There are laws of spiritual life, take note!

– I think we should talk about some laws spiritual life.

In our consciousness or subconscious, the prevailing understanding is that spiritual life is feelings, attractions, something vague, unclear, spontaneous. This is deeply untrue. There are just as firm laws of human spiritual life as there are other laws that we observe. Which? Of course, there are many laws in our human life, but two categories of them are main.

The first ones, which we know very well, which we constantly encounter, are legal laws, that is, those that are in the nature of definitions of the highest state power. These are laws external to us. If I am smart or cunning, or if I am lucky in the end, I can even break them and avoid punishment. I stole 100 rubles worth - I put a small candle, for a million rubles - a thick candle, a pound one, thank you, Lord, the main thing is that they weren’t caught. This is the essence of legal laws.

But there is another category of laws, which is no less important - these are the laws of nature. We treat them quite calmly, no one will scold us, no one will punish us. If I jump from the tenth floor, who will punish me? Suddenly I instead clean water If I drink some dirt, who will punish me? Yes, no one punishes me from the outside!

It turns out that the laws of nature are something completely different. These are the norms of existence of our external world - and we are part of this world, part of nature - by violating which, it turns out, we harm ourselves. They say: “Don’t jump, this is the third floor, you’ll break your arms and legs, don’t jump!” Jumped.

These are two categories of laws with which we constantly deal, and the knowledge of which is vital for us. When we talk about the laws of nature, we mean physics, chemistry, astronomy, biology. And we completely forget the truth that, it turns out, there are laws of human spiritual life. Not just any instructions, but laws, the violation of which is much more dangerous than the violation of laws, both legal and natural.

This is the first truth that religion preaches with all its might, in particular, I will speak on behalf of Orthodox Christianity - it repeats with all its might: there are laws of spiritual life, take note. Well, okay, Newton got off very easily - his apple hit the top of his head, and nothing happened. Apparently the apple was small, and he might have been wearing a hat. Imagine if something falls, a brick from the wall? The law of gravity, it turns out, is fatal for a person who finds himself within the scope of its action! We still understand this, but we have no idea about the laws of spiritual life.

Who is guilty? Not me!

We constantly have sorrows, troubles, sorrows. And it doesn’t even occur to you to think: what’s the matter, why is this happening? After all, we know when we break an arm or a leg, for what reason? We know. Do we know why the environmental crisis? We know. And here - why is this? Why such terrible despondency, melancholy, depression? Now in general they are already saying that soon or is already coming an era when illnesses of a mental and metapsychic nature will come to the fore. Not cardiac, as it was, or cardiovascular, but what kind of mental ones. How many people suffer from depression! Moreover, this is increasing catastrophically around the world.

I once read one statistic: “Over the past forty years, the number of people with certain mental disorders has increased 10 times.” That is, not one or the other, but tangible ones. If something happens to me, I look for who is to blame. Who? But not me. I've noticed this hundreds of times. I don’t know about you, but I always immediately look for who is to blame, except me, of course. Some are so sophisticated that they find: behold, a sorcerer or a witch. So what needs to be done? Some false spiritual sage will tell you what to read, what prayers or what actions, or what water to use, or what oil to anoint - and everything is in order. And you will be calm. All reasons are external. Rarely, rarely do you suddenly come across the thought: “Isn’t it because of me?”

I recently read an amazing thought from one holy ascetic: “We, out of so-called humility, in fact, out of the greatest self-justification, think like this: well, what do my sins mean for all people? In the family, maybe I can offend my family members, but in general, well, what am I?” Remember, as in Mayakovsky: “The voice of a unit is thinner than a squeak, you can’t hear anything from it.” Therefore, I can be calm, it means that I am not to blame for what is happening in our society. And he writes the following lines: “Often, even often, the sins of an individual sometimes have fatal consequences for the entire society.”

Do not think that sins are mistakes: the wrong political action, starting a war or not starting a war, making such and such economic decisions. No, no, that's not what we're talking about. These are mistakes, yes, maybe these are also sins, but we are talking about something else. We are talking about a person’s personal sins, which perhaps no one knows about. They have no visible impact on life. No, he sinned against his conscience, he sinned in such a way that no one knows, or almost no one knows. And suddenly the sin of this person, a single person, and he rightly asserts this, can have fatal consequences for the entire society. An explanation for this can be given, and quite simple, from a Christian point of view.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit

The same sin by name, by name, can be the same. In terms of the degree of evil that is carried out in this sin, the difference can be colossal. Those who once read the Gospel may have paid attention to the amazing words of Jesus Christ: “Every sin that is blasphemous against the Son of man will be forgiven,” that is, against Him. Blasphemy is non-recognition of Him. What kind of Christ is this, what kind of God is this, who is this? The person is simply unfamiliar, ignorant, brought up in a different culture, in a different religion, he was told that Jesus Christ is a bullshit, and he blasphemes.

The question is very important. According to the explanation of our most authoritative many saints, in this case, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit means nothing more than conscious opposition to what I know, see, am convinced, and is the truth. It is because this is the truth that I resist it.

Do you remember when the Jewish Sanhedrin sentenced Jesus Christ to death after He resurrected four-day Lazarus? That is, when it became absolutely obvious that this was not just some saint or righteous man, a prophet, but it was already clear that only God could do this. This has never happened in history. Were there any resurrections of the dead? Were. Elijah the prophet, for example. But a four-day-old man, about whom his own sister said: “Lord, he already stinks.” Imagine, it’s hot 40-50 0, the fourth day, no explanation required.

So the Sanhedrin decided: to kill Christ and Lazarus, as a witness to this amazing miracle, directly indicating that this is the Messiah. That long-awaited Messiah, who was promised through the mouth of the Jewish prophets, for whom they had been waiting for numerous centuries. The Messiah who was promised from the beginning to the human race. And suddenly - kill them. This is a good example to understand what blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.

The Holy Spirit in the Gospel is often called the Spirit of Truth. Those. it is conscious opposition to the truth. Thus, the sin of even one person can seriously affect the condition of the entire society. It was a small group of judges who sentenced Christ to death. They were sentenced. What were the consequences? What terrible consequences that Christ foretold! You know that in the year 70, when they rebelled, three Roman armies converged, encircled Jerusalem, and the horrors began, about which Christ said: “From the beginning of the world there was nothing like this.” Horrors: anyone who tried to escape from this city was crucified, Jerusalem found itself surrounded by a forest of crosses.

When Jerusalem was finally taken by storm, can you imagine what a massacre there was? What happened in Jerusalem? The hunger is terrible; it is even said that sometimes mothers ate their children. Indeed, as Christ said: since the beginning of the world there has not been such sorrow. But in fact, this sin was committed against the Holy Spirit by a small group of people.

This is an example that shows that there are laws of spiritual order that have vital importance in the life of both an individual and society, and even the whole world. These laws, at least the knowledge of these laws, constitute in fact the essence of knowledge of spiritual life. Without knowledge of the laws, life is simply literally impossible.

The first statement of Christianity, the most important: there are laws, unshakable, indisputable, which cannot be violated in any way. Let me remind you that legal laws can still be circumvented. Every now and then we hear on the radio how they bypass or try to bypass legal laws, how they run away from court, how they are caught and tried. Many are running away. And you can’t run away from natural laws, because we ourselves are nature, we are a part. And the essence of this nature of ours is precisely the spirit of man, his spiritual life. Therefore, knowledge of these laws is extremely important.

If you want, drink dirty water

What kind of laws are these? I wonder what kind of laws these are? Do you need to comply? It is necessary if you want good things for yourself. If you don't want to, please: jump from the fifth floor; drink dirty water; cut, stab yourself if you want; walk on nails. “I don’t care about all the laws, and I’ll walk on nails. What do they tell me that I can’t go? And I will sit on a red-hot iron.” Is it true that we are unlikely to find such a thing? Our skin is often smarter than our head. Our head can justify everything, but our skin does not accept any justifications: it begins to scream so much that the person jumps. Oh, I sat in the wrong place! And everything is clear, the question is over.

So, these are the laws of spiritual life. Let me tell you that, just like in the natural world, there are many of them. You look, every now and then, maybe not so quickly, but these laws are discovered, scientists are awarded Nobel Prizes, the whole world is talking about them. Have you heard them say: “Here, he discovered the law of spiritual life, and he received the Nobel Prize?” I have not heard, there is no such thing. Think about it, what is this, interesting? This means non-recognition, complete ignorance. Strange! So, man is just a two-legged beast, and that’s all?

Now they brought me a book, I am indignant, I almost climbed on the wall - the book for children is called “The Rights of Cubs” - not children, and the whole book is continuously “cubs, cubs, cubs.” "Rights of the Cubs"! How unscrupulous is this author who says: “Beasts have young, birds have young, and humans have young,” and then he continuously writes “the rights of young ones.” We hammered and hammered at you that man came from a monkey, you just can’t understand, no way. Well, now know that your children are babies, not children, just like pigs, cats, dogs and everything else. What offensive things are being published! It’s ridiculous to talk about any spiritual laws here. What spiritual laws do dogs, cats, kittens or puppies have, right?

Do you want to be happy

If I am a musician, does that mean I am spiritual?

It is not decades that have been going on continuously, but a purposeful campaign that has been going on for centuries. What kind of? Convince a person that we are still animals, not people. Therefore the primary importance of your life is material life. Material, and nothing more. There is nothing more in the world - no spirit, no spiritual values.

If they are spiritual, fine, we will accept it. What is it? This is an aesthetic development; this is intellectual development; this is the cognitive level of a person; this is a culture of behavior. It's spiritual, do you hear? If I am a scientist, then I am spiritual. If I am a musician, then I am spiritual. But don’t even try to climb into my soul, because if only for me, a great composer or scientist, or writer, or poet, or politician, you suddenly climbed into my soul, then no valerian would help you. They would immediately faint from the spirituality that lives there!

Only Christianity is not shy and talks about it. What is spirituality? When we say “spirituality,” what do we mean? God is Spirit. And spirituality is the degree of similarity to the God that Christianity speaks of.

Here we find the most primary and most fundamental law of life, the world, humanity, man, above all. We have to constantly say that only Christianity discovered this fundamental law. If there were people far from Christianity, they might smile skeptically: they say, every sandpiper praises his own swamp. Sorry, let's just think about it and see what it says.

I have to constantly repeat that all religious world, pre-Christian, including even the entire Old Testament religion, revealed by God, but about which the Apostle Paul wrote that this is only a shadow of future blessings, and not the very image of things, only a shadow. Everything pre-religious, all pre-Christian consciousness, that is, human consciousness, since the whole world - historical science speaks about this with complete certainty - the whole world was religious.

How? This is a different question, but this is an amazing phenomenon. Even when research is going on, when did man arise? When they talk about Neanderthals, this means about 100 thousand years ago. And what do the researchers note? They already had some religious cult. They call it “solar”, sunny, because they find such places of worship which are clearly of a religious nature.

In an era when atheism entered the arena of history - and this was especially evident in France in the 18th century and beyond - they rushed to search for non-religious peoples and tribes. The result was zero, not a single people was found. Even in the pre-Christian era, originally Christian - the first researchers, Plutarch, Cicero: “You will not find a single people,” they write, “in which they do not invoke the name of the gods. You will find cities without walls, without fortifications, you will find tribes without coins, without money. But you will not find a single people without calling on the name of God,” this is an amazing phenomenon.

Therefore, when I say that in the pre-Christian era all peoples were religious, what can we note in this regard? A feature of extreme importance: all religions and all peoples understood their gods and endowed them with all sorts of passions, whatever they endowed them with - with everything they wanted, in best case scenario, the word "God" was associated with the concept of justice. Justice is the highest category.

