Spirit.

The firstfruits of the Kingdom of God on earth is the Church of Christ. But the Lord dwells primarily in the hearts of people, therefore the Kingdom of God is not only the Church, which is among us, but also the Spirit of God, dwelling in a pure heart. In both senses, the Kingdom of God is the highest value. In His parables, the Lord calls it a treasure hidden in the field (Matthew 13:44), for which you cannot help but give up everything you have; a pearl of great price, worth all other possessions (Matt. 13:45); a house built on rock and which nothing can tear down (Matt. 7:24).

The saints who are worthy to ascend to the highest levels of spiritual life unanimously testify to the highest gifts of grace that surpass all other values. They claim that nothing in the world is worth the closeness of God. But even sinful people sometimes experience, for example, after Communion or when encountering a noble deed, an incomparable feeling of joy and tenderness. For many, the highest experience is liberation from sin and pacification of conscience.

In the parables about the mustard seed (Matt. 13:31; Mark 4:31), about the leaven (Matt. 13:33), or about the seed thrown into the ground (Mark 4:26), the Lord advances to encourage people , indicates how inconspicuously the growth of the Church will take place, and in it the spiritual growth of man.

21 - Parables about human behavior.

In some parables, finally, the Lord gives images of proper and inappropriate human behavior. In them, everything that is in agreement with the will of God shines with heavenly beauty, and everything that is not proper is repelled.

Such examples are given in the parables of the publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:10), the prodigal son (Luke 15:11), the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30), and the king and the evil servant (Matthew 18:23). ), about the rich man and the beggar Lazarus (Luke 16:19), about two debtors (Luke 7:40), about two sons (Matthew 21:28), about a bitch and a beam in the eye (Matthew 7:3; Luke 6:41) and some others.

22 - The Lord's teaching about the causes of sin.

Besides parables. The Lord taught in direct words both about the Heavenly Father, about Himself and the Holy Spirit, and about the spiritual life of man. For He came not to destroy, but to fulfill the law (Matt. 5:17).

The Old Testament law warned, mainly, against the external manifestations of evil and its fruits, but the Lord pointed to the very roots of sin. Thus, the sixth commandment of the decalogue reads: “Thou shalt not kill,” and the Lord Jesus Christ says: Do not be angry, do not take revenge, forgive, do not condemn or even judge. The seventh commandment teaches ; “You shall not commit adultery,” and the Lord explains that anyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). Thus, the Lord revealed to us that sin originates in our heart, and that is why we must begin the fight against sin by cleansing the heart from evil desires and thoughts, since “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness.” , blasphemy. This defiles a person” (Matthew 15:19).

23 - About the emergence of sin and the fight against it.

Following the Lord’s commandment about the need to cleanse one’s heart from bad dispositions and based on their own experience of spiritual struggle, the holy Apostles, and after them the holy Fathers, developed a detailed teaching about how sin originates and how to fight it.

First the sinful idea appears. This is not a sin, but a temptation. If a person begins to look sympathetically at this idea, this is already the beginning of sin. From slowing down on a sinful idea, a sinful feeling and pleasure in it appears. Finally, the will also inclines towards sin and man commits it by deed itself. Once committed, a sin is easily repeated, and repetition causes a sinful habit, and then a person finds himself in the power of one or another vice or passion.

The easiest way to defeat evil is to fight it at the very beginning, when it is just emerging, when a bad idea appears. The further you go, the more difficult the fight becomes. The fight against passion, vice or bad habit is very difficult. But to drive away bad thoughts at the very beginning, you need to be able to understand them, learn to be attentive to yourself, know yourself. Having recognized a bad thought, you should cut it off, that is, transfer your attention to a higher subject. It is not easy. It is best to immediately pray to God when a bad thought appears (be it a thought of malice, resentment, envy, greed or sensual lust), asking Him to drive away the temptation.

More than other prayers, the Fathers of the Church advise saying the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” He who does this learns, little by little, to control himself, and then acquires a constantly peaceful and joyful state of soul. The Holy Fathers call work on the structure of one’s soul “the science of sciences” and “the art of arts,” and without it there is no real Christian life. Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem says: “if a man does not do the will of God inside his heart, then he will not be able to fulfill it outside” (2nd volume Good. § 86).

24 - About love for enemies.

The Lord Jesus Christ not only called for purification of the heart, but also taught new external behavior. He taught not to take revenge on offenders and to give in to harassers: “Do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him; and whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer clothing too; Give to the one who asks from you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you (Matt. 5:39-40.42).

Moreover, the Lord called to love your enemies: “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you” (Matthew 5:44). The Lord called people to perfection, knowing that love is not divided: whoever loves some and harbors anger towards others does not have true integral love, and love for friends can soon turn into enmity. It is not so with God: He is completely and always love, “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

25 - About forgiveness and non-judgment of neighbors.

The obstacle to perfect love is not only direct anger and the inability to forgive insults, but also simple condemnation. "Judge not lest ye be judged. And why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye, but do not feel the beam in your own eye? First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:1-5).

Judgment and especially condemnation are already that log that prevents us from seeing the image of God in another person and loving him. The Lord repeatedly pointed out that sin is nothing more than a disease, and that He came to heal sinners: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12-13). The Lord Himself showed the highest examples of forgiveness and refusal to judge and condemn: on the cross He prayed for those crucifying Him; and earlier - He did not condemn the woman taken in adultery; did not condemn because of the excess of love, but it is this kind of love that shames, burns and cleanses with its light.

“Who made Me a judge or a divider between you?” (Luke 12:14), said the Lord. And again: “God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (John 3:17) and “I did not come to judge.” peace, but to save the world” (John 12:47).

However, another time the Lord does not deny that the final judgment belongs to Him - “The Father gave all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22), but explains that “the judgment is that the light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than light” (John 3:19), and the light is the Lord Himself: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me... will have the light of life” (John 8:12; 9:5).

So we, following Christ, must shine with love, with the light of forgiveness. Only this light can be our judgment. He who loses unclouded, all-forgiving love is deprived of the power that protects the world from decay. “You are the salt of the earth,” says Christ, but if the salt loses its power (love), it is no longer good for anything” and, further, “you are the light of the world, so let your light shine before people, so that they see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16).

26 - About the dangers of wealth.

