Savior of the Fatherland. Spiritual feat of Sergius of Radonezh
© Publishing House Yauza LLC, 2014
© LLC "Publishing house" Eksmo ", 2014
* * *Archbishop Nikon Rozhdestvensky
Life of St. Sergius of Radonezh
If the husband's life is written off, then there is great benefit from this, and consolation together, as a writer, and a storyteller, and a listener.
Epiphanius the Wise
Be a zealot for those who live, and write these lives and deeds in your heart.
St. Basil the Great
“Glory to God for everyone and everyone's sake! Glory to the one who showed us the life of her husband is holy and spiritual - we thank God for His great goodness that has been upon us, as a gift to us from the elder, Mr. Reverend Sergius, in our land of Rustei, in the land of midnight. "
Thus begins his legend about the life and exploits of our Venerable Father Sergius by his close disciple, Blessed Epiphanius. “I am amazed,” he says, “but only a few years have passed, and the life of the holy elder has not been written; and for this he took pity on this, as such a holy old man, wonderful and kind, has passed away for 26 years, and no one is daring to write about him, neither distant, nor neighbor, nor greater, nor lesser. "
We can repeat these words of the Wise Epiphanius with even greater right, with the only difference that from the death of St. Sergius to our time, not 26, but already five hundred years have elapsed, and until now we do not have a complete biography of the great elder in modern Russian. only in the sense of an independent historical study of his life and exploits, and its significance in the history of the Russian Church, Russian asceticism, Russian enlightenment and the moral education of the Russian people in general, but even a simple, complete translation of the life written by Epiphanius. True, there are more than a dozen different lives of St. Sergius, and the best of them, of course, is the one compiled by St. Philaret of Moscow. But this Vita was intended to be read at the Divine Service and was read by the deceased hierarch himself in the Lavra in Bose, at an all-night vigil on July 5, 1822. According to its internal merits, this life is an ingot of gold; but, intended for church reading, it is necessarily short and omits numerous details that are precious to the reverent worshipers of the memory of the great saint of God. Mention should also be made of the two Lives of St. Sergius, found in the works "Russian Saints" by the Most Reverend Philaret, Archbishop of Chernigov, and "Lives of the Saints of the Russian Church" by A. N. Muravyov; Neither one nor the other also has the desired completeness, because the compilers of these lives, describing the lives of all Russian saints, of necessity tried to be brief in presentation. Of the individual editions, only one should be mentioned, which came out after the 2nd edition of our book, on the 500th anniversary of the repose of St. Sergius - "St. Sergius of Radonezh and the Trinity Lavra created by him" by E. Golubinsky; the author offers in this book, as he himself says, "the story of the Monk, on the one hand, is short, and on the other, complete, without omissions reproducing all the particulars of his life, both natural and supernatural." But even this book cannot completely satisfy the reverent reader of the memory of the great saint of God: it is enough to say one thing about it, that for the sake of "brevity" its author does not mean to give an edifying reading in it, but offers only a concise presentation of the facts collected by him from all historical sources and presented in the form of a "biography". Moreover, this "biography" was published inseparably with the "guide to the laurel" and constitutes, as it were, an introduction to this "guide". In other separate editions, such as the work of Mr. Lavrentiev, we do not consider it necessary to stop, since they represent bad alterations from Epiphany or simply borrowings from the aforementioned authors.