What is justice really? After all, this concept entails nothing more than such an understanding in relation to man that the deity punishes some and rewards others - this is on the one hand. On the other hand, man himself too, if he follows the gods correctly, he prospers; if he violates their will, he suffers.

“Suddenly this man declares that God is love”

And suddenly Christianity... Why Christianity? Why use this general word? It must be said frankly: suddenly 2000 years ago came - let’s say “man” for now - a certain man Jesus, born into a Jewish family, who, by his culture and upbringing, knew only Jewish laws, who had no education of the surrounding peoples, I draw pay attention to this. That is, what kind of education? The same knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. No, I had nothing, this is not traced anywhere, not one iota. In addition, they even say about him that he is unlearned, they said this: “How does he know the Scriptures if he has not studied?” I didn’t even know Jewish language, that is, the Old Testament Bible.

Suddenly this man declares that God is love. Not justice, but love. Unfortunately, we are used to this. And even often, without understanding all the amazing meaning contained in this word: God is not justice, not a judge who evaluates all the actions of people and, accordingly, acts in relation to them, no, but love.

What kind of love? This explains what love is like. This is not “insanely smart”, as sometimes, those we love, we forgive everything, those we don’t love, we find fault with every little thing. “Without smart” - no, not this unrighteous one, but right love, above justice, which turns out to be a subservient category. Subject to what? This original word is love. What means? Wishing and doing only good for man. Not punishment, but revenge: “You did this, so here’s to you!” No, not a punishment! If you do something that turns out to be right, it is not a reward, but it is a natural property of the human soul and human life. It turns out that this is the highest concept that exists in Christianity and in the history of people in general.

What is love? This is the highest law of existence, the highest law of everything that exists and of man, first of all. The most fundamental law is the law of love. He just is. God exists, he exists. Can you imagine what consequences flow from this? In my opinion, it is quite obvious that the simplest, most elementary and understandable thing is like the law of gravity: we have no right to violate. What right? Not right, but if we want to benefit ourselves.

Love is for those who want to be happy

So it is here: anyone who wants to be happy, to have good for himself, must study what kind of love this is, just as it is for me to treat everything and everyone with love, so as not to step on some rusty nail, and not only get inflammation, but maybe blood poisoning and die. This is the basic law of existence. Very serious consequences flow from it, which are important in the life of every person.

Isaac the Syrian, one of the most prominent holy fathers, very deep, wrote: “Mercy - that is, love - and justice in one soul are the same as a person worshiping God and idols in one house.” Wow! Listen, I thought that justice was very good, but it turns out that love and justice in one soul is the same as worshiping God and idols, that is, truth and lies, in the same house. And further he writes: “Just as hay and fire cannot stand to be in the same house, so justice and love are in the same soul.” What a level!

It turns out that we should treat not only according to the principle of justice, then it will be hay and fire, but according to the principle of love - the desire for good for every person. Why everyone? Christ says things that literally seem unacceptable at first glance: “Love your enemies.” This is too much! How do you mean “love your enemies”, what is it?

A very interesting commandment that is often misunderstood. Our concept of love is one word all the time, Russian. But in fact, if we could read the original Gospel in Greek, there, in Greek, there are many shades of love, and every word, every degree expresses one or another specificity of love. The most important of them is that everyone must know that when Christ says: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you and do harm to you,” He uses the Greek word “agape,” which means nothing more than to avoid doing evil to anyone, evil for the sake of evil. If you want, wish everyone well.

You can wish for good in different ways. A person constantly comes with appendicitis. How to love him? Of course, he should have an operation, and not give him painkillers and say: “Here you go. Fine?" - "Fine". - “Here, you see how. Here’s another pill for you.” And to the next world.

Agape is just a desire, we should not have hatred towards anyone, not even the enemy. Why shouldn't they? It turns out that there is a law of this kind: the evil that exists in the soul, no matter who or what, is nothing more than a wound that a person inflicts on himself. Malice is a knife that a person thrusts into his heart, for malice is in the heart. Therefore, love your enemies, do not hurt yourself with this malice. Don't wish him harm. Act, if you want, in justice, for justice is the lowest standard of morality. Yes, it is already moral - to act justly - act when it concerns the case, especially public life. This is absolutely necessary, but don’t wish harm on anyone. The desire for evil strikes your own heart. Knowing this is very, very important.

Hatred is to your own detriment

You always have to give an example: a person hates someone, but the sea is knee-deep for him; and this one is shaking all over with rage. Who is suffering? If you hate, you suffer. So what, do you like it? Doctors say: “Don’t be upset, don’t be indignant, otherwise you may have a heart attack, you may have a stroke, your blood pressure will rise.” Even in terms of life, ordinary organic life, it turns out how harmful it is to hate someone. Who is harmed? To me. Do you want to harm yourself? Hate please. Do you want to harm yourself? Well, envy, greener than a birch leaf. And what do you get from it?

The laws are so interesting! A person punishes himself - it is not God who punishes me when I envy, not God, but me. It is not God who punishes me when I am cunning, hypocritical, deceiving, lying, and so on. When I proudly look at everyone from above, when I am vain, and so on. It is not God who punishes, not external law, not legal law, but man punishes himself. It turns out that the center of life in a person is himself. And it is not surprising that when Christ was asked about the Kingdom of God, He said: “The Kingdom of God is within you.”

That is, God, it turns out, exists inside, and not on some planet. It is not some external being that looks at you and thinks to reward or punish you. This is the great law of human spiritual life. How important is knowing it! Only by forcing myself in every possible way, not giving freedom to my anger, my pride, my selfishness, only in this way can I protect myself from the evil that I can inflict on myself, protect myself.

In spiritual life it is constantly emphasized that one of its main provisions is what Christ said: “The kingdom of God is acquired by effort. And he who makes the effort finds it.” By what effort? It's not a capture. The fight against everything that contradicts the principle of love. You wish evil - you do evil to yourself. You deceive a person - you deceive yourself. And so on. It turns out that there are some interesting consequences that flow from this situation.

This agape, that is, love, should extend to everyone, without exception, even to enemies. And there is another Greek word, it sounds like this: diaphesis. This is a rare love, this is love only for individual people. This love is of a completely different nature. Look like lovers. We are not talking about this love, when Christ says “love everyone, including your enemies,” he speaks only about agape - we should not wish harm to anyone. And diaphesis is already a special category, which is not a commandment, it’s completely different, it’s highest level, to which no one is specifically called upon.

How do you understand “to love as yourself”? “Love your neighbor as yourself.” After all, this is directly said, and this really is a kind of statement emanating from God himself. How can you love yourself, what does it mean, selfishness? No. This is a thing that seems quite obvious - we don’t want anyone to condemn us, slander us, talk about our mistakes, especially about our mistakes and shortcomings. Really, we don’t want to? We do not want. Treat other people this way, don’t talk about them: “Have you heard how it is with him? How is she?” We do not want? Don't do it. Why? Again for the same reason.

“Man, do you want to walk on nails?”

The same reason is a spiritual law - any bad feeling that comes from our soul in relation to anyone, it hurts, first of all, the person himself. This is one of the most important laws. How important it is to understand that sin is the wounds that we inflict on ourselves. And there is no need to sin against anyone. To sin against someone means to walk on sharp nails. “Man, do you want to walk on nails?” - "No". - “Why are you doing this then?” Moreover, they say: “Oh, now it doesn’t matter.” Having stumbled upon one nail, he says: “Now it doesn’t matter, I can walk further along the nails.” Have you ever heard of such a person, so smart, that, having stumbled upon one, he ran over all the nails? This is an important law of our life.

Therefore, whoever wants good for himself, who wants peace for his soul, who wants happiness, if you want, do not only do harm to another person, and do not have thoughts towards him, do not feel, control yourself. The Kingdom of God, that is, the greatest good, is acquired through effort, struggle, and does not just roll down to a person. By the way, the most important thing in a person is his desire, this compulsion, this is the fight against all that dirty and base that is in his soul. He must fight, it turns out, resist this. In this way, that greatest good is acquired, which we call happiness.

Once Christ in one of his sermons said: “Do not worry about what to eat, what to drink, what to wear...” And this word ends interestingly: “... but seek, first of all, the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and this everything will be added to you.”

There is a constant struggle between two principles in a person: one principle is conscience, the desire for truth, for truth, for love, this is what it is; on the other hand, to earthly acquisitions, to earthly pleasures, which were very well expressed by one saint. He named three passions that really humiliate a person - these are voluptuousness, love of money, love of fame. There is such a strong campaign going on now, when the whole essence of human life is reduced to this. Watch the ad to see what's going on. No values ​​are taken into account, and what kind of conscience are we talking about? Money, not conscience, money, not truth, money, not truth, money, not religion, money, not faith.

On the spiritual state of the nation

By the way, the West has been mired in this for a long time. Coming to Russia. I remember how abbot Nikon (Vorobiev) said: “God forbid, if Russia opens the border with the West, we will be overwhelmed by this dirt.” What kind of dirt? Materialism, mystical dirt, all sorts of sects, all sorts of occult phenomena and so on. Indeed, look, they opened the border, and we see what is happening. Look at how these things are gradually being subdued and crushed under them - lust, love of money and love of fame, as such. There is a struggle within every person.

One of the basic laws of human life is the following fact that the spiritual state of a person ultimately determines all his behavior, all directions of his activity, all his basic ideas, the entire nature of creativity - the spiritual state of a person.

What is meant by spiritual state? We have already said that you can be a highly educated person, deeply developed, and ethical in your behavior, and at the same time, your entire soul can be filled with these three horns. The most educated person, the most cultured person, colossal erudition, and all in voluptuousness, love of money and love of fame, that is, the soul of a person turns out to be amazed by these things. When she is struck by this, the whole character and the whole direction of his life goes in this direction, and not in any other.

Christianity calls to free ourselves from these idols, namely idols. Do not worship idols, worship the truth. The spirit creates for itself all the corresponding forms - this is very important. It is the spiritual state of a person that determines the entire life of a person and society and people. In human society, among the people, there is a certain summation of positive and negative things that determine all forms of our people's life. This is very important to know.

It is not at all by chance what happens when various conflicts, rebellions, all sorts of troubles, political squabbles, economic crises - this is not at all by chance, everything is ultimately determined by the spiritual state of the nation. And this spiritual state of the nation is formed from what? Minus-plus, minus-plus, minus-plus - and it goes. Formed from our constituent elements, each of which is each of us.

If we try to put it simply, then the very essence of the correct state of a person is the understanding that I am not at all who I should be. This is not a strangled voice of conscience, this is a desire for holiness and purity. This is something that sometimes frightens many people who do not understand this word, but it has the deepest meaning, this is what is called humility in religious-ascetic language.

Because there is a law - true, right love is possible only if there is this feeling of humility. When I see what my shortcomings are, when I see that don’t touch me, otherwise it will stink, then I treat the shortcomings of other people with great generosity. What is generosity? Isn't this already love? This is already love for a person. I won’t talk about his such and such deeds, I won’t judge, I’m ashamed to judge when I see myself.

This element, the most necessary in spiritually, for a person, is - I will use the term of a completely unsympathetic person, Freud - introspection, a kind of introspection. When Christ first came, His first words were: “Repent.” The person who does not see a reason for repentance, who sees himself only as good, is a terrible person. Pride, vanity, and all other passions develop in him. What is the spirit defined by? By observing myself, realizing that I am not who I should be, and the resulting humility.

Not by humility, but by humility, that is, by understanding who I really am and treating all other people accordingly. This spiritual state is extremely important. By the way, I’ll tell you that our people have this property to the greatest extent - we always feel that we are not the same, far from being who we should be.