The Lord warns not only against direct evil, but also against everything that can distract us from God - against excessive entertainment and worries. Thus, the Lord shows how the rich man, given over to pleasures, does not even notice the beggar Lazarus suffering next to him. “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear... Your heavenly Father knows that you need all this. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: its own worry is sufficient for each day” (Matthew 6:25-34). This, of course, is not a call to idleness and carelessness, but a warning against excessive concern for the future, which may not exist. Only the present belongs to us, and, meanwhile, a person is often inclined to destroy it for the sake of dreams of an incorrect future. Such, for example, are all the utopians who, either for the sake of a future supposedly better social system, or for the sake of the triumph of their race, without stopping at mass murders and other violence, destroy the present. Such utopianism often uses the formula “the end justifies the means.” But even in private life, people strive for the future, trampling on the present. It is especially dangerous if this pursuit is driven by self-interest. “Time is money” is another formula used by these lovers of the future. This formula in itself sufficiently exposes the sinfulness of those who accept it. Money is always only a means, not a value or a goal. He who idolizes money, that is, means, denies real goals and values. Each moment of time can become a real value if it does not serve only as a means to the next and if we are directly ready to give it to something valuable. This is possible if we live not only in the future, but also in the present, and if we know how to not only act, but also contemplate. Only through the present and through attention to it can one achieve the eternal. And God can only be met in the present moment, and not in dreams of the future. Meanwhile, the civilization of our era, with its technology and accelerated pace of life, almost deprives a person of the opportunity to live in the present, to contemplate, pray, and meet with God. The Lord warns against this danger in the parable of the rich man who decided to tear down his granaries in order to build new ones, not knowing that he would die that next night (Luke 12:16-21). Speaking about the danger of excessive concern, the Lord also warns against wealth in general: “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24), and even “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). Confused by these words, the Apostles asked the Lord: “Who can be saved?” (Matt. 19:25)

27 - About the meaning and nature of the Gospel commandments.

The question of the disciples of Christ: “Who can be saved?” - this is a shudder of human weakness before the absoluteness of the Gospel call. A similar question can be asked by those who hear the call: “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27). How to love when there is no love? Who can be saved? The Lord’s answer removes all doubts and contains all the power and the whole meaning of the moral teaching of Christ: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). All the Gospel commandments, and especially the commandment about love, are not commands, but calls. In response to a call, a person can seek love, but God Himself gives love itself. Love is the highest gift of the Holy Spirit, but God does not refuse this gift; “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,” says the Lord, “how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13). God Himself is love. What is required of a person, first of all, is to eliminate everything that interferes with love, and this is in the power of a person, just as it is in the power of a person to ask God and pray. A person has the power to do even more: try to act as if he already loves. This is precisely what the Lord commanded: “As you want people to do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).

28 - About the grace-filled life.

Although the commandments of Christ, and among them the main ones about love for God and people, are not commands, but... calls, nevertheless they are the basic laws of the spiritual life of man, created in the image and likeness of God. Outside of love, there is no true life, but only death, hellish torment and emptiness. Therefore, the impracticability of the Gospel calls is only imaginary. The Lord Himself fulfills His commandments, for example about love for enemies, for us with His gracious power, however, not without us, but expecting from us only what is in our power. A person's love for God is never unrequited. This is the law of human life - to always live with God.

Christian life is not at all just some respectable behavior that corresponds to external rules, carried out out of fear of punishment, especially cruel ones beyond the grave. This is truly a divine-human life, together with God, similar to a marriage union. The man asks. God answers; the person is grieving. God comforts; the person is mistaken. God shows the way.

Christian life is a life of grace, and this is its fundamental difference from any life, even a highly moral one, outside the Church. That is why the Lord says: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

29 - The narrow path of a Christian. Carrying the cross. Dying and resurrection with Christ.

The yoke of Christ is truly good and His burden is truly light. The bliss of always free love is hidden in them, but, due to the sinful depravity of man, a difficult, narrow path leads to the Kingdom of God. You need to renounce not only everything evil, vain entertainment and worries, but sometimes also all your property: “if you want to be perfect, go, sell your property and give it to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). The Lord also speaks about great sacrifices: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14). ,26).

How can we understand this when the Lord Himself calls for honoring parents (Matthew 19:19)? These words mean that love for loved ones should not interfere with love for God, or otherwise, it should not be selfish. We must love people for themselves, and not for the benefit or pleasure they bring us, so that loved ones do not turn out to be just a means to self-gratification. Such love is not durable and moves away from God.

The Lord finally expects a person to completely renounce everything and himself; this is co-crucifixion with Christ. “Anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33), says Christ; and again: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Luke 9:23; Mark 8:34).

But all these sacrifices in themselves have no value; they are only the path to the highest good - to love. The Apostle Paul writes: “If I give away all my substance and give my body to be burned, but have no love. I have, it does me no good” (1 Cor. 13:3).

The need for complete self-denial stems from the fact that the sin that removed us from God is extreme self-affirmation, self-isolation and selfishness. In order to once again accept God into yourself, you must completely open the doors of your heart.

30 - God accepts our sacrifices.

But God accepts all sincere and humble sacrifices made for the sake of His Kingdom. “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or parents, or brothers, or sisters, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God, and will not receive much more in this time and in the age to come, eternal life” (Luke 18, 29-30).

According to the explanation of the Holy Fathers, the words of the Lord “at this time” mean that already in this life a Christian must clearly feel the joy of grace, otherwise he will not find it in the next century. Indeed, holy people in this life were not only freed from the violence of sin, but were filled with spiritual joy and light. For a pure eye, everything is pure, and the saints see all people and the whole world as beautiful, anticipating the bliss of paradise. Everything that they deprived themselves for the sake of the Lord is returned to them in a transformed form. Saint Mark the Ascetic writes: “You will not lose anything of what you have left for the Lord, for in due time it will come to you multiplied many times over” (Good vol. 1, To those who think to be justified by works: §50).

31 - The Beatitudes (Matt. 53-12).

In the Beatitudes, the Lord points out those spiritual properties that are needed to achieve the Kingdom of God. They are both the fruits and signs of true life; in them and through them, already in earthly life, the bliss of the future age is anticipated.

To grow in a truly Christian life, it is necessary, first of all, humility, that is, the awareness of one’s sins and one’s own powerlessness in the fight against them without God’s help. The constant repentant state of the soul that comes from this consciousness is what is called spiritual poverty; BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIR IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

An image of the opposite state of self-satisfaction is captured in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:10).

“He who has felt his sins is better than he who raises the dead through prayer,” and “he who has been worthy to see himself is better than those who have seen Angels,” says St. Isaac of Syria. Knowing yourself and your sins leads to repentant crying, which washes away sins and brings consolation. Some saints had the “gift of tears,” constantly mourning their sins. The more light there is in the soul, the more clearly a person sees his spots, noticing the slightest mistakes. The Lord said about such people: BLESSED ARE THEY WHO MAY, FOR THEY SHALL BE CONSOLIDATED. These include those who cry out of compassion and tenderness.

BLESSED ARE THE Meek, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH - The poor in spirit and those who mourn their unworthiness do not condemn others, forgive offenses, and become meek. Such patient, meek people feel good everywhere; they are at home everywhere, like heirs. Getting along easily, they often outlive others, but their real legacy is new land the next century, where the warring will not enter.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, FOR THEY SHALL BE SATIFIED. - These are, firstly, all those who want their every action to be in agreement with the will of God, to have meaning, and for their whole life to be illuminated by the highest meaning. These are also those who want justice to reign around them, so that the beauty of Christ’s truth triumphs in family, social and state relations. For rare historical periods of moral enlightenment, both individual nations and all of humanity are indebted to people who hungered and thirsted for truth.

BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL, FOR THEY WILL HAVE MERCY. - The Lord speaks about works of mercy - the fruits of compassionate love - in the parable of the Last Judgment (Matt. 25:31-46), His miracles testify to the same. Charity is useful, first of all, for the benefactors themselves: it strengthens their love of humanity. “The poor are persecuting you, this means that God’s mercy is pursuing you,” said Father John of Kronstadt. But he who knows how to forgive is also merciful. The vindictive and vindictive person torments himself; he imprisons himself in the prison of his malice. Without reconciliation, he will not leave this prison until he gives the last half (his love) (Luke 12:59; Matt. 18:34; 5:26).