Offering pious readers his description of the Life and Deeds of the Monk and God-bearing Father Sergius, the one who worked in its compilation considers it his duty to say that he did not mean to write a scientific study about the life of the saint of God. He set himself a more modest goal - to collect in one book everything that could be found in the historical and preaching literature about St. Sergius, and to combine into one whole not only all the details from his life that have come down to us, but also those moral lessons, which our preachers learned from the story of his life. For the present, fifth edition, everything that was published in 1891-1903 on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the repose of the saint of God was revised again, if possible, and thus much in the text was supplemented and corrected. The motivation for this work was the same that prompted the Monk Epiphanius in his time to take up the pen - the absence in the available spiritual literature of the complete life of the Monk Sergius. Just think: who was the Monk Sergius for our Russian Church, for the Russian state, for the Russian people? The Holy Church perfectly characterizes it, calling it the pillar of the Church. He not only himself was a strong pillar of the Church of Christ, but, in the words of one of our archpastors, Archbishop Nikanor of Kherson, “he likened and continues to liken his spiritual nature and all people who closely adjoin him. He nourished whole hosts, whole generations of monastics with his strong spirit. Up to 70 monasteries were founded by his disciples and the disciples of his disciples; his spiritual offspring was one of the main spiritual forces that contributed to the spiritual transformation of various semi-pagan tribes, spread across the expanse of northern and central Russia, into a single Great Russian tribe, united, animated, sealed by the spirit of Orthodoxy. Being himself the supreme bearer of the Christian Orthodox spirit, he, by example, edification, and prayers, helped a lot and contributes to nourishing everything Orthodox with this spirit. Russian people, the spirit that constitutes the guiding principle, strength and glory of the Russian people’s life. That is why many thousands of people flock to the Monk Sergius, as to the inexhaustible spring of the strong Russian spirit, to worship for edification, for prayer, and to this day. Not a single monk traveling nearby does not pass the monastery of St. Sergius. Few of the hierarchs of the Russian Church did not fall to the dust of the earth before the crust of St. Sergius. Every single one of the Crown-bearers of Russia brought their prayers at the shrine of St. Sergius (especially upon accession to the kingdom). Not only members of our Reigning House, but also many members of foreign royal families came there - either to pray or to study Russian life at its very foundations, at that spring, at one of the main springs from which it gushes. "
Yes, our chroniclers had every reason to call Saint Sergius Abbot of All Russia, and the Holy Church honorably and righteously calls him the forbidden governor of the Russian land!
“If it were possible,” says our well-known historian V.O. Klyuchevsky, “to reproduce by writing everything that was connected with the memory of St. Sergius, which in these five hundred years was silently reconsidered and felt before his grave by millions of minds and hearts, this writing was would be full of deep content with the history of our nationwide political and moral life. Yes, and each of us in our own souls will find the same general feeling, standing at the tomb of the Monk. This feeling no longer has a history, how the movement of time stopped long ago for the one who rests in this tomb. For five centuries this feeling has been similarly kindled in the soul of a person praying at this tomb, just like a sunbeam for thousands of years is equally glowing in a clean drop of water. Ask any of these simple people, with a staff and a bundle, who came here from afar, when Saint Sergius lived and what he did for Russia in the XIV century than he was for his time, and a rare of them will give you a satisfactory answer; but to the question what he is for them, the distant descendants of the people of the XIV century, and why they have come to him now, everyone will answer firmly and intelligibly. "
This is how the great spiritual significance of St. Sergius is characterized, on the one hand, one of our famous spiritual twists, and on the other, one of the deepest experts in our native history.
In another of his words, referring to the life of our Venerable Father Sergius, Archbishop Nikanor rightly says that this life “takes us into a new, albeit ancient world, of other people - holy people, other views - holy views, other customs - holy customs, into the world of renunciation of the world and oneself, into the world of holy great deeds, into the world of the free and unswerving carrying of the cross of Christ ... You feel in your soul the difference in the harmony of this world with the disharmony of our inner and outer world, and on the one hand, the heart is peacefully tuned in with emotion, - so I would take the wings, like a dove, and fly there, into the desert, 500 years ago, - and on the other hand, my heart breaks, that involuntarily I have to live the many-year life of this century "... Rightly says the Monk John Climacus:" How wretched, seeing the royal treasures, they know their poverty even more, so the soul, reading the stories about the great virtues of the holy fathers, becomes more humble in their thoughts. "
He who does not strive becomes weak, comes to neglect and oblivion of the due (31, p. 100).
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First of all, adhere to spiritual exploits with zeal and courage, inflame like fire, going to night chants and daytime obediences, and then be careful in the external affairs that are entrusted to you. So do not be a hearer, forgetful according to the Scriptures, but be together both hearers of the law and creators of the word, as God wants it (32).