Ivan Vasilyevich Kireevsky, one of the outstanding philosophers of the 19th century, wrote: “And western man always satisfied with himself, satisfied with his moral state. The only thing he dreams of is how to show himself as he should be. What should you be like? The way I am,” is how he describes it. But there is no people that cannot be corrupted. If we now, under the influence of this Western dirty wave, follow the path of these three terrible passions - voluptuousness, love of money, love of fame - as a result we will lose this law, we will lose this vision of ourselves, the understanding of who we really are, and we will lose the most important thing in human soul- the ability to love.

The Russian people have always been distinguished by their ability to love. I remember one evening in Germany we had an evening, and an old German stood up and said: “I was a prisoner of war in Russia. One day we, captured Germans, were passing through a village. People came out, women, mostly, we already began to hide and cowered - now they will stone us, because they are watching, and they have something in their hands. And they gave us bread! We were shocked." This German cried! He burst into tears and said: “I have never seen anything like this anywhere and I don’t think I will ever see anything like this. What Russian people!”

If we preserve this even a little, if we do not succumb to this Western terrible, dirty wave of wild materialism, which kills literally everything in the world in the soul, then I think that we will survive then.

– Why do we pray by reading the Old Testament psalms, because they contain a lot of aggression towards enemies visible and invisible? Doesn't this contradict the Gospel commandment about love for enemies?

– The Apostle Paul said that the Old Testament is a kind of shadow or prototype, an image of what should be. An image, a kind of parable, as an analogue. All these expressions about hatred, about revenge, when such expressions are even attributed to God: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” are understood in Christianity in a figurative sense. All this applies not to human enemies, but to spiritual enemies, spirits, as the Apostle Paul writes about this: “Our struggle (our war) is not against flesh and blood (that is, not against people), but against the spirits of wickedness in high places.”

Remember, for example, during Lent “On the Rivers of Babylon”? “Blessed is he who takes and dashes your little ones against a stone.” IN Old Testament for them it made direct sense, unfortunately. For Christianity this meaning is completely different - spiritual meaning: as soon as an evil thought appears, do not develop it under any circumstances - discard it immediately, right there! Otherwise, then that’s it, you won’t stop, this baby immediately grows up, and already grabs you and makes you a slave, and you find no place for yourself, tossing about from this evil thought that has arisen in you. Your babies die right there.

What stone? The stone means Christ. That is, in His name, remember that with these evil thoughts I punish myself, destroy myself, torment myself. Break it before it’s too late, in the name of Christ, whoever can, with prayer, and so on, don’t give them free rein.

There is a lot of Old Testament element in our worship. Just took it from there already canonical texts, took it and used it. But, unfortunately, we don’t have such education in schools that they would come and say: “You see, “On the rivers of Babylon,” do you understand?” Yes, it once had a direct meaning, a terrible one. Now it makes sense, as it turns out, spiritually.

And in relation to God, these are so-called anthropomorphisms? God is represented in human form. And they imagine that God has the right hand, right hand, God has a left hand. Remember the first lines of the Bible? Adam hid from God. Just imagine. Oh, poor God: “Where are you, Adam?” Well, how can God know where Adam is? All these are anthropomorphisms, behind which the meaning is completely different, not primitive. This makes sense for the child. And it would be a shame if we understood the Bible in a childish way. What is appropriate for a child is inconvenient for an adult.

We must know that the meaning of all the Old Testament psalms, in particular, is not at all in their literal meaning, but in a figurative, spiritual one. The spiritual meaning here is implied everywhere.

– Matthew 20: “And whoever has left home, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life.” In what spiritual or social state can this commandment be fulfilled, especially in relation to the words “he will leave father, mother and children”?

– Every person finds himself in such a situation. If he believes there is immortal life that there is an eternal reward, that this earthly life is only a preparatory stage for an endless life, and not an end in itself, then he must evaluate his earthly life and activities.

One girl from Finland told me how her mother said to her: “Why do you go to church every Sunday? Well, go for Easter, well, okay, for Christmas - that is, on the contrary, Christmas is more important there, of course. - That's all. Why do you go every Sunday, what should you do there? Stop all this nonsense!” How can we be here?

The word hatred here says “hate your father and mother” - not malice, not at all. What are we talking about? A person will not lose the meaning of his life. The meaning of your life is in life, and not in death, which is a moment - and this life is over, and no one knows when. Moreover, life is truly a moment. At any age you ask: “How do you remember?” - "Yes I remember". - "So how is it?" - “Like a dream, everything passed.” There are good dreams and there are bad dreams. It flew by like a dream.

So the question arises, if a person is truly a sincere believer, and he is convinced, believes that this future life is that this is good, and a person’s life consists of this, then he must, of course, choose in this case. If they tell me: “Either - or... Either you abandon this delusion of yours and your church, and this Christ - or get out!” This is what we are talking about, in what sense “hatred”. And not to cause any harm to parents. A person, if he is a Christian, for his part, must, as far as he can, try to convince and say: “You don’t believe? Well, please, it’s your will, and I believe, I respect your way of life, but don’t stop me from living like a Christian, too.”

Two directions of life that are incompatible cannot be combined - this is what Christ is talking about, what kind of hatred and love he is talking about. “If anyone loves father or mother more than Me, he is not worthy to be My disciple.” Of course, what kind of believer is this who believes in eternal life and is ready to exchange it? And for what? For a moment of this existence. Strange! Then what you believe is unclear.

So, when it is possible not to oppose this, it must be done, we must try, as far as possible, to convince. But sometimes this is impossible. And then what to do? Then, of course, I must prefer eternity, and not just save some moment, that is, renounce faith, renounce belief, renounce what is true for me, that is, actually oppose this truth - that’s , what is it about.

– About the purpose of Christian life Venerable Seraphim Sarovsky said: “It is only for the sake of Christ that a good deed done brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. The enemy teaches to do good for the sake of good, not paying attention to the grace that he acquires.” How to do good deeds correctly so that they are only for the sake of Christ. What is the difference between a good deed done for the sake of Christ and a good deed done for the sake of good alone, and not for the sake of Christ?

“When you walk here, there are quite a lot of beggars sometimes.” You can give a penny to one or the other. You can not give, of course, but you can give. Our psychology is sometimes like this: we think that God really needs what kind of candle we light, to whom, what we do and give, what walls we build, what dome we gild, how many prayers we say - as if God needs all this. He doesn't need anything. What does love need? When a person loves, what does he expect? He is waiting only for reciprocal love, nothing else, nothing you can replace it with.

So in this case, it is a good deed that is done for the sake of fulfilling the commandment. What is a commandment? So and so loves me, I know I can show my love in return. But how? Fulfilling his wish. I will do it just for this, not for anything else. I don't care what anyone says about me. Whether they will praise me or scold me, I love because I want to respond to this person who loves me with love. How? Fulfill his request. This will be selfless.

And I can fulfill it with the calculation: “I give you, you give me.” We do this very often. Still would! You need to get to know this person. Yes, you can do a lot through it. This is where I donate so much. And on the wall of the temple there is a sign: “This temple was built through the labors of such and such a pious man.” Glory to you, Lord. You can do good, so-called, for the sake of vanity, for the sake of calculation, for the sake of fame. All this is not for the sake of God, all these are worthless motives, which are shameful even to talk about in human society. And you can do it completely unselfishly. Unselfishly, only out of love, for example, out of gratitude, that is, I don’t have any ulterior motives. This is the act that we really do for God’s sake.

One holy father has a very interesting remark, he writes: “It is better to help a person in need than to give your donations to the temple of God.” You hear? Paisiy Svyatogorets, do you know what he said? This is in the desk calendar for this year, his sayings are there, and he writes: “I ask you, rich people, do not give anything to the Athonite monks, otherwise they will be corrupted. Don't sacrifice." Indeed, especially our people are rich, especially Russian people: “Lord, it costs me a million or two to build a cell such that everyone will gasp!” It's called a cell - a palace. Don't give it. Do it for the sake of God, for the sake of fulfilling the commandments, and not because of some feelings, attractions, or impulses of emotion. Otherwise, then it may turn out not to be good, but evil, as St. Seraphim of Sarov spoke about.

– Do I understand correctly that commemoration of health at the proskomedia is communion of the Mysteries of Christ in absentia? That is, a person was preparing for communion, but for some good reason - obedience, illness - he could not attend the service, then they submit a note with his name to the proskomedia, and he receives communion in absentia, that is, spiritually?

- No, that's wrong. Commemoration at the proskomedia means a more intensified prayer for this person, intensified only because here the person giving it is not just about prayer, but he is giving this note about that prayer, which is especially strong, this is the Eucharistic prayer.

Here, in essence, how, who is a different question, it is a question of his conscience. But when the priest stands before Christ himself, can you imagine what the prayer should be? And the apostle already writes: “Intensified prayer greatly helps a person.”

And to think that just submitting to the proskomedia communes that person with the Body and Blood of Christ is, of course, wrong, we are going too far. The Eucharist is different in that we commune here not just spiritually, but spiritually and physically. In other sacraments, a sincere believer receives the mercy of God and the grace of God. How? In spirit, spiritually. And here it is spiritual-physical, that is, our body itself even partakes of the Eucharist, partakes of Christ, and the body, and not just the spirit, that is, the whole person then partakes of Christ. Therefore, to say that you can somehow receive communion through this note is, of course, a deep mistake.

– Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) teaches that forgiveness of sins is accomplished under three conditions - recognition of sin as sin, repentance and the desire not to sin again. The hardest thing is repentance. By what signs can an inexperienced person understand that repentance has occurred?

- Forgiveness from some person - you let him down badly, you let him down - then we ask him for forgiveness. I wonder what we mean in this case by our: “Oh, forgive me. This, I don’t know what happened to me, I don’t know, for God’s sake, I’m sorry!” This is exactly how we can and should decide. For example, I repent that I judge, and I know that I will judge again. There are some sins - it’s just a real disaster. Well, you simply can’t escape them. The only thing left is, you try, you hold on, really, but then someone pushes you to the side, and again you think: “Here you go!” There are sins that we cannot cope with, which show us how sick we are, all in boils. The boil is popularly called “master”, but if you don’t touch the master, don’t touch me either - don’t touch it on any side, just try it, reprimand me, tell me that I’m not smart, but a fool, I’ll show you. Say I'm bad, not good.

I decide very easily who good man and who is bad is very easy. You probably already feel it. A good person is the one who treats me well, the one who praises me, the one who speaks well of me. What about the bad one? The one who criticizes me is a fool, he just doesn’t understand, he’s not smart, that’s all. What can you do with him if he is not smart?

You just need to understand what sincere repentance is. It's related to this. And here it concerns the most serious sins - theft. Or treason. Treason in family life or other. I'm not even talking about murder. Here, of course, it is clear. Such serious sins for which a person can really only have one repentance - not to repeat them again.

And there are sins that we cannot avoid. Here you need at least a little: you are an unfortunate weakling, you think that you are healthy, but you are sick. You can’t even resist such a little thing. If in relation to major sins there is simply complete cessation, then in relation to the so-called minor sins it is an attempt to restrain oneself, to restrain oneself as much as possible.

– Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes in one of his letters that it is indecent for a person living in the world to delve into the consideration of his sins, but if you do not analyze the sin, then how to find the reason, and, accordingly, begin the fight?

– To understand such thoughts, you need to understand the environment in which this person lives. There are very suspicious people, namely suspicious people. There are those who quite soberly and directly look at their behavior and evaluate: yes, I am clearly behaving frivolously, I am behaving idlely, I am only striving for all sorts of nonsense. Suddenly, when such a person who reads novels certainly goes to theatres, dances and so on - he still has to analyze his sins! Here they are already obvious to everyone, there is nothing to analyze here, they are all here.

What kind of analysis is Ignatius (Brianchaninov) talking about? Something completely different. Consideration of one’s sin is a special matter that can be done by a person who is properly at least in relative solitude, in the atmosphere of church life, or, even better, in the atmosphere of monastic life. There - yes. How do I find out who I am? It’s very simple - what thoughts come to me? Sooooo. How do I feel about them? Wow! What are you doing with them? Hey! You hear? Do you hear what it means to already consider your sins? We are already talking about inner life.