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART, FOR THEY WILL SEE GOD. - The heart or spirit of a person is the very basis and depth of his personality. All basic assessments and every choice are made by a person in the heart; in his heart he makes life decisions. In relation to moral assessments, the heart is conscience, but truth and beauty are also known by the heart. The words of the Lord must be taken to heart: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is clean, your whole body will be bright. See therefore the light that is in you. Isn't there darkness? (Matt. 6:22; Luke 11:34-35). The Apostle Paul wishes to the Ephesians that God would “enlighten the eyes of their hearts” (Eph. 1:18). The depravity of man is so deep that it extends to the heart. One who constantly gives in to sin ceases to clearly distinguish between good and evil. Purification of the heart is achieved by a person’s work on himself and ends with the action of Divine grace. The final loss of heart purity (or vision) is spiritual death; on the contrary, a person’s salvation is heart enlightenment. In his heart, a person meets God, for in the heart of a person God sends His Spirit (Gal. 4:6), and Christ dwells in the hearts of people (Eph. 3:17), putting His law into them (Heb. 10:16). God, the knower of the heart, judges people by the quality of their hearts: “I am the one who searches the hearts and the reins,” says the Lord (Rev. 2:23).

BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, FOR THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD. - It’s good to be meek, but it’s even better to sow peace around you. However, this is only possible for those who have surpassed the usual degree of meekness within themselves. The great Russian saint, St. Seraphim of Sarov, said: “Peace yourself, and thousands around you will be saved,” and another Russian righteous man, Father John of Kronstadt, wrote: “Without peace and harmony with others, you cannot have peace and harmony in yourself.” But still, making peace with others is not given to everyone and not everywhere; and those who put up with pride and irritability will easily ruin things.

“God is not a God of disorder, but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33), “He is our peace” (Eph. 2:14), and therefore only peacemakers can be called His sons. Appearing to the disciples, the resurrected Christ told them: “Peace be with you,” and commanded the Apostles to address people with the same greeting (Matthew 10:12). The Apostles in the Epistles constantly turn to their disciples with the words: “Grace and peace be multiplied to you” (1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2; Jude 1:2), or simply “Peace be to you” (3 John 15), and again: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1.2; etc.).

These apostolic greetings and the words of the Lord Himself, especially those spoken by Him during His farewell conversation, testify that the peace of Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

BLESSED ARE YOU WHEN THEY SHALL RESPONSE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU AND IN EVERY VERY UNJUSTICE ABUSE YOU FOR ME. REJOICE AND BE HAPPY, FOR GREAT IS YOUR REWARD IN HEAVEN: SO THEY PERSECUTED THE PROPHETS THAT WAS BEFORE YOU.

Suffering for Christ is the highest feat of man, and renunciation of Him is the deepest fall. “Whoever denies Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:33). He who renounces Christ renounces everything truly human, since what is truly human is the image of God, shining in Christ in all its fullness and purity. This is also a renunciation of oneself, of the best in oneself, otherwise it is spiritual suicide.

The utmost loyalty to the Lord is death for Him, and the utmost love for people is death for them. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

32 - Christian in the face of death.

Death is terrible, but it is the measure of everything lofty, the measure of human dignity. Willingness to die measures courage, loyalty, hope, love, faith. A true Christian is ready to accept both violent and ordinary death from illness or old age. Acceptance of death measures his faith in the Resurrection and in the goodness of God. A Christian must have “mortal memory,” that is, not forget his mortality, and the fact that the final triumph of light will appear only after the resurrection of the dead. But readiness for death does not mean that earthly life loses its value. On the contrary, it remains the greatest good, and the Christian is called to the fullness of real life, since he can fill every moment of it with the light of Christ's love. And only a true Christian can do this.

33 - The fullness of Christian life. Multiplication of talents.

Only the flowering of all the spiritual powers of a person in earthly life, otherwise the full use of spiritual gifts or talents, gives hope for participation and fullness of life in the next century. The Lord teaches about this in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) and in the parable of the mines (Luke 19:12-27). The easiest way for a person to fulfill his destiny is through activities according to his vocation. Vocations and talents are different. These are, firstly, the direct gifts of the Holy Spirit, those charisms that the early Christians were rich in (gifts of prophecy, tongues, healing, etc.). Secondly, these are personal abilities, for example, eloquence, organizational, pedagogical, artistic. These are also natural vocations, characteristic of age, gender, marital status (for example: marriage, virginity, fatherhood, motherhood). Creative activity according to vocation best shapes and shapes a person’s personality and helps to fulfill the vocation common to all Christians: building the Kingdom of God in oneself and in the world. All talents, both individually and in their harmonious combination, should serve this main goal. Without this basic creativity, performed with Christ and in Christ, all human activity, even by vocation, is distorted and withers. Thus, art, not nourished by the religious spirit, withers, state building dies, and even military affairs, when the truth of Christ is forgotten, prepares the death of the vanquished and the victors alike.

But we must not forget that every calling is a cross, that it requires effort and sacrifice, without which talents do not multiply. We must remember that the way of the cross is the final life calling the Lord Himself, and that the Lord’s final acceptance of His cross is the highest tension of life, its ultimate surge. “The cross is the will, ready for any sorrow,” says one of the ancient Fathers. But at the same time, the cross is also a blessing of every calling, and for the faithful followers of Christ it cannot be separated from the revelation of their gifts and from the multiplication of their talents. But the cross of every person must be grafted into the cross of Christ. This is best accomplished when the cross of any creative calling becomes a service to God and the Church. Then the talents given to a person are multiplied most of all.

34 - Doing the will of God

If in a vital (ontological) sense Christian life has the goal of deification, that is, union with God, and in Him with other people, which is the achievement of the Kingdom of God, then in a moral sense this goal is the fulfillment of the will of God.

The Lord Himself gave us an example of this and bequeathed it to us. “I came down from heaven not to do My will, but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 6:38), says the Lord about Himself, and warns us: “Not everyone who says to Me is Lord! God! He who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

In order to do the will of God, you need to know it; and in order to know the Divine Revelation, in which this will is revealed, one must live in the Church, since the truth is given in its entirety not to an individual person, but to the Church. But for its members, the will of God is also revealed through instructions personally received from above.