The feat of what is
The feat consists in cutting off one's own will and conquering it to another. The latter is just as important for us as the first, because rejecting our will, we at the same time reject the harmful advice of the enemy, and by subjugating it to another, we submit to God Himself (24, p. 22).
Spiritual feat is pleasing to God
Every spiritual struggle in which our soul participates is pleasing to the Lord
Work hard! He will not leave you (Ibid, p. 53).
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It takes a lot of effort to become pleasing to God.
Those who wish to be saved need a feat.
It is necessary to work for the future BLISS.
A feat is necessary to change the inner state.
The feat is to clear the conscience, since there is no Christian without a good conscience.
Feat is necessary in order to compel oneself to any good deed.
The feat is to conquer yourself.
The feat consists in a constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit.
Bridging the members of the flesh and subduing them by the spirit is an auspicious SACRIFICE to God.
To resist sin in every possible way, since it is impossible for God and sin to work.
The feat is to suppress THINKING.
The meaning of Christian exploit is constant endurance of temptations and sorrows.
The more diligence, the more temptations.
A feat without abuse, without enemies does not exist.
The Christian should fight the enemy all his life.
Deed depends on what state a person will be in in eternal life.
A feat without GOD'S HELP is impossible.
Zealously walk forward without looking back.
Not the beginning, but the end crowns the achievement.
The feat is crowned with zeal at the end.
Not to weaken, but to work zealously to the end (8, p. 682-690).
A feat is needed
Let us try to strive for good deeds, calling upon our beloved Savior and His Most Pure Mother for help. And They will not hesitate, they will come to us, and then our hearts will rejoice with unspeakable heavenly joy. And we will be able to hear the saving words: “Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom of God, prepared for you from the folding of the world” (3, p. 89).
A feat is needed to the bitter end
We will strive on the path of salvation to the victorious end, sending thanksgiving to God for all (Ibid .: 88).
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Strive on the saving path until the last minute (Ibid .: 108).
Without heroic deeds, a person will be deprived of the Kingdom of Heaven
It is good for the one who strives to acquire the Heavenly Kingdom through labor, deeds and good deeds, that is, a great effort of spiritual and moral achievement is required. Without this doing, another kingdom awaits a person behind the grave, where the fire does not extinguish and the worm does not die (Ibid .: 94).
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Strive in this deplorable vale and do not shy away from sorrows (Ibid .: 94).
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Let us remember the words of Christ that the Kingdom of God is taken by force (32).
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Strive to acquire with your holy life the joy that God has prepared for those who love Him (3, p. 99).
Every feat should be done with blessing
Every feat should be accomplished by an ascetic with discernment, in proportion to his spiritual as well as bodily powers, and with the blessing of his spiritual father. But whoever lives according to his own reason and arbitrariness, such a person, at least carried great deeds, however, cannot succeed in spiritual life, because everything done of his own free will does not always please God because of vanity and exaltation (6, p. 117) ...
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We all should strive in this life, make efforts to acquire the Holy Spirit in our souls (32).
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To educate himself according to the commandments of the Gospel, every Christian needs physical and mental deeds.
Hard work teaches a Christian to cut off his sinful will, teaches obedience and helps to tame the passions that nestle in the heart of every person. Physical exploit must be combined with the spiritual, otherwise, when the latter is abandoned, a Christian develops emotional passions. As a body without a soul is dead, so bodily exploits without a soul are fruitless. The soul revives the body, and spiritual feat revives bodily feats. Mental exploit is of paramount importance in spiritual life (31).
We entered the great and auspicious field of fasting, the Great Forty-Year, which opened before us, so that we would spiritually work and go through this period of spiritual warfare with readiness and determination in order to worship the holy Resurrection of our Lord, which also means our own deliverance and resurrection from sin.