Ignatius (Brianchaninov) was an aristocrat, and corresponded with similar aristocrats. What is a secular lifestyle? We can at least partially understand this if we look only at the rules of behavior. If you could read a book about the rules of secular behavior of these people of high society - you will gasp! You'll just die, what kind of visits they should pay, where to leave cards, where to invite, where to go to some ball, what to do and how to speak - you know, how many conventions. These secular people should do what’s inside me! So he says: “It’s none of your business, you’ve had enough of just this way of life, which clearly shows that you have almost nothing Christian.” Pagans! That's what it's all about.

– Charm - how to define it and how to prevent it. What are the signs of an unpleasant mentor?

– The fact is that our very feeling is that I am a good person. And try to tell me that I - bad person, then I’ll show you where the crayfish spend the winter. Here is the first charm. I don't see my illnesses. I don't want to say that I should judge myself. No, I practically don’t see it. In general, I am good, but there are some things, but I will go to confession, give an account of the sins I have committed, come out from under my apron, and, as if nothing had happened. Here she is - already lovely. If you have this feeling, you can rest easy – you’re in love, you don’t need anything else.

And then, what is charm? Pre is a superlative particle. We know what flattery is. And charm is the highest degree of flattery. To whom? For yourself. What is she known for? First of all, in judging others: “I would never do something like that lousy girl.” Or: “Like him.” Or: “Like this Putin.” Or Medvedev, or the Patriarch, or another boss.

Condemnation is one of the most striking signs of delusion. I see myself better than these people I'm talking about. I see myself better than others - this is one of the most striking characteristics. A person who strives to live according to the commandments very soon begins to see how much he does not live according to the commandments. He cannot help but judge, not be vain, not deceive, not be disingenuous, not pretend, not be proud, not be greedy, not overeat. Just start looking after yourself - and that’s all, just shout “guard.” It turns out that I can’t do anything: no, no, no.

What can I do? I do not know what to say. Anyone who begins to observe himself at least a little will see. Thus, if he begins to do this, he begins to force himself to struggle at least a little with these things, and he begins to pray without fail: “Lord, have mercy on me, how to pray?” Here he was lying, and then: “Lord, forgive me.” If he deceived me, he immediately said: “Lord, forgive me.” Right away, and not to think that repentance - you need to go to the priest, and only then. No, right away you need to say with all your heart: “Lord, forgive me.” Nothing more is required. Only say this from the heart, and not wag your tongue, and then gradually the person will begin to really see himself, who he really is, that is, how sick he is spiritually. And so gradually the scales begin to fall from my eyes. So gradually a person will free himself from this charm in which we all, alas, find ourselves.

But charm also has another meaning, which the ascetics write about. We are talking about those who begin to struggle intensely. Strengthened posts, much big prayers, much more often confession and communion, fulfillment of all church institutions. Good deal? Good. But good, what a but. The Holy Fathers warn that this intensified, so-called, physical or external work, this fulfillment of everything, not accompanied by observation of how I fulfill the commandments of God, are not church institutions - fasts, rules - these are all church institutions. The acceptance of the sacraments is all church institutions. If he doesn’t watch himself how he relates to God’s commandments, as they say, “you can eat a minnow and eat a little man.” Oh, what a good fasting man. Hear, I fast, but I condemn right and left. What is the use of such a post? What is the use of going, confessing, taking communion, but he himself is ready to tear everyone to pieces: “You have become wrong, you are not baptized like that. So you have to approach, get out of here, I’m standing here.” You won't find anything. Wild fanatics sometimes.

So what are fathers talking about? It is this fulfillment of church instructions without the most careful attention to the fulfillment of God’s commandments that leads a person to what we say: he falls into delusion, into pride. As Saint Theophan said: “He himself is rubbish, but he keeps repeating: “I am not like other people.” This is pride, such as it is.

Remember, in Dostoevsky’s “The Brothers Karamazov”, there Ferapont, in my opinion, is a false elder - this is a special charm when he seems to be an ascetic, a faster, an abstainer, a man of prayer and thinks of himself that he is already everything - holy and re-sanctified. You can only avoid this in this way - by paying attention to your life: “What am I? Who am I?" I can’t help but judge, I can’t help but chat, I’m just looking for entertainment. I can’t be alone for even a minute - I need to call someone or turn on the TV. All poor, like a man possessed. This attention to oneself makes it possible for a person to avoid opinions about himself, as the fathers say, that is, charms.

– Saint John Chrysostom writes: “Whoever does not believe the Creator of the Universe, as if accusing the truth of a lie, how can he ever deserve forgiveness? These people have a feigned appearance, and, putting on the mask of meekness, hide a wolf under sheep's skin. But don’t be deluded, but hate this one even more, because in front of you, a slave just like him, he pretends to be meek, and you don’t feel against yourself, against your own salvation.” In what cases or whom can a modern Orthodox Christian, with a clear conscience, rightly condemn or hate?

– There is righteous anger, and there is false anger. Notice in the Gospel how many times we read that Christ, looking with anger at these lawyers, the Pharisees, said to them: “Snakes, brood of vipers, whitened tombs.”

Righteous anger, when we live in society and when we see a person who seems to claim holiness, the correctness of his actions, but in fact is hypocritical, lies and lies, then righteous anger really arises here. But why is he righteous? Firstly, because some kind of evil and crime is being committed here. But the second side is also very important - I, nevertheless, understanding that he is acting unworthily, like a scoundrel, I do not wish him harm, I do not have hatred for him. But I believe that if this were possible, then such a person should really be removed, for example, at work. Why? Because he is a thief and he will cause misfortune to a lot of people.

Here comes an assessment of the activities of another person. And this assessment can be of a business nature, of a fair nature. But what may begin is not an assessment, but a condemnation of a person - two different things. I have to evaluate. If I, for example, am a boss, I must evaluate whether this person is suitable or not. I see no. That’s why he lies, he doesn’t do it, he makes it up, he attributes it. I don't judge, I appreciate. I understand, maybe I would have been in his place, maybe I would have been like that, I don’t know. But the way he does it is not good, and I have to admit this. Because I have to make sure things go smoothly.

As for condemnation - no, I don’t know, maybe I would have become worse. So, one thing is anger, associated with a necessary assessment of this or that phenomenon, but without the desire for a person to do evil, as such: because he is disingenuous, he should do this and that. It’s one thing to talk about this person out of necessity, condemnation is another matter. We condemn everyone left and right. Nobody asks us. Our judgments do not change the matter one iota. Take, for example, political or economic life. We only vent our feelings, and nothing more.

But reasoning is necessary everywhere, and in the church too. When we see a person who, instead of fulfilling his church duties, actually behaves in the most obscene manner, yes, this person is not worthy of being here. If it depends on us to some extent, we must do something, of course.

I recently read an interesting thing that, in Moldova or Transnistria, there is some kind of demoniac there. They even sent me a video on my phone. Father, a former artist, by the way, sat astride this demoniac. Two men support this priest on his sides, he screams and screams, crawls, and the priest rides on him - this is an exorcism of a demon. Well, just think, what a phenomenon! Apparently his artistic past influences him that way. What's here? Condemnation.

And reasoning is necessary to demand that this is a disgrace, of course. It would be a shame if the local bishop there didn’t pay attention to such things. We will soon turn the church into, I don’t know, a gathering for whom.

You see, do not confuse reasoning and condemnation. We are obliged to reason. We are obliged, especially when we are assigned, we must reason. We are never obliged to judge. It is a sin.

– The Holy Fathers have the concept of “petrified insensibility,” when nothing holy evokes the proper feelings in a person. Is it possible to begin the sacrament of confession in such a state? How to revive your heart so that a feeling of repentance is present during confession?

“I still don’t know whether it’s possible to start communion if I judge, talk idle, become vain, or overeat.” “Petrified insensibility” is one of the sins too. This fossil is a consequence of our careless lives. We don't think at all about the commandments. Nails - so nails, let's walk on the nails. If not nails, broken glass, well, let's walk barefoot on broken glass, and we don't care when we don't think about it.

And secondly, this is our misfortune - we don’t learn to pray at all. We are very clever, wow, how clever, you can just envy, your head is spinning, how cleverly we replaced the prayer. How? Or visiting a temple, or reading prayers. But don’t pray, just not pray. I went to church, thank you, Lord, I dreamed there. Maybe I talked to someone, sometimes listened to the choir sing like that. He scolded someone: “They’re yelling, you brats.” Or on the contrary, good. In general, either by being present at the service, or by reading prayers.

This is a terrible disaster, it is not only our time, but also a terrible disaster now. You can spend your whole life, it seems, Orthodox Christian and not pray. And not to pray! And if we pray, only when? Or when we get really sick, or someone gets sick, or some misfortune happens, then - yes, then I will say: “Lord, give me goodness on earth.”

Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) directly writes: “We need to start learning to pray. True prayer is prayer only when it is done with attention,” - with attention to the content, to words of prayer when my mind is in prayer and not elsewhere.

And repentance. What does this word “prayer” mean? Prayer is supplication. Repentance is necessary because we constantly live wrong. Prayer performed without attention and repentance is not prayer, it is self-deception. The result, of course, is that we feel nothing, and a petrified insensibility sets in. Prayer is like air, but there is no prayer here.

One woman once asked a question: “I’ve been going to church for 20 or 30 years, and I’m the same as I was and, I see, I remain. How can we understand this? That's how you understand it. We, it seems, believers, seem to turn to God, but we don’t turn to God. We don’t allow God into our souls, because there is neither attention nor sincere repentance. Without prayer, religion is impossible. Only then does a person unite with God, with the Spirit of God, when our spirit is attentive and repentant, then unity with God occurs, then the purification of our soul occurs, then we begin to understand at least a little what Christianity is.

You need to learn to pray. And the holy fathers command us: “Start learning prayer from short prayer when you can say this prayer with attention.” How? “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” Well, it didn’t dissipate, imagine, it didn’t fly to Australia. We need to start studying and gradually one, three, five, ten. When? Anytime. In the church? Of course, especially. At work? Yes. On the road? Right. Are you standing or lying down? Same. You need to study. If we do not learn to pray, we will remain like this for a hundred, two hundred, and a thousand years. As you were, so you remain. Remember.

Read a verbatim summary (audio transcript) of Professor A. I. Osipov’s lecture.
(5th year MDS, February 11, 2013) Download mp3 from the official website

22. Distortions of spiritual life

So, we have outlined the question very... I don’t know, deep or high. This is where I’m always at a loss, how to say better: deep or high, which is more accurate? Well, when you can't get it. Heraclitus said: the path up and the path down are the same. So I liked how well he said: the way up and the way down are the same. And since then I realized that saying “very deep” or “very high” is the same thing.

OK then.

So I'd like to talk to you about a point of view that goes something like this. Christianity as a religion opened the way to new mystical knowledge for people (naturally, those who are interested, not just anyone). He discovered a means, a condition under which a person can achieve truly great mystical heights. If you want, to achieve the meaning of religion. And since we are not dealing here with any religion, but with Christianity, here we immediately find ourselves faced with the most important question.

The fact is that Christianity speaks of God as Love. God is love. You know, this is something beautiful, true. But you know what difficulties arise here when we try to talk about love in religious terms. I’m not speaking in human terms, everything is more or less clear there. But when ascetics talk about achieving divine love

, that this is possible in man himself, and that he is called, precisely in this sense, to be like God - this is all true. Here, it turns out, many problems arise. And I’ll tell you right away what the problems are.