At the pinnacle of spiritual life, a Christian already lives under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, guided by His constant suggestions, clearly discerning in his heart what God wants from him. At lower levels, God’s guidance occurs less perceptibly, but with spiritual growth it becomes more discernible; for example, listening to the word of God, a person more and more discerns what in it relates to the circumstances of his life, and when meeting people, he increasingly extracts from them indications of his spiritual benefit. Thus, when meeting someone who is outrageously angry, he can find in this a warning against the resentment and discontent brewing within him. For growth in spiritual life and for an increasingly clear discernment of the will of God and its exact fulfillment, all the means offered by the Church are suitable: participation in the holy sacraments, reading the Word of God and spiritual books, public and private prayers, cleansing your heart from thoughts, limiting your natural needs (fasting) and the desire to fulfill the commandments, even if there was no real disposition to do so. It is also necessary to have personal communication with people living church life and asking them for spiritual advice, especially from your spiritual father. These tips should be followed, like everything in which a person perceives instructions from above. It is still necessary to develop all your talents, following your calling and turning it to serving God and people. Among all these means, prayer is of exceptional importance. It contains the very core of spiritual life, which simply does not exist without prayer. Prayer can be private and public, and in content - petitionary, grateful and laudatory. Petitions are offered for oneself and for others, both for the granting of external and spiritual benefits, especially for the forgiveness of sins, for help in the fight against temptations and, finally, for instructions from above on how to act. Pagans pray most of all for their luck, and Christians pray for how to act according to the will of God. God answers such prayer, especially when it concerns others. Prayer for others is the path to love and the fruit of love. Even higher is the joint prayer - “if two of you agree on earth to ask for anything, then whatever they ask will be done for them by My Heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

35 - The Lord's Prayer.

An example of proper prayer is the Lord's Prayer. Her first word “Father” teaches us to pray with love and trust in God, while the second word “our” indicates that we must pray for ourselves and for others, and better - together.

“OUR FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN” - a reference to heaven as the seat of God is a reminder of God’s perfection that surpasses all earthly concepts.

Because of this, one cannot help but wish that the very name of God would be holy for everyone and that we ourselves, glorifying Him in word and deed, would be worthy children of the Heavenly Father. “THY HOLY NAME” - these words contain all our sighing for holiness.

The petition “THY KINGDOM COME” is a prayer that the holiness of God will shine forth everywhere, that the truth of God will triumph within and without us, and that the world will become a kingdom of love.

But the Kingdom of God will be revealed in its entirety in the next century, after the general resurrection from the dead, and access to it will be open only to those who do the will of God. And without God’s help we cannot fulfill His will, from which we must constantly cry: “THY WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.” The will of God should be done willingly, joyfully, as the Angels and saints do it.

When we say “GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD TODAY,” we ask, first of all, spiritual bread, that is, Eucharistic bread, the most pure Body of the Lord, about which He Himself said: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:58). Our daily bread is also the Word of God, about which it is said: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). Finally, by daily bread we must understand everything necessary for our earthly life. God, of course, knows our needs, but prayer from them is necessary for our benefit: it strengthens faith and limits our desires; prayer for the needs of other people elevates us.

The petition for forgiveness of sins - “AND FORGIVE THEM OUR DEBT, JUST AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS” - must express spiritual poverty, without which there is neither correction nor spiritual growth. Forgiveness of sins is known in liberation from their power over us. And the mention that we also forgive is, first of all, a call to forgive. Explaining this request. The Lord Himself said: “If you do not forgive people their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses” Matt. 6.15).

“DO NOT LEAD US INTO TEMPTATION.” - God did not create hell and cannot be the cause of evil, but He allows Satan to tempt us to strengthen our good will in the struggle for good. The Apostle James writes: “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for, having been tried, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. When tempted, no one should say: “God is tempting me; because God is not tempted by evil and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But everyone is tempted, being drawn away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:12-14).

Temptation, prompting us to fight it, directs us to pray, and God listens to such prayer. The Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Apostle, “having been tempted, is able to help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18). In addition, God knows the extent of our strength and does not allow anyone to be tempted beyond his ability. The Apostle Paul writes: “God is faithful, who did not allow you to be tempted beyond what you were able, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13).

The word “temptation” in the Holy Scriptures and spiritual literature denotes not only sinful temptation, but also the test of suffering. Through much tribulation we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

In the last petition: “BUT DELIVER US FROM THE Evil One,” we renounce all evil and, thereby, its carrier - Satan, and we promise, praying for the help of the Almighty, to fight for good, like true warriors of God's army.

The final doxology: “FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM AND THE POWER AND THE GLORY” testifies to our faith in the Trinity God in Persons and in His undoubted triumph over all evil.

36 - Public and private prayer.

In addition to the Lord's Prayer, the Church offers us many prayers that are part of various services. But the Church also strives to streamline home and individual prayer, offering a prayer rule for this purpose. Although when using this rule, those praying are given a certain freedom, nevertheless, this rule cannot be neglected, as well as the instructions of the Holy Fathers from the essence of the prayer work itself. You cannot think that you can pray without learning how to do this, relying only on your own mood. According to the Fathers of the Church, prayer is a science or art; it requires learning and skill. Prayer is the foundation and center of the Christian life.

37 - Jesus Prayer.

The Church attaches exceptional importance to the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” Monastics must repeat it constantly, and those living in the world are invited to use it to repel every bad movement of the soul and when performing every responsible deed. This prayer can be said in abbreviation; its shortest form is: “Lord have mercy.” There is extensive spiritual literature about the essence of this prayer and its use, which every Orthodox Christian should, to one degree or another, become familiar with.

38 - About spiritual reading.

Reading the Word of God is absolutely necessary. The Holy Scripture is an integral part of the Divine service, and attention to this reading in church is of exceptional importance for spiritual life. But it is necessary to feed on the Word of God at home, especially when circumstances do not allow frequent attendance at church services. A tool for perceiving the Word of God in church is the sermon of the clergy, and at home - reading the writings of the holy fathers and Teachers of the Church.

The Holy Scripture reveals to us the true Divine life, and the Holy Fathers teach us exactly how, under various circumstances, we can perceive this true life and live it. It is useful to combine religious reading with prayer, or to accompany prayer with such reading.

39 - Orthodox worship.

Live in Orthodox Church there is one inseparable whole: this is the divine-human life and the path leading to salvation, otherwise - the deification of man. On this path, it is important not only to assimilate the Holy Scriptures, not only to participate in the holy sacraments and behavior in accordance with Christ’s truth, but also to fully enter into the liturgical life of the Church.

In Orthodox worship, both individual prayers and its very structure and the sacred rites accompanying prayer are salutary. Thanks to festive services, we not only piously remember the celebrated event, but also spiritually become its witnesses and participants, and it becomes, to the extent accessible to us, an event in our personal life. Thus, our life begins to transform: in its very fabric, like golden embroidery, the life of the Lord and His Church is revealed, and thus eternity already appears through our temporary existence.

All Orthodox worship, like iconography, is deeply symbolic. It figuratively conveys the salutary meaning of the events of sacred history for us. Iconography is sometimes called “theology in colors,” and worship can be called theology in actions and sounds. But, of course, it contains, first of all, direct verbal theology.