The Holy Forty Day is considered a special and most blessed period in the Church for spiritual warfare. Of course, this does not mean that a Christian has to wait until the Forty Day to begin spiritual warfare. For us, every day should be both Forty and Resurrection, every day should be both Good Friday, and Great Saturday, and Easter. But since we are human beings and we have various changes and fluctuations in the spiritual state and in all our mood, the Church, treating us with great care and wisdom, gives us daily spiritual reminders: through the days of the memory of the saints, through the great Lord and Theotokos. feasts, fasts, through the Holy Forty Day, to remind us that we have the opportunity to work spiritually at this blessed time. The holy and great Forty Day is a particularly blessed time, because the whole Church, all Orthodox Christians on this earth, we are all as one body, fasting by fasting, pleasing to the Lord, and trying to accomplish all that is necessary that constitutes life in Christ.
Now, now is the favorable time, now, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6: 2) - we sing at Vespers on Forgiveness Sunday. That is, now is a favorable time, pleasing to God, a time of repentance and salvation. The holy and great Forty Day is filled with a special peace of repentance, which attracts the grace of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of people. Therefore, at Vespers on Forgiveness Sunday, the Church lays in the foundation of fasting forgiveness of each other. The Gospel passage read today speaks precisely about this: if you forgive people their sins, then your Heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6: 14), says Christ.
To perform spiritual warfare, the presence of Divine grace is necessary, for this is not human warfare. The spiritual feat of Lent is not a food diet that we follow in order to lose weight. The Holy Forty has a different meaning: it lies in the fact that grace entered the heart of a person, so that a person avoids sin, that a person overcomes sin and passions that kill his soul, receive enlightenment from God and thus attain the Kingdom of God. Along with bodily struggle, along with fasting, strengthening from God and the presence of God are needed.
We receive forgiveness from each other, so that through forgiveness and repentance the Holy Spirit of God will enter our hearts, remain with us, open our eyes and lead us to the realization of our sinfulness, so that we turn to God and ask for the remission of our sins. If all this wrestling does not lead us to ask for absolution, if it does not lead us to the blessed state of repentance, then this wrestling will not bear any fruit. Only repentance cultivates and purifies the human soul. It is in repentance that the spiritual work of the great Forty Day is contained. Fasting, vigils, many services, bowing, standing, reading - everything we do during this period has the purpose of softening our heart. We work in this field of fasting with great determination, without timidity. The one who is afraid will never achieve anything: the indecisive person has no part in the Kingdom of God. The one who is afraid, believes that his spiritual achievements depend on his own strength - forgets about the power of God, forgets the words of the Apostle Paul, who says: I can do everything in Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:13). It is with this attitude that we must accomplish the spiritual feat of the Great Forty-day, “like lions breathing fire,” as St. John Chrysostom says. Like lions emitting fire and smoke, filled with strength and impetuosity, we must also spiritually work with the same strength during the blessed period of Great Lent. We should not be afraid, should not be timid, should not think that we will fail. God is with us, and He will not leave us. Show God your intention - and you will receive from Him the strength to complete the work of your salvation.
But the work of salvation is not limited to fasting. If we are unable to fast in accordance with the Church's regulations and, with the blessing of our spiritual father, we commit condescension to our bodily illness and weakness, then this is not so scary. Who can prevent us from humility and repentance? You do not need bodily strength, you do not need to be young, old, strong and mature in order to have a humble spirit, in order not to condemn, so as not to sin, so that the heart is broken and abides in the grace of humility. All of us, young and old, sick and healthy, can have this grace of repentance in our hearts, born of humility. This is our goal.
This is what God wants from us. We can achieve this if we free ourselves from the bonds of passions, from sin. Fasting is the first step that leads us to that state of masculinity and courage, which breaks the bonds of sin so that we can subsequently continue our spiritual warfare with great zeal and boldness. We need to cast aside malice, deceit, everything that obscures the image of God, and mainly to acquire holy humility. A humble person can repent, can pray, receive health of soul and body, while a proud person cannot repent. A proud person cannot understand what state he is in; it seems to him that he does not need God or anyone else. He never feels guilty, he never feels guilty that he needs to ask for forgiveness from his brother. He believes that he is always right. In reality, he is in the darkness of the absence of God. God lives in the hearts of sinners, but the humble and repentant. In a proud person, God never lives, and never gives him grace. God resists proud people. He is the opponent of pride and selfishness. So, in this blessed time, let us make up our minds, along with the bodily deed of fasting, to bring even deeper repentance.