Yes, there are two directly opposite ways. One of which actually leads to God. The other, as we often have to say, directly brings a person to the bottom of hell. And all with love. We are used to the fact that if love means everything.

Paths of spiritual life leading to hell

In this regard, I recall incidents associated with the Monk Silouan, our compatriot, Silouan of Athos. Maybe those who read will remember that he was a real ascetic. And then one day he reached a state: he was overcome by this, if you like, just despair. He yearns for God, but there is no God. He turns to pray to the holy icons - and there is the devil. He came to despair.

Here a voice spoke to him: “Keep your mind in hell, and do not despair.” God revealed to him that his inner spiritual state was not correct. And this irregularity was expressed, in particular, even in such external concrete forms. When he saw the devil in the holy corner instead of icons.

By the way, in this regard, I again want to give another example, maybe it will help you. This is in relation to Bishop Varnava Belyaev. I don’t know if you’ve read it or not, but he has a whole collection of his works called Science: The Art of Holiness. And there in his biography, which he himself reports, there was such a moment. He, apparently, was a rather zealous person and labored. And it describes, in particular, a moment in his life that, unfortunately, is not commented on in any way. It's unfortunate. That demons began to appear to him, beat him, do you hear, beat him. Moreover, he often came home from service beaten, and not otherwise. And now there are no comments, but there should be. And the comment is very significant. Just in case, it might be useful to all of us. The commentary is very significant, a patristic commentary. This happens only when the path of spiritual life is wrong. At

the right way

What is infidelity? The fact that a person attaches importance to his exploits. And then, as the fathers say, it is allowed. In fact, it’s natural what happens: “one knows one’s own.” And then a person who is really engaged in an ascetic life is allowed to enter into fellowship. And then they might even beat him up, that’s what we’re talking about, and what happened to Venerable Silouan

. When instead of holy images he sees himself.

Why am I saying this?

You and I are touching on a very delicate topic, which, unfortunately, we are not dealing with, but we should study and understand these things. Because it concerns spiritual life. It turns out there is a wrong way and a right way. Does a person struggle on the wrong path? Yes. Ascetic? Certainly. Praying? Still would! You hear, everything is obvious: both prayer and feat. Moreover, what a feat: it concerns food, physical activity, and so on. And it turns out that all this may not be true, and if a person does not already have a final fall into conceit, then God will reveal it to him, like Silouan. And he understood, came out of this state and became a truly godly person, whom the Church even canonized.

God revealed it to Father Silouan, and he understood: “Keep your mind in hell” - is it clear what this is? That is, see yourself as worthy of hell, not Heaven. It's clear? Keep your mind in hell and do not despair, and then you will not despair.

Because a person who sees himself already at the bottom of hell knows that he has nowhere to fall lower. There is nowhere to fall, that's it, the limit. Keep your mind in hell—that’s what it means—and then you won’t despair.

God gave it to him because, indeed, the Lord saw sincerity. The person did this not out of ambition, but out of sincere desire, but correction was required. Like this. The mystical path may be deeply mistaken

Do you hear what topic we are touching on? What in theological language is often called the mystical path. Although, I’ll tell you this, I don’t like this word so much when it’s applied to patristic experience, you can’t imagine. I'm literally going into a rage. Because the Greek word mysticism (mystikos) is associated with what? This is connected with the secrets of the movement of the soul, which it begins to come into contact with (that world). Hence they say: the mystical world, mystical states, contact occurs. And this contact may be correct, or it may be unlawful. It may be correct, and then communication with God occurs, or it may be false, incorrect, deeply erroneous. And then a person enters into communication with another world, not

Look, put salt and pepper on the table for a blind man who can’t see anything. He needs salt, but he takes pepper. Then: ah-ah! Or vice versa. Just as a blind man does not see, and can mix and mix everything, pour vinegar instead of wine, so it is in the spiritual realm. In the West, due to the loss of vision of where what is, what happened is that they began to quite calmly express both with this one concept “mystical”. Hence we see that occult forms are often called “mystical understanding”, “mystical consciousness”. And the forms of patristic life are the same.

I remember indignantly taking a book from our library by a professor at our academy, such as Minin, entitled “The Mysticism of Macarius the Great.”

It was good that there was valerian, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to stand it. "The Mysticism of Macarius the Great." What is it about? By the way, do you know the translation of the Greek word mysticism in Latin? If in Greek it is “mysticos”, then in Latin it is “occultos”. Listen, to say “The Mysticism of Macarius the Great” is to say “The Occultism of Macarius the Great.” Translate into Latin. What is it?

I'm still trying to show you what we're getting into. To what area of ​​acquaintance, let alone study. So, the indistinction between the true experience of knowledge of God and delusions leads to the most terrible and severe anomalies in the life of a particular Christian, in the life of a particular person. This can lead to the most tragic consequences.

And now we can watch. This has always been the case. But now we can observe on a different level. What was it always like? The Holy Fathers always warned against the possibility of falling into delusion. raised to the rank of saints.” Indeed, when you get acquainted with what they just write and say there, you simply have to be amazed.

What is the reason? Again, I return to what we finished before the break.

Orthodoxy stands, Orthodoxy is sustained by only one thing, you hear, only one thing, I ask you to remember. Only affirmation on the sacred tradition of the church, by which is meant the patristic teaching. Hear, patristic. Not Bulgakov, nor Florensky, nor Berdyaev, but the patristic teaching. And when we see the consistent teaching of the fathers on some issue, that’s all, for us this is an indisputable truth. If we step back from this, that’s it, we went like a cow on ice in all directions. And then we will become classical Lutherans from the word of Luther, who said: I do not exalt myself and do not consider myself above doctors and councils, but I place my Christ above dogma and councils. And now some specific points that I want to tell you about.

The “easy” path to God: the desire for special spiritual states

This is the first thing we started talking about. The concept of love, God is Love - what is it, what are we talking about? What is this connected with? Okay, everything is clear with Catholics, if it’s not clear, then you can ask later. How are we in Orthodoxy? Well, of course we don't admit it, do we? No, we won’t admit it for anything. We are Orthodox, if you don’t believe me, I’ll even write here.

This book describes the thoughts and sayings of one elder, very revered in Greece. So revered that if one of you, God forbid, would have decided to doubt the holiness of this elder when he got there, to Greece, and even more so to Athos, then that would be the end for you.

The name of this elder is Porfiry Kavsokalivit. The amazing things we read in this book. Well, I can’t talk about everything, it will be too long. I will only speak about his teaching about spiritual life. Because a number of things are simply amazing. But I will only say about the most important thing that you and I need to talk about.

He says: “Two paths lead us to God. The path is harsh and tiring. Fierce battles against evil. And the easy way, through love. Many people chose the harsh path and shed blood to receive the Spirit until they achieved great virtue. I find that the shortest and surest path is the path of love. Follow them too."

Well, the first question is who are the many who have followed the path of “give blood, receive the Spirit”, who are they? And why does he oppose himself to them?

Isn't that interesting? We know who many people are, I hope everyone knows. These are all devotees christian church

Have you ever heard that “you don’t fight passions”? What is this path to God? Interesting. Where when? What kind of new teaching is this?

Love God and everything is alright. Don't fight with them, don't make any effort to free yourself from them - do you hear? You were probably taught completely differently. Listen, don’t fight, don’t make any efforts and don’t say: My God, free me from this and that, for example, from anger, from melancholy. It is not good to pray or think about any particular passion. Don't fight temptations directly. Don't ask it to go away. Don't say: take him away, my God. And so on.

Holy Fathers about the fight against your passions Christ commanded to fight sin to the point of bleeding, but what happens here? Church during Great Lent bows to the ground

calls to pray. Cleansing from idleness, despondency, covetousness, idle talk, condemnation. With bows to the ground, even emphasizing what is necessary. Saint Ignatius directly calls the easy path of love charm, and he does not call it on his own behalf.

He directly quotes the holy fathers. He wrote: “Everyone knows what kind of spiritual distress arose for the Jewish scribes and Pharisees from their wrong spiritual mood. And they became not only strangers to God, but frantic enemies of Him, deicides. Ascetics of prayer are exposed to a similar calamity, having poured out repentance from their feat and trying to arouse love for God in their hearts.” Hear, I draw your attention, “to excite the heart in love for God.” Excite. When Christ said, He who keeps the commandments loves me. That love comes: the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Pouring out. It’s not me, pay attention, it’s not me who excites, but it comes, it comes as a consequence of forcing a person to lead a correct life. “... those who intensify to arouse love for God in their hearts, who intensify to feel pleasure and delight, they develop their fall, make themselves alien to God, enter into communication with Satan, and become infected with hatred of the Holy Spirit. This kind of charm is terrible. It is equally destructive as the first, but less obvious. It rarely ends in madness and suicide, but it decisively corrupts both the mind and the heart. According to the state of mind it produces, the fathers call it opinion.” In our even Russian language, in Slavic, it is even called this: dmenie, it sounds even more powerful. The Holy Apostle Paul points out this kind of delusion., he is known all over the world, even in America, this is Efrem Muraitis. In his book “Fatherly Advice,” look at what he writes: “Strive, my child, for the path of God is narrow and thorny, not in itself, but because of our passions. If we work hard, our hands will bleed and our faces will be covered with sweat. Do not give food to your passions by making concessions. Now work as hard as you can, because over time, if these passions are left unchecked, they become, as it were, second nature. And then try to cope with them. For the love of Christ, strive with all the strength of your soul. Let us strive to become vessels of the Crucified One. Let us strive hard.” And so on.

And how much the fathers write about repentance, which Porfiry does not even write about, does not mention. Without repentance there is no spiritual life, for on our own we cannot accomplish anything. Only repentance is evidence of our humility before God. And God then helps us.

St. Mark the Ascetic writes: “There is no end to repentance until death, both for the small and for the great.” You hear? That is, great in what? - in the perfection of spiritual life.

Isaac the Syrian writes: “There is not a single virtue higher than repentance.” Just think! He writes this way not because love is not higher, but love is only a consequence. And where there is no repentance, nothing can happen. “Doing repentance can never achieve perfection.

Every hour we must know that all twenty-four hours of the day and night we have a need for repentance.”

Saint Ignatius writes: “Repentance is the only door through which one can find and save pasture in the Lord. He who neglects repentance is alien to all good.” In! The last one, as they say, was sealed.

“There is no way for divine love to be aroused in the soul if it has not overcome the passions”

“There is no way for divine love to be aroused in the soul if it has not overcome passions. “You said,” he writes, “that your soul did not overcome passions and loved the love of God.” Wow, how great!

“...and she loved the love of God.” What does Isaac the Syrian answer? “And there is no order to this. Whoever says that he has not overcome passions and has come to know the love of God - and this does not take place if the soul has not achieved purity. If you want to say this just for the word, then you are not the only one saying it, but everyone is saying that they want to love God. And everyone pronounces this word as if it were his own, but when pronouncing such words only the tongue moves, but the soul does not feel what it is saying.” This is the law of spiritual life. This is the voice of Scripture. “There is no way to awaken divine love in the soul (to which Porfiry calls) if it has not overcome passions.” It is not for nothing that the Apostle Paul writes that love is a reason, that is, a totality, that is, it is a consequence of all the perfections of the human soul. That's what she is.

Everything is upside down for him! Poor Porfiry! And this whole book is printed here, in what edition. What path are we taking? I repeat to you once again, Porfiry is a saint in Greece. He has not been canonized yet, no. But you don’t need anything, it’s all already clear there, of course.

What it is? Daydreaming. Love God. A person does not even know the elementary laws that it is impossible to have this while passions still live in you. Doesn't understand such simple things.

He was asked about the holy fathers, he said: I love them very much, but I have never read them. Amazing! It really shows that you haven't read it. If he had read at least Isaac the Syrian, he would never have said such a thing. That's the problem.