Thanks to the temple and the worship performed in it, the soul learns to respond to Divine truth and beauty with all its strings, and sacred symbols become a spiritual reality for us, mainly through our participation in the holy sacraments. It is thanks to them that the events of sacred and church history acquire the significance of the events of your personal life, and the latter, in turn, can be included in the chain of church events. Thus, through the sacrament of marriage, the natural love of a man and a woman and the new family being created acquire significance of no small importance for the life of the entire Church. Likewise, the illness of one member of the Church, through the sacrament of consecration of oil, becomes an event for the entire church community, prompting it to active, compassionate love for the sick, and includes the latter in a new way into church life. Even the most bitter and terrible thing in our life - sin, through the sacrament of repentance can become, as it were, the beginning of a deep rebirth of the sinner, joyful for the Church, since in it, as in heaven, there is greater joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people, having no need of repentance (Luke 15:7). Finally, even the bitterness of death, to a large extent, is overcome in Orthodox worship. The death-defying power of the bright Resurrection of Christ is transmitted through the sacrament of the Eucharist to deceased Christians, easing their responsibility for sins, since they themselves can no longer bring repentance, but church prayer for them is imputed to them instead of their own repentant efforts. In addition to the liturgical commemoration of the dead, the Orthodox Church has special rites: funeral services, funeral matins, requiem masses and litias. All these services teach worshipers a proper attitude towards death.

The vital significance of Orthodox worship is enormous, but its full depth is comprehended only through active participation in it, although it can never be fully comprehended.

40 - Iconographic.

A) Icon veneration and iconoclasm.

The veneration of holy icons occupies a significant place in Orthodox piety. Like Orthodox churches, the Roma are decorated with them. Church holidays have been established to commemorate the appearance of some icons. Icon painting itself is a very special kind of art, not reducible to simple painting.

They pray in front of the holy icons, light candles and lamps, bless them and through them receive healing, and sometimes even instructions.

In the 8th century, under the influence of the Mohammedans, who considered it impossible to depict the invisible God, icon veneration in Byzantine Empire a ban was imposed, and those who venerated the icons were subjected to persecution* and torture. In 787, at the 7th Ecumenical Council, the veneration of icons was restored and the beginning of its dogmatic justification was laid.

B) The dogmatic meaning of the icon.

The image of the Lord Jesus Christ, His Most Pure Mother, the events of His life, as well as holy people, is, first of all, a special type of confession of faith in the truth of the Incarnation (this pinnacle of God's revelation) and in the true presence of the image of God in man.

The Son of God, as the Divine Word, is the image of God the Father. But before the Incarnation, this image was invisible to man and appeared only as captured in the human word. Therefore, in the Old Testament, the verbal recording of Divine revelation, that is, the book of Holy Scripture, was revered, and there could be no image of the face of God. But when the Word became flesh (John 1:14), when the Son of God became man Jesus Christ, people were able to contemplate God Himself in His face with their earthly eyes and even touch Him with their hands.

“Show us the Father, and that is enough for us,” says the Apostle Philip to the Lord at the Last Supper, and Jesus answers him: “I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say: show us the Father?” (John 14:8-9)

Seeing the Lord, touching Him, and in Him God Himself, was a great happiness, which the Apostle John the Theologian testifies to in the first lines of his first Epistle (1 John 1:1-4). The Holy Church conveys a part of this happiness and this benefit to us, allowing and encouraging us to portray the Lord Jesus Christ.

C) Iconography as art.

But don’t we see the Lord depicted only physically in the icons? And thus, does not God remain invisible to us? And isn’t the icon therefore a disparagement of the God-man?

This is not so, firstly, because the artist, in every portrait, captures and depicts, to one degree or another, the soul and spirit of a person; secondly, on the icons, under the visible image of the man Jesus Christ, His Divine Hypostasis Himself is depicted. The latter is possible, because icon painting is a special art. Its peculiarity is that the icon depicts not an ordinary body and face, but a transformed, spiritualized one, capable of containing the Divine.

For such an image, special techniques have been developed that soften all the features that may expose sensual and earthly inclinations, and, on the contrary, reveal those human traits that reflect spirituality. However, these techniques leave room for the artist's personal creativity.

In icon painting, there are also special techniques for depicting objects and landscapes.

D) Iconography and Christian life.

The Son of God, having become man, found in him something akin to Himself, since man from the beginning was created in the image and likeness of God. But in fallen man the image of God was darkened and required restoration. Therefore, before the Incarnation, the image of a person was not worthy of veneration, as a result of which the images of ancient gods could not help but repel Christians.

These images reflected the fallen, passionate nature of man, and the pagan gods themselves, to a certain extent, were the personification of human passions.

Nevertheless, the images of ancient art undoubtedly also reflected man’s high desire for harmony and perfection, which is why a certain borrowing of the forms and techniques of this art is quite acceptable for an icon painter, as well as for Christian art in general.

Icon painting, in a sense, is an applied art: it serves the highest art - the art of Christian life, the art of transforming, with the help of Divine grace, man himself and his life.

D) Themes of icon painting. -

The main theme of the icon painting is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the perfect image of God the Father.

The Mother of God is essentially inseparable from Christ: thanks to Her, the Incarnation and, thereby, the image of God became possible.

Saints are revered by us because Christ was “figured” in them. They themselves are living icons of the Lord, like this, and to the same extent, and their images.

The icons also depict events of Sacred History. In them, iconography strives to express the theological meaning of these events that saves us, and not their historical setting. That’s why some call icon painting “theology in colors.”

To successfully carry out his work, the icon painter himself and his activities must meet certain conditions: he must be Orthodox and carry out his work with prayer and in the proper spiritual mood. Many of the best icon painters are canonized.

G) The holiness of the icon. -

In addition to its pictorial meaning, an icon is a place of grace-filled presence of the Depicted One. It becomes such a place by virtue of its consecration and the giving of a name to it. Not only man, but all nature, the entire material world, as created and contained by the Word of God, especially after the Incarnation, is capable of becoming a receiver and transmitter of Divine grace. Moreover, the mysterious line between the spiritual and the material is elusive.

The 7th Ecumenical Council approved the Orthodox attitude to icons: in an icon, the Christ or saint depicted on it is to be venerated, and not the material object on which the icon is depicted.

In the Orthodox Church, icons of the Mother of God have special veneration and grace-filled power. And this is understandable, since the Blessed Virgin is that “bridge”, that “ladder” that connects the invisible sky and our visible, earthly world.

41 - Veneration of holy relics.

In the Orthodox Church there is also a special veneration of holy relics, that is, the remains of deceased holy people.

The bodies of some deceased saints are preserved in comparative or even complete integrity. But they are revered not for their incorruptibility, which is not always the case, but for the fact that, due to the holiness of the deceased, their bodies even after death are the guardians of Divine grace, by the power of which the gifts of healing and other spiritual gifts are given to believers.

The gracious power inherent in the remains of holy people is evidence of the life-giving power of the Lord Himself, and a comforting omen of the general future resurrection.

A) Fasting is an essential aid for a successful spiritual life. An example of fasting was given by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 4:2), and behind Him “the hosts of the New Testament righteous, starting with Saint John the Baptist. But fasting was also known in the Old Testament, and in other religions.

Fasting is an exercise that promotes the subordination of the soul and body to the spirit, and through this to God. At the same time, fasting is a powerful weapon in the fight against Satan (Matt. 17:21; Mark 9:29).

Fasts are established by the Church before the holidays of Easter, the Nativity of Christ, the Dormition of the Mother of God, the memory of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year and on some other days.