Let us try to find this blessed and blissful state of repentance, acquired by weeping before God. God will come into our hearts to comfort and tell us about His love and our salvation.
In the Church, we do not live with false utopias, dreams, and moralizing piety. In the Church we get to know God. God is here among us, and man is called to experience God as the greatest experience of his life. The proof of this is all those saints who felt the presence of God. Then we will be truly children of God, children of the Church, we will truly be Christians, in whom the Gospel was embodied and brought forth fruit, transforming our being, making it the temple of the Holy Spirit, the chosen vessel of God. May this grace of repentance always accompany us, especially at this blessed time of the Holy Great Forty-day. Receiving forgiveness from each other, we ask God with His grace and the power of the Honorable Cross to bless us, cover us, strengthen us, so that with joy, determination and great courage, like runners on a treadmill, we continued the spiritual warfare of holy fasting and were honored with the sweetness of God's presence in our hearts. Orthodox Church always puts the love of God first. Love means a personal relationship, a personal connection of a person with God. To achieve this love, we have divine services, vigils, prayers, kneeling, mental prayer, prayer on a rosary. The doctrine and gospel of Christ are the tools and means that lead us to Christ. The Church speaks about one Person, about Christ, and not about ideals. When we understand that it is this Person who is the heart of the Church, the core of love and our being, then we will understand a lot in the Church. The church celebrates marriage between man and Christ. Chants, readings and the whole spirit of the great Forty-day and Holy week they beat a person's heart in order to destroy his callousness and insensibility, so that it turns to the search for the love of Christ.
March 28 - the jubilee of Archpriest Vladimir Vorobyov, rector of the Church of St. Nicholas in Kuznetskaya Sloboda and the churches assigned to it, one of the founders and rector of the Orthodox St. Tikhon Humanitarian University - the most important theological and church-historical educational and scientific center.
PSTGU is a unique educational institution, its goal is to provide theological education to the laity. It would seem that theology is really needed by the laity? It is necessary - Father Vladimir is sure. And to unchurched people too. Because theology is not only the foundation of faith, but also the most important, if not the main, part of the corps of secular humanities - that is, teaching about man - sciences, since it speaks about the most important thing for man - about his connection with God and about him as the image of God ... Through the efforts of Father Vladimir, theological knowledge is now taught in many secular universities and colleges.
And for us - the governor of the Sretensky monastery, its inhabitants, seminarians, parishioners and staff - Fr. Vladimir's many years of work on perpetuating the memory of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church, collecting and systematizing information about those who suffered for their faith during the years of Soviet persecution, are especially valuable, for the heavenly the patron saint of the monastery - the martyr Hilarion (Troitsky) - is one of them.
We sincerely congratulate Father Vladimir on his 75th birthday, we wish God's help in his many different labors, strength of spirit, vigor of the body, joy and prosperity. Many years!
The Church and her role in the life of society, the importance of heroic deeds in Christian life, the importance of spiritual tradition and the problems that arise when the tradition is interrupted ... Father Vladimir constantly talks about this in his sermons, speeches, and words. We offer our readers a small selection of the shepherd's statements on these topics.
About faith and the Church
Religion is not “opium for the people,” as Lenin said. On the contrary, this is the highest spiritual dispensation that helps a person to be human and makes society human, where a person is not a wolf, but a brother and neighbor.
The Church has proved that it is not an earthly organization that can be closed or destroyed, it is the living Body of Christ. It turned out that she was not associated with any earthly forms. It is possible to destroy all the earthly forms of her life, but this does not make her weaker. She responds to mortal persecution with a confessional feat, holiness, and triumphs.
Those who come from outside do not understand what the Church is. The Lord says: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick ... I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matt. 9: 12-13). It is foolish to be indignant and surprised that there are a lot of patients in the hospital - that's why it exists, to treat the sick.
Everything of Christ is flawless, and the human component has serious flaws, which are only gradually healed with God's help.