Actually, he didn’t do anything new, didn’t say anything, compared to what the French, Teresa, Angela, Catarina, and so on had already said 500-600 years before him. They were all in this love. To the point of absurdity. Christ calls: “O my God, my husband.” Not the groom, no, no, but the husband.

He went straight along the path of these Western ascetics, without knowing or reading them. But it is very important from what source it comes. The same water will flow from the same source. And so we see.

You know, I want to read you another quote from Ignatius Brianchaninov. A thought that directly applies to Porphyry, although he is talking about Thomas a à Kempis. Listen to what he writes: “The book of Thomas à Kempis, “The Imitation of Jesus Christ,” leads its readers directly to communion with God without pre-purification by repentance, which is why it arouses special sympathy for itself in passionate people...” Pay attention, straight straight to God, straight to love for God. Therefore, it arouses special sympathy in passionate people, “... not familiar with the path of repentance.” Wow, look how accurate it is! What do you! What veneration for Porfiry! Who? If they had read the holy fathers, this would never have happened.

“... among passionate people, not familiar with the path of repentance, not protected from self-delusion and delusion, not instructed in correct living by the teachings of the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church.” Do you hear? “...not instructed in correct living by the teachings of the holy fathers of the Orthodox Church.

The book has a strong effect on the blood and nerves, excites them, and therefore it is especially liked by people enslaved by sensuality.

A book can be enjoyed without giving up the raw pleasures of sensuality.” And so on. Please pay attention to this. You will hear hymns of praise about this Porphyria. I did not read to you in general, but specifically read out his teaching and patristic understanding of this most important issue. We must not begin with the love of God. Love for God is only born in a purified heart. Everything is upside down for him. And everyone has become so Orthodox that they no longer understand anything. They don’t understand that we have to start not from the end, but from the beginning. This is how we Orthodox Christians, it turns out, do not know our Orthodoxy. We don’t even know such a simple thing: what is the beginning, and what is the consequence and the end. This is why it is so important to study the Holy Fathers.

But I will say that when studying the Holy Fathers we can find a teaching about very John the Theologian, - saw the whole apocalypse, the whole Revelation, - as he writes, - exactly as it was. Well? Do you still need proof? Fine. He writes: “And I heard the voice of Christ from the cleft of the rock.” Well, now we understand that this is a saint? Yes, there has never been such a case in history that anyone other than John the Theologian could see the apocalypse. And that’s it, everything is exactly as it was. This is the first time in the entire two-thousand-year history of Christianity.

Well, how are you now, everything?

“The miracle that happened to me on Patmos is a great mystery. It contains great meaning. – You hear, great meaning. – I saw the events of Revelation, I saw Saint John the Theologian, his disciple Prochorus. I saw everything exactly as it was. I heard the voice of Christ from the scattered rock.” Listen, isn't it clear? This paragraph alone is enough to understand what we're dealing with. And now you see what the current level of understanding of Orthodoxy is. What level: they don’t see it. Saint Porfiry... from the cleft of the rock... It is clear who will speak from the cleft of the rock. That's it, my friends. This is one of the very important topics of our course, my friends. And if you want, the topic is not dogmatic, not just some moral theology, this is an apologetic topic. You remember, we spoke to you: tell me who your saints are, and I will tell you what your church is like. And they showed who the saints were. Directly quoted from Teresa, angel. Truly terrifying.

And now Catholics will tell us: these are your saints, exactly the same as ours. And you still object? We have one spiritual experience, we are all one. Do you hear? I gave you a whole series of statements by the saints of the church that the Catholic way of life is a heresy, it is a delusion, it leads a person into a dreamy world, and not into real world

spiritual life.

You all understand perfectly well that the main core of religion, any religion, is prayer. Prayer indicates a person's desire for God. It is the only place where human contact with God is possible. For here the conversion takes place, here, and nowhere else. Without prayer there is no religion at all. It is not a religion if there is no prayer, if it is not expected, because there cannot be any contact with God. In Christianity, prayer is perhaps the most important thing through which a person truly comes into contact with God. In general, there are two wings of a person’s spiritual life: prayer and fulfillment of the commandments. Moreover, the matter is of this kind that without fulfilling the commandments, prayer loses all its power. Without the desire to fulfill, this is what we are talking about, of course, we do not fulfill anything.

These are two wings. So, prayer is that means, that fundamental thing that must be present in a person, without which no spiritual life is simply unthinkable and impossible. Therefore, the holy fathers talk about prayer continuously, constantly, teach and warn.

Both in the matter of love and in the matter of prayer. What do we see? Exactly the same. Through prayer a person can truly be cleansed, can elevate himself, can achieve deification. Or maybe just like we talked about love. It’s straight to the bottom of hell to go down on the knees of that main creature whom I don’t want to mention. And all with the help of prayer.

So, in this regard, I again draw your attention to what is happening now in our Orthodox world. Listen, not the Jesuits, not the Catholics. Let's leave them to God. What's going on here? I buy it here, in our bookstore, “The Life of Elder Charlampius of Dionysiades.

Teacher of the Jesus Prayer." Well, really, I wonder if now someone modern is teaching the Jesus Prayer, an Athonite elder. Well, it’s really interesting, you can’t resist buying such a book. We find very interesting things in it. I don’t know what to say, first what we find in it, or first to say what the patristic teaching is about the Jesus Prayer. Still, I guess, I guess. I'll quote it first.

To a young man who came to Athos, for example, like one of us, such a young man, and who wants to embark on the feat of life, this is what Elder Kharlampy blesses. Listen, he doesn’t advise, but blesses.

Do you know what difference it makes or not? You don't know this yet. We must remember: I bless you to get up with your left foot. Otherwise I advise you: I advise you to stand on your left leg. Well, advise me, this is not it. The blessing is everything, the command. Oh, how great it is: I order. And my spiritual daughters listen to me.

As a young man... I even laughed. I don’t know if his mustache is growing or not. “Here are my spiritual daughters...” I keep saying, I’m falling, I’m falling, wait, hold me, I’m falling! What you said? He looks at me first and says: well, as a person always acts like a fool. I say: do you have spiritual daughters? At what age, 4 times older than you? Yes…

By the way, one of these contagious diseases is power, power. At least over three old women, but the power is at least here. Like this. It's just terrible. This, by the way, is not related to the topic; we are talking about prayer. « So, Elder Kharlampy blesses: “the first exercise is to say the prayer out loud with your lips, and as clearly and quickly as possible. If you quickly say a prayer with your lips, it is not so easy for Satan to have time to plunge you into distraction.” Quickly, quickly., save me." Having stretched out twelve rosaries, begin a new circle.” Since the evening. Wow, gotcha, darling, just like that.

“Geronte, I can’t,” this poor man replies, “You will.” Do you hear the answer? You will! No, well, you can feel it, the old man is real, of course. “After the first few beads were stretched out, a certain sweetness little by little began to flow from the larynx and be felt on the tongue and lips young man. It resembled the sweetest candy, with the difference that the last one dissolves in five to ten minutes.” It is written like this, I am quoting it to you. “This sweetness did not diminish. On the contrary, it increased, so young man with a feeling of great gratitude, he continuously repeated the divine words of prayer. Less than an hour had passed since he finished the first twelve three hundred.” Remember arithmetic? That is 3,600 Jesus prayers.

Not even an hour has passed. If you remember, there are 3,600 seconds in an hour.

We are conducting an experiment. Does everyone have a watch? I ask you to say 10 Jesus prayers. How many seconds will it take? In general, can anyone say it in a second? But not even an hour passed - 3,600 prayers.

“At the end of the fourth circle (that’s 14,400 prayers), his soul suddenly trembled with tears, praise and thanksgiving. The beginning of the prayer feat."

Here's patristic advice for you. “Initially, set yourself to say 100 Jesus prayers with attention and leisurely. Subsequently, if you see that you can say more, add another hundred.” – what a humiliation, you can’t imagine. “Over time, depending on the need, you can further increase the number of prayers said.

“Having listened to this young man, Kharlampiy tells him: with one breath I can say 100-200 prayers.”

That's it, darlings. One breath in and out. You just pray for a second, and here I am. This method, I will tell you, is well known. Just not with the holy fathers, do you hear? He is famous in a completely different field. This method is known in Hinduism, where it has long been discovered that a high-speed reading, a mantra, a spell, and a continuous one over a long period of time brings a person into a state of samadhi. The practice of japa mantra leads to a state of samadhi, when the name of God is constantly repeated. It cleanses the body, nerves and mind. The name of god has enormous power

and saves you from any suffering and misfortune. Japa mantras automatically maintain mental and physical health.” Do you hear where? It amazes me, I was sure that Kharlampy did not know this. I doubt that he studied some kind of Hinduism there on Mount Athos. It's coming. You know, it's easy. You will notice that it is difficult to say the Jesus Prayer with attention. You hear, it's difficult. But I think you’ve already been practicing, and you probably know for sure. I don’t think you stand at the all-night vigil and dream about when it will end in the end. This one is reading, why is he trying to read, I can’t. It is necessary to waste-ta-tata, and he drags on there. This is not what we think about, really, but what we do

Jesus Prayer

, Certainly.

Do you hear what we're facing? The “Master of the Jesus Prayer” is being sold to us, given into our hands. Do you hear how this is possible? How can you very quickly acquire a state of sweetness, delight, awe, gratitude, everything. In one night, 14 and a half thousand just need to be read. Or maybe even less. Because after just one round he already felt these many states. Do you hear what we are facing, my friends?

Either go along the path sanctified by the holy fathers, their experience, their warning, a threatening warning against delusion. Or this fascinating, impressive experience of quickly acquiring the fruits of spiritual life through saying the Jesus Prayer quickly, quickly, like a motor. I imagine how the rosary sparkled.

However, sometimes I’m in church... you know, standing in church, what to do?

Suddenly, I see someone with a rosary ahead, ta-ta-tata. Wow, you think, well, brilliant, amazingly simple! Just, apparently, according to Kharlampi.

We stand with you, you hear, what to believe? What to follow?

Hieromonk Seraphim Rose: “Anyone who is familiar with this Orthodox teaching [about the world of spirits] cannot help but look with amazement and horror at the ease with which modern “Christians” trust the visions and phenomena that are now becoming more and more widespread. The reason for this credulity is clear: Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, having been divorced for many centuries from Orthodox teaching and practice of spiritual life, have lost all ability to clearly discern in the realm of spirits” [Hieromonk Seraphim of Platinum. Soul after death - M.: Russian Pilgrim Publishing House, 2015, p. 100].

St. John Cassian: “The grace of God is communicated only to those who work by the sweat of their brow” [Philokalia: vol. 2. - M.: Artos-Media: Unquenchable Lamp, 2010, p. 108].

St. Anthony the Great: “The uneducated and simpletons consider science a ridiculous matter and do not want to listen to them, because they expose their ignorance, and they want everyone to be like them” [Philokalia: vol. 1. - M.: Artos-Media : Unquenchable lamp, 2010, p. 82].

St. Anthony the Great: “Many of the monks and virgins living in brotherhoods, having not at all tasted this sweetness of divine love and not having received divine power, thought that they already had it; but since they did not make any effort to acquire it, God did not give it to them.”

[ibid., p. 48]. St. Anthony the Great: “When a person, desiring to have in himself the light of God and His power, despises the reproaches of this world, as well as its honors, hates everything worldly and cleanses the peace of his body and heart from all evil thoughts, constantly brings fasting to God and nightly tears, as well as pure prayers

; then God rewards him with that power” [ibid., p. which he performs for them during the day in order to immerse them in greater delight.

This is not enough: he sometimes shows them a light at night, so that the place where they are becomes bright; and he does many things of this kind, even like signs. He does all this so that they remain calm regarding him, thinking that he is an angel, and accept him.