The proper qualities of fasting are spoken of in the Holy Scriptures, in liturgical texts (especially in the Lenten Triodion) and in the writings of the Holy Fathers. Fast. First of all, it should not be ostentatious or hypocritical. Christ Himself speaks about this (Matthew 6:16-18). By its nature, fasting deepens our repentant feelings. In general, a Christian should always cut off bad urges and impulses, be moderate in everything, but periodic suppression of natural needs helps to learn this.

Fasting is not only an exercise in abstinence, but also in doing good deeds. The Church insists on this meaning of fasting in Lenten hymns. For example, in the following stichera: “By fasting, brothers, physically, we fast also spiritually, let us destroy every alliance of unrighteousness, give bread to the hungry, and bring the poor and homeless into their homes” (at Vespers on Wednesday of the 1st week of Lent).

B) In addition to fasting, it is a means of improving spiritual life. The Church established a fast preceding the Eucharist.

This fast, which is expressed in complete abstinence from food, is a living reminder that our earthly, damaged life is a preparation for the future fullness of life of the righteous in blissful eternity.

The Eucharist is already the beginning of this new being in unity with God and with all the brothers in Christ. Therefore, the sacrament of the Eucharist removes the burden of fasting, according to the word of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Can the sons of the bridal chamber fast when the bridegroom is with them?” (Mark 2:19). But before receiving the Holy Mysteries, fasting is necessary for us, as those awaiting the arrival of the Bridegroom. In this way, the Church seeks to strengthen in us our anticipation of the Future and our hunger for new meeting with Him, not only in the Eucharist, but also in His second coming. Freeing us from fasting after communion. The Church strengthens in us the consciousness that the Bridegroom is already coming to us and that the transformation of our temporary (everyday) life into the celebration of eternal existence has already begun.

On the one hand, expectation, on the other, the beginning of fulfillment, are inherent in the theanthropic nature of the Church, which finds its expression in its liturgical life, in the constant change of fasting and festive joy at communion.

On holidays and Sundays, that is, on the days intended for the Eucharist, if they fall during the fasting period, although the food restriction is not canceled, it is relaxed.

Unfortunately, there are many false stereotypes about Christian morality among people who are not close to the Church. And often such ignorant stereotypes prevent a person from understanding what the life of a Christian really is, that it is not limited to going to church and lighting candles.

And a person who wants to live a Christian life without understanding its meaning and principles risks making a mistake. For example, it happens that a person who does not know the meaning of Christian life, having tried to go to church and follow the commandments, then becomes disappointed and leaves the Church.

Here we can recall from our history the “potato riots” - when peasants planted potatoes that had just appeared in Russia, but did not know that they needed to eat its tubers, and tried to eat poisonous potato fruits - which led to poisoning. Then they were angry at the potatoes and at the government that imported them, and categorically refused to plant them.

Ignorance and erroneous ideas about what they do not know put people in such a stupid and dangerous position! But when ignorance was removed and they figured out how to treat this plant, potatoes became perhaps the most favorite dish in Russian families.

To avoid such mistakes, let us briefly examine three main misconceptions about the Christian life that are most common.

Misconception number one

Many people mistakenly perceive Christian morality only as a set of rules. Considering it this way, they like to say that this set of rules, even if beautiful, is completely impossible to implement.

Indeed, in our times, even the Old Testament commandments “do not kill”, “do not commit adultery” and “an eye for an eye” seem overwhelming for others, what can we say about the commandments of Christ, which, in everyone’s opinion, set a much higher bar of requirements: “ You have heard what was said to the ancients: do not kill; whoever kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to judgment... You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart... You have heard that it was said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I tell you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well."(Matt. 6: 21-22; 27-28; 38-39).

And if a non-church person balances these commandments with his own strengths, then such rules seem completely overwhelming to many.

The mistake is that these people do not take into account the most important thing, namely, that God gives not only commandments to the children of the Church, but also the strength to carry them out.

Some people think that the Gospel commandments are impossible to fulfill in principle, and that God gave them to people not so that they would fulfill them, but as a kind of ideal that one can strive for, but which can never be achieved, and so that from the awareness of the impossibility of achieving this ideal, people realized their insignificance, and thus acquired humility.

But such a view has nothing to do with the truth; it distorts the very meaning of Christianity.

Gospel means “good news”, or, if in a very modern way, “ good news“- but what good can be in the news that people are insignificant and are not good for anything except the awareness of their insignificance? And how can one call a gentleman good who gives orders that are obviously impossible to carry out, but at the same time their fulfillment is made a condition for salvation?

Such people liken God to the fascist officer from the film “Pan’s Labyrinth”, who, before interrogation, says to the arrested partisan stutterer: if you can count to three without stuttering once, we will let you go. And if you can’t, we will torture you. And the partisan tries, pronounces “one”, “two”, and stutters on “three”. And the officer throws up his hands, saying, you see, it’s his own fault...

No, the true God commands " His sun to rise above the evil and the good"(Matt. 5 :45) and " giving to everyone simply and without reproach"(James. 1 :5), God, " Who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth"(1 Tim. 2 :4), - is not like that at all.

To reflect the real state of affairs, another comparison is more appropriate - a father who saw that his son had fallen into a deep hole, he throws him a rope and gives him a commandment: stand up, grab the lower end of the rope, and I will pull you out. As we see, the father still saves, but if the son does not fulfill the commandment he received, he will not be saved.

And the truly good news of the Gospel is that it is indeed possible to get out of the pit of sin, curse and death, that there is no longer a barrier between man and God, that in Christ Jesus it has become possible for us “ to be blameless and pure children of God"(Phil. 2 :15), " for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus"(Gal. 3 :26). And in order for a believer, a baptized person to become a child of God, he needs to remove from himself the only thing - personal sins and the passions that give rise to them, which is precisely achieved by keeping the commandments. It's like standing up and grabbing the end of a rope that's been dropped. And this too has become possible for everyone, and this is also the good news of the Gospel.

Thanks to what God became man accomplished two thousand years ago on the cross, absolutely every person can now fulfill all the commandments, and thereby become like the One who called: “ be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" (A lion. 20 :7). Anyone can become a saint. And the commandments are not a mirage that can only be admired from afar, but specific instructions for achieving true holiness.

And if you treat them as practical instructions, then it is easy to see that Christ’s commandments were given not at all to complicate, but to facilitate the fight against sin, since they explain How achieve perfect fulfillment of the commandments given in the ancient law.

If the Old Testament law warned mainly against external manifestations of evil, then the Lord Jesus Christ taught us to identify and cut off the very roots of sins. With His commandments, He revealed that sin originates in our heart, and therefore we must begin the fight against sin by cleansing the heart from bad desires and thoughts, since “from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy”(Matt. 15 :19-20).

And He, we repeat, not only explained how to do it, but also gives us the strength to do it. Even the apostles, having heard Christ’s commandments for the first time, were surprised at their seeming impossibility, but heard: “ This is impossible for people, but everything is possible for God"(Matt. 19 :26). And for the one who unites with God, nothing remains impossible. " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." - testifies the Apostle Paul (Phil. 4 :13).

This is the most important and cornerstone difference between Christian morality and any other.

Any other non-Christian and even non-religious morality is precisely nothing more than a list of rules, differing in some ways, but coinciding in some ways.