An urgent task is to educate in parishioners or "newcomers" - in a word, in those who want to consider themselves a member of the Church - a sense of duty, responsibility, and finally - the obligation to participate in the life of the Church not only as a "recipient" of spiritual and other benefits, but and as a "child" who must take care of his Mother Church.
Getting used to relics, getting used to confession is one of the most terrible evils in our church life. And this happens because, firstly, there is no opportunity, conditions for correct confession, and secondly, we do not have a correct understanding of what confession is for those who live a constant church life, who often receive communion.
One can dare to say that the revolution, with all its tragic consequences, to a large extent was caused precisely by the de-churches of the Russian people. De-churching, which occurred as a result of the transformation of church life into church life, as a result of a decrease in the grace-filled life, grace-filled communion with God before the administration of church rituals. People have ceased to feel what “sacrament” means, they have ceased to find a meeting with God in the sacrament.
On the priesthood
The priest does not serve by his own strength. And the grace of God cannot burn out. If a pastor lives as he should, that is, strives to God with all his heart, performs his ministry with a prayer request for help, with a humble awareness of his unworthiness, his weakness, then the grace of God acts in him and gives him the strength to serve. V Holy Scripture it is said: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4: 6).
The guilt of the clergy - very often we seduce unstable people with our behavior. The priest must display the image of Christ — that is the essence of the priesthood. If the priest shows a completely different image, then many, due to spiritual weakness, due to lack of faith, cannot overcome such a temptation. And their weakness does not remove responsibility from the one who seduced the weak.
Most of all, the priest should be afraid of substitution, because the substitution carries the spirit of Antichrist instead of the Spirit of Christ. He must look: has he not lost his way, has he himself not forgotten the only correct goal? is he going to Christ, and is he ready to sacrifice everything in order to stay with Christ? And I must boldly admit that he knows little, he does little, and there are very few real spiritual children among those who follow him. And, engaging in all sorts of activities - and charitable, and teaching, and organizational, and construction, and just the administration of services and requirements, - the priest must remember about one thing that is needed - that the most important thing that can never be sacrificed, you can not give up, - real life with God, life is gracious. Everything else without a blessed life has no value, no meaning and will only give the opposite result.
On the spiritual heritage of Orthodoxy
The teaching about the spiritual life of man is nowhere given in such amazing and gracious fullness as in the Holy Fathers of the East. And every Christian who wants to live a spiritual life, and even more so every pastor, must not only be familiar with patristic asceticism, must constantly be in communion with the holy fathers, constantly read them, so that their perception of spiritual life is alive in his heart. ... And not only read, but also follow them myself, live a spiritual life, on personal experience know what the holy fathers say.
The best confessors have always been holy people - not psychoanalysts, psychiatrists and psychologists who deal with "trust services", give advice, understand mental states person. They are not the most the best doctors spiritual, namely holy people who act by other methods, have gifts of grace, know how to pray and know how to call God for help and show this grace-filled Divine power to a weak and suffering person.
Orthodox theology is a great treasure, and it must be preserved and augmented for the Russian Church and our people.
About spiritual life and achievement
A gracious life with God is possible only when a person lives by exploit. Without this feat, there is no spiritual, grace-filled life.
“The kingdom of heaven is taken by force” (Matthew 11:12), says the Lord, that is, by deed. Every spiritual achievement needs to be endured, and we received church life with ease, a gift. It does not even occur to us that if a person calls himself a Christian, he must work spiritually.
For the transfer of faith to the new generation, the feat of the older generation is necessary. Not lukewarm, "convenient", "comfortable" Christianity, but precisely the feat of faith. This is an absolute irreconcilability to sin, first of all in oneself.
There must be a feat of prayer, humility, love, obedience, a feat of constant struggle with one's passions, with one's pride, vanity, ambition, lust for power, irritability and all other passions. There should be constant attention to yourself, to your spiritual life, very demanding attention. You need to notice your every false step, repent of it, and correct yourself. Without such a spiritual life, without spiritual labor, there will be no grace of God in the heart of man. And most of all, humility is needed, because "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
When a person cannot do something, but with the belief that God will help him, rushes towards this difficulty - this is a feat. As soon as a person begins to live by such a feat of faith, overcoming himself, his passions, spiritual life opens up for him.