As soon as they accept him in this sense, he brings them down from their height due to the spirit of pride that takes possession of them. He tries to keep them in the belief that they have become great and glorious in spirit more than many and have no need to turn to their fathers and listen to them. And they, according to scripture, are indeed brilliant grapes, but unripe and tart. The instructions of their fathers are difficult for them; because they are sure that they themselves already know everything” [ibid., p. 63]. “Let us not try to show anything particularly great in ourselves, so as not to perish because of this and not to get entangled in numerous branches of vanity, because there are extremely many demons of vanity” [ibid., p. 77].

St. Mark the Ascetic: “Prayer can be different, for one thing is to pray to God with an unentertained thought, and another thing is to stand in prayer with the body and be entertained by thought” [ibid., p. 606].

John Chrysostom: “Many come to church, say thousands of verses of prayer, and leave, not knowing what they said: their lips move, but their ears do not hear. You yourself do not hear your prayer, how do you want God to hear your prayer? You say: “I knelt,” but your mind wandered outside; your body was inside the church, and your thought was outside;

John Chrysostom: “Moses did not say anything, but God said to him: “Why are you crying to Me?” (Ex. 15:15). His lips did not speak, but his mind cried out” [St. John Chrysostom - M.: Nikolin Day, Artos-Media, 2013, p. 286].

Another reason is the theosophical idea, widespread, mainly in intellectual circles, of the equivalence of the spiritual experience of Orthodox and non-Orthodox and non-Christian ascetics and ascetics. Although this idea, in essence, denies the unconditional significance of the Sacrifice of Christ in the matter of salvation and spiritual perfection of man.

Today there are a number of other factors that determine the question of spiritual life as one of the most pressing for the Church. Of these, perhaps the first to be mentioned is the problem of clergy. The true idea about the need for a Christian to have a spiritual leader is currently subject to great distortions in practice, leading many, both pastors and flocks, who do not have proper knowledge of the patristic instructions on this issue, to serious mistakes and tragedies not only in religious, but also in family and social life. Also, one of the serious, painful facts in the field of spiritual life, due not least to false clergy, is the development of intolerance and fanaticism in the church environment.

These, like many other abnormal phenomena, have, without a doubt, their source primarily from ignorance of the teachings of Sacred Tradition Orthodox Church about the basics of spiritual life.

Dogmatic prerequisites for understanding spirituality

Although the one Trihypostatic God is a Spirit, His third hypostasis is also called the Holy Spirit, thereby testifying to human consciousness about its special properties in comparison with other hypostases. Man, being the image of God, reflects in himself this mystery of God. He, in his unity, also has three “hypostases”: mind, word (thought) and spirit, and each of them has its own characteristics. The Holy Fathers call spirit the moral strength of a person, the content of which is determined by the mind, and, above all, by the understanding of the ultimate, highest goal of life. This goal may be God and eternal life in Him; but maybe - wealth, power, fame; can - various pleasures and interests: bodily (compare: “their god is the womb.”), aesthetic (for example, music, painting), intellectual (for example, philosophy, science). However, whatever a person’s God is, such is his spirituality.

The Orthodox understanding of spirituality comes primarily from the fact of Holy Pentecost. The “acquisition” of the Holy Spirit by a Christian, or deification, is the goal of spiritual life. This goal is achieved only with a correct (righteous) life. Therefore, knowledge of its basic laws is necessary.

Main Question

Spiritual life, as we know, presupposes not only correct dogmatic faith and evangelical morality, but also knowledge and strict observance of special laws that determine the development of the “new man” (). In other words, a correct theoretical understanding of spiritual life largely predetermines the success of the complex process of real rebirth of a passionate, “carnal” (), “old man” () into a new one.

But the theoretical understanding of this issue is not as simple as it might seem at first glance. The variety of so-called spiritual paths that are now being offered to our people from all corners of the world by uninvited “enlighteners” for the purpose of “salvation” different religions and Christian denominations are one illustration of the complexity of this problem.

In this regard, a task of exceptional importance arises: to find the most essential signs and properties of true spirituality, its criteria that would allow us to distinguish true spirituality from all kinds of false spirituality, mysticism, and delusion. And the first thing that arises when solving this problem is the question:

What does faith in Christ mean?

He writes interestingly and unusually about this: “He who is not aware of his sinfulness, his fall, his destruction cannot accept Christ, cannot believe in Christ, cannot be a Christian. What is Christ for someone who is both reasonable and virtuous, who is satisfied with himself, who recognizes himself as worthy of all earthly and heavenly rewards?<…>The beginning of turning to Christ lies in the knowledge of one’s sinfulness, one’s fall; from such a view of himself, a person recognizes the need for a Redeemer and approaches Christ through humility, faith and repentance.”

Noteworthy is the formal contradiction of these words with the generally accepted theological thesis about faith as the initial condition for accepting Christ. The saint seems to emphasize: the “beginning of conversion to Christ” is not contained in the rational belief that Christ is God and Savior, and that He came, suffered and rose again. On the contrary, faith in Him itself is born from the knowledge of “one’s sinfulness, one’s fall,” for “he who is not aware of his sinfulness... cannot believe in Christ.”

In this thought we find the first and main position of spiritual life, showing the depth of the Orthodox understanding of it. It turns out that only that person can and is a believer who sees his spiritual and moral imperfection, his sinfulness, suffers from it and seeks healing. Only such a person, humbled within himself, is capable of correct, saving faith in Christ. He who sees himself as reasonable and virtuous cannot be a Christian and is not one, even if he considers himself such.

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick,” says the Lord (). Only those who see the illness of their soul, its incurability through their own efforts, take the path of healing and salvation, and therefore are able to turn to the true Doctor who suffered for them. Without such self-knowledge, normal spiritual life is impossible.

This is clearly seen in the example of the earthly life of the Savior, Who with tears of repentance was accepted by simple Jews conscious of their sins and rejected with hatred and condemned to a terrible execution by the “smart”, “virtuous”, respectable Jewish elite - bishops, Pharisees (that is, zealous executors church customs and regulations), scribes (theologians).

Knowing yourself

How does a person acquire this saving knowledge of himself, his old man, which reveals to him all the infinite significance of the Sacrifice of Christ? The answer is simple: “I do not see,” writes St. Ignatius, “my sin, because I am still working against sin. He who enjoys sin and allows himself to taste it at least with his thoughts and the sympathy of his heart cannot see his sin. He can only see his sin who, by decisive will, has renounced all friendship with sin... in whatever form it may approach it. Whoever accomplishes a great deed - establishes enmity with sin, forcibly tearing away the mind, heart and body from it - God will grant him great gift: seeing your sin."

One practical means of achieving this goal is to fight judgment. “Whoever has refused to condemn his neighbors, his thoughts naturally begin to see his sins and weaknesses, which he did not see while he was judging his neighbors.” The basic law of self-knowledge is expressed in the following remarkable words of the saint: “Careful fulfillment of the commandments of Christ teaches a person his weaknesses.” That is, the knowledge of the perilousness of one’s own spiritual state It is revealed to a person only through the effort to fulfill all the commandments of the Gospel. Only the tension of becoming a true Christian shows a person how poor, naked, and wretched he really is, how vitally necessary Christ is for him.

From here it becomes clear that the question of how one acquires the vision of one’s sin, or knowledge of oneself, one’s old man, is central in spiritual life. Only he who sees himself perishing needs a Savior; The “healthy” () does not need Christ. Therefore, for someone who wants to believe in Christ Orthodoxy (after all, “demons believe and tremble” -), for someone who thirsts for a correct spiritual life, this vision is the main task of the feat and, at the same time, the main criterion of its truth.

The meaning of virtues

In this regard, it is very important to note that feat and any virtues that do not lead to such a result turn out to be a false feat, and life becomes meaningless. The Apostle Paul writes about this, addressing Timothy: “But even if someone strives, he will not be crowned if he struggles unlawfully” (). The monk speaks even more definitely: “Reward comes... not to virtue and not to labor for its sake, but to the humility that is born from them. If it is lost, then the first will be in vain."

It turns out that virtues and exploits not in themselves can bring a person the benefit of the Kingdom of God, which “is within us” (), but only the humility that is born from them. If humility is not acquired, all exploits, all virtues are fruitless and meaningless! This clarifies one of the complex theological problems about the relationship between faith and so-called good works in the matter of salvation. Deeds in themselves do not save a person; they are not some kind of merit. Their need is due to a completely different reason. Without them, it is very difficult to acquire the only thing that saves a person - humility. For only through forcing oneself in every possible way to fulfill all the commandments of the Gospel can one see deep damage human nature, and one’s own powerlessness, without God’s help, to purely fulfill at least one commandment of Christ, to perform at least one good deed. Therefore, the saints “washed their virtues, as if they were sins, with streams of tears.”

Saint Ignatius writes: “Unhappy is he who is satisfied with his own human truth: He doesn't need Christ.<…>This is the property of all bodily exploits and good visible deeds. If, when we perform them, we think of making a sacrifice to God, and not of paying off our immense debt, then good deeds and exploits are done in us by the parents of soul-destroying pride.”

He even says this: “The worker of human truth is filled with conceit, arrogance, self-delusion,... pays with hatred and vengeance to those who would dare to open their mouths for the most thorough and well-intentioned contradiction of his truth; recognizes himself as worthy and worthy of earthly and heavenly rewards.”

This patristic thought directly refutes the widespread belief that so-called good deeds are always good, regardless of what internal motives and for what purpose a person performs them. It turns out that this is deeply false. The truth and virtues of the old and new man do not complement each other, but exclude each other, for the former blind a person with their importance, exalt him and make him great in their eyes and thereby “take away” Christ from him; the latter, on the contrary, reveal to a person his actual spiritual, and often moral misery, powerlessness to overcome himself and lead him to Christ.

Premature dispassion is dangerous

Let us turn to another law of spiritual life - about “the affinity between both virtues and vices.” This law consists in the fact that it turns out that both the acquisition of virtues and the interaction of passions are subordinated to each other strict sequence and interdependence. “Because of this affinity,” writes Saint Ignatius, “the acquisition of one virtue introduces into the soul another virtue, akin and inseparable from the first. On the contrary, voluntary submission to one sinful thought entails involuntary submission to another; the acquisition of one sinful passion attracts into the soul another passion akin to it; the voluntary commission of one sin leads to an involuntary fall into another sin, born of the first. Malice, the fathers said, does not tolerate remaining unmarried in the heart.” Ignorance of this law can lead to serious consequences in spiritual life. Thus, a careless attitude towards “minor” sins, arbitrary, that is, without the violence of passion, committing them enslaves the will of a person, makes him a slave to his base desires and ultimately leads to grave sins, leading to sorrows and tragedies in life.

How serious and significant this law is is evidenced by the following words of the most experienced mentor in spiritual life, Saint Isaac the Syrian: “The all-wise Lord was pleased that we should eat spiritual bread by the sweat of our brow. He established this not out of malice, but so that indigestion would not occur and we would not die. Each virtue is the mother of the next one. If you leave your mother, who gives birth to virtues, and rush to seek daughters before acquiring the mother, then these virtues become vipers for the soul. If you don’t reject them from yourself, you will soon die.”

Amazing words. For the spiritually inexperienced, the very idea that some kind of virtue may turn out to be premature, much less deadly for the soul, “snide,” will seem strange, almost blasphemous. But this is precisely the reality of spiritual life, this is one of its unshakable laws, revealed by the great experience of the saints.

Correct Prayer

IN the most important condition spiritual life is prayer. But even without complying with certain requirements, it can turn out to be fruitless and even become a means of the deepest fall of a Christian. Thus, the prayer of one who does not forgive others is not accepted. An equally important condition: “Whoever prays with his lips, but neglects his soul and does not guard his heart, such a person prays to the air, and not to God, and works in vain, because God listens to intelligence and zeal, and not to long speech.”