But non-religious upbringing and non-religious morality in themselves do not give a person the strength to become good. They only provide information about what is considered good in a given society. And each person who receives such information has a choice: either become a good person, or to look like a good man.

Each person retains free will, so that he can sincerely try become a good person, but he won’t be able to truly achieve this without help from above. As St. Macarius of Egypt said, “the soul can resist sin, but it cannot defeat or eradicate evil without God.”

And then all that remains is either to look like a good person, carefully hiding his imperfections from others - just as a mentally ill person, aware of his illness, can try to hide its manifestations in public, but this does not make him healthy - or reduce the number of moral requirements to such a minimum that strength to a fallen person - as, for example, a pole vaulter unsuccessfully trying to break a world record in training may come up and lower the bar to his level and then successfully vault, but this pathetic self-deception will not make him a champion.

Any other morality as a set of rules is essentially what the Apostle James said: “ If a brother or sister is naked and does not have daily food, and one of you says to them: “Go in peace, be warmed and fed,” but does not give them what they need for the body, what is the benefit?"(James. 2 :15-16)

But Orthodox morality is different. Because in the Church a person is given not only advice: “do”, but also, through the sacraments, the strength to do it. And it is given to absolutely every person who wants to take such power.

Misconception two

This misconception is due to the fact that some people do not understand the essence of Christian morality and the meaning of fulfilling the commandments. They think that they need to be fulfilled because this is the tradition of our people and our ancestors, or because fulfilling the commandments will serve to improve the life of society. Or they simply say: “this must be done because God said so,” without trying to understand the meaning of what is prescribed to us and why God prescribed it to us.

Such answers are not satisfactory because they essentially do not explain anything and do not give a clear idea of ​​why the commandments must be fulfilled.

Whereas there is this meaning, and it is very deep.

And for those who answer “yes” to God, fulfilling the commandments takes on the deepest meaning - it becomes this answer and a way of connecting with God.

After all, in fact, we can bring almost nothing to God, we can answer “yes” to Him with almost nothing - we were created by Him, and everything that we have received from Him - talents, property, family, and even our very being, " for in Him we live and move and have our being"(Acts. 17 :28).

The only thing we can give to God on our own is the voluntary fulfillment of His commandments, done not out of fear or for the sake of self-interest, but out of love for Him. The Lord himself testifies to this: “ If you love Me, keep My commandments"(In. 14 :15).

So every time we voluntarily and consciously keep God’s commandment, even the smallest one, we thereby testify to our love for God; we answer Him “yes.”

Fulfilling the commandments is always only what happens between man and God. If a person does not steal or kill because he is afraid of going to prison, he cannot say that he is fulfilling God’s commandments “do not kill” and “do not steal,” because “what is done out of human fear is not pleasing to God.” ". The commandment is given by God and the fulfillment of the commandment is something that is done voluntarily and naturally by a person for the sake of God.

Fulfilling the commandments is not a forced satisfaction of some external necessity, but a matter of love for God arising from an internal volitional decision. " God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him"(1 Jn. 4 :16), " If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love"(In. 15 :10).

When a son tries not to make noise so as not to wake up his father who is tired after work, or when a father in a hungry time gives his dinner to his son, or when a young man buys flowers to give to his beloved girl, they do so not because they are forced to do so by society. necessity, or duty of following the tradition of ancestors, or even some set of rules perceived by them, but simply out of love.

And in doing so, they are completely free, since they do not act under compulsion; all such actions are free manifestations of love.

So the one who unites with God in love becomes truly free; doing the commandments is as natural for him as breathing air.

It is precisely the lack of understanding of this that largely explains the common stereotype of unbelievers and non-church people, which says that “to live according to the commandments is to live unfreely, but to live in sins is freedom.”

When in fact the opposite is true.

Anyone can be convinced of this by looking into themselves. How can evil bring freedom if it leaves your soul so heavy? How can a lie bring freedom if it does not calm the heart that yearns for the truth?

It is said: " you will know the truth and the truth will set you free"(John 8:32). “I am the Truth” - testifies the Lord Jesus Christ (see John. 14 :6). Knowing Christ and uniting with Him in love gives genuine “ freedom of glory of the children of God"(Rom. 8 :21). As the Apostle Paul says, “ everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial; everything is permissible to me, but nothing should possess me"(1 Cor. 6 :12).

But can anyone who possesses something, and who is unable to give up what is not useful to him, be called free? How many people have ruined their lives because they could not give up unhealthy food, although they knew that it was not good for them, they tried to give it up, but lost the battle with gluttony.

Is this freedom?

No, this is real slavery! That's right, because " everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin"(In. 8 :34), " for whoever is conquered by someone is his slave"(2 Pet. 2 :19).

One old joke tells how an alcoholic, approaching a liquor store, thought: “Well, my wife says that I’m completely drunk, I can’t even walk past a liquor store without going there. This is wrong!" He walks past the entrance, then a few more meters, and says: “Well, I’ve proven that I can easily pass by. This means I don’t have any addiction. This is worth noting” - and returns to the store to buy a bottle.

This is the whole “freedom” of sinners.

Of course, a degenerate alcoholic also has his own “freedom” - for example, when choosing whether to buy “Carnation” cologne or “Russian Forest” cologne - but no one in their right mind would put such “freedom” on the same level as genuine freedom from alcohol addiction.

Likewise, the “freedom” of choosing between different types of sin cannot be compared with freedom from sin.

And everyone actually feels this and understands that true freedom is better. This, for example, is evident from the fact that often even non-church and non-church people have great respect for the Orthodox ascetics and elders known to them. They are delighted and attracted by the holiness that can only be achieved by life with Christ and in Christ. Their souls smell the aroma of freedom, love and good eternity, exuded by the souls of those who answer God “yes” by voluntarily fulfilling the commandments.

Misconception three

For many people, unfortunately, the idea of ​​Christian morality and the means to achieve it comes down solely to a list of negations - don’t do this and that; You can't do this and that.

Seeing such a list, a non-church person mentally applies it to his life, subtracts from it everything named in the list, and asks the question: what, in fact, then will be left of my life and how to fill the voids that have formed in it?

This, by the way, largely stems from such a social stereotype that it is as if life moral person definitely boring and insipid.

In reality, the life of an immoral person is boring and dreary. Sin, like a drug, only temporarily helps to forget and distract from this melancholy. It is not surprising that the sinner, who has mentally imagined his own life without this drug, understands that he will then be faced with the gaping emptiness and nonsense that it actually represents, and is afraid of this, and again runs to sin, like “ the dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud"(1 Pet. 2 :22). The words of St. Isaac the Syrian come to mind - he compared a sinner to a dog who licks a saw, and, drunk on the taste of his own blood, cannot stop.

But the Lord in the Holy Scriptures offers much more - “ turn away from evil and do good"(1 Pet. 3 :eleven). Sometimes in conversations about morality the emphasis is placed on the first, “negative” part of this commandment, while the second, revealing the positive perspective of a new fullness of life, is no less important.

Some people think that this prescription has a chronological sequence, that is, first you need to evade evil, and only then begin to create good, but in fact these things are interconnected - creating good helps to evade evil, and evading evil leaves more opportunities to create good.