Each time has its own level of difficulty and its own spiritual achievements. The Lord will not impute to us that we do not reach such levels, such righteousness, holiness, as the ancient saints.
There are very few people who really want to seek the achievement of spiritual life. The overwhelming majority is looking for a life of spiritual, spiritual comfort, spiritual relationships, earthly life, not heavenly, they do not want to free themselves from their passions, do not want to give up their will, do not want to sacrifice anything substantial.
When a person works, lives by exploit, then the limitation is removed, leaves. The Lord, by His grace, completes everything that is necessary besides a person and besides a priest.
Humility is the basis of spiritual life, humility is given through obedience, through constant patience of sorrows, through constant victory over your pride, over your vanity, over your resentment.
What is passion? Passion is a spiritual phenomenon, that is, it does not lend itself to rational explanation to the end. The spiritual is higher than the spiritual, the spiritual is also very often irrational, and therefore it is impossible to explain everything here, it is impossible to understand with the mind, but you can understand a lot with the heart, having experience.
Beauty is a Slavic word; "Flattery" is translated into Russian by the word "lie". Adoration means self-deception. A person thinks that he is on the right path, but in fact he is on the wrong path. If you leave him on this wrong path, he can leave and get lost, he will die.
You should always remember about the danger of slandering a person. This is a terrible sin.
The most important thing is to fulfill the will of God, to fulfill the commandment of God, this is the first duty, this is the way of life.
About family
We believe that the birth of a child cannot be accomplished without the will of God, and if God gives spouses children in their married life, then resist this, and even more so use any means so that there are no children, while according to the plan of God they there must be a great sin. This sin makes the marriage completely different, not what it should be. Therefore, very often such marriages break up, they are unhappy.
I am sure that it is more correct to give birth to children without looking back, without calculations: “Where will I settle them? What will I feed on? " The idea of family planning is flawed in principle. After all, all children are of God. The Lord is better at planning than we are.
A kind family is great power, she, like a magnet, attracts many people to her, enlightens the whole life around her, shows the way, preaches love with her very life.
About parenting
The first thing that is necessary for raising a child is love for him. Love, not in general, but specifically for each specific child, should be loved by someone very much: parents, confessor, teacher.
The most important thing for the child is the example of the parents. He needs to see how they pray, how they treat people, how they communicate with each other, feel the Christian spirit in this fellowship.
Looking the truth in the eye, we must admit that in the Orthodox environment we are increasingly seeing the inability of the family to resist modern temptations, which with great force "lure" children out of an Orthodox family, from an Orthodox school, even from an Orthodox church to which they go with childhood.
The modern generation of parents is not able or is not able to show the image of Orthodoxy, authoritative for their children. He does not know how to transfer his faith to them, to convince them of the correctness of his vision of the world, of his assessments of the destructive tendencies developing in the world. This is a consequence of a "break" in the succession of generations, perhaps - the most terrible of the fruits of prolonged persecution Orthodox faith.
The most serious problem of a large family is upbringing. Modern parents have forgotten how to raise their children. Earlier in big family each had his own responsibilities: the elders helped their parents to educate the younger ones and worked with them. The living conditions themselves contributed to the upbringing. In the city, in this sense, it is much more difficult. It is very difficult for a mother who stays in a cramped apartment with many children (the father is usually at work all day) to deal with them.
Only a combination of pastoral, teacher's love with rigor can give good results in the education and upbringing of students. A university cannot exist without scientific work. But his main goal is still education and upbringing.
About Russia
Our people must understand that we have nowhere to retreat - our children are behind us. If you are a member of the Church, then be aware: what have you done to save your people?
We hope that with the return of our people to the Orthodox faith, a normal life according to the Christian moral law will begin in our country, an Orthodox family will be reborn, in which the birth and upbringing of children will be a joyful feat. Russian patriotism, honest labor, the Russian kindness known to the whole world, the invincible Russian army will return - everything that had its roots in the Orthodox faith and Orthodox upbringing.