Special attention in spiritual life we ​​always devote ourselves to the Jesus Prayer. He writes about how to perform it correctly (and not somehow) in his wonderful article “On the Jesus Prayer. Conversation between an elder and a disciple" St. Ignatius.

“The exercise of the Jesus Prayer has its own beginning, its own gradualness, its own endless end. It is necessary to start the exercise from the beginning, and not from the middle and not from the end... Those beginners who, having read the instruction... given by the silent fathers... thoughtlessly accept this instruction to guide their activities, begin from the middle. Those who, without any preliminary preparation, begin to ascend with their minds into the temple of the heart and from there send up prayer begin from the middle. Those who seek to immediately reveal within themselves the gracious sweetness of prayer and its other grace-filled effects begin at the end.

One must start from the beginning, that is, perform prayer with attention And reverence, with the aim of repentance, taking care only that these three qualities are constantly present in prayer... Special care, the most careful care should be taken for the improvement of morality in accordance with the teaching of the Gospel... Only on morality brought into improvement gospel commandments... an immaterial temple of godly prayer can be erected. The work of one who builds on sand is in vain: on an easy, wavering morality.”

The soul of the Jesus Prayer is the state that is clearly visible from the following incident. “A certain monk said to the Monk Sisoes the Great: “I am in constant remembrance of God.” The Monk Sisoes answered him: “This is not great; It will be great when you consider yourself worse than all creation."

In this regard, it should be noted that “the sign of continuity and self-efficacy in the performance of the Jesus Prayer is by no means a sign of its grace, because it does not guarantee... those fruits that have always indicated its grace.” “Spiritual struggle, the result and goal of which is the acquisition humility... is replaced by some with another (intermediate) goal: the acquisition of unceasing and self-motivated Jesus Prayer, which ... is not ultimate goal, but only one of the means to achieve it."

Lovely

It is also necessary to point out the danger that threatens an inexperienced ascetic who has neither a true mentor nor correct theoretical spiritual knowledge - the possibility of falling into so-called delusion. This patristic term is remarkable in that it accurately reveals the very essence of the named spiritual disease: self-flattery, self-deception, daydreaming, an opinion about one’s dignity and perfection, pride. About the main reasons for falling into delusion, the monk, for example, writes: “Prelest, they say, appears in two forms, or, better, finds... In the form of dreams and influences, although in pride alone it has its origin and cause... The first image of delusion comes from dreams. The second image of prelest... has its beginning... in voluptuousness, born from natural lust.”

Saint Ignatius points out another very common reason for delusion among many monks, zealous Christians and clergy: “It is not without reason that the spiritual mood of those monks who, having rejected the exercise of the Jesus Prayer and in general, is attributed to a state of self-delusion and delusion doing smart, are satisfied with external prayer alone... They cannot avoid “opinion”... Oral and public prayer is then fruitful when it is accompanied by attention, which is very rare, because we learn attention mainly by practicing the Jesus Prayer.”

About how to avoid this destruction, Saint Ignatius writes the following in his article “On delusion”: “Delusion is the state of all people, without exception, produced by the fall of our forefathers. We are all in awe. Knowing this is the greatest protection against delusion. The greatest charm is to recognize oneself as free from delusion. We are all deceived, we are all deceived, we are all in a false state, we need liberation by the truth. The truth is our Lord Jesus Christ.<…>Just as pride is generally the cause of delusion, so humility... serves as a sure warning and protection from delusion... May our prayer be imbued with a feeling of repentance, may it be combined with crying, and may delusion never affect us.”

Spiritual director

Unfortunately, any believer, every ascetic can find himself in a disastrous state of delusion if he lives only according to his own understanding, without a spiritual mentor, without the guidance of the patristic writings.

But if understanding what the Fathers wrote is not always a simple task, then finding a true mentor has always been much more difficult. Therefore, the thoughts and advice of saints on this issue are especially important for our time.

Firstly, the Fathers speak (1) about the need for great caution in choosing a confessor and warn about the enormous danger associated with the mistake of mistaking an unspiritual “elder” for a spiritual leader; they teach (2) the correct attitude towards him, (3) the correct understanding of obedience and (4) the indispensability of separation from a confessor who is erring and leading away from life according to the Gospel; warn that in last times(5) there will be no spirit-bearing mentors who see the souls of people, and therefore (6) they call on believers to study Holy Bible and the creations of the Holy Fathers and be guided by them with the advice of the older “successful brethren” who have greater spiritual experience.

Let us present the thoughts of the Holy Fathers on these topics.

(1) Reverend Cassian The Roman (5th century) says: “It is useful to reveal your thoughts to the Fathers, but not just any one, but to spiritual elders who have reasoning, elders not according to their physical age and gray hairs. Many, carried away by the appearance of old age and expressing their thoughts, instead of healing, received harm from the inexperience of those who heard.”

(1) Saint Theophan (Govorov) writes: “This is what the saint advised and did.” First, the spiritual fathers instructed everyone; in these difficult times, even though I cry and mourn so much worthy of such an impoverished zealot, God Himself and the Divine teaching of the reverend fathers are the teacher and mentor.” And the saint concludes: “So this is now the best, most reliable way of guidance or education in the Christian life! Life in devotion to the will of God, according to the Divine and Fatherly Scriptures with the advice and questioning of like-minded people.”

(1) “When identifying them [the spiritual fathers], one must use great prudence and strict reasoning, so that instead of benefit one does not cause harm, instead of creation there is destruction.”

(2, 6) “Consult with virtuous and wise fathers and brothers; but take their advice for yourself with extreme caution and prudence. Don’t get carried away with advice based on its initial effect on you! ... Consult the Gospel both about your thoughts and about the thoughts of your neighbor, about his advice. Vanity and conceit love to teach and instruct. They don't care about the merits of their advice! They do not think that they can inflict an incurable ulcer on their neighbor with absurd advice, which is accepted by an inexperienced beginner with unconscious confidence, with carnal and blood heat! They need to impress the newcomer and morally subjugate him to themselves! They need human praise! They need to be known as saints, wise, perspicacious elders, teachers!” .

(2) “Every spiritual mentor must lead souls to Him (Christ), and not to himself... Let the mentor, like the great and humble Baptist, stand aloof, recognize himself as nothing, rejoice in his humiliation before his disciples, which serves as a sign of their spiritual prosperity... Protect yourself from addiction to mentors. Many were not careful and fell, together with their mentors, into the snare of the devil... Addiction makes a loved one an idol: God turns away with anger from the sacrifices made to this idol... And life is lost in vain, good deeds perish. And you, mentor, guard yourself from sinful endeavors! Do not replace God with yourself for the soul that has come running to you. Follow the example of the holy Forerunner."

(3) “Those elders who take on the role ... let us use this unpleasant word belonging to the pagan world in order to more accurately explain the matter, which in essence is nothing more than soul-destroying acting and the saddest comedy - the elders who take on the role of ancient saints The elders, not having their spiritual gifts, know that their very intention, their very thoughts and concepts about the great monastic work - obedience, are false, that their very way of thinking, their reason, their knowledge are self-delusion and demonic delusion...”

(3) “They will object: the faith of a novice can replace the lack of an elder. It’s not true: faith in the truth saves, faith in lies and demonic delusion destroys, according to the teaching of the Apostle ().”

(3, 6) “The modest attitude of a counselor towards the person being instructed is completely different from that of an elder towards an unconditional novice... Advice does not contain the condition that it must be fulfilled: it can be fulfilled or not fulfilled.”

(5, 6) “According to the teachings of the fathers, living ... the only one appropriate for our time is living under the guidance of the fatherly writings with the advice of successful modern brethren; this advice must again be checked against the writings of the fathers... The fathers, distant from the time of Christ for a millennium, repeating the advice of their predecessors, are already complaining about the rarity of God-inspired mentors, about the many false teachers that have appeared, and offer the Holy Scriptures and patristic writings for guidance. Fathers close to our time call divinely inspired leaders a heritage of antiquity and have already decisively bequeathed the Sacred and holy scripture, tested according to these Scriptures, the advice of modern ... brethren is accepted with the greatest prudence and caution.”

Catholicism

The effect of delusion is especially clearly revealed among Catholic ascetics, who have become detached from the experience of the spiritual life of the ancient Church. Saint Ignatius, for example, wrote: “The majority of ascetics Western Church, proclaimed by her to be the greatest saints - after her fall away from the Eastern Church and after the departure of the Holy Spirit from her - they prayed and achieved visions, false, of course, in the way I mentioned... In such a state was Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order. His imagination was so heated and sophisticated that, as he himself asserted, he had only to want and use some tension, as hell or heaven appeared before his eyes, according to his desire... It is known that the true saints of God are granted visions only by grace God and by the action of God, and not by the will of man and not by his own effort, are granted unexpectedly, very rarely... The intensified feat of those in delusion usually stands next to deep depravity. Corruption serves as an assessment of the flame with which the deceived are kindled.”

At the same time, the saint also points out other reasons for the delightful states of Western ascetics, hidden from external gaze. He writes: “Blood and nerves are set in motion by many passions: anger, love of money, lust, and vanity. The last two extremely warm the blood of ascetics who labor illegally and turn them into frenzied fanatics. Vanity strives prematurely for spiritual states for which man is not yet capable due to his impurity; for failure to achieve the truth, he invents dreams for himself. And voluptuousness, adding its action to the action of vanity, produces in the heart seductive false consolations, pleasures and raptures. This state is a state of self-delusion. All those who work illegally are in this state. It develops in them more or less, depending on how much they enhance their exploits. Many books have been written by Western writers from this state.” This is especially evident in the example of such great Catholic saints as Catharine of Siena, Teresa of Avila or Blessed Angela.

Saint Ignatius (who studied Catholic ascetic literature not from translations, but from Latin originals) also indicates the specific time coordinates of the retreat of the new Catholic ascetics from the common experience of the saints of one Universal Church. He writes: “Reverend Benedict (†544), the Holy Pope (†604) still agree with the ascetic mentors of the East; but already Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century) differs from them in a sharp way; the later ones evaded even more. They are immediately attracted and draw their readers to heights inaccessible to the beginner, they are carried and carried. Heated... daydreaming replaces for them everything spiritual, about which they have not the slightest idea. This dreaminess is recognized by them as grace.” There is only one truth

Prelest, as we see, arises in those who live not according to patristic principles, but according to their own thoughts, desires and understanding, and seek God not for salvation from sin, but for grace-filled pleasures, revelations, and gifts. They are usually “received” in abundance by the would-be ascetic in his overheated imagination and action. dark forces. Prelest, therefore, is not one of the possible and equivalent options for spirituality, not a special path to God, but a serious illness, without understanding it and not appreciating it properly, a Christian, especially one who struggles, decays from the inside.

Breakthroughs to “heights” are especially frequent among young ascetics who have not yet recognized their old man, have not freed themselves from passions and are already seeking the states of a new, perfect man. No wonder the fathers have an expression: “If you see a young man ascending to heaven of his own free will, hold him by the leg and throw him out of there: for it is not good for him.” . The reason for such mistakes is still the same: ignorance of the laws of spiritual life, ignorance of oneself. Saint Isaac the Syrian warned in this regard: “If some of the fathers wrote about what there is purity of the soul, what is its health, what is dispassion, what is vision, then they did not write so that we would look for them prematurely and with expectation. It is said in Scripture: “The Kingdom of God will not come with observance” (). Those in whom expectation lives have acquired pride and fall. The search with the expectation of high God's gifts is rejected by the Church of God. This is not a sign of love for God; this is a disease of the soul.”

“Humility,” said Barsanuphius the Great, “makes a person a village of God.” It protects a Christian from all errors; it also makes him a partaker of the Holy Spirit.

Virgo