The commandment “do good” shows that God has for every person the prospect of an abundant, rich, interesting and gracious life. Good done for God's sake makes life meaningful.

Just as a person mired in sins has almost no time to engage in good deeds, so a person who does good for the sake of God and with God has no time for sin. Not because every minute he sits and shakes: “Oh, how not to sin, how not to do this, how not to fall into this,” but because the more virtue and grace of God pours into his heart, the less there is room in it for sin.

Of course, a Christian who has seriously embarked on the spiritual path, and even an experienced ascetic, can fall into sin. However, as Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) noted, “the greatest difference is to sin intentionally, out of a disposition to sin, and to sin out of passion and weakness, with a disposition to please God.”

Of course, a homeless person living in a garbage dump is dirty, and a person who comes out of his house in a new suit, but trips and falls into a puddle, is also dirty, but everyone understands that the difference between one and the other is great, since for one to be dirty is a normal state and way of life, and for another - an annoying mistake that he wants and can immediately correct.

If a person has made the choice to be with God and began to testify to this choice with his actions and his life, nothing can knock him down or shake him, as the Lord Himself promised: “ I will liken everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them to a wise man who built his house on the rock; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it did not fall, because it was founded on rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain fell, and the rivers overflowed, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and he fell, and his fall was great"(Matt. 7 :24-27).

This is the great significance of fulfilling the commandments of God. Without this, merely verbally calling oneself a Christian and even recognizing Christ as Lord will not save, as He Himself said: “ Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! Lord!” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Heavenly Father"(Matt. 7 :21)

The will of the Heavenly Father is not hidden from us, it is expressed in the commandments He gave. If we create them, then “ neither death nor life..., neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"(Rom. 8 :38-39).

It must also be emphasized that the commandments themselves given by God are not random or arbitrary. Although the commandments are given at a specific time, they open the way to virtues that are eternal. It is precisely because their fulfillment allows a person to become holy, because these commandments point to the eternal properties of God.

For example, if a person keeps the commandment “ do not commit adultery"(Exod. 20 :14), remaining faithful to his wife, he thereby becomes like God, for “ God is faithful"(Rom. 3:4), if a person keeps the commandment" You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."(Exod. 20 :16), then he thereby becomes like God, for “ God is true"(In. 3 :33), and so every commandment goes back to one or another property of the holy God.

Therefore, the more a person strengthens himself in their voluntary fulfillment, the more holy he becomes and unites with God.

Therefore, to the question why exactly such commandments did God give to people, there is only one answer - because that is exactly what He Himself is, and these commandments are given for those who want to become like God and through this become “god by grace.”

So, Christian morality and life according to the commandments are truth, love, freedom, purity and holiness. Whoever can understand this, it is easier for him to make the main choice of his life - to be with God or against God.

Quote from: Philokalia. M., 1895. T. I. P. 188.

Rev. Fathers Barsanuphius the Great and John Guide to spiritual life in answers to questions from students. M., 2001. P. 513.

Symphony based on the works of St. Tikhon of Zadonsk. Appendix to the master's thesis: “St. Tikhon of Zadonsk and his teaching on salvation” by Associate Professor Archimandrite Ioann Maslov. Zagorsk, 1981. S. 2003.

St. Isaac the Syrian's ascetic words [word 85]. M., 2002. P. 627.

St. Ignatius (Brianchaninov). The Christian’s attitude to passions / Ascetic experiences, I.

M hi to you, dear visitors of the Orthodox website “Family and Faith”!

We can often hear, both in church and in secular society, the popular saying addressed to a believer (including us): “It is not appropriate for an Orthodox Christian to behave this way.”

So what should a true Christian be like? How is he different from an ordinary person?

Archpriest Valentin Mordasov in his instructive speech gave the main definitions of a true believer. Let's take a look at them:

We must cleanse our souls, wash them with tears of repentance for our previous sinful life.

Do merciful deeds, decorate your life with fasting, prayers, vigils, and contemplation of God.

We must not envy, not be at enmity, curb carnal lusts, abstain from all excess, both in food, drink, and sleep.

Be non-lazy in prayer.

Start things off with a short prayer and wish everyone well.

In order for us not to notice the sins of others, to reproach our neighbors for them, to despise them, we must first contemplate our own sins and mourn ourselves as spiritual dead.

To find peace, inner peace, we need to go to Church. She will give it all in abundance. She will deliver everything through worship, the Holy Sacraments. She teaches everything that is true. It is not in vain that we read prayers in Church and at home. Through them we are cleansed from our vile sins. We get rid of temptations, troubles, circumstances.

Why do we need to pray at home and go to Church for divine services? In order to support, excite the life of the soul, purify it. In the Church we separate ourselves from worldly charms and worldly lusts. We become enlightened, we become sanctified, we unite with God.

Go to the temple of God more often and feed your soul with grace. From the church, through church prayer, our departed also receive consolation and mercy.

We should love correct reproof in order to correct ourselves here and not be convicted at the Last Judgment before the whole world, angels and people.

You need to feel sorry for every evil person, and not be angry with him, thus pleasing Satan. You need to move away from him.

We must always be meek, kind, merciful, and patient.

The evil must be overcome by the good.

There is no need to burden yourself with everyday worries, to partake of earthly blessings, riches, sweets, differences, so that these worries and addictions do not destroy us at the hour of death.

You should always think about God, about His works and always move away from evil and evil deeds. These temptations of the devil consist in the fact that he deceives us to love worldly things, everything earthly: wealth, fame, food, clothing, nobility, earthly sweets and not think about God and eternal bliss. In our thoughts, in our hearts, there is an evil force that every minute will remove us from God, instilling vain thoughts, desires, worries, glory, deeds, inciting us to anger, envy, pride, idleness, disobedience, stubbornness, intemperance. She needs to go against us.

One should not reject fasting, for the fall of the first people came from intemperance. Abstinence is a weapon against sin; we use it to please God. We should know that man falls away from God through intemperance, for all sin comes from him.

Fasting is sent to people as a weapon against the devil. We must give up bad habits, sinful desires, save ourselves by fasting, vigils, prayers, labors, and exercise our souls by reading spiritual books and thinking about God. We should not break our fasts except due to extreme illness.

Christians must certainly study the law of God, read the Gospel more often, delve into divine services, fulfill the commandments and church statutes, read the writings of the Holy Fathers in order to live like a Christian.

If you read the divine, at home, begin to do this with prayer, with meekness of heart, so that God will enlighten you, strengthen you in faith and piety, and help you find and remember what is necessary and useful.

When you are with sinners, speak wisely, prudently, instructively, edifyingly.

When you come home from service, read the Holy Gospel. Live your life wisely, live purely, repent, pray during your life so that sudden death does not befall you.

Do not deviate from the prayer rule, live lower than the grass, quieter than water - and you will be saved.

Be obedient to your spiritual fathers, meek and silent.

Be satisfied with any, even the most modest, meal.

Humble yourself for the rest of your life.

Do not imitate the Pharisee, who did everything for show to people. And do good in secret.

Watch your thoughts, because whoever agrees with bad thoughts and enjoys them angers the Lord God. And those who do not agree with them, resist, receive the crown of the Lord.